Beds Are For Silliness

The sweetest boy ever, subtitled for your convenience (and coherence).

Turkey Day, Y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have an incredibly relaxing day, and eat way too much.

What an incredible year it's been.

I am so thankful for:

• my amazing superboy Noah
• my crazy surreal job
• great friends
• a ridiculously supportive family
  

What are you thankful for?

BBC Switch

About a month ago, when we first arrived in London, I was immediately stricken by the sheer Britishness of it all. Somehow, it was even more British than I was expecting:

The UK is a Cartoon Version of Itself.

For Real, Though.

But of course, we weren't there to sight-see; we were there to work.

We were playing a show called BBC Switch, which was aimed firmly at teens. No one over 19 in the crowd, which meant no parents, which meant a room full of crazy adolescent Brits. The energy in that room was electric, and we all had a blast.

Backstage, Kelly Osbourne interviewed Miley, surrounded by every camera in the United Kingdom...and made her do the limbo, for some unknowable reason:

Afterwards, the band went to The Defectors Weld, which has a dress code I will never understand. You are not allowed entry if you're wearing a hat. Okay, fine. So this just means they expect a certain higher level of dress, right? Well, no. You are also not allowed in if you're wearing formalwear. Wha-what? So you've got to just be right-down-the-middle then. The principal of this made me want to leave immediately. I don't wanna be anywhere that particular.

We stayed for a few drinks, and then Clay, Nadia and I left for a very special British treat:

Magnum Classic. Best Ever.

Yummy yummy ice cream.

On the way home, we saw this sign:

Anyone Wanna Take a Crack at Interpreting This One?

AMAs

The American Music Awards took place tonight, and we spent all day hanging out at the Nokia theater waiting for them to start.

But seriously, what a blast. In the morning, we ran through the whole show. We did our little "Fly on the Wall" thing with Miley (the birthday girl turned 16 today!). We shared the stage with 30 -- yes, 30 -- dancers. That was some crazy chaotic choreography.

After we ran Miley's song, I ran back into the auditorium and watched the rest of the show. Incredible.

Beyonce blew the house down, and her dancers were cr-a-a-zay. Even during dress rehearsal, she got a standing ovation. How can they dance like that? Doesn't that hurt? I hope they have dislocation insurance.

Sarah McLachlan was lovely and perfect, Annie Lennox mesmerized us with her voice, and at the very end, Coldplay came out and checked for their song. Not only did they sound gorgeous, but as Clay (our ProTools guy) says, "y'all seem real nice."

When a tiny smattering of paper leaves fell from the ceiling, Chris Martin exclaimed, "That looks like crap! Is that all there is?" But alas, there would be more paper butterfly confetti for the real thing.

After the big runthrough, we waited in an impossibly long line for roast beef and mashed potatoes, and as I was leaving, I saw Chris Martin waiting for his own little slice of beef. He smiled at me. What a nice gent. And also, did they really have to wait in that line? Isn't there someone to fetch Coldplay some beef?

Backstage, all the Miley band members ran into people we know. The world of professional bands is pretty small, and we always see the same peeps at these shows. I ran into a couple folks, including the radiant Daphne Chen (who played violin on my newest album, "The House We Built"). Tonight, she was playing with Leona Lewis.

It's always a challenge to find ways to pass the time at these awards shows. Usually there's a lot of standing, sitting, napping and reading. But this time there was a gifting suite. We basically moved in. I got a sweater, a yoga mat, a shirt and a tie.

Then we hopped on stage, and this happened:



3 minutes later, we were done.

Trucks & Bubbles

So recently, as you may know, I've been doing some traveling.

Last month, I spent a lot of time in Europe and took tons of pics and videos. Last week, I spent time in Washington with my beautiful and amazing son, Noah, and took lots of pics and videos. Since I wanna tell you about everything right now, I'm gonna pretend this is some kind of artsy film and intercut the two. Let's start with Noah.

For this particular visit to see him, my parents came along with me. They have only met Noah briefly twice, so this was a wonderful time for them to get to know him.

Noah has grown a lot in the the two months since I last saw him: he's running around like a champ, has become exponentially more verbal and has discovered the joys of roughhousing. He tumbles, bounces on couches and beds, and runs full-steam-ahead at the wall (this was quite alarming).

He also loves bubbles; demands them with great frequency and passion, and then dances like a drunkard in the ensuing bubble storm. It's probably the most charming thing I've ever seen.

New Player

I've added a music player to the site, so you can listen to a sampler of my songs while you read.

If you like it, you can share the player on your own site (just click the SHARE button).

If you don't like it, just hit the PAUSE button and enjoy the silence.

Sweet Sixteen

We've got some catching up to do. In bits. About a month ago, we played Miley's Sweet Sixteen birthday party at Disneyland. Several thousand screaming girls dragged their moms to see Miley sing, and also saw:

• Billy Ray rockin' it out (yay!)
  
• Justin and Brandy joining in on guitar (yay!)
  
• Dancers on boat floats (I was worried for their safety)
  
• Mickey Mouse (pretty sure that was a girl in the suit)
  
• A jumbo check presented to charity (where do they get those made?)
  
• Tyra Banks being odd ("she's just being Tyra")

Real Me on Fake Ride with Fake Miley

L to R: Mike, Jaco, Billy Ray, the Kay Hanley Mime

After that show, it was off to Europe.

Synecdoche, New York

Just got back from seeing "Synecdoche, New York," Charlie Kaufman's new film. This time he directed it too. I'm a huge Kaufman fan (Eternal Sunshine is an all-time favorite) but I didn't expect to love this one as much as I did. Incredible cast plus music by Jon Brion (BONUS!) Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as usual, is lovely and sad and real.

This ambitious, surreal movie takes "meta" to a whole new level. Hysterically funny while deeply heartbreaking and thoughtful; this is by far my favorite film of the year so far. I'm going to be thinking about it for weeks. You owe it to yourself to seek this one out.

Yay America!!

Sometimes, things go right. As my friend said, "tonight is truly New Years Eve."

All Night Yahtzee Rocks The Socks

I love my fans. They are quite a creative bunch, and I always enjoy seeing what they're up to. This video was just brought to my attention by Aaron Picar. Please to enjoy "To Show You My Love" as performed by All Night Yahtzee.