The Kids and the Chameleon

Okay, I wasn't going to blog today because it's my birthday and I'm a little down because Julie and Eric are currently on a plane for Nashville to start their tour, but I saw this newspaper article published today and wow, I'm suddenly smiling and not depressed at all because it's like the best birthday present ever.

ETA: But first, let me throw in these two links, because they are kind of unbelievable to me in that Julie and Eric really are getting all kinds of international attention.

From the Stewart Copeland Forum Board as concerns the Van Halen Reunion Tour with Wolfgang Van Halen replacing Michael Anthony on bass:

"I am actually willing to give Wolfgang a pass until I have a chance to actually hear him. Just because he's a teenager doesn't mean he's not really good (Julie and Eric Slick come to mind)..."

From the Metalheads of the /M/ Forum Board:

"Eric Slick is the most impressive drummer I've ever seen. Kid is Terry Bozzio reincarnate."

Wow. Proud parent moment there.

Okay, now to the article:

The Kids and the Chameleon
Adrian Belew Aims for "The Real Thing"
by Jason Bugg in Vol. 14 / Iss. 03 on 08/17/2007

While his name may not be familiar to the casual rock fan, the very mention of Adrian Belew's name to the shoulderbag-and-black-glasses-wearing members of the rock intellegensia will get you bombarded with phrases like "prog-rock legend," "Beatle-esque," "guitar god" or any number of lavish superlatives. This is the fate of the well-known sideman, the moderately successful solo artist and the reliable fill-in performer — relative anonymity to the normal fan, and legendary status to the obtusely devoted. For nearly 40 years, Belew has been a quietly influential musical chameleon.

Sideman to the stars: His name may not ring a bell, but Adrian Belew has made a career of adding his considerable skills to other people's music.

You've probably heard his work, for instance, during his many stints with prog-rock groups like King Crimson, or caught him working as a sideman for the likes of Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Paul Simon or The Talking Heads. And yet, even now, you might have a hard time placing his exact contribution.

"My style, if you want to call it that, is to have no particular style," Belew says in a phone interview with Xpress. "If someone asks me to be a part of their music, I can offer them five different types of ideas, and five different things to chose from. I think that's what has kept me viable through a few generations of music."

But as his 40th year in the business approaches, Belew isn't looking forward to gold watches and golf courses. Instead, he's touring the country with two musicians half his age under the Adrian Belew Power Trio moniker. And he loves every minute of it.

"At this point, I could be playing with some jaded old guys, or I could be doing what I'm doing now, which is playing with two young kids that not only keep up with me, but inspire me to go further," Belew reflects.

He's referring to the brother and sister tandem of Eric and Julie Slick (on drums and bass, respectively), who joined up with Belew in 2006 to form the Power Trio. The siblings are graduates of the Philadelphia-based Paul Green School of Rock Music, an actual academy that teaches young people about rock 'n' roll.

At the ripe old ages of 20 and 21, the pair has been impressing audiences around the world with their virtuosity, but it's their youthful attitude that caught Belew's attention. They add a fresh set of ears to interpret his music, much of which was recorded before they were born.

"It's the best situation for me, because it's giving me this energy and revitalizing a lot of what I'm doing," notes Belew. Not surprisingly, he even speaks about the Slicks with a bit of playful envy. "[Eric and Julie] grew up on every kind of music. They know the Beatles almost as well as I do. They've played all of their lives, and played so intently that it's been the entire focus of their lives. They don't have driver's licenses. They still live with their parents."

Playing with musical savants seems to suit Belew well. In fact, playing with the siblings has cast Belew in a different role within the band, sometimes having to follow the lead of his band mates, whose musical connection borders on supernatural.

"There is a kind of chemistry between them that is unique, and I think that it's something that siblings have," he says. "I can see them on stage, and they will look at each other in a certain way, and it's like they are reading each other's minds. Sometimes, they are inventing it on the spot."

But The Adrian Belew Power Trio isn't just about who can play the fastest and the most precise—it's about the music. And Belew says that's where the focus should always be.

"[People] want the real thing, and when they see it and recognize it, they say, 'Wow, that's what I've really been missing.' "

[Jason Bugg is a freelance writer based in Asheville.]

The Adrian Belew Power Trio plays Stella Blue (31 Patton Ave.) on Sunday, Aug. 19. 7 p.m. 236-2424.

********

And now I think I will go eat some cake for breakfast.

Later,
xo

All kinds of, um, swell stuff...

Okay, how do I top Monday's post?

Face it, I can't. Deal with it. Oh alright. Back by popular demand, and I cannot believe how many emails I got on the subject, here is one more shot of the lovely Dr. Dot.



Now try not to get too excited about this, but the good doctor and I have been corresponding and I may be enlisting her for a very special project and she in turn may be enlisting Eric for an even more special project and that's all I'm saying on the subject for now. Stay tuned? Hahahaha - this is the one time I'm pretty sure you will.

So anyway, I have all kinds of cool links today. Zappanale, the upcoming Belew tour, and Eric's plans for this evening. Wait. Let's get that out of the way first.



Rick Slick? Ha ha - do they think it's this guy? Too, too funny. Yo, Court Tavern! Fix that, will you?

All kidding aside, this is going to be an awesome show...you can read all about it on the Ween Forum Board. It's the third item down, and sob..you also get to see a photo of Eric before he cut his hair.

(I'm with you, Daryl)

So a bunch more blurbs about Zappanale are starting to pop up, with the star of the show being the annual review of the event brought to us each year by the Idiot Bastard's Diary, which says, in part:

"I’m looking forward to Project Object; it’s obvious to everyone, they should be headlining tonight. They open with a cracking Big Swifty and just steam through a hastily-revised-in-the-absence-of-Ike set. All wonderful musicians, with the added bonus of both Napi and Don. And how marvellous to see Dr Dot play the part of Mary during Wet T-Shirt Nite. She sounds just right. PO: all great musicians, but it’s young Eric Slick who stands out. The big debate backstage is: was he awesome, or merely phenomenal?"

Pete Brunelli of Doot does a nice job on his blog as well, and here's a quote:

"Project/Object followed. In my humble opinion: The Ike no-show, combined with following the ultra-tight Godin/Moreglbl and Pianeta sets, and the huge amount of pride that P/O has in their work, all combined to set the stage for what I think is the best P/O set I have ever heard. Don Preston sitting in on keys was an amazing experience, no less so because Eric Svalgard was having keyboard issues so Don covered a LOT of ground.

The core rhythm section of Eric Slick, Dave Johnsen, Eric Svalgard and Andre Cholmondeley have been together for a few years now and it showed. Napoleon Murphy Brock fronted more songs that he had planned on, which really helped take the burden off of Andre... who was the only guitarist on stage, by the way. As if that weren't enough, Dr. Dot (1988 FZ tour masseuse and all around eye-popper) guested on Wet T-Shirt Night as Mary.. from the bus. When she got the pitcher of water across that white, ugly, man-kinda T-shirt.. well the place went OFF."

Ha ha - we know, we know.

Pete's blog also contains a lot more info, brilliant pics of Project Object, and many cool links, one of which is some commentary and awesome photos by Bazbo, who says:

"I’m very impressed by P/O. Andre is doing a terrific job, the young Eric Slick is very talented on drums and keyboard player Eric Svalgard sounds very fine."

Finally, the Zappateers have amazing commentary and photographs on their site - check out their forum and extraordinary photos.

Whew, that was a lot of linkage, eh? And if you click on most of them, woo hoo, you'll get to see even more great pics of Dr. Dot.

So yeah, Eric has that amazing show with Dave Dreiwitz tonight, then tomorrow morning Eric and Julie take off for Nashville to begin preparation for their week long southern tour which kicks off Sunday night, August 19, at Stella Blue, and how cool is this, one of the members of Adrian Belew's Yahoo Group, the fabulously talented Mike Inman, will be seeing the trio for the first time and is so excited that he created this poster for the event, which the trio will most definitely autograph for him:



Isn't that fantastic? Hey Mike! If you are reading this, print out an extra copy for me, will you? And I know, I know, I'm overly sentimental, but if you would get the trio to autograph my copy as well and then give it to Eric or Julie with instructions to return it to me as wrinkle free as possible, I will forever be indebted to you.

Ah, I love when the trio tours, because all kinds of cool newspaper articles start popping up, like this one from The Independent Weekly:

"AUGUST 15, 2007
Adrian Belew
Power sound

BY CHRIS PARKER

Adrian Belew was playing in a costumed cover band in Nashville when Frank Zappa discovered him in 1977. He'd never played odd time signatures and couldn't read music, but according to Belew, "[Zappa] wanted to be able to do some of the funnier music and wanted somebody there who wouldn't object to wearing a dress or a helmet or whatever it took."

Over the next four years, Belew would not only play with Zappa. He would also tour the world as David Bowie's sideman, collaborating with the Talking Heads and Robert Fripp along the way. The latter proved the partnership that would make him famous: In 1981, Belew joined Fripp in the reformed King Crimson. Belew began to forge his idiosyncratic guitar sound with their debut, Discipline.

"I was the first guy I ever knew with a guitar synthesizer, and Robert was the second," Belew says, laughing. "You had these two guys who could suddenly sound like trumpets and violins and things, which was totally strange. Then, in the air, there was a very adventurous kind of creativity that a lot of people [Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel] were exploring, especially with African rhythms and Balinese music."

Between periodic King Crimson and Bears albums, solo work and guest spots, Belew spawned two power trios of his own. He recently recorded two albums with Tool drummer Danny Carey and Primus bassist Les Claypool. He later discovered Eric and Julie Slick—20- and 21-year-old sibling graduates of Paul Green's School of Rock—to bring the music to life on stage.

"They're young, gifted and so focused," beams Belew of drummer Eric and bassist Julie. "They don't have any jadedness. They don't have any vices. They don't even have a driver's license yet. Because of that, their focus is so incredible and their energy level is what amazes me. The show is like electricity."

Adrian Belew plays with the Slick siblings as the Adrian Belew Power Trio at Cat's Cradle Tuesday, Aug. 21, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $18-$20. Saul Zonana opens."

Creative Loafing gives their "picks for the week's best shows" and they write:

"WED/22

ADRIAN BELEW The sometime-King Crimson guitarist and ace session guy behind Zappa, the Talking Heads and Laurie Anderson tours behind a trilogy of terrific interconnected albums, all released within about a year. They perfectly display his amazingly elastic guitar prowess combined with compositional skills that range from experimental to freewheeling. This "power trio" show will likely feature music from those discs, as well as incorporate nuggets from his extensive and always innovative career. $20. 7 p.m. Smiths Olde Bar".

Hey, here's the poster for the "Oh my god, three members of King Crimson on the same stage on the same date" event on September 15, 2007 in Washington:



Man, that is one event I am heartbroken to be missing, but Gary and I will be at our beach house on that date and while we talked about the possibility, there's just no way we can swing it. Sigh...

So I think that may be it for now. I hope that some of you can attend Eric's show tonight at The Court Tavern. I will not be there - tomorrow is my birthday and I'm starting the celebration early, even though it appears I'm spending the day alone with Julie and Eric headed to Nashville at dawn and Gary at work. Ugh, I have the television on in the background right now and they just announced today marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. Oh how well I remember. My alarm clock was always set to "radio" so the morning of my birthday, August 17, 1977, I woke up to the news that Elvis was dead. Even though I was a baby hippie back then who only loved musicians like The Who and other British rock bands, I was like "Nooo....not on my birthday...oh man..." Meanwhile, the same exact thing happened to Gary six years ago -- George Harrison died sometime during the night on his birthday as well and that one hit us both really hard, though I don't think anything outside of our immediate family will ever affect us like December 8, 1980.

Bleh. This getting older stuff really sucks but it sure beats the alternative.

Getting back to my birthday, ha ha - I know that this will impress you all but go click on my MySpace page where you will see I got a shout out from Dr. Dot which I know many of you will appreciate. Hey, she got Frank Zappa to return to the planet just for me!

Finally, in case I don't make it back here tomorrow and decide to either spend the day blissfully eating and reading and/or assuming the fetal position, as a special gift to me you can head over to Media Predict, register, and buy shares of stock with the $5,000.00 play money they give you.



The way it works is easy -- on the link I provided, once you register, and it's really easy to do that - you just have to give them an email address - something like this will appear on the page with a link for you to buy shares:

"Chances are higher than 84.08%"

"Chances are lower than 84.08%"

You want to click on "chances are higher" and that will give you the option to buy stock in my book. Don't spend the whole $5,000.00 at once. Someone who already bought shares at a lower price may use the new higher price to sell and earn a "profit". It's better to have my figures inch up slowly.

I so totally appreciate this - it would be the best birthday gift ever to be one of the five finalists though just having my proposal selected automatically made me a semi-finalist. If you have any questions as to how this works, you can email me directly or leave a comment here and I'll give you a hand.

It's easy, though. Trust me.

Later,
xo

The First Church of Appliantology

Eric Slick on drums with Project Object at Zappanale, performing a song from Frank Zappa's brilliant Joe's Garage, with the role of Mary (and click on link for full explanation) rather bustily...I mean...lustily...performed by our now good friend, Dr. Dot. In case you do not know this, the part of Mary was originally played by Dale Bozzio, who would later go on to form/sing with Missing Persons.

Okay, okay, I know you want more Zappanale photos...oh alright, I know you really want Dr. Dot so here you go. I like to make my readers happy.

You can all thank me later.



Ha ha - looks like bass player Dave Johnsen is having a good time at the First Church of Appliantology.



But maybe not as much as Eric Slick...



Eric hanging out with band mate Napoleon Murphy Brock:



Andre Cholmondeley and Napoleon:



Is this an actual poster of Eric? I want one! Or, I could be way off. I will have to ask him.



In other related news, I received a lovely email from the Idiot Bastard himself, Andrew Greenaway, who wrote:

"We chatted a fair while with young Eric over the last weekend; great kid - does yer credit, etc. As I was going over to compliment him on his playing after PO's set, I heard many shouting that he was awesome. Of course, I relayed this to him, as they were right, though my choice of word was "phenomenal". The whole weekend was a blast. You shoulda been there! I told Eric you'd asked me to keep an eye on him - which he bought!"

That's hilarious. I love Zappa fans and wish I could have been there but I know one thing - I can't wait for Andrew's yearly diary of the Zappanale Festival. Naturally I will post a link and probably cut and paste it here, too, as soon as he's got it finished.

So the craziness continues at Casa Slick - Thursday night Eric has a gig all the way past the New York City exit of the New Jersey Turnpike but it's with one of his favorite people in the world, Ween's bassist Dave Dreiwitz, and it'll be at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick. He probably won't get home until well after midnight, just in time to grab a couple hours of sleep, head to the airport at 6:00 a.m. and jump a plane with Julie to Nashville in preparation of Sunday's mini-tour of Atlanta, North Carolina, and Florida with Adrian Belew. On Saturday, August 18, 2007, Eric, Adrian and Julie will head over to Fork's Drum Closet for a special Paiste event, which is way cool since, as you probably already know from the billboards I've posted all over the internet, Paiste Cymbals endorse Eric. I had a look at Fork's Drum Closet's website - oh my God, Eric is going to be in freaking drum nerd heaven.

But that's if he even wants to leave Adrian's house, because there's a special present waiting for him there: Adrian bought him a Yamaha silver sparkle drumkit for touring and in light of the way Eric is in love with his Yamaha Anton Fig snare, it's going to be hard to get him to go anywhere I'm guessing.

But in theory, that's where the trio will be on Saturday, and then Sunday night is the first show on this leg of the tour, at Stella Blue in Ashville, North Carolina.

Here's an article about the trio's upcoming gig there.

I'm cranky because I cannot go, especially since I've heard amazing things about Asheville and also, it's my birthday. I'm doing someone I really like a favor and actually working full time in a law office that week and the next so that she can go on her first extended vacation in years. But I'm going to break it up by flying down to Florida the weekend of August 25 so that I can catch the trio's show in West Palm Beach at the State Theater (and I'll be posting links as the time gets nearer) and then reward myself by being groupie mom at the Mexico shows in September.

And then it will be time for our annual two weeks at the beach where I am mostly internet free...which, believe it or not, is one huge relief.

Oh well. That's it for now. I leave you with this:



Too, too funny.

Later,

Purr-fect (oy)

Ha ha - nice going, Eric. That's Eric Svalgard, keyboard player with Project Object at Zappanale. Who is that he's with?

Why, it's Dr. Dot.

And speaking of Project Object, yep, the Zappanale pics are trickling in, and I finally found one of Eric Slick on stage behind the drums:



And by the way, Dr. Dot and my son Eric (I feel I must now clarify between Erics in light of the above photo) are actually pretty good friends and hung out together for a bit at Zappanale.

I'm so proud of him.

No really, I am.

And lest you think my son roughed it in Bad Doberan, Germany, well, at times he did, and the stories are hilarious but he will murder me if I spill so you'll just have to settle for a nice pretty tourist pic of the beach/Baltic Sea, which Eric was finally able to visit after four years at Zappanale - this is the first time he performed where he actually had r&r after the show.


If you didn't click on that Dr. Dot link when I posted it above and a couple of days ago, by all means, give yourself a treat. Here. I will make it easy for you and post it yet a third time. I myself am now hopelessly addicted. Even her MySpace buddies are way cool. You won't find any sparkley kitty Have A Purr-fect Day idiocy in her comments section, which, truth to tell, is one of the reasons I have a MySpace site but never use it. But I'm begging you all, if you do stop by, for the love of God, no glitter or smiley rodents wearing sunglasses...arghhh....

Hey, as a follow up to my post of yesterday, Neil Gaiman's Stardust is still page one (though I've slipped to page two...do you think it's because he's a tad more famous than I?) over at Media Predict. And we are both doing very, very well.

So once again, please register, buy shares, and influence the world. Here's the direct link to me and here's the direct link to Neil.

I'm pretty psyched about this. It bodes well for my book. Oh, and for Stardust. Ha ha - as if Stardust needs help. But I'm still completely freaked that it's not being shown anywhere in Philadelphia on Friday. What a travesty! I would have gone, I swear. I know what it means to be in the theater that opening night...I remember how we waited to hear the numbers for Rock School on a Friday at midnight and how I had no idea of the importance of the opening night figures. Oh well. You can catch Julie and Eric in Rock School on DVD and the A&E network...bottom line is, they are doing more than alright and the movie was just the beginning.

In other news, life as I know it has returned.

I arrived home late yesterday, went to check on the air conditioning in Julie's room to make sure it would be cool enough for Her Highness, and failed to notice the open, empty suitcase on the floor right at the threshold of her doorway. Ah, I must have been a lovely sight, flying through mid-air, heart in mouth, like a human cannonball headed for her window. I broke my fall with both wrists somehow crashing into the wall, twisting my back, both ankles, and falling onto her bed. I did have my cell phone in my pocket and for an irrational moment considered dialing 911, but I ended up laughing all sprawled out there for a few minutes just to be sure nothing was shattered and I wasn't having a heart attack (is there anything worse than knowing that you are going to fall? Ha ha - maybe knowing that you are going to fail)...but oh how I hate pain and this morning I could barely step into my jeans without agony.

Naturally I had to go out today. So I'm taking Advil, cursing myself for not joining a gym years ago so I would have nice limber bones, and thinking about how I'm always the one injured -- always the person who found that stray Lego with her bare feet while making a bathroom trip in the middle of the night; always the one whose same foot found that missing thumb tack that fell from a poster on a wall and no one noticed; and yeah, yeah, the person who still has a lump on her forehead decades after running full force into a huge pole while running to catch a train.

What can you do. Some of us just have a knack, you know?

Later,
xo

Ha ha - Slick and Gaiman together again

Real quick because I'm swamped with work, but if you go right here to Media Predict, my new novel, Daddy Left Me Alone with God, is right next to Neil Gaiman's Stardust on the front page of a most interesting website...I can't describe it, you have to see for yourself.

But in any event, please register and do whatever it is you have to do to see that Neil and I score big.

Here's the direct link to me and here's the direct link to Neil.

ETA: There are no movie theaters within ten miles of Philadelphia showing Stardust on August 10. How is this possible? Here's proof. I'm gonna cry. Or go to New York.

Later,
xo

Lovely and cute

Eric and Julie Slick enjoying coffee (or is that tea) in Japan, July, 2007 and yeah, yeah, Eric is merely hamming it up for the camera. Trust me, that face is about to break out into a smile any second.

So how cool is this - both Julie and Eric received this email recently:

"Hi, Eric and Julie:

My name is Hiroyoshi, living in japan, call me Yo-Zo.

I'm "Calorie Mate"guy, do you remember?



Two weeks have passed in Japan since Power trio had already returned home. Your information was a little in Japan until Power trio came to Japan. What music what kind of trio must perform, and the band with what career?

I also moved from Toyama to Tokyo running after Power trio.

Even the Japanese doesn't go there is no chance because Toyama is a minor city.
It had a hard time only because I also went to Toyama. It was received by an unusual, huge typhoon for on the way and July toward Toyama. I'm worried whether because it was impossible that Power trio came to Toyama. I became uneasy while heading for Toyama by thinking. "Why am only I in Toyama for Power trio so as not to come??"

Fortunately, Power trio and I safely arrived at Toyama, and wonderful live was seen.

The people in Toyama were surprised , saying that "Such a great performance was seen in such minor city", too.

It performs almost only in Tokyo though a lot of musicians do the visit and performance to Japan. Doing the visit to Japan performance is a heroic deed in Toyama.

I who saw the stage in Toyama have been crying because of impression.

In my presence, seen Adrian performs even to the dream in Japan (Moreover, in Toyama).

After having tears, I saw two of the amazing skills in the stage.

It was Julie and Eric.

I was all surprised because Adrian introduced two people in the stage.

The reaction was such an appearance!

"21 years old and 20 years old? It is very young!"

"Are two people brother and sister? It is lovely and cute!!"

In Japan, young person who can be active by making it to 20 years old in the world is not or is extremely unusual.

Everyone had received the impact to a wonderful skill, the age had already had unrelated ability.

Dreamlike night was spent in Toyama, It this time encountered a huge earthquake in the morning toward the following Tokyo.

I think that it was indeed surprised at that earthquake also as for Power trio that travels the world. Though Japan had a lot of earthquakes, I also experienced the earthquake like that for the first time. Moreover, It is first time since my life double attack of the typhoon and earthquake!! Anyway, Power trio was no accident, I was safely relieved.

There was an enthusiastic fan that had seen all stages for every six day in Tokyo, too.

Unfortunately, I was able to go by work's there only for three the latter half days.
It was a stage by which fresh discoveries were, got excited no matter how it saw, and it impressed it.

I was heard that done to Meet&Greet friendly in Tokyo.

I noticed that I get the signature of Power trio from Adrian's "Desire Caught by the Tail". Because "Desire Caught by the Tail" was released in 1986.

Julie and Eric, 21 years old, and 20 years old...Is it almost the same age?

I thought that "Desire Caught by the Tail" become miracle bonds --ties to 2/3 Power trio and Adrian.

I am the only person in the world where this fact is noticed.

Fortunately, after 2nd stage of the fourth day had ended, the dream was achieved. Thank you Power trio, I'll go to see every stage on the fifth day and the sixth day!!

After you return home, Power trio is spoken of very highly by a lot of blogs in Japan. Especially, The marvel and the eulogy to the 2/3 Power trio -Slick brother and sister- attract attention.

Of course, everyone is comment to which the ability is evaluated, is enchanted to youth, the skill, looks, and the character of 2/3 Power trio.

Everyone expects Julie and Eric to come to Japan again.

Because it became long, this continuation will next time.

peace....

-----
Yo-Zo"
**************
Is it just me, or was that one of the sweetest fan letters ever?

Moving on, reviews and comments are starting to appear on various forum boards about Eric's recent gig at Zappanale.

I got a great comment on my blog yesterday from "Weasel" who says:

" I just returned from Zappanale. Just like last year Eric's drumming b(e)lew my mind.

Actually, in my opinion Project Object should have been the headliner.. It was the best Zappa-gig I've seen so far!! Seriously, even Dweezil can't top this show. Truly amazing.

I got to talk to Eric for a little while (even this blog got mentioned ;)), he's got a lot of stuff going on! I hope he'll attend Europe again soon (with PO, Belew or Keneally.. Can't really choose haha)

Cheers from the Netherlands
Jeroen"

Thanks, Jeroen!

From the Zappa forum board:

"...I have seen P/O 3 times over the past 6 or so years and each show was great to Fully Inspired. I definitely look forward to catching them on the upcoming tour...especially since Eric Slick is supposed to be in the band. Best drummer I've seen in years."
*****

"I can honestly say though, that Eric Slick is worlds beyond Glenn Leonard as a drummer. There's no comparison. I wouldn't call P/O "tight as catshit" but you have to consider that for ZPZ, they rehearse one set of songs in one configuration and play them the same way through every show, minus solos. Rehearsing the same set of songs for months on end in the same order and having the kind of budget to be able to make it your full time job (as ticket prices for ZPZ would indicate) then of course you're going to sound tighter. P/O's repertoire is far more vast and varies much more from night to night so that people who go to multiple shows on a tour aren't stuck with the same songs night after night."
*****

"I havent read the whole thread, but as bad as i feel saying it, gleneord was not fit for the gig. taking that into consideration i still went and have seen p/o maybe 10-15 times over the years. eric (or any other drummer for that matter) was needed to bring the band to the next level. these guys have a ton of heart, and basically lose money going out to do it, so i have a lot of respect for them..."
******
Regarding the Adrian Belew Power Trio gig in Seattle, Washington on September 15, 2007 with Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto, here's the official Press Release
*******
Finally, no sooner is Eric back in Philadelphia than the phone calls start. He's got a gig tomorrow with Cheers Elephant at the Race Street Cafe; speaking of Cheers Elephant, they have a gig this Friday night at John and Peters in New Hope, and since their bass player is Julie's boyfriend, Matt, we are all going to this show, but not Eric, who has a gig with Project Object's incredible bass player, Dave Johnsen at the Wired Cafe and Gallery...then of course the following week there's more insanity - Eric has a gig Thursday night at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey with Crescent Moon...and both Julie and Eric board a plane early Friday morning August 17 for Nashville to begin the August/September leg of the Adrian Belew Power Trio tour...that day happens to be my birthday but we're going to celebrate it Wednesday night August 15 -- assuming there are no more surprise gigs, if not, I will wait until I join the tour on August 25 in West Palm Beach to party it up.

Oh, I noticed a new show has been added - the trio will now be playing September 10, 2007 in Monterrey, Mexico at Teatro De La Ciudad. I am so there!

The hell with celebrating my birthday on the 17th -- ha ha - at my age, it doesn't matter. Besides, every day in this family is some sort of celebration.

Okay, that's the music news of the day...more on the writing front tomorrow or maybe this afternoon -- good news permitting.

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Monday, August 6, 2007

So there we have Eric Svalgard, Eric Slick, "another Robin", and Dave Johnsen of Project Object, hanging out at Zappanale in Bad Doberan, Germany - August 3, 2007

Eric returns home today after a week in Germany and oh boy, I cannot wait. Many more pics, some You Tubes, and reviews to follow...

Here's the news I have so far. Ike Willis, Zappa alumni and an integral part of the band, missed his plane and the show went on without him. I love Ike to death but that might be a horrible phrase for me to use in light of the circumstances...Project Object has a huge tour planned for October and November of this year, nationwide, and Ike needs to take that first step toward recovery if he wants to be a part of said tour. Sigh...that's all I want to say at this point, other than Project Object put on a magnificent show at Zappanale despite his sad, unexpected absence...in fact, you can read some reviews right here on the Zappa forum board.

Here's another photo from Zappanale, and you will notice the sexy woman in black on the far left. That would be Dr. Dot, who is a professional masseuse and has given Eric much pleasure and relief.



You really need to click on that Dr. Dot link. Trust me, you will thank me later...or not, because if you are like me, you will literally spend an hour on her site. The same hands that took care of my son's aches and pains have massaged everyone from Eric Clapton (heh) to Charlie Watts. It's just a matter of time until my son's photo is also up on her "wall of fame". She also maintains a blog, which you can find right here. Here is her official photo - she's had such an interesting life and look how drop dead beautiful she is - and she is a good friend to my son. Normal parents might be freaking out over this, but Gary and I are as proud of Eric as if he won the Nobel Peace Prize.



Speaking of beautiful women, in other rather monumental news, Julie has moved back home at least temporarily. No, no, she isn't having problems with boyfriend Matt - I think it's more like we have air conditioning and he does not and the weather here has been in the nineties with it approaching one hundred degrees this week. She also loves to cook and has been unable to do it at Matt's with the kitchen so hot so I guess our kitchen is now her kitchen again, which does not upset me at all since she is a wonderful cook, a healthy eater, and will be a good influence on me, who ate two cheese danish and a cinnamon roll for dinner last night.

Why did I do that? Well, because when Julie moved back in over the weekend, she wanted to know if we could all spend Sunday at the beach in Ocean City. Gary and I didn't want to tell her no, despite the fact that I have an incredible amount of work in both the writing and editing department, because it was always tradition that our whole family went down for Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends in addition to spending two weeks at our beach house in September...and because of touring and other obligations, neither Julie nor Eric have been down the shore all summer and by the time we vacation at the end of September, a lot of the places they love will already be closed for the season.

So we woke up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday, drove to the beach, ordered a dozen cinnamon donuts from Brown's (the best in the universe, made hot and fresh before your eyes), rode a surrey up and down the boardwalk for four miles to work off said donuts -- and by this time Gary and I were both ready for a nap -- but Julie wanted to play mini golf - kids vs parents -- so we did that, and Gary and Matt both had the best scores but Julie and I brought them both down with our crappy scores so it ended up being a tie...but okay, Matt actually golfed a 40 on a course with a par of 44 so he did good...though Julie of course then insisted on a couple games of air hockey because she beats everyone at that...so after surrey riding, golf, and much walking, we played a few sweaty, maniacal rounds at an arcade.

By that time, Gary and I were ready for oxygen and I was ready for an extended inpatient hospitalization stay, but we went to another bakery, bought more cake, a tomato pie, then went to Mack and Manco's and ate an entire pizza from there.

And then we drove home...all this before 12:30 p.m.

Julie and Matt slept the whole way back to Philadelphia in the car; when we arrived at our house at 2:00 p.m., they were cheery and well rested and wondering what to do next. Gary and I limped upstairs totally brain dead, put on the Phillies game, we were losing 6-0 by the second inning or something so I spooned Gary, the dog spooned me, and the next thing I know it's 6:00 p.m., I woke up bleary eyed and the Phillies had somehow tied the game, scored two runs in the top of the 11th, and I was able to catch them winning after retiring the Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the llth. I woke Gary, we went downstairs, and Julie and Matt were still wide awake and wondering what our dinner plans were.

Gary and I both dove into the cake box and raced back upstairs.

I'm telling you, we can't go on vacation fast enough. By the way, here's a photo of our beach house, which is directly across a tiny street from the beach - I will also post a photo of the view from our bedroom as well as the living room:







Now you know why we're so anxious for vacation.

But there's so many exciting things happening before we take off that we're kind of glad the summer is moving so slowly. I think I'll post more on all that tomorrow...if I don't do some "real work" right now I'm going to have an extremely puzzled prospective agent and a very pissed off publisher (I'm editing an anthology; the deadline for submissions has passed, and I got a ton of stories in under the wire which I haven't even read yet.)

Okay, much, much more...

Later,
xo

The Self-Indulgent Writing Post

The Adrian Belew Trio doesn't know this, but I followed them to Japan after all and I'm watching them from above that fish the entire time they did the tourist thing. (Photo taken by Julie Slick, July, 2007 in Tokyo)

Okay, while said trio is on hiatus for two weeks, I decided to take the opportunity for some shameless self-promotion.

But first let me tell you that Eric is about to get on a plane for Germany where he will be until Monday night, touring with Project Object at Zappanale. Yeah, yeah, I miss him already.

But other than that, I'm pretty happy right now. My new novel is a semi-finalist in the contest over at Simon Schuster; a senior editor at another publishing house who requested the manuscript before the contest is reading it, a dream agent wrote to me yesterday asking for an exclusive, but call me crazy, my biggest thrill this week is that I am one of three writers selected for Tuesday Shorts. (ETA - link was incorrect when I posted this morning, I fixed it today at 9:30 a.m.)

As an exercise, I wrote a 99 word micro fiction piece over the weekend and really enjoyed myself so I subbed it to them and I must admit, when I saw said story up on their site, knowing that they were getting dozens of submissions from talented writers at Zoetrope Studios, I felt pretty damn great. Especially as the editors are brilliant writers whose work I have long admired from afar - Shelly Rae Rich and Kristen Tsetsi. If you are so inclined, please leave a comment under each of the three stories - we poor writers need our egos stroked probably more than most.

Or maybe that's just me.

In other writing news, I also have the incredible pleasure of being side by side with Patti Smith -- okay, okay, it's because of the alphabet -- Slick, Smith, on writer Dee Rimbaud's website. Dee has created an amazing space full of incredible resources for authors, and I strongly urge you to click on the link and snoop around a bit.

But first check out my pic next to Patti Smith's. I still can't get over that. Patti, any time you want to hang out in the real world, I'm available. In fact, one of Eric's friends is a friend of your daughter and slept over your house so I even have references.

Since I'm indulging myself, how can I not post Neil Gaiman getting a kiss? And not just any kiss, mind you. Here. Watch for yourself. But first, let me tell you my latest brush with Himself. I read in his journal that Cat Mihos, who "tours with different bands for a living, doing production/dressing room/looking after the crew" left the Tool tour to help Neil out at Comicon and the Stardust premier.

"Hey, Eric," I said to my son. "I just read on Neil Gaiman's journal that Cat Mihos..."

"Cat Mihos! I know her! I had lunch with her and Tool backstage at Bonnaroo. She's the one who introduced me to Danny Carey."

"Oh my god, I was just going to say Oh look, Eric, Tool and Neil Gaiman share the same assistant -- I had no freaking idea you knew her or that you had lunch with her and..."

"Mom, I told you that. I even told you what I said to Danny Carey. I introduced myself to him as Adrian's drummer and told him I had to learn all of his parts!"

(As most of you already know, Danny Carey played drums on two of Adrian's solo albums, Side 1 and Side 3, songs from which the Adrian Belew Power Trio perform in concert and naturally will be on Side Four Live with Eric behind the skins and Julie taking over for Les Claypool on bass.)

So yeah, my son had lunch with Neil's assistant. Wait, excuse me, his west coast assistant. Sigh...

What's that again about six degrees of separation?

Oh, and Susan, if you are back from Paris and reading this, I am begging you. Please send me the Neil on the sofa with sushi pillows picture. I lost it in the hard drive crash. I don't know if I can go on without it.

In the meantime I will settle for this:



Later,
xo

The Twang Bar Zing (and some news from Simon and Schuster!)

Okay, it's not that I'm fixated on Biff Blumfumgagnge (just his name), but there he is, Adrian's engineer, under a sign in Tokyo which defies all comment.

And here are some other pics from Tokyo, all weirdly self-explanatory:






So I would launch into Belew Power Trio stories about their tour in Japan last week, but Adrian is doing such an incredibly wonderful job on his own blog that I must defer to him. I did want to mention, however, that the Twang Bar Zing, the cocktail that Ade mentioned was created for him at the Blue Note in Tokyo, was actually named by his very brilliant drummer, Mr. Eric Slick.

And in case you didn't see them, some of the comments Adrian is getting from his readers are blowing my mind and I want to share a few here:

For example, Dennis Gunn said:

"I guess those Canadians would fall over and die if they saw the royal treatment us lucky fans here in Tokyo got.

It was fabulous to see the greatest rock and roll 3 piece right up close in the tiny Tokyo blue note.

So fabulous in fact that I just had to raid the piggy bank and go back for two more nights in a row. But that was nothing compared to at least one guy in the Audience who was there for all 12 Blue Note shows.

All the shows were great but of the ones I saw the second Saturday Night show was the Barn Burner.

Adrian belew my mind when I first heard him on "The Lodger" 28 years and he has been continueing to do so ever since. It is not just the other worldly melodies and modality, but the way he is the master of not just his guitar but every item in his signal chain. Everything in his vicinity including the air itself is his instrument and he gets everything out of it there is to be had.

I felt this in a HUGE way the first time I saw him with KC at the Show Box in Seattle 25 years ago, and now after all this time his signal chain has gotten vastly more complex and the melodies of his improvisations have gotten even deeper, and on Saturday night at the Blue Note in Tokyo there were these moments when there was that click when all the atoms in the room seemed to align and bounce along to that higher level of awareness that all great music seems to be trying to touch.

But enough pompous music critic bullshit, bottom line it was one of if not *the* best Rock and Roll show I have ever seen.

Tokyo Blue Note tickets are a small fortune but it was a tiny price to pay to see the greatest living electic guitarist in such an intimate venue...

...So while it was extremely fun to see the ABPT playing such to such an intimate gathering it pained me to see the hottest rock band in the world playing to such a small audience and I could see a lot of people in the audience wanting to get up an boogy to Young Lion, Frame by Frame, Elephant Talk etc. but refraining for fear of upturning tables and spreading those expensive sausage plates and beers all over the floor.

Anyway thanks again for the great Rock and Roll."

And David Ly writes:

"I must echo the sentiments. Having been fortunate enough to've been in Indy near the kick-off of this 'fab free', I'm not surprised by these extrapolations.

I try not to fall into 'best of' traps, so in attempted fairness to past live renditions of 'Solo-Ade', I have to say the difference is, rather, intangible:

It would be too easy to give credit to the youth and enthusiasm of the youngsters Slick, and indeed Adrian, you've said that's why you searched out relative inexperience: to avoid jadedness.

I think perhaps this band is so on fire because of the fact that they're at once bright-eyed and bushy tailed with outstanding chops to catch one off guard, if you will. This simply blows us away.

We can't discount Eric's frenetic fervor and Julie's cool competence. That's rock and roll, man!! And these carry over and make Adrian even more animated, yet focused somehow, qualities he's never lacked. Cheesy as it sounds, I'm really happy for you, Ade.

If y'all're anywhere near these "guys" in the coming months, you gotta check 'em out. Whatever it is, they got it."

Yep, I agree, David. I can't wait to see them again myself. Now I'm thinking I'll do West Palm Beach and Mexico. I need my Power Trio Fix! And just think - in approximately three weeks, they are back on the road again, though I should mention that Eric is leaving for Germany this coming Wednesday August 1 through Monday, August 6, 2007 to play Zappanale with Project Object...and heart be still, four Zappa alumni will be on stage at this event: Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ike Willis, Don Preston, and Chad Wackerman. And Eric gets to play with all of these legends -- well, Napi and Ike and Don are in Project Object with Eric but everyone jumps up on stage for the grand finale the last night of the festival.

Oh, and Eric also has a couple of Dave Dreiwitz/Crescent Moon gigs coming up - one on August 16 at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey and the other on August 31 at the Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey...I guess he'll do the August 16 gig with Dave and then immediately hop on a plane for the August 19 gig with Adrian in Asheville, North Carolina. Yeah, yeah, I've said it before - what an incredible life my son and daughter have. Julie is using this hiatus to record several bands so she's staying busy and productive as well.

Hey, here's a quick clip of the Adrian Belew Power Trio in Quebec on July 11, 2007 where they played in a driving rainstorm. The quality of the film isn't great, but it's still very cool to see the trio in action under those circumstances:



There are lot of cool reviews coming out of Japan, but I'm really struggling with the American translations...I'm going to enlist the help of friends and will be posting them shortly, though. One person who emailed me is an American reporter living in Tokyo who also writes for Relix and Jambands -- his name is Steve Shayman -- and here's what he wrote to me:

"I enjoyed the excellent show at Tokyo Blue Note on opening night, Tuesday (yesterday). I went to the late show, and I must complement you Mrs. Slick, for raising a couple of rockin' kids! Adrian sure knows how to pick a band!

...I'm a journalist here in Japan (currently at The Daily Yomiuri), and you can see the music-related stuff I've done by searching under my last name, shayman, at: www.japantimes.com, www.jambands.com and www.relix.com.

Best regards,
Steven Shayman
Tokyo"

Steve and I have been emailing back and forth and he may in fact write a review of the show for one or two of the above magazines...I will keep you posted.

Here's something interesting I learned today: Joining Paul McCartney, Sonic Youth, Eddie Vedder and other luminaries on the new Starbucks record label is none other than Joni Mitchell. So here's what I'm saying. Starbucks Music, or Hear Music as it's called, is suddenly very, very cool. So I did some on line investigating and found out that it's because they've teamed with Concord Music Group. Take a look at some of the other artists who share this label...wait...let me give you a link to the list.

If they were really smart, they'd snap up Side Four Live. Oh my god, I cannot wait for the rest of the world to hear this CD. It is quite possibly the best thing I have ever heard in my life.

So in other news, yeah, it's true. My hard drive crashed and I lost lots of stuff. Thankfully I'd uploaded most of my photos to my Photobucket site as well as this blog and I had the foresight to email my novel to myself at gmail...but I seem to have lost all of my AOL mail - both incoming and outgoing. And my address book.

I was heartsick at first but then I realized oh for pity's sake, it's a piece of plastic...get over it and get over yourself. So you lost some data. Big deal. Is your family healthy and loving? Are you? Are you having the best freaking year of your entire life?

Yes.

And really, what did I lose that I can't replace? Err...my private collection of Neil Gaiman photos which he sent to me personally? Arghhh...

Oh, I'm just joking. Trust me, I'll survive.

Somehow.

All kidding aside, since the computer crashed while Julie and Eric were in Japan and they both had their laptops, I was totally computerless for days. At first I was weirded out and didn't know what to do with myself...then I actually started enjoying the freedom. Gary and I did "normal" stuff together - we did things around the house; we went shopping and bought pretty, frivolous objects like embroidered silk throw pillows and a new blanket and sheets...we had a blast. I also did some writing in longhand, listened to music...I ended up feeling like I was on vacation and felt relaxed at the very thought of not having to check my email every five seconds.

But that could also be because one day prior to the crash, I got some incredibly good news. My newest novel is a semi-finalist in a contest sponsored by Simon Schuster. I'm going to be posting a link in a day or two...it may even be today if my novel is up on their website (they've sent me the link to the "dummy site" for my approval and I've given the okay -- in fact, their artists have even designed an awesome book cover for me already which really freaked me out because it looks like Bono and oh my god, I won't even go there)...and I may be calling on all of you to read the two chapters posted and enter your comments. I still haven't quite figured out how this works because apparently my proposal and synopsis are in the hands of several agents and reps from Simon and Schuster as we speak and whether they will publish my book or not depends on them, not you or me (well, it does depend on me...or my writing, that is) but I think a bunch of positive comments from my readers here, if you are so inclined, would do much to help.

At least in theory.

Okay, I must now go through about a million emails I received while my computer was in the shop (the ones I didn't lose in the crash - Yahoo mail and Gmail, which oddly enough are the free mail services I use...and AOL, which I pay for, is the horrible culprit which ate everything...oh, they are so, so going to hear from me via threats of a canceled account and really, I should end my affiliation with them just on the basis of their fascist Bush supporter owner, anyway) and I will try and get back to everyone who wrote by the end of the weekend.

Cool?

Cool.

Later,
xo

A Beautiful Surprise

Adrian Belew and Eric Slick, Quebec, July 11, 2007

"Adrian Belew will have constituted a beautiful surprise, even under the rain, with the Park of the Francophonie."

Well, that's the Babblefish translation of a fabulous wrap up of the Quebec Summer Music Festival in leSoleil Newspaper, which naturally is written entirely in French but if you are so inclined, you can find the whole article, along with the above rather wonderful photograph, right here.

Okay, I am in big trouble. Sob. My computer crashed. I'm typing this now from a friend's office. If my hard drive is fried, I will jump out a window.

Just kidding. Actually, the techie who has my Mac right now says it appears to be a systems operations problem and I should have my computer back all fixed and happy within a week. But I'm heartbroken because I've been unable to instant message Julie and Eric and find out how things are going; I can't read any reviews of the shows, and I'm just picking up two days worth of email now -- I have so much I can't possible get to it all.

I am so desperate I may go the Free Library tomorrow and get on line there so if anyone wants me or has any news, email me anyway.

Ugh, I never realized how much I needed my computer. It's not a good feeling. I may be learning a valuable lesson here.

Anyway, since I'm in a rush, I don't have time to translate any reviews coming from Japan or do much other web surfing, but I did see this on Adrian's blog so I'm copying it here - it was in his comments section:

"Hello Adrian

I am Stig who attended your 2nd set at opening night of the Blue Note Tokyo concert (the guy who makes cartridges for playing vinyl records).....

I had a totally fun night listening to you and your compatriot musicians. GREAT SHOW & GREAT MUSIC!

It was also great talking to you after the set.

I hope to make it to another session before you wrap up on Sunday night. First time in a very long time I felt a performance good enough to want to visit twice (in a week).....

Maybe I will follow your advice of bringing along someone I DON'T KNOW!

Keep up the good work. We are all getting older, but I am sure you will go out with a BIG BANG! (when you're 84)

STIG"

So that is cool. And also, Ellen and Dennis - I know you tagged me with that MEME...and I didn't want to do it because I can't think of eight random things about myself I haven't already blabbed here over the past three years...is this my higher power's way of punishing me for groaning and trying to get out of it?

Oh well. Gotta fly. Sob.

Later,
xo