So before you look at these pictures let me say you should read the post below about Montreaux, Vienne, and Milan first. I have many more pictures that Ill post later but this will give you a great idea of what Ive been up to. So here we go!


Istanbul:


On the street in Montreaux


Vienne:


"Whattsa Matta fo You?" eating my prosciutto in Milan


The scene at Duomo Square, watching the World Cup:


The party after Italys victory,
"ITALIA, ITALIA, ITALIA!"

The past few days have been pretty incredible. We've been busy and on the move and I've been pretty tired, but they've been incredible nonetheless.

Our last day in Montreaux was fantastic. We gave a clinic for students during the day and had the rest of the night off. Since we were artists we had backstage passes to any of the concerts we watned to attend. We saw the incredible John Scofield, Jack Dejonette, and Larry Goldings. They have an organ trio that plays some pretty experimental stuff. The music was really inspiring. Afterwards we went to the Jazz Cafe (the venue we had played the first two nights) where we knew all of the folks who worked there. We partied with them while watching a great Cuban trio. I met up with a friend Id known from Kalamazoo who was there performing as well, small world. I ended up jamming with the final act of the night, a singer we had met earlier at the festival. His bass player had bailed so I helped him out. It was a lot of fun playing some other music. I think I got to bed around six AM.

The next day we traveled to and performed in Vienne, France. It was nice and the gig went pretty well but we were in and out of there so there wasn't much time to see anything.

Yesterday we flew to Milan where we played the Blue Note last night. The gig was okay, there weren't many people there and Steve had to shush the crowd at one point because they were so loud but cest la vie, you always have gigs like that here and there.

Today we had the day off in Milan. As you all probably know Italy played in the World Cup championship against France today. So we headed down to the middle of town to watch the game. We ate a bit, walked around a castle, hung out at a cafe and then proceeded to Duomo Square to watch the game with approximately 10,000 insane Italians. You heard me, 10-fricking-thousand. The place was packed, everyone was going crazy, Italian flags and bullhorns everywhere. Once the game started the people were in a frenzy. France scored first which shut everybody up but it didn't take long for Italy to even it up. The game went to overtime then to penalty kicks. When it was all said and done Italy was victorious.

I wish I could truly convey to you all what the celebration was like. It was absolutely crazy, I doubt Ill ever see anything like it again. Thousands upon thousands of people walking, cheering, dancing, yelling, singing, waving their flags, sounding their horns, cars honking with people hanging out of them shouting at everyone on the streets ... It was the largest, purest celebration I've ever seen. I have pictures that Ill post eventually that will hopefully do it some justice. But the experience was a blast and one I will never forget and I feel lucky to have been there.

Getting home was a chore however. The city had shut down so there were no taxis and many of the subway stops were closed. Luckily we were able to catch a train for part of the trip then talk a concierge at a different hotel into calling a cab for us. We made it home safe and sound.

So that was my incredible day. Tomorrow we head to Spain where Ill be for the better part of two weeks. Hopefully Ill be able to talk my one of my bandmates into letting me use their laptop so I can get some pics up then.

Hope everyone is well. Besides missing my wife and my dog terribly, I am sparkling.

Here I am in gorgeous Switzerland. Im on a computer in the hotel lobbzy, the computer is french and quite annoying to type on so ill keep this short.

Istanbul was fantastic. The people were great, the weather was wonderful, the gig was a lot of fun. We got to see some beautiful mosques. I have plenty of pictures that i hope to post soon.

Today we traveled to Swityerland where we are playzing the world famous Montreaux Jazz Festival. We have all access backstage passes to attend whatever show we want (namelz Diana Krall and John Scofield) and we dont play until midnight.

The trip is going well. The jet lag is all but gone as is the cold.

The cold is almost gone and the driver is almost here.

The European adventure is underway.

I have a cold. Runny nose, chills, I'm tired, the whole shebang. Luckily this comes right before I'm going to spend countless hours on planes travelling to the other side of the friggin' earth.

I arrived home today. My sister-in-law Kelly and her husband Mike are in town for a visit, their visits are always a good time.

They brought the DVD to the extended music video for R. Kelly's "Trapped In The Closet." This masterpiece is both absurd and brilliant at the same time. I strongly urge you to watch it if you have the means.

So I leave Saturday for my big Europe trip. Luckily I don't have any work between now and then so I can focus on running some errands and preparing for the trip.

First stop, Istanbul.

Our show with the Boston Pops went really well last night. It was a long day, we had to wake up at 6:30 to drive from Greenwich, CN (where we played a private party at an art gallery Thursday night) to Boston to make an 11:00 soundcheck and 1:00 rehearsal with the orchestra then check in to the hotel and get ready for the show.

I have to be honest, I was expecting some attitude from the orchestra. Lots of times these musicians don't really like playing pops concerts and look down on the music. It can be a drag. But everyone I've talked to in the Boston Pops has been cool and enthusiastic. Glad I was wrong.

We have another show with the orchestra tonight then a concert in northern Mass. tomorrow.

I'm headed out to the east coast tomorrow for another little tour with Tyrell. We're headed to Greenwich, CN, Boston, MA, and North Shore, MA. It should be a good tour, we're actually playing with the Boston Pops on Friday and Saturday. That's certainly the biggest orchestra we've ever played with, I hope they're cool.

And it looks like my NBA Finals prediction was right, the Heat won it in six games. Good to see GP and 'Zo get a ring finally.

The concert last night went well. Tony Bennet still has it for sure.

Everyone stop by my website and check it out. There are new photos, the calendar is updated, and there is a new little video montage of some of my television performances.

I saw Al Gore's documentary on global warming, An Inconvinient Truth, on Friday night. It was fantastic. Please everyone don't dismiss this film as liberal propaganda, global warming is an epic problem with devastating consequences. Go see the movie. More knowledge never hurt anyone.

So we had our first rehearsal today for the Mancini Orchestra concert this weekend, the one we are doing with Tony Bennett.

Turns out I won't be playing with Tony at all. He's bringing his own rhythm section. That's fine, Tyrell does it as well. I think a lot of singers do. Still it would've cool to play for him.

Because of that I'm only playing on three songs the entire concert. Easy work. As a matter of fact I don't even have to go to the next rehearsal. The concert should still be fun. If you don't know what the Kodak Theater is it's where the Oscars are held so it will be fun playing in there even if it is only for a few tunes.

... because there ain't a lot happening. I've been hanging out, practicing/writing, playing some cards, watching Food Network ... just kickin' back basically. I did see X-Men 3 last week and was not nearly as disappointed as most folks who saw it. This coming weekend I'm doing the concert with the Mancini Orchestra playing with Tony Bennett. Looking forward to that one.

I'll check back when there's more excitement to be had.

I remember when I was at Ball State studying music there was a fantastic jazz trumpet player. This guy was really smart and really cool. And oddly enough he wasn't a music major. I asked him once why he wasn't going to pursue music as a career and he said something to the effect of "I love music so much I would never want to rely on it as a means to make a living."

I thought he was friggin' crazy. I mean, a lot of people only dream of doing something they love as a career.

Well I must admit I have a clue as to what he's talking about. Before I go into my rant let me preface by saying I am one of the luckiest guys in the world to be making a decent living playing music and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but at the end of the day it is my job.

Most people get vacations from their job. I will never get a vacation from music. Not because my playing obligations slave me to taking every single gig that comes my way, but because music is so ingrained into the fabric of who I am that I would never want to escape it.

But the sideman work, the endless driving, the phone calls, the networking, the constant self-promotion ... that I could use a break from sometime.

Thing is I'm not talking about taking a couple of weeks off and heading to the Bahamas or something (although that would be nice, I played there a couple of years ago with John Stephens and it was fantastic). I'm talking about having some time to do nothing but listen to music, write music, and play the bass. But even that stuff is can turn into work for me (I can never fall asleep listening to music you know, I just lay there and analyze everything I hear).

I don't know what I'm trying to say other than I don't have a gig until Sunday and after that not until Thursday. It's nice. Yesterday I played with a friend of mine (not a gig or anything, just jamming) then went to see the fantastic guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkle at the Jazz Bakery. I need more days like that, playing for fun and appreciating the music of others.

I know, I know ... pity the poor artist. I'll quite my gripe now.

p.s.
The NBA Finals start tonight, I like the Heat in 6.

No sooner am I back from my busy two-week tour when my in-laws come to visit.

I think for most folks this might seem like a big drag. Luckily I get along with my in-laws quite well. We've had a pretty good time this week, my father-in-law is a big sports fan and we've been to an Angels game, a Dodgers game, and will see the Dodgers again on Monday. My first baseball games of the year, I don't know what took me so long.

But their visit is second bannana to the big news of the week. Carrie is now an official, masters-degree-holding graduate! Not only did she make it through a full-time two-year masters program while teaching 8th graders full-time, she graduated with honors as well. Do I know how to pick 'em or what?

(This reminds me of a funny coincidence. Within the past year or so it has come to my attention that I have one ex-girlfriend who is a doctor, one ex-girlfriend who is a lawyer, and I'm married to a girl with a graduate degree on her way to being a school counseler ... me? I'm a bass player. Granted I have a masters as well but it is in Jazz Performance ... really, do they make a more worthless degree? Something doesn't fit there does it?).

Next week I have nothing at all to do. After today I won't have another gig until the 15th. Boy am I ever looking forward to that time off.

I've finally made it back home. Even though I've been gone for less than two weeks it seems like I've been gone for two months.

The tour was a success. I couldn't be happier with the way it went. Here's the rundown;

Wednesday after the Today show and my glimpse of Halle, I packed, had lunch, and was off to LaGuardia. I got to the airport with plenty of time to kill before my flight (this is a must when traveling with your bass, you never know how long check-in is going to be). Unfortunately my plane was delayed over an hour, I don't know if you've ever been to LaGuardia before but it's small and there's no restaurants or anything. It was a drag. I finally made it to Chicago, my sister-in-law Kelly picked me up from the airport (she really saved my ass) and we went to dinner. Steve, the Lower Level guitarist, had flown into Chi-town earlier in the day, we picked him up before heading to the bar we ate (and drank!) at. And old friend of mine met us out too. That night we stayed at Rob's (LL keyboardist). When we got back to his pad it was probably around 3 and we were a little hammered, as I recall we played some music but I can't attest to how good it actually was.

The next day Jeff (LL drummer) drove up from Kalamazoo and we rehearsed my music. The rehearsal went well and I could tell the shows were going to be good. That night we drove to Indy. I'd forgotten what a dull drive that is--geez! We got to Indy where we were greeted by my mom and my aunt Kathy. We talked for a little while and then we crashed. My mom had acquired four AeroBeds somehow. I slept on the kitchen floor ... Very un-rock star.

Friday was the day of the show. I'd learned the day before that the show was sold out. Can you believe that? My first big show as a leader and it was sold out. I'm telling you, my mom is the best PR agent anyone could hope for. We soundchecked in the afternoon then ate at the New Orleans joint a couple of doors down from the Jazz Kitchen. Some of the best food I've had in Indy, it's really great.

The show is a blur for me. I was a little nervous before playing but I think we did a good job. It felt good anyway.

Here's the thing, I NEED PICTURES!! I didn't turn on my camera once, I don't have any shots. So if you have any please email them to me (lyman_medeiros@hotmail.com).

The amount of support I got was incredible. I was amazed at how many people came out and how many CDs I signed. I wish I could've talked to more people, but you know how it is. It was a fantastic experience. After the show me and the boys headed to the bar across the street to put back a few with my cousin and my uncle. What a great time that was, I hadn't gotten a chance to hang with my cousin and his fiancee in a long, long time. I ended up drinking more than my fair share of scotch ... *whew*

That night we stayed at the fabulous Barnett residence. Jason and his wife Corinne were nice enough to let us all crash at their place. It was really nice, after waking up Saturday morning Corinne made us breakfast and we got to play with my beautiful niece. Then we were off to Michigan. Another dull drive.

Saturday was all business. By the time we got to Kalamazoo we had enough time to pick up some equipment from my old teacher, take a shower, and head to the show. The Kalamazoo show was fun. There weren't a whole lot of people there but I didn't mind after the high-pressure night before. We had a good time and got to play for 3 sets instead of one.

Directly after the show we drove back to Chicago as Steve had an early flight to catch. Rolled in to Chicago around 3:30 or so. I sacked out. Kelly took me back to the airport (saving my ass once again) and here I am.

So if you were at the show thank you so much for coming out. And if you have PICTURES, let me see 'em!

I'm in Chi-town at the moment ... the band rehearsed today and sounded most kick ass. Indianapolis, prepare to be funkified.

I had to get up at 4:30 this morning to do the show. I can't remember the last time I got up that early. I can however remember the last time I went to bed that late and it wasn't that long ago.

Halle Barry is totally hot ...

" ... the Bronx and Statten Island too"

Anybody ever heard that song?

Anyway, I'm here in the city with a couple of days off before the Today Show. Although being here was such a last minute event that I wasn't planning for I think it works out well for me. I have two days off at a great hotel in a great neighborhood (upper westside) with my bass so I can practice. I think it will be relaxing, the calm before the storm.

I did my first live radio interview yesterday. I think it went really well. I didn't stumble over my words or anything and I said pretty much everything I wanted to say. I can't wait to hear it.

Today I think I'll go to Macy's and look for some shoes or clothes or something before heading back to play my bass and maybe see some music this evening. I already dropped way too much money on a great dinner (and drinks of course) last night. Luckily there are some great places to eat cheaply and our saxophonist "Blue" Lou Marini has invited the band to his pad for dinner tomorrow night.

The Lower Level tour approaches ...

Two weeks later and I'm back in New York. We played an outdoor festival in Rochester last night for what turned out to be one of the worst gigs I ever did. The crowd was great and all but it was so friggin' cold my fingers felt like they were being stabbed every time I pressed down a bass string. It was bad. Memo to festival organizers in upstate New York: wait until July to have outdoor concerts. Today we flew in to the Hamptons where we will be playing tomorrow.

So there is more promotion in the works for the Indy show on Friday. I will be interviewed on a jazz radio show (I don't know what station yet) on Sunday and Wednesday there will be a featured article on me oon indinapolismusic.net. Hopefully all of this buzz will translate into a packed house.

Tomorrow I leave for what I thought would be a short East Coast trip with Tyrell before coming home then flying out to the Midwest for my big CD release shows. I just found out today that is not the case.

Tyrell is going to perform on the Today Show next Wednesday. This is great news for me. Any time you are on national TV its a good thing but I'm hoping that being on TV a few days before my show might drum up some more interest somehow. The only bad thing about it is that I'm leaving for the East Coast tomorrow and will stay out there until after we film the show. Then I will fly directly to Chicago for my little tour instead of coming home to LA first.

This means that I have to take everything with me for the tour. And I have a lot of logistics to straighten out before next week; I need to work out rides from the airport, I need to figure out where the heck we (the band) can stay in Indianapolis as there's no room for us at my mother's and most every hotel is booked, I need to figure out how to get a guitar amp for the Kalamazoo show, etc. That's a lot to deal with when you're on the road. But I'm pretty sure it will all come together smoothly.

So tomorrow I am off. After I do these gigs with Tyrell I'll head back to my hometown for my big gig. For all of you Indiana types I hope you can come to the show. Be looking in Wednesday's Indianapolis Star for an article on your's truly. I'm both nervous and excited about the whole experience.

Wish me luck everyone.

Friday night Carrie and I hosted a birthday party here at the Casa de Medeiros. It was a lot of fun and quite a few friends showed up. I made pizzas for everyone. Good times were had by all.

I also made out with some pretty nice birthday scratch. Carrie got me a "skoolabatz" which is one of those pasta pots with a collander inside. She also got me an apron that says "Kiss the Cook" which I had been asking for. Also got a Colts T-shirt, Colts coffee mug, Colts hat, and iTunes gift certificate. Not too shabby.

Today I'm giving a concert with the Henry Mancini Institute Alumni Orchestra at the highly regarded Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA. We've had rehearsals the past few days and the concert should be pretty good. I actually had to miss a gig with Tyrell on Friday to do it. No biggie.

We're only a week and a half away from the big CD Release show in Indy. The countdown is on.

I had a great time in New York last week. Playing at the Blue Note was really cool even if it isn't the same Blue Note that all of the jazz greats played in in the 50s and 60s and it is somewhat corperate now. It was still great. And the weather in the city was the best it's ever been on one of my visits. Sunny and cool, just like LA. People were out walking everywhere and there was a great energy. It's enough to make you want to move there ... but I know better. I've spent the winter months in NYC, and that can be hell.

My birthday was nice. The everyone in the club sang happy birthday to me and some fans got me a really nice gift (a money clip from Tiffany). Afterwards I somehow got overserved some Scotch and spent the next day nursing a birthday hangover. Carrie is throwing me a party here at the Casa De Medeiros on Friday.

But the week was great, I saw old friends and made new ones. Saw some great music, ate some great food and played to packed houses.

But no matter how much fun I have I always look forward to coming home.

The past few days have been pretty busy; Friday in Buffalo, Saturday in Philly, Sunday in Alexandria. Luckily today is just a travel day and I had a chance to sleep in a bit. We head to NYC tonight for a run at the Blue Note. It is a world-famous club but I have to admit I really don't like the set-up there. The stage is in a weird place in relation to the tables and the green room is more of a green closet.

My birthday is looming large. In mere days I will turn 30. I figure once you're 30 you're no longer young. I mean sure, your elders will still say you're young, but "young" becomes a relative term, not a common one. I'll be in a different demographic ... I'll no longer be able to say "in my twenties ..." ... and the next landmark birthday will be the big 4-0. Yikes!

But on to a more exciting subject I hope everyone has been watching the NBA playoffs lately, especially if you are a Kobe-hater. The man has been playing out of his mind and there's no way you can gripe about what he's been doing on the court.

Good news regarding the CD Release show in Indy. I got an email from a writer at the Indianapolis Star, they want to do a little article on me a couple of days before the show. That's fantastic, what I like to call free advertising.

see y'all when I see y'all

Just got back from Indiana today. I had a great time at Ball State getting my award and working with the bass students there. I also got to see family which is always nice. Pictures to come.

But I'm back on the road tomorrow. All you New Yawkahs, I'll be back in the city next week, so mark it!

Well here it is. This is the weekend I head back to Ball State to get my alumni award.

I would be more excited but I've been really busy and stressed lately working out flights, itineraries, promotion, and press releases for my CD Release Show in May. Not to mention getting a little stress about the flight this weekend and working all week long. But I am really looking forward to it. I'll be heading to Muncie (where Ball State is) on Monday, attending a luncheon and reception for myself and the other award winners (Mom and Carrie get to attend) then the convocation is that afternoon. Afterwards I'm giving a masterclass for the bass students. And that evening I'll be seeing some family that lives in Muncie. It should be a lot of fun.

I'll be back on Wednesday with a full report before heading out on a two-week East Coast trip with Tyrell on Thursday. Wish me luck.

Happy Easter everyone!

Carrie and I had some friends over for dinner after going to church. I don't know if I've mentioned it but I've developed a real love for cooking recently (probably has something to do with my love for food). We had four geusts and I cooked up a storm. I made baked chicken with sauteed squash, mushrooms, and garlic, my Aunt Mary's sweet potato casserole, aspargus with parmesan cheese, and an apple pie for desert. Carrie made deviled eggs and bread in the bread-maker. We had a feast, I'm so stuffed I want to go to the bathroom and pull a Lindsay Lohan. (was that in poor taste? good!)

Of course for you midwesterners and east coasters the day has come and passed but I hope everyone had a good holiday.

You may recall me and my Aunt Kathy talking in the comments section a while back about a festival in Spain Tyrell was booked to play. I was told it wasn't going to happen but I just got an email today that says otherwise.

Looks like we are going on a full tour of Europe in July. Countries include Spain, France, Turkey, Italy, and England with possibly more dates to come.

Needless to say I'm looking forward to it.

So I haven't really caught up on my sleep yet. Yesterday I had a bunch of errands to run; get a new external hard drive for my comp, get a replacement iPod (mine was locking up on me, Apple doesn't fix iPods they just replace them), pick up comics, pick up Murphy, etc. Carrie had been in Chicago last weekend visiting her sister so I picked her up from the airport last night. Today I went to the grocery store.

I've got a lot of work coming up the next few months. Lots of stuff around town as well as tours with Tyrell and my CD release shows in Indy and Kalamazoo. I have two concerts booked with the Mancini Institute Alumni Orchestra. One of them is performing with Tony Bennett. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Okay, nap time before I head to my gig tonight.

Vegas Thursday, Kansas City on Friday, St Louis Saturday, and today in Jacksonville. This has been one busy trip, enough planes to make you sick for sure. I finally have some time to relax and sleep. Last night I only slept for two hours and I think the most I've had in the past three days is six. Granted I could've gotten more sleep had I chosen to go right to bed after the gig and not hang out having drinks with the boys. But what are you going to do? With so much to do you gotta let out some steam somehow.

Today we played at an outdoor jazz festival. There were two stages, geuss who was playing at the other stage while we were on ... Herbie freakin' Hancock. It was a wonder that anyone was there to see us at all.

And not only has the schedule been busy but the shows haven't been very good for me either. We have been renting basses on the road to save the hassle of flying with mine. Well this tour I've had to play some really crap instruments. And we haven't had good luck with the sound at any of the venues.

Back home tomorrow, that will be nice. It feels like I've been gone for longer than I have. Right now I need to get to bed.

Well I've got a busy few days ahead of me. I leave tomorrow morning for another tour with the boss-man; Vegas, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Jacksonville in five days. Crazy, right? I'll be back on Monday night.

Whenever I'm playing at a restaurant or bar or something like that the band always gets requests.

Now, I usually don't mind taking requests, they are usually followed by a nice tip. Especially if they are for standards that are well-loved by the requester. For instance, I was doing a restaurant gig last night with a piano player friend of mine and an elderly couple requested "Harlem Nocturne." Later they tell us they are there celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary and had danced to "Harlem Nocturne" all those years ago. Sweet right?

Then later comes a dreaded request. There are two songs that I and most every other jazz musician hate, HATE to get, and of course we had a request for one of them. They are requested at probably 90% of the club dates I do and I hate them both. Its like the requester doesn't really care to hear the song, they just want to you to know that they know a little something about jazz. Well, it's not appreciated folks! So please for the love of all things sacred never EVER request "Take Five" or "Linus and Lucy" whenever you see a jazz group. Think of another jazz tune if you want to make a request. Or just sit back and enjoy what the guys are playing themselves.

We played "Take Five" and it was a drag. We didn't even get any applause afterwards meaning the people who requested it weren't even paying attention. That's the worst.

In other news I'm doing a rehearsal with a really good and popular big band tomorrow. I'm a little nervous so wish me luck.

I had an ideal day off today. Granted, ever day is a day off for me when I'm not on the road but this one was particularly good.

I got up early and watched the Pacers stomp the Sixers. It's not easy watching Pacers games out here on the West Coast so I'm always happy when I catch one. Then I went to the gym (yup, got another gym membership recently) where I had a good workout watching the incredible George Mason/UConn NCAA game. Afterwards I went to my buddy Pasta's for a poker game (which I lost but playing cards is always fun). Then Carrie and I joined some friends for dinner at the Valley's best BBQ place, Hoggly Woggly's. Then Pasta and I headed to Simi Valley to watch my boy Corey play hockey. I love going to his games, they are always a lot of fun. After the game we headed to a bar called Ireland's where a friend of ours runs a kareoke night. No, I did not sing, but I had a good time hanging out.

And here I am, gonna fart around on the computer for a while and hit the sack.

"I didn't have to use my A-K, I'd have to say it was a good day ..."

I finally saw V last night. Have to admit I was a little disappointed. I should've seen it coming, I was way too attached to the original comic book. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a really good movie. But it pulled too many punches. I don't mind changing the story around, that is a necessary evil when adapting a story (I loved how they attributed the futuristic fascist government to the US's current war). And while some of the changes seemed small they really changed the original intent of the comic and messed with the themes.

Before the movie was released the author of the comic Alan Moore asked that his name be removed from the movie entirely. Now I see why.

But don't get me wrong. I highly recommend it, it's great. I just had really high hopes for it.

As I left the theater I thought to myself 'whatever happened to original ideas? Why does everything have to be adapted? Give me Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Syriana, Being John Malkovich, Fargo, etc. Comic book adaptations, book adaptations, biopics, etc. ... They usually disappoint.

But a little birdie sent me the Capote DVD yesterday. I'll reserve judgment until I watch it ...

I love YouTube

We arrived in Michigan today. It's cold. I forget how cold cold can be, but boy is it cold. It's only been a few months since I was in NYC but it still feels like I haven't been in a winter like this for years. LA has spoiled me.

The gigs with the Houston Symphony were really great. It was a lot of fun playing with such a great orchestra. The musicians were terrific and the music sounded fresher to me than it has in years (change is a good thing!). In addition to playing with a great orchestra I also ate way too much good food. Steve has many 'cousins' that he grew up with in Houston that own fabulous restaurants ... Namely barbecue and Italian, my weaknesses. Better hit the hotel gym tomorrow!

So the news is out: The first Lower Level CD Release Show has been booked! Friday, May 26 at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis, Indiana. The show starts at 7:30PM for the low, low cover charge of $12. I can't even tell you how hyped I am. My boys Rob and Jeff who are members of the Butterfat Trio with me are coming down to play the show. It will be a lot of fun. So all of you Indy types, start spreading the word. Any advice on how to advertise the show would be much appreciated.

Well I'm off for another tour. This one won't be that hectic; Houston until Sunday then a trip to East Lansing, MI for a show on Tuesday. Then home.

I just got home from the gym. It's currently 1:10 AM. That's right, I'm joining a 24 hr. Fitness. Its the closest gym to my place. Plus, I figure when joining a gym, the less excuses the better. I'm never going to get to tell myself "ahh man, I missed going to the gym today, they're closed already."

V for Vendetta comes out soon boys and girls!

Big news regarding Lower Level shows coming soon as well, stay on the lookout.

As we all know Dubya's approval rating is at an all-time low. But this article lets us know that support for him among Republicans is diminishing as well.

Almost no one likes the job he is doing. I why it took so long for them to see the light?

And I've heard excuses for everything; it wasn't his fault the Katrina relief was botched, it wasn't his fault that he started a war based on false information, it wasn't his fault, even it's not his fault his approval numbers are low (that's a REAL stretch). I geuss the blatant crony-ism he exhibited in his Supreme Court nominations and the port security debacle that WREAKED of back-handed Arab/Bush family kickbacks finally made his own party realize that he is one helluva bad president.

***********

My busy weekend is over. I'm pretty tired. I have a few days off before heading to Houston to play with the Houston Symphony, I'm really looking forward to that.

Today I make the 2.5-3 hour drive to Palm Springs for a gig with Tyrell. I drive right home after the gig only to get up early and catch a 10 AM plane to Carmel for another gig tomorrow night. To top it all off we are playing with a couple of new horn players which means our soundchecks will be really long as we'll have to rehears the set.

No rest for the wicked baby!

Click here to see a music video of the Disney song "Bella Note" featuring yours truly. Laugh at the cheesy hilarity that ensues.

I am beside myself.

This morning I turn on my phone to find a voicemail waiting for me. No one usually calls me that early so I was wondering what it was.

It turns out the voicemail was from Dr. Joseph Scagnoli the Associate Director of the School of Music at Ball State University. He informed me that the University has chosen me for an Alumni Citation of Achievement and would like me to come to the University on April 24th to be honored along with the other award winners. Evidently my bass professor from my BSU days nominated me for the award and I was chosen by an alumni panel to receive it.

ME? Are they sure?! I'm only 29 years old and my alma mater wants to honor me? This is pretty crazy. I can't believe it. I must admit this is a pretty proud moment for me.

Needless to say I will be there with bells on. I haven't been back to Ball State since the year after I graduated ('98). What a trip that will be.

The photo shoot went really well. Here are some contenders for my new 8x10s.





I think we got some really good shots.

I have been absolutely addicted to this game Bookworm. Click with caution, it has the potential to eat up massive amounts of your time.

I've been trying to book a CD release show here in LA, easier said than done. Being a bandleader can be rough.

Speaking of addictive games I've been playing some poker lately and doing okay for myself.

Later on today I'm taking more promo shots with my boy Vinnie. He has the impossible task of trying to make me look good, he's done it before, let's see if he can do it again.

Still owed on the taxes. A couple of G's actually, and that's after making four quarterly payments. I did well last year, it was bound to happen.

I drove all around Southern California working this weekend. On Friday night I had a gig in Whittier with Jess (vocalist with the Lower Level). It was a lot of fun, we played at a tapas restaurant that had great food. Then on Saturday Carrie and I drove to the Lodge at Rancho Mirage, a resort in Palm Springs. I had a gig there that evening, the organizers of the event we were playing for offered us a room for the night so of course I took it. Carrie loves hotels so its nice when a gig like this works out. We had a good time. The resort was beautiful, the gig was fun, and the weather in Palm Springs was perfect. On the way home we stopped at an outlet mall and an Indian casino so I could play a little poker. Good weekend for sure.

I have an appointment to do our taxes on Wednesday. You might recall that we got slapped with a heavy debt to the IRS last year. We've been paying in to our taxes this year so it probably won't be so bad. But all of the numbers crunching is a drag ... Its one of the drawbacks to being self-employed.

I had the first Cadbury Egg of the season tonight. I'm surprised I lasted this long.

A big shout-out to my boy Eric Morones who unbeknownst to me reads my blog I guess. Big ups Eric!

Many of you probably have seen the now infamous "Narnia Rap." It's an SNL skit that ran in December sometime and it's pretty damn funny. I personally think that the whole "goofy white guys rapping like they are tough" has been played out, but these guys are hilarious. It was all over the internet and NBC lawyers got involved to stop it. But your man Lyman has found it!

Best line: "Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious!"

Chronicles of Narnia

Now, a "respons rap" was made by some guys out here. You see the original takes place on a lazy day in NYC, so these guys wrote one about LA. It's not as funny as the other but its worth a look especially if you live in LA.

Best line: "On the way we'll be kicking it live, cranking NPR on the 405"

Color Me Mine.

Then to top it all off some guys from Muncie made yet another response rap. Far from being as clever as the other two there is some controversy as to weather or not both of these guys are actually from Muncie. Still sort of funny.

Best line: "We don't need no Google Map, what the hell's a Thomas Guide? I've been rolling down McGalliard since I was 4 or 5."

Lazy Muncie

So more stupid fun courtesy of the internet. I'm sure these are funnier to me since I've lived in all three places, hope you find them as funny.

I had a good weekend. Friday night I played at the Peninnsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, swank place for sure. The other guys were a lot of fun to play with. Then on Saturday I did a recording session for my friend Bill. Now let me just tell you that recording session can be a real drag and a lot of work sometimes. If the musicians don't gel or if someone keeps messing up you have to do multiple takes and that can wear on you. But this session went really smoothly and we got some great stuff down. These tracks were for a demo that a singer friend of Bill's is doing. It should turn out nicely.

Other than that I hung out with my friends and my dog and my wife. Good way to spend time. Not too much happening at the moment and that's the way I like it.

Here is a trailer for Basic Instinct 2. It is uncensored and probably holds the world record for most naked humping in a trailer.

The movie looks absolutely terrible. I can't wait to see it.

And I just realized that today is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Backbeat. I've been posting the trivial thoughts and happenings in my life for 12 months now. Thanks for reading!

I can count the number of times I've left the house the past couple of days on one hand. And that's a good thing as I'm starting to feel better.

I finished reading this comic yesterday called 'V for Vendetta'. It was written by a man highly regarded as perhaps the comics medium's best writer, Alan Moore. Now I've mentioned before how I don't get too jazzed about comic movies, not only do they rarely deliver but I usually appreciate the stories much more in comic book form anyway (it's more about the medium than the story sometimes) but a 'V for Vendetta' movie is coming out next month and after reading it I'm pretty stoked to see it.

'The League of extraordinary Gentlemen' and 'From Hell' were both written by Alan Moore as well (as well as 'The Killing Joke' which is the comic that the first Batman movie was based on). I thought the movie version of 'From Hell' was fine and 'The League ...' was practically unwatchable. But the story for 'V ...' lends itself to the screen more than the other two.

'V ...' the story of a post WW3 London that is now a fascist state. An anarchic character named V (based on Guy Fawlkes) begins an idyllic revolution by wreaking havoc on the gov't. But that is only a brief description, the story has many layers and themes. You could comment and talk and write about this book for quite a while, and some have. It's a very appropriate time to adapt this movie considering the leanings of our current administration. I think it will be a grand movie. And the cast! Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, directed by the Wychowski Bros. Should be great.

And hopefully it will draw others to Alan Moore's work, not in movie form but in their original comic form. So be on the lookout, y'all!

Well here it is; Valentine's Day. And here I am suffering from a sinus infection that my wife passed on to me. Just as soon as she starts feeling better I start feeling much worse. Is there any way around this? Any time one of us is sick, the other gets sick (unless I'm on the road of course). Well I'm miserable and will have to think long and hard about getting a hotel room next time Carrie comes down with something.

Other than that, its good to be home. I'm afraid I won't be much fun on Valentine's Day but she understands.

I hope all of you have a great (and healthy) Valentine's Day.

I'm having a good time up here in the Bay Area save for one thing, my sickness. Carrie had a sinus infection before I left and it seems as if she packed some of it for me for my trip. It sucks but I'm still managing to do some fun things.

Friday the boss and the rest of the band went to what I believe is the best Chinese place in the country, House of Nan King. If you're ever in San Francisco go there, you won't be sorry. Yesterday I went to a comic book convention downtown, how lucky am I that our trip up here coincided with that? I've been to so many conventions that I now have friends who are on the convention circuit selling comics, working for comic book companies, artists, etc. It was good to see them.

Today I'm spending time with my Aunt Tracy and will see some old friends. Hopefully I'll be able to breathe through my nose ...

I'm off to Oakland for the weekend to play with Tyrell at perhaps the best jazz club in the country, Yoshi's. I'm looking forward to it, it should be a lot more fun than Palm Beach.

And bonus points to anyone who can tell me what rapper I got the lyrics from for the title.

I've added a couple more sites to the links and blogs section on the sidebar. They are:

Tom Cruise is Nuts-This is pretty self-explanatory. The site also has a collection of Cruise quotes including "Some people, well, if they don't like Scientology, well, then, fuck you. Really. Fuck you. Period."

One Thousand Reasons-This site documents the failures of the Bush Administration (all backed up with articles and sources). I don't know how they narrowed it down.

Pop Candy-All things pop culture. This blog (from USA Today) is updated with frightening regularity.

Indigo Trails ...-Nikki's blog. She's a good writer and hella-funny.

I saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday. I'd say that pretty much does it for the big movies of '05 that I've seen. I decided to boycott all bio-pics this year ... Walk the Line, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, I haven't seen any of them. Why you ask? Well I figure its like this; if I were to make an album where I totally copped Sinatra, sang Sinatra tunes, tried to emulate Sinatra's voice, use Sinatra's arrangements, etc. I'd be looked at like a ripoff artist and there'd be no way I'd be nominated for a Grammy. But when Jamie Foxx cops Ray Charles he gets a Grammy. I don't see the difference. In my mind its easier to play a living person because you have a source instead of having to create something out of your imagination, thus the boycott.

So if I was running the Oscars here's how they'd shake down:

BEST PICTURE-Syriana
BEST ACTOR-Terrence Howard, Hustle and Flow
BEST ACTRESS-Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale
SUPPORTING ACTOR-Mickey Rourke, Sin City
SUPPORTING ACTRESS-Michelle Willians, Brokeback Mountain
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY-Syriana
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY-Munich
BEST DIRECTOR-Paul Haggis, Crash
ART DIRECTION-Sin City


Last night my buddy Pasta calls me and tells me that this restaurant he works at occasionally has been playing The Funky Supervillain for weeks. He had given the owner a copy and the guy loved it. So I went to the restaurant after it closed to meet the guy, he was really nice and really complimentary of the record and told me it plays there at least twice a day. He even said he'd sell it behind the bar if I brought him some copies. I thought that was pretty cool, it's nice when total strangers are into your stuff (no offense family and friends). I'll take him some copies next week.

If you don't know who Christian McBride is let me catch you up. He's probably the baddest bass player living younger than 50. He's been at the forefront of the jazz scene since the early 90s when he moved to New York. For the past few years he's been leading his own band, they blend elements of jazz, R&B, soul, and fusion and are doing some things that no one else in jazz does. That's my take anyway. It's probably easy to see that he is a favorite of mine and a tremendous influence on me, my bass playing, and my music.

I actually know Christian. He was a guest artist both years I attended the Henry Mancini Institute and I have seen him live most every time he's come through LA. I haven't spoken to him in a few years, then yesterday out of the blue I get an email from him. How friggin' cool is that? He had stumbled upon my website and said it looks great and he was proud of what I'd done and he wants to hang when he comes through LA in April.

If I were a basketball player that would be like Kobe Bryant saying he wanted to shoot around with me next time we saw each other ... In my world anyway.

Just had to share that one.

I'm home finally but not without a bit of drama. Our genius of a tour manager booked us a flight from Palm Beach to LA with a 30 min. layover in Houston. 30 min. is not enough and we missed our connection in Houston. Why did we miss it? Because Continental Airlines is run by a bunch of friggin' morons. I'm usually not hard on airline workers, I travel enough I know it's a tough gig. But I've never seen such a collection of incompetence as I did yesterday in Houston which is Continental's hub.

First of all our flight from FL to TX was 2.5 hours long. Not bad unless you are flying on a CRJ (which is the smallest jet plane around, seats only 50 pr sp), it was terribly uncomfortable. Then we get to Houston and are in a holding pattern for about 15 minutes before we land. Then after we land the airplane keeps driving from concourse to concourse, the pilot finally comes on the speaker and tells us that the airport doesn't have a gate for us, every time they tell them a gate to go to there is another plane parked there. Genius. We finally land and miss our flight to LA. Everyone from Continental was rude. Luckily we got on the third flight from Houston to LA on standby. It sucked. Steer clear from Continental if you can.

It's amazing how many of my fellow alumns from Western Michigan University are living in LA now. An old friend is in town so I'm having some of the old Bronco gang over to the house tonight for a hang. Should be fun.

Good to be home!

Enough humidity.
Enough wind.
Enough pastel clothing.
Enough hotel food.
Enough leatherly-tanned people.

I'm ready to leave Florida and go home ... fo' real!

Sunday I'll finally be headed home. Although I was home for a minute in between the NYC and FL trips it feels like I've been gone for a much longer time. I have to say Palm Beach is pretty boring. No clubs, no cheap resteraunts, no cheap shops, not many young people ... and no wifey! So yeah, I'm ready to move on.

For those of you who haven't heard (and I'm sure there aren't many of you) Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Raptors the other night. This is an incredible feat. Jordan never scored that many, neither did Bird or Magic or Kareem. Some say it might be the best performance ever.

I like the Lakers and always root for them unless they are playing the Pacers, my hometown team. But I've always liked Kobe. It's been quite fashionable to diss Kobe lately with all of the drama he had with the rape accusations and all. But love him or hate him make no doubt about it he a tremendous athelete and is one his way to becoming the best ever. I only wish I'd been at that game.

I just had a couple of days off here in Palm Beach; went to the beach, went out with the boys, etc. It was fun, but I'm ready to start up again tonight so I can go home soon!

Keep watching the Lakers, y'all. You never know when Kobe's going to go off again.

There is a duet I've been singing with Steve in the show lately. It's not a big vocal part for me or anything, but it is a lot of fun to sing and the tune ("The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else") is a good onep; he sings it with Frank Sinatra Jr. on the record. It is in a good key for me so I do a pretty good job singing it.

Well I've had a lot of people come up to me this week and tell me what a great voice I have and how I should be singing more.

Great, right? Wrong!

These people usually say NOTHING about my bass playing. It's like, I play bass every beat of every song but when I sing a few lines in one of the tunes, that is what they notice. It's kind of annoying, really. What is it about singing? Playing the bass is a lot cooler than singing, for sure.

I thought everyone knew that.

Right now I am in sunny (and windy) Palm Beach, Florida with Tyrell.

My assesment so far; like Beverly Hills but with more old people

The Colts lost a heart-breaker today. It was really horrible and such a disappointing way to end a great season. Shakespere never wrote tragedy this bad.

On a better note the website that reviewed my record has put up an interview we did. It's pretty fun so check it out.

You can find it here or
here

I just did a recording session tonight for Nickelodeon.

So if any of you happen to be fans of the show "The Fairly Oddparents" keep your ears out for a swingin' big-band song called "Gimme The Wand" that Norm Macdonald sings ... that's me beatin' the four-string thundah.

I've updated the links/blogs section to the left. Sites of note:

My sister-in-law Kelly's blog is always pretty funny. There are some good NYC Christmas photos of us up at the moment.

While many of us blogger's simply ramble on about our lives and our opinions, Dominic's blog actually has a point! Dom works for the city of London surveying buildings and architecture. He does a good job of posting photos of the stuff he's working on as well. It's a really nicely done blog.

Daniel Negraunu is a professional poker player who keeps a pretty detailed journal of his career and life. It's pretty fun reading about what he does. With poker becoming so popular in the last few years most of his career these days are personal appearances and business meetings. But make no doubt about it Daniel is one of the best card players in the world and was Poker Player of the Year in '04.

Jeff Brady's blog is often cynical and funny. Jeff is a huge supporter of The Funky Supervillain and was the very first person to write a review of it on his blog.

ColtFreaks is a great site for Colts fans such as myself. Their message boards are a lot of fun and every week they link to a fansite of the Colt's opposing team. Much smack talk ensues.

And finally we have the greatest blog I've stumbled upon in a while, I Hate The New England Patriots featuring hilarious exploits of Bill Bellichoke and the Hatriots. A must for every football fan.

German music journalist Dirk Binsau has reviewed The Funky Supervillain on his website Jazz-Not-Jazz.com

Read it here!

I've finally had a few days to relax after a very busy end to '05. It was a good year, for sure. It was the year of 'The Funky Supervillain' as my first recording session was in January and the CD came out in November. I saw Syriana yesterday. All I can say is WOW. This movie is fantastic. It's disturbing and moving and makes you really think about the corruption in our government and big businesses.

So here's my favorite stuff from the past year (in no particular order):

MUSIC: The Bad Plus Suspicious Activity?, Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls, Robert Glasper Canvas, Beck Guero, Kanye West Late Registration, Brad Meldhau Trio Day is Done, Happy Apple The Peace Between Our Companies, Jason Moran Same Mother, Nels Cline Singers The Giant Pin, Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic

MOVIES: Syriana, Crash, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, Sin City, King Kong, War of the Worlds

COMICS: 'Optic Nerve' by Adrianne Tomine, 'Stupid Comics' by Jim Mahfood, 'Girls' and 'Ultra' by the Luna Brothers, 'Conan' by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord, 'New Avengers' by Brian Bendis and Brain Hitch, 'Daredevil' by Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev, 'Ex Machina' by Brain Vaughn and Tony Harris

SPORTS: The Colts thrashing the Patriots on Monday Night Football and going 14-2 their best record ever, Jose Cruz Jr. leading a late-game comeback by the Dodgers in one of only two Dodgers games I attended this year, the Colts defeating the Jaguars in their home opener (a game I was at-thanks SueAnne!), Kobe Bryant scoring 62 pts. against the Mavs

COOLEST GIGS: The Jazz Kitchen in Indy with Steve Tyrell, my first time playing at home in a long time ... the people that showed up were fantastic; Langer's in NYC with Quincy Davis, in the midst of a long gig at the Carlyle it was great playing creative music with an old friend of mine; Overstreet in Newport Beach with Gary Matsumoto, some musicians you just click with, Gary and I click; Grand Concert Hall in Moscow with Steve Tyrell; The Blue Note in Tokyo with Steve Tyrell; Corky's in West Hollywood with Quinn Johnson and Chris Wabich; Blues Alley in Washington DC with Steve Tyrell

There you go!

Here are some photos from my time in New York:

Me and Grover at the Macy's Parade.

Carrie and I with Garfield.

Carrie and M&Ms.

Carrie and I at Thanksgiving dinner.

Carrie and I with the boss at Thanksgiving.

Carrie in front of the tree at Rock Center.

Carrie and I at "Top of the Rock", a 360 degree view of New York from the top of the Rock Center.

Top of the Rock

Carrie at SantaLand in Macy's on 34th St.

Me at SantaLand.

With Santa.

The display windows for Macy's had little figures re-inacting scenes from Miracle on 34th St.. Here is Carrie in front of the final court room scene.

Me and Murph at Christmas dinner.

My now infamous apartment.

Here it is folks, my last blog from NYC. It's been a wild 9 weeks and now I'm only a couple hours away from home.

Week 9 at the Carlyle was fine. Ron Howard came one night. New Year's Eve turned out to be a lot of fun. The entire hotel was open with bands everywhere and everyone in good spirits. Regis came and sang a song. I had more fun playing than I had had for a while (perhaps it was the Laphroig). After the gig I hung out with some friends at the hotel. It was a fun way to bring in the new year.

I cannot wait to get home. While I have been pining for LA for a few weeks now I must admit I'm getting sentimental about leaving the city. 8 E 48th St. Apt. 6A in the heart of Midtown Manhattan has become my home. The deli downstairs and the funky elevator in the building have become as familiar to me as the Food 4 Less around the corner and the guard at the gate of my condo community back home. I've had some really fun times here; partying with friends, seeing great music, eating at great resteraunts, meeting incredible people, enjoying New York over the holidays ... it has been an eperience I will always remember with fondness. Rumor has it that the Carlyle has asked Steve to return for the next holiday season. Will I do it again? Who knows, that is a long time away. But weather this was a one-time eperience for me or the start of many winters in NYC, November and December of '05 will always be special to me.

But don't get me wrong, I want to be home more than anything right now. You might think a trip like this would "fly by" for me. But that's not the case. Fact is it feels like I've been in NYC for a year. I haven't driven a car, slept in my bed, or so much as left New York for two months (save for the short trip to Boston). So I'm ready to go back.

Happy New Year everyone, I wish you all nothing but prosperity and good health. 2006 has been waiting for us, it's time to show her what we're made of ... I certainly intend to.

Goodbye folks, see you soon.

I'm going home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Carrie, Murphy and I had a great time. They've been in NYC for a week and we've been doing fun NYC things ever sincea; Rockefellar Center, Central Park, Carrie went Ice Skating, etc. On Christmas Day we went with Carrie's sister and her husband (who are in town visiting us) to a friend of their's home where their mother made a fabulous Christmas dinner. We had a roast, stuffed mushrooms, roasted potatos, brussel sprouts, rolls, soup, baked apples, fruitcake, and turkish delight. Quite a menu. Afterwards we played Scrabble. I haven't played in years yet Carrie and I came a close second. I think I like the game and would like to play more. I have all of my professional Scrabble moves down after watching the world championships on ESPN2.

Before we left for dinner we opened presents and had brunch here at the apartment. I got an iPod video from Carrie. Quite a nice gift!

Week 8 at the Carlyle was nice. Katie Couric came again and Steve Martin was there Friday night. Only eight shows to go. Hard to believe, at times it has felt like this last week would never come.

But here it is.

Sunday Carrie and Murphy finally arrived. It was so good seeing them again and really good having them here. After watching the Colts LOSE (WTF was that about?) we went to dinner for the Boss's birthday at a really nice Italian resteraunt in Brooklyn. We ended up going out afterwards and Carrie was treated to one of my late-night NYC hangs first-hand.

Monday was the Christmas party and it turned out to be a blast. We were busy all day long getting food, making phone calls, etc. (we did take a break in the middle of the day to see the absolute WORST holiday movie I've ever sat through, The Family Stone ... please stay far away from this movie). The party was supposed to start at 8, I had all of the food out and was ready to go and no one was there! But by 10 the place was hoppin'. I had invited 10 or so people and at one point we had 20 folks in our apartment. And I live in LA! That was really nice, everyone had a good time. Guys from the band, friends from NY, friends from the Carlyle, Paul Schaefer even showed up at my apartment for the party with Lewie. Crazy. It was a lot of fun for sure.

Then we woke up to this MTA strike. How terrible is this? My wife finally gets here and we are looking forward to enjoying the city over the holiday and now we are stuck in our neighborhood. No subways, no busses, no fun! Taxis are now $10 just to get in and making our way to the Carlyle is a lot of trouble. I don't see how something like this could happen. My love for NYC has dwindled a bit. It's too bad the selfish parties involved cannot reach an agreement at Christmastime. Pathetic.

Week 8 at the Carlyle has begun. Not much longer before I'm headed home.

Week seven? Wow, seven weeks. You might think that time would fly being in a place like this during the holidays but that's not really the case. It certainly feels like I've been away from home for seven weeks. I'm to the point where I'm really looking forward to going back to LA and being at home with my family.

But THANK GOODNESS my family will be here in a few hours. These next two weeks will be great with Carrie and Murphy here. We're going to have a great Christmas. Her visit starts with a bang tomorrow with the boss and his girlfriend taking everyone in the band out for a nice dinner. Monday is our Christmas party here in the apartment. I'm looking forward to both.

The gig is ... the gig. Still going strong, still fun to perform, but still feels like a day job. No celebs I can remember but the crowds are still good.

Two weeks left.

I'm late getting this post out. My roommate Jon went to Florida on our days off and I was left without a computer.

Last week at the Carlyle was fine. I was sick most of the time so it really felt tedious. I'm feeling better but I haven't kicked the thing 100% yet. Miles Davis's widow Francis came as did Ronan Tynan. If you don't know who Ronan is he's the Irish Tenor who sings "God Bless America" at Yankee games. He has a fantastic voice. He and Steve sang "Smile" together, it was a lot of fun and an honor to play with him.

Sunday I played a really fun gig with an old friend of mine from Western Michigan who is a New Yorker now. We hadn't played together in a long time, I had a blast. And I got some folks to come out and see me (shout out to Jeff!). That night I saw some music. Monday some friends from LA were in town and I went to see their concert as well. It was a good couple of days off.

So we started back up tonight. Hopefully the gig will be more pleasant for me now that I'm feeling better. And only a few days until Carrie and Murphy arrive!

I have a cold. I thought I could escape NY without getting ill but so much for that one. It is so freezing cold here, my body can't take it. And I haven't left Manhattan for a month. And I'm no doctor but I think partying until dawn consecutive nights does no good for your immune system.

Whatever the reason, I'm miserable. I'm a bad sick person anyway but here I have no dog or wife to complain to. And I HAVE to go to work, no calling in for me.

I've been taking vitamins, Airborne, Tylenol, and anything else I can think of so hopefully I can kick this soon.

Please direct your sympathies here ...

Work went really well this week. I like the set we've been playing (it includes two tunes I sing on, not bad) and the crowds have been really enthusiastic. No big celebrity sightings save for Fran Davis, Miles Davis's widow.

Last night the drummer and I went downtown after the gig to see my buddy Lew Soloff play (Lew is on my CD, now available). The resturaunt he was playing at was fantastic, the food was really good. The musicians were incredible as well. It was a great hang. Afterwards I walked outside to catch a cab home and found that it was snowing. It made me realize that I haven't seen snow for a couple of years. Then I was reminded of my very first year in Indiana. I have very few memories of my early childhood, but this one stands out. I was in kindergarten one day when it started snowing. My teacher realized I had just moved to Hawaii and asked me if I had ever seen snow. I had not to my recollection and I stood by the window watching the snowfall as she walked outside and scooped up a glassful. She brought it back in for me to look at.

These days I'm glad I don't live around snow, too much hassle for me. But walking through the snow last night I realized what warm memories I have of the stuff, in particular my grandmother.

... a very nice way to end the week

It seems like everyone wants some details about the Letterman show. I'm afraid there's not too much to tell. We rehearsed in the afternoon at a studio that the drummer and guitarist own (right across from the Ed Sullivan Theater). Regis showed up and we ran through the songs a couple of times. He was nice and funny and gregarious. You can tell that he's a really good guy and that there's no Hollywood bullshit in him. After that we went to the stage and soundchecked. It was really cold. It was funny seeing Biff the stage manager, he seems like a nice guy as well. Everyone there was all business and we cranked out the soundcheck.

We waited for about an hour watching the taping from our green room (we had a different green room than the other geusts). Then we went to the stage where we were joined by the Donald (he didn't show up to the rehearsals and everyone was worried that he'd mess up the perforance, but he was fine). We did the song (my sister in law Kelly likened it as an "odd post modern performance" ... I totally agree) and everyone left. That's about it. Didn't meet anyone else really (besides Biff). I'd already known Paul and the other guys in the band as they are friends with Tyrell and his crew.

And I did buy a coke from Rupert at the Hello Deli.

I have to admit it's pretty cool doing shows like this where there are a bunch of fans standing around and you get to walk right through them into the stage door. Makes you feel more important even if you are just the bass player.

So the fourth week of our nine week run is over. We're almost half-way through. Playing the same songs every night is starting to wear on me but I'm still having fun when the crowds are good, which they were this week. Celebrities this week included Joan Collins, designer Chris Madden, Dennis Farina, and Robin Givens.

Thanksgiving was great. Carrie and I went to the Macy's parade in the morning (I hope to have pictures up soon). It was fun ... crowded and cold but fun. Then we had lunch at a great Italian resturaunt on the West Side with the Tyrells and other family and friends from the band. It was really good; pumpkin and ginger soup, pumpkin ravioli, turkey with stuffing and sauce, pumpkin pie with cinnamon gelato. We had to work that night which sucked ass because nobody was there, but it was still a nice holiday.

Carrie had a good visit, it was so nice seeing her again. We didn't do much touristy as the crowds were terrible and I had to work every day, but we did walk up and down 5th Ave. to look at the window displays, have dinner with friends, etc. I can't wait until she comes back.

For anyone interested, I'm going to be on Letterman Tuesday night playing "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" with Regis. That's right, I'm playing with friggin' Regis. Steve is his producer so there will be a few guys from the Tyrell band there. It should be a lot of fun so tune in.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

This is it folks.

After all the hard work, time, energy, finances, headaches, and stress, my debut album is finally out.

I've been so stressed for the past couple of days waitng for my CDs to get here from the replicator. They look great, I really am quite proud of the final product. I sent out a mass email but I'm sure some folks might not've recieved it due to spam-blockers and the like.

You can check it out and order it here: LMbass

Tell everyone you know about it, it's now time for "shameless self promotion mode." I have 1000 of these things lying around!

Not much to report from the third week of our run. No celebrity sightings or anything although I did see Lauren Hill in the lounge of the hotel with an enormously combed-out afro.

The crowds were good this week. I can't believe so many people come to this place. It will be interesting to see how the crowds are over the holiday.

The tree at Rockefellar Center is going up. It's massive and has scaffolds all around it. I'm sure my neighborhood is going to be utter insanity by Friday.

So it seems like my life is hitting a stride here in NYC. I joined a gym and seem to be getting a routine down. And if you know me at all I'm not much for a daily routine so I'm starting to get a little bored. I'm going to start calling some friends and doing different things during the day and after the gig. But all in all things are going quite well.

And things will be going very well next week when Carrie comes! I'm really looking forward to seeing her, absense makes the heart grow fonder but catching up on that fondness can is a lot of fun!

Only days until the CD is released, not long now kids!

Birdland is one of the greatest jazz clubs in the world and my favorite jazz club in NYC to play at for sure. The owner is a fan of Steve's and came to see our show opening night.

Tonight after the gig we headed over to Birdland to check out singer Hilary Kole who is the owner's girlfriend. She sang some on Steve's last record. Well she was incredible. She did the songs of Marylin and Alan Bergman, two of the best lyricists ever ... "The Way We Were," "You Must Believe In Spring," "Theme from Tootsie" ... all great songs. It was a lot of fun. And we were on the geust list and had the best seats in the house. Not bad.

In other news the CDs are finished. Not long now before they are delivered and The Funky Supervillain hits the streets.

Keep your ears to the ground, dig?

The Butterfat Trio is being featured on All Things Considered, so check it out.

And if you don't have the record yet, you best get it!

Today I saw this movie Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. It's basically Silverman doing standup and it is outrageous, seriously. She says some shocking stuff. It was funny. Check it out if you're interested.

So we flew to Boston on Sunday to give a concert at Berklee College of Music. It went really well, it was nice to play in an actual concert hall instead of the "tony" club we've been playing in (thanks Kelly). I didn't get much sleep Sat. or Sun. night and I've been dragging my feet ever since I got back home yesterday. I better not be getting sick. Nothing worse than being sick on the road, Carrie isn't around for me to whine to! But I'll be fine I'm sure.

It's back to work tonight.

Things went pretty well this week. The band is starting to tighten up and groove and we are getting used to playing in such a small venue. The audiences have been very enthusiastic as well.

Not many celebrity sightings this week, only one. Don King came to the show last night. He was really funny, he kept shouting out things during the show like he does when he promotes a fight "Yeah Steve Tyrell!", "You guys are the best", etc.

I also remembered a funny story about the hotel I wanted to post about. Last week Prince Charles and Camilla stayed at the Carlyle. It was the night we opened, Tuesday. Well there are a lot of impressive photos around the Carlyle of people that have stayed there, presidents, celebrities, etc. I noticed a very nice picture of Jakie O right outside of the club. Well a couple of nights later the picture of Jackie O had been replaced by a picture of Lady Di.

Turns out the folks at the Carlyle didn't want to upset Camilla so they replaced Diana's picture with Jackie's during their stay.

... or I'm gonna get fat, fat, fat. I've been researching and it looks like New York Sports Clubs is going to be my best bet. At $125/month it is the best deal. That's still expensive but what am I going to do? There's too much great food in the city for me to just sit on my butt all day long. And I bet getting to bed before 4 AM and cutting back on the post-gig brewskis would help as well.

The weather started getting cold. I was chilled to the bone heading to the gig and I know this isn't nearly as bad as its going to get. Southern California has spoiled me.

The Colts have exorcised the demons. They FINALLY beat the New England Patriots after years of losing to them in hearbreaking fashion. What a game. I made dinner for a couple of the boys in the band and sucked back some beers while enjoying the victory. A good night for sure.

Yesterday was fun. I got to see some good music during the day and had dinner with a friend of mine in Brooklyn that night. It's been a good "weekend" for me. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Well the opening week at the Carlyle is finally finished. This is the first day off I've had in well over two weeks and it couldn't have come at a better time, that's a lot of playing.

The week went well, the only downer was Steve's scathing review in the New York Times. Actually, the guy does have some valid points. The review in Variety was much nicer (of course yours truly got no mention in either, when is the bassist going to get love?).

There were celebrities abound this week; George Steinbrenner, Robert Wuhl (actor from Arliss), Katie Couric, Regis, Frankie Vallie, and Frankie Avalon got up and sang with Steve (something tells me he might've been "overserverd" at the bar if you knowutumsayin). Its been a fun week.

One down, eight to go.

-Grocery stores are a pipe dream. They don't exist around here. I guess I'm going to have to shop online or catch a cab to buy some friggin' eggs and bananas.

-There is constant noise. Nothing loud or disturbing, but it's never serene, fo' sho'.

-The falafel guy on 6th Avenue is great, I've never had better food from a cart at 2 AM.

-Laundromats are about as plentiful as grocery stores.

-Walking down 5th Avenue in the middle of the afternoon would be great training for NFL Runningbacks.

-I love it, but I'd certainly never have the money to live here on my own means.

Well so far I'm digging my situation here in NYC.

Our apartment is great, really. It's big and we both (that is Jon the keyboardist and I) have our own bedrooms with plenty of privacy with a nice living area and kitchens. We're going to be throwing a Christmas party for sure.

Last night was opening night at the Carlyle. Before the show we had gruelling rehearsals the evening before and the day of. The Carlyle is a small room and I mean SMALL. They usually only have trios in there but there are seven guys in Steve's band ... It's tight and uncomfortable when I'm playing, hopefully something can be figured out, I'd hate to play the entire run like this.

I'm "living" right by Rockefeller Center and all of the expensive shops on Madison and Fifth avenues. It's cool but I'm sure we'll be overrun when the holidays start. But it's a nice spot and a nice building.

So there you go. I've been trying to stay away from black and white cookies and pizza ... Hasn't worked so far.

Well, I'm off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... all done.

Ladies and gentlemen,

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

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

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

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

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

... a dishtowel

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

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

Wacky stuff man, wacky.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's good to have fans like that.

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

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

latuh ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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