Swag Bags

Yes, there was a line to exit because of the swag bags.  All in all, I’d have to say that the Atlanta bags were far and away better than what we acquired here.  If we were in the right place, then the swag consisted of Morrocan Oil Company shampoos and oils.  Large and heavy. Just perfect for air travel.  Apparently the real swag is available to those who are connected enough to get invited to the big time after parties...i.e., not us.

And then Tuesday Comes

Tuesday is the day we have to leave. Sigh.  Our flight isn’t until 2:20 so we manage to walk down to the Santa Monica Pier to check it out since it is in so many movies.  The Georgian Hotel overlooks the pier so I snap a photo for Kathryn in case she didn’t get one.

Then, it is off to Venice Beach to see the urban development project that apparently took about two years to complete.  According to Greg, the area  was very run down and used to be surrounded by 1,200 square foot shacks. Today, a series of canals and high-end housing abound.  Only a few refurbished shacks remain.   After a long enjoyable walk, it was off to a very late breakfast at 3 Square Café and Bakery followed by the long flight home, made longer by the loss of three hours.

Santa Monica Pier

End of a nearly 2500 mile long road.

View of the Georgian Hotel from the Santa Monica Pier

Fun and games at the Santa Monica Pier

Mike and Kathryn at the Venice canals

Random photo at Venice Beach that appeals to John

Winding it Up

Well we are officially back now.  The tux has been returned, the dresses are at the cleaners, and I am kicking back drinking coffee out of my I (heart) LA mug wearing my 53rd Grammy Awards commemorative tee.

At the moment, ultimate party band The B-52’s, Mexican pop star Alex Sintek, and a Grammy nominee are at work next door in the studio. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

BREAKING NEWS: Rufus Leaking Reporting

The paparazzi went wild when John and Jo showed up at Figaro's (And I thought they wanted my picture, what a silly goat I am).

Kevin the Metal Head

So where are my stories about Kevin and Rachel? It’s not like they were wallflowers in the corner.  As I think back on it, my Kevin stories are so specific that I’d have needed a tape recorder to repeat those.  Kevin is a doctor, making him an extremely detail oriented person. When he is not around, we refer to him as the Roc Doc.  One story involving him goes like this. We are driving through Hollywood, and Kevin says something like… "Did you see that car? It’s a new Bugatti Veyron. It sells for $2,000,000. The tires alone are $50,000 a set.  They tested it on a 13-mile straightway.  At full speed the tires will disintegrate in 15 minutes. Luckily, you will run out of gas in 14 minutes."  Who can remember that level of detail besides Kevin? I only remember it because I thought? Really, some random car on the road and he has all those facts running around his head?  It just made me want to point to another one and say, "Ok how about that one? What do you know?"  But, then I became enamored with Rodeo Drive, where John announced that his "credit card was trembling," and Kevin added, "Mine is melting!"

 Kevin's taste in music is vast. He is a huge Panic fan and loves late 60's early 70's classic rock: Zeppelin, Hendrix, CSNY. In fact his wife, Rachel, is in John's CSNY cover band, Deja Vu.  Kevin is also a metal head.  You should see the videos on his iPhone. At the pre-telecast, he notices Dave Mustaine from the band Megadeth.  John, Kevin, and Dave are talking.  Dave says to them, "I’ve been nominated nine times now, and no win.  And Kenny G, 21 nominations before he won."  He was trying to soften the blow of John not winning. I thought that was pretty classy. Nothing like the comfort of heavy metal to ease the pain.

Here is a video of Rachel singing with Deja Vu...

Living Large in LA on Valentine’s Day

Monday morning we got up to go to Scott’s house in the hills.  We didn’t really know where we were going, but he said he was about five minutes up the mountain from Hollywood and Vine.  We are all thinking, what? It turns out he lives in an area called the Oaks, over where Kevin Spacey lives and Gina Davis lived.  Yeah. Overlooking LA and around the corner from the Hollywood sign.  He thinks nothing of it and insists he is in the “slum part.” We were unable to discern how exactly he was in a slum part.


After we picked up our jaws from the floor from checking out his view, he showed us the projects he has been working on.  He started with his work with Pancake Mountain. You wouldn’t believe the cast of musicians that have been on that show from George Clinton to the 2011 Grammy Award Winner for Album of the Year, Arcade Fire, to Panic. He also showed us some of his footage from a documentary he is creating about Vic Chesnutt. He started this project about five years ago with Vic. The interviews include some pretty heavy hitters including Peter Jesperson, Michael Stipe, and Billy Bob Thornton.  He is trying to finish the project to honor his friend as well as pay tribute to a musician who is rarely compared to other musicians.  Instead he is compared to great writers, like Flannery O’Connor and Henry David Thoreau. Vic was even honored by the Kennedy Center in his lifetime. That documentary is so beautifully done that I can hardly wait for its release.  Whenever that is… Scott? Maybe Rufus will tell us!

Remembering Vic from scott stuckey on Vimeo.

We lunched in Hollywood at Figaro Bistrot where several commercials have been shot, including the recent State Farm commercial.


After lunch we went to the Hollyhock House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  After that we headed back to Santa Monica for a break.

The big plan for Valentine’s Day was to go to the world famous Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard for some live comedy.  According to Greg, that place was originated by Pauly Shore’s mother, Mitzi, who acted like a “den mother” for the comedians that came through.  I just love that reference. The implication of so much love, and not just a business. The list of comedy greats who got their start there is long. This opportunity came up because as it turns out, our friend Lisa Mende who lives in Athens used to be married to Dom Irerra, who now makes his home in LA.  Lisa is an actor and comedian in her own right.  She sets it up for us to be guests of Mr. Irerra.  In the meantime, I’m sure at the urging of his ex-wife, Dom decides to do a “short set” even though he isn’t scheduled to work that night because we are coming and we are important to Lisa. Lisa has arranged for complimentary tickets for our party of eight.  But now, we are a party of 10 because we have invited Scott and Christina to join us.  I don’t want them to pay, so we try to get ahead of them at the door to prepay the extra two in our party, wanting them to be none the wiser.  We explain what is going on, and the person in at the door, says something like, what are you kidding me, you are all guests of Dom. DOM. DOM.  Do you know who he is? I’m not going to be the one to explain to Dom that I took your money, yall all just come on in.  It was like a little comedy short right there.  All the comedians were great.  By the end of the night, tears were just streaming down our faces we were all laughing so hard.  Near the end of the set, Dom says, “I understand that Grammy nominated John Keane is here. I’d like to meet you before you leave.” He’d like to meet JOHN. It was great.  It was like the kingpin of comedy in LA was requesting an audience with JOHN.  Come to think of it, it sounded like less like a request and more like a summons.  The man was in his element after all.  So as Dom exits the stage, John pops up out of his chair to shake his hand and introduce himself, and Dom takes him to the back for a drink.  I’m sure it was great, but John missed one hilarious dude while he was gone. I just love calling him Dom, as though I know him personally.  On any given day, that man would have no earthly idea who I am.


Here is a song from Pancake Mountain...

The After Party

There must have been 3,000 people at the after party.  The Roots played. Afterwards, a loud thumping boom-boom music ensued that was too loud for conversation.  Numerous food stations were scattered throughout the convention hall. Each set had an Asian food bar, a shrimp and salad bar, and desert bar.  We ended up at a table with Dailey and Vincent, who were nominated for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.  We moved over to the Jazz bar, which was much more listenable both in music selection and volume.  But we were all exhausted. So we got in the line to leave.

Kathryn with Dailey & Vincent at the after party.

The Telecast

One of the great things about being the date of a nominee is that the seats do not stink.  Somehow John found out that the Platinum Seating that we were in sell for $1,000 a pop.  Now, we weren’t on the floor with the Super Talent, but they were right before our eyes milling around moving toward their seats… Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony, Katy Perry and Russell Brand, Cindi Lauper, Esperanza Spalding….We were sitting directly across from the alternate stage where the presenters were talking  on camera while the main stage was being configured for the next extravaganza of a performance.


A lot of the technical nominees were in our section.  A few rows behind us was 2011 Grammy winner Toumani Diabate.  I said hello to him and congratulated him as we passed him and commented about how he’d been in the studio with John a while back with Taj Mahal.  The person who was sitting with him asked me if Taj Mahal was at the Grammy’s.  As if I would know!

Missing the Red Carpet Walk

They announced at the beginning of the pre-telecast that if you win, the nominee will be herded out the back to the Red Carpet walk, and the accompanying posse is welcome to join him/her.  In hindsight, that should have been a clue that if John wanted to walk it or even see it, we should have left the ceremony early to catch the excitement.  The other clue came in loud and clear when Kathryn got a text from Kathy Best, who is the publicist for 2011 Grammy Award winner Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride, both of whom were performing shortly.  Martina McBride was part of the all star woman, power group that opened the televised awards.  Kathryn texted that we were staying to the end of the pre-telecast awards.  The publicist texted back, "BAD PLAN." We had no idea what that meant. We now think she was telling us we were missing it all.  But, we knew some of the people up for awards at the pre-telecast as well as the work of others and wanted to see these killer performances at the pre-Telecast. In hindsight, the pre-telecast featured the best performances of the entire day, musically speaking, I thought: Trombone Shorty, a duet between Bobby McFerrin and the 2011 Best New Artist Esperanza Spalding, and a super group including Cindy Lauper, Mavis Staples, and Buddy Guy.  So we stayed too long. 

Following the performances, we decided to grab a salad at Lawry’s Carvery. By the time we got it together, we were walking to the Red Carpet area and realized how late it was, which was confirmed for us when a security guard said the Red Carpet was closed.  So, we hurried to find our seats.  We were all a bit bummed about the Red Carpet, except maybe John who had announced earlier that he wouldn’t mind missing that part at all because he really wanted to see all the music he could.  After all, this day was a once in a lifetime musical opportunity.  Well, yeah, but Red Carpet? After much thought, I think that if you don’t win a Grammy at the pre-telecast and you aren’t Lady Gaga coming down the carpet in an egg, they really don’t want you on the Red Carpet. So maybe it worked out as the music gods would have it.

And the Winner Is…

Not John.

We go to the pre-telecast awards ceremony where there are 98 awards to be presented.  The pre-telecast starts at 1:00.  You have to be in your seats at 4:45 for the night telecast or miss the opening remarks. You know, the three-hour time difference.   If you are not seated in time, then you must wait until the next commercial break, about 15 minutes, certainly missing the opening performance.

John’s category is number 7 in the program listing.  The categories are going quickly because they run a tight schedule to finish before the televised show.  In fact, I notice that as the one person is accepting the Grammy, the overhead slide changes to the next category.  So, I prepare for this to snap a photo of John’s “name in lights.” I am snapping the picture as they announce that NOT JOHN has won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording Non-classical.  We joke that it takes four engineers to make John Mayer’s record sound good… and therefore four engineers to beat John! Actually, one of the four winners, Michael Brauer, is also a former client of our host, Greg Spotts. So, if somebody else has to win, we are glad it is him. The whole thing goes by so fast that I don’t have time to be disappointed, yet… or at least to realize that I am disappointed.  Really though, by the time you see all those names on the screen, you notice the company of the nominees is quite an accomplished group. Just being in the group of nominees is quite a validation.  And, the road to winning is reportedly quite a process of smoozing that John just doesn’t do.  The industry buzz was that Battle Studies was the favorite, so he never really expected to walk away with the trophy. And, we were having so much fun, it was hard to notice that he didn’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that if you actually win, there is a whole other level of fun to be had! But, John not winning, didn’t slow us down a bit.

Outside the Staples Center in LA awaiting the Pretelecast Awards

Pretelecast Awards Stage

Screen showing nominees!

Platinum seating tix! They sell for $1,000 a pop!

A Mischievous Moment

The next day was The Grammy Awards Ceremony.  Knowing that it would take the men about 30 minutes to get dressed, including downtime, I came up with the idea to send the men to breakfast.  It was a self-serving idea. I wanted to spend a ridiculous amount of time on my hair to see if I could get it to do a ringlet thing. Who doesn’t try something completely new on a big day, right? Greg’s wife, Moj, spent about an hour, painstakingly, curling my hair.  She had commented the day before that the person who does Fergie’s hair lives in their building, and, that she’d be glad to call her to fix my hair.  Moj even went so far as to offer it up as her treat. This conversation comes up because Kathryn has been going around and around about whether or not she want someone to do her hair. She knew of a person to call to do it and had been giving it serious thought.  I couldn’t stop myself from calling her to lead her to believe that Fergie’s stylist was doing my hair.  On that morning of the Grammy’s, I call Kathryn and mention that I am having my hair done.  She falls hook, line, and sinker. She is ready to come over to have hers done, too! Finally, I tell her that I am yanking her chain, it is just Moj.

Reconnecting with the Past

The first night we had dinner at Sushi Roku with John’s posse, Greg, and also Scott Stuckey and his lovely wife, Christina.   Scott was a big part of the Athens music scene a dozen years ago and was one of Vic Chesnutt’s closest friends and contemporaries. He and John have been friends a long time and even used to go water skiing together long ago. Scott moved back to DC at some point to be with his children.  A couple of years ago, and after his children graduated high school, he and his wife took the opportunity to change things up and relocate to the Hollywood Hills. Scott produced the first Brute CD called Nine High a Pallet.  He said he caught a lot of flack from both the Chesnutt and Panic fans who both complained that he had monkeyed with their respective sounds. I guess some people missed the point that it was supposed to be something different, thus the name Brute.

Settling In

The six of us flew into LAX and went to Enterprise to get two vehicles because we were staying in two locations. John and I were staying in Santa Monica with his former manager, Greg Spotts, who now works for the city of LA.  The others were staying in Santa Monica at the Georgian Hotel upon recommendation from actor Kyle Chandler, Kathryn’s long time friend.  We were all so busy before we left town with minor details like jobs and coordinating children that we failed on the reconnaissance work.  Greg had asked for a few courtesy pieces of information like what date and time are you arriving and departing, and all he got was a sketchy reference to the early afternoon on Saturday and late afternoon on Tuesday because I was dashing off to work and couldn’t remember the details.  I asked Greg how close his condo was to the Georgian and he said, “Not far.”  Well I never got back to get the definition of “not far” or provide better information about our comings and goings.  We rented two cars, and it turned out to be about three blocks between the two accommodations.  Just a five to 10 minutes stroll down the beach.  On the upside, it was nice to be able to walk to meet for dinner.

At the Grammys!

Me and my Grammy nominee.

Mike and Kathryn -- Our neighbors and close friends.

Two more close friends, Kevin and Rachel

Made it to California

Picking up the tickets!

Walking in Santa Monica with my former manager Greg Spotts and his son Will

We are staying with Greg Spotts and Mojgan Khalpari and their two sons.

Greg was John's manager for much of his career, from 1991-2003.  Mojgan is a doctor, but today is serving as my hairdresser!  Their condo is at the corner of Ocean and California, with a panoramic view of the Pacific.

On Greg and Mojgan's balcony at sunset.

The Girls at the Huntley rooftop bar.

View of Santa Monica from Greg and Mojgan's balcony

And we all parted friends.

I went to pick up John’s tux today, and what I thought I heard the sales clerk say was, UPS isn’t coming today. And I gasped! “Oh no, we’ve got to get on a plane in the morning!” Then she says, “I meant to say it isn’t here YET. We can get it to you.” And I can see that she has her manager on the phone.  They must really get some hard to deal with folks in there. I said, “Well, I’m just running around Athens this afternoon so why don’t I give you my cell number and I’ll come back when you call.”  And as she’s finishing writing the number, she says, "I listened to the live stream of the Panic show last night and Mr. Keane was great! "

I asked for packing tips. And she tells me that I need to carry the tux in this specific garment bag because it guards against static electricity.  I tell them that I am concerned about the fact that it won’t meet the requirements of a carry on. She says that people do it all the time. “I’ve done it. If worse comes to worst, you stow it in the overhead bin.  Or you could pack it, and have the hotel steam it.” Well we aren’t staying in a hotel; we’re staying at a friend’s house in Santa Monica a block from the beach. So that won’t work.  She says, “Worst comes to worst you can iron it.” Of course I want to put my dress in the bag, as I am trying to carry on everything. But, I don’t think I can iron my dress.  Let’s hope it doesn’t’ come up.

And we all parted friends.

Then I come back to get the tux. At some point before that, Kathryn calls and says, “Mike needs cuff links, will you get them?”  I am certain I will forget so I try to wiggle out of a definite yes, and Kathryn says, “I’ll call Perno’s and have them leave them with John’s tux so you can’t forget.”  I go to get the tux, and they haven’t heard from Kathryn: clearly I get there before Kathryn thinks of calling.  I pause, obviously trying to figure out what to do next, and the clerk said, “Is he wearing a bow tie?” I said, “I think so.” She said, “He’ll need studs, too.” And she goes to get the set.  And, another sales clerk comes around and says, “I was at Déjà vu last week. They were really good!” I thank her and comment that they have a ridiculous amount of practice hours in those gigs because the music is so complicated.  She asks if John will be at the show tonight. I explain that we knew of the Thursday show a long time ago, but not the Friday show.  Of course it made sense for there to be a Friday show…. But he was already booked on Friday by the time we found out about it and the Grammy nomination.  So things are frenzied to get out of town.

And we all parted friends.

Larger than Life

Well happy birthday Widespread Panic! That was some nice birthday party at the Classic Center last night. John got to play, as did Anne Richmond Boston and Randall Bramblett. Before I ever moved to Athens, I was listening to the Swimming Pool Ques so it is always a treat for me to get to hear Anne Richmond Boston live on stage! Yep, I’m a fan. And, who doesn’t love what Randall brings to the table…

Back stage in the family rooms… I hope Kelly won’t shoot me for posting this, or worse, ban me from all Panic shows.  I suppose there is always delete... but, the most interesting thing that I learned last night was that her family has a blow up TV screen that only makes appearances for special occasions, like awards shows, like say, the Grammys, when you need to see the event in life size proportions. I am totally aware that I am technology challenged. I mean, my phone doesn’t even take photos….  But, really, a blow up TV screen? I had to ask if it doubles as a swimming pool in the summer.  I was assured it did not.  Apparently, she was just cruising down the aisle at Best Buy, and she just had to have it.  I asked her if it came in HD, and she said of course not. So again, there goes my lack of technological savvy shining through.  I also asked her if it had a Nascar on the box, hee, hee, hee.  You know I am going to have to go to Best Buy to check this thing out.

Another fun conversation at catering before the show was listening to Randall confirming what he thought he knew to be true about Facebook, while at the same time picking Matt Joiner’s brain about how and when to do other things on Facebook.  Randall actually had about 800 people waiting to be his “friend.”  I advised him to just get an intern.  That kind of backlog just has to stop.  Don’t you know some UGA marketing student or Music Business School student would just love to take on Randall Bramblett?

It looks like Sunny may be sitting in front of a large, blow up TV screen Sunday night! HA!

25 years

Today is the 25th anniversary of Widespread Panic!  I can’t wait for the show at the Classic Center tonight!  And if you haven’t seen the cover of the Flagpole magazine, by all means, get out of this blog and go see it.  Only the Flagpole could get away with that cover. It is magnificent, and Dave has a fantastic sense of humor.

As it turns out CNN is coming to the studio today to film some “B” rolls, stuff they can cutaway to in their story about Widespread.  I wonder if they know about the Grammy nod? Have they done their homework?

And check out the Athens Banner Herald… 25 Fun Facts About Widespread.

Well, the weekend was here so there was time to obsess over Grammy clothes.  Literally one week to the Grammys.  So it is officially Grammy week.  I have decided to dress like a Rock Star all week.  In fact, I am going to a house party tonight where John and Nathan Sheppard are playing, and I am completely overdressed.  And loving it.

Today,  it was show and tell with Kathryn’s array of Grammy hopefuls.  One form fitting Nicole Miller “little black dress” with a square neckline and rousing down the side, shouting, “Choose me, choose me," and another shiny black dress with layers of rousing screaming, “It’s not a party without me!”  Mine has been scrutinized to the point that it has been demoted to just sort of as an “also ran” to be part of the fun.  Kathryn’s friend, Anna, was in town to approve Kathryn’s clothes – I mean ride her horse – with a little extra time dedicate to peruse apparel.  At the end of the day the rousing dress got the nod.  Kathryn’s friend Emily is going to dress her in Stella and Dot jewelry. Rachel is going to be adorned by T. K. Andersons.  For whatever reason, I refuse to be deterred from my trendy, cheap gunmetal fake bling bling. I just love it. No worries if I lose it!

So I never got back to this blog, timely.  But the house party was fun.  It was at Caroline Aiken’s house.  She is having these limited seating, intimate setting parties .  You should “friend” Caroline if for no other reason to find out about these parties.  Randall Bramblett is up next in March, but may be sold out.  At the end of the first set John said something like, “I have a song I want to play for you by myself.  I only learned it four hours ago so I have the lyrics right here.  But I just love it so much I wanted to play it tonight.”  It was the Gamble and Save song by Home Grown Revival.  He just can’t say enough good things about that band -- got them a small local gig at Hendershots where he made the comment that they “blew him away” in the studio.  He was also part of getting them the gig opening for the Carolina Chocolate Drops here in Athens next week.  Their record comes out next Saturday, so be looking for it if you like blue grassy music.  The band calls it progressive folk music.  I have no idea what that means, except I like it!

Yes, many commented on my attire and even agreed to Dress Like a Rock Star all week, too!

Rock it Like You Mean It

It is officially Grammy week.  I have decided to dress like a Rock Star all week.  In fact I am going to a house party tonight where John and Nathan Sheppard are playing, and I am completely overdressed. And loving it. I’ve been telling everyone I know to embrace your inner rock star, and take it up a notch everywhere you go ALL WEEK LONG!  There have been some takers!