Rock and Roll Mama

Mike Keneally on guitar, Eric Slick on drums, and Bryan Beller on bass in St. Louis Friday the 13th of October

Yeah, google stalking 101 redux -- this morning I find out I'm a Rock and Roll Mama. Read all about it here. I don't know who is responsible for that, but hey, whoever you are, I thank you kindly.

From Bryan Beller's blog

"I'm in St. Louis right now. The gig with Eric Slick on drums is tonight. He's cool. I'm thinking it's gonna sound good. If you're in St. Louis, get your ass on down..."

From Mike Keneally's website

"ST. LOUIS, MO, October 13, 2006: For the final gig of their three-week Taylor Guitars tour of the midwest, Mike and Bryan decided to maximize the volume by debuting a new trio format with drummer Eric Slick (Adrian Belew, Paul Green's School of Rock "All-Stars). Slick spent weeks boning up for the show and didn't miss a beat, as rockingly attested to by the ubiquitous Dancing Guy (front). Many thanks to Off Broadway promoter Dan Kinney and cohorts, who heroically made this magic evening possible."

From Spyder Monkey, one of the bands who opened for the Keneally Trio Saturday night...

"Last Updated:
Sunday, October 15, 2006

MIKE KENEALLY is a baaaaad man!!!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Music

Well, just back from our whirlwind visit to the Lou, that's St. Louis my friends and let me tell you nothing could have been finer than to open for none other than legendary ZAPPA guitarist Mike Keneally and his power trio!

The man's record speaks for itself, so enough said there. But to see him in action .....(a gift we have never beheld) was dizzying! Pure tones. Flying up & down the fretboard effortlessly. Fast breaks morphed into sweet long bent notes. It was nothing short of sickly skilled compositions that these fellows churned out with amazing precision. If you don't know what I mean, I highly suggest you run dont walk to his page just for a tiny taste of what was going on. We had to shake off the chills and shut our gaping mouths many times in disbelief! We will never forget this man, his band or that night at Off Broadway in early Autumn!"

Three Days in New York City is still on the bestseller list at Amazon UK which has me completely stymied. It's now like #67 but who cares...I've been jumping around the house like a lunatic ever since I saw that last week. Also, I just learned that trailers are being made for both of my novels by a company whose said trailers are seen in movie theaters. They are anxious to blurb new authors so I sent them my proposal information...they responded almost immediately that I'd be highlighted mid-November. This is a free service which is pretty amazing...I'll provide a link once they're live.

Mundania/Phaze has also recently published an audio book company so Yes! Three Days and Another Bite will be in an audio format soon, and yeah, yeah, I'll be doing the reading because I have a very sexy speaking voice. Oh, okay, I have a big bad Philadelphia accent but I know how to do sexy and am already practicing. Ha!

And um, I'm sitting on some possible major news as concerns both my books and Julie and Eric and you're just going to have to keep watching this space...these respective announcements could end up being HUGE...but if I even give you a hint now I'll jinx it all so I'm staying quiet.

But I do want to remind everyone that Julie and Eric's project with insanely talented guitarist Sarah Zimmermann, The Sarah Zimmermann Trio, makes their debut this Thursday night at the Black Lodge in Philadelphia...Saturday night at the Tap Room at the New York Knitting Factory, and Sunday at Asbury Lanes. Yep, it means I get to spend another weekend in New York. What a pity. (heh). I'll put up links and posters probably tomorrow or Wednesday.

Finally, for all of my writer/musician/artist pals, Susan Henderson has a most interesting Question of the Week -- and I encourage anyone reading this to go over and tell your story -- anyway, her question is: "What do you when the art you create doesn’t easily fit within a particular commercial label? For those of you who are out-of-the-box, tell me your story.

Writers often hear this kind of feedback from publishing houses: We love your book, it’s compulsively readable and I finished it in one night! But, sadly, we have to turn it down because we wouldn’t know what shelf to put it on at the big, chain bookstore, and we’re not sure if we should market it as memoir or a parenting book."

I know a lot of you will have very interesting stories to tell in that regard. I have a huge one myself and don't know if I want to burden Sue with the whole sordid tale so I'm working out an abridged version which I'll post later today or tomorrow...but again, I encourage you guys to go play over at Sue's site...she's a gracious host and fun to get to know.

And speaking of Sue, because she was kind enough to sit with me last week and endure that lovely public radio show in hopes of hearing Eric (well, she at least got to hear Eric's name), I promised her Neil Gaiman with furry arms and glasses. Damn it, Sue, I had furry and I had glasses, but not together. Hope this will suffice:





Later,
xo