Ok, i don't want to sound like a complainer, so I'm going to try to list something I like for every one thing that bugs me.

1st thing that bugs the crap out of me.
Smokers who toss their butts on the ground and flick their ashes everywhere. Is there something exemption for cigarette smokers that allows them to litter? Someone has to clean that crap up, you know. Birds don't come by and eat them. And despite what you think, they don't biodegrade, and even if they do, it's not until several weeks after they're a gross pile of soggy, smelly, brown crap.

1st thing I like.
People who care enough about the environment that they clean up after discourteous, lazy smokers who litter. Stick that in your pipe.


2nd thing that bugs the crap out of me.
People who wear enough cologne/perfume to cover up the smell of a sewage treatment plant. I'll forgive the old ladies, because..... well, they're old and we're suppose to respect my elders. But if you're under 60 and wearing "old lady" perfume in an amount that makes the UPS guy choke in the elevator, even though you haven't been in the elevator in 4 hours, please one spritz at a time.
And guys, if you're still wearing cologne after college, stop, it's embarrassing. Have you seen the Old Spice ads in which Old Spice is making fun of itself and its users in a last ditch attempt to retain a share of the market because guys out of college shouldn't be wearing cologne? Don't be that guy. And if you're going the other route thinking the chicks are flocking to you like in the Axe commercials... get over yourself. Girls don't really like cologne... especially when it's not on their boyfriend. If you're married and still wearing cologne.... be ashamed.... be very ashamed.

2nd thing I like.
People who don't wear patchouli.


3rd thing that bugs the crap out of me.
Guys who can't hit the toilet. What's with the dripping? If you can't pee without dripping on the floor, sit down like a woman. If you can't use a urinal without dripping, go sit on the toilet.

3rd thing I like.
Janitors who work faithfully in their job, with excellence, who clean up after guys who can't hit the freakin toilet. Thank you, you will be rewarded.


4th thing that bugs the crap out of me.
People who park in handicapped spaces, because they feel entitled. A woman in a hummer in Brentwood parked in a handicapped spot at Starbucks. I was sitting at one of the little outdoor tables. I said, (friendly like, hard to believe as it is) "Maam, I don't think you realize that you're in a handicapped spot." She self-righteously snipped back, "Yeah, I know. I have a lot to do today, and i have my kids in the car and have to carry all my drinks back to them." I said, "Well try doing all that with crutches or a wheelchair."

4th thing I like.
People who park far away so others can park close, and who still open the door for old people.


There's more. Feel free to add your own, or tell me I sound like an old guy. :-)

Recently, I auditioned for a new country artist and I got the gig. It was going to be a fairly steady paycheck with decent music. I worked my butt off, charting the songs and preparing for the gig. We went through a few days of rehearsals and everything was fine and professional. The first gigs were this past weekend.

We're riding to the first show and I start hearing a conversation of "n!gg@r this" and "n!gg@r that" going back and forth from two of the players up front. I turned to the guy next to me and said, "Did I just hear what I think I heard?" He said, "uuum yeah, you heard it and so did I."

So ok, maybe they were quoting something they heard or whatever. I figured I'd tuck it away and give the benefit of the doubt. But over the next two days I start hearing a bunch of ""n!gg@r" jokes, that make me sick to my stomach.

I told the manger, that this kind of atmosphere was unacceptable to me and I couldn't work in it. I hope they make changes in the organization. There were some other issues i was dealing with, but they were issues that could be worked out or dealt with. Like in baseball, you get three strikes. You can still work with one or two strikes. But to me, racism is an automatic ejection from the game.

I believe the management was offended by the racism and won't tolerate it, so i don't want to cast any disparagement towards them. I'm hoping these 2 guys were just bad apples and the vast majority people involved in Nashville music business aren't filled with this kind of hate.

if you think I over-reacted or you don't see the harm in a little playful racism, then go ahead and delete me from your friends list.

If you got angry or a sick feeling in your stomach from reading the veiled words I put in quotes, like I did from hearing them, then I hope this helps us all be a little more sensitive and compassionate to those who had to grow up in, and those who still live in, a racist environment.

If either of those two guys are reading this.... I sincerely hope you come to a realization of how hurtful that kind of conversation can be to people of any race. I hope you someday realize that such hatred is poisoning your own heart and soul.

I posted some pictures of our vacation to Belize. It was our first time (hopefully not last) to the Caribbean and with the exception of a few travel woes, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We wanted to stay in places that weren't touristy, and we succeeded. Both places were right on the ocean-- very post-card like-- where you can walk out of your door, go 50 feet and step into the Caribbean. Jen and I enjoyed our time together with no schedules or deadlines or worries of any kind, for the most part. I guess that's what vacation is for.

I got certified in Scuba Diving and did open water dives down to 60 feet, came within arms length of Stingray, Barracuda, HUGE fish, and pet a Nurse Shark. It is something I'm trying to not get too excited about, because it is an expensive hobby, but an incredible, unforgettable, even life changing experience.

Two things about the Caribbean that I thought weren't true, were true:
1. You know in the movies or travel brochures how you see two lovers embracing in the middle of the sea with no one or no thing within sight? I thought it was bull, but we did it. We kayaked out from our dock a couple hundred yards, threw out the anchor, and started snorkeling around by ourselves (and the starfish), with no one else within sight. Amazing.
2. You know how you go to the aquarium and there is all this coral and 20 kinds of sea plants and 30 different animals, and schools of fish everywhere? I thought it was bull, but I saw it.... I swam in it. Amazing.

The people were friendly, the food was soooo delicious, the weather was close to perfect, and the company was.... well what can I say about my wife? Like Tom Hanks said about Rita Wilson, "I won the lottery."

See the pictures here.

So I'm flippin channels and land on Austin City Limits, and hear a favorite song of mine, being sung by one of my favorite arists of late, Corinne Bailey Rae. I'm diggin her and her smokin band, then the song ends and she starts talking... in a British accent. "Oh, she's from the UK," I think to myself.

Then KT Tunstall, another fav, starts up, playing with her great band. She introduces the next song... in a British accent. I'm like, "man, that's weird, I didn't even know."

But it gets me to thinking about what I've been listening to. I realize that just about EVERY artist/band's CD I've bought or want to buy in the last year has been by a British artist.

Keane, KT Tunstall, Lily Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae, Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Coldplay, Jamie Cullum, just off the top of my head. And it pops into my head that my good friend and favorite producer to work with is a British dude, too.

I don't know if it's just the state of music in the US, that I've been in Nashville too long, or maybe that the name Radcliffe traces back to England, or what. But if I up and move to London, don't say you didn't see it coming. :-)

Got this from another drummer buddy of mine.

Drum audition...........

Drummer sits at the drums and the band leader says,
"Can you play a samba pattern with your bass drum?"
The drummer obliges with a boom...b-boom samba pattern.

The leader then asks "can you add a Mozambique cowbell pattern along with that with your right hand?"
The drummer thinks "I can do that, no problem" and obliges, giving it his best Steve Gadd possible.

He is then told, "Now add a 2-3 clave with your left foot on hihat" ..
The drummer's struggling a little but gets it happening.

Next he hears, "Now add a cascara pattern on the snare with your left hand."
Years of studying polyrhythms, practicing independence, and listening to world music finally come to fruition and the relieved drummer finds he can play the whole pattern with no problem.

Pleased with himself, he asks the band leader "So, do I get the job?

"No " says the bandleader "that's why we fired the last guy!!"

I finally put up some music on my page. They are edited clips of some songs I've played on, just so you can hear me play. :-)

It's weird. I guess you know you've been in the music business for a while when it's no longer strange to see your friends on TV. Seems like, every week or so, I see some friend of mine, or someone I've gigged with, on TV. Letterman, Leno, Opry, Superbowl, some live concert

The latest is from ABC's "The One." My friend, Caitlin Evenson, is competing on the show. This is a little different, though.

Usually, I'm just seeing my buds playing their axe and doing their thing and they look all confident and owning the stage. With The One, they're doing interviews with the people and they get in deeper. Since I've talked with Caitlin, played with her, and even prayed with her, I find myself getting really emotional and feeling connected. My wife and I are on the couch rooting for her and tearing up when she's talking about what it's like for her being there, and the struggles, etc.

It's easy to think of people on TV as almost non-entities, just pictures in a box, trying to hold our attention long enough so we might buy something in the ensuing commercial.

Now, here's this real person, a friend I care about, being real and sharing herself...on TV, and it's... well, it's strange again.

Next thing you know, I'll be on TV and that'll really flip me out. :-)

I'd encourage all my friends and colleagues to keep a sharp eye on your myspace friends list. It might be worth the effort to check out the profiles of friend requests, before approving them.

I've been looking through the friends lists of some pretty well known artists, and I'm quite certain some of them must be completely unaware of everyone on their own friends list! At least, I hope that's the case. :-)

I understand that with artists trying to gather as many fans/friends as possible as a marketing strategy, it can be tempting to cast a very wide net and gather in as many fish as possible. But if you don't check your own nets from time to time, you can be letting a lot of garbage in to your storehouse, without even knowing it.

Be guarded so you don't become guilty by association. :-)

Mike

Ok, here's the deal. I'm trying to keep my myspace friends limited to my actual friends, or at least those with whom I've worked or communicated, or those who are the same thing to one of my actual friends. Does that make sense?

I'm still very weary of myspace in general. There are some sickos out there, who need Jesus in their life (like all of us), who are trying to fill that void in various perverted manners. In an attempt to avoid even the appearance of evil, I'm keeping tight reigns on my friends list.

So if you're some 15 year old girl who's a fan of an artist I play for and I met you and your parents at the concert, then cool, we can be myspace friends. However, if you leave a comment on my page, I appreciate it, but I will not reply to it.

If I had a teenaged daughter and some adult man was putting comments on her myspace page, I would want to find that man and lay hands on him, repeatedly, and with great force. All in Jesus name, of course. :-)