Adrian Belew Power Trio: Long Beach, CA

All of the photos I'm posting here today of Julie Slick, Eric Slick, and Adrian Belew were taken Wednesday night at the show in Long Beach, California, by the amazing Burton Lo...and to see these and many more, visit Burton's Flickr site and watch them as a slide show for maximum enjoyment right here. Also in the slide show you will see the trio's opening act, Saul Zonana, whose CD Adrian produced...Saul is also former bassist for the Crash Test Dummies -- he's an amazing performer and a hell of a nice guy. I met him when he opened for the trio in New York City in August and I seriously recommend you check him out.

Anyway, Burton and I became cyber friends when I discovered his Flickr site...naturally I had to write to him following the photos I found that he took in Solana Beach...and after a day of emailing back and forth, Burton actually decided to take the very long drive (and with a head cold yet) to Long Beach and catch another show! You can read all about it in his blog .

The following shots were taken at the end of the trio's performance, and is it just me, or can you just feel the love these three have for each other? I think this series of shots says so, so much about the band's unique and amazing chemistry:






This next shot is apparently one of an insane King Crimson fan...I've read about him in other blogposts and he's really into it, isn't he? I heard he danced non-stop all evening with that bag on his head.



Attending the show and completely wowed were Paul McCartney's rhythm guitarist, Rusty Anderson (that's not his actual site but I loved the one I linked so click on that, but for Rusty's actual web presence, click here), Josh Freese, who has drummed with everyone from Devo to Guns n' Roses, Suicidal Tendencies to Perry Farrell, Paul Westerberg to Chris Cornell, A Perfect Circle to Juliana Hatfield, Mike Ness to 311, and the list goes on. But I think the guest who excited my husband the most was Thomas Nordegg..."he was with Frank Zappa in the 80s and went on to tech firstly for Warren Cuccurullo, and more recently Steve Vai. He used to do a lot of video recording (ever seen the FZ St Etienne clip?). Was big mates with Warren and probabaly has a lot of scurrilous footage from his brief stint with the band. He can be seen in the extras for Steve Vai's Live In London DVD teaching Steve everything he knows about the guitar!" (information comes to me courtesy of my good cyber pal and Zappa historian, Andrew Greenaway. Anyway, Thomas spent a good part of the evening talking with Gary and he totally blew him away with his wonderful, insane stories about working with Frank...and now I believe he's also tech on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour currently coming to a city near you.

Speaking of Paul McCartney, here's a shot Burt Lo took of Eric which makes him look very Beatle like, don't you think? Ha ha, there's that Neil Gaiman haircut in action:



And as concerns Neil, well, it wouldn't be a Robin post without wishing him a Happy 46th birthday today...Hey, hey, Neil, you old geezer...I beat you to it (the age) and I know exactly what you mean in your blog today...I still feel like a kid, too, and keep wondering who the hell that "woman" in the mirror is. But like you, I still look way cool, too...we're not going to let a stupid thing like a number get to us, right? Besides, if 60 is the new 40, that makes us...um...still babies.



And while I'm on the subject of writing, something I sort of overlook (arghhh) while the kids are on tour and I'm busy being their music columnist, here's a couple of important blurbs:

First, my great pal Ellen Meister has an awesome promotion going on for her amazing book...if you are seeking a truly inspired gift for a teacher this holiday season, look no further!

Secondly, Philadelphia Stories is holding a Micro-Fiction Slam on Saturday, November 18 at 1:00 p.m. (registration at 12:00 p.m.) at Voices and Visions Bookstore (yes, they carry my book, too but that's not why I'm promoting them...they are the one of the last of the independent booksellers in Philadelphia and it's important that we give them our business as opposed to the corporate chains)...anyway, the premise of the slam is that you show up with up to two short stories no longer than 300 words...bring three copies of said story(ies) for each of the judges...there's a $5.00 per entry charge but if you win, it's $50.00 for you and the priceless fame that goes along with being a winner. I'm just hoping I can get it together to enter, but if not, I will be there in the audience for sure.

Finally, incredible but true, Another Bite of the Apple remains highest rated in erotica over at Fictionwise...I think it's been #1 for like two months now so to say I'm stoked would be a major understatement.

Anyway, I'm really tired right now because Gary called me and woke me at 1:30 a.m. last night excited beyond belief about the San Francisco show...he walked outside to call me during intermission...he said it was the best show yet and also celebrity studded...Boz Scaggs was there...and I was so dead to the world when he telephoned that I can't remember what else he said but you know me, I'll be back with another blog post and a lot more photos because Yay! Gary also had a 35 mm with him and took six rolls of film to Walgreens and made me discs which he'll download to Julie's laptop and email me later today so now I don't feel like a total idiot for forgetting to pack him my cable along with my digital camera though that omission gives me something to really look forward to when he comes home next week...though of course it's my family coming home that I'm looking forward to the most.

God I miss those guys. Have I mentioned that enough times?

Oh well. That's it for now. Today marks the beginning of a four day writing marathon for me. I'm serious about completing two novels by the end of this month and I'm well on my way. Sigh...trust me, it's the only upside of my family being out on the west coast and leaving me here alone to my own devices.

Later,
xo