Not just another campaign speech

By this point, you probably know that I'm supporting Barack Obama for president. Regardless of who you are supporting, I encourage everyone to watch the speech that he gave today on the issue of race. It's a response to the concerns raised about his former pastor, but it's also a candid and thought-provoking conversation about the role of race in today's society and politics, and it's worth listening to no matter what your political leanings. Don't listen to just the sound bites you hear on tv or the snippets that are quoted online. Set aside some time and really listen to the whole thing. (Look, I even posted it right here for you!) Or, if you can't find the time to watch, please read the transcript. It's well worth it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a Muppet interpretation of an old Irish classic for you - not exactly the three tenors!

OCMA Finals for "Best Live Band!"

We competed in the finals for the Orange County Music Awards last night for "Best Live Band" and it was awesome! The room was full and the energy was great going on. Bobbo called a last minute audible, swapping our opening song from "This Town" to "We Are Only Young" and we were off and running. It was a strong powerhouse set, lots of big dynamic rock. One of the highlights was the introduction of our newest song, "One, Two, Three (Thousand Miles Back to You)." We just wrote it last week and it came together great last night, very fun and upbeat.

Another highlight for me was "Ellie" and I want to share with you why. It started out the tightest we'd ever played it, it just felt really dead on. Then somehow in the solo, things got a little lost in all the swirly guitars and drifted into multiple tempos, but then the most amazing thing happened. We all simultaneously felt the shift, looked to John for the next beat, and snapped right back onto the tempo in perfect time, finishing the song as strongly as it began. It was the most seamless, amazing musical recovery I'd ever been a part of. In that moment I felt like we went from being five musicians playing in a band to one single perfectly attuned musical entity.

Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about a mistake we made while competing for "Best Live Band." But to me, being a great live band it isn't just how well we play, but how well we play together. And in that moment, we played together better than ever.