Soul In Full Effect [Show Recap]

Hey Soul Mates,
thanks to all the dancers that invaded the floor last night. What a crowd. The Good Hurt was packed to the veritable rafters, too. Despite the mind-numbingly glacial traffic on the 405 everyone in the band (and the fans) arrived in time for the show. Even L.A. gridlock can be overcome when there's good times on the line.

First of all, props to our photog, Patty who's pro camera was broken at the start of the show. It was shaken off of an amplifier. We're very sorry it happened, but as a result she wound up videotaping the whole set. We are pleased to tell you that once we've screened the footage tonight, we will start posting clips on youtube. But as a result there are only a handful of extant pictures and I'm having trouble posting them in my blog. Suppose it wasn't meant to be.

The set was heavy on the fun and the funk. We were hitting it on the ones. Whipping up the crowd into a frenzy with the double-groove whammy of Fall Out and Roosevelt's Revue. And ladies, if you like Roosevelt now, wait till you here how he sounds coming from the studio!

After a few more numbers, Rush Hour Soul broke new ground by having our first guest artist appear on stage with us. For the ballad Done Lost My Mind, soul singer Mondo Fowler duetted with me and she brought down the hizzy, as Doug says. I've known Mondo for years, but had lost touch with her. The minute I saw her at a Festivus party last month, I knew I had to get her to sing with us. She was entirely fierce, she looked great and sounded even better. It was cool to pull off such a short notice vocal collaboration, but that's us. Grace under pressure. We hope we'll all being hearing more from Ms. Fowler in the future.

We rocked out in the second half of the set with Supermodels and I Can't Cry For You, another hit in waiting. And closed with A Talent For Loving. Even strangers were singing along by the time we ended the set. Gratifying. I'm ever grateful that people are entertained by our music and performance. And when the dancefloor is too full to dance, that shows us that we are on our way up. As I mentioned in my last blog, I think Dr. King would be pleased by the diversity of our audience. And the fact that you all have rhythm helps. Ha ha. You were truly a beautiful crowd and loud, too.

Final thoughts on the night. I chipped my one real front tooth on the mic. That's a little bit of a bummer. But, the sound at the Good Hurt was clean! And I think everyone (girls included) had glowing comments about the "naughty nurse" tending bar. Hey, if you have to have an m.o. like that, the Good Hurt certainly picked a good gimmick. The band may do our CD release show there in April/May. So keep watching for the heads up. Thanks to the Good Hurt for having us last night. And thanks to all of our supporters. Now, it's off to the studio with Adam Marsland for us.

Set List:
Fall Out (For James Brown)
Roosevelt's Revue
Everyone's Ingenue
U Had The $
Done Lost My Mind with special guest vocalist Mondo Fowler
Supermodels With Gatling Guns
I Can't Cry For You
Everything My Heart Desires
A Talent For Loving

Oh, yes, we'd like to welcome David Beckham to Los Angeles. Nice of him to transplant himself about the time we'll be going over there. This city's not big enough for Becks and RHS... yet! I'm also looking forward to reading the eulogies in new Rolling Stone with James Brown on the cover. There's lots of band "work" to do this weekend. We are sending promos over to our handler in the UK; Micah's birthday bash is tonight; gotta work on fixing the camera; watching the video from last night's show and playoff football!

Have a great three day weekend.
Love, Power, Peace

We Have A Dream

Hey Soul Mates,
you know what you all have in common with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? You are the embodiment of his dream (and ours). Our audience is filled with people of all colors and races: Asian, White, Black, Latino (just like it says in the song!). You represent different faiths: Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims; coming from all sorts of walks of life. And there you are at our shows, proving to the universe that people can come together. We don't think of ourselves as liberators or philosophers. We're just entertainers, but we are pleased to the max that humankind is well-represented by the Soul Mates.

As you know, Rush Hour Soul is diverse. And tonight, all of this will be on bright display at our show at the Good Hurt. So come on down and put Dr. King's dream to full effect, brothers and sisters! If we don't see you at the show, we hope you have a peaceful 3 day weekend and that you'll find time in your own way to celebrate all that Dr. King stood for.

Love, Power, Peace!

2007: The Year of Rush Hour Soul

Hey Soul Mates,
Happy New Year! It's 2007 y'all: the year of the Rush Hour Soul.

As you know we are heading back into the studio to complete our debut album. The disc will feature "A Talent For Loving" and that will also serve as the record's title. So when you see A Talent For Loving, I'm talking about our groove-filled long player.

I can reveal to you that we will be working with Adam Marsland on this disc and I'm very excited about that. Adam has been a great sounding board and supportive source for me for years. We've worked together on stage, you may remember my guest spot with his group at Brennan's on Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman."

A Talent For Loving will be recorded at the same studio where Adam has recorded his albums down in Venice, CA. It just made more sense for us to do the album here before our trek to the UK. But, we promise the vibe of the album will make you dance and holler for joy. I'll fill you in on more details as we get them and as we head to the studio.

Recording will begin in the second week of February, so we are still in pre-production. We've chosen the songs to concentrate on. We are discussing arrangements (strings and horns may appear!). It's tremendously cool to be putting this foot forward. Bryan and Doug and I have been talking about the record and the upcoming tour and we cannot wait to share the music with you!

Apart from recording, here are some fun thoughts. Last night, Bryan brought over his playstation and we shredded through Guitar Hero II. It's a nifty game. Of course, Bryan is already blasting through the solos on all of the songs. I haven't played video games much, ever, but I held my own (on the easier levels) on "Message In A Bottle" & "Killing In The Name." Bryan even tackled the Allman Brothers' "Jessica" on the most difficult level like the rock star he is!

The other night, I finally made it to the movies and saw Dreamgirls. I have always loved Eddie Murphy, but now he's done work to make his fans proud. We know he's funny, but here he got to show off a range from sleazy to tragic with pinpoint accuracy. All those years of "Little Richard Simmons" and "James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub," recording with Michael Jackson and Rick James have paid off as though the part were written for him. Eddie's performance as Jimmy "Early" Thunder is worth the price of admission alone. But wait, there's more. In the shape of Jennifer Hudson. As Effie White, she turns in a movie debut for the ages. This is her movie and her soundtrack. I liked her on American Idol (you know I'm an A.I. junkie), even when her eyes were buggin' out. But she can sang and act! The whole ensemble is fantastic, but Mr. Murphy and Ms. Hudson have turned in career performances.

Wednesday, I sent in my Grammy ballot. That was a fun exercise. As a result, I've grown very fond of a couple of recordings I hadn't paid attention to before. I expect to vote for myself next year. That will be really fun.

New Year's Eve was spent up at Wat Thai. Always gratifying to hang out with the monks and chat. Several of them are very encouraging about the band and want to know what we are up to. And when I've got Buddhist monks telling me that the world needs me to make records, I take them at their word.

I'm off for an hour of strolling at the Huntington Gardens and then I've got to replace the vacuum cleaner. I dismantled my old one down to the drive belts yesterday to no avail. It's still blasting out dust and dirt faster than I can vacuum it. Comedy!

Well, here's to the new year and to success, superior health, love and wisdom for us all. Let's attract peace, prosperity and well-being to ourselves soul mates. Attract us to your town and we'll play our hearts out for you!
Love, Power, Peace