“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth? Screw that – I want two new sponsors!” Luckily, I must have been on Santa’s nice list this year.  So, this Christmas I want to welcome Fashion Revolution and AcaiSoda for joining the Kevin Burdick family and being part of my music sponsors for 2010.

Fashion Revolution:  Working with Shane, Ari, and Veronica of Fashion Revolution these last couple months has been an amazing look into the world of commercial and retail fashion.  I was able to go with them to the fashion district in L.A. and was treated like rockstar royalty as we toured many of the lines of clothing that they carry.  In fact, I was so excited with the whole experience, I hope to have my own line of clothing someday.  I’m proud to have Fashion Revolution’s sponsorship logos on the tour bus and am pleased to wear their awesome clothes at night and on-stage.  You can see some of the samples of pants and shirts I got from them from our photo shoot at Runyon Canyon at the bottom of the post.  To find out more about Fashion Revolution or to order clothes off of their website (coming soon) go to:  www.fashionrevolutiononline.com

AcaiSoda:  I have been drinking AcaiSoda regularly for the last two months.  It’s a lightly sweetened energy drink which has helped me control my appetite without crashes.  You simply tear open a pack and add it to a bottle of water.  I am excited to be able to call them part of my music family.  Dr. Anthony Kleinsmith, the creator of AcaiSoda and also a fan of my music, had this to say about the new relationship, “AcaiSoda is excited to be sponsoring Kevin Burdick’s music. I formulate while listening!”   Thanks Dr. K, for the support.  To try a 15-day Risk Free Trial of AcaiSoda, go to:  http://www.acaisoda.com/?aid=kb

I have heard of L.A. referred to as “The City of Broken Dreams” as thousands of dreamers make their way to the harsh landscape of Hollywood each year.  For every Brad Pitt, there are hundreds upon hundreds of Bradley’s you never heard of living somewhere in Southern California.  It’s no surprise that Los Angeles is the homeless capital of America with nearly 300,000 homeless taking refuge on her streets.  The dreamers come out here with nothing and often leave here with nothing.  In reality, the City of Angels is not paved with gold, but with bones.

Truth be told, the weather in L.A. is often spectacular, but it can get a little chilly in the winter months especially at night.  For many of the homeless it can be a challenge to stay warm while huddling up under their favorite overpass during Christmas-time.  Tonight the temperature would get into the low 40’s.

For the last few years, my parents have forgone the neckties, the chocolate covered cherries, the tool sets, and the Shamwows and, instead, have requested that their 5 children partake in a random act of kindness on their behalf.  A “charitable act” is all that they want for Christmas.

And so it was with my parents request in mind that I placed one of my favorite sweat shirts in the backseat of my car.  It’s a black Hurley sweatshirt, thick and warm, with a zipper that goes all the way up the hoodie.  It’s still stylish, but with 4 other cool sweatshirts in my closet, it will soon be forgotten.  I told my close friend, Tim Nichols, that we were going on a drive tonight.  I explained that we’d get some dinner, and then, by a miracle of the universe, stumble upon the right homeless person who would most benefit from this jacket. 

Later in the evening, as I emerged from a convenience store lobby with drinks in hand, I noticed a man shivering near the front door.  “Would you have some change that I can borrow so that I can get me some smokes?” the man asked politely.  His pants were dirty and his t-shirt was old and worn.  “Sure,” I said taking $5 out of my pocket and handing it to the man. “It’s kind of cold out.  Could you use a coat too?” “Yes sir,” he replied, “That would be nice.”  Walking to the back of my car, I pulled out the Hurley jacket I had set aside just for this very purpose.  “Here you go, man.”  I quickly pointed out the finer details of the jacket to him, how the zipper could go up to the top of the hoodie for “total face warmness” and how he would probably be the hippest guy out here.  He laughed.   As he walked away I said, “Merry Christmas man – hope this year’s a warm one for ya.”  He nodded and waved as he slipped away into the night to join the army of other homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles County.

So tonight, somewhere out there in the darkness, you may encounter a hip homeless man wearing a Hurley jacket.  Hopefully, he’ll remind you that it’s never too late to do something nice for someone else this Christmas season. 

In thinking of tonight, I remember that Jesus Christ himself was born homeless in a stable near Bethlehem.  One of my favorite Bible quotes that I learned as a kid reads:  “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matthew 25:40).”   This, my friends, is the spirit of Christmas:  The act of giving for the sake of giving – The spirit of Jesus Christ. 

Thanks so much for reading my story, and may you and your loved ones have a very merry Season of Giving!!

Saturday’s Barry Sobel Show was one of the surreal nights I’ll remember for a long time.  As Paul Schaffer has been to David Letterman for years, I was to Barry this weekend – providing music in-between acts such as Late Night’s Spike Feresten, Chris Fairbanks, and Jonas Garvin.  It was a lot of fun and Barry was kind, appreciative, and wonderful to work with.  If you’re not familiar with Barry Sobel then you probably haven’t seen Revenge of the Nerds II and weren’t familiar with the Emmy nominated writers for Saturday Night Live in the early 2000’s.  If you’re not familiar with Spike Feresten then you aren’t watching Fox later than 11 PM, but his talk show is arguably the one with the best “skits.”

At the end of the night I took about an hour and jammed with my great percussionist Aaron Chavez for the few stragglers who had stuck around to jam and drink.  Big thanks to Barry and his crew, John the owner of Club Trip, Aaron “Chives” Chavez, and everyone who attended the show and stayed until the wee hours of the night to celebrate life with me.

Last tuesday’s Kevin Burdick Musician Party for local L.A. musicians was a great night of networking.  Club Trip in Santa Monica let us have our run of the place as we had musicians big and small from all over Los Angeles come in and spend some time with me and my team.  From these events we will drill down to three or four guys who have the talent, chemistry, and commitment to tour with me next year.  I’m sure I’ll also have the opportunity to work with others via the studio or on bigger shows - below are some of the photos from the event.

Big thanks to the “Burdick Girls” who helped bring sexy back to the event and all of the musicians who attended.  I sincerely hope that everyone that came had a good time and I’m certainly looking forward to spending more time with you.

This week I was able to pick the tourbus up from Salt Lake City where Jared Rice repaired the several thousand dollars of damage we did to the back last year, and Schmidt Signs upgraded the exterior with a slightly improved wrap.   The new wrap is simpler with the tagline “North American Tour” and featuring the easier-to-remember website – www.pianorockstar.com (which simply leads people to my main website).

The thrill of picking up the tour bus was quickly forgotten as a couple hours outside of Salt Lake City one of the four back tires blew.  Luckily, the three other backtires continued to carry me all the way to Las Vegas.  A couple days and several new tires later, I was on the road again.  In the meantime, I made a couple hundred bucks in Vegas and had a lot of fun.  Check out the photos and big thanks to Discount Tire.

Well, if you missed the short performance LIVE from my bedroom, I recorded for you.  In it, I uncover my top-secret songwriting processes and give some tips to young songwriters (hope they help), plus I performed Basket Case, Never Let Go / Jump, and Camelot.  It’s about 17 minutes long, I’m fully clothed, and you can fast forward any of the boring parts… Hope to see you at the next one.

If you were one of the many people packed into the downstairs of the Viper Room, you witnessed what I like to call, “Music History.”  I was so happy to see a great turn out and hopefully my energy and appreciation came across from the tiny corner that Aaron and I crammed into for the performance.

Those who attended witnessed the improv (and tribute) songs “Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett at the Lake House” and “A Great White from the Land Down Under.”  Extremely silly, but fun songs guest performer Dale Spollett and I made up on the spot based on audience suggestions.  I also played many of the usual suspects – Robbie’s Song, Firefly, She Does Her Crying Alone.  You could have a heard a pin drop when I performed “Too Good For this World” (I added a portion of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” to the ending) which finished to absolute cheers – definitely caught a few moist eyes in the crowd and I appreciate the support for my late daughter.

After the show, I was so wasted that I absolutely crashed – one of my friends took this hilarious picture.  Woke up this morning still wearing my boots and clothes.  Big thanks to everyone who attended and supported, Donovan Lyman and Hollow Body for booking the show, Dale Spollett for his comedy and voice, Kevin and Sal for getting me home safely, Aaron Chavez for his incredible percussion, Hep for flying in for the show from Salt Lake City, and the Viper Room for the hospitality and love!!  Seacrest out!

Photos from the show:

Bootleg recording of “Firefly” from the show:

If you missed the Bedroom Sessions this week, you weren’t alone.  At least a billion people missed it, maybe more – LOL.  Luckily there were a good number of fans and friends who saw it LIVE and seemed to really enjoy it.  A big thanks to everyone who attended and for all the real-time shoutouts I got in the chatroom and on my cell phone.  You guys are the best!!

For those who missed it, here’s a little peek at what you missed:

Last week’s Bedroom Sessions was a wild success as we had people from all over the world logging in during and after (on playback) to watch the short 3 song performance from my bedroom.  Personally, I enjoyed it so much that I’ve scheduled another one.  Hopefully you can make it.  This time, I’m even going to brave an improv song based on audience suggestions.

Register For:  The Bedroom Sessions with Kevin Burdick
Next Show:  Episode 2, Tuesday, June 16th @ 6 PM PST

And for those of you that missed it.

As Kevin’s touring schedule has slowed and his writing schedule increased, he still wanted a way to reach out to fans and give them an opportunity to see him play.  Luckily, with new internet technologies now available that becomes a relatively simple thing.  Enter, “The Bedroom Sessions” – a new internet performance series by Kevin Burdick.  At various times throughout the summer, Kevin will open up his bedroom LIVE via internet to fans who want to watch him perform from his rehearsal area right next to his bed in his Los Angeles home.  It’s brave, it’s intimate, and it’s raw.  Kevin will be featuring new tracks from the 2010 album he’s writing, plus perform songs from his other 4 albums on iTunes.  Click the link below to register for the web series featured on uStream.tv:

Sneak Preview:  The Bedroom Sessions with Kevin Burdick
Next Show:  Tuesday, June 9th @ 4 PM PST