Josh Groban is mad cool

What a pleasure it is to massage Josh . SUPER cool and great sense of humor. I am so out of the loop, I am unfamiliar with his music. I gotta get my head out of the hippie sand and catch up (he's sold over 30 million albums, so he MUST be good)

 

Check out his web site:  

 


http://www.joshgroban.com

 

 

Staind in Berlin on Super Bowl Sunday 2009

The Staind show was moved to Huxleys Neue Welt as they sold so many tix they were too big for the Columbia fritz club. 

Aaron does NOT mind people filming their shows. He showed me loads of videos of his band on youtube and said I could film what he calls the "last song" as in, he comes out for the encore alone, with an acoustic guitar and sings without a microphone or amp, nothing, just singing. Takes a while to get the rowdy crowd to be quiet so they can hear him sing.. The song he is singing in this video is called "Intro" 

 

STAIND "INTRO"

 "thank you to the people in my life
for putting up with me
and thank you for the time you sacrificed
all on account of me

[chorus]

for all the times i didn't say
the times i didn't say
for all the times i didn't say
the times i didn't say

fuck you to the jaded and the fake
like to see what you would do
fuck you and the judgements you make
we're not all perfect just like you,
like you, like you

[chorus]

all the times i didn't say [x2]
thank you to the people in my life for putting up with me"

 

Aaron stood in the EXTREME cold weather for at least 45 minutes signing autographs for dedicated fans. I got fed up after ten minutes and waited on the bus, I can't stand that cold whipping post weather..brrrrrrrrrrrr Key West, I miss you so!

Once he got on the bus, the whole band, apart from the bassist and the crew all went to the Hard Rock Cafe to watch the Super Bowl.

 

Mike ^ the guitarist, me and drummer Jon and Fran, band video/photographer holding the Pittsburgh Steelers "terrible towel" lol

Mike HATED that towel as he was routin' for Arizona. Jon, Fran and a few others were for Pittsburgh. I didn't give a toss as I hate American Football. Too much padding and stop and go. I prefer Soccer and then Basketball. I don't get why they call it "Football"when they are allowed to use their hands. It's just plain padded Rugby. Padding is for pussies (and bras)

 We were the loudest fucking group in the place. There was NO doubt in the German's minds we were all yanks. (one roadie was from the UK).

 

 For-mentioned ^ roadie, Aaron and production manager/sound man/stage manager, erm, think his name is Scott? Matt? I am bad with names! I communicate mostly with the tour manager who stayed behind with the bassist. BAD WITH NAMES I am. sigh.

That's pretty much all I have in me to write. Hurricane Staind came to town for two days and I am BEAT. It was well worth the fatigue though πŸ™‚

Recent pictures of NYC, Weehawken and Hoboken, NJ

 Ok, 8 days after surgery and I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I can only sleep for 4 hours max, then due to ear aches & dry throat from the surgery, I wake and can't fall back sleep, but I have been getting a lot done nevertheless. Look at all the blogs I have been writing Kiss

 

Some of these pictures are a few weeks old. The one above, from left to right, is of Tom, Jeremiah & my uncle Jack (my late Mother's younger brother). They are obviously flaming gay and call themselves the "Sears of Gay" since they are from the 'burbs of CT. They have been together for 19 years (maybe even 20 by now) and are legally married. Now they have reached the pot of gold at the end of every gay rainbow and have adopted a baby. He is cute as hell and actually a blood relative. 

My cousin Crystal, who's Mother Irene is my late Mother's younger sister is her mother. Anyways, Crystal already has 2 healthy children and decided to make their dream come true and allow my Uncle and his husband adopt her baby; they were even there to cut the cord. I suggested they call Ophra, but then again, in conservative CT, it may be unwise to cause a fuss. 

Jeremiah gets all the love he needs and Tom is the dotting "Mom" so to speak and can barely wait to get home from work to show his son loads of love and attention. They are great parents. Funny thing is, when we all go out to eat, I catch myself putting lipstick on at the dinner table, you know, after eating and looking in my pocket mirror for food between my teeth, self absorbed behavior and I look around and see people watching me and imagine they must be thing "what an ignorant Mother! She has barely given that kid any attention all meal, the poor men have to do all the work!". Then I have to giggle and think , if they ONLY knew the situation.

It's also funny walking around with them as people stop and want to say "the baby looks just like…..you?" ha ha. What a gas.  

Obviously Jeremiah is inspired by my many "foot on tour" pictures and has pulled a copy cat move here in Hoboken ^

 The view from Weehawken is also breath taking. I was thinking, Jeremiah is gonna have to grow a thick skin. He is half black, has white parents, who are both male and gay and his name isn't exactly the kind that blends in. I hope he takes karate lessons before he hits the 4th grade. The part of CT they live in is predominately white and conservative like I said. Oh well, it is his destiny to open minds; to rock the boat Innocent

 

 

So I am sitting here sipping pure cranberry juice and listening to the Who's Quadrophenia. I was inspired to hear more Who by my friend Justin Kreutzmann. His father is the son of the Grateful Dead drummer, Bill. Justin is a film director and just sent me a dvd he directed for the Who called 'Fragments; fan club dvd'. It is amazing. 

Justin said he would someday direct my "how to give a massage" dvd that I have been dreaming of making for years now. That would rock if it happened. I wonder if  I could convince Sting to keep his word and be in my dvd. Or I could ask Simon Cowell, I bet he would do it πŸ™‚

Justin works full time for Pete Townshend, filming and doing whatever.. great job to have, or?  

Aaah, Jonesy . It was SO GREAT to hang with Jonesy again. He is one of my favorite people on earth. Talent oozes out of every pore of his. He is a singer and stand up comedian. He  was singing "I keep forgetting we're not in love anymore" by Michael McDonald when I took this shot. He sounded EXACTLY like the original. Jonesy can morph into anyone he sings. He can do Aretha Franklin and sound just like her, seriously. When I first met him, I walked into a karaoke bar and heard "Misses, misses Jones" (you know that great song?) and wondered which black dude must be on the mic. I came further into the bar and it was a short blonde guy from Boston. That was about 3 or 4 years ago and we have been best buddies ever since. I can NOT understand why he isn't famous yet. He is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay funnier than Dane Cook. I predict he will be the next Jim Carey. Mark my words. 

Brooke is a karoake DJ at Iggy's in NYC. She is 24 and an Opera singer so I have no idea what such a gorgeous girl is doing hosting karaoke. I love going there on Monday nights as you can sing ANYTHING as it's not so crowded. Jonesy, Danny and I were whipping out such crazy tunes. I sang Rocky Raccoon, Happiness is a warm gun  and Back in the Saddle again (none of which I ever tried before). Those were the days, when I could go sing karaoke πŸ™  I wonder how long I have to wait to (1) sing karaoke (2) give head after this tonsil surgery. I really wonder. 

Danny and I ventured out to sing with the "Super Karaoke Fun Time Band" in Jersey City.

They were supposed to start at 10pm and only play until Midnight so I was rather annoyed that they played 20 minutes of them jamming (mainly cool Stones tunes). I mean, us karaoke whores were DYING to grab the mic and sing with the live band so it was torture just listening to them heh heh. If I want to go see a live band, I will go see Steve Vai ok? I went there because the bar was hosting Live Karaoke.

After 20 minutes of them jamming (which I figured out was them just pulling off a sound check while on the clock) Danny and I got to sing some songs. I sang Back in Black, Dirty Deeds and Helter Skelter. Danny sang I touch myself and YMCA, which he did NOT sign up for; I signed him up secretly and he was not amused, but still pulled it off well. Singing with a live band is waaaaay better than normal karaoke.  I filmed Danny and he filmed me, but it was too dark in the tiny shit hole, so I had to scrap the material, sadly.

 Fet once again, made our photo shoot fantasy come true by photo-shopping Danny ^

 

Even shopping with Danny is fun. I am such a fag hag. 

I was walking down Washington street in Hoboken the other day and thought to myself, these ^ guys look so old school Hoboken (home of Frank Sinatra and  supposedly the birth place of Baseball (but I can imagine Romans playing stick ball WAAAY before America was even discovered) 

Typical scene on a week end night in Hoboken outside the Path train station, girls waiting for a taxi ride home..

sweet. I LOVE Hoboken.

ps. Steve Vai emailed me today and asked me for my home address. Wonder if he is sending me a get well soon present? I will definitely drag my ass to his show on the 28th (tomorrow). I can't miss it! I will just have to keep my mouth shut backstage and not say too much, as it hurts to talk.. it's a big challenge for me (being quiet πŸ™‚