From LGBT center lectures to crooning ballads in Beijing clubs, it’s all in a day’s work for bluegrass band The Redbucks singer Daisy Sweetgrass.

[Eds. note] If you haven't been to a Redbucks gig yet - mark your calendar for the next time they play. This is one band that has everyone in the house hootin' hollerin' and havin' a stompin' great ole time.

9:37 I wake up to my Nokia cellphone alarm and soliloquize: to snooze or not to snooze? I opt to turn it off and go back to sleep.

10:45 I am truly awake this time and set out to get breakfast. I have to pass all of the hutong tour rickshaw guys camped out in front of my boyfriend’s place. They’ve finally caught on to the fact that I am not a tourist and stop asking to give me a tour. Now they just wave hello and ni hao me.

10:53 Arrive at my dan bing place and luckily there’s no one in line. I gobble the crispy, eggy scallionness as I cycle back and almost get hit by a car full of tourists whizzing by Prince Gong’s Mansion.

12:00 Decide its high time to go ice skating on Qianhai Lake. Jonah takes some convincing, but we go and have our feet fitted with skates with blades that couldn’t dent butter. This doesn’t prevent me, however, from trying to do an axel. Right as I’m about to take off, I get scared of my speed and fall on my ass. An old lady with brown teeth laughs at me.

2:15 We go home and I try and practice for the gig a bit before I leave for the Beijing LGBT Center. I was invited by my friend Ziguang, who manages it, to give a short talk about an article I wrote for China Daily titled “Year of Gay China,” which was a retrospective on milestones and other major events for the Chinese LGBT community in 2009.

17:15 A friend and I share a cab eastward. He’s on his way to dinner in Sanlitun and I tell him to drop me off at Xidan so I can buy some makeup, which he teases me about, rightfully. It’s really pleasant just sitting and talking with him, though. I’m reminded every time I’m around him what great company he is. These days he’s rocking a debonaire Clark Gable mustache. It suits him.

15:37 Arrive at the mall in Xidan that has a MAC cosmetics counter. On my way to the register I am lured to the Dior counter and buy a pain-inducingly expensive bottle of J’Adore perfume. I make a sad face. 18:05 Off to Gulou Dong Dajie to get my hair curled for the gig. A bit extravagant? Maybe. But at 30 kuai for a shampoo and curl, it hardly feels that way. And I get to practice my Chinese talking with the hairdresser.

19:45 Go home and realize there’s no time for noodles, not even a quick and cheap bowl of Guilin mifen. I put on my red and white polka dot dress and head out. It’s mandarin oranges for dinner. I eat them in the cab on the way to sound check.

8:30 I arrive and hear they’ve already started. Even as I enter from outside, it sounds great. We work on harmonies and a few new tunes and then I head to the Middle Eastern restaurant next door for chicken shwarma.

21:30 The crowd has started to roll in. Lots of friends and ultimate frisbee kids, which means there’s going to be a whole lot of dancing going on. I use the first of my three drink vouchers for a glass of Jim Beam. Dofu, the bartender, pours a very generous glass of whiskey.

23:00 Using my second drink voucher for another Jim Beam, we get ready to get back on stage. The second set is a blast. People are shouting out requests for “Jackson” and “Me and Bobby McGee,” which I actually know how to play. We finish feeling really great about the show.

12:45 Third Jim Beam. I remember dancing, taking off my high heels and walking barefoot to a cab ...