Wednesday, May 18

9:15 pm
My Room

Getting ready to hit Beale Street with the Boys.  Gonna find a dark corner and listen to some Blues.  That's what you gotta do when you're in Memphis.

Busy day today; phoners and press and some Foundation stuff and a conference call with the Solutions people.  Finally hopped the plane to Memphis mid-afternoon, got in just in time for dinner.  Said hello to the Peabody Ducks as we came in, ha ha.

Had a wonderful dinner out tonight with X and his friends and family.  They are such great, genuine people, just as I'd expect from knowing Phil.  He's pretty down-to-earth as Rock-n-Roll Rebels go, ha ha.

His Mom is just a Doll.  Couldn't help turning on the charm for her.  She was so cute to watch at the Houston show last night.  So proud of her Boy.  As she should be.

Gotta admit, as much as I miss Richie and am looking forward to his return, I'm gonna hate to see X go.  He's brought a different kind of energy to the show, a little spark we all needed.  We were down and tired and road-weary, and he's kept us up.  And he's completely won over the fans, which is great.  I was a little worried about that -- our die-hards can be pretty tough.  But he had 'em eating out of the palm of his guitar- playin' hand by the third show.

He's completely charmed the Hell out of my Wife, too.  I think she has a little crush on Mr. X, she was pretty silly and giggly when she hung out with him back at Nassau and Mohegan.  Cate's always had a thing for long-haired guitarists. Shoulda known I was in trouble when she said he looked like a "Baby Slash," ha ha.

But somehow I don't think I have anything to worry about.

I'm a little in love too, with a beautiful dark-haired, doe-eyed little thing named Susannah.  She had me wrapped around her finger in about two seconds flat.  X has a buddy who works for Gibson guitars here in Memphis; he and his family came out to meet us for dinner.  He has a gorgeous 9-month-old daughter.  I just couldn't stop watching her.  We weren't even halfway through the appetizer before Little Suzy Q was on my lap.  Couldn't resist holding her.

It felt so damned good to have a baby on my lap again.  I miss my kids being little.  God, it's gonna be great to have another little one to bounce on my knee.

I must have been grinning ear-to-ear all night.  Matt caught my eye and just gave me a little nod and a smirk; he knew exactly what was in my head.  Yeah, Bro... you get to be the Godfather.  Even if it didn't happen in Columbus, ha ha.

He snapped a pic of me and sent it to Cate with a note about me being all mushy and gushy over "some girl," ha ha.  She loved it, sent me a text telling me how cute I looked.  And that I look even sexier in Daddy Mode than I do up on stage or strutting around the house bare-assed naked.

Betcha the leather lace-ups and bandana still top Cate's "sexy" list though, ha ha.

So after dinner we came back to the hotel and dropped off Momma X and part of the clan.  The Girls are staying in, just us Boys on the Town tonight.  Gonna be fun.  And I'm reasonably sure I'll keep my ass out of trouble tonight since Sambora ain't here to lead me into Temptation, ha ha.  The Wife will be glad for that.

The Night is Young, Boys.... time to find that Honky-Tonk Bar down on Beale that Mr. "Tony" Bryan wrote all about in that little ol' play of his....