@The Wazette Fest/Adventure Part ONE@ (fwd)
Malinda McCall
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Malinda--For those who don't know what I'm talking about: the "wazettes"
are a group of music lovers who correspond via the Internet and e-mail. We
finally decided to get together for a meeting and I lucked out, because
Atlanta was the best location to hook up and my job is so hard to get a
day off from since it's just me in my department. I did cadge Monday off,
which was a major feat. Anyhow, we've been e-mailing each other like
fiends for over a year now and going through our personal ups and downs
and trading collectable music items and articles so it was time.
Viva Duran Duran!
Cyndi--Not only music lovers, but WAZ-lovers--yes, we talk about the
newest, darkest, oldest (in age), and shortest member of Duran Duran.
Rhonda--I love flying, but this was one case where I didn't want to be in
the air too long. I wanted to meet 'dem Wazettes, that contingent of
misfits who've chosen to worship leather, hairless chests, intense and
brilliant string manipulation and contortion, and other WaCoo
characteristics. And just for the record, I've been a vegetarian since
1990, which was long before I even knew of Warren ('93).
Malinda--Steven and I picked up Rhonda at the Atlanta airport Saturday
morning. All of a sudden, I forgot all descriptions of herself that she
had given us and we were wandering about holding cute little signs.
Somehow when we did spot each other, we knew immediately that we had found
the right people. :) Confession time: I have a watch that Dave (my
roommate who repairs TVs and VCRs) found in a VCR. In fact, it was the
only thing wrong with the VCR. The owners of the VCR never claimed it, so
he brought the watch home and was going to throw it away but gave it to
me. I wore it for a while, then decided I'd get a new battery in it since
it loses time and stops unexpectedly. It turns out that this watch is a
$350 real Gucci {mega-boggle!} and can't be serviced by anyone by Gucci
people. We just had assumed it was a fake or a copy. Like I care either
way. So, this watch pulled its favorite stunt and stopped. I am an idiot,
and continue to trust this watch, and so we were late and scared that
Rhonda would be lost forever in the airport. But we made it!
Rhonda--So, back to flying. Arrived at Atlanta airport and waited and
waited for Malinda and Steve. I didn't have any checked luggage, so I
waited where the plane let us out. I began to wonder if I missed hearing
her say where we should meet. Didn't know where she might be, and rather
than wander around looking for someone whose picture I've only seen once,
I decided to page her. After another little while, I heard myself being
paged to go to Baggage Claim. Took yonks for me to get there on the
airport subway which broke down, but eventually made it. As Malinda said,
we knew each other immediately.
Cyndi--We had thought maybe meeting in Knoxville would be a good answer, but
then a sense of fun won out--I almost had gone to Atlanta when I heard
a rumor that Warren was going to join Dale at her show there back in
March, which turned out to be false, and the idea of going there stuck
in my mind. NEXT time, Tracey and Justin need to come, and we can have
Tracey bring edible chocolate goodies from her friend... ;) ;)
Malinda--Our next concern was that since we were late picking up Rhonda,
that we'd miss Cyndi and Amie when they drove in all the way from Indiana.
Their ETA was originally 1:30 or so. Fortunately, they weren't there yet
and so weren't puzzled by the lack of greeting. :) We had alerted Todd and
Dave to listen for them, but sometimes it is hard to hear the door. So,
all the way back from the airport--Rhonda got to experience the joy that
is masstransit in Atlanta--we played go fish and chased away panhandlers
and yapped about what we were going to try to do and see. (CYNDI!! :)
Is that a WEINER WOMAN joke I see? >:] )
Rhonda--We took the subway (?) back to the Park and Ride near Malinda's
place. This was a great way to be introduced to Atlanta (the good and the
bad parts). Did we really play Go Fish? Yep, and chatted too of course.
It was just like picking up from our conversations on e-mail.
Cyndi--we ended up, because of various problems and delays, not leaving
Vincennes until almost 9:30 AM, and then got delayed going around
Evansville and through Henderson KY. Kentucky took almost no time at all,
and then we very happily crossed the state line into Tennessee, where the
scenery almost immediately became more interesting. Little did we know
that by the time we got through with Tennessee we would be SICK of it. We
hit Nashville and got caught in a traffic jam--the signs SAID to avoid
taking I-24 through town, but we thought, probably correctly, that if we
got off I-24 we would get lost and lose yet more time. There was about a
half hour of 5 mph traffic.
Rhonda--Got to their place and one of the first things I saw on entering
the living room was this great portrait Ms. Mal painted of Andy Warhol,
and on the opposing wall, a 3 part sketch/drawing of John and Renee. This
is one that Malinda has silkscreened on to t-shirts. Great stuff.
Unfortunately, I had to satisfy myself with a snapshot of each. Any
chance at a silkscreened Warren, Malinda?
Malinda--I won't rule that out...but Cyndi will tell you that getting art
out of me lately is like pulling teeth. :( Not by personal choice, either.
The cartoons are coming! :)
Rhonda--I was introduced to the house-mates (who no doubt were curious as
to what the heck a Wazette-Fest was anyway), and then got to see Malinda's
Den of Duran.
Malinda--Cyndi and Amie hadn't arrived when we got back, and we were
surprised! It finally occurred to me to check my e-mail and there was an
exasperated note from Cyndi and Amie that said they would be slightly
delayed and to expect them at about 5pm. We were about to eat our own arms
or something we were so famished! We took this as a sign and decided to go
eat.
Rhonda--If ever a museum or gallery exhibit is created for things Duran,
Malinda's scrapbook will *have* to be included. It dates from the
earliest period of the band's formation, includes reviews, all those old,
embarassing (now) teeny bop, win-a-date w/ so-and-so interviews/articles,
pcis of the guys, pics of the guys with their girls, pics of their girls,
wedding pics, early Duranimal cartoons and captions strategically placed
throughout, next to pics of the guys. [Malinda--everyone has to have a
hobby. One of mine, in college, was Duran triviata.] This was no Reader's
Digest Condensed version scrapbook! I really enjoyed seeing the pics of
Renee because I'd never seen her before (except for a couple small pics).
Even tho' I like Amanda, John and Renee definitely made a good-looking
couple. Had a chance to log into Malinda's computer to telnet to my
account to check mail (I was going thru withdrawals) and found out, thanks
to Justin, that I could use Pine on my new account at .nyx. I was getting
hungry (a constant situation with me actually), and was hoping Malinda
felt the same. She was, and we decided on Chinese. Picked up our food
and then Malinda took me to this incredible place-the Farmer's Market.
Cyndi--After Nashville, things started to get REALLY cool, as we went down
a 6% grade and saw some really intense mountains, etc. We stopped in some
tiny town that I don't even know the name of to call Malinda, then crossed
into Georgia. This made us EXTREMELY happy, which was shortlived as we
disbelievingly passed into Tennessee again, but then shortly after were
back in Georgia. After ANOTHER long bit of driving and a short delay
caused by taking the wrong exit, we found Malinda's house and excitedly
went to the door without even unpacking the car.
Malinda--Rhonda and I ditched Stevie at the house (he went down into his
Basement of Blinking Flashing Electronic Things to do some work) and went
to a nearby Chinese restaurant, Yen Ching. It has gotten a bunch of good
reviews and has pretty decent chow. I haven't found any decent tofu dishes
ever since I moved to Atlanta and I rather like meat, so I didn't have the
incentive to try any but Rhonda got a really wonderful black bean tofu
dish that was just marvellous. I got the comparatively evil fried rice
with beef and shrimp and chicken. >:d We then went by the DeKalb Farmer's
Market to check it out. Tip: Don't do what I did and forget that the
Market is busiest on Saturday afternoon. :) If you want lychee nuts and
Canadian beer and Swiss chocolate and South American floral arrangements
and Cuban coffee, etcetera, it is all here--including bizarre fruits that
look like stuff you'd see on a science fiction show. *thinks* Isn't the
break room on Star Trek called Ten Forward or something? You'd see this
stuff there. I bet they even sell Klingon wormsoup at the Farmer's Market.
We bought lots of food and sweets--Rhonda found some killer bittersweet
vegan-approved chocolate bars and I found boursin, a cream cheese + herbs
+ garlic spread I used to have to whip up from scratch when I worked at a
restaurant in Savannah called Truffles. Needless to say, I prefer just
buying the stuff. It's kind of smelly. ;) However it is GREAT on
croissants or warm French bread fresh out of the oven! Um! I'm a sucker
for roses and bought yet another armload of posies to take home--one of
the roses was actually light green.
Rhonda--She describes it more than adequately. Just let me quip that it's
a dangerous place to go to on an empty stomach. We got back to her place,
chowed and waited for the delinquent Wazettes, Aimee and Cyndi. I was
beginning to worry for them because I know what it's like to drive around
in the dark in a strange place. But voila! suddenly they appeared.
Malinda--We zipped home and began to wolf down our lunches. Never shop on
a boiling, growling stomach. :) My workstudy and friend Aimee showed up
and shared our goodies and dropped off some work she did for me before her
vacation. (Wah! I miss her already!) She and Rhonda compared tattoos (gee
that sounds funny!). {Aimee has a tiny Chinese calligraphic symbol
representing 'creativity' on her inner elbow and Rhonda has a
multi-colored spray of purple flowers and shamrocks on her instep.} We
began comparing old fanzines and collectables and covetting, covetting,
covetting. :) Rhonda's also a big Church fan and she was please to spot a
Church article in our local free weekly _Creative Loafing_. Five pm came
and went and we got really worried about Cyndi and Amie, and then they
called from Tennessee and assured us they were alive and just delayed
because of traffic and construction. DOH! Yeccch. Well, we spent the time
talking a lot, like women do best, and playing some of my weird records
and flipping through old magazines and comparing notes on our favorite
groups. I taped some Frank Black for Rhonda and played Blondie's covers of
T-Rex's "Bang a Gong" and Bowie's "Heroes". When Cyndi and Amie arrived,
they brought this enormous pile of Duran Duran memorabilia they had bought
or collected from devout long-term Durannies that is just impossible to
even think about finding these days. They also had some killer Warren
Cuccurullo concert pictures from the Stone Pony (which I need to request a
photocopied pick list or two of or something!) and a cute picture of
Tracey (hi girl! You looked Great!) and some of Warren's family.
Rhonda--We were all talking at once it seems and we lost no time in
sitting C & A down to scour through the scrapbook with us. I'm real happy
at how easy it was to to talk with Amie since we never had the chance to
speak on the phone or "talk" via e-mail. Fortunately, we had enough in
common and knew enough about each other to feel comfortable. C & A
brought EVERYTHING they own related to Duran, Zappa and Missing Persons,
except for the actual music itself. I don't think we could have fit
anything more into the DD (Duran Den). Lots was already familiar, but I
was anxious to see the pics from Warren's show at eh Stone Pony and from
the Cuccurullo condominium (Malinda is it ok to mention that she was
there?). Cyndi also has some old MP articles which she hasn't been able to
get permission to print, so I drooled over those for a bit too.
Cyndi--We got there and were shown downstairs--I had only seen one photo
each of Malinda and Rhonda, and Amie and I had been joking in the car
about how one of the guys would probably tell them to be quiet and make us
guess who was who, but that didn't happen, and I almost immediately
somehow realized for good who was who. [I was so glad to see them alive
and well, I think I almost cut her air off hugging her when she arrived.
>:) --Malinda] We brought in all our Duran stuff, and spent the next
couple of hours admiring Malinda's huge scrapbook and funny comments she
had added to it, comparing different issues of fanzines we had, etc. After
a couple of interested visits by Stephen, we decided to go for pizza,
after resolving to go back to our mid-20s from the past two hours of being
fourteen again... [Malinda--*blush* Well, MAYBE fifteen. >:) ]
Malinda--We all piled into the Wonderburban (Steve's antique Suburban) and
went to Fellini's on Ponce de Leon near the lovelicious Clermont, Zesto's,
El Azteca, Tortilla's, you know the area. A stone's throw from the
Magestic. We lucked out and found the biggest table in the place and
proceeded to eat ourselves silly on cheap, good, homemade pizza, salads,
calzones, you name it. Everyone was pretty exhausted so after we ate and
talked and got chased out by the guys (one looked like Dweezil, one like a
Cypress Hill member) who wanted to go out and get another body part
pierced or something, we went home and stayed up ridiculously late
deciding where we were going to go, cracking jokes, exchanging lists of "I
want this!" and that sort of thing. Dave educated us about Alice in Chains
and we gawked at a multi-million-dollar mansion on the cover of a real
estate flyer. (Who's going to dust that sucker?) Steven also has collages
of funny photos and stuff in his studio, which impressed the gals to no
end (heh). And we can't forget Tundra Lou Maytag LaGrange. Tundra no like
picture taken. Tundra flash evil eye of fire at camera and hiss. We fear
Tundra. However, we thank her for being a sport, since she do doubt heard
us calling her Tundra wherever she is. The boys thought we were tipsy or
something. However, they egged us on.
Rhonda--We were all hungry again, so it was off to pizza. I never usually
worry about what to eat at restaurants even tho' I'm vegan. There's
always something on the menu I can eat. Fortunately I *adore* french
fries or potatoes or any kind. This time I lucked out and found a great
salad on the menu which went perfectly with the beer I ordered. Everyone
else had pizza of different sorts. Aime's was on thin crust (NewYork?)
But Cyndi's and Malinda's were on big doughy crust-enough for brekkie in
the a.m. Steve was the only one who opted for clizone and it looked tasty.
Hmm...I wonder if there's a recipe for vegan calizone (I talk about vegan
food or food entirely too much).
Cyndi--Riding in the Wonderburban was fun, and we had amazing fun giggling
like we had known each other all our lives, etc, griping about our pet
peeves, imitating Simon, etc. Fellini's was excellent and I actually
didn't feel what was happening--there had been incense burning in the
Wonderburban and either it or whatever it was covering up got into one of
my eyes, and it practically swelled shut.
Malinda--There was incense in my room a few hours before they arrived, so
I am assuming it was the MILDEW!! that attacked Cyndi. :( Don't ask. :)
Steven doesn't call his house White Trash Manor for nothin'. You should
have seen it before The Feminine Touches [tm] were put in. Like, I dunno,
a real recliner instead of a ratty hand-me-down that tried to eat your
behind. Curtains. Toilet paper on the spindles. Matching towels. A broom.
That sort of thing. ;) (It's actually a pretty nice house.)
Cyndi--After we got back, we talked some more, etc, and when I went in the
bathroom I shocked myself in the mirror, wondering if Rhonda and Malinda
had noticed that my eye was drooping half closed and that I looked like a
drunken axe murderer. So I proposed going to bed, and Amie and I slept on
the fold out couch upstairs. I proceeded to spend most of the night
holding ice in a cloth to my eye, hoping and praying that it would go
away, and finally it did... [Malinda--She just looked sleepy, really. And
was too polite to say anything. :/ :) ]
Rhonda--Got back to the house and chatted some more. I zonked out in a
chair and awoke around 3 or 4. Stumbled upstairs to find Cyndi and Amie
almost asleep, so I curled up on a two-seater couch and fell asleep again.
Amie and I had the opposite trouble. She was too hot, and I was too cold.
The next night I turned the fan off. Malinda being the perfect didn't
impose any type of wake-up time on us. Bless her. She knows the true
meaning of vacation is to relax and skip the 6 a.m. tours. :) I don't
think anyone was moving before noon. Cyndi, Aime and I snacked on bagels
and croissants and carrot/orange juice, while we waited for Malinda to
appear. It wasn't long before we were out the door headed to Little 5
Points, a place Malinda had mentioned eagerly. The main purpose here:
music!
Malinda--Saturday, everyone gratefully slept in until about lunch time. We
then hit Little Five Points for a day of fun, food, shopping and culture.
;) Our first task was deciding how to get there, as my car seats two small
people only, and there was no way four non-anorexics were going to make it
in Rio the Geo, top down or not. So we split into lead car (moi and
Seattle Sue ;) ) and follow car (Vincennes crew/posse) and tried to figure
out (once we hit Downtown Decatur) how to get to the "money mover" (Amie
and Cyndi's word for ATM) when they have just poured asphalt all over the
place. We parked illegally and took out too much money. >:)
Cyndi--Driving in Atlanta was a gas. We hadn't known if we would get
to drive or not, and we were immensely pleased to be able to do so.
The only tape we played the whole time was Andy's "Dangerous"
which went PERFECTLY with the city and will always remind me of it.
Malinda--Our first stop was Princess Pamela's and Junkman's Daughter in
their new location. Whereas we liked some of the shiny plastic
micro-outfits, we settled on smaller souvenirs. Oh, OK. I confess. I
bought a dress that Rhonda actually pointed out to me and a velvet
embroidered vest that doesn't match it one bit and some fishnet hose in a
shade of burgundy that DID match the dress. I'll let the girls tell you
what they found themselves...
Rhonda--We actually checked out nifty jewelry and alternative type
clothing stores first, then headed to a cd store which had a great
selection of music magazines and a live band playing inside. Found
Zappa's, "Cruising W/ Rueben & the Jets for only $13 on CD. Told myself
I'd get it later when we came back, but by that time I'd spent too much to
justify another purchase. Cyndi and I found some Zappa postcards, Amie
bought a money holder [shaped like handcuffs], and Malinda bought the
dress she mentioned and some great comic books (slacker type). At the
barbecue outside, I remember being amazed that it was free. Don't know
how they could afford it. Great idea though, and *the* spot to check out
the latest in tattooing and piercing.
Cyndi--Junkman's Daughter was cool--my first thought as I moved around the
store was, if Warren saw this store he would buy it, move in a cot, and
live in it. Everything in it was cool, even if some of it seemed a bit
overpriced. I found a little glass frog with flowers inside, an astrology
wheel, a pretty card, and two Frank Zappa postcards--this was when I was
still being GOOD with my money (that didn't last long...).
Malinda--They had candles and CDs and T-shirts and some really bitchin'
thigh-high suede lace-up boots with heels that I really, really, REALLY
want. I also really (etc.) wanted a rust-red velvet top with flowing
sleeves and a lace-up bodice, but I was trying to be good. Later you will
discover that this was all in vain. >:) So we're trying on the funky junk
and pointing and staring at the fuzzy bathmat jackets (like Nick wears)
and the shiny disco shirts (hello Warren) and the bizarre polyester 70's
shirts (um, Simon?) and even some really, really ugly hats (John, my love,
these were just YOU) with points and bells and tacky naked girl fabric on
mylar. Yummers. We decided that Duran would probably buy up Little 5
Points if they could and live there, since they even had Nick's Chucks and
Waz's pointy skyscraper-heeled rocklust boots. Talk about bargains,
though--Rhonda had her eye on a $5 rune necklace (Degaz, resembles [><]
slightly). Cyndi passed up the vest I later bought and was surprised that
I had it later when we showed what we bought.
Malinda--Next we went to Criminal Records, which has comic books and CDs
and so on and G Love and Special Sauce were putting on a show. A girl
passed out from Too Much Of A Bad Thing or a Diabetic faint right at my
feet so quietly that half the store was oblivious that anything had
happened. Rhonda found some cool comics and so did Cyndi and Amie. I
bought Powderedtoastman for Dave and Slacker Comics #1 for myself
(funny!). Album 88 was giving away grilled hamburgers and we waited
patiently for these to cook and be distributed. They were extremely good.
Rhonda got some coffee from Aurora Coffeeshop (thanks for the Starbuck's,
by the way--and those DELICIOUS chocolate raspberry candies! I'm NOT
sharing those!!).
Cyndi--Criminal Records was more interesting to me for the amount of cool
'zines and comics they had. I bought a Goldmine and was going to buy a NME
and Melody Maker but passed. We were entertained by a delightful little
child who danced around and was followed around by her mother, who carted
her around in a wagon. We went out and got free hamburgers that were also
the best I have ever had, and definitely worth the wait, and also free
water from the coffeeshop.
Malinda--Next, we went into Wax n Facts and browsed through millions of
dusty albums. Amie spotted a Zappa book and snapped it up. Cyndi got Big
Thing on vinyl and Rhonda made a killing, including what MAY be a rare
import of an album she'd been hunting for. We regretfully had to pass up
the four-volume Zappa scrapbook set ($80 or $20 each). The staff gave us
tons of free sampler cassettes and I may have found the elusive Sister
Sledge + Simon & Andy tune. (When the Boys Meet The Girls?) Clue me in,
what was it supposed to be again?
Cyndi-Big Thing or Liberty on vinyl (Liberty was a bonus because the extra
pics were included which someone wouldn't see if they only owned the
cassette version). Aime lucked out with Frank Zappa's autobiography, hard
bound version. I didn't find anything Duran related, but satisfied myself
with a Church 12" single, old albums by Husker Du, Icicle Work, Waterboys
and Christmas tunes from Dr. Demento.
Cyndi--Wax n Facts was DEFINITELY too tempting--I had a big urge to find
all the DD and Andy cover originals, but at $3 an album, I decided to wait
till I got back to Evansville, where they are 50 cents each. BUT I found
Big Thing on vinyl, and also Dale's Riot in English, and 10CC's Deceptive
Bends, which does not have Terry on it after all, but is still an ok
album. Passed up a lovely and info-packed ABBA book that I wanted
desperately, but oh well.
Malinda--We went into Dig-It and remarked over how much our grandparent's
old junk was selling for. Like, a set of Exxon Tiger glasses, and some
rhinestone junk jewelry and hard plastic purses. Hard plastic purses are
hot, girls. Especially the clear ones with no lining or with "jewels".
Raid your grandmother's attic. If you hate them, sell them at a vintage
clothing shop. I coveted a nice blue sequin dress for $45. Alas, no ball
to go to any time soon. :) We also snatched up some $3 handmade purses
(Cyndi's purse is really nice, with shades of blue and green and aqua) and
passed up some blue-velvet stretch catsuits. Not with this behind, we all
said. >:)
Cyndi--In Dig-It (I am so glad that Malinda knows the names of all these
shops...) Amie fell in love with round hanging 70's lamps, etc, and we saw
tons of old things that brought back memories. REALLY wanted the stretch
catsuit, but...nope.
Malinda--YAHBUT...but...you're slim. :) I'm not a horse, but I feel like
one. (Recently gained 10 pounds! ARGH!) I used to be a size FOUR-FIVE!!
WAH! (well, enough of that crap.)
Cyndi--I haven't quite decided what to do with my pretty aqua purse
yet--but it's hanging festively here by my computer.
Malinda--Crystal Blue was open and smelled nice as usual. They sell a
bunch of scented things like candles and incense and oils. They also had
crystals, jewelry, handcarved art boxes, Taoist and Zen knickknacks (Amie
found paqua charms--the yin/yang symbol surrounded by the eight most
important hexagrams--for $2 each). We noodled with the windchimes and
books and other goodies, the moved on. Cyndi particularly liked the
paintjob on the buildings in Little 5 Points--some is really creative and
beautiful. Rhonda found but didn't buy a handpainted set of shirts with
abstract symbols on them and a purple shirt that had pictures of all the
Tarot cards on it.
Cyndi--On to a fascinating new age store [that's Crystal Blue--Malinda],
in which there were nice deep toned wind chimes and fun incense, crystals,
books, etc. Looked in vain for books on Phoenix cards, the current fad of
a friend of mine, but that must not be in vogue there.
Malinda--I'll look for Phoenix cards for you, they sound familiar. We
popped in and out of a few vintage stores (one of my faves is Stephan's),
but Cyndi and Amie are blessed with lots of thrift and vintage stores near
their house and were appalled at the prices that we poor Atlantans were
paying for thrift stuff. :) I was kind of sorry Alex and Natasha (two nice
cats that hang out in Days Gone By) weren't out and about to visit.
Cyndi--Several other stores... Malinda says we were appalled--what we were
appalled about were the horridly ugly mens' shirts that were going for $15
and $20 each that you can find in any Salvation Army store back home for
$1.49.
Rhonda--Antique store: We all scored with the Arcadia 45. Happy Happy!
Malinda--Those shirts had Simon's name on them. :) Our next stop was an
impulse trek through an old furniture store. Lord knows why I had this
impulse to go through there. It's dusty and disorganized and smelly and
the sales staff are abusive or weird. Then Cyndi made the find of all
time: four Arcadia singles of The Flame! God knows what these go for. Two
were horribly scratched WITH sleeves, two were pretty nice WITHOUT sleeves
and we managed to div up without any fuss. What a find! I was so excited I
almost couldn't stand it. :) We paid fifty cents each. Mine is NOT for
sale. >:) I could NOT find it when it came out originally, and here we go
and find them cheap. Bizarre. Mine has a big Doc Marten boot print on both
sides, though. :)
Cyndi--Malinda is right--we found a pile of records, which always manages
to catch my eye, and practically the only 45's in the pile were four
copies of the Flame. "Score!" we giggled excitedly as we snatched them up
and found to our delight that they were only 50 cents. I had the urge to
tell the others to be quiet or the price may inexplicably rise as the
clerk figures out that we would pay more than that, but all was well.
Malinda--Next stop was a sidewalk display manned by a saleshippie outside
Rene' Rene' (a local designer's showroom and store) and Throb!. Throb! is
a bizarre and slightly scary store. Some typical items one might find are
12" long manly bits cast in vinyl (and YOU thought CHOCOLATE was really
scary!), or rubber headgear/masks, or Pussy Scented brandname T-shirts
with a cute little kitty cat logo. I'm a bit too shy for anything like the
above, should I wish to own any of the above. On the other hand, they have
great disco makeup and recycled album totebags and recycled licence plate
lunchboxes and sunglasses and wigs.
Rhonda--Next was Throb...a very interesting er, place. Great place to
shop for a gift for Warren or Simon, or to take Justin to, to see how many
shades of red he can turn. :) This is where Malinda bought her wig. Next
time I visit Malinda, I think I'll get one.
Cyndi--Throb! was cool! and we invaded the place, leaving our bags at the
counter and getting check-in cards that said fun things like "Big Boobs"
etc. Found all sorts of fun clothing and accessories ;) and then went back
to watch Malinda playing in the wigs.
Malinda--Yes, they are famous for their bag checks. ;) I've had GIMME A
VALIUM! and BOINGY BUTT and so on before. I had a drawing of Beaker the
Muppet this time. Wigs? Here I will share my guilt. We were all going to
try on wigs and falls for fun, and I have a weakness for realistic-looking
wigs. I'd been looking for a fall in my natural hair color for years and
the salesgothette pulled out a very stunning Barbarella-esque fall of
blondeness. I wasn't sold until she put it on my head. The process was a
bit weird, since I felt like Barbie! Once she put it on my head I had to
have it before someone else got it and I started the search for another
hairpiece like it. The girls egged me on and I folded like an origami
butterfly. I now own this wonderful hunk of hair, photos may eventually be
available upon request...I'm shy, really, but I also have a little bit of
the ham in me. I'll be glad to show it off... ;) The girls found some cool
makeup and accessories but I don't think anyone but me was actually
naughty enough to purchase anything. Rhonda did find some cool burgundy
lipstick and we were pointing at the odd nail enamel colors. There was a
necklace that we should get for Warren Cuccurullo: it has pictures of
women with fifties hairstyles and tops on, and then when you tilt them,
their tops come off. Naked Betty Crocker! Naked June Cleaver! Quite scary,
but fascinating in its own way.
Cyndi--Then we went to O Calcutta, which was quiet and peaceful, and nice
to drink a nice big Coke in. I was intensely curious about Indian food
because of reading all about Andy liking it best years ago, and I LOVED
it. Service was pretty bad, and I in my cynicism suggested not being
exactly generous with the tip, but Malinda's good manners won out, as did
the previous waitress experiences of everyone at the table but me. The
food was great, everything was just wonderful.
Malinda--We were once again starving and our feet were sore, so we went to
O Calcutta and got the Hindi owner all excited when we began ordering.
Rhonda got vegetable Burani (sp?) and charpati, Amie and Cyndi chose nan,
papadum and chicken tikka, and I had prawn puri, papadum, and chicken
tikka. The owner actually forced the nan bread on us to boost the bill,
but at a buck, we didn't mind. Indian bread is famously good, Indian
desserts are, well, not MY cup of tea. Blerg. Their tea, speaking of
which, is good and orangey but we stuck with nice healthy Cokes. Southern
diction lesson for the day: "Co-colas".
Malinda--We checked out the food co-op Sevananda next.
Cyndi--The food co-op was immense and beyond anything we had ever seen.
Warren would have a BLAST here. For the first time I could actually
conceive of being able to eat that kind of diet--there was so much to
choose from, unlike here, where if you want to eat anything other than the
basic home-cooked or fast food meals you have to basically eat vegetables
and odd things from the one health food store that we have.
Malinda--Rhonda found Ice Dream desserts. Amie got a huge candle marked
with arcane juju symbols that was half red and half black. Supposedly if
someone has put the juju on you, or the evil eye, or a hex, or whatever,
you light this immense sucker and hope and pray that the bad stuff goes
away, and it supposedly goes back and latches on to the miscreant who had
the teremity to curse you in the first place. Sort of a flaming "I'm
rubber, you're glue" spell. Looks pretty cool, actually, which was why she
probably bought the thing. :)
Cyndi-- At some point I bought an incense burner, although I don't
remember where--it may have been here. We then found some more funky
jewelry stores, etc, but decided to head back to Malinda's.
Malinda--We were pretty beat by this time, though we did check out a table
that the salesrastas had set up. They had good deals on "poison rings"
(rings with hidden compartments) and ankhs and copper jewelry but we
decided to be good and pass them up. We were pretty surprised that we'd
managed to find so many things we wanted (infatable Munch "Scream" dolls,
Pokey and Gumby, eyeball necklaces, you name it, they had it in spades).
So we piled back into our vehicles and headed home to get ready to go out
to the Masquerade later that night.
Rhonda--Masquerade--I loved this place. Heaven was the least interesting
although I like seeing live shows even when the band sucks. Hell was
probably the best because of the great band which had an 80's sound
a-la-Psychedelic Furs, w/ some jazzy sounds thrown in. We couldn't stop
laught at the keyboardist who, like Nick Rhodes didn't seem to play much,
but who, unlike N.R. was dancing ALL OVER the place!! they couldn't even
keep him onstage. They were called Valentino _________? Purgutory was not
such a bad place as people make it out to be either, especially when the
bartender looks exactly like Terry Bozzio. Nuff said. :) That's it for me
tonight. Do you remember the name of the band?
(to be continued)
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