As much as I hate to admit it, touring really takes it out of you. Whether you’re the band on tour or you’re just a crazy fan, its really exhausting to be in a different city (and sometimes different time zone) every night. At the same time touring is exhilarating, exciting, and fun. But by the time the Birmingham show rolled around, I was sad that it was my last show and all at once happy to know I was going to be heading home, sleeping in my own bed and generally just recovering.

Heading from Atlanta to Birmingham, however, was perhaps my favorite drive. Not only did we gain an hour since Birmingham is in a different time zone but it’s only two hours to travel from Atlanta to The Bottle Tree Café in Birmingham. So, after leaving The Earl in Atlanta we were actually able to sleep for more than 3 hours and for the first time since I’d headed out on my grand adventure beginning in Buffalo we ate a real meal.

That’s right. We actually went to a restaurant, sat down, ordered from a menu and had food brought to us. Not take out. Not fast food. Actually real food that was cooked on a grill. And that’s why I’m thankful for Waffle House. Just across the street from our hotel was a Waffle House and while Christine and I had never been to a Waffle House (they don’t exist in New England), Tony promised that it was worth stopping. So we headed to the nearest Waffle House and partook in one of the biggest breakfasts I’ve had in forever. We were so amused by the amount of food that had taken over the table that we had to take a photo of this disgusting display. About an hour later, we’d cleared away most of the food and were back on the road, heading west to Alabama.

I’d never been to Alabama before and the drive there was relatively uneventful. It was simple to find and the venue was even easier to find. I was surprised, however, to see just how depressed of a region Bottle Tree Café was in. Smack in the middle of miles of warehouses was this small club with a bus parked out back. Yes, this was the place. The Donnas were there but even if the band was there and we were there, we couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else would make it to the show. In such a deserted, run-down area we were fearful that the crowd would be virtually non-existant. And since, as Allison Robertson confided in North Carolina, the band had never played Birmingham we had no way of gauging possible audience turnout.

Since we found the club we set out to find a hotel. To my foolish recommendation, we stayed at an America’s Best Value Inn and Suites. I’d stayed in one in Atlanta earlier in the year when I saw The Donnas at The Compound and it had been a fairly clean and cheap hotel. I suspected that this hotel would be no different. But after registering and unloading our luggage from the car we discovered that the hotel was…well a place to sleep. We had a fridge and a microwave but we also had a inch-wide gap between the door and the door jamb. The air conditioner smelled gross and a few minutes later, we saw Tony changing rooms because his was not clean. Well, we just needed a place to shower and sleep, right?

Now with a hotel in place, we took some time to relax. Christine wandered around the block for a bit, discovering a liquor store open on a Sunday. In Connecticut, its illegal to sell alcohol on Sunday so we were pleasantly surprised when she came back with Jack Daniels’ hard lemonade. She parked under a palm tree for a bit (yes, there are palm trees in Birmingham.) while Tony and I made plans to pick up a farewell gift for the girls. After recovering for a bit, we piled back into my car and headed for the nearest Walmart with intentions of picking up a few pounds of Blow Pops (The Donnas are candy junkies and its not unusual to see them eating lollipops. They’re really just big children…) We raided the candy aisle picking up our Blow Pops and then spotted a spider web clear trick-or-treat bag. We knew Maya would love the bag and grabbed it. But just below the display of bags were several boxes of glow stick necklaces.

We know the girls love toys and were certain they would enjoy glow sticks. Tony and I searched through the boxes for purple glow sticks but discovered that unless it was blue, orange, green, or pink we were out of luck. We opted for pink, figuring that it was close to purple (a la Purple Feather Records) and the girls would be happy with the novelty regardless of the color. The glow sticks came in packages of 3 and we picked up a package for each band member and headed off to the checkout counter.

With our gifts in hand, we found a Wendy’s and grabbed some food before heading back to the hotel to gather our tickets and cameras so we could hit the show a few hours before doors. Tony and I scrawled a note on the tag attached to the bag and filled it with the Blow Pops and glow sticks and a bottle of Exxxtra Hot Maya hot sauce that I’d swiped from the table at The Earl because of the name. When we saw it, we immediately thought of Maya and figured she’d like it just because it was Exxxtra Hot Maya. We’re dorks like that.

At Bottle Tree Café, we parked the car and headed around back to the bus. In a perfect world, we hoped to be able to bid our farewells to all the bands and give The Donnas our parting gift before the show. We sat on the sidewalk for a bit, chatting with members of American Bang and waited and waited and waited some more for The Donnas. They came out of the club one at a time but hurriedly so. We decided not to bother them. But soon it was getting close to doors opening and we needed to unload the bag. We caught Jaren from American Bang and asked if he could find Maya for us. A few minutes later, Maya came out all smiles and burst into a bigger smile when she surveyed the goodies we’d gathered for them. We chatted with the awesome bass player for a few moments before she admitted that she needed to “go get drunk” and we headed around front to get in line.

We only stood in front of the club for five minutes before an employee of the club invited us to come inside and hit the bar. Not being one to turn down an early entry offer, we pulled out our IDs and tickets and were ushered inside. Since it was the last night of our tour, Tony and I stopped by the merchandise table to bid farewell to Roland, The Donnas’ merchandise guy who’d been so awesome to us throughout the trip. While we were chatting we caught a few other Donnaholics we’d known from previous shows and from the fan club message board and we got caught in conversation with Donita Sparks who expressed her disappointment that this was our last show. She’d gotten used to seeing us front and center over the past week.

As we stood chatting we noticed Allison Robertson come out into the bar area and to our surprise she was sporting one of the glow sticks we’d brought them around her head. We were even happier to see that the pink glow sticks were glowing purple. Excellent. We said farewell to Roland and headed off to the bar ourselves. By this time Allison had rejoined the party going on in the back and we had immersed ourselves in the world of Donnaholics, chatting with first-time show-goers and longtime Donnaholics. The funny thing about all this is that if you caught me at any other show I might not be as friendly as I am at a Donnas show. Sure, I was drinking Jack and Coke at the time, but there’s something about being at a Donnas show. I’m always really happy to talk to other fans and tell them whatever knowledge I’ve gained through my travels. Donnaholics and Donnas fans are like no other group. Honest.

We chatted and laid claim to our spots the best we could (Bottle Tree Café sports a movie screen in front of the stage which prohibits you from watching the bands set up and in some cases prohibits you from seeing the band come on stage. It truly is a stupid idea.) I soon discovered my cup empty and headed back to the bar. Time to switch over to Budweiser – the true beer of Donnas fans everywhere. While I waited for the bartender I noted Torry Castellano standing at a far corner of the bar. She, like Allison, was also sporting a glow stick around her head. I paid my tab and headed her way. We talked for a few minutes and she thanked me for the glow sticks and Blow Pops. I told her it was the last show of my tour and she frowned (perhaps the first time I’ve ever seen her frown aside from her failed attempts on record covers. She’s just too bubbly in person to actually frown.) and promised that they would rock extra hard for me that night. I thanked her, wished her a great show and headed back to my spot in front of Allison Robertson’s microphone stand just in time for American Bang to start their set.

The bands must have all known that it was my last night of the tour. Jaren from American Bang spent a good amount of time singing in my direction and I caught Neil nodding in my direction an awful lot. And as Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments took the stage, Donita spent most of the show singing to me (not to get a big head but if you look at some of the video shot from this show, it’s obvious.) And even when the Donnas took the stage, Torry pointed at me before they started the set, got a huge grin on her face and proceeded to rock our faces off.

The Donnas came on stage complete with glow sticks. Torry sported one around her head, Maya had several stuck in the headstock of her bass, and Brett wore one around her neck. The only one sans glow stick was Allison and I assume thats because she moves too much on stage for it to stay put. Truly the simple things make them happy and that in turn makes me happy.

For the first time, we were actually a part of the show. Brett Anderson and Torry noted that there were a few of us modeling their merchandise in the front row and thanked us. Maya Ford told her joke of the night, “What time is it?” she screamed into her microphone. “Miller time!” I yelled right back only to have “Hell yeah! That’s right!” come back from her direction. And when the band came out for their encore, Torry stopped dead in front of us, doing her usual “are you guys loud enough” routine before pointing at Tony and I, sporting the huge Torry grin and throwing devil horns in our direction. And Brett dedicated “Let’s Go Mano!” to Tony and I, “long-time fans who’ve been rocking in the front row every night.” When Torry had told me that they were going to rock extra hard I didn’t think it was possible. I was wrong. They rocked my face off -again. It’s still somewhere in Birmingham. I haven’t gotten it back yet.

After the show, we went around back to the bus and met another Donnas fan (but also an L7 fan). We hung out with Donita Sparks, Dee Plakas, and Alan the Italian Santalessa for a bit, taking photos and generally just shooting it. They were sad to hear that we were heading out. Donita asked if she would see us in Dallas and gave us huge hugs when we said that, no, we actually had to go home. Our tour was over. Donita Sparks is a true rockstar and couldn’t have been nicer to us the whole tour.

Not too much later, the guys from American Bang came by to say farewell. They knew it was our last show and we got hugs from Jaren. If you ever get the chance to see American Bang perform live, do it. If you get the chance to talk to them, do that as well. They’re super nice guys and were an absolute blast to talk with and rock with for those eight nights.

And I can’t say it enough, though we only caught the girls for some 15 seconds after the show, if you have the opportunity to see The Donnas, go. Rock out and don’t forget to scoop your face up off the floor before you leave. It’ll be down there. Seriously. Not only are they one of the best ROCK bands around but they are probably the nicest ladies you’ll ever have the privilege of standing next to. I mean in that in the most sincerest way possible.

But the tour was over, we headed back to our hotel for a few hours of sleep before Christine and I parted ways with Tony who was going to catch a plane back to Kentucky. We had a long drive back to Connecticut and even longer to go before we could fully forget the Feather Nation Tour.

Enjoy some pictures from the show: