Eric Slick with fellow drummer Steve Drozd from the Flaming Lips
Hey hey hey, let's start with the music first. Eric is indeed friends with the Lips and I don't know if I mentioned this before, he was on stage with them last month in disguise -- he was dressed as Santa Claus.
He gets around, my son.
Here's another cool Adrian Belew article over at Live Daily where he talks about their upcoming west coast tour and yes! yes! yes! the recording of the Side Four Live CD with Julie and Eric which is being plotted and planned as we speak.
Meanwhile, Eric is in heavy rehearsal mode for his trip out to St. Louis next week with Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller -- very difficult and challenging music and he's loving every minute of it. Bryan Beller, who is an unbelievable bassist, is a very cool guy. Check out his bio -- most interesting.
Eric also has more touring plans in the works with both Project Object (late December, early January northeast tour perhaps?) and Chris Harford.
Julie, who has a brand new recording studio, is producing a new CD by Sweatheart. She also produced their first CD which got some very nice reviews and there's already buzz about this new one...and how cool is this, their backing band is The Toddlers -- Rock School grads Julia Rainer, Max DiMezza, and Dave Papp.
It's just so amazing to see all of these awesomely talented kids I watched grow up into way hip adults now out there making great music.
Saturday night we're all going to see Adrian Belew play with Robert Fripp in his side band known as Projekct 6 at the Keswick Theater in Glenside. Ooh, I really want to meet Robert. I asked Eric if we'd get backstage and he's like, Mom, I'm in Adrian's band, what do you think?
I think I'll be really happy if I do, but if Robert isn't the kind of guy who likes crazy blonde women gaping at him and blabbering either before or after he performs, then I'll understand. But it will be way cool to see Adrian again.
Oh, and make sure you click on Robert's link and read his diary. He's brilliant...but as a faithful reader of said journal, I think that's where I probably got the idea he's not going to be open to having me backstage but I'll let you know how it all pans out on Monday.
In writing news, Romance Divas had very nice things to say about Another Bite of the Apple and if you visit my publisher's home page, you'll see Another Bite is their #4 best seller for September. It's slipped to 2nd highest rated in erotica over at Fictionwise but I really can't complain - that's 2nd highest rated out of 2,071 books in that genre.
But um, if anyone wants to buy it, rate it "great" and help me get back to number one, I will...hmm...I don't know, you tell me what you want in return and maybe I'll do it.
Dear god, why do I set myself up for these things?
(Because you love it, Rob. You do, you do. Don't even try denying it.)
And if things aren't fabulous enough, tonight I received a special invitation to edit a new anthology which, quite frankly, has me over the moon. I will talk about that more once it's officially confirmed and announced (of course I immediately replied YES!), but the bottom line is, I'm not only editing this anthology, I get to select the final submissions to be included. It's slated for a summer, 2007 release. I wish I could blab the title and premise now but you'll have to stay tuned for more details.
Speaking of writers, Susan Henderson has an awesome question of the week over at her website:
"Are you, or have you ever been, obsessed? Tell me your story."
Now you know I couldn't resist answering that one. And yeah, yeah, of course I got my Neil Gaiman mention in. Go ahead over and have a read and add your own thoughts/comments -- some of the other replies really rock...but of course I had to be the one to open the flood gates. I especially liked "Aimee's" response...and I'm wondering, could Aimee be one of my favorite short story writers ever -- Aimee Bender?
Sue? Is it? That's so freaking fantastic! But even if it isn't, I was just over at her swell site (Swell? Where did I get that one from? Gosh and golly and gee whiz!) and see she has a writer's exercise of the week. And now of course because I'm an obsessive as you will read in Sue's blog in case you already haven't figured that out from reading mine, I must immediately write a story using said exercise.
Well, there I am on the beach. Now. What do you suppose I'm doing? You'll find the answer below.
Hi there!
So, summer (though I guess it's now fall) vacation 2006 was a huge success. We arrived on the island on a Saturday night -- just Gary, me, and the dog. I tried to be upbeat about that but there was a vague feeling of depression surrounding all of us (even the dog) because in reality it was our first Julie and Eric free holiday at the beach and we were haunted by memories of summers past -- long nights spent at arcades while Gary and the kids rode amusements and I hid behind walls in fear and nausea watching the people I love most in the world be turned upside down at ninety miles an hour; Julie acting in her usual role as family social director making sure we were busy every second of the day and Eric her co-conspirator with Gary and I acting as fellow exhausted henchmen; stuffing our faces with junk food pre-vegetarian healthy Julie and Eric...Julie and Eric as five and six year olds taking off ahead of us on the boardwalk in their excitement and me being so neurotic I'd run after them the moment they were a foot away as if they were actually going to be kidnapped or fall through a crack in said boardwalk and disappear forever...you know, the usual Robin psychotic stuff.
Anyway, we were so exhausted Saturday night we just listened to music (David Bowie's Stage -- unfucking believable, with Adrian Belew on lead guitar) and fell asleep early; the following day we sort of moved around in a daze while we did some food shopping for the house -- that damn Julie now has me addicted to organic yoghurt for breakfast instead of fried donuts and Gary's really into cooking so he wanted all kinds of exotic spices, etc. -- and then we spent the rest of the day walking on the beach with the dog until sunset (and oh my god, what a gorgeous sunset...we took pics with a traditional camera for that but I'm having a CD made and will post some in a few days)
I mean, we had a great time but I thought to myself HOLY SHIT HOW WILL WE EVER GET THROUGH TWO WEEKS OF THIS?! Not to be obnoxious, but this has been such a wild fun year for us and to be faced with two weeks of doing absolutely nothing (and me not having any online access) was incredibly daunting.
Trust me, by Monday morning though, neither one of us were depressed and we were suddenly both saying YES! YES! TWO WEEKS OF DOING NOTHING!
Ahem. I should have known better.
We actually slept in that day -- for once I wasn't up at dawn -- and then took the dog for another long walk to the beach, which we owned, baby. There wasn't a tourist in sight because in late September everything is basically closed for the winter which is just how we like it. The weather was startlingly magnificent...cool, sunny, and humidity free. I felt so relaxed and at peace with the world...I couldn't wait to get back to our beach house and work on my novel. But just as we're walking down our street I see a girl in a red tank top with long, dark curly hair on a bicycle coming toward us and had a fleeting thought: That girl looks a little like Julie...
But that was impossible, right?
"Oh my god, it's Julie!" Gary shouted.
"I thought so but then I figured I was hallucinating! How in the world did she get here?"
The question was answered a second or two later as a radiant, smiling Julie pulled up alongside us.
"Surprise!"
I guess my mouth was kind of hanging open because her "surprise!" was quickly followed by "Aren't you happy to see me?" and a crestfallen look.
"Oh my god, I'm thrilled that you are here! But...but...how did you manage it?"
"Well, I woke up at 4:00 a.m., walked to 30th Street train station, got on a 5:00 a.m. train to Atlantic City; then I took a bus to Ocean City which I caught a few blocks from there; then I rented myself a bicycle and rode the rest of the way here. I wanted to surprise you!"
This was so awesome to me I practically burst into tears right there. Okay, okay. I did cry. Buckets.
"Aw, Julie...this is so great. And I'm glad you surprised me. Had I known you were walking to 30th Street station at 4:00 a.m., I would have been a nervous wreck and would have told you not to do it. But this is really terrific. Thank you!"
I would have fucking died if I'd known of her plans in advance. Twenty years old and gorgeous and walking all by herself in the dark through a deserted neighborhood. Ah, youth. You think you're immortal, huh.
"That's not all, Mom. Eric and Matt (Julie's long suffering boyfriend if you are new to this blog and I'm just kidding when I say long suffering -- Matt is fabulous) will be here Wednesday. And guess what? We're all staying until Friday night!"
Gary and I practically jumped for joy. Yay! Our family! I mean, you'd have thought with us away for two weeks, they'd have loved having our Philadelphia house to themselves but no, no, they actually wanted to hang with us at the beach. You have no idea how fantastic that made us feel.
Well, maybe you do.
Anyway, there went all thoughts of rest. Julie began issuing orders immediately.
"You two need to rent bikes!"
Oh god.
So we did that and then she made us ride, ride, ride until we were both ready to die and call it a day but the fun was just beginning -- apparently mini golf was in our future as well as more beach with the dog and a cook-off in the kitchen because both Julie and Gary wanted to make something fantastic and Julie wanted fish (yeah, I know. She's a vegetarian who eats fish) and Gary wanted meat and then they both played for my affection -- who was I going to side with, she who was preparing fresh tuna with all of the cool spices Gary bought or he who was grilling a huge hunk of sirloin.
I wanted both so that was a no-brainer and one less heart broken expression.
"Know what I feel like doing tomorrow, Dad?" Julie asked, fluttering those gorgeous eyelashes.
Ooh ooh, she said "Dad". Oh please don't let it include me...oh please don't let it include me...oh please don't let it include me (Well, she did say "Dad"...and the next day was Tuesday and I really, really, really needed to sneak off to the library and have a look at four days of accumulated email and also, take out some books assuming Julie was going to allow me time to read)
"What, honey?" he smiled.
"Let's go deep sea fishing!"
Yay! It didn't include me! Or poor Matt, who was dragged along on the last deep sea fishing trip they took last summer...the one where they didn't realize it was for a full day instead of the usual four hours and they had no food with them or drinks...and then Matt got seasick and spent the entire eight hours with his head hanging over the boat.
So that's what the two of them did and I did indeed ride my bike the two miles to the library (good on Julie for making me ride so much the day before...it took me no time at all to get into shape and now I've remembered how much I enjoy riding and have already taken my bike in Philly out of storage), checked my email and learned some awesome news about a friend (more on that below, too), saw Ellen Meister's new book on the shelves under "New Releases" and jumped for joy. And speaking of Ellen, I know I'm late to the party on this one but I see she's running a really cool contest on her website. Check it out! Also, what a shock, I took out my boy Neil Gaiman'sStardust and American Gods...Stardust because I hadn't read it and American Gods because I read it last year when I was deeply under his spell and was reading practically everything and decided I didn't give it the attention it deserved and wanted to revisit it. Okay, yeah, who am I kidding, we all know I'm still under his spell. More on that below, too.
So Julie and Gary came back from fishing all dejected because not only did they come up fishless, it was a rough trip on the sea and they were queasy. But not so queasy that we didn't have to ride bikes again...and I'd just come back from a four mile round trip ride myself but bit the bullet and pretended my ass didn't feel like it was on fire and somehow hopped back on for yet more exercise.
Dinner that night was gooey boardwalk pizza. Yes! My reward for nearly killing myself from all that activity.
Once again, Gary and I passed out early listening to CDs -- Gary found a strange, live Manfred Mann CD which turned out to be most excellent despite my insistence that I'd rather have listened to Elliott Smith's XO which Gary doesn't like because there's no lead guitar in it.
What can I say -- he's a lead guitar player.
The Manfred Mann was, as I said, surprisingly good. Gary picked it up a few weeks ago at a used CD store and I highly recommend it. It's nothing like the crap they played of that band on the radio back in nineteen diggitytwo.
Matt and Eric arrived the following day and Gary and I thought Oh Thank God, Now We Can Relax.
Ha ha. You'd have thought so, wouldn't you? But I can't complain, Julie didn't want to just be camp counselor to Matt and Eric, she wanted Gary and me in on the fun as well.
Which brings us to picture #2 in our series. What are Matt, Eric and Julie up to?
And why is Eric holding Monty dog?
Well, I guess I'll come clean. Yes, it's true. Julie made us play baseball. Even the dog had to play. In fact, the dog was an integral part of her rules. He played two positions -- catcher and outfielder. The rule was, if one of us got a hit, we had to run to first base, which was a vague area to the left of the pitcher...marked by a seashell sticking up at water's edge. But...and this is the big but...if Monty dog caught the ball before we made it to first base, we were automatically out.
I mean, come on. How are two out of shape *cough cough* over forty year olds going to compete with a fleet footed beagle mutt?
As you can see, even young Matt didn't have a chance. Monty caught that ball in mid-air.
But there I am in the background all ready to catch a long ball just in case (refer to picture #1). Actually, I've never caught a pop fly in my life but if you must know, it's my secret fantasy, right up there with choosing the music for professional ice skaters...and oh, by the way, I've now expanded that fantasy to be the one in charge of choosing soundtracks for movies.
I was up next and I swear this is true though even I don't believe it, Robin The Unathletic slammed the ball for a huge hit and beat the damn dog to first base but Julie and Eric were so sure I didn't they had to tag me out manually because God forbid I actually had a chance of winning at sports for the first time in my life.
It should be noted here that throughout the vacation, no one wanted me on their team. This included mini golf, baseball, and kadima. Chin up, I kept saying to myself. Chin fucking up, Rob.
But fear not. I'm the first one everyone wants when it comes to Scrabble, Jeopardy, or even Trivial Pursuit so it all equals out in the end and I'd much rather have it that way, anyhow. Nah nah nah.
Just kidding, of course. God I love my family.
The next day I caught a break. Julie saw a "Make Your Own Mosaic" store and really wanted to give that a try. Now we're talking something up my alley. So Gary decided to take the boys to a huge CD warehouse off the island...something I'd normally love but I know Gary, Matt, and Eric and knew they'd be there all day and even I get bored of that after a few hours. (Basically because I either have every CD I want or download it). Anyway, we made mosaics and against my better judgment, I'm posting what I did here because I still can't believe how awful it turned out...the thing gave me nightmares...and you'd never know I studied art in a million years when you see it but the thing is, we really had to make these things ourselves completely and when I say completely, it meant cutting the glass into tiny pieces with individual glass cutters. Naturally it wasn't until after we were finished that I noticed the safety glasses hanging on the wall. The whole time I sat next to Julie like a basket case while glass slivers flew everywhere. We dripped really sticky glue all over ourselves, our fingers stuck together making it impossible to put the glass on the wood but despite our frustration, Julie's turned out so good I'm being petulant and not posting a photo of it (well, today, anyway) but I am going to show you mine only because my family is assuring me it's way cool and they adore it. In fact, I've decided if they love it that much, I'm hanging it on the dining room wall so it can stare at them while they eat.
Stunning, isn't it? Ha ha - actually, I'm thinking of putting it up for sale on Ebay. Look for it in the next issue of Architectural Digest -- most likely hanging in Wayne Newton's Las Vegas home.
Okay, that was a lame joke. Forgive me. It's been a while since I've blogged and I'm giddy. And this is turning into a monster post.
Oh. You may be wondering about the title of said post. Well, now you've seen photos of Gary and me. So tell me. If you saw us walking down the street while you were driving, would you pull up alongside us, roll down your window, and say this...?
"Excuse me? Which way to the..." (Wait. I'll ruin the story. Let me backtrack for a minute...)
I felt the car trailing us and as it pulled up next to us while we were walking to the beach, I got that old seventies paranoia. (Sidenote: Bravo is showing old Dick Cavett reruns on Thursday nights. I remember them from when I was a kid and he had the coolest people on - even John Lennon - so it's worth checking out. Anyway, the night before we watched a 1972 interview with Alfred Hitchcock. He spoke of a terrible paranoia of policemen. I identify with that so much and like Alfred told Dick, I can't even tell you why especially, either, as these days I'm innocent of everything.)
Okay, sorry, I drifted from the story. So anyway, this big ass Mercedes pulls up right next to us, the window goes down, and we look over to see a woman probably our age but so damn waspy she looked sixty. She had that Pro Life I Voted for George Bush look -- poofy short hair, a pastel sweater tied around her neck, and bright pink lipstick...and then she says...she actually says..."Excuse me, can you tell me which way to The Yacht Club?"
I thought Gary and I would pee ourselves. We actually both laughed out loud. We fell down in hysterics on the side of the road.
"Is that a question you ever thought you would hear in your lifetime?" I asked Gary.
"No. The only thing more improbable would be 'Which way to the meeting of Young Republicans?" he choked.
So of course that was the running joke for the rest of the holiday -- we'd look over at each other, especially when we were particularly disheveled, and say in a waspy accent "Excuse me. Which way to the Yacht Club?"
Hmm...maybe you had to be there. But it cracked us up like you would not believe.
Alrighty, continuing on and I promise I'll wrap the vacation stuff up soon because I have writing news to report as well as some cool music stuff as concerns Julie and Eric.
So while we were making our mosaics, Eric, Matt and Gary bought CDs and then decided to go out to lunch at Five Guys. I know this had to kill Eric because Five Guys is as close to In-N-Out Burger as you can come on the east coast. For those of you who don't know, In-N-Out Burger is a west coast chain which, if you must eat fast food, is incredible and we have a special affection for it because we lived on those things during the great Paul Green School of Rock Music west coast tour of 2004. Back then, Eric was not a vegetarian and could really put away those burgers.
"So. What did you eat at Five Guys?" I innocently asked him later that night.
"I had a vegetable sandwich," he grimaced.
"Why are you making a face, Er? You love vegetables. Isn't that why you are a vegetarian? How could they mess up a veggie burger?"
"Mom, this was a sandwich made up entirely of their burger toppings."
I found this truly hilarious.
"You mean to tell me they sold you a sandwich of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions?" I laughed.
"Yeah. Even better, it had ketchup, pickles, and relish, too," he sighed.
I mean, come on. Is it just me or is that the funniest thing ever? But I was assured their hand cut french fries were awesome so at least he wasn't completely bummed out. And Matt and Gary freaked out over the burgers -- said they were delicious and unlike any fast food they'd ever eaten.
Alright. I really need to talk about something else. We'll get back to the vacation in a minute. So as I said, while Julie and Gary were out fishing, I went to the library. I also bought and read Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. Now, I know I was supposed to write about that in my blog today but I can't because I've promised someone else I'd do something cool and special in conjunction with that next month. So as much as it pains me, I will say nothing more about it right now, but I will copy an excerpt of my email to Sue of last night here:
"Ohhh....Fragile Things. I just want to crawl up in it and live in there. Actually, that's what I really thought when I read Stardust over vacation - somehow I'd missed reading it this year and read that on the beach as well. Also revisited American Gods. That was a fucking masterpiece. The world should have stopped for a few minutes the day that came out..." (with a nod to Anne Lamott, who, in her awesome book for writers Bird by Bird, warned us that as writers the earth will not stop revolving the day our books are finally published and released on an unsuspecting public. But as far as American Gods go, I don't know that I've ever read anything quite like that in my life and don't know how any one person could have written it.)
As a matter of fact, here I am chilling on the beach last week with Eric and the fabulous Monty dog and as you can see, American Gods is on my lap.
Alrighty, so I also said when I went to the library I got an email with some fantastic information and that email was coincidentally from Sue who gave me the incredible news that she's now a featured writer here! I mean, how fucking cool is that. Daily readership? Oh...two million. I'm so thrilled for Susan I can barely control myself.
Okay, wrapping up the beach vacation real fast, Julie, Eric and Matt went home on Friday night -- we had eight days left to collapse and chill out.
Ho ho ho.
Monday morning the phone rings.
"Mom?"
"Hey, Julie. What's up?"
"What are you doing?"
"About to go to the beach," I lied.
"Are you riding your bicycles every day?"
"Um...yeah. Sure. Every day."
"I'm thinking of coming down again tomorrow and staying for the rest of the week until you guys come home."
"Really? Fantastic! But..how come?"
"Well, Eric won't be home all week - he's got gigs in New York...and Matt has school (Matt and Julie both go to Drexel University but Julie is deferring this semester to go on tour with Adrian Belew in November)...and I'm bored. Oh, and I think there's a mouse in the kitchen..."
"Oh no! A mouse?" I don't know why, but I go absolutely beserk over mice and even though intellectually I know it's ridiculous, the sight of one in my kitchen gives me seizures. Alas our house is 110 years old and built on a creek...in addition to being in the city...so the occasional mouse is something no one in this neighborhood can avoid. However, I've been known to lock myself in my bedroom if Gary isn't home and I see one downstairs and Julie has unfortunately inherited this same strange behavior.
"Yeah. So...can Dad pick me up at the train?"
"Of course."
And thus Julie came back and the rest of our vacation was spent furiously riding bikes, hiking, doing triathalons, mountain climbing, deep sea diving...you name it.
It was great.
Now. On to the music. As I said on a few (ha ha) occasions, Eric played a gig in New York last week with Chris Harford and here's the You Tube of said event which is quite cool:
I like that weird old guy at the end who seems totally baffled.
Last week Eric also bought himself an amazing set of drums from fellow musician Chuck Treece. Here's a photo -- for those of you who are music freaks, they were made by Boom Theory and if you click on that link, you'll see just how awesome they really are.
More Eric and Julie music news -- Adrian Belew mentions them in a pre-tour interview given back in May or June of this year in Modern Guitars Magazine.
Also, regarding their new project with amazing guitarist Sarah Zimmermann, here's the official press release for that:
"Sarah Zimmermann is a recent graduate of the School of Rock All-Stars who has been stunning audiences coast to coast with her amazing slide guitar work and vocals. In the past year, Sarah has played Lollapalooza, NAMM, Music Player Live, The Zappanale Festival in Germany, and numerous theater gigs accross the country, sharing the stage with such legends as Peter Frampton, John Wetton, Mike Keneally, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. She also opened for Jeff Beck and John Mayer at the Fender 60th Anniversary in Tempe AZ, where she so impressed the Fender brass that they gave her an American Deluxe Telecaster, and has recently been sitting in with Benevento/Russo Duo side project Bustle in Your Hedgerow.
Sarah is now playing out with her new band, The Sarah Zimmermann Trio, which features former School of Rock All-Stars Eric and Julie Slick on bass and drums. Eric is a rising star on the music scene and has been quite busy since his graduation from SOR, playing with Mike Keneally, Shannon Penn, and Zappa Alumni band Project Obect, as well as Chris Hartford and various WEEN side projects. Together with his phenomenal bass playing sister Julie, they spent the summer touring the US and Europe as the back up band for guitar legend Adrian Belew, an ongoing gig they have secured as The Adrian Belew Trio.
Together, the three of them represent what is best about The Paul Green School of Rock Music, and why the future is so bright for their graduates.
The The Sarah Zimmermann Trio will be doing a three day mini tour in October to get ready for a bigger tour in the winter. The dates:
Saturday Oct 21st: NYC, The Knitting Factory Sunday Oct 22nd: Asbury Park NJ, Asbury Lanes"
Actually, said trio rehearsed in my living room all day today and Gary and I sat upstairs stunned with our jaws on the carpet. They are so good it's scary and the chemistry is there so this could turn out to be a very, very cool project.
Eric is having the time of his life. When he went up to New York for the Chris Harford gig on September 28, he called me from CBGBs (where he was also playing that night) and said rather nonchalantly: "Guess who I met tonight, Mom? Nile Rogers. I also met Adrien Brody, Michael Showalter, and Sim Cain, drummer for the Rollins Band".
Because CBGBs is closing, huge crowds have been coming out every night to see the final shows so Eric really got lucky...Fishbone played the main stage while Eric played the gallery and he got the overflow and really had a blast. He played from 1:00 a.m. until 4:30 a.m.
Besides the above, Eric is getting ready to do a gig with Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller in St. Louis on October 13 and then he takes off with Julie for the west coast with Adrian Belew from November 1-15. See Adrian's website for more info on that and yes, yes, I'm shooting for attending the November 9 show in San Francisco.
Okay. Enough is enough. This probably is the world's longest blog post. Someone contact the Guinness Book of World Records for me, please?
And to be honest, I'm actually leaving a lot of stuff out because I'm tired. More tomorrow?
So every year the Slick family heads down to the beach for two weeks and it's been a real luxury since J&E graduated high school because now we can go at the end of September when it's devoid of tourists. We're taking off tomorrow and won't be home until October 1. And as of this moment, J&E aren't even sure if and when they are joining us -- they have rehearsals, busy boyfriend/girlfriends -- I only know they aren't tagging along the first day --- Eric is thinking he may come down this Wednesday for a couple o'days; Julie is busy juggling a bunch of stuff and may not make it until next week. As I've posted several times, Eric has two NYC gigs at the end of this month and there's been a slight change -- his gig at CBGBs on September 28 is not the last show ever for that venue -- they've gotten an additional week stay of execution so the final show is actually October 5 and whether Eric will be asked to play on October 5 or not remains to be seen. But if you are in NYC on September 27, you can catch him for free outside of Grand Central Station at noon and at CBGBs the evening of September 28 with Chris Harford and members of Ween. I may interrupt my vacation and fly up to NYC for the September 28th show but I'm not sure.
Anyway, my youngest child Monty dog is accompanying us tomorrow and he loves, loves, loves the beach so he's probably going to be the happiest one of all. I probably posted this pic of him before but wtf:
Cute little bugger, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, good looks run in the family.
So what's scary is that the island where we'll be isn't wireless; there are no Starbucks or any other hot spots...just a public library a mile and a half away with restricted hours and worse, a tight ban on more than thirty minutes of internet use.
I am so screwed.
Ha ha, not really. I have my journals, my pens, and a printed out alleged final, completed draft of "Daddy Left Me Alone With God" which I will go over yet again over the next two weeks. And I'm sure I'll ride my bicycle to the library a few times and maybe even somehow do a blog post or two...I guess it will depend on whether I have anything to say. Wait. When don't I have anything to say? (insert smiley face emoticon here)
Hard to believe it's a year since my last vacation at the beach...you know, the one where I thought I made this great discovery of an unknown writer named Neil Gaiman and couldn't wait to get back home so I could tell all of my friends about him? Ha ha ha - you should have seen my face when I googled him upon my return to Philadelphia. And of course if you are a regular reader of this blog, you also know that I've been, err, a little obsessed with him this year but that's only because he's amazingly talented, amazingly handsome, loves rock music, and to top it off, is a Brit. Oh god. So anyway, I ended up meeting him, making an ass of myself, and then had no choice but to write about it. Chick Flicks Magazine loved my essay and accepted it for publication -- here's the online link -- with a shout out to Myfanwy Collins and L. Lori Young who each make an appearance in this sad, sad tale.
And if you like the above photo of daughter Julie and me, you'll love this one of Neil:
Ha ha - that cracks me up so much I actually made it a permanent link on the right hand side here -- a writer pal of mine (who has been missing in action...hmmm...very strange), David Niall Wilson -- did it as a joke for me one day.
So anyway, last year I read Gaiman's short story collection Smoke and Mirrors while on vacation; this year I'm lucky enough to be able to read his new release, Fragile Things at the beach because it's being released on September 26. I can just see me ordering Gary to drive me to civilization that day because there is only one book store on the entire island where we'll be and it's a used bookstore which I love, but alas they won't have Fragile Things the day it comes out. I was actually tempted to pre-order it from Amazon and have it mailed to my beach house but was too paranoid it wouldn't arrive in time and I'd be back in Philadelphia before it ever got there.
Yes, I know. I have completely lost my mind.
In other news, I was really touched to see what Paul Green wrote about Julie and Eric on the School of Rock website.
Yeah, you know it, I'm cutting and pasting for (y)our convenience:
"Humongous (and belated) congratulations are in order for School of Rock alumni (and original students!) Eric and Julie Slick, who in the spring landed a dream gig: playing as the backup band for ADRIAN BELEW! For those who don't know, Adrian is an absolute guitar master, and besides his fabulous solo career, has played in/for King Crimson, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, and countless others.
Eric and Julie have been touring with Adrian Belew as part of his power trio since early in the summer, and the reviews have been unbelieveable. Check this one out: Jam Base.
Of all the great things that have happened to the school over the years, this one makes me the proudest.
Sooo...unless something momentous happens between today and tomorrow, this may be it until October 1...or not, you never know with me, I'm liable to be at that library every morning blogging...but if it doesn't work out that way, have a happy rest of September, buy Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things so we can have a meaningful discussion upon my return, and I'll be back to drive you all crazy next month.
Oh. One final thing. Another Bite of the Apple and Buenos Noches, Justine remain number one and number two highest rated in erotica at Fictionwise. I'm not only the Empress of Cyberworld, I'm the Empress of...never mind.
But err...you know me, here it is, cut and pasted:
" The only thing stranger than seeing Adrian Belew in person after years of organs turning to liquid while listening to his guitar lunacy was seeing a 20-year-old drummer and 19-year-old bassist with him. Eric and Julie Slick are in the right place alongside him. The sound firing from the stage at the start of their set was a machine gun strum exercise called "Writing on the Wall." Many of the songs in the set are from Belew's solo album Side One, which featured Danny Carey from Tool on drums and Les Claypool. The Slick siblings effortlessly played those parts and even added their own touches. Belew's work straddles pop tenderness with savage dexterity, as if the Beatles really learned to play their instruments and found odd meters. During the King Crimson tune "Dinosaur," Belew bent the hell out of his custom guitar by pulling on a protruding edge of the body for a low moan sound beyond a simple tremolo warble. The Slicks filled out the Crimson thickly for two people covering a very dense composition. "Ampersand" off of Side One was a vicious battery of rhythm built with bass, drums, and guitar holding up an even part of the wall and dancing around odd-metered fills. For the tweek funk of "Beat Box Guitar," Bela Fleck came out to add some rich banjo licks to the weird tune. Belew frequently puts solos played in reverse on his albums, and yet is able to play them note-for-note live. Such a feat was especially clear during the ambient dream feel of "Matchless Man." To finish out the set, the trio played epic renditions of Crimson's "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Elephant Talk." The task of filling a sound created by Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, and Bill Bruford seemed effortless for the Slicks. During the end of "Elephant Talk," members of Umphrey's McGee came out one-by-one to join in the tense cacophony to close out the set. From the gleeful looks on Jake Cinninger, Brendan Bayliss, and Kris Myers' faces, it seemed I wasn't the only awestruck person at the show."
How freaking cool is that?
And um, my own personal bit of excitement:
I'm not sure how long it will last but my Publishers Marketplace page is in the top ten most visited this week;
Julie Slick/Eric Slick have no problem navigating MySpace - those are their respective profile pics which are obviously from the summer Adrian Belew tour -- but even they agree it's a cheesy site.
So thanks to all sixty-three of you who have asked me to be your MySpace friends. But oh god, I'm really sorry to have to tell you this -- I give up. I cannot negotiate that site. I accept you as my friend, then I click on "home" to thank you for the add, instead I end up on my own My Space page, which has about ten comments on it and a blog which hasn't been updated since June 8.
Basically, I find MySpace a big pain in the ass, a huge time drain, and well, way lame.
Another problem I'm having is that all of the people I love are into it so now I have yet another thing to feel guilty about and trust me, I have enough of that on my plate. Therefore, after weeks of frustration, I have no choice but to admit defeat. So please do not feel offended when I ignore you at MySpace after accepting your kind invitation to be my friend; simply understand it's because I don't know where the hell to go after accepting you nor do I understand the basic principles of the site.
And I guess I should also add that I learned that Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace and you're talking to a woman who won't even shop for cheap light bulbs at Wal-Mart, that's how much I hate corporations and Republicans so that also plays a big part in my decision to defect.
Okay, enough of that.
My star continues to shine at Fictionwise, where Another Bite of the Apple is now #12 on the best seller list, remains highest rated in erotica, and Three Days in New York City and Buenos Noches, Justine, which was just released there yesterday, continue to climb the charts as well and are getting great reviews which is very cool and ironic considering these are most likely the last I'll be writing in that genre.
Yes, I know. That's what I always say. But "Daddy Left Me Alone With God" is mainstream and while I'm not going to deny the existence of sexual situations in the book, there's nothing graphic...i.e., nothing I had to drink a bottle of wine to write and which still causes me to blush and want to hide when I read it over two years later (in the case of Three Days in New York City, that is -- Another Bite and Justine are way, way tamer)
Speaking of writing, I had a wonderful brunch with fellow Zoetrope writers Ellen Meister and Randall Brown at Carmen's Country Kitchen -- you know, the woman who put the "cunt" back into country if one is to believe her business cards -- where everything is a penis, even the salt shakers, only the table where we sat didn't have any. They were all displayed on shelves facing us, though. None of us brought cameras, which is a good thing, because you really don't want to be taking penis photos at a hip, trendy restaurant like Carmen's where I had pancakes topped with chocolate chocolate chip marscapone cream and honey rosemary roasted figs and Ellen, her husband, and Randall had challah french toast stuffed with fresh fruit marinated in sweet wine...and there was something about a carmelized crust, I think, but I was too busy lost in thought over my chocolate chocolate chip marscapone cream.
Mmmm...
Ellen autographed my copy of her book for me and what she wrote made me cry:
By the way, here's what Ellen's book looks like displayed at our local Barnes and Noble:
Ha ha, the security guard frowned at me when he saw me snapping photos but I was all prepared to say I was Ellen and even sign a book for him if he bugged me. (Even though Ellen's beautiful color photo is on the inside flap, but hey, I maybe could have gotten away with it because everyone knows white Jewish blonde princesses all look alike)
The one I really felt bad for was Randall. Ellen and her husband got lost and poor Randall got stuck with me for over an hour. The sad truth is I didn't shut up and probably handed him enough short story material for the next ten years.
Or, made him never want to write again. Oh god, I hope not. He's brilliant. Bad Robin. When will you learn to be quiet? Sigh...probably not any time soon. Which reminds me. My essay about the night I met Neil Gaiman and didn't stop blabbering will be published this Friday. I'll post a link if I can...it will probably be my last official on-line act before taking off for two weeks of vacation. Oh, and I'll probably post this again, too: Eric, Chris Harford, and members of Ween are giving a free concert at Grand Central Station in NYC at noon on September 27 and then the next night, September 28, they're playing the last show ever at CBGBs which will close its doors forever and (inexplicably to me) relocate to Las Vegas.
Bleh. Las Vegas is my least favorite city in the civilized universe.
There's going to be some heavy hitters at that CBGB closing concert -- I think I probably wrote about this before but it's rumored everyone from the Talking Heads to Lou Reed will be up on stage before the night is done.
In other Eric news, he's joining slide guitar genius Sarah Zimmermann along with Julie Slick on bass for a new project called SZ3 -- they've got a gig at Asbury Lanes October 22 and this should be really, really interesting. Since they just decided on a band name last night, it's not on the schedule yet but yeah, yeah, I'll post this blurb again once it's there and probably ad nauseam throughout October.
And to wrap up the music stuff, Krimson-News has Adrian's west coast tour schedule listed and some kind words for Julie and Eric so that definitely made me smile.
What kind of shampoo does Neil Gaiman use? I have no idea, but Susan Henderson really wants to know!
Oh okay, so do I. (Not that I'm going to go out and buy it and slather myself with it or anything...)
So it's been a slow week in House of Slick for a change but here's what is going on:
(1) Another Bite of the Apple is now #15 on the best seller list over at Fictionwise, and remains "highest rated in erotica". So that's pretty cool;
(2) I googled myself (be quiet!) and found a review of Opium Magazine, which has been kind enough to publish a few of my stories over the years...and what do you think the reviewer did...out of like a gazillion pieces (Opium publishes daily), she chose to critique my story, Embouchure, as an example of the fine writing contained therein which was pretty thrilling, considering the list of luminaries they do publish;
(4) Speaking of Eric, he has updated his tour blog and I know he hates when I say this, but the boy can really write;
(5) I am having brunch on Sunday at the "Oh My God Everything is a Penis" Restaurant (More on that event in a Sunday afternoon/night or Monday morning blogpost because I am bringing my camera along to take photos as proof) with two of my favorite writers in the world, author extraordinaire Ellen Meister and the Grandmaster of Flash himself, Randall Brown. And even though Ellen is a great friend, my copy of her fabulous book is still unsigned, so Ellen, if you are reading this, I'm giving you two days to think of something wonderful and witty to inscribe in my copy of Applewood because yes, I want to include it in the photos at the Penis Restaurant.
I think that about covers it for now. I told you it's been a pretty uneventful week!
Eric Slick and Carolyn Pagnotta with Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters -- photo taken last month in Philadelphia when the Foo Fighters hung around and watched Eric, Julie, and Adrian Belew doing their soundcheck for the World Cafe Live Show
Hey hey:
A couple of quick notes while I scurry around here this morning doing nine million things -- i.e., finishing the final edits on my novel now known as "Daddy Left Me Alone with God", editing a wonderful new story by one of my fellow Phaze authors (yep, I took on that gig and am really enjoying myself), and compulsively checking the stats at Fictionwise where I remain #1 highest rated in erotica and have moved to #25 on the best seller list, which also caused its prequel, Three Days in New York City to skyrocket to #211 out of 1,974 books in that genre...not bad for a book that's been out almost two years.
One of my favorite shots of Mr. Eric Slick (and I know I've posted it many times before so shoot me) with Mr. Joey Randazzo on the left and Mr. Branden King on the right sharing percussion duties on "Black Magic Woman" during the School of Rock West Coast Tour, 2004
Julie Slick with the Adrian Belew Power Trio at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia last month
Hey hey, Happy Labor Day Weekend...
A few quick notes and then I'll let you all go back to bed.
First, when I posted the Adrian Belew article from Pollstar yesterday, I had no idea it was the headlines! I found it via Google, which just took me to the article itself. But yep, The Belew Tour made the front page, in between an article about the Rolling Stones and Farm Aid! So like, this means something major, you know? I'm posting the correct link right here -- see for yourself!
Second, I see it's listed in a couple of places that the trio is performing at the Santa Fe Brew Co. in Phoenix on November 4 -- that should actually be Santa Fe Brew Co. in Santa Fe, New Mexico (and I know I have a reader from there...so Richard...mark that date on your calendar or...or...I'll put a curse on you)
Third, and this is so totally cool, on the November 10 date in Saratoga, CA and the November 14 date in Eugene, OR, Adrian, Julie, and Eric will be joined by The California Guitar Trio. If I wasn't eating my heart out before, I'm pretty much devouring it now.
Fourth, I have it on good authority that my friend, brilliant author Kat Denza, has landed an agent at Trident Media Group. Take a look at their list of clients to see just how huge this is...and it couldn't happen to a sweeter, more deserving person.
Finally, because I added the link later in yesterday's post and many of you might not have seen it, please go check out Susan Henderson's beautiful new website. Sue is one of the most generous, talented people I know and visiting her site daily is a must.
Both Kat and Sue are tireless in their promotion and nurturing of fellow writers and I'm thrilled to be even a little part of their respective worlds.
Okay, I think that covers it for today but if not, I'll be back...
Something New For Belew Updated 02:49 PDT Fri, Sep 01 2006
"With several tours of the U.S., Europe and Australia already under his belt for this year, guitar wiz Adrian Belew has booked another round of concerts.
He'll be on the road from November 1-15, starting in Dallas and moving through the Southwest and up the coast to finish in Portland, Ore.
In May, the guitarist announced he would be performing with a new power trio, assisted by the brother-and-sister team of Julie and Eric Slick on bass and drums, respectively.
Belew released a new album, Side Three, this past April. It's the third installment of an electric guitar-based trilogy that started in January 2005.
The musician suffered a loss earlier this summer when longtime engineer Ken Latchney passed away of a heart attack. Latchney had anchored a team that accompanied Belew live and in the studio for the past decade."
Dates for The Adrian Belew Power Trio out west:
Wed 11/01/06 Dallas, TX Granada Theater Thu 11/02/06 Austin, TX Cactus Cafe Sat 11/04/06 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brew. Co. Sun 11/05/06 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room Tue 11/07/06 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern Wed 11/08/06 Long Beach, CA The Vault 350 Thu 11/09/06 San Francisco, CA Slim's Fri 11/10/06 Saratoga, CA Montalvo Arts Center Sat 11/11/06 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst Mon 11/13/06 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre Tue 11/14/06 Seattle, WA The Triple Door Wed 11/15/06 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
I'm currently eating my heart out over this and must work my magic to at least make the Portland show as that's one of my favorite cities. But oh, I'd love to do San Francisco, too, and you know once I fly out there, I'd want to stay a few days, and...
Nah, I can't. It's Gary's turn. And he's never been to San Francisco, Seattle, or Portland, which just happen to be three of my favorite cities in the U.S. I could really see living in Oregon -- the combination of mountains and beaches just took my breath away, but as crazy as it sounds, I'd (still) rather be in Philadelphia.
However I wouldn't mind another home in Portland.
Or San Francisco.
I can't live in Seattle because I have crazy curly hair and that climate would force me to wear a hat every day.
Okay. Enough rambling. On to the announcements:
Today marks the grand opening of Susan Henderson's new blog. I'm waiting for Susan Herself to make the announcement and put up the link on her PM page before linking it here so check back later and I'll have it for you.
ETA: Err...I've stumbled on it and if anyone would like a sneak peek...well, you didn't hear it from me, but you might be able to find it right here....
And another good friend of mine, Jordan Rosenfeld, who is about to make a big splash in the literary world, has a new site as well, and you can find it right here.
In other news, yep, Another Bite of the Apple is still highest rated in erotica over at Fictionwise and not only that, it's moved to a #30 position out of 1,974 books in that genre. Not bad, eh?
You should also continue to check out Bloggasm every day -- and not just because they were kind enough to interview me. Look for them to continue to post interviews and news about shining stars in the literary world and you should also snoop around the site and click on some links for some fun information about Simon, webmaster/owner of the site, very cool writer himself, and all around groovy guy though he warned me if I continue to read his personal blog, be prepared for a lot of whining.
What, a male who whines? Nah...
Ha ha - just kidding, just kidding.
Meanwhile, can you believe this is the last weekend of the summer? Man it flew by quickly this year. All the more reason why I always take my vacation at the beach the last two weeks of September...it not only extends the season, but all of the tourists are gone and I have the place to myself. Ahh...two weeks of long walks on a deserted beach, writing longhand in my journal, and sharing pizza and the world's best donuts (Brown's, St. Charles and the Boardwalk) with my dog.
This just in from son Eric: Last night he went to the Flaming Lips concert and since Ween opened up for them and as readers of this blog know, Eric occasionally sits in with members of Ween on drums so he was given backstage passes and met all of the Lips who were then kind enough to invite Eric and friends on stage to dance during their set. Pretty cool, huh. Also backstage were the openers, Sonic Youth and the Magic Numbers, and Eric hung out and chatted with them as well.
Eric has like the world's best life, doesn't he?
I think that's about it for today, but you never know...
