Odds and Sods for Sunday, February 1, 2009

Gah! I can't believe it's February already. As my favorite waiter in an Asian fusion restaurant once told me, "Time fries, Lobin."

So this past Friday, January 30 was beautiful daughter Julie Slick's 23rd birthday:



I'm sorry, I know this photo (posted here many times cos' I love it) is not current as evidenced by the bass she's playing, but it's one of my favorites -- from her very last "Best Of" Rock School show at the Troc almost five years ago!

And speaking of that, if you live in the Philadelphia area and want something very cool to do prior to the Super Bowl, be at World Cafe Live at 2:00 today for the winter, 2009 version of that same event, which will feature kids/songs from last week's fabbo Philadelphia Beatle show and students from Wilmington, Princeton, and Cherry Hill School of Rock as well. You can purchase your tickets right here!

Oh, did I mention the show will also include "Guest Professor" Earl Slick? Ha ha, Gary finally gets to meet the man/guitarist most often confused as the father of our two kids. We have a running family joke that Earl should play a gig with Julie and Eric called Slick, Slick, Slick...then it turns out Eric may be playing with him at some point in the future afer all - not sure yet, though and Eric will probably call me on the phone and yell at me if he reads this but yes, it has been talked about as a one-off. By the way, Eric is currently on tour with Project Object and I apologize for falling behind in my usual PR on the blog - they've already done shows in Teaneck, NJ, Baltimore, MD, and Sellersville, PA but tonight should be a great one down in Falls Church, Virginia -- they are opening the doors early for patrons to watch the Super Bowl on big screen television; then Project Object will take the stage immediately thereafter. Ticket information can be found right here.

Here's two You Tubes of the band filmed in November, 2008 - some tasty stuff:





Speaking of great You Tubes, I know I promised a couple from the Beatle show last week but I was so freaking busy I didn't get around to it so let me make amends now. By the way, I was the crazy woman sitting by herself at a table sipping wine and bawling over every song. Of course that was partially a result of being up the entire night before partying in New York (see prior post) and then watching kids ages 6-17, from all cultures, backgrounds, and even disabilities perform the White Album in its entirety - I was their age when it was first released and naturally it played a huge part in my musical and creative life...so if you were there and wondering "Who the hell is that sobbing lunatic?" now you know...





Yep, the show was incredible and Eric, as the show's music director, and Gary, as his assistant, just did a stellar job with these kids.

Okay, what else. Oh yeah, Julie's birthday. Well, we all went out as a family (minus Eric, who was gigging in Baltimore that night, but filling his seat was Julie's significant other, Matt) to Chloe at 232 Arch Street in Philadelphia. We had a most excellent meal but I forgot to bring the camera so you'll have to take my word that the appetizers of lobster/crab crepes swimming in lobster bisque, oysters in garlic butter, spicy grilled shrimp with chili, coconut cilantro sauce, served atop corn cakes, and Chloe Salad with baked panko crusted goat cheese, mixed greens, red onion, and orange chipotle dressing were totally awesome, as were our entrees of grilled salmon fillet with crispy polenta, sweet and sour eggplant chutney, and parsley gremolata (me), pan seared sea scallops, crispy potato pancake, watercress and red onion salad, smoked chile and sour cream drizzle (Julie); baby back pork ribs, macaroni & cheese, seared spinach, bourbon chipolte glaze (Matt)...and center cut pork chop with sweet potato mash and grilled apples (Gary).

For dessert we split a light cheesecake (I only had a forkful...damn diet) and banana bread pudding (ditto).

Julie wanted art supplies as her gift, so yesterday the two of us went to a couple of way cool stores and picked up all kinds of things - tubes of paint, canvases, brushes...and while we were at Chloe, we noticed they had these really unique "lamps"...candles in pint glasses which were wrapped in gorgeous paper and tied in twine...very atmospheric and neat. So I knew of an art supply store which sells all kinds of crazy paper by the sheet (Taws, at 16th and Locust)...we picked up some lovely burnt orange, textured paper, pale ivory with moss green highlights..and dark green twine. Monday night has now been designated as "Robin and Julie Art Night" so I'm heading over to Julie's new digs tomorrow night for dinner (she's cooking me either scallops over warm lentil salad or black bean chili - I don't know yet); then we are making our lamps and we're both going to paint. It's so weird. I was an art major when I was in high school and thought that it would be my career. It's only been lately that I've had a strong desire to get back into it, and I never said a word to anyone in my family...then Julie expresses the same urge and that she wanted paints for her birthday. It was so freaky! So to say I'm looking forward to tomorrow night is putting it mildly.

Okay, I have all kinds of things to do today...I am dying to show you my new, finished book cover; what I plan to give away as promo (you are all going to want to read my new book just based on what you're going to get with each copy you buy! I'm so excited and will link you to the person/artist responsible next post)...but I want to make that a separate journal entry so hang on...it's coming...

One final note, which I will be posting again...there is a very special event happening for those of you living near Fort Wayne, Indiana on February 17. You can read about it here. And yes, the dynamic duo will be joining him...

Later,
xo