As long as Niagara Falls...

Haaaaaaaaa!!! Anybody remember THAT song? Oh yeah, Chicago 18... a young pup gets plucked out of obscurity and gets the opportunity of a lifetime replacing one of the all time greatest singers on the planet, Peter Cetera, on their follow up album of Chicago 17, their biggest seller to date! Thank GOD I was young and stupid enough not to know better and think, "Why not? Why SHOULDN'T it be me?" haaaaaaaaaa

One of the tunes that was submitted was a song by Bobby Caldwell and Steve Kipner called "Niagara Falls". Bobby and I were inseparable back then. We spent every waking moment together it seemed. We wrote a boatload of songs, "Heart Of Mine" by Boz Scaggs being the one that did the best out of all of them, well, until a few years later we'd co-write "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?" for Chicago... but anyway, we went in to cut Chicago 18 IMMEDIATELY upon my joining the band and I'm sure glad it was in that order... record, THEN go on the road! I was much more comfortable in the studio than having to go right out into the frenzied crowds on the heels of Chicago 17. Once again, thank you for letting me try this at an age where I didn't know any better.

Well actually, when you think about it I still knew pretty much EVERYTHING at that point, right? The peak is really 16 years old... By then you've gained ALL the knowledge there is and nobody else has. Even your best friends that are your age, they can come close but you STILL know more than they do! And then the learning curve starts to go downward but at a VERY slow rate. So by the time I was a ripe old 23 years old when I got the Chicago gig I was still pretty much a ROADS scholar with an *imagined* IQ of somewhere in the high 100's! HAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT an IDIOT!!!! But weren't most of us. And there's still plenty of that idiot left in me... I'm just gently settling more into the reality that if I live the life expectancy of male humans at this point, I'm about halfway there. I don't have all the scores to settle any longer. The competition is waning. It's actually much more personal these days. The competition is within myself. I'm so excited to see how good I can be so I'm giving myself the best chance of finding out.

I'm learning, constantly... I surround myself with winners, not that all my friends are... we all need help and I love dealing with all walks of life. But I gravitate to those that have what I want. Peace, health, giving, sobriety...

What does this have to do with Niagara Falls? Probably not much but I'm headed there right now and I'm on the back of the bus and I'm inspired. Some say I talk to much but TOO BAD!!! You came here so you have to put up with me! HAAAAAAAAA

We did an A&E special today in NYC called "Private Sessions". It went great. We played 5 songs and did an interview. I'll tell you what... it was nice to hear from our management that all my hard work on fitness is paying off. He told me the special looked great inside the room where they were looking at the monitors and said he really appreciated all the work I've put into myself. Funny thing is that in the old days I'd get myself in that kind of shape by doing all kinds of crash diets, over exercise, all that stuff but this time it's different. I did it to reverse the direction my health was headed. I was in bad shape folks. Was I in the hospital with something severe? No, not yet but it was getting worse. It was time to do something about it, so I did. I really want to thank you people for putting up with my ranting and raving about the fitness thing. It's part of what I needed to do and now who I am. I've self appointed myself to be a spokesperson for the movement to help reverse the trend of obesity in this country. One of the main reasons I've put myself in that position is because it KEEPS ME ON TRACK. I'll do whatever I have to do to protect it at this point. That's why I show up every day. It's just like getting sober 23 years ago... I remind myself every day where I came from and I'm here for anybody who wants it themselves.

Yeah, gone are the days where I whip myself into shape for a television appearance. It's so funny how in those days it was always an empty feeling. If anybody's ever embarked upon a fitness goal and achieved it only to find it was ultimately empty... that's kind of how I used to feel. Not today though. I walked on stage today and felt great, for all the right reasons. I hope it turned out as great as it felt today. It'll air on June 8th, I believe.

And until then I'll head up to Niagara Falls tonight and see some good friends over the next couple days. Some who are in need of comfort right now and I'm grateful I can show up. Suit up and show up... that's our job in this life. Let's do it together...

Oh, one last thing... I still have yet to write about my AWESOME trip to Japan and I will. I'm going to organize my photos and get em up for you all but I'll leave you right now with something one of the Japanese fans said to me that was one of the greatest compliments I've had in a long time... He looked at me and took his hands and patted my chest and said, "Whoaaa, Jason! You are SHAPED!!!!" haaaaaaaaaaaaaa I LOVE THAT! I'm SHAPED!!!! haaaaaaaaaaa Talk to you soon good people... Jason