Alert The Media!

I'm now an official "celebrity twitter". so far I've mostly
tweeted over the delicious meals julie slick (our house
guest for the week) has been making, but follow me
and I promise to reveal all.

e's here!!

I'm so pleased. thanks again to everyone involved.

exquisitely engineered electric eclectic energetic esthetic excellence!


I hope everyone hears this one.

clos e r

but yet

e's nearly here

spot the nerd.

I never expected in my whole life
to be holding two hummingbirds
in the palm of my hand but
wednesday around 4:30 that's
exactly what happened.

I had just finished recording
for the day. casey wood, my engineer
was backing up the files to a hard
drive as I waited by a studio window
watching two hummingbirds chasing
one another in the trees. it's not
unusual to see hummingbirds here,
I have feeders in the front and back of my house. we get a large variety of birds feeding all the time. sometimes the deck looks more like an airport landing strip.
all of a sudden the two hummingbirds flew straight into the window! bam bam!
as I rushed outside I was horrified to think I would probably find them dead, their necks broken. I picked up the first one.
it was such a beautiful tiny creature.
and it was alive.

sometimes birds fly into a window and stun themselves. if you pick
them up and gently bring them out of their shock eventually they
fly away. this has happened many times to me.
the second hummingbird lay face down in the grass. I knew it
must be dead. but when I picked it up I was amazed to find
it was alive too. now I had two hummingbirds in the palm of my hand!

for a good 10 minutes or more they both sat in my open hand,
blinking and looking around while I stroked their gorgeous
golden feathers, telling them everything would be alright.
eventually the smaller of the two woke out of his daze and
realizing, "yikes! I'm on the hand of a human!"
it buzzed off, landing nearby on the deck where it sat for a few
more minutes. finally number two did the same.

it was such a magical experience for me.

hummingbirds are very special not just because they're so tiny
or because they can flap their wings 1,000 times per minute.
most people know they are also the only birds who can hover
like a helicopter and the only birds who can fly backwards!
but did you know they are the only birds who cannot walk?!
(apart from boneless chickens, of course)

it was a gift to hold them.

once a fidget always a fidget...

four days of sun worship is my limit.
not one to sit idle for very long,
immediately after our florida getaway
I began a brand new secret project.
I've been recording it for 2 weeks
and now have 5 songs in the can.
I'll tell you more about this in a couple
of weeks, but for the moment I'll say this:
the secret project could very well become
brand new record #3 for 2009.

speaking of new records, I'm glad to see
some of you are finally taking the jump
and purchasing the new michael clay disc
a cup of coffee and a slice of time.
for those of you still sitting on the fence
I received this review from yogini67
which echoes my feelings about coffee

"Received the 'Coffee' cd yesterday, and I have to say
I was not prepared for how beautiful it is!
It was surprisingly emotional for me to hear your music
played this way. I can only imagine how it is for you!
The sad/sweet cello is perfect in ' The Lone Rhino '
it literally brought tears to my eyes. ' Union Terminal '
is brilliant. I love it all.
Michael Clay is wonderful,
no matter how many hands he has.
Everyone should have a copy of this,
thanks again for always surprising me."

if I were a shoe salesman (which I'm not)
I would say, "buy one now. what've you got to lose?
if you really don't like it, it'll make a swell christmas
gift for your distant cousin."

if you still prefer to play it safe, we will be playing
coffee as the play-off music after each of our upcoming shows.
give a listen. you might be surprised.

wow! pete docter called...

the director of Pixar's latest marvel UP.
we reminded each other of an early encounter
backstage at a krimson concert in the 80's.
pete said he was with andrew stanton,
another of the creative main springs of Pixar.
turns out they are both fans of my work.
I couldn't begin to stress what a fan I am of theirs!

most people know I'm more child than adult.
I still have my fascination firmly intact.
but did you know this: all my life
animation has been one of my biggest fascinations.

it started with saturday morning showings of looney tunes.
my dad would often go to a place next to our junior high
school called the purple patch, our local donut shop.
he would bring home donuts and we'd watch bugs bunny,
foghorn leghorn, sylvester, and the gang all morning.

I loved imitating the voices (and I still try)
which is why I've listed mel blanc as my favorite
vocalist of all time. mel breathed life into more
than a thousand characters in his lifetime. incredible.

for many years of my adult life with some exceptions
there was a lull in the world of animation.
I had to get by watching re-runs of the frog singing
"hello my baby, hello my honey,
hello my ragtime gaaal"..

then came Pixar.
I saw the very first Pixar short film at a short
animation film festival and life was forever changed.
I've seen everything they've made since
many times over.
needless to say they make my favorite films.
their animation is truly amazing. great stories,
memorable characters, perfect music, etc.

so imagine what an honor it is for me to hear
pete docter and andrew stanton are fans.
they are two of the top creators at Pixar!
(look them up on wikipedia. you won't believe
all the stuff they've done)

when pete called I wasn't feeling well.
the next day I went to see UP (in 3-D)
and I felt like a kid again.
wowee!
all I needed was donut from the patch.