I have spoken with Chantel, Tara, Wendy,Will, Pump,Travis, Kerry,Shannon, Rizzo, and Carlos Any other employees PLEASE CALL ME. THE CORPORATE NUMBER IS 845-534-2672. Please get in touch with me. We have all the bars waiting to help out.
I want to extend a thanks not only to my other bars and employees for helping with homes, food, work but I received the nicest letter from the Chicago bar. I will never forget the help our Coyote family has shown. I will always be in debt to everyone for helping my New Orleans crew out.
New Orleans Crew Please call. I need to know that you are alright!

Right now I have 5 staff members headed toward the Nashville bar. If you guys spread out to the various bars everyone will be fine. Please for all the New Orleans crew, I have arranged it so you guys have homes in San Antonio and Austin.
Call the bars and ask for Kelly or Marshall. My phone is getting text messagese but very few incoming calls . I'll make sure it's on for anyone who needs help!

I just spoke with Chantel. Thank god her , the girls, and the bouncers that weathered the hurricane at the bar are all fine. But she sounded very sad. She said that New Orleans may not have power for a month. I don't know if my house is alright. Chantel said she woud try and get to my house and save Spot Spike Yertle and Mac. I'm so upset that I didn't take them. I cant get in touch with my neighbors and I can't imagine they stayed.
It is a sad day for so many people and animals. I can't wait to get back home.
"Joe ( chantel's boyfriend) please try and get in touch with the bar. Chantel is very worried."

Very scarey thinking you are going to lose everything. Right now Jackson and I are in NY. But it was a long trip to get here.
Friday night I made a surprise visit to the Denver bar. Mike thought I was coming to fire him, so when I got there he hands me his keys. I said " What I can't come visit my own bar?" Needless to say he was happy that he wasn't getting fired.
So Saturday morning I flew back to New Orleans. When I landed I got a few messages from Jackson's dad that he had taken Jackson to Houston and they were headed to NY . So I land I get my car and I go home to secure my house , the guinea pigs and the turtles. At that point the next door neighbors were staying so they were going to watch all our pets. ( I'm scared they left and the guinea pigs are going to die. I think the turtles will live) So I get in my car and I drive 8 hours to Atlanta. It was 4 am by the time I arrived, I got 2 hours of sleep and caught a plane to Ny so i could get Jackson. Needless to say it has been a long few days.
Now I'm very worried about Chantel and some of the staff. They stayed at the building I own that houses the bar. In one sense I feel that the building is one of the safest places they could stay if they were to stay in the city. But part of me feels this overwhelming sense of responsibility. God forbid something happens to the building then they are all in danger. I spoke with Chantel a million times last night but today I can't get in touch with her. Supposedly it didn't hit New Orleans with the intensity that it was supposed to hit with. But I watched a CNN report and the pictures looked pretty bad. I just hope everyone's alright.I hope my house is alright. As I started this blog " It is very scarey thinking you may lose everything. "

I was supposed to fly to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow but I had to cancel my trip because of Tropical storm Katrina. Denver is doing very well. I'm so pleased. Nashville had a good night last night as well.
The age old question " Are transvestites allowed on the bar?" I received this question from Danielle ( denver am) yesterday. This has been a reoccurring question over the years. And there is never a black and white answer. The blanket rule is that no men are allowed on the bar. But I have fudged this rule in NY for some very very girl like transvestites. The NY transvestites that came in were hairdressers that happened to do Jacqui and my hair. They would dress to the nines and in fact I would go as far as to say some nights they looked better then the girls.
I think they have to look really great as girls to even consider it. Not an easy call.
So today was Jackson's first day at school. It was so cute, he had on his little french school uniform. I was actually misty eyed dropping him off for his first day at Kindergarden. So something has changed at his school. Last year, I would show up with Jackson in my sweats no makeup etc, most of the moms looked exactly the same way. Today there was a slew of gorgeous french moms, skinny, completely made up, gorgeous. I said to Jacqui " oh great now I have to dress up to drop Jackson off at school? What is this a fashion show?" ( all in humor)
One of the mothers came up and introduced herself to me ( american mom). She said at first she was a bit concerned because our kids' teacher had a nose ring and a tattoo, but after watching her last year she realizd what a good teacher she is. I thought it was funny that she spoke so candidly to me considering I have 4 tattoos .
My little boy is growing up!

Yesterday one of my Nashville girls, Sammy Joe, got in a very bad car accident. Jeff Myers told me that she will be alright but she is very banged up. My prayers go out to her for a speedy recovery. Sammy Joe is a sports fanatic. So I appeal to her to hurry up and get well so she doesn't miss football season.
So for all the bars I have to get my fingerprints taken. All the state liquor licenses require this. I have come to hate this process . It is a similar feeling as going to the DMV. Yesterday I had to get my fingerprints done for the Lauderdale license. Well I couldn't of picked a worse week. Teachers and nurses were lined up to get this done as well. ( I didn't know they were required to get fingerprinted) Monday, I actually left because the line was so long I knew it would be hours before my turn. Yesterday I went and there was virtually no line. There were only 4 people in the waiting room. The intersting part was that it still took 45 minutes before my name was called. With all this technology you would think they could access my prints from my other 6 liquor licenses?
A big thanks to the Denver bar. Every other bar I own is having a horrible week. It's refreshing looking at the Denver numbers after seeing the crap everyone else is doing. I can't wait until labor day is over!

A heart felt apology to all my co workers and my friends who must deal with me in this time of pms Craziness. My new assistant Lenee is working her butt off, I'm very pleased. Yesterday she told me that she knew of Chantel. I then asked Chantel about her. " You hired Crazy Lenee". That statement definitely concerned me. But after speaking to Lenee , who seems quite proud of that moniker, it seems that she is a hard worker and in her youth partied hard as well. " I know you are not supposed to pray for little things But God please let Lenee work out!"
Jackson's baby sitter brought him home two turtles. She shows up in this little plastic bowl with water and the turtles. I call up Shannon ( bouncer at NO Bar his degree is in bioloogy specializing in aquatic animals) to ask how to care for them. Well it seems that even small turtles need a big space, heating rock, special food etc. Well since it is so hot down here, Jackson and I set up a kiddie pool . We bought rocks and fake plants. And we made them a wonderful ooutside aquarium. Well the woman at petco tells me I should try and feed them natural products. I agreed. She goes into the back of the store and comes back to hand me 10 live crickets. I said to her " You're kidding me." Well long story short, she was not kidding. I get home and I approach Jackson and Rosa, " Jackson Ilove you very much but I will never ever ever put my hand in this bag and grab a bug to feed the turtles. They are your turtles and you and Rosa have to feed them." Well Rosa grabs the bag , Jackson and I watch from an appropriately safe distance, she sticks her hand in and grabs two crickets." Jackson and I screetched for her. In her spanish tongue she said " no tengo meido" ( can't spell in spanish either). People are so funny. She is so scared of everything else but she did not have an ounce of fear touching those bugs. Go figure.

I have hired someone to train with me this week as my personal assistant. I really hope it works out. She definitely got thrown in. Candice really left us in the weeds by not finishing her projects. Candice even forgot to book my trip and didn't notify me until a few hours before I thought my flight was leaving. She's having a hard time in life and for that I feel for her but I wish she hadn't left us so high and dry. She really fucked up. This new girl has been here a total of 2 hours and Lee already has her doing a million things.
I'm crossing my fingers

Yesterday was the " Margarita Pour Off" in San Antonio. I wonder how we did?
Marshall was telling me about the damage that has been taking place in the Austin bathrooms. We are a few weeks from renovating them and Marshall said he thinks this is fueling the increase in vandalism. I just don't get it. When you're drinking, the bathroom is your best friend. He told me that last week, some guy, did horrific damage to the bathroom. He said when Daniel called him, he was expecting to come in to find some stupid kid. He said he was shocked to see a grown business man had created such a mess. Supposedly the stressor for this guy was that in the bathroom there was an advertisement. On this advertisement there was a picture of a woman whom looked like his ex-wife. So fhe had to do it People are so fucked up! I hope that burst of anger felt good because Marshall and Daniel had him arrested. He can take his anger out in jail.
That's it folks

There are only two bars I haven't heard from this morning, NY and New Orleans but all the other bars did horribly last night. Those last few weeks before labor day are just disasterous. I'm hoping my two smallest bars bring in some good numbers. ( Knock on wood, cross my fingers) But Ny is doing very well. I'm very pleased. I wish Vina would take back Monday nights, she was a steady and Mondays are definitely down. But other then Monday, the bar has been doing phenomenally well.
I heard a story yesterday. One of the New Orleans bouncer's girlfriend came in the bar a couple of nights ago. She went to the assistant manager and was badmouthing the staff and the bar. ( she was drunk and annoying) Her main gripe was that " we can't keep girls". That seems so funny to me considering Tara and Chantel have been there 3 1/2 years, since we opened. Andrea and Wendy have been there 2 years. Ashley and jennifer have been there over 1 year. We only have a staff of around 13 girls in New Orleans. The other girls are relatively new but they replaced a few girls who had moved to other parts of the country and then a few girls who were in school just passing through New Orleans. I think that is a pretty good track record.
It is interesting to me when people who don't know the bar business comment. Right now in New Orleans we have a lot of new girls. I think this is a positive thing. It breathes some fresh air into the bar. Once the girls are there a couple of months and get more comfortable with being a Coyote, they will be great. There are two new girls I am watching because I'm hoping they will rise to the next level and be great Coyotes ( maybe even traveling Coyotes). It's a game of patience. Being a good saleperson aand performer takes time. The old girls will carry the bar through until the new girls step it up.
This goes out to the bouncer's girlfriend; In the immortal words of All Goldstien from "Midnight Blue", FUCK YOU. Wendy don't worry, I've got your back.

I'm actually laughing at how unorganized my office has gotten. I have so much mail that it is covering a third of the floor in my office. I wish I could be injected with that gene that helps you put things back where they belong. In theory the " make a to do list" is great but I can't seem to keep myself on track. Today I took on a small project that Candice was working on. I'm very happy with myself. I was able to lessen the corporate phone bills by $300 a month. I figure it will take me a few weeks to go through everything extra that she was doing. Unfortunately, by taking on her old job, I'm going to be slacking on my actual work. I have two leads for personal assistants, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
My house. I am in the process of painting my house. As per everything I do , I have become obsessed with this. I have walked all over uptown, New Orleans looking at different color combinations. Body color, trim color, accent color. Jacob even designed me a computer graph showing my house that allowed me to change the colors of the body, trim, accents etc. Unfortuantely with the computer, the color never matches real life, especially when you factor in sunlight. I decided to paint the house white. But the shutter color is plagueing me. Everyone with a white house goes for the traditional black shutter, sometimes dark green. I do not want to do that. I wanted a more warm weather feel to the house so I have been choosing from a few teal colors. The guy thinks I'm nuts . I have looked at so many teals that I am completely confused. I may have already written about this, but it seems to be consuming a lot of my time and energy.
Back to work

I just read in the news that Eminem was admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and sleeping pill dependency. I can see how easily it would be to get dependent on sleeping pills. I myself take a melatonin every night before I go to bed. I can only imagine if a doctor perscribed a pill for me to sleep that I would have to take it everynight. Not being able to sleep really takes a toll on your body.
Yesterday I made Jackson lie and I feel guilty about it. We were flying in from San Diego and you can board early if you have a disability or are flying with a child under 4. I was on Southwest airlines. On Southwest there are no assigned seating. You get a letter on your boarding card, A, B, or C. Well we were C. so we would of boarded last and risked not sitting together. So I told him to tell the stewardess that he was 4 so we could get on early and find descent seats. Now if it was just me, no big deal, I'm already going to hell, what's another little lie. But I feel like Jackson is so good that I just tainted him a bit. But we got great seats, so it worked out.
All the bars sucked last night except for Denver. I hate the end of summer all the numbers are down. Weather forecast for New Orleans: 100 degrees with 100% humidity. Another great day in the big Easy.
I have to hire an assistant today, things are starting to pile up.

I've been getting quite a few resumes for my personal assistant job that is available. I would like to qualify that I would perfer a local New Orleans resident for this job. Thanks everyone but it's just not a busy enough job to relocate someone.
Sammy Jo one of the Coyotes from Nashville just reminded me to keep my chin up because it's almost Football season. She's absolutly right!!
I wish I was more organized. I've heard there are courses in this. My need for a personal assistant would greatly diminish if I was. One of my friends was laughing because the thought of how disorganized my office will be in the next few weeks. This seemed very amusing to them. I KNOW! But I lived most of my life without an assistant, I'll manage for a while.
Hopefully, it will be a short while.

I have traveled around the world. I have stayed in all different hotels , some incredibly gorgeous and comfortable , some incredibly scary and roach infested. What is a common thread between all of them is the shampoo. Hotels now market all different shampoos in their guest kits. Some are Eucalyptus, some are lemon, and some are ginger but they all have one thing in common. They don't clean your hair. You can use the whole bottle of these various shampoos and your hair always feels dirty.
I've got nothing good today and I'm tired of bitching.

I woke up today and I swear the hand of God or something , has touched me. 1. I got a call this morning and it appears Jackson's school saw things my way and switched him to the other class. 2. I see a light at the end of the tunnel with some nashville paperwork. 3. The Austin bar is the number 1 account on 6th St. according to the TABC 4. Chantel called me with good news for a change 5. I bought an i pod and I am listening to the cheesiest 70's music ( right now I'm listening to Earth Wind and fire). and 6. I LOST TWO POUNDS.

Lee said something very funny yesterday. ( he is in Calagary scouting for us) He said " well I didn't ride a hundred miles for charity but I did walk 50 blocks and told the bums to go get jobs. That's my good deed for the day"

By the way, yesterday I did not include the topper of my horrendous day, Candice gave her 2 week notice. To be perfectly honest , I almost had to laugh because it was just a perfect end to a disasterous day.
To Candice, "I wish you the best of luck. I hope all your new endeavors work out for you." For everyone else, I need a personal assistant. I'll be accepting resume's so feel free to send them to the website.

I am trying to calm down. I am going to have a coronary today. The Nashville bar is killing me! I am having my house painted so outside every window someone is sanding and I have no privacy. Right now as I'm writing this there is a guy outside my window. New Orleans is having a horrible week. I had to pay some ridiculous water bill in NY to the fucking heinous landlord. And now what has pushed me to the point of explosion is that Jackson got assigned the new teacher for kindergarden. I specifically requested the other teacher. I know why he didn't get the other teacher because I do not join every fucking committee or hang out at school all day volunteering for things. I love my son. I go to all his events. I chaperone field trips. But I am not the PTA mom type. Every week they have another event or committee. Chairmen for clean up day, chairman for festival week, chairman for chairing!! I am about to blow up! I am so angry!

I'm very proud of Kevin B. We are sponsoring him to ride a century race ( 100 miles on bicycle). The charity he is racing for is "The Leukemia Soceity". He also joined a program called " Team in Training". From what I understand this program is like a support group for non professionals who are training . It also helps you raise money for your charity . I'll learn more about it, he just sent me an e-mail saying he joined me up. I don't even own a bicycle. Well I'll speak more about it after I go to a meeting. Shit, I walk and do yoga. I have no other athletic qualities. I hope the old adage is correct " It's like riding a bicycle. You never forget".
Knock on wood the bars are doing well this week.

I just read the website. There are walking races too. Thank god.

On a positive note. I have been getting loads of really nice e-mails about Panama City. This bar is a franchise so I don't know all the girls personally, but I'm really proud of you guys. Good Job. Today I received a really complimentary letter about Nashville. Again good job! That makes me really happy.
Bad note: Cancun deal callapsed. "Dead as a door knob". This is the fucking third space we have tried to negotiate. I told everyone in the company that I was going to stand my ground against the landlord and it just didn't work out. I'm disaapoointed because this was an incredible location. But I feel that I was right to hold my ground and I would rather lose the space then sign a bad deal.
When it rains it pours , and it has poured this week.
I just spoke to Jacqui a few minutes ago and she said that her week is going badly as well so her phrase for the day is " Go Fuck Yourself". She said that it has made her feel a lot better. It's the little things in life.

The controversy: The " Original Coyotes" feel upset because the new girls don't have the kind of intensive training that they were given. As I always say " That's life ." These bars need to run and that means hiring new people. They still get training but they don't get the 10 hour a day dance rehearsals. That just isn't realistic.
Mike ( Denver), Jeff and I were talking about the Denver girls being upset when a new girl gets put on Friday or Saturday night. The girls don't think like managers. When we put a new girl on Friday or Saturday night it's because that girl has extensive bartending and we need a strong bartender on. The girls then complain that the new girls don't know all the dances. All I can say to that is that these are real bars and bartending comes first. We put a lot of time and effort into making the girls into performers and bartenders. The professional bartenders are expected to show up for dance rehearsals , the non bartenders are expected to learn how to bartend. Each bar has a dance captain who throws dance rehearsals and her goal is to get the bartenders to be dancers. What bothers me is that the nonbartenders think they can be mediocre bartenders and get away with it. NO YOU CAN'T. I'm very pleased with how seriously the dance captains take their jobs. Now I need the assistant managers and head bartenders to start getting the performers to a higher level of bartending. It is unacceptable for some of the non bartenders to never progress as solid bartenders. Coyote Ugly is a bar first and foremost. That's all I have to say about that!
On another note. Denver had a staff meeting yesterday and I have heard that it went really well. Jeff Myers told me how proud he was of the whole staff. That really warms my heart. Excellent!

Peter Jennings died today. When I was 19 years old, I dated a camera man who worked on the abc news show. I actually went to the studio and met Mr. Jennings once. What I remember most is the absolute blind respect his staff had for him. From his fellow broadcasters, camara people, to the guy running coffee, they all spoke about him with such pride and honor. He was a man dedicated to his field and excelled at it over over 20 years. Rest in peace.
Saturday night one of the New Orleans girls didn't show up for her shift. That so pisses me off. I went down to the bar to check things out and Chantel had asked a new girl to fill in. As we are watching her, Chantel and I look at each other and say " she's on something". Your tongue just doesn't move that way without chemical help. So unfortunately we lost two girls this weekend. I heard some rumor from a girl who had quit that she was bitching about how Chantel and Wendy are backstabbers because they don't let you finish out your two weeks if you leave notice. NEWSFLASH: this is a cash business very few people are allowed to stay for their notice in any bar or restaurant, not just Coyote, that is common practice. We do allow a long time girl who is moving on with her life to finish her two weeks. We even throw her a party. But for those who don't care about the bar and are just passing through, no they don't get to finish their two weeks. And no they don't get a party.
What is sad is there are so many great girls at all the various Coyotes but it is always the troublemakers that I talk about.. Today I am going to ask all the GM's to make sure they compliment the hard workers, I want them to know how much we appreciate what they do for the bars and how hard they work.
Happy Birthday Chantel!

The good news: Congrats to the Atlanta Coyote. Tomorrow will be their 3 year anniversary!!!!
The bad news: As some of you have already heard the Boston Coyote Ugly closed down this past weekend. It was a very sad day for many of the regulars and the long time Coyotes. I've been receiving many e-mails asking why? So here goes:
The Boston Coyote was a licensed ( franchised) bar. Many things have transpired during there short lifespan. The city of Boston was very strict with their rules and regulations which hurt the bar ( no dancing on the bar, no bodyshots etc). This made it very difficult to really create the Coyote Ugly Product there. The second thing that really hurt the bar was the owners. They didn't pay bills and kept getting fines. They dug a hole the bar could not get out of.
I want to send a message to the girls. "Thank you for being a part of Coyote Ugly. I'm sorry that I did not have a good relationship with the owners , therefor did not spend time helping you. I have had hundreds of letters complimenting you girls and it makes me proud that you had so many loyal patrons. I am currently trying to find a space and reopen in Boston as one of my own Coyotes. Come down and talk to me when we finally get there. Again thanks !"

I'm on my 6th day without coffee. I feel pretty good. Again Starbucks has made it possible for me to keep my morning ritual by making the "almost good" green tea frappiccino. I was very pleased with Nashville's numbers last night. Nashville has a few new girls and as I always say, I think they are breathing new life into the bar.
I met with Daniel from Austin last night in New Orleans. I am going on record to say that Friday night Katie did an excellent job but she did complain about her period and likes to gross Daniel out by threatening tampon removal. Enough said.
I walked in the New Orleans bar yesterday afternoon and the bar was so hot. The AC went down. Thank god " Sic Boy" and comrads (our resident AC guys)came and fixed it. What a relief . It is fucking hot here!
I just donated to a cause called "Action Against Hunger". I hope my son never knows how it feels to be truly hungry. The poverty around the globe is staggering and I felt that I should do my part and help give someone fresh water and a solid meal. I think it does more for me to donate to these causes then it does for them. I think today will be a good day.

It's interesting because when everything is going well and the lines of communication are up and running well, we really are a well oiled machine. Just recently in two seperate instances I have had to correct 2 different managers. " You may live there and we may in theory call it "your bar" because of that. But be very clear, that bar you are working at is "MY BAR" and not yours." I hate pulling that card but I sometimes egos and youth can cloud people's judgement.
What a week.

All the bars did very well on Saturday. Kaui from Denver got kicked off the " Making the Band" show. I'm very sorry for her but I'm pleased that she started back at the bar this past weekend.
Jackson and I made a volcano and mixed vinegar and baking soda to create lava. It was definitely very cathartic. He has a great idea. He wants to create a bigger area put all his dinosaur pieces out and then erupt the volcano so that it covers the dinosaurs like it probably did in real life. For whatever reason this project seems quite fun to me.