Adrian Belew Power Trio in Russia - More From the Tour

These amazing photos are from Lana Mayakovskaya's photostream and if you are a fan of the musicians performing in Moscow last week, you should click on that link...she's a fabulous photographer and there are some really beautiful shots. Like these...

Julie Slick:



Eric Slick:



Adrian Belew and Eric Slick:



Eddie Jobson:



Pretty sweet, huh?

So as I am sure you all know, I am a total music nerd and in my spare time I hang out on rock forum boards where I just met Lev Gankine who had this to say:

"I've been on the Moscow show. In short - fantastic. KTU performed first, and while I don't welcome their parting ways with Samuli Kosminen (IMO, a very talented musician), it sure sounded rawer and all the more intense this way. Eddie Jobson came up next and did some 20 minutes of piano and violin improvisations (incorporating a theme which I consider the best one he has ever written, that is, one from Curved Air's "Metamorphosis" track - sublime!). Then Adrian Belew stepped up - Robin, you should be really proud of your kids! Awesome musicianship at such a young age, and they suit Belew's style of playing totally well. At one point Adrian has torn one of the strings on his guitar, so the Slicks had to do a 15-minute bass/drums jam while he was replacing the torn string with another one - and they did it alright, the crowd was extremely welcoming. And finally, they played four KC songs ("Thela Hun Ginjeet", "Elephant Talk", "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part 2" and "Red"), which was probably an ultimate highlight of this long, excellent concert. Jobson did really well on violin and the rest of the band played tight although as far as I could figure, they haven't been rehearsing these songs too much. Julie played bass on "Thela Hun Ginjeet" together with Tony Levin, and Eric was sitting behind the drum kit throughout the whole set, sharing the drumming duties with Pat Mastelotto (who was earlier onstage with KTU).



There was another really special moment too - the day before the performance Adrian, Tony and Eddie guested on my radio show, we had a really nice hour-long talk with them, and Tony said that Julie Slick is one of the few players whom he has to learn something from! And Adrian said that it's super-nice to play with people who were growing up listening to King Crimson and other forward-thinking music of the past. Eddie seemed a very intelligent and clever person too, giving some recollections about his days in Curved Air, Jethro Tull and UK, as well as announcing the UKZ project - seems it will be a kind of mix of classic prog and more modern sounds a-la Nine Inch Nails. Anyway, I'm really eager to hear what materializes out of this idea! They've got Jobson, Trey Gunn, plus a singer from Belgium, a guitar player from Austria and a drummer from Germany, so it's quite an international line-up. They've only all got to meet each other a couple of weeks ago, before that they used to exchange sound files via internet.

A nice bit of trivia: both Jobson's sisters were on Moscow show to see their brother play onstage for the first time in 27 years! One is currently living in UK, another one in Germany.

A kind of a prog in-joke - when promoter Sasha Cheparukhin (who made this festival) was announcing Jobson's set, he turned to the backstage at some point and said: "Are you ready, Eddy"?

*****

Needless to say, I got the joke.

But I did tell Lev that Julie was completely freaked out by Tony's comment on the radio. "Can you imagine hearing one of your idols say that about you?" she asked. Her face turned pink, she smiled that beautiful ear to ear smile, and told me Ade was so moved when Tony said that he had to restrain himself from jumping out of his chair and hugging him.

Pretty damn cool.

And oh God, how amazing is the internet. I am interacting with people living in Russia. It still blows me away...

From Trey Gunn's diary:

"Then came the Belew Power Trio. I went up in the balcony to hear the second half of their set. We were crazy tired and the stress of dealing the complications of having so many musicians to deal with at all of the sound checks left us wiped. So I took a good hours worth of break after our set before going out to hear Adrian. They sounded fantastic. Way, way, way, way better than when Pat and I played with them in Seattle last year. It was a really fun show."

Coming from Trey, very high praise.

So really, things are quiet for now. I should warn you in advance, should you care, that I am leaving Saturday for a two week vacation at the beach, assuming Hurricane Ike doesn't screw things up. Whether I'll be blogging is debatable. Yes, we have wireless there now...but I dunno. I need some rest and relaxation. Just a heads up that this journal may be on hiatus until September 28.

But there's still the rest of this week. Maybe I'll even talk some writing news.

Later,
xo

F*O*C*K*ing Amazing: Belew, Levin, Jobson, Mastelotto & Slicks

ETA: I added a few things to the bottom of this post this morning (Friday)...scroll down (after you watch these incredible You Tubes, of course)

Okay, heart be still.

Here's Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Eddie Jobson, Pat Mastelotto, and Eric Slick performing Elephant Talk.



And the above, minus Eddie, plus Julie Slick on Thela! (Though damn, it cuts off at four minutes - I'm hoping someone puts up the full version)



Oh God. Here's Larks' Tongue in Aspic. Same crew as in Elephant Talk. This is mind-blowing.



The finale: Red



And if you don't read the comments section of my blog, then you missed this, from Victor, who attended last night's show in Moscow:

"The show was frigging amazing apart from a few moments such as the opening solo spot of some russian guitarist.

Although the show had been announced to start at 8:00 PM, it was delayed by an hour (which is sadly a normal practice here in Moscow).

During the intermission after the warm up, I was able to see Adrian (what a wonderful man!) waving to the most sharp-sighted members of the audience in a funny and simultaneously kind manner only Adrian is capable of. Also from reading your blog I could figure out it was nobody but Andrea himself, who was taking some photos from the corner of the stage.

KTU entered the stage approx. at 9 PM and delivered one of the most (if not the most) powerful, heavy and driving performances I've ever witnessed in my life! The surround sound really worked very well for them. And when Kimmo and Trey were playing phrases/riffs in unison with Trey covering the lower bottom of spectrum, they really sounded like an unstoppable monster! My father was initially skeptical about the whole affair (since I'm a bigger KC fan than he is) but he was completely blown away right from the start.

A short intermission and announcement from Sasha Cheparukhin followed and then Eddie Jobson entered the stage. He played an instrumental piano composition (incorporating a little piece of "Carrying no Cross" from the second UK album) and then a violin solo. Knowing it was his second stage appearance after a long break the whole affair seemed to be very intimate and fragile with audience trying to be as kind, polite and supportive as possible. Really who would have thought he'd be back on stage ever? And even more, in Russia? Anyway, everyone just seemed to be happy Eddie's back to performing live again and promised to provide nice reception to UKZ if they ever come to Russia in Dec/Jan.

Another intermission followed with ABPT entering the stage not long afterward. Adrian seemed to be in a very uplifted mood and interacted with the crowed a lot. I'm not a huge ABPT fan myself, but I recognized some of Adrian's solo tunes (I believe from Side One). Overall the band sounded very KC'ish but with more emphasis on steady groove and Adrian's playing (obviously).

Now onto the rhythm section (I guess this is the most interesting part for you, Robin!) :) To keep it short: completely mind blowing! Julie was a bit inaudible at the beginning but then the balance was set up right and she just blew the audience away with her playing. Highlight: Julie's extended solo while Adrian was busy changing the broken string. Being a drummer myself (but not really professional) I was really interested to see Eric's playing and I was amazed at his time-keeping and how fluent he is behind the drum kit. I was able to learn a couple of things too (I was really intrigued by his manner of holding the sticks, very relaxed yet powerful drumming) since I was standing not too far from him. All in all, I can only complement you on being such a wonderful mother, Robin!

After another short break ABPT were joined on stage by Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto. They played Thela which sounded a tiny bit messy to me (funny highlight: Tony losing one of the two funk fingers) although still very much fun. Then Julie left the stage and Elephant Talk followed with Eddie accompanying the rest of band on violin (ET played on violin?! OMG!) mostly by plucking the strings. LTiA pt. 2 featured a small trainwreck by Eddie (he proceeded onto the ascending bridge section too early, I think). Nighlight: Eddie Jobson singing the main "heavy" riff with a huge smile on his face before breaking into violin solo.

Encore: Red. Amazing deliverance. The whole band played very tightly and glued: the piece sounded as it had been originally composed to be played on guitar and violin! I remember the surrounding audience going completely ecstatic with the first chords of it (so did I!).

All in all, a wonderful evening, completely mind-blowing performances from all parties involved. Hopefully we'll see and hear more of that! The amazing David Cross band comes to mind, for example.

P.S.
I didn't take any pictures or recordings of the event, but I'm sure you'll be able to find plenty of them on the web.

P.P.S.
The word "white" can be transcripted from Russian into Latin/English as "belij" :)"

Aw, thanks Victor. I love you.

Later (after I recover from the thrill of it all)
xo

P.S. Julie and Eric are now two hours away from Philadelphia; Gary is picking up pizza, and I think I'll watch all of these videos a few thousand more times
*****
Friday, September 5, 2008

Okay, I can't resist posting the following:

A comment on my blog today from "Vladmir"

"Dear Robin,
I've been both to Kazan' festival and Moscow performance two days ago - it was absolutely amazing. The Moscow gig was the best live gig I've ever seen - Adrian was beyond any praise and Julie and Eric were unbelievable.

Any friend - musician or not - who I talked to told me: it was ****ing amazing!

And Lark's Tongues in Aspic - with Eddie Jobson!!! Mastelotto and Eric were playing together - best and most inventive drumming ever!

Regards,
Vladimir"

Wow, Vladimir - thank you!

And a review in a Russian newspaper today of the King Crimson Festival...again, I am relying on Google translate and would love if one of my Russian readers would do a better job for me - here's the actual link...

"The engine of progress
Progressive-rock group King Crimson made in Moscow

They included various years the group King Crimson musicians arrived at a Moscow concert immediately after taking part in the Kazan international festival "Creation of the world." If there they showed themselves separately, then in Moscow were made in the genre of worship group King Crimson.

The first number was a draft programme KTU Treya Ganna guitarist and drummer Pat Mastelotto. They were supposed to speak in Moscow, two Finnish musicians. However, responsible for electronics Samuli Kosminena not been at the concert. But bayan-player Kimmo Pohonen Spent for two. Dressed in the eastern Giant in long black dress, he once again refuted the perceived slowness of the Finns and phlegm. On the bayan in the hands, nor seconds Pohonen not conducted safely. If he does not rashazhival on the scene, the gnulsya and swings in all directions by issuing inarticulate sounds. His shamanistic rites and sometimes delivered from a panel where mixed with other noise, while Trey Gunn demonstrated mastery of guitar teppinga. Fingers flew his hands on the neck so that was even afraid to watch. Run of the Finnish psychedelics lasted longer hours, after which the musicians came out several times on stage.

The tone has changed dramatically sedovolosy concert violinist and keyboard Eddie Dzhobson, in 1970 - e to play along with King Crimson. At the scene, he withdrew after 27 - the summer lull: last spoke with a group Jethro Tull in 1981. Massacres shoulders, Dzhobson became naigryvat on synthesizer something slowly. And after 10 minutes went to center stage with a violin in his hands. The tool consisted of his iron frame and strings with restricted. The first chords were taken into custody have not yet zatihshy sound synthesizer. But tension grew violin parties with each minute until recoverable Dzhobsonom not reached the acoustic sounds similar to revuschim engine airplanes.

Mastity guitarist Adrian Belew much longer represented its audience of young protégé - brother and sister Slick originally from Philadelphia. Both were music to 10 years. Eric learned to play drums, Julie - on bass guitar. At the time, King Crimson team was standard for them. Now, clearly and another: Belew progadal not by taking them into his draft Adrian Belew Power Trio. This hour speech proved the most energetic at the concert. Umopomrachitelnye sbivki drum, bass guitar party, during which Julie incredible lush kudryami seemed Charged strength of this hurricane.

When the curtain on the stage by other participants left the concert, including behind the scenes otsizhivavshegosya King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, drummer Slick delayed on stage to play with lots of twin drum Mastelloto. During the impactor duet they happily looked at each other, playing almost blind and has never sbivshis the course.

Resulting in late 1960 - x group King Crimson is considered one of the best manifestations of progressive-rock. Experiments with timbre and rhythm, drawing from medieval horalov and Indonesian traditions gamelana - only a few features that at various times helped musicians captured at the height of intellectual fashion.

In Moscow, is amply confirmed the audience. At the concert came respectable men over 30, 40 and 50 years old, the very people for whom King Crimson - is not only the music of youth. Under it is not ashamed to even begin vzroslet and old. Let the concert and not allowed to see the group as a whole. King Crimson founder Robert Fripp, without which the reproduction of classic material, seemingly losing all meaning, categorically refused to tour.

However, the final jam of musicians made it clear that King Crimson fans not in vain kept long-standing sympathies. The fact is that not pursuing the goal to remember former, current alliance resulted in this parade of virtuoso capable at such a tight and powerful rock sound that is not within the framework of obsolete vpishesh progressive-rock, avant-garde jazz or something else. Nobody pulled a blanket, they all just played excellent and were happy to speak at the overall scene. And anyone who earlier inspired - a group King Crimson brother and sister Slick or vice versa, was no longer important."

And this just in from "Dan":

"Dear Robin, just found your blog accidentally - googling the KC festival.
I was to the Moscow show, it was AMAZING. Three hours and a half of perfect happiness - and the Trio was the best part of it. Eric and Julie were INCREDIBLE. And they fit in with Belew brilliantly.
Thank you!
I wish they came back as soon as they can, on a separate tour, pleeeeeze.
(and, yes, the Beatles are the best group of the XXth century. Undebatable)

All the best,
admiringly,
Dan "

Wow. What else can I say? Thank you all so much.

xoxoxoxoxox

A King Crimson Festival: F*O*C*K*ING AMAZING

ETA: Well, here's the first You Tube of the show in Moscow last night. Oh my God. This totally rocks. Watch the part during the break in the middle of the song, before the last chorus, where Julie and Ade interact. Wow. And listen to the crowd go nuts when they do that dual lead.



ETA 2: Well, they just added another You Tube of the same song - and while the sound quality is not nearly as good as the first, this one features the incredible Eric Slick:



So right now the Adrian Belew Power Trio are on a plane, heading back to America, after spending ten days in Kazan/Moscow, and as Eric told me, this trip was "freaking ridiculous!" meaning, it was unbelievably fantastic.

I got to email with him at 3:00 a.m. last night and I asked him how the show went.

"F*O*C*K*ing Amazing!" he replied.

Ze set list:



Here's Eric, getting his traditional pre-concert haircut, but this one was courtesy of Deborah, Pat Mastelotto's significant other:



Apparently, the huge, sold-out audience who witnessed this show felt the same (focking amazing!) but oh my God, Google translate gave me fits this morning though it is kind of funny:



First review:

"Genius one of the best guitars peace Adriana Balu (King Crimson with 80 - x to the present day) could not usidet on the ground and in the U.S. to dig out two young guys - brothers (Erik Slik-drums) and sister (Julie Slik - bass guitar) ( them all the way to 21 and 22 years respectively =). and where he found a Christmas tree-sticks? at first I thought that the children untold lucky. but was lucky not only them - Balu also received from the maximum. game these guys can not leave indifferent - because they are really masters. playing style, close to King Crimson, but quite another to arrange and play, they really create an impression of continuity of generations. Incidentally, Julie struck twice. if the world has at least one basistka still the same, let me look at the eyes! ")



Number Two:

"That group King Crimson has changed the whole course of rock music back in 70 - e, moving at an unprecedented level of the last composers' thinking, depth and stylistic synthesis of different strata, is beyond question. It turned out that even if today to collect half of the group King Crimson, repeatedly breaks, at one stage (yes, and even with the attendant every musical projects), it will turn out a huge King Crimson Festival, which took place on September 3 in the Club B-1. Maximum , Becoming a real parade of the most resourceful instrumentalists world. Drummer Pat Mastelotto and bass guitarist Trey Gunn, united with the Finnish "dzhimmi hendriksom bayan" Kimmo Pohonenom in the draft KTU, opened the concert hall immerse themselves in diverse polyphony at the junction of avant-garde, progressive-rock and meaningful ethno not trivial. The legendary violinist and pianist Eddie Dzhobson who is not on the scene within a 27 (!) Years, interrupted the silence on this concert by making a long solo network and colleagues in the group. Adrian White, one of the best guitarists of peace, made a solo project Adrian Belew Power Trio (apart from him in the band is composed virtuoso basistka and drummer, brother and sister, very young, but amazingly talented). Well, and finally the final chord, already deeply after midnight, 4 songs were performed gold composition of the actual repertoire King Crimson, including the title song from the album Red (1974) and insturmental from album Lark `s Tongues In Aspic. Here musicians joined by no less than landmark people - bassist Tony Levin, playing on the unique instrument chapman stick (symbiosis guitars and bass). Among the participants were not only the founder and ideologue Frippa Robert King Crimson, which according to organisers, at all invitations politely refused and not chosen from the USA on tour, even in Europe. But even despite this past King Crimson Festival has become one of those concerts that are really can not miss!" (Note from our author: Adrian "White" is interesting...it's the Russian to American translation of Belew, obviously...)



Review Three:

"Then followed composition with the best guitarist the world - Adrian Balu. Satriani rest. Add to that he had a beautiful voice, akin vocalist Dream Theatre) At bass they had 21 - year old girl, a second drummer was her 20 - year old brother. Along with the legendary violinist, who after 27 years, held off the stage, and since December, began his tour, joined in this coherent improvisation - the words here do not help ..."

So yes, a very nice way to end an absolutely incredible tour...and to think that the trio heads to Europe for over three weeks next month...sigh...yet another trip I'll be missing but again, huge thanks to Andre Cholmondeley for keeping me in the loop and sending me the above photos...I'm sure I'll have many more courtesy of Julie and Eric once they return home tonight (where we are planning a huge pizza party...we figure they'll be in the mood for that big time)...anyway, I leave you with one last photo of those wacky kids in Moscow...I dub this photo "City of Tiny Lights"...



Later,
xo
P.S. Gary has updated his blog!

In the Court of the Crimson Queen - Part III

"I don't know, Tony. What do you think?"

"I think it looks pretty interesting. You should try it out."

Ho-hum, Queen Crimson Julie Slick goes shopping at a cool little music store in Moscow this morning with legendary bassist Tony Levin. When the photo arrived from Andre in an email this morning, the caption said "Your favorite picture this week?"



Yep.

"Hey, Tony, can you please help me?"

"Why sure, Julie. Your every wish is my command."



Oh, I'm kidding. But as I've said here many times, ever since Julie first graced this world on January 30, 1986, every single one of her wishes has become our command and we wouldn't have it any other way.

And the same could be said for our young lad, Eric Slick, who was over in the drum department, checking out their stock:



First review out of Russia came from this website and I apologize in advance for using a free internet translater...but this seems to be pretty fantastic. It's both a little difficult and a little amusing to read. But hey, if anyone stops by this blog and can do a better job of interpreting it, please shoot me an email.

"When I came to the square, on a stage played a guitarist once in three guitars. His I have not been identified. But he played well, so rhythmically. With the lights. shouted something about Kazan. Local probably.

Then came the leading - and Xenia Strizh Seva Novogorodtsev impressive, and so unobtrusively announced that are saying, here are these guys also agreed to take part in our show. And these guys are called "Adrian Belew Power Trio", Adrian Belew and actually played some time ago in the group King Crimson. And these guys in my opinion immediately reduced to half of all the negative impressions of the festival, which might by then postponed from spectators. These guys have a real drive! Magnificent al guitar prozhzhenogo Adrian Belew, a girl on bass, drummer and a young winding. It was a very simple and very cool! I hope that attended bystanders something for themselves made this speech. At least, I at this time, moving Thoughts on the area, poglyadyvaya it on people, the city, the sky, just physically felt the atmosphere is changing as this is not the most fun places on earth. There is a unity of the world, the greatness of the human mind and other good things ... At this point, my majestic idiliyu interrupted an old friend, who spoke of how he recently Hoya to work in local PTDC № 2 for the post smetchika that life, he gradually developed, that he almost did not drink recently, and today are quite sober, and that even something that you want to listen to music with a solid stack of pocket money, and that after five years, he certainly can imagine it with a clear conscience allow. I politely agreed that the idea is not bad, in the secret hope that they are here not long delayed. And so it happened...

It was Adrian Belew with their kids who looked to be pretty much!"

So I just emailed with J&E - it's around 3:00 a.m.; they went to see Patti Smith tonight, partied backstage with the band, and are having an amazing, amazing time. I ask them silly groupie Mom questions like, "So are you hanging out with Eddie Jobson?" and Eric replies, "Oh, we just had dinner with Eddie. We love Eddie!"

I dunno. In a band with Adrian Belew. Shopping for effects pedals with Tony Levin. Dinner with Eddie Jobson. Hanging out with the Patti Smith Band...as I said before, ho hum, just another day in the life of Julie and Eric Slick.

Tomorrow is the big show. KTU/Tony Levin; then Eddie Jobson does a solo thing, after which the Adrian Belew Power Trio ends it with a seventy-five minute set...and then the grand finale...four King Crimson songs with everyone on stage (and one more song for the encore) and nope nope nope, I am not telling which ones but I repeat: Why oh why oh why am I not on this tour?

Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Power Trio: On The Road to Moscow

ETA: (See, I told you!)

Okay, my day is made...hahahaha...more like my life is made. I'm walking around with a big-ass grin right now because I just received the following email from Tony Levin:

"Here's the photo you need for your blog!

Best, tony"



Wow, I'll say. Thanks, Tony! How cool was that!

So the Adrian Belew Power Trio and friends are currently on a plane to Moscow (well, now that I've already edited this to add the above photo, I think it's safe to say they are in Moscow now), where they will perform Wednesday night at the B1 Club with most of the musicians (though not Keith Emerson, who has a gig in St. Petersburg) who played the Creation of Peace Festival...it's being billed as a King Crimson Festival but each band, I believe, does a set of their own before they all join on stage for an hour long jam of Crimson tunes. It'll be Ade, Tony, Pat, Trey, Eric, Julie, Eddie...I'm not sure who else will jam but I do know some of the set list...just don't want to blab it before it happens.

Here's where Eric, Julie, Pat and Tony were hiding during the grand finale of the Peace Festival:



And for those of you who can translate Russian, I think, and I stress the word "think" because I failed miserably with Google translate, that Rolling Stone in Russia has something about the Peace Festival today...here's the link for those of you more wide awake than I am right now. I see there's a photo of Patti Smith on the front page, but she's playing a show at the B1 Club on Tuesday night so it might very well have to do with that...and the question of the day is: Will the ABPT and friends show up at that gig? Will they be spectators or...

Oh, there I go fantasizing again, but here's some more after party pics which led to my ponderings.

That would be Julie Slick, Adrian Belew, and the incredible Lenny Kaye -- and as a side note, obviously Julie and Ade did not bring their respective axes to the party and are playing borrowed instruments...Ade, as you know, endorses Parker guitars and Julie endorses Lakland basses...I know most of you know that but I just didn't want to cause any confusion/problems here:



Lenny and Andre:



Here's a pic of Sasha, and Andre, I hope you don't mind that I'm quoting you again, but Sasha is a nickname for "Alexander. He was a major guy in putting this together. HUGE King Crimson fan -- friend of TLev, has booked him over here several times...he is watching the show..and even made it behind the mic for a bit. KUDOS SASHA, thanks for your hard work and great crews!"



Here are some professional shots taken at the Creation of Peace Festival which I stumbled on here, and let me give a shout out to the fabulous photographer, Marat "thought1ess" Badrutdinov. If you click on that link, you will find many, many more pics of all of the bands/performers - really great stuff.

The beautiful Julie Slick:



The equally beautiful Eric Slick (ha ha, Eric - I'm ducking right now):



Another of Julie:



And the also very beautiful Adrian Belew (I'm still ducking...though I know Ade won't throw anything at me; he'll just smile his beautiful smile):



So that's all I've got for now, other than I know the whole gang went to tour a mosque yesterday, they all went to dinner together and had a blast and I may have some pics of that hopefully later today...last I heard the entourage was headed to the hotel bar for one final smackdown before leaving for Moscow today...and that's about it.

Since this is a short post, if I do hear from anyone or get any more pics, I'll just come in and add them here so you might want to check back...

Later,
xo

In The Court of the Crimson Queen: Part II

Ha ha - I'm so enamored with the title of my last post I had to use it again, even if it doesn't quite make as much sense here...or maybe it does...



That would be Julie Slick, Andre Cholmondeley, and Keith Emerson.

And here's Julie at the after-party jam with Pat Mastelotto on drums, (I can't identify the other musicians but I'm sure someone will tell me) where, as Tony Levin says in his diary: "Quite a festival yesterday here in Tatarstan. (And quite a party afterwards! A hundred musicians in a large club with a stage to jam on and free-flowing vodka...") (Which probably explains why I did not hear further from Julie and Eric yesterday after that wonderful Skyped listen to the Crimfest on stage)



And here's Julie once again, apparently auditioning for a role as mannequin in a Russian mall:



By the way, Tony added some amazing photos of the festival to his site while I was asleep last night - he estimates there were well over 100,000 people in the audience. How freaking cool is that? Here's the link to Tony's photos...you can really see the magnitude of the crowd...it's mind blowing!

Here are a few shots of the Adrian Belew Power trio just prior to taking the stage and in the second one, yes, Eric is pretending to be on his ever-present cell phone:





And as usual, Julie and Eric unwinding pre-show - Eric warming up on his drum pad and Julie probably getting ready to listen to a recording of one of their prior shows...or...instant messaging with her boyfriend:



The following captions are from my emails with Andre. Ha ha...just reminded me of the film "My Dinner with Andre". I'm thinking I'll have to write a new memoir called "My emails with Andre" because let me tell you, over the past several years they have been classic and well worthy of publication!

So without further ado, here's Andre:

"Remember that since the last Jethro Tull tour he did in 1980 or 1981, Eddie Jobson had not been on stage other than that one Tull/Bach tribute show in 1985 and with Fairport Convention a little while earlier this day."






"They have not seen each other since Fripp, Belew et al were on a bill in Germany with Tull in the mid eighties. Adrian remembered the EXACT venue and some wacky art there. The photo below was taken not long ago -- like ninety minutes ago, I guess. I had just done a shot of black vodka with Peggy, Ade and the techs from KTU (Trey's band) -- super cool new friends from Finland. New place to visit and play and new friends to chill with when there.

Dave Pegg. Bass Extraordinaire. Fairport Convention. Jethro Tull."



"Julie rockin', a pyramid, and the masses Of Kazan Russia"



"So they had three stages, really - the music never stopped for more than one minute. You can see the active stage on the right... that's where the Adrian Belew Power Trio played...where the stage juts out. They would have the announcers between sets, and maybe a solo performer or some rappers, anyone who didn't need space or setup time. The stage on the far left of this -- you can see the green screen -- they would lower a screen on either main stage while we were setting up.

Man oh man. Some lightning setups I had to pull off on this one! You have just minutes, maybe twenty, while the other band played. With the crew rushing around of course, to set up your backline. Clockwork. We kicked ass. One of the BEST crews I've ever worked with. Two words -- the Dutch.

My bad luck? Our setup time was during the Keith Emerson set! FUCK! Well, I HEARD it! And I did catch like 1.5 songs. But during "Lucky Man", something seemed to be wrong with the modular moog... NO SOUND came out! Fortunately About half-way through, those classic sounds got going...it was cool...we have all been there...40 years old synths can be moody at times..."



So I'm thinking right about now, it's almost 5:00 p.m. in Russia and the whole musical gang is now partying on a boat with the Mayor on the Volga River (which Google just told me is the largest river in Europe!) and assuming the vodka is flowing there as well, I'm not sure if I'm going to get anymore updates today or not, though Andre did promise and ha ha, I'll probably be getting some dandy ones from all of the, um, inebriated crew if I'm lucky so I'll be back with more as soon as I am in possession of the same. Cool? Cool!

Oh. One final thing. As it turns out, that was not a photo of Eric in the grand finale, but a pic of Patti Smith's bass player, Tony Shanahan. (D'oh, did I not see the bass in that photo?)

He's an old pal of Andre's and here's what he had to say about that:

"For weeks I was psyched to shock him (Tony Shanahan) half to death by showing up at their room. He had no idea I was here! I ran into Patti, Lenny, no one knew where Tony was "He's around" they all said. "I need it to be a surprise," I said.

Later, Tony Levin came out of their room and I said "Tony, is Shanahan in there" TLev replied, "Sure! Hey Tony, Andre is looking for you." Around the corner or the door I hear a puzzled, confused Shanahan say "Andre?" He came and and we laughed and bear hugged. Tony is the the "sweetest guy in the world" top ten. I'm so happy Julie and Eric got to meet him...and Eric jammed with him later at the hotel after party!

So, while we were catching up , I introduced Tony to Eddie Jobson. It turns out (of course) Tony was a huge fan - LOVES Roxy Music...so they have a great chat-- next thing I know, Eddie is gonna sit in with Patti Smith band....as did Tony Levin!

Unreal!

They did "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "People have the Power".

Their "Teen Spirit" is taken at half-speed, very elegiac, acoustic --lovely version!

..."Because the Night" was great -- of course "Dancing Barefoot" was a highlight.

But doing my little part to cause a joyous musical collaboration between people whose vinyl I wore out back in my lonely teenage room was one of the more special memories I'll carry outta this place."

And on that note...

Wait! ETA ALERT! Here's are You Tubes, Part I and II, of the Grand Finale from the festival yesterday! Eddie Jobson fans are gonna love this. And Ade looks like he's having an absolute blast!





Later,
xo

In The Court of the Crimson Queen: Rehearsal in Julie Slick's Room

I have over one hundred of the coolest photos ever courtesy of The Adrian Belew Power Trio and I don't even know where to begin trying to decide which ones to put up here.

So first, as promised, here are some pics of rehearsal in The Queen's Julie's room. I had a hell of a time picking out the most interesting, so I'm not sure if these capture just how big her room is, but yep, she has two sofas in there which I did see in one I'm not posting due to poor quality.

Adrian Belew, Eddie Jobson, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, and Eric Slick hashing out what will be incredible versions of Larks' Tongue in Aspic and Red. Notice that Eric is playing the trash can and Pat is playing the bed. Nice!







So how do I know the songs were amazing? Because I am the luckiest woman in the world. My daughter Skyped me during that portion of the show with her microphone and Gary and I got to hear both Larks' Tongue in Aspic and Red in full, as it was happening, and not only did we have the chills, I had tears running down my face. It was INSANE! Eric and Pat on double drums, Tony on bass, Eddie on violin, and the spectacular Adrian Belew on guitar. It was a religious experience.

Please oh please oh please let someone have recorded this concert for a professional DVD/CD.

Who am I kidding? I'd kill for a crappy You Tube.

So anyway, after the show, which Julie said was FABULOUS -- she said the Adrian Belew Power Trio were amazing -- we got to hear Julie, Eric, and Adrian talk to us via Skype, too, but I couldn't respond because it was early in the morning here and I didn't make that run for an iMic yet.

"Hi, Mom," said Julie. "Wasn't that great?" (Julie knew I didn't have a working mic so we also e-mailed while she spoke to me and I answered her that way when I realized, d'oh, that was all I had to do but half the time I forgot and answered her out loud like a total dolt)

"Dad and I are crying," I shouted as aforesaid to no one but Gary and me.

"Adrian! My mom and Dad are here - they listened to the whole thing on the computer!"

Adrian: "Hi Robin, Hi Gary! We miss you and wish you were here in Russia! More importantly, we wish you spoke Russian," he laughed.

Gary and I are such dorks, we're yelling back at the top of our lungs answering him even though we knew full well he couldn't hear us.

"Hi, Ade! We miss you, too!"

Oy, we are hopeless.

Adrian: "Hey, Eric was just in King Crimson!"

Us: "We know! We heard!"

More like mentally challenged.

Now even the dog is looking at us like we are crazy...it was as if he knew we were talking to no one but an unresponsive, mic-less computer, too. Oh why oh why didn't I run out and buy a mic this morning? But truthfully, their show was 10:00 a.m. our time and stores do not open until 10:00 a.m. here and had we gone, we would have missed everything and then I would have had to kill myself.

I haven't heard about the encore yet, which was the Beatles' All You Need is Love, but the festival has a photo up on their website and I'm not sure if it's Eric front row second from the left or not but it sure looks like him:



I can't tell and it's my own son. What do you think? I guess I'll wait to hear from Eric and he'll confirm it - I do know he has a dark shirt like that; it's his stance and haircut...but I'm not positive. He said the trio was planning on dancing during the grand finale which really made me smile but who knows how it all panned out...when I talked to Julie last, the ABPT show and surprise Crimfest had just ended and they were off in search of something to eat before said grand finale.

I will say that after the Crimsonians did Larks Tongue and Red and left the stage, I clearly heard Julie tell Tony "that was awesome" and Tony replied, "Thanks, you're awesome, too" (Ha ha, we think that's what we heard but just in case we didn't, Julie, we apologize in advance for being insane though admit it, that's why you love us) but then we definitely heard Julie giggle and say "We'll do Thela in Moscow on Wednesday," and Tony agreed, which makes sense, since Tony, Julie, Pat, Eric, and Ade performed it brilliantly in Quebec this summer.

Let's see, what else. I dunno, my brain is still fried from witnessing that show this morning...it was that thrilling. So while I wait to hear from them, assuming that happens, let me share some of the fabulous tourist photos Julie uploaded to my site today.

Here's that wacky trio, who could star in their own version of a Hard Days Night...you have no idea. Or maybe you do. xo



Julie and Eric with their obligatory photo for the gushing parents and said parents thank you very much, guys:



Julie posing under an advertisement for a Russian radio station:



Eric on the tour bus, which has some pretty interesting seat covers, huh. Nice photography, Jules. Love it.




Look! Julie is not only the Crimson Queen, she's Peter Pan!



Isn't this crazy? It looks more like Disneyland than Russia:



Ha ha - Ade is either feeling the after effects of the twenty-seven hour flight or would that be flights of vodka?



Vegetarian Eric Slick standing in front of his worst nightmare:



Two best friends and band mates...it doesn't get much better:



Wow. I'm actually putting up two posts in one day. I hope I have something left for tomorrow!

I'm guessing yes.

Later,
xo