Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
In our last chapter, the stress has been getting to Elisabeth. It doesn’t seem to be bothering Eric, though. We’ve sped through the tour, and done New England and the southeast part of the country. We’re heading to Virginia to catch the next part of their journey.
They’re certainly dedicated to the tour. Sleeping at a friend of a friend’s giving their all at events with small crowds and even short time on stage because they didn’t know they were part of an open mic night. There’s also the fourth wall break advice segments on how to prepare for the tour and act during events. I’m not going on tour anytime ever but for someone who is this is good advice from someone who went and did it. Lucky for those of me not touring anytime ever (the grammar’s on purpose), the segments are still interesting enough to read for a bit of trivia thanks to the presentation.
So how will…well, did Pocket Vinyl handle the next leg of the journey? Let’s check in with them and see.
The next few shows fly by as the comic goes. They meet up with friends, one venue they couldn’t sell the painting because there wasn’t much of an audience, so they auctioned it online and one of their friends from Connecticut won. Minor stories of things going better, including a very relaxing day where they got to see the giant peanut and a replica of a group of texocotil warriors like you’d see in China. It’s all very pleasant and Elizabeth especially needed this.
It’s also the first time I can clearly tell who the narrator is as Elizabeth talks about her decision making process for what to paint, basing things on state animals, flowers, and other symbols for whatever state their in. One winner got lucky that Elizabeth chose manatees for her art piece, the winner’s favorite animal. At another venue we see just how much of a cat person Elizabeth is when she sees a bunch of stray cats. Anything happens to Eric, I know she’s becoming the crazy cat lady. 🙂
Alabama hits another rough patch. They play a cigar lounge but going through the smoking area they seem to hit every racist, sexist, and all those other things the internet likes to call social opposition. To be fair, we are seeing this from their bias and recalling past events, so judge as you will based on your own biases, but I’d be uncomfortable around this crowd and I’m more conservative than our storytellers. Luckily they weren’t at the show…though unluckily nobody shows up until near the end. As they were leaving they had fun imagining that they actually saw their Connecticut license plate and just wanted to mess with the “yankees” since they got hit with so much of it in five minutes. I can’t stand cigarette smoke, never mind cigar smoke, due to my sinuses. I’ve never been into those places in Connecticut (and it doesn’t sound like their normal venue, either), nor have I been to Alabama. (I do have extended family down there as my dad grew up in New York but that was after the family moved from Alabama. Then they came to Connecticut so I could exist. We all make mistakes.) I can confirm or deny nothing, but it doesn’t sound like the best bunch of people.
What is nice is that Eric pulls over as they’re leaving, telling Elizabeth that if she feels unsafe at a venue to let him know. The record, unofficial or otherwise, isn’t as important as her feeling safe. He also checks on her during the set-up. That’s a good husband and performance partner.
After a quick check-in with the cat sitter wondering how the cats use the litter box so much, we’re back to our duo as they spend the night at a friend’s house. They must have friends all over the country, plus they still have hotel points donated by someone they met during last chapter’s leg of the tour. If it wasn’t for Alaska and Hawaii I’d recommend getting an RV next time. Mr. Periwinkle is a nice car from what we see but at least it would be the same bed every night. That could just be me, though.
Eric develops a cough, possibly a cold. This leads into a multipage section on getting sponsors for their tour, including a noodle company Eric uses to help his throat and a guy who worked for Rode, one of the top microphone companies, because he liked their work. They go over how to get and professionally work with sponsors like the ones they had for their tour. It’s a good addition…but it looks like Eric’s cough is leading into the next chapter. A cough for a cliffhanger. That’s different.
Next time we see if the singer can get through the next part of the tour with a bad throat and whatever pitfalls befel Pocket Vinyl on this trip. I have to keep reminding myself to go past tense on that since this is a record of actual events that already happened. The review, however, waits for the future to continue.
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