It's 10:00am. Actor Bill Moseley, director Darren Lynn Bousman, tour manager Spooky Dan, & I, return our rental car, and then hop on a shuttle bus en route to Denver's airport, en route to our 9th stop on REPO Road Tour 3: Jackson, Michigan. 

January 22, 2009.: A fellow sitting across from us on the bus takes one look at us, this motley crew of REPO! dudes, and asks a question—the same question that we've been asked in every city of the tour thus far: "Are you guys in a band?" We tell him that we're filmmakers, and about REPO! He seems interested. Bill gives his REPO! DVD (the one that he purchased yesterday) to this stranger, winning what hopefully is another REPO! convert. TESTIFY!

Our 11:30am flight out of Denver is delayed. Worse, our departure is further stalled once we board the plane. Some sort of mechanical error that our pilot monotones about, is keeping our aircraft grounded. Worse yet, I am seated in between 2 very strange individuals.

To my right is an overweight man whose left arm spills into my already cramped space. And so do his words; he's one of those folks with the nervous habit of talking to himself. His nerves are not helped by the fact that our pilot's voice sounds less than confident, nor the fact that a "minor" malfunction is keeping us hostage on the runway. Bottom line: this poor stranger next to me is clearly startled. Attempting to break the ice, I strike up a conversation. It works. At first. 

The man calms down a bit as he tells me about all of the places that he's traveling to: Amsterdam, Uganda, Rwanda, and more. I ask him if he's globetrotting for business or pleasure. He confesses that he works for Gideon's, the people behind infecting every hotel room in America with a bible. I tell him that Christianity is what Rwanda really needs. He tells me that he agrees. I tell him that I was being sarcastic. Our conversation ends.

The middle-aged woman seated to my left overhears our exchange, and chuckles. She and I begin to converse. I ask her what she "does". With a blank expression, she responds, "nothing". I let her know that I wasn't necessarily inquiring about how she makes a living, but rather seeking information about her as a person. This was a big mistake. 

She proceeds to tell me all about her long and tragic history, about how she's flying to Michigan to live with her father, the 1st physically abusive male relationship in her life that was later mirrored by an abusive ex-husband, that resulted in her living alone on the street for the last 2 years. And her story continues, and continues, and keeps getting darker and darker. I think to myself, "gosh, I hope she doesn't have any children". Like clockwork, she confesses about how The State took away her 4 kids. 

Goth opera…Blood Saga…Sometimes I wonder how we ever got here…

An hour-and-a-half later, the plane takes off. It's a 3-hour flight to Detroit, which, due to the delays, puts us on Michigan soil at 6:00pm. Considering Jackson's Michigan Theatre is an hour from Detroit, and considering that tonight's screening is at 8:00pm, we will not have time to stop by our hotel and shower before tonight's show.

Co-creator Darren Smith is meeting us tonight. He arrived in Jackson yesterday. Since we're running late, we call DS and ask him to get to the theatre early to make sure that everything's in order. He tells us that there's already a line of people forming.

We arrive at The Michigan Theatre a little after 7:15pm. Tromping over a mound of snow to approach the front doors, I am immediately recognized by a female fan—a very young-looking, very cute, very twitterpated fan. She's happy to see me, and she let's me know it. This is the 1st of many such encounters tonight; apparently, Jackson is a lusty-for-GraveRobber city (and I had been told the only thing this city was known for was its state prison—pssh!).

Entering the theatre, I am greeted by Jon, director of Painted Perversion (Jackson's Rocky Horror cast) whose ass I later autograph—an act of retribution on his part for me having signed his wife's boobs earlier. I draw the line, however, when Jon asks me to blow on the ink to help it dry.

Samantha ("Raven Sweet"), tonight's REPO! Army leader, has already set up our merch table. She got wind that we were running late and took the bull by the horns (I can't say it enough: I love REPO! fans!). Sitting behind the table, dressed in shinny black Gentern garb, she gives us a huge chocolate REPO! cake that she made.

Also in attendance tonight is a concession stand worker who moonlights as a clown (John Wayne Gacy-style), and Spooky Dan's very un-spooky parents. Dan's mother retreats to the lobby 20-minutes into the film because REPO!'s onscreen violence is too much for her to handle.

It's 8:00pm. Spooky begins his pre-show. This crowd is LOUD with excitement. Deafening. So loud in fact, that during our post-screening autograph session, every other person is hoarse.

During the signing, I am given a very impressive fan-made gift: a REPO! foldout book courtesy of Maegan ("maegan1116"). Each page consists of a bold, graphic image, accompanied by REPO! song lyrics; each page representing a different REPO! character. As a former design student I'm aware of how painstaking it must have been for her to hand set all of the book's type. Thank you, Maegan!

Also in line is a trio of young women wearing fan-made REPO! t-shirts. The fronts of their shirts are different, but the backs all read, "Team GeneCo: Because No Amount of Sparkle Is Gonna Save Your Ass!" I have no idea what this means, yet somehow it makes perfect sense.

At end of the evening, we're invited by a group of fans to join them at a local bar. We do. It's a small, extremely smoky dive, that's walking distance from the theatre. There, Nate ("zydratenate"), a fan and pal who I communicate with regularly on myspace, buys me 2 double Jamesons, followed by a shot of…something. Oh, brother.

It's late, really late, when I finally check-in to my hotel. I reek of whiskey and smoke. Because we drove straight to the theatre from the airport, my luggage is still inside our rental car, locked away for the night. My kingdom for a toothbrush and a clean shirt! 

REPO! Road Tour Diary: Jackson

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