Norman's Rockwell

Hey Soul Mates, long week. Thanks to everyone who sent along their best wishes for my recovery from food poisoning. I'm still creaky, but there has been a lot going on. The world keeps on spinning. Well, I finally got our ntsc (North American video) master of " A Talent For Loving " made. The original was in the pal format, so it had to be converted before it could be distributed here. As a result of several snafu's, I've upgraded my dvd drive. And thanks to KS1 Security's continuing sponsorship of the band, we have a new color photo printer! That means we can make super-pretty press kits to send out to the record labels and industry players. It's taken a long summer to get to this point. We've had several people of decent magnitude utterly flake out on us. I ain't gonna name names, but you know who you are. As a result, the band is forging ahead on its own (manufacturing our own dvd's is just the tip of the iceberg). We aim to get our music h...

Hey Soul Mates, sorry for the slowdown in the flow of info from RHS Central. I've been poisoned. The guilty party is a quartet of evil little fellows. Their conspiracy to bring me down hasn't succeeded fully. But it's been enough to make life miserable. It's the second time in 3 years that this insidious party has tried to lay me low. The culprits? Undercooked shrimp. Nasty. Now, the news. Our return to the UK has been postponed due to family illness (not mine, however). We know that our fans understand. We are taking all steps necessary to make sure there is a full and swift recovery. Thanks to everyone for their support. We hope to see you as soon as possible. On the lighter side. I warned you that Bryan and I were shunning haircuts until someone in position to put Rush Hour Soul on top o' the world steps up. Well, here we are, in all our hirsute glory down in ThaiTown last night for the lovely Patty T's birthday. Awright. My headache is blistering. Time to tu...

Hey Soul Mates, Today, I'm celebrating the birthday of one of America's greatest story tellers. He's an actor, playwright, musician. And he happens to be my Dad. My father has always been the best teller-of-tales I've known. No one can bring a story to life like him. Funny thing is, his genre is non-fiction. Oh, all griots embellish. Why not? Who's to argue or counter a plot point or a bit of detail? Especially when it's said with spirit and gusto. But he really doesn't need to because the stories are so vivid already. I hope that Dad will soon put his stories to tape. But like a jazz artist, recordings still wouldn't capture all the aspects of the performance. Each telling has it's own breath and cadence. It's own weight, but also it's own ease. It isn't surprising that he wrote a play called "Street Rhthym." Maybe that's why, with no effort at all, Dad held court last night at the Georgia Tech game. Half-time. Chit chat. S...

Hey Soul Mates, for me it's a day to raise a glass to toast Chic founder member, Nile Rodgers on his 54th birthday. You know what a big fan of his I am. After all, I just framed Chic's album C'est Chic for my new art project (see previous blog). Nile's work with Chic is part of the foundation of the Rush Hour Soul-thing. Le Freak is still in my top 5 of the most exciting songs of all time. And without Good Times, there would be no hip-hop for better or worse, depending on who you ask). But it's important for me to celebrate Chic, and especially Nile. He is the last surviving member of the fraternity that made up the group's core. Sadly, both drummer Tony Thompson and bassist Bernard Edwards are gone. Nile also produced a number of artists' biggest hits, including: Madonna, Duran Duran & David Bowie. That ain't shabby. Of course, he is on the shortlist of dream producers for us to work with. I had an opportunity to meet Nile at a seminar and he was ...

Hey Soul Mates, just wrapping up a good weekend here in SoCal. The Browns lost today. Oh well. But RHS has more than 900 plays of " A Talent For Loving " on YouTube since it debuted. Thanks again to all you viewers out there. We've gotten some really nice e-mails from fans and peers commending us. But we're not being complacent. What's next for Rush Hour Soul, you ask? As you know we are aiming to go back to the UK very soon. Our return is still very much in the working stages, so nothing we can officially report yet. What I can tell you is that I had a long conversation with animation director Andrew St. Marie and he is going to helm our next music video! He mentioned his desire to work with us and I said, "It's on!" Andrew and I chatted at the studio commissary Friday and gave the greenlight to the project. We are anticipating a November release date. We're going to be a cartoon! How supercool. Andrew is currently wrapping up work on his 2006 S...

Hey Soul Mates, wow! What a great response we've been getting to our new music video "A Talent For Loving" (dir. by William Archer ). YouTube has been swarmed by the Soul Mates and their friends. In its first day up, the video had over 300 plays. As of this writing, we are at 677: past the "Say Hey" Kid and closing in on Hammerin' Hank! By the end of Sunday, we hope to have had 2000 views. It's entirely possible. Please keep watching and referring your friends to Rush Hour Soul TV ! Here are some of the YouTube daily honors we've achieved so far: On Thursday Sept. 14 (our first day "on air"), "A Talent For Loving" was 10th Most Watched music video 45th Most Discussed music video 88th Top Favorited music video Rush Hour Soul TV was 24th Most Viewed music channel On Friday, Sept. 15, "A Talent For Loving" was 33rd Most Discussed music video 79th Top Rated music video RHS TV was 15th Most Viewed music channel 32rd Most Sub...

Hey Soul Mates, turn on the YouTube ! Rush Hour Soul is on and they're playing "A Talent For Loving!" Yes, our music video is up and running. Be sure to go watch it. Please leave comments and ratings for the video on YouTube. We need a huge push to get over and you can help. Be sure to tell 10 friends to tell 10 friends to watch "A Talent For Loving." And enjoy. We know a lot of you have been waiting a long time to see the video. Especially our supporters in Great Britain. We miss you, we truly do. So go watch the video, then come back and finish reading my blog. I can wait... We had a small gathering of friends and fans this evening and screened "A Talent For Loving" in surround sound (5.1 rocking the hizzy). Of course, on YouTube quality is sacrificed for convenience, but you'll get the gist of the video, no doubt. Everyone in attendance had a good time and they clamored to watch the short twice more. Hope the neighbors didn't mind. Cheers t...

Hey Soul Mates, we're still here. The world didn't end. Sure felt like it might. The axis shifted a bit and we have these fading visions of September 10th. But, I'm very thankful for my family and friends. I love each and everyone of you. Love, Power, Peace

I'm so tired of standing, I can't stand no more. Said, I'm so tired of this standing, just can't stand no more. Seem like I'm doing the job of gravity, holding down the floor. Hey Soul Mates, It's been a long week. Victories, setbacks, holding patterns. We've had all three. Victories: The band is feeling good about our presence on YouTube . The response to our tour footage and support of our fans has given us a needed boost. At the end of the day, yesterday, we ranked #28 on YouTube's most viewed music channels. That means a lot of you were watching, hopefully more than once. Be sure to join YouTube, so you can leave comments and rate our videos. That helps raise our profile there. Thanks to all of our fans on MySpace who have left some nice words of encouragement. Setbacks: Hmm. X-ray says my left hip is going. No surgery now, but further down the road. Just like Prince and Eddie Van Halen. Too much monkey business on stage. Tho' the Doc says I...

Hey Soul Mates, it's with no small amount of pride that I read tonight that Bob Dylan has the number one album on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, besting Puff Daddy's fake "band" Danity Kane and a rapper ominously named "Young Dro." It's Dylan's first #1 in 30 years, since Desire which featured Hurricane about boxer Ruben Carter. You've probably read my preliminary thoughts on Modern Times . It's simply proof that people want good music. Regardless of the genre or the vintage of the singer. If it enlightens, moves or soothes folks'll seek it out. [As I write, I've got Modern Times spinning. The Levee's Gonna Break . "Some people on the road carryin' everything they own, Some people got barely 'nuf skin to cover their bones."] I'll admit, I've written my share of dance-floor fillers. But in learning more about Dylan, I wound up doing some extra digging: checking out Robert Johnson again and Woody Guthrie...

Hey Soul Mates, our short subject tour documentary "From L.A. With Love" is finally available for viewing on-line. It's been posted to our YouTube channel and it's currently on our myspace page. There are also links to it from our home page ( rushhoursoul.com ). The "doco" as we call it is a whirlwind view of our whirlwind tour of the U.K. Directed by William Archer it follows us from Hollywood to Liverpool. You get to see some of our new fans in Britain and glimpses of live performances at the Cavern Club (which can be viewed on YouTube). Then it moves to Wales and Monnow Valley Studio where we rerecorded A Talent For Loving . Finally, you get a sneak peek at the music video itself, which was filmed in London and also helmed by Mr. Archer. In between segments, you'll hear the band members talk about its past, present and future. Pretty cool, we think. There is one last bit of news for right now. We can officially announce that the music video for ...

Hey Soul Mates, the MTV VMA's were a mess last night. New lows in television history were established. Poor Jack Black never clicked with the audience. The performers, presenters and even some of the recipients (ahem, Pink) looked extraordinarily uncomfortable. The highlights? Jack White and the Raconteurs, perhaps someone at MTV has something on them, were recruited to be the house band. They charged on heroically between set changes and commercials, kinda like the house band on the Titanic, but with more guest players (Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Lou Reed, and one of my favorite directors, Jim Jarmusch!). I kept waiting for Jack to strike up the riff for Nearer My God To Thee to signal the end of this 3+ hour plunge. The best moment of the night was the show's only, officially sanctioned lipsync performance. And it accompanies a video MTV has probably never aired, but you've heard about through the internet. OK Go perfectly recreated (LIVE!) their highly choreographed tread...