Backwards Blogging...

Okay, I admit I'm stealing this idea from my second favorite bassist in the world, Tony Levin, but since it's been over a week since I've blogged and so many cool things have happened, I'm going to start with last night and work my way backwards. But first, we all know my #1 bassist is:



Julie Slick, who hopefully one of these days will sit down with our brilliant webmaster and finish her website...and as I've already written in previous posts, Julie heads down to Nashville tomorrow to Adrian Belew's studio for several days leading up to their June 10 gig at the Riverbend Festival...she is going to be making all kinds of magic there and hopefully fulfilling the dreams of a lot of Ade's fans.

Oh yeah, one more thing I want to shout from the rooftop before I launch into my blog in reverse, if you are anywhere near the Philadelphia/Bucks County area, mark June 20 on your calendar, and I will naturally be promoting this big time over the next three weeks, but following his 1:30 performance with Oblivion Sun at NEARfest, both Julie and Eric will be the special guests of the California Guitar Trio at the Sellersville Theater at 8:00 p.m. that night, performing several songs with the band including one from Pink Floyd and another from King Crimson...and that's just a little tease.

As I said, more on that in future posts but it's going to be AMAZING.

Oh wait, if I am doing this correctly, I should really start with today and my crazy brilliant drummer son, Eric Slick, who, because he does not already have enough to do, is in the studio today from noon until 5:00 p.m. recording with Tom Hamilton and the American Babies; then he heads over to a jam with David Fishkin and I just tried to find where and when that is via Google and MySpace and failed. If I talk to Eric at any point today and find out the details, I'll come in and edit.

**Okay, I did find out the details of Eric's gig tonight - see ETA at the bottom of this post.

Here's a recent pic of crazy Eric on tour last month:



Anyway...

Last night, Eric went with me to the Highline Ballroom in New York City to see a bunch of my friends read from Smith Magazine's Six Word Memoirs.

I was able to lure him there as my partner in crime because headlining the show was the absolutely hilarious Eugene Mirman from Flight of the Conchords, one of the funniest comics ever, Todd Barry...and someone Eric met while he was still in high school and I have an autographed copy of her book on my shelves to prove it, author Amy Tan. Oh, as a totally wild side note because I'm afraid I'll leave this part out in all of the other excitement, Amy read a very funny piece on email etiquette -- well, really, she related that she pondered quite extensively on how to sign an email, and oddly enough, and after much debate and what appears to be quite the internal struggle on her part, I learned she signs her email the same way I do -- xoxo

I never gave my sign-off any thought at all. xoxo just seemed a good a way as any. I wasn't about to use "ciao" or "Very truly yours" in a freaking email. Amy even analyzed whether to do it xxxooo or ox (no wait, I think I just made that part up and if I did, Amy, you should steal it. The "ox" part I mean. I know you had a problem with how many x's and o's to use).

When I first bought tickets for last night, I was going because my pals Susan Henderson, Ellen Meister, and Joe Maida were reading (oh...let me qualify Joe...he's really Eric's friend/fan, too and a major friend of Ween but then the two of us starting emailing about music, kids, etc. etc. so now Eric and I both have custody of Joe) and two people I really wanted to meet would also be in the audience, brilliant author Luis Urrea and his beautiful wife, Cindy. Ha ha...last night I also learned that while I met the Urreas through my blog, which I already knew, I thought it was because they stumbled on my writing...here, it turns out Luis is a huge Adrian Belew fan and he found me while googling Adrian. Score another one for Eric.

Then, after I'd already bought tickets, on Thursday a little blurb appeared on Twitter from Amanda Palmer, that she was the surprise musical guest. Now, we all know I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, and if you are also a fan of either Amanda or Neil, and you've read their blogs and seen the amazing photos of the two of them by Kyle Cassidy you also know they are now officially "out" as a couple and that yes, Neil was already in New York for Book Expo America, the opening of Coraline the musical, and a joint show with Amanda in NYC on June 3. Would Neil be in the audience as well? If I saw him would he say hello and would I have a chance to redeem myself after our great embarrassing (well, to me as a slobbering fan girl) meet-up of a couple of years ago? Ha ha, trust me, I'm over that, had a couple of fun email exchanges with him since, and recently even had a twitter or two with him...in fact, just the other day he wrote "@neilhimself:@RobinSlick I watched the Why We Wax film, and you were not only in it, but you were wearing a Death shirt! Was very impressed."

I just realized something - I'm going to have that made into a Twitter t-shirt. But only if they will make it for me in black with white lettering.

But seriously, I had already bought my tickets before the Amanda Palmer announcement and was really looking forward to seeing Susan, Ellen et al and meeting Luis and Cindy, especially the latter as they were just in Philadelphia for a reading at the Free Library, which is literally blocks from my house, and I was still suffering from the great dental debacle and couldn't make it. And I was teasing Eric the whole time about the surprise musical guest...he knew of Amanda but had never seen her live and I knew he'd be interested but I didn't let on who it was until we were actually at the Highline.

Normally, because I am both nearsighted even with expensive contact lenses and neurotic, I would have gotten there at 6:00 p.m. when the doors opened to snag a seat right in front and do the happy hour thing but Eric had to teach so we literally got there about 10 minutes before the show started. Ellen immediately found us and even though we've been friends for years, she had never met Eric so I did the proud mom thing, and then I really got my chance because Cindy Urrea found us as well and I finally got to meet Luis and even more importantly, he got to meet Eric (xo) and then he said "I saw Neil and Amanda walking around holding hands".

I think it's pretty safe to say that anyone who reads my blog knows that little comment made me smile in a big way and Eric nervously glanced at me like I once again made him my accomplice in something awful and humiliating. (When I met Neil a couple years ago, I dragged Eric with me and then I insisted he take our picture together --Neil and yours truly, that is -- and I don't know that Eric has forgiven me yet for that oh so totally uncool moment.)

But already having met Ellen and Luis and also being greeted by Joe, our friend from Ween, I quickly dispelled Eric's fears by pointing that out.

But he still looked at me warily, and then, as luck would have it, when the show started in what was now a standing room only venue, I realized we were, well, standing, right next to Neil and Amanda! Eric shot me a look like "Don't you dare!" and on the other side of me, Ellen was urging me to say Hello. I kind of wanted to introduce Eric to Amanda, actually, because I know she is a big Trent Reznor fan and figured she knew Eric's "boss", Adrian Belew, and trust me, if I had my wits about me, I would have, but what did I blurt out instead when I saw them?

"I'M TELLING THE INTERNET!"

Amanda heard what I said right away and turned around and flashed me a huge smile, but Neil, who was standing right behind her and holding her and Oh.My.God are those two in love...they just radiate and are so perfect for each other it's a thing of beauty...anyway, Neil didn't turn around because he probably figured I was some weirdo fan...well, wait, I am a weirdo fan so that part may be true...oy....but you know, he stared straight ahead in the way celebrities do when they are out enjoying a night off and really don't want to make eye contact or talk to a stranger but ha ha, this is me we are talking about, I'm not a stranger! However, I decided if I bothered him again it would be the most unhip, cheesy thing I ever did and even though I knew he would be friendly if he realized it was me, I just could not bring myself to say anything else.

But then Susan Henderson came over to us, and Sue did the incredible interview with Neil on her website...I had "introduced" them in cyberworld, now I had no choice but to introduce them in the real world, but that meant I had to talk to him! Oh God. Would Eric refuse to ever go out in public with me anywhere again let alone hip clubs in New York City? Thank God for Ellen, whom I love dearly, because she doesn't put up with idiotic behavior. She stepped in and even though she doesn't know him, tapped Neil on the shoulder...he turned...saw me, smiled broadly (yeah!) I quickly introduced Sue...and then...and then...he kissed both of us on the cheek.

I wish I could say I'm never washing my face again but even I'm not that much of a lunatic.

And truth to tell, I have an even bigger crush on Luis Urrea. (Hi, Cindy!)

Seriously, Neil is so totally sweet and I did not bother him at all after that...I mean, we may have chatted briefly only I don't even remember what I did say to him because suddenly the two Ketel and clubs I drank on an empty stomach slammed me and after whatever conversation we did have, I happily returned to listening to the extremely entertaining show.

Amanda was great - she played her ukulele and performed a new one she wrote, Dear Old House That I Grew Up In, and a fantastic cover of Radiohead's Creep...in fact, here's a recent You Tube of that...but first, did I mention that Neil stood next to Eric the whole time Amanda played? Yep. I snuck a look at him...Neil, that is...he was mesmerized and that is one love sick puppy. It's so cute!

Okay, enough of that. Here's Amanda and this was from Coachella a few months ago. Damn I wish the Adrian Belew Power Trio had played that gig! Maybe next year?



The Smith Magazine part of the show in which my friends took part was absolutely fabulous! Larry and Rachel from Smith shouted out a name and each writer came running up to the mic and read his/her six word memoir. Some were laugh out loud funny; some were a little sad...all were fantastic. I was wondering how the hell they were going to pull that off and they really, really did an awesome job.

Sooo..I think that covers today and last night.

Let's see. Earlier in the week, I wrote. And wrote. And realized that my Young Adult book contains the word "fuck" 37 times in under 100 pages. Clearly, I either need to find another word or abandon the idea that I can ever write anything young adult. I will try and figure this out over the course of the next several days, in between dealing with an ongoing fucking dental nightmare which I can't even blog about; it's too painful both physically and emotionally. Bleh.

Oh, I know. Still in reverse mode, I can tell you about Monday. Memorial Day, that is. As is the usual Slick family custom, we went to Ocean City, New Jersey for the day, and there were no significant others involved. It was like we were transported 10 years back into time. Donuts for breakfast, a surrey ride, miniature golf, pizza from Mac and Manco's, and then home before traffic picked up, only we were too late for that and sat in gridlock for hours but I was too happy to have a panic attack so I somehow made it through that without freaking out and...oh enough, here's some photos from that fabbo day:









So I'm pretty sure that was my week, but if I remember anything else or find out where the hell Eric is playing tonight with David Fishkin (he's a sax player), I'll be back.

**ETA: Just talked to Eric..his gig tonight is at Big Rock Candy Mountain, 1822 North Hancock Street, Philadelphia, PA at 9:30 p.m. and admission is FREE

And if you want to follow any of us mentioned in this post on Twitter, here's the official list:

Me: @robinslick
Eric: @mrericslick
Luis and Cindy Urrea: @urrealism
Ellen Meister: @ellenmeister
Susan Henderson: @litpark
Joe Maida: @mightyboognish
Amanda Palmer: @amandapalmer
Neil Gaiman: @neilhimself (as if the world doesn't already know that)

Later,
xo