Odds and Sods for Wednesday, August 18, 2010

(I'm adding ETAs (edited to add) at the bottom of this post and I've already put in some links I neglected to put up in my original post today)

Whoops, here's an ETA I want to put up front: Dr. Dog in The Huffington Post!

Well, before I launch into my usual spiel of all that's been going on at Casa Slick, I woke up this morning to a very nice surprise: All About Jazz has an absolutely stellar review of Julie's new CD.

"Julie Slick
Julie Slick | Self Produced (2010)
By John Kelman

Despite a sudden explosion of female bassists—from Aussie Tal Wilkenfeld (Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea) to acoustic bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding (Joe Lovano—assessing them on the basis of gender would be wrong, since every one of them easily stands beside their male counterparts. The same can be said for Julie Slick, still on the shy side of 25 and with a remarkable number of high profile credits in the progressive rock world, including King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew's Power Trio, responsible for the live Side Four (Self Produced, 2007) and e (Self Produced, 2010). Since joining the Paul Green School of Rock Music in 1998 at the age of 12, she's gone on to record and/or tour with artists including The Police's Stewart Copeland and Yes' Jon Anderson. Slick's self-titled debut reflects the progressive tendencies of her recent work with Belew; a studio concoction of fourteen originals, where she layers keyboards, programming and guitar, in addition to some stunning electric bass work...."

Read the rest right here.

Also, my Google stalking of my kids yielded yet another review I was not aware of...one written by DGMLive's Sid Smith, who had this to say:

"A Slick Debut
Julie Slick

There are some players who take a while to mature and there are others who miraculously arrive fully mature. Just in her early 20s, bassist Julie Slick can confidently be said to fall into the latter category...."

Read the rest here.

So I just had one of the best birthdays ever yesterday - and actually, it spanned two days, since Julie had to work last night. Monday night the entire family was together, which is so rare with Julie and Eric usually off touring the world and now that they are in different bands, the chances of having them both home at the same time is greatly diminished so trust me, I really appreciated that dinner! We went to my favorite low-key hang-out, Silk City...vegetarian friendly, great cocktails, and a funky outdoor area with colored lights and I guess a tiki theme, I dunno, but we sat outside with our drinks and there was a nice breeze blowing and just a general, awesome vibe, and naturally J&E knew a bunch of people also eating/working there which is always fun because they are always asked a million questions about their brilliant lives and I sit there beaming like I'm 100% responsible. Well...I am at least 50% responsible, right?

Julie and Eric showed up at Silk City with a huge bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine for me. When I left the restaurant holding them, I felt like Woody Allen when he won the beauty pageant in Sleeper.



Okay, so that photo doesn't show him holding the flowers he won when he was crowned Miss America but still...one of my all time favorite movies and I'm very much like Woody Allen (circa 1973, that is)

So we sat outside and sipped our drinks and Eric told me all about the Dr. Dog show at Governor's Island in NY Sunday night...I listened to the live stream, it was amazing, and here's two You Tubes from that...the first is Shame, Shame, the title track from their latest record, and the second is a brand new song and that's all I'm saying, other than it rocks!!
(Though perhaps there are a few hints in the You Tube comments?)





Eric also mentioned his new website should be up and running any day now, so I'll definitely make an announcement here as soon as that happens - I saw the initial design and it's very cool and very Eric.

Julie is still unwinding from what was the most incredible tour ever with Adrian down in South America. I posted You Tubes of that on my Facebook page but in case you missed them, here's A Little Madness and Three of a Perfect Pair as you've never quite heard them before:





And if you visit Adrian's website, the dates for the European tour are starting to appear and I understand there's a secret week being added at the end. (Sob...does this mean Thanksgiving alone? Eric may have a top secret gig, too, but he hopefully will be home in time regardless)

So everyone is in a really good head right now, including me, even though I am backed up with book reviews. Ariel, Gina, Marcy...they are coming. I have the first drafts written, and if I wasn't such a perfectionist, I'd have posted them already but I want the reviews to do your respective books justice...all three blew me away and I don't want to simply write a few paragraphs.

Anyway, back to my birthday...so after a really lovely night out, yesterday, the actual day, I spent writing and surfing the web in my favorite outfit, i.e., pajamas, and then I decided to get dressed because Eric was coming over for dinner but the dog went ballistic on me as soon as I put jeans on and took my hair out of its usual messy ponytail. He was like, "Oh, no, you don't. You are not going out two days in a row." Think I'm kidding? Eric saw it for himself. The dog hounded me so much that I finally gave up, took my pajama pants into the powder room to change back, and while I was doing that, Monty stood outside the bathroom door and howled and scratched at said door. It was hilarious. He must have thought I was doing something even more ominous, like putting on lipstick and a coat.

I mean, really. Who has to put their hair in a ponytail to please a dog? But I kid you not, the minute I shake my hair free he starts to panic. It's really very touching - he's twelve and a half years old and essentially on chemotherapy so he's a bit shaky at times - he won't walk up stairs now unless someone is behind him, etc.

This time last year I was preparing to fly to Nashville to embark on a three week tour with the kids. That seems like a thousand years ago now and I could never do anything like that again, anyway. Selling merch at rock concerts is not for the weak of heart, and neither is touring. I am much better off at home base, living vicariously through J&E.

So anyway, Eric came over bearing gifts of beautiful paintings/collages he made for me and I also got a pound cake (because I don't like birthday cake with sugary icing) and let me plug said cake - it's from a place called Denise's Delicacies in North Philly and I defy anyone to say there's a better pound cake on the planet. They trump Stock's, which is the place everyone goes nuts over but you know me, I never like what the masses like, anyway.

Eric took some pics of the artwork/cake/wine for me to post here and they were supposed to include the gorgeous flowers, too, but they did not, and I am such a reject I tried to take them myself this morning and failed utterly, but I wanted to post the photos anyway so here they are, flaws and all:





Okay, Eric's pic of the cake/wine/artwork isn't flawed, just mine, but I'll try again later. The flowers are truly magnificent, trust me.

Oh, one more thing - mark September 1 on your calendars - Julie, Eric, and Robbie Seahag, a/k/a/ Paper Cat, have a gig at Blockley Pourhouse in Philadelphia. Here's a link to the Facebook Event Page but of course I'll be posting more on the show as it draws closer.

Seems to me I have a lot more to say but I'm drawing a blank right now and have to finish up those reviews and then actually work on my own novel so if I remember what it is I wanted to tell you, I'll be back.

ETA: I'm back already. I knew there was something I left out. It's been so long since I did a regular blog post I'd been keeping a running list. Here's a four part review of Julie and Adrian's recent solo show at World Cafe Live written by Jeff Boule, who has affectionally given me the nickname of birdwoman.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Later,
xo