It's a little blurry but...

...it's still one of my favorite pictures. That's me and Lily Tomlin in the iconic chair she uses for the Edith Ann character.


The shows at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas were incredibly fun, and it was a huge thrill to work with such a legendary performer. I was impressed and amazed with her energy and talent, and working with her and her crew was a delight. I count myself very lucky to have had the chance to meet her and perform on the same bill.

Tow-tally awesome

So, I guess the tow truck was parked illegally?

I saw this lovely little scene on the way to my show last night at Arcadia University. Needless to say I didn't worry about parking in a tow zone that night.

I wonder if the first tow truck driver ran up to the second and tried to explain that he was just there for a second, he had his flashers on and was going to be right back.

With the fear of parking retribution far from my mind, and a great crowd in attendance despite the fact that the Phillies had a playoff game and we were only about 20 miles from the City of Loving Brothers, we had a lovely show and a great time. Thanks Beaver Coll... I mean, Arcadia University!

Special CD Price Extended Through Monday!

The introductory price promotion for my new CD was so successful, CD Baby ran out of copies in just a couple of days! Which means that for most of the promotional period the CD was listed as "out of stock."

So I've decided to leave the lower price in place until this Monday, October 19th, in case anyone tried to buy the CD and was denied.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the launch of the CD a success, and if you haven't picked up your copy of Songs From The Second Floor yet, head on over to CD Baby by Monday and you can get the CD for only $9.15!

The special price for the digital download has been extended too, so it will be $7.99 through Monday. It saves you a bit of dough and the upside is they never run out of the digital version over there.

Have a great weekend and look for a new video from the CD to be posted when the album becomes available on iTunes (still don't have a date on that, iTunes is notoriously slow to post).

Special price on new CD for 10 more days!

My new CD, Songs From The Second Floor, is finally available on CD Baby! And for the next ten days you can buy the physical CD for only $9.15 in honor of the date the CD was supposed to be ready (Sep 15)!

And if you're a downloading type person and just want the digital version, you can buy the digital album for a special price of $7.99! You can even pick and choose tracks for $0.99 each, if you're so inclined.

Be the first to review the CD on CD Baby! Release your inner Lester Bangs and write a review of the new CD to tell others how incredibly awesome (or totally lame) it is!

The special prices will be in effect until October 10th, so order now. Regular prices are $12.97 for the CD and $9.99 for the album download.

Stay tuned, the album will be posted on iTunes soon!

It's a live (link)!!! It's a live (link)!!!

My new CD, Songs from the Second Floor, officially goes on sale today!

The big CD release partay is in beautiful, sunny, and no-longer-on-fire Southern California at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles tonight at 8, but you can buy a digital copy right now at Digstation.com!

If you want to buy the actual, physical, non-virtual but still digital CD, it will be available at CD Baby later this week, and soon after that iTunes, Amazon.com and more!

Now, my marketing team told me maybe September 15th wasn't the best day to release the new CD because it will be hard to compete with Dan Brown's DaVinci Code sequel Paranoid Symbol Interpretation or whatever it's called, but I think my real competition is the self-help book The Werewolf's Guide To Life, a how-to guide for those suffering with lycanthropy, written by my friends Ritch Duncan and Bob Powers.

But I say there's room on the 15th for all of us. Stop by digstation and preview some tracks if you like, and I'll post when the album becomes available elsewhere.

New CD Promotional Campaign #2: Alternative Comedy Makeover

With less than a week to go before the release of my new CD, it's time to make sure my styling sends the right message. If I'm going to be out there promoting and getting photographed, I have to ensure that those photographs portray me as the kind of person the people at the extensive marketing team at my label want me to be.

The look we've settled on is "alternative comedy." You know, the cool comedians, the kind of comedian indie music hipsters rally around; because if you get the pretentious and ironically stylish to follow you, Hollywood will fall in line. Have you ever wondered why you see the same ten comedians in every comedy film that's been released in the past 5 years? It's because they have been anointed as "cool." I need me some of that anointment.

Let me take you through the plan:

Picture 1: Before



This is absolutely no good. First of all, the smirk makes me look like I have confidence in what I'm doing, and confidence in what I'm doing would indicate that I've planned and rehearsed what I'm going to do on stage. Alternative comedians want you to think that they've neither planned nor rehearsed anything. If something ends up being funny it's simply because they're geniuses. Remember, effort is not cool.

Secondly, that shirt. No way. A collared shirt? That makes me look like I have a job. Nothing kills the alt. comedy aura faster than looking employed.

Picture 2: new shirt, new expression.


Much better. Note the ambiguous expression, could be confusion (I don't understand the world, here's my take), it might be a slightly plaintive plea to the audience (please have empathy for my skewed worldview), or it could be a blank stare (I'm so deep, my genius mind is elsewhere).

Also please note the shirt change. Instead of the collared dress shirt we now have a t-shirt with a preciously humorous but not really trying to be funny motto.

Picture 3: new do

That short hair wasn't working at all (see above re: employment). What I need is something kind of artsy, wistful, something that looks effortless.

Of course, to look effortless I'll need to hit a salon that will probably charge $60 for the do, and I'll need tons of styling product and a lot of time to get it just right. With the short hair I needed nothing but a $12 haircut every four weeks so one could argue that the short hair was truly the way to go effortless, but this makeover is about looking the part, not being the part, so a mop top it is.

Picture 4: facial hair


And finally, nothing says alt. comedy like a big, nasty beard. The bushy beard says "yeah, I know I'm in Hollywood trying to sell a script but I could just as easily be fly fishing in Bozeman, Montana." You want to give the impression that you spend too much time thinking deeply and uncovering the secret one-liners of the universe, you can't be bothered to worry about your appearance. You only set foot outside of your hermitage to do sets at the most influential of trendy comedy shows.

I think we're in good shape now. Look for me and my new look out there on the comedy scene plugging the hit alt. comedy/indie music album Songs From The Second Floor.

Available Sep. 15 at Digstation, CD Baby (hopefully, if they get their asses in gear with their site redesign), and eventually iTunes, Amazon and more.

Catch the West Coast CD Release Party on Sep 15th in L.A.!

Songs From The Second Floor CD Release Party
Tuesday, Sep. 15
seating at 7:45, show at 8:00
Genghis Cohen 740 N. Fairfax
Los Angeles, CA 90036
310.578.5591 for more info on the club/show
only $7!!

New CD Promotional Campaign #1: A Rob P. Signature Scent

In order to roll with the big dogs in the music industry, you know--the Puffys, Jay-Zs, J-Los, Britney Spearses, the Luciano Pavarottis--I decided that I too needed a signature scent. I mean, just because I'm releasing my CD independently doesn't mean I can't employ some of the same mass market strategies of the major label artists, does it?

Actually, as it turns out, it does. Signature scents are a bit harder to put together in the DIY world than I thought. I don't have access to the animal testing, the custom glassware and the maquiladoras that the pros use.

But I still want to get this done, so I've decided that instead of selling the actual fragrance (yes, it's neither a 'cologne' nor a 'perfume' because I want it to be non gender-specific like CK Be or Pee Wee Herman) I'll be releasing the secret formula for my fragrance so you can mix up your own batch at home.

Ingredient 1: 40% Deep Woods Off

My scent is about being adventurous while also being responsible. Deep Woods Off brings to mind those long days and nights of summer camp, when you escaped the authoritarian rules of your parents and struck out on your own. You were ready to experience all that this world had to offer, but on your terms. The mosquitoes were kept at bay and people who could smell the slightly acrid industrial notes of repellent on you knew that you weren't one to get pushed around by nature.



Ingredient 2: 25% Vanilla Extract

Just a hint of vanilla in my signature scent will take people back to a time when cookie batter was mixed in a bowl, not cut from a tube. You take the time to carefully craft things, not choke down mass-produced corporate confections, and people will smell the air of refined taste in your presence.






Ingredient 4: 35% Old Spice.

Smells of Our Fathers could be a great memoir, but you won't have to read anything to know that Old Spice will circumvent any rational thoughts and go straight to those daddy issues we all have, good or bad. For the man, a little Old Spice will attract the woman who may not have gotten enough paternal attention and will therefore have lower self-esteem and a higher need for attention from you. For the woman a dash of the Spice will allow you to break down gender barriers and become your own authority figure. The resulting confidence will be the ultimate allure.


I hope to smell you all at a show soon!