Out of the Ashes . . . .

My west coast memory: from Charidy

Rhythm Room, Phoenix AZ

I had multiple brief phone conversations with the bar manager, Mona
Lisa. She seemed cool enough. Little did I know... We arrived early
to the club, unheard of for The Nadas. A lot of good it did for me to
push that as no one was there to let us in. Mona called and let me know
she had an emergency stop at the grocery store and would be right over.
Jason, the sound guy, arrived first and we started load in.

Mona emerged from the back office, cigarette in hand, hair high in a
tight bun. She let us know that it would be clear when the night got
rough; the bun would get looser. (Her hair was down before the show
began, but we tried not to take it personally.) An important side note
here is that her cigarette signified to all the smokers in our group
that, yes, we had left California, the land of no-smoking clubs. That
called for a mini-super party on their part.

The club filled with both new and experienced Nadas fans before we even
completed sound check. Again, a super party because, while Cali was
great to us, we missed having a club packed full of fans that can sing
along (particularly awesome for a Sunday night). Without much of a
break, I set up the merch booth and the show got rockin'.

Mona came to check out all the Nadas goodies and was trading some Rhythm
Room tee's for Nadas tee's when the Iowa State Fair Coloring Book caught
her eye. She loved it; why wouldn't she, it was my idea ;) We had a
chuckle and both went back to work...or so I thought.

During Jon's solo, Jason took the opportunity to visit the restroom near
the back office. He came over to tell me that he saw Mona busy coloring
The Nadas while enjoying a drink and a smoke. This, I had to see. She
colored the stage complete with the Rhythm Room banner behind the band
and was clever enough to give Mike a t-shirt emblazoned with "Mona kicks
ass" (though I think his hair ended up a bit too dark). I made her take
it directly to stage to show off and it now has a permanent showcase in
the merch box. Come on out and see it!

Happy ending... Mona sent me a late night text, "The Nadas kick ass!"
Well, duh!