Protesting and puking

So…I think I’m going to try something new. Usually, I only update my blog when I’ve had some interesting (well, if you count performing for drunks at one-nighters in bowling alleys as interesting) gigs and far-away road trips. But, I think I want to start writing here more, like, about day-to-day sorts of things. I know, I know, that might be really boring to you, but I’m pretty sure only about 7 people read this thing anyway, so I guess you might just have to grin and bear it.

I suppose I’ll start by talking about what I’ve been up to for the past week or two. I’ve attended more demonstrations and rallies this month than I have in a long time. You see, Kate Brindle HATES the cold the way the Duggars hate birth control. So unless I’m in a southern state, California or Hawaii, my protesting tends to dwindle a bit in January and February. I’m not opposed to going out in a blizzard for a cause I believe in, but I much prefer wearing flip-flops while holding a sign and passing out leaflets.

Once March hit, the weather started to warm up a bit (well, I’m not sure if 30 degrees counts as “warming up,” but it’s a heck of a lot hotter than 6), so I broke out my long underwear, hat and gloves, and hit the public sidewalks. Here are some shots from a protest against a donkey basketball game at Redford Union High School (we also held a protest against a game that happened in Whitmore Lake, Michigan). For more information about these cruel games (and how you can stop them), please visit: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/donkey-basketball.aspx





I also went to a rally at the state capitol building to protest against Governor Snyder’s proposed budget (in which he taxes senior citizens’ pensions to pay for a $1.5 billion tax cut for business, and also makes drastic cuts to education). Some pictures from the event:




Love protesting with my mom!



And rather than drinking green beer, I spent my St. Patrick’s Day protesting against the University of Michigan Survival Flight course’s use of live cats and pigs in cruel and deadly medical-training exercises (even though U of M already uses state-of-the-art human-patient simulators to teach the same skills in other courses for nurses and physicians). One of my former co-workers from PETA, Lauren, was in town from Virginia, and she led the demo.



After the demo, Drew and I showed her around Ann Arbor and joined her for lunch at Jazzy Veggie. She got quite the eye full as we drove through campus and showed her all of the frat and sorority houses. Being that it was St. Patrick’s Day, there were people outside the houses drinking, dancing, grinding on each other, playing sand volleyball and making out (not all at the same time). We even saw one girl almost puke on the street. And this was all before 2 in the afternoon.

I barely drank on St. Patrick’s Day, although I did have a Bud Light and a red-headed slut (the drink, not the person) at the Aut Bar before attending the Palestine Film Festival and then returning home by 10 pm. How old/lame am I?

Although, I don’t feel too bad because I’m sure all of the sand volleyball players/maker-outers were passed out by 7 pm, so I guess I beat them by 3 hours.

I had good reason to go to bed early though because I had an early call time for a commercial shoot the following day. Earlier in the week, I auditioned for and was cast in a commercial for Beaumont Hospital. The shoot was tons of fun! Everyone was super nice, craft services rocked, and the director had a great sense of humor (in fact, in between takes, we exchanged old bar jokes). And the little girl who played my daughter in the last commercial I did played my daughter in this one, too. Plus, the hair stylists made my hair look like Shelby’s from Steel Magnolias. I felt like I was going to the prom. And that was pretty awesome. I didn’t take any pictures from the set, so I suppose I’ll include a photo of Julia Roberts with said hairstyle.



I’m not sure when the commercial is set to air, but if anyone lives in Southeastern Michigan and sees it, let me know as I rarely watch tv and I’d probably have a better chance of seeing Martha Stewart in Meijer.

After my commercial shoot (and on Saturday night, too) I performed with Tim Rowlands and Dwayne Gill at Monte’s in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. It was a blast to see both of them, and the crowds were a lot of fun. On one of the nights, fellow comic and friend, Jason Benci, came to visit, and we ended up going to another bar to feather bowl.

I know what you’re probably thinking, “feather bowling? Ah, what?”

It sounds like some sort of dish birds eat out of, no? But, it’s actually a game. Think bocce ball meets curling. I have no idea what the rules are beyond that. All I know is that we were pretty terrible. But, it was nice to catch up and to meet fellow drunk people who were also attempting to play.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’d like to close by leaving you with a video that features my main squeeze doing a mic takeover to expose the cruelty that goes on in the University of Michigan’s animal labs. Click here to watch him in action.