Love & Hate

I am flawed beyond comprehension. A lucky flesh covered skeleton, passing my short time on a beautiful planet I can only barely appreciate. Prone to addiction, petty jealousy, gluttony, insecurity, cruelty, and self-loathing. But still I love. I love the creatures to whom this earth belongs - from the pod of dolphins wheeling magnificently before a Pacific sunset, to the mealybug making its way across my concrete balcony garden. And despite all of the well though-out and seamlessly logical reasons I have for disliking my fellow man, there’s nothing I love more than the human race. The only thing I crave as much as being alone is being with others. 

And because I am only human, I hate. And my true and lasting hate is mostly reserved for those who hate. Not the ones who have been dealt a bad hand in life and act out their rage on an indifferent world, but those who are dedicated to the destruction of that which they do not understand - or simply do not like - and use religion or ideology to cover their tracks. The person who picks up a gun and does the deed himself is the easiest to hate, and is indeed loathsome. But make no mistake, that person was not born that way - that person was made. Made by those who have the power and position to spread a poisonous message daily and methodically - all the while picking up a fat check, maintaining a facade of respectability…and using religion or ideology to cover their tracks. And when some unstable little fuck who has guzzled their Kool-Aid to the last drop does the dirty work for them, the idealogues feign shock and blame The Other, and the religious nuts offer aggressively misinterpreted quotes from their chosen book of faith to justify the act. And blame the other.

I am flawed beyond comprehension. And I am not qualified to judge. But it seems to me that the ones who pull the trigger are the symptom. The ones who convince them to do so are the disease.

Je Suis Paris

Years ago, my wife Karen Nash and I discovered a wonderful little hotel near the Denfert-Rochereau Metro station in Paris called Villa Montparnasse. Whenever I play Paris, we always stay there. It's well off the beaten tourist track, and that's what we like about it - it's just a typical Paris neighborhood, with life going on as it does. Some of our most romantic memories as a couple center around this neighborhood. Ducking out of the pouring afternoon rain into the local art-house theatre - not even knowing what was on - and ending up seeing a wonderful documentary about flamingoes (flamant!). Dining at the local cafe where the waiter eventually came to know us by name. The accordion store up the street. The butcher around the corner who would stand outside his shop and say "jambon" in a low and ominous voice as we walked by - as if he were offering something illegal. And Paris in all its glory laid out before us as we stood on the tiny hotel balcony. The last time I was there, Karen could not come along, and it made me so sad to be there alone, I got a song out if it. My heart goes out to the people of Paris tonight, and thinking of our special little corner of their city makes me feel even closer to them. Je suis Paris.

Fine

I am in New Orleans smoking a cigar on Suzie Jagger Richards porch while the rain comes down. I have been in such constant motion all year that it's only now occurred to me that today I just played my final Mojo Deluxe tour show of the year. I have a couple of private benefit shows with John Fogerty in NYC this coming week, and a theatre gig in Italy MD-ing and piano-ing for Jonny Blu in December. Other than that - I intend to rest, nest, feed the birds in Nash Gardens, celebrate the holidays and my 50th birthday  with Karen Nash, and recharge my badly depleted batteries. I have been running on empty for quite some time now - it's been the busiest year of my life. The "Mojo Live" DVD comes out November 20. Put that bad boy up on your flat-screen and crank up the sound - it's just like being there (without me having to be there)! I want thank all of the great musicians who have worked so hard on the road with me this year, and all of you who came to the shows and bought my stuff and showed so much love and support. Next year, we'll do it all again!

The Easily Offended. They're Everywhere.

I long ago gave up expressing even the most benign opinions on Facebook because there are legions of people out there - presumably sitting in front of their device in their underwear, Cheeto dust staining their t-shirt - who are looking for something they can be offended by. I have shit to do, and I don't have time to deal with the chronically offended. However, I have far fewer Twitter followers than Facebook followers, so it is there that I occasionally opine with impunity. So please follow me on Twitter so I can one day reach my goal of not being able to say anything of substance there as well. Thank you.

A Hundred-and-Fuck Degrees

Tonight it's a hundred-and-fuck degrees, the AC is out, the water is running intermittently, and the Internet is dial-up slow. I probably should be angry, but instead I am feeling nostalgic about the late 90s and our old little pad at King's Road Apartments in West Hollywood, where it was always like this, and we didn't care. We had each other, a couple of cats, and a roof over our heads. And love was enough.

Absolute, Quintessential Karen Nash

My good friend Scott Phillips​ (he of the fabulous design that envelopes each of my CDs and records) told me this story about my wife, Karen Nash​:

Years ago, late '90s, I was in a meeting in my office with some clients. We were waiting for someone else to call my office to attend via speaker phone. The phone rang, I answered on speaker. It was Nash. She yelled out "Phillips!" I said hello, told her she was on speaker and I was in a conference with clients. There was a pause. Then she called out "fuck them!"

It's everything you need to know.

Malone's Top-5 Christmas Albums

‘Tis the season, and all that sort of thing; I can’t lie -- I get radically sentimental about the holidays. For most of the year, I bash pianos, sing songs of alienation and heartbreak, and knock out one-nighters like the road warrior that I am, but come Christmakuh, don’t come around here looking for any of that action -- I’ll be busy baking cookies, bitchez! These five records mean a lot to me, and they are what I think of when I think of this time of year.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” -- Vince Guaraldi Trio Vince was one of the great jazz pianists, with a magical, melodic, understated style all his own. This music is the perfect companion to what was probably most perfect Christmas TV special ever made. You’ll smile, you’ll reflect quietly, you get a little melancholy, and you will dig that swinging rhythm section every year for the rest of your life. Oh, and I have this record on green vinyl -- you know you want one. Timeless.

 

 

“The Spirit Of Christmas” -- Ray CharlesThis record is so good, you don’t even have to wait for the holidays to put it on. Crazy hip arrangements, and Ray singing his ass off and playing a sweet, sweet Fender Rhodes throughout. He even manages to make “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” sound badass. There will never be another Brother Ray, so bow down and dig. I should note, however, that this record has the widest bad-album-cover-to-great-music spread ratio ever. A book definitely not to be judged by its cover.

 

“A Very Special Christmas” -- Various Artists This mid 80s collection sold gazillions and is full of great tracks -- Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band doing the great Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby” (way cool, but not as good as the 1977 bootleg of Bruce doing “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” which just can’t be touched -- I’m from New Jersey -- this shit is IMPORTANT!), Chrissie Hynde’s snow-meltingly sexy version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and Madonna totally nailing “Santa Baby” -- and I frigging HATE Madonna -- but credit where credit is due. Most importantly, though, it’s got Run -- D.M.C. doing “Christmas In Hollis” -- which just might possibly be the greatest thing ever… “It’s Christmastime in Hollis, Queens, mom’s cookin’ chicken and collard greens…”   Yes, Indeed. Oh and speaking of Charles Brown, everyone needs to own “A Very Special Christmas II” just for the recording of his duet with Bonnie Raitt on the aforementioned “Merry Christmas Baby.” It’s the kind of thing Top-5 lists were made for.

 

“Baroque Masterworks for The Festive Season” -- Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Betcha didn’t see this one coming! Before I discovered rock and roll and the blues, and Return to Forever, and the New Orleans piano professors, and “The Chronic” -- I was an 11-year-old classical piano prodigy and this was one of the first records I ever bought with my own money. It’s got the Pachelbel Canon, and the Torelli Christmas Concerto on it. Just get it. It’ll make you weep.

 

 

“Come Darkness, Come Light” -- 12 Songs Of Christmas” -- Mary Chapin Carpenter A dozen original Christmas tunes by one of our great songwriters -- not the normal celebratory, sentimental, or breezy types of things you hear this time of year, they are instead reflective and realistic. When you have that seasonal melancholy, and you need to dig deep -- this is the one you need to hear.