Greetings and salutations friends.
Do you hate Mondays as badly as I do? They pretty much always suck, usually because I've had a great weekend. This past weekend was no exception. Friday night, I got to live a dream and sing for a big band. Sure, I do karaoke, which you know if you watch the show, but I've never actually been the front guy in the swanky suit, singing my lungs away in front of a packed house. The band gets all dressed up in black suits or tuxes and we performed at Tony Starlights, a very cool venue for this genre of music. The house was packed for the first show (dinner show) and they really came alive for our music. I'm hoping to sing again with them, same locale, on Friday, July 27, so stay tuned! If you like the old Sinatra-esque style of music and performance, then you must check us out. It's a blast!
I've not been to a Mariners game in almost two years, so Saturday, I cruised up I-5 to see them take on the Reds. It was so awesome to see my favorite, Ken Griffey Jr., back in Seattle. The entire crowd at Safeco gave him standing applause when he was announced. I've been listening to national sports talk radio today and they seem perplexed why any fan would do that, considering that Griff left Seattle. Why, national media??? Because baseball is alive and well in Seattle and because Griffey pretty much built Safeco Field, one of the nicest professional stadiums you'll find, anywhere. We owe him and it was very cool to see him jack two HR's yesterday, in a LOSING effort. The Mariners took 2 of 3 from them, keeping their faint playoff hopes alive.
We're filming a fun band, Throwback Suburbia, tomorrow night at Outlaws (next to Doug Fir). They're one of the openers for one of my favorite all-time bands, the GIN BLOSSOMS!! Haven't heard from them in many years so it will be interesting to see if they still have it! Come down and join us if you like. Throwback Suburbia goes on at 8:30.
I hope you all had a great weekend and that you hate Mondays as much as I do. As "they say"......misery loves company. Btw..........that pic was taken during an interview with ICHIRO!! How much do ya love that guy?!

Cheers & make good memories~

Jon

Just got back from the most amazing wedding I've ever been to. It was Katy Brown's wedding (sports anchor for KATU) and she married a cool cat, Troy, on the lake in Lake Tahoe. It was the most serene setting you can imagine for a wedding and it was a perfect day. We had a Portland entourage of about 30 down there and let's just say that we painted the town red. Why do they always say "red"? Why not "blue"? Who knows.....whatever..........
One of my best buddies, Rob Marciano (CNN) flew into town the weekend before and in our typical fashion, we tore it up hard in Portland. As much as I love this guy, I need a break from our playtime. My liver needs a break. He misses Portland as much as I miss having him here, so we'll see what happens. He's back in Atlanta now and I'm back in Portland and the country is a much safer place!
OK, so Katy asked me to play trumpet in her wedding and of course I said yes. My chops were not in shape so for the past couple months, I practiced on and off (played all the way through college) in preparation for the performance. Let me tell you, friends, that it is MUCH harder to play in front of your colleagues and friends than in front of total strangers and I was damn nervous. That, coupled with the altitude of Lake Tahoe and the dry air, made for a challenging situation. So, you're wondering..........did you screw up, Jon? No, I didn't and I was quite relieved that Katy, her husband and their families dug it too.
So, it was high time to party and celebrate. That, we did, in high fashion. Katy's dad paid for the shindig and it was mighty impressive!! Katy was gorgeous and so happy and as her first friend she made in Portland, outside of KATU, I was so happy for her! She deserves this happiness. We all do, right? The band at the reception was f'g awesome, and we danced our butts off for hours. There just might have been some afterparty events, but I'll let your mind wander on that. The setting for romance was as perfect as it gets. I'll just leave it at that. One question........ever done a body shot on a dock?
Last Monday, I had the honor of speaking for a short bit at the Japanese Consulate residence in Portland. I presented both of our latest Sapporo shows to the mixed group of Japanese and Americans and it seemed to go well. I was super tired from my weekend before with Rob that I really don't know if I made sense, but hey, I was there. What a lovely home and officially, on Japanese soil, since it's the consulate. It was great to see my friend, Goto-san, from Sapporo, who came in for the Rose Festival. In two years, Portland and Sapporo celebrate our 50th Sister City relationship! I hope PDXposed can do something with that. We have discussed the possibility of filming next summer, in June, back in Sapporo, so we'll see what happens with that.
On a cool note, we expect to know this week, when we're going to GERMANY. I expect to be there sometime in late August/early September and we'll feature the whole travel experience with Lufthansa Airlines, Frankfurt and Munich (one of my favorite cities in the world!). No, there's no Sister City relationship there, but Portland does have a nonstop flight to Germany, and that..........is the connection. I speak some German so this should be fun! Josh and Mike will be going, just as they did to Sapporo. We only have room on the flights for 3 so poor Julie has to kick it back in Portland. If we go to China, she'll likely have a spot. That's the goal anyway.
I'm off to do laundry, go for a run and kick it on a Sunday night. Just felt the need to "blog" and I hope you all had great weekends. Thanks for reading and for watching PDXposed.

Make good memories everybody!

Jon

Greetings from Scottsdale. I'm down here playing with my buddy today and it's freezing (only 105 degrees). But it's a "dry heat"........yeah, whatever! Hot is hot, right? Been having a lot of fun lately, probably too much, but hey, you only live once. And having sold AED's (automated defibrillators) in my past career, I do recognize that life can end swiftly and that you really should live life like this could be your last day. If I died tomorrow, nobody would say that I didn't live life to the fullest. So, that's one of my theories on how to live life. So.....I actually got to sit next to a hot chick on the flight to Phoenix last night. That almost never happens. I was supposed to work on my talent resume for my new agent -- Murphy Management -- but I ended up shooting the shit with my new friend, Laurie, an RN at Kaiser Sunnyside. It was fun. But....being a man who does not neglect his duties, I completed the resume today.

Check out our new Sapporo show on our website....... www.pdxposed.com (you knew that because you had to go there to get here, duh~). I think it's better than our first one, more quirky stuff including a snowball fight with one of my videographers, Mike. I kicked his ass! He might disagree. We have more "Happy Random Times," which some have said we should bring into every episode. God knows, we certainly have plenty of them. Good news this week........we're likely going to Germany later this summer to feature Lufthansa's connection from Portland to Frankfurt. I speak German fairly well and have been to Germany many times, so I'm stoked for the trip. We can only bring 3 people again, so sadly, Julie has to tend the fort in Portland. I LOVE Salzburg and that is the photo with this posting. It's a magical place for me and my family comes from near there. If you ever go to Europe, Salzburg is a must!! This new cooking show is really taking shape and our new production partner, Fusion Entertainment, thinks it could be bigger than Survivor, so stay tuned! We're filming the Portland 200 Race (very fun event) next weekend so if we run into you, say hi! Peace out from Scottsdale~!

Make good memories~
jon