The Adrian Belew Power Trio in Atlanta/Ade and The Power to Convert!

The above photograph is courtesy of Rick Glover of Beatle Fan Magazine -- and oh wow, Beatle Fan Magazine, how cool is that! Great link to click on and spend a few hours!

I think Rick's shots are incredible -- here's a few more:





And thanks once again to Sid Smith at DGM Live for linking my blog today and especially for his headline: Ade And The Power To Convert regarding all of the cool reviews I've been posting and how fantastic is this - he also linked Kate Kretz, the extraordinary artist I quoted here yesterday...because really, after the show, she is the definitive Ade convert! Awesome!

From The Intergalactic Cowboy's Blog

Adrian Belew In Atlanta!

"Twas a night of youthful energy in Atlanta tonight. The Adrian Belew Power Trio performed at Smith’s Olde Bar to about 200 raging fans. I had suspected that the reason that this group was called a power trio was perhaps because Belew would be playing lots of power chords. The real reason for this group name is the powerful rhythm section of Eric and Julie Slick, ages 20 and 21 respectively. These two young players skillfully played unlimited scores of speedy 32nd notes with unlimited energy ! Belew looked rather youthful himself, with brown hair almost down to his shoulders. He also seems to have been visiting a weight machine.

Belew ripped out lead after lead of unusual scales with unusual guitar sounds. At one point he was using a violin sound; then he looped the violin sound and played another violin solo on top of that. Then he used a Fender Rhoades sound and played some jazzy sounding chords and melodies at a lower volume and tempo, creating a subtle dynamic for a few minutes. Then he played a solo using a reverse-gate violin sound. A couple of the instrumental pieces sounded like they could be future King Crimson songs. One sounded a lot like ‘ Indiscipline,’ with diminished chords and whole tone scales and a churning rhythm. Another was reminiscent of ‘ We’ll Let You Know,’ kind of quirky, trebly and jazzy. I should add that he played the K.C. tunes ‘ Dinosaur,’ ‘Neurotica,’ ‘Frame by Frame’ and ‘Thela Hun Gingeet’ during his set which lasted almost two hours. The rhythm section did a superb job of duplicating the drum and bass parts to these difficult progressive rock powerhouses. Eric played Bruford’s complex drum parts with the precision and energy that equaled Alan White when he replaced Bruford in the group Yes.

And speaking of entities named Crimson, Mr. Crimson himself was there with the lovely Laurie. He introduced me to Rob Murphree, the webmaster of the Adrian Belew website. Adrian’s wife Martha sold me a tee shirt which I will deliver to Troy Johnston in Thomaston. In eleven hours I need to be at a Nissan dealership so it’s time to go to bed."

From a blog post by Dustin:

August 23, 2007 - Thursday

Adrian Belew - Smiths Olde Bar- Atlanta,Ga - 8/22/07

WOW

I could leave it at that, but I won't.

This was actually my first time to Smiths, a legendary and nationally renowned bar here in Atlanta. David Bowie has even played this 300 + capacity room...

...It was now time for the Rhino King himself. I was excited to see his new trio (featuring Eric and Julie Slick, on drums and bass) up close, as opposed to seeing them at the very back of Chastain Amphitheater last time. They ripped right into "Writing on the wall" letting anyone unfamiliar know right away what they were in for. The set , similar to that of other shows I've seen, consisted mostly of original material with a King Crimson song here and there, the three this time being the obvious "Dinosaur", the rare "Neurotica", and for encore, my favorite and first KC song "Thela Hun Ginjeet".

They played all of the trio songs from "Side 1", but shied away from the "Side 3" trio tracks. Eric and Julie pull off the arduous task of coping the lines of Les Claypool and Danny Carey, even more impressive is the fact the Eric (20) and Julie (21) are half the age of their counterparts. They are beyond their years, having graduated from the Paul Green School of Music (Eric,remember, only 20, is now a teacher there), they show an impeccable connection that is every great rhythm section, without even trying Eric shoots Julie a look and mouths a number, let's say 3, BAM BAM BAM and then back into the song seamlessly. I commented to someone standing next time my amazement at the stunningly beautiful Julie.


(Another amazing photo by Rick Glover)

"Not only is she a lot prettier than I am, but she blows me out of the water with the bass."

She jumps between finger and picking, slapping when necessary. Definitely one of the most proficient pick players I've ever seen. Her brother has a wild but solid style, and something you don't see with enough drummers, a huge fuckin smile while he's playing. You can tell these people love what they're doing and love doing it with each other. You can bet anyone Belew picks to play with him are going to be some of the best, even if they're young enough to be his children.



The surprises of the night came in the extended jams that came out of "Beat Box Guitar" and "Big Electric Cat". The band really explored some ground, both songs lasting a good 10-15 minutes at least. On top of the song chops, they show they can improv without a problem. The best of both worlds.

After the thrilling "Thela Hun Ginjeet" for encore, Adrian and the Slicks came out to do some meet and great and sign. Normally I don't bother trying to get an autograph, but there was barely anyone left (from the sold out show) and this IS fuckin Adrian Belew one the most prolific and talented guitarist of all time, permanent member of King Crimson since the reunion in '81,previously toured and recorded with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Tom Club, Tori Amos, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones,Herbie Hancock, David Byrne, has guested onstage with Umphreys McGee, Tool, and Primus, and has produced countless other albums.



So, yeah, I went ahead and got in line. All of the band are very humble and easily approachable, not an ounce of pretension. After complimenting them on the great job ( i was a little buzzed at this point, so it came out as "Your guys' playing puts my musical aspirations to shame" to the Slick siblings , who wants to hear that?Thats not at all what i meant to say, god i felt like a jackass.) I asked if anyone wanted a drink, on me. Adrian said he wanted a lemon drop, but as i went to the bar, they told me all they could sell me was a corona as they were closing up, so i came back empty handed. The worst part though, is a few minutes later Adrian walks up and asks for the lemon drop, and they hop on it as if they weren't even closed. So I felt like even more of a jackass. HA!

Seriously, if your a fan of any kind of rock, you need to check out the Adrian Belew Trio next time through town.Seriously, he's a legend! Up there with Hendrix, Vaughn (even though i think Stevie was WAY overrated), Clapton, Page but still under the radar. It's rare you'll get the chance to get this close to such an innovator. And hey, at the very least, the bassist is cute as hell!"

So there were some celebrities in the audience in Atlanta, including Denny Walley and Janet The Planet:



And here's Adrian with Denny Walley and Andre Cholmondeley:



I know I am leaving out stuff - I literally am swamped by emails from appreciative fans but I hesitate to post them without permission and there are tons of small Live Journal, Facebook, and MySpace entries that simply say "AWESOME", "INCREDIBLE", "FANTASTIC", "MIND BLOWING", etc. so let me just take the opportunity to thank all of you and please keep them coming!

And err...I hate to bring my personal life into all of this, but just a reminder that you can lend my new rock and roll epic, Daddy Left Me Alone with God, some support by buying "shares" in an online stock market game -- with play money that you are given - $5,000.00 worth, in fact -- oh that it were real -- right here and there's an excerpt included...if you have a minute or two, please read it, comment, and buy some shares by clicking on "higher" (you will see what I mean once you log into the site but if you have any questions, please email me or comment below)...and also, I just got word that I will be reading at Robin's Bookstore (ha ha, no relation) on October 13, 2007.

I will most likely be reading an excerpt from Three Days in New York City, my best selling (heh) erotic comedy (Hi, Tommy! Hi, Dot!)...and here's the very cool poster for the event:



Okay, that's a wrap. For now, anyway.

In the meantime, if you are down in the Florida area, I urge you to catch the Adrian Belew Power Trio tonight at The State Theatre, St. Petersburg, Florida.

I will be boarding a plane early tomorrow morning to catch the trio's show in West Palm Beach tomorrow at The Theatre. Hope to meet a lot of you there!

Later,
xo