Casting

When are Dane Cook and Drew Barrymore going to be in a movie together? I wish it was today.

What is Paid to Party about?

This Paid to Party record is the culmination of a big research project I undertook for a comic book. You know that I have a cartoon band that I create stories around, and I've got this huge story for them that I have been working on for... oh, it's got to be four years or more. This is going to be a huge thing about love, art, friendship, loyalty, creative vision, and the nature of reality. Sound like a big undertaking, hey? But when I would sit down to write it, I would realize that I still had more living to do.

I like my comics to be silly, but I think that what people respond to about them is the fact that there's a stream of truth that runs through them. Even though the story is going to be over-the-top, the portrayal of the music business has to be believable, being that the mechanics of The Changing Color's business are so central to the story. I have been front-row-centre to the entertainment industry for a long time, thanks to my connections in the Beatle world. I'd read lots and talked to a lot of movers and shakers. I'd even been in the inner circle of a few people who were negotiating record contracts with major labels. But I had to have the direct experience from the band's point of view. I had to know how it all comes together. I had to know about recording, playing shows, going on tour. I had to bridge that knowledge gap between the artist and the label.

At this point, I feel pretty confident that I could manage a band quite successfully if I wasn't so busy being an Artist. And at the end of the day, that's why I don't go be a manager, even though I know I could do it well. I have a calling, I am compelled to do the work that I do, and that right there is the crux of this big story that I'm going to tell with The Changing Color. And Mr. Lollipop. And the Queen, and Arthur Puctenbowler, and maybe even Benny Bunny.

And speaking of Benny Bunny, I am up to page 22 on Benny Bunny On Wheels. I think that the main story is going to be about 36 pages, and the book will be about 48. Man, if this was one of my series books, I would be finished already because those were only twenty pages!

PAID TO PARTY might sound like something boastful, but really it's a statement about how we're naturally supposed to live. We're supposed to experience joy every day and we're supposed to get money from doing what we would have been happy to do for free. I'm just doing my part for this movement that's afoot right now. I have hidden a success manual in the songs on PAID TO PARTY. Some of it was me recollecting struggles that I've been through, and some of it was me setting an intention, much of which has come to pass since I laid it down. The lay-person will enjoy rocking their party with this record. And those who watch The Secret or What the Bleep Do We Know over and over again, who know who Esther Hicks is, or who still believe in Santa Claus will find something special for them woven into it.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE RECORD!!!!!!

Production Meeting Tomorrow

I have to get up earlier than I usually do tomorrow. I have to be at a production meeting at noon. I usually don't get up until noon. But we're going to be figuring out the next batch of episodes we're taping in December. We haven't taped any new episodes since last spring, I am so excited. I get excited for the tapings every time, but now that I'm in the cast it's even more so. We're going to have a whole bunch of new people, it's going to be amazing. I can't wait to start playing scenes with Brandy.

I was on the subway yesterday and I saw one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen. It was one of those giant billboards, advertising a t-shirt for girls to wear that announces that the wearer of the t-shirt is on Alesse. Geez, why don't we just cut the shit: when the girls enter 10th grade, we hand them a shirt that says "I'm ready to fuck!" People who work in the media can be so irresponsible.

A thought on the guy from Iran's visit

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when the president of Iran paid a visit to New York? Remember all of those idiots on the news booing him and trying to make his visit shitty? I can't help but wonder if, since this is a guy who (in theory) may be thinking about shooting the place up with nuclear weapons, it might have been a better idea to shake his hand and try to make him feel welcome and show him that maybe New York is a place that's real nice and friendly. Then why would he want to blow up a place that's so nice and friendly?

I have a comic book that I am dying to make but... the curse of success!! Finding time to make it!! AAagggghhh!!!!

Can anyone cover The Beatles?

With all of this talk about Across The Universe, a subject comes up again and again: Can the Beatles be covered successfully? A lot of people say no, I say yes. So I am curious:

Can you think of any Beatles covers that top or compete with the original?

I can give you two:
Fiona Apple's 'Across the Universe'
Stevie Wonder's 'We Can Work It Out'

Actually, I can give you a third!
Nancy Sinatra's 'Day Tripper'

Now you. Can you think of any?