Norman's Rockwell

Hey Soul Mates, today was a very busy day. My last day to prep for the Grammy Awards. I had my fitting for the big show. It is a black tie affair, after all. Went for basic black, three buttons. Watch out! Gonna sport the bow tie that one ties oneself. No clip on or pre-tied here, y'all. Also, dropped off the shoes for spiffing up. Finally stopped by the barber shop to get the hairs back in order. Not that I'd been going wild, but it's the Grammy's. Gotta be so fresh and so clean, clean. This morning had a much less auspicious start. You know that's true when you do 8 loads of laundry to start the day. Yikes, it's a wonder I had anything to wear the last month. We've been putting a lot of thought into our upcoming recording sessions. Our co-producer Adam Marsland sent us copious notes for pre-production. So, I've been listening to the songs we want to record over and over, while checking out a few "others" we may pay homage. We aim to make a Gr...

Hey Soul Mates, I hope that your week was good. Miss me? Florida was fine. On the coolish side, with a little rain one day I was in Vero. Got to hang out with family and friends. Spent quite a bit of time with my pal Mike, who is about to publish his first novel, Jacob Have I Loved . He also runs and edits the very popular DVD Movie Central . I'm very proud of him for getting his book finished and I can't wait to read it. It's been a nice cycle of inspiration as I've been thinking about putting together a book of musings and lyrics. I didn't get a lot of reading in (just the first chapter of Gandhi) or listening (did have Remain In Light and A Hard Day's Night playing); mainly cleaning out closets and the garage of decades of ephemera. Drop by the house, I might have a prize for you. The trip started with a visit to FCCJ where Tibetan monks were crafting a medicine Buddha mandala. We saw the closing ceremony in which they destroyed this beautiful and intricat...

Hey Soul Mates, I've got a few days to take away from Los Angeles. To recharge for our recording sessions and the oncoming tour of the UK. Not too much planned except a visit with Grand Mere and the old highschool bandmates. 'Spect Mom wants me to clean out my things from the garage. Here's my reading list for the week. Napoleon Hill , "Think And Grow Rich." This has been my model for the past year's successes. Highly recommended. I just completed it for the fourth time. Stephen King, "On Writing." I want to finish this one before I manage to write anything else. "The Essential Writings of Mohandas Gandhi ." One film I need to see again, Gandhi . In the meantime, I'll get it from the source. I've told y'all before I'm really into non-fiction. My listening list for the week. David Byrne, Grown Backwards . Recommended to me by my running buddy, Steph, for years. Finally found an inexpensive copy. Listened to it once on an into...

Hey Soul Mates, thanks to all the dancers that invaded the floor last night. What a crowd. The Good Hurt was packed to the veritable rafters, too. Despite the mind-numbingly glacial traffic on the 405 everyone in the band (and the fans) arrived in time for the show. Even L.A. gridlock can be overcome when there's good times on the line. First of all, props to our photog, Patty who's pro camera was broken at the start of the show. It was shaken off of an amplifier. We're very sorry it happened, but as a result she wound up videotaping the whole set. We are pleased to tell you that once we've screened the footage tonight, we will start posting clips on youtube. But as a result there are only a handful of extant pictures and I'm having trouble posting them in my blog. Suppose it wasn't meant to be. The set was heavy on the fun and the funk. We were hitting it on the ones. Whipping up the crowd into a frenzy with the double-groove whammy of Fall Out and Roosevelt...

Hey Soul Mates, you know what you all have in common with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? You are the embodiment of his dream (and ours). Our audience is filled with people of all colors and races: Asian, White, Black, Latino (just like it says in the song!). You represent different faiths: Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims; coming from all sorts of walks of life. And there you are at our shows, proving to the universe that people can come together. We don't think of ourselves as liberators or philosophers. We're just entertainers, but we are pleased to the max that humankind is well-represented by the Soul Mates. As you know, Rush Hour Soul is diverse. And tonight, all of this will be on bright display at our show at the Good Hurt. So come on down and put Dr. King's dream to full effect, brothers and sisters! If we don't see you at the show, we hope you have a peaceful 3 day weekend and that you'll find time in your own way to celebrate all that Dr. King...

Hey Soul Mates, Happy New Year! It's 2007 y'all: the year of the Rush Hour Soul. As you know we are heading back into the studio to complete our debut album. The disc will feature "A Talent For Loving" and that will also serve as the record's title. So when you see A Talent For Loving , I'm talking about our groove-filled long player. I can reveal to you that we will be working with Adam Marsland on this disc and I'm very excited about that. Adam has been a great sounding board and supportive source for me for years. We've worked together on stage, you may remember my guest spot with his group at Brennan's on Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman." A Talent For Loving will be recorded at the same studio where Adam has recorded his albums down in Venice, CA. It just made more sense for us to do the album here before our trek to the UK. But, we promise the vibe of the album will make you dance and holler for joy. I'll fill you in on more d...