So so sorry to hear about the fires, it's terrible.

latest news on coldplay/joe..comment by Howard King

and this is what coldplay has to say

So John you take French? I am in the highest French class in my school, I have a B (second best grade) yet I don;t know how to speak it!!! I BS all my homework and still get ponts, but the tests kill me.

Ibanez_god--Dang! I hope you can get your medical situation and doctor sorted out. Sorry to hear you have had such trouble and complications!

Michelle--You're sense of humor is goin' wild, girl! LOL! You don't need a bong hit, you are already naturally high!!

Slans--What an experience you had as a kid! You and your sister--were you two ever able to sort out what you saw together? Your experience must have been surreal. Life is like that at times. I hope your family including your sister are doing well.

Maritime--Dr. Clogs chapter 2 is going to take me some time to locate because microsoft says I need to download software to see it! Sigh! I am still enjoying those pictures with you and Joe and Jeff! You look to me like a ruggedly handsome, teddybear Dutch brother! Did I say that? Wow! To say you are a citizen of the world just isn't enough and doesn't do you justice! ;-)

GG2:I can find classes for alcoholics anonymous but nothing for energy anonymous lol it didnt effect my sis as much but i took it real serious, instead of playing chords every now n then i nosedived into music total immersion.Music was never about being cool gettin chicks bein famous n touring for me, although all those fringe benifits came & went, its more like my empty church, its my place t go t forget about the madness of it all, sounds pretentious but i cant put it any better

I,d love t be at the grammys tonight

Woke up to the news this morning that we now have 108 dead from the bushfires over the weekend. Very distressing TV and print coverage. Our most famous TV anchor news man and his wife died in their house.

It was 46 deg C here in Melbourne on Saturday with a huge wind like a furnace if you stepped outside - it just created a horror situation and fireballs moved so quickly people didn't have any warning or time to evacuate.

On a musical topic, I'll try to see snippets of the Grammy's from my desktop today if I get time.

I brought home the electric last night - it turned out to be a Telecaster not a Stratocaster, and is REALLY tiny - compared to the acoustic. I bought an amp for $3.80 on ebay (Woodstock 20 watt thing) which should come in a week or so.

I can't stop watching this damn kid play guitar. Anton Oparin playing 'Scarified' and 'let the computer decide'

apologies if it's old hat. But OMG.

We're watching the Pro-Bowl, and my son says "Mom, they're playing Joe!", so I listen closer and there it was - CROWD CHANT in the second quarter :-) and the crowd was singing along! Earlier I was watching downhill skiing and they played Joe's If I Could Fly with Coldplay's music over it - and nobody was singing along.

Chin up Aussies! What a horrible nightmare with all the fires. Our prayers are with you all.

Thanks maritime and ibanez-god - C and F are so much easier on the electric cos the fingerboard seems flatter and the strings are closer to the board.

Happy Birthday Stu!

OK...I'll try again to give me a point to catch up from here on T2J. The Grammys are tonight so I figure that'll give me something to talk about later.

What have I been up to for the last month or so?
- I was sick, twice (about three weeks total, but nothing serious).
- I visited home for a week before Christmas (I think I may have mentioned that here).
- I went to a funeral on New Year's Eve.
- I got a flat tire around that same time and have probably spent about $800 fixing it and some car suspension problems it caused since then.
- I was told my job will likely move from Torrance to West Covina in a few months...a change from a 30 mile commute northwest to an hour commute northeast, one way. Separate from this upcoming move, we moved into a smaller office down the street. And we were all told we had to take five furlough days (unpaid days off) between now and the end of March.
- I went on a near-date (::gasp::)...I think she and I both liked each other but there were a lot of mixed signals so nothing happened.

I also found time to go to some cool concerts, as you'd expect. ;-)

I saw the Black Crowes three times in December...I'm pretty sure I talked about those shows here. I saw Eric Johnson a few weeks ago, just before NAMM...probably the best show I've ever seen him do. I saw Kaki King, an amazing acoustic guitarist. And just last night I saw Tim Reynolds, who is probably most famous as the occasional Dave Matthews Band sideman but also actually does some really cool instrumental guitar rock.

I'll elaborate on some of this stuff later, maybe. But I wanted to get it all out of the way quickly now, before the Grammys get going. Man, it would have been cool to see a bunch of lawyers chasing Coldplay around everywhere (I'd love to see the video..."Excuse me, Chris Martin, can you sign my copy of...YOU'VE JUST BEEN SERVED!!!"). I think the fact that Coldplay is avoiding even being officially served up to this point is a sign that the band knows it has something to lose. We'll have to see how it goes, I guess...