Well, yesterday the heat was unbearable-about 94f- and even a little humid, which is strange for Los Angeles (and its Mediterranean-like weather). But it was Dave Chapple’s birthday and he was having a BBQ so, as much as I wanted to stay home and watch the ballgame I knew it would be more fun on his side of town, and it was.

It’s good to see the guys again (gee, it had been a whole week!) having beers and chuckling about the tour we’d just finished in the UK (and Spain.) Chapple had made some delicious Sangria and was BBQ’ing loads of chicken, corn and just a bunch of stuff. A lot of old friends showed up and after the party was in full swing for about 2 hours Mr. Lee himself waltzed in and hung out for a spell. He and I talked about some upcoming shows-how he wants to do a couple of LA shows before we go off to Cantebury, and we talked about the Lakers-how you might as well fit them for Championship rings for the 2004 season, now that they added The MAILMAN and the GLOVE. It’s over. And I know I am gonna get all this mail about me jumping the gun but hey, when you’re right you’re right!

Well, it’s 8:30am on a Sunday and it’s bloody hot already! I am getting together with keyboardist, Morley Barnoff, for our show wed at the Knitting factory. Speaking of which, in the “scoring the clubs” section of the LA WEEKLY, they list the show and , right before my name it says:…and Arthur Lee Ax-man, Mike Randle at the Knitting factory. I tore the page out! Tacky, huh? So what! I was really proud. Now, I only hope the show goes well (butterflies swirling in me stomach)…but I am getting with Morley to go over some stuff before the rest of the guys and I get together on Monday. Also, we added a percussionist/backing vocalist, Nelson Bragg, a multi-talented buggar from Boston. Should be fun. Happy birthday, C-H to-the Apple.

Mike Randle