"The Bad Cats Don't Sleep!"

LOL! That was Jerry's reaction to the latest Toto cut I sent him, "Let It Go," (mp3) from their new CD "Falling in Between." (He added, "I had better practice." If anyone's up to the challenge, it's Jerry Lopez and the guys.)

After I heard the tune "King of the World" (mp3) on the Toto MySpace site, I searched out the CD, found one copy at Best Buy in Henderson. You can also download it here. It it totally kick-butt, highly, highly recommended. These cats, man! Go to their home page, watch the video montage of their concerts. That's what I want for Santa Fe!

Another crushingly fine cat I have known about for a while now is Kenny Loggins' bass player and Musical Director, Shem von Schroeck. I finally got off the dime and ordered his CD from CD Baby.

OMG!!! (I now have two more copies on order) Shem is the son of lengendary music producer Artie Schroeck, and was hanging in the studio with his Dad from the time he was an infant. It shows, man. Shem trained at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, and is the total package: writer (no, composer), singer, player, arranger. Check out his rap sheet, dude has a great C.V., and major stylistic range.

Unreal. Listen to "Born to Take the Fall," (mp3) in which he plays piano, bass, real drums, does all the vocals, and scored the arrangement for a 29 piece orchestra.

'eh?

Then there's "The Happy Song," (mp3) an acoustic guitar & vocal tour de force. The entire CD is just outasite, there ain't a weak lick or lyric on it. Buy copies ASAP.

I see Kenny Loggins every time he comes to town. I been goin' to his concerts since the 70's (cat is the granola set Al Jarreau of the Redwoods to me, beyond the Pooh Corner and rock & roll movie theme legacy). Well, at one Vegas gig Kenny shows up with this new bass player that looked like he just got outa linebacker 2-a-days with the Seahawks. Shem. Like, 'who the hell is this dude...?'

Now we know. MAJOR.LEAGUE.BAD.BOY.

I've exchanged a couple of emails with Shem, and have got him halfway talked into he and Kenny sittin' in with Santa Fe at The Palms when they have some down time. Uhhh.h.h.h...I'll have to be on a gurney in restraints and a thorazine IV drip that night, man.

BTW- Cheryl bought me an 80 gig iPod for Christmas. Wow, are these things ever cool.

I can see goin' broke at the iTunes Store, LOL! This model will hold 20,000 tunes! My sister-in-law gave me an iPod adapter unit you plug into your cigarette lighter in the car, which picks up a vacant FM channel and plays your stuff. No more throwin' CDs in the car for Lucie and Jaco (the dogs) to stomp all over and break the cases.

Oh, yeah, couple of interesting video clips: "Gangsta Happy Feet" (funny!) and "Guitar Never Seemed So Hard." (Amazing. This cat obviously never got the Mel Bay Book as a kid.)

Oh, yeah, R.I.P., bro...