Julie and Eric Slick stage-side in Seattle where they performed with Ann Wilson of Heart and Eddie Vedder. Was that really a year ago already? I mean it was a year ago to the day! Um, give or take a day or two...it might actually be one year tomorrow. So shoot me.
Anyway, thank you to Andrew Greenaway, a/k/a The Idiot Bastard, for announcing the awesome news on his very awesome website as concerns Julie and Eric joining Adrian Belew on tour and more - here's his blurb on the subject and while I'm at it, another big thanks to Sid Smith over at DGM Live who wrote about it here.
Of course both news articles lead you right back to my blog -- what can I tell you, the Robin Slick publicity machine is on full throttle for a change. Ha! Do you think I'm a little bit excited?
Gary and I are still working on travel details - he may drop in on some of the U.S. shows and of course I'm eyeing the European ones but we're still digesting all that's happened and trying to figure things out. What we're really trying to do is discover how to clone ourselves so we can both attend Zappanale because I have a third offspring -- dog Monty -- and I refuse to put him in a kennel so we take turns watching him when Julie and Eric tour.
I realized yesterday in my post that because I'm crazed beyond belief over the events of the past week, I neglected to mention names of other future stars who are coming out of Rock School, and if I were a betting person...wait, I am a betting person...well, let's just say my money is safe with these names: Katie Jacoby, Julia Ranier, Matt Manser, Louis Graff, (already playing and touring the world with Leiana) Joey Randazzo, a/k/a "Reno", Maureen Hayes, Andrew Haff...oh forget it, I'm bound to leave out more names and I don't want to hurt any feelings, but these are the kids I know for a few years now and yep, my money's on all of them bigtime.
And now for something completely different.
Except for the Simpsons, I hate television and rarely watch it -- I just leave it on in my bedroom so I can go to sleep. Yes, I am one of those and also need a night light. Hey, did I ever even attempt to appear normal? So nothing I say should surprise anyone. Anyway, because I wake up at dawn to write, I usually fall asleep pretty early...only one night I couldn't sleep and unfortunately, that was the night that the television show "24" started its new season.
Damn it, I got hooked and I am humiliated to admit it. It's easy to get addicted to that show because you get the feeling that it's reflecting in some strange way what's happening in our government today, but as a writer, I was deeply offended. There were so many flaws in the story line I found it impossible to suspend my belief, and I got really pissed off because this show could be fucking fantastic if the writers used common sense and gave us, the viewers, more credit for intelligence.
Okay, so most of the country, as evidenced by the election and re-election of that idiot President of ours, is not intelligent. But still! They took what could be one of the most clever, action-packed shows in T.V. history and turned it into a stupid soap opera. And still I watched. Every Monday at 9:00 p.m., no one was allowed to talk to me.
Anyway, the reason I am saying all of this here is because yesterday I stumbled on a blog by an editor of Barrelhouse Magazine who summed it up in such a hilarious manner and whose thoughts reflected mine so eerily I have no choice but to cut and paste it and post it here now. And as I just did that, I realize the writer even echoed my feelings and used my same phrase "belief-suspension"...
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
24 Thoughts on 24
After last night's whiz-bang conclusion of the fifth and perhaps most belief-suspension required season of 24, here are some random thoughts that have been floating around my head this season.
What the fuck is in that messenger bag? Like, an FBI-issue sig sauer, lock picking tools, City Paper, PDA, cell phone, bonus burrito card, flashlight, mirror, torture devices, cyanide pill, Starbucks travel mug...
Best initiation of romantic dialogue ever: "When I heard you had kidnapped the president..."
Dead or Alive? Secretary Heller. Wayne Palmer. Curtis (I missed last week due to President Bush dicking my Tivo over with his lame-ass immigration speech; and you thought television was the one thing that fucker couldn't fuck up...).
What was all that about? Kim and that weirdly overprotective boyfriend, who I think had the name and personality of that guru/psychiatrist who had Brian Wilson "under his care" for a period of time in the 80s. The redhead from The Brothers McMullen and Spin City and her overprotective son who eventually learned to love and respect Jack Bauer.
Bit players who seem too good-looking, interesting, or obviously random to not be coming into play in season 6: That hot Italian arms dealer. The Scottish or German or whatever spy guy, who Jack dicked over (and is also Declan, from Lost). Chloe's ex-husband Morris.
The question everybody is asking: why didn't he just download that stupid voice file to Chloe and save us about twelve episodes?
Mary Lynn Rajskub is the Sam Elliott of Television: One facial expression to fit all moods and situations. Same Elliott = the eye twinkle. Mary Lynn = the scowl.
They Took One for the Team (the old fashioned way): That guy who slept with Chloe. The first lady.
Is that a Shacket or a Jirt? What was that thing Jack was wearing all season? Jacket? Shirt? Jirt? Shacket? It had a hood. It had some kind of lapel-ish collar-y thing. What was that? Why didn't he ever take it off?
RIP: Anybody who tried to help Jack in any way at all.
Best Executive IT Training Program: Goes to the CTU and Homeland Security IT staff, who somehow trained executives as high-ranking as Bill Buchanon and Karen Hughes to hack and override and download and do all kinds of kickass stuff usually reserved for twelve year old Thai hackers.
He Took the Precious: Is it just me, or was that Miles guy doing a kind of Gollum-as-middle-manager impression?
The Lundberg Award for Best Management Style: To, who else, Jack Bauer, who proved that you really can get people to accomplish anything -- for instance, land a plane on a highway without enough room, while being chased by airforce fighter jets -- by yelling "NOW!" and "FASTER!" and "Do it DO IT NOW!"
Ziskey Rates the Russians: They're Pussies! Don't you think 24 should end like Stripes, with the mocked up magazine covers that follow? Chloe on Wired, Curtis on Guns and Ammo, Morris on Audio Engineer Weekly, Kim in Maxim...oh, well, I guess that last one actually came true.
Rudy...Rudy! Dude, nice try. But you'll always be Rudy.
Most Enterprising Criminal: Rudy's skeevy sister's skeevy boyfriend, who somehow managed to get in touch with high-level Russian terrorists about five minutes after he nabbed Rudy's CTU scan card.
Best Casting: Speaking of...who was that scuzzy sister anyway? She seemed way to real, right down to the rugburns on her knees. Ugh.
Did We Ever Learn? Who those dudes in the room were? You know who I mean, the gay guy from Fame who was the doctor on ER. I get it that they're, you know, Shadowy Operatives, or Halliburton Executives or whatever, but did they ever actually tell us who they were?
Pscych! Come on, as soon as you hear the lovely music and Jack Bauer says, "that's right, Audrey, it's all over," you KNOW the shits just about to go down. Anybody who says otherwise is a sucka.
Worst. Boyfriend. Ever. Last season Jack killed Audrey's husband and brother and then faked his own death. This season he almost killed her dad and got himself all kidnapped on a slow boat to China.
I Don't Think He's Dead. Robocop. No bleeding. We never saw his body, right?
Ancient Chinese Plot Twist. Not bad. Those Chinese bastards sure do hold a grudge, don't they?
Acme Company, This is Jack Bauer, I'd Like to Order an Anvil. 24 is the best cartoon since Roadrunner.
Why Am I So Fucking Stupid? I'm already looking forward to next season.
*****
Ha! I especially love his last line because even though I'm growling now, I know damn well that come January, 2007 and the first new episode, I'll be in front of that freaking television again, too.
Unless Adrian Belew Plus Two* are in concert somewhere cool, that is.
Later,
xo
*my name for them - easier for me to say/write than Adrian Belew with Julie Slick on bass and Eric Slick on drums
Hey Robin...in that picture at the top of your blog today, Eric looks like an equal armed cross...it's eerie - the white tie and the arms crossed...very Priestly. The girl child looks HAPPY....it's good to see some young folks start out in life doing what makes them happy. Most of us spend a lifetime trying to figure out what it is, and then get there...
ReplyDeleteD
David, oh my god...just call Eric "Madonna". (And now if he reads this I can expect to be shot)
ReplyDeleteBut thank you very much for your kind words.
Sue...writing is the last thing I've been able to do. I can't even sit still for more than five minutes. I actually dreamt last night that I finished my novel and I was so happy and then I woke up and said Oh no...I'm still on chapter 17....hell!
Hope your reading last night was a huge success. I could not believe Amtrak went down yesterday. That's the same exact thing that happened to me when I read at KGB! Or, um, when I was supposed to read. That was the night of the great NYC blackout 2-3 years ago. I was stuck on a train for four hours. I'm sure I've told you that lovely story. Needless to say, the reading was cancelled and rescheduled. And what day was it rescheduled? Why, the day of the first hurricane to hit NYC in how many years???? Anyway, the hurricane did not in fact hit directly, but it was enough to again knock the trains out and I was stranded in Penn Station until 2:00 a.m.
Oh well. Life is exciting. No other way to look at it or I'd be climbing into a tower with a high powered rifle.