No matter how the years go by you will inevitably find an ad on Craig’s list (or the Recycler or The Music Connection magazine) that has a musician (usually a guitarist) claiming in their ad that they have “Pro Gear & Pro Attitude.” I found this so funny I am actually having a shirt made up that says just that. If it’s a hit I’ll put it on the market. And YES, I did patent it!

So I have been up late these nights working on my pedal to get all the sounds I’ll need for the Love tunes, as well as Baby Lemonade tunes AND English Beat tunes since I play with them as side guitarist as well. So I have pretty much all my sounds together, just need to experiment more to get things correctly in order. Not sure how I am going to do SHE COMES IN COLORS. I remember when Morley Bartnoff (of Cosmo Topper/Dramarama fame, not to mention he’s the man behind that really long ass AMAZING piano solo on the last song on Barstool Blues) played keys on a gig with baby lemonade and we did She Comes and he played the Flute parts all on Keys and he played it NOTE FOR NOTE!

So I need to call Morley up. And he has a cell phone now so I know I can catch him. I want my stage/musical contribution on this fall UK tour to be top shelf so i am working extremely hard to not only have fun but do the songs even MORE justice than i did when we played with Arthur. And that’s just it, the main, most important ingredient to make those songs come alive, is Arthur. So we are really working hard to make this something special, something we think he would not only approve of but he would enjoy himself. There will NEVER ever be another Arthur Lee. Once in a lifetime fellow, that one. But I feel a special affinity and responsibility in helping to bring his and Love’s music back to the UK, back to where he really felt at home. The UK was Arthur’s true home away from home. Before Arthur knew he was sick he confided in me that he was contemplating moving to London. He was a bit tired of L.A. and wanted a fresh start, which I think he went for in Memphis. God rest his soul.

I have been getting in from the guitar shop late the last 2 weeks and thus have been way knackered and unable to write a diary. But now Hannah and I got our t-mobile sidekicks i can email anyone anytime and write diaries whenever i feel, although, on a tiny phone keyboard, there’s only so much you can do. But as i got in last night i saw that we have filled every nook and cranny of this tour. 17 shows in 17 days. If that don’t kill us it’ll only make us stronger! Don’t know if all the dates are up on the Love sites but always feel free to go to our MySpace: www.myspace.com/babylemonademusic where you can not only here our tunes but you can buy songs on iTunes for a mere 99 cents! That’s 49 pence in Milton Keynes!

Also, an English Beat fan posted footage from a show we did in San Diego saturday at the Belly Up Tavern, doing the song, “Tenderness”. (I’m all the way on the right…here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofz2hx01qNQ&feature=email) Hannah and i spent the weekend down there (The Beat did 2 sold out nights at the Belly Up) and just had the best time driving up the coast and going to see the Seals in La Jolla. Yep, it was alright.

Mike Randle