After a selection of donuts for breakfast and a missed turn that added twenty minutes to the drive time (could I have simply turned around in one of the driveways we passed? Yes, yes I could have), we were on our way to Asheville! It was a gorgeous drive – the mountains were breathtaking. The twists and turns going through them, however, were not my favourite. By which I mean that by the time I recognized just how tense I was, I was actively telling myself to breathe and stop gripping the wheel so tight. I pulled over at the next exit I could after that, with my doctor’s question of “why are you doing this to yourself” echoing in the back of my mind. I didn’t need to push through. Take away: take the break, listen to your body!
Despite that: really, it was a gorgeous drive and felt fitting to be half-listening to Old Gods of Appalachia (one day I’ll catch up, maybe it’ll even be this year).
There was a slight misunderstanding in Asheville about what the merch setup was going to be, which meant I got to setup our table three whole times! At first I understood we had a table to ourselves, then it was communicated we were splitting it, and then we each had our own tables again. My relieved “oh thank god,” got a laugh – condensing down to half a table had been tough. Urban Heat’s got a lot of different merch offerings!
Despite this, still managed to get the shirt inventory done before soundcheck was over! That was a point of pride for me. We were set to run out of The Tower and Sanitizer shirts before tour’s end and, in the case of The Tower, before my run with them was over. To compensate, we broke out some older shirt designs and, in the process, learned one of them had been rolled up with packing tape.
For your knowledge, dear reader, packing tape leaves behind a sticky residue on material.
We weren’t sure we would be able to get the residue off, and so that design didn’t go out. The Shirts, also became a project.
Asheville’s show was at Grey Eagle (which in the wake of Helene has been offering aid when able), and it had a great merch area. It was a cool venue! Had wonderful interactions with people here, and this show took the prize for people giving us the most stickers.
One of my favourite things about the venue is that the stage is around the corner and towards the back of the venue – this means it is significantly quieter by the merch area, and that I didn’t need to shout at people to be heard across the table. That’s great – can’t express what a victory it is to be able to speak with people at a normal volume. Our placement is also a thing of beauty, as everyone coming into the venue needs to walk past all three merch tables in order to get to the stage. We have a lot of people stopping on their way in to browse, and then stopping back on their way out at night’s end to make their purchases!
Another perk is the comfortable bench seat that’s at my back, where I spend as much time as possible sitting and getting bites of my dinner in between people coming up to buy things. More than one person tells me (insistently) to keep eating, and when Pax comes out at one point to join me, takes over merch for a bit so I can (finally) finish eating.
It’s only been three days but I’ve learned “did you eat today” is the number one way everyone across the three crews is checking in with one another. It’s cute, and I appreciate the care in it. Also? It’s day three and I have had to radically shift how I’m approaching getting food – the plan I had in mind going into tour did not hold up at all. The new plan? Find a breakfast place I can order in from, and place an order immediately upon waking up as breakfast is the only meal I’m guaranteed to have in a day.
Asheville is also the show where I realise I’ve forgotten my perscription painkillers – used to allow me to be functional during menstruation – in Canada. When not gobbling up food like the gremlin I am, I’m white knuckle gripping the merch table in order to stay upright. It isn’t great. But this brings a whole other line of questioning into my head. Namely, how the hell are menstruating people – especially performers – busting their asses up on stage when dealing with this. I knew going into tour that I’d be at this time in my cycle, but hadn’t totally wrapped my head around what that meant in terms of energy and pain management when constantly on the go, getting 4ish hours of sleep ona good night, and not having regular meals while smiling my way through cramps that have me gripping the table for dear life so that I can stay upright.
Despite my insides feeling like they want to become my outsides, I had a great time at the Asheville show. While merch was consistently busy, I still had enough time to have great conversations with a variety of people that have stuck with me even six months later. I’m not great with names, but Alina and Sharpy were particular wonderful to chat with, and it’s great when they stop by again on their way out. At the very end of the night, I compliment someone on their necklace and they share with me it’s their cat’s ashes – I hope our conversation about pets and loss and memory mean as much to them as it did to me.
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That’s all for this week! Until next time, stay cozy, and if you want to join your companions around the cauldron, signup for email updates below!
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