Adrian Belew Power Trio at Sweetwater Music

Okay, it's only 6:00 a.m. and little blurbs are just starting to appear now regarding the Adrian Belew Power Trio gig at Sweetwater Sound yesterday, but here's what I've got so far:



I found the above photo on the Parker Guitar forum board...it was taken at 7:45 a.m. when the trio did a free concert for the staff at Sweetwater...

Then we have this blogpost from someone lucky enough to catch the evening show:

"Dad and I went to go see King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew play a set of prog-rock power trio tunes at Sweetwater tonight. Pretty fantastic - small room, killer set, free. His band was a brother/sister team out of Philly, ages 23 and 21. I'm trying hard not to think about that because I ain't need a quarter-life crisis. Need to scrape the rust off my bass chops."

And this from the Harmony Central Forum Board:

"It was awesome. Sweetwater (Ft Wayne, Indiana) gave a free 'workshop' to see Adrian showcase his new Parker sig with the Power Trio.

What happened though was 250 of us lucky bastards filed into a beautiful auditorium, with great seating, to see the Power Trio perform most of their Side Four live album. I was finally able to hear live tracks like Dinosaur, Three of a Perfect Pair, and Ampersand. And really.. just watching him give his guitar hell the whole time was amazing. Not even to mention how stellar the brother and sister combo are on drums and bass.

He really didn't talk about his guitar much, didn't take much Q&A, just rocked. I still can't believe I was able to see this for free. Anyone else lucky enough to attend this event? Sweetwater delivered huge on this. Kudos to them for putting this together."

And this from Guitars and Gear:

"As I type these words, Adrian Belew (King Crimson, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails, Frank Zappa, et al) is just down the hall, in Sweetwater’s retail store, showing off his new signature Parker guitar. I had dinner with Adrian and Eric and Julie Slick (the other two-thirds of his “Power Trio”) last night; they’re genuinely friendly, nice people - who just happen to travel the world playing amazing music. This morning they gave a short concert for Sweetwater’s Sales Engineers and introduced Adrian’s guitar. Tonight they will play a free concert in Sweetwater’s Performance Theatre. Based on what I heard this morning, it’s going to rock!

I’ve been waiting to get my hands on the Adrian Belew model Parker guitar ever since I heard it was announced. It’s finally shipping, so in honor of this momentous occasion, here’s a video of Adrian demonstrating and discussing the instrument. To wax slightly Tolkienesque, “One guitar to rule them all…” This thing will do everything! Not only does it have all the standard Parker Fly features (dual magnetic pickups, piezo, etc.), but it has a built-in MIDI 13-pin output and a complete built-in Line 6 Variax system. There’s even a Sustainer pickup built in. Yet it only weighs four pounds…

The concert tonight is going to be spectacular. Those in the area should plan to come by, for the rest of you, I’ll try to score some video of the event. And speaking of video, be sure to tune in to the next issue of Guitars & Gear. I’ll have an exclusive video interview for you with Adrian where he tells the story of the guitar and demonstrates some of its features - it’s going to be great!"

A few Twitters...my new addiction, by the way...follow me on twitter right here...but enough about me, here's some tweets about the trio:

"Back from the Adrian Belew performance at our theatre...That boy is not right...Julie and Eric Slick are sick...This is all good 2 me :)"

""Got paid to watch Adrian Belew's power trio perform live at 7:30 am this morning. I like my new job. :)

Had to giggle that Eric got a few mentions on the Zappa forum board regarding his recent show in NY with that "forbidden band"

"I know Eric's a bad-ass on drums with Belew..."

"The heart of it all was the Rhythm Section of Rob "Seahag" Magano on bass(who usually plays guitar and is sick)and Eric "Miniature Vinniature Colaiuta" Slick on drums. This sick duo kept a nasty groove all night which laid the foundation for a great night of music...also each band member improvising lines when pointed to (Slick by far said the funniest stuff)..."

Anyway, Julie and Eric will be back in Philadelphia after spending the last several days in Nashville, recording "E", their first studio CD with Ade. When I emailed Julie to find out how things were going, she replied as only Julie can:

"excellent thus far - we're spending every day recording a new piece,so yesterday we did a. the last day will be spent doing any overdubs, and miscellaneous stuff. ade is very excited and eric and i are (so far) are killing it. can't wait to show ya!"

Followed by this:

"record's sounding incredible - still on track. tomorrow is e then we just have one more part in b to record. after that we get to have fun doing wacky, spooky overdubs.sunday i get to make chicken tikka masala and curried vegetables. last night i made adrian's favorite meal of 08/09 - pan seared chicken with asparagus, leek and wild mushroom ragu over fresh pasta ribbons."

I had to laugh out loud when I saw the phrase "Adrian's favorite meal of 08/09"...she remembered not only the date but the exact meal? That's my Julie!

So that's it so far but it looks like, from reading some of these comments, that there will be some video up later from yesterday's show(s) so if I do find that or anything else, I'll be back.

ETA: Thanks to my pal, Sid Smith, over at DGM Live, who not only linked my blog but has a very nice news item up about last night, courtesy of fan Tony Isch, right here.

Later,
xo