Well, I'm off.

In a few hours I'm getting picked up to head to NYC for my two-month gig. This day was a long-time coming. I've known about the gig for so long it was just sort of looming there on my datebook.

Being away from home is going to be hard, but I will get to see Carrie in a few weeks over Thanksgiving. For those that know her please drop her a line and check in on her for me, I hate that she's by herself. I can't stand sleeping in our bed alone, I don't know how she does it.

And Murphy! Will he forget who I am? I hope not. Luckily he will be flying out to join us at Christmas time.

But adventures in the Big City await! I'll be sure to update my blog often, the holidays in Manhattan, it should be quite an experience.

I've just set up a MySpace site for the new record. Read about the band and listen to songs here.

For any other MySpace-types out there I've also set up a site for myself. Add me, I need friends.

<---And dig the new LINKS section to the left

... templates, fonts, CD encryption codes, UPC labels, bar codes, panel-layouts, reference numbers, label name, photo choices, jewel case choices, color choices, text layouts, final mastering, song order, design mechanicals ...

... all done.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Funky Supervillain has been delivered. It will be pressed over the next couple of weeks. It won't be long now.

Last night after the gig I was having a drink with some of the guys in the band and was reminded of this story from Japan.

The first night I was in Tokyo I went to a jazz club with Lou and a friend of his. At the end of the night our bill came and I owed 900 Yen (about $9). I put in a 1,000 Yen bill and a few minutes later the waiter comes back and hands me a 10,000 Yen bill (about $100). I say "no, this is too much" but the waiter is insistent that is the change I am owed. I figure maybe I made a mistake and took the money. Later that evening I was looking through my wallet and found my ATM receipt, I had only withdrawn 10,000 Yen that day so the waiter had given me too much change. I felt weird about it, but what are you gonna do, ya know?

A few days later I was in Osakusa with Lauryn. We went to bank to get some more money. I stepped up to the ATM Machine and what was sitting there? Another 10,000 Yen bill! At this point I think "this is a test, someone up there is F'in' with me." I wanted no part of that 10,000 Yen, it felt like devil money! So I took the bill back in to the bank and gave it to one of the tellers. I tried explaining what had happened even though it was obvious he didn't speak English.

A few minutes later he comes back out and hands me a present. Weird, right? He was bowing and saying "thank you" so it was obvious that this gift was for returning the money. It was wrapped so I open it. Guess what it was ...

... a dishtowel

Not even a nice one. A thin, terricloth dishtowel. How crazy is that? Lauryn and I laughed our asses off, what a crazy, random gift to give someone. What's even crazier is that they have stuff like that laying around just in case there's a gift they need to give.

It's obviously a cultural thing. A couple of guys got some girls they met in a pub on the guest list to see our show. They brought them thank you gifts as well ... Stickers. A "no smoking" sticker and an "exit" sticker.

Wacky stuff man, wacky.

I got the final mastering product from the mastering engineer today. Man, it sounds great. I couldn't be more happy with the overall sound of the recording; the guys who mixed and mastered it really did a wonderful job. The basic designs for the CD insert are finished, just a few minor tweaks and it will be all set to send off to the printer.

I met with a duplication company today. They do good stuff and the guy there seems easy to work with and the price is decent.

I'm starting to get a little concerned now. I'm certainly not going to have the record in hand by the time I leave for NYC, so I'm going to be on the other side of the country when it is finished. As far as the actual product goes, this is not a huge deal, the guy at the duplication company said he could mail the CDs wherever so I can have a hundred or so mailed to me and the rest mailed to my website guy who will be selling them. But now that I think about it it would be great if I were in LA so I could call people, give it to them, etc.

Maybe that's nothing to be concerned about. As long as the CD is available online and I have some to send to places to get reviewed I can wait for the heavy "marketing" and CD release shows until next year. That sound like a fine idea to you?

The last couple of days of the tour were fine. We played two nights at the Tropicana Showroom to enthusiastic crowds. I got to play some poker and relax a bit.

Tonight we start a seven-day run at Catalina's here in Hollywood. It's always nice playing at home but seven straight nights is a bit much. I'll be pretty worn out by the end of the week.

I leave a week from today for NYC. Nine straight weeks in the city. That's a long trip and I have a lot of things to do before I leave including finishing up the CD. Not only do I have to prepare for the trip but I don't have a day off until Nov. 6. No rest for the wicked this week.

I forgot to mention that last night some fans came to the show that I had seen and spoken to before when we'd been on the east coast. They know I am a Pacers fan and they are Pacers fans as well. Before the show I get a note from the stage manager saying that this couple was in the audience and had a present for me. Afterwards they met me in the lobby and gave me a really nice Reggie Miller book that commemorates his retirement. That was really nice of them.

It's good to have fans like that.

Our show last night in Jersey went really well. It was a nice theater with and entusiastic crowd and the band had the same guys as the Japan tour so everyone sounded good together.

Today we are off to Glenside, PA. I like touring the East Coast, everything is a lot closer so you can drive or take a train to gigs.

latuh ...

This morning I'm off on another tour. This is a short east coast trip to Red Bank, NJ, Glenside, PA, and Atlantic City. Two days in AC will be fun. I like playing in casinos because they usually give you a pass to the 25 hr employee cafeteria so you don't have to pay for food while you there. And I can play poker of course. Speaking of, I played with some of the boys last night. It was fun, quite a few friends I hadn't seen for a while.

I got a load of new CDs. A bunch of good stuff came out while I was on tour, new discs by Jamie Cullum, Brad Melhau, and Robert Glasper. I also picked up this new disc by a group called Brazillian Girls. I have a lot of listening to do; I still haven't checked out all of the records I got in Tokyo yet.

Yesterday I picked up the original artowrk for my album from the artist Jim Mahfood. It looks great, I can't wait to frame it and get it up on a wall. And Jim has a great apartment in Hollywood, makes me wish I lived over there.

And how 'bout dem' Colts!? Big come-from-behind victory last night. Unfortunately I'm going to miss Sunday's game because that's when we'll be flying home, but they'll be fine against the lowly Houston Texans.

I wish Carrie could come with me, I just got home!

I finally made it home. I left Osaka Friday at 5:30PM and arrived in LA on Friday at 12:30PM. In other words, I arrived before I left. Crazy huh?

It's good to be home although I'm pretty jet-lagged at the moment. It's 3:30AM and I'm wide awake. This is a problem seeing as how I went to bed at around 11. I'll manage.

Leaving Japan was bittersweet. I had a great time there, but I was really, really missing Carrie and Murphy.

Our drummer Kevin gave me some pics from his digital camera:

Here we are at the traditional Japanese resteraunt in Tokyo on our first night. No shoes, please.

The band at a kaiten sushi place (this is where the sushi travels around on a sort of conveyor belt and you pick up what you want).

Me and Steve's daughter Lauryn who joined us in Tokyo.

My last couple of days in Tokyo were fun. I went to Roppongi Hills (a really nice and massive shopping mall), Asakusa (a small shopping area with many local shops), and Shibuya again. I also saw more music with Lou. I really had a great time, Tokyo is so fun and the people are really sweet. The rest of the shows at the Blue Note went well, I think they'll have us back.

Yesterday we flew from Tokyo to Osaka where we are playing another even for Cartier today. Osaka is nice, much more laid back than Tokyo but still a big city.

I'm having fun but it will be nice to be home again.

Things are still going really well here in Tokyo. Our first hotel was in an area called Repponghi where all of the nighclubs are. Now we are staying in Akasaka which is more of a business district. There is an area with great resturaunts and I have found a cheap noodle place to eat at ... this is helpful since things can get pretty expensive in this city.

Saturday I went to Shibuya that is a lot like Time Square/Midtown Manhattan. I went by myself on the subway. I always like doing that, it really gives you a feel for the city you are in. I went to the Tower Records there and got some great CDs that you can't find in the states very easily, I'll give a report on those later. The subway here is fantastic, a lot cleaner and easier to manage than the NYC subway.

Tonight was our first gig at the Blue Note. It went really well. There were a lot of folks in the audience which is good since this is Steve's first time in Japan, hopefully we can come back. The crowd was very enthusiastic and the club really treated us well. It's going to be a fun couple of days.

After the gig I went to another jazz club with Louie and heard some great musicians. We hung out with them afterwards. I love doing stuff like that. Hanging out with locals makes you feel like less of a tourist.

Okay, it's almost 4 AM. I'm definately back on schedule from the jet-lag now.

I've only been here a couple of days and I can already tell you that Tokyo is one of the best cities I've ever visited. Where to start?

First off the hotel we stayed in the past couple of days was without a doubt the best hotel I've ever stayed in. And I've stayed in a lot of really nice hotel. The Grand Hyatt is simply awesome. Everything from the ambiance and wonderful breakfast to the heated toilet seat and remote control blackout curtains was exquisite. It had every modern amenity including remote control lights, an enormous bathroom with a rainfall shower head, two flat-screen televisions with a Bose audio system, DVD player (and check this out, DVDs are regional so DVDs from the US won't play on a Japanese DVD player, but after calling the front desk they replaced my DVD player with one from the US), and a ridiculously comfortable bed.

Tuesday night I went to a jazz club with our trumpet player (Louie) who has many friends in Japan. The musicians we saw were really great, there was a singer, guitarist, and a guy doing human beat-box. Unusual, but really good. It was nice to be in a club that locals hang in ... We definitely were the only foreigners there. It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday we had two performances for Cartier. They were having some sort of conference that we played for. I was thinking about running off with a tennis bracelet for Carrie but logic got the best of me. Afterwards our hosts from the Blue Note took us to a great Japanese restaurants that looked a lot like the restaurant from the end of Kill Bill. It was traditional Japanese, we had to take our shoes off, no forks, etc. The food was great as was the Saki. I've discovered a great Japanese liquor that I like called Shochu, good stuff. Somehow I got overserved last night ... How did that happen?

So we changed hotels today, this new hotel is very nice as well. We don't have anything to do for a couple of days, I plan on soaking up as much of Tokyo as I can.

Did I ever have a bad flight getting over here. There were probably 40 100lb. Japanese women on the flight and I get stuck sitting next to the only other big Amercian guy. I made it though and here I am.

We drove 1.5 hrs. to get here from Tokyo. So far I'm really digging Japan. Everyone is really quiet, polite, and short. And I've had some good, interesting food so far as well.

I forced myself to stay up last night to catch up with the time difference. I think I've done it, that's really good for only being here a day. Later on we have a soundcheck and our first show at a club called Motion Blue before heading to Tokyo tomorrow.

I had to jump on a computer to find out that my Colts won yet again ... the only television stations with English here are CNN and BBC. Even though I'm half a world away I can still get excited about an undefeated start for my boys!

Yesterday was a long day. We flew from St Louis to Oklahoma City at the butt crack of dawn. We had lunch, soundchecked and did another show. The folks here in OK are really nice and the promoters of the concert took us to some great restaurants for lunch and dinner yesterday. We have another show tonight and then the fun starts.

Tomorrow morning we leave (once again EARLY in the morning)for a 2hr trip to Chicago then the 14hr trip to Tokyo. You heard me. Fourteen friggin' hours. I'm prepared; I have my Gameboy, book, iPod, pills ... all the necessities for a long flight.

Be thinking about me tomorrow when I'm crammed on a plane for hours upon hours upon hours ...