“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
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.
Recently I stumbed onto a website where LeAnn Rimes bravely discussed her lifelong battle with psoriasis. It was truly inspiring. As you probably know, psoriasis awareness has been one of my passion projects over the last few years and I hope to inspire others living with the disease to come forward and pursue their dreams – I’m excited about LeAnn coming out and hope they’ll be others. Psoriasis is not a contageous (nor sexy) disease, but is connected to so many other problems – including alcoholism, depression, heart disease, and other system-wide problems. As a sufferer, I am almost always uncomfortable in my own skin; skin which cracks, burns, itches, and bleeds frequently as my immune system stupidly attacks my it as if it was some kind of dermal virus. Sometimes I want to send a memo to my own immune system, which would read something like this:
Dear White Blood Cells,
Yo, it’s your boss Kevin (You know, owner of the body you live in and are hired to protect). Yeah, what’s up? Hey, here’s a naked photo of me - you see that semi-tanned layer of soft flesh with cool tattoos and a bit of hair in all of the right places? Yeah, that’s called “skin” you idiots!! So when you get done playing X-box, or whatever it is you do everyday, maybe you could stop screwing around inside my body and instead focus on the flu that’s going around or making sure I don’t get some kind of STD. I’m definitely keeping your damage deposit and may have to evict you if you guys don’t get your act together. You are officially on f*#$ing notice – my skin is off-limits! Hugs and Kisses.
Love, Kevin
Each October, which includes World Psoriasis Day on October 29th, I try and create some additional awareness for the disease and this year I’ve decided to do something a little radical. For the last 2 weeks I have pulled myself off of all my psoriasis medication, medication which was managing the disease moderately well - yep, right now I’m allowing the psoriasis to ravage my body. Don’t worry, I’ve not gone completely crazy and there is a method to this madness. Later this week I’m participating in a drug trial for an experimental new medication called AIN457 by Novartis, some cutting edge stuff which probably won’t be FDA approved for at least a couple years. Hey, someone’s gotta test it and if it kills me at least I die for a good cause. Regardless of the results, I’ll be tracking my progress including photos, ideas, funny anecdotes, and whatever else comes to mind. Hopefully you won’t mind the break from the usual music posts for a few weeks as I work through this process.
Thanks for sticking with me and supporting me. If want to learn more about psoriasis, it’s research, treatments, or anything else, check out: http://www.psoriasis.org/
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Check out the Memorial Edition of The Bedroom Sessions by clicking on this link: The Bedroom Sessions LIVE
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.
Check out this cool photo of me posing with fans from the July 5th Washington Times by staff photographer Allison Shelley. Great photo, so I had to share it with you guys. (for the original, see http://www.washingtontimes.com/photos/2009/jul/05/49833/)
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On another note, tune in on-line to next week’s Bedroom Sessions for another private acoustic concert from the comforts of my own bedroom.
Register For: The Bedroom Sessions with Kevin Burdick
Next Show: Episode 3, Tuesday, July 14th @ 6 PM PST
“Happy Birthday America!! How are ya doing DC?!?!” So the national parade was even better than I imagined. Early estimates were that over 1/2 a million people attended – looking forward to hearing what the actual numbers were. Intentionally, I wore an outfit that would give homage to the King himself, Elvis Presley, which I knew would get me noticed. What I didn’t realized is just HOW MUCH it would get me noticed. I had screaming fans, people who I’m sure had no idea who I was, putting their lives in harms way to try to get a photo with me on a moving float. Security, several times, had to get people to move back from the float. It was a surreal experience to be driving between all of the historic buildings in downtown DC, with Ben Franklin by my side, singing almost the entire way.
My personal highlights include moving the microphone to Ben Franklin who sang the “Never Let Go” hook with me – by the end, I’m sure, he had all of the words memorized. Also, at the judges station, they handed me a wireless microphone which enabled me to get off of the float for a minute and go give a number of kids high fives. One little girl with down-syndrome I particularly remember; She was so cute and seemed genuinely excited to be high-fiving a quasi-celebrity. Throughout the afternoon, I also had some fun, lyrically – I guess I got a little bored, but I ended up changing a verse or two, once to honor a cop I saw on a Segway (replace “Never Let Go” with “Cop on a Segway” – it works and it’s funny) and I often inserted Ben Franklin’s name in parts of the song. This often got some good laughs from the crowd.
Many said Obama was in attendance today, but I never saw him or knew if he was. I did see a number of high ranking military people and so forth. All and all, it was an honor to be involved and hopefully I created a little more awareness on who I am and what my music is about. Big thanks to my driver (whom I’ve forgotten his name – hope he’ll forgive me), Amy Walp for putting up with me and making all of the arrangements, also John Best and Kimberly Johnson for their involvement and support on this one… Now, off to nurse my sunburn and get something to eat. I’m exhausted.
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!
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:
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: 
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.”
Recently I stumbed onto a website where 
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.
