4.29.04.12:15

so Bush and Cheney testify, but not under oath. American Idol is accused of having some kind of racist voting system by giving a black girl the boot one week and oh yeah, a white kid the next. People magazine has picked another 50 of the most beautiful people for us to aspire to look like. the list looks a little familiar. guess we're running out of or just can't seem to produce enough beautiful people to feed that beast.

what a day. got up to do Daybreak Buffalo. thought we had to be there at 5am, they didn't need us till 6:45. that morning news thing is a bit of a trip. got to plug the record and mention the show tonight at the Tralf with Sophie B. came back to the hotel, got some room service and went back to bed. we've got the late check out thing goin' on so we're cool till 3. gotta rent a car this afternoon and drive it to Rochester tonight, get up at 5 tomorrow and do it all over again. hope to see some familiar faces tonight.

still can't quite put the Florida trip into the appropriate words so I'll refrain from making a half-assed attempt just yet. suffice it to say, Miami was beautiful, Orlando was like a home coming and the fans down in Florida have once again proven they know how to get down good and plenty.

gotta get runnin'. y'all take care.
peace,
Tony

4.29.04.6:15 a.m.

it's been almost a week since my last post. for those of you enjoying the day to day updates, I apologize for that. we did the House of Blues show with JC and it has been steady travelling since. I'm in Buffalo, NY right now, sitting in my hotel room waiting for room service to bring up my three-egg, bacon, spinach, tomato omelette. I have to leave at 6:30 to go do a TV appearence so, not much time for catching up. we have free high-speed access here at the Adam's Mark hotel so I'll be back on a bit more today. just trying to stay awake and get my brain working.

be back in a bit.
Tony

4.23.04.3:40 a.m.

zero 7 on the iTunes. Dale’s apartment all to myself. a damn good tequilla buzz. Andy Abad’s Larrivee (freshly strung) before me. thoughts of today (clearly yesterday) to share.

I was talking to Mike Vizcarra tonight about the big old picture. I was marvelling at how no matter how hard we try to get this life right, no matter what goals we set out to achieve or how diligently we seek out and collect our resources, no matter how easy going we might have the intention of being or how emphatic we can be with our certainty, we are always in the prescence of, often at the mercy of, and always subject to the dictates of the big picture. to some, this is of course, God. to others it’s fate, kharma, destiny. Luke Skywalker came to know it as “the Force”. personally? when I feel that things are being experinced out of anticipated sequnce or life simply seems to be delivering an exceptional number of seemingly un-desrerved “blows”, when “luck” is abundant or missing alltogether, for some reason, I tend to think about the power of astrology and the effect that the Zodiac has on us oh-so-impressionable human beings. not that I’m all about “signs” and putting people’s birthdates with their appropriate zodiac sign but I will say that, to some degree, I get it. in short, specifically, over the course of a few hours tonight, I had recieved a barrage of stories and various sets of life’s circumastances from a number of friends and close loved ones. unfortunately, it was all rather bad news. the kind of news that makes you take a minute to respond (if any honest response can be found). the kind of news that makes you realize that sollutions aren’t always there when you’d like to be able to offer one. the kind of things that ultimately, we are all forced to deal with on our own from time to time. I told Mike that I’d love to read a hororscope, learn of any exceptional planetary or celestrial configurations in the sky the past few nights that, according to our knowledge of, might be baring some kind of adverse effect on us, or at least some of us, as a whole. collectively. like all of us with water signs might be experienceing a drought in our creative departments. or those of us with fire signs might be in need of oxygen to keep things moving onwards and upwards. or maybe those of us with air signs just need to crack a window, let the bad air out and the fresh air in, ya know? the idea that there is a larger force that we are always in the presence of, that at times we flow with and that other times we are constantly at odds with, is almost overwhelming. it’s beautiful in one breath, bittersweet the next and (often times) down right frustrating, if not completely debilitating. sometimes, I just want to know more than I do. sometimes I want to help more than I’m capable of helping. I want to be able to anticipate things like a Dolpar radar system, project the emotional forecast for the next several days, know when to get out of the way or where and when I might be given a chance to dig in and help out.

4.23.04.9:37 a.m.

alright. not nearly enough sleep for being one that has a rather important show tonight. re-reading this entry, I clearly had more important things to be doing at 4 in the morning than sleeping.

yeah.

I guess what I was getting at is, a lot of crazy shit’s been goin’ on lately. and although I’m far too pragmatic and objective to ever just chalk it all up to mysticism, I do understand the metaphors of wishing stars and planets-in-a-line and the dawning of the age of Aquarius. and though I still have a hard time with the concept of “faith” much less surrendering my life to any one or the other, I do have a tremendous amount of hope and trust that things’ll be ok. even when they seem to suck. especially when they suck. because there really aren’t too many options when dealing with what life brings you. you’re either willing to accept and understand or you’re not.

(but please don’t quote me on that if you should ever see me get violent over bad directions, or an insufficient sound check, eggs bennedict with hard yolks, or even missing the opening scene to a movie in a theater. violence is never an option. well, if you’ve ever been in traffic on the 405, you could be exempt and that’s perfectly understandable.)

have a good weekend. see you in Miami.

may the Force be with you.

Luke

4.22.04.8:45 a.m.

LA’s funny. it has such a bizarre reputation. a rather self-imposed one, it seems. I went to this party last night with some old friends and realized that no matter how much people want to rag on Hollywood, (myself included) it will always be a place for the ambitious. not ambitious like I’m-gonna-rent-a-closet-in-Hoboken-battle-the-pathtrain-everyday-catch-a-cab-for-the-rest-of-my-life-so-Donald-Trump-thinks-I’m-ambitious kind of ambitious but rather the I’m-a-rock-star-and-they-know-it-and-I-will-show-up-anywhere-drink-anyone-under-the-table-hug-everyone-get-in-to-anywhere-and-have-a-better-time-than-everyone-everywhere-other-than-right-here kind of ambitious. I swear, all you have to do is walk out the door and you start bumping into people you know, catching up on things you never realized you even gave half a rat’s ass about. it’s so funny. and the way the circles of friends collide is a trip. “oh, you know Tony? I didn’t know you knew Todd!? wow! SMALL WORLD!!” “yeah, we used to live together in Van Nuys back in the day. what’d you say your name was again?” whatever, dude.

sat in the sun yesterday with Vero and Bird. I forgot how the sun just sucks the energy right out of you. no big deal. yesterday (and today, I believe) are days off and that means... absolutely nothing. poor Bird had a show last night. I don’t know if I could’ve done that. then again, it wasn’t my day to be so ambitious. he’s a rock star. he’s completely capable of knowing when to say when. apparently, he rocked the house and had a great show. I, unfortunately, have been at the mercy of Dale and Quincy (and Lisa) to get my ass around and gettin’ over to the Joint by 8 just wasn’t in the cards. soon I’ll have a driver or a cousin that works for Enterprise or something other than an excuse as to why I missed my boys gig. again, sorry Bird.

down time is cool but I’m lookin’ forward to some steady travellin’. sitting still for too long makes me miss my lady much more than I already do. (Hi love.) two more nights in LA and then we’re off to Florida, yet another once-upon-a-home-state. lookin forward to seeing all of you down there, praying for good weather everywhere we go.

gonna fix some breakfast and watch this Wayne Brady thing. (what a trip, eh?) have a happy Earth Day everyone.

be well,
Tony

4.18.04 6:45 CST

just poked through the morning clouds above Oklahoma City, en route to LA, via Salt Lake City. Oklahoma City airport isn’t very big and the planes that fly out of there are proportionate. well, at least the one we’re on is. we walked through the bording gate, down on to the tarmak and saw our little Canada Regional Jet, or CRJ, as our flight attendant says they’re often referred to. normally, this means I would be forced to check my guitar. in most cases, the over-head compartments aren’t big enough. even when a guitar will fit, the flight attendants are usually instructed to have the passenger gate-check their ax. well, today, Stephanie, our lovely attendant, insisted on finding a place in the cabin for my ‘73 Martin D-35. turns out the only available space was in the cockpit. the frickin’ cockpit! in this day and age??!! I was so impressed, not to mention grateful. that kind of thing rarely ever happens.

in Salt Lake, we got to the gate of our connecting flight and I realized I left my cell phone on the other plane. I was so That Guy. we had the lady at the counter call down to the other gate and crossed our fingers. they made the final boarding call and I jumped on, again to find a spot for my guitar. Quincy informed me that someone was bringing the phone to the gate, hopefully our plane wouldn’t back out before then. sure enough, a flight attendant came right to my seat (without paging me or asking me to ring my call button) and handed my phone right to me. Delta. still re-difining “the friendly skies”. I instantly felt bad for all of the angst and frustration I had expressed that mornign for being searched as extensively as the airline required me to be.

4.19.04.10:40 PST

we got in to LA and the first thing that came to mind was hittin’ the beach. when Lisa picked us up it was only 10a.m. so we rolled on over to Manhattan Beach and posted up for a long day of drinkin’ and laughin’ at Hennesey’s. shoot. we even got Dale and Tanya to come on down and take a day off. bought a frisbee and some sunscreen, made our way down to the water and lazied out for the rest of the afternoon. at some point, I think shortly after Vero arrived, we caught a second wind and headed over to Venice. somethin’ about 34 oz. Erdingers? I don’t know. the caravan cruised up the coast and the festivities continued. unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I realized I had only had a couple hours of sleep in Oklahoma and that a day of drinklin’ and playin in the sun had eatin’ away at whatever was left of my stamina. I had to turn it in. we made a half-assed attempt to do a late night veiwing of Kill Bill vol. 1 but I don’t even recall the opening credits. damn.

it’s monday and that means it’s a gettin’ things done day so...

I’ll be in LA all week. got the Wayne Brady show (w/JC) tomorrow and we’re still plugging away at locking things up for the friday show with JC at the House of Blues. I’ll keep you posted, let you know how things are goin’.

hope all’s well.
peace,
Tony

it’s a rather cool, overcast morning here in Dallas. Quincy and I are enjoying a restful day off, saving up our energy for what’s most likely to be a long and busy week in LA. the shows in Austin and Deep Ellum went well. it was good to see Firstman and his boys again. Joe’s been playin’ on the Virgin Megastore Tour with Michelle Branch and Gavin DeGraw. he picked up this young, super-talented singer/songwriter, Tyler Hilton along the way and the three of us shared the bill these past couple of shows. they all went on to Lousianna, Quincy and I stayed here in Texas. we’ll be joining the festivities again in May. (stay tuned for those dates- New York to LA, via the mid west) certainly lookin forward to it. to those of you who came out to show your support, thank you. it was good seeing you all.

it’s good to be back out on the road again. however, this time it’s a bit different having a record in stores. it’s fun seeing people come to shows with their copies of the record for me to sign, knowing that they didn’t get it from the site, they actually went to a store and were able to pick it up there. gotta say, I like that. (for those of you still having a hard time finding it, you just gotta keep on asking for it. in some cases, that’s the only way they’re ever gonna keep it on the shelves.)

turns out we gotta get up to Oklahoma City tonight for a potential radio interview/performance, so...

hope to see you soon. thank you all for continuing to spread the word about Shotgun and the upcoming tour schedule. be well,

Tony

chillin’ at a bar in the A concourse at Chicago Midway, waitin’ on my Dallas connection, sippin’ Ketel One and tonic, listenin’ to Jeff Buckley’s Grace. it’s been a long day so far and with the traveling and time change and what not, somehow I feel like it’s only half over.

I’m learning sooooo much about this record business thing. it really is astonishing to me the difference between the industry’s outward appearence or “allure”, if you will, and the real inner-workings or “underbelly of the beast”...if you will. no. I don’t mean to paint some sort of dark and creepy picture. truth is, I bring it up because, once you get beyond the shady cast of characters, the usual suspects, the “big deals”, the hype, reviews and stuff, the whole thing really takes on a more human face. the people that really make this thing tick, the people consumed with staff meetings, conference calls, luncheons, late dinners, scheduling, re-scheduling, on and on and an and on, are the ones that actually make up the better majority of the game. today I played for the heads of WEA (the Warner, Elektra, Atlantic group, our distributor). they basically get together once, twice a week and have their board meetings to discuss current projects, recent accomplishments/failures and what’s up for next week. they sit in a conference room, eat from a catered platter of ceasar salad and sandwhich halves, sip diet coke and hammer shit out. every now and then, one of the labels, who’s records they distribute, will bring in an artist signed to that label’s roster and have them play for those gathered in the meeting. now this is not an audition, this is not a promotional, publicity effort. these are not necessarily music lovers or even music enthusiasts. these are people who deal with the product and the retail chains that sell said product. this is a room full of varied experience and knowledge. a lot of people “talking commodities and sales” (as Joni Mitchell once put it) for a living. this, for me, is totally weird. ya know. as far as the “what’s my motivation?” thing goes. I guess that’s where my head-scratchin’ comes into play. this is important. somehow I know that. this is also the most nervous I get to play my music. see, I know how to share my music with my fans. I know how to “sell” it to the media. I know how to try and win listeners over when I’m playing in front of 23,000 latinos at Roberto Clemente Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. this, however, is a whole different creature. I simply have to present myself as the artist that I am, have been, and hopefully (in their eyes) will continue to be. I have about ten minutes, if that, to prove to them that I’m worthy of any and all help they might be willing to give me and my label(s). truth is, I’m still not completely sure what that help consists of. well, not entirely. thing is, the good people at WEA play an integral part in getting, and KEEPING my product in the stores. the more they “get” what I do, the further I increase my chances of stayin’ on the dance floor. they gave me a good a listen and I’d like to think I earned their respect and professional alliance this afternoon. bottom line? if you can’t find my record in stores in the months to come, call WEA. they’ll know the reason. (whether I’m willing to accept it or not) if it turns out they’re slackin’ , let ‘em have it!

well, that’s it. for now. I’ve now had a few. was actually interupted by some cat from the bay area on his way to Jersey. he was over my shoulder, checkin’ out the new iBook, inquiring about the icon at the bottom of the screen for the ‘Garage Band’ software application. it’s basically a little icon of an old Gibson hollow body guitar (a Chet Atkins model, I believe). he was telling me he’s a wall paper contractor-by-day, front man of a band called “the Red Bulls”-by- night, tellin’ me all about his gig. showin’ me scars on his knees from all of the “judo rolls” and other on-stage shananigans he makes a apart of his show. “I bring the house down everynight!” don’t we all. get in line pal. “yeah.”

“you headin’ to Newark?”
“yeah.”
“I think you’re bordin’ now, no?”
“oh shit!”

that was it for me and the wallpaperin’ rock star from the bay.

that’s it for me.

I mean it.

peace, safe travels,
Tony

so a friend of mine, Rebecca Fanya, played a very cool gig at the Knitting Factory (NYC) tonight. it was the first (of hopefully several) "Concerts For Kerry". (www.concertsforkerry.org) now again, I'm not trying to impose any one political position on everybody that tunes in and I certainly don't mean to turn anyone off by my occasional politicized ramblings. however, THIS was a cool event. it was almost like some kind of pep rally (without the cheerleaders and annoying speeches from faculty) with really great bands playing in the background. the crowd was really diverse, awake and excited. no offense, but I tried to imagine the Bush campaign's equivalent and I simply couldn't. sorry Toby Kieth. it was cool to be there and, regardless of the outcome of the coming election, to be a part of a very simple yet unique history was nice. there's a lot of people that want a change in administration. I won't lie, I'm one of them and it felt good to be amongst others of the same mindset. (as it was at the MoveOn.org "Bush In 30 Seconds" event a few months ago. rock on Vernon Reed) I spoke with the organizers of the event and will be discussing the possibility of putting together a similar event for those interested in contributing to the Kerry campaign.

getting very excited to be heading out on the road again. April is gonna be a blast. we'll be in Texas, Cali, Florida, Connecticut and New York before the end of the month. got a lot of records to sell, ya know?

as always, thanks for tuning in. please spread the word about the new album, stay tuned to the site, refresh often and come on out when you can. i look forward to seeing y'all.

peace,
Tony

God. I remember when I was doing the whole on-line journal thing last time- right before the *NSYNC tour. I remember still being glued to the news coverage of the war in Afghanistan. all the daily briefings from Rumsfeld and the joint chiefs of staff. CNN, Fox News. MSNBC, CNBC. non-stop. two years later, not much has changed. I'm still surprised by the way in which the events of the war(s) consume my attention. however, I certainly feel I'm listening for entirely different clues, attempting to connect an entirely different set of dots. before, like most Americans, I was on the "let's get 'em" band wagon, eager to watch the swift and overwhelming might of the U.S. military put all of it's toys to use and "smoke" old bin Laden right out of his hole. now, two years later, insteaed of the constant barage of images and updates from the cable network's "fair and balanced" war coverage, I'm addicted to the New York Times, WNYC, KCRW (streaming 24 hours a day), and the tremendously endearing cast of characters of National Public Radio. I'm actually salivating at the idea of watching people like John Ashcroft and Condoleezza Rice squirm under the ridicule of the 9-11 investigative panel, of course knowing that the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney are sweatin' it out behind the curtain with the Wizard himself. I certainly don't mean to take sides of an issue that will clearly take a great deal of time and investigation before any real conlusions get made. at the same time, it's scary and it's sad to have watched this administration damn near incriminate itself with the course of action that it's taken over the past two years. the sacrifice made by so many Americans that Bush flashes around like a winning lottery ticket or the key to his re-election. the lack of honesty or even a simple definition of just what are "U.S. interests", what kind of democracy are we attempting to install? the one being thwarted by the Justice Department requiring private medical information of abortion patients or the kind of democracy that's being ridiculed over in Spain- the kind where people vote for the changes they want to have made in their country? let's not even mention the price of gas at the pump. (shocker!) it's... silly. the big picture is really silly and I'll stop now. this was never intended to be some political soap box sort of thing, but damn. soetimes I fear I'm gonna get caught not paying close enough attention. like maybe I'm gonna miss something entirely.

for now it's a 2:45 lunch meeting in Manhattan. gotta run.

sorry again for the rant. thanks for listening though.

be well,
Tony

rainy Sunday here in Brooklyn. sort of missin' that Southern Cali sun right about now. and I heard it's supposed to snow tomorrow. that'd be April, 5th folks. yeeeah.

saw Eternal Sunshine last night. not bad. not great. (sorry Dale.) good to see Jim Carrey in a rather serious role or at least feel for him in a serious way. just not enough overall, to keep me totally glued. however, it lit a spark in the conversation and contemplation departments. it left me with a bit of an unforseen melancholy. the idea that some people miss out on love altogether because they're too afraid to deal with themselves, let alone others, had me thinking about past relationships and other people in my life that seem to struggle with finding a good thing and hanging on to it. bottom line? relationships aint easy and the possibility of having a bad one erased from your memory could easily become an enticing idea the longer you stew over it. suffice it to say though, the movie has a pretty cool, rather clever little ending. and regardless of my initial take on the movie, it did inspire some pretty interesting discussions at the bar afterwards. I guess my attempt at making this ambiguous review worth your time should say something about my take on the flick. soundtrack's good. what the hell. go see it.

gotta pretty chill week up ahead. gotta rest up for a pair of Texas dates with perenial booze-hound, rock-star, Joe Firstman. I'll be posting the dates on the site (if they aren't there already) once I get my travel plans locked up. all y'all down in the Lone Star state, keep the 14th and 15th open if you can. lookin forward to seein ya.

oh yeah. again, I want to extend a big thank you to Vero for gettin me dialed in again on the old Blogger. (thank you, Vero!) hopefully y'all find this shit interesting and keep coming back to the site to get the latest.

peaceful Sunday evening musings,
Tony

well well well. 'bout time I got back to this journal thing. I'm well aware that there are plenty of people out there that think they've got me pegged and feel they can keep y'all up to speed with what's goin' on in my life via some crazy "Live Journal" nonsense. however, you will no longer need concern yourselves with these shenanigans. this here entry will be the truth. my lame ass has finally gotten a lap top and I'm back to spending silly amounts of time on-line, so no more excuses.

just got back from LA where we celebrated the release of the record. we got in on Saturday and chilled for two days, gearing up for three nights of non-stop promotional festivities.

Monday was cool. me and the nuveauhuha soundchecked and rehearsed (making music as a unit for the first time since last August) from 4 till about 5:30. from there we had to rush up the hill for a cocktail reception and private screening of the video for "Catch Me" at Mr. Kevin Costner's house. kinda crazy. there we had drinks and rather interesting conversations with some of the good people from Clear Channel, the higher-ups over at KIIS FM, and the super-cool Mr. Ryan Seacrest. we watched the video in Kevin's home theatre (and I mean "home theatre") before rushing back down the hill to get to the key club in time to walk the illustrious red carpet. that's something no one should ever get used to. the party was amazing. OME really came correct. it was organized, professional, and ultimately impressive. (thank you guys so much for the kick-ass send off) a video was put together in my honor with the sole intention of making me cry. it was kind of like a "this is your life" electronic press kit. it opened with JC at his house addressing the camera, speaking to me, congratulating me on the release and went on to inlcude the better majority of all my closest friends, family and fellow musicians chiming in with their sentiments. without sacrificing all of my machismo, suffice it to say, tears fell and their mission was accomplished. nothing could have set the stage for me to rock the snot out of my set better than that tribute. Dale, thank you for your attention to detail (albeit last minute and always down to the wire). we closed the bar and went back to the Grafton for last call, ordered some Domianos, which always takes forever, and enjoyed pizza, swilled captain-n-coke, and laughed ourselves silly out on the back porch over-looking the pool. lights out followed shortly after.

Tuesday we started all over again. ran errands all day, got ready for a long night and tried to soak it all in. went to Tower to actually see the disc on the shelf. Gaby bought a copy while I stood sheepishly by the door. felt kind of funny, ya know? we went to Virgin and saw that they had it on sale for $10.99, $3 cheaper than Tower. I played an in-store half hour set at the Wherehouse and signed autographs for all the friends and fans equally as eager to see this thing happen as I have been. (thank you to everyone who showed up at that oh-so-convenient 6:00 hour over at the Beverly Connection) from there, we had to race over to Club Lengerie to make sure everything was ready for a nice long night of great music. for those of you who missed the show, I extend my sincerest apologies. Bird put on a killer acoustic set with the phenomonal Jason Gambel on lead guitar. C.C. White made mouths drop with her super-sultry, sex-infested, spirit-filled, soul-shakin' set. truly amazing, girlfriend. buzzfly re-united with drummer Glen Sobel for the hardest hitting half hour of the evening. they invited me up to preach a little "Father Time". always a pleasure. by the time me and the fellas hit the stage the party was in full gear. it was so nice to relax and savor the love and excitement in the house. played for about an hour and 15, hour and a half? could've played till the sun came up but it had been a long ass day and I had to save a little for Jo Jo's show on Wednesday.

Wednesday I took Gaby to the airport then drove up the coast to find a little sun on the beach, bought a beach towel, laid it out and took a nap. oh the comfort of those waves gently crashing just a few yards away. it was nice to quiet things down inside and reflect on the past two nights. later, we rolled like 15 people deep over to KIIS and took over Jo Jo's studio for little over an hour. I still can't get over the amount of love he and the folks over there are giving us on this project. I played two songs live on air and he spun the single, "Catch Me". he took calls from people calling in from Hawaii to Michigan. crazy. he asked everyone what it was about me that others need to know. now, after three days of non-stop Tony Lucca business, this was almost a little more than even I could sit through. but after a couple calls I realized that it's never been about the parties, the celebrity friends, the red carpet or the attention of industry insiders that's kept me going, continuing to make music and share it. it's been the fans. the devoted supporters and their respect and appreciation for what I do that makes me want to do it everyday, forever. we went for drinks after the radio show almost out of obligation or as a formality to say that we all made it. everything went beyond well and way beyond what everyone thought might be possible. but sitting there at Mexi Cali we realized how little energy any of us had left. for most, it was an early night. for me and Mike Vizcarra, it was a few more glasses of El Tosorro and a slow ride back to the hotel. a nice quiet ending to a rather loud couple of days.

thanks again to everyone who came in from out of town to join in the celebration. for those of you who couldn't make it out, don't sweat it. we'll be coming to your neck of the woods soon. stay tuned for more dates, parties, radio and in-store appearences. spread the word. send in your feedback. let us know what you think about the record. if you haven't picked up a copy yet, go on. it's ok. you'll dig it.

till soon,
be well.
Tony