Kay Hanley

Everyone is up my ass about “Where are the birthday party pictures?” and “Did you put in an order for that walker yet?  Har har.” and “Why can’t you just post the party pictures on your blog already?  Is it because you are suffering from macular degeneration and dementia because you’re like, really old?”

Look, I’ve been busy, ok? Also, I didn’t FEEL like it and we all know how I don’t like doing things that I don’t want to do.  

michelle lights the candles.  so many candles.  look at her laughing.

my friends understand me 

 usa proposes a toast as i gesticulate

stacy, bill’s arms, scotty. 

gary & janet

me and jess get ready for the party at chez rocker 

 justine & alexandra

kristen, kaylyn & gary 

mario & me. 

nina & dave 

jamie, sara & paul 

me & kristen 

 jaco & vashon are badasses

 linda, me and joey

 kaylyn, fannius & shea.

 mish & pinky

 It was an amazing party, needless to say.  There were so many people in that room that I genuinely love, it was a bit overwhelming.  Thank you, sexy people.  You made me the happiest girl in the whole wide world.

xok 

Last night we had a lovely party to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the birth of our best gal, Zoe Mabel. Her birthday isn’t actually until next week but this was the last chance to get all of her homies together before she leaves for Cape Cod for the summer. She is such a good kid, I have to *squink squink* my eyeballs in amazement sometimes.

 they all look like teenagers now.  go easy on me, please.

The night before, USA returned from 2 weeks on the road with Rob Dickinson.  For the first week that he was away I held down the fort like a champ but after several Celtics games and pool parties where everyone converged on the home of the rockers, my well oiled machine quickly began coming off the rails.  Here’s a roundup of the 2 weeks that USA was away and all the hooligans that forced me to rock out while the laundry and dishes piled up.

 bill likes to tickle. carol is supportive. stacy gets cozy in front of the tv.

jamie & joey seem nice enough but that kaylyn has always been a troublemaker.

  carol & courtney reprazent tha LMV

At one point during game 5 of the Celtics/Lakers series, my neighbor Ami (a lakers fan) snuck away from the game action in the living room briefly enough to a) not be missed and b) do this to my son.

 this is so wrong. put a yankees cap on him while you’re at it.

Not for nothing, but Carol took this picture and several others.  Thanks a lot, MILFA, I see how it is now.  When I found the pictures on my camera I jumped up and down, threw a fit and proclaimed righteous indignation to all those involved (including ami’s wife and kid) but between me and you, I thought it was pretty funny.  Look at poor Henry with his Rondo shirt underneath the Kobe one, knowing that he was doing something he shouldn’t.  Also, as a lifelong Boston sports fan, I had to respect the cojones.  Don’t tell Ami that though, because he and Jackie owe us dinner because the stupid LAKERS LOST.  HAHA!!!  The more guilt I pour on, the more impressive the dinner will be, is how I figure it.

Other things that have happened over the last few weeks:

The members of one of the bands I’m in went down to Nashville for a week to shoot scenes for a movie.  I think I signed some sort of confidentiality agreement, so I can’t reveal what the movie was or any details, but I think it’s fair to post some pix.  

 me standing in for the star

  stacy and schmidley with some girl.

 One of my closest girlfriends, Melissa Eltringham, moved to Nashville last year.  I cannot express how happy I was to see her and catch up.  When she showed up at my hotel to pick me up for dinner, Hillary Clinton was on CNN giving what we thought was going to be a concession speech (’twas not to be).  We spent the first 15 minutes of our long awaited reunion glued to the TV watching an historic moment in American politics.  How fitting.  It’s a gift to have women like her in my life.  

  love ya, melisse. whoreanous mani/pedi and all…

Henry graduated from pre-school so naturally he and his friends wanted to celebrate at McDonald’s.  He and the guys are all big kindergarteners now.  Gah!  How did that happen?

hank, ryan, aidan & caleb moving up in style.

 On deck:  a whole lot of nothing, I hope.  And then I have to learn the new Miley record for our dates this month.  More to come….

xok 

Miley was the featured performer at the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show last night so the whole lot of us - band, dancers and crew- got together again to put on a show for 74,000 people. Billy Ray joined the band for 2 songs while Hannah changed into Miley and absolutely brought the house down. If you had told me 6 months ago (or ever, for that matter) that I would be two steppin’ and singing backup vocals on Achy Breaky Heart I would have, um… I have no idea what I would have done but it would have seemed unlikely. Now that the absurd scenario has become reality, I will state for the record that it was totally awesome.

Rodeos are kind of weird if you don’t mind my saying so. After our 3 hour sound check (grr…) I took care of what I needed to in a hurry so I could get back and watch the cowboys riding the bulls.We had plum position from our backstage area, which literally put us within spitting distance of the riders and animals. The cowboys were looking sharp with crisp shirts tucked perfectly into brand spankin’ new dungarees. Top that look with a sweet cowboy hat, some well-worn boots and a lasso and I turned into a drooling fan girl. Who knew? Needless to say, I was giddy to see the guys do their thing, which I was guessing would involve riding and then getting thrown off of a very strong and scary beast. Yum! The first guy came out of gate on a turbo charged horse. But hold on a second, he’s chasing a calf who is running for his life to get away. What the…?? Within 20 seconds, the cowboy had lassoed the calf by his neck, an action that jerked the calf’s body violently and slowed him down enough so that the cowboy was able to leap from the speeding horse and wrestle the calf to the ground where he tied the hind legs together and threw his arms into the air to stop the clock. The little calf just laid there helplessly until he was untied and led back to the cattle area. I started bawling. What a buzzkill. I watched this same scene unfold about a half dozen more times before I shuffled back to the dressing room all woebegone. I ended up missing the bucking broncos and stuff. Meh.

The good news? Anyone can be a sexy cowboy with the proper acoutrements! You can buy everything you need right there at a rodeo. One need not wrastle one single calf, either.

vashon, i do declare! 

Our stage was a huge disc that spun like a carousel. Not slow either. The stage would do 3 revolutions in one direction and then stop with a lurch to begin turning the other way. One of the stage hands told me that the clunkiness of the turning experience was due to the fact that the stage was built a long time ago and was operated by a guy using little more than bathtub knobs to control the thing.

Yee haw!  It was great seeing everyone. Can’t wait to do it again real soon.

margaritas are tastier in texas 

xok

Last night’s show was in Portland and was arguably our best. Everything seems to be loosening up considerably on stage as the playing and singing becomes more reflexive. Even the *ahem* choreography that is part of my job is coming along nicely. Oh. My. God. At some point on this tour, there are going to be people in the audience that I actually know and they are going to witness me shaking my ass with the dancers. I’m not sure if this is thrilling or tragic. Maybe it’s a bit of both.

It has become a ritual to come back to the bus after the show and go investigate the phalanx of fans that waits behind barricades, hoping for a glimpse of Miley. Or at least someone who may have glimpsed Miley earlier that day, such as myself. Sometimes I’ll tell them I am her butler or dog walker and then take their picture:

I cannot believe the amount of people who wait every night and are happy to do so knowing that Miley will not be making an appearance. It’s so hopeful a gesture that it almost makes me want to cry.

Long drive overnight from Portland to San Francisco, where we have a day off before the Oakland show. I love this city.
Jaimie and I immediately hit the pavement for some sightseeing and ended up in Chinatown. For me, food is always the motivating factor in getting me to check out the cities we go to, so San Fran had me dizzy with the possibilities. As we walked, we saw stuff like this:

But our wandering aimlessly brought major dividends when we stumbled across an amazing Chinese restaurant. You can’t go there because I and Jamie have both forgotten the name but it was awesome, trust me. They fed us this:

And then the waiter took a picture. I am showing a heretofore uncharacteristic lack of vanity by posting this photo of myself, but if I am going to have a blog, I guess I have to suck it up.

I am going out to dinner with friends tonight but I will be thinking of Zoe Mabel and Hank dressed up as a witch and Spiderman respectively as they head out trick-or-treating. I hope I get some pix of that. I miss my babies like crazy.

xok

We had a day off in Seattle so I had a few of things on my mind. Coffee, food, shopping and where to watch the Red Sox play game 4 of the World Series. I needed to focus so as soon as I got to my room I ordered a massage (which was pretty rad) and got one of these cuties to keep me company. Her name is Kimie, supposedly:

We went down to the fish market and watched the guys throw the fishes around. That bit never gets old, if you ask me. Got some lunch. Then Stacy brought me to this darling little local boutique for some humble trinkets.

Later, we ended up in a godawful bar to watch the game but there was plenty of room for all of us to hang out so that was an upside, i guess. “This place is worse than hell, but it’s so spacious!”

Because I am a broken record, I complained some more that it didn’t FEEL right to be winning so handily in the World Series. I mean, who sits around chatting and looking all chill when your team is one game away from taking it all???

Why was the idea of a sweep such a bummer for me? Because I’m a girl, that’s why. I also hate blowouts because I start feeling sorry for the other guys. Jamie kept telling me that I was being ridiculous and that the Red Sox deserved to sweep because they are the best team in baseball and the Rockies were completely outmatched, blah, blah. I knew he was right, but ahh..the suffering. Winning, especially when there is that kind of inevitability to it is never as fun as the suffering. Why is that?

But then, seeing my foxy boyfriend Jonathan Papelbon on the mound pitching strike 3 to win the World Championship made me snap out of it. Goddamn, I love the Red Sox. I’m sad that the season is over. Go Pats!!!

Here’s Ellen, Candice, Tiffany and me after game 1 in Denver.

By game 4 in Seattle, there were probably 25 of us from the tour watching the 8th & 9th innings. There are pictures of that too, but I couldn’t find my camera. It was at the bottom of my purse, of course.

xok