Tag: chili

This just in:

My family (Dad's side) down in Georgia just called and they said they won #1 place in the corn bread competition and 10th place (out of 300 hundred applicants) in the annual Stone Mountain Chili Cook off!!!!!!!

Lisa is down there with them raising hell and they are so ecstatic they took a giant trophy for their corn bread! They call themselves the Killer Bee's Chili team and they compete every year at this Chili Cook off down there. I think I will join them next year, sounds fun. They told me there were several cover bands playing at the all weekend festival, a Hendrix cover band called VooDoo was the best (my Dad said).

From left to right ^ My Dad's sister, Aunt Caron, her son JC, Aunt Nancy (Dad's other sister + favorite Auntie ), Allyson my Dad's wife of over 25 years, My DAD :), Melissa (Aunt Caron's daughter + my niece) + the girl Kneeling is Chantel a friend of Melissa's who helps them every year at the cook off. 

 

So congrats to the whole Fam Damily for their cooking talents 🙂

Last night, the 28th, was 10 days after my tonsillectomy and even though I probably should have just stayed home and rested, I couldn't resist the call of the wild and went to  the Steve Vai show at the Starland Ballroom, in Sayerville, NJ, my favorite venue in the world. I used to work at like 2 concerts a week there and know the whole staff. This place is SO FUN to go to, I love eveyone there, the cook, the bar backs, the roadies, managers, they just all rock.

Everyone always hangs out in the kitchen and cracks jokes. I warned everyone that I would be coming but couldn't speak loud or much thanks to a hurt throat but that plan went out the window, I simply  had to speak and catch up with my old friends. One friend in particular was in dire need of some tender loving care. Two weeks ago, Pauls wife of one year gave birth to their first child, a baby boy.
The wife died 4 days later due to complications from her c-section. So he is beyond gutted. I couldn't massage last night because my Doctor said you can't workout or work for at least a month after a tonsillectomy but I brought one of my best massage assistants with me, Koree, to be there to massage anyone who needed it at the Steve Vai show and so I treated Paul to 30 minutes of massage from Koree, who has hands of steel, like butter, I love her. Paul LOVED his massage and felt a little better, the
poor guy 🙁

 

Paul is a massive Dead head and always has the Dead or solo Garcia playing in the kitchen, even during shows. He just cranks his stereo up louder to drown out whatever act is on stage lol

 Nick is a fucking NUT ^  I love him madly. He makes everyone who enters the Starland Ballroom howl with laughter. 

  < I know a few people with that tattoo

It was great to see the "mad fiddler" again, Ann Marie ^  I am just kidding, she is a violinist..

When Steve introduced the band on stage, he mentioned how he "stole her from Jethro Tull" with a sharp laugh. It is true, I asked her. She was touring with Jethro Tull and then auditioned for Steve Vai and instead of doing the next leg of the Jethro Tull tour, she joined Steve on the road and the rest is history. This woman is so talented and gorgeous, it's hard to take your eyes off her when she is on stage. She challenges Steve during the show, her violin, his guitar, it is amazing to see and hear, absolutely mad!

The Bass master, Bryan brought his parents and introduced them to me. He looks just like his Mom. The NJ native was beaming all night but you could tell backstage that he was missing his cutie Kira Small, who is on tour with her band at the moment. 

Zack is young fresh guitar blood. Read about him by clicking HERE 

Steve is giving this 20 year old guitar genius a chance to shine by letting him open for him at every show and even invites him on stage every night for a number or two. Frank Zappa did the same for Steve when he was 20, plucked him fresh out of the Berkley School of Music. So I guess Steve is keeping the faith and sharing his spot light with Zack as Frank did for him. What a man Steve is. Zack showed me all the movies he has made on his lap top and I am pretty sure he will end up a movie director one day, as he is amazing at it.

Speaking of Lap tops, everyone on Steve's tour except for Bryan Beller uses an Apple. I feel so old fashioned using a PC still. I have to get a Mac I guess to keep up with the times. Steve said PC's are crap compared to  Apples and he said Blackberry's are junk compared to the iPhone. Why oh WHY did I just order a new version of the Blackberry (the Curve). I wish I hadn't now that I have seen how fucking cool the iPhone is. Oh well, maybe I will just give my Curve to Jasmine and get a freakin' iPhone next. 

 I got to spend a lot of one on one time with Steve before and after the show, yay. He showed me his iPhone for about 20 minutes and it made me loathe my Blackberry with a vengeance. He showed me how you can type in any address and zoom in on it with the satellite and we found my house and saw it on his phone! He is indeed Mr. Gadget. Love the pic he gave me ^ I think I will have it framed in silver and wear it as a necklace charm. 

We talked a lot about Frank Zappa and his music and his son Julian, who is currently in Massage school, inspiring to be a member of my massage team. That would soooooo rock, having a Vai on our team. I have yet to meet Mrs. Vai, maybe next time. I hear from everyone that she is as sweet as Steve is.

Steve has a great sense of humor. Somehow we got to talking about my sex column and I told him about the time a woman wrote in asking for advice about how to hide her farts on long weekends at home with her man. Steve said "Farts are like God's joke on us". He fucking cracks me up. I ordered a fart machine and had it shipped to my pal Christin's house, who will see him up in Boston in a few days… she will give it to him for me. I can't wait to hear how he reacts.

  Steve trying the Bite Method on me ^ ?

His famous guitars  ^

 During the show, as I said before, Steve introduced the band and directly after, he said "Special thanks to my friend Dr. Dot for coming out tonight to make us feel good, give a hand to Dr. Dot everybody" and he pointed at me on the side of the stage (I was next to the sound/monitor man Roger). Oh my God, I was NOT expecting that and blushed ten shades of red. 

Steve is by far my favorite client, there is no other artist that sweet. He is the absolute fucking bomb and that show last night was brilliant. It was PERFECT.

After the show I was soooooooooooo hungry, it has been 10 days since I've had a real meal and I couldn't take it anymore and nibbled on a tiny piece of pizza; chewed it REALLY good and got it down. That tasted so good I ate the whole thing. It took me about 30 minutes to chew it all, but I got it down and man it felt good. SO it looks like I am pretty much healed now. I still have a sore throat but I am on the road to recovery 🙂

 

Steve Vai leftovers ^  🙂

 

We were talking about my Tonsillectomy and he told me about his when he was 6 years old. He said the first thing he asked for when he woke up was Potato Chips. He said his Mom called the Doctor and said "Doc, he wants Potato chips!!" and the Doc replied "Aaaah, then give him Potato chips"
LMFAO!!!!!!!! So he got Potato chips. This is one tough cookie.

Steve noticed I was finally eating and offered me his left over pasta which Paul, the cook whipped up especially for him. Whole wheat Ziti Pasta with bits of Tofu  and red & green peppers and zucchini  coated in a Balsamic Vinegar sauce. I am in fact eating Steve Vai's left overs as I type this and man are they yummy. Heh heh. He ate most of the Tofu though..dam him! heh heh

x

 < random video bits ( Video leftovers)