Eric Slick on tour with Chris Opperman! Cool!

So okay, we all know my son is an incredible drummer; I'd already heard Chris Opperman wanted to do a northeast tour with Eric this fall, but today it's confirmed on his website. I'm going to edit out some personal stuff Chris writes for brevity's sake, but if you want to read the whole thing, check him out at www.oppymusic.com. and click on blog.

Special Opps Invaded New York City!


So the show was fantastic! The audience was freaking excited, the band had the guts and the ferociousness of a lion, the music was all played professionally with a high degree of ACCURACY and I loved it so much. It was also really great to see all my friends again...I can't believe I hadn't been back in four years, but I feel like we made up for lost time. You guys really showed me the love and it did so much for my heart. Thank you. We will be doing this again! Currently, we're planning to do a Northeast tour with this line-up, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Speaking of thank yous, the show wouldn't have been nearly as fun if it weren't for all of the following people:

Andre' Cholmondeley, the leader of Project/Object, for putting the whole thing together and for having such an awesome attitude. There's no way this could have happened if it wasn't for your efforts and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

C.J. DeAngelus (who has been playing my music since 1997) for randomly being in NYC and bringing his bari sax! Your impromptu solo on "The Park Bench Canal" was one of the most surreal moments in the show. Great job. REPO!

Dr. Dot for singing "I'm the Slime" with us and for being the one who suggested that I get Project/Object to be my back-up band for a New York City show.

Hugh Gilmartin @ Korg for the assistance in getting a Triton for the show.

Dave Johnsen for the hot bass solo in "Tanya's Song." It was nasty.

Kelda & Mike Keneally for sending out e-blasts about the show to their respective mailing lists.

Jeff Paitchell for proving himself big time! He did a great job and if you're a NJ or NY-area band (or you're a singer/songwriter playing a show in the area) and you need a guitarist, let me know and I'll give you his contact information.

Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro for playing everything right and for the cool solo in "Gen-Ebulous."

Eric Slick for knowing that the "2" sign meant to play TWICE as many drums and for answering the question "What would John Bonham's drumming have been like if he had been trained by Frank Zappa?" Also, I found out that he's only 18, not 19 (Sorry, Mrs. Slick!). He's deadly and he's ready to tour!

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So. The band is:

Chris Opperman (keyboards, vocals)
Andre' Cholmondeley (guitar, vocals)
Jeff Paitchell (electric guitar)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards)
Dave Johnsen (bass guitar)
Eric Slick (drums)

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Yep, Chris, I know he's deadly and I know he's ready to tour, even though I will cry big tears (and probably hop on busses and planes incognito to catch him play everywhere. I'll be the one in the brunette wig hiding in the corner so as not to embarrass him). And oh my god, Chris, I am not Mrs. Slick! That's the name of Eric's grandmother. Please call me Robin!
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Anyway, of course I also want to talk all about last night's Paul Green School of Rock Music All-Star gig on the Temptress boat cruise around the Statue of Liberty -- it was really, really awesome but I'm waiting for Eric to get home and upload the zillions of photos I took last night first.

Stay tuned!

Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars cruise around New York City!

Tomorrow night, the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars will perform on a really cool boat which -- I swear to God -- is a three hour tour (Can you say Professor and Maryanne?) around New York City. Here are the details. Hope to see some of my New York pals there; it's going to be an awesome evening. All eight of the graduates, the kids like my son who are now in bands of their own and either in college or out of high school, got to pick their two favorite songs to perform and the set list is going to be freaking incredible.

In other news, I recently heard that Chris Opperman thinks Eric is going to be one of the major forces in drumming world and has an incredible future...he mentioned something about getting him out to L.A. and being his full time drummer. Arghhh....(nah, I'm all for it. This has only been Eric's dream since he's three years old; he could drum before he could speak in entire sentences)

Julie also has an interesting opportunity -- she was approached to do some bass work by a singer songwriter who already has some gigs, etc. and a CD in the works (he wants her for that, too) and she met with him on Friday and had a blast. Watch this space for more info in that regard.

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In my little world, I continue to be absolutely astounded at my courage to walk away from my job and I only wish that yesterday was my last day and I didn't have to go in for one final week on Monday, especially with the New York cruise Sunday night which means I'm not getting home until well after midnight, maybe more like 2:00 a.m. And this is what a wus I am -- even though I can't be fired, I'm still afraid to call in sick on Monday or even go in late. Oh, my boss might think this is for the best because he understands how burnt out I am with the legal field and how much I want to write (and therefore not giving him the 500% he's come to expect) but he's going to miss me! At least I hope so...sigh.

You know how it is when you decide you don't want to be somewhere anymore? It's like torture to stay, but I do owe it to my boss to take care of last minute details. Besides, I need to get all my porn off my office computer and that's taking me longer than I thought!


Kidding, kidding.

Bang Bang Bang

I'm rushing around this morning and will do a more coherent post at some point today I hope, but in the meantime, I found this to be hilarious. Okay, it's high school humor but certain things make me giggle and this was one of them. I apologize.

Oh, and in light of fuckwit's recent nomination to the Supreme Court, the timing of which of course is supposed to take our minds off that other fuckwit, Rove, I also want to post a letter to all you Republicans out there:



Dear Red States:

We're ticked off at the way you've treated Pennsylvania and California and we've decided we're leaving.

We intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the country of New Pennsylvania/California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.

We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.

You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that New Pennsylvania/California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy League and Seven Sister schools, plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S.mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you believe that you are people with higher morals than we lefties.

Chris Opperman/Eric Slick...Part II...and stuff

So there's Eric again on drums with Chris, Dr. Dot, Andre, Jeff, Jordan, and Dave.

And guess what. Eric is now listed on Chris Opperman's website as his official east coast drummer.

Chris Opperman General Info
Member Since March 14, 2004
Band Website oppymusic.com

Band Members SPECIAL OPPS West Coast:

Chris Opperman (piano)
Frank Macchia (flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone)
Chris Spilsbury (electric guitar)
Jen Kuhn (electric cello)
Daren Burns (electric bass)
Craig Bunch (drums)

SPECIAL OPPS East Coast:

Chris Opperman (keyboards/vocals)
Andre' Cholmondeley (electric guitar/vocals)
Jeff Paitchell (electric guitar/vocals)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards)
Dave Johnsen (electric bass)
Eric Slick (drums)

Check it out and hang on the site long enough to hear the music play. It's truly incredible.

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Stuff:

Once again, I cannot believe I quit my job today! You have no idea how liberated I feel. I've been working one way or another since I'm eleven years old (oh god was I the babysitter from hell. More on that another time...) Anyway, I even went back to work four weeks after Julie and Eric were born. Meanwhile, it's also hitting me that I actually get to spend a couple of weeks at the beach without that dreaded Oh my god I'm so stressed about going back home and dealing with two weeks of work piled up at the office...and that sinking horrible feeling in my stomach the last night of vacation...and the office itself -- no more stress of trying to keep everyone happy and realizing it's impossible so I end up making no one happy including myself. No more mountains of paperwork. No more voicemail hell. Oh my god, I didn't know it was so easy to be this happy. Why didn't I do this years ago?

Oh yeah, right. I needed the money. Well, yay, I'm finally flush enough to say Screw it!

But err...you may not be reading about future lunches and dinners at Le Bec Fin or The Four Seasons any time soon. Julie and I are going to have to learn to love diners.

(Nah, we'll be fine. There's always Thai and Mexican. Mmmmm...Thai and Mexican...)

Guess what...

I've just quit my job of the past 20 odd years.

No really, I did. I've decided to take a few months off to write; go on vacation; then I will re-evaluate my life and decide my next move. I just felt it was time.

Next Friday is my last day.

I've been here since I'm 21 years old. It's going to be weird as hell. But you know what?

I'M FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abel debuts at Rembrandt's with photos by Carolyn Pagnotta

A group shot -- very cool -- as you can see, each band member appeared in their own separate window


Julie Slick


Eric Slick


Madison Flego


Louis Graff



Rear view from the inside -- Louie and Eric



Typical Louie pose.

So Abel debuted at the Bastille Day celebration at Rembrandt's last night and for a band that's only been together for a few weeks, they were awesome! There was a gut wrenching moment when it started to pour rain right an hour before their performance; I spoke to Julie and she said that they wouldn't play at all if it kept raining so hard and we all almost died, especially in light of what we went through to get her home from Hilton Head a day early for this performance and even more so, in light of all the intense practice hours and work they've put into this.

Anyway, yeah, the rain did keep the usual huge crowds away, but about a half hour into their set, the rain stopped and people started coming and I'm out there in the audience, listening to all the praise. People were freaking out -- saying how unbelievably talented they were; a couple guys made comments about how gorgeous Madison and Julie are (duh); they were immediately offered future gigs; and even better, the crowd screamed for an encore so they did their original stuff!

My undying thanks to my son's girlfriend, Carolyn Pagnotta, who had the common sense to call me when the kids started playing a half hour before they were scheduled (they weren't supposed to start until 7:00 p.m. so I was hanging out home; anyway, I got her call, threw on my shoes and went flying down the street. God forbid my own kids called me but I think they were surprised to learn they had to go right on...I guess it was the rain thing and the threat of imminent thunder storms...but wah, I missed the first song, which I heard they absolutely nailed (Whole Lotta Love).

Then I remembered I forgot my camera.

It started tp rain again and I thought oh crap, if I go home and get it, it's bad luck, the show will end early. Plus, I didn't want to miss one song. They had the best set list ever! So even though I was sad at the thought of no photos, I stayed, and quickly downed two giant beers (beer and champagne were sold in an open canopy tent right across from where the kids were playing which was great because it encouraged people to stay and drink. A man and woman were having so much "fun" they were dancing in the street to the kids' music). I drank my beers on an empty, nervous stomach; thus I was pretty wasted. Unbelievably enough, the rain stopped, the kids played a few more songs, then Madison announced they were taking a quick break and then would be back with another set. Yay! So I ran home, got the camera, and raced back down the street.

Didn't realize how drunk I was. I am the world's most sissy drinker. Who drinks 2 beers and can't speak a coherent sentence? Me. When I took the camera out of the case, I realized I had absolutely no recollection of how to turn it on let alone take pictures. Carolyn came to my rescue and became my official photographer, and bless her because I'm a pretty demanding wench.

"Make sure you take one of each kid in each window!" "Did you get a group shot?" "How are they turning out? Can I see?"

She's such a sweetheart, she looks at me and says "Would you like me to go inside and take some pics, too?"

"Yes! I was going to ask but I was afraid I was already, you know...."(being a pushy obnoxious mother-in-law? Arghhh....)

So thanks to Carolyn, I have some pretty decent photos of the concert. Otherwise, I'd have been like, totally out of luck.

Anyway, back to Abel. They are amazing! Madison was fantastic, schmoozing with the crowd.

"This is our first gig; be nice to us; just remember we are teenagers and have tissue paper feelings."

The crowd ate it up.

She said sort of the same thing when they did their encore of original material, and the people sitting on bar stools behind me were madly in love with her. They called out "What's your name?" And she answered, told them her name, introduced the rest of the band, etc. and then the people behind me said to each other "Remember those names - we can say we saw them at their first gig. They're going to be famous."

Yeah, Madison definitely has a way cool stage persona and yep, once again I'm gonna credit Paul and Rock School, because she really worked the crowd over good, even thanking them for coming out in the rain and encouraging them to drink and have fun, just in time for the owner of Rembrandt's to hear that and he of course grinned from ear to ear --- I mean, if that isn't music to a bar owner's ears, what is.

Anyway, it was magical; everyone came back to my house afterwards and the kids stayed up all night and watched movies; I went upstairs and immediately fell asleep.

Man, did I have a great week of music. Chris Opperman last Saturday night, Flamingo Tuesday night, Abel last night...and oh my god, New York City again this Sunday with Eric and the rest of the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars. This is a poignant show coming up - every graduating All Star got to pick their favorite two songs to perform and this is like the set list from the Gods. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Way more details on that as well as two other All Star shows Friday and Saturday in the next few days.

Happy Sunday!

Abel performs at Bastille Day festival tomorrow!

This is the view across the street from Rembrandt's, a very cool bar/restaurant at the corner of the street where I live, and where Julie, Eric, Louie Graff, and Madison Flego, who make up the band known as "Abel", will be performing throughout the evening tomorrow, July 16, 2005 beginning at around 5:30-6:00 p.m. as part of our neighborhood's annual Bastille Day celebration. They will be like the Beatles doing "Get Back" on the roof! Okay, actually, they will be playing on the second floor balcony/deck, which is every bit as cool if not cooler.

Yes, I know. Why would a yuppie American neighborhood host an annual Bastille Day celebration? Well, because it's a reason to party, of course, but also, we have an unusual resource across the street -- a no-longer-used-for-a-prison-but-now-a-tourist-thing-like-Alcatraz -- the Eastern State Penitentiary, which housed such former luminaries like Willie Sutton (the only man who ever escaped from that place) and Al Capone. The prison takes up the entire block of Fairmount Avenue between 22nd and 21st and Fairmount to Brown. I walk my dog on its grassy plot every morning. So yeah, even Al Capone's cell has been somewhat restored and people pay megabucks during the summer for guided tours and at Halloween, they really do it up for nightly fright fests.

So on Bastille Day, the owner of one of the many French inspired restaurants in the area dresses up like Marie Antoinette; climbs to the prison tower, and throws vanilla twinkies by the dozens out to the crowds on Fairmount Avenue, screaming "Let them eat cake!". This is followed by countless other neighbors dressed as soldiers, who storm the prison and decapitate her using a real guillotine! Okay, so it's not really her, it's a watermelon, but still. (Tip from me, food freak: Twinkies are absolutely awful, made of crappy, butter free full of preservatives vanilla sponge cake filled with something that is supposed to be vanilla cream. But when you put those babies in the freezer, something wonderful happens; a cakelike popsicle that is to die for) So yeah, I'm out there in the crowd, trying to catch as many as I can when "Marie" tosses them down to us.

Anyway, it's a great time in the old 'hood, all of the restaurants in the area set up outdoor booths/tables, the alcohol really flows (some booths even sell individual bottles of champagne and french pastry...mmm) -- the party continues until late in the evening (but in case you guys want to come for the beheading, that's right before the kids will start performing). Here are the details!

It's going to be fun. Literally thousands of people line the streets (which the Philadelphia Police Department is kind enough to close off), and I hope to see a lot of you there.
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Okay, what else. Well, in a perfect world, Julie will be home early today after spending a week in Hilton Head, provided I did in fact make the correct reservations with the fuckwits at Travelocity. I miss her so much! Actually, I just noticed, it's 6:17 a.m. so she should already be on that plane and since I haven't received any hysterical phone calls from her this morning, I assume all went as planned. WHEW! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Julie, Eric, and Louie have been friends since they were rugrats and were actually in a band together for years until some unfortunate things occurred, i.e., they added some other musicians and the chemistry just wasn't there so there were subsequent artistic differences, etc. That's one of the reasons Eric joined Flamingo -- to escape the madness -- but hey, he's a drummer, he can have as many projects as he wants and as I've stated here time and time again, that's the plan for this year. Explore it all! Otherwise, back to college, bro'.

Eric, Julie and Louie have a tightness when they play that makes me think of Cream - just an incredibly talented power trio. The three of them feed off each other and instinctively know what the other is thinking musically. The addition of Madison Flego, who has probably one of the all time most kick ass voices ever to come out of Rock School (with a bow of the head to my other favorite diva, Lauren Pollock), makes them freaking superstars. And she is not only a sweetheart, she's drop dead gorgeous which doesn't hurt. And a really decent guitarist! Again, they are really worth coming out to see. Because this is a big neighborhood party and not a serious musical venue, they're going to do covers, but this is the only time they'll be doing that -- their original stuff is incredible but they felt it wasn't the time and place for new material and I think they're right. Especially with all the drinking going on; I think the audience will probably be a lot more receptive to Led Zep and Floyd covers, etc. Like, um, what do you bet at least ten inebriated people call out "Play Free Bird!" before the night is through. But make no mistake; Abel is no cover band and look for them to perform at venues in the near future with their own unique and wonderful material.
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I hope to have some other news later, so watch this space...

Flamingo at World Cafe Live

Please excuse the lame photo; as I wrote yesterday, my son has failed to furnish me with actual pics of his band, Flamingo, and now I'm contributorily negligent because I left my camera home last night.

Anyway...

The show at World Cafe Live was pretty damn impressive last night. I didn't realize it, but it was billed as Paul Green School of Rock Music Presents: Infinien, 722, and Flamingo. All three bands contain Rock School students/alumnae and/or teachers. I knew this would be happening -- it was just a matter of time. And needless to say, the place was PACKED! I'm serious, they played upstairs at World Cafe, which is usually not the place for headliners (they play downstairs d'oh) but let me tell you, the bar, and every single table was taken. These bands could easily have sold out the "big room". Opening was Infinien, who is described as follows:

Infinien combines eclectic and seemingly disparate musical personalities into a visionary, unified sound that defies genre. The music of Infinien has evolved from simple musical collaborations between roommates into something much greater than the sum of its parts. On vocals and keyboards is Chrissie Loftus, who formally co- fronted Trace Fury, a local experimental neo-classical jazz pop group. Matthew Hollenberg is a progressive guitarist who currently plays in experimental metal band Cleric and death metal-punk band Cetus. Justin Carney is a professional jazz musician and plays acoustic upright and electric basses. On drums is Tom Cullen, who has played in death metal-Latin group Heinous Anus and jazz punk band Jazz Crimes.
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It was interesting for me to see Matt Hollenberg play guitar in this band. I met Matt when he was 16 or 17 and one of Paul's first premier students. I guess he's around 22 now. When I knew him, he would come to our house and have my daughter record his band and he was into really heavy metal. In fact, he toured with either Ozzie or the Warped Tour...I can't remember...in any event, last night was a whole new showcase for his amazing talent because he was playing jazz/rock and it was AWESOME.

Funny story about Matt and his metal days. Julie used to record his head banger band at our house. I have a small place and Matt and his band came in with Marshall stack amps. His lead singer was...err...interesting (okay, think lots of off key screaming). So having experienced this a couple of times, I decided to go to the beach for a few hours while they were recording. Imagine my consternation (ha) when I returned home and saw three police cars parked outside my house.

"Oh god," I thought. "I can see this already. They are under 21; they're drinking and doing drugs, a neighbor called the police, and I'm going to be the one who lands in jail."

Ha ha. Not true. I was thinking of my own youth. Yeah, a neighbor did call the police, but when the police came, they made fun of the neighbors and really got into the music. My kids invited them in for cookies! One of the cops was dancing! I walked in, expecting the worst, and the police gave me a high five!
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Next band up was 722, made up of all University of Arts grads, one of whom is Nero, a guitar teacher at Rock School. They are an extremely interesting band...they remind me of an old Philly group, Johnny's Dance Band, with a female singer who did harmonies with the guys and did very energetic, power pop rock. Actually, it was more like Johnny's Dance Band meets the B-52s last night because 722 is also punk, but then they surprised me by doing a quiet song which was almost jazzy, too. So they were a hell of a lot of fun to watch. They were the headliners, but get this -- they didn't want to go on last because last time they headlined and Flamingo opened for them, Flamingo filled the house and when 722 came on, everyone left. (Not on purpose or not because the music was bad; that's just the way it is. People go to see their friends, then split to party). Anyway, check this band out if you can; they are very, very cool and you can find their website here
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Finally, Flamingo took the stage. They get more sophisticated and more confident with every show. Last night they were truly incredible. Once again, I was amazed at the crowd -- everyone stayed -- the audience included Rock School teachers, former students, current students, and local musicians who'd heard the buzz on the street.
They did a lot of new material last night and there were a couple major highlights: They coaxed former Rock School All-Star Allie Hauptman out of retirement to play a few tunes on the keyboards and for their finale, invited Brian Purcell, a Rock School All-Star who plays bass but studied violin for years, to play said violin. Dan Nitz, Flamingo's bass player, played a bit of his original instrument, the trumpet, and even crazier, they did one cover -- a Flaming Lips tune, which Julia sang with Eric, who came out from behind his drum set to play acoustic guitar.

Haffie and Matt were their usual awesome selves on guitar, but when Julia picked up her guitar and did a solo, you could hear the crowd do a collective gasp; it was that good.

I had the chills.

So, in spite of MTV, rap, and idiot big business corporations, original and creative music lives and thrives in Philadelphia!

I love my kids...I love my kids...I love my kids...must not have stroke...must remember...I love my kids...

So anyone who reads this blog or knows me is aware of how much I love Eric and Julie. But holy shit, they are both going to give me a stroke one of these days.

Let us begin with Julie, who is vacationing with her boyfriend and his family in Hilton Head, S.C. Julie realizes she has a gig with her band on Saturday evening and therefore, it would not be a good idea to wait until Saturday afternoon to take a 3 hour flight home just in time to play bass for four hours. I've been telling her since last week: Julie, please change your flight ASAP. It's not easy to do this during the busy summer vacation period.

I have to laugh. (So I don't cry). I came downstairs to the following three...yes, three...emails from her this morning. Now before you read this, you may not consider the below to be "politically correct" but fuck that. I am no racist and don't have to explain myself or what I think is funny to anyone.

Mom:
PLEASE HELP ME!!! I'm in tears right now trying to get hold of travelocity... the phones in the house don't allow long distance service, so I've had to use my (and others) cellphone(s). I keep calling and getting to the very last step... right when I think it's going great, I hear the fatal two beeps and I'm disconnected. I even tried Steve's brother-in-law's phone (he has the same one as Eva). I just can't get through and I'm hyperventilating. Please Please Please call the evil company before work tomorrow morning: my trip ID is xxxx and my Confirmation code is XXXX (all letters, it's an o not a zero). My reservation has already been split from the Nicolazzis. I want to change my flight from Savannah to Hilton Head, SC. The flight I want is US Airways Express xxx on Friday, July 15. It departs Hilton Head at xxx AM and has one stop in Charlotte. The flight out of Charlotte is xxx. If I can't get that, then I'll take a xxx AM (flight xxx to Charlotte, and #xxx to Philly - all US Express). I'm so sorry I couldn't do this - this is one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to do. The calls were all so easy - I could understand the agents and everything. It would've been done an hour ago if this stupid island had better service. You'd think Republicans would've put towers all over this place. No, wouldn't want to destroy the golf courses... GAAAHHHH!!!

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This is followed by another e-mail, minutes later:

Mom:
i was even all proud of myself when i was calling... I foolishly thought that i was being a normal adult, that I was actually going to accomplish something, instead of having you do it (cry). call me if i have to keep trying - the good news is from the first call, I gathered that it shouldn't cost more than $130 and that changing the departure city was fine.

love you***
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Followed by yet another e-mail a few hours later, in which I foolishly thought I might not have to spend my early morning writing time on the phone with Travelocity:

Mom:
Absolutely ridiculous... that's all I can say. I figured - hey why not more frustration... JT figured out how to call long distance from the house phone, so I immediately ran into the media room and called. Thirty minutes later, Abreu in the finals of the home run derby. I frantically ran into the other room to look for the other phone so I could watch it. No luck, so I figured it was the evil Travelocity knowing I was on long distance and putting me on hold (before on the cell phones I got direct service). I hung up, and was cheered up as I watched Abreu slaughter Rodriguez in the derby. I was about to go to bed, but looked at Eva's phone on the counter: call travelocity... c'mon Julie, don't give up. I must be stupid because, oh yes, I called again. I didn't want to waste any time, so I hooked up the ear piece, brushed my teeth and did crunches to the lovely muzak. At about 24 minutes in, I figured "oh to hell with them" and reached for the end button, when suddenly I heard ringing. SUCCESS! This time, the agent was a lovely Indian lady who knew nothing except that there were no seats out of Savannah on July 14 or 15th (no really? I knew that hours earlier), and that I COULD NOT change departure cities (contrary to what the lovely Shawn told me earlier). She was so kind to put me on hold several times and was generous enough to connect me to someone from US Airways. I was getting all ready to speak to the wonderful Susan from the airline as the Indian woman gently left me with a goodnight into an unsettling, yet undoubtedly temporary silence. But the silence stretched on and on, and I was wondering where my Susan was. I longed to hear even the travelocity lady's broken english. Hello? Hello? Susan?! ANYTHING! ANYTHING!!!

I can't even cry anymore. It was too funny to even be upset. I say, tomorrow morning book the freakin's $254 7:15 AM flight outta Hilton Head before it's too late.

love,
julie

ps - feel free to make a short story out of this... someone will benefit i'm sure...
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Well, all I can say is, I did not benefit. I poured myself a cup of coffee at 5:00 a.m. this morning which has now grown icy cold. I have been on the phone with Travelocity for the past hour and a half. Here's my email to Julie just now:

Dear Julie:

Wtf? Does Shawn never sleep? Because yes, I got him. I don't understand a fucking word he says. I've been on the phone with him since 5:10 a.m. I think I am making progress but i'm not sure. I will let you know....
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Oh my god, I'm going to kill myself...my blood pressure must be through the roof, but finally, SUCCESS! My latest email to Julie...and if she isn't on this flight, I am officially disowning her:

Dear Julie:

I could not get the flight you want - it's full. This is the only one I could get, and I grabbed it. So you're leaving Hilton Head at xxx a.m. on Friday. I'm sorry it's so early; they were booked on every other flight.
Your confirmation number XXXX

I may have just lost what's left of my mind. Why the f*** would you hire people to answer phones who can't speak English? Can you please explain that to me? Because you want to know the worst, ironic thing about this whole mess? I WENT THROUGH THE EXACT SAME THING YESTERDAY ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEONE FROM INDIA WHEN I TRIED TO GET YOUR LOAN PAYMENT AT SALLIE MAE TRANSFERRED TO THE RIGHT LOAN! I SPENT MY WHOLE FREAKING LUNCH HOUR TRYING TO GET THAT SORTED OUT...WHICH I FINALLY DID. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Love, Mom
P.S. I watched the first part of the Home Run Derby where Abreau got 24 homeruns and was completely freaked out. I'm so glad you got to see it!!!! It felt weird not watching it with you*
*********************

So you know what's going to happen, right? She's going to wake up, get my email, and say I CAN'T WAKE UP IN TIME FOR A FLIGHT THAT EARLY.

And you know what I'll say? Oh. I won't be saying anything. I'll be in the hospital, hooked up to life support.

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

Now let us speak of Eric, who has a gig with his band Flamingo tonight at World Cafe Live.

Eric, I said to him at least three times last night before I went to bed. Please email me info on the show and some photos of Flamingo so that I can post it in my blog today and possibly get you some more people to come see the show.

"Okay, Mom, no problem. Don't know if any pics of the band are on line yet, though."

"Well, then, just get me a pic of a Flamingo or your logo...anything. Just send me something I can post; as well as an overview of your show since I know you have new material and you mentioned something to me that you may be doing some acoustic stuff and some covers and that you will not just be playing drums, you'll be playing mandolin, guitar, and piano as well." (Note: I had no idea my son even played piano. He's one of those incredibly musically gifted kids who can pick up any instrument; in fact, he told me he might take up sax)

"No problem, Mom. I'll email it to you as soon as I'm done talking to my friends."

"Alright. I'm going to bed now. Are you sure you'll take care of this?"

"I promise, Mom."
****************

Ahem. Needless to say, my AOL mailbox only contained the three emails from Julie this morning.

Soooo....all I can say is, Eric and Flamingo, World Cafe tonight, they are the last band to play so they'll probably go on around 10:00 p.m. (yes, yes, another late night on a work day; just call me the law office zombie), and here is the link for more info and to buy tickets: World Cafe Live

Chris Opperman (and Eric Slick) at the Lion's Den in New York City

Jordan Shapiro - keys, Jeff Paitchell on guitar, Eric Slick on drums, and Chris Opperman on keyboards

Eric looking unusually serious

Jeff on guitar, Dave Johnsen on bass, Chris on keyboards, Dr. Dot doing vocals (and oh man, please go check out her website; what a character), Andre Cholmondeley on guitar, and Eric of course hidden in the back on drums



So. What can I say about the show at the Lion's Den Saturday night? It was incredible; I'm on a two day high from it; the music was awesome and I saw my son reach new levels (and I didn't think it was possible for Eric to be even better than he already is); Chris Opperman is an INSANE keyboard player, which is probably why he plays with Steve Vai and was voted LA's best keyboard player EVER, 2005. Jordan Shapiro on synth was fucking amazing; Dave Johnsen on bass guitar is so good it's scary -- right up there with my daughter Julie (ha!) -- and Jeff Paitchell and Andre Cholmondeley on guitars were fucking thrilling. They were classical, they were jazz, they were pure rock and roll. I still feel a little speechless from what I saw and heard. Best news is it's going to lead to future gigs for Eric -- Chris said he's coming back to NYC in a few months and wants Eric to tour with him for a week or so. How freaking cool is that!

I also dug the Lion's Den but must admit I felt a little old in the audience; I'm guessing since it's in the Village it's a hang-out for NYU students but the cool thing is, they got the music and really, really loved it so maybe there is hope for the future after all. People were pointing at Eric and the rest of the band members and clapping and dancing -- it was amazing.

The other really cool thing that happened is that Paul showed up and it was his birthday! He brought along Rock School kids now in their own bands -- Jeremy Blessing and Dom Malandro of Atlas and Gina Randazzo of Toxic Box. So Eric was really touched and surprised by their appearance; he didn't even go on until well after 10:00 p.m. and they stayed for most of the show which ended after midnight. Before he left, Paul said to me "Tell Eric he is really kicking ass tonight!"

Oh man, did I have a teary eyed mother moment. Because again, I know Eric was up on that stage and able to play that difficult, difficult music because of his Zappa training with Paul and all of the confidence instilled in him courtesy of his seven years at Rock School.

And now tomorrow I get to see Eric with his band, Flamingo, performing at World Cafe Live.

Ah, I'm digging life right now. If only I didn't have to go to work today...