Riverside, CA (suburb of LA)

Small letdown for half of the cast, tonight... "LOST" was a re-run! WHAT the DEUCE?! Boo, ABC. BOO.

However, the girl voted off American Idol tonight was clearly the worst of the bunch, so there is some justice for us, here at the Econolodge in Riverside, CA. (Sadly, we fear it will be weeks before 'America' decides to kick Chicken Little's scrawny little ass to the curb.)

The shows this morning went really well; the kids were responsive and went away happy. The venue (San Gabriel Civic Auditorium) was beautiful, and the 2-man crew was awesome... however, there was one hitch. The loading dock at the back of the stage was a 20-foot long ramp; the stage was built about 16 feet below street level, ... which meant that we were schlepping the set up and down a 30 degree incline! Okay, so geometry wasn't my best subject... but it was freaking steep, whatever it was. Too steep for anyone to drive their van or truck down it, that's for sure. The guys said they've had to call tow-trucks for those who've attempted it, in the past! So, load out was a challenge. But what is life without challenge? At least their was inexpensive sushi nearby! (Ah, California...)

So -- I have to give a shout-out to Greg, Tim and Patrick for a well-played 'bit' in the show, today. For a couple weeks, now, they've been searching for their long-lost "No-Yeah-Maybe" chord. During the first part of the tour, they really had it; then they lost it... but they found a new one, and it had us rolling backstage. Patrick (who builds on Tim's note) decided to go UP instead of down... and Greg's natural inclination was to go UP, too -- into falsetto. The result was COMEDY GOLD. The look on Greg's face was priceless: 'Oh... what the hell...' "MAYBE!" Briana's entrance (which follows their chord) was a little shakey, as she tried to quit laughing and frown at her plate of spinach. I've never seen her have to fight so hard to hang on, before -- she did, just barely. Luckily, we didn't lock eyes while holding back our laughter, or we might have really lost it. ;)

After loading out of San Gabriel (and lunching on sushi), we drove to Riverside, CA... a 50-mile drive that ended up taking over 2 hours, thanks to ...what else? Traffic! Of course! What would Southern California be without it? Driving near LA is like watching a real-time documentary on paint-drying; the scenery is nice and the soundtrack is hummable, almost hypnotic in it's nice, easy predictibility... when BAM! Out of nowhere, a 10-second, wheel-screeching, brake-test shocks you into an adrenaline rush that can only be parallelled with being caught in the middle of someone knocking over a 7-11. I'll take the Brooklyn Bridge at rush hour over that shit, any day.

After tomorrow's shows... we drive to Vegas! Vegas, baby, VEGAS.