Edmonton!

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is north of an imaginary line, above which human beings should not live. I worked there the week before Christmas, at the largest mall in the world, trying to find an empty table at the world's busiest food court, and telling jokes to Christmas parties full of festive nice people celebrating Christmastime, and drunken morons celebrating the ice road truckers that drove the booze up that far. The photo above isn't noteworthy except for the guys ahead of me. Folks, it was 37 below zero. Those guys were not dressed for the weather. A hoodie and a T-shirt? Wow. After taking this photo I ran into the "Fantasy Grill" and fantasized that I was eating in a city that was warm. 

Relient K!

What a blast I had on The Tonight Show with the band Relient K the other night - replaying this Christmas night, so check it out! - They emailed me and invited me to play with them on Jay's show, and it was one of the highlights of my life as a performer. We got to the studio early to rehearse, and it was great to have lunch with a bunch of great guys who are tremendous musicians, and I was thrilled just to be able to keep up with them on the guitar. I'm getting emails from all over asking if that was me playing with Relient K from confused people who don't really get it. Well, I get it, Relient K gets it, and a very Merry Christmas to everyone!

Brotherly Love

Just back from Philadelphia, home of the world champion Phillies, the American flag, and lots of people who came to my shows last weekend at the Helium Club. It's always fun to perform in Philadelphia, and before the shows I always take a walk downtown and reminisce through the mist of memory and subway grates. That building is the Union League, on Broad Street, where my Dad used to take my brothers and I to Father-Son dinners a long, long time ago. I met Daniel Moynihan there when he was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, before becoming the Democratic senator from New York who championed Democratic ideas like the partial privatization of Social Security, and the illegalization of partial birth abortion. Huh? Yeah, that's him. They also had a dinner there with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, the drag racer, who gave us drag racing Hot Wheels cars. "Big Daddy" made a bigger splash than ambassador Moynihan, but still, it was a great evening with Dad, wearing a suit and tie and pretending I was going to be going to the University of Pennsylvania to study something where you eventually wear a suit and tie all the time.

That plan didn't work out. 

Love from Wilson World,

Tom

Thanks.

The objects above are candied yams. The goo between them is made of brown sugar and butter. This is one of the great contributions made by the early settlers to this country - the knowledge that butter and brown sugar make things better, no matter what we're talking about. Potatoes? Yes. Makes them better. Pancakes? Yes. Makes them better. Car trouble? Try a mouthful of these candied yams and you'll forget you have a car. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and your insulin levels are returning to normal.

Love from Wilson World,

Tom