There’s a lot to cover since I wrote last! Unfortunately, my wireless keyboard has gone missing. Could it be on the bus, or at the last, glorious hotel we were at for less than 24 hours?
Our Albuquerque gig went great, though I was, for the first time on this tour, in a bit of a funk before going on stage. You know the kind, where you are having poopy, whiny thoughts. I noticed some small indications of people getting irked by each other and worried that my scintillating personality might well be irking a few people. I know that I have some extremely annoying qualities: show off, loud, bragging about bike rides & long runs, etc. I also live most of my life as a loner so it’s unusual for me to spend so much time with people other than my immediate family.
Anyway, I gave myself a good talking to in my head (I talk to myself so much, out loud too!), went out on stage and had a blast despite slightly lower energy and mood — which could well have been simple exhaustion given my bike rides and free-hotel-banana-based diet. I used my new in-ears and they were pretty good. I’m still getting used to them being in stereo. Also this unit, being a cheap model, doesn’t scan for available frequencies, you have to do trial and error. But the freedom of not being tethered to the box was amazing.
After the show I am always in the mood to party, so I tagged along despite a palpable sense that the posse wanted to go it alone, guys only. Fuck it, I wanted to dance. We got in tall, blonde, Latina real estate agent Carolee’s car and she proceeded to drive 10 miles an hour all over Albuquerque until she pulled into a forbidding parking garage God knows where. We got out and went upstairs to a strange, empty hotel. A giant, enclosed, Mexican-tiled courtyard in the center of the hotel turned out to be the party. A DJ was in one corner. Across the vast room, I saw people struggling to roll an overloaded brass hotel luggage cart down a set of stairs. At a distant table, a couple that looked to be in their 80s was making out. In the center of the courtyard, a circle of about 10 young women were dancing. Not promising. For me, anyway.
I was not in the mood to drink so I sat at a table while the guys wooed the girls. A good song came on and I noticed a dark-skinned guy had just entered and sat down at a far away table. Could he dance? I waited a while, then went over to him and asked. He jumped up, took off his blazer and we started dancing. Wow! He was fantastic! We danced 4 or 5 times over the next hour, culminating in a real expressive dance to a song he said he loved. “You are a great dancer,” he said. Then he put on his blazer, turned up the collar against the cold and left.
I danced with Carolee (she asked), and the guy she said was applying for the job of being her much younger boyfriend. He looked just like the singer Michael Buble. One thing about PMO is we always bring the party. The guys were being super silly and funny. Javier suddenly ran toward the very old couple and brought them into the dance circle. That was sweet.
Ultimately we went out late for tacos, and I got to sleep around 3 am. The good thing is that I later passed out completely on the bus for about 6 hours. As a result, I was in mint condition for our Scottsdale gig.
That gig was in a glorious new performing arts center located on a green right across from the hotel. Our hotel was painted bright colors and looked exactly like some of the finest modern architecture of Mexico City. The vibe? Full-on Cancun! We turned in a great show. Though I felt like a million bucks, apparently some of the guys did not, and Steffen gave a sweet speech in the green room before we went on about pulling together despite being on edge. My only thought was “OK Alexa, manage your energy, don’t blow it all out before you even get started!” And, in fact, I did great.
After the show it was a breeze walking back to the hotel, dropping our stuff off and then going dancing at a fabulous club called Pepin, filled with great salsa dancers from all over (but especially Mexico). I woke up early the next morning and dove in the pool, which looked exactly like something you’d see in a movie. Music was playing underwater! I ordered a burger and ate it poolside. Then we popped in the bus and headed to historic Prescott (pronounced like biscuit).
