New Year's Eve

Big night, big city. New Year's Eve in New York City. Here are Steve and I in front of the Empire State Building lit up in green and red.

The celebration is underway.

Kelly and Mike
Ingrid taking on the belly dancer.


Five, four, three, two, one -- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!


All the ladies -- hooray!


Hap New from Heav.


Jennifer making noise.


Whee!


Silly poser!

Watch out Liberty, here is the Statue of Ingrid!

Very late night celebrating with Meredith and Boobie.

Nights Out

Being home is all about being with friends and family.

The gang at the Cafe Routier bar.



With Lindsay and her friends at the Farm.



Heated game of darts between Emilie, Lee and I. It was all down to the bulls eye! Lee prevailed!



Emilie with Officer Souriyamath, who was conveniently driving by while we were exiting. See kids? Dreams do come true.

More fun videos

These aren't the hippest, hottest songs, but I'm listening to them today.

This song is along the vein of tunes that I usually put up here, but hey, I like what I like! Here's the Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition.



And a nice tribute to London! Adele's voice is so haunting in this one, Hometown Glory.



And here is Jackie's favorite song, Need You Now, by Lady Antebellum. Listen to they lyrics. I think we've all been there! (Video link not available.)

Two Hour Hike!

Drew knows the best hiking spots. He goes on all different trails around the Connecticut shoreline area, so it's always a great perk when our schedules mesh and he can show me a new portion of Connecticut's pristine woods. This time, it was in Killington, across from Chatfield Hollow, called Forster Pond State Park. For the brisk afternoon, we followed the beautiful trail around the park and saw not another soul. Magical.

Here are two former OSHS Ecology Club members, Drew and Jason.



Little Eliott was a total trooper -- he navigated the mountain with melted snow soaking the perilous trail and still was giggly through and through.



We saw many leafless oak, beech and hickory trees. Also, we passed a water powered gristmill along the stream below that was used in the late 1800's.



Here are Drew, me and Dave sitting on a very wet, spongy spot!

Christmas Day

It was a busy day for everyone on Christmas Day, especially my Dad. The morning involved opening some very manly presents. In the afternoon, he made a snowman to greet guests at the front door. Finally he cooked for a big dinner party. He looked pretty professional and handsome in his new Christmas chef hat, right? Someone super awesome must have given that to him. . .

Christmas Eve at Pfeffer's

Love the tradition of going to the Pfeffers' on Christmas Eve. Check out some festive pix from the night.

Christmas at Mom's

Every year, my Mom goes to Florida with her bf, Doug, for the holidays, so we celebrate Christmas before the actual date. This year, it was windy and snowy outside, so instead of shoveling up to the outdoor grill, Doug threw the grilling rack on top of the wood in the fireplace. Sensational smokey flavor and all done in the cozy indoors!



Here's Mom stir frying some delicious veggies too.

The Farm

Evening options are slim in Old Saybrook. Yes, I could venture to the amazing Griz in Essex. Or the cool, hip lounge at the Cafe Routier Bar in Westbrook. But if the goal is to stay truly local, after 9 pm, the Monkey Farm is it. Not that I mind -- the darts are fun, the drinks are a ultra-cheap and you never know who you'll run into.

This night, I was one of these creepers that came out of the woodwork. I approached a classmate who was in the grade above me in high school. I asked how he was and said how nice it was to see a familiar face. He looked at me blankly and said, "I don't recognize you. . .at all." Ha!

Drew, Andrea and Jason



Big group shot -- Drew, me, Jason, Andrew, Alex, and Jen

Winter Wonderland

This is my family's third annual Christmas in New York trip. We go the weekend before the holiday, stay at the Yale Club, shop for each other's presents, hit Tang Pavilion and catch a show.

This year, we saw "Ragtime". As we entered the Neil Simon Theater, there was a nice dusting of snow on the ground. Two hours later, the city nearly shut down while thick, fluffy snow blanketed everything. There were no cabs in sight, but we didn't mind walking through the picturesque winter wonderland.



Lindsay (who thought she was out of the shot!), Terry and Dad

TMZ

The definition of "management" is the act of supervising something. My role with the Artiste is to not only to collaborate with him and Arnold to oversee his albums, tours, promo, website, fan club, merchandise etc., etc. but to also shield him from some business aspects that he does not need to handle himself.

I, however, did not do my job well on one amusing occasion. In the video below, after a celebratory dinner tonight at Boa, I did nothing to help him from an aggressive shrieking, drunken fan. In fact, you will notice, the back of my head quickly flees the scene when the high-pitched shrills begin. Good thing Rod is a seasoned pro at dealing with fanatical ladies! Yup, he's still got it!

Wowee

For the last two weeks, William and Karina Annesley have been staying with me while they are finalizing key points on their new, upcoming Discovery Channel show. So not only do I get to live in a beautiful home, only 6 minutes away from my office, but now I have a live-in chef and a built-in buddy!

Here are two examples of just the regular fare William whips up on a Sunday morning or a Tuesday night. This weekend was an Indian masterpiece. However, it would be gloating to post pictures of every night's meal!

Almost a traditional full English breakfast. William was disappointed that I didn't have baked beans in the cupboard.



Perfectly cooked lamb chops with homemade minty sauce, grilled veggies and salad dressing with William's Mom's secret dressing.

Mish Mash Crew

I love it when worlds collide. My dear friend and neighbor, Leni, is German and I've known her for over a decade. Rod's sexy and talented sax player, Katja, also German, has been with the band for about eight years. Somehow we figured out that we all knew each other! Thus, for a girl's night out, we decided to hit my favorite spot, Il Sole.

My roomie, the acclaimed chef, William Annesley, joined us since his wife was out of town and he loves Il Sole too.





FYI: Il Sole is doing a killer Rustic Sunday Menu for only $35. A *must* if you want to get more bang for your buck.

Holiday Charity

To supplement the cut-back arts and music departments' budgets of local Los Angeles schools, I attended a fund raiser at the Troubadour where the talented and surprisingly funny Alanis Morissette played.



Looks like God appreciated Alanis performing for such a worthy cause. He gave her a halo!!

Not Julia Roberts!

It's great to be back in LA. As per tradition, Poppie and I had an outing at Il Sole to catch up on Piper, life, family, friends, and current events (more like celebrity gossip).

After the lamb chops and lobster pasta were gloriously devoured, we sat and chatted more until Poppie caught a cool sighting. Not your usual B-list, twenty-something, hoping to be spotted. (Perez Hilton was sitting behind me.) Instead, a true hero, environmental activist, role model and real beauty, Erin Brockovich. I'm not sure what came over Poppie to ask for a photo with her, but delightfully she did!

Keep it up, Mike Barker!

Austin Barker's brother, Mike, is a writer for FOX's American Dad, so I like to support the show. That's an easy task, since it on after Family Guy and both shows are hysterical.

In a recent episode that Mike wrote, the main character, Stan, fell so madly in love with the band, My Morning Jacket, that he became a groupie and made it his mission to meet the lead singer, Jim James. Stan felt that Jim was singing directly to him. As you can imagine, the fan/singer theme resonated greatly with me, and better yet, Family Guy does it with much hilarity.

Here's My Morning Jacket's hit, "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt 2," that was featured on the prominently in the episode during a fanciful acid-like trip where Stan was being flown by eagles. Check out Hulu if you haven't seen it.

Christmas Shopping

For a man to dress as well as the Artiste does, he spends a small part of his spare time in the stores keeping up with the newest cuts, fabrics and styles. Before a round of TV appearances, I joined the Artiste on a shopping excursion in one of the best cities in the world to shop, New York City. After hitting a few shops and purchasing a spectacular, classy, Marc Jacobs gold jacket (that he wore the next day at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting performance), he suggested we look for my Christmas present. Overjoyed and giddy, I found something that I am absolutely in love with. Wondering where? The New York Daily News knows!

NY DAILY NEWS

GATECRASHER

SEEN & HEARD: "SNL" star Fred Armisen feeding new wife Elisabeth Moss croissants at Arte Around the Corner on the upper West Side on Saturday. ... Rex Lee of "Entourage" partying at Jet Nightclub in Vegas Saturday night. ... Dean Winters of "30 Rock" fame taking a solo stroll through the West Village on Sunday. ... Rod Stewart and his entourage shopping in the women's shoe department at Barneys Monday.

Celeb-filled Night in New York

While in NYC promoting Soulbook, The Artiste and I joined his producer, Steve Tyrell, and Steve's girlfriend for dinner. We started at the Scotto's restaurant, Fresco, then moved on to the Cafe Carlyle at the Carlyle Hotel to see Woody Allen's band perform. See Woody and his clarinet behind me?



Then we crossed the hall to the Bemelmen's Bar for music played by a trio - piano, bass and saxophone. There was another music fan there too -- he cooly sauntered across the room and sat down next to us. . .Clint Eastwood!