JJ Gilmour

jj us tour blog click here for euro blog

	hello everyone well as you see from the picture i've arrived safely in america. we're three shows into the tour now and the american audience's are thankfully really enjoying my music. steven seagal, his band and crew have made us feel very welcome and have been great with their words of total support. we've now played boise, seattle and last night in portland oregon. i'm on the tour bus writing this as amazingly the bus has wi fi ?? how weird is the world. the bus driver frank has just finished a tour with this bus with james blunt who is doing brilliantly here in america. that should help pave the way for me and my music over here. we're driving now to los angeles for a couple of days off. i've even managed to secure a date at johnny depp's old club "the viper rooms" on sunset strip after the tour finishes in late june. i'll write soon folks to keep you all further posted luv luv luv jj x
	well hello folks i'm now back in los angeles again for tonight's show in the el rey theatre. en route from the tour bus to our motel last night which is called the econo lodge (which does what it says on the tin) i thought i'd give our armenian taxi driver a few tunes (andy took the pic's) as we headed for sunset blvd. the tour is going great, people are buying the album and telling me that i'm awesome and that can't be a bad thing. we've been tackling lots of sushi and meeting some really interesting people a long the way. yesterday at a bus stop i got talking to a girl from mid america who had been brought up by amish parents. she informs me that they speak a langauge that they call dutch ?? but not the dutch we know. it's a mix of german and english. it was a very interesting chat. anyhow i'm sure it'll appear in one of the ideas i have for new songs. i've also been trying to get in touch with craig ferguson (you may remember him as bing hitler) he is doing amazingly well here in the u.s and has his own chat show now. i want to invite him to the gig tonight. well i guess that about covers the last few hours here. any other info you would like to know about from the tour or any questions you may have please write to me on the community page and i'll try to answer you. luv luv luv jj in da usa xxx
	well folks as you can see from the picture these lovely american people have named a cafe after me already down on the sunset strip in los angeles. today we are in capistrano san juan about 80 miles from the mexican border. we're playing at this coach house kinda american steak house place, it looks cool and there's a bunch of people sitting in the gig right now. the tour buses are out the back of the gig and mr seagal and all the gang are tucking into some food. i've just been on a local bus downtown and had myself some sushi surprise surprise. last nights gig at the el rey in los angeles was great. we're getting more fans than we bargained for, the los angeles crowd was a tough nut to crack but i think i got them at the end, i left the stage to loud cheers and applause so i must have done something right. after the show i went back to sunset strip to meet frank o'rielly, frank is a great guy and who worked with us back in the silencers days, he even was featured i one of our song entitled "walkmans and magnums" from the seconds of pleasure album. anyhoo frank has offered me a gig at his famous club, he's the sound man at the viper rooms, a club that johnny depp and and the sadly passed river phoenix owned. we will be playing there at the end of the month and will hopefully have some labels and maybe even mr depp if i can get word to him that i'm playing there. well i'm on stage in 30 mins i'd better go and press my elvis suit. kerry the bus driver has just told me if i charm him anymore he'll be giving me his bus at the end of the tour then i can invite a few friends on the next tour. luv luv luv jj xxx
	well folks yesterday and today we're in the desert of arizona phoenix to be precise. there's no show for me tonight as steven seagal and his band are playing with sammy hagar. i've just been out at the sound check watching sammy. it's an open air gig amphitheatre venue like the one in the movie "spinal tap". at the moment the temperature is 112 and yesterday was the same, bonkers man you can hardly even walk around in it without wanting to keel over. we stayed in huge hotel last night, it was so big that they gave you a map with your room key. everything's big in america but this place took the biscuit. i can't explain how much i'm enjoying this trip and really think that it will seriously help with my career. i wrote a new song yesterday called "this could be loved" and as i said in an earlier blog it's all about the amish girl from cleveland i met in los angeles at a bus stop. it's a deep tune but has quite an uplifting beat and message to it. i've been practicing singing it with jermaine (www.jermainepaul.com) who's one of the singers from steven's band, the guys an amazing singer and has worked with alicia keys and i'm sure many more. we hope to record it when we get to n.y.c maybe with the help of dan wise who recorded sunnyside P.A.L well i guess that about fills you in with today's gossip. attached is a picture taken at the el rey gig in los angeles. ps we leave here tonight and drive to san francisco, a city i've been mad to see for years i'll have a few pictures from there to show you too. luv luv luv jj and da desert xxx
	hey everyone here in san francisco just checked it's all going great . i'm going to see the charlatans or the uk charlatans as they're called here in america. i was with sammy hagar (american rock god) who sang with van halen and montrose for a while and of course mr seagal last night in phoenix arizona. after being introduced to sammy by miles he offered me 2 shows at his club after hearing me play my acoustic in the foyer of last nights gig. the local promoter also after speaking to miles and agreeing a gig told me if his wife liked me i could do a show at his club in phoenix too. so mr gilmour duly marched into her little office and played 3 tunes. she loved jenny fly and the new tune "buy now" and presto a glass of wine later i got the gig. it's going great every promoter has asked me back and mr steven seagal is warming to me i think. attached is a picture of us after the show. one of the staff at the cricket pavilion said the weather got up to 115 yesterday, wild stuff. i'll fill you all in on the san francisco news, we just passed by the golden gate bridge earlier and alcatraz it's great. luv luv luv jj and san francisco bay xxx
	hello folks as you can see from the snaps i did the big san francisco tourist bit today, what an amazing city, stunning is not too high enough praise for this place. the first pic is on the golden gate bridge, ther second is up in the The Carnelian Room, on 52nd floor of the Bank of America Building downtown and is a little secret my friend susie told me about. we're just pulling out now on the bus and heading for orriville a few hours drive from here. i'm enjoying a glass of nice wine and chilling out after a great gig at the famous filmore in frisco as the natives say. got a very warm response from the crowd tonight. i think i may be staying a little bit longer than i expected in the usa for some of my own solo shows. went to see the charlatans last night, they played the same place we did tonight, i really enjoyed it. boy kill boy opened for them. what an act, i think that band are going to be very successful. billy mearns got hold of some flyers for me to bring out here they're going like hot cakes as a lot of folk want to know who i am, thanks billy. i played the brand new song tonight for the first time " this could be love " it's a good feeling to showcase it so quick after writing it. well till tomorrow i'll sign off and keep you posted. stay safe luv luv luv jj in san francisco xxx
	well folks hello today we are in oroville. a californian town of around 60'000 people. oro meaning gold in spanish and ville the obvious spanish for town. what an amazing two days i've spent here, we're leaving in six hours time, but i really need to say what a great response i had from the crowd tonight. oroville is a place steeped in history, the gold rush pretty much started here, set on the feather river. oriville was placed on the universal map by a guy called john bidwell. john didn't seem to me to be a kind man especially not to the native people here. ishi of the yahi tribe was the last remaining member of his tribe to live here and the maidu tribe are still a very strong community in this region. shannon a native maidu girl took me to their office to meet the staff so i could try to understand more of their culture and history, i'm a sponge for that. i then went on to meet john ford a sweet gentleman who showed me round the highest and 12th biggest dam in america "oroville dam" it was stunning. the pictures are of john and the john bidwell suspension bridge.. this time i'm leaving me out of the pictures. i hope i'll be back again here i really enjoyed two days of heavy sunshine and lovely people and hope i keep meeting lovely american folks on this trip, i'm sure it'll continue and maybe next time i'm touring here i could film my own jj's tour of america tv programme. i just want to say thanks to the people of oroville for their kind help. the blogs are great and i'm really enjoying them luv luv luv jj in california
	hi y'all well i'm here at mcallen airport after last nights show. i met the most stunning young lady i think i've ever met by the name of michelle. i played her some of my new tunes to see if i could serenade her back to jersey with me. we played "pepes on the river" last night, the rio grande river to be exact and i mean the gig was right on the river. a 25 yard swim and you were in mexico. mcallen is steeped in yes !!!!!! wait for it scottish history. john mcallen married the great gran daughter of a very wealthy spanish guy one José Manuel Gómez who inherited a\lot of that money and between them pretty much built an empire together. this was though after john mcallen's scottish friend john young died who was married to her before. they named a town near mcallen edinburgh in young's memory as that had been his birth place. it's a very hot texas town and again the people i met were very nice real texans folks and mexican folks too. i got a really long set last night as steven and the guys were running a little late. half way through the set my paranoia kicked in and i thought the crowd in the 10 gallon hats weren't digging my tunes. i had visions of the blues brothers gig and me coming out of " me and you " and straight into "raw hide". but as i often am i was totally wrong after an hour i came off to a great cheer and after the gig tons of people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed my set, even a few of the guys with the ten gollon hats. it just shows you how wrong you can be. dave bev and wayne from pepes dropped us off at the airport an hour ago which is were i'm writing this blog from waiting on my flight to memphis. it just gets better and better. till the next time beam us up scotty or is that mcallen. y'all come back now you here, and believe me i hope i do thanks mcallen. luv luv luv jj in texas ps the pictures are of me being arrested by the music police and andy, gary and myself at the gig on the rio grande
	hello everyone just thought i'd do a day off blog today as we're in memphis the home of the blues. we went to the sun recording studio to see where it all took place. sam phillips found and recorded lots of huge names in that tiny little place and it's owned today by a nice fella by the name of john schorr. a good young memphis family man. he was counting quarters (25 cent pieces) at the counter of the cafe as we walked in. our tour guide charlie showed us round and afterwards allowed me to hang out at the end, put a set of cans on and get this picture taken. johnny cash, howlin wolf, bb king, and of course elvis aron presley all started here so it was quite a thrill to see it for me. john the owner informs me after we pay our $9.80 entrance fee that musicians are free but we pay anyway as i all goes back to keeping the place open. i'm hoping to record in their tomorrow if they have a slot ? u2 and bb king recorded love comes to town here in sun sudios which i never knew. i'll put down a version of " the kings daughter " the song i wrote last year and i'm sure a lot of you know about lisa marie presley. shay and jermaine, stevens two singers have offered to sing on it with me. i only hope john finds us a slot it's a working and busy studio. i'll report all the gossip over the next couple of days. we're going to graceland tomorrow too to see the king's resting place. till then luv luv luv jj walking in memphis
	hello again friends long distance information coming from memphis, tennessee. the home of the blues and the resting place for elvis presley. as shay (one of the singers from stevens band said after our graceland tour) said " it really was sad to see it all end so quickly for elvis " graceland which seems to be shuttling and endless queue of visitors and never looks like stopping depicts how one man touched the life's of so many but tragically couldn't get a grip of his own. memphis is alovely place sitting on the mississippi river is a city which almost seems blessed with history, from beale st, the home of the blues to sun studios, which can truly boast the creation of rock & roll. what an amazing 3 days we've had here. from the southern cooking @ bb kings club to the southern music pretty much played all over memphis but predominately in beale st . beale st is a wee bit too touristy for me. it's kinda like what the golden mile is to edinburgh. the sound of the ca'ching from the tills is just about drowned out by the music (if you know what i mean) never the less you can't deny it's history. our gig tonight was @ the new daisy theatre, an old cinema hall on beale st strangely enough . i sat for a couple of days working on "the kings daughter" i hadn't played it on this tour yet, but as it's all about lisa marie presley and the king himself i felt i should give it a go. and so i did. i managed to incorporate a verse from mark cohen's great tune "walking in memphis" which went down a storm. the crowd gave me a roaring send off as i finished my set off with the now confirmed exit song for this tour "spy". after the gig i rushed out to the merchandising desk at the front of the hall thankfully to see lots of people looking for a copy of my album and my signature (this music lark can be a great reward to your soul at times) just as steven and his band prepare to go on stage i'm introduced to a man who i thought was the legend howlin wolf ? but i guess i picked him up wrong, as the wolf man died back in january 76 what's a more likely story is that the man either knew or played with the wolf. anyway it was fitting to meet an old classic blues player after my first show and hopefully not my last in beale st memphis. with my feet raised 10 feet of beale i head back to my hotel to write this blog for you all it's 6am in the morning. the days are running out and as much as i long to see you all again and play you my tunes and of course see my home in jersey, i'd tour here forever. so it's onwards today to nashville, it just gets better luv luv luv jj xxx ps today's pictures are of me standing at the gates of graceland (elvis's home) and the other is taken inside graceland, showing few gold discs elvis managed to muster up in his modest career
	normal service resumed sorry for the delay in getting the blog up on the web - technical difficulties now resolved.
	well folks my good fortune just keeps going. i write to you after a strange gig in nashville but never the less a good one. it was a small crowd but they got my tunes and gave me a generous applause at the end. i didn't get to go to the grand ole oprey but i did meet 2 very nice youg swedish lads who were touring america to find real country music. will, amil and i headed for downtown nashville to see the sight we had limited time as we arrived late on and the gig was an early one for me. we headed in search of a couple of hours worth of culture in he nashville sunshine. big place nashville i was really surprised with the sky scrapers there and sitting next to them would be an old southern country town house. we hit a bar for a soda as the americans say and low and behold there was a proper country band playing all the right stuff with a young 12 year old kid playing country riff's like he owned them. will was in his element. we sayed for a half hour and had to head back to the gig but it was a very memorable half hour. we arrive at the gig and go our separate ways as i have a soundcheck to do and i also want to surprise the boys with a bak stage pass to meet steven later, the picture of the boys with steven tells it's own story. good luck on your journeys boys and will i hope you find your true country music. next we head to mount pleasant, michigan. to the soaring eagle casino, another indian gold mine. owned by the saginaw chippewa tribe www.sagchip.org. it's enormous so much so it vaugely looks like a race track huge place. i head off straight away to find out what i can about that particular people and meet a fantastic looking indian girl tahsheenah i instantly fall in love again. she tells me that the tribal way to sa hello is ojibwe and thank you is miigwetch and then i find out that all the tribes have there own language brilliant. amazing this country, i'm loving it. i head out to see the old town it's steeped in lumber history and is now a massive college town. i see a little of the town as it's closing time and then head to casino again a i want to visit the the ziibiwing center which is closed just as i arrive. i didn't manage to get to the zibiwing center but i know from the promoter that i'm welcome back as after my show he comes up to the merchandising desk to tell me how much he enjoyed the gig. we have a big crowd almost 2000 people and very nice too. i got a great responce from them and sold lots of cd's too. this morning i met up with avery nice guy indeed joseph v sowmick (no he isn't an irish indian) but he's the public relations director for the tribe. just another reason for me t like america more and more i mean that. i think i'll be back at least i hope i will. boozhoo to all you lovely michigan people who may read this and thank you for making a scotsman so welcome ps the pictures are the of me on stage at the eagle gig and the other one is of the other two swedish lads meeting there hero life is sweet sometimes luv luv luv jj leaving lovely mount pleasant for the windy city chicago, hope its my kinda town
	well folks we're just pulling out of the windy city, chicago that is after a great show. last night we played at the house of blues. these venues were all started in 1992 in a historic colonial house in cambridge, massachusetts which was converted into the original House of Blues, a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine in an environment celebrating the african american cultural contributions of blues music and folk art. honouring this mission these venues were started and founded by dan akroyd, james belushi, john goodman and many more including river phoenix and aerosmith . for whatever reason they were started i've got to say that the chicago h.o.b is brilliant venue. they even had a welcome note for me in my dressing room and a menu with a choice of food, that's pretty much unheard of in this industry. we arrived in chicago on friday night and i headed off for my now predictable tour of the city. i read little tips on line from "the lonely planet guide" these are great books which help you discover cities at sensible rates and also find places that tourism centres would never send you. the first place i head for is grant park and millennium park only to find when i get there that there is a full orchestra and ballet playing and it's free. (what a find) i fall asleep once or twice as the music completely soothes my tired bones but the beauty of the dancing and the loud crash of the timp drums wakes me before i get too deep. i then head on my sushi hunt after walking to the lively part of the city, and surprise surprise i find it. chicago has some fantastic buildings and once boasted the highest free standing building in the world for a long time in the sears building. it has now been beaten by china i think ? by the time i get back to the hotel i'm tired but next door at the house of blues reggae dub band "steel pulse" are playing so i pop in and see the last few songs, pretty dam good they are live too, 20 years of doing it helps i think. the next day i tour round the city again trains pass over your head i n this city and the wind is picking up as was rumoured. people are touring the city along the canal which leads out to lake michigan and the buzz is electric. it's a pretty expensive place chicago but i manage to eat sensibly, sushi again. after i tire myself out walking again i head back to the venue which as you can see by the picture is lovely. it's based on an old russian concert hall i think ? the gig went fantastic but at one point before the show i lost my confidence really badly and had to have a my guitar in the dressing room to reassure myself that i could do it ?? weird how the mind works. after the show norris, jermaine, andy and myself perform an unprompted gig in the house of blues hotel bar. we are joined by a young chicago wanna be rap star. she's pretty full on and is screaming at me before we even start playing that she wants to sing or rap. we hook up with her and we party till the wee hours, good fun. it was bed time around 5 and the sky in chicago was just waking. it's really is a lovely place and it did indeed turn out to be my kinda town. after the show i did a great interview with fearless radio station an online station that has about 100.000 listeners including some scottish ones. go to www.fearlessradio.com and you can listen to my interview with them. a very nice young lady kris and co owner of the station patrick showed up at the venue and we did the interview in the dressing room. the show is called new music binge, check it out. steven and his band were joined on stage by lonnie brooks an old blues legend who wrote songs like "the crawl" and "he haw" i'm not sure who he is but i know that some of stevens band really enjoyed playing with him and had great respect for him. rock on chicago your cool and the gang luv luv luv jj x
	well folks cleveland rocks ? i'm not too sure that is does but the people are lovely there too. we arrived in late tuesday night after our drive from chicago. the drive seemed to take all day and night, on tour you loose the focus and sometimes can't tell day from night ??? anyhoo i get up to a cleveland welcome of sunshine and after i have my rice crispies i decide i'll head out to discover what cleveland has to offer. of course it has the famous music hall of fame and the sports hall of fame, but i avoid both of those as that's not my kinda thing. one place i did head for was lake eerie a monster lake in fact one of the great lakes of america and my god that it is. huge it is just looks like the sea. after my nostalgic journey of tourism i head to an irish bar as england are playing sweden. (world cup) i meet a lad there who is a bank managing director from key bank. andrew is from manchester originally now living in cleveland and is glued to the tv as england go one up, sweden score, england score again and then that man we glaswegians all know from sweden henrik larrson scores in the 90th minute. henrik scored just as i was explaining how good he was to andrew. tough time ahead for sweden though, germany next. i head home to the hotel as i have loads of work to do and also i've agreed to do a live phone'r interview with a chicago radio station that has a late night sex show ? don't ask !!!!!!!! so it's the day of the gig and my family from canada have made a six hour journey to see me. it was lovely. we had a light lunch @ the house of blues then time just seems to drift away, too much family stuff to catch up on. i've done my sound check and it seems a few minutes have passed but it's just about gig time already. i come on asking the reasonably sized crowd if cleveland did indeed rock as i hadn't seen any evidence of it yet, one or two folks didn't take to kindly to that but all the rest shouted at the top of their voices in support of the rocking city. i did my gig with a tough monitor mix and come off to check on my family and to watch steven and his great band play. it's harold's birthday tonight and as you can see by the pictures he has a big a cup cake tray to devour on the bus. after my gig i head to my dressing room and as i close the door i'm joined by one massive city rat who casually jumps out of our dressing room bin. the house of blues is very clean and together but this rat was totally at home here, nightmare. seeing my family off to there hotel and heading back to the bus where i'm writing this cleveland city rock blog to you all tonight. though i am kinda still wondering if cleveland does indeed rock. it doesn't make any difference to me as the people seemed lovely and welcomed me back and thats all that matters. hello cleveland as they say in "spinal tap" xxx luv luv luv ps today's pictures are me with the ontario canada family and harold's birthday cup cake presentation on the bus
	my dear friends out there. i must tell you about hagerstown last night in the maryland theatre. it truly has given me the medication i needed to convince me that i can make an impact in this huge big loveable country. my fan base is growing so fast here i feel if we had the album out here now it would be gaining high ground on an indie chart. the maryland theatre is a jewel in a very historically troubled part of washington. the biggest loss of life in the american civil war which broke out in 1861 and on sept 17th 1862 was the bloodiest day of all just next door in sharpsburg over 23,000 people lost their lives that day god rest them. we pull into this sleepy town bob bruchey the mayor of hagerstown who was at the gig with his wife susan tells me the town has a population of around 32,000. i tell you this place at 5pm just suts down, what a pleasing thing is it's like jersey you can hardly get petrol in jersey on a sunday, its lovely. i walk around the town and lots of developing is going, restoration is in a plenty here. the old buildings from the early twenties are getting a bit of tlc, not a bad thing in my book. after my little buzz around the town i arrive back just a steven and the boys are finishing their soundcheck. this stunning theatre has given its stage previously to bob hope, count basey and willie nelson to name but three. well how's that for sharing a stage man i'm in heaven. i walk on the stage and i believe the local promoter theatre manager brian sullivan wasn't to keen for me to play originally but after a wonderful response from the crowd he introduces me to the earlier mentioned mayor bruchey and they both inform me that i'll be back to play hagerstown again, great i say. i sell tons of cd's and sign tons of flyers too alongside mr seagal. after we stop all the signings i'm invited to have dinner with steven and his guys by harold and i head off with the guys to a basement diner one i had visited earlier i the day. anyhoo en route i bump into two lovely young russian girls and there three russian boyfriends i inform them i'm going down stairs and they agree to join me, one problem is though we find out whilst i'm dancing with the girls that one of them is under age after the management ask for id's. tis is a huge thig in the states and one that i'm not used kid's are in bars in jersey and europe all the time but not in the states. i offer to leave immediately and take the minor (as the americans) say with me. she's only 20 and that's breaking the law here ?? i make my way through the back door and sit outside with my new found russian friends as we cant drink we may as well play music. i go back to the club pay my tab and the night is pretty much over. gael murdoch who has been helping spread my name for years and goes back to the silencers days with me has been helping me in the maryland hand out flyers and generally get my name out there in the states. thanks for that gael. i just wanted to say that the wonderful wee ladie in the picture with me is annie hinkle who's ninety years old next year and is running around the theatre working like a 20 year old annie your a star and frankly so are you hagerstown a washington hidden jewel. i'll be back as arnold the govener of california says. luv luv luv jj in the maryland x x x
	hello gang well we left that lovely hagerstown to come and play shows in atlantic city and the wonderful nyc a place that used to terrify me but now a city i really enjoy visiting. firstly let me gab for a while about atlantic city. we arrive after what should have been a 3 hour drive but kerry our great driver hit major traffic and we end up talking nearly eight hours. p.s we have travelled over seven thousand miles so far on that bus alone. the gig is in atlantic city's house of blues and as we hit the venue i'm told aretha franklin is playing next door to us and that our tour passes allow us access to the show. but as we are here to work, rest and then play i don't get much of a chance to see the great legend play but i do catch the first song (natural born woman) just as i'm about to go on stage next door. and of course it was brilliant, she's a mega star. steven seagal introduced her on stage and some of the band got to meet her too, lovely for them i thought. i rush to my gig next door. we only have a small crowd in atlantic city but that's ok they dig my tunes and an old friend from jersey (the one in the channel islands) is there to see me, he's a high flying business man by the name of jonathan seagal, he loves "spy" of course it's in my set. i finish off the gig watch steven's show and by the time i'm finished i'm not really fit for anything. the 2 andrews and i head home in a taxi to the hotel. just as i'm leaving the gig this big lady dressed all in white is ahead of me is making her way down the back stage area as i am. it's none other than aretha herself. do i go up ? do i say hey aretha ? do i ask her for a picture with me ? no i just let her walk on ahead of me with her body of big men surrounding her and i wait calmly for the next elevator with a big smile on my face, cause sometimes all you have to do is "smile" i meet my andy and andy the great soundman outside at our tour bus and we head back to the hotel catching our last glimpse of atlantic city's coastline, which by the way looked lovely. wish i had more time to see you atlantic city hopefully i'll be back just to do that ??? our lobby call the next morning is for 9 am sharp, another 5 hour sleep oh dear. we drive to the big smoke the city that never sleeps, new york new york and find we cant get near the hotel were steven and the band are staying. so me and andy jump off the bus and head to our more (modest) shall i say accommodation in times square. it's ok for us and $200 a night cheaper than the bands hotel (now do you get what i mean) my friends both from jersey and scotland mark, fiona, gemma, feebie, kate, susie d and lucy lu are all waiting for me at the fantastic boathouse restaurant in the heart of central park. (oh dear life can be tough sometimes) it's a fantastic place right on the pond and not too dear at all, if you visit new york make sure you go for a spot of lunch as they say. we finish there after having a few glasses of the singing ginger and head for our hotels to get cleaned up for the evenings events and that's where the fun really begins. after i sing a jazz version of danny boy with the three piece jazz house band in their hotel ( le parker meridian) on 57th and 6th we head out for lucky changs on 1st avenue and 1st street to indulge in, wait for it !!!!!!!! a transvestite karaoke. lucky changs is a restaurant where pretty much all the staff are transvestites and proud of it. we saunter in still ticking from lunch and proceed to get in the mood to join in. first up to sing is mark followed by susie and i, then andy gets up to kill one of his favoured counting crows songs. you can imagine how the night went we sang got really drunk and generally had a great time. hope the girls/guys did too ??? i head home early as i'm here to work, early being 3.15 they left at 4.45 with the staff pleading with them to leave. the next day is gig day and after the sound check and a wee walk round the city i head back to finally play a gig in nyc and at bb kings cooooool man. great it was too. my set was cut short as they had another support act on, but 30 minutes was plenty time to make an impact. the crowd seemed to really like what i did and after my show i was approached by a huge black guy insisting that i had to come and meet one of his friends. it turned out to be a very chance and great meeting for me as at the table was sat a man called joe franklin, his tv show aptly called the "joe franklin show" ran for 40 years here in america. for a time, joe employed bette midler and her accompanist barry manilow as his in-house singer. woody allen, dustin hoffman, barbara streisand, bill cosby, and liza minnelli are among the world's great talents who got their first exposure on the joe franklin show. he told me i was a great act and great singer and said he wanted to play me on his radio show and interview me which thankfully is happening on thursday the day after our last gig on this fantastic tour. i spoke to him (joe) tonight and he said he'd listened to my album and it was in his words "a beautiful thing" he said he was going to surprise me this week with good news for me. good on ye joe and i'm honoured that he took the time out to seek me out, in fact honoured is an understatement. so that's how atlantic city and new york treated me folks and "it's up to you new york new york" to have me come back and play live again and i hope to god i do very soon. a special friend couldn't make the show that night and i wished she could have "believe me now" luv luv luv jj xxx today's pictures are new york city at 3 am almost sleeping and of mark, fioana, andy, kate, susie and lucy getting merry in preparation for lucky chang's karaoke bar. and afterwards things just getting worse as the preparation's beginning to work on mark and i
	farewell and 'au revoir' 'til we meet again...
	"this is the end this is the end my friend" as good old jim morrison once said. but only the end of this tour, there will be lots more i'm sure. the last show was at bb kings conneticut its another one of his places but this time it's located inside this massive casino. owned by the native indian tribe mashantucket pequot tribal nation or the fox people in english. 1998 was the year this what looks like a docking station on the moon was opened. it's one of the oldest known reservations in all of north america and like the others the sound of money from the slot machines drowns out anything else that may want to be heard, it is mega i've quite honestly never seen anything like it. they have what look like normal running buses all day from the hotels on the grounds to the casino. we arrive at this place after driving a few hours from washington it's seven in the morning and the rooms we've been promised are booked for july and not june ??? work that one out did they expect the gig in july too ?? anyhoo they kindly offer us breakfast and around 10.30 after hurrying to prepare the rooms we're given our room keys. i drift off quite naturally to sleep a precious commodity on this tour i can tell you and wake around 1.30 to find the wet morning has been replaced with a dry afternoon ( the weathers preparing me for home i think) there have been huge floods all around the place, america does indeed get hit with all kinds of weather. with the rain eased up i decide to go to the other hotel as our hotel only has a dial up connection and i need to send some pictures via the net and need a fast connection. it's at this point the enormity of the main hotel meets me as i reach its main entrance. this monster docking station must have easily a couple of thousand rooms i was astounded when i saw it. anyway i head for the lobby and sure enough i'm wi fi'd up in seconds and with the pictures downloaded and my business emails all done it's just about sound check time 5 pm, who knows were the time goes ?? i head off to look for bb kings knowing i'll have to leave a 15 minute journey time to get there. steven and the boys are just about finished and the head honcho tom is pressing the stage manager so they can get the doors open, it's an early show tonight and after a 3 or 4 minute sound check i'm told i'm on stage at 7 pm it's 6.10. i decide it's a good idea to head back to my two trees hotel on site and get my camera which has been charging all day. i cut it so fine that i arrive back at bb's with 3 minutes to spare. i throw on my shirt and off i go to the last gig of the tour. the crowd are lovely you can feel the warmth in the room of people willing you to be good. by the 5th song "believe me now" jermaine has joined me on stage and with the lyrics all written down for him he sings it as if he owns it. i explained earlier in these blogs how good he is. i'm hoping for jermaines solo album i'll be able to write a few tunes for him and maybe even with him. alicia keys i'm told is possibly doing the same, what an honour that would be to have some of my tunes on the same album which could have her tunes on there too, and sung by a fine young rising sure to be star. he finishes the tune to a massive applause and like the night before i'm left to follow him, honestly the boy sings like an angel www.jermainepaul.com check him out. i finish with "spy" and head off to sell some cd's and thankfully i did well. after the gig i go to the bus and i'm so tired after reading my email i go to sleep on the bus thinking i'll catch a half hour. well during that sleep i miss the last nights get together with everyone, leave my suitcase in the hotel and wake up half way to newark airport which is where i'm writing this from. andy stagpole our fine young soundman is very kindly indeed going to bring my suitcase for me on the train from his home town of norwich tomorrow as i'm doing this radio gig with my new friend joe franklin. it's mental and there's more mental to come as andy wilkinson (my production tech man) and i have a 7 am red eye flight to los angeles tomorow morning. (money for nothing and your chicks for free) ???? aye right P.A.L luv luv luv jj on da bus todays pictures are of our fine house on wheels and of jermaine and myself at last nights gig
	well P.A.L's the madness continues as we arrive in nyc its a sleepy 7am but still folks are having tea breaks and cigarette breaks outside the buildings, what time did these people start if they’re having a break at that time in the morning. ?? i run around looking for a taxi that can carry all our stuff whilst andy looks after our growing number of bags. we’re on our own now. no tour bus, no hotel, no gig. I find a taxi at grand central station, they have these new toyota 6 seaters now in the city which look like they may take over from the big 3 seater new york yellow cabs ?? it would be the end of an era for those things and the fore mentioned new company of course are not american but japanese it’s the way of the world today. The taxi driver drops us off at dans studio on 3rd avenue. dan wise was the guy who recorded my album sunnyside P.A.L with me and maybe he will record the next one too if i can find the budget ?? dans had a great couple of years since recording the mega selling scissor sisters album (yeh the one with all the hits) his old studio "dans house of love" has been replaced by "the shed" www.theshed.us i t’s a fantastic new studio with all his old and new toys in there. he still has the old desk from konk studious once owned by ray davies and the kinks. it’s a thing of beauty . dans kindly offered to put us up for the night as I have my interview with joe franklin today on bloomberg radio (i’ll post this on the website soon for you all to listen too). I do manage to get an hours sleep on his floor in the big live room and then get washed to head out to broadway for my radio interview and acoustic session with joe. I arrive 20 mins early and steve garrin kindly shows me into his studio where we will record the interview for a later date next weeks show I think ?. joe arrives very punctually at the agreed time of 2 o’clock and we get right to it as he has a doctors appointment at 3.15. joe must be in his eighties but his spirit and jov for music and entertainers thrills me and gives me a boost perhaps not needed but totally welcomed. we talk about my performance and about the show in bb kings on the previous sunday. he tells me how much he loved my energy and the way I do my thing. it’s lovely coming from a man of such stature. I plat two live tunes "all about me" and "believe me now" and kaboom it’s in the bag. Joe and I shake hands he tells me he’s going to break me in the states ( I hope he does) and he wanders off for his doctors appointment. I head back to the street I’m meeting jack petruzelli for dinner. Jack as I’m sure most of you know played guitar on my album. we chat about me coming back in sept for my solo tour and the logistics of him putting a band together for me. Jack plays with various people like rufus WinWrite, joan osbourne , and vanessa paradis to name just three. he’s a super guy and a great guitar player. I hope we can work this out jack has been I n my mind sincewe worked together on my record and I would want no one more to play guitar along side me. after dinner he has to dash as he’s doing an off broadway show a man in demand is our jack. Andy’s kindly agreed to meet the other andy at penn station to collect my case which was so kindly brought down by andy and after a couple of phone calls to one another we head back to the studio to catch up on a couple of hours visiting with dan and libby who are settling down after a hectic day celebrating their wee boys sixth birthday party. We chat for an hour or two then re pack all our bags. we need to loose some stuff or the excess baggage charges will be more than the flights . Its one a.m the bags are done and we listen to the joe franklin interview. i fall asleep before the end of it and wake up at 4.45 call the taxi driver and by 5.45 we’re at delta airlines desk checking in for our l.a flight at 7 a.m. we check in pay a little excess baggage and head for the plane. Andy sleeps like a log but I’m too spaced out and paranoid to sleep. eventually after 4 hours of our six hour flight the germany and argentina game comes on and that clms me down and stops me thinking too hard. we don’t get to to see the end as would you believe it the planes touched down 40 minutes early (typical) after we discover they haven’t put the guitars on board at jfk we get a baggage claim form and head for econo lodge hotel where it all started a little over 5 weeks ago. I grab a wash and andy and I walk up sunset blvd toward miles copeland’s (my managers) office to give them the gossip. They haven’t got time like us to read the blog oh no not in Hollywood. We pass cheebos on the blvd en route just to see if miles is there sure enough he is. He’s having lunch with a guy from universal records (as you do) we say a quick helo as i’ll see him up at the office and head there. Anouk and val are out to lunch so stevo and john take us to the griddle place. It’s lovely we eat I talk surprise surprise and we all head up to the office after the tour post mortem. miles is on the pone with r seagal as we arrive and has another four meetings before we really get to say hello to him. i play him my new song "this could be love" on adriana’s guitar (adriana is miles lovely wife) whilst miles plots out our next battle plan . we’re surrounded by his lively kids who are jumping in and out of their splendid out door swimming pool, hey it’s hollywood. after our poolside tea and biscuits I’m delighted to have told miles all about the tour and he has tasks for me to do for our next move. stevo offers to drop me back at the econo lodge. my head hardly hit’s the pillow and I’m out for the count. it’s 7.20 am now it’s our last full day in the big smoke hollywood and I’m writing this blog from my scratcher waiting on the England game to come on. More to follow from today and tomorrow I’m sure. Luv luv luv jj in hollywood todays pictures are of andy on stage at the foxwood's bb kings last gig. it's a bit blurred but i love the feel of it, and the other is of joe fraklin and me. joe's the main man and the legend that played himself in the movie ghostbusters. check it out.