January 12, 2009. It's 6:00am. I crawl out of bed, splash some water on my face, pack up my things, and head downstairs to the hotel's lobby. Darren Smith and I have an 8 o'clock flight this morning—with an hour layover in Denver—en route to Indianapolis: our 2nd stop of Repo Road Tour 3. An airport shuttle is picking us up in a half-hour and I've barely slept; it was hard for me to shut down after last night's energetic REPO! screening in Salt Lake City. 

Our 1st flight lasts a little over an hour. Darren and I land and grab layover breakfast. Being accustomed to the smoke-free nature of Southern California's restaurants and bars, it's a little strange to step into this hazy, tobacco-clouded diner. Eating my smoke and eggs, I get a text message from Spooky Dan Walker. He's en route to meet us in Indiana. Spooky, a fan of REPO! and friend of ours (and writer for Bloody-Disgusting.com), will be acting as our spooky tour manager for the remainder of RRT3. 

Darren and I board our 2nd plane, Frontier Airlines, a small carrier whose attendants are made to incorporate cutesy "animal" slogans into their announcements. A few lame owl knock-knock jokes later, and we land in Indianapolis. Darren and I are so anxious to exit the plane and get to our hotel, that we jump into the 1st cab we see. We don't think to check our itineraries to see what time Spooky's touching down. It turns out he's landing just minutes after us, but it's too late…we're already cabbing it down the highway. Worse, we learn that our hotel is a good 50-minutes from the airport—a $70 fare, which is needlessly doubled because of our separate cab rides. 

 It's snowing in Indy—a nice, fluffy winter snow. The white flakes falling against the marquee of our hotel for the night, the Jameson Inn (also the name of my favorite whiskey!), is picturesque. Darren chucks a snowball at me as I pause to take a photo.

It's 5:00pm. Retiring to our rooms for some much-needed naps, we decide to meet-up in the hotel lobby at 7:00. From there, we head to the Landmark Keystone Art Theatre, where REPO! will screen tonight.

The Keystone is located within a shopping mall (always a seemingly odd location for REPO!, considering the outrageousness that always ensues on the Repo Road Tour!). We make our way up an escalator to the theatre, passing a large, fan-made welcome banner: GeneCo welcomes you to The Genetic Opera for one night only! Almost all of the stops on the RRT thus far have been at grungy, grindhouse venues—many of them single-screen cinemas—so stepping into this commercial multiplex is a little strange. 

To that end, it's here, the only "corporate" venue thus far, where something goes wrong: at all of the stops on RRT2 & 3, we have agreements with the theatres to set up REPO! merchandise tables before and after the screenings, and every night, up until now, this has gone down without a snag. But tonight, even though an agreement was in place, even though the theatre received and signed for our shipped merch boxes, even though Darren, Spooky and I help the theatre's manager drag out tables, we come back from a 20-minute dinner break to find that the theatre's let everybody into the auditorium early, completely sabotaging our set-up plans. 

The Keystone makes up for this, however, by having a bar/lounge within the theatre that's all decked-out in REPO! swag. On the menu: REPO!-themed drinks, including "Repossession", "Two Hearts", and "Brains Enough". They're also playing REPO!'s soundtrack on a loop. Darren and I try a "Hit of Z", which is basically a shot of Vodka with a splash of something blue. I down it, and now, I can't feel nothing at all…

There's also a café/seating area in the lobby. Several fans are collecting here. How do I know these are REPO! fans? Well, they're dressed as REPO! characters. There's a Shilo, an Amber Sweet, a pair of Henchgirls, a GeneCo hazmat worker, a Blind Mag, a couple of Pavis, and a 6' 6" GraveRobber (Gregg "i_ubiqtorate"). This, my giant white-faced corpse-smuggling clone, dwarfs me. I'm amazed when I later see him out of costume and makeup; he's a police officer, and, as such, is rather clean-cut. He's the husband of Shae ("selenya") who, in addition to sporting full Henchgirl grab tonight—including a plastic, orange-tipped shotgun!—, dons a new REPO! tattoo: the words "with a cut and a stitch" in cursive lettering across the back of her neck. 

There are also a couple of costumes that I haven't seen yet attempted, including a Nathan Wallace ("Nazriel"). I've seen people dressed as Nathan's alter ego, Repo Man, at almost every stop thus far, but, for whatever reason, people have stayed away from embodying the tortured, overprotected doctor/father…until now! 

There are also several new variations on old characters, including Shilo cuddling a "17" stuffed animal in 1 hand and a head-conking shovel in the other, a woman dressed in Mag's very sexy—very low cut—opera ceremony gown, and a panty-snatching Pavi clutching a red thong. 

Also in attendance are an entire group of fans that we met on the Chicago stop of RRT1 in November of last year. These fans have made their own mini-road tours—through a mild snowstorm!—to be here tonight, including Miranda ("GraverobberGroupie"). When I met Miranda in Chicago she was dressed in an unassuming long-sleeved flannel shirt and eyeglasses. Tonight, she's completely transformed, rocking a raven black wig and slinky Amber Sweet costume. I'm turned on by both Mirandas.

It's 9:00pm. Spooky Dan takes the stage. Dan is not only a member of the Spooky Hair Club for men…he's acting REPO! tour manager and part of RRT3's pre-show entertainment! Spooky screens his 2-minute film, REPO! The Puppet Opera, for the excited Indy audience, then conducts a fan costume contest. Tall GraveRobber wins.

Darren and I watch from the back of the house as our movie—the main attraction—plays. 2/3rds of the way into the film, during "We Started This Op'ra Shit", about 15 people jump out of their seats to dance in the aisles and sing-along to the scene. Darren Smith joins them.

Following a post-screening Q & A and autograph session, Darren, Spooky and I follow a group of fans to a hotel after-party, where liquor and blue frosted Zydrate cookies are served. A fun time is had by all! So much so, that even though we have to be ready to depart for our next stop by 8:30am, we stay and party into the wee hours of the morning. 

At the party, a fan, Cassie ("AnnieNygma"), is kind enough to agree to pick us up at our hotel in a couple of hours and drive our sorry asses to the airport. Cassie and her wonderful mother, Pam, have been supportive fans of REPO! ever since Repo-Opera.com launched over a year ago. She's such a big fan, in fact, that she selflessly agrees to chauffeur us—whereby saving us from another costly cab ride—even though earlier in the night she watched me sign her mother's bra. Thank you, Cassie!

REPO! Road Tour Diary: Indianapolis

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