The Midwest, People.
I didn’t think I really had a draw in Nebraska and Iowa but the people came out. I wouldn’t say it was a huge draw but it was plenty. Averaging about 500-650 a show. Good people. My people. We all knew who we were and why we were there and how special we all were. We knew it was probably all of us in the area.
Midwestern airports are an experience. It’s not even like time travel. It’s just its own thing. You could even miss the Lincoln Airport if you weren’t paying attention. I’m talking about when you fly in. Was that it? Is this it? Again, not a judgement, a surprise. Oddly, I experienced more chaos renting a car in Lincoln than anywhere in my life. Mild chaos, manageable drama.
I can’t tell you the whole story here but because of some miscommunication and some actual issues including bad smells. I walked back and forth from the counter to the cars four times with three sets of keys before getting a car. We drove off the lot and the engine oil light came on. Eventually we went back and got another car. The one we were supposed to have initially. Long story. Maybe I’ll tell it on the show.
I usually use Hertz but most of the companies seem to make it very difficult to rent cars to return in another state. I get it, they’re out of cars. They sold them all to stay solvent. Now, they can’t get new ones easily. Fine. They don’t want you to take them away forever to be lost in the vast national ecosystem of wayward rented cars unless the car is already in that cycle. Slowly making its way home, maybe.
I had been to Lincoln once before and had reconnected with an old friend of mine who was drifting off the deep end. He was sort of a poetic drunk character in the comedy scene back in the ‘90s who went on to become an anti-Semitic farmer. Interesting transition. I couldn’t get any info on his condition other than it was worse and he may have no place to sell his vegetables anymore. Nebraska.
The Rococo Theater in Lincoln is a unique old place. It was dinner club seating and a kind of distant vibe sound wise but it felt special.
Driving from Lincoln to Des Moines was a straight shot and actually very beautiful in a farmland kind of way. There was some heavy weather. Rain dumping out of the sky to the point where it was almost impossible to drive. Exciting. Climate change.
Des Moines was surprising. The theatre had a pop to it and the audience was totally game. Felt alive and exciting.
Iowa City was hopping with college kids. None of whom came to see me. I seem to find the same types of folks wherever I go. They need the funny I contain. The Englert is a sweet little theater and the staff was great. The crowd was very engaged to the point of an intimacy that one woman took as a one-on-one conversation with me. We dealt with it. She felt heard.
Writing this as I am trying to get back home. Tough travel day. My back is fucked. Too many different beds and cars and airplanes, I think.
Today I talk to Andrew Garfield. We talk acting and England and sadness and grief. On Thursday I talk to S.G. Goodman about her amazing songs and albums and being an out person in rural Kentucky and OCD. Great talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monday and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
Manageable Drama.
