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“Around the World”
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Nine thousand miles and 22 cities later I am finally back in LA. I’ve had sufficient enough time to do some pondering on what makes playing in clubs nightly a pleasurable or painful experience. It truly is the little things that count: a clean dressing room, a friendly competent staff, and a stiff drink now and again. I’m not talking about opulence; I’m talking about accommodations that you generally spend about 8 hours of the day in.
There are clubs that totally make the bands and patrons feel like they’re in a special, magical place. The Bottle Tree in Birmingham, AL. for instance is a cool club covered in GREAT, original art from regional artists, has healthy dinner options and a big back stage area with comfy couches, art books, and additional sleeping bunks in a vintage Airstream trailer out back. This club wins my “Coolest Club of the Tour Award”. The Double Door in Chicago wins my “Coolest Big Club Award”. The layout of the place is great because it has a lounge below the main stage area where each band had their own clean, well-stocked dressing room that was mellow with great red lighting everywhere. Honorable Cool Club mentions go to Chop Suey in Seattle, Paradise in Boston, MA and Music Hall in San Francisco.
The Highline Ballroom in New York was very state of the art, modern and clean with a super helpful, nice stage crew, great lighting and sound. But I’ve got to bust the club for taking a disgraceful 30% of our t-shirt/ sticker money. Yes you read that right 30% of our already total bargain $10 American Apparel T-shirts. Tres tacky and quite the racket in my hard working artist’s opinion. And they had no street parking, so we had to pay for that too. “Bite the Big Apple…”
Now I’m not going to mention them by name (because they may be the only club in town to play and I’m not that stupid), but there are many clubs that put virtually no effort into making anyone (artist or audience) comfortable. These clubs are dirty with no décor, usually just black walls, cold concrete floors, no art, no warm lighting, the dressing room is a mess from the night before, with a jaded- disgruntled- probably underpaid staff. I’m not talking about legendary underground dives here, I’m talking about big money making clubs run by seemingly cheap profiteers. There was one club in particular that had every musician from all three bands on the tour mumbling Bette Davis impersonations under their breath, “What-a-dump!”
Well, my tour with The Donnas officially ends tomorrow night at The Roxy in LA. You can check out my “Band at The Van” Polaroids here. One lucky fan/ Polaroid holder will be picked by me from a raffle to receive my guitar signed to them on Halloween night.
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Hi Donita, how’s your back injury? I hope you’re alright
Hey Donita!
I would ask Howzit but sounds like you’re going to be decompressing and relaxing here shortly (or relaxing as much as you can with the current SoCal craziness).
Har! I hear ya!
Hi Everybody, I’ve missed you in comments.
Donita Sparks @ 5
Were you able to check back a couple of weeks ago for the diet recommendations folks made?
Jess @ 2
Young Jess! How are you?
My wing is still a bit of a bummer. Someone in comments last week said that it might be a rib injury. It’s getting better though. Thanks for asking.
Donita,
I thought about you travelling across Texas and NM.
I learned to whistle on one of those long journeys as a kid. There was nothing else to do!
dakine01 @ 6
You mean the supermarkets? There are no supermarkets on super highways, just fast food.
hi, donita! welcome back! the lake was a lonely place without you( no offense, joh, you ROCK!)
i’m only dropping by to say howdy this week. the weather here has made me rather ill.
hi, jess! toldja i’d see you here.
Margot @ 8
Thanks for thinking of me. It wasn’t that bad do to the fact that a friend of mine loaded up my video I-Pod with stuff. I watched multipule episodes of “Arrested Development”. Great show, I’d never seen it before.
Donita Sparks @ 9
Well, I think I recommended the supermarkets but I know there were other options provided by others. I was just thinking that supermarkets are often near the highway and even some of the old truck stops and convenience stores carry things like fruit cups. :})
Donita Sparks @ 7
I’m doing okay, I introduced pretty much everyone in my class to L7 and The Stellar Moments, they all think your music is really cool, I got a few of my friends really obsessed with your music now and they can’t get enough. Oh, by the way, my mom’s been watching your vids on Youtube and she’s been at it for like everyday, it’s really cool that L7 is being played almost 24/7 in our house. Her favourite song is Sh*tlist, she has it on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, one of her fave movies
I like the Daft Punk video. Good for Halloween too,
Welcome back, Donita!
Where on your list of gratifying experiences is an audience that definitely knows your best stuff from your worst stuff, and expresses vigorous approval when you do your best stuff?
Bob in HI
Hi everyone, hello Donita.
Thanks for the insights. You could make some extra money with your reviews.
Nice.
That’s well established. I’d like to know how it feels, if can be put in words, when you go wild, when you know thousands – or millions, in the case of a TV appearance – are watching. I apologize in advance, if this is inappropriate to ask, I’m just curious.
Tucker just called Hillary a neocon. First time I’ve ever agreed with him.
Donita Sparks @ 11
I loved AD. Anytime I can get someone through 3 episodes in a row, they get hooked.
dakine01 @ 12
You know, we couldn’t find any supermarkets but we did try. We found a shitty Walmart once that I think had a market in it. Truck stops at least had trailmix.
Donita,
Huge Props for the Daft Punk video! Great to read this awesome little post!
OT for a minute:
Jack Jacobs (Ret. whatever..war hero) just stated on Tucker the following:
“Our guys couldn’t get clearance to kill OBL at Tora Bora.”
Excuse me???? Couldn’t get clearance?????
I thought they always said he escaped because of the difficult terrain.
I’ve never, ever, ever heard that there was “no clearance” to kill him.
Not that I believe anything anybody says anymore…especially Bush/Cheney/Fema.
Okay, I’m done now…back to music.
Apologize for the OT, but that floored me.
Hi Donita
Glad to hear you were treated right in Chicago
Shanahan knows how to run a good club – Metro is another of his.
Sorry we missed you here.
Jess @ 13
Good work building the Donita Sparks Army with your impressionable classmates!
Donita,
Always interesting to hear “on the road” stories from musicians, particularly the good ones where the musicians are treated as human beings (and not a commodity).
And every time I see “Around the World” I immediately think of this.
Donita Sparks @ 18
Future planning for your next road trip:
A home made “trail mix.” A one pound jar of dry roasted peanuts, a one pound box of raisins, and a 13 oz bag of chocolate morsels (semi-sweet, milk or dark, whichever you prefer). Mix all together and you’re good to go.
welcome back donita! i can’t wait to see you at the roxy. my friend saw you in austin, tx and said you were GREAT! he told me he hasn’t stopped listening to the CD he bought at the show.
see you soon,
nora
Donita Sparks @ 22
It’s really easy, get them to listen to a song or two, show them a few pics and videos, then tell them I met you and I see you on FDL, they think it’s really cool, but they believe anything you tell them, it’s really easy to get them into cars of strangers with candy :D
bobschacht @ 15
Hi Bob, I don’t play my “worst stuff” live. I’m not even sure that I have any “worst stuff”. Great audiences in Texas, Atlanta, NYC, NC, Chicago, Ohio
Donita
will you ananounce the winner on your myspace page? a friend got a polaroind in Boston. she can’t wait to hear.
cheers!
eric the great @ 10
Yeah yeah, I just don’t rock as hard as Donita does who tends to bust up ribs and whatnot when she rocks. No offense taken, I’m just glad our favorite rockstar is back in the burning embers of SoCal and ready to rock the Roxy.
eCAHNomics @ 17
Actually she’s a neoliberal, its the same authoritarianism wrapped in shiny “liberalesque” rhetoric that she and Bill crafted perfectly for the Council on Foreign Relations/Brookings Institute set.
hey donita
i saw you at the double door in chicago—i’m glad you like the club! good to know they treated you right–i love seeing bands there. you guys were rockin.
love the daft punk video!
doug
cool polaroids, looks like you had fun!
scory @ 24
1000 cool points for that video! I love LCD Soundsystem, this is one of their better tunes.
Hi Donita.
If you ever want to play in the Tampa Bay area, let me recommend Jannus Landing or The State Theater on St.Pete, Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa, or Bourbon Street in New Port Richey. All excellent, for bands, environment, and crowds.
Skipper’s is probably the coolest place to play in Tampa-congratulations on getting home-hope you make it down our way some day.
Cheers.
So we don’t like Hillary anymore.
I know it’s OT, but can anyone give a prognosis on the result of the 2008 election. As an outsider (European) I can’t judge this in a realistic way at all.
If there were no Daft Punk, there would be no FDL.
I sold my house in LA to Thomas, moved to Oregon and started blogging.
So when you hear LCD Soundsystem it has a special meaning, no?
Jane Hamsher @ 36
Norman Wagner @ 16
I try not to think about anything or else I would probably be terrified.
donita
i’ve been in a few bands that have done some touring in the u.s. won’t name them as nobody knows them anyway. however, i have seen (& smelled) the horrors of some of the clubs that bands have to play in. i’ve seriously wanted to punch out some of the sleazoids that own these clubs (promoters too!)
good to hear that there are some clubs out there that treated you like the rock royalty that you are!
al
Jane Hamsher @ 36
Man, I’ve been a Daft Punk fan for ten years, this just makes sense on so many levels.
nicelyput @ 29
Yes, of course. Halloween night, not sure what time yet.
Donita Sparks @ 28
By “worst stuff” I meant the bad moments when things don’t work right, people make mistakes, you have a phlegm attack just as you step up to the microphone, you drop your pick at a crucial moment, anything like that. I just meant the “worst” stuff you do on stage as relative to “best.”
Or have you reached that state of exaltation where you really don’t have any worst moments, and everything always works out flawlessly? And if you have, where can I get the stuff you’re on? I’m badly in need of it (I have a gig tomorrow night.)
Bob in HI
donita at 28– “i don’t know what my worst stuff is”.
i know what your “worst stuff” is. it’s a little ditty called “lucky pierre”by an artist named travis alford. that L7 played at a benefit years ago. let’s just say that donita gave new meaning to the phrase “fuck shit up.”
just kidding, donita.
Jane Hamsher @ 36
What she left out is there wasn’t anything else to do,you can only walk on the beach so much,,.
Just kidding,glad she did.
DONITA!
glad you are back safe and sound!
You ROCK!
Busted
Ahh…one of the most incredibly expressive vocalists around…and she can play gueeeetar too. Carolyn Wonderland…amateur recording..but..wow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0zA4TM6tk
Norman Wagner @ 35
Republicans will try, but won’t sell their soul to win this election, preferring to try to just hang on and re-tool for 2012. R nominee will ultimately be the one who stinks the least. Giuliani is crazy and power-mad, Romney is soulless and power-mad, and…you get the drift. Huckabee is the wildcard on the R side, and he’s been building a little steamm lately. For the Democrats, Hillary has all the money and the support of big business-which is why we’ve never liked her. Obama fading, Edwards, stagnant, Dodd beginning to come on…eventual nominee not yet determined. Final call? A Democratic win in 2008…but not necessarily the better Democrat.
Hope this helps.
Donita Sparks @ 38
Hehe. Seriously, I admire that attitude – and envy it. I’d like to be able to let go, but I am almost pathologically shy.
Thanks for answering. :-)
Jane Hamsher @ 36
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DbaOFkC8tQE
mack @ 37
Wow. Today is the day of metareferences. While recuperating from minor surgery, I watched “Sunset Boulevard” for the first time. Billy Wilder directing Eric von Stroheim as a failed director set the tone. So inside Hollywood, so knowing, so apt.
Now Jane drops the Daft Punk/FDL bomb. Holy cow!
Hey Donita, what is the strangest sight you saw on the road between gigs? I know I’ve always managed to view some odd things on road trips like huge pink elephants outside liquor stores or other weird sights. Got anything good like that to report on?
Hi Donita, on your post last week, I offered to teach you some yoga postures for your injured back, only to find out that you had already passed through Toronto.
Do have our back checked by a recommended Physiotherapist or Chiropractor … prolonged pain only means that it is getting weaker.
bobschacht @ 43
Well, this may sound strange, but I’ve gotten pretty good at turning lemons into lemonade. Some of my “best” have morphed from my “worst”. However, sometimes there’s just no stopping a trainwreck no matter what you do. That’s where cocktails come in.
eric the great @ 44
I remember the benefit, but I don’t know what your reffering to other than that. Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to know.
Donita! Daft Punk good! FEMA bad!
CBS tagged the Fake FEMA News Conference just right: Heckuva Job!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2…..5517.shtml
you only got about half of the lyrics. there were a lot of pauses.
i love the new name of the band very elegant. did you consider any others? and why did you only recently change it?
eric the great @ 57
Oh god. Sounds uncomfortable. I don’t even remember that. I’m sorry you do. That’s showbiz!
Donita Sparks @ 54
Hear Hear !
My favorite clients are musicians and comedians. Their introspection brings forth
so much insight and wisdom, they are very highly evolved spiritually.
Keep it up Donita, it will keep you balanced no matter where life takes you !
Drat, the Huns are demanding dinner … hugs all around …
I watched Rosanna Arquette’s, “All We are Saying”, documentary last night. It was great…all about the road, etc.
My other most favorite doc is “The Last Waltz” about “The Band”.
Donita!! Congratulations on making it back in one piece…except the back, which I hope gets better..take Petrocelli’s advice…sounds like a gas, and I love the music selections you make.
yeah, that’s when you need some of that SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND technology to wipe memories like that away. same with that first L7 album, right?
does the jim carrey reference do anything for ya, donita? you should be able to cruise thru the weekend now.
Donita, did you make any youTubes on your tour?
Donita Sparks @ 53
You are so right. Mr. LS is a musician on the road a lot, and just remember, the audience almost never notices the little stuff. They are there to have fun and the cocktails…do help. One time he and a successful band he was in played a bunch of stuff off key and stuff on purpose…the audience never noticed….
tw3k @ 61
I didn’t, but I haven’t checked if any popped up from fans yet.
LS @ 62
That’s funny, I’ll have to try that. Well, I guess I don’t really have to try, comes naturally sometimes.
Donita Sparks @ 63
I saw a few this week
OMG…I’m laughing my donkeys off…this is the newest superstar bandmember of all time…you gotta watch it until the end…f’ing hillarious…that’s it…I believe in reincarnation:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N7IZmRnAo6s
there’s a whole mess of tunes on youtube. trust me.
Donita Sparks @ 64
707…best kind of music!!! You gotta check out the video I just posted!! Maybe you should hire “Snowball” too!!!
Donita Sparks @ 58
That’s what I meant. This is the only right way to deal with stuff like that, never let it drag you down.
WELCOME HOME, BABY!
*smoooooch*
I understand stage freight and all that, but I always thought that performers really needed to be in control of their performance. I kinda figured that performing in front of people was something that they liked.
In a theater that is dark you can’t even see the audience, but you know they are there. Same for TV. But wouldn’t you need to be comfortable with having lots of eyes on you? Isn’t that one of the reasons performers perform?
It’s the chaos that makes the art great…Duende.
LS @ 67
lmao that bird having too much fun!
LS @ 66
That was funny
LS @ 66
That was fantastic!
I loved the ending!! I gotta show that to my friends!
What was this tours ‘drink of preference’? For that matter, I’d love to see a songlist representing the tour van playlist…
Jess @ 76
Makes me think of England..and the “birds”…she/he shakes it all out at the end…Crazy fun!
I like this thread….tooooooo. I’m going back and forth.
if the fotos of dee and donita and one of donita’s comments are any indication, the drink of choice was vodka and soda.
OT: I answered a couple of questions to me down below. I guess I logged off too quickly – a bad cold doesn’t make me very chatty.
pwrye @ 77
Pabst during the show, Kettle, soda, splash of cranberry after the show.
Donita Sparks @ 82
Too many straight shots of whiskey with beer backs at the Portland show.
I couldn’t hit my ass with either hand.
Donita – do you ever play colleges or universities? If you do and do any tours in Upstate New York – my DH is the house operations manager at SUNY Binghamton at the Anderson Center. He treats his artists right.
God it’s so quiet here………
Jess @ 85
I came back downstairs…politics makes me pissed off, and it is Friday night!!
LS @ 86
Yeah, for god sakes Friday is s’possed to be fun!
Jess @ 87
I’m wich U!!!
Jess…it cannot possibly be just me and you here…folks…lurkers…chime in please!!! Play some music or something!!!
OKK…you out there????
Hello?
Hello?
Heelllooo???
Here
LS @ 89
I’ve got some music playing currently, a bit of Sheryl Crow, just some easy listening for now, ran outta hard rock to listen to for the rest of the night
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd I’m left here….hahahaha
Jess @ 94
Cheryl Crow is perfect. Apparently, just you and me and the rest of world….*g*
Now I’ve got Veruca Salt playing
Late to the party as usual. My daughter got to see Donita when she was in Baltimore. If you’re desperate for something to listen to, “Point One Two” at my myspace page as a kinda Sheryl Crow groove LOL.
I hope you have a great show donita !
xoxoxo
james from oregon
Hi Donita thanks for sharing your weary travels,although not for us. They’re exciting for us couch potatoes whose only travel is work, supermarket,and back home maybe 20 mins if we’re lucky enough not to commute.
Donita!!!!
It was incredible meeting you in Philly and then again,hanging out with you in NYC after the show!! It was such a good time that I even forgot to go back to the venue (Highline Ballroom) to say hi to The Donnas, really!!!LOL
Jessica & I are thinking about moving from NY
to West Hollywood,nothing really happens around here like in the 80’s anymore and you know that I am from Rio and being close to the beach it’s all I need…”I,I,I,I need”…lol
It would be great to see you and your great band performing again soon.
Many,many hugs and kisses for you!!!
Love,
Fabianne
long time fan first time commentor. it was great seeing and meeting you in Seattle. I can’t wait until the record comes out and the solo tour. If you need any help at all let me know.
Peace, Love, Empathy
Tobias