THE FAMILY HOOT IS HERE!

The Family Hootenanny is here. Yay!

Be sure to stop by the Magic Stick this Sunday at 3:00 for fun and games and good music.

For more info go to www.TheFamilyHoot.com.

GENE SIMMONS WITH MY BOYS

I'm pretty sure this is going on my Christmas cards this year. Life doesn't get any better than hangin' out with real deal rock superstars.

GENE SIMMONS AND THE MYDOLS

The Mydols just finished shooting an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels in Detroit. It was a incredible experience for the band and for me personally. It was a lot of work, but it sure was fun. I will never forget sitting on Gene's lap in the back of April's minivan! It was my favorite scene for sure!

THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR

For years I sat at a desk in grey corporate cubeland. I was bored. I just wanted a paycheck so I could afford expensive Thomas the Tank Engine toys for my sons. I was working strictly for financial rewards. Then one day I dreamed of being in a rock band--a mom rock band. I bought a purple guitar and some pink go-go boots. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I wish I could be humble, and say "little did I know" that the one thing I knew nothing about would make me famous, but that's not the case. I was delusional. I sat at my desk and dreamed of being in PEOPLE magazine everyday, and I took all the steps to make it happen--until it finally did. (See photo.)

I also dreamed of opening for the GoGos, and then one day I found myself on a panel with Kathy Valentine (the GoGo's bass player) at the Rockergrl Convention and we became fast friends. She even invited me to stay with her in Austin, TX, and I slept in a room with her Grammy nomination certificate for "Best New Artist". (Sheena Easton won that year in case you are wondering.) Clem Burke (the drummer for Blondie) was also her house guest. I was hanging out with "rock royalty" and they accepted me, yet at my day job I was a nobody.

I worked non-stop on my making my dreams become reality, and while I never made any money doing it, I sure had my fill of rock and rolls moments.

Well now is the time to turn my dreams into a job--to be an entrepreneur.

Why? I see many benefits to being an entrepreneur. Number one is making my passion my living. I think of all those years I wasted time feeling trapped and unappreciated. All my energy wasted. I "look forward" to "looking forward" to going to work every day and doing something that is my own vision.

Which brings me to creativity. That's another benefit I see to being an entrepreneur--building something from the ground up. Imagining the possibilities. Getting my hands dirty. Trying new things. Being in control of possibilities. Being empowered.


When I sat in my old grey cube I felt like I was just some other guy's pencil--I was the mild-mannered employee. That is until the weekend rolled around, and I put on my wonder bra and became Wonder Woman! Funny, how I saw myself so differently when I was on stage and the spotlight was on me. I transformed into another person. I was empowered. That's the feeling I'm expecting to get when I start up by own company--every day will feel like Saturday night. (Minus the drunks.)

ECOSTORE ROCKS!

I have known Lyne Appel Downing for about 7 months but it feels like I have known her for years. Lyne is this teeny tiny woman. My shadow weighs more than her, but I swear when she enters a room she is larger than life. In fact, her aura enters a room 5 minutes before her.

That's because Lyne is so passionate, so full of energy. Lyne helped orchestrate the launching of the New Zealand company ecostore here in the USA. Her philosophy is be good to the earth. Be good to your body. No nasty chemicals. She's taken on this endeavor like it's religion and I am gobsmacked by what she has accomplished--this regular "mom" from the suburbs--is helping run a company and educating consumers (like me) how to re-think what chemicals are in our cleaning products. My IQ has gone up 10 points since I met her.

So you get it. Lyne is an amazing business women, but she is also an wonderful friend and human being. When I told Lyne that the South Oakland Citizen's for the Homeless were in need of soap products for their guests she responded by supplying them with enough soap for all their guest for a year! How cool is that? To a homeless person soap and showers, things we take for granted, are a luxury--a wonderful treat.

So here's a great big shout out to ecostore USA and Lyne Appel Dowing. YOU ROCK!

Please visit www.ecostoreUSA.com and find out how you can avoid NASTY CHEMICALS!

BAND PRACTICE

Last night we had band practice. The Mydols have a lot of exciting opportunities coming up. Some are a secret right now, but others like the Ferndale DIY Street Fair are common knowledge. Didn't know about it? Well you should! We hope to see you at the fair on September 19 at noon. We'll be shakin' our hips with the Grateful Dads. See ya there!

LYSOL ROCKS!

Today I heard several stories about the nasty flu season schools and universities are expecting. From the Today Show to NPR's Talk of the Nation to the President's address to school children the message was clear our kids are in danger of getting sick this flu season.

So imagine my joy when I came home from picking up Willie from High School and found a case of Lysol Disinfectant Spray. But here's the thing, it's not for my family, it's a donation for the South Oakland Citizens for the Homeless. How nice of Lysol to care about the health of some of the most vulnerable members of society. Lysol ROCKS!

WWW.lysol.com has information on how you can protect your kids. The Lysol brand has teamed up with Dr. Laura Jana, a pediatrician, mother of three school aged-children and owner of an educational daycare center. She has a back to school checklist for moms to help them prepare their children for a healthy and happy school year. Her tips include:

• The Health administration is predicting a very serious cold and flu season, so teach your children about healthy hygiene habits before they go back to school and get exposed to classroom germs, like MRSA or H1N1 virus. Check out the new educational Web Site for kids, developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at www.oopkids.com. This kid-friendly Web site is designed to educate children about healthy hygiene habits and safety routines.

• Send school germs packing by encouraging your children to drop their book bags, take off their shoes and leave their coats at the door when they walk in. Send them straight to the sink to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds (long enough to sing Happy Birthday twice!) while you spray their bags with Lysol Disinfectant Spray to help kill bacteria they may have picked up from the school bus, the playground or the classroom.

For more information, check out the Lysol Back to School Information Center at http://lysol.com/send-school-germs-packing/

NEW MYDOLS PIX

NEW WORK...

I'm designing the new banner for the Mamapalooza newsletter. It has some of the mom rocker "hall-of-famers" on it including Wensdy Mydol. (Pictured on the far left.)

CAKE NOUVEAU

I've had such a stressful week. I am hoping the effort I have been putting into a certain project will pay off. We'll see. In the meantime, this morning I went to the South Oakland Citizens for the Homeless and saw the most wonderful sight--a lobby filled with hundreds of backpacks from the campaign Teri Williams and I did with Moosejaw! There were so many backpacks (and REALLY nice ones too) that my head was spinning. Roy Watson, who coordinates SOCH, was nice enough to give me 30 backpacks to bring to my church (St. Mary and St. James) and another 30 for one of Teri's favorite charities, Common Ground.

Moosejaw is the greatest! And Roy Watson is a saint.

So after an emotional morning, this afternoon my whole family played hooky--even the dogs. We all went to Ann Arbor for fun, but mostly to visit Cake Nouveau. Since we got cable (can you believe we never had it?) I've been addicted to all the cake decorating shows on the FOOD network. I'm a BIG fan of Courtney Clark's topsy-turvy cakes so we visited her shoppe and she was THERE! It was so exciting. We bought cupcakes and they were fabulous! After desert we walked around the U of M campus and ended up eating lunch on Main St. and soaking up the sun. On the way home we stopped at Domino Farms and a cider mill too. It was a perfect afternoon.

Oh and I got my van back! (Someone backed into it and it's been in a collision shop all week. I missed it!)