Friday, January 23, 2009

I Believe the Children Are Our Future, Teach Them Well and Let Them Lead the Way, Show Them All the Beauty They Possess Inside...

The night before the Inauguration, we flew to DC to play a Kids Inaugural concert presented by Michelle Obama. She was in the front row with her kids, enjoying Miley, The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovado, Corbin Bleu (my favorite chicken dish) and Lil' Bow Wow, who I was notified is no longer lil'. He still looks lil', however, so it is quite confusing.

We began with soundcheck, as always. Here's a slice of how slow and uneventful those things are:



Despite the Big Nothing happening in that video, you can still hear how sweet Billy Ray is, as he makes small talk with a crew member.

Then Clay (our playback guy and my dear friend) and I decided to hit the streets and see the hoopla!

Mainly, the hoopla consisted of icy cold air, tons of people (half of whom were selling Barack-related merchandise to the other half), and many many cops.

Obama Obobbleheads


Obama Water
(Because you'll never go broke underestimating the American public)


The Street-level Mosh Pit

We pushed and shoved our way back to the arena for our show:





And then we made history all over the place. Miley even brought a tear to us hardened band members when she sang "The Climb."

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Friday, January 16, 2009

The Pistachio Game

Okay, one more Noah video from Christmas.

He really enjoyed bringing pistachios to his uncle Doug.

"Biiiiiiiiite?!"

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Who's This Andre Gill, Anyway?

Ah yes. Back to my EuroStory. From October. I'm that far behind.

When we stepped off the train in Paris, I immediately fell in love. I was sort of geared up for disappointment. After all, how many things in life can possibly live up to my high expectations?

Well, Paris was exactly what I thought it would be: a gorgeous city full of passionate artists, intimate bistros and cheese. Lots of cheese.

Upon arrival, I checked into my impossibly tiny hostel, the Hotel Andre Gill. Yeah, they called it a Hotel, but it was a hostel. In fact, it was basically what you'd get if somebody made a French cartoon about a hostel, complete with a big spirally staircase, Japanese tourists, and the management baking croissants in the kitchen. It was sort of like living in The Triplets of Belleville, only with much less awesomeness and much more body odor.

Okay, not exactly the Ritz, but Disney was not paying for this room. I was. And I am not a person of wealth.

Proudly Displaying Our Two-Star Rating

After checking in, I crammed myself and my bags into the smallest elevator in Europe.

I attempted to turn around while in the elevator, but my backpack and the tiny lift prevented any of that nonsense. This was the kind of elevator one could only "back out" of.

Oh also, my room was on the 6th floor, and the elevator only went to the 5th. Why?

One should not ask questions at the Hotel Andre Gill. If one does, that question may lead to other questions. Like perhaps:
  • Why is my bed made for a little person?
  • Why is there only a closet and a sink in my room, and no toilet?
  • Why is the toilet on the 6th floor out-of-order, forcing me to walk down the stairs, in the dark, in the middle of the night, in my boxer shorts?
  • Which leads to, why is there no light in the hallway?
  • Why, when I finally do reach the 5th floor toilet, is the light broken, forcing me to try and aim properly in the dark?
  • Why, when I want to (heaven forbid) actually shower, do I have to walk to the 5th floor, take the elevator to the 1st floor, and then wait in line for the only shower in the entire building?
So... One should not ask questions at the Hotel Andre Gill.

Apparently, Andre Gill was a famous caricaturist. Just take a moment to let that sink in.

But none of that mattered anyway, because I was in Paris (!), and I certainly planned on spending as little time as possible in my Hotel/hostel.

So out I went. First, to the Eiffel Tower:


Then, to gorge on EuroSweets:

I had quite an adventurous day out, riding the trains, meeting Parisians, speaking pigeon-French.
___________

The following day, I met up with Jamie, Jaco and Candice for a little museum hopping. First, the Rodan museum, for a little sculpture 101.

Staring Contest



The Thinker(s)



Consoling the Inconsolable


Okay, that last one wasn't in the Rodan museum. Because in Paris, there's just random sculpture on the streets. It's like a big art explosion. Otherwise known as "Mike Schmid's New Favorite Place."

At the end of that day, Jamie and I took a little tour of Monmarte: him because he's all cultured n' stuff, and me because I like Amelie.

Sacre Coeur Basillica was a sight to behold: partially because it is a marvel of architechture, and partially because the French insisted on partying hard in front of said marvel, creating a depressing and ironic sight:


Oh, Paris. Even your flaws are strangely artful.

The next day, we checked out Notre Dame, The Musee D'Orsay, The Latin Quarter and...just everything awesome. Lots of walking, lots of bread & dairy, and great...great escargot.

The final day, we went to Versailles. (Next entry).

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Christmas with Noah!!!

My family and I were very fortunate to have Noah visit us for Christmas. Here's some delightfulness from the first day:



And the next day:



And Christmas Eve (the "Hide Eeeeeeeee" game never gets old!)

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Bad Girls Club...again!

My song, "Little Noah," will be featured on next week's episode of The Bad Girls' Club. No idea how they're gonna tie that song in. If you're as curious as I am, tune in Tuesday, January 13th, at 7 or 10pm (depending on where you live - check local listings) on the Oxygen network.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

All Covers @ Genghis Cohen

This Friday, I'll be playing a very special all-covers show at Genghis. I've never done this before, so come on out and get all experimental with me.

Friday, Jan 9th @ 10pm
Genghis Cohen
740 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

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Monday, January 5, 2009

Christmas Day Parade

If you had your TV on during your Christmas day festivities, you may have seen Miley and Billy Ray playing the Disney parade. If you squinted, you may have also seen us.

The day of the show, I woke up in Disney's Animal Kingdom hotel, which was...odd:



We took a shuttle from Animal Kingdom to the Magic Kingdom for the big show, where it was bonkers-hot outside. Frying. But the set was huge and impressive:


We soundchecked and rehearsed for a bit, while the thousands of fans were still barricaded behind ropes.



And I took a moment to grab a couple shots with my new friends:


I pretended not to notice these signs, sprinkled throughout the set:


After awhile, they let the fans pour in.

We played "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with Miley:



In between songs, Jamie flirted with Stich (not sure if he/she/it flirted back) and I was entertained by Donald Duck:




Note how Kay's eye-rolling actually hurt Donald's feelings. Joy destroyer.

Then we played with Sir Billy Ray Cyrus (the out-of-syncness due to YouTube):



After that, I went back to the resort to watch the lonely animals pace.

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Friday, January 2, 2009

New Year, New Look

Welcome back! Hope you had an amazing holiday, filled with wonderfulcrazysillygood times!

And a happy 2009 to you. To celebrate the universe plunging forward into possibility, I changed up the look of the blog. Seemed apropos.

I'll finish up the Euroblog soon, and also I'll have some pics & vids of my incredible Christmas with Noah shortly.

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