Well, we've had a fun time with Mom here over the past week but unfortunately my time with the family is being cut short. In a few hours I leave for tour again with Tyrell; Houston, the Hamptons, and Nantucket. I'll be back on Sunday but this is the longest tour I've been on since May. The tour schedule is pretty easy, we only have three shows and an actual day off with no travel.

There are pics up on the baby blog if you haven't seen them.

Surprisingly my last political post didn't spurn as much outrage and dissent as my previous posts had. That's probably because the position of the hospital I mentioned is flat-out indefensible even to the staunchest politically self-centered.

So you have to read an excellent post by my sister-in-law a her blog about hopelessly out-of-touch Indiana Representative Mike Pence who recently compared Iraq to an outdoor marketplace in Indiana. She links to a hilarious clip from the Daily Show where Hoosier soldiers in Iraq are interviewed and indeed they think Iraq is nothing like Indiana. Way to go Pence! Please vote this guy's ass out of office when his term is up!

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Mom's visit is really going well. We're not doing much besides spending a lot of time with Milo (which is the way grandma wants it).

Hopefully we'll have pics on the baby blog soon.

Last night I went to the L.A. Angels game against the New York Yankess. If you didn't know the Angels actually play in Annaheim (which is in Orange County) but they adopted the name L.A. a couple of years ago for business reasons. I live in L.A. and it took me two hours to get there so I refuse to call them the L.A. Angels. But they are still a great ball club and they are having a great season.

And everyone's heard of the Yankess, "America's Team." I once heard there are two types of baseball fan; those who love and respect the game and Yankess fans. HA! I'm amongst those who consider them the "Evil Empire" and I was looking forward to seeing them for the first time.

The highest paid player in sports, A-Rod, steps up to bat.


"Mr. Yankee" Derek Jeter.


Angels stud Vlad Guerrero.


When the Angels are behind late in a game the Rally Monkey appears to rally the crowd. If you look closely you can seem him on the screen in the corner.


The Angels won in the tenth inning off of a hit from a rookie who had only 11 major-league at-bats. It was definitely the biggest hit of his life so far and the team rushed out to celebrate with him.

Its been a busy week for me. On Tuesday and Thursday I taught Theory, Harmony, and Ear Training to some unenthusiastic students at Musician's Institute, drove an hour to a gig in Claremont on Thursday and drove two hours to gigs in Orange County on both Friday and Saturday. Throw in my Fantasy Football drafts this weekend and it really has been a busy few days.

My gigs the past couple of nights have been duets; Fri. with a singer and Sat. with a piano player. I love playing duet gigs for a couple of reasons, first off it means a lot of playing and a lot of bass solos, and secondly it really challenges me as a player. There is a lot more harmonic and rhythmic responsibility particularly in duet with a vocalist where I'm playing all of my solos unaccompanied. That really exposes you and puts a lot of melodic constraints on what you're doing. But that sort of challenge is a lot of fun.

In other news legendary drummer Max Roach has passed. His death is a bit more meaningful as he was our last living bebop pioneer. He recorded extensively with Charlie Parker and lead groups with Clifford Brown. His solo piece "The Drum Also Waltzes" remains a standard in jazz repertoire. He will be missed.

I've had a really nasty wart on the bottom of my foot for a few years now (did you know one of the technical names for this kind of wart is a Verruca?). My doctor tried liquid nitrogen, it didn't work. In fact it's gotten worse over the past year, so the last time I visited my doctor she put in for a referral for me to see a podiatrist.

I finally had the podiatry appointment today. As I'm sitting in the exam room I notice a signed poster of the 2006 World Cup on the wall. On the other wall I notice a framed jersey from the US National Team also signed and at the bottom is a little plaque saying 'Dr. L (I forget how to spell his name) US Nat'l Team Podiatrist.' Cool! If this guy is working on the feet of the US's best soccer players, he must be alright. He comes in and starts working on my verruca and I tell him my story about my experience in Italy during the World Cup finals last year. He tells me he's also been the podiatrist for Los Angeles's Major League Soccer teams the Galaxy and Chivas USA for years.

Now, maybe you haven't heard but soccer superstar David Beckham was signed to the LA Galaxy earlier this year for millions upon millions of dollars. He arrived to the team this summer but hasn't been able to play more than a couple of minutes per game because of an injured ankle. Needless to say fans are pretty disappointed that Beckham with his international celebrity, pop star wife, and enormous paycheck has yet to make a contribution to the team.

So I ask him "have you met Beckham yet?"
He says "I'm working on his ankle."
"Is he going to able to play soon?"
"He'll play 20 or 30 minutes tonight."

I felt like calling a sports talk radio program and letting them in on the breaking news I'd just heard. Then I remembered we were talking about soccer and they probably wouldn't care too much.

So he sent me away with a couple of ointments and told me to come back in a few weeks for more treatment. I left comfortable in the knowledge that if this man has helped bring David Beckham back from injury then there is a good chance that he will get rid of my nasty Verruca.

UPDATE!
Beckham started for the Galaxy and scored his first goal for the team last night.

Carrie and I were watching the Today Show this morning and were shocked to hear a preview of an upcoming story where an employer will start penalizing their employees for leading what the deemed to be "an unhealthy lifestyle."

Imagine our shock when we heard this company was in Indiana.

Imagine our outright disbelief when we found out that this is the same company that my mother works for.

Clarian Health is going to start docking their workers up to $30 every two weeks for 'failing to meet health standards set by the company'. Things like high cholesterol, high body mass index, smoking, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar will result in fines for employees that can total close to $800 a year. My jaw was on the floor when I heard this. My disbelief turned to anger when smug CEO Daniel Evans tried to defend his position. The thinking is the age-old 'why should I have to pay for someone else's care.' We've heard that one before, for sure.

So let me get this straight; my mother who has survived cancer, has a history of high blood pressure and cholesterol in her family and who most importantly has put in over 25 years of good service to Clarian (heck, she was there before it was even Clarian) is going to be penalized for the way she lives her life? I talked to mom this morning and she said they are still working out the details concerning how employees will be penalized if they are seeking treatment for said health problems or have a family history of them. But doing that reeks of discrimination.

I can hear the opposition now "it's Carian's right to run their business however they want to." Bullshit. Are corporate rights more important than your right to privacy? Where does it stop? Does Clarian have the right to penalize employees for speeding? attending loud rock concerts? flying? having unprotected sex?

A solution offered by some might be for my mom to just get another job. If she's unhappy she can do something about it, right? Suggesting so is compassionless. Like I said she's been at her job for a long, long time and has been a good employee for them. Asking her to get another job having no college degree and getting along in years (sorry Mom! hehe) is out of the question.

All this boils down to is a corporation looking to make some money off of their employees because they hate having to pay for health care. And the biggest irony of all is I see their point, they shouldn't have to pay for their employee's health care and with a public health care system intact we wouldn't have to worry about numbers-crunchers whose job it is to save money making decisions about our health.

********

In a somewhat related story, because of my recent car troubles I've been researching purchasing a new vehicle lately and in doing so came across a very interesting article. It seems that GM has to add $1,500 to the price of every car to cover health costs of employees. Again, public health care could do nothing but help this problem and perhaps strengthen our American car companies.

Kind of.

Last night I was awaken from a deep sleep by my wife shaking me and telling me there was an earthquake. She'd bolted out of bed and grabbed her shoes. I hadn't felt the earthquake at all and thought she was being melodramatic. You have to understand she is prone to babbling in her sleep and waking me up in the middle of the night mistaking the dog for the baby and telling me it was suffocating. So of course I thought she had dreamt the "earthquake". She assured me she heard the headboard and pictures rattle and that it was indeed for real. I was skeptical and went back to bed.

Sure enough a 4.5 magnitude earthquake hit near our home last night. 4.5 isn't very bad and in the media's ever-passionate attempt to keep everyone fearful channel 4 news sought out the worst damage it could find this morning. All they found was a few fallen ceiling panels at a 99 Cent Store.

So stay tuned loyal viewers, the big one has yet to hit!

While I was in Hawaii I noticed the callouses on my right-hand index finger falling off in the salt water of the ocean. I didn't play my bass for over a week while we were gone (I can't remember the last time I didn't play for so long, last time we were in Hawaii?), this softened up my fingers as well. As I said in the previous post I've been knee-deep in work since we landed and my fingers are aching. Luckily I haven't rubbed any big blisters, it just feels like my fingers are bruised and after playing for a while they start to hurt.

Bass players pay close attention to their fingers. When I was starting to play in college I'd get blisters on my finger every couple of months. Let me tell you, they can really impede your playing. It's like a basketball player with an injured knee, you simply can't perform to the best of your ability.

So here's my blisterly advice to all you of aspiring jazz bassists out there: when you rub a blister the best thing to do is to pop it, remove all of the dead skin and play you ax as much as possible (which won't be much) to develop a callous. Now, if you have a blister but have some important gigs coming up my advice is to find a small sewing needle, sterilize the tip with fire of some kind and poke the tiniest hole possible in the blister to drain all of the fluid. Leave the dead skin on and make sure the hole you punctured is as small as possible. The dead skin makes the best bandage and the smaller the whole the smaller the chance of ripping the dead skin off.

After a while you'll get some good callouses and it won't be a problem unless of course you take a beach vacation and don't play for a week.

I know its all very gross, but this is important stuff to think about when you're a bass player.

That had to be one of the fastest weeks of my life. Our time in Kona was much too short and we are both eagerly waiting the next time we visit Dad and family. From the amazing house with an incredible view of the ocean, to eating amazing food, to the beautiful beaches, to showing off Milo to his family it was the vacation of a lifetime. Next time we stay longer brah!

On Monday we headed to Hilo (my first home) to visit grandma and Tuesday we spent on the beach. Plenty of pictures on the baby blog and there will be more soon.

No rest for the wicked! I'm teaching at Musician's Institute again tomorrow, reherasal Friday, Tyrell gig Saturday, and another gig with a great LA drummer on Sunday. And the car situation is still a big-ass mess!

So far our vacation in Hawaii has been all that we hoped it would be, fun and relaxing times in paradise with the family. Grandpa and family really love Milo and are really cute around him. He really digs the Big Island of course. I'm going to make this quick so here's a day-by-day breakdown. Pictures can be found on the baby blog.

Wednesday
Flew to Honolulu then Kona. Milo was a terrific traveler as always. Dad took us to our digs, a neighbor's house of his. A fantastic home with a gorgeous views. One of the nicest joints I've ever stayed in (wireless internet even).

Thursday
Breakfast at the Big Island Grill (some ono brahddah!) and then a walk around Kailua Town. We had some great shave ice at the end of our walk. That night we ordered Thai take-out.

Friday
Lunch by the ocean. Dad took us for a drive though some of Kona's more interesting spots. That night we went to a neighbor's house for a little get-together. Milo was, of course, the hit of the party.

Saturday
We picked the two aunties up from the airport (they had been in Honolulu during the week) and went to the ocean. Milo had a great time. That night we had one of the finest dinners I've ever had in a fantastic restaurant overlooking the ocean.

Sunday
Relaxing day spent with the family. Nice dinner on our lanai looking at the sunset.

I hate to think we only have a couple more days here. Leaving will be tough.

In just 24 short hours Carrie, Milo and I will be aboard Hawaiian Airlines flight 1 for the final leg of the Milo World Tour. Our first trip to Vegas seems like such a long time ago. I can't wait to see my dad and sisters again, needless to say we are really looking forward to it. I talked to him last night and he was a little disappointed that the weather had been rainy there lately, but if you've ever been to Hawaii you know that a rainy day in Hawaii is better than a sunshiny day nearly everywhere else.

Dad's rented the house next door to him for us to stay at. I'm not sure what the internet scene will be like so I might be offline for the week that we're there.

The car headache isn't over. The insurance company still hasn't given me a number of the amount they would pay if we kept the car. I told the lady handling my claims that I'd be leaving for Hawaii for a week and I wasn't going to think about the situation until I got back. And to top it all off Carrie's car is having some troubles right now. We thought we had it fixed last week (trouble starting, warning lights coming on) but a $300 repair later and nothing has changed. We're taking it to the shop today, hopefully it will be fixed before we leave.

On a positive not our new bathtub was installed yesterday. Let me tell you, bathtubs ain't cheap but it really looks nice and I'm sure it will be worth it. I'll know later tonight when I can actually use it.

We'll be blogging plenty of pictures from the trip.

Aloha!

In what has to be the coolest movie promotion ever (a lot cooler than mysterious websites that don't even tell you the name of the movie a' la JJ Abrams next film) a handful of 7-11's across the country have been turned in to Kwik-E-Marts to promote The Simpsons Movie. As soon as I heard that there was one in Burbank I had to see it so Carrie, Milo, and I went. It is really, really cool. The outside looks exactly it does in the cartoons and various items available in Springfield are inside. Take a look.


The Kwik-E-Mart sign outside.


The security guard told us there is a line of Simpsons fans waiting to get in at all times.


Carrie and Milo wait with Marge outside.


The outside wall had been tagged up by 'El Barto'.


Maggie on top of the Buzz Cola machine.

mmm ... donuts, pink with sprinkles, Homer's favorite.


At the Squishee machine.


Best. Store. Ever.


The spoils of the trip, a six-pack of Buzz Cola, a Squishee, pink donuts with sprinkles, and a Homer cookie.

Tuesday night I was headed to a gig when I noticed my car start to jerk. A few seconds later *BOOM* I see pieces of my car fly up from the front driver's side and my car handling like I'd just had a blowout. So I pull over to the side of the freeway and check out what had happened; the tire was not flat but the tread had come off most of it but was still attached. The tread had whipped around the wheel well while I was driving and as a result the body of the car from my driver's side headlight to where the wheel well used to start was gone (my car has one of those plastic bodies that are designed to shatter for safety reasons). Not only did the car look thoroughly screwed but I was on the side of a freeway. If you're not familiar the freeways in LA have two speeds: 2 mph during gridlock and 80 mph when the traffic is clear because everyone is trying to make up for the time they lost during gridlock. Well everyone was going really fast that night I didn't have any room to change my tire on the side of the freeway. A friend of mine came out and followed me while I drove to the next exit (remember the tire wasn't flat, the tread was just off) and changed my tire. I got the spare on easily enough and made it to my gig only 1/2 hour late.

So I call my insurance company and make a claim and Carrie takes the car to the body shop to get an estimate yesterday while I'm at work. The mechanic tells her that the damages would cost more than the value of the car ($1900 Blue Book) and the insurance company won't pay for it. He says they will either buy the car from us for Blue Book value or help us pay for the repair (the latter probably isn't going to happen). We are still waiting for a call from the insurance company hear what our official options are.

Does that suck or what? I have to buy a new car or drive around a hooptie that drives fine despite being able to see directly in to the engine block.

But there is another wrinkle to the story. There is a chance that the tire that caused all of the damage is under warranty. I know I got it recently, you should see the tread it is hardly worn at all. So today I'll take it to Pep Boys (they keep warranties in their system) to see if not only I can get a free tire but if they'll pay for the damages as well. I figure if I tell them the insurance company might come after them they might be willing to take care of it.

So stay tuned.

And to top it all off I lost one of our digital cameras on Tuesday. What a day.

But professionally things have been going well lately. I've played a couple of gigs this week with some terrific players and yesterday I taught at Musician's Institute in Hollywood. I subbed for the upright teacher there and it will probably lead to more work. The pay sucks but its great for the resume and I enjoy teaching a lot more than I thought I did.

I wonder, in the history of the internet has anybody ever gone in to a political debate with an open mind? Has anyone ever actually listened to opposing sentiments and been enlightened? "You know, that's a great point you have, you've caused me to reconsider my views" is a phrase that has probably never been typed in an internet forum or chat room. I'm probably as guilty of it as the next guy.

Which brings me back to the original reason of my initial post, SiCKO. Truth is, I wasn't sold on socialized health care before seeing it. When I was touring with Buble I got to know a bunch of Canadians who were on the crew. One of them had had a bad experienced with the Canadian health care system and his ill mother. I, like we are want to do, took this one testimonial and applied it to the entire country. But after seeing the stories in SiCKO I changed my thinking about the situation and after a little research my opinion was reformed.

I'm aware of Michael Moore's antics. In my opinion he often hurts his arguments by the stunts he pulls in his films; confronting Dick Clark in Bowling for Columbine seemed like a non sequiter, confronting congressmen in Fahrenheit 911 didn't do much to drive the point home. But SiCKO is different, much less editorializing by Moore and much more personal horror stories of the U.S.'s health care system from both victims of it and those who enforced the insurance companies horrid policies. So please don't judge the movie if you haven't seen it.

Once again, my blog so I get the final word. Its in two parts. First, sorry if anyone got offended throughout the debate. I'm sure nobody was out to hurt anyone else. This is a very personal issue as it affects everybody. On a personal level I was genuinely interested in suggestions about my wife and I's insurance situation since it seems to be quite different from everyone else's. The closest I got to a direction response was that I should get another job and shouldn't expect good benefits from being a musician. This is not the country I want to live in, where good health means working a job I hate and spending more time away from my son and where a school teacher doesn't have benefits most here would deem acceptable. We've both worked very hard both in school and in our careers. The system being bad is no fault of ours, it needs to be changed.

Second, ditch-diggers, dishwashers, janitors, landscapers, lawn-mowers, waiters, stock boys, drive-through cashiers, and cheap labor of all varieties are necessary to our communities. You might think they are too lazy or stupid but the fact is that everyone who makes better money and gets better benefits than them owe the lower class a debt of gratitude. The owner of Home Depot wouldn't be where he is without the labor working his stores day in and day out. Labor is the basis of our economy. They are not being taken care of in our current health care situation and solution is not to blame them and ask them to work more, it needs to be changed.

Thanks for everyone's comments, it was a stimulating debate. In particular thanks to those who posted but never really got any feedback, you all had good things to say and I agreed with most of it.

I saw Michael Moore's latest documentary SiCKO today. It's a powerful, powerful film. I had no illusions about the U.S. health system is before seeing the movie but even so I left the theater disgusted and full of rage about how our country treats its sick and elderly (particularly the poor sick and elderly).

I'm not going to spoil the movie for you but if you've seen the trailer or heard anything about it you know it revolves around the U.S.'s desperate need for free health care. This is the only country in Western Civilization that charges its citizens enormous sums of money when they are ill. It makes no sense at all.

Here are some stories brought up in the movie (again, no huge spoilers here but if you don't one bit of the film revealed to you its best to skip the rest of the post):

-In this country insurance companies give employees bonuses for denying claims to patients. The recommended denial rate is 10%. In England doctors are given bonuses if they lower their patients heart rate and help them quite smoking.

-A baby girl in Los Angeles was denied care at a hospital after her mother had discovered the child's fever. They were told they had to go to a different hospital that their insurance company covered. The child died before getting to the other hospital.

-Volunteers from 911 are being denied health care for their various respiratory problems caused my inhaling the fumes at Ground Zero. They aren't employed by the city so therefore they get no care even though they are heroes in many people's eyes. The prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who are portrayed to us as 'evil-doers' are given round-the-clock health care including preventative care.

How is this defensible? On any level how can you say that denying a baby health care is okay? You like Bush and like the war, fine. You think guns are cool, okay. But health care affects everybody, it is too personal of a problem to make excuses for.

This is an important movie. Please see it. Things need to change.

... I didn't leave the condo once today. I literally did not step outside the door once. And I still did more work than I do on most days ... kids will do that to you.

Milo had more shots yesterday and as a result was running a bit of a fever today. Hopefully it will be gone tomorrow. Taking care of the fussy boy on top of putting together Carrie's end table that arrived today on top of finishing up our movie (see the baby blog) on top of fixing lunch and dinner made for a pretty busy day. I also watched The Devil Wears Prada (surprisingly good, either that or I just think Anne Hathaway is hot and that is clouding my judgment). Now that I think about it I make a pretty good housewife.

I finally saw Knocked Up Sunday night. (Ever since Milo was born we have to see movies in shifts, Carrie's turn is tomorrow when she'll see the new Harry Potter movie). I actually wanted to see Transformers but the lines were huge and I figured it could wait. Knocked Up was so good, I really really liked it. Judd Appatow is my hero.

Has anyone ever watched the show "Intervention" on A&E? Man, that show is such a trainwreck, you have to watch it.

I've been neglectful of my blog lately. Since our return from Indy I guess I've settled into a routine of sorts and interesting things to blog about to grab me like they do when I'm traveling. But I do have some catching up to do so in the spirit of The Grey Album and other mashups I'm going to throw everything at you in one post.

The 4th
The Fourth was good for us. As we've documented on the baby blog we went over to some friends house for a cookout. I made baked beans from a recipe of Paula Dean's. If you know Paula then you won't be surprised to hear the recipe starts out with frying a half-pound of bacon and afterwards sauteeing onions in the rest of the bacon fat. The beans turned out quite nicely as you can imagine. After dinner me and the other husbands there played Tiger Woods Golf for the Nintendo Wii. MAN was that fun. Makes me want to get one instead of a 360 ...

Watch Out For That Tree!
If you didn't know I have an office/rehearsal space about ten minutes away from our pad. Its on an industrial block with some warehouses and office buildings and such. Today I was pulling out of the parking lot when I noticed a truck with a flat-bed trailer trying to maneuver into some sort of driveway. It was sideways in the street so I had to wait for it to pull in as it was blocking traffic. While I was waiting I noticed a bunch of water pouring out of the bottom of the truck, I thought "whatever it is that trailer is carrying, its leaking bad." The truck's reverse lights come on, it backs up a couple of feet, and WHOOOOSH water shoots up about 40 ft. in the air. The dumbass had driven over a fire hydrant. Water was going everywhere and I was on my ass laughing. I left but soon realized that I'd left my wallet at the office and had to head back. Upon returning to office I noticed that the street was almost flooded (street drainage in LA is for shit because, well, it never rains) and everyone was standing on the sidewalk watching the spectacle. To cap it all off as I finally left a commercial came on the radio saying "Save water this summer Los Angeles! If you shut off the water while shampooing your hair you can conserve up to 50 gallons of water per year!" Oh the irony ...

Bluetooth
You know those little Bluetooth mobile devices people wear in their ears? And they look like total douchebags when they use them because it appears they are talking to themselves? Well, a few weeks ago I got a new cel phone and with it came a package of extras including a Bluetooth headset ... and ... I gotta admit I love it. It is so nice in the car, just touch the headset, tell it who you want to call, and you're off. I promised myself to never wear it outside of my car so as not to look like a total tool. If you have the means you should check it out.

Daycare
Carrie and I have been searching for a daycare place to take Milo once school starts for her and I hit the road again. We've found two great places and are going to have a tough time deciding between the two. Daycare A is in a nice, large house with a dozen or so kids and three daycare workers who run classes and will pick your kid up from preschool or kindergarten once they get old enough. Daycare B is run by a very nice grandmother who only has a few kids but its a very cozy and warm environment; its also cheaper and closer than A and will let us pay by the day (which is good for us since when I'm home I'm home all day long) whereas A locks you in to a contract. Its going to be a tough decision.

McThing
My hero/buddy Christian McBride called me the other night. He's doing a concert at the Bowl next week with Queen Latifah, he asked me if I knew a piano player who could do a couple of rehearsals with him and 'the Queen' before full-band rehearsals start next week. I recommended one of my boys and needless to say my friend called me today thanking me profusely. I tell you, nothing earns you more cool points than being friends with the greatest bass player on the planet. I also got the new Jeff 'Tain' Watts CD in the mail today that Christian plays on. Tain is Branford Marsalis 's drummer and is one of the baddest drummers out there. The disc sounds great after a first listen.

Back in the L.A. Groove
Slowly but surely I'm starting to work around town more and am reacquainting myself with the scene. I have some gigs in town coming up that I'm looking forward to and am playing more actual jazz which is always a good thing. The summer calendar is filling up nicely which is to say not a whole lot of work but enough to keep the chops going.

Well there you have it, I should be more consistent in my blogging from now on. I need to revamp this page a bit. And maybe I'll come up with another format for the Top Five Blog to generate more interest.

Tomorrow is 7-7-7 y'all, hope you're feeling lucky.

I just finished reading this blog post on the final episode of Sopranos. It is really fascinating, check it out if you watched the last episode. In this writer's opinion (the guy's name is Bob Harris who is famous for appearing on Jeopardy! and writing a funny book about it) the ending is quite obvious. The post has become quite famous in internet land so it is filled with updates and the like. But I think he nailed it on the head.

It looks like there have been some racist notes left for the Ball State University coach basketball under the door of his office. It appears that the coach and his staff broke some NCAA rules by attending voluntary off-season team workouts (a dumb rule if you ask me). Some idiots took it upon themselves to direct racial slurs via cowardly notes towards the black coach.

It's sad but I can't say I'm surprised. There was a lot of homophobic hate graffiti left around campus on more than one occasion when I was there.

This weekend proved to be pretty busy. After my relaxing night in San Diego it was back home LATE Sat. night so I could make it to an afternoon gig on Sunday. And if you didn't know Sunday was Carrie and I's seventh wedding anniversary. If you forgot, don't worry. We forgot too. Carrie was talking to a friend of hers last Thurs. and they were talking about their weekend plans when this friend asked "isn't Sunday your anniversary?" Sure enough it was. Are we a couple of space cadets or what? Anyway, Sunday night after my gig we went out for sushi and had a really great time that evening despite how clueless we were.

Milo has not been a very good sleeper lately. That's probably the reason why. We've been sort of sleep-deprived zombies.

But on the creative tip I've been practicing regularly again which is great. I've also been doing some little jam sessions with guys in town. And I don't know if I've mentioned it but I'm starting a new band, a Brazillian/Bossa Nova group with Jessica the vocalist on The Funky Supervillain. We rehearsed for the first time last week, I'm pretty excited about the project. I also made a decision to go out and see more music and try to make myself a part of the LA jazz scene again so tonight I checked out everyone's favorite guitar player Steve Cotter (another Lower Level member) who was playing with a great group at a local club.

The final leg of the Milo World Tour has been booked. We leave for Kona, Hawaii on July 25th and will be there for a whole week. Needless to say we are pretty stoked for the trip. We need to get Milo some Hawaiian print shirts and SPF 1,000.

Man, what about this crazy Chris Benoit asshole? I went through a HUGE wrestling phaze when I was 11 or 12 or so. Junkyard Dog, Superfly Snuka, King Kong Bundy, Leaping Lanny Poffo ... sure these guys were flabby and goofy but they did some pretty cool stuff and they didn't look like these juiced-up, 'roid-raging, over-tanned monstrosities that wrestlers are today. Hopefully everyone who has been defending steroid usage during this whole mess with Major League Baseball can get some perspective now. I just hope Barry Bonds doesn't wig out as bad as this maniac did.

New Top Five up. Go dig.

After a rehearsal in Hollywood and a four-hour drive (which would've been a two-hour drive had it not been for Friday traffic) I've arrived at the resort where we're staying for tomorrow's private gig with Tyrell. I've stayed at a lot of nice places over the years and this ranks right up there. Nice, big room with a balcony and poolside view of the bay. Exactly what I needed. I haven't been sleeping very well lately because of one Mr. Milo so a short stay at a relaxing place like this is exactly what the doctor ordered. Actually we thought about having Carrie and Milo come down but we would've had to board Murphy again (poor dog probably feels like an orphan) and Milo has been busy enough lately without adding another leg to his World Tour. But after some room service and a beer with a couple of the guys I'm feeling pretty good. And I have my bass here too which always leaves me in a better mood.

Although we have the room Sat. night as well I'm going to head home after we play (which should be at 11:30 PM or so, guaranteed easy traffic) as I have a gig in LA Sun. afternoon. Besides I'll probably be jonesin' for a baby fix by the time tomorrow night rolls around.

I'm going to take a bath now. tah-tah

(bonus points if you know what movie the blog title comes from)

... to iLike. You start a profile and iLike displays what you're listening to on iTunes, what your favorite artists and songs are, suggests similar artists, shows other users/friends who have similar tastes. It's great. If you use iTunes I highly suggest downloading the iLike Toolbar and starting a profile. And if you already have one, add me as a friend; here's my profile.

In other news Milo moved up a diaper size last night. The little guy continues to grow and grow. Plans are also finalizing for the last leg of the Milo World Tour in Hawaii. We're really looking forward to it.

Back to work this weekend as I have another gig with Tyrell in San Diego and a gig on Friday here in town. I've begun working my way back in to the scene here in town doing some rehearsals with local cats this week. I'm really looking forward to playing some more creative music.

New Top Five up. Go dig it.

Well Father's Day was pretty good. Carrie, Milo and I went to one of my favorite places for dinner, Picanha. If you've never been to a Brazilian Barbeque (or churrascaria) before I highly suggest checking one out. Here's the basics: after sitting down and ordering your drinks you head over to the salad/sides buffet area where you get you greens, soup, beans, rice, bread, etc. But I don't suggest getting too much of this because the main attraction is the meat. At your table you will find a little disc with a green side and a red side. If you leave the red side up the waiters won't stop at your table, but if you leave the green side up they will stop by with whatever meat they happen to be serving. They bring the meats by on a huge skewer right off of the grill.

Let me give you a breakdown of all of the stuff we had (in order in which we liked them):

Picanha (marinated top sirloin)
Smoked Sausage
Parmesan Crusted Pork
Chicken Legs
Filet
Garlic Sirloin Tips

Needless to say we ate a lot and needed to walk off the thousands of calories we just consumed. We strolled around the Burbank mall and got some ice cream. After we got home it was time for a much needed nap. We nap in shifts now with Milo around and after I woke up Carrie laid down for a nap which lasted hours and hours and hours. I decided to head to a casino and play cards since I was by myself watching TV anyway. I had an okay time, not as much fun as I usually have at the poker table and left about even.

But the real gift comes on Wednesday when the cable company is delivering the DVR Milo got me for Father's Day. Nice!

We finally returned home to sunny Southern California yesterday. The trip was a lot of fun but it's always good to come home. We left Chicago for Indy Tuesday night (I-65 is eye-numbing at 2:00 AM) and stayed with mom for the rest of the trip. Every meal was spent visiting with family or friends until our flight left yesterday morning. Murphy returned to us last night to make our homecoming official.

I have to say Milo was such a good sport during the trip. He let strangers hold him and stayed in a good mood during his parties and visits. He's getting used to large crowds already.

So I watched the final two Sopranos last night. Interesting. I'm thinking there's going to be more or a movie or something. There wasn't a whole lot of finality.

I was thinking of recapping this weekend's parties but it occurs to me that most folks who read this blog were there. So I'll just say that we had a really good time, the baptism went well, and Milo was a great sport through the entire thing letting strangers hold and kiss him. Carrie and I were really worn out by Sunday night, Carrie went to bed at 8 and I was asleep by 9. I woke up at 5 AM feeling like a million bucks for sleeping eight straight hours for the first time in a long time.

We packed up with Carrie's parents and headed up to Chicago this morning. The drive was okay and Milo was once again a good guy; we only had to stop once to feed him.

We're hanging out here with Carrie's sister in Chi-town until tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to relaxing and seeing friends while Milo visits his third city in two months.

New Top Five up. Go dig it.

But I'm too tired to blog about it. Good night.

Ahhh yes, the humidity, cool wind one second and blaring heat the next, the torrential rain that happens for ten minutes and is gone, the Meijer, K-Mart, and Target all on the same two blocks ... I'm back in Indy!

Milo did well on the flight. He was a bit fussy for my taste but considering there were at least three other babies on the flight and he was the best behaved of all of them I'd say he was a pretty good boy.

The fiasco at the airport went really smoothly considering all of the crap we had (I did get a "fix-it ticket" because my plates are expired because I haven't got my smog check updated, no biggie thank goodness). The bass traveled really well and our rental car is nice (even though the actual price is much more than our quoted price, rental places charge %28 tax when they are located at an airport, beware boys and girls).

Milo already has had a slew of visitors. I'm afraid the poor boy's cheeks are going to be chapped and bleeding by the end of the weekend from all of the smooches he's going to get...

If anyone needs info on the open house Saturday, email me.

If you've known me for a while then you remember Cootie Brown, my college rock band who played bars from Bloomington to Chicago and all points in between. The band was great and provided for one of the most fun periods of my life. Drummer-boy Kevy has set up a MySpace Profile for the band. So check out some of the old tunes, and dig this clip about the band from a Muncie PBS station from back in the day:
Indiana PBS Cootie Brown Feature

Add to My Profile | More Videos

The third leg of the Milo World Tour starts Monday. This weekend will be a busy one; Murphy needs shots, I have to wash a bunch of clothes and pack, I have a gig (a private) in San Diego with Tyrell on Sunday (really bad timing) before leaving Monday morning. Monday morning will be a real doozy. I'm taking my bass with me to Indiana as I'm doing some recording with an old friend of mine while I'm there, so I need to pack up our luggage, baby and bass into the car, drive to the airport, drop off Carrie, Milo and the luggage at the check-in, drive the car to the carpark, take a shuttle back to the airport, then eventually check in and fly back.

But once we're on the plane everything should be cool.

Has anyone ever heard of Twitter? It's kind of like a blog that you update throughout the day. You can even update from your phone. It's pretty cool but I soon realized that there's not much of a point if nobody checks it. Here's my profile regardless.

Life has been pretty laid-back since returning from NYC. Well, as laid-back as you can get with a three-month old baby. Friday night I played poker with the boys and had a very poor showing considering how well things went for me in Atlantic City. No biggie, you can't win all of the time. Friday I also had the first session with my personal trainer. My gym is running a special, 5 sessions for $100 so I figured "why not?" Of course I've been sore ever since. Yesterday I had a gig with a great vibes player Nick Mancini. The performance was part of a benefit happening all weekend long for the Pasadena Jazz Institute which is a really, really nice club in, well, Pasadena. The gig didn't pay since it was a benefit but I think I got a show for the Lower Level out of it. That will be pretty sweet if it happens.

Today we went to some friends for a cookout. I made the Macaroni and Cheese I made for Easter but souped it up Mexican-style (with bell peppers, adobo sauce, jalapenos, etc.) since they were grilling up tacos. Before leaving for the cookout I watched a bit of the Indy 500, disappointing finish. I hope to take Milo to the race one day.

Not much on tap for tomorrow (besides another session with my trainer, ouch!). Hope everyone has a good holiday.

(If you care about the Sopranos and haven't seen the past couple of episodes, stop reading.)


I don't watch many TV shows regularly. At the moment I'm only watching Sopranos, and when I'm on the road it's hard to catch the new episodes on Sunday night because I'm usually working. So I missed three episodes while I was on tour. After I missed the first week I said to myself I'll just wait until I get home and watch all three of them back to back on On Demand.

So the second week of the tour we're in Connecticut. Late Sunday night I get in the elevator after the gig to head to dinner with guys. The elevator stops at a floor and two couples walk in. One of them says:

"Let's go play roulette like Tony."

I see what's quickly going to happen so I immediately say, "I didn't catch tonight's episode so please don't say any more"
One of the guys says, "That's okay, you didn't miss much."
Right after that one of the ladies says:

"Well Chrissy died."

Now, if you don't know the show let me just tell you that this was big BIG news about one of the original and main characters getting killed. I was FURIOUS. The lady grabbed her mouth and said "shoot, I always do stuff like that."

How rude. What an idiot. I mean I'm waiting for weeks to watch these episodes and this lady spoils it for me.

Funny thing is on my way home from NYC there were two guys sitting next two me at our gate at the airport. One turns to the other and says, "Did you watch Sopranos last night?" I quickly covered my ears. The guys says, "Thanks for doing that man, I won't say any more." Crisis avoided.

So I'm all caught up now. Even though one of the episodes was spoiled for me the series is really getting good. I can't wait to see how it all ends.

New York was fun. Milo and Carrie had a good time, we'll put up some pictures on the baby blog soon. Mostly we saw friends and walked around the city. I got more than one funny look when I talked about bringing my infant son to NYC but everything really worked out nicely. Even with all of the noise and people and smallish hotel room Milo really took to Manhattan. Maybe he'll go to school at NYU.

So I'm at the airport headed home finally. Carrie and Milo flew out a few hours earlier (they are flying in to Burbank Airport which is much more convenient than LAX where my destination is). The next few months are really light as far as touring work with Tyrell and I couldn't be happier about it. I think this is the longest stretch of time off of the road I will have had in over a year and a half. I'm really looking forward to practicing a lot, writing and recording some music, and working back in to the local music scene in L.A. It's time for some more direction as far as my music is concerned. Plus I'll have a lot of time to spend with my boy. I don't think I've had much time to step back, reflect, and take stock of things since he was born.

Two weeks until the Milo World Tour continues in Indianapolis and Chicago. They boy's going to be a road warrior like his old man in no time.

New Top Five up. Go dig it.

With Milo and Carrie here there is no getting drunk until dawn, no seeing music I couldn't see anywhere else, no riding the subway with my iPod on traveling all over the five Burroughs to see friends, no shopping for CDs or clothes at my favorite spots, etc.

This time NYC is all about the baby as most things are these days. And that is a-okay with me!

(I should say that I managed to sneak in to a club the other night and see a fantastic guitarist Johnathan Kreisburg playing in a trio with bassist Matt Penman. There were twelve people in the club and they were all digging the music. Only in NYC.)

Here I am once again in NYC. We just rolled in about 30 min. ago. We are staying near the Village this time so the neighborhood is much cooler than what we are used to. The hotel is fine, and there was even a crib waiting in my room since mommy had called ahead and ordered one.

The rest of the run in Connecticut was nice. The Mohegan Sun is probably the nicest casino in the country and they treat the band really well there. The shows were well-attended too.

So I have the night off. I'm going to hang with some friends and ready the city for Milo's East Coast debut tomorrow.

We're sitting in the train station in Philly waiting to travel to New London, Connecticut. I know I've said it before but I love riding the train, I have some episodes of The Wire to watch (thanks Cousin Kathy). The rest of the gig in AC was cool but we are all glad to be leaving (even if I did clean up on the poker tables).

New Top Five up, go dig it.

I have been playing a whole lot of cards since we've been here in Atlantic City. A lot. A couple of nights ago I played a midnight tournament at the Taj and came in 5th place out of 115 players (got back to my room at 5 AM). I'm up in the regular game I've been playing here at our hotel too. Needless to say I'm up quite a bit. I can finally say I'm a decent poker player. Since this poker fad got so huge a few years ago I've heard a lot of guys tell me how good they are and even how they want to be a pro player. That's jive. Being a pro player would be so incredibly hard and anyone who tells you he's good is full of it. I mean, why would you want a stranger to know you are good? So they'll be intimidated and NOT want to play you? I just want to be a profitable player so I can play 'for free' which I'm on my way to doing.

Other than that AC is fine. The shows have been going well and the weather has been pretty good. Two more nights then we leave for Connecticut.

Five years ago on my birthday I was on the road with Mistah Tyrell in Atlantic City. I'd been telling everyone it was my 26th birthday but no one seemed to give a rat's ass. Then at the show that night Steve stopped, sang happy birthday, brought out a cake, and gave me a Peyton Manning jersey. It was really pretty nice. A security guard backstage asked me how old I was, when I told him "26" he said "you have your whole life in front of you." I was glad to hear this since I was at that moment officially in my late-twenties.

Five years later and here I am, it Atlantic City on the road with Mistah Tyrell. When I first realized this coincidence I had a fleeting thought of "wow, the same place five years later?" It briefly made me feel like I hadn't accomplished much since then. But of course that's not the case. But considering this and considering the fact that I'm officially in my early-thirties, indulge my aging ego and allow me to toot my own horn and list some accomplishments I'm most proud of since my last birthday in Atlantic City to help me put "31" in perspective:

-toured the country from Hawaii to New England and all points in between
-toured the entire world throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia
-was on my first major label record release
-bought a house
-added the adorable yet lazy Murphy Medeiros to the family
-made my first record and actually sold a few
-held successful Record Release shows in Indy and Hollywood for said record
-received an Alumni Award from my alma mater
-never screwed up bad enough for my wife to leave me
-and of course, my masterpiece, my magnum opus,Milo Walker

Okay so I've done quite a bit over the past few years. I should keep this in mind instead of bumming out from the ugly Atlantic City boardwalk and ocean and missing my boy so much.

So I think I'll go to the Taj tonight with some of the boys and watch the De La Hoya fight. $30 just to watch the fight but hey, it's my birthday.

I dig Boston. I remember back when I was at BSU and hadn't really been anywhere Jason would always talk about how great Boston was after visiting his cousins there. It is a great place. We're playing at this pretty renowned jazz club Regattabar in Harvard Square. Of all the places we've played in Boston this one is in the coolest location. Harvard Square is pretty cool, I've decided that if Milo isn't going to be an artist or athlete he can be an academic and go to Harvard. Shouldn't be that hard, HA! I'm also surprised by the number of transients around here. Granted there are homeless people everywhere but it's an odd juxtaposition to see them around Harvard.

I also got to have lunch with the esteemed Dr. Patrick Eaton yesterday. He performed minor surgery on a lady in the restaurant who somehow got a mussel shell lodged in her arm. Dr. Eaton removed it with a warm butter knife, a clam shucker, and a bottle of Balsamic Vinegar McGuyver-style. Nice job Doc!

Its been really beautiful here in Boston, I have to enjoy it while I can because the next stop is Atlantic City which I don't think has ever been referred to as 'beautiful'.

Today I leave for a 17-day trip to the east coast. Boston, Atlantic City, Connecticut, and NYC. Luckily the Milo World Tour continues at the end of the trip and the rest of the family is meeting me in New York. I'm looking forward to that, I think we'll have a lot of fun with Milo in the city.

(in this ongoing series our writer looks at different social quirks and practices that annoy the shit out of him)

(please note the use of the word 'topper' in this post does not imply any homo-erotic connotation, perv!)

Of all the different types of people you meet the Topper is without a doubt one of the worst. We all know people like this, we work with them, we went to school with them and somehow we've had conversations with them without slapping their face off. A Topper is one of those people who has to top whatever you say. You can't tell them what a bad day you're having without them immediately stopping you and telling you how worse their day has been. You can't tell them how good a concert you just saw is without them cutting off your story and telling you how great some concert they just saw is. It's epidemic.

"I love Pearl Jam's second record."
"Have you heard their third record? That's the one to get, the second one is good and all but the third one is so much better."

"My feet hurt today."
"I don't want to hear about your feet. My feet have been killing me forever."

"I've been really busy lately."
"Well there's no way you've been as busy as I have."

I fear we will never find a cure for the Topper. All we can do is avoid them at all costs or at the very least remind them that everyday conversation is not a competition. These people are just insecure and looking for someone to either tell them how cool they are or feel sorry for them. Don't indulge the Topper, it will only make things worse!

P.S.
I'd like to add that recent pop culture has birthed a new form of Topper I like to call 'The Office Topper'. These people can't let two words go by regarding the American version of The Office without telling you how infinitely superior the British version is. The Office Toppers are so pervasive these days that I've had to boycott the British Office. Never will I watch it! It could be Citizen Kane and I'd never know it because it's been ruined for me. If you encounter an Office Topper I suggest employing the following strategy:

"Did you see the Office last night? Steve Carell was so funny."
"But have you seen the British Office? The American one is good but the British one really is better."
"Oh yeah? Well have you seen the Ugandan Office? Man, the Uganda version is the best of all!"

New Top Five up. Go dig it.

I got to Vero Beach, FL last night for a gig with the bossman. We played a private tonight, a wedding for the American Ambassador to Tanzania's daughter. There were over 275,000 roses there. Needless to say it was a really nice wedding reception.

But private gigs are all the same, a drag. Back home tomorrow. I've spent way too much time in Florida this year.

Yesterday Carrie and I broke down and got a Costco card. Most folks in LA have one but I'm always leery of a place where you have to purchase a card just to browse around. But with all of the diapers and formula cans we're going to be buying it's a good idea.

How many people need crap this big? I was in need of hot sauce and all I found was packages of two quart-sized bottles taped together. What am I going to do with that? Sure it might look like a good idea, but when you consider how much money your losing through you mortgage using up storage space for Tobasco bottles that will last you seven years, it's really not a good purchase at all. You can't buy anything reasonably sized there. But I will say they have some good DVD prices and it seems like their meat department was pretty good.

From corporate monolith to small-time sellers, we left Costco and headed for the weekly Farmer's Market in Northridge. Carrie and I decided that we're going to buy all of our produce there this summer. They have great quality organic stuff (cheese too) not to mention food stands (shave ice!) and rides. Milo had a good time eating cotton candy and caramel apples.

Speaking of Milo, he's going to have surgery soon. Carrie and I have spent 40% of our lives over the past couple of months picking up his pacifier and putting it in his mouth only to watch him spit it out whereupon we retrieve the nummy and put it back in to his mouth only to watch him spit it out again whereupon we retrieve the nummy and put it back in to his mouth only to watch him spit it out again whereupon we retrieve the nummy ... you get the picture. To help with this desperate situation we've decided to have his pacifier surgically attached to his mouth. It will make eating and breathing a bit more complicated, but it sure will make life a little less redundant.

New Top Five up. Go dig it.

I've started a new blog: TOP FIVE.

" ... what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... books, records, films -- these things matter."
-Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

If you've never played Top Five before, it's a lot of fun. This week's topic: Gangster Movies. So hop on over and tell everyone your top five gangster flicks.

The little tour went well. The festival in Cleveland was a lot of fun and Botti's band really put on a great show. As far as gigs that touring jazz musicians have, festivals are my favorite. There are basically four types of gigs we do; theaters, clubs, festivals, and privates.

Theaters-Theaters are what we typically do with Tyrell these days. Theaters usually have a stage crew with a soundman and lighting guy. Theaters are nice because you typically only play one set and dinner is catered. But the crowds are older so sometimes the show doesn't have a lot of energy. Plus since they are usually one-night engagements doing a tour of theaters means a lot of traveling.

Clubs-Jazz clubs are fun because it's more of an intimate setting and there's usually a younger, hipper crowd ready to chat and have a drink with you after you play. The club usually serves food which is nice but it isn't always free. And you always do two sets at a club which can be exhausting. There's usually only one soundman and if he doesn't know what he's doing the sound can be a total drag. But playing at a club is usually a multi-night engagement so you're in one place for a while and have your daytimes off.

Festivals-My favorite. The sound and crew are usually tight because they are dealing with so many acts and there's a lot of hospitality for the artists. The best thing is hanging out with the other musicians who are there and seeing other shows for free.

Privates-The absolute worst. These can be anything form huge corporate parties to weddings to a rich lady's birthday party. You're usually treated like you're hired help (enter through the kitchen, dry sandwiches for dinner, wear a tux, etc.) and no one gives a crap about the music; the audience is more concerned with selling some real estate than checking out the tunes. But they usually pay the most so they are a necessary evil.

So we did a private in St Louis on Friday and a festival in Cleveland on Saturday. Now nobody will be confused when I refer to my gigs.

My blog about my life so I get the final word. My blog is no autonomy!

In the end my opinions about the libertarianism still hold true. Honestly when I first posted the last blog I was hoping to get into a discussion about ideologies; communism, capitalism, libertarianism, etc. But we immediately directly to gun control, not surprisingly. I think we all agree Casinos and drug bars next to schools are a bad idea but we certainly differ on gun control which does nothing to disprove my hypocrisy opinion.

As for the selfish nature of libertarianism and gun control specifically I'm going to end with this: If I loved guns as much as I loved comic books then I'd be one serious gun collector. So let's imagine that Lyman collects guns, if I were on my way to the gun shop two weeks ago and a genie popped out of my Happy Meal and told me "Lyman, if you take a psych evaluation, wait another month, change your intended purchase from an uzi to a rifle and registered all of those handguns you have there is a 20% chance that a terrible tragedy on the campus of Virginia Tech and the death of 33 innocent people will be avoided."

I'd do it and I'd do it without thinking twice about it. I know if maniacs want guns they are going to get their paws on them, I know crime can't be completely avoided. But even if there is a small chance that some of the thousands of people killed every year by guns could be saved it would be worth a little inconvenience for me.

Some think their personal right to bear arms is more important than that. It may sound harsh but that's how I see it.

Feel free to comment if you like but I might not answer. I'm on the road again away from my family and missing my boy's cute little double-chin immensely so I might not be in the mood to debate this further. Besides, we probably scared my poor mother away from the blog, I think this is the first time she's failed to comment on one of my posts. We're in St. Louis playing a private party tonight then heading to Cleveland to open for pretty-boy jazz trumpeter Chris Botti at a jazz festival. This should be great because while I don't particularly dig his playing his band is phenomenal. I'll be back in LA on Sunday so at least I'm not away from home for too long.

Like most of you the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech really has me thinking lately. I post quite a bit on a comic book message board and there's a poster there who has used the tragedy as an opportunity to spout off on how gun control isn't the answer, more people need to be armed, etc. He tells me all about his libertarian ideals and how he should have the right to own whatever weapon he want to. I've come to a conclusion over the past week or so: libertarianism sucks.

I know people who own guns, I have friends who own guns. The problem is that most folks in this world aren't as good or responsible as my friends are. This killer in Virginia had obvious mental problems yet was allowed to purchase an instrument of death without any regards to his mental state. Would it really be that much of a hassle for first-time gun owners to see a mental health professional before buying a weapon? I'm in favor of gun control, I could go on and on about it. (And if you really want to hear an ear-full just ask Carrie about gun ownership). But that's not really the point I'm trying to make.

My recent conclusions about libertarianism began to take shape over the weekend during our trip to Vegas. I love Las Vegas, I really do. I'm always down for a party and the party in Vegas never stops. The laws there are obviously quite easy on gambling and drinking and since I can do both responsibly I think Vegas is a great place. But it got me thinking, what if every state had the lax laws that Nevada does? Well, every city would be like Vegas. Think about it, Nevada allows all types of gambling and prostitution and as a result that's what the state is known for. The thing is, I don't want to live in Vegas or a city like Vegas. It's fun to visit a casino but I don't want one next to my son's elementary school. I think it's fine that there is safe prostitution there but I don't want my boy to see flyers for different hookers or strip clubs on his way to school (and you see many, many such flyers in Vegas).

So here's my first problem with libertarianism; there is an obvious disregard for the good of the overall community. A libertarian would say you have a right to own whatever weapon you like and run your business wherever you like, but is that really what is best for the people around you? The first thing I hear out of a libertarian's mouth is "I have the right to ..." and their argument usually starts and ends there. Well, how about thinking about those you interact with directly and indirectly on a daily basis? Is what's good for your pocketbook or your peace of mind really good for your neighbor's elderly parents or your child's classmates?

This leads to my second problem; the inherent hypocrisy of libertarianism. If you have libertarian ideals and are reading this saying "Lyman, that is crazy. Nobody wants a casino next to a schoolhouse" then I'm talking to you. Here are the questions I pose:

1. Should citizens have the right to own nuclear warheads?
2. Should citizens have the right to run cocaine/heroin bars within two blocks of a public school?

Those questions seem crazy, for sure. But if you say 'no' to them then you are saying that the government should limit a citizen's right to bear arms and right to run a business. And it's there that the whole thing breaks down. If the government can limit what kind of weapons that the people carry, what type of weapons should be limited? Who is going to make that decision? You?

Our rights are not absolute. They need to be scrutinized and voted on and re-examined by elected officials. Who knows how many more would've died in Virginia if the killer had easy access to fully automatic weapons?

If there is a silver lining to the tragedy it's that we will undoubtedly be debating and finding new ways to allow the right to bear arms.

We're back from our Vegas adventure. Things went well for the most part and we got a taste of what traveling with Milo really is like.

I played with Tyrell at the Golden Nugget over the weekend. Considering the relatively short drive and free hotel Carrie and I figured it would be a good trip for her and Milo to come on before she starts flying with him all over the country. The trip out on Wednesday went pretty smoothly; the trip usually takes 4.5 hrs. but it took up more than 6 since we had to stop and feed the little guy a couple of times.

The Golden Nugget is downtown in old Vegas. I really like it down there. If you stay on the Vegas Strip it's really hard to get around. Every sidewalk runs up to each casino and sometimes it's really confusing to find your way to the street (they don't want you to leave). Downtown is a little more chilled out and the casinos are closer together. If you recall the dialouge from Swingers about casinos on the strip then you feel me.

As you can imagine Milo didn't really take advantage of everything Vegas had to offer. He spent most of his time doing what he always does; eating, sleeping, pooping, crying. He did meet some new people who of course gushed over how adorable he is and he accompanied mommy and daddy to dinner a few times. Here's a pic of Milo enjoying the video/light show at the Fremont Street Experience:



I got to catch up with some old friends of mine who I hadn't seen in nearly a decade since my Ball State days. Friday night I went to see my old bass studio-mate Doug play with his blues band at a neighborhood bar. I took Blue Lou from Tyrell's band and everyone went nuts when he picked up his horn and sat in. The band was great and it was a really fun night. Saturday Doug and I had lunch and caught up with each other. That night I went to see another old BSU friend play saxophone at a burlesque show at the Forty Deuce at Mandalay Bay. While the actual burlesque show was too short for me (yowza!) it was great to see my buddy playing alongside of the dancers, he really sounded great.

I even got three poker sessions in and left up about $140. Not too shabby!

Carrie unfortunately had her second bout with mastitis over the weekend so Milo got his first bottle of formula on Saturday. Now, I'd heard the stories about how much worse formula poo smells than breast milk poo but I really wasn't prepared for exactly how bad it would be. Do you remember that scene in Shawshank Redemption when Andy is crawling through the tiny pipe flowing with raw sewage and the smell is so foul he has to stop and vomit every few feet?

I think I would've preferred crawling through the Shawshank sewage line for a couple of miles than smelling that first diaper full of formula poo. Damn that was rank!

The drive home was the roughest part of the trip. Sunday started out well as we had lunch with another old friend of mine Eliot who used to play piano in Tyrell's band. The food was fantastic and it was really great seeing Eliot again. Then as we hit the road I noticed something wrong with how the car felt as I was driving it. As soon as I started to think it might be something with the steering the tire blew out. I pulled over to the side of the road and jacked up the car and began to change the tire but things looked worse to me. I got the tire off and it seemed like the shock had fallen down too far in to the wheel well and looked bent. I thought we might be stranded in Vegas. We called a tow truck and we called Eliot to come get Carrie and Milo. While we were waiting someone from the Freeway Service Patrol stopped and checked the car out. He looked at the shocks and the struts and thought everything looked fine. I put the spare on and drove the car a short way and soon realized that I was being overly cautious, the shocks were fine and I could drive home with the spare.

But that was only the beginning of the trip. Traffic was bad, Milo was fussy, rain was coming down, the bathroom breaks/feeding breaks/food breaks/bathroom breaks didn't match up ... we first left Vegas at 3 and we didn't get home until 11:30.

But we're home now and looking forward to the next leg of the tour.

For Immediate Release

Dates have been announced for Milo Medeiros' first official tour. Dates are as follows: April 11-15 Las Vegas, Nevada; May 14-21 New York, New York; June 4-15 Indianapolis, Indiana/Chicago, Illinois; late summer Kona, Hawaii (dates TBA).

Make plans now to catch the hottest act to come out of the West Coast in years!

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Ours was nice. As you probably know I really like to cook and am always trying new dishes. Yesterday I bought an 8 lb. Pork Butt (butt being the shoulder actually, not the swine's posterior) and roasted overnight for about 8 hours. We went to church (Milo was adorable, pics coming soon on the baby blog) and afterwards I made some baked macaroni and cheese with panko bread crumb toping to go along with the roast. I'd say the meal was quite successful (although I'm usually pretty critical of my cooking and looking for ways to make it better next time; the macaroni and cheese needed more seasoning and I started cutting the pork from the wrong side) although it was a lot of food for the two of us. We're going to be having pulled pork sandwiches for a couple of weeks (with bbq sauce and cole slaw ... ohhh yeah). We waited too long inviting friends over and everyone already had plans.

Church was fun. We went to this Methodist place in Sherman Oaks we had been to years ago. We actually found the place a bit boring and stuffy when we first went there but the church we like is so huge they have to hold their Easter services at the Hollywood Bowl and we didn't feel like messing with traffic so we went back to the church in Sherman Oaks. Last time we were there the pastor was an older white gentleman, well in attempt to liven up the place (I'm guessing here) the United Methodist Church had replaced him with a young black pastor. The congregation had a lot more color and the service was fun and lively. Quite a change from last time.

Here's a pic of dinner, if anyone wants a pork sandwich feel free to stop by:

(in this ongoing series our writer looks at different social quirks and practices that annoy the shit out of him)

Has anyone else noticed the phrase "It is what it is" creeping into the social lexicon? I've been hearing it from friends and peers for a little while now but lately I've heard it on TV and talk radio.

What does "It is what it is" mean? At first you think it's some zen-like revelation that all things are simply how they are and we are supposed to find peace with whatever it is we are being told. But that's not what it means. You know what it means?

Absolutely nothing.

"It it what it is" is probably the most verbose way of making no point whatsoever. It is total bullshit. Take notice next time you hear it; it usually always follows a question of which the person has a) no clue how to answer or b) wants to absolve himself of any culpability regarding said inquiry.

"Why aren't we getting fed on this gig?"
"It is what it is."

"What do you mean I'm not getting paid as much as you originally said?"
"It is what it is."

"How the hell can you say Bush didn't purposefully mislead the American public about Iraq?"
"It is what it is."

Please folks, I implore you, if you're guilty of using "It is what it is" stop right now! Resist next time the "It is what it is" urge strikes you. Take time, actually form a thought instead of saying it. The world will be a better place for it.

Since my return home I've spent quite a bit of time on my couch. As you all know leaving the house ain't so easy when you have a newborn (and from what I hear Milo is technically a newborn until 8 weeks) so I've been able to dive in to the DVDs that Kathy sent me, namely the first two seasons of 'Homicide: Life on the Streets'.

Now, growing up I was never a crime drama fan. As a matter of fact I rarely ever watch hour-long dramas period. Over the past few years I've developed quite an appreciation for 'Law and Order' because a) You don't have to watch every one of them to know what the hell is going on and b) The writing is typically terse and action-driven. These things and the fact that it has been on longer than any other crime drama lead me to believe that perhaps 'Law and Order' is the best crime drama ever.

That's until I watched 'Homicide'. Wowzers, what a show. Some of the best writing and acting I've ever seen. I was tearing through the first few DVDs of the series during late-night feedings and nap times until I realized that I was quickly going to reach the end of it. I savored the last few episodes and finished them up tonight. I could wax poetic on why it is good for paragraph upon paragraph but who would really want to read that? You just have to trust me, it's awesome.

Things are going well with Milo. The weather in LA has been beautiful, we went out to eat at a nice place where we knew we could eat outside (Chaioti's for those of you who read SunBaby). The food was great but it took a really long time to get a table outside. Then we tried to go to the park and couldn't get in. Yes they had closed the entrance to the park because there were so many people there. But it was a nice day regardless.

Except for one thing. In the morning while I was getting dressed I heard a huge THUD in our closet and looked up to see that our entire shelf and hanger-rod had fallen along with every stitch of clothing we had hanging or sitting on it. For those of you who haven't visited we have a really long closet that we share, it's about 14 ft. or so. The shelf and rod ran the length of the entire closet. So that's a big headache that could've waited for a better time ... if I had any confidence in my home-making skills I'd just buy a new storage system and install it myself. But I'm the least handy homeowner you know so I'll probably end up paying someone too much money to install it for me. But what the hell? I have diapers to change, let someone else handle the drilling.

Ever since I got back from the East Coast I've been adjusted to Milo time. Like most babies he was great when he got back from the airport but now is sleeping a little less at night and is much more fussy (funny, I've never really used the word 'fussy' before having a baby). I'll do a night time feeding for Carrie and wake up at the butt crack of dawn when they do.

I went to Seattle yesterday for a one-off gig with Mr. Tyrell. I was wrecked during the day and napped every chance I got. By the time the show was over I was feeling pretty good and briefly considered having a drink with the fellahs. But we were staying at very nice Fairmont Hotel and the notion of a nice, long night of uninterrupted sleep was way too enticing.

So what happens? I can't go to sleep until 1 AM and am fully awake at 7 AM. I blame my recent coffee intake which has increased about 250% since Milo was born.

I'm home now and am not leaving for a few weeks. The next gig is in Las Vegas and will be the first stop of the Milo World Tour ... details and press conference coming soon.

But not time to rest! Taxes are due soon and that is always an ENORMOUS headache for me. And I can't even write off lil' Porkchop yet.

The weather in Jersey last week was awful. I hadn't felt sleet coming down like that in a long, long time. This is why I like LA, the weather never hurts.

After that gig we took a train to DC on Sunday. I love traveling by train, I'd rather take a six hour train ride than a three hour plane trip any day of the week. After the gig we had a day off and I got to visit Cousin Kathy and her gorgeous little girls. Yesterday we took a train to Philly where we'll be for a couple more days.

I saw 300 yesterday, fantastic film. I've been excited about it for a long time and it delivered.

I'm missing my boy fo' sho', can't wait to get home.

Funny, funny stuff.

And for all of you March Madness fans and bracketologists let me boast for a second. In my online Tournament Pick 'Em League on Yahoo I'm in the 99th percentile of all entires, have 13 of the sweet sixteen right, and have 40 correct picks out of 48 games so far. Pretty incredible. I mention this now because it's all about to change soon as I had Wisconsin in the championship game.

The first stop on tour was Vail. I've never really spent any time in Denver before, let alone Vail. This is what I have to say about it; very beautiful, gorgeous mountains everywhere, I don't care if I ever go back. Don't get me wrong, the place was nice enough but the altitude really got to me. The whole time I had this really dull headache and the air was so dry I felt nasty. And I could live my whole life and never put on a pair of skis and that would be fine with me. So Vail really isn't the place for Lyman.

Today brought some typical travel hell. Plane delayed 2 hrs, sit on the runway for 45 min, put in a holding pattern for a half hour after arriving, etc. But now that I'm back in a normal altitude and breathing easily I'm much happier. Plus Carrie, Milo and I just got done Skyping, thank goodness for technology. It was good seeing my boy again.

In an hour or so I leave for tour. It will be the first of many sad goodbyes between me and Milo. Wish us luck!

Grandma Donna leaves tomorrow. We've had a pretty fun week. While most of it was simply holding and playing with Milo we have managed to run a bunch of errands, see some friends, and eat at some pretty nice places.

Milo's going to miss Grandma, she can calm him rather quickly with the butt-pat/rest-on-her-belly combo.

Then, sadly, I'm leaving Tuesday for my first tour in a month or so. I'll be out until the 24th. Carrie's good friend Kathy will be coming to L.A. on Wednesday so luckily she'll have some help with the baby for part of it.

There's a big mess of new pictures on the baby blog so check it out if you haven't yet.

I was watching the Today Show this morning. The first thing I saw was a news report of a graphic rape and murder of a little girl. She'd been killed, chopped up, and put in to trash bags, Anne Curry described every detail.

Soon after there was a segment on training dogs. In one seen a boy dog rolled over on his back as dogs often do. While on his back the Today show decided to block out his penis.

I'm going to say that again, in case you missed it.

THEY BLOCKED OUT HIS LITTLE DOGGY PENIS LIKE IT WAS A NAKED HOT TUB SCENE FROM THE FRIGGIN' REAL WORLD!!!

So breathe easy America, when watching the Today show you can hear a detailed report about the grizzly rape and murder of a little girl without worrying about seeing Benji's wee-wee.

Everyone affiliated with this show has completely lost their minds. Conservatism in this country is out of control.

Milo's first week of life has been pretty great; it's also been relatively easy thanks to help from Kelly (who was amazing during the delivery), Carrie's parents, and of course my mom.

Grandma Medeiros got here on Saturday and it's been pretty hard to get Milo out of her hands ever since.

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