On Monday night, after wrapping up three days of intense rehearsals (and oh my god, I heard the results on Julie's computer and cannot wait for the upcoming tour!), the Adrian Belew Power Trio went out for a celebratory dinner at the famous Mexican restaurant where Adrian takes his regular houseguests, most notably Robert Fripp.
While they were eating and imbibing monster Margaritas, all of a sudden they heard a strange, loud whistling sound.
"LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE"
They looked up just in time to see employees of the restaurant surround an overweight diner wearing a Hawaiian shirt, place a huge sombrero on his head, and, while bursting into a hokey rendition of Happy Birthday, hit him in the face with a whipped cream pie.
The way Julie tells the story, she had an "aha!" moment and looked over at Eric, who apparently had the same light bulb go on over his head. Adrian innocently continued eating.
When they were finishing up their meal, a waiter walked over and asked them how everything was.
Julie replied, "Oh, it was wonderful. The food here is great. Happy Birthday, Adrian!"
Eric added "Yeah, Happy Birthday, Ade!"
Ade looked horrified. "But...but...it's not my birthday...it's not..."
Julie said he backed up against the booth, eyes wide with terror (ha), and asked for the check.
Not so fast, Senor Belew.
Within a few seconds...
"LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE"
The sombrero was placed on Adrian's head, and all the while he protested "But it's not my birthday; it's not my birthday..."
This did not deter the staff so Ade finally said "Okay, okay, it's my birthday..."
He got pied bigtime.
But the staff, now obviously realizing what Julie and Eric had done, then turned to Julie and hit her in the face with a pie of her own. Julie, outraged that Eric remained unscathed, wiped a huge blob of cream off of her face and threw it at Eric.
The three of them collapsed into hysterics. I love, love, love this story as it really once again shows this bands camaraderie and joy.
My only regret is that there are no photos of this event, but oh how I picture the entire scene unfolding.
Erm...a warning to the beast of King Crimson currently practicing at Casa Belew. There has been some conjecture that when Ade takes you to dinner during this week's rehearsals, one of you might find out you are celebrating a birthday you didn't know you had.
Just saying...
Later,
xo
is eric still playing the Brighton bar gig in Long Branch?
ReplyDeletethanks Robin!
pete
Yep, and that show is going to be AMAZING. Hopefully I'll blog about it tomorrow again but if not, it's a definite go. Right after the show, Eric hops on a 5:00 a.m plane to perform at AmJam down in Asheville.
ReplyDeleteMy mother has always threatened death to anyone who tells any restaurant staff it's her birthday. Maybe she's had the right idea all along....
ReplyDeleteFunny story! Thanks for sharing! Who'd dare pie Our Fripp?!
ReplyDeleteI hope Julie and Eric happen to overlap with the KC rehearsals so they can, you know, intermingle.
Geno, your Mom had the right idea. I have the same policy. Ade is obviously a nicer person than I am...but who doesn't know that?
ReplyDeleteMark...Ade wouldn't dare pie Robert, would he? I don't know! I hear he does have a wicked sense of humor, though. My bet would be on Gavin - sort of like a rookie initiation. Aw, I bet it doesn't happen at all. You probably need to be around a 21 and 22 year old to fully appreciate the experience.
eric was brilliant, as was the rest of Richochet...must be all that drumming he does! Actually they were so good that in my opinion the bar had the order of appearance reversed from what it should have been.
ReplyDeleteNow I did offer to buy Eric 6 drinks at once haha, but he declined. Got him a water instead, but at least the bartender was actually able to hand it to him without any flying tackles from a bouncer! Well done!!
pete