Vacation Message

John here, writing from my Blackberry on a much-needed vacation. You might think it's somewhat late to write a post-tour message, but believe it or not, my mind only shifted over from work mode a few days ago.

So... With that in mind, I wanted to first thank everyone who came out to see a show on the Summer tour. It's regarded by everyone on the stage and behind it as the best we've ever done, and I hope you felt a little like that, too. My personal goal was to stay ultimately present for every minute of time on stage, and I think I passed with an A minus. If you enjoyed the set lists, it's because Ken wrote them, which meant that it was more work to cross a song off that I didn't feel I had in me than to just hand the list back, say "looks good to me!" and then worry about it later that night.

It feels great to have this tour behind me and another record ahead. I hope we get to meet again the next time I set out on the road.

I've been busy in the studio, both with my own music and working with Alicia. We wrote a song called "Lesson Learned" and it was one of the best creative experiences I've ever had. Oh, and her lead-off single "No One" is the track of the year. That's all there is to it. It'll blow you away when you hear it. She's evolved so much as an artist, it's crazy. She's made one beautiful and BRAVE album. Okay! Okay. That's enough slobbering over Alicia. She really is that good tho-OKAY


The song I finished of my own is called "Say", and it was written for a film that comes out in the winter. I'll let the studio be the one to roll out the news, so I won't go into more detail, but it was my first "assignment" as a writer, and I don't know how much harder it gets than to see a beautiful, bittersweet movie and then have to write a song that matches the tone. You let me know if I did when you hear it.


So now what? I have no idea. I kind of feel like an astronaut who lived in a space station for a year, staring at Earth and then when he got home, stared up at the night sky wishing he could go back into orbit. It's easier to be in that orbit in a lot of ways. The first week I was home I was hungry and disoriented because I didn't even remember what times to get food for myself. It's emotionally shocking too, to come back to life in every way and realize just how intense things can actually be. But, I like that I now have to get in line and punch it out with life like everyone else.


I'm going to continue to clear my head and do some purposely non-musical stuff... I can geek out like you have no idea. Well, maybe you do.

When I do go back into the studio for my next CD (I already know the title), I'm not sure what it will be. Steve and Pino will be there, but we'll have to suss out whether or not the songs coming out of me are meant for the Trio or a more fleshed out thing.

I've been listening to a lot of top 40 stuff, just to keep in fighting shape as a pop writer. My favorite song is "U and Ur Hand" by Pink, because I like to imagine the whole song is just a giant misunderstanding and the guy who asked if he could buy Pink a drink was actually looking at the girl over her shoulder. It gets really interesting when you imagine that as soon as the last chord of the song rings out the dude just stands there and says "not you... (Shifts his pointed finger) YOU."

I guess I'm listening to lots of pop music because 30 is right around the corner, and that's a great time in life to lose touch. Can't let that happen.

30. Man, that's a whole other post. I'll tell you, when my 20s get the bow tied on them, I just don't know how much better they could be for anyone. And I have you to thank for that.

Thanks for giving me what I have. It's time to go back to wondering how I don't let you down still... Something will come to mind, I'm sure.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

See you in homeroom.

From Mexico