Are you familiar with the FOX tv show The Moment of Truth?

Any wonder this girl and her husband are now separated? I find it so ironic that FOX is the bastion of conservative, moral right-wing news while at the same time airing crap like this.

This makes cold #3 this winter and if you include food poisoning and mysterious crock-pot-beef-stew-induced stomach bugs it has been a pretty ill few months.

This is why we need a bigger house, so we can quarantine the sicky.

I noticed a few weeks ago that jazz guitar god Pat Metheny was scheduled to give a concert at the Wiltern Theater this evening. This peaked my interest not only because Metheny is phenomenal and I'd love to see him love but because his bassist of late has been none other than the brilliant Christian McBride whom I regularly gush about on this very blog. As you may recall I actually know Christian and helped him out for his performance with James Brown a couple of years ago. So I emailed him and subtly mentioned that I'd like to go to the show but I never heard back from him (he's not so great about emailing sometimes).

I still wanted to go to the show so my buddy Jeff and I decided we'd check it out. Well, tickets were upwards of $60 and seeing as how this is my son's birthday week I really didn't feel like dropping that much bread. I spoke to Jeff earlier this afternoon and we agreed that it was a bit much and we would go another time.

Then lo and behold I get a voicemail from Christian saying he'd like to leave me a couple of tickets for the show.

Hot Damn! I called Jeff up and we made a plan. When we got to the show we not only had tickets waiting for us, we had tickets to the After Party as well. The show was amazing, Metheny is just fantastic live. His guitar gets such an amazing a pure tone. And Christian is of course the most formidable bassist on the planet and he proves it time and time again when I see him live. Ironically the highly-regarded actor Don Cheadle was sitting a couple of seats down from us. While I wasn't sure if he had attended the Oscars earlier in the afternoon after the show I shook his hand and said to him "Don Cheadle knows where the real shit in Hollywood is tonight!" He just smiled. I'm not sure he heard me.

The After Party wasn't much of a party. Drummer Antonio Sanchez (who lit up some crazy drum solos) and Metheny came in chit-chatting with the folks. I finally see Christian and he gives me a big hug and thanks me for coming. After talking to a few more people he says to me "come back to the VIP area, I got something to show you." So we head back to his dressing room where a mutual drummer friend from L.A. is hanging out with none other than Don Cheadle. Christian shows us this James Brown video on his MacBook (James in 1968 dancing his ass off). Afterwards me and Christian talk football for a few minutes. Don Cheadle said goodbye and I left not long after. Jeff and I had come with another friend of his and they were next door at Denny's waiting for me.

It's been a great night and great weekend.


p.s.
How about the Oscars giving all the love to No Country? I love it.

I've been to Aspen and back since last post. Gorgeous place but that altitude does not suit me well. Every time I'm up in the mountains I am constantly tired with an aching headache. But the gig was pretty good despite the lack of energy and lack of sleep as we flew in, soundchecked, and performed in the same day. This morning was another early one, as soon as I landed I headed straight to Costco to begin buying things for Milo's big party. I hate Costco. Not the place you want to shop if you're in a hurry. After a stop at yet another grocery store, picking up Milo from the 'sitter's, and gassing up the CR-V I'm finally home and I've finally stopped moving. But only for a second as Milo needs to eat soon.

Wish us luck for a dry birthday party tomorrow.

Its Oscar time folks. When I was at Western Michigan a friend of mine would have Oscar parties with a $20 pool, those were some of the best times I ever had watching the show; how else are you going to have such a rooting interest in Dame Judi Dench? And at what other point in your life do you get to lament "damn, Shakespere in Love really f***ed me over"? Good times. But with no action on the ceremony I don't much care to watch the show ... boy is it ever dull. Even though the Oscars have shut down the most convenient freeway exits to Hollywood, I'm not going to hold a grudge. While I doubt I'll watch them (unless I'm on house arrest with Carrie on Sunday night) I will make some picks.

Now whenever somebody asks me "what movie is going to win the Oscar" and I answer "X movie will" they inevitably retort "what? X movie sucks!" to which I have to reply "yeah moron, but you didn't ask what the best movie was, you asked what was going to win."

So I'm going to answer both questions with my picks, in bold will be the pick that I think is most deserving (if I don't like any of the nominees then I'll add my own nominee at the end). My predicted winner will be in italics Sometimes the pick will be both bold and italicized. Got it? Here we go:

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Bet the house on this one. You guys remember Gangs of New York when DDL acted circles around Leonardo? Leonardo was so out of his league next to this guy I felt that my performance as Juror #6 in Ben Davis High School's production of Seven Angry Men was better than Leo's and I only had one line. Well, DDL is even better in this flick and lucky for us the silent kid from Little Miss Sunshine did a better job co-starring with him than Leo did.

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up-I know I'm in the minority here but I thought Page was trying way too hard with her performance of Juno. Heigl was much more believable as a pregnant woman battling bad timing. Christie won the Globe so I'm predicting her.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

The perfect Coen bros. villain: a cold and vicious sociopath with a hilariously absurd haircut.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Something tells me the Academy is going to pull one of those shockers and give a sentimental award to Dee, but Blachett is so good in this flick you never once question why she is playing the role of Bob Dylan.

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I LOVED Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Schnabel deserves to win for it, but I think the Coens had a much more difficult script to tackle and they really nailed both the narrative and figurative aspects of the story.

BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Long, boring, epic, war-time period piece? Check, check, check, and check. The Oscars love to give this award to crap like Atonement. Where's the nomination for Diving Bell? Personally I can't pick between No Country and There Will Be Blood, both are brilliant movies that will be rememberd for a long, long time. Hopefully I'm wrong and the Academy will show some sack by giving the Oscars to one of them.

There you go. For the first time in a long time I really like this list of nominees and think it captures what was actually good this past year quite well. What are your picks?

I feel like I've been in a daze for the past week. During our run at Catalina's I haven't been getting to bed until 1 or so but I seem to be waking up with Milo in the morning. While I've been able to get back to bed after he goes to Betty's, there's something about getting your sleep interrupted that leaves you tired for the rest of the day.

The gig was really good this week, the shows were packed which always helps. Brooke Burns was at the show last night, I'm pretty sure she's the hottest celeb who's seen us. Driving back from the Hollywood I noticed that the city had already begun preparing for the Oscars, there were bleachers being put up on Hollywood and Highland in front of the Kodak Theater. I thought to myself "gotta remember not to take the Highland exit in to Hollywood for the rest of the week." It's funny, instead of worrying about traffic because of the 500 or a parade or something I'm remembering to avoid the Hollywood traffic during Oscar time.

Typically I love the rain in L.A., all the smog and clouds are washed away making the sky bright and blue, you can see all of the mountains that surround you and the weather is nice and cool. But I'm fearing the rain that is in the forecast next weekend as Saturday our big first birthday party for Milo at a local park. The Evites have gone out and it looks like we're going to have a pretty fun time if we aren't rained out.

I just watched the new episode of The Wire today ... just, wow ...

I'm ashamed to admit this but I need to confess, I've watched not one but two MTV marathons of America's Next Top Model. Even though I firmly believe that MTV airing this show represents an all-time low for a once edgy and important network, there is something about watching pretty girls pose, fight, and cry that is irresistible. I hate myself for it.

And as a follow-up to my Sixteen Candles post, Molly Ringwald is turning 40 today. That will make you feel old!

How kick-ass is my wife? I'll tell you; she is most kick-ass. For V-Day she got me this PSP Entertainment Pack that not only came with a PSP but with a cool game and Family Guy episodes as well. While I'm a huge nerd who loves video games, I'm always a couple of years behind the latest thing (which actually works well for me as the game system and its games are usually cheaper then). When the PSP came out two (or so) years ago I was still playing with my GameBoy Advance. I took my GBA on the last tour and I really didn't have much fun with it. Recently I'd been seriously considering buying either an XBox360 or PS3, but its hard for my to justify spending the money on one when I don't have a High Def television (a major selling point of both the XBox360 and PS3 as they both are capable of playing HD/BlueRay DVDs).

So Carrie cured my gaming jones with the perfect Valentine's Day gift. The PSP is awesome; movies, web browser, photos, videos, music and games. It is unreal how fantastic the graphics are. It will really help time fly when I'm on a plane (get it? ... *groan*).

While my V-Day gift was great, the day itself was unfortunately uncelebrated. We started another run at Catalina's in Hollywood; I had a rehearsal in the morning with a big band in town, a sound check all day long, and two sets this evening, didn't see the family much at all.

This guy proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of our second set tonight. Steve gave him the mic, he got down on his knees and proceeded to pop. She said 'yes' (good thing too, talk about a set-killer!). It was very sweet.

I hope you had a romantic and exciting Valentine's Day.

Boy, is Google clever or what?

There's a highly addictive game they've created called Google Image Labeler, whenever you image search on Google each picture is labeled with different words that will identify the image when you search for it. So basically, every internet photo should be labeled to make it easier to search for them.

When you play Google Image Labeler you are automatically partnered with someone and each of you are presented with the same image. You keep entering simple words to describe the picture until you both come up with the same word, then you move to the next image. Points are awarded for each label and you see how many labels you can match within two minutes.

It really is a lot of fun.

So basically, Google has made up a game so you will do free work for them. Pretty smart. How can I do that?

I was cruising iTunes yesterday and to my surprise I discovered a new record with the one and only Christian McBride on it, it's Pat Metheny's new disc. Christian's been playing with his trio for a while now and I thought they'd never record, but here it is. It is fantastic, really. You'll love it. The tunes are great, the drummer Antonio Sanchez (who I've seen with Danilo Perez on more than one occasion) is amazing. I can't say enough about this record.

I saw There Will Be Blood last week. Believe all the hype you've heard it is a landmark film with an astonishing performance by Danie Day-Lewis. The score was particularly moving. I'm not a big score fan and I think this might be the first one I've ever purchased. It was written by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood and it is a fantastic accomplishment. There are some classical themes set against a modern orchestral palate. It is an integral part of the movie.

What have you been listening to lately?

scha·den·freu·de-Pronunciation[shahd-n-froi-duh]–noun

Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.







Man, I'm enjoying this way too much. I gotta cut it out.

In work-related news I started a two-week run at Catalina's with Mistah Tyrell tonight. Catalina's is our home base and its usually a pretty good time. I'm playing more and more electric bass during the show which is a lot of fun for me.

Milo has been sick so the past few days have been rough sleep-wise. It looks like he is over the worst of it though.

Today (Superbowl Sunday) was shaping up to be a pretty blah day. I was planning to go to Vegas this weekend but those plans fell through. Then Carrie, Milo and I were going to go to a BBQ at some friends' house, but Milo got sick on Friday and was still running a slight fever today. I was stuck at home (I did not have permission to join my friends at our usual football hangout bar) with no jalapeno poppers, Buffalo Wings, or beer and a strong suspicion that the football team I hate more than any other would finish their perfect season and celebrate like the bunch of poor sportsmen they are.

What happened then? The most exciting Superbowl I've ever seen. I've never been happier for a team not named The Colts. And the New England Patriots' perfect season was ended by another QB named Manning--that's Poetic Justice folks. I'm telling you, sports provides some of the best dramatic narratives around.

Congrats Giants, thanks for giving a home-bound father a terrific game. After ordering a pizza and playing with my son it proved to be the 2nd most memorable Superbowl I've ever experienced.

I watched Pretty in Pink this morning, great movie. Molly Ringwald never really was the prettiest girl, but there's something about her that is really hot. Anyway, I hadn't seen it in years and was reminded of how great it was.

This got me thinking back to the Reagan years and how all of our GOP Candidates are harping on how they can get us back to the "good ol' days" of the Reagan years. To which I say, "how in the hell were the Reagan years great?!" He taxed the hell out of the middle class, unemployment sky-rocketed, the divide between rich and poor grew and as soon as he left the country dropped right in to a recession. As my father-in-law said, he did more to hurt the Working Man than anyone.

Now as you might be able to tell, there's nothing I hate more than classism. I grew up in government-subsidized housing, I knew my fair share of poor folks growing up and let me tell you, there's no way I would call any of them and less of a person compared to the vast amounts of rich people I've met through my career. The thought that somehow more money equals more character, more wisdom, more ambition, or more happiness sickens me.

If you want an example of how bad this class divide was during the Reagan years you need look no further than Pretty in Pink. Blaine has money and rich friends, Andie is poor and has weirdo friends, they can't get together because of it ... you know the rest of the story. If you can recall the tone of the movie, it's pretty serious. This isn't a rich kid/poor kid after-school special. There are very clear and cruel socio-economic boundaries for these kids that are obeyed without question. The scene where Andie is screaming to Blaine "You're ashamed to bee seen with me!" is pretty moving. It's a stark reflection of American society in the 80's.

Somewhere in the 90's this all changed (and I think getting a Dem in the White House had something to do with it ...). These days rap music is the voice of the youth and even though many rap artists sport diamonds and gold make no doubt about it, rap was born in the ghettos. Rap artists surround themselves with friends from "the 'hood" and attempt to "keep it real" as much as possible. The social class they came from is celebrated, not ignored. Even the ultimate example of rich societal celebrity, Paris Hilton, has been linked with rapper 50 Cent. Duckie and Paris? Could happen!

Hopefully things won't go back to the "good ol'" Reagan years. But I guess we'll find out soon enough.

"His name is Blaine? That's a major appliance, that's not a name!"