Norman's Rockwell

Hey Soul Mates, those G4 commercials for Star Trek are stoopid. Bry thinks Charlie Murphy is the voice of Spock. Watch Star Trek Cribs, see if he isn't right. These are the funniest stop motion cartoons since Davey & Goliath ! In band news, the photos from the Good Hurt are up on RHS.com . There are a lot of great shots of Doug. Look for Bryan doing the "blazing solo" faces. If you are a friend of ours on MySpace, check out the new banners that are available. Use the html code to link directly to Rush Hour Soul's homepage or MySpace page. Cool. Have a peaceful Saturday. Live Long and Prosper. Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, what a great show at the Good Hurt last night. You all sent us off in style. It was fun to play without a set list again. Your requests were fabulous. We had our eye on the first couple of songs, then we turned it over to the audience. The sound in the Good Hurt was spectacular too. You can tell when the opening act is an industrial techno pop group and you don't need earplugs. That venue has been really good to us. Bryan's new guitar is simply amazing [And now we're twins. Ok, Fender, where's our endorsement? American made Fender Jazz is all the way live!] The player? We already knew he was the bomb. How'd you like that knee drop solo!? The rhythm section was slamming too! Doin' it Vulcan style, baby!! The band did the stroll in our shades of magenta, fuschia and purple. Yes, a plum bunch. The pictures will be up soon, but here's a taste. This is the set list to the best of our knowledge! Set List: Sucka U Had The $ Everyone's Ingenue Do...

Hey Soul Mates, Doug showed us easily the funniest thing on tv today. We must have watched it about 20 times this weekend. And everytime you watch it you notice more freaky behaviour on the behalf of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Or maybe it's the Mothership Connection. This is a 30 second clip for reruns of Star Trek on a new cable channel. I used to have the Spock doll in question. In fact, I can remember being very upset when I lost his phaser and then Spock. All before age 7. Oh well. We'll always have Paris or karaoke. Watch and weep with laughter. Courtesy of YouTube.com See you at the show tomorrow. "Haaa! I don't give a daaaaammn!" Go, Spock, it's your birthday! Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, we've had a most relaxing weekend and a great time here at Free Heart . Our Earth Day performance last night was a lot of fun. We ran through a whole bunch of material and kept the peoples dancing even in a light drizzle. Spirits were not dampened though. It was our first time working without a set list, which was a challenge but really kept us in tune with what the audience was feeling. With when they wanted to keep dancing or bring it down a little. It was very much an all ages crowd, only a few members of the audience knew who we were or our original material. It's satisfying to know that we went over well with such a diverse group. Special thanks to the Rolstons for putting on the event and all of the love we got from the people up here. Thanks for coming to the show. Extra thanks to Jolly Roger for playing on the bill and supplying the sound. You rock! Set List: Everyone's Ingenue Fall Out Hold On I'm Coming U Had The $ Everything My Heart Desires ...

Hey Soul Mates, big news to announce. Our date in London has been confirmed. We will be storming the stage at the Bedford , (77 Bedford Hill in southwest London) on Weds. June 7 , showtime is 9 pm. More details to follow. Visit their website and check out the venue. It's a gorgeous house. This will be a spectacular opportunity to cap our run of dates with a slamming show in the Capital city. Make your plans to be there. It's before the World Cup starts so all you footie fans can make it without having to set the TiVo. Shoot, it's before Wimbledon, too, so Doug will be there. How's this? One of our promoters in the UK describes what we do as "Californian Sunshine Funk." I like it. Got my hair did by our girl Monica tonight. Bry got his locks tamed last night. We both get puffy hair going when we aren't careful. Now we'll look really clean for our shows in Cali Saturday and Wednesday. Have a great Friday everyone. Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, I must tell you I'm really looking forward to meeting all of our new Mates in the UK. So many fresh faces have joined us via MySpace. Too cool. Thanks for all the comments and wit. We're closing in on a month until our departure. There's lots going on. We've just put the finishing touches on a special tour edition of our EP that has two bonus tracks and brand new artwork. Very stylish. Oh, that reminds me. If you haven't downloaded the free MP3 of Everything My Heart Desires , grab it! On May 1, there will be a brand new free track to download at RHS.com. It will be a scorching live version of Fall Out. We're also prepping for our Earth Day concert up north. That will be fun. It will give us a chance to go "casual." Ha Ha. No coats and ties. Hope the fans won't be disappointed. Back to business. Love, Power, Peace

**This blog was amended and a portion was added to correct the earlier post. NK, April 17, 2006 Hey Soul Mates, Up to now my favorite arranger/orchestrator for pop music has been pianist Clare Fischer . He's done brilliant arrangements for Prince, McCartney, The Family, Tony Toni Tone and the Jacksons. Mr. Fischer's stamp is all over the score for Under The Cherry Moon . Sweeping strings and suspended counterpoints. Shoot, do I know what I'm talking about? Not really, it's just the feel. I've often told myself that I wanted Mr. Fischer to do arranging for Rush Hour Soul. Well, I discovered another very talented arranger, named Cassius Richmond . He's a saxophonist associated with fellow Detroit jazzman James Carter. Richmond did some very lush orchestrations for Carter's disc Gardenias For Lady Day , a tribute to Billie Holiday. His work is very tasteful, yet full of unexpected strokes like Fischer's. Thanks to Bryan for my iTunes gift card, I've dow...

Hey Soul Mates, I learn new things everyday. Like that bubblegum-pop singer Barry Blue produced Heatwave's biggest disco-era hits Groove Line, Always & Forever and Boogie Nights . Barry had a minor hit with a song called Dancin' On A Saturday Night that I loved as a kid. And who doesn't like Heatwave?! The singles were impeccable. Their arrangements were quite complex and like my favorite dance act, Chic, they were an actual band. The next "degree of separation?" Heatwave's keyboardist Rod Temperton went on to write huge hits like Rock With You , one of the greatest tracks ever, for Michael Jackson (this I found out about a year ago). And in case you weren't aware, Heatwave was based in the UK. The two American brothers who sang were stationed in Europe. They put together an international group and got signed in Britain. A multi-culti dance band that stormed the UK? Sounds good to me. That's rock and roll high school for today. Class dismissed. N...

Hey Soul Mates, Pictures from our throwdown at the Gig on Thursday are ready for your viewing pleasure. We got a lot of nice feedback from our fans from the UK and around the States about the webcast of our show. If you haven't seen the video yet, uh-oh. You can try this link: Rush Hour Soul at the Gig . It should open Window Media Player and start the program. No guarantee on how long it will be available through alternatv. We hope to have it available for you to stream again very soon. Click on the pic below to check out the photos now! It was a chill day. Went down to Melrose for a while. Didn't find anything interesting this time. Stopped into Amoeba and had to keep myself from buying a fistful of old 45s. Ha Ha. But the picture sleeves make such inexpensive artwork! Have a peaceful Sunday, y'all. Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, well, as advertised, last night's show was slamming. We were on a really entertaining bill. The Mulhollands were punky and fun. Pillow Of Wrongness rocked and did their thing. And Steel Mullet was hysterical (a 80's hairband tribute act). Of course, we were on fire. The audience really got us pumped. Nice to see all of your faces. We kicked off the show with a rearrangement of Fall Out , (did you notice?) that Bryan suggested as the curtain was going up. It really made the song even more dynamic. I surprised Bry though, by putting the Beatles' cover into the set. But it went over well once again. Even dedicated it to one of our biggest fans, Rosanna, who loves her some Beatles. Our work on the harmonies for Love Someone really paid off. Doug sounded great during the a cappella break down. Way to go, Dogg. Watch the show for a limited time for free on streaming video via the GIG's website! Set List: Fall Out Everyone's Ingenue U Had The $ Everything ...

Hey Soul Mates, ah, the things I do for the love of rock and roll. This is only the 3rd time in 10 years that I won't be attending opening day at Dodger Stadium. Nor did I get my usual seasons seats up top. All part of my self-imposed savings plan for our trip. I'm sure the Mighty Azul will do fine without me. I figure, skip the upperdeck this year: sit in a luxury suite with 39 of you next! Have a great Monday everyone. Love, Power, Peace and Nomaaah!

Hey Soul Mates, we've got another one! We're booked into the Stalls Bar in Harrogate. It's in North Yorkshire. Coolest thing, it's Doug's Birthday! Lots of celebrating will be going on. Yesterday, the girls and I went to Santa Monica to see the art installation Ashes & Snow . It was fantastic. The temporary gallery (Nomadic) was elephantine. Appropriate, because a lot of the photography focused on elephants and animals in their natural habitats. The artist Gregory Colbert also showed several films featuring the same subjects. The show is pretty breathtaking and thought-provoking. It runs till mid-May. Before we went to the exhibition, we stopped for lunch at Cafe Crepe on 3rd St. Promenade. As we were walking in, M. Night Shyamalan was walking out. Taller than I reckoned. It was the second time in 3 days that I saw a director whose work I enjoy. Thursday, I ran into Harold Ramis ("Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day") Of course, he was Egon in Ghostb...