Let me start this by saying......I LOVE TOKYO! I think this is the 4th time I have been here. I am pretty sure the first 2 times I had to get over the initial shock of how huge the city is. I remember the first time I went to NYC. I hated that place! Mostly because I was petrified and completely freaked out by how many people in the city. They all loved on top of each other, in tiny, tiny overpriced apartments. Not to mention the horror of the lack of trees. Living my entire life in Texas, it is understandable. All that to say.....Tokyo is NYC on steroids! Not just any steroids. The biggest, baddest, WWF, bad mother fucker steroids!
Thats why it took me a while to warm up to the place. Now, I am completely and totally in LOVE!
We always stay in a part of town called Shibuya. Looking outside the hotel window you see the world's busiest intersection (no lie). Im sure you have seen it on TV where the traffic light changes and thousands of people cross at this certain intersection at once. Thats the place. It is insane! Needless to say, there is tons to do. More shopping, food and alcohol in 4 blocks that I have ever seen in my life. I believe we took FULL advantage it this time.
Sunday.
I think we were all pretty tired but we had to go out and do something! About 4 of us decide to settle into our rooms and meet in lobby for lunch. We walk around town for about 30 minutes, passing about 200 restaurants. Finally decide on one. Have great noodle bowls. Another thing about this town is ........everything is a maze! I could get lost in a heartbeat whether in a building or outside. after navigating our way back to the hotel we all decide to take a nap and meet in 5 hours for dinner. Very healthy lifestyle. LOL! We pick up a couple more of our peeps then go to a sushi bar. After an amazing sushi dinner and about 2 bottles of sake per person, we head to find a bar. We end up going to a Nigerian bar that plays 80's super cheese hip hop like Salt N Peppa and begin to challenge each other in a super-charged game of darts. After sucking down a few Vodka soda's of my own, we decide to leave and head back to hotel. Its probably about midnight at this time.
A couple of our crew decide to peel of and that left us with 4. As we walk back to the hotel, an small alley strikes our fancy. It has some cool lights hanging overhead so we head thru the alley like moths to a flame. This is Sunday night so we expected everything to be closed. We could see tiny, sliding doors. Obviously not being able to ready anything on the signs, we had no idea what these places were. One looked like it was open, so I slid open the door slowly, not knowing what to expect. I was also extremely tanked and adventurous / dumb as hell. I could have walked into a samurai slaughterhouse or something. As I opened the door, it was the tiniest bar I had ever seen! It literally held about 4 people uncomfortably. Hilarious. We loved every second of it! We drank sake for another 2 hours, made friends with the owner who kept the sake flowing. He talk us how to say " Go fuck yourself" in Japanese. We taught him how to say it in English.
At the end of it, we all walked a couple of blocks home and passed out.

Monday.
Wake up about noon, go to venue, play a huge, bad ass show.
There was an extremely attractive Japanese girl in front row all night. I think she had her turn making eyes at everyone on stage at some point. We are gonna name her "Asian Eyes". So person A grabs onto her after the show like his last meal. The promoter takes us all to an amazing Japanese restaurant near the hotel. At this point we have about 2 or 25 people in total. We have a huge, amazing feast of fine Japanese cuisine. We have tons of sake and beer. (another night of this----oy!)
I am sitting on one side of the table and I notice Micah and JD are on the extreme opposite side of the table cross from each other. These guys are getting completely wasted!!!!! I mean we all are but THEY are GOING AT IT! I couldnt help but be REALLY curious why they were pounding the drinks so heavily so I asked them by yelling across the table. Amused, Micah gets up from the table and walks all the way down to me. He leans over and whispers in my ear, "Dude, we all know that Person A has no game at all. So, every time he says something really dumb to Asian Eyes we take a shot of sake." OMG, I was dying laughing! So, I tell a couple of people on my side of the table. Micah goes back to his seat and continues his alcohol induced dinner. Sarah leans over to me and says, "Man, that girl is super down to get with someone! There is no way he can mess that up!" I reply, " Trust me, just watch".
After a great meal and lots of sake AGAIN, everyone heads back to the hotel. Asian eyes asks a couple of the other guys what they are gonna do now. I decide to choral a group and head to the teeny bar from Sunday. Person A offers to pay for a cab to send Asian eyes home. She says, "No, Im gonna hang out with them".
Now, at this point, Person A would normally go back to hotel and call it a night. I think now he decides to "hang" in order to play security guard with Asian eyes. Hilarious!
Now we have about 7 people walking to the bar that fit only 4 on the previous night. As we open the door, our friend is about to walk out. He is closing for the night. He sees us and decides to open back up for the potty mouthed American Musicians. We cram ourselves in and start drinking MORE sake. Now, everyone is in on the "shot game". Since the bar is so tiny......we call all hear the conversation between Asian Eyes and Person A very clearly. It was incredible! We were all yelling "Kompai!!!" and taking a shot about every 5 minutes! Person A never knew why we were drinking so much. I bailed out a bit early and left everyone at the bar.
Reports were that Person A went home alone and Asian eyes ended up going home extremely frustrated.

Tuesday.
I wake up at around 11, head around the corner to get come coffee, find a burger place and walk in and have a nice, small Japanese version of a hamburger. I havent had a burger in a loooooong time. It was close, im not complaining. I guess that would be the best beef to have if Im gonna have one. Reggie told me that with Kobe beef, they feed the cows all organic and massage them daily to keep their muscles tender. These cows are treated so great! Its like they give them everything short of a manicure before slitting their throats! Kinda gross and kinda funny at the same time. If there are any Vegan, Meat activist people reading this....sorry. Please, no hate mail. ANYWAY......
We head to do some TV show at the Japanese Music Television station. The set was beautiful and wow do these people have their jobs down pat! It was quick and turned out amazing!
After that, we head back to the venue to play our 2nd show. In my estimation of the show, the crowd wasnt as rowdy ad the first night but musically I think it was one of our best performances ever! So amazing. There was a ballad that I almost felt like I was gonna cry. We killed it!
I was really tired that day and a lot cranky. Before the show, J got everyone in a football-style huddle and said " Thank you guys for being so amazing, Thank you for sharing the stage with me and being such bad-asses every night. Thank you for being my friends and my family. I know its hard being out here. Sometimes we get in other people was, sometimes we get in our own way." Toca says "The word is Gratitude for all of us." J says, "alright, Gratitude on 3!"
then, we played our asses off!
Let me say that Jason is a true inspiration, not only as a mega talented songwriter but also as a human. I am constantly amazed about how this guy can always keep it together so much of the time. He is definitely the kindest, patient and most calm person than any one of us. And HE is the one with ALL of the stress and demands on his time. We are lucky.
Im gonna go back in time a little and write a bit about Miko. She sang a song with us about a year ago. She kept in touch with us via myspace. Her and her mother met us at the venue on Monday. They saw the show. Tuesday during the day, I saw Fern with them as I walked back to hotel from lunch. In conversation, Reggie said he was looking for the "detox-footpad things". Apparently, you stick them on your feet before you go to bed and they detox your body over night. I told them that I was looking for Makimoto Pearls. My aunt had given the mission to me......Find these pearls and bring them back.
Before the show that night, Miko and her mother brought the following:
A bag FULL of Detox footpads for Reggie.
A complete, handwritten listing and directions of all the places that carry Makimoto Pearls in Tokyo and Osaka.
A wrapped gift for everyone in the band with our names on them.

When we offered to pay for footpads, they would refuse to take the money.
HOW AMAZING ARE MIKO AND HER MOM!!!!!!!!

Another thing pre show..... As i walked to backstage, another hot Asian girl stopped me to say high. I forgot her name so we will call her blue sweater for now. More about her later......
So, we get done playing the show.
Horns go out to the front to sign autographs, take pictures and stuff. Asian Eyes comes up to me and says hello. She starts following me around, right by my side the entire time I was taking pictures with fans and signing autographs. She was like watching me like a hawk. It started creeping me out a bit. Apparently, she did the same thing to Reggie so I shouldn't feel like a stud or anything. Then, a trio of Americans came up to me. One girl with THE most beautiful eyes on the planet and two guys. The girl said she remembered me from the show this summer. She said she was sorry if she was pissing off my girlfriend. I said, "Who's my girlfriend?" She then pointed to Asian Eyes. I quickly let her know that she was NOT my girlfriend and she was kinda freaking me out. After talking to the three for a long time and facing my back to Asian Eyes, I think she got the picture and left. After a whileI invited them to come hang out later. We all went to the hotel and met at the bar for a bit and got to know each other. Turned out that they all worked for Disneyland in Tokyo. The girl was Snow White and one of the guys was the prince from the little Mermaid and the other, a dancer. We have a drink at the hotel bar, then one of the guys started talking about a bar that he went to once called "Alcatraz Emergency Room". Apparently, It is a sort of S&M, horror theme bar/restaurant. I HAD TO SEE IT! So, we all gathered our belongings and headed to Alcatraz. He also said that there is a bar where monkeys serve you. THAT bar was far away so we weren't going there. We are walking over to this bar at 11:30pm and there is more people on the street than on Times Square at 3pm!
Reflection: The thought of going to an S&M bar with Snow White in Tokyo. NEVER thought THAT would happen! LOL!!!!!!

We find a building where this restaurant resides on the 11th floor. We get in the elevator, and head up. The elevator opens, we walk out. There is a little sign that says "please press button for appropriate blood type". One of the guys presses something and these HUGE steel doors open automatically. A girl comes out and says. We are closed........SUCK!!!!!!!!! They just closed 5 minutes before we got there! Oh well.
Then, I had the brilliant idea of taking my new friends to the "teeny bar". BRILLIANT! So, we headed there! We ended up having an amazing time with our now "old friend", bar owner guy. Reggie ends up meeting us there with a friend of his who lives in Tokyo. So, lets see - tiniest bar in the world headcount.......Me, Snow white, 2 dudes, oh !....and one local guy who just happened to be there before we got there. Reggie walks in with his friend and GUESS WHO? Blue sweater! Interesting.........Now, there are 7 people in a place that holds about 4. Steamy. About 1AM, my new friends decide to call it a night because they are about an hour from home and have to work at around 8AM. We all exchange info and they head out. I am left with Reggie and his two friends. I decide to have one more sake before heading back to my hotel. Finally, I tell everyone that I am exhausted and I should be heading home so I can crash. they all decided to do the same. Reggie asks for the bill, gets it and starts trying to work out the split. My friends had already paid for my tab so I was in the clear. I watched as Blue Sweater was taking out money from her purse. Reggie said nonsense, lemme get this. Nick stopped Reggie and motioned to let her pay for everything.
I gotta go back for a sec......there was a point earlier in the bar when Reggie and his friend were talking SO much and SO into the conversation (Since they had not seen each other in around 10 years). And Blue Sweater was sitting right there in the corner watching and listening. Reggie stopped and apologized for being rude and not including her in the conversation. She replied, "Oh please, I am so lucky to be here"
K! BACK TO STORY!
she paid for the tab, we walked out. she got in a cab and left. Nick pulls us aside and says, "Look boys, I have been here for about 15 years and let me tell you something about this place and women. Here in Japan, THEY TAKE YOU OUT. THEY PAY FOR EVERYTHING. Thats just the way it is here. Completely fucking opposite."
At that moment, every single little teeny interaction, argument, stalker, relationship, fling or ANYTHING with American woman just flashed before my eyes. Ugh.
I need to come back here BAD.

Sleep time. tomorrow, get on the bullet train and head to Osaka.



Carlos

So, I haven't done a blog in a looooong time. I figured its time to get back in the habit of doing so. Its kinda funny how I seem to start all my tour blogs the same way........"I haven't written in a long time and I am going to start writing one every single show.., blah, blah, blah". I obviously have issues finishing what I have started. I seem to also get a bit over-ambitious at times. Well, we will see how long it lasts this time.
So, on Sat, Sept 20th 2009 we left Austin at a ridiculous hour on a flight to Germany. I usually stay up all night before an overseas flight because I can sleep on the plane and do the time-warp thing and get there faster. Well, did NOT happen this time! Could not fall asleep at all! SUCKED! Got to our hotel around noon. Needless to say, it was STILL Saturday. After traveling for about 20 hours, we seemed to arrive at our destination about 3 hours after we left. Anyway.......
Fernie, Reggie and I were beat at this point and were wondering how we were going to deal with this and not screw with our schedules any more. We had a quick meeting n this dilemma and decided to take a 4 hour nap, then force ourselves to wake up, have dinner, then go out and drink.
The plan went well, we went to a cheesy dance club right by our hotel, met some locals, drank a little, went home, slept. It was kind of boring.
Next day we had to check out really early to go to the venue. Most of us saw each other in the hotel gym in the morning before bus call.
I forgot to talk about our bus........Its the shit! Double decker, 3 lounges, 12 beds, full kitchen, sooooo much room. We hardly ever see each other! Sounds impossible but its very true. There are 11 guys and one girls on the bus. The female is the tour opener. Her name is Ingrid Michealson. She is a bad ass and has become a good friend as well. Check her out online when you get a moment.
Back to Germany show......

The venue held about 2,500 people and it was completely sold out. The show went off without a hitch. The horns stood on the bar at one point. We wowed them. So much fun!
The bus was parked right behind the venue. There was a mob of autograph-hungry Germans waiting for us. They stayed out there for about 3 hours until we left. Now off to Amsterdam......


We arrive in Amsterdam on Monday. Everyone is well rested with the obvious exception of our driver. Almost the entire band assembles and heads into the city to visit the multitude of coffee shops where they can smoke their favorite "wacky tobacky" with the locals. I was a bit jealous because I had never been their before and wanted to see the city. My choices were a) go with them b) go for a run. The area we were in was kind of industrial and ugly. Thinking that I would have enough time to go to the city after, I chose the latter. Well, I did not have enough time at all. But, I did have a great run. The show was incredible! The venue held around 8,000 and IT was sold out! We had a little party with some people in our dressing room. I got to see a friend that I met at Jazzfest in New Orleans a couple of years ago. We gave hugs, got on bus, fell asleep and began our journey to London.

The last time we were in London we made some great friends. Mostly musicians from an amazing studio called Kensaltown Studios.They have created a real cool dynamic over there. Its kinda like a mini-motown. They have their staff musicians and staff writers. They just crank out mega hits all the time! We met the head producer, Martin (Coldpay, KT Tunstall) from doing Jason's record. They loved our work so much, they use Grooveline exclusively for all their horns stuff. We have done about 3 records with them since Jason's. So......all those guys always come out to the shows and hang. Great bunch of people, to say the least.
So, when we get there the venue is probably the most amazing place i have EVER played! It was the Royal Albert Hall. If you can, look it up. This show, again, was sold out. We had a blast with this one. We all decided to dress up in our best suits and have fun with it. We all looked pretty sharp, instead of the t shirts and jeans look like we are used to. SO MUCH FUN! And quite an honor as well.
After the show, yet another after party in the venue. This time it was a proper one instead of last minute. Full bar and everything. All of the VIP ticket holders were allowed access to it. The horn section stepped outside to smoke (FUNNY!) Again, mobbed by fans. There were two really interesting things that happened out there.

I was talking to a small group of girls, then a girl ran straight up to me and asked if I was the sax player. After confirming her query, she rambled on and on about how much she loved us and how amazing we were. I looked closer at her face and noticed (not kidding) she had SO much cocaine on her nose, it seemed as if she was in a scene in Scarface! It was hilarious!!!! I motioned to Reggie and leaned over, laughing to whisper in his ear and tell him to look at her and confirm what I had noticed. The crowd was very curious as I whispered in his ear. He looked at her and died laughing! So funny! Cant say I have ever seen that before.

The next interesting thing was another couple of girls that I ended up speaking with. They asked if they could take a picture with me. I agreed. Their male friend shot the photo. Then, one asked how they can get into the afterparty. They both seemed very mild mannered, cool and respectful. I told them that its pretty impossible. I knew full well that I could bring anyone in. After I said this, the guy said "She will gladly pay you 1500 pounds for entry into the party. I am completely serious". OUCH! Thats $3000, by the way......
I thought for a moment. I said " Im sorry, there is nothing I can do" It was painful. I couldn't believe the fans are that crazy about us. NUTS!
Anyway, when I told the band about it later, they almost whooped my ass for refusing. I am pretty sure I made the right choice.
Thats about it for London........on to Paris.

Yours Truly,

Carlos

This is my journal entry.....If you go to "Grooveline Horns" myspace page you will get a better understanding of whats going on. I am posting the exact same blog from myself on Grooveline page. Mainly because I am a lazy bitch when it comes to journals. But you will see an entry everyday for one of us.

Blah, blah, blah.....

I think our goal is to keep people informed about whats going on here. We have decided to trade days between the three of us. So we will have journal entries every day. We will see if it actually happens. So, its my turn......Good thing its today cuz tomoorow is my bday and im gonna be drunk all day. ummm...... maybe not all day. okay, maybe all day. Well we’ll see. All I know is we are playing in LA tomorrow and I have a TON of friends and family there. So, its gonna be great!

SO!.....We played the first show of the tour last night. It was really great! Lets see.....Grooveline was a teeny bit rusty. We arranged the parts a little differently than the record. Mainly because we put about 20 tracks of horns on the record and there is only 3 of us live. Some of us (me) are having a hard time remembering the new arrangements and play the way we did it on the record. But, we will get it tonight! We decided to go out into the audience and play at a point in the show. The crowd freaked. That was fun. We are touring with a magician so we are gonna try and incorporate some tricks with the horns. Show was sold out. I think all the shows are. Crowd ate it up! After the show, everyone on tour thought it was a huge success. Good sign for future....

We are in San Fransisco today. Playing Filmore tonight. We all went to this place called "Cafe Gratitude" for lunch. Its all vegan, raw and organic. It was funny to take Fern there. He actually ate. I think he like some of it. We all discussed improvements for show. after lunch we went to a magic shop with Justin Kredible. We bought some great stuff for pranks. I will let you guys know what it is when i do it. Cant wait!
Ummmmm.....thats pretty much it.

Oh, all last week while we were at rehearsals we were also recording horns for the "Dancing with the Stars" video game. I brought my mobile studio with me so I can work on the road. Not only wer we rehearsing all day but on our breaks we were working on the recordings. So everyday was a 14 hr day. Well, we still aren’t finished so I set up my studio in the back lounge of the tour bus. Oy! Hav one more song to finish. Its hard shit! I cant wait till its over and done! I have to remember that I am truly blessed to do what I love for a living.

Okay, then! Lets rock this bitch tonight!!!!!!!!

Carlos

So we have been in Los Angeles for about a week now.......It has been VERY interesting to say the least! My intention was to journal everyday but.....oops! Besides our semi-grueling schedule......I guess it just wasnt important at the time. But, I am going to make a VERY solid attempt at doing so everyday! So that i dont forget the "good stuff".
Im sure if I dont get it all in this time, I can post another blog......duh!
We checked in at the Marriot the first day and met some of the crew guys....as we were standing outside.....I saw someone that looked like an old friend. I looked at Ralo and said "Dont we know that guy?" He turned around.....then I realized who it was..... It was CC Deville from Poison! Sheeeeesh! THAT GUY WAS MY IDOL! I know it sounds REAAAALY dumb but its true. When I was in middle school I wanted to be a guitar player in a "hair band". So, I guess that didnt happen...thank god! Anyway, they are staying at the hotel and Brett Micheals is actually occupying the room RIGHT next door to me. Pretty funny stuff!Then.......I called my friend Wendy, thinking that she was in Austin. We spoke for a while and I told her where I was.....she said "Im gonna be there tomorrow, I just got the job touring with Dancing with the Stars".....turns out that she was staying in the exact same hotel as me AND they are rehearsing in the exact same builing as we are! AWESOME! So, I am definitely not homesick! Ive got all sorts of friends here! And I have made some incredible new ones! Like Angie (Dancing w the Stars tour Manager) who just happened to date a very good friend of mine and introduced another great friend of mine to his wife! WHAT A SMALL WORLD!Well, needless to say....we are great friends now!
On a side note.....Wendy and I went to get some coffee quickly then upon returning to the hotel......Eric Estrada pulls up in his Rolls Royce. Wendy got excited and said "Oh look!!!!! Its the guy with the teeth!" I thought that was hilarious! Dont know what he was doing at the hotel but it almost seemed as if they were filming an episode of the Surreal life at the Marriot! Funny!
So, rehearsals started.....everyone in the entire operation has been GREAT! (Of course, this is just the beginning......we will see how things are in October. LOL!) We kinda got off on a slow start but know Grooveline feels as if we are getting to shine and do what we do best now. We have been writing our own arrangement and KILLING IT! Oh gotta go back to rehearsal.....I will be right back with more.......
Until then.....your truly....Carlos


Okay, Im back.....so...where was I going with this. Ummm....

Forgive me for the breaks in the thought process but we stand around a lot (thus the journal writing time) but when the music director says its time to go....we gotta "bounce that ass".

Jason let me know when we got called for the gig that they wer hiring an "all female" string section. (nice) Until.....I found out that we will be sharing the bus with them. Ummmm....that could be a very good thing or a very bad thing. I guess we shall see. I mean....I have never lived with a woman or a girlfriend (cuz it scares the SHIT out of me!) But, i suppose I will face that fear VERY soon, huh? I have a very good friend named Shawn Pander who lives here in LA. He is a KILLER singer songwriter by the way! I have been spending quite a bit of time with him and his amazing girlfriend, Stephanie. That has been fun. He just turned 30 so we had dinner last night at the "Rainbow Room" on sunset last night. good stuff.
We are also gonna play with Bob Schnieder tonight at the Key Club on Sunset. That should be a blast. We are kinda freaking out because we havent played any gigs in over a week and we normally play several gigs a week. You can imagine.......
In fact......we are completely out of our "normal routine". Kinda feels like a day job. We rehearse from about 9-6, 6 days a week. Closest thing to a day job I have ever known. If i had to sit in front of a computer all day or something like that I would go insane! But, it has been great.....The entire horn section has been getting up a couple of hrs before rehearsals and running then going to rehearsal, then going to gym after.....Needless to say we are EXHAUSTED by around 10pm. WIERD, HUH?

Anuda thing...
While we were on tour last summer with Jason Mraz our tour manager was this guy named Jimmy Johnson. He is now tour managing this guy named Lindsey Buckingham (I didnt know him either). Well, when I admit that I don't know him to anyone.= they freak out and pull one of those big-eyed "YOU DONT KNOW WHO LINDSEY BUCKINHAM IS??!!!"
Nope!
Well, apparently he is one of the founders of Fleetwood Mac and he dated Stevie Nick's as well or something like that.
ANYWAY...... He played at the House of Blues on Wednesday night. Jimmy got us passes, we went. We got to see our old friend Jimmy. We saw some of the show. Didnt like it much. Left.
Thats that story.
It was good to see Jimmy. LOL!

next topic....
We have recieved full endorsements by some great companies. The entire section got all new horns by Jupiter. I get all my reeds from Rico, D'darrio. There is another company that makes all sorts of cool stuff called pro tech that is gonna hook us up as well. NICE! Isnt it funny that when you are a struggling musician you cant afford to pay full price for anything then when you finally get paid and can maybe afford to buy some shit.....you get it all for free. I guess thats just the way the world works. I am very thankful....dont get me wrong.

I guess that is all for now. If I think of something else, I will put it in the next blog.
Im also gonna include some pics prolly.
Later!

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