All I want for Christmas

I am in the middle of my US tour. I just got done with a string of shows in the uk last week. I have had very few days off, but when i have managed to get some time to relax, I happen to be hosted by people who own HIGH DEFINITION FLAT SCREEN TV's!

I am hooked.

I watched Carlito's Way in Belfast on a huge HDFSTV. Aside from the movie being awesome, it felt like Al Pucino was right in my face, the screen "becomes an extension of the room". (This is how poetic HDFSTV makes me feel.)

I am staying with my brother in Washington D.C. right now. He also has a huge HDFSTV. I watched game 4 of the world series and then the Departed. It was awesome.

This guy told me about his small business endeavor about a year ago. He bought 10 HDFSTV's from a wholesaler with an american express card and put a hold on their shipments (which are free). Then he auctioned them off on ebay got them shipped to the proper addresses fo' free and made a profit of $1000 on each tv unit on the difference of sale price. Maybe I will do this and keep one for myself. Or somebody will give one to me for Christmas. Either way, I really hope it happens.



cool, Huh?
arx

NIGHT OF MYSTERY

I've been spending the past few months in New York. You can imagine all the great people and events you cross paths with in a city like this. I've been working on an album here, which i just completely finished this past tuesday. One of my new friends, Luke Stettner, invited rollin and I to a performance he was holding for 20 people only. We had no idea what to expect and showed up promptly at 8 as we were instructed. I had just come from the mastering house with the ONLY existing copies/audio files of the new album. We were waiting in a stairwell with the other 18 people waiting to be instructed about what to do.

"EVERYONE PLEASE HAND US YOUR BAGS and PUT THESE BLINDFOLDS ON"
said 2 women who looked like psychic twin sisters

most people cooperated and passed each bag one by one until it reached the two women.

"DON'T EAT THAT PASTRY IN MY BAG. I WENT ALL THE WAY TO THE UPPER WEST SIDE TO GET THAT FOR MY WIFE"
said some guy in a puffy jacket.

I rolled my eyes at him and kept my mouth shut, even though I had 3 months of work in my bag, I knew it would be ok.
Like your friend is gonna invite you to his performance just so he can steal your shit and rummage through your bags.

So the two women guided groups of 4 people into a completely dark room. We all had to hold hands and form a single line. Once everyone was in the room, we took the blindfolds off. The only thing we could see was a circle of glow in the dark X's. We all wrapped around in a circle and were instructed to sit on an X. We had no idea who we were sitting next to.

"PASS THIS AROUND"
said someone who emerged from the center of the circle, speaking to someone a few spots down from where i was sitting.

I was trying to anticipate which direction the object was coming from. The person to my left whispered
"I'M GONNA PASS YOU THIS THING NOW. IT"S REALLY HEAVY"

I did pretty much the same thing for the person to my right. An operatic vocalist started to sing from out of no where. It sounded like he was improvising and focusing on small embelishments over and over. Occasionally a drum would be heard. The vocalist and the drummer were also slowly exchanging positions in the room. It's crazy how much your other senses kick in when one is disabled. Not only was I sensing what the musicians were doing, but I was taking in a lot of INTENSE SMELLS. I smelled CHINESE FOOD, GREASY HAIR SMELL, SOMEBODY'S BURP, BUBBLE GUM and GARLIC to list off a few.

After I accepted it was going to be a smelly time, I started to imagine how everyone was working together to keep this 20 lb object moving around the circle. The person to my left and myself had a good thing going. i could practically guess right when she was going to pass it to me based on the prior experience of her handing it to me each time. We had a rhythm, it was magic. NOW, the person to my RIGHT was a completely different story. They took no interest in finding a groove, i practically had to smack he/she on the shoulder every time it came around. In fact, I almost sprained my wrist passing it along to them because they weren't paying attention.

so i finally whispered in their ear
"CAN YOU GET WITH IT HERE. I ALMOST SPRAINED MY WRIST"

The situation with my right side friend did not improve. It was weird. Anyways, after about 25 minutes of trying to anticipate what was going to happen, the music stopped and the ladies took everyone out of the room one by one. I didn't mind that there wasn't an explosive ending to the suspense. In fact, i appreciated being tricked into waiting that long for something to happen only to realize my focus had completely shifted to the mystery of everyone's cooperation in the dark. I did get a peak at who was sitting next to me when i got back out into the hallway.

After most everyone had left, those of us remaining went out for chinese food. I explained my experience regarding the person to my left and the person to my right to my friend in charge of the night. I gave him a description of the person who wasn't pulling their weight (sitting to the right of me). He smiled sheepishly, laughed and said :

"OH. THATS DANELLE. SHE"S DEAF"

G. Ramsay

I only recently discovered celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey (of Kitchen Nightmares). Oddly enough I first found him in the states right before I left for the UK this last week and when I arrived in London, I saw him on every other billboard and tv commercial.

I have been told he used to be a professional soccer player and after a horrible injury he decided to become a celebrity chef. I think it appears as a strange career shift, but somehow inspiring. He also manages to tie his 2 careers together by taking his shirt off in every episode of Kitchen Nightmares so people don't forget about his athletic achievements as a soccer player while forging ahead as a chef.

He is living the American dream even though he is british. He proves that if you put your mind to something "YOU CAN DO IT".






TO




good luck!
arx