How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?

The fulfillment of one of my lifelong dreams is only a little over a week away. I’m going to be playing the famous Carnegie Hall on November 15th with the fabulous rocker, Danny Nova. We’ll be playing the Isaac Stern Auditorium / Ronald O. Perelman Stage. (That’s the main hall on a Saturday night!) The room seats 2,804 people and “It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument,” said the late Isaac Stern. “It takes what you do and makes it larger than life.” I’ll be plugging in my blue electric violin and ROCKING OUT! Can I hear a WOO HOO!!!

Here’s a link to a great press clip about the Danny Nova show. Click HERE

I’ll be sharing the stage with an all-star band featuring drummer Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel); keyboardist Andy Burton (Ian Hunter, Robert Plant); cellist Peter Lewy; percussionist Kevin McIntosh (Parliament Funkadelic); bassist Muddy Shews (Southside Johnny’s Asbury Jukes); pianist Scott Treibitz; percussionist Sheik (Africa); guitarist Peter Wood (Dramarama); and flautist Yukari.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a fun little movie that I previously blogged in 2005. I guess I’ll have to make a new movie now that includes the backstage areas and the view from the stage up into the rafters where I was sitting when I shot my movie way back when! Hope you enjoy it.

Tags: Carnegie Hall, Danny Nova

Election Day

No time to blog today.
I have go out and vote, and I hope you do the same.
I’m not telling you who to vote for, but please remember…
Change is a GOOD thing!

Tags: election, vote

My Cat Is SO Stupid

I love my cat. I really do. But she’s dumb as a box of rocks! How stupid is she?

Djanga is addicted to plastic. She chews ANY plastic she can find. Plastic bags are her favorite.

Yesterday, LG asked me if maybe we should try getting her some kitty grass to gnaw on. I thought that was a great idea, so we marched over to the local pet store and bought her some delicious greens.

After presenting her with her special treat, she gave it a sniff and proceeded to chomp on the plastic instruction tag that came stuck in the grass.

Djanga. She’s sweet but not the sharpest tack on the board…

… Why is everyone laughing at me?!

Tags: cat, lolcat, stuffonmycat

Random Acts of Kindness

I’ve got to rant a little today. Hope you don’t mind, but there’s been something troubling me a bit and I want to share it with you.

Do any of you find it annoying how RUDE some people are? Not everyone, mind you. But more and more I notice that it’s the little things that make someone… well… NICE!

Often when I walk in or out of a building here in NYC, I’ll hold the door open for the next person. I can’t tell you how many times someone will walk through that door without acknowledging me. They’ll march right through the open door that I HAPPEN to be holding for them and strut on as if I’m part of the building. Sometimes they might be talking on a cell phone and be totally oblivious to how the door happened to be open in front of them. These people are THE WORST! Not even a nod. Last I checked, I’m NOT a friggin’ doorman. (Not that I have anything against doormen. Some of my favorite people in the city are doormen!)

When I was a kid, my mother would take my sister and me around the city on public buses. She ALWAYS thanked the bus driver when we would exit the bus. To this day, I do the same thing myself. When I get off of a bus, I’ll look at the bus driver and say THANK YOU. He or she will then follow it up with YOU’RE WELCOME! It’s a really easy thing to acknowledge that there is a person up front driving the bus, not some robot without feelings. I’d like to think that a happy bus driver is a safe bus driver!

I’m asking all of you out there to BE NICE. If you see someone doing a random act of kindness like holding a fucking door open for you, SAY THANK YOU! Or even nod, or grunt. Anything. It’s the small things that make for a happy world.

I’m done now. Have a nice day.

Tags: manners, rant

Date With The Dog Whisperer

Tonight, Cesar Millan, otherwise known as THE DOG WHISPERER, was doing a talk and a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square. I went with my best girlfriend, who is a dog person like myself. I actually got there pretty early and got great seats right in front of Cesar.

I realize that there’s some controversy about Cesar’s training methods. It seems like people either love him, or hate him or have very mixed feelings about him. Personally, I think he’s certainly got a way with out of control dogs that are being handled by unknowledgeable owners. And he’s got a certain, shall I say, aura about him that I found truly special.

For the record, LG and have learned a few training tidbits from Cesar since we first got our little pooch, Rosie. Like showing her who the pack leader in our house is. (Me of course!) Because she is our first dog, and we really are learning as we go, we’ve watched DVD’s of The Dog Whisperer plus we’ve read anything we could get our hands on about training our dog. Research has really has helped us through the first two years.

When Rosie was young, she would bark when LG and I would sit down to dinner. We got sick of hearing her, so we would put her in the bathroom with the lights out and announce to her in a very stern voice that we’re giving her a “timeoutâ€. Now she’ll shut up immediately when we threaten her with, “Rosie, do you want a timeout?†We feel like such yuppie parents when we do this! And of course, this always gets a laugh when friends come over and we have to quiet her down! Now she’ll lie down immediately and put her head on her paws when we say this to her. TIME OUT!

Anyway, Cesar gave a pretty short talk tonight as the main focus was on him signing as many books as he could. I bought his new book and got him to sign it for me.

When I got up to him and handed him my book, I told him that I enjoyed his show, and I had learned some great things early on from him. Then I showed him Rosie’s picture on my iPhone and mentioned that I had a seven pound Havanese who is a registered therapy dog. I explained that I take her to the hospital every other week and she’s been showing signs lately that she’s exceptional around cancer patients. Cesar looked me directly in the eye and said, “That’s really beautiful. I want you to give her an extra big kiss from me when you get home.â€

Unfortunately, I was REALLY late getting home to feed and walk the dog this evening because I HAD to go out and have a beer and a burger with my girlfriend after the signing. But I think Rosie forgave me because I gave her an extra big kiss and told her it was from Cesar. (There are no bad dogs, only bad owners!)

Tags: book signing, Cesar Millan, Dog Whisperer, pet therapy