Well, some weeks are definitely better than others, and this one looks to be so stellar I have my fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.
Just three quick plugs and I'll move on to the more TMZ/Perez Hilton type news I know you are all dying to read. (insert smiley face emoticon here)
First, as I been tweeting, blogging, facebooking, etc., Julie Slick's debut CD is available for pre-order right here!
"Pre-order Julie Slick's new album and receive 3 tracks available for download immediately after purchase. Below is a preview of the artwork, tracklisting, and high resolution desktop wallpapers available for download. This is a digipack CD case design with artwork on the inside and on the CD itself, but you won't get to see it unless you order!"
By the way, the special guests listed on the tracks may be incomplete. There may be one or two more surprises...
Secondly, by some huge miracle (or mistake har har), my latest erotic comedy, Bitten to the Core, is still rated #1 in its genre over at Fictionwise. It's also #9 on the best seller list for my publisher. So if you haven't picked it up yet or have purchased it and haven't had the chance to rate it, here's my official plea that you do so ASAP so no one else creeps ahead of me. I do not get to be number one very often, though today I'd probably say I'd win top award for eating the most Easter candy before breakfast...sigh...I really gotta do something about that. But hey hey, I am now an official yoga person - I signed up for eight weeks of lessons so in a perfect world, it will be life-changing and I'll give up that damn sugar forever. Why was it so easy for me to go vegetarian? But wave a freaking piece of cake or candy in front of me and I'm a slobbering fool.
Okay, once again I went off track. Let me get to my third plug.
Dr. Dog's new album, Shame, Shame, comes out this Tuesday, April 6, 2010. You can pick it up on vinyl right here, grab the CD at a record store near you (sob...if any still exist) or at about a million places on line, or of course download it over at iTunes, etc. More on Dr. Dog in a minute.
Because in other news...
On Friday night, I was supposed to see Emerson/Lake at the Keswick Theater but the show was canceled, which freed me up, at least in theory, to see Julie Slick on bass with Calvin Weston and friends at Ortlieb's Jazzhaus. At least that was the plan. I met up with Julie and Eric at Silk City for dinner at 5:30 and it was, as usual, awesome, but Julie informed us that she wasn't going on until the second set, which would be around 12:00AM.
As it turns out, I am clearly too old for midnight concerts. With a neurotic dog back home (his health has improved dramatically but while he was sick, I spent 100% of the day/night with him, and now he has such separation anxiety that he even follows me into the bathroom) and eyes that were already fluttering shut when I was finished dinner, I decided the wisest thing to do was go back home and take a quick catnap so that I'd be fresh for Julie's show. Ortlieb's Jazzhaus is about two miles from my house, Silk City is smack in between.
Well, that was a mistake. And so was "getting comfortable" in my pajama pants while leaving my jeans, with my cell phone in the pocket, in the powder room. I sat on the sofa and watched the Flyers play their most important game of the year (if you aren't a fan, let me just say that if they make the playoffs it will be a miracle) and promptly fall behind 1-0. I decided my watching the game was giving them bad luck, and since I was totally exhausted and not getting any rest on the sofa, I figured I'd just go upstairs and hit the bed for an hour.
Erm...
Needless to say, the next thing that happened was my eyes opened at 6:00 AM the next morning and literally my first words were "OH NO! I MISSED JULIE'S SHOW!"
I felt so terrible and then coming downstairs, retrieving my phone and seeing text messages and listening to a distraught voicemail from Julie, I felt even worse. Not only was she disappointed we weren't at the show, she was counting on us for a ride...don't forget, she had a bass to carry and while she lives not too far from Ortliebs, it was late at night and not exactly cool for a young girl to be walking by herself with an expensive musical instrument. Anyway, she ended up calling a cab and playing the show...she had a blast, made some amazing friends with other musicians she hadn't met before, but the best part was after she was finished, a waitress handed her a note found on a table. Now while this is hardly accurate and would make Julie around 45-50 years old, it is still a very cool thing...but yeah, somewhat hilarious, too:
Anyway, Julie forgave me but I am still beating myself up over it...this getting older stuff is a bitch. But in all fairness, up until recently, I have not slept through the night since December with the dog's illness. It was not until this week that he finally made it through the evening without waking me up for water or to be let out.
Here's a photo Eric just took of our little senior citizen:
Julie came over yesterday, went Farmers Market shopping with her Dad, and we had an incredible dinner of chargrilled leeks, asparagus, baby eggplants, and little red potatoes.
She also decided to throw an impromptu Easter barbecue herself today, and Julie, being an internationally renowned chef and hostess, is in her element and in great spirits...if I weren't having an awesome dinner here today with the dog, I'd head over to her place myself. And if...sob...all her guests weren't 25 years old or thereabouts. Gah! I really have to get over this "Wah I'm not young anymore" nonsense. I'm gonna just blame hormones and as of this minute, I am going back to looking at life with joy and renewed appreciation. Because I have one hell of a lot to be happy about.
So while Julie was here yesterday, we firmed up our plans for Tuesday. What is Tuesday, you ask? Well, in case you missed all of my other posts and billboards around cyberworld, Eric will be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, playing with Dr. Dog!
Hey, there's a chance you can be at the Fallon show, too. Enter your name for a spot on the "band bench" right here!
But you know, being Eric's mom and all, we get the VIP treatment so just for the hell of it....okay, really, because I am one proud Mama, here's our official Fallon instruction letter, though of course I've blanked out some stuff so that no one from NBC gets angry at me:
"Robin Slick and Julie Slick have been placed on our special guest list for the studio audience for “LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON”. Please follow the instructions below and remember that a large number of guests will arrive to fill the studio in a brief space of time – therefore, please do not be impatient if there is a delay.
You and your guests should arrive at the GE Building, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, between 49th and 50th Streets, amid Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Upon arrival, please... see the NBC Guest Relations Representative who will be holding your tickets. Please be aware no one under the age of seventeen will be allowed into the studio. Those expecting their age to be in question should bring proper identification.
DOORS CLOSE AT 4:15 pm.
(We Suggest ARRIVING No Later Than 4:00 pm)
The taping will take approximately two hours
************************************
NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES PERMITTED IN THE STUDIO"
After the Fallon taping, we have to race across town to the Apple Store in Soho because...
"Dr. Dog - Guest - Apple Store SoHo - New York
06.Apr - 06.Apr
07.00 pm - 08.00 pm
Apple Store SoHo - New York - New York
To Read Dr. Dog's Wikipedia Profile, Click Below:
Wiki/Dr. Dog
About the event:
Untouched by modern tastes and content to exist on its own terms, "Shame, Shame," the sixth album from Philly rockers Dr. Dog, is a record destined to claim its place as a timeless achievement. Check out Dr. Dog at this special live performance and hear tracks from the new album, which is due for release April 6.
Location: 103 Prince Street
New York City, NY 10012
(212) 226-3126
Fee: No
Pre-Register: No"
And then, the best part of the evening (well, not really - every part of this day freaking rules!), the after party at one of the coolest hotels in New York City...and we even get to spend the night, which is even more fortuitous for Julie and me because Julie has a gig in Brooklyn the next day. Again, I don't know if I'm allowed to share details about the party (but oh please let the Roots be there and please let me not say anything embarrassing to Questo)...but let me just show you a few pics...
A sample pic of the hotel rooms:
Where we'll be partying:
Now Eric also told me that they'll be in New York for a couple of days doing press and interviews/radio spots, but I don't have that info yet...he's due over here later today, maybe he'll be able to spill, maybe not...so you know the drill, I'll come back here and edit if I find out anything new.
But in the meantime, what I do know is that Dr. Dog is in fact the XPN free at noon NPR concert this Friday, April 9...alas, I will be out of the country and will miss it, but here's the details because it appears, much to my shock, they haven't "sold out" yet..i.e., meaning, there's still room to get your name on the list if you RSVP...here's the link!
And if you are nowhere near Philadelphia or can't attend the show, it will be broadcast live. If there is a direct link, I'll put it up Friday morning (provided I have internet service where I'm going), but for now, this link will surely take you there one way or the other: WXPN...you'll even see "Free at Noon" on the front page with my favorite press photo of Eric Slick and Dr. Dog.
So why won't I be at the XPN show on Friday? Because on Thursday night, I'm flying to the wilds of Canada on a secret mission with, as I've already told you, three of the best women writers in North America. We all have families and a lot of extraneous stuff in our lives and we decided that the only way to really finish or at least come close to completing our respective current novels in progress, is to "get away". Again, I'd love to spill identities here but I'm not sure how the others will feel about that, especially our hostess, who is so freaking brilliant she's already sold her books to Hollywood, a movie based on her debut novel is already in production, and so she's invited us to her new vacation cottage in the woods outside of Toronto for three days of writing bliss. And of course great food and alcohol. I can't even imagine the four of us together for three days...I know it's our plan to write, write, write but we're really going to have to come up with a schedule and stick to it or I just know what's going to happen...we're going to talk, talk, talk instead.
Hey, with these ladies, that would not be a bad thing at all, but we all have books calling out to us "Finish me....finish me..." and this is really the perfect opportunity.
In a not so great stroke of luck for me, Eric and Dr. Dog will be playing Toronto on April 14, and I'm flying home April 11. Normally I would have hung out a few days longer because I absolutely adore that city and made a lot of friends there when I toured with the Adrian Belew Power Trio last fall, but because of the dog's health and separation anxiety, I'm nervous enough about going away for three days as it is...especially in light of the fact that I will also be out of town Tuesday through Wednesday with the Dr. Dog festivities. Gary is actually taking off from work on Friday to take care of him and then go to the Dr. Dog free at noon. But if you are in the Toronto area and reading this...and I know there are a bunch of you...do yourself a favor and pick up some Dr. Dog tickets for April 14. It's the first night of their huge Spring tour so it will be a blast. They're playing at Lee's Palace.
So that's about it for now...Eric just popped in the door hoping for a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny and ha ha, guess what, the Easter Bunny did in fact visit and he's busy now trying to break my record for chocolate consumption today.
He's headed to Julie's party after that...and again, if I manage to get any more dirt, I'll be back.
Later,
xo
