Sick Slick

Eric Slick performing with Dave Dreiwitz, bassist for Ween in Dave's side project, Crescent Moon, on Thursday night

So it's a lot of fun to google my kids lately. Ever since Adrian Belew hired them to be his new power trio, their names are appearing on forum boards across the world.

Here's a mention of Julie and Eric Slick on the Yes forum board, All Good People;

Here's another one on the Primus forum board, The Bull Board;

They get some blurbage on yet two other King Crimson forum boards, Elephant Talk and ProjeKction

And finally, here's one from the Ween Forum Board which mentions Eric's performance with their bassist the other night in his side project, Crescent Moon. And um, while Eric was performing with Crescent Moon, he got an offer to sit in as a substitute drummer from time to time for a band opening for the Flaming Lips which is one of his favorite bands so to say he was a bit excited over that is an understatement.

Anyway, the reason for the title of this post and my three day absence from this blog (and oh my god, the whole My Space writers' crew -- I'm not ignoring you and thanks for all the invites) is that I've been incredibly sick and am terrified I may be in the hospital in another day or two. Worse, it's my own damn fault. So if stuff like this makes you queasy, stop reading now.

I knew I needed a root canal on a bad tooth -- an upper left molar -- a few months ago but the dentist put in a temporary filling and it felt fine so I decided not to deal with it because it's not the root canal itself I hate, it's that whole biting into the jelly so they can make you a new crown and the whole time thing -- it's usually a once a week visit for five or six weeks to the dentist, etc. and I dreaded it so I just put it on the back burner.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The temporary filling fell out recently but shockingly, there was no pain at all, the tooth felt fine, and once again, I went on with my life and didn't call the dentist.

When Julie and I went out for dinner Thursday night (more on that later...sheesh...I have to at least be able to end this post on a positive note) I bit into a soft, warm piece of bread and all hell broke loose. I felt like I'd been shot in the face. I have a pretty high pain threshhold but let me tell you, I almost fainted. But I wasn't going to ruin dinner because Julie and I had been looking forward to going out all week and we'd already told our waitress what we wanted for our appetizers and entrees. So I quickly ordered two very potent house made Sangrias and downed them both within five minutes. Somehow I got through the meal but I knew I was in big trouble because I could see my cheek. You know what I'm talking about? Ever get a bruise or swelling on your cheek that makes it so puffy you can see it out of your eye and it's almost like an obstruction?

And then Julie looks at me and says "Oh my god, Mom, you look like Quasimoto!"

Not sure if that was an accurate remark -- wasn't he the guy with the hump on his back...but anyway, it's not exactly a remark you should make to a hypochondriac -- especially one who just had two very potent drinks and could see her cheek.

Julie didn't realize the seriousness of the situation and I guess neither did I and I didn't want to ruin the evening so when she suggested walking the three miles home instead of cabbing it, I numbly agreed, even though I felt like throwing myself down on the pavement and letting out primal screams of pain.

Got home, took a handful of Advil, and prayed it would pass.

No such luck.

Friday morning I woke up with my left eye completely swollen shut and the entire side of my left face looking like I had the mumps.

Oh my god, I must have an abscess, thought I, and called the dentist hysterical. Lucky for me, he said I could come in at 2:00 p.m. I called his office at 9:00 a.m. That meant I had five hours to scream in pain and worry, so what do I do? I went on the internet and started researching what happens when you neglect an infected upper molar.

Did you know that an upper molar is like one inch from the sinus cavity and two inches from your brain? And that if you have a serious infection it can rapidly travel and literally kill you?

I couldn't stop reading and by the time I got to the dentist, I was both a physical and emotional wreck. Plus, in all of my internet research, I also learned that these infections are so insiduous that a lot of times even the strongest antibiotics don't work and you need to be hospitalized with an I.V. drip.

So at least I was prepared when the dentist saw my face, my x-ray, wrote out the prescription and said "If you aren't feeling better by Monday or Tuesday, call me immediately and we may have to hospitalize you. And whatever you do, stay in bed or calm in a chair and don't do anything around the house because you never know where these infections can go and a lot of movement on your part could be very, very bad."

Of course all I could think about was the three mile walk home the night before and how lucky I am I didn't pass out then.

He prescribed a very potent antibiotic and some wicked pain killers, which I hate. How the hell does anyone ever get addicted to those things? God. They make me so fucking dizzy and sick in the stomach it's almost as bad as the pain in my face. But I broke down and took them because I was literally screaming and luckily I had warm pudding and a Xantac as well because finally I got at least a bit of relief.

But it's now Sunday and I don't feel much better. Admittedly, I've only been on the drugs for part of Friday and all day yesterday so I am praying that I turn a corner today or yeah, I suspect I'm in the hospital tomorrow. My eye is still swollen and I have a lump on my cheek directly under it which tells me the damn infection got to my sinus cavity. I'm weak, nauseous, and just about as sick as I've ever been in my life and what makes it worse is that it's all my damn fault for being an idiot and not going to the dentist months ago.

So the bottom line is, if I disappear for a few days, I'll have Eric post my hospital room number and telephone so you can all call me and tell me how dumb I am and then send me flowers and balloons. Ha.

Actually, I was going to end this post talking about the absolutely marvellous restaurant where I had my...sob...last supper Thursday night but I find I can't even sit here at the computer and must go back to bed and god damn it, I'm crying right now.

Have I mentioned how STUPID I AM?

This is one time not even Neil Gaiman can make me feel better, but to continue on with tradition, here's another cool photo so at least my friend Susan Henderson will be a happy camper today:



Later, (I hope!)
xo

Odds and Sods for Thursday, June 8

Studio Belew - photograph by Eric Slick during the Nashville rehearsals last month

So I'm taking a quick break from writing my novel to report a few interesting things here.

First of all, Eric has a gig with Dave Dreiwitz, bass player for Ween tonight at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey. It's a crazy bass and drum only thing called "Crescent Moon" -- Eric's pretty stoked about it, so if you are in the area, the show starts at 9:00 p.m.

Because of this gig, which is like a half hour from New York City and Eric's dad is tagging along, Julie and I decided to stay home and go out to dinner tonight here instead and we were looking in the Philadelphia City Paper for some new, cool downtown restaurants and what do I stumble on but an article about Julie and Eric written by music columnist A.D. Amorosi in his Icepack column...and of course as usual because I am both anal retentive and excited, I will cut and paste the pertinent part here as well:

You know that I know that you know Philly expat Paul Green's School of Rock gets greedier daily. A new CEO—Matt Ross from Clear Channel. A Hollywood branch so to be close to Jack Black's kids. Yet, it's funnest knowing that chicken-choking guitarist Adrian Belew (King Crimson) just plucked a duo of Philly Greenies, siblings Eric and Julie Slick, to anchor Belew's new power trio, this after playing Zappa's "City of Tiny Lights" at February's School of Rock gig at World Café Live. "Musically it's closer in spirit to Crimson than Cream," says Belew of his trio's odd time signatures and dark chordal shapes. "But we'll follow the Cream/Hendrix mold of adventurous playing and loads of stunt guitar work." And if the kids act up, will Belew take away their allowance? "Worse yet, their credit cards!" says Belew, who's "pretty much of a kid myself."

Um, I have to admit I don't exactly love what A.D. wrote...either about Paul Green or the kids, but hey, what's that they say about publicity? Even crappy/inaccurate publicity is better than no publicity at all.

First of all, Julie and Eric are Rock School grads who played with Adrian at the New York Knitting Factory in March of this year, not at the World Cafe in Philly and not as Paul Green's students. Julie will be twenty one years old and Eric is nineteen and as readers of this blog know, just came off a five week tour with Project Object featuring the legendary Ike Willis. As far as having their allowance/credit cards taken away, don't count on it. Julie has more money than God and can buy and sell me. So yeah, I sort of beg to differ with A.D.'s jab that they're kiddies and the stuff he says about Paul but I do love Adrian's response and wonder if A.D. called him directly for those quotes. Hmmm...

Anyway, as luck/serendipity would have it, I just caught A.D. Amorosi on our local news/entertainment television show, 10 Live! and he goes on and on talking about Harry Connick, Jr. and Nelly Furtado, and Ice Cube...oh, and the dreaded American Idol people, so that tells me all I need to know about him.

But still, you know me, I'm going to be picking up 100 copies of the City Paper today, anyway.

Also, I see that Krimson-News has picked up my blogpost about Adrian Belew and Julie and Eric and did a nice job of plucking the relevant parts from a few different blurbs I made last week so I'm very pleased about that...especially as they also used some photos and the link to the Rock School soundtrack.

I am also humiliated to announce that I now have a My Space Account to help promote my books and the new anthology in which I have a story which will be out next month. I am a truly pathetic person who has no understanding or knowledge of how My Space works but if you are interested in being one of my "friends" or seeing just how pitiful I am, here's the link. You are welcome to add me as a friend, ask to be my friend, whatever it is you have to do and if anyone wants to volunteer any info as to how to make my site prettier and automatically hear the music (Adrian Belew, of course) when you sign on instead of having to hit the play button, I will be happy for your assistance. As far as the blog portion goes, I guess I'm just gonna cut and paste what I type here for now until my new books come out -- both Another Bite of the Apple and the short story anthology -- but really, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Funny story already. I have a pal, Grant Jarrett, who also has a short story in the anthology and he said yesterday that he was going to start a My Space site, too (that's how this whole thing started -- all 12 of us in the anthology said we'd do it) so this morning I get an invite to be Grant's friend. So that much I knew how to do -- I clicked "Accept" and went to Grant's site to comment. What do I see? He's got 83 friends already! I'm like, how the hell did that happen? Up until yesterday, I only had four friends, one of whom was that bot "Tom" who I honestly thought was the kid who lived next door because yep his name is Tom and the bot bears an uncanny resemblance to him. I was like, oh my god, how did Tom find my site already and why does he want to be friends with me when he's 21 years old and friends with Julie and Eric? And then I see another "friend" is not a friend at all but a pair of swingers or a porn couple of some sort but I must have hit "accept" thinking they were someone I knew. I hear I can delete them but to be honest, what if I do know them and I hurt their feelings? They may be someone I know from the erotica web ring to which I belong, what do I know. They haven't commented so they aren't hurting me. Huh. Actually, I just clicked on them and it turns out they are writers so it's a good thing I didn't delete them and I apologize for calling them swingers.

One thing I do find weird about My Space is that people comment and you can't comment back so their remarks just kind of hang there. I don't know if I'm going to get used to that.

Oh...back to the Grant story. So I asked him in a comment on his site How the hell did you get 83 friends already and it turns out it's not the Grant I know but another Grant -- a writer named Grant Baille who is also a member of my on line writing group. So now I've been an active My Spacer for a few days and I've already made two faux pas. Oh well. I'm guessing there's a search option where other writers seek each other out and that's how he found me...I have no idea...all I know is I'm extremely worried that My Space is going to become a huge addiction for me and that's the last thing I need...not to mention the fact that I really do feel too old for it. I have to giggle, though. I notice everyone over thirty lists their age as 99. Yeah, like we're all really going to type in our correct dates of birth.

Whatever. All I know is, I've promised someone a perfect, newly revised one hundred pages of my new novel, Baby Boomer, by the end of this month so I've got to close all windows, get off the internet, and resume writing.

But for you, Susan, here's our daily twisted Neil Gaiman moment, fresh from Balticon:



Oh my. I don't know about Neil, who is currently in bed with a sore throat, the poor baby (oh god...don't even go there, Rob) but I know seeing that pic just made me feel a hell of a lot better.

Later,
xo

Are we not men?

The Hall of Famers from Rock School performing DEVO

So, I hear I missed a great School of Rock Best of Season show Saturday night because not only was Skunk Baxter fantastic but they brought Eric Slick, Dan Nitz, Mike Connor, Matt Manser and Joey "Reno" Randazzo out of retirement to perform DEVO one final time.

Here's the You Tube, though. It's wild and crazy though you really need to be there live to see it and believe it. This was a spur of the moment surprise so they didn't have their white suits (I took the above photo during the west coast tour of 2004) so they improvised for costumes Saturday night (and I'm trying not to think about the fact that they resemble terrorist beheaders)...anyway, I love the way Eric drums on this:

Oh crap, for some reason the embedded version isn't working, so here's the direct link to the You Tube Film.

In Adrian Belew news, the tour schedule for the eastern part of the United States is starting to fill up nicely. I have some dates but I want to wait until they all appear on the venues listed so I can post links, however, here is the first one and I'm so stoked I can't even begin to tell you - they're playing BB Kings in New York on August 8. Here are the details!

Ha - you will note this is an old advertisement for the Power Trio and mentions Les Claypool on bass and Danny Carey on drums. Well, how cool is it that Julie is replacing Les and Eric is replacing Danny -- I mean, really -- those are some shoes to fill, huh.

Anyway, in my world, forgive the brief blog posts - I'm going to be absent most of June completing Baby Boomer as yes yes yes someone is interested in it and would like to have it by the end of this month. I just need to tweak it a bit more before I'm confident about the edits. Okay, you know I'll never be confident nor will I ever able to stay away from this blog for a month but I really need to devote serious time to writing so yeah, I may not be here every day.

I know there's other news but right now my son and his girlfriend are fooling around on the sofa next to me (ack!) and my daughter is hocking me about going out to buy a new cartridge for the printer and I also need to visit a crazy herbal store to buy Oil of Peppermint because apparently this is the natural way to keep squirrels from eating the apples off my tree (do you believe it? I have a twelve foot by twelve foot oh poor me I live in the city garden in the back and planted a little tree a few years ago which is now this huge gorgeous thing bearing fruit!)...though I'm not so confident about this peppermint stuff cos' I tried it before as well as other natural ways to rid us of pests/rodents and um, they don't work. But poison just isn't an option so it may be the squirrels who end up enjoying my apples, not me...oh well...that's what Whole Foods is for, huh.

So let me get out of here so I can take care of my errands early and come home and work on the novel. If anything exciting happens in the meantime, I'll be back.

Later,
xo

With a Rebel Yell, She Cried More, More, More...

Hey hey hey, I'm full of news today, and -- gasp -- some of it actually has to do with writing. First, I am really stoked to announce that one of my short stories has been selected (along with work by some other pretty impressive authors in the literary world) to appear in a new anthology called REBELLION published by Rebel Press which should be available for sale shortly at the usual places (Amazon, etc.) as well as the publisher's website. If you click on the link, you'll find author bios, excerpts, and further details.

Secondly, if you are in the Philadelphia area and are looking for something cool to do tonight, please join the extremely hard working editors/writers from Philadelphia Stories for a silent auction at the Mummers Museum. I've donated an autographed copy of Three Days in New York City as well as two coffee cups embellished with two of my short stories from Flash Fiction (which I am pleased to see are still for sale on their site) for said auction. In a perfect world, I plan on attending the event tonight as well but I'm not one hundred per cent sure I can make it. In any event, let me just reiterate how wonderful Philadelphia Stories is -- it's a magazine devoted to publishing the work of local authors and is distributed free of charge at places like Borders, coffee shops, etc. It's not an inexpensive endeavor to put out a literary magazine like this and it's important to support it so I hope some of my local readers can make it or if not, even a small contribution (details on their website) would really be appreciated.

Third, my beautiful and talented daughter Julie has produced a song by the Jangling Sparrows which will appear on a new CD titled "Unleashed II" and the release party is tomorrow night at World Cafe Live at 7:00 p.m.. For tickets and further details, follow this link. All who attend this party will in fact receive a free CD!

Fourth, tomorrow evening is also the PAUL GREEN SCHOOL OF ROCK BEST OF THE SEASON FUNDRAISER with very special guest JEFF "SKUNK" BAXTER, legendary guitar player for STEELY DAN & THE DOOBIE BROTHERS. Advance tickets are $12.00; $15.00 at the door. Speaking of said doors, they open at 6:00 p.m., the show starts at 7:00 p.m., and this is one of those times I need to be able to clone myself -- my son's lovely significant other, Carolyn, will be singing back-up with Skunk on two songs.

Fifth, in what will be their final performance before Eric and Julie go out on tour with Adrian Belew, Eric will perform with the band, Flamingo, as part of the Troc's Sunday Balcony series. Showtime is June 4 at 2:00 p.m.

And finally, for my good pal Susan, and you should click on that link because today she interviews the amazing Hillary Carlip (whose book I am currently reading and just being blown away by)...here is a photo I wish I did not find because I think aliens captured him for the evening, tied him up, tortured him, and dressed him against his will...Neil Gaiman as you've never seen him before:



Oh, Sue, I can't end my blogpost with something as traumatic as that. Wait...I know!



Ahhhh. All better.

Later,
xo

Surreys and Death, among other things...

So as promised on Tuesday, here we all are in our cornball surrey on the boardwalk in Ocean City -- unfortunately Eric's girlfriend Carolyn is not in the pic as she was the photographer...the photo we got the unsuspecting tourist to take was horrible and completely cut off Carolyn's head so I couldn't post it. Notice the only one smiling is Julie, because she is driving and well, she's a maniac and the rest of us were hanging on for dear life. Nah, in all fairness, it was a lot of fun because as you can see by her determined expression, it was her goal to run as many yuppies over as possible within an hour's time -- she got extra points if she hit power walkers wearing big-ass iPod headphones ignorantlly and obliviously blocking the specified surrey lane on said boardwalk. I mean, come on. It's not rocket science. There are three clearly drawn lanes in each direction on the boardwalk. Bicycles on the left, surreys in the middle, pedestrians, who have the widest lane, on the right. But no, we have our power walkers who not only choose the surrey lane but walk in pairs so you can't even pass them without getting hit head-on by some lunatic in the bike lane going in the opposite direction who thinks he's Lance Armstrong.

Enough of that. Let's talk about music. In stalking my son on Google, I found Mike Keneally's forum board. Look at all the mentions of Eric! And in case you don't know who Mike Keneally is, here's his website. So to say this is cool is putting it mildly.

Hey, did you know DC Comics has decided to make Batwoman a lesbian? Read all about it here. Good for them. Up yours, conservative Bush asswipes!

And also as promised -- or should I say threatened -- here I am in my official Neil Gaiman Death t-shirt. And yes I know -- I have very cool refrigerator magnets and the reason I'm wearing sunglasses is that we'd just come in from walking the dog and I made Julie snap the photo before she left for class and there wasn't time to think properly...she was rushing me cos' she was late. I really am the least photogenic person I know, but wtf, the t-shirt looks good, anyway.



Oh okay. I always wear dark glasses. Just call me Blind Lemon Jello.

And yeah, I'm still sitting on some writing news but I haven't been given the official okay to say anything yet so maybe tomorrow? Oh well. Speaking of writing, today I hope to get another chapter or two done though the noise level from the construction next door seems to be getting worse and I didn't think that was possible. If it's not ninety degrees again today, I'll probably take the dog to the park with my journal and pen. Eric and Julie are doing intense rehearsing for their upcoming tour with Adrian Belew and then Eric will probably take off to hang out with friends; Julie and Matt are going to see Radiohead at the Tower Theater...so if nothing else, maybe I can adjust my body clock and do some serious writing tonight. I'm starting to have painful nightmares over how long it's taking me to finish editing/writing this novel and self-destructive is just not my style!

Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Interview

Eric Slick and Dave Johnsen two weeks ago on the final night of the Project Object Tour

After all of the excitement of the past couple of months and the incredible things to come this summer, I needed a couple of days just to chill. So I did that and yesterday I went to the beach with Julie and Eric and their significant others, Matt and Carolyn. We stuffed our faces and then decided to do an outrageous cheesy tourist thing mostly because we were so full of food -- we rented a surrey that could hold up to nine people and pedaled that thing up and down the boardwalk laughing like idiots and beeping our horn at everyone to get out of our way. Carolyn had her camera and we got an unsuspecting real tourist to snap us all together so as soon as she sends me the photo, I'll post it here.

Here's sort of what it looked like:



Anyway, after that wild and crazy fun (hey, it was!) I came home to this really great e-mail from Thomas Dippel, President of the Arf Society:

Dear Robin,

I'm Thomas one of the organizers from Zappanale. For years now I'm reading your blog and enjoy it very much how enthousiastic you are writing about your kids and the festival.

Right at the moment I read your article about Julie and Eric beeing the new power-trio with Adrian, I had the idea to tell it to our fans here in europe and packed it in a little interview with Adrian for my last Zappanale-newsletter. This newsletter has a huge number of readers, you can find it at the following homepages from germanies biggest newspapers and TV/Radio-stations:

kulturkurier.de: 520.000
DeutschlandRadio: 12,0 Mio
DIE ZEIT: 10,5 Mio
ARTE-TV: 3,3 Mio
FAZ.NET: 37,0 Mio
FOCUS Online: 132 Mio
Brigitte: 14,0 Mio
Perlentaucher: 1,2 Mio
Handelsblatt: 12,5 Mio
Telepolis: 9,2 Mio

Take care! Music is the best!

So naturally, as soon as I read Thomas' email, I raced over to read the interview...an excerpt of which I'm posting here:

Arf:
As we heard you changed your power-trio to include Eric and Julie Slick as drummer and bassist for your upcoming tours. We all know these two young and high talented musicians from earlier Zappanale-Festivals. Why did you choose especially these two for the future?

Adrian:
Eric and Julie played "city of tiny lights" with me during a school of rock show. They are such eager bright young people but mature and mindful. Secretly I am drawn to the role of teacher but likely they'll end up teaching me more than I'll teach them.

I needed a clean slate, to start fresh with players who aren't "jaded" to the oppressing music business, people who respect my work and are willing to put as much into it as I do. Many of the "virtuoso" players I have known have too many outside entangle-ments (wives, kids, car payments, mortgages, etc.) and can't surrender themselves to the music like we did when we were younger. That's what I hope to find with Eric and Julie: not just the joy of playing great music together but the ability to ignore everything else.

Arf:
What can your fans exspect from your show at Zappanale? Will it be a mix of Adrian Belew and King Crimson? Should there be the chance to listen to some Frank Zappa tunes? For example "City of tiny lights", a song all fans are waiting for, or is it still a secret?

Adrian:
It's a secret whether or not we'll play something of Frank's. But certainly we will play a challenging dose of Crimson/Belew.

Arf:
What are your next plans for 2006?

Adrian:
Following last week's rehearsals with Eric and Julie I am now writing the last two songs for the next Bear's record. It's perhaps the best Bear's record yet and these two songs will complete it. I hope it can be released early this fall. Following that the power trio will play shows throughout the U.S. and parts of europe. Then I have plans to work with Robert Fripp in the guise of project six (fripp n' adrian) a two man group aimed at improvising live material to become the building blocks for the next generation of King Crimson material. Robert and I hope to have something to present Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto by the end of 2007 to get the ball rolling towards a new King Crimson record. Somewhere along the way I want to record my first-ever live record with the trio, to be called "Side Four".

You can read the rest of the interview -- which is very, very cool, on Adrian Belew's website.

And um, you had to see my face when I read that last line: "Somewhere along the way I want to record my first-ever live record with the trio, to be called "Side Four".

While Julie and Eric did mention the possibility when they came home from Nashville last week, to see it confirmed in print made me almost swallow my tongue.

I do have writing news and I think I'll make a separate post for that this afternoon or tomorrow..but in the meantime, I'm totally stoked. As I wrote here a few months ago, I was bored one day and took one of those Quizzilla things to see which Endless I am (Endless being characters from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series), and found that I am Death, the second of The Endless, responsible for ending all lives and taking them to my realm, from which no one ever returns. I am bright, positive, happy, optimistic and enjoy everything about life, but that does not mean I am silly or stupid. I can lay the smack down when I have to! Everyone loves me, and they don't know why.

Well, it sounded good to me and oh god, a few days ago I found the t-shirt for sale, bought it, and sadly am wearing it right now. If I can get one of the family to snap my pic later, I'll post it but I'm not sure if I'm willing to take the verbal abuse (ha) that will follow, so for now how about if I just post a photo of the shirt itself:



Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Power Trio: Can you say sensational and stunning?

Julie Slick and Eric Slick performing with Ann Wilson of Heart

Good morning and Happy Holiday Weekend!

Okay, so even though I've been broadcasting it everywhere, Adrian Belew has made it offical last night on his website but of course me being me, I'm so excited I'm cutting and pasting it here anyway:

"dear tribe,
in case you haven't heard I have changed my power trio to include eric slick a nineteen-year-old drummer from philly who has been causing a sensation playing spot-on versions of zappa material with the zappa tribute group project object and his twenty-year-old sister julie slick who is a bassist of equally stunning talent. eric and julie have played together most of their lives and have a maturity and knowledge beyond their ages. both are graduates of the paul green school of rock and former members of the school of rock all-stars which puts them in a rare class of players indeed. I want to thank their parents robin and gary slick for nurturing such bright gifted people and paul green for putting me in touch with them.

I can't wait to play for all of you again soon.

cheers,
adrian
may 25, 2006"

Can you imagine waking up to that first thing this morning? And a really lovely letter from Adrian's webmaster Rob Murphree welcoming Julie and Eric to the band, too? I'm having major breathing problems here!

Anyway, it's going to be a really crazy weekend. In between rehearsing, Julie and Eric have all kinds of stuff going on and it's going to be a hotel here over the next four days with boyfriends and girlfriends and big dances and parties, a concert by Ween down by the river, and a day trip to the beach at Ocean City where we will have our first Brown's donuts and Mack and Manco's pizza of the season.

I was supposed to go to Balticon this weekend but all of these recent exciting developments are keeping me with the family so no, I do not get to hang out with Neil Gaiman after all (as if) but since my spirits are so high right now, this will hold me until I do get the chance one of these days...



Hey, Neil! My kids are in Adrian Belew's band! You going to be in Italy, Holland, or Germany in July? How about Chicago, Indiana, or Atlanta? I can get you backstage!

(insert smiley face emoticon here)

Happy weekend everyone.

xo
The Sassy Mum

Belew Plus Two: Part II

Julie and Eric Slick stage-side in Seattle where they performed with Ann Wilson of Heart and Eddie Vedder. Was that really a year ago already? I mean it was a year ago to the day! Um, give or take a day or two...it might actually be one year tomorrow. So shoot me.

Anyway, thank you to Andrew Greenaway, a/k/a The Idiot Bastard, for announcing the awesome news on his very awesome website as concerns Julie and Eric joining Adrian Belew on tour and more - here's his blurb on the subject and while I'm at it, another big thanks to Sid Smith over at DGM Live who wrote about it here.

Of course both news articles lead you right back to my blog -- what can I tell you, the Robin Slick publicity machine is on full throttle for a change. Ha! Do you think I'm a little bit excited?

Gary and I are still working on travel details - he may drop in on some of the U.S. shows and of course I'm eyeing the European ones but we're still digesting all that's happened and trying to figure things out. What we're really trying to do is discover how to clone ourselves so we can both attend Zappanale because I have a third offspring -- dog Monty -- and I refuse to put him in a kennel so we take turns watching him when Julie and Eric tour.

I realized yesterday in my post that because I'm crazed beyond belief over the events of the past week, I neglected to mention names of other future stars who are coming out of Rock School, and if I were a betting person...wait, I am a betting person...well, let's just say my money is safe with these names: Katie Jacoby, Julia Ranier, Matt Manser, Louis Graff, (already playing and touring the world with Leiana) Joey Randazzo, a/k/a "Reno", Maureen Hayes, Andrew Haff...oh forget it, I'm bound to leave out more names and I don't want to hurt any feelings, but these are the kids I know for a few years now and yep, my money's on all of them bigtime.

And now for something completely different.

Except for the Simpsons, I hate television and rarely watch it -- I just leave it on in my bedroom so I can go to sleep. Yes, I am one of those and also need a night light. Hey, did I ever even attempt to appear normal? So nothing I say should surprise anyone. Anyway, because I wake up at dawn to write, I usually fall asleep pretty early...only one night I couldn't sleep and unfortunately, that was the night that the television show "24" started its new season.

Damn it, I got hooked and I am humiliated to admit it. It's easy to get addicted to that show because you get the feeling that it's reflecting in some strange way what's happening in our government today, but as a writer, I was deeply offended. There were so many flaws in the story line I found it impossible to suspend my belief, and I got really pissed off because this show could be fucking fantastic if the writers used common sense and gave us, the viewers, more credit for intelligence.

Okay, so most of the country, as evidenced by the election and re-election of that idiot President of ours, is not intelligent. But still! They took what could be one of the most clever, action-packed shows in T.V. history and turned it into a stupid soap opera. And still I watched. Every Monday at 9:00 p.m., no one was allowed to talk to me.

Anyway, the reason I am saying all of this here is because yesterday I stumbled on a blog by an editor of Barrelhouse Magazine who summed it up in such a hilarious manner and whose thoughts reflected mine so eerily I have no choice but to cut and paste it and post it here now. And as I just did that, I realize the writer even echoed my feelings and used my same phrase "belief-suspension"...

Tuesday, May 23, 2006
24 Thoughts on 24

After last night's whiz-bang conclusion of the fifth and perhaps most belief-suspension required season of 24, here are some random thoughts that have been floating around my head this season.

What the fuck is in that messenger bag? Like, an FBI-issue sig sauer, lock picking tools, City Paper, PDA, cell phone, bonus burrito card, flashlight, mirror, torture devices, cyanide pill, Starbucks travel mug...

Best initiation of romantic dialogue ever: "When I heard you had kidnapped the president..."

Dead or Alive? Secretary Heller. Wayne Palmer. Curtis (I missed last week due to President Bush dicking my Tivo over with his lame-ass immigration speech; and you thought television was the one thing that fucker couldn't fuck up...).

What was all that about? Kim and that weirdly overprotective boyfriend, who I think had the name and personality of that guru/psychiatrist who had Brian Wilson "under his care" for a period of time in the 80s. The redhead from The Brothers McMullen and Spin City and her overprotective son who eventually learned to love and respect Jack Bauer.

Bit players who seem too good-looking, interesting, or obviously random to not be coming into play in season 6: That hot Italian arms dealer. The Scottish or German or whatever spy guy, who Jack dicked over (and is also Declan, from Lost). Chloe's ex-husband Morris.

The question everybody is asking: why didn't he just download that stupid voice file to Chloe and save us about twelve episodes?

Mary Lynn Rajskub is the Sam Elliott of Television: One facial expression to fit all moods and situations. Same Elliott = the eye twinkle. Mary Lynn = the scowl.

They Took One for the Team (the old fashioned way): That guy who slept with Chloe. The first lady.

Is that a Shacket or a Jirt? What was that thing Jack was wearing all season? Jacket? Shirt? Jirt? Shacket? It had a hood. It had some kind of lapel-ish collar-y thing. What was that? Why didn't he ever take it off?

RIP: Anybody who tried to help Jack in any way at all.

Best Executive IT Training Program: Goes to the CTU and Homeland Security IT staff, who somehow trained executives as high-ranking as Bill Buchanon and Karen Hughes to hack and override and download and do all kinds of kickass stuff usually reserved for twelve year old Thai hackers.

He Took the Precious: Is it just me, or was that Miles guy doing a kind of Gollum-as-middle-manager impression?

The Lundberg Award for Best Management Style: To, who else, Jack Bauer, who proved that you really can get people to accomplish anything -- for instance, land a plane on a highway without enough room, while being chased by airforce fighter jets -- by yelling "NOW!" and "FASTER!" and "Do it DO IT NOW!"

Ziskey Rates the Russians: They're Pussies! Don't you think 24 should end like Stripes, with the mocked up magazine covers that follow? Chloe on Wired, Curtis on Guns and Ammo, Morris on Audio Engineer Weekly, Kim in Maxim...oh, well, I guess that last one actually came true.

Rudy...Rudy! Dude, nice try. But you'll always be Rudy.

Most Enterprising Criminal: Rudy's skeevy sister's skeevy boyfriend, who somehow managed to get in touch with high-level Russian terrorists about five minutes after he nabbed Rudy's CTU scan card.

Best Casting: Speaking of...who was that scuzzy sister anyway? She seemed way to real, right down to the rugburns on her knees. Ugh.

Did We Ever Learn? Who those dudes in the room were? You know who I mean, the gay guy from Fame who was the doctor on ER. I get it that they're, you know, Shadowy Operatives, or Halliburton Executives or whatever, but did they ever actually tell us who they were?

Pscych! Come on, as soon as you hear the lovely music and Jack Bauer says, "that's right, Audrey, it's all over," you KNOW the shits just about to go down. Anybody who says otherwise is a sucka.

Worst. Boyfriend. Ever. Last season Jack killed Audrey's husband and brother and then faked his own death. This season he almost killed her dad and got himself all kidnapped on a slow boat to China.

I Don't Think He's Dead. Robocop. No bleeding. We never saw his body, right?

Ancient Chinese Plot Twist. Not bad. Those Chinese bastards sure do hold a grudge, don't they?

Acme Company, This is Jack Bauer, I'd Like to Order an Anvil. 24 is the best cartoon since Roadrunner.

Why Am I So Fucking Stupid? I'm already looking forward to next season.
*****
Ha! I especially love his last line because even though I'm growling now, I know damn well that come January, 2007 and the first new episode, I'll be in front of that freaking television again, too.

Unless Adrian Belew Plus Two* are in concert somewhere cool, that is.

Later,
xo

*my name for them - easier for me to say/write than Adrian Belew with Julie Slick on bass and Eric Slick on drums

Belew Plus Two: The Adrian Belew Power Trio featuring Julie Slick on bass and Eric Slick on drums

Adrian Belew performing at the Music Player Live Tribute to Les Paul in October, 2005 which is where he first met up with Julie and Eric when they played alongside other luminaries like Jack Bruce and John Mayer as Hall of Fame Graduates for the Paul Green School of Rock Music



Julie and Eric Slick joining Jon Anderson on stage at the LA Knitting Factory for an amazing rendition of Heart of the Sunrise and which is available on the Rock School Soundtrack. Go have a listen! You know you want to...

So hurrah! I'm finally allowed to announce the news. Yep, it's Belew Plus Two, (my name for the band, not his -- what do you expect, I'm a writer and can't resist...at least I didn't say "Slick Belew")...as I've hinted ad nauseam and all but posted on billboards across the universe, Adrian Belew has hired my two talented offspring as his new power trio. They've been down in Nashville staying at La Casa Belew for the past five days rehearsing and bonding and from what I hear, it's been an amazing experience for all -- they are like one big family. In their down time, Julie and Eric have been tooling around Nashville in Adrian's vintage cars and going out to dinner every night and having a blast. Anyway, once they get home tonight it's basically rehearsals the entire month of June, heading back down to Nashville for another week of rehearsals, and then out on the road, starting with Indiana on July 6, Ohio on July 7, Chicago on July 8...and then it gets really exciting...they are the headlining band at Zappanale 17 in Bad Doberan, East Germany...then it's on to Holland on July 19...and they end up in Herzberg, Germany on July 21 for this little festival.

It's really only fitting that this has happened. Julie and Eric were among Paul Green's first students when he began teaching seventeen kids in his apartment back in 1998; they were his first Rock School All-Stars; his first Hall of Famers...and now, the first graduates of his school to go on to better things and um, live the dream. Look for the Paul Green School of Rock Music to be a major player in the music industry as concerns artist development...Paul is in L.A. as we speak with the amazing Atlas, made up of Rock School grads/Hall of Famers Jeremy Blessing on guitar, Max DiMezza on bass, Branden King on drums, and Dom Malandro on vocals. Waiting in the wings for fame and fortune are slide-guitarist extraordinaire Sarah Zimmerman and shredder C.J. Tywoniak. And Paul is of course the one responsible for Adrian not only meeting Julie and Eric but for arranging the audition in Nashville. What's really cool about Rock School is that we were there at its inception and I knew it was only a matter of time until these amazing talented kids who had gone through Paul's incredible program would be noticed by people in the "business".

It's also really fantastic that Julie and Eric are in a band together again. They have a unique chemistry that comes from being part of a rhythm section where both have similar musical tastes and have been collaborating for many years. There's a certain magic when they are on stage together, and I'm not saying that because I'm their mother. In fact, when it comes to music, I'm a pretty harsh critic. But apparently Adrian saw it, felt it, and most importantly, heard it...so yeah, I'm on freaking cloud nine.

And I don't want to discount Eric's involvement with Project Object. The tour he just came off of with them was one of the highlights of his life -- mine, too. Those guys are incredible musicians and hopefully Eric will be touring with them again in the fall, schedules permitting.

So life is pretty exciting in the Slick household right now. Have a look at Adrian's website. Okay, I know I posted the link above, too, but what can I tell you? I'm excited!

Anyway, for the handful of you who might not be familiar with Adrian's work, here's a bio/timeline.

December 23, 1949
Adrian is born Robert Steven Belew, in Covington, Kentucky

1960's
Adrian joins the Ludlow High School marching band as a drummer. later, he forms bands with fellow classmates; most notably, the Denems. The Denems were a local, well known Beatle cover band.

mid 70's
Adrian changes his name from Robert Steven to 'Adrian' - a name he'd always liked.

Adrian is discovered by Frank Zappa while playing in a cover band named Sweetheart at the infamous Fanny's in Nashville. Frank gets Adrian's name from his chauffeur and later invites Adrian to los angeles to audition for his band.

Adrian tours with Frank Zappa. while on tour, adrian meets David Bowie. Bowie is so impressed with adrian, he asks him to join his band. the zappa tour comes to an end and adrian immediately joins david on the Bowie classics, Stage and Lodger.

1979
while touring with Bowie, Adrian meets Talking Heads and performs on 'Remain in Light' and...the name of this band is..." he later tours with them.

1980
on the first day of the tour with talking heads, adrian meets Robert Fripp. Fripp asks Adrian to join the soon to be reformed King Crimson.

1981
Adrian becomes a member of King Crimson.

Adrian joins Talking Heads Franz and Weymouth to record as the Tom Tom club. Adrian co-writes their hit "Genius of Love".

1982
Adrian signs with island records and releases his debut solo record, 'the lone rhino'.

1983
Adrian releases his second solo lp, twang bar king.

Adrian produces the Raisins' debut album and appears on Laurie Anderson's "Mr. Heartbreak".

1984
Adrian finishes his stint with King Crimson. Adrian records "Zoolook" with Jean-michel Jarre and also produces the Elvis Brothers.

1985
Adrian joins The Raisins to become The Bears. They tour the united states and end their tour with a sold out show at Nyc's The Ritz.

Adrian later appears on Laurie Anderson's video, 'Home of the Brave' and on Paul Simon's Grammy winning, "Graceland".

1986
The Bears tour Israel and later sign to pmrc - a division of i.r.s. records.

Adrian releases his 3rd solo album, 'desire caught by the tail'.

1987
The Bears release their debut CD, "the Bears". The cover is by Mad Magazine's Mort Drucker, and features the singles/videos "fear is never Boring" and "trust". Touring resumes throughout the southeast u.s.

1988
the bears release their 2nd album, "rise and shine" which features the single & video, "aches & pains". the bears take to the highway and tour the U.S.

1989
adrian releases mr music head on atlantic records and follows the release with a week long hosting appearance on post modern mtv and an acoustic performance on vh1's 1-to-1. 'oh daddy' features adrian and his 11 year old daughter, Audie.

adrian appears on mike oldfield's 'earth moving' cd.

adrian also lends his rendition of "we three kings" to a compilation of christmas songs performed on guitar for green linnet records', "christmas guitars".

1990
Adrian tours with David Bowie as david's musical director and band leader, with bassist erdal kizilcay, keyboardist rick fox, and drummer mike hodges.

During the tour, atlantic records releases adrian's 5th solo record, 'young lions'. 'young lions' features the bowie/belew collaboration, 'pretty pink rose'.

1991
"Desire of the Rhino King", a compilation of selected songs from Adrian's first three solo albums is released by Island Records. Since "Lone Rhino" and "Twang Bar King" are not available on CD, this is a much welcomed release.

Adrian performs, "Still Life with a Dobro" on the compilation CD, "Guitar Speak III".

1992
Adrian releases his 6th solo album, "inner revolution".

adrian tours for "inner revolution". the tour band consists of rob fetters (guitar), brian lovely (bass), and mike hodges (drums).

adrian's name appears in an episode of the simpsons.

adrian produces mexico's caifanes' "el silencio". It hits #1 on mexico's charts and goes gold!

1993
Adrian tours the midwest with his acoustic tour.

Adrian records "Blackbird" for the Beatles' guitar tribute, "Come Together".

Adrian performs on Sara Jickman's "necessary angels" album.

Adrian performs on 2 tracks for the Crash Test Dummies', "god shuffled his Feet".

1994
Adrian moves to nashville.

Adrian releases his 7th solo album, "here".

Adrian begins his "here" tour with former bears mates: rob fetters, bob nyswonger and chris arduser as his band. this is the closest the fans get to a bears reunion

Adrian signs a deal with Caroline Records

Adrian wins best musical score for his soundtrack to "in the gutter and other places", in canada's "hot docs" film awards. he later wins guitar player magazine's reader poll for the "best experimental guitarist" for the 5th year in a row.

Adrian records with Trent Reznor on Nine Inch Nail's "downward spiral".

1995
King Crimson returns. the new line up consists of belew, fripp, levin, bruford, gunn, and mastelotto.

king crimson releases vrooom, an ep of all new songs. the full album, "thrak" soon follows.

crimson performs "dinosaur" on nbc's late night with conan obrien.

1996
Adrian's official web site hits the web.

King crimson tours europe and north america.

Adrian releases his 9th solo album, "Op Zop Too Wah" on september 24th on passenger/caroline records.

Adrian's appears on the Tribute to Badfinger with a version of Mccartney's "come and get it".

1997
Adrian appears on the cover of eq magazine.

Adrian attends his class reunion reforming his old band from high school, The Denems.

After 10 years, the bears begin recording in the studio.

Adrian tours argentina with his acoustic show.

The bears are inducted into the hall of fame for cincinnati musicians.

Peter Frampton and Adrian record, "the frightened city" at adrian's studio for "twang" tribute album to hank marvin.

Adrian produces 2 hits for "Jars of Clay". The album hits #1 on billboard's contemporary christian charts. their song, "flood" crosses over to the modern rock charts and the album goes gold.

Adrian releases his 8th solo release, "the experimental guitar series volume 1: guitar as orchestra".

1998
Projekt two tours the u.s., japan, uk, and canada. (fripp, gunn, belew)

Adrian releases belewprints

Adrian produces Boston's "irresponsibles".

Adrian joins artie traum, tony levin and fred wilkinson to record an instrumental track called mean low water for artie's new record, "remarkable friends".

1999
Thirsty ear records releases "Salad Days". a compilation of acoustic tracks.

Adrian tours the united states promoting "coming attractions". the belew produced, "irresponsibles" opens on the tour.

Nine Inch Nails releases "Fragile". This is Adrian's 2nd appearance.

2000
Adrian releases an mp3 of "i have a dream", as a free download on his website.

King crimson tours Europe, Japan, and japan.

2001
Adrian receives the cammy (cincinnati's entertainment awards show) lifetime achievement award. the award is presented by peter frampton.

Adrian performs on Tori Amos', "Strange Little Girls".

Adrian hits the road with king crimson to tour the U.S. A good portion of the tour is spent with tool.

The bears release their first album in 13 years, "car caught fire".

king crimson tours

2002
the bears' 2002 car caught fire tour begins. fans witness the bears live for the first time in 14 years.

Adrian releases an internet only download of a new song, "asleep". The song was inspired by the tragedy of September 11 and was made available the week of the anniversary.

King crimson releases their ep, "happy with what you have to be happy with" prior to their new studio album, "the power to believe".

Adrian releases "Incompetence and Indifference" as a free download to web site visitors.

lone rhino, twang bar king, and desire caught by the tail are all re-released on cd by universal japan.

2003
Adrian records with Les Claypool (Primus) and Danny Carey (Tool) for Adrian's next solo record, at les's studio in san francisco.

King crimson tours the US in support of "The Power To Believe".

King crimson releases their "eyes wide open" dvd.

Adrian and kevin (of dc talk) max release 'raven songs 101'. the release features adrian's music to kevin's poetry.

Frank Zappa's "baby snakes" (1979) is released on dvd.

October 10 - adrian records with Ben Folds, Henry Rollins, Matt Chamberlain, and John Painter in a session for the upcoming William Shatner record.

2004
Adrian's Inner revolution is reissued by wounded bird records.

April - the bears release 'the bears live at club cafe' dvd. the fans are very pleased. the dvd contains: over 90 minutes of concert footage from the bears' 2002 car caught fire tour. 5.1 dolby surround sound. bonus features: a tour of adrian belew's home studio, how the band became "the bears", stories behind your favorite songs, and extensive up-close and personal interviews with rob, bob, chis, and adrian. this is a must have for your collection. merging media: $24.95. visit the adrian belew store to order your copy now. or click this button:

May - Adrian lends his guitar work to the new porcupine tree record.
for more: www.porcupinetree.com

May - Adrian's "man in the moon" makes the top 10 songs for dads in better homes and gardens' father's day issue. other artists in the top 10 include: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon.

June 13 - adrian performs thela hun ginjeet, tweekers, and lone rhinoceros with primus at the bonnaroo festival. view a short clip here. to purchase a download of the show, go to www.primuslive.com.

July 22 - adrian joins Al Kooper on stage in Nashville on july 22 to perform Bob Dylan's blonde on blonde in its intirety. other artists involved are tracy nelson, gary tallent, bill lloyd and scores of others.

July 23 - Adrian Belew was honored at the Star Guitar Night during the Summer NAMM show in Nashville, Tennessee. Other honorees include Duane Eddy and Peter Frampton. The show took place at the infamous Ryman and adrian performed "purple haze". For more information, please visit: www.allstarguitarnight.com.

August - adrian performs on the new william shatner record alongside henry rollins, and ben folds. william shatner's new record is due october 2004.

August - Talking Heads' "the name of this band is..." is re-released on cd.
after 22 years, talking heads classic, "the name of this band is..." has been released on CD. this release features a lot of adrian and is a must for your collection.

October - william shatner releases 'has been' the new record by william shatner was released on october 5, 2004. This release features Ben Folds, Aimee Mann, Lemon Jelly, and Adrian Belew. read all about it at www.shatnerhasbeen.com.

Adrian paintings - continues working on his art with the intentions of painting all future solo album covers.

Between the strings - the secret lives of guitars - 100 stories about the guitar from guitarists such as adrian belew, chet atkins, bob weir, les paul, and 97 more. for more info on this book, www.johnaugustmusic.com

September the september 2nd issue of rolling stone magazine (issue 956) reviews the re-release of talking heads' "the name of this band is..." and has a nice write up on adrian (page 147).

october - adrian produces the jaguares - formerly known as Caifanes in nashville

adrian makes top 100 greatest progressive artists list - the top 100 greatest progressive artists have been named and adrian makes the list - twice or more, depending on how you read it. #1 king crimson, #17 talking heads, #66 adrian belew (solo), and countless other connections. view the list here.

December - adrian endorses Parker Guitars.

2005
January

25 - Adrian releases SIDE ONE. His first new electric solo studio album since 1996's Op Zop Too Wah. Side One consists of: 1. Ampersand, 2. Writing On The Wall, 3. Matchless Man, 4. Madness, 5. Beat Box Guitar, 6. Under The Radar, 7. Walk Around The World, 8. Elephants, 9. Pause. Tracks include Adrian, Les (Primus) Claypool, and Danny (Tool) Carey.

May - Adrian interview appears in Guitar Player magazine read it here.

Adrian produces jaguares lennon tribute - during the first week of may, adrian produced jaguares' version of john lennon's 'gimme some truth' which is slated for an upcoming Amnesty Internation record of lennon songs. the amnesty project is headed up by Peter Gabriel. adrian also did a tribute with jaguares to a famous mexican comedian from the 40's named, Tin Tan.

June - adrian tours the U.S. in promotion of side one, side two, and - believe it or not - op zop too wah. the tour consists of adrian, mike gallaher (bass) and mike hodges (drums). the tour takes adrian along the east and west coasts, texas, southwest, and points in between. it wraps up in october and is one of adrian's most powerful tours ever.

July 12 - adrian releases SIDE TWO. Side Two consists of: 1. Dead Dog On Asphalt, 2. I Wish I Knew, 3. Face To Face, 4. Asleep, 5. Sex Nerve, 6. Then What, 7. Quicksand, 8. I Know Now, 9. Happiness, and 10. Sunlight.

September - Adrian receives a letter of thanks from a Louisiana fan after Hurricane Katrina.

Adrian performs at fuji rock festival '05 in Japan - adrian's touring power trio (Mike Gallaher, Mike Hodges, and Adrian) performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 30th. Other participating acts were: Cake, Beach Boys, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Fat Boy Slim, New Order, Beck, Moby, the Pogues, California Guitar Trio, Los Lobos, and many many more. For more info, visit the Fuji Rock Festival site.

October - The Power Trio tour comes to a close. adrian's collaboration with Les Claypool and Danny Carey brought out a new audience and the studio and live power trios made many new fans. it also allows "Side Four" - a proper live Adrian Belew solo release - due in 2006.

December - Adrian is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the song, "Beat Box Guitar" from Side One. This category includes solo, duo, group, or collaborative performances, without vocals. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal. Singles or Tracks only. For more on the Grammys, please visit their site. Congratulations, Adrian!!!

Nominees in the Best Rock Instrumental category:
Beat Box Guitar - Adrian Belew - Track from: Side One [Sanctuary]
Birds Of Prey - Stewart Copeland - Track from: Orchestralli [Ponderosa]
69 Freedom Special - Les Paul & Friends - Track from: American Made World Played [Capitol Records]
Mercy - Joe Perry - Track from: Joe Perry [Columbia Records]
Lotus Feet - Steve Vai - Track from: Real Illusions: Reflections [Epic/Red)

2006
February
Adrian performs with Paul Green's School of Rock

Spring
Adrian tours!

April
Adrian's SIDE THREE is released.
******
Wow. Even I didn't know that Adrian was involved with all of the above projects. I had to giggle at the Tori Amos involvement, because, well, you know, she's like best friends to my favorite author/fangirl crush Neil Gaiman.



Anyway, that's it for my "press release" -- the official press release will be issued sometime during the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Okay. I need a hot cup of coffee and a cold compress after this post. I do believe I'm hyperventilating and I can't wait to report back here later/tomorrow with all of the details from Nashville.

Oh, one final thing. When I finally did talk to Eric on the phone yesterday, I asked him how he was doing and he replied "Oh, fine. I'm sitting in Adrian's kitchen -- he just made Julie and me eggs for breakfast and they were awesome..."

Good lord.

Later,
xo

Three of a Perfect Pair

So what a great shot -- a band photo of Project Object taken sometime during the tour, which I can't believe ended a week ago already. Eric is doing some serious chin stroking there, huh...it looks like he's got something major on his mind. Well, yeah, he does. Look what's happened since then...Julie and Eric down in Nashville for five days (they're coming home tomorrow night...at least I think so) and the start of something so cool I can't bear it.

But bear it I must, and while keeping quiet has never been one of my virtues, I've got to at least make a half-hearted attempt now. Suffice it to say that the two of them will be touring the U.S. and Europe this summer and possibly beyond as part of an incredible power trio featuring a rock and roll legend. Oh, right. I hinted at that in my prior post. Sorry.

So. What to talk about, what to talk about.

Ack, I have no idea. I'm feeling kind of out of it today, half-heartedly working on my novel in between trying to stay out of the kitchen/refrigerator.

All I know is: I pick Julie and Eric up at the airport tomorrow night and Eric has to hightail it to New York City for this -- which I received via e-mail newsletter from Project Object's own Andre C.

it's project/object keyboard player JORDAN SHAPIRO's 29th birthday bash - with LOTS of p/o content....!!
29 times around the sun.. cool

Wed. May 24

at the Parkside Lounge.. 314 E. Houston St., @ Attorney, btw Ave. A
and Ave. B

8:00 PROJECT/REJECT.... (ex-Project/Object members)
9:00 Two Man Gentelman Band ... (busking duo)
10:00 Cold River ... (my alt.country/folk/prog-grass group)
11:00 Mangano, Passatino and Balls (seahag's side project)

some words from JORDAN SHAPIRO about the perfomances:

PROJECT/REJECT
This is the 1st gig EVER by this group, consisting of members and crew of Project/Object from the pre-2003 years. Rick Bartow, Mumbo, Boxy, Wes, Spackle and myself. For 3+ years we have met at Wes' studio infrequently, jammed and created songs spontaneously. There are over 200 Reject songs. For our debut peformance, we have checked out the archives and picked 10 songs to 're-learn' and perform.

Two Man Gentleman Band
http://www.two-man-gentlemen-band.com/
These guys played before me at a solo gig I did at the Postcrypt Coffehouse up at Columbia. They were the only people in the audience who were willing to sing along with me on my newest kids song, "Let Me Stay Up All Night". I didn't even get to hear them play, but I believe they're very musical and will give us all a good laugh.

Cold River
This will the 3rd gig ever by this group, and it's been a different lineup every time. As I type this, I know it will definately include myself on mandolin and guitars, J.Y.Jelly on drums, Adam Armstrong on bass, Paul Cox on keys, Jen Milich providing background vox and possibly Alan Grubner on fiddle. We will be performing original material originally intended for a rock-opera that never got off the ground...and also some very old traditional songs.

Mangano, Passatino and Balls.
Robbie "Seahag" Mangano along with his sidekick Elliot Passatino recorded some pretty twisted music 5-6 years ago and called the tape"mangano, passatino and balls". ('Balls' was the name for the drum machine they used) They've since recorded more songs and even played a couple of gigs. On Wednesday, their spectacular rhythm section will include Project/Object bass player Dave Johnsen and 19 year old Project/Object drummer Eric Slick (who has recently been drafted by Adrian Belew to play drums for his upcoming European tour!!! Congrats Slick!!)

Later,
xo