The Slick Famiy on Tour...More Tales from the Road

Well, we’re in the final stretch of the tour and to say I’m homesick is putting it mildly. All I want to do is sleep in my own bed in between my two guys.

Oh wait. That didn’t sound quite right, did it. Oh well, Ha ha, get your minds out of the gutter, I’m talking about dogs. Oh Monty, I miss you so much!



So as I indicated in my last post and as you may have read on my Twitter feed, this marks my swan song as merch woman for the Adrian Belew Power Trio as well as unofficial publicist. I am knee deep in my own writing, and it’s time to focus on my career after three and a half years. It’s been an interesting ride, but it’s time to fly.

But rest assured you haven’t heard the end of me – I am writing a non-fiction book which will address many of the ups and downs of life on the road and my personal behind the scenes account as “groupie mom”. It won’t be a sensational tell-all but it will be a comedy, that is for sure.

Anyway, now that I’ve got that out of the way, I may as well have a last hurrah or two and talk about some of the awesome things that have happened on this tour. For one thing, if you follow us on Facebook, you’ll know that Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton, founders of Pixar Films, are huge Adrian Belew Power Trio fans. So they showed up at our show at Slim’s in San Francisco , were blown away by my brilliant offspring, and invited us for a personal guided tour of Pixar the following day.

Well.

What an experience that was. I get the feeling that if you work for Pixar, you wake up each morning and say “Huzzah! I get to go to the office today!” Because dear God, what an “office” it is. Words cannot even begin to describe it. So here’s a few photos to start with:







Our tour started with a private screening in what had to be the most amazing theater ever…the ceiling was a planetarium with shooting stars. Because I no longer have little kiddies, I may have missed the two greatest films in recent history – Up and Partly Cloudy. Got to see trailers for both of them, as well as the trailer for Toy Story 3, coming out in June of 2010. Oh. My.

Eric and I freely admitted we cried during all three screenings. Our eyes filled up – from the sheer genius and pretty much from excitement, too…and maybe even a bittersweet feeling as well.

Instead of cubicles, Andrew and Pete went out and bought a bunch of sheds at Home Depot and each employee has their own shed which they decorated any way they wanted. One guy had a tiki hut with bamboo everywhere; but the absolute best was a guy who didn’t have a shed, but a corner office where he found a crawl space. Holy cow, look what he did…the world's coolest secret room. I don't know about you guys, but a secret room is like number #1 on my top ten list of fantasies.







Here's Adrian, in an extremely fitting photo given his approaching *cough* 60th birthday, using the cane which was a prototype from "Up"...check out the tennis balls...



Here are picture and story boards used for every film...as a writer, this just completely fascinated me.





And get a load of Eric, standing at the very mic used by Ed Asner, Reese Witherspoon, Danny DeVito - well, virtually every star that ever lent his/her voice to a Pixar film. Oh, by the way, that secret room I showed you? The wall is full of autographs...everyone from all of said stars...I saw Robert DeNiro's (I signed next to his signature since we share the same birthday of August 17) and the Obama daughters, who visited just last week!)...



Here's our very reluctant good-bye shots...





In other news, I had a blast yesterday at Redondo Beach. I was feeling really claustrophobic after all the long car rides I’ve endured with the trio these past three weeks so I took off on my own and went for a long walk down by the ocean and then sat down, took huge gulps of the salty air, and read a fantastic book by Richard Russo, "Nobody's Fool", which I picked up at Powell’s when we were in Portland. Oh yeah. Powell’s. Man, I may take a vacation to Portland just so I can spend two weeks in that store. I’d like to buy a sleeping bag and just live there for a while. And that’s not just because they carry all of my books, either. (Though okay, I will admit - what a thrill that was!) Which reminds me…oh hell, I’d better get my ass to the hotel desk or a UPS store because I’ll never get all the books I purchased on the plane with me.. I got over 20 books for the ridiculous sum of $125.00…stuff I didn’t even know existed by my favorite authors (I’m talking to you, Nick Hornby and Mr. Russo and Jane Smiley…oh man, I am set for the winter). Anyway, yeah, I sat on the beach reading all day; then I went off to dinner by myself at a new French/Asian Restaurant on the waterfront called Maison Riz. It seriously may be one of the best meals I’ve ever had anywhere, and to say it was gorgeous…right on the water, the waves crashing literally under my table and next to me, seagulls flying by but on the other side of the glass where they couldn’t hurt me or eat my food (ha)…a cool breeze, a perfect view of the sunset…a salad of white and green asparagus,…oh oh oh. And a green tea tiramisu for dessert that may rank as the most insanely delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.

Hard to believe that I sunned myself yesterday after being in a blizzard in Canada last week but oh joy, I get to relive that in a few days when we go to Aspen and Littleton, Colorado.

And then last night at the show I met Keith Wechsler, sound man/engineer for Keith Emerson and the Beach Boys, to whom I genuflected and also, Doug Lunn, who I already met when he played a gig with Eric and Mike Keneally. What an amazing fucking bass player he is!

Next, Andre introduced me to Carl Restivo, who plays with Perry Farrell and Tom Morello -- just click on that link and sigh like I did. He was totally enamored with Julie and Eric and gave them some interesting incentive to hang out in LA this January. I say GO FOR IT!

I was in freaking groupie heaven.

It was way cool watching Doug and Carl and Andre talk in front of me at the show. Doug and Carl have never met but they’ve played with all the same people so they bonded big time and I just ate that up.

In Seattle, I met Ade’s adult kids Audie (of “Oh Daddy “ fame) and Udo and their significant others, Larry and Autumn respectively. I loved them. Audie is drop dead gorgeous and could be a stand up comedian and Udo is so handsome and sensitive….he also makes music and gave us his CD…amazing, beautiful stuff. I hung out with them after the show and they are just awesome.

Speaking of party girls, I also got to meet long time Belew fan Rena Fay, a/k/a Tickledrop, who came to four of the west coast shows and she came bearing gifts of wonder and delight and let’s leave it at that. Ha! Oh get your minds out of the gutter again – she brought us a basket filled with avocados, fresh fruit, cheese, olive oil, bread, bilanis, apple tartain, really sick cookies…anyway, look what Julie made us for breakfast in our hotel room with the contents two mornings in a row:



Other way cool people I met at Slim’s – Anil Prasad and Barry Cleveland, Mike Molenda, and Jude Gold of Guitar Player Magazine who interviewed Julie and Eric…there’s going to be a video up shortly on their website along with a clip from their show and naturally I’ll post a link as soon as it’s up. Anil took Julie and me out to dinner at an incredible vegan restaurant, Herbivore, but that’s not why I love him. We met on Twitter of all places and it turns out he’s been friendly with Andre for years; anyway, we started an email friendship a couple of months ago and when we met in person, it was as if we’d been friends in real life forever. I suspect we will be hanging out again in the future – at least I hope so!

Also met Gary Platt in San Francisco – he’s the one who mixed “e” – Gary is a character and I understand I blew a chance to hang out with him and Rena after the Slims show, damn it. By the way, we stayed at The Phoenix "How many hotels can claim that Keanu Reeves, Joan Jett, Vincent Gallo and Little Richard have graced their mattresses (no, silly, not all at the same time!)? How many San Francisco hotels are the crash pad and launching pad for world-renowned bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Psychedelic Furs and Pearl Jam; and up-and-comers like The Killers, Bloc Party and The Shins? With so much creative energy swirling around you never know who might be strumming a guitar, posing for a photo shoot or just kicking back by the pool."

Yep – coolest hotel ever – but I’m such an old fuckwit, I was already asleep by the time they arrived.

Oh well. I guess staying up late does not fit in with my new vegetarian lifestyle, anyway. Hey, this may be a coincidence, but I’m no longer huffing and puffing walking up hills or stairs. Could meat, sugar and butter really have been the culprit? Hmmm…I’ll be curious to see what happens when I visit my doctor when I get back and he draws some blood. I know one thing – he’s going to freak when I get on the scale. I haven’t weighed myself but my jeans are falling off me and when I see a photo of myself now, I’ve definitely lost one of my three chins.

Andre told me "Hey, look at you - reversing the aging process!"

As they say out here on the west coast: "RIGHT ON!"

One hilarious incident happened when we walked into this dive for breakfast. It was a place right out of 1950 and there were all these old hobo looking guys at the counter. One was actually named Earl (we heard the waitress say his name). Anyway, we came strolling in and Earl says “Whoa, look at this gang. Must be movie stars. I’ll take the blonde in the dark glasses.”

Score!

Yep, that’s what it’s come down to. Me and Earl.

It happened to me again yesterday on the beach. Some guy on a bicycle stopped, screeching in his tracks, to say Hi to me.

“Are you married?"

Erm…I pretended not to have heard him but he was a persistent bugger.

“I’m sixty-six. How old are you?”

Lovely.

Let’s see. What else. I’ve met a ton of fans from one of my cyber hangouts, Progressive Ears so it’s been way cool putting faces to names, or screen names I should say. In Portland I finally got to meet Ade’s brilliant photographer Mark Colman, and I understand congratulations are in order because Mark is getting married to his sweetheart, Amy. According to Twitter, he just proposed to her and she said yes! I’m so happy for them.

Man, in watching/listening to Eric drum solo last night, he just gets better and better and the crowds know it, just as they do with Julie. Bit of a bummer that Ade cut Madness from the set but I guess he has his reasons. Julie really rocked out on that one – there’s going to be some disappointed fans out there but I’m through trying to analyze shit, or run peoples' lives – it’s a liberating feeling and it’s all good. ETA: Eric had a meeting with Adrian post-show last night and Madness is back in. Hurrah! Smart move on a lot of levels and um, no further comment necessary.

You know, I read Amanda Palmer’s blog and Trent Reznor’s manifesto on the state of the music business in 2009 and how you need to be ultra creative and think of different ways to promote yourself but at this point it only frustrates me because it’s not my band and like I said, no sense banging my head against the wall repeatedly. Bottom line is the music is great and if that’s not enough, well, it’s not my job or my place to fix it though I will use their brilliant business models for my own career and I can only assume Julie and Eric will do the same in the future.

Mmm…the trio also did an amazing version of Beatbox. . It takes on a life of its own every single night. Ack, it drives me up a wall that people do not know about this band. We drive for hours and hours to play for rooms that should be sell-outs but…

Okay, I said I would be quiet about all that and now I will forever more.

In my next post, I will be talking food, baby. We’ve had some really memorable meals on the road…I’ve got to do a restaurant travel guide for you in case you visit any of the cities we hit on this tour…even though I’m not quite sure you’ll ever find yourself in Kamloops, British Columbia, but still.

Oh yeah, before I end this post, speaing of Kamloops, to get there, we drove through the most magnificent national park (Jasper) to get to our destination…here are some breathtaking shots







And that's a wrap for today.

Later,
xo

Well, here I am in California with daughter Julie...

And this pretty much says it all...



Notice my skinny vegetarian body? Ha ha, I'm freaking starving to death, but oh it's so worth it.

Also notice my new banner. You know how Frank Zappa said "Play My Music"? Well, here's my version: "Read My Books!"

In the next few weeks, my blog will undergo a transformation. Julie Slick is doing such a wonderful job over at her blog I think I will defer to her and concentrate on my own career as a writer among other things.

I mean, I will still have plenty of Slick family stories to tell and tales from the road, etc. (I'm talking about you, naked guy and toe nail polish dude)...but you know, life is all about change and I think it's time to shake things up a bit.

ETA: Julie and Eric have joined forces with brilliant guitarist Robbie "Seahag" Mangano to form a new band known as Paper Cat. To hear samples of their music or to download their new live CD, go right here.

So stay tuned. I promise you we will still have fun.

Cool?

Cool!

Later,
xo

Update from the road

Dear Blog:
I'm sorry I've lost interest in you lately, especially as we are coming up on your five year anniversary this month. I was going to do something special to celebrate, but then I thought to myself: Robin, it's a blog. What the hell are you thinking?

Truth is, and I know this is sad, but I've kind of lost interest in blogging. Between writing an actual new book, editing one I wrote a while back, Twitter...and I'm even losing interest in Twitter, too, it's just been a drag lately. Even more shocking, I've lost interest in the internet.

Yes, it's true.

Know why? Real life has been way more interesting. As I said, I've been doing a lot of writing, a lot of reading, I went on a fantastic vacation with my family and my "baby", eleven year old Monty dog, and in between all that I've been touring all over the United States and Canada with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, selling their merch, i.e., their new CD "e" and t-shirts.

Tonight, for example, I'm in a place I never thought I'd find myself - Edmonton, Alberta, where they had five inches of snow yesterday and it feels like it's twenty below zero outside. One week ago today, I was on the beach in New Jersey, throwing a ball to my dog wearing nothing but a t-shirt and light cotton cargo pants. Today I'm desperate for socks and a winter coat -- neither of which I brought with me on tour.

I mean, c'mon . Ir'a October 9 for Christ sake. In Philadelphia that is still summer.

Oh yeah, speaking of that, a moment of silence and a Happy Birthday to the late, great Johns: Lennon and Entwistle.

The show tonight has been pushed back to 11:00 p.m.; I'm at my merch table bored to tears and I just realized I'm here for another two hours before the trio takes the stage, so I said to myself Oh okay, why the hell not, do a blog post for your fans. Ha ha, just kidding, what fans, but you know what I mean. I know there's a bunch of you out there still swinging by daily looking for an update, so what the fuck, here it is.

Let me backtrack for a minute first. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I also sold merch on the August/September ABPT run and I did do live tweets back then but so far on this run this is the first time I've had good working wireless and we're already on the 4th show. And having already done the Twitter thing, I just haven't had the urge to do it again. But I digress. When I last left you, I probably didn't tell you about the seven hour train ride home from Pittsburgh with the lunatic on the cell phone I wanted to murder; I may have mentioned I became a vegetarian on that tour...well, I'm still a vegetarian and almost but not quite a vegan now, and having spent the last couple of days in Canada, if I wasn't a vegetarian before this tour started, I'd sure as hell be one now. More on that in a minute.

So yeah, I got home from the last tour on September 13 and then on September 14 had the first of four periodontal surgeries. Let me give you all some advice. If anyone ever tells you to have periodontal surgery, just take a gun to your head instead. It would probably be far less painful. I required a week long prescription of Vicodin after that experience (and now I know why people love that stuff; but no, I did not...I slept in a hazy fog for seven straight days). On Saturday the 19th, I took off for two weeks to the beach house where I continued to recuperate - that's how bad it was -- and even the first few days of vacation were spent gingerly trying to eat. I was still on a pretty strong antibiotic at that point and couldn't even ride a bicycle. So that kind of sucked, but eventually I felt better...the only bummer is I need three more of those surgeries and now that I know what it entails, I'm not real motivated to go through with the next one. But it must be done, and I guess that pleasure awaits me next month when I return home from the tour.

Anyhow, I was at the beach until October 3; I got home that Saturday, ran and got my hair trimmed that afternoon (ooh, and I totally changed my hair which I did not plan to do but I have a fantastic stylist named Shari Sigafoos who works at American Mortals - she's a friend of my son, Eric ad he turned me on to her -- anyway, she's brilliant, she told me I should cut bangs and I said Sure, change is good. A lot of fans have taken photos with me on this tour so if any turn up of me and my bangs, I'll post one. I've also managed to lose over ten pounds on the new veggie diet so it's like transformation city here. (Did I mention I've pretty much given up sugar and butter, too? Yeah. I can't believe it, either.)

Ran home from American Mortals just in time to throw another suitcase together for three weeks on the road and a couple of hours later I hopped on a plane for Minnesota. The first show on this run was in Minneapolis on Monday, October 5. I met up with Julie, Eric and Adrian there on Sunday night, October 4.

Man, there were a lot of people in football jerseys there. You know why? Our show was scheduled the same night as probably the biggest Monday night football game in history - Brett Favre, who now plays for the Vikings, was set to face his old team, the Green Bay Packers.

When we learned this, we gave a collective groan. That did not bode well for the show. Hell, Adrian, Julie and I would have been home watching that game ourselves. (Not Eric...Eric is all about the music). So we were kind of bummed but we made the best of it - we enjoyed, at least vicariously, all of the celebrating going on (The Vikings won) and yep, even got to watch the end of the game after the concert. The venue where the band played was pretty cool and the people who did attend were devoted fans who were extremely enthusiastic - they not only missed "the game" for us, they braved what had to be a massive traffic jam because the venue was pretty close to the stadium where the Vikings and Packers were playing.

It was fun.

The next day, though, we had to drive to Canada. Hey, to get there, we had to drive through Fargo, North Dakota. Did you guys see that movie? Of course you did. Well, having seen Fargo up close and personal, I now understand. Har har. Anyway, it was bleak and the weather was pretty awful, too. Lots and lots of rain. Bleh. And then, for the second time in two months, we got flagged at the Canadian border and had to exit the car and answer a bunch of questions. Oh, those crazy rock stars, eh? I guess they had to do computer checks on all of us; I just prayed that all the nasty letters and emails I've been sending to Republicans since 1972 didn't appear on my record anywhere but whew, I was cleared along with everyone else and off we went to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg was really cool. I love Canada. I may live there some day. Or not. But I really dig it lots and the people are super friendly and laid back. I love the accent, too. Oh, who am I kidding I'm not leaving Philadelphia any time soon. Philadelphia rocks. In fact, the more I travel all over the world, the more I realize what a cool little city it is. In fact, I'm homesick just writing about it now.

But man it was a long drive from Minnesota to Winnipeg. Brutal. It's one of many 14 hour drives on this tour. Thank God I have some great books with me. I just read Straight Man by Richard Russo. Somehow I missed reading it all those years ago. If you haven't read it yet, just do it. Trust me on that one. You can thank me later.

My next book is one on Zen Buddhism by Alan Watts. I actually started reading it yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I know. First I give up meat; then I give up the internet, now I'm reading books on buddhism.

Just call me Robin the hipster.

But wtf, it's where I'm headed. There's all this hate and greed in the world right now -- especially in the U.S. -- and I'm having a really hard time dealing with it. I was naive enough to believe that having Obama in the White House would bring us all together as a nation; instead, it's brought out the haters and those who worship Fox News. As I mentioned recently on Twitter, I have a new rule: I'm no longer going to speak or even be civil to anyone who is a regular voluntary watcher/fan of Fox News.

But I congratulate our President on having won the Nobel Peace prize today and as Julie, Eric and I pondered this over breakfast, we hope it raises the bar for him to work even harder and fulfill his campaign promises. I can just imagine what the haters are saying today. I think I'd better stay away from all television for the next several days, though truth to tell, I stay away from it anyway.

I'm digressing again, aren't I. Well, one more hour until Adrian et al take the stage and I still have much to say so where was I. Oh yeah, the tour.

So the show in Winnipeg was fabulous! Packed with people; I talked to some really interesting fans; it was a joyous evening.

Except we had another fourteen hour drive ahead of us to Calgary. We had the next day off, and we decided to divide the trip into two seven hour days on the road. Except that we didn't count on SNOW, and a one lane highway with insane oil trucks who were passing on a double yellow line. Yeah, I was pretty sure we were going to die in Canada but somehow we made it. We drove over 400 miles in a place I can only describe as...hmmm....like being on the moon? There was no greenery, nothing to look at...just flat yellow land with weirdly placed bales of hay (someone please tell me what that's about) and then, we'd come across these beautiful cows, close enough to see their eyes staring through our car window. Hence my line about being a vegetarian. I could never eat a cow again as long as I live. And then we saw the pig trucks - cold, silver metal vehicles taking pigs, already marked for death and I mean that literally; they have marks on them made by the farmers, squealing through tiny slits as they were being driven to their execution.

I am chilled to the bone just thinking about it.

Meanwhile, I had a "meatloaf" tonight made of lentils and nuts and it tasted better than any real meat I've ever had. So I invite you all to join my team.

Oh God, who would have thunk it . Not me. But I feel so fucking great it's ridiculous.

Anyway, Calgary was very cool as well...great show, damn near perfect in fact, awesome fans...and woo hoo, only a three hour drive to Edmonton today.

And now I must go, because people want to buy CDs and talk to me, and I'm trying not to think of the massive two day drive to Vancouver tomorrow for our show there Sunday night...can you believe it's Thanksgiving here on Monday? How insane!

I'm really looking forward to Vancouver though. And in a perfect world, I'll be back for an update then.

In the meantime...

Later,
xo

Hurrah!

So I've been at the beach all week, and I've been missing Julie and Eric Slick something awful...well, that's about to change. Eric is on his way here as we speak, and Julie will be arriving tomorrow morning and finally, we'll have a real baseball team again!



That's a pic from the amusement park here circa 2006 - I am going by the length of Eric's hair in the photo combined with the fact that I think it's the last time they wangled their father into going on that ride of terror and doom.

You notice I'm not crazy enough to be there...well, I was the photographer, nothing more.

Anyway, in case anyone is interested, and I should really not be so lazy and download the photos of some of the beautiful meals I have had over the past few days, I've not only maintained the vegetarian diet down here I've been, with only two exceptions, a total vegan, and naturally the one time I was not vegan and pigged out on pizza with lots of cheese, I got deathly ill. So it was immediately back to vegetables for me, and I've been grooving on everything from chargrilled portabella mushroom sandwiches to salads bursting with fresh avocado, artichokes, olives, chick peas...I'm so healthy I can't stand it.

I even have home made ratatouille over brown rice for when Eric comes today, but I bet even he will want pizza for lunch. That's the trouble. The pizza is really great here but you must exercise moderation, which, if you are a faithful reader of this blog, you know I do not know how to do.

Anyway, that's not the reason I'm here blogging. The real reason is I found a great Adrian Belew Power Trio review, and I just couldn't let it slip by without posting it. So here's the original link but to make it easy, a cut and paste for quick gratification:

"The Adrian Belew Power Trio
September 1, 2009 by trevorhults
Ginger Baker & Jack Bruce, John Entwistle & Keith Moon, John Bonham & John Paul Jones: all on the short list of engines, fueled by blood fire, of the truly great rhythm sections. Soon to be added: Eric & Julie Slick, graduates of the Paul Green School of Rock. They make the case for human cloning. I soon hope to procure my very own pair of Slick clones (I have yet to tell the rest of the band). Eric and Julie’s prodigious talents were on display this past Saturdy with the Adrian Belew Power Trio at Maxwell’s in Hoboken.

The Power Trio played through the material on their new album “e” with a few Crimson covers and early Belew classics interspersed. As always someone in the crowd called out for Crimson tunes that clearly weren’t on the set list. Seriously, Dinosaur… that’s the tune you just have to hear? At times thrashing and lumbering like a Viking horde, at other moments playing with deft virtuosity. In the midst of their wall of sound Mr. Belew continues to be the most innovative and amazing of all Zappa alumni churning out a steady stream of music that’s truly a unique voice. He stood in a circle of amps, effects, and gizmos looping layer upon layer of jagged, screeching, and twisting guitar parts. He turns the traditional trio format into a vehicle for rock orchestration.

Adrian has no rivals and continuously reinvents the vocabulary of rock guitar. Belew has secured the future of rock music by bringing the Slicks into his belewniverse. Great rhythm sections define great power trios: Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Rush, The Police and now The Adrian Belew Power Trio."

Ah...I loved that. I mean, come on, anytime another person notices the obvious similarities of Jack Bruce/Ginger Baker and John Entwistle/Keith Moon and John Bonham/John Paul Jones to Julie and Eric Slick, well, I must applaud them on their fine musical knowledge. So thank you, Trevor, whoever you are....but please do take note that I have corrected the spelling of "Entwistle" for you....there is no "h".

Later,
xo

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well, I'm back home from touring; I have about nine million stories, all of which you can read in my new book tentatively titled "Merch Woman" because it would be a travesty to blog about them for free har har, and in case you haven't caught up with my agonized posts on Twitter, my first day back had me at the periodontist on Monday having the absolute world's most painful dental surgery so I need to make this brief -- I want to go back to bed and sleep this off!

I'm on Vicodin for Christ sake and woe is me, I like it. Not good for someone who gets addicted to everything from shopping to chocolate but luckily I only have twelve pills and it's a non-refillable prescription.

Oh, I'm kidding. Like I'd really allow myself to get hooked on narcotics for a tooth problem; I'm just happy it works because Oh Boy Do I Feel Pain when it wears off but unless I develop an infection, the discomfort should be gone by the end of the week, anyway, and I only like the Vicodin for the relief it gives me; not the weird high. Seriously, that feeling of not being able to touch bottom is not cool.

Here's a photo I adore that Julie took of Eric and me, wearing my e-shirt of course, in my favorite city in the world other than Philadelphia, namely, Quebec...but oh, add to that list Toronto...but I think that is mainly because my two best meals of the tour were had there (dinner at Utopia, where I had dinner consisting of curried zucchini soup, tzatziki with grilled naan, and mushroom and goat cheese salad which contained warm sauteed portabella and white mushrooms, goat cheese, roasted red peppers in a warm soy & balsamic dressing over a bed of field mix and plum tomatoes and sprinkled with walnuts -- and breakfast at Auntie and Uncles, where our server, a very funny guy and a huge prog rock fan who inexplicably loves Genesis but didn't know Adrian gave us complimentary "prog cakes", i.e., fresh berry wheatcakes); I met Martin Popoff***, and had the absolute world's best after party at the Mod Club until 3:00 a.m. -- Hello, Sasha and Emily! Hi, Jason!



I have even lost more weight since that photo - the new vegetarian me has now lost a total of ten pounds since August 20...I realize this is in good part due to my dental surgery this week and will taper off but I am determined to lose another ten by the end of October. I'm liking how I am looking and feeling (other than my teeth) in a big way!

Anyway, I'm sure most of you have already seen this, but in case you haven't, The Buffalo News contains probably the best review ever of an Adrian Belew Power Trio show...when I first read it, I burst into tears. It does contain one inaccuracy, though, which is that "e" is not available yet. "e" is not only available, I was at the venue that night, selling it, and woo hoo, I will be at the merch table on the entire west coast tour beginning October 5 through October 25. To see where I'll be, and in case you are in another part of the world and would like to buy "e" off of Adrian's website, please go right here!

Belew Power Trio delivers exuberant set

By Jeff Miers
NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
September 12, 2009, 7:05 AM /
Adrian Belew has nothing to prove.

"He’s already had a hand in the most interesting, creative, and groundbreaking music of the past 30 years. Whether working with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, the Bears, King Crimson, or with his own bands, Belew always went for the creative jugular, and in the process made a significant mark on whatever musical situation he found himself in.

Most musicians who have done far less have already taken the incentive package and semiretired to the “play your couple of hits over and over again” circuit. Belew, on the other hand, has proven to be an artist of an entirely different temperament.

On Friday, the Tralf Music Hall hosted Belew’s Power Trio, and an appreciative audience acted as witness to Belew’s testimony. The man has played on many “hit” songs, can write a pop hook like almost no one else, and has proven his deep love for the craftsmanship of the Beatles repeatedly. Going for a higher commercial profile and playing bigger places was definitely one of Belew’s possibilities whenever he took a break from his ongoing role in King Crimson. The man definitely took the less-traveled road.

Fronting the Power Trio — 22 year-old drummer Eric Slick and his 23 year-old sister, Julie, on drums and bass respectively — Belew offered a dense, challenging and exuberant set of music centered around an album that hasn’t come out yet. That record, “e,” out in a few weeks time, is a song-cycle based on repeated, expansive motifs, polyrhythms, daring harmonies and a jarring interpolation of grooves, to boot. Not exactly a case of coddling the audience, Belew and company’s set, but an exhilarating encounter for those willing to take the risk.

Belew opened with an early, pre-Crimson favorite, “Big Electric Cat,” but before anyone at the Tralf caught the whiff of nostalgia, the three ran off into dangerous, rocky and previously uncharted terrain. The Trio’s new album, “e,” was revealed in segments, and the first — encompassing the initial four movements — spent a quarter of an hour moving from a lyrical, classical introduction, through bits of industrial near-metal, African polyrhythmic motifs, a purely “free” section of improvisation, and some Beatle-esque psychedelia before its race was run.

The crowd, unfamiliar with this unreleased material, offered a visceral, chaotic response to its airing. Belew and the Slicks seemed pleased.

Belew is a wonderful singer, with a pure, high tenor, and a penchant for heartrending melody. That particular aspect of his genius was perhaps underrepresented on Friday, but when he did take the mic for a more pop-structured song — say “Ampersand,” “Young Lion,” “Of Bow and Drum,” though none of these follow any of conventional pop’s rules — he made it count.

It should be noted that the Slick siblings have developed, since their stop at the Tralf in 2008, into two of the finest rock musicians extant. Eric’s drumming was superb throughout, blending elements of Bill Bruford, John Bonham and Chad Wackerman into a wholly new hybrid. Slick is simply a stunning musician.

Bassist Julie brought low-end oomph, substantial melodic invention, and dizzying, John Entwhistle-like flurries of blues scales and more “outside” patterns to her side of the stage. Throughout, the Slicks appeared to be communicating in a manner that transcended language. It was all quite incredible to bask in.

And Belew? The man appeared to be walking on air, so comfortable in his element, so childlike in his enjoyment of the musicians around him. When the joyous interplay between the musicians on the stage can be parlayed to the audience, when those gathered take the journey with the players— that’s a beautiful and rare thing."

Ah, I love me a good review. It's sad, but with newspapers going out of business all over the country and laying off writers, it's becoming more and more difficult to actually have a real live rock music writer at your shows.

Which leads me to Martin Popoff and the *** I put next to his name. So here's that footnote:

***Martin Popoff is an amazing highly credentialed rock writer. Please click on the link I provided above and read all about him because it was such an honor to have him come up to me during the show and tell me that Eric may be the best drummer he's ever seen -- and this is a man who wrote extensively about Neil Peart -- and he was blown away by Ms. Julie Slick as well. Look for an interview/review he is writing on the ABPT to appear in a future issue of Goldmine Magazine.

Alas, he is not the mystery special guest to whom I referred while live tweeting that night -- Martin had invited Rush's Alex Lifeson "and friend" to the show but if Alex and friend were there, I did not see them. So to those of you who speculated that Robert Fripp was in the audience...no.

Oh man, I have so much more to say but it's going to be the best book I ever wrote - for real - and my first true work of non-fiction although trust me, I couldn't write fiction crazier than some of the stuff that happened...so I better end this now before I blab too much.

Love you guys, and oh, starting this coming Saturday I will be collapsing for two weeks at the beach and working on said novel; then the very next day upon my return, October 4, I hop on a plane for Minneapolis to begin the west coast leg of the tour which will take me everywhere from Vancouver to San Francisco to Aspen, Colorado...but yeah, yeah, I'll have the trusty laptop with me and will certainly live Tweet the entire time...you should really follow me on Twitter, I am both entertaining and informative. Ha ha, and apparently an egomaniac as well.

Oh, and one more thing - make sure you read Julie's account of the tour. She is really hilarious though yes, when she hit her head in Piermont, New York, I was not laughing and I did scream that I was terrified that this could be another Natasha Richardson incident. I was glad to be there because I was the one who ran to get ice and watched her carefully to make sure she wasn't concussive. Hey, once a mother, always a mother, eh?

Later,
xo

The Tour So Far...

Hey hey:

For all of you wondering where is Robin and why isn't she blogging from the Adrian Belew Power Trio tour, frankly, so much has occurred I've got the material for a hilarious and interesting (I hope, anyway) brand new book so as much as it pains me, I need to control myself and refrain from writing anything other than (1) It's been a blast so far - Adrian, Julie and Eric are making music each evening that grows more incredible by the day if that is possible; (2) Life on the road is HARD...you go to cool cities and towns but you are so tired from the long drives and then there's load in and sound check and remembering to feed yourselves so really, unless you get a day off, all you see is your hotel room; (3) It is not that hard living a vegetarian lifestyle but it is difficult doing it properly while traveling and on a budget and while I'm enjoying what, judging by the notches on my belt, is pretty rapid weight loss, I am getting cranky from hunger; (4) you really do live out of your suitcase and I'm just glad that unlike the trio, I overpacked so I haven't had to utilize the laundry rooms at said hotels as much as the rest of the band but my suitcase is way too stuffed and heavy so that's the downside (Adrian teased me when I told him how much I brought. "What did you do, pack for a summer at camp?" he teased.)

Yep.

Oh that I smuggled some food with me but trust me, the west coast run in October will have me traveling with a suitcase full of peanut butter, jelly, and protein bars instead of 25 t-shirts and six pair of pajamas.

Getting back to my list, (5) I've met incredible fans but some are insane (ha!) though having worked with attorneys for over two decades, I am used to crazy people and have only lost my temper once and it wasn't with a fan so that's cool; (5) been loving the opening acts in a lot of venues (Hey there, Nerd Parade and Cheers Elephant!)...

Anyway, I just looked at the time - today is our day off but we have an eight hour drive to Quebec (Please kill me); luckily no one ate beans for dinner last night...so I am out of here until either late tonight or tomorrow.

But in case you haven't noticed, I am tweeting live from the shows every night and I've also managed to figure out Facebook finally so please look for daily updates there.

Oh, P.S. Never, ever, ever stay at the Best Western Hotel on the Hudson in Nyack, New York. They have not heard the end from me - see my updates on Twitter and Facebook. Not only did the shower just die on me in the middle of shampooing my hair, I was nearly electrocuted by a defective coffee pot. The blow dryer didn't work, either, big surprise, and the check in clerk was surly and rude. They are a monstrosity...oh yeah, and the lobby smells like backed up sewage. Every other hotel on this tour has been lovely, except for the Edison in NYC, where I was almost killed by a falling headboard attached to the wall and not the bed in a room that not only charged for internet, didn't have three prong outlets. Not to mention lamps with frayed cords and filthy shades. But huge kudos to Crowne Plaza Hotels, Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn...and a lovely little boutique hotel in Cotuit, Cape Cod called the Santuit or something like that.

Later,
xo

Great snippets from the Adrian Belew Power Trio Tour

Hey hey:
I'm home today before taking off for the New York City show tomorrow night at BB Kings (and don't forget about the CD release party at Rembrant's this evening at 8:00 p.m.; doors at 6:30; admission FREE)...but I just wanted to take a minute to publish some fun snippets from the tour so far.

Now, obviously I have many stories and a few of you have sent me the most wonderful photographs in the world which I'll be posting with credits when I get some free time -- right now I'm attacking not only my wash but Julie's and Adrian's (ha ha...some things never change...taking care of people is what I do best)...but I was just giggling to myself remembering some of the wild conversations I've had with fans.

Man, I've met some great and interesting people so far.

In fact, I didn't realize it, but I may have even met/talked at length with a Senator or one of his/her aides at the Vienna, Virginia show? His email is the U.S. senate - how wild.

And of course riding from city to city in a van with Adrian for hours - oh how I wish I could share some of those stories but they belong to him and I'm sure he'll publish his memoir when the time is right.

In the meantime, here's a few snippets that made me smile. And please...these are not said with malice or even a smirk...I am honestly joyous about my conversations with fans...and even when I tweet live during the show about kicking asses of people talking during Eric's drum solos, etc. trust me, I'm not angry, I'm having a blast.

Anyway...here's some samples.

Fan #1: Wow, Julie is really beautiful.

Me: Thank you. (Like I had anything to do with that, other than marry her father...ha, she looks so much like him you'd think men could give birth.)

Fan #1: Is she married?

Me: No, but she has a significant other. Sorry.

Fan #1. Oh, that's too bad. Hey, are you married?

Me: Sorry.

Fan #1. Oh. Hey, do you have any other daughters?

Me: Nope, my only other child is the drummer, Eric.

Fan #1. Oh, that's too bad!

Me: Too bad that Eric is my son?

Fan #1: No, I didn't mean...I...sorry....but hey, it's too bad you don't have any other daughters who are single. Or that Julie isn't single . Or that you aren't single.

Me (slowly backing away): Well, you know, I'm sure there's someone out there for you. In the meantime, why don't you just enjoy the music?

Fan #1: Great idea! Yeah, I came here to see the Adrian Belew Power Trio!

Me: (backing away just a little bit further) Why, um, yeah...very cool.

Fan #2: Hey, are you the kids' mother?

Me: Yep.

Fan #2: When is King Crimson touring, do you know?

Me: Erm...I don't.

Fan #2: They don't tell you?

Me: Julie and Eric aren't in King Crimson.

Fan #2: They're not? Oh! That's too bad.

Me: Erm...they play with Adrian and love him. Does that count?

Fan #3, overhearing conversation: I love King Crimson. Robert Fripp is a friend of mine.

Me: (looking at him skeptically) Really? Robert is a friend?

Fan #3: Yeah, we hang out all the time. We were in the army together.

Me: (Really backing away in earnest) Oh...how, um, nice. How old are you?

Fan #3: 34

Me: And you were in the army with Robert, huh.

Fan #3: Yep!

Me (thinking to myself: Do I ask to see a photo? Ha!) Um, you do realize Robert is from England, right?

Fan #3: HE IS? WOW. HE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN ACCENT! Well, the army will do that to you, I guess.

Me: Apparently the army can do a lot. Erm...can you excuse me?

Fan #3: See you at the next Crimson tour! Will you be selling merch there, too!

Me: Oh, sure. I'll save you a t-shirt.

Fan #3: Will Robert autograph it?

Me: Why of course. Especially since you two are army pals and all.

********

And you wonder why Robert doesn't enjoy touring all that much.

Anyway, all kidding aside, I better stop. You guys might think I'm poking fun. I'm really not. It's a total blast and it can only get better.

Later,
xo

Tomorrow night in Philadelphia! Adrian Belew CD release party

Okay, okay, I know I promised live blogging from the tour but you cannot believe how incredibly stressful and difficult selling merch is at the shows each night...naturally, I am having the best time ever but the blog thing...no.

If you do not already know, I have been live tweeting from the shows each night, so please follow me at www.twitter.com/robinslick.

But I am popping on here to tell you three things if you are anywhere near Philadelphia:

There are still some tickets available for tonight's show at the Sellersville Theater

Tomorrow night, Adrian, Julie and Eric will be at Rembrandts Restaurant, 23rd and Aspen, Phila., PA at 8:00 p.m. for their CD release party. They'll be showing clips from the new DVD, playing the new CD, mingling with the crowd, autographs, picture taking...who knows what will happen. And it's free! Though we do ask that you support Rembrandts, who were kind enough to offer their restaurant to the band, by buying a beer or two and I have to say, their food is incredible as well. Food and drink will be served throughout the evening

And of course Monday night is the big show at World Cafe Live and I say that because we are very proud -- both because Julie and Eric are Philadelphia natives and because the opening act is Cheers Elephant. As you may already know, the bassist in the band is Julie's significant other, Matt Rothstein, and Julie produces their CDs.

So...I hope to see you at one or all of these events and remember, follow me on Twitter every night as I tweet live.

But oh boy, when I do sit down and blog, HAVE I GOT SOME STORIES FOR YOU!

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Well, you know it's going to be a good day when you wake up to this:

"...In this case Eric Slick, one hell of a drummer whose name probably will be only whispered in a couple of years because everyone will be scared of his talent. Yes, he is that good and currently touring with Project Object, if I am not mistaken."


(Eric Slick and Robbie "Seahag" Mangano at Zappanale in East Germany 8-14-09)

You can read the rest of that "Eric Slick is one hell of a drummer" post here though I pasted in the best part.

And notice that Eric wore his e-shirt whilst performing in Germany. The boy's got style!

So today I run around frantically realizing that tomorrow I leave for tour, and while said tour lasts until September 12, I will be back in the Philadelphia area on August 26 for the Sellersville show, the CD release party at Rembrandts on August 27, and the World Cafe Live show on Monday, August 31. Of course in between those dates, I'll be in New York and scenic Hoboken, New Jersey, but after that, it's two solid weeks on the road...oh, poor me, I get to spend two days in Cape Cod and another two in Quebec City...life is just so, so tough.

But I do have to laugh. So far, the Adrian Belew Power Trio has been involved in earthquakes, typhoons, possible tsunamis, blizzards, ice storms, and flying metal (you'll have to go into my February, 2008 archives for that one) while on tour...this time it seems Hurricane Bill may be causing some mischief -- I just hope my plane to Nashville tomorrow evening isn't affected. Though really, we've had vicious thunder and lightning storms here in Philadelphia almost every evening, and there are more expected both tonight and tomorrow, so that alone will probably have an impact. Oh joy, my favorite. Flying in turbulence. Arghhh.....

So who wants to see Dr. Dot performing her whole wet t-shirt routine with Eric Slick and Project Object in Berlin last Thursday night? C'mon, you know you do. You can thank me later.






I know, I know. I rule for posting that, don't I?

And it would not be a complete blog post if I didn't mention @julieslick. I stumbled upon two pages of lovely forum comments about her over at Talk Bass, and here's just a couple of comments (but click on the link, I can't post them all)...

"f'n awesome!! killer tone. . . the drummer is slamming too!!"

"That's her brother Eric on the kit. Badass players, she rips that P bass."

"dang. she knows her way around the neck, fo show. awesome. reminds me a little of Andrew Weiss (playing mostly, but the hair too.), which is intended as a compliment as i love his playing. and his hair."

"HOLY ****! She's amazing!"

These comments literally go on and on, but that was a very nice taste, yes?

I told you this was a good morning!

Will it be as great as yesterday, though, when Philadelphia's best and brightest radio station, WXPN, played a track from "e" (e2) on the radio yesterday? I almost had a heart attack! I know I'm a big dork, but here's proof - the playlist for that morning, and woo hoo, was the trio in great company!

11 am
Snow Patrol - Take Back The City - A Hundred Million Suns
Robin Trower - Day Of The Eagle - Bridge Of Sighs
The Bird And The Bee - La La La - The Bird And The Bee
She & Him - Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - Music From The Motion Picture - (500) Days Of Sum
Spoon - Got Nuffin - Got Nuffin - EP
Feist - 1234 - The Reminder
Phoenix - 1901 - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Santana - Smooth - Supernatural
Adrian Belew - e2 - e
John Mellencamp - Check It Out - The Lonesome Jubilee
Imelda May - Johnny Got A Boom Boom - Love Tattoo
The Wolfgang Press - Going South - Funky Little Demons
The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me - Zenyatta Mondatta

You realize I can never turn XPN off ever again, right? I was shaking for three hours after they played it. In a good way, that is. But yes, it was totally surreal to hear my brilliant offspring on the radio.

Anyway, I should not be blogging. I need to do wash, pack, and a million other things. But I know me, I'll still be stalking the web throughout the day, and as always, will be back if anything interesting pops up.

But if not, see you on the road!

Later,
xo

An Interview with Mr. Belew

From the folks at Rock Om...a wonderful interview with Ade:



Something In the Air
August 18th, 2009

An Interview with Adrian Belew (Part I)
By Tom Crenshaw, tom@rockom.net

Guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Adrian Belew has been at the art and craft of reinventing, innovating, and redefining the term "cutting-edge musician" since 1977. That was the year Frank Zappa walked into a bar in Nashville and first saw him performing on stage and subsequently invited him to join his band. Since that time Adrian has been an integral player in Rock and Roll history, spending time performing and recording with the likes of David Bowie, King Crimson, The Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Tom Club, Tori Amos, and Herbie Hancock to mention a few.

Now Adrian Belew has a new band, the Adrian Belew Power Trio, who are beginning a new tour performing up and down the east coast and Canada starting August 21st. The Power Trio consists of Belew along with brother and sister rhythm section powerhouse Julie and Eric Slick on bass and drums.

RockOm recently had the honor of speaking with Adrian Belew about his prolific career. Starting with his teenage days spent learning songs by the Beatles, we move on to discuss his discovery by Zappa, recording and touring with David Bowie, his time with King Crimson, recording on Paul Simon's Graceland CD, and his new Power Trio.

In Part One of this interview RockOm brings you Belew’s thoughts on the new, just released Power Trio CD entitled E. Belew also expands on how music connects others and energizes both musician and audience, as well as how there is a spiritual element to performing that’s "unexplainable".

RockOm: E marks the first studio release by the Adrian Belew Power Trio. What inspired the music for the album?

Adrian Belew: I started writing this music three years ago. It’s been a very lengthy writing process because I first developed a kind of motif, a musically chromatic motif, and the more I worked with it the more ideas I got from it. It went from being one song or piece to being a lengthy piece of music in five sections. In working with and doing a lot of touring with Eric and Julie Slick [Belew's band mates in the Power Trio] over those three years, my relationship with them was growing and I felt inspired to try and write something that worked exactly for the Power Trio. I didn't want it to be songs; what I wanted to show was that muscular musicality and the ability of this three piece band.

RO: You’ve toured with Eric and Julie for several years now. What will make this tour different from the others? What can the audience expect that’s going to be different?

AB: First of all it will be the first tour where we play much of the material from E. In fact I’m hoping that somewhere along the line we’ll have enough time to rehearse during sound checks where we'll be able to even perform the whole piece in its entirety. Also, every tour that we do I try and introduce one or two new wrinkles, such as another "new" song from the past or a song from the King Crimson catalog, something that keeps everyone excited. The band just gets better and better. It's hard to believe that a band can do that [laughs].

What I think people can expect is a ferocious evening of great music. Everywhere we go we have the same kind of reaction. First of all a lot of people can't believe their eyes and ears when they see and hear Eric and Julie, these two young kids who play way beyond their years and have a maturity about their playing in the tastefulness that they use. Then there's the old guy in the middle, that would be me. This trio has given me wings because now I'm the only guitarist. I set up a lot of loops as I play so that there’s something else to play to and it gives me the chance to fly off in any direction I want. So there's quite a lot of improvising; no two shows are the same at all.

RO: You brought up the fact that your cohorts are a little bit younger than you. Age just seems to fall away naturally for musicians working together, whereas in other lines of work it may be a hindrance. What is it about music in particular that makes the age factor not an issue?

AB: I think it's the spirit of it. Music is its own language. Music doesn't - as you say - have any limiting boundaries to it. You can be an eighty-year-old musician and still be playing or you can be an eight-year-old kid. I think what keeps the spirit that way is the sharing, the commonality the musicians have.

RO: When the Power Trio is in the zone, you're connecting with the audience and you can feel them connecting with you, is there a spiritual element to that?

AB: Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. There is a spiritual element too. I don't know how else you would explain it. It’s unexplainable. It's like something in the air that's shared, a type of energy and you can't see it; and when you feel it, it energizes you.

Don't miss Part Two of RockOm's interview with Adrian Belew coming in September. Register now at RockOm.net, in the top right hand corner of the homepage, to be notified when the conclusion of this interview is published as well as to stay in touch with all the interviews, news and stories exploring the connection between music and spirituality at RockOm.net.

The Adrian Belew Power Trio kicks off their tour August 21