My Favorite Weekend

Weekend? What’s That?: From the beginning of summer through November, I’ll be playing in about 60 shows between the States, Japan and Europe. With a schedule like that, my favorite weekend is doing nothing. My favorite weekend, in fact, is to have one.

When I Do Have One . . .: There’s nothing I like better than going bike riding with my son, Wes, who is 5. Sometimes we’ll ride around the Wadsworth Theatre in Westwood, because it’s a bit safer there, without so much traffic.

Checking Out the Competition: I love to stay up-to-date with what’s happening, especially now since we’ve started our own company, i.e. Records. But I actually hear more music when I’m out on the road. When I do a jazz festival, there are always other acts on the bill to hear, and even with my own show there’s usually on opening act or a co-headliner. When I go to a show in town, I usually go to the Universal Amphitheatre because it has very good sound.

Weekends Here, Weekends There: I have a place in Brentwood as well as one out in Malibu. In Malibu, the tendency is to be out in the fresh air and hit the beach. My wife, Carmen, likes the water and walking. With my recording studio in Brentwood, I spend more time there because of work. And that’s not bad either, because it’s a great place to ride my bike, because of San Vicente. Riding the bike down the bike path to the beach is one of my favorite things to do.

Restaurant-Hopping: In Malibu, it has to be Granita and Tra di Noi. In Brentwood, we like Toscana, and two Japanese restaurants, Taiko and Takao and, of course, Vincenti. For Wes, his favorites are Taiko--he likes Japanese food a lot--and Rosti.