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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

... waitaminute ...

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

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

Good luck Jason! We're all behind you!

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

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

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

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

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

The cost of such a place? $2.5 million!

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

Would you like to live in a mall?

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

From the NY Post

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

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

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


America, our days as top-dog are numbered.


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Right on.

5.4? Puh-leez ...

Wake me up when a real earthquake hits.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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