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
Pete Wentz hosts a video premiere/live performance show for MTV on Friday Nights, called FNMTV (pretty clever right? Oh, "not so much?" OK). It's nice that MTV is actually playing music again, though.
We performed "7 Things" and "Fly On The Wall." It was a live broadcast, so it involved lots of pre-scrambling and then a quick blast of show, and then the inevitable let-down afterwards.
Teresa the choreographer. She tells the dancers to jump, and they say "How high?"
My super-new, super-awesome rig, courtesy of Roland
Nate on a perch.
SuperFreakVashon attempts to protect his secret identity, while Kay and Nadia nurse inner ear infections.
I realize I'm a bit behind on the blogging. Life just barrels onward, and I can't seem to catch my breath. Having a great time though.
So, a couple weeks ago we played The Today Show (which along with The Tonight Show, completes the set for us, I suppose). The concert took place smack dab in the middle of Rockefeller Square, with approximately 12,000 people shoehorned in there, which was sort of like dropping the entire Pacific ocean into a drinking glass.
I got to play with the brand new, delicious keyboards that Roland supplied me with, in exchange for my Miley-related face. They're much easier to play than my old keyboards, with the added benefit of making Schmid Island look like a totally pro vacation destination.
Mike - stunned by the keyboard greatness. Nate - bored behind his drumset.
This was another whirlwind trip for us. We got in late at night, and the morning of the show, we had to soundcheck at 5am. Miley only got a few hours of sleep, but of course she was still brilliant. And of course, so were we. That's what we get paid for. The complaining is a free bonus (I like to call it "added value").
In the dressing room, they had a big spread of donuts, fruit and sandwiches. So of course, I had three donuts. When the show began, I had a stomach ache (what am I, five? "Mikey can't resist the candy", eh?).
Jaco is constantly asking me to take his picture
But this time he returned the favor. I'm apparently ready to fake pounce, or something.
Nate and I became fast friends. If you happen to have the show Tivo'd, you can see at the beginning of Miley's dressing room interview, Nate and I are sitting on the couch behind her, having some fun with his iPhone. He had installed the Magic 8-Ball application and we were asking it some questions (at the most inappropriate possible time). First, "will we be a complete trainwreck on stage?" It's answer: "Of course!" Second, Nate asked, "will I be responsible for this?" The ball replied, "Absolutely not." So Nate was off scot-free, but who was going to ruin the show?
We went back out to the stage and played our faces off. It was a pretty typical show: Kay and Nadia shook their little booties, I held down the Island, Nate banged on some stuff, Jamie and Jaco got way too much camera time, Vashon intimidated little girls, Stacy looked on with a broken arm and a tear in his eye, and Miley belted like the charismatic little rockstar she is.
Turns out the only thing that went wrong is that the host didn't know we were playing another song, and tried to throw to commercial. But really, 8-Ball -- "train wreck?" That may be pushing it.
Before the flight home, Nate bought me a book of Sudoku, as we were talking about how I didn't understand the mass cultural fascination with it. Of course, I also thought it was about math, and we all know how I run screaming in the other direction when confronted with simple addition. Nate explained that there is no math involved, and that even a total knob-monkey like myself could understand it. I was addicted within five minutes, and spent a good part of my return flight filling in puzzles. The rest of the time was spent watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on my iPod, attempting to sleep with my head rolling from side to side, and holding those Terra Blue chips up to the light to admire the special pearlescent chemical compound that I probably shouldn't be eating.
So the giant machine that is the Miley Cyrus production invaded Bryant Park, and New York City did not know what hit it. Thousands and thousands of young girls and their moms (I think there may have been two or three young boys) piled in, filled up the park and then continued to spill up and down the adjacent streets.
Call time was 6:30am (after rehearsing the night before), so we all yawned our way through the van ride, but by the time we ambled on stage and heard all the kids screaming for Miley, their boundless enthusiasm psyched us all up for sound check.
Isn't that THE Kay Hanley?
Running through a couple songs before the show
Checkin' the mix, checkin' the mix... Sibilance? Sibilance?
Jacozilla takes on New York
After the GMA fashion show, the weather, and some stupidity about "staycations" (and we waited on stage during all of this), we finally got around to Miley's segment. As always, she came out like the little pro she is and knocked the interview and concert right out of the park. She's just always on, even ridiculously early in the morning.
Hot people and their hot moves
Some girl came up and did karaoke with us
It went very smoothly. And once again, I was barely on camera for five seconds. Schmid Island is an exotic destination; most cameramen are not up for the trip. They like to stick to the safe zones, namely Jacotown and Jamieland.
The whole show was done by about 9:30am, when we should still have been in our beds, sleeping like the west coast slacker musicians we are.
Then Nadia and I walked, like, 87 blocks for some bagels.
Ah, Utah: state that I never planned to visit. First we filmed our big 3D movie in Salt Lake City, and now we were performing at the Stadium of Fire 4th of July Spectacular in Provo. What a unique place. The state slogan is "Home of Mormons and Meth Labs."
Upon arrival we were greeted by the strangest street fair I've ever seen. For sale: BBQ chicken, Miley Cyrus paintings, marshmallow cannons, Mormon prophet dolls (he recites scripture when you push him!), all manner of pyrotechnics, swords and katanas, and a variety of BB guns. Jaco was eyeing the BB shotgun with laser sight - only $5!
Provo is home to a large amount of ethnic restaurants. Stacy was sure that most of them were terrible. Wandering for nearly an hour, looking in windows for any sign of authenticity, the whole band eventually decided to eschew the Mexican, Italian, and blah blah blah places, and went for the yummy smelling Indian place. It was a surprisingly tasty meal. We all left stuffed.
Afterwards, I walked around town with Nadia, the new background singer. Candice has left us, and Nadia came in to take her place. I had a nice long talk with her about life, love, god, etc. A good night.
The next day, we arrived at the stadium... OF FIRE! --(Sidenote: every time I heard the words "Stadium of Fire," I also heard a big 80's drum fill and some squealing guitars accompanying an "Eye of the Tiger"-like vocalist. STADIUM OF FIIIIIIIRE! It's EXXXXTREEEEEEME! MONSTERRRR TRUUUUUUCKS!)-- I digress.
We came. We soundchecked. We conquered.
We also tested out some giant columns -- OF FIRE.
Jamie refreshed Miley's memory on the chord progression for "I Miss You."
Some of you have also noticed that Stacy wasn't there. Well, he actually was there, just not on stage. He broke his arm playing softball, and has to sit out for six weeks. But he's still the Musical Director, and still bosses us all around. His replacement is an awesome guy named Nate, who previously played on that Rockstar TV show.
The big (drum fill) STADIUM OF FIIIIIIRE!!!!! show equaled the weirdness of the previous day's street fair. It was hosted by right-wingnut, Glen Beck, and included a performance by Blue Man Group.
Much fanfair.
Much FIIIIIIIRE!
Some flags
And fighter jet flyovers
Close call
The best part though -- during the show, the words "Stadium of Fire" came up on a screen all fiery (of course!), and then my dream came true. Out from the speakers came a huge 80's drum fill, and nearly note for note, the beautiful symphony of cheese, exactly as I heard it in my head (minus the "MONSTERRRRRR TRUUUUUUCKS!" part). I laughed for nearly a half-hour after that.
Speaking of fire, check out the hotness (L to R: Kay, Nadia)
At one point, 1300 dancers filled the field and acted out all the sports of the summer Olympics in 7 minutes.
Why? Umm, dunno. Just seemed like a good idea at the time.
I'm back. I've been in the cave of The Samantha Murphy Show. I'm proud to say we all emerged with 7 days of awesome shows from South By Southwest. I hope you've all checked out the show (go to smtvmusic.com if you haven't yet seen me make a complete fool out of myself on camera).
Just before SXSW, the Miley/Hannah crew reunited in Houston for the livestock and rodeo show. It's was a much bigger deal than most of us expected. There were big music acts every night, and we were the only one that sold out. That was exciting, but on top of that Kay was super-psyched to see the cowboys do what they do.
We arrived all groggy around 10am at the venue, which was all dirt. Nobody wore the right shoes. A massive stage sat in the center.
We soundchecked for awhile, then decided to run the entire show. The stage was much smaller than we were used to, so the choreography needed to be adjusted.
We were told that the stage would be turning as we performed, so that everybody in the arena could see us. But we were assured that it would turn quite slowly.
This was not really so true. As we ran the show for two hours on empty stomachs, we noticed that the speed of the rotation was a bit undersold to us. It was actually kinda fast.
Also, the stage could only make three full rotations, because of cabling. Then with a lurch, it would spin in the opposite direction. Which of course meant that every minute or so, all the dancers would nearly get knocked to the ground. Fun! And I was kinda sick. A little nauseous.
To celebrate our quease, Candice, Jaco and I spent our couple hours off enjoying the carnival rides. We also checked out the freaks and the farm animals:
The rodeo started at precisely 3:46pm. I don't know why. They run that thing like clockwork. We gathered out front to see all the calf-roping action up close. Kay quickly became disenfranchised by the violence of the act.
At 6:22pm exactly, they drove us out to the show in little golf carts, and the whirlwind began.
And just as quickly as it began, it was over. Miley and Billy Ray left the stage in a clearly marked Ford Mustang convertible, which we all thought was hilariously cheesy. I'm sure Miley an Billy Ray would agree.
Our sold-out show broke the rodeo's attendance record, which was previously held by last year's Hannah Montana/Cheetah Girls show. 73,000 cowboys and little cowgirls were present.
Well, as you all know, I got sick again near the end of the tour. In continuing the perfect symmetry with the beginning of the tour, this sick has blown into a full-fledged sinus infection, just like it did before.
I've been getting increasingly sick this week, and it all came to a head last night when I woke around 3am and had to go the bathroom, and I blacked out. But it happened very slowly so I was able to put myself on the floor before I fell on the floor. No Kay Hanley incident here.
Anyway, after completely losing my voice, I was getting nervous that I wasn't going to be able to sing at my show this Friday, so I called my doctor and got some antibiotics prescribed. Hopefully, we'll get this thing knocked out in the next two days. I already feel quite a bit better.
The moral of the story: sometimes, drugs are awesome.
During the show, Hannah, Candice and Kay work the crowd into a frenzy. Well technically, they were already in a frenzy, but it's fun to help it along a bit.
The karaoke ended quickly when the DJ had to go home. But not before Kay jauntily sang "This Thing Called Love," and Candice expertly belted "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." The DJ took one look at Kay and referred to her from then on as Hannah Montana. Little did she know how close she was.
We had a nice last supper. Our flights leave early in the morning. We're all flying back to LA together, except for Vashon, who will be flying to New York to join the band for The Lion King on Broadway.
But we'll all see each other in a month for the rodeo in Houston.
Last night was the "little party at Candice's." Or at least that's how she presented it. We were picked up at the hotel by a big stretch Hummer limo, complete with an indoor laser show. When we arrived at the gorgeous Accola compound, we enjoyed an elaborate spread of quail, conch fritters, fondue and fried turky, which is super delicious. I made a playlist (for this very occasion) and tried to include something for everyone, which meant some Posies and Nirvana for the band, some Amy Winehouse for the dancers, and a little Neil Finn for myself.
It was quite the happening event. Lots of toasted marshmallows and toasted crew members.
Thank you, dear readers, for inquiring about our health.
Miley definitely had a rough time last night. She was feeling very sick and actually left the stage at one point. We weren't sure what to do, cause this show runs like clockwork, but that's why we have a Musical Director. Stacy was on the ball and told us to go into "Right Here," so we vamped and goofed around for about three minutes till Miley came back. Candice busted out some genius phrases along the lines of "let's make some noise for Miley to come back out!" A stagehand pulled out a bench for Miley and she performed "Right Here" sitting down. It ended up being quite poignant, and we all had fun being spontaneous for a change.
I hear Miley's doing quite a bit better today. She went with a bunch of the dancers to Disney World and had a little adventure. Sounded cool. They got to go in the back entrances of the rides, and were allowed to ride them twice in a row if they wanted. And they had a van drive them to each ride. That is the way to do Disney World.
Kay is much improved today. She looks like herself again. Stacy seems fully recovered. Me, not so much. I feel like I got hit by a truck with spikes on its wheels. But I still had a great time at Candice's barbecue. I'll tell you more about that later.
You guys asked for more video, and how could I deny you?
Occasionally during soundcheck, we like to change it up. Stacy pulls an American Hi Fi and becomes lead-singer guy, Jamie puts down his guitar and plays drums and we all join in playing some random tune.
So that was that. Aly and AJ are gone. Everlife has joined us. We were definitely saddened to say goodbye to A&A's band. They were very nice guys and we were just getting to know them. Notice I only mention the band. It's not that A&A were mean, they just barely said one word to any of us. Whatever.
Everlife all seem to be genuine, sweet and kind people. We're looking forward to our tiny sliver of time with them.
We played Austin last night and Lafayette tonight. Now we're in New Orleans. And it's Mardi Gras! But we've all gotten sick again, so we won't be going out.
Yes, it's true. Stacy is still getting better, but Kay came down with a nasty flu within the last day or so, and now Jaco and I are feeling extremely blecchy.
But it's actually kind of great. Poetic. We were sick at the beginning, we're sick at the end. Oh, how I DO like symmetry.
Okay, the clip below requires a tiny bit of setup.
Jaco likes to look at himself. He loves to have his picture taken. He also loves to then make that picture his desktop wallpaper, his phone background, and probably he would tape some photos of himself to the walls in his bunk if he could. During the show, he spends quite a bit of time checking himself out on the JumboTron.
Also, he loves to hear himself. I think his guitar has been creeping up in volume throughout the months.
The other day at soundcheck, Jaco was given a present, which also included some helpful instructions...
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:
Stacy got a bronchial infection. Currently coughing up neon green.
Kay passed out and hit her head really hard on the floor. Freaked us all out.
Almost all my aunts were in town, as were my sweet parents. Family reunion!
All the Hollywood Records and Disney execs came to show #1. Scary. We were told to bring our "A" game. So we did.
John Mayer came to show #2. Cool.
Johnny Depp came to show #3. Very cool.
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.
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.
New Years Eve was certainly the most bizarre birthday I've ever had. I woke up around noon (this part was pretty normal, unfortunately) and did the daily food scavenge. Didn't find much in the minibar. So I went back to Cafe Europa, where I had breakfast with Jae and Robin the previous day. "Stick with the safe choice!" That's what I always say. Who cares if you're in a city filled with a multitude of delicious options?
Then I celebrated my birthday by going to the Sprint store and activating my brand new (to me) Treo. Very exciting. While I was in a celebratory mood, I decided to swing by Best Buy on the way back to the hotel to pick up a Spoon record I really wanted. As a present to myself. I went in and found the CD immediately. And then I looked up and realized that Best Buy + NYC + New Year's Eve = NO. The line stretched all the way through the store and out the front door. So I put it down and left.
Later, we all hopped in the van (minus Candice and Kay who unfortunately were replaced by dancers for the day, as there wasn't going to be much room on our tiny rooftop stage). Luckily, Times Square was only three blocks from our hotel, so even with traffic we anticipated a short ride. Unluckily, the police re-routed us at every intersection in some cruel display of misplaced power. It took us almost 45 minutes to get there. Stacy and I thought we should just get out and walk, but for some reason, nobody seemed to want to. This was absurd.
We showed our top-secret Dick Clark passes and were ushered into the ABC building into a tiny room that (strangely enough) had a washer and dryer in it. This was our dressing room.
They brought in some Virgil's Barbecue, but I didn't really like it. Despite everyone saying it was some world-class restaurant, nobody really enjoyed the food in front of us.
Around 5pm, they escorted us all up to the roof for a sound check. It was freezing up there.
The dancers quickly cobbled together a routine, adapted for the tiny stage. We were all very impressed with them.
(R-L: Christina Glur and Ashlee Nino)
To our right, we could see that a massive crowd had already gathered in Times Square. However, we weren't performing to them. Though it looks, on TV, like we're facing the crowd, this is what was directly in front of us:
A lot of people, equipment, and (oddly enough) a UFC billboard owned by CBS. (Why was this on top of the ABC building?)
Stacy began arranging his kit, Jaco was playing with his amp, and I was setting up my keyboard, when BAM, they just started the ProTools tracks and we had to go go go. Nobody even told us we were playing yet and off we went.
Everybody felt frazzled but we got it together quickly. By the time the song ended, we weren't sure if we'd just done a rehearsal or a pre-tape. I think it was both. We did it one more time and then headed back downstairs to the warmth of the Barbecue Laundry Room.
Jack then notified us that we had five hours till the show. Great. Let's go explore! Except, ABC + NYC + New Year's Eve = NO. We weren't allowed to leave the building. The whole place was on lockdown. Nobody really brought anything to do. Except Jamie. He had a deck of cards.
So this is what the next five hours looked like:
Notice, behind Jack is Times Square. We had a great view of all the people wearing their red hats (sponsored by Pontiac!) and the acts performing. We had a TV in the room with a feed of what was going on outside. So we could watch Carrie Underwood on TV and hear the bass and the crowd screaming from outside, and poke our head out the window and looky -- there's Carrie Underwood!
Mostly though we just played cards.
At precisely 9:50pm, we were hurried back up to the roof. Tiffany gave us heating pads to stuff into our clothes. I had previously bought some cut-off gloves from H&M, and I quickly stuffed the pads into the palms. I thought I'd leave my coat behind since we were only playing two songs and I wasn't going to wear it during the broadcast (who wants to look like a puffy porpoise on national TV?).
Little did I know we'd be standing there for a full 20 minutes before we played.
As I froze my bony booty off, I enjoyed this view of the revelers:
The revelers happened to be reveling without any alcohol this year, as Times Square is dry for New Year's. They still seemed totally drunk.
We got a 10 minute warning. Then 5. Then 2 minutes. We were all waiting for the 5-4-3-2 countdown before we start playing.
It didn't come. BANG! The ProTools started again. WHAT!? We all just ran with it. Live television, ladies and germs! When you watch it, you might be able to notice that we're all a little surprised at the beginning.
Needless to say, Miley was great. She was energetic and a total pro in the arctic weather. She's a little 15-year-old powerhouse.
My fingers were frozen, and I had a painful hangnail on my thumb which I had to slam all over the keyboard. None of this felt good.
But what a thrill it was to look to the right and see us playing on all the Jumbotrons in Times Square.
And then as quickly as it began, it was over.
Here it is, as seen on TV (only grainier):
Then we all practically ran out of that building.
But the night wasn't over yet. Part Two coming soon.
We played a fairly sober show in Hartford, Connecticut. Jaime, Stacy and Kay demanded Pepe's Pizza, cause I don't know, it brough back fuzzy memories or something. So it ended up on our bus after the show. And it was a good dinner.
And a mediocre breakfast. And a sketchy dinner the next day. Honestly, we'll probably eat it today too. I think it's coming to the end of its lifespan. There sure was a lot of it, though.
Last night we played a rip-roaring rambunctious show in Providence, Rhode Island. That audience was crazy. They even stomped their feet for the encore.
Now we've just got a show tonight and tomorrow night in Worcester (hooray for staying in the same place for two nights! Yay! I can almost move in!), and then we're all flying to our families for a brief (3 day) Christmas break.
At the show in Hartford, Kay was visited by some friends from the Boston Globe. They wrote a fun behind-the-scenes article about Ms. Hanley's pre-show preparations. You can read it here. It's all about The Hair.
Real Me on Fake Ride with Fake Miley
L to R: Mike, Jaco, Billy Ray, the Kay Hanley Mime
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