Diary
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The reason this diary has been so long in the making is because I didn’t know how to start it. Ok, there, I started it.

Travel Diary
Olympia Washington for Homo-a-gogo
September 26-29, 2002

Travel Companions:
Jenn Dagger - Um, that's me.
Sandrine Merhy – The Kitty Kill
Jen Chouinard – The Kitty Kill
Sara Seinberg – Spoken work extraordinaire
Jesse Zoldak – Secret Cock
Paige McBee - Writer
Snowy – Jesse’s Wire Fox Terrier

Tuesday September 24^th

I get out of work at 2pm. I decide I should probably start getting ready to go. We all are packing and I receive far too many phone calls from my travel companions asking how many pairs of underwear and socks should we bring. I loosen my strings so the pressure of the plane doesn’t kill my favorite bass, tape up the locks (a tip from chelseaonfire) and go to bed.

Wednesday September 25^th  6am

It’s still dark and I wonder if it’s really time to go or it’s one of those anxiety dreams where you wake up and get dressed ready to go to wherever you go and it’s actually like 3am and you forgot to brush your teeth. But, it really is time to go. I have FAR TOO MUCH luggage. In my defense one bag was merch.

We arrive in Seattle and picked up by Betsy Kwo of The Hollow Men. Her van was the most pimped van I’ve ever seen. It was like sitting on a really comfortable couch with leg room. It was a nice departure from airline seating which is less than friendly to us ladies of size.

Ok.. the Best Western in Olympia is totally excellent.  We arrived; got our room it was totally excellent. Ed Varga (organizer of Homo a gogo) recommends we go to this Thai restaurant and tells us that the spring rolls are the best thing on the menu. He was right. The Pad Thai was bright red. Jen C. buys a Cher wig.

We get our passes and see Hellhound and Oraia. The time difference is messing with us and it’s 9:30 but feels like a REALLY long day so we go back to the Best Western and call it a night.

Thursday September 26^th

The first official day of homoagogo.

The problem with traveling right to left is you get the time difference in the non-party direction. We’re all awake at 7am. The good part is we get the continental breakfast. We decide an afternoon nap is in order.

We finally go to check out the Capitol Theater. This place is totally amazing and I can’t believe we’re going to be playing there. We meet up with some friends and hang out in Olympia. After milling around a bit we take that nap and get ready for our show. Coincidentally we all have the same outfit, only in different sizes and fabrics. We decide no one will notice we have “outfits” and just go for it.

The show starts early around 8. We watch Madame Morte and Hot & Heavy. Both bands were really great. It was time for us to play. We’re the first band to have drums. So, with no sound check, we were pretty scared and it showed. Strangly enough we have no pictures of us playing. During the show Jesse yells "Nice matching outfits!" After a two song freak-out “I can’t hear anything.. .can you hear anything?” We relaxed and ended up having a good time. It was over quick and they were excellent at moving people on and off stage. Lost was: My pink cable I’ve had for 4 years and Sandrine loses her Capo.

     By the way, no matter what anyone says to you, the real scene at Homoagogo was outside the Capitol. It was so crazy. There was more amazing queers than I have ever seen in my life, anywhere.

We enjoy Sextional and The Gossip and then go to the B.W. for bedtime.

Friday September 27^th

Now our friends Sara, Jesse, Paige and Snowy are all at the B.W. We horrify the families enjoying the continental breakfast just by being there. This picture is me and Sara. We were all very homo-rific that weekend and I decided to be totally non-New England and hug freely.

The Limelight is a bar next to the Capitol Theater where a lot of the afternoon shows were. We saw Shemo who everyone LOVED. There was slow dancing.. it was totally excellent. We all got “I heart Shemo” pins. This picture taken by Sara Seinberg is the people watching SHEMO.

After the show we decided to go to the “Transgender Afternoon.” It was a couple of shorts and other films. It was really wonderful and exciting to see how many people were there.

We saw great shorts that I cannot remember the names of. A hysterical film called “Trans Animals” that I really recommend. And then a tremendously moving film by Seth Kirby and Adrian Paz about their medical transitioning. The filmmakers spoke after the watching the film and said they didn’t really know if they were going to send it to film festivals or anything, but if you get the chance to see it, you really should. It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever seen.

It’s naptime again as the time difference STILL hasn’t caught up for us. We find that we want to eat dinner at like 2pm.

We’re really excited about tonight’s show.

We get there in time to see Lip Kandy who rocked! Their drummer bowed out at the last minute and had practiced for one hour with Ed Varga and totally sounded like they had been practicing for months. I was impressed.

Tara Jane O’Neil was also great. Letta Neely is from Boston and never stops impressing me. She’s really great. It’s amazing after bands people can still quiet down and listen to her. She’s that good.

We were hanging out at the Limelight where we met a woman with a Mohawk who got a homoagogo tattoo. She said I looked “bored” when we were playing last night and was shocked that I was “nice.” We get back in time for Tracy & the Plastics. Holycrapola. She has her shit together. It was so awesome. The Capitol had this huge screen and compared to other times I’ve seen T & P, it was so much bigger.

Oh my God.. we’re doing what? The Boston favorite K’Vetsh hit Olympia.. from 2-4 am that is.

The lovely and talented Sara Seinberg and her friend Sash Sunday were the hosts. It was definitely one of the more crazy things I’ve ever seen. Ok, I love International Superdiva Cookie LaWhore. There was this whole act where she was trying to “look butch” and convinced a lesbian to get NAKED and Cookie got NAKED and swapped clothes. All I have to say is I was totally unprepared to see a penis. Paige McBee and I covered our faces and kept repeating “holy shit.”

Jesse did a great Neil Young cover, the claim around town was it was sung to Sara every morning of homoagogo, but unfortunately we were in different rooms so I cannot confirm this. Paige read and was totally amazing and moving. She’s really great and you should come see her when she hosts K’vetsh in Boston with Sara. Finally we saw Jody (Team Dresch, Family Outing etc.), Donna Dresch and Sash dressed up as tractor pull dudes. They were doing a cover of something, but  I can't remember what it was. It was hysterical.

End of another long, wonderful day. Time to rest up for tomorrow.

Saturday September 28^th

Another enjoyable morning of hanging out and walking around Olympia. The time change is finally setting in and we miss the continental breakfast. Jen   leaves to hang out in Seattle.

We head to the limelight to see Boy Pussy USA and Pom Pom Meltdown. Both bands do not disappoint. It’s a more laid back day and we spend it mostly hanging around with friends and resting up for the evening show.

Tonight is an emphasis on Spoken Word and our friend Sara Seinberg is reading. First up is this totally hysterical comedy thing with Tara Jepsen & Beth Lisick. Kate Bornstein who was so unbelievably great everyone sat quietly for an hour. Ok, I have to admit.. I went outside after Kate and was glued to the Kissing Booth. The kissing booth was one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. They had these great chants like, “what the heck it’s just a peck” and “it’s cheaper than beer and it’s queer.” There was a blonde woman who was getting all the play, but they were all so cute! 50 cents for a peck and $1 for tongue. They can try to deny it, but I also saw a teabag for $3. We’re from New England, we’re not used to stuff like this.

Our friend Sara Seinberg. What can I say about her? We went right to the front so we could take embarrassing pictures of her and scream to her… unfortunately she was unphased and very professional. It’s so amazing to me that people can get up in front of people and just read. Like public speaking only SO MUCH WORSE because the people you’re talking to you actually care about. She pulled it off effortlessly and looked smashing to boot.

I first met Eileen Myles when the kitty kill played at a K’Vetsh when she was reading. I had read “Cool for You” and never thought I’d MEET her. She did a great job. As if this evening wasn’t enough we saw the lovely and talented Nomy Lamm and Tribe 8.

Sunday September 29^th

Since we don’t know when we’ll be on the left coast again, Sandrine and I decide to forgo the last day of homoagogo and head to Seattle. The Greyhound is a very very scary thing. The guy sitting next to me had a book on Turkey (the country not the animal) that he was furiously scribbling and using post-its and a highlighter. He was going to lay the smackdown on that country if it killed him. Luckily he got off in Tacoma and Sandrine and I got to sit together for the rest of the ride.

I’m not really one to talk trash, so I won’t name names. But, we went to an unnamed Hostel. It was so nasty and dirty I almost died. It was SO BAD that we decided to suck up the reservation fee and go to a hotel. That says a lot. We end up staying right by the space needle.

Luckily on the way to Seattle we were reading an Olympia newspaper and saw an ad for Sleater-Kinney playing in Seattle. We got tickets. The Quails opened, who I had never heard before but were totally excellent. Sleater-Kinney is so great. I loved their show so much.

Monday September 30^th

Sandrine and I are the biggest tourists in the universe. I wear my camera around my neck for effect. Here’s a picture of the curb I fell over while looking up at the Space Needle. Thanks to the guy that said “Uh, be careful” as I’m laying with my ass in the air on concrete. Whateves. Ok, not to be a perv. but do schoolgirls realize that they look ridiculous? Here's a picture of about 1/8 of the schoolgirls in the Public Market.

We take each other’s pictures on the monorail.. see the fleet of schoolgirls at the Public Market that sends us into hysterics and eat a $50 lunch on the pier. Ok, so we’re addicted to “Third Watch.” We both love the show. So, we head back to our hotel, do our laundry, order pizza and watch Third Watch. That Bosco man, he’s a fox….

Tuesday October 1^st

The cheapest way to the airport is a TOWNCAR. Yeah.. I know. We get there.. meet up with Sara, Jesse and Snowy and head home. I’m afraid to fly. So I was not amused when the captain said “If you look out your left window you’ll see a large part of Montana. We’re 36,000 feet up and it’s beautifully clear.” Yeah.. 36,000 feet is a lot. Let’s keep it to ourselves. I curse myself for not paying the $5 to watch Men In Black II to distract myself and try to take a nap. Before you know it we’re in Boston again and it’s FREEZING.