Top O'The Day...

Hey, I thought I'd celebrate St. Patrick's Day today with copious amounts of alcohol while watching You Tubes starring my son. And what better clip for today than Baba O'Riley? Featuring Eric on drums and the always incredible Katie Jacoby on violin -- LA Knitting Factory, January 2006.

Later,
xo

Some Days Are Just Too, Too Cool (posted last night but edited to add this morning)

Hey, I got another present from the almighty You Tube -- a two minute clip of the Adrian Belew Power Trio performing Beat Box Guitar in Villa Montalvo on November 10, 2006. And if you think it sounds cool, well, click on the banner under the heading of this blog and download the entire song...

And I shivered a bit to see my kids' names mentioned/linked with Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, Bill Bruford, et al right here.

In writing news, one of my favorite flash fiction authors, The High Priestess of Flash Fiction, Kathy Fish, has a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant piece up at groovy Juked. If you're a short story writer, read this and learn from the master. Kathy would never describe herself that way...she's far too humble...so I will do it for her.

Also, you really need to read the latest edition of Smokelong Quarterly which contains stories by two of my favorite people -- the amazing Myfanwy Collins and the scarily talented Tom Saunders. Actually, Smokelong is one of the best lit mags out there -- their editors are incredibly author friendly. Just have a look at the artwork (by the magnificent Marty Ison) author interviews, assorted links...it's just a beautifully done publication and I'm proud to say I once had a story and interview in there myself.

And err...speaking of interviews, Nick Belardes interrogates (heh) me today on his website and I've been laughing my ass off since I saw it. Nick asked me to send him some cool, creative photos to accompany his piece and I had a really hard time with that so I ended up giving him the URL for my photobucket site and Oh.My.God what a mistake that was. Ha! Between the photoshopping and the captions, I may have to go into hiding for a while.

Just kidding - he did a fabulous job and once I can stop laughing, I'll probably start worrying that people will find that image of me kissing the dog via googling beastiality and I'll have yet a whole new crop of weird, disturbed readers.

Bring 'em on!

And I know I got an email from Word Riot that my story, Beautiful, was going live today in their 5th anniversary issue, but so far they have not updated their site. Maybe later tonight? Keep clicking on the link...

That was myself I was talking to...I'll probably click on that damn link 1,000 times before crashing face down on the desk tonight. Lots to do...and it's all good.

ETA: Yes! Word Riot did in fact come through...you can read my story right here! And oh man, I just realized what stellar company I'm in...

Later,
xo

Cosmic Happenings and such

Cosmic Happenings by Richard A. Waters

Okay, I was going to start this blogpost off totally differently but still with the topic of Cosmic Happenings because, well, freaky coincidences have been occurring in the Slick household over the last few days that are beyond weird.

I was about to put up one of the Belew Trio photos from my collection at the top of this post because a lot of the serendipity concerns Adrian, but I decided, on a whim, to google Cosmic Happenings to see if I could find a suitable matching image.

Not only do I find the above isn't-it-incredible artwork on Google Images, but it leads me to the website of its artist, Richard A. Waters...and it turns out that this same guy invents incredibly cool drums and other instruments.

I mean, really. My son just happens to be a drummer and I know this is going to really interest him...but okay, that's not even the tip of the iceberg as far as what's going on.

But I'll get to all that in a moment.

Did I say I wanted an acceptance letter to make myself feel physically and emotionally better? Look what was in my mailbox late yesterday!

"Hey Robin,

We really dug your submission and would like it to appear for our fifth anniversary issue, which is scheduled to go live on March 15.

Please let us know if it is still available and provide an updated bio.

My best,
Jackie Corley,
Publisher, Word Riot"

Yeah! So I wrote back, yep, the story, Beautiful, is available; it's yours!

Anyway, when it's published tomorrow, naturally, I will link it here. With accompanying graphics of fireworks and pretty balloons.

Maybe.

So anyway, let me tell you the whole weird story. On Saturday, Gary works for a few hours and is always reliably home by 12:30 p.m. I was sitting here writing, and I notice 1:00 p.m. comes and goes, next thing I know it's 1:45 p.m. and I think Hmmm...maybe I should call him and make sure everything's okay. It was just too out of character for him to be that late without touching base with me. So I dial him up on his cell and he says "Don't worry, I'm right outside, I'm late because I was bad."

Gary bad? Ha ha, I don't think so. I knew exactly what he was saying.

He meant: "I went to Sound of Market after work and dropped a lot of money on some rare CDs we were missing from our collection." (Stuff we already had on vinyl...which we not only never threw away but still play and love and for which we even bought a new turntable).

He also knew that this is precisely the kind of thing that would not make me mad...well, nothing really ever makes me angry except the religious right, Republicans, and narcissistic writers who lack talent but never shut up about themselves and their work...but anyway, here are just three of the stack of CDs he came home with:

Adrian Belew's Young Lions.

"This is really hard to find -- it's early Adrian," Gary told me...and check what I said above, this is one we did not have on vinyl, cassette, eight track...nothing. I grabbed at it eagerly.

He also bought this:

David Live

Now this is totally cool - it was recorded at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia and was on our turntable non-stop throughout most of the seventies into the early eighties.

"Oh my god," I said, looking over the track list which at one time I had committed to memory. "1984! When was the last time we listened to that song? Wow...I remember when a day wouldn't go by without us putting that on...and remember Doobies?" (More on Doobies in a minute...it's another piece of this weird cosmic puzzle.)

And finally, he also had this in his little bag:

No Answer, which is the very first ELO album and the only one with brilliant musician Roy Wood.

"It must be twenty-five years since I've heard this," I said when he put it on. We were like two little kids over this bounty (and wasn't I just so kind to provide you all with links to purchase them?) and each and every song brought back all kinds of memories...this was all stuff we listened to pre-Julie and Eric...when we were both kids ourselves. The Bowie especially, like I said, was a staple in the early years of our marriage, and as we were listening to 1984, I turned to Gary and said:

"Remember Doobies?"

"Yeah, like I'd ever forget that place," Gary said.

Doobies is a bar in downtown Philadelphia which still exists though it's been...hmmm...how old is Julie?...over 21 years since we've been there. Back before we were even legally old enough to drink, we'd go to Doobies just for the juke box and macaroni and cheese with beef and tomatoes..and okay, okay, I cannot tell a lie, they never asked us for age I.D. so we got our beers there, too. Lots and lots of them. Doobies had (and maybe they still do have) the best juke box in Philly because the owner's daughter, who was just a few years older than us, was a total David Bowie/Lou Reed freak and she was in charge of the music.

Cooking the macaroni was a girl our age give or take a year or two older named Maureen who was also a big Bowie nut and lived in an apartment over the bar with a roommate named David who always had the most amazing thai stick. (Now, now, this was years and years ago, before Gary was sober, when we used to party instead of changing diapers, going to Muppets on Ice...and so on and so on) Back then, we'd develop a little routine of eating and drinking at the bar until late and then going up to Maureen and David's apartment. Maureen and Dave weren't a romantic item; in fact, David was gay and sadly, one of the first people I knew diagnosed with AIDS back in the mid-eighties. We really thought he was cromagnum man for a while and would conquer that dreadful disease but he finally succumbed around ten years ago, I guess.

Anyway, Maureen had a boyfriend named Dennis...the two of them would later marry and throughout the past twenty years, we would always get together at least once a year though of course we meant to do it more often because Gary and I are anti-social as a couple and Dennis and Maureen are two of the only people in the world where all four of us can have an enjoyable evening out based on our mutual love of music and food.

In fact, the last time Eric played with Project Object, Dennis, whose car was in the shop, actually took two busses to come and see him.

While we were listening to Bowie's 1984 on Saturday, I went on a whole inner head trip about Dennis and Maureen and thought to myself, man, it's been like a year since I talked to them -- they probably don't even know about Julie and Eric being in Adrian's band -- they're going to flip out -- I should call them.

Anyway, we spent all Saturday afternoon listening to music, and then I went downstairs to check my email (big surprise) and while I was on line, I clicked on Adrian's blog to read of his latest exploits, and almost had a heart attack when I read his entry for Saturday, March 10, 2007. Now you really need to click on that and read the whole post because it's so fucking interesting it's ridiculous because it talks about Adrian meeting Paul McCartney for the first time, but here's the part which caught my eye and almost made me have a seizure as I ran upstairs to tell Gary:

"...Paul McCartney was staying on the top floor of the hotel in the Presidential Suite and he told me the room number.

I called. Paul answered the phone.

"Hello is Paul there?"

"This is Paul."

"Is Paul there?"

"This IS Paul".

Gulp. "I'm David Bowie's guitarist and I was..."

"Well, David's here right now, why don't you come up for tea?".

When the elevator door opened on the top floor there stood a man in a suit and headset, looking very FBI-like. At the end of the long hallway stood his twin brother agent in front of a grand looking doorway with the words "Presidential Suite" etched over top. Walking down the long hall I heard them whisper in their headsets,
"Guitar player. Bowie."

I knocked on the door. Paul answered it.

"What's that you've got behind your back, luv?

David said he'd be mad at you if you didn't bring your new CD".

From inside the room I heard laughing.

It's true I had brought the meager offering of my newest CD Young Lions which I sheepishly handed over."

*****

I mean, if you look at Adrian's discography, he's got like a gazillion CDs, and he just happens to write about the one that Gary had just come home with and we'd just spent the afternoon listening to. We both had total goosebumps.

So if that's not weird enough, on Sunday morning, I pull up Adrian's blog again so that I can copy the above and tell you guys that story...when what do I see but a new blogpost dated Sunday, March 11, 2007, which literally caused me to topple over backwards and go running, screaming for Gary to come downstairs immediately so that he could see it for himself. Again, click the link and read the whole thing, but here's the pertinent part:

"Back in the dreadful seventies when I had no work except to play drums in a Holiday Inn band I had purchased my first decidedly cheap-o-cello. Cello ranks high on my list of favorite things. The first ELO record had a guy named Roy Wood who played most of the instruments including cello and I figured with enough practice I could hack away at a cello about as well as he had..."

Gary and I were incredulous. I mean, come on. How many of you have even heard of Roy Wood? We're talking about a CD that came out over thirty years ago...that Gary had just come home with and we'd listened to the day before. To say we were stunned would be putting it mildly.

Think that's the end of the story? Thing again.

Gary is in the car on Monday listening to our college station, WXPN. At 5:00, they do a theme thing with a series of songs centered around said theme. Monday's theme was songs with years in them. Do I have to tell you what happened next?

You can double check me on this -- here's the official playlist, but have a look:

5 pm
Paolo Nutini - New Shoes
M. Ward - Chinese Translation~
The Sundays - Here's Where The Story Ends
Kristoffer Ragnstam - Man Overboard
Bruce Hornsby - White Wheeled Limousine
Norah Jones - Sinkin' Soon
Peter Bjorn And John - Young Folks
Sting - Consider Me Gone
David Bowie - 1984
John Cale - Paris 1919

Gary almost went into shock. I mean, when's the last time you heard 1984 on the radio?

I'd like to tell you that's the end of it, but this you can't believe altogether. We're still talking about this an hour later Monday night when my phone rings.

Yep, you guessed it. It was Dennis and Maureen, whom I hadn't heard from in over a year.

I started gushing the whole story to them, but I could tell something wasn't right, and unfortunately, my ESP was still on overdrive because Maureen began to tell me stuff I didn't want to hear...they'd found a tumor on her liver...she's receiving chemo in hopes of shrinking the tumor so that she can hopefully have a transplant which is really the only hope....oh god, please light a candle or whatever it is you all do for my friend...she's having a really, really rough time.

So that was pretty sobering and once again a reminder for me not to sweat the small stuff (yikes, I hate cliches but that one really is something to live by) and spend each day smelling the roses instead of worrying that I'm going to be scratched by their thorns.

Anyway, are those cosmic happenings or what? Holy cow, I can't even describe how Gary and I are still feeling a few days later. We are completely freaked out.

Finally, my google stalking yielded this today -- The Detroit Metro Times has a pretty cool article about Adrian, and of course the second paragraph caught my eye right away:

"Probably best known as King Crimson’s guitarist, Adrian Belew is also a skilled multi-instrumentalist who has worked with everyone from Frank Zappa and Paul Simon to Trent Reznor, Tori Amos and William Shatner. He also attached midi effects and other synthesized elements to a guitar to create sounds ranging from wild animal calls to soaring string sections.Oh yeah, and the whammy bar, thus the 1982 Belew solo record, Twang Bar King.

Musically, he’s blended humor, pop and experimental styles into such quirky songs as “Elephant Talk,” ‘Fish Head,” and “Big Electric Cat.” The last two years have also seen the release of three albums recorded with Les Claypool (Primus) and Danny Carey (Tool), and recently he’s been touring in a power trio comprised of Paul Green’s School of Rock graduates, siblings Eric and Julie Slick. Metro Times spoke with Belew about his career and what he’s doing now in anticipation of his show with jam band Umphrey’s McGee."

Read the rest of the story here.

Okay, I think that covers today's news and hopefully makes up for my lack of blogging for a couple of days, but I'm happy to announce my lack of blogging means I've been doing "real" writing. Yay!

Later,
xo

And here I thought all the best jokes were about blondes...

This is how I know I really am a dork. I saw this on someone's live journal page and lifted it because I think it's cool.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not just a mere dork, I'm an uber geek. Oh well. It could be worse.

Okay, first let's dispense with the writing stuff.

I personally find the following hilarious, but with all due respect, maybe you have to actually be a writer to fully appreciate them:

A writer died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell.

She decided to check out each place first. As the writer descended into the fiery pits, she saw row upon row of writers chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they were repeatedly whipped with thorny lashes.

"Oh my," said the writer. "Let me see heaven now."

A few moments later, as she ascended into heaven, she saw rows of writers, chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they, too, were whipped with thorny lashes.

"Wait a minute," said the writer. "This is just as bad as hell!"

"Oh no, it's not," replied an unseen voice. "Here, your work gets published."
*****

True story:

Sinclair Lewis arrived at Harvard - drunk, as usual - to talk about his craft.

"Hands up, all those who want to be writers!" he yelled. Everyone's hand went up.

"Then why the hell aren't you at home writing?" he asked, and staggered off the platform.

*****
Q: How many copy editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: I can't tell whether you mean 'change a light bulb' or 'have sex in a light bulb.' Can we reword it to remove the ambiguity?
*****

Q: How many editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Only one. But first they have to rewire the entire building.
*****

Q: How many managing editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: You were supposed to have changed that light bulb last week!
*****

Q: How many art directors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Does it HAVE to be a light bulb?
*****

Q: How many copy editors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: The last time this question was asked, it involved art directors. Is the difference intentional? Should one or the other instance be changed? It seems inconsistent.
*****

Q: How many marketing directors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: It isn't too late to make this neon instead, is it?
*****

Q: How many proofreaders does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Proofreaders aren't supposed to change light bulbs. They should just query them.
*****

Q: How many writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: But why do we have to CHANGE it?
*****

Q: How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Three. One to screw it in, and two to hold down the author.
*****

Q: How many booksellers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Only one, and they'll be glad to do it too, except no one shipped them any.
*****

A screenwriter comes home to a burned down house. His sobbing and slightly-singed wife is standing outside.

“What happened, honey?” the man asks.

“Oh, John, it was terrible,” she weeps. “I was cooking, the phone rang. It was your agent. Because I was on the phone, I didn’t notice the stove was on fire. It went up in second. Everything is gone. I nearly didn’t make it out of the house. Poor Fluffy is--”

“Wait, wait. Back up a minute,” The man says. “My agent called?”
*****

Thanks to one of my favorite authors, Maryanne Stahl, for turning me on to these.

And speaking of my extraordinary writer pals, here's something I received in my email from Ellen Meister, and my only regret is that I'm exempt, though how weird is this, my name is already a character in a Canadian play...I tried to find the link on Google which I discovered around six months ago but gave up...anyway, that Robin Slick was a man and I remember something about him being "greasy" which naturally did not exactly thrill me but I stil couldn't get over it.

Oh what a surprise, I went off track for a change. Focus, Robin. Okay.

Here's what Ellen has to say:

"Hi! I'm happy to announce a new promotion I'm calling the ...

"I Want A Freaking Character Named After Me!" Drawing

At last, the opportunity to curse like an angry housewife and have a chance to be immortalized in print ... all with one simple email.

Anyone who's read Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA will have an easy time entering. Here's how it works ...

1) Send an email to me at win(at)ellenmeister(dot)com

2) In the subject line, type in Maddie's favorite multi-syllable curse

3) In the body of the email, type in your name as you'd like it to appear in my next book

That's it! After May 31, 2007, all entries with the correct curse phrase will be entered into a drawing. One lucky winner will get a character named for them in my next novel.

Good luck ... and happy cursing!

Ellen

P.S. One entry per person, and you must be 18 or over.

Ellen Meister, author of Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA. Visit my website at www.ellenmeister.com."
*****

I think Ellen's contest is absolutely brilliant, don't you?

You know, I've said many times that I hate religion and profess to be a heathen but there is more and more growing evidence that I do in fact have a higher power, and his/her humor just keeps getting more and more twisted. I have absolutely nothing lined up until the summer in both writing and I'm-a-groupie-for-my-kids world except a book convention on the other side of the country from April 25-29, which I mentioned here on Friday. So what do I read in Neil Gaiman's journal this morning?

"Seeing the Village Voice has just leaked it, and a few of you have written to ask about it, yes, I will be a Guest at the PEN World Voices Festival at the end of April. I can't give you any other details right now, but the curious should go here and sign up for the Festival mailing list for more information."

Naturally, this is from April 25-29 in New York City, an hour and fifteen minutes from my house. Sob...and you can bet that all of my New York writer pals -- like the currently missing in action Susan Henderson will be there sipping martinis and hanging with Neil while I'm on the other side of the country partying with faeries and vampires.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Speaking of Susan, man it's been a long week without her. Poor baby has been on a five star Caribbean cruise as per her website, which, thank God, says she'll be back tomorrow where I suspect it will be business as usual with the ever so coy Susan not giving us any details as to where and why.
*******
Finally in writing news, a HUGE congratuations to fellow Phaze author Alessia Brio, who took top honors last night at Epicon, winning best erotic e-book of 2006. Actually, I see a lot of Phaze authors on that list so...yay!!!!
******
Music news:

Eric has some jazz gigs coming up...one with amazing sax player Elliott Levin and something else with someone fairly major in jazz world that I'm not allowed to blab about yet because while it's pretty much a done deal, it's not entirely official yet so Eric asked me to keep quiet.

But yeah, Eric is also playing Bonnaroo and looking over that list, I'm not sure who he is playing with...I only know it involves bongos and belly dancers and his all access backstage pass enables to hang out with all of the bands mentioned.

"Oh, hi, Sting, nice to meet you but please do me a favor and put that fucking lute down before I crack it over your head and shove the splinters up your nose, okay?"

That's me speaking, not Eric. Eric is far too polite and kind.

You may have noticed I haven't mentioned Julie lately...that's because she's finishing her senior year at Drexel U and is buried deep in her thesis/senior project. In fact, I haven't even seen her for a couple of days but my straight A student/rock star also works at a fabulous restaurant a few nights a week so I think Gary and I may pop in on her tonight -- she takes really good care of us and I admit it, I get a vicarious thrill having her wait on me for a change.

Finally, congratulations to Scott Abernethy, who won the honor of having his artwork appear on Adrian Belew's Dust CD Collection and here's his award winner:



Pretty cool, huh.

So that covers it for today, I think, but who knows...as usual, if I get any interesting news, and trust me, I'm waiting on several things (again, as usual), I'll be back.

Later,
xo

When the world's 5th best blogger doesn't feel like blogging.

This is one of my "rare gems". If you've seen the movie Rock School, the film culminates with the Rock School All-Stars, who, at the time were twenty kids, two of whom were a 16 and 17 year old Julie and Eric, going to Germany to perform at Zappanale, a festival held every summer to pay tribute to the music of Frank Zappa. I tagged along with the kids that year -- it was 2003 -- and here's a pic I've posted before where I'm posing in the town square with a couple strange guys looking on, and which town square, instead of having a bust of a war hero, has this:



Anyway, this You Tube is part of a film that follows the legendary Ike Willis on tour through Europe that summer, and if you look closely, there I am drinking beer in the background right after Mike Keneally was interviewed; you can briefly get glimpses of Julie and Eric...and then a nice large chuck of Eric playing the vibes on stage.

So when I first met Ike that year backstage, the two of us bonded right away and when he heard Eric play with Rock School -- and Eric had just turned 16 -- he looked at me and said "That boy is on the list. You mark my words."

"The list?" I asked, because, well, in spite of my claim to fame as a musicologist, I had no idea what he meant.

"It means someday your boy and I are going to be in a band together. He's going to be my drummer."

I grinned from ear to ear like the proud groupie/stage mother I am and strutted around Germany for four days on a total high from that statement, but who could have predicted that it would come true. Because as well as being drummer for the Adrian Belew Power Trio, Eric is also drummer for Project Object featuring Ike Willis on guitar and vocals, and in a perfect case of synchronicity, will be performing again at Zappanale this summer. This is the fourth time Eric will be there -- he played the festival in 2003 and 2005 with Rock School, 2006 with Adrian Belew, and in 2007 now he returns for what's actually a ten day tour throughout Europe with Project Object. Adrian was kind enough to schedule his summer touring with Julie and Eric around the Project Object tour so that Eric can do both. Pretty damn cool life my son has, huh.



And that would be Eric and Ike in Germany during the summer of 2005.



And that would be Eric and Ike/Project Object at Martyrs in Chicago on January 5 of this year.

Anyway, if you are interested in buying some or all of the CDs or DVDs associated with any of the Zappanale festivals I mentioned above, just follow this link. Or this one.

So I guess apologies are in order. Sorry. The world's 5th best blogger, diarist, has not felt like blogging this week. I'm sick of winter, sick of having what I still feel is an unfinished novel, and well, I still feel sick in general. Even almost two weeks after the great stomach virus of 2007, I don't have my appetite back and without good food, I'm miserable. So I'm trying the high octane stuff like veggies and fish but really, I think I'm currently a head case who is better off burying said head under a pillow until this passes.

Let's see. What would help. An acceptance letter from somewhere. An award? A spike in my Amazon ratings for sales of Three Days? Actually, my Amazon ratings did spike, and for one glorious day last week, I was at like 66,000. Now I'm back at 500,000 or something. But I am still number one best seller here.

Oh, this helps, too.

Eric has a gig with Ween's Dave Dreiwitz in his side project, Crescent Moon at the Luna Lounge, 371 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, New York on March 24.

Here's a picture Gary took the last time Eric played with Dave in Crescent Moon back in December, 2006 at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey. Do they have the coolest stage or what?



In writing news, I am pleased to give you a sneak peak of an exciting new print mag, Noveltown Review, in which I am proud to have a regular column and even prouder to see my name on the cover next to such luminaries in the writing world. (Note to founding editor N.L. Belardes: My column for Issue Two is almost done and I should have it to you by the end of the weekend).



Speaking of N.L., there are two things you should know:

One, please ask to be his Noveltown Review MySpace friend. They are going for a record 10,000 writers/fans/pals. And as I recently wrote to Nick, or N.L., that's one hell of a MySpace site and why oh why am I not able to do anything so creative with mine?

Secondly, you really need to buy Nick's book, Lords, Part I. I just received my copy and am currently being blown away. He's got other books for sale on his site as well but Lords is the first one I've purchased...you can be sure that as soon as I'm finished, I will be checking out any and everything else. Nick also keeps the world's most awesome blog right here -- in fact, he recently did an interview with yours truly and is probably still waiting for me to send him those "new, creative photos" he requested before he posts it so I guess I'll have to figure out something today. Both my kids shudder at the thought of taking my pic because I am so NOT photogenic I hate them all and make them keep re-taking them much to their mortification. Nick kind of let me off the hook and said, "Well, Robin, they don't have to be photos of you, they can be cool photos of stuff around your house," but then that would mean I have to straighten up around here today and I'm not sure if I feel like doing that or not.

We shall see.

In other writing news, I'm sad to be missing Epicon (a book convention in Virginia Beach) this weekend but am thrilled to be part of the RT Convention from April 25-29 and will be signing books all day long on the 28th. Check out what I get to do during this five day span:

"Experience seven concurrent educational tracks, with 125 workshops for readers, authors, aspiring writers, independent booksellers, publishers, book distributors and chain bookstore buyers topped off with lots of fun parties.

What sets the RT BOOKLOVERS CONVENTION apart from any other convention? We understand the productive impact of mixing business and networking with fellowship and fun.

Begin each morning with a meet and greet mixer hosted by various authors and publishers. Then choose from a rich variety of over 125 informative workshops for readers, writers and booksellers. Cap off the afternoon with a fun-filled stimulating networking party. At dark, it's time to get ready for our sumptuous evening events.

Our Theme Events Include Magnificent Costume Balls and Dance Parties:

A Bevy of Authors Host The Medieval Faery Ball

Heather Graham's Vampires of the Wild, Wild West Dinner Theatre and Dance

Ellora's Cave Fantasy Moulin Rouge Party

(Yes, I will come dressed as Nicole Kidman. All I have to do is lose 100 pounds and the err..Jewish face)

Dorchester Publishing's Immortal Extravaganza

Harlequin's Paranormal Party for Their New Line, Nocturne

Other Events Include:

Romantic Times Giant Book Fair - with over 300 authors signing their latest books. Our much anticipated Mr. Romance Competition - where fans will cheer on 10 romantic hunks as they compete for the 2007 title in several areas of competition: looks, pose-down ability (for a cover) and aptitude for romance; Romantic Times Awards Luncheon presented by Triskelion Publishing and their authors - and the Best Books of the Year.

(Excuse me? Mr. Romance Competition? Oh god, I'll be at the bar getting drunk during that one...as far away from that thing as humanly possible.)

The final day of the convention is Psychic Sunday which offers fascinating demonstrations that explore our spiritual pathways and psychic skills. Attend the talks and classes presented by energy healers, channelers, and psychics, some of whom are familiar authors. Learn meditation techniques that deepen your intuitiveness and creativity. There will be opportunities to meet privately with psychic mediums.

(Now that I am into. But only if they tell me 2008 will see me with a best-selling book and traveling the world)

New Concepts Publishing celebrates its 10th Anniversary at the Sunday night Pajama Party with snacks, drinks, karaoke, dancing and loads of fun."

(Ahem. Karaoke? Aha! The chance to sing in public without my family wailing and putting their hands over their ears? I'll do that after sitting at the bar for a few hours, too...what a shame it's not right after Mr. Romance is crowned.)

So while not all of this is my typical cup o'tea so to speak, it is a lot of fun though whether I'm showing up in costume for any of this stuff is pretty much a no brainer: THE ANSWER IS NO. I mean, this convention basically covers all genres of "romance" from chick lit (me) to paranormal stuff so a lot of authors dress as fairy princesses, vampires, you name it. So what I might do is switch out of black t-shirts and jeans to...gasp...a black dress, because that's as close to stepping out of my usual persona as I can do without compromising my integrity.

Har har. What integrity, you ask? Yeah, I know, I asked myself the same question, but seriously, there's no reason for me to dress up because even in my novels, my characters wear all black, too, so technically I'm following the rules and am attending in said character.

And with that comment, let's call it a wrap. Does this blogpost make up for my disappearance this week? Is it meaty, big, and bouncy enough?

Hope so. If not, I hope to have a lot more...

later,
xo

Fan Mail From Some Flounders - Part whatever

Some fun stuff arrived in my e-mail today:

First:

"...I came across your story "Daddy Left Me Alone With God" and I was absolutely blown away by it...,my question is: Would you agree to let me use your story as a basis for my short film?

...I will give you full credit as author of the original story and if the film gets into festivals then, who knows, it may lead to something. Of course I will let you have a DVD of the film once it is finished. I hope you are agreeable and will let me use your wonderful story in this way. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jonty Reason
Pittot Films, Melbourne
0411 22 73 70
pittotfilms@mac.com
www.pittotfilms.com"

So that was a nice thing to wake up to.

Next, a couple of days ago I mentioned that there's a great radio station, 89.7 WNKU with an outrageously brilliant taste in music disc jockey named Jeff Menke who does a show every Saturday night at midnight called Rainbow Bridge. He sent me an email today as follows:

"Robin and all,
I think I have a pretty good show prepared for tonight and hope you can listen in. Beside the Lennon/Zappa song, there's Argent, Oingo Boingo, Billy Cobham (for Eric), King Crimson live from 1982 and more. I may also play an Adrian Belew tune with his band from the 1960's, The Denems"

Yep, you'd better believe I'll be listening in at 12:00 a.m. He also wrote to me in a prior email that "I plan to play Cold Turkey performed by John Lennon and Frank Zappa and The Mothers this weekend from the Fillmore in 1969 in your honor."

Here's the link to listen live. And I bet if you're really into the music, Jeff won't mind if you call him up and say Hi.

Okay, still waiting on some news, still writing up a storm, and currently contemplating whether it's finally safe to eat something other than toast or oatmeal for dinner tonight.

P.S. The photo I posted today has something to do with Daddy Left Me Alone with God and that's all I'm saying.

Later,
xo

Madness!

The Adrian Belew Power Trio performing Madness at the Southgate House

And here's a review of that show:

"The Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Southgate House in Newport: On one hand, it was a homecoming for guitar dynamo, pop stylist and instrumental innovator Belew, who was born in nearby Covington. On the other, the show was a celebration of the moment, as it was recorded for an upcoming live album to be titled Side Four. There even were a few Bears loose in the audience (specifically guitarist Rob Fetters and bassist Bob Nyswonger, who will be teaming up with Belew for a Bears reunion this summer). But the biggest thrill was getting to hear the guitarist's current trio in action. Over the past year, Belew has worked with a pair of industrious young siblings. Bassist Julie Slick, 21, and her drummer brother Eric, 19, attacked the monster funk of Writing on the Wall and Ampersand as well as the deep-pocket groove of Madness with a mix of youthful might and profound technical prowess. Such tunes gave Belew's poppish preferences a Red Hot Chili Peppers makeover, but the guitarist had plenty of other stylistic cards to play. Drive was a one-man-band carnival of pedal effects, echo devices and music that shifted from eerie twang to whammy bar-induced ambience. There also were nods to Belew's 25 years with King Crimson (a beastly Frame by Frame), early solo career delights (the big-beat guitar crunch sing-along Big Electric Cat) and forgotten gems (the percussive, almost tribal sounding title track to 1990's Young Lions) that were pumped up and delightfully mangled by the very un-slick sounding Slicks."

So that's cool. Delightfully Mangled. I like that name for a book. I think I'm going to use it for the next one, which I'm already plotting even though I'm still not feeling confident that Daddy Left Me Alone with God is finished. But yeah, Delighfully Mangled. I'm serious. It totally fits.

While I'm talking about writing, I learned I won this today from Rites of Romance for Another Bite of the Apple:


RORR AWARDS

Best New Author 2006

Stella and Audra Price
Honorable Mention: Jacquelyn Frank

Best Artist 2006

Skylar Sinclair
Honorable Mention: Stella Price

Best Paranormal Book 2006

Sugar and Sin -Stella and Audra Price
Honorable Mention: Pack Challenge- Shelly Laurenston

Best Shifter Story 2006

Border Lair - Bianca D'Arc
Dark Side Of The Moon- Sherrilyn Kenyon
Honorable Mention:Kitten Mychael Black

Best Contemporary 2006

Tequila makes her clothes fall off - Cara North
Honorable Mention: Another Bite of the Apple- Robin Slick

Best Cover 2006

The Ice Dragon- Bianca D'Arc
Honorable Mention: Sugar and Sin- Stella and Audra Price

Best Erotica 2006

Sex Slave - Skylar Sinclair
Honorable Mention: A Bit of Rough- Laura Baumbach

Best Alt. Lifestyle 2006

Crimson Ambrosia- Sabrina Luna
Honorable Mention: Twice the Cowboy- James Buchanan

Best Book 2006

Michael Barnette Apocalypse Dance
Honorable Mention: Jacquelyn Frank Jacob

Best Publisher 2006

Samhain Publishing
Honorable Mention: Phaze

Best Paranormal Author 2006

Bianca D'Arc
Honorable Mention: Christine Feehan

Best Vamp Story 2006

Midnight Sun-Rene Lyons
Honorable Mention: Hunting The Hunter by Shiloh Walker

So that's cool. My publisher won an Honorable Mention, too.

Also, I entered a fun contest today sponsored by Smith Magazine:

Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words? Sure you can. Submit yours to be considered for SMITH's book of six-word memoirs, published in 2008 by HarperCollins, with short, short life stories from Dave Eggers, Moby, Mario Batali, Jonathan Lethem, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen J. Dubner--and maybe you.

Here's what I entered:

Babyboomer wonders: What the hell happened?

There are entries from some pretty cool authors on the website -- some of whom are friends of mine so to be honest, I'll be honored if they merely put mine up on the webpage.

Okay, I'm lying. Of course I want to be in the damn book. Wouldn't you?

I'm waiting on some other writing news - okay, a lot of writing news. I may be back if I hear anything.

Later,
xo

Back by popular demand....

Ha ha - I figured I didn't want to drive everyone nuts or worse, bore you to tears with daily photos of my kids and Adrian Belew (not that Adrian could ever be boring...oh my god, I hope you all read his blog every day -- he really does rock in every way possible) so I went shuffling through my various photo sites and found this one from a couple of years ago in NYC which I've probably posted before but I can't remember. The beautiful redhead planting one on my cheek is my "fellow" writer pal Maya whose dad was in the Allman Brothers so like, we have that in common (musician fathers from whom we are alienated har har) and no, no, it's not what you are thinking. We were talking books, shopping, and err...you know what? I think we might have been hamming it up for Ellen who at that time was telling us about this new novel she'd written and how she was trying to find an agent. Basically, that's what we talked about all through breakfast -- agent queries. And now look at us. A couple of years later and we're all like, an agent, ha ha, that's just step two out of a thousand more. Oh. Step one is actually writing something worthwhile. After that it's a total free-fall altogether.

By the way, notice I am wearing my black Nano t-shirt...that year I actually did complete a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I did it three times...four if you count my current book, but then again, that's taken me two Nanos' to finish so I'm not sure if it counts or not.

Anyway, as you can tell, I've rejoined the living and apparently do not have anything fatal after all, though on Sunday you could have fooled me. I mean, Saturday night I was fine...in fact, I was better than fine, I was awesome. Why? We went out to dinner, it was good, I had one glass of a really fine wine...then at midnight we tuned into radio station WNKU 89.7 and listened to the world's coolest disc jockey, Jeff Menke. He was at the Adrian Belew Power Trio show in Newport, KY for the recording of Side Four Live and he met up with Gary there, gave him his card, and told him he'd be playing Beatbox Guitar on his show this past Saturday and that we could hear the show via the internet. He said he was so blown away by the trio that he'd be talking them up on his program so that was all I had to hear -- I didn't even care that his show ran from midnight until 2:00 a.m. when I am usually dead to the world. Jeff is my new hero. Get a load of of what this man's got on his playlist:

The Beatles Come Together 1
The Zombies Time Of The Season Best Of The Zombies
John Lennon #9 Dream Walls And Bridges
Don Byron Bounce Of The Sugar Plum Faries / Powerhouse Bug Music
Todd Rundgren / Jeff Baxter Something To Fall Back On With A Little Help From My Friends
Queen Bohemian Rhapsody A Night At The Opera
David Bowie / Rick Wakeman Space Oddity Changesbowie
Ric Hickey And The Loose Wrecks Afterthoughts 2006
Adrian Belew Power Trio Beat Box Guitar Single
Gentle Giant All Through The Night Civilian
The Mothers Of Invention The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet Freak Out
Frank Zappa Drowning Witch Ship Arriving Too Late...
Pink Floyd One Of These Days Meddle
Dread Zeppelin I Can't Quit You Babe Un-Led-Ed
Primus My Name Is Mud Pork Soda
Colosseum II The Inquisition War Dance
10cc Blackmail The Original Soundtrack
Todd Rundgren Eastern Intrigue / Initiation Back To The Bars
The Allman Brothers Band Stormy Monday The Fillmore Concerts
Dixie Dregs Jessica California Screamin'
The J. Geils Band First I Look At The Purse Anthology
Edgar Winter's White Trash Tobacco Road Roadwork
Z Z Top Thunderbird Fandango
Frank Zappa Big Swifty / City Of Tiny Lights Make A Jazz Noise Here
Yes And You And I YesYears Vol. 4
King Crimson Frame By Frame B'Boom
The Who We're Not Gonna Take It / Summertime Blues Woodstock 1969
Dread Zeppelin Heartbreaker The Song Remains Insane

Man, look at those awesome tunes. And to think I've probably slept with half of the musicians in those bands....

Ha! Just kidding. But someone from a indie newspaper emailed me again about this little Robin Slick/Pamela DesBarre/Bebe Buell groupie article and no, I'm not going to give you the Hungarian translation again...okay, you twisted my arm, it says I'm still cool even if they've been unable to unearth a plaster cast with my signature on it.

Okay, they didn't say I was cool, they said I was coy.

Oy.

Anyway, getting back to the fabulous Jeff, he did in fact play Beatbox Guitar, then went on to say that he has been around music for a long time (in fact, in a subsequent email, he told me he had tickets to see the Beatles but oh my god, they were cancelled due to inclement weather)...anyway, yeah, he's a fellow musicologist and he said very little comes down the pike today which makes him speechless and that's the way he felt when he saw Julie and Eric play with Adrian. He said he literally walked around for three days unable to talk because he was on such a high from the show. Funny story -- when he first started talking about the kids, he said "I, um, think they're from Pittsburgh" and of course Gary and I could not let that one pass so I said to Gary, "Hey, why not call him and say Hi and tell him that Julie and Eric are from Philadelphia! Gary does not have to be asked something like that twice, so like at 1:00 a.m. he called Jeff up and it was so totally cool - the two of them talked; Gary put me on the phone because Jeff reads my blog all the time (yes, I know. I'm not only right up there with Pamela DesBarre, I'm also giving Arianna Huffington a run for her money). After we hung up, Jeff not only told his listeners about our call, he went on to talk up the Belew Power Trio even more...and even gave everyone the name/link to my blog.

Trust me on this -- listening to Jeff Menke on Saturday nights at midnight is going to be a new weekly tradition in this house. Unfortunately, his shows are not archived but his set lists are and oh man, why isn't he here in Philadelphia? Our radio stations truly, truly suck. Well, I guess if you are into Blue Oyster Cult, rap music, or that idiot Rush Limbaugh you're in good shape, but if you have any taste at all, you are shit out of luck here. Which for a major city is just pitiful. Oh wait. That's the U.S. in general these days, huh. So lacking in good taste it's embarrassing. At least you get to hear some tasty indie stuff on internet radio but it would be nice if there was still such a thing as "underground F.M.". And if you know what I mean by that, well, you are probably, like me, sob...born before 1970.

Here's the link to listen live.

So yeah, we were totally stoked that night; we went to bed around 2:30 a.m., I felt great, and then an hour later, I woke up...oh my god, I thought I was dying. I literally could not even hold down a glass of water and every joint in my body ached beyond belief. As I tossed and turned, I considered the possibilities. Flu? Yeah, but usually you have some warning about that...like a scratchy throat the day before or a bad headache. Food poisoning? Nah, I didn't eat anything weird, and like I said, I only had one glass of wine. So it's now like 4:00 a.m. and I've now thrown up like six times in an hour and I figured this was it...you don't even want to know the morbid fantasies I entertained. But you know I was deathly ill if I was too sick to even go on line all day Sunday and check my email...plus, I didn't want to start looking up my symptoms on the internet because I was positive the web would confirm what I already knew -- I had something fatal and my death would be quick but not painless.

Anyway, Gary was a fucking prince. He stood over me while I was sick and kept handing me fresh buckets lined with plastic bags while he wiped my forehead with cold compresses and asked every five minutes if I wanted to go to the hospital. No, I did not want to go to the e.r.; I preferred to die in my own home.

To make a long story at least a bit shorter, I was still sick as a dog on Monday but able to check my email, where I learned that one of my favorite magazines was advertising Three Days in New York City on their front page...and that magazine is Juked. If you didn't go there last week and read Myfanwy Collins' phenomenal story, do yourself a favor and head over there this instant!

Speaking of Myfanwy, I lifted this quiz Who Is Your Inner Rock Chick? off her blog...and as I told her, Oh god, that was sobering. You know why? None of those questions really applied to me. Not the clothes, not the hair, not any of the lyrics. There were no categories for "dresses all in black" "long wild blonde hair" and "As soon as you're born, they make you feel small" (Working Class Hero, John Lennon). Anyway...after answering the questions as best I could, here's what it said:

You Are Avril Lavigne!
A bit hardcore on the outside...
But sweet and sensitive on the inside.
"It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life"

Okay...if they say so.

While I'm still talking about music, sort of, and it's been what, a few paragraphs since I mentioned Adrian Belew, here's an extremely cool contest he's running at the moment: Have You Ever Wanted to Design An Album Cover?

Come on. You know you want to enter. Hey, if I wasn't connected to the band, I'd submit something for sure.

Okay, now that I've totally lost my train of thought...getting back to Monday, so yeah, I was starting to feel a little better but the room was still spinning and I still couldn't eat, which, if you know me at all, just doesn't happen. I can always force a little something down. To say I'm a foodie is putting it mildly. But I did walk away from the computer without going to Web M.D. and then the next thing I know, Eric looks at me and I notice he's white as a ghost.

"Mom...I don't feel so good..."

And so it really began in earnest...Eric all Monday night into Tuesday...and then Tuesday, an hour after leaving for work, Gary came bursting through the door in a cold sweat which later turned into the fever from hell (it's funny how this thing manifests itself differently in everyone it hit...Julie came down with it as well but with her it was more of an ache-y headcold kind of thing)...he'd hurled into a dumpster behind his office before coming home but that was it...and he was able to hold down liquids thank God which helped the fever. But you should have seen the three of us. We were really a sad, sad bunch.

The only good news is, as quick as this plague came upon us, it's gone, and we're all really skinny. I am determined to make this weight loss stick this time though to be honest, nothing rich or fattening really appeals to me at all...I'm fine with brown rice and steamed veggies.

Did I just say that? Holy cow, it's worse than I thought. I wasn't really sick; an alien entered my body. Help! I'm a pod person! Next thing you know, I'm going to be reading the Wall Street Journal, dressing in bright colors, and doing aerobics to seventies disco music.

Arghhhhhhhhhhh.

So let's see. What else do I need to tell you. Oh yeah, for those still reading (both this blog and in general), I got a very nice review of Another Bite of the Apple from the Romance Studio which I seriously think helped in my recovery this week. I am hoping to see Another Bite out in paperback with its brand new, incredibly cool cover out in the near future and of course will be posting the usual billboards across the universe when it does.

And just a reminder that I'm still accepting submissions for 39 and Holding...please don't be shy. The anthology is starting to fill up nicely...I've gotten a few stellar pieces, one from a very well known author, so you know you want to be a part of this incredible anthology, right? Right!

Finally, I know I don't have to remind anyone how much I love Lit Park, but you should really head over there this week...not only is there an interview with fabulous author Amy Wallen, there's also some really funny, funny stuff courtesy of author James Spring and a hilarious trip through Trader Joe's. Make sure you read the comments section for the posts on both Monday and Wednesday -- they alone are worth the price of admission.

What the hell did I just mean by that? Damn if I know. Okay, I'm starting to babble, which means it's time for me to go.

Oh. One final cool thing. I bought Julie a necklace from my new favorite jeweler, Natalie of Pashupatina who I met via the Fabulist, an incredible, incredible site which I was turned on to by...okay, give me a break, I haven't mentioned him in weeks, Neil Gaiman and I am linking his journal because he's had a very interesting dialogue going on this week about librarians and the right wing which is more than a little disturbing. Anyway, getting back to my original comment, when you click on the link for Pashupatina, on the left hand side you'll see another link for "customer photos". Click on that...and have a look at the very first photo you see.

Yes. I know. That is one gorgeous necklace. And one gorgeous daughter.

Later,
xo

Talk, Talk, Talk, It's Only Talk

It's like waking up and getting a Christmas present when these You Tubes appear in my mailbox...this is a shortened version of Adrian Belew, Julie Slick, and Eric Slick performing Elephant Talk at the B.B. King show in New York City, August 8 (to read more about it, here's my blogpost from that event)

So I've had some kind of horrible stomach virus/flu the past two days which naturally I'm convinced is something fatal (but I am seeing the doctor tomorrow morning) so this will be an abbreviated post as I clutch the keyboard to keep the room from spinning.

Damn it, I have a lot to talk about but it appears I really am too sick to type. Crap.

Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Radio Interview...

The Adrian Belew Power Trio featuring Eric and Julie Slick in Ohio last weekend...photo by Gary Slick

Oh man, if you could see me now, you'd see a weeping (though happy) mess.

Why?

Because here's a radio interview (February 20, 2007) with Adrian Belew following last weekend's show/recording of Side Four Live with my kids:

Adrian speaks

Later,
xo