We still beleive in economic transparency, but don't wanna bore you with a lot of numbers. Here's a graph and here's the details if you want em.

TOUR JOURNAL:

East Coast!The tour reports for the most recent east coast tour are on RedBird's blog.

Florida Tour! The first tour of In the Belly was a trip to Florida in the middle of winter. To see all the photos go to this flicker account. We also wrote poetry. The goal was to write a limerick for each city and a Highwayku for each drive, but we got lazy and sunburnt partway through. Oh! and we didn't have a tour mascot, so we picked a new one each day. The tour mascot had to be an object one of us held in our hand for at least a few seconds.

Feb 25th, The Birdhouse, Knoxville- Played in the living room of a large old house, converted into a community center / gallery. The kitchen is used by Food Not Bombs, upstairs rooms used as art studios, and the mainspace hosts various meetings, concerts, workshops and other activities.
The audience was about ten people, young white folks, some students, two puppeteers, one prison academic / union organizer. Becca opened the show with some Bad Heart Bull songs, then a timid banjo player played a few. The puppeteers offered us a sci-fi challenge! People donated $57, we crashed in the venue, ate frozen FNB pastries, and got up at 3:45 am for our 9 hour drive to an afternoon show in Tallahassee.
The discussion featured- pizza guy immediately commenting on the nudity, the union organizer's enthusiasm for the show and horrifying stories about prison from her close friend who's been in (later she lent us some books on prisons). A young man in a brown shirt asked for specific examples of how to do restorative justice / accountability. We talked about Peter Gelderloos' examples. One of the puppeteers wanted more resources or action suggestions from us. A student activist said she was moved to pay more attention to the prison system. A couple people who'd been in prison or jail, or had friends inside said they appreciated the accuracy of our depiction. We passed around a letter written to Saddique.
Highwayku:
Global food crisis
luxurious dumpster snacks
it's getting warmer
Limerick:
Ad Seg played a show at Birdhouse
treacherous hippies! those sell-outs!
lets go to their lawns
and piss til they're gone
that'll teach em to sell your house!
Mascot: Dirty $2 Clown (found in an alley).

Feb 26th, Fresh Fest, Tallahasee- Fresh Fest is a punk music festival with some workshops and lots of bands. We played at the "Railroad Square Art Park" (i.e. a bunch of tin warehouses converted to art studios and shops). Mad max hippie commune mall. The space was a small well-used studio with cement floors. Due to our limited time slot we skipped the puppet show. People packed into the room, and the show went allright despite our sleep-deprivation. Unfortunately, only about 25 people fit in the room, and there was a rotating overflow of people who wanted to see the show. We got $26 in the donation jar and $80 from the fest - a combined $106. Ate a half price dinner at a black Israelite vegan cult restaurant, tried to sleep in a field until assaulted by naked pond jumpers, and ended up back in the warehouse on the hard floor under the many-breasted mantis.
The discussion - The people who stayed around for discussion were mostly young, white male anarcho-punks. There was an older gentleman, one young woman, and a few who may have identified as people of color. Most people seemed down with the idea of prison abolition, and we had several suggestions about what to include in our statistics. The older gentleman talked about how prison is a threat to all people who want to take political action. Some people had served time and appreciated that we included nudity/strip search. We wrote a letter to Bomani.
Highwayku:
we learned about love
love isn't always on time
double donkey dick
Limerick:
we woke at a quarter til four
and left our warm nests on the floor
then drove in the dark
hung out in a park
and can't wait to get to the shore
Mascot: Decomposed Fake Flower (found in a cemetary)

Feb 27th, Civic Media Center, Gainesville- The Civic Media Center is a HUUUGE infoshop near downtown Gainesville. It's a radical library, meeting place for various organizations (fact check) and DIY venue.
We performed with Peoples' Poets and Prophet of What. There were about 25 people there, and it was our most diverse audience with a range of ages (3 people who were 50 or older, a few in the 30-40 age range) and races (about 5 people of color). We made $63 at the door, $23 of which went to the CMC, and we made $32 at the merch table. Stayed at the Circle A ranch with Jimmy. Visited Payne's Praire with piles of alligators.
The discussion - We talked about the relationship between prison abolition and reform, along with the challenges of rehabilitation and reentry. Someone talked about their experineces with rehabilitation work. An older gentleman was one of the founders of Critical Resistance in Gainesville (a large prison abolition group with chapters around the country). He also asked us where we thought prisons were going given the trends we described. Becca gave a good description of how to deal with sexual assault outside of the prison system. A couple people shared their experiences from inside prison, and we got our first Jeffrey Dahmer question. Yippee!
Highwayku:
spank blank thanks flank cow
horse manure xylophone
zyzybalooba
Limerick:
If Jeffery Dahmer was free
how much less safe would we be?
We'd live on a ranch
Climb out on a branch
and count all the gators we'd see
Mascot: Vibra Baar (found at a rest stop)

Feb 28th, house show, Sarasota- The venue was the garage of a beach house with a giant avocado tree in the yard. It was a party atmosphere with lots of people from the nearby art school. Our performance followed three bands, all of which had at least one female member. We went on at the early hour of 12 AM, about 25 people filled the space to watch us. Everyone was younger than 30, and there was one person of color.
Discussion - There were some folks very interested in critiquing asthetic aspects of the play (length, reptetiveness, character & narative, dumbing down messages for 'more close-minded' audiences). Others in the audience seemed to reject these aesthetic concerns and brought up personal experiences and stories from prison. We stayed with a pug dog.
Limerick:
We played a show in your garage
The feedback came in a barrage
awesome bands played
we're glad people stayed
we hope this was not a mirage
Mascot: organic shuttlecock (found under a tree full of em)

Mar 1st, Vegan Ice Cream Shop called, inventively, Cool Hand Luc's- Before getting to the venue we got caught in the net of touristville (aka Fort Myers beach). Killed time with lots of board games at the venue, a walk in spitting rain, and burritos. The opening band was named Panzram, who was an infamous prisoner early 1900's. On average, this was probably our youngest crowd. There were a few people of color.
Discussion - The discussion focused on skepticism about prison abolition. Becca talked with one woman afterwards about the intersections of juvenile detention, education, and torture. The same woman is interested in starting a books to prisoners group in Fort Myers. Ben chatted with a couple teachers about union busting going on in Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Stayed at Luc's economy one-room apartment and ate some damn good non-vegan pizza.
Limerick:
We took off our clothes in your shop
The music was great and made us hop
punk rock ice cream
oh what a dream
we hope that you never stop!
Mascot: Jabba the Pug (woke us up in the morning)

Mar 2nd, Sweat Records, Miami- Played in a record store in a Haitian neighborhood who didn't seem to serve that population at all. Seven people came to the show, more than half of whom were people of color. The Paper Dolls opened with some delicate guitar work, acoustic latin folk-metal.
Discussion- a young woman shared much skepticism about prison abolition or alternatives to prison. We talked a lot about the systemic relationships between prison, education, capitalism and the mental health industry. We were advised to hire two bodyguards for our tour, and Becca gave a man on the street a new reason to live.
We crashed with some awesome traveling punks who told us where to get the best food in various cities accross the US, and that Miami is the best city in the country. Then we got some amazing Cuban breakfast, with extreme caffination, and hit the beach.
Highwayku:
We drove through the glades
encroaching development
but it's just a swa-amp
Limerick:
Our show was in north east Miami
Our performance merits a grammy
The Staples was crap
and Hope is a trap
Chatted with squatters in jammies
Mascot: Cuddle Buddy (found on a chair)

Mar 3rd, The Night Heron Grassroots activist center, Lake Worth- It's the new home of Earth First Journal. There were around 20 people at the show, including several who had seen Ulysses Crewman. There was a handful of older folks (two people in their 50's, and 2-3 people who were 30-40 years old), at least two people of color, one puppeteer, and a number of people who had close experience with jail. Many people were dedicated to the issue, including prison ablitionists, and one person who had worked extensively with restorative justice. Becca sang a few songs as people came in. Luckily no trains went by during our performance because the venue is right next to the tracks. We came out with $120.
Discussion - A lot of people talked about their experiences with jail/prison. It seemed like most people were on board with the idea of prison abolition. One gentleman who had spent 9 months in a military prison was close to tears when he talked about the play. Some people brought artwork that had been made by prisoners.
We stayed at a great house with a garden jungle bursting with fruit trees and chickens. You can garden even in February in Florida.
Limerick:
We stayed in your room that is blue
We wish you were someone we knew
your accordions
the chickens and wind
made us feel welcome, Canew!
Mascot: Ft Pierce Utilities Authory Patch (found in the parking lot)

March 4th, Stardust Cafe, Orlando- The show fell through for a number of reasons, one of which included someone's birthday party. We thought she might not appreciate the tone of our play, nor would the small child running around. We made $2 in pity money and took a banana cupcake from the birthday girl.
Highwayku:
Magical Staples
Our grand plans for the future
oh, look! A rainbow
Limerick:
Goddamn you shithole Orlando
Didn't turn out like we planned-o
Happy Birthday to you
These hotels are so few
Do you wanna stay here ohhellno
Mascot: broken palm beach seal tile (also a parking lot)

March 5th, punk house, Athens, Georgia- We played in a tiny punk house that was plush with stuffed animals fastened to the ceiling among crowd surfing sneaker marks. There were lots of people at the show, but the room was so small that not everyone could fit in. It was a party atmosphere with three bands playing after us. About 25 college kids stuffed in the room to see us, while 20 others stood outside on the porch (little did they know, we were taking off our clothes inside). We made $26.
Discussion - Kate and Ben went outside for the discussion, while Becca and Wes hastily tore down the set so the next band could play. It was raining, but people crowded around Ben and Kate like pigeons in the rain. The discussion was different than any so far because it was more abstract and academic, rather than experiental. Guess it makes sense, we were in a college town...
Stayed with kick butt Clarabelle and ate lots of scrumptious jumbalaya and ice cream.
Limerick:
We ate some great jambalaya
didn't get to lie on la playa
a bagel we had
the money we grabbed
we cleansed our cards over the fire (pronounced fyie-ya)
Mascot: Shakey the Dog (okay, we didn't hold him in our hand, but we wanted to!)

March 6th, Rosetta's Cafe, Asheville- Rosetta's is a vegan cafe, but also functions as a venue. Most of the people there were involved with Transmission Prison Project, which is a group that sends books and letters to LGBTQI prisoners. There were trans and genderqueer people present, along with a couple older folks. One gentleman did work in prisons with AIDS testing. All the people there seemed to be white. We made $52.08.
discussion - People seemed a little quieter and more knowledgable than previous places, so we did a 'go-around' about people's relation to prison work. We drove home that night through the foggy snowy mountains all messed up on energy drinks.