Monday, Monday

Ike Willis and Eric Slick

I just woke up to some exciting news! You know how I mention my friend Ellen Meister all the time? And the fact that she's going to be a superstar when her book comes out this August? Well, apparently the New York Daily News thinks so, too. Scroll down to "side dish" and see for yourself! I am so excited for Ellen I'm beside myself right now.

And my other good pal Jordan Rosenfeld? Have a look at this! (lifted from her blog):

Friday I received the good news from the fine folks at Writer's Digest Books that my proposal for my book titled Master the Scene has been accepted for publication in Fall, 2007, and will be included as a feature in their Book Club.

And that would be a hardcover book deal, my friends.

So yay Ellen! Yay Jordan! You gels rule!

And...the newspaper articles are starting to appear regarding Eric's upcoming tour with Project Object:

May, 5 2006 at Project/Object featuring Ike Willis Performing the music of Frank Zappa

The Abbey Bar at ABC 50 N Cameron St, Harrisburg , PA 17110
Cost: $12adv/$15doors

With special guests The Green Onions. “Project/Object began as a simple annual get-together in the basement of band founder/guitarist Andre Cholmondeley and has since become an ever-evolving tribute to the huge multi-faceted back catalog and undeniable weirdness of the late Frank Zappa.”

—Creative Loafing New York, NY—PROJECT/OBJECT, the acclaimed and internationally known Frank Zappa repertoire band, is declaring its MISSION ACCOMPLISHED tour, commencing April 12 and running through May 13.

This is PROJECT/OBJECT’S first tour exclusively with vocalist/guitarist Ike Willis in over four years, so fans can expect a heavy dose of material from Willis’ debut album with Zappa, Joe’s Garage. Willis’ soulful vocal hysterics and virtuoso guitar work help make PROJECT/OBJECT's extensive touring the success that it is. The band also plans to delve into some practically uncharted territory for them on this tour, such as Flo & Eddie-era Mothers of Invention material from Fillmore East 1971. Bandleader Andre Cholmondeley named the spring tour MISSION ACCOMPLISHED because he feels a sense of purpose when it comes to Zappa’s music.

"I set out years ago to do what I could to honor Frank Zappa's final wish, and that was for fans to play his music whether they were musicians or not,” says Cholmondeley. “Our intelligence told us that much of America's impressionable youth had not yet heard Frank Zappa's music. There is clear evidence of that youth having been exposed to really bad music, and we now know that our actions have been successful. So, after a dozen years, PROJECT/OBJECT is ready to say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!”

PROJECT/OBJECT has reached a whole new generation of critical music fans, has helped promote and publicize each new posthumous Zappa release, and best of all, has played with well over a dozen of Zappa's most important alumni in at least 28 states, as well as Canada and Germany. The band seeks to celebrate this successful insurgency into the minds of so many brand new young fans, as well as seasoned Zappa listeners. Consequently, the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED tour will be another music-dropping, truth-seeking “mission” in the Eastern quadrant of the United States.

The “mission” will be led by Willis, and the band also features a new drummer, School of Rock phenom Eric Slick. Rounding out the lineup (and all on leave from School of Rock) are bassist Dave Johnsen, Guitarist Cholmondeley, keyboardist Eric Svalgard, and a special guest in selected areas—guitarist Robbie 'Seahag" Mangano. PROJECT/OBJECT has struck at the heart of "Wack Music Developers" (WMDs) and is certain to show that "You CAN Do That Onstage."

Their mission has been accomplished, but they will continue to take this music to the people, as was Frank Zappa’s last request of his fans. For more information, please visit www.projectobject.com"

Okay, proud mother moment here. I am absolutely thrilled that they describe Eric as "School of Rock phenom".

Remember how crazy I said Eric's schedule is? It's even more nuts than I thought. This morning he takes the train to spend six hours in the recording studio with Shannon Penn in Conshohocken, PA. Then he hops on a train (20 minute ride) to be at Rock School to teach drums from 3:00 until 7:00 p.m. Then he gets back on yet another train to Downingtown (45 minute ride) to practice with Project Object.

Tomorrow he is in the studio all day/night with Shannon Penn. Ditto Wednesday, until 10:00 p.m., when he has to jet to New Brunswick, New Jersey (two and a half hour train ride) to rehearse for the Project Object tour until 1:00 a.m. at The Big Noize. I told him he may as well sleep over because Thursday he has to be ten minutes away in New York until 8:00 p.m. assisting with the Zappa rehearsals. Friday -- all day in the recording studio until 5:00 p.m. until he races back to Rock School, Philly to run the punk rehearsal by himself.

Saturday? Teaches drums all day. Saturday night? Will run the All-Star rehearsal at Philly Rock School for Paul while Paul attends the Fender Guitar Festival in Tempe, Arizona.

Sunday? I dunno. I hope he finds time to sleep. But I doubt it.

Hey, is this serendipity or not? When you go to Neil Gaiman's Journal now, his photo changes every time you hit refresh. I refer you to my blog post of February 28, 2006. Coincidence? You decide. But ahem...he did use all four of the pictures I posted. Oh what the hell, who cares who is responsible for this...all I know is, click...click...click...(the sound of my refresh button all day long)

Alas, he did not include any with me photoshopped in, but what can you do. At least now when I google my name in quotes, the third thing that comes up is "Neil Gaiman and Robin Slick, together at last" and there we are in all of our cut and pasted glory.

So in spite of Julie being on spring break and my grand plans for doing stuff like eating in great restaurants and taking a day trip to New York over the next several days, here in reality are the things I must do this week instead: My taxes (arghhh), tax returns for both kiddies...FAFSA forms for Julie's financial aid for Drexel University for which I get turned down every year because we make "too much money" (Huh? Where is it all then and when do I get to spend it?) but Drexel insists that I fill out the paperwork anyway for God knows what reason...make a dentist appointment because I bit down on a cookie and lost a filling (see what I get for breaking my diet?), and worse, make an eye doctor appointment because when I tried to order my contact lenses on line I was told my prescription expired and naturally I waited until my very last pair of (disposable) contacts were in my eyes before attempting the re-order and now I'm either going to be blind or stuck wearing my glasses, purchased in oh, around 1970 (before they perfected thin lenses for those of us with prescriptions that look like the bottoms of Coca Cola bottles) and make me look like Charles Nelson Reilly in drag. Oh wait. I mean the way Charles Nelson Reilly wishes he looked. Har har.

Oy, what a week this is going to be. But on the plus side, Saturday is April 1 and we get to turn the clocks forward. Yay! I love when it stays light outside until 8:00 p.m. I adore this time of year, and I love that I've got a lot to look forward to in the next eight weeks, such as being a groupie on the Project Object Tour April 12-May 14 and attending both the RT Convention and Balticon in May.

More on that in a future post.

Later,
xo

I've Got Friday On My Mind...

Another photo from the John Wetton gig at the Troc - Katie Jacoby on violin and Sara Zimmerman on guitar

Hey hey...

So yeah, I've been missing for a couple of days but it's all good -- I've been writing when I can and Julie is on Spring break from Drexel University until April 3 so my posting is probably going to be spotty while I hang out with her.

In case you can't get enough of me, my wonderful and generous friend Ellen Meister was kind enough to post a story of mine, The Lesson, on her blog today. The Lesson was originally published by In Posse Review and while I usually am very hard on myself, this piece is a favorite of mine and I'm really touched that Ellen chose to post it in her blog.

When I have found a moment to pop on line, I've been having fun visiting a couple of websites, one of which is John Wetton's because his guest book is crazy! Of course I couldn't resist playing in there and it's a lot of fun reading some of the comments from and regarding the Rock School community. There's links to articles, photos, etc.

In fact, here's a really cool review of the show I found at Matman Comics.

The other website I keep haunting is Project Object's because they have updated it to include Eric and they've added more tour dates. They have a nice little animation thing going on where Eric's head changes three times. They have not updated "the band" link yet and their former drummer still appears but Eric just furnished them with his bio so that'll probably happen shortly.

Speaking of Eric, on Tuesday night he went to the Tower Theater with his dad to see Ray Davies, formerly of the Kinks though I've heard that the Kinks are in fact planning a reunion. Eric and Gary had an absolute blast; they had practically front row seats, and who sits right next to Eric but infamous Philadelphia WMMR disc jockey Pierre Robert and Pierre was with equally infamous Philadelphia disc jockey Michael Tearson. Eric ended up joking back and forth with Pierre all night, and as a result, got a very nice mention on WMMR the following day. Here's what Pierre had to say:

Last night Ray Davies' show was incredible, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to citizen Eric Slick, who is a drummer and graduate of the Paul Green School of Rock Music and as my listeners know, I'm a very big fan of Rock School. Eric just came back from two mini-tours where he sat in with John Wetton and Adrian Belew and he's getting ready to go on tour with Ike Willis and Project Object with the tour kicking off in Philadelphia on April 12 at World Cafe Live. So we'll be keeping an eye on Eric and it's great to know that kids are carrying the torch. Therefore, we dedicate the following song to Eric and his dad in honor of last night...

And then he played "Lola" Live by the Kinks -- the vinyl version.

How cool is that?

Eric's insane life continues. Yesterday was spent assisting with the Zappa show in New York, today he has Shannon Penn rehearsal because they go into the studio on Monday, tonight he helps Dylan out at Philly Rock School with the punk rehearsals, and then somehow he squeezes in teaching and rehearsals for the Project Object tour which involves a lot of time spent on trains because they're held in North Jersey and Downingtown. I'm tired just typing that.

Actually, yesterday was crazy altogether. A link to my blog was on the Pearl Jam Forum Board and I heard from a lot of really interesting people as concerns my little You Tube movie with Eddie Vedder and my son and Rock School pals. Someone on the board then referred readers to my initial post back at the end of May where I described the whole event in detail. And what made me really happy was that a person on the forum board then commented about said post: "Wow. She sure can write. Thanks."

No, thank you, whoever you are!

And finally, in the "I Know You're Never Going To Believe This But I Swear on Both of My Kids' Lives This Wasn't Me" Department, on Neil Gaiman's blog yesterday:

Dear Neil,
I hope you will write a nice introduction to your new short stories collection like you did with Smoke and Mirrors. I loved how you explaned how you got the idea for each story, and whenever I finished a story, I would go back and see where it originated. I hope you include this in your new collection's introduction. Just providing a little feedback!

-Robin

Then Neil answered:

You know, I got an email today from my editor at Morrow, the longsuffering Jennifer Brehl, saying much the same thing. Only she pointed out it was due on her desk in February.

Yes, there will be one. I hope to finish it tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Err...if I were going to write to Neil, I probably would have used words other than "nice" when describing his introduction, though I must admit, I do agree with the sentiment and found myself doing the same thing while reading Smoke and Mirrors...i.e., going back and reading the introduction because he really did tell a little tale about each story in the book.

But I feel I must write this disclaimer because I know all of my friends probably read his blog yesterday and snickered.

No, no, no, I do not write letters to Neil Gaiman. Oh, okay, I did write once about fountain pens and was mortified because that was the time my letter crossed in the mail with his post about pens on my blog.

If I were to write to him....umm...it wouldn't be about any short story introduction.

It would be to...



Hahahahaha - oh man, look how pink he is. Sorry, Neil, didn't mean to embarrass you.

(Oh, but Happy Birthday, Sue! Ha! Wait. Is that today or tomorrow? Oh hell, now I'm confused. If it is tomorrow, then you just got your first gift -- Pink Neil. I mean, what else does a girl need?)

Nah, seriously, if I did write to him now, it would be to request that he start selling black t-shirts with limes in his web store. And if you don't get the lime reference, go read Anansi Boys. And if you don't get the black t-shirt reference, well, then you don't know Neil and you don't know me. And um, now that I think of it, I did write to him about that, too, but it was only because he asked on his blog for recommendations as to what we'd like to see in his store.

Have I mentioned lately what a mess I am?

Later,
xo

The Attack of You Tube: Eric Slick, Larry Allen, Joey Randazzo...and who?

Eddie Vedder with Madison Flego, Brian Purcell, Julia Ranier and Eric Slick in concert at Neumo's in Seattle.

So in writing news, I was Riley Dogged yesterday, though by the time I publish this post I may be on page 2. Riley Dog is an incredible blog...the link is on the right hand side and if you want to hang with the cool kids you should visit daily.

Also, Steve Smith, Associate Music Editor of New York Time Out Magazine, was kind enough to mention Eric and me today. Thanks, Steve!

For those of you who took advantage of the link to my photobucket site yesterday and emailed me, here are the answers to your questions:

(1) Yes, I will upload more photos of Rock School concerts featuring musicians other than Julie and Eric;
(2) No, I am not related to Neil Gaiman nor his personal friend (damn it)...I merely lifted those photos off his site and uploaded them to photobucket so they wouldn't "disappear" off my blog because I stole his bandwidth;
(3) Yes, I will take a course in digital photography one of these days because..
(4) Yes I am aware that I am a sucky photographer.

Now. I know you are all dying to know about the mystery rock star I mentioned yesterday and of course the above photo gives it away. So enough about me...here it is -- The Attack of You Tube, Part III.

In this totally insane Slick home movie filmed by Ms. Julie Slick following the concert Julie, Eric, and the All-Stars did with Eddie Vedder in Seattle for the premiere of the movie, Rock School, Eddie Vedder launched into an impromptu a cappella version of The Who's A Quick One with Joey Randazzo (long curls and jeff cap) on lead vocals, Eric Slick in dark glasses on supporting vocals, drumsticks, feet, and iPod (no wonder I have to replace that once a year) along with keyboardist/vocalist Larry Allen -- Larry is standing in between Joey and Eric...and standing next to Eddie Vedder and also singing harmony is Ms. Julia Ranier...and you will also see Der Uberlord of Rock School, Paul Green, give us some serious tongue, as well as Don Argott, director of the movie, (tall guy, Buddy Holly glasses) joining in on the chorus where they sing "You are forgiven"...there's also some glimpses of Teddi Tarnoff and Brian Purcell and other assorted musicians.

Don't forget to let it load all the day before playing it -- the gray line has to run all the way from left to right (for those of you technology challenged).

The quality isn't great but this film is still a lot of fun. Enjoy!

The Eric Slick/John Wetton post - Part II

CJ Tywoniak on guitar, Eric Slick on drums, John Wetton on bass, and Zach Miller on keyboards


Katie Jacoby on violin, Maureen Hayes on bass, Eric Slick on drums, CJ Tywoniak on electric guitar, John Wetton on acoustic guitar, Stevie Roberts on keyboards

I'm still kind of speechless from last night's show. I have tons more photographs and my photobucket site is open to the public so you can visit directly -- I'll be uploading more throughout the day. Plus, if you do that, you'll see the photo in its actual size and you'll be able to print it out. Just to make it easy for those technology challenged, here's the link. If you dig into the archives, you'll find everything from photos of the All-Stars with Jon Anderson and Eddie Vedder to some stuff you're probably better off not seeing, like my sick collection of Neil Gaiman photos, but well, you know, anyone who reads this blog already knows about that, anyway. But as I said, now that I finally have figured out how to submit multiple photos at one time (thank you, Eric Slick, for showing your dumb mother that it can be done), I will upload as many photos as I can so that you can see I do take photos of Rock School All-Stars other than Julie and Eric.

Anyway...John Wetton just blew me away last night. I had the world's greatest spot...center stage almost directly in front of him but a little to the left so I could see Eric on drums. The Omega Rock School All-Stars were freaking outrageous. The song selection was amazing. The fact that a guitarist who hasn't even hit puberty named Zach Page could trade licks with John brought a smile to his face...and the general consensus was, the first night of the tour, it was a little rough because I don't think Mr. Wetton knew what he was in for and he came in all stern and reserved...and these kids whipped him into shape and made him love them! Ha!

For a detailed review of the actual music, I think Steve Smith of Time Out New York does an incredible job, so I refer you to him. I also put this link up on the Rock School forum board in case anyone is interested.

There were some other real highlights for me and I apologize to anyone I'm leaving out...but Stevie Roberts singing Can't Find My Way Home with Brenna Fitzgerald on acoustic guitar almost made me cry it was so beautiful...this little kid named Paco comes on stage -- he must be twelve years old -- and belted out Dazed and Confused like he was a twenty-five year old Robert Plant -- Katie Jacoby on the violin is not only an amazing musician she's almost shockingly beautiful and her stage presence is that of a superstar. Zach Miller on keyboards is a mini-Keith Emerson but better because he's got that Billy Preston soul thing going on; Mo Hayes on bass/vocals was outstanding, but I think it was Zach Bukowski who took my breath away the most because the last time I saw him play he was just starting to get chops...now he's up there with the best of them. (I just realized something. There are three boys named Zach in the All-Stars? Ha ha - the Zach tour) Oh god, I'm forgetting the drummers -- Sara Neidorf is freaking amazing and there's another twelve year old named Asher Bank who is going to be a star. Oh god, and Sara & Andy Zimmerman...holy crap...on guitar and bass respectively.

But of course for me when Paul announced he was bringing out "ringers", i.e., Eric and CJ to perform a couple songs because at the last moment, John decided he wanted to perform a few really difficult songs and he needed musicians who could learn them in like forty-five minutes, I practically burst into tears. C.J., Eric, and Zach were so amazing on Starless I was shaking. And Court of the Crimson King just about killed me.

After Eric finished playing a solo, John went up to the mic and said "Mr. Eric Slick!" and the crowd went crazy. This was especially touching for me because John didn't call out any other names though of course he spent a lot of one on one time with Eric this week but he did point and smile at the other musicians...and as I've said many times, Eric is a "graduate" and the audience was comprised of parents of the new kids....many of whom aren't familiar with Eric and also, prog rock fans, particularly ASIA fans. (Man...you should have seen all the mullets in that crowd. They were really impressive. I was going to take a photo but...nah...we all know what mullets look like...no need to torture ourselves any further)

I did get my Lark's Tongue in Aspic album signed. Look what John wrote on it:



Yeah, that's me. Eric's parent. So now I'm like, why bother writing any more novels...I should just capitalize on being Eric's mom.

Oh wait. I already do that. Har har.

So yeah, it's been an incredible month for my son - what eighteen year old gets to play with both Adrian Belew and John Wetton within four weeks time and gets to hear from both of them that he's an amazing talent with hints of meeting up in the future? In fact, I can't resist this...here's part of an email I got from a "fan" who attended the show last night:

Your son is incredible. He has really good touch and control on the drums and brings out such a range of sounds like I've never heard. I am honored to know him before he becomes a superstar, which he is destined to become.

Yep, I agree.

Okay, so I do have my own life and as I mentioned last week, I agreed to do an interview and project with a writer from the Middle East and now it's up on a website which has also ignited a flame war. Great. So I'm not only going to have an even thicker FBI file, now the right wingers in America are out to get me. I hear the flame war remarks are going to be removed -- the woman who conducted the interview wrote me this strange email about it...strange because of the language/translation problems which, by the way, also occur in the interview so I'm going to post both because they're pretty insane:

The email:

the site was harmed by some new-cons.
now it should be all right.

good to know you.

So I got that email and wondered what the hell a new-con was and why the site was harmed and then I went to the interview and found out. Oy. Of course I had to do a bio check on that JB who thinks I'm ruining civilization or whatever she babbles about and I find out she lives in Texas and is proud to be living in the same state as our President (oh, now that's a big surprise). I like the reader who stood up to her...I was dying to respond but if the site is going to be purged of the comments I'm not going to bother. But in the event that JB's comments are not erased, if any of my pals want to speak up in my defense, cool, or at the very least, threaten JB with something painful...like messing up her countertops. (I'm guessing by the comments that she wrote a story about cleaning her countertops which is also on the site...I'll check later...I was too nauseous when I saw her comment because really, I hate all confrontation and the last thing I expected when I agreed to do this project was some right wing asshole coming after me)

Anyway, that's all for now...but here's some advance warning. Tomorrow I'm going to post the first real attack of You Tube - my personal home movies. In my first real contribution, you'll see Eric Slick and company backstage hanging out with one of the world's most famous rockstars and you're not going to believe what you see and hear. No one has seen this film yet but my immediate family. Be on high alert!

I leave you with one final John Wetton photo which I love because John kept walking up to Eric and jamming with him and he was obviously having an awesome time (John that is...well, so was Eric. For sure.)



Later,
xo

The Eric Slick/John Wetton post - Part I

The Rock Star All-Stars with John Wetton (and Eric Slick sitting in on drums)

More All-Stars and John and the lovely Katie Jacoby on violin (Thank you for these photos, Katie's mom Esther!)



So Eric has been sharing all kinds of fun John Wetton stories with me because in addition to sitting in on drums on some songs, Eric has been his roadie and right hand man the past four days and driving with him back and forth between Philadelphia and New York.

Fun fact #1: John loves junk food. When they made a food/bathroom stop on the New Jersey Turnpike at The Vince Lombardi Plaza, John simply had to have a Cinnabon.

Eric was like: Do I believe I'm at a truck stop in New Jersey called the Vince Lombardi Plaza eating Cinnabons with John Wetton? This is surreal.

Eric then turned him on to the chocolate chip muffins at WaWa. John thought they were among the best muffins he ever had.

Okay...

The hotel where John is staying is surrounded by some of the finest four and five star restaurants on the East Coast. But on the suggestion of Rock School kids, John ate at Little Pete's, which is a Greek restaurant/diner hole in the wall open 24 hours and serves breakfast all day. He loved it! John then made a Mr. Creosote reference and was duly impressed when Eric knew who Mr. Creosote was and after that the two of them bantered back and forth with various Monty Python lines. Which leads us to...

Fun fact #2: John is extremely reserved but has a understated sense of humor and is actually very funny and sarcastic. Unlike Adrian Belew who absolutely lavished praise on everyone and was very laid back, John calls it as it is and he makes everyone play hard and is quick to point out mistakes, etc. but usually with some dark humor on the side. I actually think that's not a bad thing. But maybe that's because Eric was exempt from criticism. John looked at Eric after last night's performance and said very quietly "You know you're good, right?"

Coming from John Wetton, that was pretty high praise.

Part II to follow after I attend the show so I can write about the actual music, take more pics, and get my Lark's Tongue in Aspic album (yeah, you heard me, ALBUM) signed. Though I won't reveal other stuff Eric told me...like, what musician never tours without a suitcase packed with whips and cuffs. I was like, wait, you mean there's one who doesn't?)

Later,
xo

Happy Green (whoops...I was going to say "Day" until I realized those googling a band I despise will end up on my blog and we just can't have that!)

So Juked Magazine published Star Man today, my first so-called Scifi attempt though of course as I mentioned a few days ago it seems to have turned out otherwise and smacks of my usual warped themes.

Last night I forced myself outdoors and had dinner with Julie at one of her suggestions: Standard Tap. Yep, she was right. I absolutely loved it. Right up there with the best bar food I've ever had. It was definitely my kind of place...like it says, no T.V., just hipsters spanning all ages sitting around talking and drinking a great selection of beer or in my case, moaning over hand cut french fries. The highlight of our meal though was this outrageous, buttery flaky warm pecan pie topped with homemade whipped cream. You would have thought I was having a sexual experience while I ate that. Ha. Last night was a set-back for me; I've actually lost almost ten pounds in the past month without really trying. See what obsessing over a novel will do to you? I've been forgetting to eat or just not hungry in general while I work on that thing.

They need to do something about their music choices, though. I felt like I was listening to an up-dated version of disco. Oh my god, if disco is back I'm just going to end it all now.

(Actually, on their website they mention a juke box playing everything from Iggy Pop to Tom Waits. So I must have gotten screwed last night by a patron with really bad taste in music feeding said juke box. Okay, now that I know that, I will go next time armed with dollar bills and load that sucker up before I even sit down to eat.)

Speaking of writing, recently I was contacted by a group of writers from the Middle East who are interested in learning more about American authors. Their website is all in Arabic so exactly what they are all about I can't tell you, but they were referred to me by a great writer pal I trust who had also furnished them with his stories and an interview. Anyway, I agreed to be a part of their project, and it was way interesting, especially due to language differences. Our email correspondence alone was pretty amusing. They started out by seeking out like everything I've ever written and analyzing it and then they furnished me with a set of questions in line with my writing. I don't want to publish the questions and my answers yet in case the interview is published in English (well, they sort of say it will be in their last email) but I do want to share a bit of the experience.

Here's part of the first email when I didn't respond to the interview right away because (1) I was working on my novel and (2) I had to read over the questions several times before I at least thought I understood what they meant.

Dear Robin,
Answer as you wish, omit what you disliked, and ask for details or modifications when necessary. You will be our guest for some time. Help us to show your qualities and abilities. Fresh photo and a brief are needed then, we expect you to look shiny and marvelous, as you are indeed.

I'm shiny and marvelous? Hey, I like that!

When a few days passed and I didn't respond to their questions right away, I got the following:

Dear Robin,
we did some progress with your materials, dear Robin, but so far we do not know if you are happy about the interview, and when the expected date for answers. We need to know to update our schedule. Please do make your word.

We're waiting for you.

We read a lot and prepared a lot.

we like to have you with us as a friend, member of the family.

So then I felt bad/guilty and also a bit shaken by the "We're waiting for you" part, I completed the interview as best I could and sent them my shiny, marvelous photograph. After which I received the following:

Dear Robin,

Many thanks for this fabulous response. We are pleased to inform you that the materials were passed on for translations.

In few days to come you will receive a link to have a permanent access to the site, and the workshop. You will meet some old friends from the states like ____ and ___ and so on…

a link with either writesight or authors den will follow.

Be alarmed...

Ahem. Be alarmed? Okay...not a problem.

Be Alarmed! is definitely going to be the title of my next novel. I'm dead serious about this. Really. I think it's awesome and I'm using it.

I showed the above correspondence to the man who referred them to me and after he finished laughing and teasing me about my new NSA file, we both agreed it was a cool experience and I'm actually looking forward to seeing the interview and their impressions of my work. What really intrigued me is that they went back to a story I'd written in 2004 and left a comment under it on the magazine's website dated March 6, 2006 which was most interesting. How do I know this? Because as you already know, I'm an anal retentive who googles herself every five minutes.

Just kidding. I only do it a couple times a week.

Oh god I'm such a mess.

But one positive thing: I've taken what might be a permanent leave of absence from Zoetrope Studios. I've made my friends there and they are fantastic but the others...the trolls, the stalkers, the terrible writers, the self-absorbed freaks who do nothing but talk about their own work and never congratulate others on their success...arghhh....I just couldn't stand it any more. Luckily my close Zoetrope friends and I email and meet up in the real world regularly so I no longer need to be aggravated on a daily basis by "the others". But who knows, that could be just my mood of this month...I know I'll at least return temporarily when my pal Ellen's book comes out this summer because I want to be part of the excitement on her behalf.

Most importantly, since I stopped hanging out at Zoe I've been writing like crazy, so that's even more reason to stay away.

Anyway, yeah, Eric did play with John Wetton last night and he told me some funny stuff but since I'm going to the Saturday show I didn't go last night and therefore do not have any photos yet. I've asked a couple people who were there to email any they might have to me and if that happens today, I'll come back and do a new post; if not, I'll wait until I take my own pictures this weekend. Yeah, I know, I could write all about it now without the photos but I have my own strange way of doing things and I like to have pictures with my stories.

But in case anyone reading this is in the northern New Jersey area, Eric will be performing with John Wetton and the Rock School All-Stars tonight at Bergen County Rock School and I hear it's an amazing show.

Later,
xo

Heat of the Moment...

That, as you know, is my son Eric along with amazing Rock School violinist Katie Jacoby, who will both be performing tonight with:



John Wetton

Ha ha - I could have predicted this. Eric Slick will be behind the drums on the School of Rock John Wetton tour for at least three songs, including Court of the Crimson King, beginning tonight at the Downingtown School of Rock, tomorrow at Bergen County School of Rock, Saturday at the New York Knitting Factory, and Sunday at 6:00 p.m. at the Troc in Philadelphia.

I remember Eric telling me back in August when he graduated Rock School he was officially "retired" and wouldn't be performing with the All-Stars again. Ha! Let's see. He played the Music Player Live Tribute to Les Paul with the All-Stars in October, he went to NAMM with the All-Stars in January, he played with the All-Stars and Belew two weeks ago...and now Wetton. He went to Rock School just to hang out last night and ended up sitting in on drums because one of the new All-Stars couldn't make rehearsal, and well, you know...Eric rules.

I love you, Eric. Music is the best!

Okay, back to my novel, which finally has "legs"! Now. Which one of my good pals would like to read the first 50-100 pages next week?

Just kidding, just kidding.

The Ides of March post

The above photo of Bosco with Adrian Belew when he realized the camera was on him makes me laugh out loud.

So sorry, sorry, things have been quiet around here...wait, that's not actually true, I've been working like a crazy on novel revisions and my brain is in total turmoil so I'm trying to focus solely on finally finishing this book so I can sleep at night again. Today needs to be a turning point...Julie goes on Spring break next week and we've hardly spent any time together this entire semester. She really had a heavy, all day class load and her remaining hours were spent in the studio, at work, and with Matt. So I'm really looking forward to our dates to the Italian market and breakfast and lunch in cool restaurants...maybe even a day trip to New York. I've been a complete shut-in lately which is kind of scarey but I'm obsessing over this book. If I can have a finished draft by Sunday, I'll feel really good about taking a week off and then going back to the manuscript with fresh eyes for edits.

Eric, on the other hand, has been running around like a maniac. I think I've seen him maybe a total of one hour since Friday. He's been rehearsing with Project Object for the upcoming tour (and I provided the link because there are more dates and venues added), rehearsing with Shannon Penn because they're going into the studio at the end of this month, getting ready for an April Fool's Day gig with Doctor Dark...and yesterday, after coming from one of the above rehearsals he met up with John Wetton and then ended up hanging out with him at Rock School and "reminding" John of a few licks...in fact, Eric is going back tonight to help out again. He said John is funny as hell and the two of them had a very interesting one on one conversation.

And while I'm talking about Eric, as I've said, he's also scheduled to do an east coast tour with Chris Opperman, who plays keyboard with Steve Vai and the song they did together was nominated for a Grammy this year. Chris is a character, and I'm one of his My Space friends (Yes, I know. I cannot believe I have a My Space friend, either. I agree, I'm about ninety years too old to even be anywhere near that site, but music nut that I am, I go where the music is). Anyway, I got the My Space "Your Friend Chris has posted something" email message and I clicked on it and how interesting is this:

"Today I attended the "Art of Writing" class that The Learning Annex put on with Ray Bradbury. Well, how could I possibly pass up a chance to meet someone as amazing and wonderful as Ray Bradbury? Especially considering that he inspired the song "Telepathy on Mars?" as well as the painting of the same name, which is my favorite painting of mine.

Anyway, it was an extreme treat. He told a lot of stories about his life which was very interesting and his basic message was a message of love. You can tell from the way he spoke how much in love he is with everyone and his life. It was really excellent.

He also said that everyone should just piss on their computers because they don't give out information, just factoids, and he said that he told the New York Times that he thought that we should move all of the Jews out of Israel and into Florida where they would be safe from harm, that magazines are now pathetic because they're more about the advertising than they are about the information, and that they'd better damn well build a monorail in LA soon because the freeways are going to become to congested to use at all. I thought he was a riot and he signed a book of short stories for me, and I felt very honored.

He wants Peter Jackson to direct a movie of "The Martian Chronicles" and Peter said he'd consider it in a year. Ray said he's going to do his best to hold onto his life until it's finished. I sure hope it happens, that would be awesome. And he said that it was awful that King Kong was ignored at the Oscars this year."

Okay, I'm new to SciFi and don't know the personalities of even the most famous authors in that genre so I don't quite know what to make of Ray. I'm not sure if I should be offended by the moving all the Jews out of Israel and into Florida statement or laugh my ass off. I'm not sure about his other comments, either...wonder what Neil Gaiman thinks of him. Maybe I'll try out that search feature on his journal and dig into the archives and see. (This coming from the person who announced at the top of this blogpost that she's focusing solely on the novel. So far I've resisted going into Neil's journal archives -- which date back to 2001 -- because I know once I start I'll have to read everything. And that will probably depress me, because I'll see how he first starts out five years ago and damn it, right as I discover him, that's when he goes Hollywood. I'm almost dreading reading his newest posts because he's on the Stardust set in Scotland and I'm not sure if I want to know about Clare Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, etc. But we'll see. I'm no one to talk. I'm the first one to broadcast names, photos, and stories about all of the rock stars I hang out with courtesy of Julie and Eric. Oh alright, I admit it. I'm looking forward to reading about Clare Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiro, etc. I'm just jealous it's not me who wrote a book optioned for a movie starring the above and tooling around Scotland with them. By the way, here's a fun fact. Robert DeNiro and I share the same birthday along with Mae West)

Anyway, back to Ray Bradbury...right now I'm going with Chris' opinion that he was hilarious and maybe his remarks were all tongue in cheek. Yeah, on second thought, they've got to be, right?

Okay, I choose to laugh my ass off.

And now said ass must go offline and upstairs to write.

Later,
xo

For die-hard music fans only....the first of the Attack of You Tube

You have to let this load about 6 minutes...it's a highlight clip from Zappanale in Germany last summer...but if you are patient and a true die-hard Zappa fan, you'll get to see the Paul Green School of Rock Music All-Stars in action, including some impressive drum solos by Eric Slick, he of the long brown hair, sunglasses and bright red t-shirt. I think I also saw All-Star drummers Dave M., Sara Neidorf, and Joey Reno in there, too...Dave at the very beginning, then Sara, and Joey towards the end. And you will also see a cool solo by C.J. Tywoniak, Jeremy Blessing, Fil Smith, and Kenny Luu among others.

This was Eric's second or third to the last All-Star performance before he officially graduated, but he is still occasionally brought out of retirement to join the new All-Stars...like last Sunday when he played with Adrian Belew. And Eric is of course not retired, he merely turned 18 and graduated...right now, one month before his 19th birthday, he's about to go on tour with Project Object as I've mentioned here ad nauseam.

By the way, this is not my personal film...this is a Rock School You Tuber...but just you wait. (Sigh...maybe not for a few days...Eric slept out last night and is way busy with various rehearsals and teaching this week...but once he gives me instructions as to how to line up the music with the video, the full assault will begin!)

Happy Sundae

Louie Graff and Eddie Vedder -- Julie is against the wall watching with Eddie's equipment guy; that's Paul Green seated on the stage floor

So this will have to be a short post because no one is home and I must write!

Anyway, unfortunately, I cannot start deluging you with my You Tube films today because I still need Eric (who will not be home until late tonight) to show me how to do something...but rest assured the torture is on its way.

You'll see everything from snippets of the kids in concert (muhahahaha - starting at age eleven) to Louie Graff (see above photo -- Louie is a Rock School grad guitarist extraordinaire) and my daughter Julie as pre-teens busy painting son Eric's face with Hershey's chocolate syrup when he fell asleep on my sofa.

Ahem. At least I think they were pre-teens. Watch. Eric will tell me it was last year.

But yeah, that's right. They poured chocolate syrup on Eric WHILE ON MY SOFA in an attempt to turn him into some sort of human sundae. Obviously, I was upstairs at the time. So they filmed it, all proud of themselves.

Luckily I decided early on that I was not going to care about furniture while the kids were young and I got heavy duty leather stuff which I just recently finally replaced.

But still.

So yeah, I'll probably make it a weekly feature -- Slick Family Warped Home Movies brought to you by You Tube.

Wait: Hang on, here's one which shows a brief glimpse of Eric when he was musical director of the Devo show at Rock School last year. That's Eric with the long brown hair and turquoise shirt leading the group chant "Devo! Devo! Devo!" and you also see him right before the show...with a clipboard? Eric! You nerd!



In other news, Juked Magazine is publishing my first ever SciFi piece, Star Man, so I'm very stoked about that. I'm in some heavy duty company at that magazine...like most of my favorite authors, so okay, I admit it, when I just got the editor's email I started whooping. I'll post a link when it's published.

I fell asleep early and did not get to see the Arctic Monkeys on Saturday Night Live last evening so in case anyone cares about my opinion, I still have none. I guess I could pull them up on Pandora but right now I've got like ten windows open doing a little research for the novel I should be working on at the moment...

Later,
xo