Mall Policy

Standing on an escalator behind a mall cop, I overheard the following from his walky talky:

"I would like to reiterate that this is ALSO a customer service job. We do NOT need to yell at people to take their hoods down or stop dancing by the fountain or stop playing with their yoyos. Everybody needs to chill out."

Ironically, the man on the radio was screaming.

Press the Button!

During Noah's last visit to the tour, Pyro Steve gave him a little Smoke 101.

A Tour, In Pictures

I've started posting pics from the tour on my Flickr stream again.  Anything particularly picturesque will make it's way there, so consult the Flickr badge on the right side of this page to see if any new photos have shown up, and click on it to go get an eyefull.

Testing Testing 123

Well. The unthinkable finally happened. I got an iPhone. Testing my blog connection from the phone right now. "What does this mean and why should I care," you ask? Well, Snarky, it means more blog updates!

On Tour with Tiny Drummer!

Noah is coming to visit the tour again.  In honor of his visit, here are some great pics from earlier in the tour.

Soundcheck

Listening to the mix

Resting up for the show

Watching the show

Congratulating the star

After-show commute

Pajama party!

Schmid Island Did Not Sink Into the Ocean, I Promise

You may have noticed:  I haven't been blogging as much on this tour as I did on the previous one (unless you count all the Tweeting!).  Take this as a good sign.  It means I'm having much more fun this time around, not living in the dumpy post-apocalyptic wasteland of divorce and custody battles.  So this means I'm not hiding from the band in my bunk, writing pithy blog entries every second of every day.

But I do miss you.  Let me give you a hug.

*HUG*

I haven't forgotten you, loyal readers.

Here's a picture of a little monkey to cheer you up.

I told you it was little.

Anyway, we're having a great time putting on a huge show full of singing and dancing and flying objects and explosions.

Now, I gotta go rock Schmid Island for our big make-up show here in Omaha. Then off to Texas!

Spiderfingers

An awesome shot from flickr user tevee123, taken at the Phoenix show.  Go HERE to see many more incredible shots from that night.

Noah's Drum Journey

What Are You Looking Forward To?

This time around, I'm psyched that I get to use a wireless keytar, and leave Schmid Island for a bit.  Sure, the Island is a great vacation destination, but sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation, you know?

What are you most excited about for this tour?

The Today Show

It was early, it was wet.


There was water dripping down from the top of the tent onto my keyboards, so I laid a towel on some of the keys and marked them off limits.



Somebody made me a sign!  Please do this during the tour.  I need to know where ma' fans at.

Here We Go Again!

After many hours and days and weeks of rehearsals, we're ready to hit the road and perform our humongously entertaining show for you!

I've been packing all night; trying to cram 2 weeks' worth of clothes into a tiny weekender bag. Good idea, Mike. But eventually, I won. 

My computer is freshly upgraded (after I gutted the thing and replaced a couple parts... cause I'm too cheap to buy a new laptop), and all my gear has found a cozy home in my backpack.  I'm hoping to finish my new album on the road.

Flying out in the morning.

Portland, here we come!

Noah & Daddy Have Been Busy...

Driving:

Hanging out before the Teen Choice Awards:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Drawing:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Drumming:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Sleeping:


Playing a bit of keys:

(pic by Miley Cyrus)

And drumming some more:

The Sleepiest Baby on the Block

Noah is currently operating in safe mode. He will reboot in 60 seconds.

Coming Soon to a Town Near You!

Yes yes y'all! We're gearing up for an incredible Miley tour this fall, and as always I'll be blogging it all from the road like a nerdy little newsman.

I'm so excited about this tour. It's gonna be a blast! I'm going to do some things a bit differently this time though. For instance, this time I plan on:

-not coughing up a lung the whole friggin' time
-not getting violently hit by a car
-not being such a saaaad little emo boy
-not spending any time in Rochester

Hope to see you at a show. While you're waiting for the best night of your life, you may wanna brush up on the rules for attending a Miley concert.

"Today I'm OK" on The Real World

My happy bouncy sing-a-long, "Today I'm OK" is featured on the July 15 episode (tomorrow night) of MTV's The Real World. Should be on at 10pm, but check your local listings.

Bye Juice

It sure has been quiet here at It's All True recently. That's because I've been having a great time being a Dad!



You may have heard that we have a tour coming up this fall, and of course I'll continue to bring you my own brand of mildly snarky backstage commentary.

Watch this space.

Out & About with Noah

What we've been up to this week:

Watching Fountains

Climbing Fences (PopPop is holding him up)

Joining Gardening Parties

Watching a Concert

Bear McCreary and the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra!

Working on our Golf Swings

Wearing Daddy's Hats and Playing with Toys

Also, checking out the art fair, frolicking in the dog park, going to the market, and jumping around at the Under the Sea playground! A fun week.

Mike & Co. on Bellaziza's Favorite Things!

I'm so happy to announce that I am now writing for Bellaziza's Favorite Things, a blog all about life with a baby. Full of product recommendations, parenting advice and general wisdom with a very personal spin, it's a great place for me to talk candidly about my experience as a single dad.

Here's my introduction. Keep your eyes (and your bookmarks) on the site for more!

Very excited to be a part of such an awesome team.

Atlantis

The Bahamas trip was a nonstop party. The day before I left, I received the verdict that Noah would be coming to live with me, so despite the fact that I was on the island for a job, I decided to enjoy every second, and celebrate for the entirety of the trip, starting by appreciating the gorgeous view from the plane:

If you squint, through those clouds, you can see the coast down on the ground. And that coast was jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

My friend Ben flew out to bask in all the touristy glory of the resort on the man-made island. We spent our time reveling in the crystal-clear water, riding the big Mayan temple water slides:

Enjoying our crazy awesome view:

And just generally becoming beach bums. My favorite attraction in Atlantis was the Lazy River, which is an inner tube ride that loops all the way around the island. Most of it is slow and relaxing, and then you hit a series of rapids that buffets you out of your tranquility. Then back to the calm part. It was sort of like my divorce.

Oh yeah, we played a show. That's why we were there. It was rockin' and the audience was great.

Then more partying. More swimming. More eating. And home.

So You Think You Can Dance

I'm so excited to announce that my song, Wave Goodbye, will be featured on the June 3rd episode (tomorrow night!) of So You Think You Can Dance on FOX. It's Vegas callbacks night. Maybe somebody will get sent home to my tune. Or maybe they'll just dance gorgeously to it. Who knows? Set those Tivos!

Spoon Day

Cause I said so. That's why.

Enjoy.

Noah's General Order of Things

Go somewhere with and laugh hysterically:


Look at cool things till I get tired:


Pass out on Daddy:


Stay passed out in car:

(additional option): wake up magically in bed at home.

Animals & Instruments

Last week, we played the little piano:


the big banjo:


visited the puppies at the pound:


and fed some bunnies:

This Song Sounds Familiar...

Swine flu scare. Where have I heard that one before?

Idol Hands

Some footage from the American Idol soundcheck:

American Idol

We pretaped this one two weeks before it aired. You may have noticed the copious amounts of fog during the song, that disappeared instantly when the song ended. The rest of the show was filmed live.

As with all these kinds of shows, the room was much smaller than it looks on TV.


I got to play a real piano for a change!

Rabbi McSchmid

The hat I wore for rehearsal was provided by Dahlia, our wardrobe lady, who decided that I looked too Jewish, and not "rock" enough. So I wore a different one for the show.

See the Idol logo reflected on the piano? And speaking of the Idol logo, I noticed that it looks suspiciously like the logo of the show's sponsor, Ford. This is definitely not a coincidence:

Subliminal Messages

Outside the dressing trailer with Brandi Cyrus

During rehearsal, we sussed out where the cameras were, and pretended we were on TV, accepting our Grammy.

(L.to R.) Sara, Miley, me

This was clearly a waste of time, as we were just about to be on TV anyway.

All Eyes on Sheryl

Just received this pic of the Country Music Hall of Fame show. Here we are playing "If It Makes You Happy" with Sheryl Crow and Miley:

(L. to R.) Sheryl, Jaco, me, Miley

Tonight Show w Billy Ray

Only two weeks after doing the Tonight Show with Miley, we were back with Billy Ray. Felt like we never left.


This time we were indoors, which was much warmer.


The night's guests:

I had a nice conversation with Kristin after the show. What a sweet gal.

Jaco IS Neil Young

This was the last Tonight Show with Jay Leno we'll ever do, as Jay is done in June. But maybe someday we'll be on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien... I can only hope!

Cider Farm II: The Chickening

During my last visit to Washington, Noah and I returned to the cider farm. Only, this time, he knew the names of all the animals, instead of calling them all "puppy."



"More bunnies! Hi bunnies!"

Fun with Camera

Sometimes it's more fun to have a conversation through the lens of a camera.

Elevator Game

Noah really loved working the elevator at the hotel. He would say, "uh-gate-uh," and we would run down the hall, push the button, get in and go somewhere.

Except this time was different.

The Post-Premiere Nashville Bash

A couple hundred lucky superfans won tickets to the Nashville premiere of the Hannah Montana movie, and afterwards, they were bussed out to the Country Music Hall of Fame, where we put on a surprise concert of surprising awesomeness.

Here's the setlist:

You may have noticed some special guests. In addition to Billy Ray and Miley, we were joined by Sheryl Crow, Jeffrey Steel and Ed King.

Sheryl did a duet version of "Real Gone" (which she wrote) with Billy Ray, and we played her hit, "If It Makes You Happy", which was a total blast. Total pro, that one. Then we all rushed her for pictures:

L to R: Me, Sheryl, niece Ava

Sara, Sheryl, Carmel

Those are our new background singers, by the way.

We played Sweet Home Alabama with Ed King, the dude that wrote it. And after hearing countless awful bar bands play it, it was pretty mindblowing to hear his authentic version.

Jeffrey Steele has co-written several of Miley's tunes, including "Simple Song", which we played with him, and then we jammed on his song, "Hollywood Girl", which has been a favorite of Miley's since she was very little.

A lot of this stuff was put together at the last minute, so the band spent most of our day at the hotel, learning all these new songs. I actually kinda like it when they throw that kind of stuff at us.

After the show, I hung out with Mai, one of Miley's makeup people. I always love when Mai shows up. What a sweetheart.

Then we hopped on a plane and came home.