Well, it seems the rain has stopped but the humidity has arrived. I went for a walk down 7th avenue around 1pm and got a cup of coffee and read the paper. The streets are perfectly crowded with the hustle and bustle of Times Square New Yorkers walking in every direction. on the intersection of 6th ave. and 46th street is the NAKED COWBOY. This is a guy who wears nothing but a white pair of hands (tightly Whities) and cowboy boots and sings really bad country music. A real crowd pleaser…

Walked to the venue and spoke with our guitar tech, Michael Fornatale, who confirmed that the show had just sold out, all 1500 tickets! At $35 a pop, that’s nothing to sneeze at. Also, went into MANNY’S guitar shop yesterday with Chapple, Pete and Max (husband of violinist, Malin) and while those guys were guitar and bass wanking, I found a great deal on a boom stand ($16.99!) that I was prepared to buy at Sam Ash (in Hollywood) for $24.99, the sale price. So now I gotta fly this stand back with me to Los Angeles.

Well, after the coffee shop deal, I walked to a pub on 42nd street (the famous jazz area of the ’50’s) and watched the Texas Rangers play the Atlanta Braves in baseball and I swear, I have never seen such blind umpires in my life. The guy CLEARY threw a ball and the Ump called it a “Called third strike.” Now I know it ain’t easy umpiring a baseball game but whatever happened to continuity and consistency? As a serious baseball fan, I’d like to see some younger and better people behind the plate. And some women, for a change. I’m tired of these beer-belly bums sitting around collecting $130,000 a year trying to be celebrities. We owe it to the game, cause I love the game.

I saw my first Dodger game when I was 5 years old and I was in awe of the might these players have. My grandmother got me into baseball, as you was the biggest Dodger fan on the planet. She could sit in her rocking chair and call strikes and balls till the cows came home. And back then, a strike was a strike and a ball was a ball. But now MLB has decided to use a computer and a camera to determine how accurate the Umps are. HELLO? Just ask the fans! Get rid of the equipment and get some new blood on the field.

It’s almost 4pm on this Thursday and I have to head off to soundcheck now. But I have to say how happy I am to be playing with such a great and amazing bunch of musicians. It’s truly a testament of how important it is to try to be as good as possible at whatever it is you enjoy doing, because you will enjoy doing it that much more.

Mike Randle