Born: August 31, 1975
Height: 5'5"
Weight: undisclosed
College: Ball State University
Years Pro: 7

Drafted in the first round out of Ball State University in '98 Carrie spent one year at AAA-Kalamazoo before getting her first big league assignment in Los Angeles for Team Medeiros. Since her rookie season her offensive and defensive output have steadily increased. '06 was a career year for Carrie as she had to take over scoring duties from co-captain Lyman Medeiros who was absent for most home games and second-year veteran Murphy Medeiros whose stats diminished as he spent most of the season asleep. Carrie started every game and was never put on the IR despite her recent impregnation. Carrie was a starter for the '06 All-Star team and received 98% of the first-place MVP votes. Look for a contract extension for Carrie as Team Medeiros have a big rookie signing in winter of '07.

1. Chris Potter Underground
2. Murs Murray's Revenge
3. Jason Moran Artist in Residence
4. Christian McBride Band Live at Tonic
5. TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain
6. Arrah and the Ferns Evan is a Vegan
7. Regina Spektor Begin to Hope
8. John Mayer Continuum
9. The Roots Game Theory
10. Brazilian Girls Talk to La Bomb
11. Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
12. Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood Out Louder
13. Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere
14. Clipse Hell Hath No Fury
15. RH Factor Distractions
16. Jackie Allen Tangled

If you didn't know, I love art museums. I'm a big fan of 20th Century art and I try to make it a point to visit art museums in each new city I go to. In the past week I've visited two of my favorite NYC museums, the Met and the Whitney.

The Met is always great. I sometimes feel bad because all I do is head directly to the modern wing. But this time they had not one but two exhibits I was interested in. One was a collection of paintings that had passed through the hands of legendary French art dealer Vollard, mostly Cezanne, Van Gogh, Rodin, and Picasso. Good stuff for sure. The second exhibit was German expressionist portraits from the 30s. Fascinating stuff. And then there's the modern part of the permanent collection which I really love. The Met's collection is concise but thorough (well, maybe not that thorough, would it kill them to hang one Basquiat?). I've been there so much I know exactly where my favorites of their collection are including a great Pollack, two amazing Chuck Close portraits, and a beautiful Modigliani nude. I must've been at the museum for three hours. It's one of my favorites in the world.

Unfortunately I didn't have a great experience at the Whitney. The Whitney is a museum of American art so there's usually plenty of modern stuff which is why I dig it so much. And like the Guggenheim there's no real permanent collection on display, it's all exhibitions. The first exhibit was fine, it featured works from two German artists (Moholy-Nagy and Albers) who relocated to the USA after Hitler closed the Bauhaus where they both taught. The second exhibit might've been the finest I've seen in both museums; Kiki Smith: A Gathering. I really loved it. Her work is hard to explain so I won't try save to say it is thoroughly modern and adventurous but direct and less confusing than most 20th Century artists.

So I was really excited to see the next exhibit which has been getting a lot of hype, it's called Picasso and American Art. It features different Picasso's hung next to American works they inspired. Sounds interesting right? Wrong. I hated it. As a jazz musicians I know that it's important to understand influences, where artists have "come from" aesthetically, etc. But this exhibition implies that artists are nothing more than their influences, specifically Picasso. De Koonig, Graham, Gorky, and Weber, names that are not very well known among the occasional museum-visitor, are made to look like they are nothing more than Picasso imitators and that is just not the case. Seeing similar paintings in the same room really numbs your eyes and you find yourself searching for the similarities (no matter how subtle) instead of really checking out the painting. The best is a room in the exhibit where works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol are hung. Many of these pieces bear the name (or the subtitle) After Picasso. It's like the exhibitors couldn't even make the distinction between 'influence' and 'homage'!

When I heard a lady turn to her husband and say "they all copied Picasso didn't they?" and he replied "they still do!" I knew it was time to go as I feared this exhibit was doing a real disservice.

I should say that they had a room of early Pollack's that I really loved (his figurative pre-paint-splashing phase). But at the end of the day it seemed like the exhibit was just an excuse to hang some Picasso's and get some more bodies into the Whitney.

Pretentious rant concluded.

The booty:
Sony Vaio Notebook
Cast Iron Skillet
Sauce' Pan
Paula Deen Cookbooks
101 Things Every Father Should Know
Scrabble

The food:
Honeybaked Ham
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sausage/Apple Stuffing
Mashed Potatos
Rolls
Brussell Sprouts
Cranberry Sauce

A good time was had with my in-laws and my wonderful wife. I didn't want to come back to NYC, but here I am. Only one week of the tour left.

I'm off everybody. I hope you all have a wonderful and happy Christmas. I'm getting the best present I could imagine, time with my beautiful wife and soon-to-be baby boy.

Merry, merry!

But it doesn't feel like Christmas. I don't know why. Maybe because the weather isn't cold and there's been no snow. Maybe it's because last year I lived a block away from Rockefeller Center and this year I live in a quieter neighborhood.

Or maybe it's a testament to how much your family means to you during the holidays. I'm ready to go home. For the first time in a long time I'm road weary and would like nothing better but to be on my couch with my dog at the moment.

But the Christmas party was a smashing success as it was last year. I made some food that was a real hit (bruschetta with goat cheese and caramelized onion, roasted nuts with herb butter, mulled wine, etc.). Unfortunately I didn't eat much of it but drank on an empty stomach. From what I hear I called Jason a few times at three in the morning. He was unlucky enough to be one of the last people I talked to on my phone. HA! Sorry 'bout that one bro. In spite of that the party was a lot of fun.

Last night I saw what I can only describe as a jazz dream band-Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Dave Kikoski, Marcus Strickland, and the one and only Christian McBride. If you know who these guys are then you know how thoroughly killing it was. Christian has a blog on his website, he told me he's posting today about the James Brown concert and he talks about me a bit. Can't wait to read that.

Alright, I have some Christmas shopping to do. I'm still not sure on what I should get my wife ... maybe I'll just shop when I get back to L.A. ...

Well it was only a matter of time. I mean really, how long can you live your life in this cold, dingy city riding with hundreds if not thousands of commuters on the subway ever day without catching a cold? It hasn't been terrible and I think I'm at the end of it, but being sick is never fun. My month-long gym membership ran out this week and without the energy or gumption to take my bass home I feel like I've accomplished very little over the past few days. No biggie I guess, recouping is important.

Tomorrow night is our second annual NYC Christmas Party. We had a hella-good time last year (Paul Schaeffer even showed up). And this year with a bigger pad and three roomates it should be better.

Have we all seen the article about Time Magazine's Person of the Year? It's YOU. That's right, you. I know it seems like a big cop-out and in many ways it is. But when you consider the amount of information John Q. Public is offering and digesting through websites like Wikipedia, Myspace, YouTube, and various blogs (and when you consider most of our world leaders are shit) it makes sense. The article could've been a bit clearer though.

And if you haven't seen the postcard for my big CD Release Show, check it out (big, HUGE ups to Jeff who printed up 500 cards for me pro bono):

Than ks 'Nana' Karen. WOOT!

Nancy Sinatra was in attendance. She got up and sang "Something Stupid" with Steve. Way cool man, way cool.

My week back in NYC has been okay. Some friends/fans of Steve and ours from Ft. Scott Kansas came out and we ended up hanging pretty hard a couple of nights. Friday I showed them Times Square were we visitedThe Charmin Restrooms. If you haven't heard about what it is, Charmin has set up this building with restrooms in the middle of Times Square where it's typically hard to find a place to take a leak. Upon walking in to the place you're greeted by a worker who tells you "it's not just a restroom, it's an experience!" You take and escalator up to a waiting area where there are workers dancing around to the Charmin song, places for photo ops, and a large flat screen TV displaying different countries around the world and how many visitors from each the Charmin Restrooms had had (59 from Ghana). After waiting in a short line a worker tells you to use whichever of the twenty restrooms were available. The restroom smelled great and gave you a choice of six different toilet papers. After leaving a worker rushes in and makes sure everything is okay for the next guest.

An experience it was! Pictures to come soon.

Sunday we had to go to Jersey for a gig. This turned out to be a total drag. Our driver got lost, the gig was lame. All of this on top of the fact that the Colts got embarrassed really put me out. But last night we went downtown and heard some great Brazilian music so at least the day ended well.

The gig starts again tomorrow. Time really seems to be flying by this year as compared to last year. I guess I'll be home in no time.

... in the form of one badass new Sony Vaio Notebook for yours truly. That means a whole lot more posting from the road. Man is it going to be nice to finally have a computer with me.

It even has a built-in webcam for long-distance messaging with me son.

... or a punch, or a head-butt, or something.

I've had my hands on Carrie's belly since I got to LA and hadn't felt a thing until this morning. He's in there alright ...

I'm headed back to LA tonight (or more like tomorrow morning I guess). I'm really excited to see Carrie, Murphy, and Lil' Porkchop again. My flight leaves at 6:45 AM so I figure I'll just stay up through the night and sleep on the plane. I've been getting to bed around 4 AM each night anyway so it seems to make sense.

I'm worried about my flight back. I'm supposed to land at JFK around 3:00 PM and I need to be to the Carlyle by 8. I've heard everything from snowstorms to tornadoes (HA!) from people but weather.com says nothing of the sort. As of now, I think I'll be cool.

It's starting to get cold in the city. Perfect time for a trip back West.