Back in the U.S.S.R...

...you don't know how lucky you are, boy.

Oh. Sorry. I told you - any opportunity to sing a Beatle song.

But just how lucky are my kids...

So, yes, Adrian, Julie and Eric are having an absolutely amazing time in Russia. Lucky for me, tour manager Andre Cholmondeley has been providing me with all the juicy details and some fantastic photos.

Here's the Adrian Belew Power Trio at the airport in Russia.



According to an email I got from Eric, it was, including layovers and connecting flights, a twenty-seven hour trip. But look at Ade. He's such a kid. It's so awesome to see him ham it up. He's always smiling ear to ear around Eric and Julie and Ade told me something that really choked me up. He's got a goofy, messing-around pic of the three of them as the wallpaper on his laptop and whenever he needs a smile, he looks at it. Isn't that the coolest thing ever? Ha ha, well, it is to me - but then again, I am their mother.

So I was thrilled hearing from Eric, but I got an even better email from Andre. He gave me the gossip. Here is the edited version - sorry, some stuff is too juicy and personal to share.

Oh, I love my life. Anyway, here's Andre:

"Yes -- Today I'm in Kazan, Russia with Adrian Belew and his Power Trio--

Our first gig is Saturday, August 30. The bill includes....Keith Emerson Band, Eddie Jobson, Tony Levin, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto, Patti Smith, Fairport Convention etc.....crazy! Can't wait to be at soundchecks/rehearsals...

Highlights---so far......listening all the way from Moscow to Kazan (90 minute flight) in (tiny) plane...(yikes)....on my iPod, to live ELP....and sneaking a glance or two at a sleeping KEITH EMERSON across the aisle, three rows back! Priceless! How can I EVER forget that shit!?!? During 'Take a Pebble' I had to pause to go piss. (Insert kidney stone joke here). When I came out of the bathroom, there was Keith waiting. I said hi real quick, he said hi and smiled, no real intros till today -- we were all at the check in line together yesterday, he and band, (including Marc Bonilla), Trey Gunn (playing in KTU) was also there...

Keith Emerson has been my favorite keyboard player since I discovered TRILOGY at about age 13 or 14. Other than that --- it's Eddie Jobson. The first UK album...inhuman. It's tough to find better keys performance ANYWHERE, next would be maybe Don Preston, Herbie, Chick,....George Duke and Wakeman further down the list. I have ELP's "Trilogy" on an average almost once a month since 1978.....have seen ELP, ELPowell, and two solo Keith gigs. I love him, especially his PIANO work. Karn Evil...absolute masterpiece, desert-island stuff.

So yeah. Listening to Tarkus while Keith naps across the aisle. Silly...but priceless.

And of course having some great talks with Eddie Jobson already - I freaked him out as we were all on line in Atlanta waiting to fly here -- before he had seen Ade or the band, I walked by singing his early 80s semi-hit "Turn It Over"

It blew his mind pretty well. I had met Eddie at a Bruford/Moraz gig 20 years ago, but now then I introduced myself as a professional (and secretly nerd-fanboy). Then Ade walked up to the line and they had a great reunion. They had met once years ago.....Crimson & Zappa alumni (!!) but have never played together. This will be the first time and I will document it with pictures and in my silly little prog-jackass head. Prog-Heaven!! Prog-Heaven!!!

Last night -- after 30 some hours of traveling and living in airports.....got real fucked up with the Belew band, and Trey and his girlfriend. Jesus Christ. Russian bartenders can pour some damn drinks. Great gear-nerd chat with Trey -- -about where he is going with his NEW Warr guitars...will be horizontal, like a pedal steel. (A la how he plays it in the King Crimson video on the song "Construction of Light". Trey is super cool, I'm a big fan of his "molybdenum'CD and the KC years of course........he chuckled knowingly about the Fripp "Audience-Blocking-Wall-Of-Gear".

Very memorable evening. Last time I was getting fucked up in a hotel bar it was in July/Quebec...... with Tim Alexander and Les Claypool......hours after having drinks with Tony Levin! (Note from our author...sigh...I was there, too...why the hell am I not in Russia now? Oh my God, it sounds like I'm missing the experience of a lifetime)

...Today checking out KAZAN -- very historic city -- google it! The gig is the 30th, next day we ride up the fucking VOLGA RIVER with the Mayor (the REAL one, not me) -- on a boat-party, that will be sick -- I believe most of the above people will be there....

Oh my god. My kids get to go on a cruise with these guys, too? Arghhh....

Here's a couple photos of the trio at sound check:




Here's a cool canal:



And last but not least, Keith Emerson's tech guys, one of whom is also named Keith and has been his/ELP's sound engineer, mixing his stuff since 1994 as well as something like six Beach Boy albums including their hit, Kokomo:



Okay, Andre, next I'm counting on you for some Eddie/Trey/Keith/Pat/Patti and most of all Adrian Belew Power Trio photos, okay? And um, don't forget my fan girl crush: Tony Levin.

(Oh, I'm kidding)

(I really have one for Keith...shhh...don't tell anyone)

But I did wake up to a sweet message from Julie instructing me to begin using skype to communicate with her. She added the following P.S.:

"If for some reason I'm not on, it's because soundcheck went long or we ended up jamming with Eddie Jobson, Tony, and Pat. That would be a good enough excuse I hope!"

Um, yeah, Julie. For sure.

Later,
xo

To Russia With Love

Oh behave. I know it's really From Russia with Love, but it's my "two" who are over there right now and yes, be thankful I didn't give this journal post the cheesy header "Two Russia With Love" okay?



Sorry. I had to post that pic. I mean, come on. Sean Connery.

So as the billboards I've been posting all over the internet have already announced, the Adrian Belew Power Trio are playing two major shows in Russia during the next ten days, with the first one being this Saturday night in Kazan. Here's the link for the Creation of Peace Festival and if you hit "English" or use Google Translate, you will see that the grand finale is Patti Smith, Keith Emerson, the Adrian Belew Power Trio, Fairport Convention, Tony Levin and more performing the Beatles' All You Need is Love.

Why oh why oh why did I not tag along on this tour?

Anyway...take a look at the accommodations - the poor, poor musicians actually have to stay at his hotel:



Now this one cracks me up. On the hotel website, in the photo gallery section, this pic is labeled the "Fitness Room". Ahem. Is it just me or is the Fitness Room a bar?



Seriously? Do you see any exercise equipment there? Too funny...

But if it is a bar, oh man, my kids are going to be having drinks with some very heavy hitters over the next couple days. I know I wrote about the Keith Emerson connection regarding the night Julie was born but something even freakier happened. The evening I was in labor and didn't really know it because naturally I didn't have timed contractions like every other normal human being, along with Take a Pebble, the other calming song I listened to non-stop was the extended play version (yes, an album) of the theme song to one of my favorite movies, Local Hero. During dinner on my birthday last week, I had the urge to hear that song again so we put it on the turntable (yes, I still have a turntable because if you think I threw out 5,000 albums when CDs arrived on the scene, think again, and I'm so glad I didn't because I love, love, love vinyl and still buy it). All of a sudden, Gary looks at the album cover and says "Oh. My. God." and I'm like "What? What?" He hands it to me wordlessly, I stare at it blankly, and he says "Look who is playing bass..."

Yep, you guessed it. Tony Levin.

Here's a You Tube I found, but...sob...Tony is not on it nor could I find one with him, damn it...but still...have a listen...it's the most incredibly beautiful song:



Things in my life just so weirdly go full circle. And now Julie is in Russia, about to perform with both Keith and Tony. By the way, the second show, in Moscow on September 3, is an actual King Crimson Festival, and around 3/4 of KC alumni will be there, along with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, and will perform around an hour of KC material along with their own sets. More on that in a few days.

Back to the fabulous hotel in Kazan...

Here's what is labeled a "rest area":



The pool isn't half bad, either:



And of course after seeing those photographs, I could not help but check out where they will be staying in Moscow next week...





Gah! What a life my two kids have. I will of course have much more news once I am in contact with Julie and Eric...according to their flight schedule, they arrived in Russia around 2:30 a.m. our time and since Russia is ahead of us by eight hours, I assume they are settled in right now but since we use AOL, I'm able to see that they have not picked up their email yet which makes me wonder if they have wireless in their rooms or, heaven forbid, their converters for their laptops don't work back in the USSR (hey, is it still called that? I doubt it...but you know me, any time I can throw in a Beatle reference...)

It's funny. In another full circle moment, my grandfather left Russia in the early 1900's to come to America as a young boy, fleeing the Russian Pogroms. When I met Tony Levin in Canada last month, we discussed the fact that we had a similar ancestry. He of course had been to Russia on tour previously and told me some fascinating stuff...I hope Julie and Eric get to do a little sight seeing but they got some advance warning that they had to stay in a group and not go wandering off on their own and I think I'll leave it at that so I don't go into a total panic attack right now.

So yep, the Creation of Peace Festival this Saturday night is an amazing event, and one of the sponsors is Rolling Stone Magazine which is just too, too cool even though yeah yeah, Rolling Stone is practically unreadable these days as they have an American Idol mentality music wise and they've sadly lost their way but hey, anyone who grew up when I did will still have that wishful, wistful "On the cover of Rolling Stone" dream and pardon me if I fantasize seeing this someday on newsstands:



Or, I'll settle for the caption "E", which is the working title of the new studio album...

I'm not picky, just crazy, and I hope I hear from Julie/Eric today with more news you can use but until then...

Later,
xo

Happy Birthday to Me! (Okay, one day late...)

So yesterday was my birthday, and it was awesome.

Via my email were the best cards ever from Adrian Belew's tribe - the first one is from the fabulous Rena Fay and the second photo and graphic, which said Happy Birthday though I could not capture the words in my photobucket site, are from Mike Inman:



Such talented people, but then again, who wouldn't expect that of Adrian's fans?

My family was incredible as well. The day started off with brunch at the restaurant where Julie is a server in between gigs as a bass playing superstar...she brought me poached eggs over crab, shrimp, and asparagus swimming in hollandaise sauce...mmmm...and a spicy Bloody Mary. I stumbled walked home from there and Gary was upstairs, installing a new bathroom sink (yay!) Eric made me an incredibly funny card that I wish I could post here but it's too personal -- trust me, though, that man is not only a genius but extremely artistically talented -- and then they presented me with a very generous gift certificate to a techie's dream...The Apple Store! So right now I'm undecided if I should use it toward new laptop or...I dunno...the possibilities are endless.

I honestly thought, because I told them I am the woman who has everything, that they wouldn't bother with presents this year (yes, I know, I am an idiot) so I figured I'd treat myself to a few things so family, if you are reading this, here is our new living room lamp, which will be arriving in a few days...hahahahaha...hope you like it but I know you will and for those of you who have seen my house, you will know that this fits in perfectly and it takes one of those great new energy saving lasts for fifteen years bulbs that I now have all over my house (and this one can handle a 150 watt bulb though I think that's a little much)



But naturally my favorite gift was this one, which was designed especially for me (and my new laptop) by Satchel Studios. Recognize the artwork?



How freaking cool is that! I have my kids' album cover, original Adrian Belew art, on my messenger bag. It's so gorgeous in person - the pic doesn't even begin to do it justice and there's even two special compartments for my cell phone and iPod.

I actually had two birthday dinners - one with the family on Saturday night - three cheese homemade ravioli dressed with a roasted garlic olive oil, peas, fresh tomatoes, and mushrooms (to die for), an arugula salad, and lemon tart for dessert, but for the actual event, I had my favorite (I hope my doctor isn't reading this) - buffalo chicken and home fried potatoes -- and an hour or two later, triple chocolate mousse birthday cake.

I'm pissed I forgot to take the usual food porn photos but I was so hungry both nights that eating took precedent, though the ravioli in particular will be a meal we'll be repeating within the next few weeks so I'll try to remember to take a few shots then.

You realize I have to fast the rest of this week or exist mainly on lettuce leaves but it was so, so worth it.

Meanwhile, life is about to get very busy again. Next week Julie and Eric leave for Russia and to play in front of 100,000 people in Kazan with Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Patti Smith, Keith Emerson...arghhh....I'm so excited for them...and then basically as soon as they return they are heading down to Nashville to start rehearsing/recording the new studio album with Adrian. It's going to be all freshly written material for those of you who lamented the lack of same at last weeks' fabbo King Crimson shows - just incredible, amazing stuff from the bits and pieces I've heard so far though those of you who witnessed the 2008 summer tour got a taste when you heard the superb, almost otherworldly song "E"...and hmmm...I just noticed there are a few new You Tubes up of the trio from Teaneck, New Jersey in June which, while just some partial bits, are very good quality so I feel the need to post them:




And then basically, after they return from Nashville, we take a family vacation the last two weeks of September at our house right on the beach...even Monty dog comes...well wait, the whole vacation is based around him (ha) since we go off-season when he's allowed on the beach and who am I kidding, our lives are based around him, period, since he first joined our family ten years ago and we wouldn't have it any other way.



Then after that, it's Europe for a month - my lucky kids and Ade get to go everywhere from Switzerland to Spain...wait...here's the whole list...and the "tba" for October 16 may turn out to be Poland...we'll know in a few days:

ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO
FALL 2008 - EUROPE

AUGUST
30 Kazan Russia Open Air Festival

SEPTEMBER
03 Moscow Russia B1 Club (King Crimson Festival featuring Adrian Belew and his Power Trio, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Eddie Jobson, Trey Gunn, Marco Minnemann...and more!)

OCTOBER
15 WED Budapest Hungary
16 THU tba
18 SAT Lugano Switzerland Auditorium, Radio Svizzera
20 MON San Sebastien Spain
21 TUES Barcelona Spain
23 THU Milano Italia Blue note
24 FRI Woergl Austria Komma
25 SAT Vevey Switzerland Rocking-Chair
27 MON Aschaffenburg Germany Club Colos-Saal
28 TUES Groningen Netherlands De Oosterpoort
29 WED Den Haag Netherlands Paard Van Troje
31 FRI Zurich Switzerland Moods Im Schiffbau

NOVEMBER
01 SAT Schwerin Germany Der Speicher
02 SUN Muenster Germany Hotjazzclub
03 MON Leverkusen Germany Forum Leverkusen, Jazztage

By the way, I just realized something. Last night when the family sang Happy Birthday to me and I made a wish...ha ha - you'll never guess what I wished for...think it involved Adrian, Julie and Eric?...the dog usually joins in, barking hysterically with a crazed look in his eye. Last night he didn't do it and I just figured out why. It was because since it was my birthday, I didn't sing! Oh my God, this just validates something the kids have told me for years...I'm gonna cry. They say I am absolutely, unequivacably the worst off-pitch, off-key singer they have ever heard, despite my gut/soul wrenching version of Natural Woman (performed best in the shower, of course, when no one is listening)...and I swore they were just teasing me; that I really do have a lovely singing voice. But but but...the dog didn't bark like he was losing his mind last night. Oh no...

Anyway, Happy Birthday to me, I'm another year older, another year wiser (not, but what's a little white lie among friends), and I truly, truly, truly love my family.

Later,
xo

Hey, "my" film is winning awards!

Okay, so it's not really my film, but as I've mentioned here several times, the short film based on my new novel, Daddy Left Me Alone with God, is currently making the rounds at several international film festivals.



So "we" won an Honorable Mention at this festival (scroll down)...and in California right now, it's receiving rave reviews, one of which can be found right here:

"Another beautiful day at Downtown Disneyland for Indie Fest USA events. The short blocks overall were very impressive with a wide variety of styles and stories. A few films that stand out were Jonty Reason's Film Daddy Left Me Alone With God and an interesting film titled El Taxista. Brock Johnsen's feature film about WWII was very very stylish."

Even better, you can now view the actual movie and vote! So please visit the site and click on "Best", okay? Here's the link!

In other news, it's been a pretty interesting time for me and one of these days, I'll fill you in but damn, let me be honest, when Julie and Eric aren't on tour, I've kind of lost interest in blogging. I know I joked about it, but all those other bloggers out there have really freaked me out. I've always liked being "special" and now I'm feeling bored by this thing. I'm sure it will pass...and of course once the Adrian Belew Power Trio is in Russia on August 26 I'll have many interesting things to talk about...that, and three weeks in Europe and what is turning out to be an extended tour in Australia...but for now, I really do not have much to say.

Oh yeah, one other thing, I guess. It's my birthday on Sunday. I'm now at the age where that no longer excites me, but I do know of a really cool gift which is arriving any day and I will naturally post a photo next week...and I will most likely have an excellent meal out with the family as well as a spectacular one here (yeah, yeah, I'll take some food porn pics)....but other than that...meh...OBLADI OBLADA LIFE GOES ON BRA LALA HOW THE LIFE GOES ON OBLADI OBLADA LIFE GOES ON BRA LALA HOW THE LIFE GOES ON.

And if you don't get the reference, get out and don't come back no more.

Ha. (That last line "get out and don't come back no more" is also a lyric - see if you know which one and no cheating with Google but here's a hint - it's from a re-issue of a great, great album by one of my favorite British bands)

Later,
xo

Slacker, slacker, slacker (but I am seeing King Crimson tonight)

Yes, I know. I've been slacking again. But in fairness to myself, I've been working on a new novel. God help me.

So tonight I'm going to see Adrian cheating on us King Crimson and I'm really stoked. Full report with be forthcoming, of course.

You'll never guess the real reason I'll be at the show this evening, though. So I'll let you in on a little secret.

Robert Fripp hired me to do a photo shoot!

Oh, I'm kidding. You guys know I have a warped sense of humor, right? But just to clarify, every single word of this post so far as concerns King Crimson, except for the fact that yep, barring any unforeseen events, I'll be at the Keswick Theater tonight, is me pulling your respective legs. And all joking aside, I am seriously, seriously excited about seeing this band in concert. Some of the reviews I've read have given me goosebumps.

And I'm also excited about the possibility of saying Hi to Sid Smith...we've corresponded for a couple of years now and it's groovy to have the chance to maybe meet him in person.

Meanwhile, do I believe that Julie, Eric and Adrian leave for Russia in two weeks? Should I be going out of my mind insane with worry that Russia is at war right now?

"Mom," said Eric. "Face it. The trio of terror causes typhoons, earthquakes, and blizzards. So why wouldn't you expect a war?"

True. But I'm still more than a little anxiety ridden.

In other news, there's a new CD on the Ayler record label, and it features none other than Eric Slick on drums; Elliott Levin on sax and vocals, and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells on bass. Here's the direct link to have a listen and purchase it.

Also, I've been trolling the web and have stumbled on some really great shots of Adrian, Julie, Eric in Canada, and a cool pic of their dad. Well, not Adrian's dad har har, but Papa Slick, who is sitting at John and Peters in the audience watching his son on drums and mandolin with Chris Harford. Normally I keep a list of where I find these photos so I can credit and link the photographer, but apparently I had a melt-down and forgot so if you stumble on this blog and are responsible for any of the below pics, shoot me an email and I'll give you a shout out and a link. Cool? Cool.









Finally, here's a link to a download of Eric's show with Chris Harford at John & Peters last weekend. It's awesome.

I think that's it for now. I'm a little overwhelmed with lots and lots of stuff at the moment but hope to get back on track shortly.

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Monday, August 4, 2008

I'm slacking at the journal writing again, I know, but I'm still aggravated over those thirty-six million other diarists who make blogging seem so, so uncool..that, and I've had a major lifestyle change which is playing havoc with my schedule. And if the aforesaid is not bad enough, for some ungodly reason, Google locked me out of my blog on Friday and almost gave me a heart attack with dire warnings that they were going to delete four years of my writing, photographs, and memories. It seems I was reported as "spam" or inappropriate content. Laughable, given all the maniacs and porn on the web, but it's all straightened out now and it is confirmed that I, at least, am somewhat normal even if all of my readers are not. Ha.

Here's a great You Tube of the Adrian Belew Power Trio which just popped up - word has it that this version came about during a jam at sound check...Julie was noodling on her bass and next thing you know...



Another thing that made me smile is a new feature on Google - they have a search engine for Quotes and here's the page for Adrian:

QUOTES BY ADRIAN BELEW:

"This is the most fun that I've had touring, maybe, ever," Belew says.
Jul 11, 2008 Kentucky.com

"The Power Trio is my favorite thing right now," Belew said.
Jul 11, 2008 Kentucky.com

"The amount of amazing things we're doing has fueled my life all over again," Belew said.
Jul 11, 2008 Washington Observer Reporter

King Crimson leader Robert Fripp has decided that "maybe we should play some shows occasionally," Belew explained.
Jul 11, 2008 Washington Observer Reporter

"The Slicks are the most unjaded people I've ever met," Belew said.
Jul 11, 2008 Kentucky.com

Belew says he's taking his two-year-old Trio into the studio as soon as he can cook up material that "is challenging enough to keep the Slicks interested."
Jul 11, 2008 Cincinnati.com

"They are so supreme as musicians, I never even think about their age," Belew explained two weeks ago from his home outside Nashville.
Jul 11, 2008 Washington Observer Reporter

Ha! I just love that page o'quotes but how could I not?

So Eric had a gig with Chris Harford Saturday night with Micky from Ween on guitar and here's some of the remarks on the Ween forum board:

"Had a great time. notably high numbers of hot chicks and some great playing by all particularly Eric (who gets better every time I see him) and Mickey who just burned down some leads. I always forget just how good he is till he whips it out on something like this."
*****

"Great show. fuckin Eric was sick and tore the hizouse dizown, yo. mickey amazes. lots of jaw hitting the floor leads and tasty funk. brown ending to a brown show with guitar on face action and feedback ripping my head open. siiiiiick."
*****

"The band was hot, as always but goddamn if Eric Slick isn't one of the best drummers around. Kid didn't even know some of the songs, but you'd never know. He just looks over and shrugs at me with half a smile....and tears it up. Can't wait to see him again. His dad was in attendance and was a very proud Papa. Ear to ear grins all night.

Chris sounded great...it's been way too long since I saw him proper-like....and it doesn't get more proper than last night.

Mick was....well....what do you think? Awesome. I've never seen someone play a guitar with their face (teeth yes....face no) and who knew grinding a strat on the ceiling of JnP's could sound so awesome. Kudo's."
*****

"Both Chris & Mickey were in rare form to say the least...with an "Ouch" that rocked liked the old days, & one of the best "Catacombs of Paris" that I've ever heard. Eric Slick was amazing as was mentioned, & even accompanied one of the opening acts, a woman called Jenny Bray (I think) & played along, never having ever heard her stuff & it was great."

Yeah, regarding the opening act - it was a chick on a keyboard and she asked Chris if she could "borrow" his drummer.

"But I don't know any of your songs," Eric replied.

"Oh, you'll be fine," she said.

And he was...said chick probably thought she died and went to heaven. That's not the first time someone borrowed Eric and threw him into a situation with songs he'd never heard/played before...but Eric has super powers and can do anything. We were at a club at the beach a couple of years ago and honest to God, some Mariachi band was playing background music and something happened to their drummer...anyway, I forget exactly how it all panned out but Eric ended up on stage playing the Banana Boat song and other suchlike classics with these seventy year old guys...hilarious.

I also woke up to an email from my pal Joe who wrote:

"Eric was phenomenal last night at J&P's with Chris Harford, Mickey, and Matt. He played songs he didn't even know, but you'd never know it... he's just THAT good. And what are you putting in his food? He's getting so tall. We told him that last night and he said "you're the 2nd person tonight to tell me I've gotten taller... I'm 21... isn't that kinda late for growth spurts?" And his girlfriend... wow she's stunning. And Gary looks so freakin happy... just grinning ear to ear the entire night.

All in all it was a great night of great people playing great music.

Rock on,

-Joe"

Thanks! As always, I love waking up to stuff like that.

*****
So the short film based on my novel, Daddy Left Me Alone with God, (ha ha, click and check out the photos of the hot young guitarist/actor in the vest playing "God") just won an award (it cracks me up to see it's going to be showing at the Disney Theater next week) and here's a You Tube snippet - it's part of a montage put together by its cinematographer, actually, so it's the second or third one in and just a tiny taste...



Boo! You don't get to see God play guitar in that clip. Damn.

I think that covers it for now...I'll be in New York toward the end of this week for a writing conference and Julie and Eric are low-keying it for a few weeks until they head to Russia with Adrian, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, etc. for two huge shows in Kazan and Moscow...much more on that...

Later,
xo

On Tour with the Adrian Belew Power Trio - Part IV

Hey, want to see a great drum solo? Check out Eric Slick here! And that of course was Eric with the Adrian Belew Power Trio performing "Young Lions" in June of 2008. Ahhh...very enjoyable. So I never did wrap up my final day on tour with the band but life kind of got in the way and while New York was an unbelievable show, I'm still missing Canada A LOT and it will take much to top the shows there. Okay, where did I leave you last? Oh, right. So the band played Boston to a small enthusiastic crowd on Thursday night, July 10, and the next morning we had a five hour drive ahead of us to New York for a concert on a boat. Well, five hours if you don't count New York traffic...once again, we were in the car for over seven hours...it actually took us longer to get from one end of New York to another than it did to drive through Connecticut. Ugh...and then we hit rush hour traffic on a Friday night in the summer...we were seriously hyperventilating by the time we got there and just in time for sound check. You know a post from me would not be complete if I didn't mention food and one of the few things we liked about our hotel in Boston was that it was blocks away from one of the best diners ever called The Breakfast Club. Man, it so totally rocked - an old time chef who made eighty different kinds of eggs before your eyes, deftly cracking them in one hand effortlessly and whipping them into a frenzy with the other. And oh god, the home fries...sigh....well, now you know the real reason why we were late getting into New York. Look who showed up for said sound check and concert...in case you do not recognize him, that would be Omar Hakim, drummer for David Bowie, Sting...anyway, he was blown away by the trio, as was another attendee visiting from France, Richard Pinhas. Here's Omar with his significant other whose name I forget (sorry!)hamming it up with Julie and Eric: Richard Pinhas, whose image I lifted from Google: Richard, in fact, approached Eric after the show and then met him the following week for lunch in Philadelphia - they are going to do a project together in 2009 so that's way cool, huh. The boat had room for five hundred people and I swear there were more like one thousand five hundred hot and sweaty humans crammed on board - you couldn't even walk out to the deck it was so jammed but it was amazing! Here's a few photographs courtesy of Gary Slick...he had a camera malfunction thanks to an over-enthusiastic fan grabbing his arm and knocking the settings out of whack, but oh well, you get the idea: You had to be there - watching the sun go down over the river, hearing that incredible music...wow...what a way to end my leg of the trip, even if it wasn't Canada...sigh... After the show, the trio headed for their final two performances - Saturday night in Pittsburgh and Sunday night in Kentucky, but I headed home only to return to New York the following evening to do a reading...the one I linked in my post below. Speaking of links, yesterday I also mentioned my "memoir" up at Smith Magazine...last night I got an email from one of the editors there which really made my evening: Hey Robin, Check it out--I enjoyed your submission and featured it on SMITH. (we're working out some bugs in the feature page, so despite that your story is a recent post, it's on the second page of features, here. Best, -- Lisa L. Kirchner associate editor Actually, overnight they must have worked out the "bugs" because my story is now on page one and the very first entry of "Features". Yay! ETA: Wow! Even better - I'm featured on the front page of the magazine itself! I know I have other stuff to talk about but right now I'm kind of brain dead...it's only 7:00 a.m. here in Philadelphia and it's already like a hundred degrees and incredibly humid and oh joy, today is trash and recycling day so I've been busy carting nasty bags in and out of the house...more information than I am sure you all want or need, so... Later, xo

Odds and Sods for Monday, July 28, 2008

So I just became aware of an interesting statistic: As of July, 2008, over thirty-six million women read/write blogs.

Naturally, that made me never want to blog again. I mean, really. If everyone is doing it, then it's no longer cool and therefore so, so not for me.

Ha - I've always been a total non-conformist and some things never change.



Oh well, it is what it is and wtf, if I have something interesting to share, I'll still write about it here in my journal, and I use the word "journal" since I'm no longer even going to use the word blog.

Recently, though, I stumbled on this whole gigantic web of...oh crap...already I have no choice but to use the word after all...bloggers who all know each other and even have huge blogging conventions. And here I was, all safe and sound in my own little cocoon of other writers, musicians, and one slightly deranged family of stalkers (oy vey, don't ask) not knowing this other world existed. Anyway, I found said mega-bloggers via another site I landed on one day...one belonging to LA writer Neil Kramer. He is doing this massive interview experiment on his blog where we all Q&A each other and you know me, I'm a promo whore, and I also like a good challenge...so I signed up and now I'm set to interview a complete stranger who writes over here and har har, I laughed out loud at what she had to say today. I'll be posting the results as soon as we're done but I giggled at her mention of the fan girl stuff since I just wrote the very same sentence two posts below in my journal entry about Tony Levin.

Okay, speaking of writing, a couple of things. Remember a few weeks ago when I did a reading at KGB Bar in New York? You can have a listen to me and all of my fantastic pals right here. And yes, I know. I have a Philadelphia accent just like Rocky. Gah! How many times have I heard that when I travel. Note to self: Do something about it.

(Oh, I'm kidding. What did you think, I'd move to the UK and pull a Madonna?)

By the way, next week I'll be in New York City again, this time for the Backspace Writers Conference, where on Thursday morning, August 7, I'm sitting on a panel called, what else, Edgy Fiction.

Speaking of edgy fiction, I've taken a depressing subject - my writing career - and turned it into a tragicomedy. You can read the results over at Smith Magazine.

Okay, it's not that depressing but I have not had an easy time of it this year, that is for sure. But hey, at least I'm still laughing and that's got to be good for something, eh?

But I did make some great friends when I recently visited Canada, and lucky me, one is a fantastic photographer and a fellow liberal named Hugues Bergevin. He turned me on to this really interesting pro-Constitution site (remember when we actually had a Constitution? Sob...) called Fire Dog Lake and I strongly suggest you check it out -- it's highly addictive as there are many prolific political writers with new essays/updates throughout the day.

Here's just a sample of some awesome shots Hugues took during the Friends of Crimson King rehearsal in Quebec City...these photographs of course feature Pat Mastelotto and Eric Slick on double drums; Tony Levin and Julie Slick on bass; Adrian Belew on lead guitar, and the fabulous California Guitar Trio...and I know I've said this before but I love the interaction between Pat and Eric and as far as Julie, she always looks like she's telling Tony what to do...which would not surprise me at all as she is Adrian's "director" for sure. In fact - one more funny story from Boston. After we had dinner and wine, the waitress brought us over a computerized contraption with our check.

"Are you familiar with our Pay Your Own Bill system?" she asked.

We looked at her drunkenly blankly.

She then proceeded to spew out a whole series of instructions, smiled, and walked away.

Adrian merely pushed the machine over to Julie and looked at me with a "you don't mind, do you?" expression.

Ha ha...as if.

I didn't understand one word of anything our waitress said let alone figure out how to work my own credit card machine.

Julie, of course, absorbed everything, paid the bill, figured out the tip, and with an authoritative stroke of her pen, took care of business.

And oh God, I just remembered I never finished wrapping up the tour and I still need to talk about New York and post some photos from the boat but I guess that will give me something to write about tomorrow or the next day.

But for now, let's go back to Hugues and his great shots of Friends of Crimson King:














Aren't they awesome? Yeah!

I've also been very remiss in reporting about Eric's recent gigs with Chris Harford. They've been playing some way interesting shows on this mini-tour, and the final performance of the run will be this Saturday night at John and Peters in New Hope, Pennsylvania with guess who, Mickey from Ween on guitar so I may just have to go to this one...sleep be damned. In case you've never been to a Chris Harford show, he usually goes beyond the 2:00 a.m. curfew and then by the time Eric breaks down his drums and everyone stops schmoozing, I usually roll into the house at 4-5:00 a.m. Aren't I too old for this now?

God no.

Later,
xo

Ladies and Gentlemen: Tony Levin, Les Claypool, and Julie Slick.

...trading licks with Adrian Belew, Pat Mastelotto, and Eric Slick!

Quebec City, July 8, 2008 - Quebec City Summer Music Festival, in front of 60,000 people, I give you...and the quality at the beginning is a bit shaky but hang in there, it gets way better...Friends of Crimson King...Thela Hun Ginjeet!



Friends of Crimson King - Thela Hun Ginjeet.wmv

Now you know why I was quaking standing at the side of that stage last Tuesday night. I still get the chills remembering...

I'm hoping, since this is the same site that put up Elephant Talk this week, that they'll post Frame by Frame next. Pat and Eric on double drums, Tony on bass, Adrian the otherworldly genius guitarist with his haunting vocals...well, it was more than a little astounding.

But Thela...man...this so, so rocks.

ETA: Hang on...I just found it...here's Frame by Frame!

My favorite part - Pat and Eric shooting each other looks and smiles throughout.



Friends of Crimson King - Frame by frame

Later,
xo

On Tour with the Adrian Belew Power Trio - Part III

Actually, I'm pressed for time this morning so I'm not sure this post will cover my remaining three days on the tour or not but we'll see. In the meantime, have I mentioned how much I love the internet?



Ha ha - I did not know the above photo existed until I went Google snooping last night. I think it was taken around three years ago, before Julie and Eric were in the Adrian Belew Power Trio, when they got all costumed up to do a gig with Sweatheart - another band Julie also produces/records.

By the way, if you click on the link to Adrian's website and then click on "Belew sightings", you'll see a familiar face.

There was an awesome review of the trio in the Ottawa Express:

"The Adrian Belew Power Trio
River Stage
Saturday July 5, 7:15 p.m.

Perhaps former King Crimson member Adrian Belew found the Golden Fleece and wove a guitar from it, or maybe his golden axe was simply made from killer bee ass. When the Adrian Belew Power Trio, landed their spaceship at Bluesfest on Saturday evening there were no shortage of followers. Along with Julie Slick (the sexiest person ever to touch a bass) and Eric Slick (prodigy boy) who form his rhythm section, or should I say rhythm suction (as in my brain out of my ears), they bequeathed escalades of beauteous vibration unto the masses gathered around the River Stage, as the sun set on rippling waters. With so many large progressions and falls and rolling guitar licks, it was as if they were climbing a mountain one chord at a time taking the listener from point A to point B. Passing through various ages of musical expression - from the tribal gallop on up to the intellectual metallic, also touching rock'n'roll, and even a song which sounded almost folk-heavy - they proceeded to conquer those without hope. I was told that the Adrian Belew Power Trio was experimental music, but I seem to have missed the hypothesis: this is exactly what music should be."

Love the last line: "This is exactly what music should be."

Yep, they got that right.

Here's another You Tube from that night - a stellar performance of "Dinosaur":



I also received several emails about the recent shows (and oh God, I apologize to everyone who has emailed me recently -- when I came back from the tour, between my AOL, G-mail, and Yahoo accounts, I had over 1,000 pieces of mail and there's just no way I can respond to all of them, but I thank you for your kind words and maybe at some point I will get a chance to weed through everything and write back)...but here are a few excerpts:

"I have just read your trip to Quebec City on your blog. I have seen both performance from the trio in Quebec and fell in love with Eric and Julie. I still think about it and watch videos from Youtube. I just want to wish you all the best and please have Julie and Eric come back to Quebec soon!"

*****
"I was a fortunate attendant at the show Sunday night.

First off, the Slick kids were (as always) freakin' AMAZING!! Julie had the pounding Fender bass (note from our author: It's a Lakland, not a Fender) front-and-center, except the very beginning of the show. Apparently, after the first tune, she was aware of the fact that she was missing a component "stomp-box" gizmo that (as described by Adrian) is the difference between an instrument" speaking" and an instrument "SINGING!!!"

To the rescue: Andre Chomonoly (I hope I've spelled that correctly; Andre is a VERY proficient guitarist in the Zappa tribute band Project/Object)(Note from our author: It's "Cholmondeley") . He had Julie hooked up and ready to crush in no time. Once that problem was resolved, it was smooth sailing for the best part of the show.

A couple of new tunes were performed, including a very Crimson-esque tune called "E". Julie stretched her bass muscles and Eric was stellar. One song featured Eric's intro on drums that turned into one of the strongest drum solos I've ever seen in my lifetime of shows. That kid is a joy to watch.

As described by Adrian in previous posts, there are NO discernable distractions with this sister/brother package. They come out, they play, they level the landscape with their talent, they FORCE you to watch them without being grandiose in their delivery, and finally, they bring you to the realization that Stevie Belew from Covington KY has been blessed with the discovery of two of the finest new musicians on the planet.

...I got to see a great performance by the Slicks and Adrian, and it doesn't get much better than that. Tonight was their last show in America on this tour. They go abroad later in the year...I imagined myself having the opportunity to ask either Eric or Julie what they wanted to do when "they grow up". I imagined the answer to be "what I'm doing right now". Unfortunately, I didn't hang at SGH long enough to ask that question, but I feel pretty certain in my assumption of an answer.

...If you're lucky enough to see them live, just watch Julie and Eric as they watch each other and queue each other. It really is refreshing! Adrian is one lucky mofo!"

********

So that's very cool and I thank those fans very much for writing.

Okay, maybe I do have time to talk about more of the tour. So on Wednesday morning, July 9, we regrettably had to say goodbye to Quebec City because it was a seven hour drive to Boston, where the trio would be performing the following evening. I was almost in tears because the rest of the entourage (Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, and the California Guitar Trio) were staying until Sunday because they had another performance at the festival on Saturday night. I was so jealous! But I'd never been to Boston before and was really looking forward to that, although not the long car ride, which was made way worse by a monsoon which followed us from Quebec all the way to Boston. I'm not kidding; I've never seen rain like that in my life and there were many cars pulled over on the side of the highway, waiting it out, but Adrian is a trooper and he kept on going. I tried not to hyperventilate in the back seat and didn't say a word but I was scared witless. I reminded myself that I do not even have a driver's license nor do I know how to drive and that Ade is a pro and that I need to stop being such a wus...and it worked, because we made it to Boston fine, though more like in nine hours than seven but that was also because it is very easy to get lost in Boston and we had to drop Matt off at the train. He had to leave the tour early for work the next day, poor baby, so by the time we reached our hotel it was 7:00 p.m. and we were famished. Usually Julie has time to scope out a city prior to arrival and pick out the best restaurants but between being exhausted and our new knowledge that Boston was not only confusing, parking was pretty much impossible, we opted for a seafood restaurant we knew Adrian loved and which was fairly close to our hotel.

Ade has good taste - the place rocked! I had almond crusted salmon served over mushroom ravioli; Julie had halibut with white beans in a citrus sauce; Ade had fried fish with mashed potatoes and onion strings (mmmm...onion strings), and Eric had a really sick vegetarian stir-fry. We split a bottle of wine and then, after learning the restaurant did not have Limoncello, decided to weave across the courtyard to an Italian restaurant we noticed...and sure enough they had it there and what a gorgeous place - part of the St. Charles Hotel, I think, the bar had a granite top and custom lighting and modern glass vases filled with lemons and oranges...really, really nice. So we were feeling no pain, and then, sitting next to me, a rabid fan recognized Ade and proceeded to talk about his entire career. It was way cool.

Then it got really funny. Ade parked in an indoor parking lot and couldn't remember where he parked. We walked around in a stupor but luckily he kept aiming his key at various cars and finally we heard a faint beeping in the distance...hooray! But when he reached for "Genie", his GPS system, which would safely lead us back to the hotel, he gasped "Eww! What's all over my hand!"

Erm...both his hand and Genie were covered in sticky brown stuff that looked like...you can imagine. But he quickly realized it was chocolate - Eric had left a candy bar in "Genie's house", a/k/a the glove compartment, and it melted. We collapsed into hysterics...I guess you had to be there, but it was really, really funny. We were so overtired and giddy...so naturally we did the only thing you can do in these circumstances...we stopped and bought more alcohol to have back in our hotel room. I should also add that after being in a five star hotel in Quebec City, it was a bit of a come down to see our accommodations in Boston...well, we were actually a bit outside of Boston in the middle of nowhere...so alcohol was a bit of a necessity.

I was already too wiped out, though, so in typical wus style, went to bed but the others partied merrily on.

The following day Julie and I explored Boston and walked from our hotel to Harvard's campus...very pretty, but we didn't find any cool shops, just the usual chains. I mean, seriously. How many Staples and Dunkin' Donuts does this world need? We did visit the Harvard Bookstore and I was thrilled to see books written by many of my friends displayed prominently...wish I'd had my camera with me. I bought a book by my latest discovery, Jane Smiley. I'm really late to the party on this one - Jane has won a Pulitzer Prize, a PEN Award...she rocked my world. I cannot recommend her 2007 book "Ten Days in the Hills" enough...it's got everything you could possibly want...anti-Bush, sex, dialogue so intelligent I just kept re-reading passages...just fantastic stuff. I found a book she'd written in 1984 called "Duplicate Keys" in the used section and bought that, too and read it in one day...I could not put it down.

We also strolled around the Charles River...very beautiful...but the sun was hot and Julie had a show that night and needed to get some rest before soundcheck so we headed back to our hotel. I called my friend, brilliant writer Jessica Keener, a Boston resident I was dying to hook up with and arranged for Jess and her husband to come to the show that night. We met for dinner beforehand at this incredible Italian restaurant - I think it's called "Carlos", where I had a roasted eggplant casserole with fresh tomato sauce and ricotta cheese...it was to die for. Jess and I walked around the area a bit toward her house and it was really beautiful...made me wish I'd taken her up on her offer to crash at her place as opposed to our hotel but oh well, there's always next time!

We had a blast a the show that night - Harpers Ferry is a sweet venue though I have to admit, after playing in front of 60,000 people Tuesday night, it was another come down to play in front of a crowd of 100 but yes, it's summer, it's a college town, and between that, vacations, and the economy, it was still a nice sized audience and the trio put on another great performance.

I think that covers it for now...I need to devote another post to New York and I've got places to go, people to see today, so...

Later,

xo