HERA

hey everyone. this is just a note to inform you that i have recently become involved in the fashion world and have launched a women's clothing line called HERA. the designer has done an amazing job (the line is mostly dresses and tops for now) and we're off to an incredible start. you can already find HERA garments in Neiman Marcus, Barney's, Saks online, and other high-end clothing stores and boutiques in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. check it out the next time you're out shopping. ask for HERA and if they don't have anything in stock yet, tell them they need to get on it! this really is a beautiful line of clothing, if i do say so myself. i'd love to hear your feedback when you see it and try something on for yourself. and please, if your local Neiman Marcus is out of stock (that's the number one store we're pushing right now, and we're selling like hotcakes!), let me know and i'll pass the info on to our sales people. thanks! have a great week...

jimmy

concerts and birthdays

hi everyone. sorry i haven't posted a blog in awhile. i haven't really had anything too exciting to write about. i've just been busy with my every day life, spending time with my daughter and working on my book, which is coming along just fine. i still plan to have it finished by the end of the year and hopefully published by next summer.

let's see...i went to a Peter Frampton/Doobie Brothers concert at the Red Rock casino, which is practically in my backyard, a few weeks ago. it was actually a very good show! i had never seen either band before. it's amazing how many hit songs they have between them. i ran into a friend of mine at the concert, who said that my old friend and bandmate, Charlie Colin, was also in attendance at the show. i looked around for him, but the outdoor venue was pretty packed and i never did see him. anyway...

i attended a Pat Monahan show the other night in las vegas. it was kind of interesting to see a different band performing Train songs. it just didn't look right! they sounded good, though, and i had a good time. Train's very first tour manager, Jerry Becker, is playing keyboards and some guitar on the tour. i love Jerry, who is a very proud new papa. it was good to see him. i actually sat in on a few songs (Free, Meet Virginia, and Calling All Angels), which was a lot of fun. it felt good to be onstage with Pat again. i told him to hurry up with his solo tour, so Train can get back to work! i plan to attend his Chicago show in a few weeks, too.

what else...my Bears aren't playing very good this year, but it's still early and we did kick some Packer ass last night! maybe that game will serve as a wake-up call for the Bears. the Cubs certainly missed their wake-up call! what the hell happened there?! swept? that was just unacceptable. oh well, as we say in Chicago (every year since 1908), "maybe next year."

that's all for now. it's beginning to feel like fall in las vegas, which is kind of nice. i'm thinking of going to the las vegas invitational golf tournament this friday and following phil mickelson and john daly around for the day. i'm not even sure if they're going to be at the tournament, but i plan on following them around anyway, so i hope they're not at home grocery shopping or celebrating their wife's birthday or something. oh, speaking of birthdays...my daughter turns 7 next week! we're having a big birthday party at some Diva Girls place. should be fun. pizza, karaoke, dress-up, and seven or eight sassy little girls!

talk to you soon...

jimmy

floods and reunions

my daughter and i had a great time in chicago a few weeks ago. the High School Musical play was awesome! i think i actually enjoyed it more than Wicked, which we saw at Christmas time. i highly recommend taking your daughters if it comes to a city near you. i also attended a Cubs/Cardinals game while in the city. the Cubs lost, but it was still a good time. it doesn't get much better than Wrigley Field on a nice day. actually, it wasn't a very nice day. there was a seventh inning rain delay. come to think of it, the rain caused the cancellation of the air and water show that weekend, too. oh, and the rain flooded my parents' and my sisters' homes! i spent two or three days of my "vacation" helping them bail water out of their basements. it was nice seeing all of their friends and neighbors pitching in to help each other. many people had it much worse than my family. on the first day of the flooding, i was outside in the flooded streets filling sandbags side by side with one of the members of my old high school band. speaking of which, i attended my high school reunion while in town and there was a pre-reunion get together at a local bar the night before where the original members of my high school band reunited for the first time in 25 years. the rumor had been circulating for weeks that we might reunite, so practically the entire town of Morris was there to witness the event (aside from my poor parents who were still hard at work bailing out their basement. when i got home that night around 2:30 in the morning, they were still working, so i took off my shoes, rolled up my pant legs, and bailed water until the sun came up). my old band, Royal Star (c'mon, i was twelve when i thought of the name! it was cool back then), played three songs, rather well i might add, considering that a few of the guys hadn't even picked up an instrument in over two decades. i sang, but made certain that we didn't perform until midnight when everybody was good and loaded. we opened with 'Champagne Supernova' by Oasis, followed by 'All Along the Watchtower' and 'Meet Virginia'. the drunken crowd was a big help, singing every word with me. there were plenty of cameras and video cameras rolling, so i'm sure there will be unauthorized footage showing up somewhere down the line. all in all, it was a very fun trip home. it was really great to see all of my old friends and neighbors, and to play with my old bandmates again. my daughter even thought the flooding was fun. she and her cousins had a blast playing in the flooded roads and ditches in my old neighborhood. it reminded me of when i was a kid. we flew home to las vegas last sunday night and i took her to her first day of school monday morning. she's a big first grader now.

anyway, football season begins this week. i am very excited about that. i plan to attend the Bears/Cowboys sunday night football game at soldier's field in week three. until then i will work on my book and maybe even golf a little. have a good week everybody...

jimmy

Barbados, Plumbing, and Elvis

hi everyone. I'm at home in Las Vegas where I'll be spending most of my summer hangin' out with my daughter, who just had her big dance recital last saturday, and working on my book. I'm also doing some improvements around the house. mostly yard stuff (I got me a jacuzzi spa for the back yard! my daughter thinks it's a small, hot swimming pool), but i'm also replacing all of my bathroom sinks and faucets. i think i would have made a pretty good plumber. i've even got the butt crack thing goin' on!

anyway, i spent a week in Barbados in early June. It's a nice place. i really enjoyed it, even though i didn't do much except sit on my balcony and write. i had a very nice room with an ocean view and a private pool, so i didn't really need to leave. you can see photos on myspace.com/theguitaronthewall, which is the official myspace page for the novel i am writing. check it out.

aside from that, i saw the Train guys last Thursday in Las Vegas. we had a private corporate show - our last scheduled event. there were also a dozen or so fans and friends from around the country who flew in for the show and hung out with us in the hotel bar afterwards. Bonnie, who has been a close friend and fan of the band for many years, and whom i based one of the main characters in my book on, was there. it was a pretty good show considering that we hadn't played together since March, but it was a little sad when it was over, as none of us are really sure when we'll all be back together again. it could be awhile. so, in the meantime, i will continue to write...and plumb.

oh, one more thing...i saw Roger Waters in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. he was amazing! but even more impressive was Brandon Bennett, an award winning Elvis impersonator i happened to catch at the Suncoast Casino the other night. man, that guy talks, looks, sings, acts, walks, probably even shits exactly like Elvis! he was really, really entertaining. he sang obscure Elvis songs, too - not just the hits - songs from his movies and the '68 comeback special. good stuff.

okay, that's all for now. i'm thinking of dropping another bone from the book sometime soon, so keep checking back. and don't forget to check out my book page! oh, and thanks for being my friends. it's good to have friends. talk to you soon...

jimmy

A Bone

this is me throwing you a bone from my novel titled, The Guitar on the Wall, because i really have nothing else to talk about right now, but felt like i haven't written a blog in awhile. unfortunately, the way these blogs are laid out, it won't allow my paragraphs to be properly indented! but, you can kinda tell where it should be, so although it doesn't look right, i'm going to post it anyway. the following is an excerpt from chapter 1 titled, The Crash. this is how the book begins:


Joey had only been asleep for two hours when the sound of the bus tires driving over rumble strips awoke him. The others were awakened, too – five band members and their tour manager, until then, dead to the world in their bunks. Joey heard somebody frantically pull open a bunk curtain, but he remained still, frozen and terrified, waiting for the driver to correct himself.
"Hey, guys?"
"Fucking hell!" from the bunk below him.
The tires curved back onto smooth pavement to a collective sigh of relief. Then, the rumble strips again.
BRUMMMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP.
"Jesus Christ!"
This time, it was the tires on the left side, the driver's side of the bus. Another curtain flung open. The tour bus, their home away from home, was veering rapidly off the road.


...that's all for now. have a safe and fun memorial day weekend!

Jimmy

jimmy goes country!

i attended my first ever country western concert last night. i went to see my good friend, Brandon Bush, who, when not playing with Train, tours with his brother's band, Sugarland. They opened for Kenny Chesney last night in Las Vegas. it was actually very entertaining! i have to admit, i'm not a big fan of country music, but i had a really great time last night. Sugarland are a very good band. good songs. not the whiny traditional country crap that i tend to associate country music with. it actually felt more like a rock show. Jennifer and Kristian, Brandon's brother, are very good entertainers and super sweet people. and Kenny Chesney was very enjoyable, as well. he had an amazing production. very impressive. i'm not sure, though, if that song, "You Make my Tractor Sexy" is about a girl or a guy. actually, it doesn't really matter. he seems like a very nice, extremely wealthy guy. chicks dig him. all in all, i had a pretty fantastic time at my first country western concert. and no, i didn't wear a cowboy hat! speaking of hats...i'm getting ready to watch the Kentucky Derby. what's with the hats? it's kinda silly. i realize it's a tradition and all, but did these women look in a mirror before they left home? i don't know, it kinda seems like a lot of hubub for a simple horse race. am i missing something here? why am i watching this?! nobody watches horse racing until the Kentucky Derby, and then we all tune in for some reason! and some of those hats are just ridiculous. i mean, i love hats on a woman, but...anyway, it was great chatting with Brandon after the show last night, too. i miss that guy. he's a sweetheart.

i was in Chicago last week, writing. i flew there after a short trip to Atlanta, where i performed with Pat at a charity event, which was nice. it's always good to see Pat and catch up. before the event, we had the pleasure of meeting Michael McDonald, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood. Johnny Colt was also in attendance, as was Brendan O'Brien. in Chicago, i mostly worked on my book, though i did go out on monday night to see an old friend perform an acoustic set at a small downtown club. i ended up sitting in and playing guitar with the headling band, which was fun. i'm always hungry after playing the guitar, for some reason. so, me and a few friends went down the street to a famous Chicago blues bar called the Kingston Mines, where we ate ribs, and drank until very late. Muddy Waters Junior was performing. i don't get out much these days, so it was an interesting week for me. gotta go. it's almost race time, and then i'm taking my daughter to see Spiderman 3.



Go Bulls!!
talk to you later...
jimmy

Gettin' old!

Thank you all for the birthday messages! I wish you could all be in Atlanta to buy me a drink tonight! I'm here for the Recording Academy Honors Awards. Pat and I will perform one song acoustically in honor of Mike Clark who passed away earlier this year. Mike was the owner of Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta, where Train recorded three records. Pearl Jam, the Black Crowes, Stone Temple Pilots, and Bruce Springsteen are among the many other incredible artists who have recorded at Southern Tracks over the years. Mike was a very respected figure in the Atlanta music scene for many many years, and an amazingly wonderful human being. He will be missed.

So, that's what I will be doing tonight on my birthday. It should actually be a very nice event. It'll be nice to see Pat, as always. We'll get to dine together at a table with Mr. Brendan O'Brien, producer extraordinaire, who will present an award to Mike Clark's widow. Tomorrow, I'm off to visit my parents in Morris, Illinois, and then I'll spend a few days writing at my Chicago condo. I'm going to a White Sox game Saturday night, which should be fun. They're playing the Angels, who apparently still play "Calling all Angels" every time they take the field when they're at home in Anaheim. Monday night I'm planning to check out an old friend of mine, Al Morphew, who is performing an acoustic set at the Elbo Room. He'll also be at Uncommon Grounds tomorrow night, Friday, if you're looking for something to do. He's a talented guy. Anyway, later next week I will return to Las Vegas and will be seeing Mr. Brandon Bush, who is touring with his brother's band, Sugarland. They'll be opening for Kenny Chesney. I'm not a very big country guy, so it should be interesting. Maybe i'll wear my cowboy boots and hat! Oh wait, I don't own cowboy boots or a hat.

That's all for now. The book writing is coming along very, very well, and things are also starting to come together on the business end as well. I will keep you posted as things develop more. Take care...

your friend, who is only a day older than yesterday,
Jimmy

Cubs, Train, and Pat

Just a quick note to let you know what I'm up to for the next few weeks.

I'm taking my daughter to see the Chicago Cubs in Las Vegas tonight. They're playing their final two spring training games against the Seattle Mariners here in Sin City. Hot dogs and cotton candy...should be a good time.

Train is getting together this Sunday in Laguna Beach, California to play a private corporate show. We played two private shows in Florida last weekend and had a really good time. It was great to see the guys and to play music in front of a live audience again. I don't typically look forward to playing these corporate shows, as they can sometimes be a little stuffy, but last weekend's shows were a blast, and so I find myself very much looking forward to going to California this weekend. I will actually be staying in L.A. for a few extra days to play guitar on a few songs on Pat's solo record, which I am also very much looking forward to. From what I hear, the songs he's recording are really great. I have no doubt. But they'll be even better when I get through with them!

Yeah, well, that's about all for now. After the trip to L.A., I plan to stick around Las Vegas for a few weeks and get some writing done. Later in the month, on my birthday actually, Pat and I will fly to Atlanta to perform acoustically at a private charity event, but that's about the only traveling I plan to do in the month of April. I think I will wait until early May to visit my place in Chicago again. Maybe I'll go there from Atlanta. Yeah, that's the ticket! Jon Lovitz. I'm making very good progress on my book and am starting to actively shop for a publishing deal. I'm still looking at an early 2008 release date. We'll see how it goes.

Have a good weekend!
Jimmy

Prince and Red Carpet Talk

hi everybody. did you remember to move your clocks ahead? okay then.

it's a gorgeous day in las vegas today. i haven't gotten out to enjoy it yet, but i do plan to head to starbucks soon. i slept in today, because of the time change and a very late night last night. i went to see Prince in a small club. he's been playing in vegas every weekend for a few months now. my theory is that he's warming up for his upcoming tour, which, judging by last night's performance, should be amazing! and what's with that guy? he doesn't seem to age! i kept waiting to see if he would do the splits like in that one video, but he didn't. he's still got the moves, though, and his band was incredibly tight. and even though he mostly played new material with only snipets of three old hits, it was a thrill to see him so up close and personal. i'm pretty sure one of his hot, sexy dancing girls wanted me. i don't know. i was dressed up pretty nice last night. maybe i was imagining it. i can't remember. i had a few drinks at the wine tasting dinner i went to before the show, where i sat at a table with a very nice couple who were at Train's Warfield performance in San Francisco years ago when we filmed our DVD. they told me that Prince's sexy dancing girls would probably think i was cute. so, whatever.

i just finished doing a phone interview with Red Carpet Talk. the incredibly beautiful Lisa Cash interviewed me. i know, it was phone interview, but i saw her picture on MySpace. trust me, she's hot! anyway, i believe it's an audio interview that will air this wednesday for a week on www.redcarpettalk.com. we spoke about the band, the book, and possibly spending the rest of our lives together. just kidding! really, i'm kidding. i'm a kidder. i was thinking it, but i didn't SAY it! geez. what kind of a guy do you think i am?! hey, did i tell you i saw Prince last night? he was good. really good. oh, and did you notice that there is a MySpace fansite for me? yep. my very own fansite. i think that's pretty cool. everybody should have one. and no, i didn't make it for myself! a "fan" did. see? i told you i had fans, Bob. asshole.

talk to you all later...

jimmy

TRAIN NEWS

Hey everybody! just wanted to drop a line to keep you posted on what's going on in the Train world. Pat has decided to record a solo CD this year. he plans to release it later this summer, tour a bit, and then return to Train. the other band members, including myself, support his decision and wish him the best of luck. after all, a crappy solo release won't help Train one bit! Go Pat! in the meantime, i am focused on finishing my novel with hopes of having it published in early 2008. i'm very excited about how the book is progressing so far and can't wait to share some of it with you. i am planning to host an online chat sometime soon, to answer questions about the band and the book. i will post a bulletin with the specifics when i get it together and will look forward to speaking with all of you then. talk to you soon...

jimmy

my first effort

this is my first ever posting on this blog site! i was introduced to this site by a friend who thought it would be a good place, outside of the band website, for me to keep in touch with fans and friends. as you know (or maybe you don't!), I am the guitarist for the rock band, TRAIN. we are on a bit of a hiatus this year as we have decided to take some much needed time off to pursue our own personal endeavors. for me, this means writing the book that I have always dreamed of writing. loosely based on real people and real events in my life, the book is a fictional novel that I began writing in June, 2006 while on tour with the band.

titled “The Guitar on the Wall," the book is a coming of age story about a teenage boy who decides to write a book about his famous father, a rock star who died alongside his band mates in a bizarre tour bus accident three months before he was born. With the help of his high school English teacher and an offbeat ex-superfan, the charismatic and talented Samuel Wilson Gonzalez embarks on a fact-finding journey to unearth the life of a man he never knew. His research takes him deep into an unfamiliar world of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, where he discovers the truth about his father and the world at large – finding himself along the way.

I am very excited and enthusiastic about how this book is coming together so far. the characters are very real and believable, while the story itself is developing better than I could have ever imagined. I am currently spending my time writing between homes in Las Vegas and Chicago, with plans to have the book published in early 2008. I would like to use this blog site, or whatever the hell it is (I'm very unfamiliar to this whole "blog" world), to keep in touch with TRAIN fans, friends, and new fans of "The Guitar on the Wall." check back often, or subscribe, or whatever you have to do to remain in touch with me. you can also visit me on www.myspace.com/jimmystafford1. thanks, and pleasant dreams.

jimmy