Rick Cutler: Journal

Transmitting From NYC...
Happy belated New Year! It's been awhile.
I just finished a 3-week run of an Off-Off Broadway show called, "If This Ain't It." Although the reviews were less than stellar, it was a lot of fun. Very home brewed in its approach & production. It also allowed me to spend more time walking around the East Village than I had in years. As a result I wound up with a few new Miles Davis bootleg CDs which always makes my day. Hard to believe that there are no more huge warehouse-like record stores in NYC. Still, there are a bunch of small shops here & there that sometimes still get some new, previously unseen bootleg stuff. It still gives me a thrill when I happen upon some new Miles, although with the advent of the net & file sharing, it's hard to accurately keep track of what's new & what isn't. In days gone by, the centerpieces of my travels would always be a visit to the local Tower Records. The only thing that approximates that these days are the Amoeba Records stores in California. How about opening one here!
Coming up next is an interesting writing project. I'll be doing the music for a video that'll be used to promote a forthcoming novel. Kinda like a music video for a book. I've never done anything exactly like this before although I've written much music for TV & radio. It'll be nice to get back into that zone. Included in this will be a much-needed update to my brain in the music software department.
On Feb. 19 I'll be back at the Port 41 bar with guitarist Paul Metzke's trio. There are a bunch of YouTube clips of that band for you to check out. More info is on the calendar page.
Finally, Feb. marks the release of the Liza's At The Palace DVD. Even though it was aired a bunch of times on some PBS stations, I still haven't seen it so I'm looking forward to getting a copy. By the way, the CD of the show is up for a Grammy. A nice feather in our caps in addition to the Tony award.
And there you have it. Wishing you all a great New Year, even in my belated state.

Transmitting From NYC...
As I mentioned in my last entry, I'll be doing an Off Broadway (or Off-Off Broadway, not sure which) show in January at the Theatre For The New City in the East Village for 3 weeks.
It's called If This Ain't It & it's written by my old friend Don Arrington who I've worked with a few times over the years on various projects. Don is a beautiful guy with a lot of talent & a lot of heart. We 1st worked together on a show of his called On The Block around 10 years ago where I had an absolute blast! I haven't heard or seen anything from the new show yet but, if my past experience with Don is any indication, it promises to be a very unique & fun evening so I have no reservations in recommending it to any & all.
Here's a link to the press release for more info:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/IF_THIS_AINT_IT_Set_for_172010_At_Theater_for_the_New_City_20091204 Hope to see you there!

Transmitting From Buffalo, NY...
Just finished what appears to be the last Liza show of the year here. Once again I was filling in on the drummer/conductor chair which always makes it especially fun. It's been a nice road year with trips to South America, Europe & Australia as the highlights. Portions of the DVD we made of last year's Broadway run will be airing on PBS throughout the holiday season so keep an eye out for it. Haven't seen it yet but I hear it looks & sounds great. I believe the DVD itself will be on sale in early 2010.
A couple of cool things coming up in NYC for me are another gig with guitarist Paul Metzke's Trio at the Port 41 bar in early Dec. as well as an Off-Off B'way show in Jan. I'll write more about the show as the dates draw nearer. There are a bunch of YouTube clips up now with the Metzke Trio from our last gig so, please, give a listen. There's some good music there. Paul can really play.
Wishing you all a great Thanksgiving & keep watching this space for more news next month. Till then...

Transmitting From NYC...
Less than 24 hours after returning from Australia, my son Sean & I were sitting in Yankee Stadium watching the Yankees on their way to winning their 27th World Championship. It was a once in a lifetime experience! There's a great shot on the photo page capturing the sweetness of victory!

Transmitting From Sydney, Australia...
Well, we're back to where we started almost 3 weeks ago for our last show tomorrow night.
I'm just back from a long walk through a few different parts of the city (must've walked around 3-4 miles at least). Found a great record store where I was able to snag a couple of concert DVDs that I'd never seen before by 2 of my favorites (Miles Davis & Joe Zawinul). Then went on a long trek to an area called Surrey Hills that I was told had a similar hippie/bohemain vibe to Brunswick St. in Melbourne. Sadly, it didn't quite live up to the hype but was a pleasant walk & good excercise as well. I just arrived back in the room to give my legs a bit of a rest. Last night I ate at the excellent Indian restaurant I found the 1st time around called Karma. I had 2 dinners there last time & may repeat that feat this time around.
As we wind down out here, I must give serious props to our tour managers who've made everything about this trip smooth, pleasant & completely painless. From airport check-ins to hotel check-ins to soundcheck dinners to hotel pick-ups...every element was without the slightest hint of a problem &, if there was one, we never heard about it. So, thank you Alia & Stephen!
Unless anything unusual happens this will probably be my last entry for the tour. Greatly looking forward to being back home in the USA &, especially, in NYC. Till next time...

Transmitting From Brisbane, Australia...
We just arrived today on the next to last stop on the tour. Haven't really had time to explore yet but I will mention a couple of the highlights from Melbourne.
On one of our off days we rented a car & took a drive of around 90 minutes to a place called Phillip Island. We were able to go to a 60-acre wildlife preserve that features animals indigenous to Australia. The main attraction was being able to go out & walk among the animals & feed some of them. It's quite an experience to be standing among 20 or 30 kangaroos & suddenly have one hop up to you waiting to be fed. They were all very peaceful & friendly as well as curious & hungry! For the entire time you're there, you're out there with the animals, pretty amazing. Then we watched something called the Penguin Parade which happens at sunset on the beach. Seems as though, every evening at sunset, hundreds of penguins return from a day's fishing at sea & make a determined march up a pathway back to their burrows. It's quite something to witness.
On another day I stayed in town & went to an area called Fitzroy. It's very much like Williamsburgh, Soho & the Village in NYC. Tons of hip clothing shops, little cafes, tattoo parlors, some bookshops & CD stores, etc. on both sides of the street that seems to go on for a couple of miles. I loved walking through all of it & soaking in the bohemian/hippie vibe. Being an old hippie myself, I felt right at home!
Soon, I'll venture out & see what Brisbane has to offer. Not much time here, though. Show tomorrow & then back to Sydney for the last show on Monday. I'll keep you posted.

Transmitting From Melbourne, Australia...
We arrived here this afternoon. Our show is tomorrow & then we're off for 3 days, all of which will be spent here.
I had an especially nice plane trip as I got into a conversation with a guy in my row who just happened to be into really good music. He'd mentioned that he saw Liza on the flight which prompted me to say that I was a musician & was here working with her. From there we started exchanging musical viewpoints & he offered that he was very excited about Wayne Shorter (one of my all time favorites) coming to Australia in March. To have a stranger (& non-musician at that) bring up Wayne's name in casual conversation happens pretty much never so it was quite refreshing. Jazz is my 1st love & I've been into it pretty much since I was a kid. He came to it a little more recently but is a fan of pretty much all of the greats of jazz history. He knew the real deal which impressed me. He turned me on to some African jazz-based instrumental music, 1 piece that I'd actually heard. I told him that I recognized it from a film & he said, "Oh yeah, Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch." Jarmusch is one of my favorite directors. Bottom line, he seemed to be one of "my people" as I call them & we planned to try & stay in touch.
My hotel room is the nicest so far. Beautiful wood everywhere. Lucky in that I'll be here for 5 days.
Shortly after arriving, I took a fairly long walk around town just to try to get a vibe for the city. So far it reminds me a bit of San Francisco. I found a fairly inexpensive Chinese restaurant that was quite good. I was the only non-Asian eating there so I thought that was a good sign.
Now I'm back in the room & starting to wind down. We'll see what the days off bring & I'll let you know of anything noteworthy.

Transmitting From Adelaide, Australia...
We just arrived here from Perth & the time zone changes are starting to add up to complete confusion for my body clock.
Sydney, our 1st stop, is 15 hrs. ahead of NYC. Perth, where we just were, is 12 hours ahead. Now, in Adelaide, 14.5 hours ahead. That's right, there's a 30 minute time zone difference between Sydney & Adelaide. Why the 30 minutes? Who knows? I'm wondering if things continue to change as you get closer to Sydney. 20 minute difference, 15, 10, 5?? Bottom line is, I don't have a clue as to whether I'll be getting anything resembling a normal night's sleep tonight. We'll see...
Things are expensive here. I was fooled into thinking that, because the Australian & U.S. dollar match up almost evenly, that prices would follow suit. Wrong! I was lucky to find a little breakfast place in Perth (called, wouldn't you know, the NY Cafe) that served something resembling a normal breaksfast for about $13. That's cheap here.
So we move onward approaching the half-way point of the tour. Show tomorrow & then on to Melbourne Saturday. More soon...

Transmitting From Perth, Australia...
We just arrived here this afternoon travelling across the continent to the west coast, akin to a flight from NY to LA.
Our shows in Sydney went well & it was a blast having the chance to play some drums. I'll be back at my usual keyboard chair for the remainder of the tour. One of the perks of the drummer/conductor role is getting your own dressing room, a snapshot of which now resides on the photo page (as well as one from the stage). Still, I spent most of the time with my buddies in the band room where the chances of laughs, witty retorts & interesting conversation are much higher.
Last night we also did a short (1 song) live TV performance on the Australian version of American Idol which, lo & behold, is called Australian Idol. From what I could tell, it seemed to be almost an exact duplicate of the U.S. show, even down to having one of the judges being a bit of a curmudgeon.
At this point, with the 15 hr. time difference in Sydney, now down to a 12 hr. difference for the next 3 days, I'd give my kingdom for a normal night's sleep! My body clock is completely out of whack. I'll probably get settled into these time zones just in time to go back to NYC & start it all over again in reverse! Oh well, I can look forward to some long stretches of normalcy sometime in November.
And there you have it. There's a day off tomorrow followed by a show here on Wednesday. More from our next stop later in the week...

Transmitting From Sydney, Australia...
Greetings from down under! From my calculations, door-to-door was 27 hrs. The longest single trip I've ever taken. A 15-hour time difference from NYC. It's been awhile since I was this far away from home. Last time was in Japan in the mid '90s but this is further. In fact, this might be just about the furthest one can get from home (if your home is NYC). Anyway, you get the idea.
The flights were fine. The best feature being the seats' ability to recline to almost a completely horizontal position. (Business class....yay!!) As a result, I was actually able to sleep for quite a few hours. Upon arrival, I was really not all that jet lagged. I've been able to stay up without a problem so far. Hopefully I can get through the rest of the day & get to sleep at a relatively normal hour. Still, you never know what suprises the old body clock might have in store. Wish me luck.
Tomorrow is another day off & then the 1st show on Fri. at the Sydney Opera House. I'll be filling in on the drummer/conductor chair for the first 2 shows which should be fun.
Just came back from a long walk around our part of Sydney which was quite nice. Thus far, it seems to fall into the "smaller, cleaner version of NYC" category. Tomorrow more walking. I'll surely report anything of interest.
On an unrelated note, a HUGE coffee-table sized photography book on drummers is being released this week entitled, Sticks 'n' Skins. I'm proud to say that I'm included amongst the 300 or so drummers featured. It's really beautifully done & worth checking out. It's a bit pricey but, at the very least, if your partial towards drums & drummers & happen upon it in a bookstore, take a look. You can find out more at the website created to promote it, www.sticksnskins.com.
That's about it for now. More to come soon...

Transmitting from Las Vegas, NV...
Here are some recent ramblings from the past week which I wrote a few days ago:
A creature of habit...that's what I've become to a degree out here. Been getting to sleep around 1-2AM, getting up around 9-10AM, meditate, go down to the cafe for my "salmon bagel sandwhich" as they call it here (basically lox, cream cheese, cucumbers & onions....hold the tomato, please) & large coffee. I bring a book to read while I'm waiting for my food. (I tried the employee cafeteria for breakfast, which is free for us, & cancelled on it. To walk 30 minutes round-trip from my room for lukewarm eggs isn't worth it). Cost for the salmon bagel sandwhich & coffee, by the way, is $14.05. I usually have the amount out & ready to hand over before the cashier finishes ringing it up. Then, it's usually back to the room to check email. It's kind of uncanny because, sometimes, even though I'm gone for less than an hour, the room will be made up by the time I return. The "Do Not Disturb" sign is a little red light as opposed to a sign so I'm thinking that maybe when I turn it off, it shows up in Housekeeping Central Command & they run up to clean.
The afternoons usually consist of reading, web surfing & maybe a nap. I've been deliquent as far as hitting the gym but will get back in there when I get home. We've also been having extra soundchecks & rehearsals. Out of the 7 shows we're doing here, there'll be soundchecks or camera blocking stuff for 5 of the days so our afternoons are not entirely our own. The evenings, of course, are the shows themselves.
I spend about 30 minutes a day or less outdoors as you can walk from our hotel to the showroom through indoor walkways. The only extended time I've been outside has been during breakfast. The cafe has an outdoor area that's pleasant. Mostly though, I really don't like Las Vegas so the less time I can spend among the throngs who actually chose to come here for vacation the better. I can't imagine spending any time here for any reason other than work. There's just nowhere to walk that's anything other than gross & gaudy as far as I'm concerned. The only diversion that I remotely considered was trying to catch Penn & Teller's show, mostly so I could try & corner one of them & ask their opinion about a psychic we recently saw. They swear that there's no such thing as paranormal abilities & claim that everything done in that zone is a trick of some kind. As the show we witnessed was pretty impressive, I'd love to ask them about it, especially because they usually have no problem debunking these things and revealing the secrets. Doesn't look like it'll happen, though, becuase we have no nights off.
Now, back to the present tense:
Tonight is our last show before heading home tomorrow. As it's a show specifically for the casts & crews of other shows (called a "Gypsy Show") it begins at midnight. My working hours today will be from 7:30PM until around 2:30AM. Last night was filmed as tonight will be as well. An interesting little event during last night's taping was during a song where I have a fair amount of solo lines to play using an accordian sound. Usually I have 2 very bright lights attached to 2 music stands for reading the music but, becuase of the mood required for this piece, my lights are turned off & my stands are lit from way above using soft blue stage lighting. As we were performing, one of the huge cameras on a boom stand hovered over me creating a complete shadow over the music so that I couldn't see a thing! Luckily, having played the piece quite a bit & because of the brevity of the incident, there was no problem. Still, for that one moment when I saw complete darkness descend over my music like a solar eclipse, I thought to myself, "WTF!!!" Any little distraction that diverts your attention can be a huge problem, especially when you have to play some solos! Luckily, all was fine. I mentioned this to our stage manager &, hopefully, tonight my blue lights will shine free & clear.
And there you have it! More coming in a couple of weeks from down under.

Transmitting From Las Vegas, NV...
We arrived here on Thursday for a week's worth of shows that'll be reviving the Broadway run we did last year. The final 2 performances will be filmed for a future TV broadcast & DVD release.
I may have mentioned this before but Vegas is not one of my favorite places. I'm not a casino/gambling/gaudy kind of guy &, needless to say, this is the mecca for all of that. One good thing, though, is that our hotel is situated apart from the main hotel where we're working (the MGM Grand) but is connected through a series of walkways. There are no gaming machines or tables of any kind where we are so it's much quieter which is quite nice. The cost for this additional peace is a 13 minute walk from my room to the stage door (I timed it last night). I'll take it!
I did another gig a couple of weeks ago with guitarist Paul Metzke's trio in NYC that was a lot of fun. There are now some clips from that night up on YouTube if you care to check it out. Check out the tune, "Blue Lake", if you have to choose one to watch. I'm sure there'll be more coming up with Paul in Nov. or Dec. He's quite a player.
Next for us in Liza-land is a tour of Australia that I'm looking forward to as I've never been there. I'm also going to be filling in on drums for 2 of those shows which is always fun. Stay tuned for stories from the land of Oz next month. Till then...

Transmitting From Los Angeles, CA...
We just finished doing 2 shows at the Hollywood Bowl, a venue I'd heard much about but never worked until now. It carries much history including shows by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix &, I believe, the last show of Miles Davis, among thousands of others. It's quite beautiful as it's nestled in a wooded area although, holding upwards of 19,000 seats, I wouldn't call it intimate. Still, it's quite a cool view from the stage.
We're staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel which, I've been told, includes a haunted room where the spirit of Montgomery Clift still pays visits from time-to-time.
Another 1st for me was renting a hybrid car that took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to start. The key mechanism doesn't look like a normal one & is just a small oval shaped piece of metal that only has to be in the vicinity of the engine to activate it. To start the car, you simply push a button. For any future 1st time hybrid users, heed my advice when trying to get the car in drive, keep your foot on the brake!
My family is here with me which makes it an especially fun trip. We'll be heading down to San Diego today for a kind of mini-vacation before heading home on Wednesday.
On Sept. 18, I'll be reconvening on drums with guitarist Paul Metzke's trio at the Port 41 bar in NYC. It's a fun gig & an interesting place. Kind of sleazy but cool. Please come down if you're so inclined.
Next road-wise is a week in Las Vegas at the end of Sept. More from there if not sooner...

Transmitting From NYC...
Just wanted to say thanks to all who came out to my gig last night with guitarist Paul Metzke's Trio. It had been awhile since I'd been able to rock out playing drums so it was a lot of fun. The club seemed to really dig us so there'll surely be some more dates there (& maybe some other venues) soon. I'll post them here as soon as I have them.

Transmitting From Cabazon, CA....
Don't worry, I've never heard of Cabazon, CA either. It's close to Palm Springs, surrounded by desert &, after a 7+ hour bus ride, I'm very happy to finally be here!
A couple of little mini-stories from the last day or so:
-One of our guys won $700 at the slots!
-Another one overheard some people talking before the show last night saying (regarding Liza):
"I hope she sings Over The Rainbow"
"Oh, me too! What show was that from again?"
"Annie!!"
Obviously some particularly avid fans.
Not sure if there'll be much more to report on this trip. You never know, though. If not, I would like to bring your attention to a little gig I'll be doing next Fri. July 24 in NYC with guitarist Paul Metzke. I'll be playing drums & it should be fun. Jazz, rock, blues & r&b leaning towards the loud side. All the info is on the calendar page. Come on down if you're so inclined.
After tomorrow's show we have a bit of a break so, if there's no hot breaking news, I should return with more updates sometime in late August. Till then, enjoy your summer!

Transmitting from Santa Ynez, CA...
We arrived yesterday for the resumption of the mini-casino tour. This is #2 out of 3.
We're pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rolling hills & desert-like terrain. What's noteworthy are the stretches of land that are completely burnt-out & scarred from the recent fires here. On the way to the hotel, I saw a sign planted in the ground that said, "Firemen, you rock, thank you!!"
There's a couple of small towns nearby, one where we had a decent dinner of mexican food last night. The hall where we're playing looks more like a hotel ballroom than a concert hall or showroom. Just a big empty space with a stage that can be configured in a variety of ways. Last night it was a bingo hall where a thousand people or so were partaking.
Not much more to report. Tomorrow we move south to our final stop & temperatures in the low 100s! More soon...

Transmitting From Rama, Ontario, Canada...
It's been a long day & it's not over yet. Woke up at 5AM at home to get a flight to Toronto where we drove about 2 hrs. to the casino where we're playing here tonight. It's a week of casinos for us...not my favorite places to play. Mid-week we head out to California to do 2 more casino shows before heading home & a little break in the schedule. I'm a little fried from the day's travelling. We landed in Toronto in the middle of a lightning storm where the airport was on "red alert", meaning that none of the ground crew was permitted to guide us in to our gate so we wound up sitting on the runway for a bit. Something about that just doesn't make sense to me. We were FLYING through the storm without much problem but the ground personnel couldn't WALK out onto the runway for a few minutes! Oh well...
Looking forward to a decent night's sleep. More news from the west coast next week.

Transmitting From Paris, France...
We arrived here yesterday after a 7 1/2 hr. bus ride. Our hotel is right above the hall we're playing (Le Palais de Congres).
My room, functional more than fancy, has a beautiful view of the city as well as the Eiffel Tower & the Arc de Triomphe. Not a bad way to end the trip.
Yesterday I had 3 meals in 3 different countries. Breakfast in Amsterdam, Lunch in Belgium (at a highway rest area) & dinner in Paris. Kinda cool.
The only other thing worthy of note thus far is that, at the rest area, walking all over the place outdoors, were a group of chickens & hens! We were eating outside & one of the guys had some chicken for lunch. At one point someone said, "I wonder if chickens would eat chicken." Well, after throwing them a bunch of scraps, we found out that they do!
If there's any more news of note before we leave for home on Sun. I'll write again, otherwise, till next time...

Transmitting From Paris, France...
Giving thanks to Michael Jackson: A man who helped define pop/r&b music for at least 2 generations, a phenomenal talent of great depth & soul. Despite whatever troubles he might've had, a true music & entertainment icon.
Although I don't follow tons of modern day pop & r&b on any kind of regular basis, so much of what I did hear, from the music to the dance moves, reminded me of recycled Michael Jackson. He was the James Brown of his generation. He set the bar in his field & hasn't been eclipsed yet. Here's to you, Michael & thanks again for the music.

Transmitting From Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
I love this place! We arrived here yesterday after almost 10 hours on the bus. It's the 1st city on this tour that caused a little smile to cross my face as we drove into town. Our hotel is centrally located in the extreme, also a 1st for this trip, which makes getting around a breeze. My bathroom here is a little odd in that the toilet is located in its own little room separate from the rest of the facilities. It's a VERY small space. I'm getting by without any problem but if the room were just a couple of inches smaller, it would be an issue.
We partook of some of the cities' nightlife after our arrival & have a show tonight.
The tour is slowly winding down & we venture on to our last stop, Paris, tomorrow. More from there...

Transmitting From Berlin, Germany...
We just arrived here after a 7 1/2 hr. bus ride.
The shows in Bielefeld & Dusseldorf went well. The hall in Dusseldorf was quite unique & beautiful. It's called Tonhalle & used to be a planetarium. The lobby featured a series of oddly shaped paintings that Hitler supposedly banned for being inappropriate. Hard to see why by looking at them. The concert hall featured an extremely high domed ceiling that must've been perfect for planetarium shows.
The pace is picking up as we have a show here tomorrow & then off to Amsterdam on Tues. Another bright spot is that the remaining cities each have their own special style of cool which, as a native New Yorker, makes it feel that much more like home. More coming from Amsterdam...

Transmitting From Dusseldorf, Germany...
We arrived here tonight after a 9 1/2 hr. bus ride that was listed in the tour book as being 6. Oh well, the bus is really nice so it wasn't really too bad. We're parked in this hotel (a nice one) for the next 5 nights. We're off tomorrow (I know, it's rough out here) & then have a 4 hr. roundtrip on Thurs. for a show in what I assume is a smaller town named Bielefeld.
The only other news of note is that I had a small computer problem that I was able to fix with a paper clip. I won't bore you with the details.
OK, it's starting to get late & I will, once again, make an attempt at a normal night's sleep. Goodnite.

Transmitting From Munich, Germany...
Our show in Frankfurt went well & we arrived here yesterday where we have a show tonight. Had a nice Thai meal last night but not much else of note to report.
Our hotel is one those off the proverbial beaten path of activity so, with a day off tomorrow, we'll have to do a bit of local travel navigation to find our way to anything of interest. The weather forecast predicts rain so it might just be a day to hang in & catch up on my gym routine as well as some reading. A lazy day. We'll see. More soon...

Transmitting From Frankfurt, Germany...
Greetings!! It's been awhile!!
We just arrived here this morning for the start of a 2 1/2 week tour, mostly in Germany with the last stops being Amsterdam & Paris. Today is some kind of holiday so almost all of the stores were closed. We had to walk a ways to find a town square where there were some options as far as places to eat. The weather is a bit chillier than NY but still spring-like. The flight was uneventful but, thankfully, I was able to grab some sleep which is not usually the case with me. It's now around 10:20PM & my last real goal for the day is to try & stay awake until a more normal time to sleep comes around.
Tomorrow is a gig day followed by travel on Sat. to Munich. We're very lucky in that the bus that we'll be doing all of our local travelling in is really nice. We're not on a plane again until the flight home. Also, we'll be re-united with our European crew from the last couple of tours who are excellent. A good crew makes things so much more pleasant as everything flows that much more effortlessly.
Over the past few weeks at home I've worked on some music for a possible children's TV project, rehearsed playing drums with a guitar power trio (in the jazz-blues-rock-funk zone) that will have its 1st gig in NYC at the end of July & have been practicing the solo piano pieces I've chosen for the next CD as well as doing some writing for that project.
As I always do, I'll try to give updates from each city so, stay tuned.
PS- There's a new photo at the top of the photo page that's pretty freaky! Check it out!
PPS- Oh yeah, the show we did on Broadway last Dec. won a Tony award last weekend. Congrats to us!

Transmitting From Norfolk, VA...
I was just about ready to call it a night when I realized that here I am on the road (if only for a day) & hadn't posted an update. (I try to write from every city).
Well, we flew into Norfolk this morning, soundchecked this afternoon & did a show tonight. It's now about 1:40AM & I have a 6AM wake-up call to get ready for the flight home. And there you have it. Not much else to say.
This might be the last update for awhile as we're coming into a bit of a slow period as far as travel. I'll be spending time at home practicing pieces for the next CD & hopefully writing some new ones as well.
We're doing a private show in NYC next week & word has it that Elton John will be singing a tune or 2 with us. If there's anything to report from there, you'll hear it here. Otherwise, we'll be back on the road in June for a European tour where I'll be keeping you informed of anything noteworthy. Also, I've recently become a fan of Twitter where I've been posting Tweets of varying degrees of coherence. I find it a kinda fun mental excercise to write a short sentence every now & then that involves some creative energy. If you're a Twitter-er, follow me if you like. There's a link to my page there on the Links page here. Enjoy your Spring!