Frontalot Tour Diary Day 21: Oklahoma City, OK pt. 2

The Crystal BridgeI never thought I’d thank bacteria on my blog, but here I go: thank you, streptococcal germs!  It may seem insensitive to Front for me to be so grateful to the little buggers that caused him so much anguish, but without them I and the rest of the band wouldn’t have been able to see the sights of Oklahoma City, home to my favorite band The Flaming Lips.  There is so much to see!  Thanks to Eric for taking us to the Oklahoma City Arts Festival at Festival Plaza.  What an awesome park!  There are crazy buildings that look cool but leak, man-made bodies of water and the truly impressive Crystal Bridge, a suspended terrarium featuring a rain forest and multiple running waterfalls, all inside a big-ass tube of glass and metal.  Amazing!

We also visited the Oklahoma City Memorial Park, where the victims of the 1995 bombing are remembered.  As memorial structures go, it was impressive in its simplicity and beauty.  It was also extremely moving.  I didn’t mention it in my previous post, but our show at the Conservatory was on the 15th anniversary of the bombing, so it seemed fitting that we should visit the spot.  Particularly poignant was the Field of Empty Chairs, where each of the 168 victims of the bombing are remembered by a stone and glass chair on which their name is etched.

The Field of Empty ChairsTo lift the mood after the visit, we returned back to Eric and Stefan’s pad for some dinner, jamming and a generous helping of Battlestar Galactica, one of the best shows ever to grace the airwaves.  We also ate the leftover flourless chocolate cakes that I made the night prior.  I, chef!  Front was even feeling well enough to join us for a bit, which was saying something.  Were it not for the generosity of our hosts, he would surely be in traction at an intensive care unit right now.  Instead, he is dressed up and ready to spit rhymes.

Whence does the Front prepare for action?  At Maxine’s in Hot Springs, AK.  We are in the VIP section upstairs, where we are provided with food, libation and free interwebs.  With us are The One-Ups, who are super sweet and also playing with us tomorrow in Fayetteville.   The show starts in about 20 minutes and only costs $5.  If you are in this neck of the woods, stop on by!

Pinhead says: come see us play!

Comments are closed.