Well the tour that never met a beach it didn't like has finally drawn to a close with the taping of shows two weeks ago in both London and New York. Thus I've lost my excuse for not posting anything for the past six months. But before I begin tackling subjects like the iminant D'Angelo and Maxwell comebacks or more serious fare like the economy and election, I want to give everyone a heads-up about this weekend's activities.

   I know it's football and baseball time (wouldn't you love to see Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez take their Dodger Blue into Fenway Park for a World Series against the Red Sox), BUT there are two (2!) things you GOTTA check out this weekend.

(1) Spike Lee's MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA...opening on a screen near you. In this day and age where a film success is measured solely by how it "opens", let's get Bro. Lee some huge numbers this weekend for an extremely worthy movie about a fascinating (and equally worthy) topic. Who knows? If his film is a smash hit, maybe the studio mavens will reconsider the budget he wants for our JAMES BROWN movie.

(2) Chris Rock's KILL THE MESSENGER stand-up special, debuting on HBO Saturday night.  Of course I'm biased and I haven't seen the final edit, but this looms as Rock's best special ever. Rick Rubin deserves the credit for the specific idea of compiling shows from three different countries (the special combines shows taped in South Africa, England and the U.S.), but from the git-go we all were dedicated to breaking the formulaic template of the typical stand-up special. That the bar was raised on what would turn out to be the barrier-breaking "Jackie Robinson Tour" of comedy was all the more appropriate. In addition to the 3 cities in which HBO tagged along, the tour also introduced Rock's unique brand of American comedy to Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. In all we played 9 countries on 4 continents. In London alone we did 11 sold out theatre shows and 2 sold out arena shows at the 16,000 seat O2. The Guiness Book Of Records celebrated the fact that the tour now holds the all-time record for tickets sold to a comedy event in the U.K.! Just as a basis of comparison, Chris sold more tickets this year in London than Jay-Z did in New York! Why is this so unusual??  BECAUSE Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy NEVER played London!! NEVER!! Same in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand where we could have sold out many more shows had our scheduled allowed. And San Juan?? A Spanish speaking island with a comic who speaks only English??  I even had to make the shows opening announcements in my salsa-inspired, decidedly New York version of pidgeon Spanish. But the sold out arena was dollar-ish and the laughs were bi-lingual.

See what all the fury was about Saturday night! Kudos too to producer-director Marty Callner and his wonderful captain Randall Gladstein, not to mention HBO's Nancy Geller for buying into the multi-national concept of the shoot. And, of course, Rock's dedicated tour family - Dougie Fresh Miller, Tony Blades, Speilberg Claybrooks and the great Mario Joyner.

I've got tons of fun photos from the tour and plenty to tell diary-style when I find the time, but in the meantime I'll download some flicks from the shoots and tour wrap party.