So I was sitting in my aisle seat on my way back from my buddy’s bachelor party (you can imagine my state…), and thanks to “The Office” replays above my head, unsuccessfully attempting to read.

Upon landing, I heard a voice to my right say, “Excuse me, are you Tristan?”

Immediately, I perked up. Confidence rushed to the surface. Morale bloomed with vitality. Finally! A fan who doesn’t share my last name! In fact, I don’t even know this person. My music is spreading far and wide, reaching the masses. Even the children of the masses!  It will be filed in the Library of Congress, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, played at every Presidential Inauguration for the next twenty years!

“You went to Sanderson High School, right?”

Alright, so maybe scratch the Hall of Fame…

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Hope all is right with everyone. It’s been a while since the last entry, which is thanks to my submergence into this next album (due in the Winter.) And how’s it going? What’s it sound like? What’s it even CALLED?

I don’t know if you got a chance to read this article. It’s a review of mine written by a friend who works at MTV.  Now, Purple has received a lot (seriously, a lot) of reviews. I’m very proud of what a lot of people have written about my work. It’s nice to know that there are folks out there who like the music. But it’s even more rewarding to hear knowledgeable opinions on my heart and soul. My friend at MTV is one of those ‘knowledgeable opinions.’

I read a lot about how much ‘potential’ I have. Thank you. I also read a lot of words that looked like ‘Anthony Kiedis,’ or ‘Jeff Buckley.’ I’ve said this before (even in interviews, I think), I take being compared to those two guys as a great compliment. But my friend wrote particularly one sentence that really resonated…

“Tristan hasn’t mastered Tristan yet.”

So I can’t tell you what it’s going to be called yet. I can’t tell you who will produce it. I can’t even tell you when it will be finished.

But I can tell you what it sounds like…

Me

Man, I was like a little girl the other night in Raleigh.

Determined to see my new favorite band, the Arctic Monkeys for the third time on their 2010 tour of America, I made a lightning quick trip to NC and caught the show with some good friends.  It was the best of the three (the other two being in Boston with Rich and in Miami) and because after the show we took our time leaving, we noticed that the road crew were almost finished loading the gear. So I begged my buddies Chase (whom you already may know) and Tom (whom I think you’d love to know), to stay and meet the band.  They obliged like any great friends would, knowing full well that I have quite a thing for this band.

Well…forty-five minutes later, once all the cars and vans were packed and some of the crowd had been dissuaded, the guys stumbled out and all of a sudden, it felt like my knees turned to jelly and I had mouthwash in my blood.  For whatever reason, I don’t get starstruck often but man was I nervous when I saw Matt Helders. Probably the greatest 23-year-old drummer that I’d ever heard of, – labeled by the UK press as the best drummer of our generation – actually turned out to be a nice guy despite seeming extremely tired (at least I think that’s what he was feeling…) I politely bombarded him with four or five questions in two minutes (though I might’ve sacrificed a limb for ten more) and had a picture together.

Then Alex came by and muttered a few words.  Seemed very nice but also very out of it. He had someone directing his attention to people waiting. Chase got a wave from Alex’s famous supermodel girlfriend Alexa Chung and then some douche ruined our picture with him.  Still didn’t spoil a fantastic evening.

We had a lot of fun playing at the recent tennis tournament here in Miami. Among the highlights, a young up-and-coming journalist named Thomas Hardy from the local station coming by to ask the group some questions after their performance…

Tristan and the guys had met Hardy once before….

What a week.  We got back from Texas after a 21-hour drive straight through the day and night. The next few days we played catchup and rehearsed for the first of two Sony Ericsson Open gigs.

The first leg went very well (You can read the full report here.) The second is on Saturday just before the Ladies’ Final but on Tuesday, Chase and I and a few friends played basketball at UM and I broke and dislocated my right index finger on a freak play.  I think its safe to say, my secret dream of being an NBAer are over. But the show must go on!

Plus it doesn’t stop me from grilling!

Ya only need one hand to hold a tong...