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
Before I took off for Florida, I jaunted up to Seattle to see Noah for his first birthday.
I picked up my little rental sedan and drove straight from the airport to Noah's place. Nicole allowed me to try feeding him right away. Generally, he approved. I can't believe how much he's grown. Last time I saw him, he could only drink from a bottle. Now he's eating bananas, applesauce, cereal, and he can pick it up with his hands and put it in his mouth. I was delighted to see that he is still ridiculously adorable.
After that brief visit, it was bedtime for him, and I went to my wacky and inconsistent hotel, which had the hardest bed I can remember sleeping on. Basically a glorified floor. And not that glorified. Yet, it had a kitchen, with a full-size fridge, stove, microwave, etc. I couldn't figure it out.
My four day stay flew by, as Noah, Nicole, her friend Cortnie and I went to the farmers market, the local waterfall and to some strange nature parade, filled with costumed hippies posing as ostriches and multitudinous other creatures.
I discovered Noah's obsession with crackers:
"Ta Da!"
Played rollercoaster with his stroller (I promise he likes it), talked about current events (okay, not really), listened to music, and just generally bonded. What a special, amazing person he is. I love that little guy.
He opened his presents (with minor wrapping ripping assistance). My favorite thing that I got for him was a toy piano, which is a legitimate musical instrument. He really seems to love music, and has always been enthralled with the piano...or maybe I'm projecting. I have no desire to force him to do what I do, but if he enjoys the piano, I'm not gonna cry.
Some of you have mentioned that I haven't posted for a while. You are correct! Glad you're paying attention.
I've been busy and lacking internet access lately (excuses excuses). I jaunted up to Washington state to see my beautiful son Noah for his first birthday. Then I flew home for a couple days of rehearsal, and hopped back on a plane and traveled to Orlando, where I am now. We're filming the DC Games performance tomorrow. Pictures and a lengthy account of all of it to follow.
Until then, don't forget that you can scoot your lil' eyes over to the sidebar on the right -- where it says "mike on twitter" you can see my QuickBlog - what I've been up to at a glance (sometimes interrupted by a song lyric that feels particularly resonant or funny things I've overheard). And if six entries aren't enough for you, click "follow me on twitter" to see all of them. I love Twitter, and when I can't keep up with full-on blogging, I still Tweet regularly.
I realize I've been a little lax about blogging lately. But I have an excuse. My good buddy Ben Pedersen's birthday was this week. And I'm a firm believer in celebrating birthdays at length.
Day Before the Birthday
Ben and I were hanging out, watching a terrible old horror movie called "Popcorn," which I highly recommend to lovers of bad movies. The movie ended and it was 11pm. We were thinking of what to do next? Should we play a video game? Watch another movie?
It occurred to Ben that he only had one more hour in his twenties. So I asked him, "what's something crazy you've never done before?"
All he could think of was "streaking." "But," he said, "nobody would even care if I did that in L.A."
So I asked him, "is there a place you've always wanted to go, but never gone?"
He thought for awhile, and said, "The Bonaventure Hotel downtown has a revolving restaurant with a view of the whole city."
So we hopped in the car and drove downtown, hoping to get a drink in his hand by midnight.
The Starbucks in the lobby was pretty packed for late at night.
We took the elevator up to the 53rd floor.
Ben got a drink just in time, and we celebrated the 30 year milestone in style, spinning around L.A. At this point, I was actually pretty sick, and was feeling a little spacy and weightless, so the fact that we were spinning (albeit at a slow speed) made me feel much more drunk than Ben. Day of the Birthday
Ben invited several of his closest friends to the Gaucho Grill in Brentwood. It was wonderful to catch up with people he and I both haven't seen in ages.
He introduced me to Moe and Starla, with whom he's currently working on the film "Deadland Dreaming." He knew that Moe was Mr. Hollywood Film and that I am Mr. Indie Film. He knew that worlds would collide. He knew that we're both opinionated people.
But he didn't know what he was getting into.
Ben was hoping we would just talk about Oscar politics. Instead, we got into a big discussion about "I Am Legend," "Crash," and "Gladiator," all movies I don't really like, but Moe loves. Granted, no punches were thrown, and it wasn't really even heated, but Ben was really hoping we would talk about anything other than "Crash" (sensitive subject). Hey, I didn't bring it up.
After the meal, we had a last late night round of drinks at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey.
L. to R. - Josh Lai, Ryan Linehan, Ben, me, Jan Stolpe, Andrea Stolpe
Day After the Birthday
I had set up a big surprise evening for Ben. All I told him was that he had to bring a photo ID, he couldn't wear flip flops, a hat, or light colors, and that it was a very exclusive invitation-only event.
He was very curious.
We drove downtown, and he was narrowing things down. "It's probably not a movie if it's downtown...", etc. We got into a line outside of a cathedral. I told the people in front of and behind us in the line not to say anything about what we were seeing.
Then we waited out in the cold for nearly an hour. That part...not so great.
We got into the cathedral, and Ben could see cameras on big cranes, and of course, the big Grey-Goose-Vodka-sponsored bar. I told him, "We might end up on film." Now he was really confused.
I bumped into my friend Bobby, AKA incredible singer/songwriter Big Phony. Small world. I also saw G4 host and writer for Film Threat, Chris Gore.
After another hour of waiting in the bar, they herded us into the main hall of the cathedral, which was all lit up with orange and green lights, with a marquee over the top that said "Artists' Den."
Ben was still in the dark. And I was amazed that no one had ruined the surprise yet.
And out came Aimee Mann. Ben was thrilled. She performed about five or six songs from her upcoming album, "Smilers," which is due out in April. Great stuff. And she also played "You're With Stupid Now," "Amateur," "Goodbye Caroline," "Save Me," "Wise Up," and "Today's The Day."
She had a little bit of a cold, and had to stop in the middle of a song a couple times. This made me feel a little better. If Aimee could do it, than I wouldn't feel so bad at my show if I had to stop.
It was a brilliant night, and Ben was completely surprised. They were filming it for the new Artists' Den show on the Ovation network, which debuted that same night with a Crowded House episode. The Aimee Mann episode will premiere March 23rd. Look for us in the audience.
Previously, my parents and all of my Mom's sisters joined the tour in Vegas. My Aunt Nancy actually lives in Phoenix. So the sisters all flew back with Nancy, and now that the tour has come here to Arizona, they decided to take me out to dinner.
My parents took me over to Nancy's penthouse, which happens to be in the same building as Senator John McCain. He lives a floor below her.
When we got there, the plans had changed. They prepared a lovely spread of healthy yummies.
L to R: Aunt Elsie and Aunt Nancy
They busted out some sparkling cider, which we drank out of the largest flutes ever created:
I was then told that this was all for me! For my birthday. Belated. They had been planning it all along. They brought out all my favorite foods, concluding with boston cream cake that said "Happy Birthday Mike!"
They gave me the best birthday gifts EVER:
You really can't go wrong with that! They knew I wanted the Rock Band bundle, but of course the box is humongous and impossible to get back to LA, so this is much better.
I was really quite surprised and delighted and many many thanks to my family for the clandestine plotting and devious scheming. I loved it.
L to R: Aunt Jessie, Mom, Aunt Ivy, me, Aunt Elsie, Aunt Nancy
The previous evening, I had given my hotel room key to my good friend, Ben Pedersen, so he could meet me to celebrate my birthday. After the performance with Miley, I left the ABC building and booked it back to the hotel room to find Ben watching the Jonas Brothers Rockin' Eve performance. It was pretty strange to see, on national TV, the place where I was only moments earlier.
We contemplated leaving the hotel and heading back to Times Square for the big ball drop ceremony, but it sounded like so much trouble, considering the massive crowds, the cold weather and the fact that we had a nice warm room with the very same thing on TV. Yes, we felt a little bit lame watching a broadcast from only a block away, but we were okay with lame.
Around 11pm I noticed that I was completely famished. And I had quite a hankering for some birthday cake. But we couldn't leave before the ball drop! So we waited.
Big countdown. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Happy New Year!!!! Now let's get something to eat.
We thought maybe the bar downstairs would be open. Nope. Closed at twelve. So we ventured outside and down the street. It looked like a confetti factory exploded out there.
Times Square was total anarchy. There were policeman everywhere, "trying to keep order." Really though, they were doing the opposite. We saw an open-looking Planet Hollywood a block away, and headed that direction, following the rest of the crowd down the sidewalk, when we were stopped by a cop who said we couldn't go that way. I replied, "The people in front of us just did." To which he cryptically replied, "Exit only." How that applied to this, I have no idea. He said we had to go the other direction. So we did.
Only to be stopped by another cop saying, "You can't go this direction." And he pointed to where we just came from. I told him, "That guy just told us we had to go this way." To which he replied, "Exit only."
Okay whatever. So Times Square was out. Those people are crazy, and clearly have a strong desire to assert random unhelpful power.
So we started walking a different direction and noticed that almost every restaurant was closed. At this point, it was past 1am -- but STILL -- this is New York City! It never sleeps! Right? Apparently not true for New Year's Eve, which is the one night of the year they definitely should be open late. There were a couple places that were open, but only for private parties.
We found one cafe that was open and decided to try our luck. Our luck was not good. All the food looked really old and crusty. This was the place where all mediocre food goes to die. The Cafe of Broken Dreams. Oh, and there was no cake to be found.
After barely eating all day, playing an intense gig, and then walking for a couple hours, I was getting lightheaded. So I grabbed some yogurt. I was just reading about the health benefits of yogurt. And they said that plain is better for you. So I opted for plain yogurt.
I know I was hungry, but it tasted like paste from the dumpster. I ate a little, almost gagged, made myself eat some more, almost really gagged, and tossed it into an overflowing garbage can on the street.
We were feeling ragged and frustrated that we couldn't find one place in all of NYC that was open (other than the Cafe of Broken Dreams).
And then we saw it in the distance. Two blocks away. Golden arches.
Ben felt really bad about me eating McDonald's for my birthday dinner, but we really were out of options. I said, "At this point, I don't care. I'm just starving and feel like I'm gonna fall over." So we followed that golden beacon. When we arrived we saw that the entire restaurant was packed...but like, packed in a sardine kind of way that I've never seen in a McDonald's before. While I was okay with eating there for my birthday, I was not okay with waiting in line a half-hour for a stomach ache on my birthday.
So we thought, the only other option is to head back to the hotel and get room service, even though we knew the Mansfield was going to charge an arm, a leg, and two eyeballs for a piece of cheese. But at this point, a few body parts swapped for an hors d'oeuvre sounded like a logical choice.
I hated the idea that we left the cozy hotel room at midnight, wandered around for nearly two hours, withered, died, and returned to the room with nothing. But that's what we did.
When we got back, I was just about to pick up the phone for room service, when it occurred to Ben. "This is New York City! DELIVERY!" So we spent about fifteen minutes looking at places online, found a bunch of tasty restaurants and called them. Every single one was closed for New Year's Eve.
So, around 3am, I ordered room service. I'll miss my arm, my leg and my eyes, but we got some extremely delicious sandwiches, and the one thing I really wanted: Cinnabon Cheesecake.
Maybe this night sounds a little like a drag, but trust me, when you do this with Ben Pedersen, it adds up to one of the best birthdays ever.
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.
I've finally got the details for Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve tonight (strangely hosted by Ryan Seacrest). We're on at 10:10pm Eastern on ABC. We're playing "Start All Over" and "GNO (Girls' Night Out)."
Hopefully you'll put us on in the background of your party. Otherwise TiVo us and go dance the night away!
Apologies for the lack of new blog content lately. I've been extremely busy and having a great time in NYC the last few days. You'll hear all about it when I'm bored in Cleveland tomorrow.
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:
Real Me on Fake Ride with Fake Miley
L to R: Mike, Jaco, Billy Ray, the Kay Hanley Mime
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