I have officially re-launched my blog. I will keep this one around for the archives only. So please, visit the new one and put it on your RSS Feed, Reader, etc. Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your enemies. Hope to see you all there:

THE BACKBEAT

Finally I can honestly say I'm not a completely blind Obama-supporter. As I'm sure you all have heard Colin Powell endorsed Obama over the weekend expressing some of the same concerns about McCain's candidacy I expressed a couple of posts ago although he did it much more eloquently than I ever could. Powell's always been a guy I've respected and this endorsement has brought him some heat so I have no reason to believe this was politically motivated. And when the former Republican Secretary of Defense says the Ayers situation is a non-issue, its time to drop it. Check it out if you haven't.


And with that I'm done with politics and The Backbeat for a while. I'm voting absentee this year, I'm filling out and mailing my ballot today. My small part of the democratic process will be realized for this election so there won't be much use in me talking about it anymore.

This blog has become something I never intended it to be. I'm afraid I am portraying myself in a way that makes it much too easy for readers to jump to conclusions about my opinions and my world view. I'm quite lucky to have an interesting career that allows me to travel quite a bit and I wanted a blog to share that with family and friends both immediate and casual. In these important political times I began posting some of my opinions about political issues I felt passionately about as this was my blog about me and my life, but perhaps that was selfish of me. I guess nothing that is so freely available to the public can simply be an inward personal expression. We have had many heated debates as a result but more often then not there was an ugly tone that took over. I've been accused of having a big ego, one who would celebrate if our country fell, it's been insinuated that I am communist, that I support a totalitarian fascist that would strip our country of the liberties it was founded on ... its one thing to challenge someone's opinion, its another to provide unsolicited sarcastic and belittling remarks. But I'm not innocent of resorting to argument and insult as opposed to insightful debate either. I've had a lot of online discussions about the election on other sites recently; in particular, Facebook and a Colts Fansite that I frequent (of all the places!) and they've all been more respectful then what a few of the discussions here have dissolved in to. In some respects it makes sense that we would be more respectful to people we don't know as opposed to friends and acquaintances and in other respects it makes no sense at all.

Two things recently occurred that caused me to re-think the way I run my own blog. First a friend of mine emailed me their opinions about my first Sarah Palin post because they were too afraid of being attacked in the Comments section here. Attacked! I promise, I'm not making this up! Secondly, on another blog I simply asked a question about a sensitive topic (it was nothing more than a question, I know what a smartass I can be and I was very careful not to reflect that) and was immediately told I was trying to start crap and opinions that I hadn't even expressed were called in to question.

We complain so much about the polarizing state of American politics, how the two-party system is too divisive but we're guilty of doing the exact same thing: if you support Obama then you're pro-abortion, if you support gun control then you're communist, if you're pro-choice then you're anti-death-penalty, if you support government regulation then you're socialist, etc. None of those things are mutually exclusive. But I don't want to have to explain my entire ideology every time I show enthusiasm for a candidate or an issue important to me.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS! I'm not trying to be self-righteous or passive-aggressive. I've spent a lot of time in chat rooms, message boards, social networking sites, and blogs over the past seven years (when I got my first PC), I know how posts like this can come across. I'm just going to step aside for a minute. The timing is good, I leave soon for NYC where I'll play the first week of the Carlyle with Mistah Tyrell along with some other dates. When I come back the election will be long over and hopefully so will all of the divisive discussions and heightened emotions.

I'm going to leave the comments section open for this post because you might think I'm making an accusation about you and I want to give you the opportunity to tell me to go to hell if you like, I'm not going to comment back. Just know that I am not trying to refer to any specific instance or absolve myself of fueling the fires.

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease. Keep it funky, yo!

What a beating. The Colts' football play sunk to a new low yesterday, I could hardly believe it. Luckily I had the Colin Powell endorsement and a Boston loss to soften what otherwise would've been an awful day.

EDIT
And if you didn't know, Ball State University is ranked #20 in both the BCS and AP polls. Go Cardinals! Now if only I could watch a game somehow.

... has been a rare thing for me the past couple of weeks. Good sleep anyway. It seems like every night I have a gig or something to do and I don't get to bad until 1 or 2. The baby is up at 6 regardless. I get up and I manage to get a nap in during the day usually but its just not the same as getting a good night of uninterrupted sleep. I don't know what I can do about it. Getting a bigger house certainly isn't an option these days! The good thing is I have been busy playing music and seeing friends which is exactly what I want to be doing since I'm not on the road.

Well, my Dodgers' unexpected run through the playoffs finally ended. They started the series with the Phillies playing some good ball but by the end of it Manny was the only guy who could get a hit. Its disappointing they didn't play very well the final two games but they made a lot further then anyone expected. Unfortunately its going to take a miracle to keep Manny in L.A. as somebody is going to throw a $100 million contract at him and the Dodgers have such a big payroll already. We'll see what happens.

Thankfully Oct/Nov are the best months for sports; NFL, college football, and the beginning of basketball season.

Oh, the fires are all out here in L.A. In the end only a few homes were destroyed and a couple of fatalities (one a transient, the other a car-wreck caused by confusion from the smoke). It could've been a lost worse, hopefully the warm wind is done with and we can proceed with Fall.

... that McPalin continues the mud-slinging?

Why would any voter be swayed by such nonsense?

All is good. The fire is by no means contained and is still dangerous but it has shifted westward and we are no longer in its path. Murphy and I returned a few minutes ago, the air is still smokey but besides that there are no problems.

Thanks for the concern everyone.

Yesterday morning I woke up early and could not get back to sleep. My nose was stuffy and running, I was sneezing, it was weird. We had been to a Pumpkin Patch the night before so I chalked it up to smoke in my hair from the wood fires then. After Carrie walked the dog she told me there was ash in the air and after some poking around online we discovered there was a brush fire in the Angeles National Forest northeast of us. The air was smoky but we're kind of used to that kind of thing around this time of year. We went about our day and had a fantastic Sunday; Milo and Carrie went to the zoo, I watched football (Colts FINALLY looking good!), we took a nap, the Dodgers won, we had a really fun dinner with some friends, and an early bedtime.

When we woke up this morning the sky was black to the north of us. The smoke was heavy and the wind was really blowing hard. We turned on the TV and learned the fire had moved south, was moving south quickly, and the air was too windy for firefighters to drop water on it or see the fire line with any effectiveness. Carrie went to work, Milo went to his babysitters, and I wasted no time. There was no official evacuation called for our neighborhood but seriously, why wait? I gathered up some important belongings and the dog and made my way to my office studio which is out of harm's way.

At the moment I'm at a Starbuck's waiting it out. Moments ago the neighborhood directly north to us was evacuated and I wouldn't be surprised if ours is evacuated soon. Poor Murphy is going nuts (dogs have a sixth sense for this kind of thing of course).

We're all safe, no reason to worry ... but I don't want our house to burn down! I really don't think that is going to happen as we live around a hell of a lot of concrete but its still something you think about. If anyone knows a rain dance, rain mojo, or all-around good vibes, send them our way.

UPDATE
AP link

Last night my favorite indie band Margot and the Nuclear So and So's played at legendary L.A. club The Troubadour and yours truly was in attendance. These guys are quite possibly the best band ever to come out of Indianapolis. I've written about them before, they really are brilliant (think hard-rock Ryan Adams meets Broken Social Scene if that means anything to you). I know their trumpet player from Ball State, it was great hanging with him and great seeing the show.

I've been waiting for their new record Animal! for a while now, it was released yesterday but for some odd reason it was only released on Vinyl. Now, I appreciate a record being released on wax for classic and nostalgic reasons but you can't even download it from Amazon or iTunes. I'm afraid they might have out-cooled themselves. So I don't have the new record as my turntable is fried and needs to be replaced and I don't have anything to play it on at the moment. Luckily they also released a CD titled Not Animal comprised of other songs from the same recording sessions, I downloaded that yesterday and its got some good stuff on it but I feel like I'm missing out. Its too bad.

I've been buying a lot of music lately, more than usual. Too much as I'm not digesting everything like I should. In the past couple of weeks:

Murs Murs for President
Miles Davis The Man With The Horn
Helmet Meantime
Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
TV on the Radio Dear Science
Living Legends The Gathering
Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes
William Parker Corn Meal Dance
Various Nigeria Rock Special: Pshychedelic, Afro-Rock, and Fuzz Funk in 1970's Nigeria
Immortal Technique Revolutionary Vol. 2
She and Him Volume One

That's not to mention the Wave Mechanics Union and Margot records that I blogged about. Look at that list. Does anybody know half of these records? Damn, I'm a nerd ...

The past few days have been pretty busy for me. Gig with some great players Friday night, Saturday morning we had breakfast with some friends. That night we played a wedding in Bel Air with Tyrell. This house was incredible, to give you an idea of how much money was involved with this home and this wedding--Wolfgang Puck catered the event, he was actually there! (the food was of course phenomenal) Sunday morning I painfully watched the Colts eek out a win in a game they had no business winning ... its going to be a long season. Sunday night was another Tyrell gig, this time at the L.A. Jazz Society's annual banquet where he was getting an award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year.

And let's not forget the Dodgers wrapping up their playoff series by sweeping the Cubs. What a bunch of chokers! Bring on the Phillies.

I ran a bunch of errands today. At the moment Milo is asleep and Carrie is at her book club, I'm on the couch watching football in total silence.

Nothing better!

... has lost his sh*t.

I've decided to forgo the Vice Presidential debate in favor of the Dodgers/Cubs game. Frankly, the woman makes me mad and I don't see the use in picking apart what she says any more. I agree with nothing in her platform, the debate isn't going to make me re-think any that. But here is some funny stuff I gathered from MySpace and Facebook about Palin that you might get a chuckle out of:

RULES OF THE SARAH PALIN VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE DRINKING GAME

--Take a chug of Moosehead beer whenever Sarah Palin says the following:

maverick

reformer

any sentence including the words "neighbor" and "Russia"

small-town values

Gwen or Joe (remember how many times Palin said "Charlie" during the Gibson interview?)

off shore oil drilling

Alaska

"Thanks but no thanks!"

witchcraft (not likely...but hey, you never know, especially if Kathleen Parker's name should pop up)

--Take two chugs of Moosehead whenever Sarah Palin does the following:

Utters a coherent sentence (i.e., contains a subject and a verb and makes logical sense)

Talks about her new friend Henry Kissinger or Hamid Karzai

Explains how being the part-time mayor of Wasilla, Alaska with a full-time city manager counts as executive experience

--Chug a whole bottle of Moosehead if Sarah Palin mentions the following:

Palin Presidency

On second thought, make that two bottles of Moosehead.



Are you going to/did you watch the debate? Why or why not?

Its not that I hate the Cubs team, the whole "lovable losers" thing is cute and I really dug the documentary "Wait 'Til Next Year." Its not that I hate the city of Chicago or Chicagoans (despite my experience with Bears fans at the Superbowl two years ago), in fact I have a lot of friends and family living there. I have no problem with the state of Illinois, its a fine place.

I'm afraid my hate from the Cubs stems from folks in Indiana.

Let me 'splain.

I went to school in Indiana at Ball State University. If you've ever attended college you know you meet a hell of a lot of people on a daily basis, and it seemed like every other person I'd met would tell me they were from "the Chicago area."

I'd say "Really? What neighborhood?"

And they'd reply "Goshen" or "Merryville" or "Valpraiso." ...

HUH?!

Guess what pal! That AIN'T Chicago! Its not even in the area of Chicago. You're from Northern Indiana, dont' try to act like you're from the big city. What, is it embarrassing to be from Northern Indiana? Does being from Laporte make you some sort of social pariah? Does admitting to being a Hoosier get your cool card revoked or something?! I got so sick and tired from everyone who lived north of Lafayette telling me they were from the "Chicago area" that my hatred of their sports teams grew and grew (the Reggie Miller/Michael Jordan had rivalry helped this along as well). I didn't even like baseball at the time but all of the Cubs hats around campus made me ill.

The you have folks from Indianapolis cheering for the Cubs which always made me suspicious. Why the Cubs? Why not the White Sox, Tigers, Reds, or Cardinals? Why not one of the teams that the Indianapolis Indians were affiliated with like the Expos or Brewers? I'll tell you why, because the Cubs are the trendy, cool Chicago team to root for. You can cheer on the Cubs but at the same time you don't look like you're a bandwagon fan because they always frickin' lose.

Fast-forward a decade or so; I'm at Dodger Stadium, my wife had bought us tickets for my birthday. The Dodgers are playing the Brewers, the score is tied in the seventh inning. Alex Cora (at that time a Dodger) steps up to bat. He and the pitcher go at it--Cora fouls of 17 straight pitches to right field. The crowd is going ape shit with every pitch. When the ball comes at Cora for the 18th time he smacks it over the fence. It was the most exciting sports play I'd ever seen live. Gagne comes on to close the game (back when Gagne was good and on the juice) during his remarkable streak of consecutive closes and my love for baseball and the Dodgers is born.

Now we're full circle. The Dodgers are playing the Cubs. If you're a Chicago transplant or long-time Cubs fan then we have no beef. But if you're a Hoosier living in the "Chicago area" or living in Indy with a mysterious connection to the Cubs, this one is for you:
GRAND SLAM BABY! DODGERS WIN GAME ONE 7-2.


p.s.
Dave Rinehart! Milo and I both caught your "Go Cubs" remark on Agoraphobia! So that Grand Slam if for you too!

You might remember me mentioning a couple of times over the past year or so that while visiting Indy I had done some recording with my old friend Ryan Fraley and a big band CD he was working on.

Well, the CD is finally out. It's really good and I'm proud of my playing on it. The music is classic and progressive rock songs rearranged for big band, but don't think of it as a gimmick. The arrangements are great, the playing is solid and hearing these songs in a jazz/symphonic context is really interesting.

Please check it out. You can listen to it and order it from the website or Amazon.

Tired. Exhausted. The tour over the weekend was pretty hectic.

And as I'm sure you all know, the bailout failed. As much as I hated the idea of the government providing a golden parachute to these corporations without some strict regulations legislation, the idea of an economic meltdown because of no bailout is almost scarier.

Mom left today. While we didn't have a lot of activities we had a really good time just being together and playing with Milo. It was sad to see her go.

I'm headed out for a short tour tomorrow, NYC and Memphis.

It looks like big corporations want the government to stay out of their business unless they are going broke in which case they want billions of dollars of taxpayer money to fix their situation.

So we lighten government regulations and give tax breaks to big business just to bail them out when their greed catches up to them?

This will end badly.

Download the movie now, for free!

Esquire magazine recently published this list of books every man should read. I have only read a few (Plainsong, The Sportswriter, Slaughterhouse-Five and Huckleberry Finn, The Call of the Wild for school) and really should have more of them under my literary belt. What do you think? How many have you read?

The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Affliction, by Russell Banks
All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral, by Philip Roth
American Tabloid, by James Ellroy
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text, by William Faulkner
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Blood Meridian, Or, the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy
The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Call of the Wild, White Fang, & To Build a Fire, by Jack London
Civilwarland in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella, by George Saunders
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
The Continental Op, by Dashiell Hammett
The Crack-Up, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Deliverance, by James Dickey
Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
Dispatches, by Michael Herr
Dog Soldiers, Robert Stone
Dubliners, by James Joyce
A Fan’s Notes: A Fictional Memoir, by Frederick Exley
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
Going Native, by Stephen Wright
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories, by Flannery O'Connor
The Good War: An Oral History of World War II, by Studs Terkel
The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck Centennial Edition (1902-2002), by John Steinbeck
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, by Hunter S. Thompson
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
The Known World, by Edward P. Jones
Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings, by Jorge Luis Borges
Legends of the Fall, Jim Harrison
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families, by James Agee
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian
Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
Native Son, by Richard Wright
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain
The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene
The Professional, by W. C. Heinz
Rabbit Run, by John Updike
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe
A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of William Warren Bradley, by John McPhee
The Shining, by Stephen King
Slaughterhouse-five, by Kurt Vonnegut
So Long, See You Tomorrow, William Maxwell
Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
A Sport And a Pastime, James Salter
The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carré
The Stories of John Cheever, by John Cheever
The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction, Tim O'Brien
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff
Time’s Arrow: Or the Nature of the Offense, by Martin Amis
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
Underworld, by Don DeLillo
War And Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
What It Takes: The Way to the White House, by Richard Ben Cramer
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories, by Raymond Carver
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson
Winter’s Bone: A Novel, Daniel Woodrell
Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin
Women, by Charles Bukowski

This hilarious site has been making the rounds in emails and blogs lately, it is absolutely hilarious. So what if these celebs were from the Midwest? Here's what a couple of them would look like:

(NOTE: After the last joke I posted I do realize that I need to be more PC so please don't be offended if you, like myself, are from the Midwest.)

Jennifer Aniston:


Sarah Jessica Parker:


Johnny Depp:


Tara Reid:


That's just a few, there's more on the link!

Top Republican says Palin unready

Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency.

John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year.

He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip.

'Stop the nonsense'

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

And he was dismissive of the fact that Mrs Palin, the governor of Alaska, has made few trips abroad.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

Mr Hagel also criticised the McCain campaign for its suggestion that the proximity of Alaska to Russia gave Mrs Palin foreign policy experience.

"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia'," he said.

"That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

BBC North America editor Justin Webb says Mr Hagel's opinion of Mrs Palin will have an effect on independent voters.

A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Hagel was a close ally of Mr McCain, but the two men parted company over the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Mr Hagel skipped this year's Republican National Convention in favour of a visit to Latin America.

Mr Hagel's decision to accompany Mr Obama this summer on a trip to Iraq and Israel, as part of a US Congressional delegation, led to speculation that he would throw his support behind the Democratic nominee.

However, a spokesman for the Nebraska senator insisted in August that "Senator Hagel has no intention of getting involved in any of the campaigns and is not planning to endorse either candidate".

link

That's right folks, I'll be appearing on 'Sports Talk with the Good Doc' on LATalkRadio.com with Dr. Patrick Riche and Jackie Taylor again. Listen, call in, and talk some sports with your boy:

The show is on from 6-9 PM PST

LATalkRadio.com

The phone number is:
1-323-203-0815

Talk to you soon!

My mom arrived yesterday and we've been having a great time chasing my son around ever since. The election came up and I asked her about it, she told me that many people she knows back in Indiana really like Sarah Palin. I was appalled by this. Considering how much I hear about personal freedoms from folks back home I'm astounded that anyone could think her Vice Presidency would be a good idea.

The hypocrisy of the Republican party after her candidacy was announced has been particularly deplorable. While Hillary was making her run all we heard from Republicans was how Dems were trying to play the "sexist" card and how nobody was sexist they just didn't like Hillary. Then after Palin steps up Republicans are crying "sexism!" left and right particularly in regards to Obama's now famous comment "you can put lipstick on pig, but its still a pig" Where's the hypocrisy? McCain made the exact same comment about Hillary. No outrage there though! Wow.

Then is the obvious question of experience. McCain supporters have long criticized Obama for not having enough political experience to lead, but now these same folks are defending Palin's lack of experience (I think its saying a lot when The Office has been on longer than your national political career) and going so far as to say she has more experience than Obama! The new excuse from the Right is that Palin has more Executive experience than Obama. Huh?! What does that have to do with anything? Next time you hear this dressed-up spin of hypocrisy remind the person that Andrew Jackson, Abe Lincoln, John F Kennedy, and *gulp* George H.W. Bush all had political careers in the Legislature and no Executive experience before taking office either.

Then there's the question of pork barrels. Pork barrels are kind of hard to explain and this article does a better job than I could:

WASILLA, ALASKA -- For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.

Where's the hypocrisy? Here:

Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.

In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.

McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002.

The entire article is fascinating, you should read it. So Palin earmarked federal funds for her town, the kind of politics that McCain has been fighting his entire political career.

But I guess the thing that disturbs me the most about Sarah Palin is the hypocrisy of her daughter's pregnancy. (That's right, I'm going there. And hopefully Obama will too). Palin asks for respect and privacy for her daughter's decision during this political campaign. Yet, if any other young, unwed woman gets pregnant, if she is raped, or if she is faced with the prospect of carrying and delivering a horribly diseased or disfigured child with a short life expectancy, Sarah Palin would have our government legislate to her what course of action to take. She only wants respect and privacy if the decision made is the one she agrees with. In fact, there is nothing respectful or private about our government telling women what decision to make about their pregnancies.

And if recent allegations about her allowing the Wasilla Police Department to charge rape victims for the forensic work (i.e. rape kits) done on their case turns out to be true, she moves from the realm of hypocrite to monster.

Orwell was wrong, we don't have to worry about Big Brother. If McCain succeeds, Big Sister will only be a heartbeat away.

I had a really good time in Oklahoma. This is the third time we've played at this venue and the folks that promote/host the show are really great. I had some really great food including some good BBQ and I re-connected with an old friend of mine from Ball State. I didn't even know this guy lived in Oklahoma now, aren't Facebook Status Updates great?

He showed me the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing. It was really moving; there's a stone chair for each victim that is lit at the base. Each chair is positioned in the location that the victim's body was found, the chairs all face a still, shallow pool. On each side are enormous, free-standing walls with clocks on them denoting the times off the attack. I saw the memorial at night which made it more powerful as the lights from the chairs really cast a mood. It is a beautiful tribute.

I'm back home now. Thank goodness we avoided Galveston. The show is supposed to be re-scheduled for next month but I don't see how with all of the damage the city has suffered.

The Colts squeaked out an ugly win today. Hopefully the team finds its rhythm soon, my nerves can't take a whole season of this. I was at my sports bar this morning downright nauseus watching the game. In other sports news the Dodgers are doing quite well, hopefully the rest of their season will be less nerve-racking for me.

If you didn't know Mom is coming to visit soon. She'll be in L.A. on Tuesday. We're all looking forward to her trip.

I'm leaving for a quick trip to Oklahoma for a gig with the boss. Our gig in Galveston for Saturday has been canceled. Considering the city was evacuated today I'm calling this a good move.

Great way to open the stadium, boys ...

-Football season finally, officially starts today. Go motherflippin' COLTS!

-Speaking of sports the Dodgers are finally in first place in the NL West. Go Azul!

-I have a gig in Galveston, TX scheduled with Tyrell next Saturday. According to weather reports this is approximately the time when one of the three hurricanes ravaging the Caribbean should be hitting the Texas coast.

-The hypocrisy of Palin will never cease to disgust me. She asks for privacy in regards to her daughter's decision-making concerning her pregnancy yet advocates the government legislating the same decision-making for other folks. Some people are actually going to vote for her?

-I jammed my ring finger three weeks ago while playing volleyball and my ring still won't fit because of swelling. If you see me out and about please don't think I'm on the prowl.

-Is summer over? Holy crap!

China's opening ceremony for the Olympics or John McCain's speech at the RNC?

Following in the footsteps of my ol' man I made my radio debut last night co-hosting an online sports talk radio show. It was the most fun I've had with my clothes on, I can't tell you what a blast it was. I like to think I was a natural waxing poetic about the Colts, Dodgers, tennis, etc. You can download or stream the show here:

LAtalkradio.com

Click on the Sep. 3 episode. There are some callers the first hour and the topic was college football which isn't necessarily my forte' so I wasn't talking much, I talk much more in the second and third hours. Warning! There is some blue humor used if you knowuttumsayin' so if you are easily offended, you have been warned.

Are you f*%^$ng kidding me?

With the political atmosphere what it is these days every time I get an idea for a blog its always about the election. I gotta step back man, there will be plenty of time over the next two months for that. Although I realize that some folks out there care deeply about what I think, if I try to put my political thoughts on the blog any more I'm going to start boring even myself.

Labor Day weekend has been fantastic so far. I played beach volleyball and went to a cookout/birthday party on Saturday, Sunday I had a really easy gig at Hollywood Park followed by yet another cookout/birthday party (more details on the baby blog), and today some friends of ours and Milo's came over for an afternoon in the pool. And there is yet another cookout I'm headed to in a couple of hours.

The next couple of weeks are pretty open as far as gigs are concerned but I have some projects brewing that I'm going to focus more attention on. Hopefully I'll have some exciting Lower Level news in the next couple of weeks.

And if you're wondering what the post title is all about, Google is launching its new web browser Chrome tomorrow. I'm hyping up everything Google these days as I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Google phone which I hope blows the iPhone out of the water.

Labor Day questions for you:
How many beaches or pools did you go to?
How many cookouts did you attend?
How many beers/wine coolers did you consume?
How many times did Sarah Palin come up in casual conversation?

Can you believe summer is coming to an end? Crazy. I had some big plans for this summer that never quite came to fruition but at the same time I've stayed rather busy and have had a terrific few months with the fam. Its been a minute since my last post so I have some catching up to do:

Olympics
Well, the Olympics are over and its kind of sad. You get really spoiled being able to watch sports any hour of the day. Even though the US track team took a big steaming dump the games ended well for the US team capped off by the great victory by the US basketball team. I was up until 2 AM the night of the gold medal game just knowing that I'd be up with Milo at 6. But it didn't matter, I had to watch ... who'd be happy if America failed?

The ominous shadow of China loomed large no matter how hard the IOC tried to cover it up. I find it hilarious that the chairman of the IOC spoke out against Usain Bolt's grand-standing yet seemed quite content with the Chinese gymnasts who were so obviously under age. There were also rumors that China had allowed protesters to apply for protests during the games but as soon as they got there they were detained and deported. Yikes. London should be a much friendlier location.

San Diego
The San Diego gig went really well. The new club down there is called Anthology and it is as nice and hip as any jazz club in the country; large, great ambiance, good sound, etc. There is a full re-cap on the baby blog but our family activities included Lego Land (ugh!), the beach, walks around downtown, and seeing friends. Good times for sure, I didn't want to leave. San Diego is such a great place Carrie and I were actually entertaining the idea of moving there. But who doesn't do that when they are on a great vacation?

DNC
LOVE Joe Biden, great guy. He is a man of integrity who will challenge the president and not be a "yes"-man crony that we've been used to for the past few years.

As far as the actual convention, I've watched some of the big speeches but I really can't stand watching the coverage. You have to deal with all of these talking heads who spout their hot-air opinions just in case you couldn't form your own. CNN makes me go blind with all of the crap they have flying around on the screen and even though I like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann from his ESPN days and from what little I've seen of his show, I don't like him 'narrating' the convention. And did Chelsea get some work done or what?

I can't wait for Obama to hit the stage.

Today Carrie, Milo and I are headed south to beautiful San Diego for five days, I'm playing at a Jazz club down there with Tyrell. We're really looking forward to the trip, don't know exactly what we'll be doing yet; maybe Lego-Land, maybe the zoo, the marina, beach ... I just hope Milo does well with the 2.5-3 hour drive.

(Can anyone complete the post title quote from Anchorman?)

We had a great weekend, a bbq at a friend's on Saturday and more beach volleyball on Sunday. Unfortunately I jammed my finger while playing, I'm so paranoid about my fingers I've been treating it like it was broken, icing, elevating, I even bought a splint and taped it up. I'm pretty sure those things helped quite a bit and my finger will be in serviceable on the gig tonight. I was thinking of keeping the splint on and playing the gig with a pained grimace on my face like a dedicated Olympian playing through injury, but that might be a bit dramatic.

Let me be the first to publicly congratulate my good friend Jason Barnett on winning the Silver Medal on the Trampoline yesterday. Jason edged out Dong Dong for second place in this high-flying gymnastics event. Here's a picture of our man showing off his terrific accomplishment:



Hold on ... that doesn't look like Jason ...

... waitaminute ...

That's Jason BURNETT not BARNETT. And he's from Toronto, not Noblesville. Oopsie!

How embarrassing! Sorry about the mix-up folks, but I have no doubt with a little hard work and practice our Jason can perfect his high-flying spins and turns and indeed surpass his Canadian namesake to bring home the Gold Medal in Trampoline at the next Olympics.

Good luck Jason! We're all behind you!

Is this guy miraculous or what? Eight gold medals, just incredible. His last two races were so exciting, I was jumping up and down like it was a Colts game. So congrats Phelps, who knows if we'll ever see another athletic display like this one.

And did you see Usain Bolt absolutely fly to break the World Record in the 100-meter Sprint? He was so far ahead he started celebrating before finishing and still broke the record.

One drag about the Olympics is that whenever I'm home I'm watching it constantly; Volleyball, Water Polo, Softball, Gymnastics, I even watched Dressage the other day (that's an equestrian event if ya' don't know). I'm behind on all of the shows I watch. I'll be sad when its over but at least football season is right around the corner.

Wednesday night I played a gig with Steve Tyrell at a new, enormous mall here in L.A. called The Americana (it was designed by the same folks who designed The Grove in Hollywood for those of you who might have been there before during a visit). As far as the shopping goes its much like any other high end mall you'd see anywhere else in the country (Cheesecake Factory, Lucky Brand Co., Barnes & Noble, etc.) but similarities to other malls pretty much end there. There is an enormous courtyard with a big fountain and, of course, a stage. Tony Bennett had actually opened the place a couple of months ago. The gig went really well, there were hundreds of people (as it turns out, when you play for free a LOT of people show up, go figure!) and the crowd was very enthusiastic.

The odd thing about this mall is that it features luxury condos. There is a concierge service that will run down to The Gap and pick out some shirts for you and bring them up so you can try them on without leaving your place. Our band room was in one of the condos and it was pretty nice, roomy, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bath.

The cost of such a place? $2.5 million!

If I'm paying that much scratch for a condo I want it to be either really, really big or by the beach or some other really great neighborhood. But a mall? I don't think so.

Would you like to live in a mall?

Here's your boy with the little one at soundcheck:

From the NY Post

Swimming sensation Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day.

He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

A lot of folks have been talking about the impressive opening ceremony for the Olympics last Friday night. And while the festivities were absolutely gorgeous and breath-taking only one thing kept running through my mind:


America, our days as top-dog are numbered.


The symbolism that permeated the ceremonies really stuck out to me. Thousands of Chinese who were dressed alike with the exact same haircut pounding drums or dancing in perfect synchronicity. No drummers with a solo, no dancer more featured than the other. It was a beautiful artistic expression of communism. Children representing the future were omnipresent and even handed off the flag to military soldiers letting us know that the state was not only the present but the future as well. Then towards the end the Chinese delegation marched in to the stadium with Yao Ming, the tallest Olympian, carrying the flag ensuring that it flew higher than any other flag with a little boy next to him who had given selflessly of himself to save his fellow classmates in the aftermath of an earthquake.

The nationalism was overwhelming. This is a country who is proud of where they are in the world and who believes they will only become stronger in the future. Of course we all know that there is much wrong with China, and herein lies the problem.

You might not be aware of this but President Bush is the first president in the history of our country to wage war and not raise taxes. As a result, the U.S. is in deep debt to China. How deep? Upwards of $500 billion, some estimates are as high as $1 trillion. China, violator of human rights, a ruthless dictatorship, and creditors to the U.S. Unbelievable. And to think, McSame wants to make these tax cuts permanent. Now, its not as simple as "we owe China money". China relies on the U.S. for much of its economy as well as China exports much to the U.S. (which is another problem). But if push ever came to shove I'd hate to think what the consequences could be.

An enormous population, an enormous economy, fierce nationalism, and a fervent dedication to the good of the state. Could it be the future?

(and on a lighter note I am in love with May/Walsh, anyone else?)

We are in the midst of getting new carpet installed so of course we have to make sure all of the furniture is readily movable including my enormous shelf of CDs. But where to put them all after we emptied the shelf? The easiest location was the kitchen. When you place all of your CDs next to your sink it really puts in perspective just how many you have. Dig:


Unfortunately when the guys came to install the carpet this morning they measured the floor and discovered the salesman who had previously measured it and gave us the estimate had shorted the order by over 10 ft. Naturally we don't have to pay any more for the extra carpet but our house is turned upside-down. Carrie made us hook the TV back up though as the opening ceremony for the Olympics is tonight and "not watching the Olympics is un-American" in her words. But it will be nice to get our stereo out of the bathroom.

It seems my joke from the Daily Show a couple of posts down might have ruffled some feathers. Jokes are never funny when you have to explain them to people but it looks like that's what I would need to do. Who would think the lefty, pinko, commie Dem would be accused of telling an offensive, Politically Incorrect joke?

The joke is making an ironic comparison between stereotypes of rappers and Republicans. The irony is in the fact that rappers and Republicans are at opposite ends of the pop culture spectrum. In regards to the stereotypes that a few have found to be offensive, let's explore where they come from when referencing Republicans:

"they love money"=Republicans hate being taxed
"they love guns"=Republicans support lax gun control laws
"they are scared to death of gay people"=Republicans do now want to allow gay people the freedom to get married and raise a family
"every other word out their mouth is n****r"=Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, 'nuff said

Now, do all Republicans feel this way? Of course not. But the first three are common stances for the Republican party (and its current figurehead Jon McCain). The last one is obviously way off-base and practically ludacris, but this further serves the irony as this strongly misunderstood stereotype applies to both groups as well. I found it odd that nobody was jumping to the defense of rappers in the comment section of said post. Let's look at those stereotypes again this time as they apply to rappers:

"they love money"=images of rappers throwing cash around and sporting diamond jewelry is prevalent in rap music videos and publicity shots
"they love guns"=the gangster rap genre that erupted in the 90s was full of gun imagery and boastful lyrics about carrying guns
"they are scared to death of gay people"=while I can't reference any bigoted lyrics off the top of my head I know the word 'f****t' has been used in rap lyrics
"every other word out of their mouth is n****r"=much has been made of rappers using the 'n-word' in their lyrics, I don't think I need to explain this one

Are all of these stereotypes true? Nope. Particularly not the last one. But most of the press non-rap fans here about the idiom conforms with these stereotypes. People seem to be more comfortable stereotyping rap artists than Republicans. Now this might be because I don't have a lot of rappers reading my blog, or if I do they just don't care and actually find it funny.

I cannot guarantee that my humor will be PC in the future so if you're quite sensitive to such things, beware. And by all means do not watch the Daily Show.

I had a great weekend. Friday night I played at a jazz club in OC with the beautiful and talented Gina Saputo, I had a blast, she's a lot of fun to play with and the rest of the band was great too. Saturday I played beach volleyball again with the friends I made back on the 4th. Killer workout but my body hated me the next day. Sunday morning we had breakfast with friends and that night I had another gig with Gina in Beverly Hills. Last night I went to an Angels game with a friend of mine who had tickets. It was a really good game, I always have fun at Angels stadium.

Has anyone heard about the new book on the Bush Administration? It's written by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Ron Suskind and claims that the Bush Administration lied about WMD's and made-up stories about the link between Al Qaida and Iraq. On one hand, this isn't new news to anyone who can look at the war critically but on the other hand hopefully this will enlighten others who still believe Bush's lies. This certainly isn't the first book written about the incompetency/deception about the Administration. I mean really, is anyone still trying to defend this guy?

"Rappers, Republicans, what's the difference? They both love guns, they love money, both are scared to death of gay people, every other word out of their mouth is n***er ..."
-Wyatt Cenac, The Daily Show

Those of you who know "Blue" Lou Marini our sax player in Tyrell's band from time to time might also know that he tours with James Taylor as well. JT gave a concert at the Greek Theater and Lou came up with V.I.P. passes at the very last minute. When I heard from our keyboardist Jon that he had procured a couple of tickets I was in the middle of cutting potatoes for dinner. Needless to say I dropped everything, jumped in the shower, and left for the show.

Traffic was a little hairy and when we finally arrived the show had already started. But our seats were amazing, four rows in front of James himself. He billed the show as James Taylor and his Band of Legends and there were some world-class musicians in the band including Lou, drummer Steve Gadd, percussionist Luis Conte, and guitarist Michael Landau.

I can't begin to tell you how great the show was. James Taylor is without a doubt one of the genius musicians of our time and his musicianship really shines on stage. Besides all of his hits he did some great covers including "Wichita Lineman", "Everyday" by Buddy Holly, and "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma which had a gorgeous vocal arrangement. He really brought the house down with long versions of "Mexico" and "Steam Roller Blues" where the band jammed and grooved their asses off.

As if the music wasn't good enough, I sat two seats away from the devastatingly beautiful Laura Prepon (Donna from That Seventies Show). Prepon was so hot I planned on breaking up with my girlfriend Selma Blair who I met on the Tonight Show so I could go out with her, but I didn't get a chance to talk to Laura so things are still on with me and Selma.

And if that wasn't cool enough we got to go the V.I.P. party afterwards where we hung with the band and gawked at the odd assortment of celebrities in attendance including Cybil Shepard, Huey Lewis, Jeff Garland, and Jimmy Kimmel (alas, no Laura Prepon at the party). Random right? I also met a TV personality I knew from an ESPN reality show and video game/pop culture channel GV, Zach Selwyn. He was shocked that I recognized him so we hit it off immediately, what a funny guy. The food was good and the beer was free, it couldn't have been a better party.

As of 6:30 PM yesterday I had no clue what the night held for me. Crazy right?

If you followed the last discussion on trans fats you probably read me and my cousin Kathy's concerns about the dearth of junk food in poor neighborhoods.

Well, it appears that sentiment is a popular one. L.A. is going to put a year-long moratorium on new fast food establishments in an impoverished part of the city.

Right on.

5.4? Puh-leez ...

Wake me up when a real earthquake hits.

Whenever you hear that the Music Business is in big trouble you're not hearing the entire truth. What you're hearing is that the Corporate Music Business is in big trouble. But if you're not signed to a major label, it's a wonderful time to be alive. Sure CD sales are down, nobody is listening to radio, etc. But that crap only makes a difference if you want to be a rock star. On the other hand, if you but a humble arteest trying to get your music to the masses with the endless possibilities of the internet the business is only getting better.

(I need to interject something before I go on. While this is an exciting time for musicians as artists who want to write and release their own material, musicians who are often in the employ of larger acts as backing musicians are experiencing some lean times as a result of the downfall of major labels. There is never Yin without Yang.)

We've heard how the internet is killing the music business and while I staunchly agree that pirating is wrong the internet is the solution, not the problem. The Music Business voiced the same concerns when printed music began to be published and sold widely, when recorded music came along, and when cassette tapes came in to fashion. For some reason the music business has trouble adapting. But now its much easier for artists to take matters into their own hands. Seriously, you think one of my songs could have been included on a Japanese compilation 20 years ago? No way somebody in Japan finds out about my music without worldwide CD distribution.

Take the case of Julia Nunes. I discovered Julia via the YouTube widget on my Google homepage which shows me the most viewed videos of the day whenever I log on. Weather she knows it or not (I expect the latter) Julia is a music marketing innovator. She's a singer/songwriter who plays ukulele and guitar and makes these adorable videos of her singing covers of anything from "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, to "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations, to "Survivor" by Destiny's Child. She overdubs her own backing vocals and the videos are cleverly shot and edited. But her best videos are of her original songs which are melodic and well-written (check out "Balloons"). She's a YouTube sensation with over 36,000 subscribers and her videos regularly have hundreds of thousands of views. I think she's great.

She has a CD out which she links to in all of her videos. So I don't know how many she's sold but I wouldn't be shocked if it were 5,000-10,000 including downloads. I bought her record on iTunes but I must say I was a bit disappointed. The recording quality was a bit poor and it wasn't mixed very well at all and all of the great harmonies she overlays in her videos was missing. But that's neither here nor there.

Julia is a glimpse of the future. Or is that the present? She's established herself not through touring or hawking demos to labels or entertainment lawyers but by putting herself out there on YouTube (which is a lot less hassle and a lot cheaper). People come to see fun covers of songs they know by a cute girl with a uke but discover her original music at the same time. Its brilliant. From what I can tell she's well on her way to becoming an established artist and I would be appalled if she didn't have interest from record labels and management.

********************

Since I'm talking music I have to mention the monumental comeback of The New Kids On The Block rising like a fiery phoenix from the carnage and debris of O-Town, N Sync, 98 Degrees, and other fallen boy bands.

NKOTB was the bane of my existence as an eleven year old boy who watched every cute girl at his school fawn over the pre-pubescent sex gods (dig that phrase!). I hated them, they were the dorkiest most un-cool band in the history of the universe.

But despite all of my adolescent hostilities I must admit *gulp* I like this new song. The Kids have receding hairlines and a couple of them look like they've had some work done, but the song is good pop music and they aren't trying to re-live the past or be something that they are not. For once, NKOTB is respectable. Right?

I remember a nice, polite little discussion on this topic some time ago when NYC decided to ban trans fats. Now California has become the first state to ban them (ya know, the Governator has actually done a few things in office that has endeared me to the man). I'm sure some will think this means the end is nigh and that when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse come Barak Obama will be leading the charge yielding a lofty sabre that eliminates trans fats with one swipe of its blade but a little corporate responsibility is exactly what we need. Especially when you consider Coronary Heart Disease is the #1 killer in California. I'll let you know if California falls off the face of the Earth once the law goes in to effect.

Home again. The gigs we did with Linda Eder went really well. They were both in outdoor theater-in-the-rounds. I'd never played something like that before. While the weather in Mass. was really hot and humid I had a lot of fun playing and the crowds were pretty enthusiastic. And Linda is a beautiful lady with a beautiful voice.

Now I'm home for pretty much the rest of the year. There are a couple of short trips in September but besides that I'll be here in L.A. I'm looking forward to the time at home.

So there you go.

I saw the Dark Knight today. After discovering online that the movie was sold out everywhere in Philly for the next four days me and one of the boys decided to try our luck at a small independant theater that was showing the flick a few blocks from us. Not only did we get in but the ticket was only $6, and only another $6 for a small popcorn, Jr. Mints, and bottle of water. I haven't paid prices that low in a decade. But you get what you pay for, the screen wasn't that big and there was no Dolby surround sound.

It didn't matter. The movie kicks so much ass. It's one long, grim, epic, intense, intricate story that is relentless with its drama and action. It will be hyped beyond belief and deservedly so. I'm sure everyone will be seeing it so I really don't need to go on any longer.

Early morning tomorrow, heading to Cohasset, MA to play a show with Broadway star Linda Eder, then we play another show with her in Cape Cod on Sunday.

The Today Show was a lot of fun. Details and pictures to come. But I had to get up at 4:30 this morning for our soundcheck after flying in from L.A. last night. Now we are going to get into a van and drive to Jersey for another soundcheck and gig. I'm so tired already.

Zombie bass anyone?

So I just found out that we are playing one song in the 9 o'clock hour, the second in the 10 o'clock hour.

But everyone is going to have to check their local listings because in many markets the Today Show is broken up so the local station can air Regis at 9, so for some of you the 9 o'clock hour will air at 10, the 10 o'clock hour at 11.

If you're not confused, we'll see you Thursday morning.

I had a fantastic time in Seattle. Its such a cool city, urban but laid-back, artsy but down-to-earth, I know I've mentioned this before but Jazz Alley (the club we played) owns this great old home that has been converted in to condos in this great, funky neighborhood called Eastlake. A scene like that really makes you feel like you're living there. I didn't miss L.A. at all (notice, I'm talking about the city not my family, natch).

But I must admit whenever I told a Seattle native "I really love Seattle" they quickly replied "that's because its not raining." Fair enough ...

I'm here only briefly before heading out to NYC. That's right folks, Lyman is going to be on TV AGAIN! Set the DVRs and lets hope we don't have the same problems we did with the Tonight Show. We will on the Today Show Thursday morning in the 10:00 AM hour and we will be performing not one but two songs. I'm really excited even though my wife informed me I'll be slumming it since we will be on Kathy Lee's hour and not Matt and Meredith's ... HA!

I'm headed back to Seattle this morning. This is my second trip to Washington in about a month, including the Bay Area most all of my touring has been in the Pacific Northwest recently. Not a bad place to visit in the summertime.

I'll take you through a brief account of my day at NBC Studio 3 (take note of the amount of waiting involved when appearing on The Tonight Show or on any TV program in my experience). I arrive at the studio around 10AM and wait for about two hours while things get re-set on the stage. We then rehearse and sound check for about a half hour or so then wait another hour before doing a rehearsal in front of the cameras so the crew knows how they will shoot the performance. After running through the song a couple of times we then wait for about three more hours until the taping begins. During that time we are just hanging out in the dressing rooms (which are constantly being supplied with dough nuts, bagels, sandwiches, etc. The kind of stuff you graze on all day but never really get the feeling that you've actually had a meal, but I digress). During this last bout of waiting I was reclined on our couch asleep when Jay Leno barges in our room, looks at me, and says "Don't work too hard guys!". That was funny.

I get some makeup (everyone at least gets a little powder so your face doesn't shine under the lights), change, and the taping begins. I am backstage watching the Tonight Show Band when the first guest of the evening walks in front of me and waits to go on stage, it is gorgeous actress Selma Blair in a knockout! dress. My knees got a little weak she was so stunning. I'm eager to how her appearance translates to the small screen this evening.

After funny guy (and 'Weeds' co-star) Kevin Nealon it is our turn to perform. Now let me explain how this works: The Tonight Show (and most late night shows) aren't live, they are taped-to-live. This means when the taping begins the show lasts exactly how long it will last when it airs the same evening, the audience simply listens to the band during commercial breaks. So you're not on live television but the pressure is the same. I thought I might get nervous but I did not. Actually, I almost did when I looked directly to my left and saw Jay, Selma, and Kevin standing there staring at us but I quickly diverted my attention elsewhere. I do believe we doth rocked.

Afterwards I got to shake everyone's hands, I told how Selma how beautiful she was and Nealon told us how he likes to play bluegrass banjo and James Taylor stuff on the guitar.

It was a fun day, hope you all dug the show.

*ouch*

I'm so ... sore ...

beach volleyball + beers + good times = body aches

how was your holiday?

Well the wife and kid are back home again in Indiana and Murphy and I are left to fend for ourselves here at home. We've been getting by okay. Yesterday I hung out with some friends and went to a late-night jam session that I hadn't been to for a long time. I saw a lot of musician friends of mine, it was good to reconnect. I need to get myself back into the scene here, for sure.

Today was laid-back. Long nap, few errands, a hang with a friend.

The San Fran trip was so great. It would be so much fun to live in that city. I actually didn't make it to the restaurants I wanted to go to because I uncharacteristically hit a couple of tourist traps: Haight & Ashbury and The Fisherman's Warf. I had a good time at both actually.

Only a few more days of solitude. The Fourth is coming up, I still don't know what I'm going to do. What are you up to?

Don't forget, The Tonight Show is Monday, I'll be sending out some reminders soon.

btw, here is a great article on the interpretation of gun laws. Some gun-lovers were quite excited over the Supreme Court's Second Amendment ruling last week but this author points out that the law allows use of deadly force only if "immediately necessary" and with the increasing availability of non-lethal weapons such as Tasers, using a gun might not be 'necessary'. Its a great point and one that will hopefully be realized.

Well, the new Yoshi's is fantastic, every bit as good as the one in Oakland. Good food, good sound, good crowd, etc. I really dig it up here, Oakland and San Fran are both really great. And its been so hot at home, its been nice to get out of the heat. Yoshi's is only a couple blocks away from The Fillmore. Billy Idol was playing there last night, too bad I couldn't catch the show.

I have to tell you guys, I'm a big fan of the blog Hot Chicks With Douchebags. Its hilarious, pictures of jerky looking guys with cute girls. You have to listen to this audio link of a voicemail left by some douchebag to a girl he was trying to mac on. It is comedic gold.

If you read Top Five over the weekend you probably realized I mis-placed a post that was meant for The Backbeat (damn you Blogger Dashboard!). So I'll re-cap my weekend trip for you. Saturday we flew to Washington state for a one-off concert in a small town called Yakima which was about a 2.5 hr. drive from Seattle. (My mom tells me today that I have a relative from Yakima, crazy right?). Let me tell you the drive through rural Washington really is beautiful; gorgeous mountains, evergreens everywhere, waterfalls and rivers. Drives like that make you think about moving out of the big city and retreating to a scenic country town and getting away from everything. I then realize how bored I would get at the end of one week and snap out of the dream rather quickly, but its a nice daydream nonetheless.

The gig was fun and quick. I was home by Sunday evening.

Tomorrow morning I leave for 6 days in the Bay Area; two days in Oakland, four days in San Fransisco. After having a few friends and a sister-in-law move away from up north I now realize I don't really know anybody in San Fran anymore. Odd. We were trying to plan for Carrie and Milo to come visit but since gasoline (i.e. "Cheney's retirement fund") is so expensive and a we'd have to board the dog it just didn't seem economical. It should still be a fine tour anyway. We are playing what I believe to be the best jazz club in the country, Yoshi's. It is in Oakland but the owners have recently opened another Yoshi's in San Fransisco, this will be my first time playing that one. If it is as nice as the Oakland property then NoCal could have the market on spectacular jazz clubs cornered.

It looks like some justice might finally be coming for some Chinese Muslims who have been improperly detained at Guantanamo Bay for over six years. If you ever heard the Peabody Award-winning episode of "This American Live" called "Habeas Shmabeas" then you've heard part of their story. They were held prisoner for years and years without the basic human right to plead their case for anyone until now. Best of luck to them.

Carrie and I saw 'The Incredible Hulk' today. It was fun, nowhere near as clever or effective as 'Iron Man', but fun. And the ending is great. If you didn't know the plan is to now release a Captain America movie, a Thor movie, an Iron Man sequel, then an Avengers movie in 2012 featuring all of the heroes teamed-up. I think its a great idea. Sequels usually get progressively watered-down so it will be much more interesting to see the different heroes interract with each other.

And why were we at the movies today? We were celebrating our EIGHTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Can you believe I've been married that long? Can you believe anyone would stay married to me that long?! I'm quite proud of my wife and our marriage, each year gets better and better. Eight years from now I will be 40 and undoubtedly going through one hell of a midlife crisis ... yikes! I'm sure the awesome marriage will help with that.

The title of this post is another homage to George Carlin. I'm still digesting his passing and putting his place in history and in my life in perspective. It is a sad loss but we are much happier because of him.

See you in San Fran.

The world will be a duller place without your brilliant humor.

Because I'm such a swell and helpful husband I agreed to help Carrie out at her school's career day yesterday. All I had to do was show up and tell a few classes about my job and what it is I do. Sounds easy enough until you remember these kids are apathetic 12-year-olds who are prone to blank stares and daydreaming. I was afraid I'd talk for a few minutes then sit in silence gazing at a bunch of uninterested adolescents.

Well, it wasn't so bad. Only one out of the four classes was a problem. It's hard explaining what it is I do to adults let alone kids so I'm not too sure I really conveyed my career adequately but most of the students at least seemed interested. Here are some of the funnier questions I fielded after explaining to the kids what it means to be a professional musician:

"So ... do you give concerts?"

"Do you have to pay to go all of these places?"

"Have you been to Amsterdamn? Did you get high? Do you do drugs?"

"How much money do you make?" (asked by every single class)

"Where did you buy your shoes?"

I had an okay time and if I ever get talked in to doing it again I might just take my bass so I can play to eat up some time. But I guess I did some good; one of the teachers told Carrie today that she had two kids who heard my talk come to her and say they wanted to see their Guidance Counselor so they could take Band next year. That's pretty cool.

... such a fun city. Why must I hate your sports teams so much?

I've become quite a passionate Lakers fan since moving to L.A. The Indiana Pacers will always be first in my heart but you realize how regional pro sports are when you move across the country. The Pacers are never on TV, ever! And the only news I hear about them is which one most recently got arrested at a strip club on 38th St. This town however lives and breathes the Lakers so its quite easy to become a fan.

Tonight the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in a most humiliating fashion. They gave up a 24 pt. lead to lose by 6 on their own court. Awful. This coupled with my deep emotional hatred of the New England Patriots really adds to my disdain for the city of Boston which is too bad, I always have a lot of fun when I go there.

Since I'm not touring as much on the East Coast these days I can fully start despising Boston especially if they go on to win the Finals.

Boston, you're on notice!

In another one of the odd coincidences that seem to permeate my life, while I was on the road in Manila I received an email from a guy in Tokyo who told me he was interested in licensing my recording of "Feel Like Making Love" for a compilation he is putting together for his record label. I told him I would be in Tokyo in a matter of days and invited him out to the Blue Note to see the show and chat about it. He's a really nice guy who is starting a new label licensing jazz, bossa, funk, etc. in Japan, this compilation is going to be one of his first releases. It is a collection of tunes with the word 'love' in the title, he told me my version of "Feel Like Making Love" is the best he heard. He also said he thinks the entire album could sell in Japan and asked me to mail him a copy to give to a friend of his who works at Tower Records over there. With any luck "The Funky Supervillain" will get distribution over there and I'll be a big star in Japan (I'm not holding my breath for the latter, but the former is a definite possibility). I'm pretty jazzed about it.


In other news, I'm finally on one of Tyrell's records, "Back to Bacharach" hits stores at the end of the month. I'm on two tracks; "Reach Out For Me" and "Always Something There To Remind Me." I share bass duties with the legendary Will Lee from the Late Night with David Letterman band amongst others. I think its a solid record and is going to do really well for Steve.

Speaking of, we are going to be on the Tonight Show. Mark you calendars and set the TiVo, the show will be taping and airing on July 7. This will be one of the biggest TV audiences I've ever played for (my people at Dean are going to be pretty happy about that). I'll be sure to post reminders leading up to the show.

Also on tap; I'm planning a hip-hop/jazz show here in LA with my DJ friend Ethos. It will feature a set by my group, a set by him showcasing some MCs, then a freestyle set with everyone onstage jamming together. We haven't nailed down a venue or date yet but hopefully we will soon.

That's how my summer is shaping up!

The last country on our whirlwind Asia tour was Singapore. Singapore is actually a City-State; city, county, state, and country all rolled into one. English is the primary language and most folks are of Chinese dissent.

You've probably heard stories regarding all of the strict laws on littering in Singapore. Well, they are all true. Talk about Big Brother! For your first littering offense you are immediately fined $200 (there are plain-clothes cops walking around everywhere), by your fourth offense you are fined $800 with 8 hours of community service cleaning up. While cleaning you have to wear a shirt that says "I am a litterbug" and a camera crew comes and films you and puts you on Singapore television. You are allowed to chew gum, but not buy or sell it.

There is no buying or selling of porn. While on the internet in my hotel I tried going to Facebook and instead got a page saying "This website is not permitted by the IT department. Your computer's internet history is being tracked. No porn surfing allowed. Such actions will be referred to the management." Can you believe that? But oddly enough prostitution is legal.

Then there is the caning. Punishment for breaking some laws is a caning across your back. The cane is dipped in horse urine and shards of broken glass. The cane strikes you horizontally across the back, the last cane strikes you on the butt so every time you sit down the wound opens again. It is said that the cane markings never heal properly.

But for carrying drugs of any kind? Death by hanging.

I guess you can say they get results. Singapore is a very clean place and we had a lot of fun there.




I woke up in Singapore at 5 AM Sunday morning, flew seven hours to Tokyo, layover for an hour, then flew 10 hours back home to L.A. and arrived at 11 AM Sunday morning. My Sunday is going to last like 40 hrs. I had a fantastic time on my trip but it's always good to be home.

After sleeping for a mere 4 hours Wednesday night we left Tokyo for Seoul early in the morning for a performance that Thursday evening. Groggy and tired we finally made it to the hotel in the afternoon only to be told that we had to head directly to the venue where we would stay until the concert was over. Why in the world would we asked to do that?

Well, I'm sure you've all heard about the protests in South Korea regarding the importation of American beef, they started last weekend and as it turns out, the protesters weren't finished protesting and in fact were staging the next demonstration directly in front of our hotel. So for the rest of the day the hotel wouldn't be a place we would want to drive in and out of for obvious reasons.

After the sound check we walk outside of the theater for some air and find riot police gathering outside getting ready for the evening's big to-do. Trippy right? I wanted to take some more pictures but I didn't want to push my luck either. I doubt they would've minded but why risk it?

So we are all wasted, dead-tired. The concert promoter tells us there might not be many people in attendance due to the fact that all of the roads and parking lots are closed because of the demonstration. It was shaping up to be one bad gig, but as is turns out we had the best show of the entire tour. The people who were there were yelling and dancing and so enthusiastic, it felt like a rock show. I had so much fun playing for them, it made the chaos of the day worthwhile.

But things really got interesting once we left. The riot police from above were now in full motion, running to their various spots around the city like platoons of soldiers. All of the roads were barricaded with police buses and cops with shields. Our drivers were getting more and more frustrated and it became apparent that they didn't know how to get us back to the hotel, every time we thought they had found a new path the road was blocked. Eventually they found a road that would take us there but the traffic was gridlocked. In the end a trip that took us 10 minutes before the gig took about 2 hours afterwards. But we arrived safe and sound. I got to my room and saw that the time was nearing 1 AM and there was a 6 AM lobby call in front of me. Yikes.

More pictures from what little I saw of South Korea:




This pic is right in front of our hotel, it was being set up Korea's Memorial Day celebrations in addition to the demonstration.

I'm in Singapore now, almost home!

The rest of my time in Tokyo was good. I have some interesting news regarding Japan but I'll wait until I get home to blog about it. My last day there I went to the fantastic Mori Art Museum which is on the 53rd floor of Roppungi tower, there was a fantastic collection on winner's of Britain's Turner Prize that included the infamous Mother and Child Divided by Damien Hirst.

Here are some final pics from Tokyo:

Barak!

One step closer to a better future!

What can I say about Tokyo? I love this place. The food, the people, the hospitality, I could go on and on. Gyms and Spas are very popular in Asia so yesterday I worked out/swam/steamed before souncheck, there is no better way to get rid of the airplane funk that overcomes your body after so much traveling. We opened at the Blue Note last night and the crowds were great. Today I walked around the streets of Tokyo, the weather has really been great.

This sign says "bass players are to be treated as royalty" ... or something like that.

Saturday night we went to a sushi place, I ordered crab miso and that's exactly what I got-this furry guy floating in soup.

I made short work of the crab. And the sushi. And the beer.

The streets of Roppongi an area of Tokyo popular for its night clubs.

Gimme dat Ramen! Lunch today was Ramen soup with egg, seaweed paper, and pork. It was fantastic. Japan and Europe are really different culturally when it comes to food. In Spain, Italy, or France you better have a good hour or so to spare when you are having a meal. In Japan food carts, noodle shops where you stand to eat, and food on the go are normal things. In this Ramen shop you pay for your food at a machine near the front door, the machine ejected a receipt that you give to a worker who makes your food. This saves time I guess. The best part is the food is better than anything you'd get at McDonald's.