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Enjoyed dinner tonight at the Doug Fir with Matt Wertz and Tim Warren, frontman for The Alternate Routes, a band new to me but apparently a staple for a lot of folks. I ended up not being able to get into the show because my license was expired (really? you’re really not going to let me in?) and the guys were on stage so it was a lost cause, but the conversation was worth the outing. And I’ve since come home and bought more than a few of A/R’s songs, including their entire first album, and I’m sure the new album will follow. Some of the best stuff I’ve heard since I was introduced to Ryan Adams. If you’re up for some new music, check them out. My favorite conversations are with other artists, especially musicians, and my favorite topic is “the craft of writing.” For some reason, I’ve rarely met authors who I feel like I understand and who understand me. When we talk about the craft of writing, I don’t even feel like I’m talking with another writer, or rather, I feel like I must be some kind of strange writer because my process looks nothing like their [...]

A couple years ago I spent a few days with some guys on the California coast, and one of them was professional cyclist Scott Nydam, who races with team BMC and is currently riding in the Tour of California. The small retreat was in a house outside Monterrey and Scott and I were bunking across the garden in a couple small rooms connected to the green house. Every morning, before the sun came up, Scott would suit up, drink a pot of coffee and hit the road for his daily fifty miles. He’d be back before breakfast, and before some of us even got out of bed. He did this every day. I remember the way Scott introduced himself to the group. He said my name is Scott Nydam, and I live in my truck, and my roomate is a thirteen-thousand dollar bicycle. There were a few of us amateur cyclist at the retreat and though there were nano-technologists, ivy-league professors and a few famous folks, we all wanted to talk to Scott. We wanted to know how he trained, what he ate, who he’d ridden with. Scott was humble and devoted, and at one point when we were all [...]

My friend Susan Isaacs has written a book that will hit shelves shortly. And this week she got a raving review from Publishers Weekly. If you’re looking for a good winter read, you’ll like this one. Susan is an actress in Los Angeles who has been in and out of show business and in and out of faith, too. She approaches spirituality with a comedians depth, and her book is as honest as a diary. From Publishers Weekly: Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir God in couples counseling? Sounds sacrilegious, but in the adept hands of comedian, writer and actress Isaacs, it’s a success. Isaacs reached bottom at age 40: no job, no boyfriend, no home. Of course, she blamed God. So off they went to counseling with the ever-patient therapist Rudy. Isaacs moves easily between recounting her life story and her counseling sessions. She describes encounters with the Nice Jesus of her Lutheran upbringing; the “Oakie” Pentecostal church and the militant counselor; the “Rock-n-Roll” church and the “Orthopraxy, Dude” church, plus her rocky acting career and her love life, including guilt-ridden sex and Mostly Mister Right. Isaacs readily admits to being snarky, but she’s honest [...]

I put together a quick video of Lucy. She’s a bit bigger now. Yes, I am that guy. But honestly, if you had a dog this great, wouldn’t you be obsessed? She is very smart. I tried to teach her to sit and stay in English but she only responds to Latin, which, if you think about it, is quite smart because it is a root language.  Subsisto, Lucy, Subsisto! (The song is Sinead O’Connor’s “No Man’s Woman”)

One of my favorite stories was told to me by my friend Bob Goff. It’s a true story and it’s about a parade. Bob lives in San Diego, and when his three children were young they were sitting around on New Years Day, bored. And Bob thought it was a crime anybody should be bored on New Years Day. (Let’s face it, unless you are a football fan, there’s not a whole lot to do.) Bob asked the kids what they could do to honor the fact God gave them a day. And eventually Bob and his wife Maria, and their children, came up with the idea of a parade. So they set out to have a parade on their street. They went house to house telling their neighbors they were going to have a parade. And the neighbors must have indulged the children by saying they would watch. But the Goff’s had a better idea than just a parade people would watch. They decided nobody could watch the parade. They could only be in the parade. And so a few neighbors joined in. The small parade marched from the end of the street to the Goff house, where they [...]