Kay Hanley

Fan_3 just sent me this video that she made. Homegirl has BALLS. I love this.

I’m just about finished packing for my flight to NY tomorrow where I will be joining the Miley Cyrus Experience for the Z100 show followed by a private event for Net Jets. To answer your obvious follow up question, no, I am not flying on a Net Jet. I have a cozy little compartment in the baggage hold of an early morning FedEx flight. This works out fine because I have a couple of Xanax, a flask of Southern Comfort and Hello Kitty sleeping bag. I’ve been told that these planes only fly at 32,000 ft so I will most likely have enough oxygen to survive the trip but even if I don’t, I will be none the wiser.

The past week was pretty eventful. Saturday, Miley played at Wango Tango, the radio fest for KIIS out here in LA. I got to see the Jonas Brothers and their band, whom I adore, as you may know. We played some new songs and we also got new wardrobe. It doesn’t take much to make me happy. Candy-o and I went to the celebrity gifting suite, which is a thing that I’ve heard about, but have never gotten to partake in. In a nutshell, a bunch of retailers set up booths in a location where celebrities may or may not be and they GIVE their stuff to them in the hopes that their stuff will show up in US Weekly. Please kill me for knowing this.

free stuff? for us? no we couldn’t!

i like the jobros. they’re nice.

After the show we booked it to our van as fast as we could and blazed back to LA for Justine’s birthday party. We arrived with plenty of time to spare.

the best sister-in-law EVER

i suffered a booty shaking injury because of conroy’s dj skillz

Sunday was

Mothers Day. I had a leisurely morning with the people whom I gave birth to and the father of those people. It was lovely. USA Mike knows how much I miss the the WRKO broadcast of the Red Sox games so for that reason (among others) he got me XM radio for my car and the house. Yay.

Then Z and I went over the hill to check out the video shoot where Miley & Mandy were doing their thing. Apparently they’ve got some kind of dance feud going with the ACDC Crew so they decided to lay the smack down with a huge production. Ah, the world would be a much better place if we could all just lay down our weapons and settle our conflicts through dance battles.

 

b-girlz!!!!

 

 

 

Time for sleepy. Be back soon with reports from the weekend..

 

xok

 

 

Our supposed 10 hour drive from Albany to Rochester, MI. has also been extended thanks to a tanker truck falling off I75 and onto a house, causing a massive explosion/fire and closing the interstate. One of the other drivers tipped off Wildman moments after it happened and he was able to jump off just in time to avoid the chaos.

Last night was the Jonas Bros’ last night on the tour. It was a bummer to see them go. The guys, their band and crew were top notch and it was a pleasure to spend the last few months sharing the road with them. I wish them nothing but love and luck.

After the show in Albany we hunkered down for a long drive. The post show bus food sucked, but everyone was in excellent spirits nonetheless. Mike, Candice and Vashon jockeyed for position in the front seat.

everyone likes to sit next to wildman.

I can’t believe that with all of the music fans on our bus we’ve never had a DJ party before. Stacy decided to man the decks, I mean commandeer my laptop, and entertain us for a few hours.

dj jazzy stace

I realize that I have gotten lazy about my once vigorous blog habit so once again, let’s run through the hightlights of the past week!

The Obama speech was thrilling, yes, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the lovely new friends that I made in Cleveland. Stacy and Jamie invited me to crash dinner plans with their friends Norman and Aaron from Alternative Press, both of whom turned out to be the funnest, smartest guys (even though AP totally dissed Letters To Cleo any chance it got, it was not their fault, I’m sure…) and took us to the best meals I’ve had so far on the tour. Bar Cento was an Italian place where I had quite literally the best salad of my life which was composed simply of butter lettuce, mint, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and cider vinaigrette. Momocho was a Mexican fusion-y place in their neighborhood. Ohio city, I think?

guacamole is yummy and green.

choosy hipsters choose momocho

Before I left Cleve-town, I was able to have coffee with my dear friend Ed Zeitz. Why didn’t I get a picture??! Meh.

Some other stuff, perhaps a show or 2 took place and then it was off to the exquisite Ritz Carlton in Georgetown for a day off before our DC concert. Oh wait, I didn’t get a day off in Georgetown. I slept in my magnificent bed for a grand total of 3 hours and then I had to get on a plane to Boston to perform at Hot Stove Cool Music, a Red Sox-ish related charity event that I perform at every year. For those of you who only know me as Miley’s backup singer or a person who has touched Nick Jonas, it may help now if I explain that I am also a not very well known indie rock musician!

On Sunday morning, my manager Michael Creamer picked me up at Logan airport, I did my laundry at his house, went to soundcheck at the Paradise which was really a 90 minute rehearsal because I had a brand new guy on guitar (nice job craig!), checked into my boston hotel, scarfed down some food, took a shower, got dressed, went back to the Paradise and played the show, slept for 3.5 hours and got on a plane back to DC. I was pretty much a nervous, exhausted wreck the whole time, but that fact was offset by my happiness that I got to hang out with all of my Boston friends.

o’malley, dicky and gammons do the not so silent auction

One of my sweetest conversations of the evening was with Theo Epstein, who with his wife recently had a baby. I can talk breastfeeding and sleep training until the cows come home. Or the sun comes up. Or until the fat lady sings. Or the shit hits the fan. Whatever. Theo had a baby and he is STOKED, as am I for him.

why is this lady so happy??

I also had the pleasure of meeting my new favorite person, Lori McKenna. She, too is a mom/musician whose husband is a sexy saint. We have a lot in common and I look forward to writing with her and Michelle when she comes to LA.

work that camera, girl.

Musical revelation of the night? Eli “Paperboy” Reed. Oh my god, this kid blew my mind. He seemed like a regular guy with an off kilter sense of style when I spoke to him backstage, so I couldn’t imagine why people were going bananas over him until he took the stage and turned into a demon possessed preacher man. My pictures stink (what else is new?) but trust me, Eli is off the chain.

testify, young eli.

I sat in with The Peter Gammons All-Stars for a rendition of J. Geils’ “House Party” and who should I see on stage but Seth Justman, the guy responsible for some of J. Geils’ greatest songs. Centerfold? Freezeframe? Must Of Got Lost??? Hello?! I was a little google-y eyed while talking to him, to be honest.

seth is wicked cool

Rookie Of The Year goes to Corin Ashley, for sure. I called Corin a few hours before the show to ask if he’d care to join me onstage to swing a tambourine and sing a little. Not only did he say yes but then when he was asked to jump in as a last minute replacement for Aaron Perrino on “House Party” he gamely agreed and proceeded to steal the show. Corin rules, he really does. Here’s a pic that Stacy Lynes took of us:

awww.. pals.

When the evening was over, Hot Stove raised $200,000 for Theo Epstein’s Foundation To Be Named Later. What an amazing accomplishment. See you all at Fenway this summer!

xok

I am totally overwhelmed by the volume of pictures and information that I accumulated over our holiday in my kickass hometown of Boston, Massachusetts (and environs) so I am just gonna blaze through the highlights.

My childhood buddies Kevin and Jeff came with their kids to the Providence show. I hadn’t seen them in over 20 years so it was funny to reconnect now that we are creaky (yet exceedingly well-preserved) old people. My sister Patricia also came with her posse. Kevin arrived bearing Dorchester hoodies, one for me and one for Miley, with our names embroidered on the sleeve. I LOVE mine (and my OFD tee shirt - holla!), although I’ll have to put electrical tape over my name when I hold up that liquor store. Either that or borrow Miley’s.

dot rats reprazent.

A huge portion of the Hanley lineage was in the house for the Worcester show. It was quite something to see my Dad rocking out in the 3rd row. Henry just about lost his mind when he met the Jonas Bros backstage but Erin and Zoemay kept their cool.

*calmly swooning*

Most of the tour flew back to LA after the Worcester shows but I stayed behind at the Four Seasons where Michael, Zoemay and Henry had come to spend the holiday with me on the East Coast. My sister Patricia had the good sense to organize a Very Hanley Christmas so that it would happen on Christmas Eve Eve (the day before henry’s 5th birthday) at Legal Seafood right next to our hotel. I CANNOT believe that I didn’t photograph the 4 dozen oysters that we ate, but that might be explained by the fact that we ate them with great, um, speed and elan. Henry ate about a dozen on his own.

can’t. eat. any. more. oyst…. ok, one more.

Henry got some fun birthday presents, some of which he shared with his cousins.

moustaches are always funny

We sang Happy Birthday to my beautiful little guy with some chocolate cake and then it was time to go. Patricia and her family drove back to Hanover and my parents went back to Cape Cod, but not before we decreed that from this day forth, A Very Hanley Christmas would be held in a restaurant so someone else could do the damn dishes. My sisters Maryellen and Elizabeth and my bro-in-law Tim walked back to hotel with us so the guys could watch the football game. The girls and I excused ourselves to the pub across the street where I peer pressured them into drinking an Irish Car Bomb. God, I am such an asshole sometimes, but I am also very mature, so whatevs. The reviews were mixed but I could tell that Maryellen, ever the purist, felt like we were defiling the Guinness.

YAY! SISTERS!

Christmas Eve was just for the 4 of us. We bundled the kids up and went sightseeing. I saw sights that I’ve seen a million times before but it’s different when you see sights with your own children that have never really seen those same sights.

the public garden

make way for duckling (!)

We made it back to the hotel and got ready for Santa. I can’t believe he knew that we were staying at the Four Seasons, but I guess that’s why he’s Santa. The kids were STOKED!

Christmas Day was a long one, but we had a fabulous time. We drove to my aunt and uncle Nancy & Rick’s in Bristol, RI for some more Hanley family merriment. Their house is gorgeous and they are, needless to say, excellent people.

so pretty….

Michael and Tim held their annual War Against Christmas meeting. They have to change locations every year so Bill O’Reilly won’t find them and expose their shadowy network of 2 and nefarious plans to eradicate Christmas from the planet Earth. Those liberal elitists are super clever.

they must be destroyed. or hugged.

My Mom REALLY likes to buy the grandchildren matching jammies at Christmas and then photograph them. I wonder how long the 5 of them will go for it.

ok, it’s super cute.

Then we hopped in the rental car and headed for Nana’s for a few days. Michael’s still there with the babes but we are meeting in SoHo tonight for his birthday party. Back to work, now….

xok

Lexington, KY kicks off our re-cap.

Apparently, we played in front of more people at this venue than any other on the tour thus far. Almost 40 million people in attendance! Can you believe that? I finally remembered to bring my camera on stage with me for the occasion.

my perspective on thingsj joe jonas in flight

me and candy-o punching the clock 

 CINCINNATI

Then we went to Cincinnati and played a show, I guess. I don’t remember a single thing about what happened there but here’s a picture that Stacy took of a crazy old bag lady that was hanging around outside of our bus one day.

 poor dear.

TORONTOThere was much hand wringing and gnashing of teeth regarding our border crossing into Canada for the Toronto show. People were extremely concerned about concealed contraband, weapons and criminal records. Me? Clean as a goddamned whistle. Except for that little thing about the stuff and the thing a few years back. It was not even my fault, but whatever. Can we stop talking about this now? Jeez.

 

Toronto, Canada. i love Canada. I spent my childhood summers in Nova Scotia. Some of my favorite bands of the last decade hail from that part of North America. Beautiful, wonderful socialized medicine is a hallmark of their sense of social justice and political enlightenment. The people look foxy but are still polite and friendly. These days, Canada could even be described as a tophat on a turd, but only for another year or so. I hope. I love you Canada, and I hope you and I get to spend more time together. Let’s not just say it, but really MEAN it this time.Anyhoo..we got to Toronto and it was snowing. We had a day off before the show but I spent most of the day sleeping. Michael has been telling me forever about his favorite Toronto restaurant, Kit Kat and with the aid of our lovely concierge we were able to score a table at the last minute. I award Kit Kat 4 “hollas” on a scale of 1-5, which is nearly a perfect score, given my level of food-ish knowledge and snobbery. Oh, and I promise to stop using the word holla as soon as I get back home and I have to act my age again.    

We went back to the hotel for a nightcap and ran into a bunch of our other tour people who had the same idea. Management was returning from a very high powered meeting over steaks and red wine and Miley had just come back from a play with her mom Tish, whom I do not socialize with much outside of work. I really like her so it was nice to have a regular conversation that did not revolve around the task at hand.

 candice, miley, tish & me 

Then my 15 year old friend made us crash some company’s christmas party at the hotel. Did it occur to me to put the kibosh on the tomfoolery? No. I seriously have no self discipline, but I do have a very fun life, so here we are. gatecrashers 

 I danced for awhile and then snuck out so that I could catch Michael and the kiddos for a video iChat before they went to bed. I am so close to seeing them, I can hardly believe it. We will be living the life of Riley when we get to Boston.  zeros and ones make a happy family  Toronto, to be continued….xok

How clever am I to have the appropriate footwear for trucking around this fine city? Not too, you say? Well that is YOUR opinion but you are not the owner of these:

blue suede shoes. yum.

The last few shows have been totally aces, but last night in Atlanta was my favorite. The cherry on top was getting to see one of my best friends Tera and her gorgeous family. We hadn’t seen each other in 5 years but we picked up right where we left off.

ken, casey, me, tera and ryan

I was in the delivery room with Ken and Tera when Ryan was born, so it’s especially meaningful for me to see how healthy and happy he is now.

Tera has balls the size of Jupiter so when she saw all the people backstage after the show, she could not resist her primal need to add to her collection of famous people mementos. I might have dissuaded her, but I knew there was no use.

casey & ryan with joe j.

corey in the house

And she also managed to take the first picture I have seen of myself from the tour.

little ol’ me in my work uniform.

It was a great time. See you guys in less than 5 years, I hope!

Tonight is Memphis and I am looking forward to some BBQ action after the show followed by some billiards near Beale St. Prepare to have your asses handed to you, boys.

xok

I feel like I just woke up from a dream. After the Ft. Lauderdale show on Tuesday night, the rest of the Hannah tour rolled on to Nashville and I stayed behind to catch a flight to New York for my debut at the the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I have no idea where to start in retelling this story so I guess I’ll just begin at the beginning.

Last year, I was asked by American Greetings to appear in the parade to perform one of the songs I wrote with USA Mike for the Care Bears. I said yes (because I say yes to everything) not realizing what that meant (because I never really think about what happens after I say yes to things). Well sure enough, the time arrived. Macy’s arranged for first class everything so I and my family hopped on our flights in first class seats; me from Ft. Lauderdale and Michael, Zoemay and Henry from Los Angeles to meet in New York.

The car service picked me up at LaGuardia and deposited me at the London, a splendid hotel in mid-town. I dropped off my things in my spectacular suite and went down to the hotel bar for a snack and a drink. This is where the excursion began to take shape. I was walking through the lobby and ran into Fan’s dad, Elliot Lurie who also happens to manage Corbin Bleu (cutie!) who also happened to be in the parade. As we’re talking, I hear “KAY!”. I turn around and here come the Jonas Brothers, Miley’s opening act and my fellow float riders, who seemed slightly confused to see me there. Hugs and pleasantries are exchanged and I was all “I’ve been trying to tell you for 2 weeks that I was going to be here!!” No matter, we were all happy to see each other. Okay, bye lobby people, I have to eat dinner.

I’m eating and having a glass of wine and Benji & Joel Madden plop down at the bar beside me. We had all worked together on a Shut Up Stella thing last year. “Hey guys!” We chit chatted for a bit, mostly about Joel’s impending fatherhood. As it turned out, we all needed to be in SoHo so we grabbed a cab and rolled downtown together. We all hopped out at Ludlow and Houston and went our separate ways.

One of my favorite stylists, Jackie Atkins had agreed to be my stylist for the parade. She has 2 shops on Ludlow called Pear and Plum, respectively. I arrived an hour late but she was cool about it. We caught up, drank wine and tried on piles of clothes. Here’s Jackie at Pear, the shoe wing of her empire:

Michael had dropped of the kiddos at his Mom’s house in Jersey and came to meet me at Jackie’s store so we could go out to dinner and enjoy some private time before the onslaught. The 3 of us agreed on 3 possible outfits for the parade and Michael and I split to find some food. We didn’t have to go very far. I forget the name of the place (gah! why do i always do that??) but they had a bazillion beers on tap and my favorite food. Oysters from the Atlantic ocean, specifically from the freezing salty waters off the northern coast of America.

my man is wicked cute

After dinner, Michael drove me back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes and such. He went back to Jersey so he could retrieve the kids and bring them to the grandstands in the morning and I went to sleep because Jackie and my make-up gal, Amy were coming at 5:30am to get me ready for the parade. A little drunk and very happy, I slept like a dead person.

The alarm went off at 5:15am like an air raid and I reluctantly extricated my tired ass from my fluffy bed. Amy arrived right on time and I showered while she set up. Jackie was a saint and made a coffee run on the way. The 3 of us got everything done by 7:30, only 15 minutes late for my car.

amy and me and my outfit. aww yeah.

I rode over to the “talent” site with my chaperone Frances in a car that was big enough for like, 40 people. There were a bunch of buses that acted as the green room where we all waited for our turns to get on our floats.
Well lookie here, check out who’s on my bus. I’m sorry, but Joe and Nick Jonas are getting pretty darned good at the steely-eyed stare into the camera. That’s Jordin Sparks in the middle, btw. Lovely girl.

Other people on my bus? Anika Noni Rose (dreamgirls), Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, Michael Feinstein (jazzy piano dude), Willard Scott (!) and the oldest woman in the world. I tried to ask her how old she was, her name, did she need help to the bathroom, etc., but she couldn’t hear me so I can’t actually tell you anything else about her except that she is the oldest lady in the world. Or maybe just the United States. She looked quite good for her age, whatever age she may have been which I assumed to be very, very old.

Okay! It’s finally time for me to go to my Care Bears float, which is way at the end. A few things: I have never been to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I have been told nothing about what I am supposed to do. I mean, I walk through my everyday life in a slightly baffled state but now I am just plain old disoriented. This is what I see when I take in my Care Bears float for the first time:

oh. my. god.

Skating Care Bears. At this point, one just needs to go with it.

We start slooooowly driving (riding? floating?) down Central Park West to Columbus Circle through Times Square.
It was truly surreal.

As we cruised into the the final stretch, some guy hops on the float and puts an NBC mic in front of me with no explanation. By a careful and quick series of deductions, I assume that I am supposed to sing into it at some point. Will a song play? If so, when? Shit! I have NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING!! I hear a familiar voice which I identify as Matt Lauer’s saying something from somewhere that I can’t see about blah blah blah blah Kay Hanley. WHAT??!! I hear music - is that my Care Bears song? Yes. I am totally freaking out. How did I get here? Okay, just go with it. Wait, it’s over? What just happened? I am whooshed from my float by a pack of guys that would look perfectly appropriate running alongside a Presidential motorcade and the next thing I know I am sitting in my giant car again all by myself. I am soon joined by Michael, Zoemay and Henry and we rode back to the hotel together. Whoa.

Michael opened a half bottle of wine, I started packing my bags and the kids jumped on the bed while delighting in the fact that they could do so while switching channels on the flatscreen TV. It was beautiful.

Then it was off to Nana’s. It was awesome to spend the day with Michael’s family, some of whom I have not seen in a few years. I think this was the first time all the cousins have been in the same place together. Aww..

zoe, alex, hannah, matthew, joshua, justin and henry

Oh, and Nana has a new Golden puppy named Jessie James. The cuteness is kind of ridiculous.

By 8pm or so I was completely running on fumes so we decided to start wrapping things up. My flight to Nashville was at 7:55am so Michael, Henry Z and I got in Nana’s sweet Acura and drove back to the city. We all slept together in my gigantic bed. The alarm went off at 5am and I quietly gathered my things to head back to work. This is what was in my bed when I left NY.

I have a lot to be grateful for. The End.

xok

How can I ever go on the road again after this experience? Great hotels, sweet tour bus with door-to-door service, awesome band and crew, sold out arenas and a generous star for whom I am happy to be a sideman. No worries, no hassles. I am so spoiled that I almost feel guilty. Wait, I feel guilty about everything so perhaps my guilt is not a good barometer. Suffice it to say that this is the best job EVER.

And then there is the part of the gig that is like being on an anthropological research trip. For example: When we arrived at the bus last night after the show in Denver there were hundreds of kids waiting behind barricades for a glimpse of Miley or The Jonas Brothers, the impossibly adorable band that is in the opening slot. I got into my jammies and Uggs, poured a glass of wine and sat down with my band peeps to watch game 2 (we won! yay!) while screaming and cheering that had zero to do with the Sox game would erupt intermittently from outside. At one point, I took a peek out of our window and noticed Big Rob, the Jonas Bros’ bodyguard talking on his cell and motioning to the crowd. I grabbed my camera and went outside because I had a feeling that this would happen:

{vidavee id=”3066″ w=”400″ }

And I was right!

Thank you so much Téa, for helping me upload that video. That was a total pain in the ass, but so worth it!!! I especially loved that lady asking me if I had a sharpie. Um, no. Seriously, I am in my pajamas.

Nighty,

Kay