now o'clock

it's snowing in philadelphia and it's 80 degrees here in los angeles.

believe it or not, i'd rather be by my fireplace and cats in philadelphia!

we have just finished recording the 2nd Sharon Little album for CBS records. It was produced by Don Was and

more than being a great producer (as expected) he has truly become a friend. he is very old and gentle soul and all around cool cat. very humble, no signs of ego...not once.

sharon and i got to hang out with Ringo Starr and Mick Jagger during the recordings via mister Was, much to our amazement.

he certainly didn't have to include us on his regular activities with living legends, but he did.

he also taught us a lot about life and a lot about music and a lot about how to have the two co-exist in harmony.

last night the label came down to hear he record and gave it a big thumbs up. it sounded great to us too.

very different from the first record. i think this time we knew what we wanted it to sound like. makes a big difference when you have a target to shoot for.

it's a very upbeat record!

today i ran into a very, very old close friend that i actually have fallen out of touch with in the past year. out of all the diners in la, i happened to be in the one he decided to go to this morning. it was like a christmas present.

happy dreams and decembers to everyone

SSS

los angeles and arabia, philadelphia and thanksgiving

there's a hookah lounge across the street from our recording studio here in Santa Monica, California. our new music is blaring from the 2nd floor tonight while the old arabians are smoking away just 25 yards away.

we enjoyed some of the tasty tobacco via the 4 foot high hookah pipe at our table earlier this evening.

the recording of the 2nd sharon little album for cbs records is about halfway done. it's a different kind of record than the first in that it has a lot more in the groove department. some fresh air is blowing through the smokey vocals and creating something new. like the bottom is made of ice and the top is made of hot coal.

next week we go to calabassas, california to do some more overdubs at another studio. only bout 45 minutes away. then we'll spend thanksgiving cali style at a friends in beverly hills.

thanksgiving will make me miss the east coast more than anything.

New Album

songs about the past, songs about dogs and cats and birds, serious songs and other kinds of songs too. my new album is called "maybe charlene fusco was right" and it is available at iTunes under the name "travel agent" for some reason.

i have bought good records and bad records over the years. i like to think i make good ones.

at the very least, they're written from the heart and played from there as well.

p.s. the title....long story.

latest

working on sharon album in LA, playing with Sharon and Joan Osbourne this Sunday afternoon at Keswick Theatre. Just recorded new song for 2nd NCIS soundtrack along with Bob Dylan and some other pretty good artists (!).

a new record of mine will be on iTunes and other digital places soon.

i nap now.

love and sympathy to Jim Rinaldi on the passing of his mom this past weekend.

rest in peace.

SSS

was fallin' asleep and heard this song coming out of a radio somewhere...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uix8HbgtyU

reminds me of gladys and the pips and whatnot.

what do ya think?

mix it up and serve chilled

reading "behind the glass" part 2, a book of interviews with great producers and engineers.

great read.

saw and then met gordon lightfoot at town hall in ny last week.

old, scrawny, rare and memorable.

cbs pres flew to philadelphia to hear our songs for 2nd album.

great reviews and heading into studio with famous producer to finish what we started in a couple weeks.

watched my young nephew get married and rocked my band till 1am at ritz carlton.

once in a lifetime night, exhausted now.

in town and outta town shows this week. rain has stopped for a second to give the sun a chance.

completed my latest solo album. a bit of a rocker with some things to say.

saddened about michael jackson's death and wished he could've enjoyed his talent along with his fans.

that feeling

yesterday, when the b chord went to the e chord in that way at that tempo with that note being sung, that feeling i feel once in a while came rushing back in me. 

that feeling when the guitar pick started to literally get hot from jamming when i was 14 in my friend's living room.

that feeling i had when i walked home from school and couldn't think about anything but putting on the new album i bought the day before.

that feeling when songs were just pouring out of me when i was living in my first apartment in my 20's in south philadelphia every day, every night and nothing existed but them and me.

why does a chord change you've played a million times before suddenly sound fresh again? 

it's unexplainable and almost scary how sacred is that feeling when it happens.

that feeling is the best feeling i know.

texas twister

sharon and i rolled into austin, texas last week and opened the first of the last 3 shows for jonny lang (photo on www.myspace.com/scotsaxsongs).  we played the palace and it was just that. beautiful balconys filled with folks ready for a night of music out on the town. 

we were lucky enough to play for a thousand of those folks. i always dreamed of playing shows like the one's you see dylan playing in those grainy black and white shakey documentaries. 

this was that place. dramatic stage, lights way, way above our heads and complete silence while performing the songs. after the songs, a rush of thunderous applause. it's all i ever wanted. well, that and a song as good as elton john's "your song". 

the next night, houston. house of blues this night. another 1,000 to 1,500 packed in. but this time it was in more of a drinking establishment. they also decided to push us and mister lang's set a little later. so when we finally took the stage, the crowd was audibly buzzed and visibly hungry for lang and his loud rockin' blues band (which includes sonny t, a guitar player who grew up with prince and played in his band in the early nineties). coincidentally someone shouted out "prince" when i walked onstage. now, years ago that woulda bugged the hell outta me, but now (?) i was g-d damn psyched! i still got it folks.

after sharon sang her first line into the mic, the crowd changed their tune and gave us the love. there was still a low roar of chatter eminating from the bar way back in the room but i was told by the house of blues roadies "they were that way for bob dylan when he played here last year". wha? hoo? dylan played here last year? "yep, he was awesome...but they talked anyway" 

did ya meet him?? "nope, noone did. he came in with massive security, played and left with massive security". 

damn. dylan, huh? cool.

we got off stage sweaty and a little thrown off. austin was a dream show, houston was a noisy one. what they hell's dallas gonna be like?

the best of the 3, that's what it was to be.

the house of blues in dallas looked exactly like the one in houston but to our suprise the crowd was totally different to us. instead of shouting "prince" to me...or "jonny" to sharon, they shouted "where have you been??" after sharon started singing. and not only did they give us some huge applause, but they even cheered after certain parts of the songs that i guess they felt deserved cheering. 

wow, now that feels good.

today was my birthday and i spent it in birmingham, alabama. my old friend mike p. joined in on the fun and the three of us oddly enough jammed in one of those guitar center kinda stores (though this one was more of a mom and pop version). sharon on bass (!) mike on electric guitar and i played the electronic drum pads. we were horrible of course but for some reason we attracted attention and the owner asked if we were gigging in town. ouch. they must really have some awful bands there if they thought we were good enough to have a gig!

some guy wanted my contact info for "production" purposes. huh? i don't know if he wants to produce me or wants me to produce him or maybe he's hungy and wants some fresh produce.

next stop, a great used cd and book store called...something like.."charlemagne". one of my fave places around. i got a great import box set of the bob dylan theme time raadio hour shows where he playes his favorites. this'll be great for the road in which we have many miles to go to get to charleston, south carolina where we will play on tv, radio and headline our own gig.

but tonight, atlanta it is.

a good birthday.

good morning austin!

sharon and i performed on fox tv in austin this morning.

i stomped my foot wearing boots i bought in santa fe, on a table top my neighbor back in ardmore pennsylvania found in the trash, playing a guitar i got from a guy in oklahoma.

i got yer united states right here, tough guy.

tonight we play the paramount with jonny lang. on the billboard out front it says "joan baez".

maybe she played there last night.

hmmm.

it is 10am and i am going back to sleep since we had to get up at 6am.

goodnight...er....day.

sixty five degrees

the pregnant bartender laughed at something someone said last night here in west monroe louisiana and i knew we had to get an early start today to get to austin before dark.

animal planet is on tv and the room smells like a fresh shower.

you never realize just how much you needed a shower until just before you get in.

then you're like "oh yeah, man...i really need this shower. no question about it".

how wonderful the feeling when you get out of the shower. you are the cleanest person in the world.

it's sixty five degrees.

you don't remember me but i remember me

Twas not too long ago you broke my heart in two. Those were the lyrics little anthony of little anthony and the imperials sang back in the 1950's. It is my favorite song of that decade and lucky me, I got to meet little anthony and tell him so at the rock and roll hall of fame in cleveland last night. Shortly after that sharon and I and our friend tom laskas headed up to the house of blues where we played in front of a jam packed house of blues, opening for jonny lang. Young mister lang is as nice as he is fierce as a guita player. We ae on our way to connecticut now to open another show and another tomorrow night in virginia beach. Though we are opening there are a whole lot of sharon little fans out there. The new songs sound great and feel amazing. Right now we are listening to one of my fave bandsn the cardigans. Go online and check out "disconnect" by them. Tell me what you think. It melts my heart when I hear it. Speaking of, happy valentines day!

Where Is All This Going?

The millions of words typed every day.

The songs written and recorded.

The photographs.

In the last few years especially the world has engaged in countless (and I mean countless) website launchings, bloggings (like this one here) commenting and so on. Millions of pages are flying around in nowhereland aka the internet. Where do the pages and words go when the creater dies? Whoever made the ieathotdogsandwatchtv.com site eventually will die. But his page will live on. 

It is a vacuum, a black hole, an endless pit, a bottomless cup, a forever galaxy flying in eternity of our words and thoughts.

How bout the pictures? Where once we took 12 shots, developed them, lost the negatives and maybe kept one or two that dangled in a photo book, we now take millions and have them all either in our 3 hard drives or online on our websites.

"Look at me!" "Listen to me"

This generation needs attention. A lot.

We have all the attention we need and yet each day we ask for more. Then even more the day after next. It's an out of control fire. A blaze. 

Somebody get a hose!