Hey folks, it\\\'s been a while since an update has happened! A lot has been going on, I don\\\'t know where to start so I\\\'ll just dive in.

I\\\'ve been playing with Money Mark quite a bit, you may remember him from the Beastie Boys. He played keys for them as well as Beck, Iggy Pop, Jack Johnson, Kid Koala, and countless others. Mark is an amazing musician and a great friend. We went to Japan for a huge festival in Tokyo called Summer Sonic and then played a bunch of promo gigs for his new CD (in Japan only), culminating with a release party at a great club called DUO in Tokyo. A few weeks after that we went to Rio DeJaneiro, Brazil for a festival there. Rio is an amazing city and the people were fantastic. Both the Japan and Brazil festivals were filmed by MTV, I hope to have some stuff posted on my site very soon. I brought back some killer percussion instruments I bought from a street vendor in Rio!

I got to share a recording session with one of my biggest heroes in the drum world, Mr. Jim Keltner (see the photo section for some pics)! We each recorded 3 songs for Money Mark\\\'s new record at Conway studios in LA, which is slated to be released in the spring of \\\'06. The record was engineered by Mario Caldato, who did most, if not all of the Beastie\\\'s records as well as Jack Johnson\\\'s last one and a bunch more. It was the thrill of a lifetime. Luckily for me, the session was running behind so I was able to hang, listen, and learn from Jim doing his takes and then get to know him afterwards. He is the nicest man on earth. It\\\'s so great when your heroes turn out to be great people as well. I learned so much from him, it was truly a thrill and an honor.

Also on the Money Mark tip, we\\\'ve been playing improv gigs with another one of my heroes, bassist Mike Watt! Mike is a legend in the punk world. His groups, The Minutemen and Firehose are two of the most influential bands in punk history and he\\\'s also done some work with Porno For Pyros and the newly reformed Iggy and The Stooges. Mike is a great bass player and a super nice guy who I relate to on many levels. For more info on Mr. Watt, check out his page www.hootpage.com. Great site, very informative. Our next date is in San Pedro on Dec., 2nd, check my site\\\'s calendar section for details.

As many of you know, I was playing quite a bit for Ms. Minnie Driver which has been a thrill. We did the Carson Daly show and a CMT performance in Canada which I hope to have posted on my site soon as well. I have been an extended substitute for their normal drummer, Brendan Buckley who also plays with Shakira. Minnie is an amazing person and has been a pleasure to work for. Check out her record when you get a sec. I really appreciate that opportunity and I learned a lot from the experience of playing with her and the amazing band, I\\\'m sure we\\\'ll do some more playing in the future.

Skerik\\\'s Syncopated Taint Septet had some great gigs up in Seattle a couple of months ago and we hope to be playing together again very soon in support of our new record which is rumored to have just been picked up by a great label. I will let you know as soon as I know more.

I\\\'ve been playing drums on a bunch of TV commercial music as of late. I heard myself on Biore, Nike and a Subaru commercial lately which is kind of cool. I especially dig the Biore spot.

On a more local music scene, I\\\'ve been playing a bunch with the best punk band in the world, Soccermom!!! \\\"The Mom\\\" is back in full force, headlining the Roxy a couple of weeks ago and performing for 2 hours on Thanksgiving night on KXLU 88.9FM here in Los Angeles. We\\\'ve got a bunch of shows coming up, check the calendar on my site for those as well.

I just returned from a great gig in Sedona, Arizona with my buddy Joel Bowers. Joel is a fantastic tenor sax player and the band was killer with John Kirby on piano and Rhodes and Erik Kertes on bass. Sedona is one of the most beautiful places in the U.S.. If you have never been, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Rhythm Nathan has a great show coming up at the Create Fixate art show on Dec. 3rd! Money Mark will be joining us as well as Joel Bowers on saxophone and Chuck Prada on percussion. It\\\'s gonna be killer, visit https://www.createfixate.com/ for the skinny on that gig.

On the home front, my wife Jenna and I officially have a successful dog and cat boutique in Santa Monica (2912 Main Street). Back on July 23rd Tails of Santa Monica opened it\\\'s doors for business and since then it has just flat out kicked ass. We are sooo lucky to live in a neighborhood that supports small business and is filled with pet lovers. The website, https://www.tailsofsantamonica.com/ will be fully functional very soon, check it out for your puppy or kitty.

Jenna and I are the stars of a new reality TV show on The Learning Channel (TLC) called That Yin Yang Thing. It is a show about group dynamics and dealing with tough situations. For us, it\\\'s been trying to open this store in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in LA and me as a drummer, being out of town so much in order to make the rent, and the stress that is involved with all of that etc., etc.,. It was exhausting to film, but it should be hilarious to watch. We\\\'ll be having some sort of a viewing party for it, I will send out another email letting you know exactly when it is going to air very soon. If you live in the LA area, please stop by the store and say hi. I\\\'m there as much as possible, but Jenna is there every day buy Monday. You can see our new puppy, \\\"Cash\\\", and of course the reason we opened the store, the amazing \\\"Jackson\\\", the coolest dogs in the world.

Anyhoo, that about wraps it up for now, hope to see you all out a show or at the store soon. Please keep in touch.

If you have a MySpace.com page make sure you visit mine and add me. I\\\'m addicted to that damn thing and check it every day, so i can keep in better contact with you all. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Rock it...
jmw