The Bittersweet Post

Fans all over the west coast continue to find me via this blog and send me the world's coolest photos -- these are courtesy of Peter, who caught the Adrian Belew Power Trio in Santa Fe, New Mexico

So the tour is officially over -- it ended last night in Portland, Oregon and my family will be home today. While I miss them like you would not believe (well, yeah, you would, actually) and they miss me, I don't think any of us want this tour to end...especially Adrian. I talked to Gary on the phone yesterday and he was close to tears...Ade has said repeatedly that this is one of the best tours of his life; that Julie and Eric are his band and even more importantly, we're all like his extended family, and he is really excited about future plans which of course include recording Side 4 Live with an accompanying DVD and a 2007 tour which will take the trio all over the world.

In the meantime, though, Ade will return to Nashville and record with his other fab project, The Bears, Eric goes on a three day tour with Chris Harford starting Friday, December 1 at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia, then December 2 in Baltimore and December 3 in Washington, D.C. -- I don't know the venues yet but will of course post them as soon as I get that info from Eric -- then he takes off from December 28, 2006 through January 13, 2007 with Project Object, and those dates I do have and here they are:

Project/Object with Ike Willis
performing the music of Frank Zappa
New Year's '06-'07 Tour

12/28 Thu - The 8x10 Club - Baltimore, MD
12/29 Fri - Mexicali Blues - Teaneck, NJ
12/30 Sat - Century Lounge - Providence, RI
12/31 Sun - Pearl Street Nightclub - Northampton, MA

1/2 Tue - Club Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA
1/3 Wed - Club Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA
1/4 Thu - The Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
1/5 Fri - Martyrs' - Chicago, IL
1/6 Sat - Martyrs' - Chicago, IL

1/9 Tue - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
1/10 Wed - TO BE ANNOUNCED - TBA
1/11 Thu - Regatta Bar - Boston, MA
1/12 Fri - Nectar's - Burlington, VT
1/13 Sat - Revolution Hall - Troy, NY

In between all this, Eric and Julie will continue their work with the Sarah Zimmerman Trio, and wonders of all wonders, I managed to add one of their songs (written by Julie -- think I'm a little proud?) to my own pathetic MySpace site...and I realize that being a writer, I need to make that a better place since most of my "friends" are fellow authors so I will be updating that shortly and even though I still don't love it, I will be participating more on MySpace in the future.

Or not.

I really don't dig it, I'm being honest here, but I sort of feel like I have no choice at the moment. And at least I get to hear my kids' music when I sign on, so wtf.

Julie's plans include recording several bands at her new studio -- here's her MySpace site with further details and contact information, and she will also be teaching a Master Class in recording at the Paul Green School of Rock Music, Downingtown branch on Saturdays. She's also contemplating a return to Drexel University to finish out her senior year and graduate but may continue to defer if her career continues to flourish and she goes into the recording studio herself.

Speaking of MySpace, I found a cool review of the Belew show in Seattle right here courtesy of my new pal, The Propheteer (love that name):

"...Adrian is touring with what he calls his Power Trio, himself, Eric Slick (19) on drums and Julie Slick (20) on bass, a brother & sister duo introduced to Adrian by Paul "School of Rock" Green in February of 2006. You may have seen the movie about Paul Green's efforts? There are two other efforts (possibly inspired by each other) you may have heard of, the Jack Black movie or Gene Simmon's Rock School. These kids are in Adrian's words, the two best young muscians in the United States at this time. And that was exactly what we saw last night. Tonight they will be playing at the Aladdin Theatre in Portland, Oregon with the notable California Guitar Trio.

Together, they are mind blowing."

The Seattle show had some luminaries in the audience - ha ha - the Vice President of Starbucks and the man who does story boards for The Family Guy -- in fact, he attended 3-4 of the shows. It's amazing how many great fans attended more than one show -- Daryl Darko, Burton Lo, Rena Fay -- see my Incredible Thank You Post below for links and more details. It's a testament to what great musicians these guys are and what a fantastic show they put on.

Here's some more stuff I found via blog/google stalking:

The California Guitar Trio, who opened up for the Belew Trio in California and both Oregon shows and already had one blog post about them, wrote about the experience again right here:

"...This past Friday evening we played with the Adrian Belew Power Trio at Villa Montalvo. The carriage house theater is an actual carriage house that was converted into a beautiful small theater. The show was completely sold out. CGT played a one-hour set to open the show. The highlight of the show for me was playing 2 pieces with Adrian at the end of our set. We've known Adrian for many years, but this was the first time that we actually played together. After a short intermission the Adrian Belew Power Trio began a very powerful set. With Julie Slick on Bass and Erick Slick on drums, the 19 and 20 year old brother and sister that Adrian met at the School of Rock are absolutely amazing players! The show was absolutely phenomenal. I had heard reports from friends that had seen the Power Trio recently that they were good. And I was completely blown away. So good!"

I also couldn't help but notice Eric received some really cool comments on his soon to be up-dated tour blog...here's a few of them:

"Hey Eric, A saw the show in San Fran, man, I CANNOT believe your talent! amazing show. I met your teacher too, he seemed like a pretty interesting guy. It was great when you'd do little random things in between songs, you did em good too!

I don't count on you remembering, but I was the only kid in Slim's, a young Crim-head at age 16, and I'm so jealous you get to tour with the man himself at your age!"
****

"Eric,

I was the guy you stuck your tongue out at in Solana Beach (memorable moment between you and I, I'm sure...) and then I stalked you in a respectful manner following you to Long Beach. Your mom got me stoked up on Wednesday afternoon so I felt compelled to make the drive.

Love your music, love your energy. You three definitely have a great groove with Adrian and I'm grateful to have been able to catch up with you three.

I hope you continue to have amazing adventures and I look forward to seeing you again."
****
"Hey - just saw the power trio last Friday (11/10/2006) at Villa Montalvo - You all tore it up! I've been a Belew fan for many, many years and I've liked all the lineups, solo to sextet (w/Crimson).

You and your sister bring a great deal of energy and talent to the shows and are such a great mix with Adrian's "I'm the happiest guy in the world and I'm loving what I'm doing on stage right now" attitude.

Anyway - you all rocked Montalvo and we'll all be watching you and your sister's career with great interest."
****
"Whooooo Hooot!
Eric, I saw you last night (Nov 5, 2006) in Phoenix. You guys rocked like Atlas

Amazing drumming, Eric. You got all the licks and back beats. You and Julie nailed Frame by Frame, complete with time-gone-missing!"
****
"I was at the Rhythm Room show last night, as well, and was absolutely blown away. I've seen King Crimson three times, and it was great, but the three of you playing last night absolutely blew me away. You and Julie have an amazing energy together, and everyone on stage seemed to be having a blast. I can't wait to see what the two of you do next.

Good luck with the rest of your tour!"
****
"WHOMP!! I was so happy to see the power trio back to back, nov.7 and 8. They rocked hard. Just like the good old days. Three musicians with minimal equipment(sort of...ADE) in a small club setting. IT WAS GREAT!!! doing Thela Hun Ginjeet was ambitious and totaly mind blowing with Adrian going all the way to the stratosphere and julie and eric holding down the beat. UNREAL. I hope someone video taped it.
Thanks for everything!"
****
"Eric,

I'm following your and your Mum's blogs with great interest from the safety of my workplace desk here in England. I've just read that you stayed at the Habitat Suites in Austin, a place I always stay at when I'm over in Austin. It really is a little haven isn't it and Donald, on reception one hell of a nice guy!
Keep up the good work boy!

Steve Luckett"
****
Hey, Steve Luckett, is this you? If so, very cool and drop me a comment here, okay?
****

Anyway, it goes without saying that I cannot wait to be reunited with my family today and escape the madness, meaning I'm currently watching the news and am totally appalled at what's in the headlines -- airline mergers which will cause huge fare hikes for all of us and what the hell happened to the American concept of no monopolies? -- murderer OJ Simpson, craving the spotlight with a new book and tv show How I Would Have Did It (if he did kill his wife and Ron Goldman...IF? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? HE DID IT, ASSHOLES...ARE YOU ALL INSANE?) and Fox Broadcasting system has really stooped to a new dirtball level in promoting the same; people camping out for three days in helacious weather to get a Playstation 3 (get a life, morons. Why not expend your time and energy doing something worthwhile, like protesting the war and global warming and the aforesaid monopolies)...and dear God, also making the national headlines is which celebrity couple won Dancing with the Stars?

Give me a break.

Oh well, thank god for music and the fact that my family is unaffected by bullshit like PS3 and celebrity dancing. Oh my god, I'm getting nauseous just thinking about how far our society has declined...but I'm hoping that this new generation -- the kids Julie and Eric's age (do they have a name yet? They certainly aren't the Me Generation or Generation Slacker) are our real hope for the future. These kids want to make art and music and helped to vote the evil Republicans out of office. Yes!!!!

Anyway, that's it for now -- I have tons of writing news to report and once I finish acting as unofficial publicist for the Belew tour (hey, I still need to find out what happened at the Oregon shows), it will be back to the business of being an author and hawking my books and those of my friends.

Well, okay, you know I'm still going to talk music. You guys enjoying the Citizen Cope MP3 I have playing now? Just you wait...I have all kinds of cool stuff lined up in the future for your listening pleasure.

Later,
xo