Random Good Morning Thoughts

Rolled out of bed, down to the coffee pot which was auto-set to brew at 7:30, turned on GMA, and Lordy be, it's John Mayer and Eric Clapton! GOOD MORNING to me!
Thoughts while watching:

--God, that's an amazing amount of people up early in NYC on what is probably a muggy AM! Part of me wishes I was there, a HUGE part of me is grateful for TV and YouTube!

--Eric is a huge inspiration to John! What is that like, playing with your idol and you are only 29??? Geez! Eric is looking over at John like a proud dad! How cool must it be for him to know he's inspired guitarists everywhere!

-- Is watching/listening to John play witnessing the birth of the new Clapton?

--Funny how I never considered myself a blues girl but both my fave guitarists (Mayer and Sambora) are HUGE Clapton fans! Hummmm......

--KILLER guitar solo from John during "Crossroads"......WOW!

--If this music thing doesn't pan out for Mr. Mayer, Ambercrombie could use a new model!

--John rocks the bedhead! It's hot!

--Thank God he used the brain he has and dumped JS!

--Man I have to get this weight off before the "Stalker Cruise".

--At least I gave temporary thought to the music....

Off to the OC fair! Happy Friday, everyone! Hope yours got off to as good of start as mine did!
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Lessons In Dating Learned At The Dog Park

I was at the dog park the other day with my two favorite dogs I don't own, Molly and Bentley. M and B are two of the most awesome, gorgeous Golden Retrievers you will ever meet. While watching them relate and play at the park with their fellow dogs (and humans) something dawned on me: Dating should be as simple for humans as it is for dogs.

Maybe there is something to this butt sniffing thing. With dogs, they sniff once or twice and if there is no interest, they move on! They inherently grasp the concept of "they just aren't that into you" and it only takes a minute! With humans it takes days, months, years! Why do we hold vigil with Blackberry in hand, thinking he'll call.....email...text! Dogs don't! Yet, they never seem to manage to find ways to breed, if they are able.

I think that's the secret to dating. One sniff...or date...and that's it! One and done! Wish it was that simple, or isn't it? We will see because I am going to quit threatening to do it and jump right into online dating! I have a couple of free accounts and some of them are actually generating interest so keep an eye on this space and i'll let you know how it goes! Maybe my dark haired, hysterically funny, brilliant, civic minded, borderline geeky but wickedly talented guitar player is out there on Yahoo personals. Stranger things have happened! Just check YouTube for verification of that!

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Musical Friendship

I have these friends. They aren't friends in the "lets hang out and have coffee" sense but they are my friends through the music they make, the music that has been the soundtrack for my life for the last 21 years.

When Bon Jovi broke onto the music scene in 1986, I was out of my mom's house, getting my first apartment and trying to make my way in the "real world". Their first album "Slippery When Wet" became a hiding place from all that was scary about that real world. I would put that album on and hide behind the good time, nothing is wrong with the world feeling in their music. Their music has been my solace ever since! In the 21 years we have been friends we have gone through successes and failures together (their successes are a little more immense than mine but it is what it is). They have gone through girlfriends and marriages, I have gone through roommates and friends. They have toured the world, I have toured Southern California trying to find the perfect place to live (Chatsworth is the winner). Through it all I could always depend on them to be there and took pride in the feeling that I would always be there for them. Or would I?

A funny thing happened on that "Lost Highway". Something that I never thought would happen. While waiting to see how Richie Sambora's tabloid romance would shake out and how far into Country the band was going to go, I found a new soundtrack. One that is bluesier, funkier, newer! It is a sound I haven't heard before. It's a sound played from the heart, not the wallet and it has me completely addicted! To top it off, it comes complete with tabloid romance all it's own so my US Weekly subscription wouldn't go to waste! A new musician discovery! Cute, young! A funny, smart, environmentally conscience blogger! ANOTHER FREAKIN GUITAR PLAYER!! Yikes! I swear...crack couldn't be more deadly to me than a cute, funny guitar player!!

While I was diving in, finding all there is to know about my new musician I let my friends sit on the sidelines. While catching up on 8 CD's/EPs and various live shows, the release date for the new Bon Jovi came and went with barely a notice from me! I switched up my MySpace page to say "hey, look at this new thing I found"! My mornings were spent Googling to see if this was the hour John and Jessica TRULY broke up for good. Who has time to watch all those Bon Jovi appearences that are stacking up on the TiVo? Not me! I am in the discovery phase, that time in a new crush where it's all new, interesting, unknown. The fun part!

Maybe this has less to do with the new musician discovery and more to do with the fact that I was afraid this was it for me and my friends Bon Jovi! Maybe I was in denial about them "going country". What if they did and I would have to disown them! What if this ment that the band "sold out" for the cash and stopped being true to themselves? I felt guilty! I am deserting my friends! They have always been there for me, why am I bailing on them? I have more than one real friend, I can have more than one musical friend! So I finally bought "Lost Highway" (three weeks after release date...**sigh**....never waited that long before). I put it in at the beach and listened. To my extreme relief, it isn't country at all! It is the same Bon Jovi I have loved for 21 years! Catchy rock with hooks that reel you in and not let go! YIPPEE!

In full honesty I must admit that I only listened to it once all the way through and then put "Continuum" back in where it's been since June 10th! Here's the thing: Bon Jovi music is like my favorite warm blanket. I may not use it all the time but I do like knowing you can pull it out whenever you need it. I like knowing I can depend on the comfort that their music has always provided and will continue to do so.

I no longer worry about deserting my musical friends. I have always felt that the mark of a true friend is if you can pick up where you left off after not speaking for a while and the friendship sustains you as much as it always did! When you can do that, you know you have a true friend. Bon Jovi are and always will be my true musical friends. Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

Going Green

From the time I got my drivers liscense to now, my favorite stress release has been a drive to the beach. I would drive with all the windows down, stereo blaring, talking to myself and God. Sometimes I wouldn't even get out of the car. Just being at the beach restores my soul and helps me get back to that place in my head where I am glad to be alive.

I went on a drive like that today. I wasn't stressed out for me, I was stressed out for the beach, the mountains, the earth in general! They may not be here much longer! I believe that global warming is a reality and WE ALL need to chip in and start doing something...ANYTHING...to stop this problem from getting worse!

I watched more hours of Live Earth last weekend that I thought possible but I am glad I did! It made me more aware of the enviornmental crisis than I was before! The situation was always in the back of my mind. I have had "Inconvienent Truth" saved on TiVo for months but God forbid I give up watching "E News" or "Access Hollywood" to educate myself! I think that I haven't done anything up to now because I have an "all or nothing" mentality. I do. If I can't do it all, why bother! I think many of us have that view of this crisis. We think that it's too overwhelming or that we are too deep into it for anything we do to make a difference. That isn't true!

The great thing about helping to stall the enviornmental crisis is that you don't have to do it all. You don't have to go out in your $30,000 Prius with your canvas bag to buy your $20 lightbulb and then come home and unplug your phone charger, while powering down your laptop and getting rid of all your bottled water! Well...........doing all that would be awesome but pick one or two and stick with it for awhile! I bet it will spur you on to do more! I bought the canvas bag at my Trader Joe's and I keep it in my car to use! I bought one for my roommate, too! I take my own mug to Starbucks. I am not ready to give up bottled water (I live in L.A., after all) but I reuse the one bottle for a week by filling it up from the Arrowhead dispenser at work (they don't care....already asked). Next payday, going to buy a couple of the lightbulbs. I figure if I use them in the lights we use themost, like the bedroom and the porchlights we leave on at night, it would save not only energy but money on the electric bill as well!

I have always felt incredibly blessed to live in Southern California and the main reason for that was the beauty of the outdoors! We have some of the most amazing mountains, beaches and deserts all within a couple hours drive of my house! To think that may all be gone in my lifetime, not my grandkids lifetime but mine, is incredibly sad! Isn't preserving that beauty worth a $8 lightbulb? I think I can sacrifice a couple of latte's and buy some lightbulbs to keep my stress releasing beach spot! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

Pirate Karioke

They say if you face a fear you can make it disappear! It's true and in Catalina I proved it by doing something I am deathly afraid of: singing by myself in public! I know I can sing but have only sang in groups...large ones! I have auditioned solo and a cappella but needed a week to recover from the massive amounts of Xanax needed to do so! It's silly! The interesting irony about the fear is that I have this burning desire to do it all the while breaking out in a cold sweat just thinking about it! So I asked the pro singers I know how to get over myself! The resounding advice was Karioke. Just sing in front of people by yourself until it's not a big deal! What a better place to do this than on a island where you can leave the scene of the crime and all it's witnesses behind!

That is exactly what I did! I hung out in a bar with the frat boys dressed as pirates and looked fear straight in the eye! It wasn't going to stop me! Besides, if I sucked, I wasn't in a place where I knew anyone! Perfect! So, I fought the fear, stayed sober and in the two hours I had to wait (by myself by the way) I just visualized rocking the song! What did I sing? John Mayer's "Body Is A Wonderland"? Ha ha...no way! If I had the talent to do a Mayer tune, it wouldn't be that one! Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer"? Nope, frat boys took care of that one early in the night! I sang a great rendition of Bonnie Raitt's "Something To Talk About"! I know it was great because the DJ told me "Great Job" and the frat boy making goo goo eyes at me throughout the tune slipped me his phone # as I stepped down off the podium (he was way under this cougar's hardline rule of 30 being the bottom line...damn). Phone # was a bonus! The feeling I got after doing this was amazing! In that little bar I proved to myself that I can push fear to the side and do what I want to do! I can't wait to do this again! I am going to grab anyone crazy enough to do this and head out this weekend to sing in some other dive bar! Wahoo!

There is something really freeing about tapping into my inner Pat Benetar! It got me to thinking that since I have done what scares me the most, what else is there to conqure? Dating......yikes! I know for sure that the only way to make a fear disappear is to face it head on and deal with it! Dating can't be scarier than singing and shaking your money maker in a bar full of drunken frat boy pirates but I am hoping it can be more fun!
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CATALINA!!!

Wahooo! Tomorrow we are off to Catalina Island for the 4th! I can't wait! 4 days of nothing but bike riding, margaritas and lounging on the beach! I am going to write the intellegent and wildly funny novel that I will be publiclly appalled that is categorized as "chick lit" while I am secretly negotiating the movie rights with Nora Ephron so she can turn it to the next "Chick flick". (something about older woman falling for younger rock star..go figure!). Then I am going to read the last 3 weeks Us, Star , Entertainment Weekly and In Touch! After that, I'll take a spin around the island in a golf cart looking for that funny, intellegent, hot single musician who will love me for my wit and my mind, not my.....never mind! If he's a hot single musician who's interested in me, WHO CARES WHY!!!

There might be time for bonding w/my roommate who I have been just passing lately while we take turns in the bathroom. There might be time to take stock in how life has been treating me so far this year and where I want it to take me the next few months. There might be time to thank God for the blessings that happen in my life everyday and will continue to happen! There WILL be time to thank God and our troops for continuing to fight the good fight in the name of democracy and freedom! It's is 4th of July, after all!

Whew! I have a lot to do over the next 4 days! And it starts today with laundry, packing and going to work! Relaxation starts tomorrow! WAHOO!

Happy 4th everyone!
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The Hollywood Hills Are Alive!

I love....no, make that LOVE living in LA! There are so many things unique to this town I don't know where to start! One of my favorites happens every summer! It brings young and old, straight and gay, musically inclined and not together for one evening under the stars. I am talking about the "Sound of Music Sing A Long" at the Hollywood Bowl!

I pride myself on not only being a dyed in the wool rocker but a music lover in general. This is definately in the "general" category. It is too much fun to resist! The "Sound Of Music Sing A Long" is hard to describe but imagine taking Rocky Horror and placing it in the Swiss Alps. Replace Tim Curry with Julie Andrews. Take that whole thing and place it in a drive-in that holds 16,000 people and you kind of get the idea! The film is shown on a huge screen stretched across the Bowl stage and the musical numbers have subtitles so everyone sings along! There are props they give us, like edelweiss and no one is shy about using them! There is an air of "Mystery Science Theatre" as people shout out comments that are for the most part hysterical! Hissing at the baroness, sighing at cute little Gretel! My favorite though comes courtesy (this year) of my friend Terri. At the end of the movie before the captain sings "Edelweiss" a hush falls over the Bowl. It is then that she yells in her best hockey yelling voice "sing a song about flowers". I almost died laughing!

My fave moment came courtesy of the boys dressed as nuns. As I was walking back from the bathroom they came up and offered me forgiveness for the cleavage my top was showing! HEY! That dude on Oprah says always walk out of the house dressed like you are going to meet your dream man! So I did! I just didn't know he'd be a nun....or gay! Doesn't matter, i'll take the complement wherever I can get it since one of the nuns said if he left the convent and turned straight he'd do me! ROTFL!!!

This night is so fun! We are going to make it a tradition. Next year we are all going to enter the costume contest. Look out! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.