I feel the romance. I live the passion.

This week I've been calling and talking to dry cleaners nationwide, learning about golf (please see following entry 'you know I'm your friend when I learn about golf'), and drinking more frozen margaritas and glasses of sangria than I will ever admit, even to myself.

This is me and Jimmy talking:

- Do you want a glass of sangria?
- You're getting into the sangria already?
- Well, it IS 3:00.

Yesterday I left Austin for Burbank, CA to meet the rest of the Benise tour crew. In case you didn't catch Benise's NIGHTS OF FIRE! special on PBS, I'll fill you in.

Ron Benise plays the Spanish guitar and plays onstage with ten dancers and a band who combine flamenco, samba, cirque performance, gypsy violin, African tribal drums, and Havana horns to create 'a fresh new level of originality, cultural fusion and passion.'















My role in the Benise entourage is that of Stage Matters representative and thus it is my duty to 1) make sure the artists and crew have fresh towels and clean laundry 2) make sure none of the pretty dresses melt in the dry cleaning machine and 3) make sure no one gets too thirsty or too sweaty on stage.

Those bottles of water you see performers sipping from and those towels they use to wipe their brows? Someone put them there.

I will hop off the tour bus early every morning and hand over the dirty bags of clothes to the cleaners. In the afternoon I'll run back outside to pick up the clean clothes and rush them off to wardrobe.

I've been informed by the production manager that my title has been upgraded from TOWELGIRL to WARDROBE UTILITY since I will also help the dancers backstage in quick change and will pull a bunch of red capes offstage after they have been dramatically struck to the floor in the first number.

VIVA LA AVENTURA.