Norman's Rockwell

Hey Soul Mates, Happy Halloween . And special Halloween birthday shout-outs to King AdRock (Adam Horovitz) and Larry Mullen, Jr. Hard to believe the AdRock is 40. Yikes. Time flies when your fighting for your right to party. The nominations for the Rock Hall Class of '07 have been announced. And the nominees are: R.E.M., Patti Smith, Chic, the Dave Clark Five, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Ronettes, the Stooges, Joe Tex and Van Halen. Included in the announcement was this: "In January, five of the nine nominees will be selected and will participate in the induction ceremony on March 12th at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City." I take that to mean that the Hall intends to enshrine a minimum of 5 of these acts. This could be good and bad. If you think up to 5 of these groups are worthy or if you've been disappointed in their choices before this is good news. If you think that less than 5 of the acts should get in, you may find yourself asking ...

Hey Soul Mates, I hope your Sunday was as wonder-filled as mine. I spent the day at Wat Thai , the local Buddhist temple, volunteering for a bone marrow match drive for my dear friend Soontaree. Soontaree is duking it out with Leukemia. She was diagnosed while we were in England. In fact, the band found out right before we performed in Huddersfield. Soontaree is Thai ('tho born in the USA) and needs a bone marrow match for a transplant. This was the third drive I've done with Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M). It's pretty amazing to hear how the odds are stacked against people needing marrow transplants due to the lack of potential donors and the finiteness of the categorical matches. Anyway, with a group of mutual friends, family and full-timers from A3M, we've gone to events and locations searching for Soontaree's match and getting the word out about the need in general. Of course, I signed up and did my buccal swab first time out; so pain-free. I certainly...

Hey Soul Mates, as many of you know, we submitted our video A Talent For Loving and other clips into YouTube's first "Underground" music video contest. For some reason, they have declared all 3 of our pieces ineligible. What? Well, cousin, it must be that our videos are too damn good, is what! The contest starts tomorrow, so we'll never know how we might have fared. Be sure to check in on our YouTube page on Wednesday Oct. 25. You never know. I've seen some of the other clips and they are definitely amateurish, so maybe that's what they wanted. We too slick, y'all. But that's how we roll. We appreciate all of the kind things our fans and peers are saying about our work. It was a joy to make and more fun to present to you. We are up to 1600 plays of "Talent." And close to 4000 views over all. Thanks! Also in the news, we are hoping to present a fantastic double bill in December with the Adam Marsland Chaos Band . You know them. We played wit...

Hey Soul Mates, dig that crazy rhythm? It's the Bob Dylan Show . Tonight's tour stop at Long Beach was hellacious! We had a fantastic time in the standing room/general admission floor area. I knew the last time I saw Dylan that it would actually be fun to dance at his show. There wasn't always room for cutting a rug, but there was plenty to shuffle and vigorously clap hands. The Arena in Long Beach reminds me of the old Jacksonville VMC where I used to go to concerts in highschool. Capacity around 5000 on a good night. On top of an ice rink (though we didn't have that in Jax). Real Mom 'n Pop. Just a more relaxed ambiance than usual at an L.A. show. When tickets went on sale, I snatched some up. How often does any major act play a small venue with GA standing for the floor? Let alone THE major act of our lifetimes. Dylan smiled throughout; playing organ and blues harp. It was a different experience this time, being less than 30 feet from him. Seeing him really move...

That's right, Cousin. Rush Hour Soul is back and badder than a heart attack. Get ready to feel it. Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, took a break for a week to get some important things done and get mentally prepared for the coming month. We are looking to do some great shows in the Los Angeles area here at the end of the year. I've been in contact with folks at some of our favorite venues, so details will be coming this week. Our return to the UK has been scrubbed till next spring. Lots of reasons why. But one big one that was an utter disappointment for all of us in Rush Hour Soul. We know a lot of you were hoping to see us back in England. Trust us, we wanted to be there. We were lead to believe that we would be entertaining you right about now. In fact, this was what we'd been told for months, so your dismay is ours. We are truly thankful that our fans in the UK are eager to see us. International Pop Overthrow Festival has already extended us an invitation to play in Liverpool again in 2007. That is wonderful. Moving on. We need to brush the dirt off our shoulders and show our home digs ...

Hey Soul Mates, I'm going to take a week off so there will most likely be no posts on my blog. But I do want to pass this magical phrase on to you: PIE 'N BURGER! If you are in the Pasadena area, heck, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you need to have pie and burger from Pie 'n Burger. At the same location since 1963 with the milkshake machine to back it up. They make the Coke's by hand y'all. The burgers are beef. The pie is luscious. Got mine "to go." It's an especially good stop if you've been walking around the Huntington Garden for 90 minutes. Love, Power, Peace

Hey Soul Mates, hope you had as productive a weekend as we did. Although most of mine was spent at home working on the computer. Self-sufficiency is the new name of our game. We've gotten DVDs of our music video and tour doc together. I'm proud of my handiwork creating motion menus for the discs. Next step is to get them to some helpful people. Saturday, we were gifted with tickets for the preview of a new comedy show, Groundlings For $1000, Alex . The Groundlings (alums include Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell & Pat Morita) do a combination of sketch comedy and improv. This particular show was tear-inducingly funny. I cried during the finale, a Nickelodeon kids' game show spoof called "Mathblasters." What a talented group of actors. The whole ensemble was entertaining. Certainly better than anything that showed up on SNL later than night. The house band also did an incredible Led Zeppelin medley. Not easy with one guitar, keys and drums. Kudos. Anyway...