February 11, 2004 - Hollywood, CA

When I woke up and looked out the window of the bus we were riding past the Hollywood Bowl in LA. I threw on my clothes and went up to the front of the bus to hang out with Joseph and Jeff. We were in the midst of the morning rush hour. That traffic was very thick. It almost felt like I was home back in the DC area except that almost every car on the road was a very expensive luxury vehicle. I was amazed at how many luxury vehicles I saw on the road in Hollywood. When we pulled into the hotel I immediately recognized the area. We stayed in the same hotel last year. I figured I'd go up and get a little rest and then go for a walk. After I got a little sleep I got up and called Ma'Rya Mahome from Bass Camp. She lives in Simi Valley which is not too far away. Ma'Rya is a very talented person. Not only because she plays bass, but she plays bass trombone also. She actually played a bass trombone at camp. That thing is almost as big as she is. Funny,...that's what everybody says about me and my bass.

I decided to walk down to Hollywood Boulevard and have breakfast at a place that Joseph and Derico ate at last year. It's a little café a couple of doors down from where we were playing at the Knitting Factory. While I was walking, I ran into Derico. He decided he would walk down with me and have breakfast. The traffic was so thick that we almost got hit by a couple of Mercedes Benz while we were walking across the street.

We walked past the hotel that a lot of the NBA festivities for the Allstar game were being held. This year the game was going to be played at the Staples Center in LA. There seemed to be a lot of NBA 'groupies' hanging out in front of the hotel. Next door to that hotel is a shopping center where some guy hosts a talk show. I can't think of his name, but he was the original host of American Idol. Now he has a talk show that is filmed in the courtyard of this shopping center. Derico and I found out that his guest today was none other than Britney Spears. What an amazing coincidence since our bus driver Jeff is Britney's personal driver. As soon as he's done with us he's going back on the road with Britney. There were hoards of her fans at this talk show waiting to see her. Jeff said he had considered calling her to see if she would come to the show tonight, but he decided against it. He did call Justin Timberlake, but Justin had just bought a new four wheeler and was out with a friend riding.

Derico and I ate at the café. I ordered a vegetarian omelet. It was very greasy - which made it very good. It was like it was cooked in a tub of butter. My 'roots' are in the south, so I'm partial to greasy food. All the omelets that I've eaten on the west coast tour so far have been bone dry. After we ate Derico walked back to the room. I walked over to where they were filming the talk show to get a glimpse of Britney. No offense to her or any of her fans, but she just doesn't do it for me. She's cute but her voice is just so so, and all her moves are just 'rip offs' of what Janet Jackson was doing in the early 90's. But don't get me wrong - if she offered me a gig I'd take it.

Ma'Rya arrived just as I was getting bored of the whole Britney thing. She gave me a lift to Beverly Hills Ducati. We talked a little bit about what she was doing. She told me that she was playing bass in a local production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. She also has been giving lessons on bass, piano and voice. I think she plays about 12 instruments.

As we were riding through Hollywood I couldn't help but notice how 'plastic' this whole town seems. It doesn't seem to have it's basis in reality.

I told the guys at the Ducati dealer that I was on tour with a band. He told me that I should buy a couple of Ducati's to put in the trailer. He said they've had many tour buses pull up and load Ducati's right on the trailer. He told me that Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers owns a Ducati Monster 750 just like mine. Must be a bass player thing. We left the Ducati dealer and walked next door to a place called OmZen. The big Om outside caught my attention. As many of you know, my wife and I wear the Om symbol on necklaces every day. There's an Om symbol on my 7 string M-bass and all over my web site. I went in and met the owner. He was from DC so we struck up a conversation. We even knew some of the same people. There was a woman from Israel in the back room practicing belly dancing. She was amazing.

We got back just in time for load in. After we set up Ma'Rya, Kerry Lathon and I decided to go for a walk down Hollywood Boulevard. Kerry Lathon owns and operates LathonBassWear.com. His bass apparel is very nice. He's been very kind and generous with us. He made me a new hat and right now it's the first and only one of it's kind. When you get a chance, check out his web site. He's in the middle of revamping it.

While we were walking my wife called. We kind of got into a little 'rift' over the phone. Even though I'm out on the road having fun, real life is still happening. Nothing major - we're just missing each other. This will be the longest amount of time we've been apart. I have to remind myself that she relocated to be with me and she's still trying to adjust to living in a new area with not many friends. So when I'm on the road, she's usually at home alone and we live in the middle of nowhere. This makes me think of the advice that my friends Russ and Robin Hodges from Salt Lake City gave me when I saw them. They said as a guy I should learn how to say these three things - I'm sorry, I understand, and it'll all be OK. This translates to I'm an idiot, I know that I'm an idiot, and I'll do whatever I can to fix it.

(...good thing you're such a cute idiot -- and sweet too!!....)

I actually wrote this down in my palm pilot when they gave me the advice. Now I just gotta' learn how to follow it. My wife is full blooded Italian. She has that hot Mediterranean blood running through her veins. She's moody and she's temperamental.

(which translates to - I'm an emotional female who is extremely expressive..)

I'm a Taurus in every sense of the word. So that makes me very stubborn. We would have a couple of moments like this on the tour and it's just a sign of us missing each other. REAL LIFE!!

Anyways, the show went great. Todd from Todd TV was in attendance. I'm not familiar with the show, but I hear it's good. I think it's on the FX channel.

We weren't staying the night, so we just went back to the hotel to shower and head on down to San Diego. I wish we were making the drive during the day because I hear it's a beautiful drive.

Kurt gives Anthony a lift.....

peace & blessings

anthony