A few weeks ago me, Cyd Manning and Mike Haasis went to the studio to record a set of songs for Mike.



It was a blast returning to Orangewood Studios again with our buddy Mike Coleman at the board.

What a lovely evening at the May 13th Pink Martini outdoor concert at Scottsdale Center for the Arts Ampitheatre. We shared the night with our friends and neighbors Roy and Wendy.



The band with their international flavor was awesome and China Forbes' voice filled the night air with strong and sweet sounds. My favorite moment was when the band played Sympathique.

We are all BIG Pink Martini fans. When Roy and Wendy moved to our neighborhood we had them over to our house at a welcoming party. When he heard Pink Martini on our outside speakers he knew he was in the right place. Roy first heard P.M. on a CD ostensibly forgotten in a rental car in the northwest. I heard them on NPR and immediately went to their web site and bought the CD there.

While in NYC recently I had a chance to drop in for a couple of sets of the Steve Kuhn Trio featuring Ron Carter on bass and Al Foster on drums at Birdland. Mr. Kuhn is an awesome player with quite a history as are his fellow musicians.



Besides playing world-class jazz, these are the nicest guys to meet and talk with. I was honored to have a photo taken with probably the best bass player alive, Mr. Ron Carter. Also, Mr. Al Foster delighted me and a couple of French tourists with stories of when he played with the greats including Miles and Herbie.

On another (bass) note, read the article from Bass Player magazine about the historic "Bass of Doom". Jaco Pastorius' long lost fretless '62 Jazz Bass appeared recently in NYC.

I attended the Media Summit New York last week. I am compiling a report but, in the mean time, here are some links to what other people are saying about the conference.

Here is a clip of the Bob Iger interview from paidContent. As well as a write-up from the same site. And another story about kids and media.

From Jeff Jarvis at the BuzzMachine on Bob Iger's frank and compelling interview.

From Mike Raffensperger at Zoom In Online on the session titled: "Television without Boundaries: Cable, Telco, Satellite, Broadband and Mobile Define the Future of Entertainment and Communications"

From Mike Shields at MediaWeek on embracing widgets.

From Georg Szalai at the Hollywood Reporter on Bob Iger's interview and an online video of Leslie Moonves' interview.

Photo: freep.com

We, and 1,500 of our closest friends, were part of the on-field crowd when Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers took the stage at Super Bowl XLII. Even though we rehearsed it with the band three times, the band excited the crowd more and more each time and Sunday was incredible when 60,000 and a worldwide audience was included. We also had fun riding in school buses with motorcycle police escorts through Sun City, Surprise, and Peoria to Glendale. And yes, what a game that was.