Unconventional Tour: Austin

We arrived in Austin just in time to set up, after our night in Tulsa last night. As soon as we finished our show in Tulsa, we drove 100 miles, got up in the a.m. to close the distance...... There's little time to upload video or write... After unloading equipment from the truck, setting it up, playing, talking, listening, breaking down the equipment, loading the truck, it feels like we've moved house 4 times in one day. I'm not sure people understand the effort that goes into presenting a show like this. We all wear so many hats, and we must switch gear from roadie, techie, organizer to performer, speaker, presenter, merchandiser, and hope that no one gets hurt, nothing gets lost, be vigilant, and yet hopefully, have some fun ourselves....

We have now dubbed this "Unconventional 2008: Making Friends Tour". Perhaps the Making Waves Tour is just the little drop of the pebble in the water, and there will be a ripple effect outwards. Perhaps we might inspire someone else to do the same, do it better. I have dubbed it the "Tour of Faith". We started with little money, and at each stop we hope to make money to get to our next destination. We don't have corporate sponsors; we had a couple of small donations before we began. There was no reserve, nothing to fall back on. We proceeded because we had gotten an enthusiastic response from various organizers and organizations.

.After the show in Austin, we're in a Motel 6 (courtesy of one of the organizers) after a really great evening at Ruta Maya. Jack Blood spoke to the audience which was the core of the finest of Austin organizers and activists. The big question on this tour has become, "Do people care?" Most of our audiences have been the hard core organizers, people who care.

Since we'll be on the road for 2 days, on our way to Albuquerque, the footage from tonight, which includes a fantastic program from Three Shoes Posse, The Away Team, and the Free Speech segment....Check back later to see video clips from tonight and from Tulsa..... More hours in the truck tomorrow...