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 night’s show at Club TRiP was another great night relaxing with John, the owner of the club.  We didn’t have a particularly good turn out, but it was a Monday and with the economy coming down hard on everyone, I wasn’t surprised.  Still, the small group that was there to hear me seemed to really have a great time. 

I sang the usual suspects.  Songs from of all 4 of my albums, including fan favorites Firefly and Camelot.  I also broke into my usual 80s TV theme song medley as well as invited special guest singer Dale Spollett and special guest guitarist Dan O’Sullivan to come on stage and improvise with me.  Dan is an amazing guitarist and I mostly just let him riff and marvelled at his bluesy soloing, with a sort of slide guitar sexiness to it.  The silly audience suggested improv songs (no people, I do not come up with this stuff on my own) of the night included the song ”1940s Hookers and Blow” which had its finest moment during a funny disco remix part, and a song sure not to be a hit ”A 500 lbs Girl and her 6 Guy Roomates.”  Mildly entertaining.

Anyway, big thanks to John the club owner for the relaxing monday and also for upgrading the sound system there – the new improvements sound great.  Dan and Dale for jumping on-stage, Aaron for rocking the percussion, Ken for taking photos with his camera phone when the digital camera battery died, and the small pocket of friends I had out.  It was great to see all of you!!

Last week’s trip to Disneyland with my family was one of those reaffirming trips that reminded me, “All will be fine – everything is right with the world.”  It was a much needed break from the daily grind of my music career and the fast paced California lifestyle to which I am growing more used to.  More importantly, it was my nephew Haydn’s first time seeing the ocean and his first time experiencing Disneyland – he’s 6 years old and one of the greatest enjoyments of my life.  His enthusiasm was contagious and soon I found myself feeling like a kid again, sprinting with my friend Dale to try and catch a 2nd trip down Splash Mountain and laughing uncontrollably. 

Probably the greatest moment from the vacation was taking Haydn to the beach with my Mom and sister.  Watching him pick up sea shells, play with seaweed, and dance at the edge of the ocean – it was an amazing reminder that, most times, the simple things in life are the best things in life.  Living so close to the beach I sometimes take for granted that it is there, but not last week.  For a moment, I was six-years-old again and seeing the ocean through young, optimistic eyes, full of life, innocent and excited about the possibilities of what might happen next.

Additional Photos:

Chalk another one up for good-times and the home team as another successful acoustic show came to a close last night in Santa Monica.  Club TRiP as always was good to me and the travelling acoustic show, Hollow Body LA, was a great thing to be a part of.  All of the acoustic acts on the ticket were very talented.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to support, Aaron Chavez for his amazing percussion work, and the super audience for being so involved in the performance.  The audience suggested improv song entitled, “An Airplane Hit My Fluffy Kitten,” seemed to be a hit (and was a definite challenge) about me strapping a glider to my cat and teaching it to fly, and things going very badly after that.  PETA was not happy with me.  Note: I do not support actually strapping wings to a cat and teaching it to fly.  Bad idea.

Photos from the show:

This Christmas, my parents challenged all their children with one simple request – “All we want for Christmas is an act of service given to someone in need.”  Instead of buying them a gift (and really, what do you get an attorney and his beautiful wife, my mom, who honestly have pretty much everything they need already - an iPod?  A wafflemaker?) , we were told to record the act of kindness and share it with them for Christmas.  So, this month I’ve been working diligently to complete that request – which brings me to this weekend’s shows.

To begin with, Saturday night I performed at Club TRiP in Santa Monica, with a number of young comedians, at a Toys-4-Tots Benefit Concert and Comedy Show.  It was a lot of fun – the stand-up comedians were genuinely funny and the evening was filled with a ton of random goodness.  The wildest moment was at right around midnight when a drunk and (who I can only guess) homeless woman, somehow found an unplugged microphone and jumped up on-stage in an attempt to give a very passionate, and uninvited, set of backup vocals.  It sounded much like you would expect the speaking in tongues to be at some Pentecostal revival and so, in true Kevin Burdick form, I just rolled with it.  The end result was an improvised song about Whitney’s Houston crack addiction and a number of “Where’s Bobby” references.  The audience howled with laughter and at the end of the improv song, the staff escorted the crazy woman out of the bar.  By the end of the night we had an entire stack of toys donated for the kids, which I felt really great about, and the people who attended exclaimed it was “one of the funniest shows they’d seen in a while.”

Sunday night, specifically, I was able to complete the “Christmas service” task that my parents had requested.  Earlier in the month I had Ken track down a list of retirement homes in the area and we found one near us, the Sherman Oaks Retirement Center, that said they would love to have us come perform for their guests and their families.  We arrived to find a grand piano surrounded by a group of mostly beautiful, older women waiting for their music man.  I kept to a 45-minute low-key set (didn’t sing “We are the Walking Wounded” for example) and then spent a good 45 minutes visiting with my new friends at the home.  The staff informed Ken that I was the ”most talented performer that they’d ever had out…”  Though, Ken did say he overheard one elderly woman with hearing aids complaining that I was “the worst musician she’d ever seen – terrible, just terrible.”  I got a good laugh out of that – I guess you can’t win them all.  After the show I grabbed some dinner and then drove home where I quickly drifted off to sleep, content with that Christmas feeling that I’d done something mostly selfless, and totally rewarding.

A big Happy Holidays to friends, fans, and family!!  I love you all and want you to have a very merry and very safe rest of 2008!!

The Hell’s Eve show at Club TRiP in Santa Monica was one of those wild adventures that, if you were one of the lucky few to attend, you will probably be telling your grand-children about.  I performed the second half of the show as Michael Phelps:  including speedo, shiny jacket, 8 gold medals, swim cap, goggles, and removal of most of my body hair.  I take my Halloween costumes very seriously!  Through out the night I gave away my gold medals to fans and friends for best costume, most energy, and biggest support.  Even my drummer, Dylan, got one for commitment to excellence, as he had the unfortunate position of staring at my green speedo covered butt all night… but I digress.

The show was a huge hit for those who attended and I know I made a few new fans.  The improv songs were, as usual, silly and fun – “The ladies just don’t know who Burt Reynolds is anymore…” and “Waves Against the Shore.”  Weird suggestions, but I made the most of them.

Those who stayed until the final song witnessed me removing my jacket, throwing off my last 2 medals, and playing “Mercy” in just my speedo.  Some people might call me crazy, or even drunk, but in reality I make myself vulnerable every night on stage by pouring my heart into the true stories I tell with my music.  I figure, shirt or no shirt, you really can’t get any more naked than that anyway.