Our lead backed out at the last second, and we couldn't find a boombox. This first time Zombie's Without Borders guerrilla street performance at artwalk was looking like it was going to be a flop.
BUT! No. Instead it was fucking awesome.
First we solved our sound system problem by grabbing the speakers and amp from Fina's coffee shop. Then we trooped the equipment back to her place, carrying it through the streets like true LA rioters. But we had another problem-- where were we going to hook it up? Solved! I asked a nice gallery owner to use his electrical socket and we were good to go.
Then, we drank rum and rootbeer. We slapped together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I squeezed into two pairs of black stockings, a body suit and skeletal armwarmers. We drank more rum.
I did Michael's make up half M.Jackson and half Gwen Stefani, Sarafina threw a blond wig on him and a red jacket poof! we had our lead. We got razzed by the doormen at the Rosslyn, and weaved our way through the packed sidewalks to the gallery.
We passed a large crowd on the corner and someone yelled out "peanut butter jelly time!"
A very good sign indeed. Within minutes we had a large crowd assembled around us, much larger than we anticipated. Fina broke into a strenuous hoop dance and the rest of us jumped around behind her to get warmed up. Clay and I shared a cigarette between rounds of jumping.
We launched into Hollaback ThrillerGirl and the audience went nuts. Then peanut butter jelly time-- this is the part where we launch peanut butter sandwiches with zombie stickers on them into the audience with blow up baseball bats. Also a hit.
They ate the sandwiches, called for an encore, and we did the whole thing over again. Except the second time, traffic stopped on both sides of the street around us. We got the audience involved more, and not just the homeless men that spontaneously jumped into the performance the first time around. (Which, admittedly was probably the best part of the show.) Michael had a Carol Burnett moment where his Gwen wig went flying off in time to the music. We don't know how he did it...it was priceless. Joe's breakdancing was a hit. And Clay did the robot like nobody's business.
We took a bow and sat on the curb as the crowd thanked us and...Whew! We'll be there next month for sure. It was that good...
