I have many friends in the northeast of the US, New York, Jersey, Connecticut, PA, Ohio…you get my point.
I haven’t written about the storm until now, even though it was profound in its effect on those places, especially New Jersey and New York.
Our friend, Charlotte Nagy(@charlottenagy) posted a 30 minute look at the beginning, during and after from her town in New Jersey and it was very moving and sad to see. I recommend you watch it on YouTube if you find the time.
My point in this blog tonight is only to say that I understand things like this take time to mend. I’ve never had the misfortune of being in or around a natural disaster but it will take time, I know that much.
I want to help. I don’t know how yet but you guys are super in tune with things like this and I thought I would ask for your recommendations.
Doing kind deeds for press is jive ass booshee, so I want to do something that people really will feel.
If you are from that area and you have an idea of how we/I should get involved, please pass on your thoughts.
Yeah, we’re always busy but not too busy for this. Maybe we can all do something together? Make a date and go do some great work for some of the loveliest people on the planet.
Thanks for your help.
Love, Pat
Everything that I will be writing here for the next long while will be very positive. I go in weird phases when I lose perspective and I whine a tad. Okay I complain a ton.
I’m taking a break from being that way. I am here to write uplifting tales from the fatty under belly of the Tuna. The toro. The best of all sushi. I will be bringing you good thoughts and ideas straight from a love filled life view.
My apologies for the counter. It’s never my intent to sound boring and whine-y. I just needed a bit of home life to set things straight.
So. Here. We. Are.
College football. The NFL. Giants baseball. Incredible autumn colors and the brisk cut of a cool fall wind to make you feel fresh again and shake off the dust. Halloween! Dressing up like Cookie Monster for my son’s first birthday. These are just of few things that I am thankful for.
Seeing many of you during this time of year is lovely and refreshing as well. I love it. It reminds me most of our early days. Days lugging gear and burying our hands in our pockets while bullshitting outside of some dive bar in between sets. This is really Rocktober isn’t it? Sounds lame I guess but it really feels like rock and roll.
I’m way in. My favorite time of year.
Haven’t exercised at all. Getting soft and kind of digging it. Whatever. Pumpkin pie. Oh shit! Pumpkin pie ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Aaahhhh! Yes I will.
So there ya have it.
My announcement of positivity.
I wanted to ask one thing though.
I plan to start writing soon. What are your favorite things about Train music? Let me rephrase….
What are your favorite feelings you get while listening to Train and what do you suppose creates those feelings? Did I make that clear? Probably not. Let me try again.
When you listen to Train, what do you walk away with? What is that “thing” that brings you back to a song?
Okay. Let me have it!
Thanks.
Love, Pat
everything seems as though I’m viewing it from sleepy eyes. It’s all a bit dreamy and distant. The calm of not being in a tour bus is met with the business of being in a good sized family. There is always so much to do. I’m not the sort that has a nanny not the type that smokes a pipe and looks up over his glasses at conversations while reading the Wall Street Journal. The haze, I assume, is the transition from a life of fantasy(tour) to a life of reality(home).
Why are my current dreams so strange? I was writing songs for Simon Cowell the other day. Huh? I made a flat, weird taffy that night as well. Not sure what that symbolism means but it’s very odd.
Living most of my adult life traveling, in and out of airports, on buses, cabs, any sort of thing that moves, is slightly off balance when it comes to a halt. A normal existence takes place in a neighborhood, not a Prevost. For me, the lack of movement seems a bit out of whack in ways that are hard to explain. I love the stillness. I need it. I adore being with the people I love. I often think of settling down into a farm setting and cooking for people non stop. My friend, Ryan Scott(a great San Francisco chef and restauranteur) does it. Ah but then I remember that he was born to do that. I was made for something else.
I’ve been prepping myself lately to gear up into “writing mode”. I’m kind of a slacker about it right now. No real drive to get those stories out there. It’s like my subconscious is telling me that doing nothing is the short cut to something special, meaning don’t force it. Those ideas don’t ever pan out for me. So, I’m in a foggy daydream instead, thinking about writing a play, a movie, a tv program, a strange album of Kate Bush/Bjork sounding songs. Then it passes and I play with my children and get lost in the perfect beauty that is around me.
I miss my dad.
I miss my mom.
Seeing these little ones that they were unable to even meet is sad to me. My parents were older when I was born. Now they are somewhere else finding real estate in the clouds, getting things ready for their friends and loved ones.
But damn! Just a few more weeks. That would be so cool. Pick a week. Trade a week. Some type of deal that could be made with the afterlife.
Hey, Goddess of Awesomeness, I will trade a week of my time for a week of a healthy, happy parent to meet my little ones. “Deal!”
Aw but no. That’s not romantic. Finality is. Great things have endings. In fact everything has an expiration date. All for the best I suppose. Romance. Life is romance. The ultimate hit song, blockbuster, NY Times best seller.
Tomorrow I will be in Knoxville. A lovely spot filled with terrific people and memories. Then New York City and then my son’s first birthday.
I will make my way to Amsterdam and The UK after that and then settle in for a restful few stints around the US. It never really stops for me. I may complain but I would have it no other way.
For these things I am grateful.
You have made me a part of your lives and I appreciate that entirely.
There are so many things to chose from these days. So many ways to spend your time and your money. The fact that you chose me and my band to do so is a life altering, mind blowing act of goodness.
So, as always, thank you and I will see you soon.
Love, Pat
From giving my t-shirt to a young girl on the Today Show to giving a signed guitar away to kids each night of this tour, I am credited with being generous or compassionate or whatever it may be. I appreciate all of that.
Now I want to give credit to those who REALLY deserve it.
Humans hate inconvenience. We all do. It’s everywhere and some of us do what we need to with a smile and some while complaining or pouting. Being inconvenienced is what makes us who we are.
Raising kids, raising kids with disabilities, loving, loving people that need a lot of help, being a friend, being a friend to someone unconditionally; all of these things are inconveniences really. They are time consuming. They take us from our leisure time. These things take effort. Those who do these things are the ones that deserve the credit for being compassionate and generous and kind and loving.
When I hand these simple gifts to these kids of all shapes and sizes and challenges, the work has already been done. These kids sit with their moms or dads or friends or siblings. All these people love so big and are inconvenienced and don’t even think about themselves because they are so consumed with loving these beautiful creatures.
I saw a dad cry for ten minutes the other day when I handed his daughter a signed guitar. I’ve read thank you letters from moms thanking me and the band for including someone who has been excluded all their lives.
I have seen friends cry with joy that their friend is being validated or noticed or anything among a large crowd at a Train show.
These loving families and friends are bad ass mother fathers. I am so impressed with human love.
If you ever doubt that love is stronger than ever, come to a Train show. I promise you will believe again.
So, thank you to the real givers. Thank you for taking care of these incredible people that need your help. Thank you for the days that aren’t easy and the inconveniences and for the helpless feelings that never keep you from being great to these children.
Thank you for escorting these magical inspirations to see us and celebrate our music.
You are heroes and so are they. You are givers and inspirers and we have undying respect for you all.
I appreciate your kindness towards me but the credit really belongs to yourselves.
Thank you for being such a loving, beautiful part of our lives.
Train fans kick everybody else’s asses! Amen!!
Love, Pat
1. “I seen a million faces and I’ve rocked them all.” JonBon
2. “Blow me..(wait for it)…one last kiss.” Pink
3. “Sususudio” Genesis
4. “Suckin’ on my titties” Peaches
5. “We all live in a yellow submarine” Beatles
6. “I’ve got the biggest balls.” ACDC
7. Mambo No. 5-all Lou Bega
8. “Fish head, fish head, rollie poly fish head.” Pete Townsend
9. Half the songs I’ve written- Patsofatso
10. “Trapped in a closet/Real Talk” R Kelly
There’s lots more, right?
What are some of those, “huh?!” lyrics for you?
Love, Pat
A pair of testicles walks into a bar. Says to the bartender, “Gimme a million beers.” bartender says, “What are ya, nuts?”. That’s a class A joke right there.
Hey. Thank you all for always helping me feel better about things. About life. About what I do and what I’m doing. You all really seem to get me and what I want. I really appreciate all of your texts, emails and just everything. What a grand group of amazing folks you are.
You are always giving me and the guys a lot of credit for helping you through things and making you smile during tough times and lots of random great things, but you should know that we all appreciate you and what you do for us. Last week was tough.
Today is awesome.
Thank you thank you thank you!
I owe you all big time.
I will try to be there for you as well when you get a bad hand.
Love, Pat
I am arriving at a place I dreamed of as a young lad(using this word as a tribute to the UK). On the way the road twisted, dead ended, forked, crossed…you name it, the road did it.
I thought I thought of everything. Really I did. I felt sorry for artists that started to believe the nonsense. Like believing that you’re as special as people want to think you are.
I looked on at the admirable jobs and places in the music world and decided that if I get my shot, I will do it with kindness and love and respect and I will make my parents proud, whether they are here to see it or not.
I decided that music is my ongoing road to find myself. The closer I got to that special music and connection, the closer I would get to knowing my true self.
I’m pretty sure that all of this was accurately moving towards truly working out as planned. Yeah, it took longer, had way more casualties and hurt way more than I thought it might, but the joy has continued to outweigh the lack there of.
Here’s the problem..I didn’t consider what might be the most important piece in this pursuit. I didn’t even think this part was possible. As I go down this road and get closer to finding myself, closer and closer each day, becoming in tune with my true self, what if I don’t like who I find waiting there?
I’m not looking for adulation nor confirmation. I mean really. What if as I approach that thing that we all long to find-our own personal meaning, what happens if the closer I get the more I resemble an unlikable version of what i was when i started this journey?
I’m not exactly sure what that would mean for me. I’m not sure that I would be able to continue this particular quest.
I do know this..I am making more mistakes now than ever and that worries me.
I dread writing and worrying people. I’m fine. I’m okay. I’m healthy. I’m okay. I’m in touch. BUT I’m not exactly sure I like what I’m becoming.
I’ve always wanted to be perfect. That led me to an endless sea of heartbreak and disappointment.
Now I just try not to break what I touch along the way. For everyone that I may touch positively, it seems someone else is being hurt or ignored.
As its said, “Everything will work out in the end. If it isn’t working out, it isn’t the end.”
As you move towards reaching your higher self, are you sure that you considered EVERYthing?
Pat
There’s an old joke where I guy says, “I’m schizophrenic and I am too.”. I always thought it was funny but now I’m starting to feel like that guy.
My humor is flying right over people’s heads but I still laugh like its the funniest shit I’ve ever said.
I’m listening to music currently that is no less than 60 years old.
I drink so much tea that I worry myself. I look at my iPhone more than I look at people. I don’t know what day it is…ever. I have so much dirty laundry that I’m thinking of pitching it all. I don’t sleep until 5 or 6 am. I’m kind of walking around in a daze all the time. I joke to everyone at meet and greets. No one gets my gags.
What should I do? Maybe I should read my book Outliars? Maybe I should meditate. Maybe I should stop watching Louie so much and Tosh.O.
Not sure really. I’d say take a break but that is not gonna happen.
Maybe I should just do it. Jump head first into the weirdness. Get freakishly strange until I’m bearded and un bathed and reclusive.
I could write. Hmm. That’s not a bad idea. What do you do when you are tipping on the verge of cracking and yet at the same time kind of enjoying the weirdness of the cracking?
I could just eat ice cream until I’m the new round rocker. I could start a cult.
Or a religion. Patsofatso-ism. Sounds good actually. We believe that all things are hysterical except for things that aren’t. That sounds dumb I suppose.
How about I do something super cool for someone every day? Or with someone? I try to do that during shows with shirts and a guitar at the end. Hmm. Maybe there is something even cooler.
What’s big? What’s a great gift? What could I do to occupy that space? Visit people? Start having coffee with a random every day? My treat. Sounds fun and strange and possibly dangerous. Some girl called me creepy today because of my jokes. That word sucks when it’s describing you. Some guy said he’d like me to practice all the 50 ways to say goodbye..on myself. That was actually funny.
I’ll think of a way to not go too nutty on you all. For now my band and crew will have to put up with my odd ball ways. I’ll try not to bring it into your lives too much but if I do, just blame it on the road. I’ll come around eventually.
Love, Pat
These things I cannot have
Those feelings lost for good
Hearts don’t know the letting go
And minds they know they should
This skin will shed someday
And with it memories all
The having you the losing you
This love so grand so tall
Had I know that love so sweet
Could turn to salted tears
I’d still choose you in every lifetime
Every day within these years
I hope my last breath when I’m old and pale
Will take me right back to the start
But for now this life feels heavy still
And this love is breaking my heart
PM
1. She put her tongue on a 9 volt
2. Jumped onto a catapult
3. She wore a Yankees hat in Boston
4. ODed on chocolate frosting
5. Her brain froze from gelato
6. Smoked way too much pot, oh
7. Her road rage blew her gasket
8. Stole a 5 year old’s Easter basket
9. She drown while bobbing apples
10. Too many dudes on her napples
40 more to go. Help!
Pat
