Mom in an ad for Barack!!!

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"White Haired Women for Barack"
Well, Mom has made her "YouTube debut"...check out this ad for Barack Obama...I heard it actually got played on CNN! Way to go, Mom! (She's the one in the front with the pink jacket, and her line is, "He's RESOURCEFUL..." )

More photos from my trip home to Nashville

Happy 43rd Anniversary, Mom and Dad!


My lovely neice, Allison! What a beauty she's turning out to be!


These bulbs were planted two years ago, and they've just arrived...this is in the side yard of my parents' house...

Mom and Bill completely renovated this 1880's structure, which was the original office for the Hermitage Stud Racing Track. It's now a "party house" in the back yard...

I crossed the finish line!!

Well, there's a first and a last time for everything...and I just accomplished both. On Saturday, I ran the Country Music 1/2-Marathon in Nashville and finished in 2 hours, 50 minutes. I actually ran the first 8 miles without having to walk! In the photo above, you see me with my brother Bill, who managed to finish in 2 hours, 56 minutes with a foot injury (he sprained his foot in mile 10), and my sister-in-law Helen, who cross the line in 3-1/2 hours. I was proud of all of us. But from now on, I think a 10K is plenty. I fact, I fel good knowing that I can comfortably run 6.2 miles. And thank God for the I-Pod!! I never would have made it to the finish line without it!!!

A good friend of mine, fellow musician and songwriter Jim Orr, has just launched his website. Check out his two new songs: "One Sky" and "Do You Like Me Now"...click here. Talk about multi-talented! In additon to being a gifted songwriter, pianist, singer and producer, he's also a licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist. A true creative spirit. I met Jim during Jai Josefs' songwriting workshops, and I was always impressed by Jim's individual voice and powerful point of view. Check him out!

Book Club!

We had our monthly book club meeting last night. I started our "Tuesday Night Book Club" over two years ago and we are still going strong! I highly recommend finding the time in your life to sit down and read a good book. Having a book club forces you to (a) socialize (not easy in the world we occupy, especially in LA, where it feels like if you're not working, you're in your car driving to get to work), (b) actually finish a book, and (c) delve into issues, philosophies and characters that may actually influence your life....which brings me to our latest book, "The Razor's Edge" by W. Somerset Maugham.
I really enjoyed this thought-provoking book that follows the lives of a group of American expatriates as they mature over the course of 20-something years in Post WWI Europe. That all sounds very academic, so let me just say that it deals on the themes of materialism, spirirtuality, the quest for God, the meaning of love, and disillusionment - universal themes of the human condition that resonate today. If you're a fan of clever dialogue and the underbelly of eccentric, beautiful, and pathetic characters, this book is for you. I had a hard time putting it down.

Who hasn't known a lovably vacuous man like Elliott Templeton? The scene near the end where he cries in depair over not being invited to a party hits very close to home in MY family. What girl hasn't put financial security ahead of love (at some point in her life), only to end up regretting it? Isabel's genetic materialism is something she can never grow beyond, but she manages to carve out some self-defined version of happiness for herself, nevertheless. A true American trait. And the character at the center of it all - Larry (who serves as a pre-cursor to the 70's hippy generation in his quest for spiritual enlightenment) travels the world searching, and searching and searching....does he find his answers? We didn't really come to a uniform conclusion about that last night.

I appreciate books that hang with you, and this is one I may have to read again.