Happy New Year

...sending out a prayer to the universe for all of us to have a blessed and prosperous 2006.

Shopping Carts and Babies Butts

I love babies! I probably love babies more than most guys that don't have their own kids. The other day I'm walking through the produce section of my local Korean supermarket. I put a bag of oranges in the shopping cart. I laid them down in the front part of the cart where people let their babies sit. After placing a few more items it hit me! My god! This is where the asses and diapers of hundreds of babies have sat! I've just laid my food down where an uncountable number of babies have farted, urinated, oozed their glow-in-the-dark green diarrhea, drooled and picked their noses then rubbed fingers on the cart's handle!

I washed my hands when I got home. The oranges were yummy!

text message from gig - sleeping soundman

Text message #1 to friend in Vegas:
@ bb king's club L.A. waiting 2 go on. current band is torturing me. please kill me. ~armen

Text message #2:
worried about our sound 2nite. soundman looks so cute sleeping next to me, hate to wake him.

Gig Report

Gashouse Dave @ Jax: A kick-ass gig! The place was packed and the band was rockin' hard! You know people are having a great time when women start dancin' and grindin' with other women and then exchange phone numbers immediately afterwards. At one point, Dave cued us to end the song but Ron the bassist had a big smile on his face and shook his head as if to say, "No way are we endin' this thing with that kind of eye candy happenin'!" Yes, men are pigs, but we like to have a good time too! The Gasman had to try two or three times to get us to stop the song! We finally did. Sorry Dave, but it might happen again.
~Lesson learned on this gig: Always have your camera with you!

Armen Chakmakian @ Holiday Beats On Brand Blvd. event: I felt I played my ass off and did very well. This was the first time and will mostly likely be the last time I will ever play to playback tracks for one of my own gigs. No, I didn't have an Ashlee Simpson episode like her SNL disaster. I just find it extremely unstimulating to play music without other musicians in the group. It was a karaoke version of Armen Chakmakian. Budget aside, I was thinking of putting together a trio for this event, but after finding out more details about this gig, I didn't want to subject my musicians to what I felt might be a potentially humiliating experience because I respect them too much. I felt this event was poorly advertised by the City of Glendale, the location was horrible and no one would show up (I love Milano's Restaurant, but there's zero foot traffic there on Sunday and there was mass construction on the street and a crappy parking situation that day).

So why didn't I just play solo piano? Because at most outdoor venues, the talking and noise tends to compete with the music and you can quickly turn into background music. Regarding my hunch that it was advertised poorly, I was right. I saw a poster which listed none of the artists who were performing except for the Christmas Tuba Ensemble. If I've told them once, I've told them a thousand times, it's Armen Chakmakian AND THEN Christmas Tuba Ensemble!

However, I was wrong about thinking that no one showing up and I have a photo to prove it. This is a photo of 75% of the people that showed up:

Left to Right: friend, wife, friend, and friend.

Lastly, there was nothing "Holiday" about this gig. There were seven to eight bands doing this at different locations on the same street, and they had about the same turn out that we did at our location...such a waste of money for the tax payers of Glendale.

~Lesson learned on this gig: 1) Don't expect things to go well when the goverment hires you to perform; 2) Always ask the promoter exactly how they are planning on advertising the event; 3) if it's a multi-artist event, find out if they're going to MENTION YOUR NAME IN THE FRIGIN' ADS, POSTERS/etc!! 4) Be okay with pulling out of the event even if it's at the last minute.

Totally Cool Gadget

This is one of the coolest ideas I've seen from swissbit. Put this one in the "why didn't I think of that?" catagory.

"Advanced" Society & Naked Tribes on Television

I found something to be so odd yesterday. I'm watching a documentary on the Zoe, a tribe from North Brazil near the Amazon River. They hunt for monkeys, have a poturu (a wooden plug) pierced through their bottom lip to distinguish them from other tribes (that's hardcore!) and are pretty much unclothed all the time.

As advanced as we think our society is, it was so interesting that someone at the television station found it necessary to blur out all the adult penises and vaginas. Female breasts and children's genitalia were perfectly okay to show. I took a look around me to notice electric lights, my comfortable couch; I have indoor plumbing, a refrigerator, and bathroom. This is pretty luxurious compared to a dirt floor, monkeys for dinner and huts. Damn we're advanced, aren't we!

I couldn't help but notice that exposed penises and vaginas don't seem to bother them. Who is bothered by this in our "progressive" civilization? I was watching eight-year old girls caring for babies, older men and women farming together, hunting, etc. It was a non-sexually charged atmosphere. Penises and vaginas don't bother or distract their men during their chores...the women don't care, the children don't seem to notice, and it doesn't even phase the monkeys! Why blur them out? All that does is draw more attention to it. Secondly, why are the children's wieners and coochy-pops okay to show?

2 shows: Armen Chakmakian; Gashouse Dave

Friday Dec. 9 9pm-1am- We'll be tearing it up at Jax Bar & Grill again with blues singer and guitarist Gashouse Dave and the Hard Tails.

Jax Bar & Grill, 339 N.Brand Blvd.,
Glendale, CA 91203, (818) 500-1604

___________________________

Sunday Dec. 11 somewhere between 2pm-5pm (exact time TBA) I'll be doing some solo piano or piano/percussion for the HOLIDAY BEATS ON BRAND event in Glendale on Brand Blvd. in front of Milano's Restaurant.

Milano's, 525 North Brand Blvd.,
Glendale, CA 91203 Tel. (818) 244-1150

Fluffy, the Slug

I was showing my new three-year-old nephew his first slug as it was crawling across the ground. He's never seen one before. It was night time and the outside lights were making the slimy trail behind it shine. He named the slug Fluffy! LOL - FLUFFY THE SLUG! That's the world's greatest name for a metal band!!

Racism: The Angry Baby-Boomer Lady, et al

I witnessed one of the ugliest things I've ever seen in my life. It was true racism. I'm not talking about the kind of "racism" where Jessie Jackson goes after Toyota for not having a certain number of blacks (I don't use the term African-American because I don't know they're actually from England, the Caribbean, Cuba, etc?) or other "minorities" (another stupid term) employed.

I'm not talking about the kind of racism where you want the cook in the Chinese restaurant to be Chinese because if he's/she's not then you don't think the food's going to be as good as if he/she is Chinese.

I'm not talking about the kind of racism where the old Korean couple in their 70s sees four Mexican dudes dressed in gang-banger attire walking in their direction on the sidewalk late at night, so the couple crosses the street because they feel uncomfortable.

I'm not talking about the kind of racism where I'm asked to audition for Donny Osmond's Broadway show where he sings covers of show tunes, then I'm called a few hours later and told, "Umm...listen, they've decided they wanted to audition a...umm..they want to band to really groove and sound a lot more funky, so they're looking for a black keyboardist. <-- true story. Take notice: Donny Osmond covering Broadway show tunes - There is no way to increase the "funk factor" no matter what color you are.)

I'm not talking about the kind of racism where after auditioning and putting together a kick-ass new band of phenomenal musicians for Christina Aguilera's tour for 2003, the music director who assembled the band (who is also black and I will remain unnamed here) is called up on the telephone and told, "[We need a 'less color' on stage.]" <--another true story. I'm also not talking about the kind of racism where my brother, a student with an A- average from USC is rejected by every American medical school that he applies to because it's the first year of affirmative action, and he's passed over for C average student of different ethnicities. Only Armenians from Armenia are considered minorities, so Dad takes a loan out on the house and bro ends up studying medicine in Mexico (in Spanish!) for a couple of years, transfers to USC Medical school, has to take a year all over again, and ends up being a kick-ass doctor because he's such a mo-fo.

I AM TALKING ABOUT THE KIND OF RACISM where day before Thanksgiving, my wife and I are walking into Trader Joe's to pick up some groceries, and I hear yelling in the very-crowded parking lot. An Asian woman in her late 50s/early 60s is sitting alone in her car waiting for a parking spot near the front door. There's a white lady standing at her driver's-side window, baby boomer (late 40s/early 50s), middle-class...screaming at her about stopping the traffic in the parking lot (baby boomer's car is stopped behind the Asian woman). Now I don't know if the Asian lady needed to park near the front because she's handicapped, or has a hard time walking or what. But the baby boom lady is livid and acting like a jerk. The exchange ended with the baby boomer screaming, "You know what your problem is??!! Your problem is that you're Asian!! That's what you're problem is!!"

It was one of the ugliest exchanges I've ever witnessed in my entire life. It felt horrible to even be standing 50 ft away from her. Next time you look up "bug up your ass" in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of her.

Ironically enough, we were all there because we were shopping for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Good think baby-boomer lady wasn't a pilgrim way back when. She would've mouthed off to some Native American because he was taking his time riding his horse, and then they would've BBQ'd her at the stake and said, "Screw all of you pale-face bastards! You people can starve and learn to grow your own frigin' corn!"

Side note: Glendale, California has the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia. It's estimated that by 2009, the populations of Asians (specifically Koreans) is going to surpass the Armenian population in Glendale. So if this lady keeps this up, she will surely get her ass beaten very soon.

Mixing Board Blues

A lot of people around me have been under the weather over the last week including myself. And today when I booted up my studio, my Tascam DM-24 mixing board decided to go into a coma. I love this thing! It's small and it sounds amazing. I recorded Caravans on it and it's run totally solid without any problems for about three years now. It looks like it just needs a tune up. The good people at Tascam really came through for me by having me bring it in tomorrow so they can fix it. Thanks Marsh!

Nov 9 update: All it needed was a new power supply. Since it was at Tascam, they also updated the firmware/operating system, AND I got to meet the new artist rep. So it was a good experience all around! Cool, huh?

Election Day

Rolling Stones - Hollywood Bowl

Last night I was at the Rolling Stones concert at the Hollywood Bowl. What a great show! What a cool venue to see the band! I've seen them in concert on TV a few times and didn't think much of it, but to see them live is a completely different experience. The last time they were at the Bowl was 1966, the year I was born, and they only played a 30 minute show - six tunes and then left the stage. Apparently, the audience didn't seem to notice anything wrong. We got to seem them rock the place for over 2 hours. Here's a pic from my friend's cel phone cam. This is what it must've looked like to an acid-dropping fan in 1966.

The Elevator III - The Final Chapter

All the elevators I used today were odor-free. As a matter of fact, there were two instances of walking in a smelling a lovely scent of perfume - Much better! Things are lookin' up!!

The Elevator II

OH MY GOD! IT HAPPENED AGAIN!! Yesterday I was meeting a group of people at a condo in Westwood. But this time as soon as I got near the elevator I could smell it!! Someone farted and left the scene of the crime. The elevator doors opened up, I put one foot inside and OH...GOD HELP ME! Looks like I'm taking the stairs again. I'm taking this as a sign to use the stairs more in order to get more exercise into my day. WILL THIS EVER END????

The Elevator and the Stench from Hell

My wife and I were coming home from a delicious lunch we had. We drove into the garage, parked the car, walked over to the elevator and pushed the button in normal fashion. The doors opened as we walked into the elevator and that's when it happened! She looked at me, distraught and cried out "EWWWWWW!!!!" This was NOT good! Someone had ripped a nasty fart in the elevator and we were caught in an eye-watering, foul stench from hell! It was one of those farts that this person will be telling their friends for years. I can hear it now, "Dude, I was coming down the elevator and I just let one rip! It was SOOOOOO bad! I felt the heat on my thighs as I crop dusted the place! I feel sorry for the poor bastards that got in after I left! Ha ha ha ha!"

The doors were closing fast and I felt like the diamond thief running for steel gateway before they lock me in, taking a chance of being cut in half! There only seemed to be about 3 inches left before they were fully closed. Somehow Susan and I managed to glide through and into safety's loving arms! Ahhhh...the life-saving scent of fresh car exhaust! Whew! That was close. But that's not the end of it.

I walk inside the house just as the phone's ringing. I pick it up and and say hello. That's when I hear someone farting loudly and with great verve followed by a cheerful "Hello?" I knew who it was because he does this from time to time. I asked, "<insert name here>, did you just fart on the phone?" "Yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

I'm trying to figure out the life lesson here. Why is god doing this to me? Being that this is the first day of November this is how my month started, I figure that the rest of the month can only go upwards from here! The lesson:

This is going to be a good month!

For more information on farts, visit Facts on Farts.
For fart audio, click here.

"El Mirage" & "Caravans" Eros Remixes (mp3s)

I uploaded El Mirage Eros Remix (right-click to download) for you to check out. It was created for the critcally acclaimed HBO series, Real Sex. I submitted two different tracks for the scenes they described to me, and they picked one of the two.


The track they didn't pick was Caravans Eros Remix which is a remixed section of the original tune.


WARNING: These tracks could be considered "adult themed" in nature due to amorous sounds that are related to female pleasure (moaning, giggling, cooing). Please listen at your own discretion.

Here are two 2-min. MP3 samples of the orginal versions: El Mirage, Caravans

My Newest Toy - Nord Electro 2

Recently, I attained an endorsment from Nord and picked up this hot little beauty from them - the Electro 2 Seventy Three! This bad-ass little puppy is AWESOME to play!

New Appearances with City Beat

I'll be doing a string of dates playing some soulful covers with my buddy Jonny Walker and his band City Beat. See dates below. Please call clubs for start times as they are subject to change.

Saturday Nov. 5 - Martini Blues (3 sets)
5874 Edinger Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 92649, (714) 840-2129

*Tuesday Nov. 8 - B.B. Kings Universal City Walk (1 set)
1000 Universal Center Drive, Suite 222, Universal City, CA 91608, (818-622-5464)

Saturday Nov. 19 - B.B. Kings Universal City Walk (1 set)
1000 Universal Center Drive, Suite 222, Universal City, CA 91608, (818-622-5464)


*The Nov. 8th set will be following B.B. King's performance in celebration of his 80th birthday!

Rock & Roll Bitch Slapped

I just found out today that on October 18th the Rolling Stones debuted their Streets of Love video on the soap opera Days of our Lives. Yes, those Rolling Stones; yes, that Days of Our Lives. Did you hear that?! What happened to Rock & Roll?! I thought it would never die? Maybe it should've had a mercy killing to spare it the emabarrassment of the Stones whoring it out and giving it this humongous, burning bitch slap.

Does it really bother me that much? Naw...I just wanted to hear myself fire off a good purist-rock-&-roll rant. Don't Mick and Keith look cute? Cheers!

The Big Boom

I woke up to the sound of an explosion the other day. Then I heard sirens and went outside to find two police cars and three fire trucks in front of our building. One of the cops said a transformer exploded. Then the Dept. of Water and Power showed up so I asked the grizzly looking Chicago-Bears-fan looking employee if a transformer blew. This is exactly what he said:
"No. A squirrel got into something."
Me: "A squirrel got into something? Like what?"
Grizzly Guy: "Um, just a squirrel."
Me: "It was loud man. It sounded like dynamite."
Grizzly Guy turning to his supervisor confused and muttering: "Hey, he said it was loud."
Cool-Hand Supervisor: "Uh, yeah. whisper, whisper, whisper."

I didn't know a squirrel "going into something" or a transformer blowing up could be be top secret in this city. Neither of them answered any questions from the young Glendale Newspress babe that was asking them what had happened. It was probably the closest either of these guys had been to a good-looking woman in decades. Grizzly Guy pointed to Cool-Hand Supervisor and walked away. Cool-Hand put up his finger as if to say "one second, this is really important," put the walkie-talkie about 6 inches from his ear and just stood there listening to dead air, waiting for something...probably waiting to be "saved by the bell." After a minute of dead air, I think he became embarrassed, turned and walked away without acknowledging her. But he was Cool-Hand Supervisor, so he showed no emotion, like the Terminator. Oh the drama! I looked at her and laughed. She wasn't amused. She wanted answers and she wanted them now! Another exciting day in Glendale!

The Tortilla Chip Conspiracy

I don't make it a habit of the little things in life torturing me, but this penetrated me to my inner core. Have any of you ever opened a bag of tortilla chips only to find that most of the chips have broken into crumbs that are so small, you might as well scoop up the salsa with your bare hand? In the recent past, the bigger pieces were the majority of the bag. The small pieces would fall to the bottom as the bigger pieces stayed on top, the same way the unpopped kernals of corn are at the bottom of a bowl of popcorn. The good pieces used to be easy to get to. But things have changed my friends. There is pure evil that looms behind the veil of innocence!

What the hell am I talking about? Here's the scenario: I make a killer batch of fresh salsa and open up a bag of blue corn tortilla chips. You know...the ones that are supposed to be triangular in shape. The first 10 or 15 chips were magnificent! Each of them was the "perfect chip." It was at chip #16 that I realized, I was deceived! So I opened up a bag of white corn tortilla chips and found the same thing!! Is this a frigin' conspiracy? The rest of each bag was...well...here, let me show you:


How am I supposed to dip these little crumbs into my salsa and get enough of the salsa on there to nourish my aging body? There is no way to get a healthy portion of my pico de gallo on these meager things!


Is this a plot from the evil chip corporations to try and force me to buy more tortilla chips? Are they in cahoots with the hot dog and hot dog bun companies? They fill the bags of chips up with nitrogen supposedly to keep the chips fresh and give them a longer shelf life (I watch a lot of Food Network and Discovery Channel). This should also protect them, right? I don't know what's going on in the back rooms of these companies, but I have a feeling they've secretly hired someone like Jonas, the 560 lb. Lithuanian to go into the "research and development" room and start jumping on 3/4 of the chips as the President of the company laughs like Dr. Evil while he sees his sinister vision coming to fruition right before his very eyes. Look at these pathetic little pieces:


But I did not despair. There's a solution to every obstacle, right? So I pour the rest of my stinkin', measly, miserable, puny, pitiful midget chips right into my bowl of salsa, get out a spoon, and have a salsa fresca "cereal" while watching the undefeated Indianapolis Colts come from 17 points behind to beat the St. Louis Rams by 17 points (45-28)! Life is good.

Communication Breakdown

I flashed back to a conversation I had with a girlfriend circa 1985. The windows of the car were rolled all the way down while we were driving on the freeway. We were about to kill each other and ended up laughing our butts off. Here's how it went:

Me: What was the name of Ken's girlfriend at the party Saturday night?

Her: When?

Me: Last Saturday at the party?

Her: When?

Me: Are you kidding me?!...the party Saturday night!

Her: (screaming): WHEN!

Me (yelling back, getting pissed off): WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!?! DID YOU ALREADY FORGET THE BANQUET WE WERE AT A FEW NIGHTS AGO?!?!?!

Her (raging with full volume): GWEN!! GWEN!! HER NAME IS GWEN!! MY GOD!! [insert laughing while shaking her head]

Me: Oh.

A Happy Thought

A thought occured to me as I was at the store walking to the deli to buy sliced meat:

Every day that I wake up I am one day closer to my own death.

And with that thought in mind, I'm going to leave now and go to a music store in Hollywood and check out a Nord Electro 2 keyboard, one of the coolest keyboards around.

The Compressed Multi-Cultural Experience

I was at the grocery store earlier where my purchase included Persian cucumbers, Fuji Apples and some Asian pears. I paid for it with American money as a Mexican employee put it in a plastic bag for me which was made in China.

Then I got into my Japanese car with my Armenian wife and drove it back to my condominium that we're renting from a Korean family. U2, a band from Ireland was playing on the CD player. They recorded most of their album in London. The computer that I'm typing on right now sits on a desk that I bought from Ikea, a company based in Sweden.

Monstrous Fire in Chatsworth

I'm practicing some tunes for the City Beat gig tomorrow night and I start smelling smoke - thick smoke, and it's not my fingers burnin' up the keys. There's a monstrous fire in Chatsworth, CA, about 30 miles from where I live. The smoke has travelled all the way over here and is so thick that it's difficult to breathe outside of our house.

Click here to watch a short video of the Reuters news story.

I found this slideshow and some individual photos:

Put Another Notch in my Keyboard!

Put another notch in my keyboard because another CD has been officially added to my discography of CDs that I have performed on! This one is particularly cool because it's done by, Jefferson Thomas. Jeff's a friend of mine who's a singer, guitarist and songwriter and all around good looking front man. The album is titled Come Alive, and the single hits the radio very soon.

Jeff trusted me enough to send me the rough mixes from New York on a CD-R and allowed me to record whatever I wanted -- not like he had a choice being 2,500 miles away from me! ;-)

I imported his tracks into my computer, recorded some organ and electric pianos on a couple of tunes, and then I uploaded them up to my server for him to download. Then he mixed my tracks in with his and voila! How convenient for the two of us! I love modern technology!

Congrats on the new CD Jeff!

Root Canal Pt. 2 and My Burning Hair

Today I sat through the 2nd part of my four-part root canal procedure. It was painless, but inside my mouth I could felt pressure, pushing, pulling, drilling, burning, dust, children running through the streets screaming, raping and pillaging, atonal music, etc. Just kidding...there was no atonal music. I learned that anesthesia is the bitterest stuff I've ever tasted, next to my own humility. Yuk! I also realized that the burning smell of my teeth being drilled is just like the smell of burning hair. How do I know? Let me tell you about the flashback I had as the rising odor of my teeth being drilled penetrated my nostrils.

In 1993 when I looked something like this,

(Palookaville - Santa Cruz, CA.
January 1995 recording of Shadowfax "Live")

I was in Cape Coral, FL playing with Shadowfax. After the concert, I ended up at a club and had three Sambuca too many. There I was, leaning on a hand rail listening to the music. I noticed this god-awful smell, like burning plastic. All of the sudden, the woman next to me widened her eyes and raised her hand as if she was going to slap me! (I swear to god officer, I didn't touch her.) As she raised her hand I saw a bright flash and noticed that as I was leaning over the railing, my curly locks were dangling over a candle and were getting singed! I was slapping my hair and the little ball of fire went out pretty quick. It all happened within a split second. There was ash from my hair stuck to the palm of my hand. What a horrible stench! Hey! What a cool new look for me! See, something good always comes out of something bad. Bartender, another Sambuca please.

Photos - Mystic Journey (Ford Theater)

Last night's show at the Ford Theater: The band sounded great, the musicians were all "on," the dancers were great awesome, and the stage looked cool with decorations and tea candels inside beautiful stained-mosaic glass vases adorning the stage. It was one of the coolest performances I've been in. Some pics from the sound check:

Suzanne on the talking drum


me, working hard during sound check


Gilbert on his hybrid percussion/drum kit


Fritz playing the sitar


Andrew on his didgeridoo


Bobbie Jo tuning her harp. Is she the coolest looking harpist, or what?


Malik on the djembe; Djelimady on the balafon


Some cool stage props


Newly received pics of live show!

Lexi Pearl and the MoMomentum Dancers


Prince Diabate Rockin' out on the kora

Orphaned Fan of the NFL

Being a fan of American football, this is a great time of year. The season is finally here, it's still young, there are lots of exciting players/teams to check out, and there are still 18 more weeks of football left to watch! Being a native of Los Angeles, I'm an orphan-fan of sorts because we don't have a team here and haven't had one for a long time.

I won't call this a predicament because of all the real-life problems occurring on this planet right now: war, disasters, starvation, etc., but which team is an Angelino supposed to root for? We have no team. People out here seem to pull for the Oakland Raiders because they were our most recent transplant. They did a pit stop here for a few years ago as they played in the decrepit L.A. Coliseum. Yeah, they're Super Bowl champs; yeah, John Madden -- who is amazing -- had coached them, but I just can't get past the fact that owner, Al Davis kept legendary running back Marcus Allen on the bench in his prime just because he had a personal problem with the guy. Plus, they're from Oakland for god's sake...not L.A. Q: Who's my favorite team? A: Anyone playing the Raiders.

Some Angelinos cheer for the St. Louis Rams because they were in L.A. for so many years. But they moved to Anaheim, then bailed and ended up back in St. Louis. Plus, they're originally from Cleveland, so forget them. Another not-so-local team is the San Diego Chargers. I have lots of friends down there. They can keep their team all to themselves.

It looks like I'm going to have to be creative in choosing a team. Man, that hurricane just chewed up New Orleans. Maybe I should root for the New Orleans Saints...you know...the team without a stadium...the mega-underdog!! Naw...they don't want a "charity fan"... they're professional warriors. They eat guys like me for breakfast. I'll cross them off the list.

I can take the easy way out and root for the New England Patriots. They won three of the last four Super Bowls and they may very well do that again this season. Hmmm...too easy.

How about the Green Bay Packers? You know, Vince Lombardi, tradition, fun quarterback to watch. I love watching Brett Favre play! But now that I think about it, he either pronounces his last name incorrectly or has been spelling it wrong, and that's just wrong, so forget the Packers.

The Buffalo Bills are totally out of the question...they've had their chance over and over and over again. San Francisco 49ers? Been there; done that. The Atlanta Falcons have probably the most exciting quarterback to watch in lucky #7, Michael Vick. But he's about the only guy I like to watch on that team.

Dallas Cowboys? Who started calling them America's team, the same people that call Julia Roberts America's sweetheart? Next! Chicago Bears? That team is a religion to its fans, and I'd just be crashing the party.

I used to like bumble bees a lot when I was a kid, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are a real good team! I remember the Steel Curtain. I like the Steelers, but I'm not feelin' it. And I'm not going to be a fan of a team just because I think they're good. That only works for me with people, food and music. This is sports, and that would be a cop out. We don't need a logical reason to cheer on a team, especially here in L.A.

You know, I've been really enjoying watching the Philadelphia Eagles over the past couple of years. I've been a fan. They have seven players on the roster that start with "Mc" - but Donovan McNabb is the coolest to watch. Plus, the guy oozes class and sportsmanship which is important for me. They also have Terrell Owens, one of the most dynamic and fun players to watch in the entire NFL. He's also the most "misunderstood" (to use his words) players in the league. But I like this guy. Plus, their coach, Andy Reid, played football at Glendale College with one of my brothers. My other brother's wife's sister's husband is Andy Reid's brother. All that's gotta count for something, doesn't it?

Owens is the same guy that hid a black marker in his sock, and after scoring a touchdown, he pulled it out, signed the ball, and handed it to a fan. That rocks! Of course, the league fined him for it, but that made me laugh when he did it. The commissioner of the NFL never made me laugh. And since we're on the topic, it also made me laugh when Joe Horn pulled out that cell phone from behind the goal post after scoring a touchdown and made a call (he actually was not able to get a signal). I was entertained. It was worth the 15-yard penalty. It was even worth it if he got fined. It's a tax write-off, right?

Watching sports is a diversion for me. I want it to be fun, and I enjoy laughing and being entertained. If I want something more serious, I'll watch IRON CHEF.

GO EAGLES!

Gigs: Mystic Journey, City Beat, Gashouse Dave

Sept 24: You can catch me on the keys and some percussion with Suzanne Teng and Mystic Jourey. at the Ford Amphitheater - 8pm (one set) as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music 2005. 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90068

Special guest artists include kora player Prince Diabate and the Lexi Pearl MoMomentum Dancers. Also performing will be the Naser Musa/Adam del Monte ensemble with flamenco dancer Laila del Monte. Click here for more info.

Sept 30: I'll be playing some soulful covers with my buddy Jonny Walker and his band City Beat at B.B. Kings. 9pm-10:30 (one set)
Universal City Walk, 1000 Universal Center Drive, Suite 222, Universal City, CA 91608

Oct 1: We'll be tearing up Jax again with blues singer and guitarist Gashouse Dave and the Hard Tails.
339 N.Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91203 (818) 500-1604 Sat. Oct. 1, 9pm-1am

Photos - Gashouse Dave & the Hardtails

As usual, the Gasman tore it up at Jax Saturday night! Here's an inside scoop of the antics: We were missing a drummer for the first set, so it was a trio of guitar, bass and keys. Bob Delgado, the bassist called up his bro, Steve, who is a drummer (check out Delgado Brothers). Steve was watching National Geographic on the tube w/his PJs on and falling asleep on the couch. But he packed up his car and showed up with the coolest 2-piece drum set this side of Mississippi - kick drum, snare, hi-hat. It was Steve's and my first time playing with Gashouse Dave & the Hardtails. Preston Smith dropped by and sat in with the band, singing a tune and playing some guitar. We had a blast!

Armen, Bob Delgado, Dave

Armen, Bob Delgado, Steve Delgado, Dave

Remembering 9/11...

...thinking about those towers that came crashing down on NY...the plane that was supposed to nail the Pentagon...all the people who died that day, their friends, their families, all those who's lives were effected.

Photos - Cambria, California

I just returned from a few days of relaxing in Cambria. We had a room looking right out onto the blue pacific and saw some gorgeous sunsets and a bit of wildlife. Check out the pics.

Cambria, CA

Root Canal

After having the first half of my root canal therapy done this morning, I've decided that they're not as much fun as I had anticipated. Ugh! And the one-mile walk home from the dentist's office was probably not the smartest thing that I had planned this year. However, I do love my dentist. Thanks Dr. Torgeson! I'm looking forward to my vacation in Cambria, California starting today!

And the Grammy goes to C-Bizkit!

I noticed that some rappers have given themselves names that could be mistaken names of a race horses. Anyone go by the name C-Bizkit yet? Sexy Terriet?

The Groove Makes You Move - Constant Motion

I came up with a motto once, and I keep it mind when writing most of the music that I compose: "Melody is God, but the groove makes you move."

Today I had such an interesting realization. I realized that nothing in the entire universe actually stays still. Everything is in constant motion all the way from the largest to the smallest particle. There is not one thing that doesn't move. Wow! That's lots of stuff!! Speaking of small particles, now I'm wondering if there's a finite number of fundamental particles in the universe or if the quantity increases and decreases. Hmmm...

Red Cross Banner Added

I added this banner to my home page today.

It's good to see people helping out. I was at the local Glendale College football game last night and the Red Cross was passing around containers for donations. Looked like they raised quite a bit for the Hurricane Relief 2005 fund.

Third World U.S.A. - Hurricane Katrina

I was glued to the television set last night watching the aftermath in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. My god...it's the first time in my life that I remember seeing video/images of any part of the U.S.A that resemble a third-world country. What a shock. These are some photos from CNN's website taken by local citizens.

I still wonder why so many people chose to stay and not leave the area when they had ample warning that this thing was coming their way. Then again, I remember working on the 11th floor of a Disney-owned building in Glendale when the fire alarm sounded. Our supervisor yelled something like, "Wait! Don't go anywhere. I'm going to find out if this is a false alarm." EXCUSE ME? "MIGHT BE..."? Out of about 30+ people in the office, I was the only one that said, "Fine, you find out while I get the hell out of here." and I bolted down the stairs and left the building (it was a false alarm). It was a big building. I don't remember seeing anymore than maybe 25-35 of us standing there in the courtyard looking up at the building waiting to see what was going to happen. So maybe it's human nature to stick around and wait to see what 'the other guy' is going to do.

My wife and I donated to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief Fund. I invite you to do the same. Every little bit helps. They also have a link on the site for anyone that wants to volunteer.

Photo from August 29, 2005 8:20 a.m. EDT