http://nymag.com/bestofny/food/2008/newrestaurants/

Yes, Resto is new and noteworthy, and a damn fun place to work. Check out the pic: they finally decided to put my mug in the photograph! I’d heard from some of my tables/barstools that I was in the magazine. (Is it weird that inanimate objects like tables and barstools talk to me? Aren’t we all just manifestations of infinite energy/buddha nature, whether we’re a human being, a dog, or a rock or a table or a barstool?) Thanks, NYMag for making me a famous waiter. And thanks Resto for making great food and allowing me to live in this crazy city without having to go to the poorhouse.

In other news, I’ve been feeling creative and writing music again in a really energetic way for the first time in years. Keep an eye on my myspace page for now. My plan is to put up songs as I record them. I have no particular goal of a finished CD at the moment. I just want to write as much as possible and see what comes out. I’ve spent the last several months examining my life, reading all of my old journals, and I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter whether I’m as good as Bob Dylan, Eddie Van Halen, Yo Yo Ma or anyone else. Thinking about music/art in that way is totally wrong thinking. The point is that, as Martha Graham said, we all see the world in our own unique way. And if we don’t share that uniqueness, it’ll be gone forever. So get ready for me to inflict some of my uniqueness on y’all in the near future. Now I just have to dust off my recording gear and remember how protools works.

I watched Metallica: Some Kind of Monster tonight. It’s weird not being in a band, but that movie really reminded me of how difficult it is to keep a band together. I miss many things about being in Jump, but I have to say that it’s really nice to relate to Jay, Jonny, Matt and Evan without all the baggage of being in a band, in other words, just purely as friends. As we’ve all said, I’m sure we’ll play again at some point, but I’m glad we quit doing it full time when we were still feeling positively about things. Watching Metallica go through all that just makes me wonder....should they just pack it in? I’ll be interested to see what their new album with Rick Rubin sounds like. Frankly, Everything from Load on has seemed lackluster to me. I really don’t understand how U2 has kept going the way they have, continually making relevant music. It’s so hard to keep shit fresh. Kudos to everyone in a band now. I learned more about commitment from my time with Jump than I have from any of my relationships. I’m proud of us for going through the shit we went through, surviving it without bitterness, and walking away on our own terms with our heads held high. I’m grateful for my 12+ years with Jump. And I’m grateful for this time now for showing me who I am outside the cocoon of Jump.