Super Bowl Part III - more pre-game

Gina Randazzo

Gretchen Wilson

The Fox pre-game show continues to freak me out -- it's been non-stop on T.V. like the last 48 hours -- but c'mon, give me a break, I live in Philadelphia and we haven't had a team in the Superbowl in 24 years so I gotta watch it.

I just saw a pre-game performance by a Grammy nominated singer, Gretchen Wilson, and giggled because she looked like a less attractive and sounded like a less talented version of Rock School's former All-Star (now graduated) Gina Randazzo. Gretchen wore tight jeans and even stood like Gina and made Gina gestures. But oh my god, if this chick is nominated for a Grammy, wait until the world gets a load of Gina.

Man, she's gonna be such a star.

In less appetizing news, I also got to see Sir Paul McCartney do a duet with former Pittsburgh Steeler now loud obnoxious fuckwit Fox Announcer Terry Bradshaw. Oh my god, they butchered She Loves You. But worse, and even more embarrasing, was when they showed footage of Paul and Terry doing a duet the last time Paul played the Superbowl - they did A Hard Days Night, and Terry got all dyslexic and sang (loudly:

It's been a hard days night
and I've been working like a log
It's been a hard days night
I should be sleeping like a dog.

Oy.

Painful.

Okay, now Clinton and former President Bush and doing some kind of right before the game speech. Oh wait, it's for tsunami relief. Okay. I can deal with that.

Anyway, Julie's about to bring out our next course. All I know is, it's "Indonesian".

Super Bowl Part II , or my tribute to John Fogerty

Oh man, John Fogerty rules! He just played two songs live on the Fox Pre-pre-pre game show for the Super Bowl in front of trillions of people worldwide and what does he come out singing? Fortunate Son and Bad Moon Rising - a big fuck to you every Republican and Bush supporter everywhere.

For those of you unenlightened, here are the lyrics to each:

FORTUNATE SON

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
And when the band plays hail to the chief,
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no,

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no.

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give?
Ooh, they only answer more! more! more! yoh,

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, one.

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no!

**************

BAD MOON RISING

I see a bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

CHORUS:
Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like we're in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.



Now, it may be me, but I swear, instead of saying "there's a bad moon on the rise, he deliberately said "there's a bad moon on the RIGHT". (No, not bathroom on the right, ha ha, but just the word RIGHT)

But Fortunate Son, man, that was blatant. Long live John Fogerty!

Super Bowl Sunday

Julie is in charge of the Super Bowl menu today. We're having "small plates" all day long and here's the first batch. Homemade blackbean salsa with cilantro, lime, chopped tomatoes; really sick homemade guacamole; little balls of fresh mozzarella that sit in basil boats drizzled with imported olive oil and topped with a grape tomato; thinly grilled salami chips, and cubes of another mild Italian cheese with walnuts.

Green and red grapes to clear the palate.

Oh god, and this is just round one.

Latest gossip...

So, today's news:

(1) If anyone is around the Philadelphia area tonight, try and make it to Indre Studios at 8th and Reed Streets for an awesome Steely Dan tribute. My son on drums; my daughter's boyfriend Matt on bass and for both of them, it's wind down time and their second or third to the last Rock School shows since they are of course both in college now.

(2) The Flash Fiction project which recently accepted my stories Last Supper and Dreaming of Flying for publication is looking better and better. Here's the latest on that:

FlashFiction.net Cafe will feature two styles of coffee mugs : an 11 ounce white and an 11 ounce morph mug. The morph mug is either blue or black when cool, and turns white when hot to reveal the flash fiction story. Writers will receive a $1.00 royalty for each white mug sold and $2.00 royalty for each morph mug sold. The sale prices will be $10.00 and $15.00 (USD) respectively. Customers will be able to pay using Paypal, Visa or by check or money order. The Cafe is in progress, and should open this month. Thank you to everyone who submitted stories. A list of accepted stories will follow here soon.

(You know I'll be posting that link when it's up ha ha and also hawking coffee cups)

(3) A few more very well respected agents have expressed serious interest in my book, The Tour, via e-mail over the last few days. I'm going to be low key about that news for the moment because I don't want to jinx myself.

(4) Go Eagles! I can't believe Philadelphia has a team in the Super Bowl. We're having a party at our house - anyone who wants to come, just let Julie and Eric know because we'll be cooking insane goodies all day (Julie is in charge of the menu and that girl can really come up with some incredible food) and shooting off fireworks afterwards when they win!

But here's how oblivious I am -- I'm riding home in a cab yesterday past LOVE park (a small pretty former skate boarding park in downtown Philly, home of the famous LOVE statue) and I notice that all of the street lights in the park are lit up green with tiny white lights around the posts. I think to myself "Hmm..they're decorating really early for St. Patrick's Day this year, aren't they?"

Oy. I'm not even Irish. And I watch the Eagles every Sunday. (If you don't know from sports, the Eagles wear green). I'm even wearing that stupid Go Green Lance Armstrong rubber band around my wrist for the past couple of weeks for good luck.

So why I didn't put two and two together can only mean one thing: I am focused on my writing! Yay!

(though it's more likely because I still have a horrible head cold...)

I didn't know these photos existed...

Man, I love Google. I just found all these pics of the kids in concert, two of which are my daughter at her Rock School graduation...the final show she played at the TLA. All graduating kids get a portrait done by Tom Lessner, the incredible artist who does all the Rock School posters, and the portrait then hangs on the Wall of Fame at the school. Of course you can see Paul in that first one, about to make the presentations.

Actually, I had to really shrink these down to fit here and there's a whole slew of really great photos of all the other kids as well. So here's the link. Enjoy!

Today's news

Another great Rock School performance photo - Keyboard wizard Allie Hauptman on vocals performing at the TLA in Philadelphia.

Sorry about the lag in posting - this has been the winter from hell for me. Another freaking head cold. What am I doing wrong? Oh yeah. Right. Not exercising and pigging out on "illegal" food.

Anyway, here's the latest.

I got an email from an agent today, asking for the first 100 pages of The Tour, so I'm pretty psyched about that.

And along those lines, here's the most recent news article published on the upcoming soundtrack. I'm not sure where this comes from - it's a Sonic something or other website:

The Paul Green School Rock was founded in 1998, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. There are currently 9 branches of The Paul Green School of Rock: Philadelphia, Downingtown, and Bucks County, PA; Sommers Point, Cherry Hill, and Bergen County, NJ; New York City; San Francisco; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Another round of rollouts is planned for September 2005, and will include Austin Texas, Portland Oregon, Los Angeles CA, and Las Vegas, NV.

The Paul Green School of Rock was the apparent inspiration for the hugely successful Jack Black film ‘The School of Rock’, as it’s existence preceded the movie by 5 years and had already been the subject of a VH-1 pilot filmed in 2003. VH-1 is owned by Viacom, which in turn owns Paramount, who produced 'School of Rock’.

Green’s school is now the subject of the upcoming feature documentary 'Rock School.' which top indy distributor NewMarket Films has acquired for worldwide distribution rights. There will be a wide domestic release in March 2005 right after its premier at the famed Sundance Film Festival. ‘Rock School’ has 6 screenings scheduled for Sundance, as well as a live performance by the School of Rock All-Stars, featuring a guest appearance by Alice Cooper.

Following the theatrical and DVD run, A&E has purchased the Television rights to the film. Negotiations are also currently under way for a television series to follow, as well as with Warner/Chapel for a line of School of Rock Instructional DVD's.

The finishing touches are currently being put on the Rock School Soundtrack, to be released on Jive/Zomba, a division of Universal Records. The album is being produced by Paul Green and famed Philadelphia producer Phil Nicolo (The Fugees, Cypress Hill), and will feature the School of Rock All-Stars performing with various rock icons including Jon Anderson (Yes) Alice Cooper, Dave Mustane (Megadeath), Ann Wilson (Heart), and Billy Idol.

To Date, The Paul Green School of Rock has played over 350 concerts. Some of our highlights include: The Wildflower Festival, The Zappanale Festival, The LA Film Festival, and performances at The Knitting Factory (LA+NY), BB Kings (NYC), The Big Easy (Spokane and Boise), the Trocadero and TLA (Philly), and Slims and Cafe DuNord (SF).

The Paul Green School of Rock has been featured in/on: CNN, The NY Times, SPIN Magazine, Tracks Magazine, MTV's TRL, The London Obsever, and Reuters, as well as dozens of local articles and TV segments across the country. During a recent run of concerts featuring the music of Frank Zappa, the School Of Rock All Stars were joined on stage by such touring pros as Ike Willis, Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston, Napoleon Murphy Brock, and Mike Keneally, all members of his various nationally known touring bands.

For more info on The School of Rock All-Stars, the film and soundtrack, plus the schools and their extensive programs visit www.schoolofrock.com

Some writing stuff

So, I came downstairs at dawn this morning to two great surprises. First, there's an awesome review of Three Days in New York City appearing in today's Blue Iris Journal which has me really thrilled.

Second, and I'm pretty stoked about this, my short story "Dreaming of Flying" has been accepted at Flash Fiction, where it will end up, in the words of its publisher as follows: "If your flash is published here it will also embark upon a journey unlike any your words have before...once permanently imprinted to ceramic coffee mugs your story will be bubble-wrapped and boxed for a trip to perhaps Australia or China, or simply to a cafe on 52nd street in New York. In its new home your flash will bond with a homo sapien - that's right, with a homo, sapien, who will not only read the story on numerous occasions, but will mindfully wash and polish your story so it continues to shine for future drinking's and readings. There will be no tattered pages or dusty bookshelves for your story, although in the environs of some it may sit abandoned in a clumsy sink or dishwasher, awaiting human intervention. And I might as well tell you now, in the hands of some your story may be introduced to a shot of Kuluah in the coffee or perhaps in Russia a toss of vodka and cream with the above. In any case, your flash will maintain its integrity, remain intact for inspiration or entertainment, for the pure joy of reading to experience anthers' take on these journeys we call life. So the call for submissions comes to a conclusion this weekend. The deadline January 31, 2005 looms in the very near distance, like a ring of tawdry Mardi Gras beads in the hands of an overzealous masquerader."

So, that works for me. My story on a coffee cup distributed internationally. I dig that concept, especially as I drink eight cups of the stuff a day. Even better, I get paid for this. It occurs to me that I really can call myself a writer now - I earned enough money in 2004 via my addiction (yep, won some contests, got paid for some short stories, etc.) to have to declare it on my tax return.

Finally, Monkeybicycle lit mag will be running a series of one sentence stories which will be published any day and they took one of mine, only they haven't told me which one, because I sent two, and the editor told me he hadn't decided because he liked them both. Of course I was dying to bug him and say Why not take them both ha ha but I stayed quiet for once so as soon as I find out and it is published, I'll post a link. Or you could keep checking every five minutes via the link above like I do. (yes, yes, it's already been established I'm pathetic)

Anyway, that's the writing news for today. I'm so busy being obnoxious proud Mom I forget sometimes I have an identity of my own. (heh...just kidding. I'm so into being proud obnoxious Mom I may have a t-shirt printed up)

Tony Levin - Part II

Yay - Eric uploaded the pics for me.


Eric and Tony Levin

Julie and Eric

Julie with pick in mouth

Louie and Tony Levin

Eric

CJ Tywoniak

Julie and Kenny Liu

Julie and Kenny

Max DiMezza and Louie Graff

Julie's boyfriend Matt and CJ

Last night with Tony Levin...

So last night my son Eric and a few other Rock School kids opened for former King Crimson/Yes bass player Tony Levin and the California Guitar Trio, featuring former King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto. And yes, I took a million digital pics but I have to wait for Eric to come home and upload them for me. (one of these days I'm going to learn how to do that myself...sigh...)

Anyway, this was pretty exciting because Eric basically put this show together while Paul was in Salt Lake City, Utah for the screening of Rock School at the Sundance Film Festival. And he was the only drummer on all five songs. The show also marked the return of retired rock school greats - my daughter Julie and boyfriend Matt on bass and my "adopted" son, Louie, on guitar. They were joined by other rock school legends Kenny Liu and CJ Tywoniak on guitars, and Max DiMezza and Mike Connor on bass.

The venue was completely sold out because the concert is part of a Prog Rock series being promoted on the east coast and from the minutes the kids opened with a cover of King Crimson's 21st Century Schizoid Man, as is usual and customary with Rock School All-Star shows, the crowd went nuts. They were so awesome, clapping and whistling and of course, wearing the looks of utter disbelief I love so much. That's the great thing about being at shows away from the downtown Philadelphia venues the kids usually play -- I get to see the shock and awe (ha!) on the faces of people who can't believe what they are hearing from kids.

We had one weird moment after the show and we were all kinds of upset about it but Tony Levin keeps an on line journal so I was waiting to see if he wrote anything today before I reported what happened here. I'm glad I did and a cool head prevailed because as you'll read below, he had nothing but nice things to say.

What happened was this: The kids ended the show with King Crimson's Elephant Talk, which Tony Levin wrote. They do an awesome rendition of it...Louie rules in that song with CJ on guitar, Max DiMezza is just amazing on bass, and Eric brilliant on drums. Studying with Gary Chaffee and Rob Brosh at University of the Arts is giving his playing a whole new dimension. So after they finish the song, the set is finished and they walk off the stage. Tony Levin is leaning against the wall and what does he say to them?

"You guys played that too fast."

Louie said something to him, I'm pretty sure it was "Hey, I just found out I was in this show three days ago and had to re-learn the song"...I'm not sure exactly what he said but Louie also hasn't been in a show since the summer when he graduated Rock School.

Tony replied "Did you guys ever listen to the record?"

Yeah, Tony, like only a million times. They love your music.

So it was kind of a crushing remark but in retrospect, I think he was being the crusty teacher, the elder statesman rock and roller, wanting respect from the kiddies who just nailed some very difficult music. And besides, and of course this is only my opinion, but since when are you supposed to play a cover song note for note? Aren't you supposed to do your own interpretation? All I know is, both Eric and Louie were a bit shaken...but they won't be when they read Tony's blog entry. I guess I should only post the pertinent part, but it's kind of interesting so I'm posting the entire thing. Also, as a side note, drummer Pat Mastelotto couldn't have been cooler, letting Eric play his trillion dollar drum set and being really kind, supportive...and impressed.

Tony's Journal:
********************

Jan 29, Pennsylvania Turnpike

This tour, the California Guitar Trio plus Pat Mastelotto on drums and me on bass, has had three shows so far this week. I'm writing an update from my car (Eric, our tour merch person and general helper, is driving now - I see we've put over 900 miles on my car since we began.)

On our drive down to Anapolis for the first show, Eric told me of a funny coincidence: the last time he was there was way back in 1990, when he went there for a show of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe - never imagining that sometime in the future he'd be driving back there with the bass player, and that we're even doing one of the same pieces, Heart of the Sunrise in the show.

I've got very few photos because the stage isn't well lit - so I'll stick to mostly a journal report of this tour, rather than adding separate pages of photos.
Things got off to a lively start when the band arrived in Anapolis from all over the place - we drove down from New York State, and the others flew in from various cities. But we soon found that the drums were delayed in shipment, and had not arrived. Made for an interesting first soundcheck - Pat spent the day on the phone, looking for a local drummer who could lend us his kit. And, we know from experience, it's a hard call to choose where to try for delivery on Pat's drums - some bands have spent whole tours with instruments following them around, never connecting up with the players!

We found drums, of course, and the show went fine. The following shows were the same situation - borrowing drums at each. Hopefully Pat's drums will arrive in Kingston in time for Saturday's show.

Second show was in Morgantown, West Virginia. Very nice small theater, and a fun show for us. There was a Spinal Tap moment, however. After the first five songs, Pat and I leave the stage and the trio does a few pieces on their own. There was no proper dressing room to disappear to, just a hallway parallel to the venue, with locked door to the outside. Pat went off somewhere and I sat making a phone call. It was a bit loud, so I removed the chair propping open the door into the venue. Sometime during that call, I came to realize that the door was self locking, and there was now no way out of the room. Knocking on the door did no good - couldn't be heard with the volume of the show. I thought ahead to the setlist - it was a group improv that they expected me to return for - would they come looking for me, or think it was my improvisation to not appear? I thought, ah, I'll just the venue on my cell phone, to tell them to come unlock my door -- but, embarassingly, I couldn't remember the name of the city we were playing in! (I told you this was a Spinal Tap moment.)

Obviously, I'm not doing this web update from that room, so I was indeed rescued (choosing the right quiet moment in the music to knock loudly on the door was the trick!)

Next show was at Coatsville, Pennsylvania, at a "School of Rock". We met some very nice and talented kids during the day, and spoke to them quite a bit. (Should I have instructed them to never get locked in a dressing room?) Amazingly, the opening act, comprised of some of the students, aged 16 to 18, played a King Crimson repertoire. Included 21st Century Schizoid Man and Elephant Talk! Wow.

Now we're heading for my home area, Kingston, NY, where we'll play at Keegan's Ales - a great local brewery I've played at before.
More reports soon.

Oh no! RIP Jim Capaldi...

FUCK! I just got the news that Jim Capaldi died. I am so depressed you have no idea. I saw him with Dave Mason in concert a few years ago and they were as awesome as ever. My love affair with Jim goes back many years, back to when he was a member of Traffic. Of course the pic I posted above is of a much younger Jim but this is one I adore.

He died today after a brief fight with stomach cancer, his publicist said.

The 60-year-old Capaldi, born in England of Italian immigrant parents, died in his sleep at the London Clinic in the early hours with his wife and family at his bedside.

Capaldi, whose driving rock rhythms and songwriting ability helped make groundbreaking band Traffic a household name in the 1960s and '70s with -- among others -- Steve Winwood and Dave Mason -- also had an illustrious solo career.

"Steve rang me when he heard this morning. He is very upset. They were very close and had plans to record and tour again. He was praying Jim would recover from his illness," Winwood's manager Mick Newton said.

Capaldi was inducted with Traffic last spring into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just five months before being diagnosed with terminal cancer. A reunion tour was in the works but was scotched last August due to Capaldi suffering what at the time was described only as a "severe gastric ulcer."

When Traffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums, Capaldi busied himself with solo projects. Traffic eventually reformed to tour in 1993-94, and Capaldi toured in 1998 with fellow band founder Mason.