Holiday Road

For the first time in thirty-three years, I have a plan.

Well, not really. I always have a plan, sometimes to a fault. But this time, I’m way ahead of the ball. I have dates. I’m buying plane tickets. It’s the summer of neo-hippie weddings, midwestern recordings, and plenty of bicoastal, red eye travel. Here’s how it’s shaping up:

May 28-31: Philadelphia
One of my oldest friends, Amie (who, it should be noted, taught me how to play guitar), is getting married.

June 13-17: Los Angeles
Strictly business. I have a senior producer to hire. This time, rest assured, I will not be staying at The Doubletree.

June 17-20: San Francisco
One of my oldest friends, Matt, is getting married on some hillside overlooking the Pacific. The entire wedding party is camping out. I’m told there will be grazing goats. Should be interesting.

July 11-17: Los Angeles
Strictly business. Presumably, I’ll have a senior producer to train.

August 1-7: The Heartland
I’m flying into Chicago to record with my cousin Andrew, then driving to Des Moines to record with The Nadas, then heading to Minneapolis to record with Kevin. And I’m gonna’ play shows along the way. Stay tuned.

August 22-29: Miami
Once again, the MTV Video Music Awards return to Florida. Bigger, better, badder, and even more stressful, no doubt.

September 1-6: Nantucket
I’d like to tell you that this will be nothing but vacation, but I’ll be running the Third Annual Mr. Roger’s Memorial Madaket Triathlon (on my 34th birthday!), plus starting to shoot my documentary, “Mr. Rogers & Me.” Somewhere in there, I’ll sit on the beach and stare out at the waves.

September 6-12: New York City
I’m gonna’ spend the week mixing the new record. All day, every day. No MTV News.

The new record will be mastered and duplicated by October. I’m going to release it (Mercury? Canal Room? Pianos? Dunno’ — need somewhere new) somewhere in the middle, play a string of Thursdays at Rockwood, then tour.

Somewhere in there I’ll record my iTunes Original (which’ll be some new songs, some old ones, and some storytelling available only at iTunes), and run a few races.

Oooh! And I have a wicked cool show booked with Amy Hills at which we’ll play a set each, then play together. It’s a series my buddy Wes curates called Cross Pollination. It’s on June 28th at Pianos. Hope to see ya’ there.

Meantime, heck, I guess I’d say I’m tired already. But I’m too excited.