"Please Stop Leaving," from ALL IN, filmed live at this past year's Holiday Show, held at the Zipper Theater, NYC, 12/16/08. Credits: James Manzi, the Zipper Theater. Enjoy.

[Latest post on The Velvet Rope.]

Multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Matt Beck has worked with artists ranging from Matchbox Twenty to Gwen Stefani to Rod Stewart, and has just been hand-picked by Bono and the Edge (of U2) to be the guitarist for Spider-Man, the upcoming mega-musical featuring their music. Beck's new release, Anything Which Gives You Pleasure, features classic pop songwriting and gorgeous guitar tones gleaned from his years of audio experimentation. "I have somewhere in the realm of 500 pedals. I took over one of my wife's bookcases with them," he explains with an unapologetic smile. "Some are very esoteric."

But which pedals are must-haves? And which ones suck? Beck broke down his library of stomp boxes into easy-to-swallow categories: the ones you need, the ones to avoid, the ones that need a loooong break — and the ones to watch.

Read the rest HERE.

[Latest blog post on The Velvet Rope]

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not at Mardi Gras. Wherever you are, take a moment to conjure an ecstatic and impossibly colorful place — that’s New Orleans, and in particular, that’s New Orleans at Mardi Gras.

Antoinette K-Doe, the widow of rhythm & blues legend Ernie K-Doe, died early Mardi Gras morning of a heart attack. She was 66.

Read the rest, and see my video interview with her from last year's Mardi Gras HERE

Or just skip to the video HERE: http://www.blender.com/Antoinettekdoeinterview/video/804.aspx

[Latest blog post on The Velvet Rope]

Taunted by idiots up front? Tired of getting beer thrown at you? Some nights you just want to kick someone’s ass. Let the experts show you how it’s done...

Read the rest HERE.

"Sometimes, when a man is alone, that's all you got is your dog." -- Mickey Rourke

Monday night, Mickey lost an 18-yr-old chihuahua named Loki. I'm not a huge fan of little dogs, but I get his point.

[Latest blog post on The Velvet Rope]

If you’re in a band, you have a love/hate/but mostly love relationship with your rehearsal space. It’s your safe house, your treehouse, your crackhouse. The grosser it is, the better it’ll be to talk about when you’re being interviewed by, oh, Katie Couric. Or Gideon Yago. Or Tabatha Soren. Or Sway. Or… oh, hell, I just wanted to say Tabatha Soren.

Read the rest HERE.

A friend is coming into town with his family and asked me for suggestions of what he could do with them. Hell, I had no idea, so I asked my peeps on Facebook. And POW. So much came back I thought it might help some of you out. Here it is:

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. On a beautiful day, it's tough to beat. On the other side, hit Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory: it's directly under the Brooklyn Bridge http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/brooklyn-ice-cream-factory/. You're on the water, looking at NYC and having awesome ice cream. Get back to NYC via the NYC Water Taxi, which is exactly what it sounds like, down to the yellow hull (http://www.nywatertaxi.com/) and take in the west side of New York City from the top deck. Time it right and you can get from there up to Times Square by 7:30 and stroll to your seat at "Wicked."

New Victory Theater in Times Square. Recommended 6 to adult: Black Violin -- With superstar collaborators like Alicia Keys, Sean 'Puffy' Combs and Linkin Park singing the praises of these 2005 Apollo Legends, BLACK VIOLIN will rock the New Victory house to its very core. Fusing elements of classical, jazz, blues, R&B and hip-hop, phenomenal fiddlers Kev and Will B—along with their mixing maestro DJ TK—have mastered a soulful synergy that will enthrall lovers of both Bach and Beyoncé. http://www.newvictory.org/show.m?showID=1030021

Muppet Whatnot Workshop at FAO Schwartz where, for $103, you can create and walk home with your very own Muppet: 5th ave & 58th. Cheaper than Wicked tix and lasts longer. http://www.fao.com/catalog/boutique.jsp?parentCategoryId=98&categoryId=793

Hayden Planetarium is showing Cosmic Collisions, which "launches visitors on a thrilling trip through space and time in one of the world's most powerful virtual reality simulators, the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater, to experience the hypersonic impacts that drive the continuing evolution of the universe." http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/cosmic/?src=e_h (with video trailer) Narrated by award-winning actor, director, and producer Robert Redford.

The Story Pirates: (www.storypirates.org) Hilarious sketch comedy based on stories written by kids. Weekly all-ages shows on Saturdays at 2pm at the Drama Book Shop on 40th Street in Manhattan.

Care Bears on Fire: all-kid punk band, might be playing during the time you're here http://www.myspace.com/carebearsonfire

Weather permitting: renting rowboats in Central Park is fun. There are also zoos and carousels, and a regular array of random street performers, etc. everywhere.

Toys R Us in Times Square: Huge animatronic dinosaur, Ferris Wheel, etc.

For girls between 5 and 10 (or perhaps open-minded boys): Dear Edwina at the DR2 in Union Square. http://dearedwina.com/schedule.html

MoMA has a great, free kids program Saturday mornings, broken down by age group. Get there at least a half hour before the official start time to get tickets, then you can stay in the museum as long as you want afterwards: http://www.moma.org/education/family.html

Other can't-misses are the Museum of Natural History (http://www.amnh.org/), The Hall of Science in Queens (http://www.nyhallsci.org/), The Children's Museum in Brooklyn (http://www.brooklynkids.org/), and the Children's Museum of Manhattan (though that one can get crowded) (http://www.cmom.org/).

There's also a cool place called the Children's Museum of the Arts in Soho (http://cmany.org/intro.php?pn=home) where they do hands-on arts and crafts type stuff, good for younger kids.

The event calendar at this site is also worth checking for any special events that may be happening that week: http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/region/new-york-ny-usa

Also: Time Out NY Kids http://www.timeout.com/newyork/kids/

http://www.theperchcafe.com

Wed, February 11, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

My friend has trained his children in the dark arts of Entertainment. They are called the Charismatic Megafauna. If you like songs about chickens, I know where you need to be... should be fun.

"The Charistmatic Megaphonic String Orchestra is an old-time string band with a modern twist. Its members are Park Slope's own Bilger family--Burkhard Bilger on guitar, Jennifer Nelson on violin and accordion, Hans Bilger (13) on stand-up bass, and Ruby Bilger (10) on vocals and percussion. Their friend and spiritual leader Michael Abrams plays ukulele and the youngest Bilger--Evangeline (5)--occasionally joins in on songs about chickens. The band plays an uproarious mixture of folk songs, novelties tunes, and rock-and-roll classics, filtered through their own sweet but slightly skewed sensibilities."

[Latest blog post on The Velvet Rope]

“Do you consider yourself a role model?” is a classic, if kind of cheap, interview question. But what is the answer?

We’ve all heard the resounding “Yes, I’m a role model” from people who turn out far from it (hi, disgraced televangelists). We’ve also heard the resounding “No” from people who, for many reasons, just don’t want the responsibility. But does it matter if people want it or not?

Read the rest HERE.

I've been asked to be a guest blogger for the long-running music industry blog The Velvet Rope.

My blog is called The Panic Room, located here:
http://velvetrope.com/starpolishlife/tallboy7/

I've started and so far not kicked off yet. So that's good.

Check it out, leave a (positive) comment if you like.

There's nothing that dogs can't do. Nothing.

The internet is alive, today. I believe!

[My latest entry as guest blogger for the Velvet Rope]

The Key to Making Art: More Pots

Resolved: Quantity always trumps quality.

As an artist working in several media at once, I’m having to create a lot of work under sometimes crazy deadlines. And it stresses the hell out of me. Once, while worrying about the quality of work done quickly, I was taught a great lesson from an unlikely authority: my dad. The guy who never taught me to shave and still hasn’t given me “the talk” (I’m flying blind on both topics) turned me on to a game-changing story from a book called Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland...

Read the rest  HERE.