Adrian Belew at Sweetwater - The Interview

Part I of a very recent interview with Adrian Belew at Sweetwater, where he talks about how it all began, Frank Zappa, and King Crimson...



Part II, which totally gave me the chills, where he talks extensively about Julie and Eric Slick and his/their plans for the future...



Later,
xo

Tonight: Eric Slick with Chris Opperman and Dave Dreiwitz

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger but I really hate this time of the year. I've had enough winter, we had a bizarre snow storm Sunday night into Monday which dumped an uncharacteristic amount of the stuff everywhere but naturally today it's going to be like sixty degrees and almost seventy this weekend so it's all melted and a distant memory. Fun while it lasted; now I'm so, so ready for blooming cherry blossom trees and long walks with the dog in warm sunshine.

But I do have some things to report - well, that which I can talk about...arghh...still waiting for permission to blab the big Eric news but part one of that has already been posted on Adrian's blog so I guess it's okay for me to post it here as well...Eric is now an official endorser of Ludwig drums...yep, the very same brand used by Ringo...and next time you see him on tour, which will be very soon, he'll be sitting behind a new, incredible kit. But not yet, or tonight, when he will be playing a very special gig with not only Crescent Moon but the brilliant keyboardist Chris Opperman as well.



That's the art from Chris' new CD, Lionheart, and in one of those weird small world we're all connected kind of things, Chris' new orchestral piece, The Porpentine, is based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and the artists who did the illustrations for the CD were also a Sandman artists, the awesome Mark Buckingham and the equally incredible D'Israeli.

Anyway, the gig tonight is at the Clash Bar, 39 Harding Avenue, Clifton, New Jersey. I think they go on at 10:00 p.m.

In other news, Eric, Chris Opperman, and daughter Julie will be performing at a very special event in New York City this coming Tuesday afternoon, March 10, to kick off Purple Day, and if you click on the logo on the right hand side of this blog, you'll learn all about that, but of course I'll have a lot more to say in my next blog post tomorrow or the next day...just know that it's very, very cool and I will be there as well.

So let's see, what else. Oh yeah, if you follow me on twitter, (and if you don't, please do, you do not know what you are missing har har) then you probably already know how I spent my Sunday night. I mean, I was already standing in the kitchen, which has big windows facing the street, watching the amazingly gorgeous snowfall, when three police cars stopped directly in front of my house. Huh? Nothing prepared me for what would happen next...the 27 year old resident of the house, a guy I watched grow up and go to the same elementary school as my kids (he was in 6th grade; Julie was in 2nd grade)...well, I knew he had "problems" and was in a special ed class, but I had no freaking idea he was capable of this!

Yeah, I know.

I watched him being lead from the house in handcuffs, but still I thought, well, maybe he just freaked out on the cops or something.

But then the coroner's van drove up...

It was a surreal scene to watch; my beautiful, tree lined street, the soft falling snow...and a murderer being arrested.

So the week has basically been spent gossiping with neighbors learning even more sordid details and I think I'll spare you but trust me, as a friend remarked "Have you thought about maybe moving...like, totally out of the United States?" Ha! Yeah, all the time, but there's the little matter of my family, a house I adore, and a dog I worship. Of course had Obama not been elected, my house would probably be for sale as we speak.

Anyway...

I am again reminding you that I have a new book out, which is a chronicle of not only my life (though please keep in mind it's a highly fictionalized version; hence it's why it's called a novel and not a memoir) but an interesting story of the genesis of the School of Rock and the infamous west coast tour of summer, 2004 when I spent three weeks on a tour bus across America with several incredibly talented teenage musicians. Please help a girl out and improve her rather scary Amazon numbers (Ha! Just kidding...as all authors know, those numbers do not mean anything, but it's still cool to be in the top 10,000)...



And here's the link to purchase it over at Amazon. Oh yeah, a note to my contest winners, your books are going out today. I've been trying to finish some guitar pick jewelry to send along with them, but I'm still playing with the results so rather than make you wait, I'll send the books out today and the jewelry/keychains or whatever I end up making to you shortly. But...the first place winner still has not come forward and I have no freaking idea who it is. Ha ha, who else could that happen to? If you entered the contest, please scroll down to the post "and the winner is..." to see if it's you, shoot me an email, and a copy of the book and some guitar pick whatevers will be yours.

In other news, have you been checking out daughter Julie's blog? She's so incredible...and as I've mentioned before, her blog and mine are the prototype for our new joint venture - a rock and roll tour/travel/recipe/restaurant reviews from all over the world cookbook which will also include personal photographs and illustrations by the multi-talented Ms. Julie. I've got the query done; been trying to finish the proposal, and have been scoping out the perfect agent for this project. So we're pretty psyched about that, and the chance of working on something like this with my best friend/extraordinary daughter has me more than a little bit excited.

This afternoon I'm attending the WXPN 4th anniversary blow-out of their Free At Noon Concert Series. That should be interesting. Performing will be Shemekia Copeland (whom I adore!) and the Indigo Girls (erm, not so much)...anyway, should be fun and hopefully I'll remember to bring a camera and take some photos to post here later.

I think that's it for now...I'll be back tomorrow with news from the XPN show today, more about Purple Day...and maybe...just maybe...I'll be able to shout out my blockbuster Eric news.

Later,
xo

Tonight: Eric Slick and Dave Drewitz = Crescent Moon

If you are in or around Brooklyn, New York tonight and want to see a kick ass show:



And for your viewing pleasure, a You Tube from one of their performances last summer:



Later,
xo

Adrian Belew Power Trio at Rockpalast

Oh. My. God.

The entire television show, filmed this fall in Germany, complete with interviews.

Ladies and gentlemen...Eric Slick, Julie Slick, and Adrian Belew at Rockpalast

And The Winner Is...

Thanks so much to all of you for your contest submissions. To say you guys are brilliant is putting it mildly and trying to choose a winner was pretty damn challenging. But after deliberating with my two, erm, impartial judges, I am pleased to announce that the winner of an autographed copy of Daddy Left Me Alone with God is...



"No heartbreak? So, it wasn't love..."

But...I feel like I'm completely losing my mind. I checked my blog comments, all of my email accounts, my blog at Salon, and even after two cups of coffee I still can't find the name of the person who wrote that! So if he/she will drop me an email or comment underneath, I will edit this post and give you the congratulations you are due as well as any applicable links to your blog, website, etc. Oh yeah, and I also need your address.

Anyway, because I had such a rough time deciding...and because I have a bunch of author copies...I've decided to name two other winners as well.

Now this man is a brilliant, published poet so he had an unfair advantage for sure which I had to take into consideration, but I absolutely loved the six words written by Dennis Mahagin. He even gave his a title:

Conductor's Blush

"...Two trains, coupling. She got off...."

Dennis has been my online writing pal for several years now and he read portions of this book in all of its incarnations and was kind enough to offer both encouragement and even a critique (ha ha - though I did keep the Uncle Sammy story in, Dennis, but I shortened it considerably because it ended up being germane to the novel after all). So Dennis, shoot me your address and an autographed copy will be yours. And if I could figure out how to turn my guitar picks into something male oriented, you'd be getting that, too...oh wait...d'oh...I can just send you some undrilled picks. Cool?

My third winner made me laugh out loud and since this blog has pretty much been taken over by the tales of Julie Slick, Eric Slick, and Adrian Belew, well, this entry, written by Lee Huntingdon, simply had to be acknowledged, too.

"Love ABPT. Can't see. Heart breaks."

So there you have it...whew, next time I throw a contest it's going to be something that involves pulling a name out of a hat...and if "Anonymous, I am so sorry I have no idea who you are", Dennis, and Lee will send me their contact info, the book will be on its way.

Anyway, I did get some last minute entries so if you are curious, I added them to the master list below. Now. If only I'd kept track of who sent what when I cut and pasted that list, I wouldn't be in the position I am now of not knowing the name of the winner. Ha ha, okay, well, you already knew I was a dork, right?

Right!

Later,
xo

Final hours to win a copy of Daddy Left Me Alone with God

Okay, so I wrote this book...



And then I decided to have a contest so that one of you could win a copy. I asked you to write me your best six word memoirs on love and heartbreak. Some of you posted here, some posted at my blog over at Salon, and some came to me via email. Here's all of the entries I have to date...and there's still time to enter before I pick a winner by midnight eastern time. That winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

"Innocent marvel, adolescent strife, aged wisdom."

"Sex, sleep, eat, drink, dream, sob"

"Love still grows
After he dies"

"I broke love to make love."

"Attraction, Passion, Commitment, Doubt, Trust, Hope"

"Fret not. My heartbeats are yours."

"Night's magic is morning's cautionary tale."

"absence makes the heart grow fonder"

"...Two trains, coupling. She got off...."

"What I knew I learned again."

"Sadly, his clone left her again"

"Dabbled, maneuvered, attempted, succumbed, surrendered, found."

"still too verbose for six words."

"Oh, that sweet ache is you."

"No heartbreak? So, it wasn't love..."

"Married a brunette, loved a blonde"

"Their ghosts are everywhere in me."

"All I wanted...and couldn't have."

"I am love, I am loss."

"Love ABPT. Can't see. Heart breaks."

And that's what I've got so far - they are all totally fabulous and I love them all. As I said, there's still time to submit your best six words, you can enter this contest more than once, so if you are reading this here or my cross post over at Salon, to make things easier for me please put your entry under this post today (here or at Salon) or email me at Robin81700@gmail.com; I'll come in and edit and add you to the above list, and assuming I am on my usual schedule of falling asleep early and waking up at dawn, the winning words will be posted here first thing tomorrow morning.

I have so much more to say it's ridiculous but best to leave that for my next post...just know that I had dinner last night with Julie, freshly back from recording "e" in Nashville and performing at Sweetwater Music in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and whoa, do I have stories!

Later,
xo

Adrian Belew Power Trio at Sweetwater Music

Okay, it's only 6:00 a.m. and little blurbs are just starting to appear now regarding the Adrian Belew Power Trio gig at Sweetwater Sound yesterday, but here's what I've got so far:



I found the above photo on the Parker Guitar forum board...it was taken at 7:45 a.m. when the trio did a free concert for the staff at Sweetwater...

Then we have this blogpost from someone lucky enough to catch the evening show:

"Dad and I went to go see King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew play a set of prog-rock power trio tunes at Sweetwater tonight. Pretty fantastic - small room, killer set, free. His band was a brother/sister team out of Philly, ages 23 and 21. I'm trying hard not to think about that because I ain't need a quarter-life crisis. Need to scrape the rust off my bass chops."

And this from the Harmony Central Forum Board:

"It was awesome. Sweetwater (Ft Wayne, Indiana) gave a free 'workshop' to see Adrian showcase his new Parker sig with the Power Trio.

What happened though was 250 of us lucky bastards filed into a beautiful auditorium, with great seating, to see the Power Trio perform most of their Side Four live album. I was finally able to hear live tracks like Dinosaur, Three of a Perfect Pair, and Ampersand. And really.. just watching him give his guitar hell the whole time was amazing. Not even to mention how stellar the brother and sister combo are on drums and bass.

He really didn't talk about his guitar much, didn't take much Q&A, just rocked. I still can't believe I was able to see this for free. Anyone else lucky enough to attend this event? Sweetwater delivered huge on this. Kudos to them for putting this together."

And this from Guitars and Gear:

"As I type these words, Adrian Belew (King Crimson, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails, Frank Zappa, et al) is just down the hall, in Sweetwater’s retail store, showing off his new signature Parker guitar. I had dinner with Adrian and Eric and Julie Slick (the other two-thirds of his “Power Trio”) last night; they’re genuinely friendly, nice people - who just happen to travel the world playing amazing music. This morning they gave a short concert for Sweetwater’s Sales Engineers and introduced Adrian’s guitar. Tonight they will play a free concert in Sweetwater’s Performance Theatre. Based on what I heard this morning, it’s going to rock!

I’ve been waiting to get my hands on the Adrian Belew model Parker guitar ever since I heard it was announced. It’s finally shipping, so in honor of this momentous occasion, here’s a video of Adrian demonstrating and discussing the instrument. To wax slightly Tolkienesque, “One guitar to rule them all…” This thing will do everything! Not only does it have all the standard Parker Fly features (dual magnetic pickups, piezo, etc.), but it has a built-in MIDI 13-pin output and a complete built-in Line 6 Variax system. There’s even a Sustainer pickup built in. Yet it only weighs four pounds…

The concert tonight is going to be spectacular. Those in the area should plan to come by, for the rest of you, I’ll try to score some video of the event. And speaking of video, be sure to tune in to the next issue of Guitars & Gear. I’ll have an exclusive video interview for you with Adrian where he tells the story of the guitar and demonstrates some of its features - it’s going to be great!"

A few Twitters...my new addiction, by the way...follow me on twitter right here...but enough about me, here's some tweets about the trio:

"Back from the Adrian Belew performance at our theatre...That boy is not right...Julie and Eric Slick are sick...This is all good 2 me :)"

""Got paid to watch Adrian Belew's power trio perform live at 7:30 am this morning. I like my new job. :)

Had to giggle that Eric got a few mentions on the Zappa forum board regarding his recent show in NY with that "forbidden band"

"I know Eric's a bad-ass on drums with Belew..."

"The heart of it all was the Rhythm Section of Rob "Seahag" Magano on bass(who usually plays guitar and is sick)and Eric "Miniature Vinniature Colaiuta" Slick on drums. This sick duo kept a nasty groove all night which laid the foundation for a great night of music...also each band member improvising lines when pointed to (Slick by far said the funniest stuff)..."

Anyway, Julie and Eric will be back in Philadelphia after spending the last several days in Nashville, recording "E", their first studio CD with Ade. When I emailed Julie to find out how things were going, she replied as only Julie can:

"excellent thus far - we're spending every day recording a new piece,so yesterday we did a. the last day will be spent doing any overdubs, and miscellaneous stuff. ade is very excited and eric and i are (so far) are killing it. can't wait to show ya!"

Followed by this:

"record's sounding incredible - still on track. tomorrow is e then we just have one more part in b to record. after that we get to have fun doing wacky, spooky overdubs.sunday i get to make chicken tikka masala and curried vegetables. last night i made adrian's favorite meal of 08/09 - pan seared chicken with asparagus, leek and wild mushroom ragu over fresh pasta ribbons."

I had to laugh out loud when I saw the phrase "Adrian's favorite meal of 08/09"...she remembered not only the date but the exact meal? That's my Julie!

So that's it so far but it looks like, from reading some of these comments, that there will be some video up later from yesterday's show(s) so if I do find that or anything else, I'll be back.

ETA: Thanks to my pal, Sid Smith, over at DGM Live, who not only linked my blog but has a very nice news item up about last night, courtesy of fan Tony Isch, right here.

Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Power Trio in Fort Wayne, IN

Real quick - if you are lucky enough to be in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area today, you can catch the Adrian Belew Power Trio hanging out while Ade gives a workshop, seminar, whatever at Sweetwater Music Instruments and Pro Audio...and then the trio will perform a free show tonight for as long and as many of you want...nice little newspaper article and further details here!


(Photo by Gary Slick taken sometime during the last ABPT tour)

Also...Eric has updated his blog.

Apparently, he has, um, sullied the Robert Fripp suite.

And in other news..

Now be good little kiddies and scroll down to the post below and enter the contest to win a free copy of my new book...I've extended the deadline until this Friday.

Later,
xo

The (Mostly) Robin Slick Post

Edited to add: The contest deadline has been extended to February 20, 2009. Your responses, both here and on my blog over at Salon, are so brilliant I am awaiting decisions from a couple of impartial judges to help me out here. And so there is still time to enter -- I'll announce the winner on Monday February 23.
**********

Okay, time to stop whatever you are doing, jump up and down, and scream Yes! Yes! Yes!



Oh. Wait. That's me screaming. Erm. Sorry. But okay, I'm a little bit excited. After five years of total insanity, three agents, many rewrites, quitting my job of over two decades to write it...Daddy Left Me Alone with God is now in print and available at Amazon...look for it at Barnes and Noble, Borders, and yes, even an independent bookstore near you shortly. But for now, you can purchase it right here!

I wanted to mention the goddess responsible for not only my book cover but for all of the cool promo which will be forthcoming when I come to a town near you to sign, read, and generally party over the book's release. And she is also a brilliant author in her own write, the lovely (oh is she ever!) Stella Price.

Is it lame to be excited about promo? Not in this case. Along with the usual postcards, magnets, t-shirts, keychains, etc., Stella has designed very special custom guitar picks for me, which I purchased through the absolutely fabulous In Tune Guitar Picks...some of which will be, d'oh, just picks, but others of which I will be busy turning into some really cool jewelry - earrings, chokers, and whatever else my devious little brain can come up with, but here's a sneak peek of the pick itself - all of which will be black with silver print/design, some of which will matte, some of which will be glossy:





And where will I be in the coming months? Well, my favorite webmaster, Scott of Nerdy Rhino Development has updated my website...go on...have a look...you know you want to...and he's added a new feature, Where's Robin? Look for more dates and places to appear in the coming weeks, but so far, my first event is in Orlando, Florida for four days in April - the 22nd through the 26th right here.

Isn't the "moving" Daddy banner on my front page cool?

And now about the book itself...

Daddy Left Me Alone with God started out as two separate entities...the first of which was a short story published in an anthology, Rebellion: New Voices of Fiction, and not to toot my own horn, but this is a book really worth picking up as it contains stories by incredibly fantastic authors, some of whom are good friends.

But really, it's the second aspect that is the meat of the book. In 2004, when the Paul Green School of Rock was just beginning to make their mark on the world and Julie and Eric Slick were the two of the original twenty-two All-Stars, Paul took the kids on a three week tour across America, playing in clubs everywhere from Salt Lake City, Utah to Spokane, Washington to Phoenix, Arizona to Boise, Idaho, etc. Julie and Eric were 17 and 18 at the time and I learned that this would be a real rock and roll tour...um, meaning, a real rock and roll tour of a group of musicians who hadn't quite "made it". Translation: Spending some nights traveling 13 hours by bus; some days with no hotels, no showers, 22 kids eating tacos from fast food restaurants on the way and then sharing one porta-potty on said bus. Ever the neurotic, over-protective mother, I said "There's no way you are going on this trip without me!" So I signed up as a chaperone and got a lot more than I bargained for. No one over the age of forty should ever spend that much time on a bus with 22 teenagers in raging hormone hell (both them and me) -- certainly not without a comfortable bed to sleep in every evening or hot and cold running water. There were times I thought I was going to die. But somehow I managed to write a daily journal of the tour, and documented everything. Early readers of this blog may remember my day by day account of this fabled event, warts and all (since deleted).

Did you ever have an experience in life which you wish you had the opportunity to do over? While on that bus, I was so freaked out by lack of sleep and proper nutrition (my own fault...I could have chosen healthier options on the road), that I failed to really appreciate all of the good on that tour - seeing places in America I never dreamed existed, (did you know Wyoming is mostly surrounded by red mountains/rocks? It looks like Mars! And ohhh...the beauty of San Francisco...) hearing incredible music every single night as the kids just got better and better...and watching the amazing, amazing comradery grow between this unlikely group of extremely talented group of friends/musicians.

And so I decided to rewrite the book as it should have been written in the first place -- full of joy and wonder and har har, anonymous characters as opposed to a strict non-fiction account naming names. So yes, while the book has a strong backstory of the 2004 School of Rock west coast tour and some of you may think you recognize yourselves, trust me, you've all been turned into...muhahahahaha...other people. Ahem. Some of you, anyway.

But the book was still missing something. What, you might ask? Well, how about something about the author? Why was she on the trip? Did she have any ulterior motives? Why yes, she did. Did she have a deep, dark secret?

From the book's back cover blurb:

"At age seventeen, Annie had a love affair with a man ten years her senior, legendary British rock guitarist Mick Saunders.

Now...feeling desperate to change her life, she is unexpectedly given the chance to reconnect with Mick while chaperoning her fledgling rock star teenagers on a tour across America.

To Annie, this opportunity to recapture her past is a dream come true. But will she and Mick be able to pick up where they left off?"

Hmm...is Annie my alter ego? Is this book really a memoir? Or is it simply a fictional tale, woven into the story to make it more interesting?

Ha ha - how about all of the above?

So when you read Daddy, you may learn more about me than you ever wanted.

Or not.

You be the judge.

Would you like a free copy? Okay. I've decided to launch a little contest here in connection with a new book by the editors at the fabulous Smith Magazine, where I also have a little piece of the internet. The book is also available at Amazon, it's called Six Words on Love and Heartbreak, and you can purchase it right here.

And in furtherance of that...this is your challenge. Write me a six word memoir on love and heartbreak. Post it in comments here, or email it to me (but let me know in your email if I have permission to post it on the blog). I'll choose one or two winners or more, depending on the amount of entries I receive...and that lucky person(s) will receive not only a copy of the book, autographed, but some fabulous guitar picks/jewelry as well.

Cool? Cool!

In closing, um, I did say this was the "mostly" Robin Slick post. As most of you know, Julie and Eric are down in Nashville recording their very first studio CD with Mr. Belew. I trust all of you have seen this?

Okay! Write me your six word memoir on love and heartbreak. I'm really looking forward to knowing a little bit about each of you, too.

Later,
xo

The (Mostly) Julie Slick Post

So yesterday I hung out with Julie at her apartment and we had an absolute blast.

I arrived around noon, starving, which is always a good idea when you visit Julie Slick because she is a Master Chef and to waste those talents would be just plain dumb. And because she is both my daughter and best friend, she was totally prepared for me to visit in that state and made me an awesome omelet stuffed with sliced avocado and goat cheese and topped with black bean chili in mole sauce with toasted almonds, accompanied by a side salad of arugula, avocado, and walnuts in a light caramelized onion vinaigrette. Those red squiggles on the plate turned out to be hot sauce...very, very good with the dish for sure.



Julie will be talking more about this meal and including the recipes and more photos in her next blog post, but in the meantime, she has updated her journal with a great broccoli cheddar soup and garlic cheese pitas...we are dead serious about our cookbook...anyway, here's a link to Ms. Julie's latest entry.

After lunch, we broke out the paints. Within a half hour, Julie had managed to sketch out a brilliant beginning to a portrait of Igor Stravinsky, it took me two hours to accomplish the piece on the left -- I know, I know, it looks like the work of a genius...um, a seven year old genius, that is...but I have high hopes for that painting and it's only in its beginning stages.



Unfortunately, we will not be having another "date" until after February 18, because as I've been broadcasting all over the internet, tomorrow Julie and Eric are headed for Nashville to Casa Belew to begin recording their first studio CD, "E". What's that, you might ask? Well, let me quote Adrian on that:

"so...what is "e" ?
of course it's rather senseless to talk
about music you have yet to hear,
but senseless is my middle name, so here goes.

e is a thematic piece of music in five sections.
it is based on a 16-note chromatic figure
which can be played up and down the neck,
both forwards and backwards and in various keys.
it could be seen as five pieces of music,
since each section can stand alone
but I prefer it as one long piece.
how long? 40 to 50 minutes.

the chromatic e figure is used in compelling ways
both against itself and with itself
to create complex rhythms and harmonies.
each of the five pieces of music flow through
a wide variety of secondary themes and melodies
some of which reappear, but they all are based upon
and eventually come back to
the e figure.

in some areas the timbre of the piece
is much like something King Crimson might do,
but I've used Gershwin, and Stravinsky
for my guidance and inspiration as well.
I have been writing e for more than two years!
it's very difficult (at least for me) to play.
along the way I make 16 different loops.
in order to add parts and solos over top of the loops
each loop has to be perfect, of course.

e has been written and arranged
specifically for the mighty power trio.
but it may also be worthy of classical orchestration.
I could hear a rock trio treatment
and a classical treatment (with horns, strings, etc.)
and even a combination of the two.
but I'm getting way ahead of myself.
classical treatments don't fall off trees.

as diligent and single-minded as eric and julie
and I have been in our approach to learning e,
we have yet to actually record a single note.
this being eric and julie's first "new" record
I'm hoping to make something grand
for them to be proud of.

then we'll have to play it live."

All I can tell you is, I've heard the rough cuts and it's a masterpiece...a classic in the making. Stay tuned for news about just where and when they will be playing it live, though Pollstar has a few dates up already.

Getting back to my day with Julie...

After we were finished painting, Julie smiled at me with an evil little grin and said "Okay, now we're going to play Wii!"

"But...but...I hate video games..."

"Trust me, Mom, you're going to love this. And it's great exercise!"

Ahem. Love and exercise do not go together in my world, but okay, I'll give it a try.

And now a series of photographs where I am clearly having a heart attack. Please also note two things. One, I am not that fat. I was literally wearing three shirts because I was cold, and the final t-shirt on top was a large to accommodate the two shirts underneath. Second, please notice said t-shirt. It says "The Smart One" and I scored it from the author of an incredible book with that very title (which I just cannot recommend enough), the beautiful and brilliant Ellen Meister, who was kind enough to give me a new blurb for my latest novel...and you will read all about that in the next day or two in "The (Mostly) Robin Slick Post". I am currently in the midst of updating my website to feature the book and links where you can buy it...and there will also be a contest where you can win free copies, hot off the press.

But for now, let's watch Robin have a coronary:





Okay, you can clearly see my Smart One t-shirt in this photo, as well as my Wii avatar, which sadly looks exactly like me...especially when Wii put big white shoes on my feet whilst playing baseball which made me feel -- both in real life and Wii World -- as though this was the Special Olympics and I was the participant who scored so low she got the Good Sportsmanship trophy and even that only because the judges took such pity on her.



Finally, after much huffing and puffing and going through ridiculously stressful games of tennis, baseball and gah! bowling where I almost slammed my daughter in the face accidentally, fell backwards several times, and nearly broke a lamp, Wii gave me my true age:



Oh yes, "Good Job". I'm sixty-seven.

Please. Kill. Me.

My Wii Fitness Age, however, is an age I aspire to achieve in real life because at this point, I'll be happy to live another week.

I admit it. I went home and drank several shots of Jack Daniels to rid myself of post-Wii back pain because Advil just didn't do it for me.

Oh, okay, it was more because it was Saturday night and I felt like partying...I'd just spent an amazing day with my daughter.

Alrighty, that's enough out of me. Stay tuned for news concerning the long-awaited release of my first mainstream novel, Daddy Left Me Alone with God...and as soon as I get the okay to talk about the major happenings in Eric Slick's world, you guys will be the first to know.

Oh wow...wait...this just popped up and I'm afraid to say much more because of the psychotic Mafia "Trust", but take a look at this...



Later,
xo