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.