The Huge and Incredible Thank You Post

Photo of the Adrian Belew Power Trio at Villa Montalvo, CA, courtesy of the California Guitar Trio

So I spoke to a shaken Gary yesterday -- after two weeks of sunshine in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, the Adrian Belew Power Trio had to endure driving eleven hours in a snowstorm to Oregon for their final three shows. What made it more difficult is that they don't salt the roads out there -- in fact, it's against the law to drive without chains on your tires, something which is totally illegal on the east coast (driving with chains, that is)...and between the eleven hour distance and the fact that they were driving a huge rented van, Gary and Adrian, who shared the driving, were happy to reach Eugene, Oregon alive and with everyone in one piece.

With two shows left on the Adrian Belew Power Trio...tonight in Seattle at the Triple Door and tomorrow in Portland at the Aladdin Theater, I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude to the following...oh, but first, when I was just on the website for the Aladdin Theater lifting the link, I noticed that if you review a show you attend there, you can win free tickets to an upcoming concert as well as having your review posted on their website...so why not kill two birds with one stone and write a stellar summary of the Belew show tomorrow night and win tickets to see some legendary performers on their upcoming schedule -- the first names I saw were Mose Allison and Al Kooper -- and I am glad to see the name of Al Kooper because I know he had some serious medical problems and if you aren't familiar with his work, he was a giant back in the underground rock movement of the late sixties, early seventies. His work with the late legendary guitarist Mike Bloomfield is fucking classic and a must listen for all aspiring musicians out there.

Anyway, without further ado -- thank you, thank you, thank you, to:

Daryl for his absolutely fabulous blog posts of the last few days...a few of which actually brought tears to my eyes...here's an excerpt from his latest entry:

"I'm not sure how to start to delve into the story of what happened to me last night. Through my life becoming less private (through the simple act of blogging) my world has become larger. I was invited as a guest to photograph a concert last night! Bleeding hell! You all saw the shitty snapshots I posted from the show at Slim's (which the allowance of my attending that show is attributed to the graciousness of Leah and the management at Slim's. Honest to god they have given me free tickets to 5 different shows there!). And one lonely mother sitting at home the next morning was searching the internet for pictures of her dear children that performed the night before. One soul found another...

I wasn't nervous in the least strangely enough. An hour before the doors opened I saw Julie Slick looking in the window of a music store next to The Catalyst. "Are you Julie?" I inquired. "Yeah." she said. -=Well, I've been talking to your mother on the internet... *Are you Daryl?=- I was talking to a musician from "the band"... I've never! And then after the show I walked up to Eric Slick and told him that my retirement dream was to start a Captain Beefheart cover band. He blew that idea out of the water by boasting that he was "already in a Beefheart cover band..." hahahaha! anyway, told him that I had been talking to his mom on the internet.. "Are you Daryl?" I almost feel part of the family, gosh!

To Daryl again for teaching me how to add music to my blog...right now you are listening to the amazing, amazing Citizen Cope but in weeks to come, I will try and post something new every couple of days.

And to Daryl once more, because I just noticed this, for putting up amazing animated photos of the Belew Trio on his blog (I just saw those pics two minutes ago...he must be adding them the same time I'm posting now...Daryl! How freaking cool! Teach me how to do this! Please?) Meanwhile, I love hanging on his blog because Three of a Perfect pair plays throughout and I sit here singing along. Hey, I told you he was the one who taught me how to add music to my blog, and if anyone else wants to know, drop me a line and I'll email you the top secret code. Ha!

To Joel Klein, who not only took the fantastic photos I posted here of the Belew show in Phoenix, Arizona, but actually snail-mailed me a dozen eight by ten glossies of said photos, which are currently being matted and framed and will be hung on a prominent wall in my living room...stay tuned for a digital shot of that when it's finished;

To Burton Lo, who also furnished me with breathtaking photos of the Long Beach and Solana Beach shows...see Burton's blog post about that as well;

To author Sid Smith of DGM Live, who not only provides daily updates of all things Belew on his site, he just sent me an amazing CD -- Jakko Jakszyk Bruised Romantic Glee Club -- and as soon as the Belew tour ends, I promise a comprehensive review of this simply awesome recording on my blog.

To Bryan Beller, speaking of amazing musicians and CDs, for the kind mention in his blog today (ha ha - I'm such a vanity Google stalker)...which states, in part:

"THE SLICK FAMILY: You probably have heard about the amazing new young phenom drummer Eric Slick, who played a gig with Keneally and I in St. Louis back in October and kicked major ass. He also has a bass-playing sister named Julie, and the two of them are currently serving as the rhythm section for none other than Adrian Belew (is that not the coolest, cutest thing you've ever heard of?). So when a female Slick found me on MySpace, I quickly approved the friend request and wrote her back, telling her that I couldn't wait to see her play with Eric. Imagine my embarrassment when Robin Slick wrote me back and informed me that she was, in fact, Eric's mother. But that miscommunication turned into a new friendship with a very cool self-confessed "rock 'n' roll Mom" and professional, published novelist. I highly recommend checking out her voluminous, constantly updated blog, as well as her brand new website (and not just because she has kind things to say about about my album View). She's a warm, wonderful spirit and, obviously, she brought those kids up pretty damned well."

Thanks, Bryan. I'm blushing. And please click on the actual link to Bryan's blog, there's some really cool stuff there as well as information on purchasing a special tribute DVD to his late friend, bassist Wes Wehmiller, who died tragically of thyroid cancer at age 33...Bryan writes beautifully about Wes here and I can't read it without my eyes filling with tears. I posted this link before, but Bryan's amazing autobiography, The Life of Bryan, which also includes poignant memories of Wes, can be found here.

To Belew uberfan Rena Fay, a/k/a Tickledrop, who not only attended four (I think four, could be five, could be six) of the west coast Belew shows, she provided unbelievable goodies for the Adrian Belew Power Trio and Gary, which included incredible concert stickers, buttons, and best of all, a huge basket of organic goodies with breads and pastries...all I can say is, my family and Adrian are totally overwhelmed with her generousity.

To Todd V. Wolfson, the amazing celebrity photographer from Austin, Texas, who was the first fan to send me photos (Austin was the second night into the Belew tour), and with whom I had two really cool telephone conversations over possible plans to work together in the future...yet another kindred spirit and I'm really chuffed to know there are still people out there my age who are still hip and cool and didn't forget what we learned in the love and peace era;

To Zappa historian Andrew Greenaway, who provided me with information about a certain celebrity Gary met on the tour, and then was kind enough to link my blog and talk about Gary on his own website right here;

To the California Guitar Trio, who opened for the Belew Trio in California, last night in Eugene Oregon (no news of that yet, though as the family is probably still asleep), and again tomorrow night in Portland, Oregon...for being super nice and supportive to Julie and Eric...in fact, I found the above photo on their fantastic and comprehensive website, which includes lots of cool tour related stuff and most importantly, guitarist Bert Lams' tour diary, which states, in part:

"At the end of our set Adrian walked out and joined us on two surf tunes: Pipeline and Walk Don't Run. This was the first time we played with him; another exciting moment on this tour! Adrian plays with two very young and amazing musicians from the School of Rock in Pennsylvania. Their dad was traveling with them. I saw him on the side of the stage, beaming with pride and joy during their set. Adrian is a legendary guitar player; he played with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, King Crimson, Laurie Anderson and Talking Heads, to name a few. He uses a lot of unusual effects, delays and distortion sounds; I loved his reverse delay playing, and his wild rhinoceros and dinosaur sounds in his set! He creates an amazing array of sounds on the guitar, and not only that; he IS one of the finest guitarists on the planet! It was a great honor to have him play with us."

To Julie and Eric Slick, who knew how lonely and depressed I've been getting as the days progress here all alone, besides calming me and humoring me with telephone calls and emails, sent me a magnificent pair of turquoise and pearl earrings made by a Native American which they bought when they performed in New Mexico which I just received late yesterday...if they didn't have my digital camera, I'd take a pic of them now but I surely will when the return;

And to Susan Henderson, who knows I need to be using this down time to write and has a true handle on my competitive spirit...we've challenged each other to finish our novels by the end of the month and even if that doesn't happen, at least I know we're both giving it our best shot. Susan, I know you are having some "problems" right now and here's a new Neil Gaiman (and unidentified friend) to cheer you up and make you melt...actually, I think this is the girl who is an amazing seven year old published comic book artist but I'm not sure.



And hey, speaking of my novel, which Susan had the NERVE to insinuate I wasn't working on, I posted an excerpt in my comments section yesterday but it was unedited and full of..arghh..errors...so in yet another unprecedented move, I'm re-posting that section right now: (Minor children hide your eyes but no, this is not erotica, this is from my mainstream creative non-fiction novel)

"“Ho ho, you want to know about The Rubber Room, do you?”

“Uh…not if it’s anything scary.” I was dead serious when I said that but Mick thought I was kidding.

“Ooh yes, very scary, love. Terrifying even. It’s merely a place on the third floor with a high tech bar and thick rubber walls. Three guesses why the rubber…”

“So people don’t get hurt dancing drunk?”

He burst out laughing. Hey, I thought it was a good answer. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Okay, Mick, why the rubber?”

“It’s easily washable.”

“Easily washable? What, do people get shot in there?”

Now I had him really going – he giggled like an idiot. But why else would walls need washing if not for being splattered with blood? Ugh, I didn’t want to go to Stage Three after all. Topless men, people stuck in air ducts, bloody murders…

“You daft thing, you,” he said, ruffling my hair. “Easily washable for all of the sex and drugs going on up there.”

“Oh. My. God,” I replied, unable to keep my cool. Well, the coke didn’t help with that either. I had to be seconds away from a coronary. I’d never live to see my eighteenth birthday. And I actually preferred the idea of cleaning up after a shooting as opposed to walls that had to be hosed down after sex.

“Oh, don’t worry. First of all, there are actually even more secret places above The Rubber Room. Areas where private sex takes place. In fact, it’s an inside joke that while hundreds are dancing downstairs, the club’s owners are above them, fucking their brains out and snorting kilos. When you hear people talking about “upstairs at Stage Three”, well, there’s upstairs and there’s the real upstairs,” he said with a bored shrug.

“Oh. Okay. So now I know. But um, why did you say ‘First of all’? What’s second of all? Let me guess -- that must be the second floor. What happens up there? Lobotomies?”

Ha ha, thanks for indulging me...but I couldn't bear the mistake ridden version I posted yesterday and who knows how many people might have read it. Err...judging by the comments, at least two? Ha! Have I mentioned how neurotic I am? And how anal retentive?

Oh well. There's much that needs to be done today. And just two days now until my family returns. So that's it for now.

Maybe.

Later,
xo