We’ll get to that Elvis part in a bit...
LoveBomb Go-Go’s first full-length tour has not been dull... (spoiler alert: radical understatement). Adven-chaah is one of the band’s main credos and the Spring Space Attack Tour has been all that and more.
The music is the main thing, as always, and LBGG has been fortunate to participate in some totally awesome music events and perform in very cool (and very unique) venues.
Speaking of unique, the band’s first gig on the tour was at the CIA—the California Institute of Abnormalarts. This venue is like walking into a macabre fun house, or a museum to the freaky and unusual. One of the owners is a collector of said weird stuff, and the place is full of things he has found, including 3 preserved bodies of magicians, fortune tellers and the like!
Mixed into all of that are several looping video feeds of vintage bands from Bowie to The Sweet, set amid dark red velvet curtains. We loved it and felt right at home!
From LA, we headed to Tempe, which had an opposite bright and sunny feel. The city’s live music initiative via Downtown Tempe hired us to LoveBomb the local citizens on two different street corners and we did our duty forthwith!
We followed that up with a fun gig at Fat Tuesday’s, right on the main drag of Mill Avenue.
Next was Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza and a performance in the gazebo, preceded by a grocery replenishment at the local Trader Joe’s. We handed out some flyers for our upcoming performance at the El Rey Theater in Albuquerque, which we hit on our return flight. Check out our interview in the Albuquerque Journal here.
And then the fun really began…
A couple of hours outside of Albuquerque we had a full-on collision with a stray cow on a dark two-lane highway. Sadly the cow did not survive the hit (a bus like ours weighs more than 14 tons when it's full of people), but we are certain the end was instant. The impact was big enough to send the cow flying about 220 feet off to the side of the road, and also big enough to completely destroy the bus’ radiator, which exploded in a loud hissing noise.
Nebuchadnezzar and its contents (us) were then stranded on the road—directly on the road-- for several hours while local officials lined up a tow truck large enough to pull it, and a garage able to do the repairs. We were in the middle of ranch land and the bus eventually got towed a full hour!
Officials also had to wake up the mayor of one of the nearby small towns so that he could approve the use of their Senior Center Van to pick up the 17 LoveBomb Go-Gotians stranded on the highway. We’re here to tell you that it gets cold at 3:00 AM in New Mexico!
We then spent almost 48 hours in the town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico while our spaceship got repaired. Santa Rosa has a total population of about 2700—if you include the 600 inmates in the local prison…
We spent the time swimming in the Blue Hole, a famously deep water hole where divers practice, and drinking margaritas. That latter activity took place in Joseph’s, a local restaurant and bar, owned by… you guessed it, Joseph—who also happens to be Santa Rosa’s mayor.
It was after our time in Joseph’s that some of our band members, Matt, Maya, Randy, Emily, Melody, and driver Kevin found themselves being followed by an adorable part-husky stray puppy. Nearby shopkeepers told them that the dog had been running around for several days and did not know who he belonged to.
The pup was promptly named Tecate With Lime, fed and given a bath. He spent the night in the America’s Best Value Inn, where some of the band were staying, with plans to find a home for him the next day.
Our Karmic duty was clear! Take a life (cow) and save one (puppy).
In the morning, while having breakfast at Joseph’s, band members Mars, Wendy, Matt, and Kevin found a new home for the pup, but just as we were about to complete the transaction, the sister of the dog's actual owner showed up for her server’s shift at the restaurant and recognized him. Raphael (the dog’s true name) was reunited with his family, to mixed feelings by some of us who thought the little guy might really belong in Portland…
The community’s newspaper editor, ME Sprengelmeyer, after interviewing us on our final day, informed us that we were actually not the first band whose bus broke down near Santa Rosa. The King suffered a similar bus break-down many years ago and shacked up in the same hotel we had (different name back then)!
Tenor sax player, Shampton, ordained this entire chain of events to be Bovine Intervention of the highest degree!
The bus was finally fixed and declared to be fit for travel after a test drive, with a brand new radiator and jury-rigged headlight. Unfortunately we did have to cancel our two gigs in New Orleans.
But we were grateful that we could make it to Honk!TX in Austin and even perform in the benefit, an event we previously could not schedule.
For those not familiar, the Honk! festivals are the place where Brass is king. This one had more than 25 bands attending, including the first-ever band from outside the country, our talented new friends, Perhaps Contraption, who hail from London.
LoveBomb Go-Go performed 6 different times at this event, and marched in the festival’s final parade on Sunday. In the middle of all that, we also find time to busk in the cool downtown area and performed at a rad new bar, Dozen Street!
We’re grateful for the amazing organizational skills of the Honk! staff, in particular Jason Fialkoff, and for our brave hostess, Anita Prewett, who opened up her home to an insane number of musicians and band staff members, and even made us coffee (the good kind) and fed us breakfast tacos! Anita, you are the best!
From Austin we headed off to a show in Galveston, and the Adven-chaah continues! Stay tuned for more on that.
Oh, and say a prayer to the Bovine Gods and Goddesses in our names for clear highways ahead…