As I'm on the road, I'm taking random shots of stars where I am ...just as a little homage to my new cd title "Stars"! Am I just bored, or what?! I thought it was cool! This is the star on the metal plate next to the "L" for the Lobby elevator in my hotel in San Diego...I got all blurry artistic with it!

Today I sat in for the KIFM morning show with Mike V and Lenny. It was such a fun morning...early...but fun! I sang my new song "Stars" live on the air as well as played my new single "Smile" and a few other oldies but goodies!

Today I played the National Anthem at the San Diego Padres game vs the Giants. It was a great day! We lost the game, but it was a fun game and fun to play!

Sometimes as a member of the Recording Academy, you get to do cool stuff. Well, tonight was one of those nights. The Recording Academy here in LA hosted an evening with Mel Brooks, the creator/writer/director/actor/all around genius guy who’s responsible for a lot of my favorite movies…”Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein”, etc….. it was incredible. They brought in guest stars to ask him questions and he was riveting. Among the guest stars were Carl Reiner, Maya Rudolph, Tim Meadows, Norm McDonald, Norm Crosby, Jason Biggs, and more. What a night. I even got to spend time with Brooks Arthur who produced the Adam Sandler cd that I played on as well as hung out with us for my time on the road with Adam. What a great guy…and a legend. This picture is of my father (my date for the evening!), me and Mel Brooks!

This place is incredible….sprawling historic buildings amidst beautiful mountains. We flew in from LA where it was 70-75 degrees. It started snowing on our drive up the mountain, and by the time of my concert, it was like a blizzard outside! We played in a lodge at the top of the mountain above the Broadmoor to kick off the weekend. It was incredible…all the walls were glass, and all you could see was snow falling and big fireplaces on the verandah. Genius! In the lodge, there was a huge moosehead mounted on the wall, and a few people thought they saw it moving to the music during the show. Well, it wasn’t the drinks! It did move, and he even interrupted me during the show to talk! Yes…as beautiful and stunning as the Broadmoor is, they’re keeping it real with the talking moose! He was a great part of the show! I wish he could travel with us! To end the show, Earl Klugh “sat in” with us playing acoustic guitar on my song “The Joint”. It was crazy! He was amazing, and just brought his personality to the song. He’s such a legend. I sat in later in the weekend with Earl Klugh for his concert…what a highlight for me!! Great weekend!

Tonight it was so fun to be home and play! Wow! We’ve been globetrotting lately, and we’re soaking in the home love tonight! A lot of friends came down! Thanks for a great night and a great welcome home to America!! We had a blast.

An incredible artist and good friend of mine included me in a series of mixed media paintings featuring artists of different types…actors, musicians, painters, etc. I thought what he did was amazing. I was stunned when I walked in and saw the actual painting! Looks like he just sold it to a buyer in Hong Kong. I just wanted to share his great work with you! If you want to check out his other work, you can check him out at www.sabatinocreative.com
www.timsabatino.com/studio
http://haute.net/sabatinocreative

Thanks Tim for such a beautiful painting!!
Congrats on selling it!!

I met with the Ambassador to Turkey along with the Counsellor Deputy Chief of Mission today here in Rumania. I felt very important! It’s not every day you get to chat with ambassadors! After that, we did soundcheck and played a great club in town called the Kristal Glam Club. It lives up to it’s name. It’s amazing inside… we should have shot a music video here! …metallic couches everywhere and the most beautiful chandelier that’s probably 2 stories high that changes colors throughout the night. What a vibey place! We had a great night!

I’ve been told I’m playing the palace before, but it’s never been like this! This has been an incredible trip, and we played in Ciragan Palace. It’s stunning! Today I did a bit of sightseeing at the Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar, and also saw the Sofya Church and the Blue Mosque. What incredible architecture! Thanks for your hospitality and such a fun night at the palace. What a day!

Wow…it took about 24 hours to get here, but it’s beautiful! This is my first time in Istanbul. The ancient architecture mixed with the modern architecture is stunning. The food is incredible, and everyone’s been so nice! I had lunch at a little café near the water and walked around a bit…here’s the Bosphorus River…beautiful!

Whew! We slept a few hours after our Denver show (actually about 1 1/2 hrs for me!) and flew immediately to Atlanta to play tonight! What a whirlwind. I played the Robert Ferst Center in December with Rick Braun and Peter White for our annual Christmas Tour, and it’s such an incredible place to play….I couldn’t wait to bring my band back. It was an inspired night. Earl Klugh was in the audience…what a legend! And I’ll be playing with him in a few weeks in Colorado Springs for his Jazz Weekend there…can’t wait! I also had so many friends in the audience. I guess I brought my own cheering section! We forgot about the “no sleep” factor, and we were inspired by our surroundings! Thanks for a great night!

The last time I played here, it was all acoustic….just me and my guitarist Jay Gore. We were introducing my newest cd at the time “Life Less Ordinary”. It was an incredible night…my friend Peter White was in town, and also my good friend Jeff Golub! I invited them down, and we just jammed….me and 3 acoustic guitars…magic! Jeff even supplied me with wine to fuel the fire of the set! He’s a good man! Well, cut to tonight…and I brought the whole band! What a fun night…sold out…and you guys were so fired up! We had people screaming and yelling and it was out of control! I love that! We probably were only supposed to play an hour or so….we ended up playing 2+ hours and just going with the fun! Thanks for a memorable and fun night!

Wow….we flew from Southern California tonight all the way to Orlando, FL to play for you at the “Arts and Music Festival”! It was a long flight, but I was so star struck by our opening act that it brought me back to life! Sam Rivers played just before us, and if you don’t know Sam, then you need to check him out. He has quite the resume, but I became a fan of his through his long tenure with Dizzy Gillespie. He’s a monster! And as a sax player, I just had to get my picture with this legend! Here we are backstage right before we did a vodka shot together backstage, compliments of one of my friends/fans Cindy Adams…who brought us a whole bottle of Belvedere (my favorite)! Thanks Cindy for the vodka inspiration, and thanks Sam Rivers for the musical inspiration!

It’s been a year since I’ve been back to the Temecula Theater! And last year at this time I was limping and wearing only socks here in concert, due to a freakish “island” accident on vacation! Tonight, I put on my stilettos and we rocked it! It was great to be back with you guys in the coolest little intimate theater in Temecula! We love it here! Thanks for a really fun night!

This was an amazing week for us in Seattle. Jazz Alley is one of the best jazz clubs in America, and we love being “in residence” here for 4 sold out nights. We even celebrated Valentine’s Day with everyone by playing some different songs than our usual…we did a fun sexy version of the standard “My Funny Valentine”, and lingered on more love songs than usual…what a great chance to open up and play a little differently. Jazz Alley brings that out. Thanks to everyone who came out for our shows. We had such a great stay and such magical nights with you!

My new cd is officially done, and we're just finishing up all the fun stuff that goes along with the music...like the photo shoot! It's always fun to get dressed up for a day and put the "face" to the music! Here's a sneak peek!

What a great week at sea! There were so many great artists on the ship to play with! I did a saxophone/trumpet panel discussion with Kirk Whalum, Rick Braun, Euge Groove and Gerald Albright. What fun to talk saxophone for an hour or so with those guys. I had a few guests in my shows on the boat. Rick Braun came and sat in with me for a few songs. He was incredible! And Jeff Golub came up and rocked the house as well! On the last night of the cruise, I sat in with Wayman Tisdale to play his version of “Cruisin” (very appropriate!). It was a perfect week. It was so nice to hang out with everyone and just have a great time together! Thanks to Alan Aronoff for this picture of us on the cruise!

This is our last night of the Christmas tour, and what a night! All of our families are here to cheer us on. This has been incredible! Richard Elliot even stopped by to play he and Rick Braun’s hit “R&R”. We dressed him up in a Santa suit to come out and play! He brought the house down. I think everyone knew it was him, though….the tiger striped saxophone gave it away!! Thanks for a perfect end to our very fun tour! Happy Holidays everyone! This is Richard Elliot disguised as Santa!!

Last year at the Tower Theater the guys in the band played a crazy trick on me and had a half naked man (good looking too might I add!) bring my saxophone out to me! No scantily clad men tonight, just a really fun show! And a local fan Julie brought us homemade burritos backstage. I ate four!! They were incredible! Now it really feels like Christmas in California!

Sacramento is always such a great place to play! I feel the vibe as I come into town. We played to a sold out crowd tonight, and it was incredible. I’m realizing that we’re getting closer to home now and it’s almost Christmas! We haven’t breathed in that California air for a while now, and it’s nice to be in our home state! Thanks for such a great night! And thanks Craig (Doctors for Entertainers) for the amazing Christmas cookies! This picture is of me at the airport...look at all those bags!