a·lign·ment (noun) -- the arrangement into appropriate relative positions, the route or course of a road, a position of agreement or alliance..
A few days ago, I packed up a week’s worth of clothes, a sleeping bag, a hammock, and my trusty guitar, and I got on The Bus.
By ‘The Bus’ I don’t mean MUNI or Greyhound or MegaBus. And I don’t mean any kind of campaign bus, and I don’t mean Kesey’s Further, nor the latter-day-hippie-mobile that parked in co-op’s lot Junior year of college, unleashing night after night of musky drum circles until they finally left.
By The Bus, I mean the big, blue, Splendor All Around.
Wiley bought Splendor two summers ago because he saw a broke-down schoolbus that had become a piece of furniture in the desert and realized he had to have one. He and his friends found a big, electric blue school bus, rennovated it, and named it after a song Elliot wrote after poem by David Lynch. Yes, the Twin Peaks/Mulholland Drive/Eraserhead guy. The song, which is not the bus’ anthem, is titled “Deep Deep Darkness” and it goes like this.
The current bus crew is Derek Clatterbuck (Oil Derek), James Wallace (Skyway Man), Wiley Rogers, Angela Cieslewitz and her fiddle, and me, Rosie Cima. Pretty soon we’re going to meet up with Pancho Morris and his band the Sweet Peas, as well as Millie Mason, Mikayla McVeigh, Molly Sarle, and more. You can find out more about almost all of us here.
As for our route, we started in Oakland, are going down the coast to San Diego, Los Angeles, Joshua Tree, and back home to the bay. The tour schedule is posted here. We’re extra excited about the Topanga Canyon Festival on 10/23. We’ll post more about it soon. A lot of the events are private, so we can’t post the Facebook page publicly, but reach out if you’re interested we’ll hook you up with details. (And if you know of somewhere between Joshua Tree and the Berkeley that we should play on 10/27, definitely let us know.)
I’m in charge of the ShipLog for the next couple weeks, and will be posting regularly. I’ve known these guys for a little over a year and while it’s Splendor’s fourth tour, it’s my first. I’m here for a couple reasons: I love singing my songs for people, I love seeing live music, especially performed by my friends. Also, I’ve been freelancing as a journalist for most of this year, and there isn’t much point in going through the hassle of being your own boss if you don’t give yourself frequent vacations. Especially if you have an opportunity to do something like this.
I’m not trying to be the Jack Kerouac of buses. I’m writing this blog to keep our friends and family up-to-date as best I can, and because the guys think we should be generating “content." And as a journalist that’s something people think I can do for them.
So here, have some content. And welcome, to the Splendor 2016 Alignment Tour.