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?

Miscellany

Samantha interviewed Jonathan Coulton for our TV show. I'm a huge fan, so of course I was completely flipping out. During the interview, she had him call me to ask which song he should play on the show. I missed the call (I was in Georgetown, trying to get some sleep), but Jonathan left a message. I'm still bummed about missing it.

Anyway, when I got to LA, she gave me the Best Gift Ever:


Here's a sign from a Wendy's bathroom near Cal Poly. The very definition of irony.


Miley's teacher, Linda, has accidentally become my movie buddy. I went to see "Charlie Wilson's War" in Cleveland, and she was there for the same movie at the same time. So we watched it together. Fun! Then again in Georgetown, when I went to see "There Will Be Blood," we ended up at the same showing. I look forward to accidentally seeing something with her again soon. Here she is with my Mom at the Vegas show:


Billy Ray played with us at Vegas show #1. We love working with him. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met.

L to R: Miley, Billy Ray and Brandi Cyrus

The band says I have the largest family in the world. Nearly every show I've had some family showing up. Pictured here is our big ol' Vegas reunion:

L to R: Mom, me, Aunt Elsie, Dad, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Ivy and Aunt Jessie

Leaving the Lights Behind

We just finished a wonderful three-day run in Vegas. The longest run we've had on the tour. It was nice to stay in one place for awhile.

So what happened while we were in Vegas:

1. Stacy got a bronchial infection. Currently coughing up neon green.
2. Kay passed out and hit her head really hard on the floor. Freaked us all out.
   
3. Almost all my aunts were in town, as were my sweet parents. Family reunion!
   
4. All the Hollywood Records and Disney execs came to show #1. Scary. We were told to bring our "A" game. So we did.
   
5. John Mayer came to show #2. Cool.
   
6. Johnny Depp came to show #3. Very cool.
   
7. We spent a night clubhopping, as Cowboy the rigger got us an amazing VIP booth at Moon and VIP treatment at some other clubs as well, and Jamie complained (in an entertaining way) the entire night.
8. We had a big jam session in the desert, at drum tech Benoit's house, funking out with Aly and AJ's band. Dancers on drums, guitarists on bongos. A very fun mess.
   

And now we're on the bus, trekking to Phoenix for a day off. Sweet sleep, how I've missed you.

A Wonderful No-Frills Christmas

This was a different kind of Christmas. A wonderful no-frills Christmas.

My Mom had just recently gotten out of the hospital after a difficult surgery (she's recovering quite well), so my parents hadn't any time to prepare for the holidays. And being on tour, I hadn't any time to shop either. So on the night of the 23rd, we hit one shop-filled strip and did all our shopping in a couple hours.

We decided to celebrate Christmas on the 24th, since I had such a short time at home, we thought why not spend less time on the anticipation and more time on the celebration? We also decided that wrapping presents was a waste of our precious time, so we put the gifts in previously-used Christmas bags and boxes, and put them under our cute little purple tree (my Mom's name and favorite color are both Violet).

Then our neighbor Susie delivered a boysenberry pie that she baked. My Dad thought we should make that my birthday pie, so he cut up a straw and put the pieces in for candles:

Of course we didn't light them on fire cause who likes to eat melted plastic?

On the 24th, we opened our presents by the purple tree.

We followed that up by doing a little more Christmas shopping, but not very much. Then we returned home and played with our new gifts, which meant much playing of Portal on The Orange Box (the cake is a lie!).

Also, the house was fairly dirty, as I've been gone for awhile, and my sweet parents swooped in (as they do) and made everything nice:

On the 25th, we celebrated my parents' birthdays, which were back in October, by eating yummy Italian food and seeing "Enchanted," which is much better than you might think (quite fantastic, actually).

Also, there was much more playing of Portal on The Orange Box. Delicious.

I flew back to New York after my short three-day break feeling quite rejuvenated. We're staying at a very old hotel with some very strange quirks. Today I turned on the shower and was greeted by brown water. Ahh, New York.

A Strange Pictorial

Some hilarious photos of our Thanksgiving evening can be seen here, courtesy of Samantha.

A Night In Nashville

The Nashville show went really well:

My family picked the perfect one to see, as it was Miley's birthday, and during the second set we played Happy Birthday and brought out a cake.

A great time was had by all:

I gave my camera to my Mom, and she and my sister took some awesome pictures, like this one:
And Miley was happy with me, cause I gave her a Beanie Baby and a card that plays "I Got Nerve," so she visited Schmid Island during the show:

Inlaws and Dead Plated Animals

I called up my brother- and sister-in-law Chad and Julie and had dinner with them. We had a great time, and did our best to avoid the big divorced elephant in the room.

Julie ordered crawfish, but couldn't bring herself to eat it.

Could it be because it was staring up at her? Or was it because its underside looked like this?:


Probably both.