I awoke this morning at about 9 am after having a right lie in to find a funny email from The Freedom Man. There were questions as to whether or not the Diaries were ever going to happen again. I hadn’t even given it thought, figuring people were tired of them! I must add that the experience from last summer’s tour found me in debt up to my chin. Were it not for a few incredibly wonderful and generous friends/fans I would have been in a very bad way. Even small loans can make a big difference. I wasn’t embarrassed to accept them. On the contrary, I felt blessed to have such caring people around me. But then again, I ALWAYS felt that in every city I’ve ever stepped foot in. LOVE fans are one of a kind and are the best going. They just want to hear the music they love played well and played with passion. I hope they always have nothing less.

My life has never really been much different than anyone else’s except I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on buses and planes and in hotels. Oh yeah, and playing guitar for thousands of people. That responsibility isn’t just to plug in and play but it’s to absolutely make every friggin penny worth it to the folks that shell out the hard-earned dosh and take those cold trains late at night. The relationship we’ve had with fans transcends artist/supporter and hovers in the “family” sense. No matter who plays the music, I hope they always remain true to it and never take the Love supporters for granted. And if they do, they’ll always have me as a fan. Now enough of the serious stuffs!

This morning I did my usual ritual of coffee at the Coffee Bean on main street and of course the lovers were walking their dogs and drinking coffee or else taling on their blue tooths and drinking coffee or else working on their scripts and drinking coffee. Point is, NOBODY drinks tea here. it’s all about the coffee. Now, I drink PG TIPS when i’m home and especially when Hannah’s here. But lately it’s been about the coffee in our all-too-rare LA WINTER of 49F mornings!

Speaking of Hannah, her Visa ought to have it’s stamp at the end of next month and them there will be no stopping her. She’ll be on main street, on melrose, in venice…S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G! It’s enought to make a man faint. And come July, after we’re married, i’ll have twice as much trouble. The queen of shopping herself, Hannah’s Mum, will be in Los Angeles and all I can say is …help! But all in all, i’m as happy as a pea in a pod. I’ll be getting my wonderful gal and marrying into one great family. Both her Dad and her older brother are very good guitarist. And she herself is quite the good piano player. So possibly so sort of jam session is in order. Oh, and Hannah’s a good basketball player (her Dad teaches basketball.) So we are going to run some of the plays the Lakers can’t seem to turn out properly; like the ‘Triangle’ the ‘Back-door’ and the ‘Give and Go’. I swear these are real basketball plays so get yer head out the gutter.

I have have been working a fun day gig and in my spare time I have been writing songs for artists. I get much enjoyment from it. One of the reasons i kinda shyed from doing Diaries is that i want to keep my private work life seperate from everything else. And ol Julian is going on 7 years now and he’s just amazingly bright and quite a bit of trouble. he wants to be an artist and has taken to drawing his dreams. he loves Robots, Spiderman, magic tricks, all-things-star wars. i could go on and on about the other 3 guys from Baby Lem but that will have to wait for another Diary! Those lads are the best. Well, I live with Rusty so I see him everyday. He’s been quite creative and secretive about his ‘workings.’ I must say, I sure do miss the old gang in all the cities. i hope you all are alright and let’s shoot for some reunions sometime soon enough.

And until then i’ll have my future missez to look forward to. But I wouldn’t have anything if i didn’t have my Spiritual house in order. And that became my #1 priority. Everything else fell into place from that point on. John E. and Jossiah listened to my cries on many occasions and helped me see what was and was not important. I knew, of course, but i wasn’t ready to take responsiblity for it. And i feel MUCH better now and much more alive and I hope every can feel like this. I also learned a lot by watching how Johnny Echols conducted himself. Class, all the way. And once I got that in order, I could then express myself to anyone and everyone without a problem. And Julian is better for it and for the first time I feel like i can see. I am still the same guy. I am 39, can you believe it? My first gig with Love, I was 26 years old. After our 2nd rehearsal, Arthur took me to “Green’s Soul Food” on Rodeo Drive ( note: that’s pronounced like the bullriding event. The “row-day-o” in Bev. Hills is reserved for North of the Santa Monica Freeway, per the residents of 90210 )

I borrowed money from my mom in November to buy a cheap car. and it lasted all of 3 weeks until some insane woman from pakistan (with no license) TOTALLED my car with me, Rusty and Julian in the car. Thank God no one was hurt. I’d gotten my mom to cash in some family stock and I was paying her back when the accident happened. Lucky for me, a very good friend was selling his car and sold it to me cheap so i got another car a few days later. it’s an old classic…a Benz from the late 70’s. Julian and I named her “old Betsy” and I can’t wait to show Hannah how to drive on the correct side of the street!

I try to keep up with Love family and i want to say to jeremy in Scots, hey, love you man…send me a j-peg of the yamaha and i’m writing you. Lizzy B, Caryne, Jackie B., Hilary, Sharon J, Gill and Tina W are my sisters in arms! I spoke to Irish barry just last week. he was in boston on business and rang me. we had quite a good larf. and good ol Alun has a website for me and rusty and i have been so bloody busy…Alun, forgive me brother…i aint been on this computer lately…and i only caught maybe 5 minutes of the Oscars…did China Syndrome win?

And how can i forget that we Yanks have our own DEAL or no DEAL, which proves that no matter what becomes big in England, we can just as easily steal it without a yank knowing 2 pence what went down. Our DEAL, ain’t even a QUARTER as good as the brit one and the comeradry of the other contestants involvent (a proud staple in the Brit version) have been replaced in the USA version by Models named INGA, ANNIKA, BRIANNA, CAROLEENE, DESIREE and a host of other porn names. And it’s hosted by none-other-than HOWIE MANDELL, a guy who used to blow up condoms and place em over his head as his comedy act, back in the 80’s.He was way cool on ST. ELSEWERE but that was ages ago, like back when they made spinal tap.

Hannah wants to do the whole bathroom up in PLAYBOY. I am tired of fighting her on this…so i gave in to her demands. if you simply agree with a woman, you’ll live a much longer (and happier) life. Me and Han can argue about American Idol and movies (I LOVED “I heart Huckabees” and she HATED it) but at the end of the day, we are each other’s best mate and THAT’s what matters most. Being right isn’t worth much of anything if you LOSE what you love the most. As a very wise John Maxwell once put it; No one cares what you know till they know that you care. Amen.

Over and out…

Mike Randle