Rock Violinist Alyson Montez – On the Road with Lip Service!
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 by AnkhRockerV
Oct. 1, 2009
Wow, I can’t believe people actually find me interesting! First off, I want to thank Mich for the AWESOME announcement on the website – I was expecting my name and maybe a little picture, at the most :)
click for full size
Today was definitely a day when the cameramen would be plotting fake dramas to spice up the show, were I to have my own reality crew following me around. Highlights are as follows:
12 Noon
I show up at Lip Service’s bargain basement, after sitting in the parking lot called the Los Angeles freeway system for far longer than anyone should EVER be in traffic. Felt a little out of place walking in, as today was the first day of my new part time job teaching violin at an elementary school, and was thus carrying a giant violin case and dressed like… well, a school teacher.
Nonetheless, after narrowly escaping being trapped inside a pair of legging-like pants from the Psycho Circus Act III line, I walked out of the warehouse with the most awesome set of blue vinyl pieces for my show tomorrow night, a benefit for the Support the Troops organization, who sends care packages to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Riley - click for full size
2:08pm
I arrive at the elementary school I am to start teaching at. This school happens to be in a rough part of LA, and a famous home base for gangs, so understandably I’m a bit nervous.
So nervous, in fact, that when I see parents crowding the school’s lawn, watching intently for their offspring alongside a few police officers, and children being escorted out in single-file lines, I immediately panic and call the school to inquire if everything’s ok.
Too bad I forgot that 1)I’m teaching an after-school program and 2)there are quite often officers monitoring various aspects of public school workings, these days.
An awkward meeting with the school principal (who answered the phone moments before) ensues.
With Staci Starr and the beautiful Beth Corrigan!
5:13pm
My dog encounters a rock garden on our evening walk. I spend the next ten minutes trying to introduce him to the large rock in the center of said garden, as he scrambles to run, terrified, from the big scary rock.
10:34pm
Now, as I write this, my insane puppy (who often prefers playing games on his own) has thrown his current toy of choice under the couch and is frantically digging for it. Delicious vegan peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream is churning in the kitchen and I’m getting ready for a long weekend.
Band mascot (and drunken backup singer) Jimmy!
Oct. 3, 2009
I AM LOSING MY FUCKING MIND.
Before elaboration on that statement, our show on Friday night was AWESOME. We raised our goal of $500, and had a blast partying with some awesome people! Earlier that day, my amazing friend Laura Kaye came into town with her son, Elijah, on business with their company, Wood Violins (who I rep for). We recently picked up two new artists, Jesse Spencer (House) and (Smashing Pumpkins), two amazing musicians and all-around people, and Laura came down to personally present them with their instruments/see Jesse’s show tonight, with his band, Band from TV.
Back to my brain. I volunteer at an animal sanctuary, and, as of late, they’ve lost one of their three employees. All of the volunteers are back to school for the year, so I went from volunteer status to full-time employee, temporarily, as the other half of the staff is manning a booth at the LA County Fair.
Our amazing one-lady dance party, Coco Flynn! - click for full size
Breathe here.
I didn’t go in today thinking the other employee would be running the shop, so I could make a gig at 3:30pm and Band From TV at 9pm. Turns out, he didn’t know he was supposed to go in, and has class at 3pm. So, no one’s running the shop. Then, on my way to my gig, I find out I have the date wrong, it’s TOMORROW (and no one else can run the shop then either). I feel like Stuff Smith, one of the first electric violinists, who was said to have only been on time to a gig once – but was a week late!!!
However, I’ve only seen Laura and Elijah for a couple minutes so far, when they stopped by to get some presents from me (clothing, Universal Studios ticket/coupon, a LS catalog ;-P), and now I have time to go to dinner with them before Band From TV tonight!
Oct. 5
With "Dr. Chase" and Laura Kaye! - click for full size
So, first off, Band from TV was certainly not disappointing, and Jesse’s new Sabre violin sounded awesome – everyone kept complimenting him on his tone (and he was definitely not too shabby himself)! Laura was thrilled because, even though Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) wasn’t there, she got to meet hottie James Denton from “Desperate Housewives”!
Sunday was a blur of giggingness, as I played nearly 2 hours straight in 5 inch stiletto patent gladiator sandals on the marble stairs (with VERY uneven and ankle-breaking runners) of an enormous mansion in Beverly Hills. The staircase alone was most likely the square footage of my house!
As for today, at the animal sanctuary you meet some very interesting people.
Currently up for adoption in Sherman Oaks, CA :)
Last week, I had the pleasure of a seemingly homeless woman falling into the back door screaming, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!” That help, of course, was because she was completely insane and couldn’t calmly tell me that there was an infant squirrel in a box in her car (who I got to hold while being bottlefed later).
Or the guy who ran in, screamed, “KITTIES!!!”, ran out, then ran back in again to throw chicken nuggets at the cats before once again dashing off (yes, he was an adult).
Today, a Beverly Hills Bitch came in and demanded to know where all our dogs were. I informed her that we were split between the shop and the LA County Fair and were temporarily housing our animals in foster care, to which she replied, “Why don’t you just go to the pound and stock up on animals?”, as if they were merchandise. This led to her babbling to me and the dog: “What does it do? SIT. SIT. Why doesn’t it do anything?”
Pinchehuahua - click for full size
When I explained that she was hit by a car and couldn’t use her back leg and thus couldn’t sit, she commented on how animal sanctuaries were just so much more convenient for her than the pound, but how the Bel-Air animal sanctuary actually had GOOD animals, they must get top-of-the line pick, whereas we get the leftover “junk”. Fortunately for her, someone stepped in to tell her about all the pedigree animals we’ve rescued, as I probably would have otherwise strangled her with a leash until her fake boobs and Botox exploded. She then ran from a shop, as a cat had touched her (she’s afraid of them, even though she has one).
Tomorrow is the new job I dread, as my 5th grade violin students have a behavior level less mature than the 4 year old class I used to teach (of which one boy refused to take lessons without wearing a Superman muscle suit, which had a hole in the crotch, something he wished to point out quite often). Must prepare so I can go in tomorrow and take charge!
In closing, I leave you, dear readers, with the final event leading towards my dog’s official breed name becoming “Pinchehuahua” (“pinche” is Spanish slang, and translates roughly into a colorful adjective in the English language rhyming with “trucking”):
Thank you again to Alyson for letting us follow her around for the week!
Next week, On the Road with Stretch Fuck’n Jeans goes to Europe to hang out with Kevin Preston and Prima Donna, while they tour Green Day!
See you then!
