Odds and Sods for Thursday, May 7, 2009

Well, life is never dull around here. There's all kinds of cool stuff going on.


Photo of the Adrian Belew Power Trio by Gary Slick, taken in Milwaukee, WI on 4/18/09

In case you haven't heard, in addition to his drumming duties with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, Project Object, and Crescent Moon, Eric Slick is now the new drummer for Oblivion Sun. He will be making his debut with the band on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at NEARfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, regarding Oblivion Sun, there's been some really wonderful comments about Eric on the Progressive Ears Forum Board under "...and the new drummer is..."

Here's something else so cool I can't take it. What member of King Crimson...and I'm not saying who it is or whether it's a current or former member...contacted Eric and now the two of them are going to record a CD of original music together at either the end of this year or beginning of next to have available ASAP in 2010? Nope, I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait. All I know is, when Eric told me about it and who it was, I was pretty damn stoked. To say this is going to be mind-blowing is putting it mildly. Crimson fans all over the world are going to rejoice! (Insert winking smiley face emoticon here) Oh, okay. I'm well aware that I'm such a groupie mom it's nauseating but since this is my blog, I can do what I want and again I will reiterate that I have been a music groupie since like, age 12. But trust me, I've got a real reason to be excited.

And speaking of real reasons to be excited! Next month marks the release of the first Adrian Belew Power Trio studio CD - the extraordinary "e". Just listening to the rough mix sends chills up my spine. How fucking lucky am I?

So at age 22 -- well, he's still 21 but his birthday is next Friday, May 15 -- and it's crazy how many drummers are born in May: Bill Bruford, John Bonham, Alex Van Halen, Gavin Harrison, Billy Cobham, Danny Carey, Phil Selway, Alan White, Butch Trucks -- Eric has the world's most amazing life.

And now for something completely different, here's a You Tube that just popped up - Eric doing a jazz/rap gig at World Cafe Life with Bodega on April 20, 2009...



By the way, that's Jay-Z's trombone player - Aaron Goode, who also plays for Jill Scott and John Legend.

Julie has some cool news, too. She is busy producing the new CD for Cheers Elephant; then she is going down to Nashville the week after next to Casa Belew to do a whole bunch of secret stuff involving computers and studio equipment and Proud papa Gary Slick is going with her for purposes of...sorry...lips sealed again. Gah! Don't you just hate that?

By the way, Cheers Elephant is playing a very special show tonight at Kung Fu Necktie and if you are in the Philadelphia area, I cannot recommend this gig enough. Cheers Elephant is by far the very best original band to come out of the former students/graduates of the School of Rock and I predict major success for them in the very, very near future. Well, not all the guys are from SOR - but bassist Matt Rothstein, Julie's significant other, was one of the original students and vocalist and lead guitarist Jordan del Rosario teaches at one of the branches.

Moving on...

Another thing I wanted to mention was the absolutely fabulous gifts we have been receiving from Adrian Belew Power Trio fans. I am pretty sure I've written here about this already, but as our Christmas gift, uber fan and friend Rena Fay, a/k/a Tickledrop, painstakingly recorded every single You Tube of Ade, Julie and Eric and presented each of us with a set of three DVDs, all beautifully packaged with photographs...we watch them non-stop and it's really cool to see the changes in the band since they first got together three years ago and up to the present. Yep, three years. This month is their anniversary. Can you believe it?

While on this most recent tour, they were given these handmade woodcuts by Phil Bates. Here. We took pictures. Are these incredible or what? Phil, I tried to find a website for you so I could link your work but I struck out. If you are reading this and email me, I'll gladly take care of that.





Then last week, a box arrived via special delivery from Bill Randolph, and when we opened it up, look what was inside! (And Bill - same deal. If you are reading this and want to send me a link, I will be more than happy to put it here)





I don't know if you can see what the label on the hot sauce bottle says, but it's hilarious. "Slick & Slick Hot Sauce -- It's Like Music In Your Mouth".

Love it.

Hey, my life isn't half bad, either. You know that cool little documentary I'm in -- erm, the one that has been winning awards all over the world? Exciting news coming on that front...I have heard from a pretty accurate source that there is, a, um, strong possibility you will all be able to see me in the comfort of your own homes. Robin Slick on plasma! Anyway, I didn't even know about this but when the movie was shown in Amsterdam, they did a really cool little film of the premier along with a trailer and yep, I'm in it alright...both at the beginning and toward the end and it's hilarious. I even have an IMDB listing here and here for both that and the other *cough* award winning short film (it's true) based on Daddy Left Me Alone with God. They have a big screen (well, kinda big) version up of that film right here but I digress -- here's the clip from Amsterdam:



Okay, I think that covers the news for today...I've got to end this post now. Places to go, people to see, blah blah blah...busy, busy, busy.

Later,
xo

Decadent days in Orlando: The Romantic Times Convention 2009

So you know, you go to the Romantic Times Convention to meet and mingle with your readers, attend/speak at workshops, and go to a few faerie and vampire balls, and then, the big wrap-up, sell your books at Ye Olde Book Fair. In other words, you are supposed to be on your best author-like behavior. Meet me and my posse:



Okay, obviously I'm the one in front who hasn't learned proper posture yet, and behind me, going left to right, the following brilliant women: Author/artist Ash Arceneaux, editor Luci Calanor, author/artist Stella Price, and author Kayleigh Jamison. The five of us basically stuck together throughout the entire convention, with the exception of Saturday night, when Luci and Kay snuck over to the "dark side"...i.e., the cover model competition. More on that in a minute.

But first, here are some photos I took of our accommodations. Not too bad, huh.






The only real problem with our hotel was that the convention center was a hike from our "garden apartments" but they had these little golf carts you could call to transport you to and from. I was pretty lucky, though. My room not only faced the pool, but I was only three buildings away from said center so it was a five minute trip over various footbridges surrounding the lagoons and other than drunkenly getting lost my first night there and walking around the pool, oh, seven or a thousand times, I finally realized the buildings were numbered and I had in fact passed mine, Building 10, at least 50 times on my search...but after that...a piece o'cake.

So here's Stella, Kay, and yours truly getting together Stella's infamous goodie bags to give to unsuspecting readers at the first Book Expo on Wednesday night..and yeah, I know, corny and immature as hell, the finger gestures for whatever reason became my m.o. for almost every photo session. Why, why, why. Can I blame alcohol? Because yeah, that stuff flowed throughout the convention. You might think writers drink a lot or something. Sheesh.



Here's Ash and I having a glass of champagne at what had to be the absolute BEST party I have ever attended during all of my years at various RT Conventions, including the dastardly Faerie Ball and Vampire whatever. This was a private, catered pre-faerie ball affair thrown by the wonderful people at All Romance Ebooks. Okay, now I must go into food freak mode because it was an incredible spread. Huge, unbelievable shrimp. Skewers of roasted vegetables. Skewers of chicken and fresh pineapple. Sweet potato empanadas. Open faced mini prime rib sandwiches. Oh, and did I mention the champagne? It literally flowed. I was so buzzed when I left there I was like, fuck the faerie ball, but the others made me go. They were all dressed up, I chose to stay in jeans but as you can see by the below photo, I did make one concession - I traded my black t-shirt for a ruffled black blouse from Lucky Brand Jeans which I thought was way cool until I just saw that pic and realize I am so, so, so not a ruffle person. Looks like my daughter may be inheriting a new piece of clothing...



Because my room was closest to the "ball", my, um, posse decided to change in my room. It was like the Rocky Horror Prom Night Show. Since I was not getting dressed up, I sat back on the bed and watched, but when Ash took out her bra, it was hard not to (1) wonder how I could get it into the Guinness Book of World Records and (2) put it on my head because trust me, there was enough for two heads in that thing:



The five of us quickly realized that the food at the hotel was, well, awful, so we frequently went on jaunts to Orlando restaurants. I can't find a photo from the first night, but we ate at an amazing seafood restaurant where I had oak grilled salmon topped with lump crab meat and asparagus, swimming in a white wine sauce with baked, yes baked, french fries on the side. Sick, sick, sick. Anyway, you'll have to take my word for it since I didn't whip out my camera, but here we are at lunch...God forgive me, you know my stance on chain restaurants, but we ate at the Olive Garden and oddly enough, it was good. Of course I stuck to the pasta, salad and breadstick lunch and it's pretty hard to fuck that up...they were even kind enough to substitute whole wheat pasta for me, which, after looking at these photos, I clearly need and should have said "no" to the breadsticks but oh well, I was on vacation and the diet resumed when I got home.

At least in theory.

I'm also noticing I have a drink in my hand in many of the pics (P.S., if you visit Ash's site linked above, there are many, many more photographs and you will also see that this is where I've lifted most of these)



Like, I found this one on Ash's site - do not remember if it's from the Faerie or Vampire Ball but you get the point...i.e., why I wanted to blow them off.



Okay, this one was definitely from the Faerie Ball and why this guy is wearing a french maid costume I have no idea (because it belonged to his wife and she said "I'm sorry, I don't have any more faerie costumes but how about this?) but it seemed like a good photo op at the time. Remember, much alcohol consumed here...in fact, I don't even remember that pic.



Nor this one...but obviously I was beginning to fade. I'm just kind of staring at everyone, wondering WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE?



Oh, yeah, I remember. It's so I can meet and hang out with famous writers like New York Times best selling author Jacqueline Frank.



Remember when I mentioned the "dark side" as concerns two of my friends? Well, apparently Jackie took a walk over there as well...



I, however, am far too cerebral for that, choosing instead to fawn over hang out with brilliant author Barry Eisler.





Hey, Susan Henderson! Barry says Hello!

Oh look, yet another restaurant shot, this time with uber fan Andrea, and meeting her was one of the highlights of the trip. We seemed to share the same wardrobe...i.e., black t-shirts and jeans...throughout.



Finally, though, it was time for the big book sale/signing. After partying half the night away, it was a two fisted coffee morning for me.



Here's a shot of my author table at the Grand Ballroom where the book sale was held...pretty impressive swag, huh. Note to all of those of you to whom I promised guitar pic jewelry...I struggled like you would not believe to make those necklaces because I had grand plans of adding beads and crystals, etc. but it literally would have cost me $1,000 and about three months of my life. So I finally threw in the towel and improvised...i.e., just stuck the damn pics on some silk cord, and they actually came out awesome so I will be mailing them out to anyone wanting one this week.



Now this next photo makes me kind of famous - i.e., I made the front page of the official Romantic Times Blog:



"Bring On the Book Fair
This morning's book fair was a madhouse - tables of books galore, authors talking and taking pictures, and of course the readers. My roommate and I alone managed to buy a total of 37 books, give or take a few. Each of us went in with the intention of not loading up our arms, but neither of us managed to succeed.

Shortly after I was done at the book fair, I donated blood. Raz Steele held a blood drive, with all donors getting a copy of one of his books.

It was a fun experience, getting to chat with authors I missed during the previous few days, and catching up with the others. I made a point of finding some authors I hadn't already read and am looking forward to finding out how good they are."

And as you can see, I'm the first photo under that paragraph and she actually bought Daddy Left Me Alone with God ten minutes before the book fair opened to the public which was way, way cool.

After the book fair ended, naturally we were starving again. It was our last night there, and since Kay and Luci went over to the dark side along with our pal, Andrea, to vote on the best cover model and watch them strut up and down the "runway", Stella, Ash and I decided to have dinner at a nearby Japanese steakhouse and Ash got the hostess to take our pic for yet another restaurant Kodak moment.



Meanwhile, the entire time, I was feeling sicker and sicker. My head ached, my throat burned, and my stomach...well...let's just say I spent more time sleeping on the bathroom floor than in my bed. I thought for sure I was going to die on the flight home to Philadelphia the next morning, and I spent the next seven days sick as a dog in bed, pretty sure I had the swine flu, which, all things considered, seemed like a fitting end...

But all is cool now and I'm back and ready to write.

Stay tuned for some more news tomorrow about Eric's ever increasing gig list (including his participation in yet another band...which is probably the worst kept secret in Prog World right now) and photos of some ultra cool gifts from ABPT fans!

Later,
xo

It's all about Eric Slick, anyway

Morning.

Well, I've been back from Florida for almost a week and this is the first time I am up for blogging...I've been so fucking sick it's ridiculous and all I could think was that I did not want to be known as "the first reported case of swine flu in Philadelphia - a woman living in the Art Museum area"...anyway, I still feel like hell so instead of telling you all about my fun and games at the RT Convention last week, I will quickly bring you up to speed about Eric Slick, who has a ton of really cool gigs this month while the Adrian Belew Power Trio is on brief sabbatical until June.



So first up is tonight, and here's a big secret -- if you are a fan of the Grateful Dead and want to meet them, now is your chance. Eric is playing double drums with Bodega at the Official Live Nation Dead Tour After Party and yes, yes, the Dead are going to show up and jam after midnight following their show at the Spectrum tonight. I have never been a fan but it still should be a blast and c'mon, it's the TLA...it was originally scheduled for a smaller club in West Chester but they just moved it for obvious reasons.

Tomorrow Eric is playing SHREDfest at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia starting at 7:00 p.m.



On Monday, he takes off for a secret location for a rehearsal with a top secret band...if all goes well, see you at Nearfest on June 20?

Continuing on...May 9 Eric will be gigging with Ellis Ashbrook at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City...on May 10, he'll be with Travis Woodson at the Tritone in Philadelphia...and of course June 10 he'll be with the Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga...and I think that covers any and all interesting and notable gigs he has at the moment but you never know with Eric, something is basically always happening but these are the best of the best...and in closing, I want to leave you with a few You Tubes that just popped up from a couple of years ago when Eric played the World Cafe Live with Chris Harford and Mickey and Aaron from Ween...just some gorgeous, gorgeous stuff...





Okay, back to bed for me. I'll report back about the RT Convention either tomorrow or Monday...it was way too much fun, I can tell you that.

Odds and Sods for Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Good morning!

So today I take off for five days in sunny (well, in theory) Orlando, Florida, to participate, i.e., sell/sign my books and hit the many open bars, at the RT Convention. But before I go, a couple of tidbits remain from last week's Adrian Belew Power Trio tour.



Here's a fantastic interview recorded just after the show in Illinois -- amazing! (Highlight: Adrian says: "If I could be the drummer of my dreams, it would be Eric")



Here's another sparkling review:

"Adrian Belew in a Sold Out XRT Show at Old Town School
By Terri Hemmert ⋅ April 21, 2009

If I e-mailed you Adrian Belew’s musical resume, your hard drive would crash. It’s no wonder Zappa, Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson and more wanted to play with him. He’s a brilliant musician, and has such a joyful personality. I’ve seen King Crimson many times over the years, and never saw Robert Fripp smile unless he was playing with Adrian. So when the Adrian Belew power trio took the stage, I thought maybe he was playing with his kids. Well, they were someone else’s kids, but they did turn out to be brother and sister. Julie and Eric Slick were young enough to be on Spring Break, but could they play. Any rhythm section would be challenged to play with someone as brilliant as Belew, but they did better than hold their own.
They were great!

The trio opened with twenty minutes of instrumental work that will be on a new album to be released in June. Adrien has all kinds of technical tricks, but it only enhances his talent. And thankfully he did some vocals. I think he’s a charming and underrated vocalist. And he continues to be one of the most brilliant guitarists this music fan has ever seen. If progressive rock had followed Belew’s lead, the film Spinal Tap would never have been made. While prog rock went off the deep end with musical and lifestyle excesses, Adrian keeps it real.

A note on the venue. Adrian clearly loved the room and sound at the Old Town School. I’m not a mindreader. He said so. I’m just sorry I wasn’t there the night before to see Loretta Lynn’s big pink tour bus. That was a photo op, I bet."

So that's very cool and definitely made my morning...but for now I must pack for an early flight. I will have my laptop and camera with me so my plan is to blog from the convention...erm...you really can't quite believe what goes on there but this time I'll have the photos to prove it.

Later,
xo

Adrian Belew Power Trio on Tour - Part III

And the reviews continue to overwhelm me with their enthusiasm...while also making me extremely jealous I'm in Philadelphia, damn it!



***ADDITIONAL REVIEW JUST ADDED 4:00 P.M.*****

From Pete:

"So my wife and i went to see the ABPT tonight at the Schaumburg Prairie center for the Arts. When we ordered tickets I was particularly thrilled to see they were not general admission but actually assigned seats. We have never been to a Belew show with this arrangement and that alone was quite a treat . We live 16 miles west of Chicago so we usually take off work early, drop the kids off at grandmas , fight traffic to the venu like 4 hours early, get a great place in line wait/starve but get a great spot near the front, then 20 minutes into the show, like clockwork, a few 9 foot tall drunken contractor guys force their way directly in front of us. Now i am 6 foot and my wife is 5 foot 4. You get the picture, i hate to say it but i have been through this at practically every show we go to, and it always ruins 2/3rds of the evening for me. these guys pulled this stunt at roger waters, on the lawn, we were front lawn with blankets laid out with our kids. They showed up 20 minutes in and stood with their work boots on our blanket right in front of my kids,then they decided to fire it up and have a weed party. It escalated with me almost getting attacked by this red eyed carnheart guy with a bandanna. roger waters the guy whose major theme is exactly opposite of this type of behavior. i guess i am getting old.sorry for the rant, i am sure most of you hip enough to be here reading this would never treat others with such flagrant disrespect, so enough of my yakkin.

The Schaumburg Prairie Center is about a half hour north with adequate parking, we got there 15 minutes before show time (YES!!!). i talked to a few groups of folks, encouraging them to clap clap clap to get a triple encore like what went down on Thursday. We went in and said "hi" to Martha , she said "Hi Petey" heh, soo nice , then she asked us if we preferred a sit down show over general admission DON'T get me STARTED! they had a couple of old ladies checking tickets with a flash light and i noticed a few video cameras on tripods . we had 3rd row seats on julie's side (sorry eric). the place is really really nice, they had ac on and it holds 300 people with perfect acoustic set up . While we approached our seats, Adrian came out to his station. The first notes rang out as i sat down in my seat . "This is sooo nice" I thought to myself " i think i am going to invest in a taser, stilts, and some deer urine spray for the next gen admin show. The stage set up was a little different in that i noticed 2 tall cylindrical speaker units to the left and right just behind the normal adrian amp set up . it turns out he feeds his looped parts to these monitors which seem to emit an otherworldly high quality frequency response, very cool . when he locked in a looped rhythm part the sound just cut through the venue like nothing i have heard before. it really added a different dimension of depth or something hard to describe . the first material was instrumental , parts a , and b , it does sound unfamiliar at first , but the trade mark AB flare is represented very well . its kind of "scale-y" , at parts with complex looped scales while he doubles in a higher key with julie following dead on while eric forged the solid heavy back beat driving the whole cacaphony , some very colorful alternate parts and an even comical slapstick pass the note section that i think the only one who got more of chuckle out of it was the "man with the golden guitar". After that it seemed like "madness" but that just got a lot larger and more disjointed , if you can imagine that . he said they had only performed this four times which is just a testament to how tight this little ensemble is , i really dug this new stuff . personally i don't "get" some of the KC complex material , this new stuff did have some of the technical flavor exhibited in KC but was also peppered with the type of unique sense/nonsense- ability that i have always loved about adrian's music . the right mixture of crazy complex parts and counter parts that just drip with feeling. when this new recording drops , we are in for a treat guys ! something truly new and unique.

After the new stuff which was about 20 minutes , that seemed to go by in about 30 seconds! they broke into young lions and they stopped playing for a second so mr b. could explain to us what we had just witnessed . i looked around the crowd and had recognized some familiar faces but also quite a few parents had brought the kids , and grandmas too! soo cool, but think about it, what other rock artist could pull that off? i think it speaks volumes about this guys CHARACTER . next up a blistering version of writing on the wall with the crazy different every time solo which had me burst out laughing a few times , i dont know what got into him he was really going nuts on the solo and he actually popped an e string ! they finished it up, andre grabbed the guitar and ran off with it. Adrian said he has never broken a parker string and pointed at Eric who immediately said "no not me" then tore into this nutty drum solo, it was actually the most dynamic drum solo ever, pretty amazing going from whisper quiet to crazy caveman style and mixing it up. andre came back with the fresh string which led into "beat box guitar" with a for lack of a better term "psychedelic freak out jam" in the middle and then back, so awesome . he had his full rig and i could tell there where some fresh oddball noises flying around all night! next up was an amazingly dynamic and really slick take on big electric cat that was a real treat to hear another version of that standard that stood out so much.


At this point they where ready to start playing madness and Julie put on this kooky pair of glasses. Eric was obviously in on the prank cause he was cracking up and giving her the nod. when adrian looked over at her he just lost it and said "there is something wrong with your EYES" but the kids never lost a beat and adrian recovered from his chuckle attack and the started it a few bars later. after madness adrian informed us that eric and julie had to leave for "cookies and milk" he did a solo trick guitar part with drive going into Tommorrow Never Knows.

the kids came back from cookie break in time for of bow and drum, ampersand which sounded fantastic . then there was a longer mutated looped intro for "colorfuturevision". That song always blows me away and this new arrangement is super cool. i thought i was cracking up when they were playing the intro to swingline on the break before the solo for futurevision, i lost it and gave ade the thumbs up, he saw me and had this huge grin on his face! sure enough they repeated that part again going out of the tune, what a surprise. next on the menu was the last section being "e" , a really cool piece of music that has some familiar parts, some crazy parts, and pretty much everything in between. i cant imagine how much time he has put into this new peice and also cant wait to get my hands on it. he said june , but he didn't say what YEAR so we will have to see. (NOTE FROM OUR AUTHOR - NOPE, IT'S JUNE OF 2009, THIS YEAR, PETE..I CAN'T WAIT EITHER)

After e their was a standing ovation! the place just lost it, hats off to the power trio for such a professional, completely astounding performance. despite the groundswell of thunderous applause we only got one encore, three of a perfect pair. i believe they were on a tight schedule with the venue or something cause it seemed really out of character for him. i know he was in a good mood, plenty of banter and laughs tonight. He did exclaim that it was a little odd playing to an "oil painting"(we were all just sitting there) . i can see what he meant, when you are used to playing to a bunch of sweaty drunks jumping around and yelling strange things at you we were for the most part very well behaved.

BUT...there was one guy who was screaming in between every song , "yagagagagh" , "RHINO", "DISCIPLINE" ,"ZAPPA!" "bring ANDRE out" which he did, for some applause and he gave him a nice plug. another guy, gosh you know i have witnessed other folks on shrooms, acid, coke, pcp, heroin, but i have never witnessed ANYONE as high as this cat was. he walked right down to the stage and stood right in front of us, all writhing around. he was clapping along and pounding his fist on the stage. there was a camara guy like 2 feet away from him taping! EVERYONE in the venue was sitting down. the entire night i think 2 people left for potty break and i was one of them. this guy just crashed the stage while he is peaking out on some heavy hallucinogen? to me he was a huge distraction, i had to restrain myself from body slamming this guy, tackle him and take him down , grandma doesn't need to see that. Come on guys, if you are going to try out the latest designer drug or dmt based hallicinogen, stay home and do that stuff. i just hope the poor guy made it home ok , dude was trippin BALLS!

we went to the merch table and honestly, we own everything on there. i just have to say in this digital age how important live shows are to the artists. now is the time for us to support our musicians by spreading the word, and buying tickets. seriously , unless you are a 9 foot tall contractor with a whiskey problem or just got hooked up with some whale tranquilizers.

they all came out to sign merch, and i had the pleasure of meeting Gary Slick. He is a great guy and we had a nice chat about kids, music, and life in general . Eric noticed that i was sporting a "Mr Bungle" t shirt. He told me that "Disco Volante" was one of his all time favorite albums, of all time . he also has been to more "fantomas" concerts than any other band (besides the trio). totally cool, this guy is the real deal. they all signed a shirt for my wife and we took pics, me with adrian and my wife and martha. they always have a nice time chatting at the shows. she is really nice, down to earth person. i had a few stories i wanted to share with adrian, but i could tell they were trying to hustle , so i tried not to be a burden and just got a quick picture. oh well next time maybe. there was a younger gentleman there with a portable recorder, they actually did an interview so i got a card from the guy and will post a link when its up.

overall impression , if you are on the fence about making the investment to see the trio again, there is no way you should miss this tour. a good chunk of amazing new material and some of the old standbys have been reworked into new versions, it was a lot different of a show than the first time we saw the trio last year . i cant tell you how much soloing went on. i mean he was just wailing all night, a lot more than i have ever noticed before. this tour is really heavy on the solos and guitar tricks, well worth whatever you have to do to make it to a few of these shows... do it. i would have tickets for tomorrow's show but i herniated a disk and haven't worked in a year so we are SUPER broke.

thanks to the abpt for an amazing uplifting experience once again.

oh (forgive me for the long post please) when we were walking out of the venue right after the encore (3 of a perfect pair) this guy asked his grandma, he goes "was it too loud?" she said oh no, not the music , just the CROWD!" he goes how about the music? "oh the music was just fine!!!" when i was leaving i saw the old lady who had taken our tickets "what did you think of tonight?" i asked, she goes "i liked the last song best!!!" when i saw ade at the table i asked him if he could teach his stool (he has this incredibly cool chair/stool) to play robert fripp's synth solo on 3 of a perfect pair. he interrupted me and exclaimed "thats MY SOLO " not Robert, thats ME! Really? i said. i lay awake at night thinking how do you make that noise. " "its an old lexicon you could change this parameter (he made a knob twisting gesture)! i said is the sound a gr300 , he goes yeah yeah. awesome . i also figured out one of his new trick sounds that has been bugging me since side one came out, but i am not going to be a weenie and give it up. thanks for reading."

Ha ha, that post was great, wasn't it? Certainly one of the more colorful reviews I've read. But I know what he means about dopes at concerts -- I didn't want to write about it in my recent attendance at the Jeff Beck show, but we arrived late, could not get anywhere near the stage, it seems like a mens' basketball team stood in front of me, and idiots not only were fucked up out of their brains spilling beer on me and one genius couple on Extasy humping to my right, but it seemed everyone else had their blackberries or iPhones whipped out and were not taking photos, but were texting!

Fucking idiots.

Which brings me to my next review, from Rhea, which basically addresses my feelings about NEEDING to be in front of the stage...that's her comfort zone and mine as well. I laughed when I read her story because it could have been the same words coming from my mouth as well. I'd copy her entire post here but I think you should click on the link and visit her blog for the whole story. The only thing I disagree with, Rhea, is your desire to hear King Crimson covers. This is the Adrian Belew Power Trio, and Ade has an incredible wealth of his own solo material. So while I am in agreement with you about wanting to hear Three of a Perfect Pair and other Crimson classics, understand that this trio is a whole 'nother beast and this is 2009! But trust me, I hear you...I go to Clapton shows and want to hear Cream covers, too, but I can just imagine Eric saying to himself "If one more person shouts out White Room I'm going to..."

Never mind.

In any event, let me end the whole general admission diatribe by saying that truth to tell, if you've experienced an Adrian Belew Power Trio show, the true energy comes from the standing room scenario. Their music is loud and vibrant and makes it impossible to sit in your seat. Adrian's remark about playing to an oil painting is very true...this band feeds, and I mean REALLY FEEDS, off the crowd's feverish reaction and you just don't get that in a sit-down only venue.

Sooo...all I can say is, next time you are stuck standing next to a screaming, tripping idiot who is ruining the show for you, get proactive and get management to "remove" said idiot. I wish I'd done that during Jeff Beck but truth is, we were contributorily negligent for getting there so late. Next time I'm going with the Rhea factor and getting there before the doors even open so that I am first in line.

Anyway...

That's it for now but I'm waiting for some more reviews to roll in...especially from my pal, uber Ade fan Joe Pettini...so I'll be adding to this...

***AND AS PROMISED - from Lost in Musing over at All Good People, a/k/a the Yes forum board:

"Adrian Belew and Eric Slick and Julie Slick performed only 5 miles from my house on Saturday, at a nice (but odd) venue, a “Center For Performing Arts”.

I say odd venue, because the intimate small (442 seats) theatre-like setting seems more matched to a play, or classical performance, rather than prog-rock.

The crowd was odd also, in that there was dead silence between numbers throughout the first-half of the set, and you could hear a pin drop, after polite applause, unusual for a Belew show. Adrian even commented on this fact, saying that it was a little odd playing to an "oil painting"(everyone just sitting there very well behaved). He said he is used to playing to a bunch of sweaty drunks falling down, jumping around, and yelling strange things.

It was also odd since a bunch of old hippies were in the house (Arlene & Bruce & me & she-who-must-be –obeyed).

The band had the usual set-up, with Ade looping multi-layers very effectively all night.

I must be getting picky as I get older, because I thought sound should be excellent in this venue, even just from stage amps. But Julie was low in the mix as seems to be typical, based on the last several tours I have seen. Also, Ade’s two stage-left channels seemed to be much hotter than the left, so anything he played through the leftside sounded awesome, but overpowered the right channels.

Nonetheless, the sound was generally fine, and Ade solos were cutting, grinding, crushing, flowing, humming, singing, melting, oozing, and on and on. I am amazed by the tones …. Including haunting whale-song sounds at one point.

I brought my ear plugs, since my ears are very sensitive after 40 years of countless gigs including such as The Who and Humble Pie, but plugs were not needed.

Excellent dynamics, especially when Ade broke a string, and put Eric on the spot to drum solo for a few minutes while the guitar was fixed. I was stunned at Eric’s style, touch, sense of dynamics, and rhythms at such an age. With the “pin drop” silence, Eric would gradually reduce volume until you could just hear the softest touch of the cymbal, which made the entire crowd giggle.

Setlist included Ampersand, Young Lions, Beat Box Guitar, A Little Madness, Drive (Within/Without You), Of Bow and Drum, Big Electric Cat, Futurevision, and Three of a Perfect Pair (encore). A little short of 2 hours.

I love Drive, and was glad it was included. I thought Futurevision was a good choice and very well done also.

The Trio was remarkably tight as a unit, and the years of playing together are showing.

The showcase of the set was the bulk (three-fifths) of the new composition ‘e’, which is described as a thematic piece of music in five sections, based on a 16-note chromatic figure, about 50 minutes long. It will be on the new studio album to be released in June.

Ade has said that 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 Crimson, but Gershwin and Stravinsky influences are present as well. The piece was composed using 16 different loops with parts and solos added over the top, and was written and arranged specifically for the power trio.

The gig opened with 20-minutes of ‘e’, parts 1 & 2. The set ended with part 5, I think it was.

Some of ‘e’ I really like, and some will take some learning, similar to acclimating to a Crimson tune.

So I had a good evening, and it was rewarding to see Ade once again, and I think my third time seeing Julie’s feet and Eric’s hair (LOL).

I was also nice to chat with Arlene and Bruce, although we were not able to do a pre- or post- show, and that certain guitarist dude (cough …. Kurt), did not show. There were a few people from my office there also.

I am disappointed I left before Ade and the Trio came out to the merchandise table … oh, well.

My advice would be to see Ade and The Trio if they play near you, as it is well worth it.

From Michael over at Planet Crimson:

"This is the third time I've seen the Trio in what, 4 years? They are still as fun and energetic as ever, and musically they just continue to grow. Adrian commented on it being unusual for them not to be playing for drunks in a bar, and this was indeed a very different experience. While the second time I saw them it was obvious that they had improved and the show was simply better than the first, in this case the show was neither better nor worse in that it was so different.

Of course, the main difference was "E", of which they played 3 of the 5 parts, taking up, I would guess, a good quarter of the show. They opened with the 4th public playing of "A" and "B", and closed the set with "E". In between they focused primarily on Adrian's output from recent years (although they did throw in some some old favorites like a smoking "Big Electric Cat"), and, significantly I think, within that recent output focused heavily on the instrumentals. This music lets them all stretch out a bit: Julie in particular seemed really free to explore her bass. I didn't keep track of any time or numbers, but it's very safe to say that Adrian sang much less less last night, and that the music was primarily instrumental. This included an impromptu drum solo Eric performed while we waited for guitar-tech Andre to repair a broken guitar string. (The expression on Eric's face when Adrian suddenly threw it over to him was priceless.)

Oh, one other thing: no King Crimson in the main set. For the lone encore they did play 3oaPP.

One thing that's clear is that with "E", which will be released in June, Adrian is moving into a new phase. How long this will last and where it will lead I suspect even he doesn't know, but it is music that works better in a theatre than a club. (It was kind of strange sitting in a theatre chair during those moments when they rocked out a bit.)

I also have to wonder if some recent events led to the withdrawal of a lot of Crimson material. This wasn't Adrian Belew of King Crimson's solo gig, this was The Adrian Belew Power Trio, his main band.

That's fine with me. I didn't miss Dinosaur, Frame, Elephant, etc. one bit."

Later,
xo

The Adrian Belew Power Trio on Tour - Part II

Okay, as the reviews and comments roll in from the current Adrian Belew Power Trio tour, I'll continue to add them here but first up, from our friends at the Frank Zappa forum board where I also lifted this picture...



"The Adrian Belew Power Trio was awesome! They played a bunch of stuff from their forth coming album "e" and it sounded sick! His Parker is insane! He had this crazy seat mounted on a big spring which allowed him to bounce all over the place so he could access all of his crazy pedals! Near the end of the show he ran the guitar through a keyboard that made it sound like a piano. It was the craziest shit I ever heard come out of a guitar! The Slick siblings were amazing. Eric is an awesome drummer and Julie is not just another chick on bass, she manhandles that beast with some authority! It was an awesome show!"

A couple of comments made over at the trio's MySpace site and Ade's blog:

"Adrian @ Blueberry Hill, Duck Room, St Louis, my 3rd time seeing him there, and this was the best show ever!!!!

Shows you what a power trio really is--
OMG it was intoxicating just listening to it.....

i can't even describe some of the music. Very high art, organized chaos/contrapointe, in the highest level of crimsonite/ (i think i just coined a word there) art rock/ jazz --- i don't know!!!!!!!!!! Then some very heavy bluesy hard rock intelligence on other songs.

Adrian is like a Zen master onstage and off.
The best rhythm section to come along in years.

Although if i was Adrian, that guy with the 1970's porno mustache leaning over the monitor would have creeped me out a bit...

i'm exhausted and going back to bed :-)
Thank you Power Trio, Thank you!!!"

"What a great concert at The Southgate House! It was like a great metal concert and a night with The Kronos Quartet at the same time..."

"Thanks for the show at St Louis! The entire trio was amazing as usual!"

"Adrian and the Slick kids are smokin' hot, lots of new material..."

And as a side note, I really dug the fact that Adrian's song, Model Man, was on this week fashion runway soundtrack in Paris or Milan or someplace like that for Fashion Week...at least according to this.

Okay, that's all I've got for now but I will keep updating throughout the day/night.

Later,
xo

Adrian Belew Power Trio on Tour - April, 2009

It's 5:00 a.m. and the reviews from the first two Adrian Belew Power Trio shows are just starting to roll in...

***NEW STUFF ADDED ALREADY****KEEP CHECKING BACK****



Pete Foley is responsible for the amazing above collage, and he writes:

"Late post of a montage from last night. This is the the astounding Adrian Belew Power trio, comprising the legendary Adrian Belew, supported by the awesome Julie and Eric Slick. I think Adrian may be the best guitarist in the world. His unique style has made him the long standing frontman of King Crimson, as well as playing in a who's who of top bands including Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Paul Simon, and The Bears. Julie and Eric Slick are brother and sister. Julie was a revelation as a bass player - delivering a stunning combination of complex riffs and fills, crunching power chords, and belew-esque sound effects. As a bass player myself, all I can say is "I am not worthy!" Eric is the best young drummer I've heard in years. These shots are not my usual quality, as I left the Nikon at home. I wanted to concentrate on the music, not on getting the right shot. I'm posting this just in case you see this guys billed as playing in your area. Please Go, you'll thank me!"

And then there is this, from Rhea Hayes, a long time dj and fan of King Crimson...well...I can't find the link to her blog but in reading it over the years, she has musical taste similar to my own...wait, never mind, I just found the link to her site...and whoops, see Rhea's comment below...seems I screwed up some facts...nothing unusual about that (insert smiley face emoticon here)

"I just got back from the show at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis. It was hot in there! Something really amazing happened: the band played an encore, and the show was over. The audience would not stop cheering. Loudly. The band came back out for another encore - it looked like it was unplanned and they came back out because of the audience response.

And something personally amazing too. Adrian came out to sign autographs after the show. Roy and I were waiting. When we got up to Adrian, he said "Hi Rhea, how you doing?" to me. It blows my mind that one of my favorite musicians knows me by name. Guess I see him often enough!"

I am sure there will be more but I just wanted to get this post going and will definitely add to it as more news/photos etc. come in...

***Like this, from Block Dog:

"It was a good show indeed, good crowd. Saul Zonna opened up as a one man band, sold his cdsross as a donation to the Red Cross in light of the recent tornados in TN.s

The show opened with 20 minutes of "e" which is shaping up nicely as a complicated instrumental with KC elements and some familiar structure themes here and there. Julie and Eric rocked hard. Adrian said the new one will be out in June. Apparantly it will contain no lyrics.

"e" went into a short drum break which transitioned into Young Lions, Writing on the Wall, Ampersand, Beat Box Guitar...

I'm afraid I missed the encore sections as apparently, I'm getting old. I had a long day and my back was bothering me. I hung out back at the merch table with Martha most of the evening as the packed house didn't allow for much closer viewing.
Got to meet Gary Slick and the wonderkins."

****And from John:

"Julie radiated all night like a mirror ball, intoxicating. Eric was relentless. And Adrian, he was...well, SLICK! Really, I think he packed a comb! I brought a friend whom had never heard them before and at the end of the show he was like a little school boy. They really ripped Young Lions. The two encores were Thela and Perfect Pair. Adrian commented on the first encore that he hadn't played a KC song all night. After Thela the band left and Adrian was half undressed when our chant pulled him out again. I saw someone prop the back door open and you could see him quickly getting dressed. Afterwards he commented that St. Louis was one of the loudest crowds so we've raised the bar for the following shows. I guess my faves were e and big electric cat. My friend is allergic to cats and even sneezed during the song. After the show Ade and the kids were cordial and inviting. Everyone should check out his stool. I teased Ade that his stool is better than Robert's and he even told me the name of it. (I forget now.) What a night. What a show!

From Simon Sonics:

"Adrian and Co. -

Whoa. What a show last night in STL. Eric and Julie are just fantastic, and a complete delight to see and hear. You guys are the best power trio in the world.

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Monday, April 13, 2009

Oh man, when I don't blog for a week, I really fall behind. Where the hell do I start?

I guess I will do this in no particular order. Let's see, the most spectacular event of the week music wise had to be Saturday night, and mind you, this is competing with Wednesday night when we saw Jeff Beck. More on that in a minute. But oh man, Saturday night we were treated to Drum Trek, a/k/a Drum Nerd (me) Paradise.

Here we have the genius, Pavel Fajt...



who did this totally, totally amazing solo set including a brief interlude using sticks on his head...then ended the set with three drummers, including the equally brilliant Eric Slick...



and the insanely talented Mike Pride



who did an opening set with another amazing legend, Jim Meneses.



It was just such an interesting night - four superb drummers, each bringing something totally different to the table; wild percussion on things other than drums I can't even begin to describe...just a brilliant evening.

By the way, if you are an Eric Slick fan and live in the Philadelphia area, he is going to be playing many, many gigs with some really awesome bands during the next several weeks. But of course most important and first up is his upcoming...well, starting tomorrow, tour with the Adrian Belew Power Trio.

Those shows are as follows, but of course I will have a lot more to say on the subject tomorrow:

Wed 04/15/09 Newport, KY Southgate House

Thu 04/16/09 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill's Duck Room

Fri 04/17/09 Milwaukee, WI Shank Hall

Sat 04/18/09 Schaumburg, IL Prairie Center For The Arts

Sun 04/19/09 Chicago, IL Old Town School Of Folk Music

As soon as he gets home on Monday, April 20, though, Eric is playing a totally wild show as a double drummer with Bodega at World Cafe Live along with Julie's significant other's band, Cheers Elephant...and if you haven't bought that CD yet, you are really missing out on something spectacular, and I'm not just saying that because Julie produced it...you can buy it here.

Back to Eric...and then he's got Shred Fest on May 3 at the Rotunda...

I'm not even scratching the surface here...I think he's busy like every night of April and May...fingers crossed there's more ABPT in June and July, though.

So let's see. What else. Oh yeah, we saw Jeff Beck at the Electric Factory last Wednesday. What can I say about a legend? Beautiful, unique, and pretty fucking spectacular music. And absolutely nothing at all like the Adrian Belew Power Trio, which is a common misconception since he has curly haired 23 year old Tal Wilkenfeld on bass and a real Zappa drummer in Vinnie Colaiuta. Tal and Julie are absolutely nothing alike, nor do they even remotely look alike, except for the hair. Don't get me wrong...Tal is fucking awesome. In reading her bio, she was originally a jazz guitarist and it shows in her playing. Julie is more of a rocker. In my fantasy world I would love to see a Julie v. Tal bass-off. But there would be no losers, that's for sure. Win/win all the way. Vinnie's an interesting drummer and again, nothing at all like Eric, even though Eric cut his teeth on Zappa music. So it was great to see them and of course I had to entertain the thought that Jeff and the ABPT should do a tour together...then I find out Jeff is already planning one with my pal Eric Clapton (sob)...so I am going to run around lighting candles and doing the chant thing...maybe they'll include the Power Trio. Hey, it could happen! All three bands are just so very different except for one thing - they all contain Guitar God legends.

Okay, I'll stop. But a girl can dream, can't she?

There's so much more I want to say but it's 8:00 p.m., I am all alone, and Mr. Jack Daniels is calling my name. I'm also blasting "Heartbeat" (on my Player here) and singing along. Consider yourself lucky you are not here. Though I still stand by my statement to Julie and Eric who refuse to allow me to sing out loud...I fucking rock...you guys are tone deaf.

Later,
xo

P.S. I am failing in my role as aspiring cookbook/travel writer because I forgot to mention that before we saw Jeff Beck, we had dinner at Modo Mio. Here's what we ate, and I'm quoting Julie, who was kind enough to email me back now from her rehearsals in Nashville because I knew she'd nail this:

"We all started with complimentary crostini bites - gorgonzola, fig, and rosemary
then house baked bread with the evoo topped with a dollop of lemon scented ricotta
Next, mussels red, lasagne, striped bass fillet in red wine mustard sauce with brussel sprouts; sausage something or other, prosciutto wrapped pork loin topped with a fried egg and caper sauce; tomato and buffalo mozzarella bruscetta, and a crispy melrose pepper stuffed with chick pea polenta and mantasio cheese); grilled octopus salad with white beans, raisins, and black olives; sugar snap peas with tomato and mint; and whole fish topped with fennel spiced breadcrumbs.

Dessert - raspberry sabayon, chocolate torte, creme caramel."

You can pretty much figure out who ate what. Eric is a vegetarian, Julie is a pescetarian, and I eat everything.

Let me add that dinner was INCREDIBLE and I highly recommend this restaurant. Though I could have done without Chef Peter's description of the night's special: Roasted lamb skull hollowed out and filled with fried potatoes. Now if that doesn't make me want to switch teams to vegan, nothing does. And what an awful thing to do to my absolute favorite food, fried potatoes. But you gotta give him credit - he's a hell of a creative chef. Definitely check this place out but if you order the lamb skull, please do not tell me.

Tonight in Philadelphia: Eric Slick in DRUM TREK

As posted by Eric Slick on a couple of forum boards around the web and reposted here by me, his loving mother, because I personally cannot wait for this show tonight.



Come out this Saturday to the Black Lodge in Philadelphia.

DRUM TREK: A 4 drummer extravaganza...which means a whole lot of drums making crazy and unique sounds.

There was an awesome plug for it in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The drummers are:
Pavel Fajt (Dunaj/Fred Frith)
Mike Pride (MDC/Dynamite Club/John Zorn/Anthony Braxton/Boredoms 77BoaDrum)
Eric Slick (Adrian Belew/Chris Harford/Project Object)
Jim Meneses (Stickmen/Chris Cutler)

Show stars at 8PM, Tickets are $10.
1508 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130

Hope to see you all there!

Sincerely,
Eric Slick
drums//adrian belew

Saturday afternoon in the Parc with Julie Slick

"Parc recalls the chic brasseries of Paris, serving traditional bistro fare in a charming and comfortable space. This stylish addition to Rittenhouse Square pays tribute to French café culture, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Ideal for a quick bite or a leisurely meal, the menu is filled with classics such as onion soup, escargots, steak frites and towering plateaus de fruits de mer. The baguettes are made in-house and are the perfect accompaniment to the charcuterie platter. Trout Amandine and Beef Bourguignon pair perfectly with the diverse selection of wines on our expansive wine list. Sip a Kir Royale at the original zinc bar or just enjoy a café au lait while sitting outside watching the passersby. Parc offers a perfect experience any time of day for any occasion. Reservations recommended."



So naturally that's where Julie wanted to have lunch on Saturday, after the two of us traipsed all over downtown Philadelphia buying fun things like a new tour wardrobe for the Adrian Belew Power Trio's upcoming run of shows next week (Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois -- is it still snowing in those places?)



Yeah, you'd better believe Parc is famous for their in-house baked bread...I could have been happy with the basket alone (multi-grain, fruit and nut studded, and sour dough)...if not for the incredibly fresh oysters and shrimp...we ended up ordering two of those platters...we had a couple of interesting sauces with them; one a shallot red wine vinegar (I think) and the other a spicy more traditional cocktail..but oh oh oh how those oysters went down -- we sucked 'em up like cocktails...



...which, of course, we also had - I drank some weird bright green combo of basil and cucumber and vodka that was scary as hell looking but so odd it was awesome; Julie had absinthe with apricots which, after one taste, gave me flashbacks from the seventies...we were both on our asses after just one each of those drinks but we had to have wine with our lunch so Julie opted for Pinot something or other and I had Muscadet. I'm going to have to check with J as to exactly what we drank - she's the wine expert in the family. I am merely her appreciative accomplice.

Oh yeah, we also had warm shrimp salad with avocado and lemon beurre blanc and after that, a cheese plate with quince paste and a dark, spicy mustard. And more baguettes. Also, sliced apples and ridiculously good whole almonds. Veddy nice.

For those of you over at Twitter where I've been touting my new black leather jacket, here it is:



I guess I'll post a photo of me wearing it but I need to do something about my crazy hair first. I'm really having a hair midlife crisis. I want to cut long spiky bangs and put even more different color streaks in. I know, I know, I've completely lost my mind.

This is all because a friend wrote to me and said "One life, Robin. That's all we get." I'm letting that fuck with my brain. On the one hand, I am the happiest person alive. I had an absolutely amazing Saturday afternoon with my very best girlfriend, the shockingly talented and gorgeous Julie Slick. My brilliant son, Eric, gigs practically every night and this Saturday in particular, he's doing something fantastic:



By the way, he also designed that poster. Yes, I know...somehow the whacked out genes of Gary and Robin mutated into something beyond extraordinary.

But getting back to me and that You only get one life thing, on the other hand, I could be so much happier (like, if one of my books were made into a movie...as I once came so close to doing) and I also know I am my own worst enemy. And now, on top of that, I'm worrying that I'm squandering my "one life". I wish I could explain what I mean but I know the way cyberworld works -- you read this blog or one or more of my books you think you have a handle on me-- but truth to tell, you don't have a clue as to what my life really entails. Trust me, it's not Hollywood. Anyway, what I do know for sure is that a lot of you will read that "One Life" line and you'll shake your head in agreement and say "Yeah, that's pretty heavy...wow...I need to reflect on that." So you should. And by all means, buy yourself a black leather jacket, too. It may be shallow but strangely enough, it sure as hell made me feel better today.

Or, you will say what the fuck is this broad talking about and Does Anyone Feel Like Going Out for Gelato?

Whatever. But since I have overloaded this post with crappy, frivolous trendy stuff, here's something to shake things up a bit...and because all kidding and crappy, frivolous trendy stuff aside, I'm really feeling this right now:



I'll be back later to model my new jacket and hair.

Later.
xo