January 19, 2009.: Today, we drive. This is the 1st day in 7 days that we do have not have a REPO! screening to go to. So today, we drive. We drive 353 miles to Saint Louis, Missouri. We drive with the hopes of reaching the city before sundown to sit down around a table, like fully-evolved primates, for a complete, unhurried dinner (this would be the 1st such incident of REPO Road Tour 3!). We drive towards the promise of a decent night's sleep (another 1st for RRT3!). Today, we drive.

Joining us on this 5-and-a-half hour trek is Allison from RockLove Jewelry, creator of the limited-edition REPO Man scalpel necklace. For the past 4 nights, Alli's crewed up with a caravan of REPO! fans who have followed our road tour since the Foxboro stop. At each of these stops, Alli's helped Spooky Dan run our merch table. Since her parents live in St. Louis, Alli's catching a ride with us to visit them, and her hometown.

Director Darren will also be meeting his family in MO tonight. His parents are commuting from Kansas City to meet up with us, and to witness tomorrow night's REPO! screening at the Tivoli Theatre. 

It's late afternoon. I drive. Once again, Spooky, Darren, & I, have a lone female hostage in our rental car. Like clockwork, the teasing and inappropriate jokes begin. Darren starts a gag about Allison's hair—which is coiffed and accented with glittery red strands—being a wig. Us boys laugh. She fires back by pointing out all of our receding hairlines. The men in this road tour peanut gallery are silenced.

We arrive in St. Louis by early evening, and check into our hotel for the night, another Holliday Inn. Darren's parents get there at the exact same time we do. 

We all meet downstairs in the lobby at 7:30pm and head out to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. It's one of those establishments that use wall mirrors to make the place look bigger. Lynn, Darren's dad is fooled by this optical illusion; he's convinced that the restaurant's seating area extends further than it really does. Darren teases his old man—a Vietnam vet—about the restaurant's mirrors setting off flashbacks of the Mekong Delta.

It's a little after 9:00pm. We return to the Holliday Inn and retire to our rooms. Over dinner, there was talk of a fieldtrip to St. Louis's Gateway Arch in the morning. Right now, all I can think about is a goodnight's sleep.

January 20, 2009.: I sleep in. Then inch my way out of bed. Then inch my way towards turning on my cell phone. Darren's already left me several messages about joining him, his parents, & actor Bill Moseley (Luigi)—who's arriving in St. Louis today, and joining us on our remaining 5 tour stops—for a trip to The Arch. I decide to pass. I'm really not into the touristy stuff. Plus, I need to do laundry today, and I'd like to catch up on my blog writing.

I call Spooky Dan. He's not into tourist attractions either, so the 2 of us decide to get some lunch, do our laundry, & find a local comic book store instead. Dan films part of my laundry-folding session (Oh, how the mighty GraveRobber hath fallen!). 

We find a comic book store that's in the same area as tonight's theatre, so we decide to walk around the area—a decision we immediately regret when we realize how cold it is outside. It's so cold in St. Louis that ice sculptures are a part of the sidewalk art. And I'm not kidding. We pass a pretty wicked ice tombstone, but it's far too cold to stop and enough to enjoy it.

We head back to the hotel, freshen up, & then meet back in the lobby. Bill is there. As are Darren's parents. We're all having dinner together before tonight's 9:00pm screening.

We pick a restaurant just up the street from the Tivoli Theatre, passing a group of REPO!'s fans who are already lining up outside in the cold, slowly turning into REPO! ice sculptures. The restaurant is one of those rock 'n' roll-themed family restaurants with tons of crazy crap on the walls, including a couple of very odd Minotaur statues. There's also a Munsters pinball machine. Bill plays a couple of games. 

We finish our meals and settle our tabs. Bill, Darren, & I, squeeze into a photo booth to pose for a few goofy snapshots, and then head off to the theatre. A line of happy (but nearly frozen) fans great us, including Miranda ("GraverobberGroupie"), who's holding a sign: "GeneCo invites you to TESTIFY in our sing-along section!"

The Tivoli is an elegant, historical building. Its insides are lined with golden-age movie memorabilia, including The Wolf Man and Dracula action figures, a Vincent Price statue, & my personal favorite, a movie poster with the tagline "…every shroud has a silver lining when old fiends get together for a real swinging blast of grave robbery…" I think this should be the slogan of the entire REPO Road Tour. Who's with me?

There are some familiar faces here tonight, including a crew of RRT1's Kansas City fans, like Shannon ("pianogrrrl") and Cindy ("Nightquest"), who crashed Darren's parents pre-screening party back in November. There are also lots of new faces, including a pretty female GraveRobber, and a very young girl dressed Blind Mag-ishly ("emmalovespavi") who geeks out when I ask to take a picture of her.

It's 9:00pm. The screening begins. St. Louis is one of the more reserved stops on the RRT, but everyone seems to be having a great time. And the REPO! spirit is visible in the rows of glowing Zydrate sticks permeating the theatre.

Following our routine post-screening audience Q & A and autograph signing, a group of us relocate up to a late-night bowling alley, Pin-Up Bowl. I chuck a couple of balls down a lane, miss all but 1 pin, and decide to call it a night. Way to suck in front of your fans, GraveRobber!

Check out Terrance's site for a lot more info!

REPO! Road Tour Diary: Saint Louis

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