Doni checks in from Tennessee

(Sweet Sixteen Paige with her birthday crepe at rehearsals in the heat in MoVal a couple of weeks back)

Howdy folks, Jim here again...

Paige's boyfriend Rory called yesterday asking what I'd heard about Paige, and since I'd heard no news for days, I decided to bite the wax tadpole and call Eddie the Yamato director. He answered right away, and I asked him to let Doni know I'd like her to call me. (Gee that was easy, why didn't I think of that before?) About twenty minutes later, Doni called. She said that she hadn't called because her cell phone had been out of range a lot, and had tried to call but it wouldn't work, but it was okay then.

Doni just called again with an update. She and Paige and the show overall are doing fine. They're a little bit behind today's schedule, still enroute to Ottawa, IL for a day of rehearsal and laundry. The band had (gasp!) McDonald's for breakfast, because of the messed-up schedule.

Here's the main reason the schedule is tweaked today, as I understand it: Yesterday (or the day before?), the generator in the "rock star" RV (for Yamato's directorial and musical staff) broke down, which meant that they had no power for air conditioning, refrigeration, laptop and phone charging, etc. When they got to last night's destination, the folks coming off that RV were pretty messed up from the heat and humidity. They thought that the generator could be fixed in Nashville, which they were headed for, so folks got what they needed for that afternoon off the RV and sent the driver (who is from Nashville) ahead to fix it.

They haven't heard from the driver since. What was supposed to be a short trip has turned into two days without that RV. So now they had a bigger problem; how to get the full staff from point to point! They all took the short trip to the stadium together in the kitchen RV, and dt one point, they planned for all 19 (?!) of them to ride in the meal staff's RV, for the next big arm the next day, which would have been pretty cramped, but instead they rented another RV, which the Yamato staff are now using. I hope it's just some mixup which has left the driver incommunicado for the moment, but I'm somewhat concerned because most of the Staff's stuff like laptops (which they need) are on that RV (along with Doni's uke!!).

Yamato staff members keep praising Paige to Doni, which naturally causes Doni to cry (she's an easy crier), but it's great. They're all saying how much they respect Paige, how Paige keeps working hard to figure out how to make everything work better and make people's performance tasks easier (the directors are continually revising the show) and how big an asset she is to the band. Paige is awesome, they say! She's doing great, and Doni says Paige is just having a wonderful time.

Yamato came in second (instead of first) for the first time since Riverside yesterday, and Doni thinks that maybe that's a good thing, to keep them on their toes. Doni saw a little bit of their performance, and she thought they were really good and tight.
They are, after all, headed to a national competition next week.

Doni's hands are doing better. It started as full numbness upon waking, then became soreness upon waking, and now it's occasional tingling fingertips upon waking, so we think her body is getting used to her current change in lifestyle. Worrier that I can be, I'm quite relieved to hear that it's getting better. Her legs and feet aren't aching much anymore either, and overall she sounds quite happy to me. The more she learns about her management, the more she thinks that they have problems (I'll not name names; maybe she will when she gets back), but so far nothing really dire has happened, and she really likes her co-workers.

It turns out that Isaac (the band's chef's) folks had a cabin in Berry Creek, CA when he was a kid (that would be about ten or so years ago), which is where my brother and I went for several summers when we were teens, and where our favorite water haunt (Milsap Bar) is! So Doni's enjoying talking about that with him.

Hopefully the RV driver will show back up with everyone's gear, but regardless Paige and Doni are doing pretty dang well.

Meanwhile, Lindsay, Kyle and I have been having a blast seeing Tally Hall at the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Wednesday and then at Spaceland, a club in LA last night. I wrote a lot about that on my own blog here. Be sure and check it out! (Doni's jealous of us getting to do that while she's having a very different experience, but we consoled her by telling her that we are all going to go see the television taping of the new "Naked Trucker and T-Bones" show for Comedy Central when she gets back.)

That's all for now,

- Jim