The walls are closing in...

Good afternoon!  So in today's top headlines, Michael Cohen will be arrested tomorrow, and he's been dumped by his legal team for failure to pay.  Ah, you can clearly see who Mr. Cohen has been taking lessons from.

He's knocking his former boss out of the headlines, which is a good thing, since the headlines are false.  Do not believe anything you read about North Korea coming from the White House.  They are now bold face lying on an hourly basis:

So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have “begged” for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018

What a lowlife.  More importantly, WHAT A PSYCHO*.

*but his supporters are worse

Okay, enough of that. So as I sit here stewing over the disgrace in Washington and the disgrace of the entire Republican party, my favorite song of the moment just came on my You Tube shuffle, and guess what, it's by our Natalie!

She is so freaking great, isn't she?  Music is everything.

Anyway, tomorrow and the rest of the week should be most interesting.  I haven't checked Twitter in an hour but I'm sure there will be a psychotic tweet storm soon :)

What else.  Let's see.  Did I talk about the Adrian Belew Power Trio's show in NY?  It was mind blowing.  Adrian told us that after the livestream, he got an email from Robert Fripp.  Did I ever tell you guys my King Crimson story?

When Gary and I were 16, we were already dating, and my knowledge of any music other than jazz was pretty limited.  I knew the Beatles.  Rock music was pretty much banned in my house because my father was a jazz musician and felt that the Beatles killed jazz.  I've touched on that theme in a lot of my short stories and even a couple of my novels.  Anyway, Gary is a guitar player and by age 16, was already a musicologist.   He could not understand my father's hatred of rock music, and one night after several glasses of wine and puffing on about an ounce of pot (back then it was from Mexico and $15 an ounce. Eat your hearts out!), my father* finally agreed to listen to some music by rock bands Gary swore to him were real musicians.

*back then, a father could get high with his kids without it making headlines

So out of all the albums out in the late sixties and early seventies, Gary chose In the Court of the Crimson King and the first Emerson, Lake and Palmer records to bring over my house and play for my dad.  There was no way he could listen and say he hated it, and even more no way he could say they were not accomplished musicians.  Right?  Erm...

Well, he hated it.  But that was my father.  But as for me?  I was like WHAT IS THIS MUSIC IT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE.

For the next thirty plus years, King Crimson and ELP were my two favorite bands along with the Beatles, of course.  If you had told me at age 16 that I would go on to meet both bands, and that my daughter would freaking play with many of the members of King Crimson, I would have laughed my ass off and said, Oh sure.

Disclaimer - these photos were taken 30 pounds ago, before I became a vegetarian.

The best, though, was meeting Robert Fripp.  The kids had just joined Adrian's band, and Adrian was still in King Crimson as well as the various Projekcts.  Projekct 6 had a show in Philly with Adrian on drums, and we were on the guest list.  We knew Robert Fripp has a sweet tooth, so Julie and I baked him brownies to take backstage.  We not only had the brownies, but omg, I had a camera.  In my hand.  I never expected to actually meet Robert backstage, I just thought I'd hand the brownies to Ade, and I swear, I wasn't taking pics at the concert (in case anyone reading this does not know, cameras are banned at King Crimson shows, and quite frankly, I wish everyone would ban them at concerts) but the camera was new and I honestly thought I'd take pics at the bar afterwards of Julie and Ade.  So I actually tried to hide it behind my back while I said hello to Robert.  Tell me I didn't die when he said this to me, in that wonderful British accent:  "I'VE READ YOUR BLOG."

Yep, over 10 years later and I'm still high from that remark.

My Emerson Lake and Palmer story is even weirder.  We adored that band so much we would have ELP listening parties.  The night I went into labor with Julie, Gary kept playing Take a Pebble for me nonstop to calm me down.  To this day, 32 years later, I cannot listen to that song without weeping.

DO I FUCKING BELIEVE I MET EMERSON AND LAKE AND HUNG OUT WITH THEM FOR LIKE AN HOUR.

You know what?   I met them in 2010, when I was incredibly active with this blog.  I bet if I go back into the archives, I'll find the whole story.   Hang on....

Holy cow, I just found my entry from that night and read it.  I should just erase everything I typed today and let you read that instead, but I'm a writer and like most writers, I can't bear to erase anything I wrote so just consider today's version the abridged version and go here to read the whole thing:  http://inherownwrite.blogspot.com/2010/05/emerson-lake-and-slick.html

Okay, I am writing this from my office, where I am currently blasting some Adrian Belew Power Trio music while I take an abbreviated lunch because You Tube is now my bitch.  It even threw in that Deva Mahal tune Eric plays on in my shuffle this morning.

Back to work...

Meet you guys back here tomorrow.  Hope to see Michael Cohen in an orange jumpsuit by the evening!

Hey, it could happen.

xo

Rainy days and Mondays....

I’m too freaked out by that imbecile in the White House and his hideous scumbag supporters this past week to do anything other than post a video of Jake and refer you to another couple cool videos and stuff.  The above video was shot by Tete Crudite, Julie's bff, who lives in Spain and is currently staying with us.  Julie, Tete, and Gary take Jake to Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park for a run a few times a week, and Tete, who is an accomplished videographer, made us this awesome movie of Jakey in the park, complete with the world's best soundtrack.

Actually, speaking of the imbecile, this did make me smile last night:



In other news, if you didn't wake up early enough on Saturday to catch our Natalie on CBS This Morning, they were kind enough to post the video, and I have to tell you, Natalie was pretty spectacular so here you go...first up is the song she wrote about my son, Eric, and then full video of two additional tunes she did, not all of which were seen on TV:







If you didn't have a chance to see Julie and the Adrian Belew Power Trio perform at the Iridium in NYC last week, they were also kind enough to record and post the live stream but you have to be a Facebook person to access it - here's the link:  https://www.facebook.com/TheIridium/

Oy, what a day.  I think I've been awake for 72 hours.  I couldn't sleep on Friday night, Saturday I was catatonic in New York City but got my second wind at the Iridium seeing Julie on stage, we didn't get out of there until well after 1::00 AM, then of course got stuck in godawful traffic and none of our iPhones were working or GPS because of all the skyscrapers...we've been to NYC oh maybe 1,000,000 times and we were all so tired, we stroked out and couldn't find the Lincoln Tunnel.  When we finally did, the street was blocked off for a murder or something, then unbelievable, got involved in another traffic jam from hell leading into the tunnel at 1:45 AM...had to make bathroom stops on the way home blah blah blah and didn't even arrive in Mount Yanni I mean Mount Laurel, NJ until 2:30 AM...collapsed into house at 3:00 AM, and then, woo hoo, fell asleep at 4:00 AM only to have a hideous nightmare that I was walking Jake, he got off the leash, and was being chased by a vicious German Shepherd.  In my dream, I was running and having a heart attack at the same time, so naturally I woke up at 4:30 AM with my heart pounding out of my chest, unable to breathe, and not sure if I was really  having a coronary or simply a panic attack from no sleep and not enough food.  I managed to climb over a comatose Gary and made my way downstairs for some cold water, where my panic attack bloomed into something full fledged and I wrapped myself in a blanket and sat shaking on the sofa until around 6AM.  Mercifully, I fell asleep until around 8, when Julie came downstairs.

The pressure was on me big time to sleep last night, and you would think I would have, but refer to the word, "pressure"...

So, here I am at work, trying to focus with only a couple hours sleep since Thursday night, but hey, at least I can never say my life is dull.

Let's see, what else.  I know I've talked about how Gary turned into this amazing vegetarian/vegan chef...he felt so bad for me last night he cooked me my favorite restorative meal - made from scratch minestrone.  I took a pic, because that's what I do, and gosh, I wish I could just go back to posting about music and food like I did before November 8, 2016, but life as we know it has been forever altered...sigh...

Check out what he puts in there - fresh spinach, corn, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, celery, basil and oregano that he grows in our little ghetto garden...Gary is the man.

Finally, Facebook gave me a couple of flashback photos from last year- this same date last year in fact - of my beautiful family so I think I'll post them, too, because I really need to be able to come back here and smile later...I have a bad feeling about trade wars and Singapore etc. :(  One more thing about that - I read something about how the (not my) President is able to get away with everything and never alienate his idiot base, even though he is a racist and homophobe.  It's because this whole thing is not about him - it's about getting under the skin of liberals.  His basket of deplorables are so thrilled to their rotting cores that we are all stroking out that it's really all their limited intelligence can soak in and they just want it to go on.  I mean, seriously, can you imagine being stupid enough to listen to Fox News and people like Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, Carlson, etc.? I mean, can you really have that much shit for brains?  Or, are you simply interested in hating those who are smarter, believe in religious freedom, and have better educations? 

Sorry, I just can't handle stupidity.

Okay, back to pics of my family.  Below is Julie and me, same date last year, getting ready to go out for cocktails.  Below that, is Gary, Julie and me, following her gig at the Ardmore Music Hall last May, and finally, also same time last year, Eric, Julie, Gary and me following what has become (sob) a very rare dinner out together.  Have I mentioned how much I love these guys?

Okay, that's a wrap for now.  Stay strong, stay sane.  And start making plans to take to the streets.

xo

This Saturday, June 9, 2018, it's NATALIE PRASS ON CBS THIS MORNING

Yep,Natalie Prass, my pick for best record by a singer/songwriter in 2018, will be performing on CBS This Morning on Saturday - I believe the music part of the program is in the last half hour of the show, or in the 8:30 a.m. portion, but just to be safe, I am up at dawn anway and will be watching from the onset at 7:00 a.m.  If she comes on earlier, I'll tweet it out.

This is exciting stuff.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not tell you that daughter, Julie, is currently gigging with Adrian Belew at the Iridium in New York City.  Their first show was last night, and tonight's will be live streamed!!!!  Here's the link:  http://theiridium.com/live/index.html.  She's got four shows total, with the finale on Saturday night, and Gary and I are driving to New York to see the show and bring her home for a bit before she takes off for Spain again.  Actually, she has another gig with Adrian at the end of June - don't know if I can spill the details yet so I'll stay quiet.  For now.

Eric is on tour with Dr. Dog right now - tonight he has a show in Oakland, CA and tomorrow he's in Portland, OR, that lucky dude.  All I know is, I can't wait for the Dr. Dog gig at Festival Pier in Philadelphia on June 23.  Their new record is hot!

Speaking of new records, I heard a  new cut yesterday from Buddy Guy which features Jeff Beck and Keith Richards.  Do you think I was blown away just a little bit?  Ha!  Here - have a listen and you decide how freaking good this is:



So yeah, music is how I'm getting through the grotesque Trump era.  But then again, music is how I get through everything.  That, and some good vegetarian fare.  I can't believe how Gary has adapted - he became a five star vegetarian/vegan chef.  I'm laughing because I remember how scared I was to tell him, after coming off a five week tour with the kids in 2009 when Eric still played in the Adrian Belew Power Trio, that I had decided to join Julie and Eric, who were already vegetarians for a few years, and had spent the last five weeks meat free.  I think at the time, Gary just rolled his eyes and probably thought, "There goes my wife again with one of her madcap schemes....this will probably only last a week or two...I'll just humor her for now."  So not only did just the opposite happen, but Gary, who was a lifetime carnivore, has slowly joined our team over the past few years.  He eats vegetarian every evening, and his only dive into meat world is a boneless chicken breast he cuts into a salad he makes himself for lunch a couple of times a week.  The vegetable meals that man has invented for me over the past several years should be in a cookbook and hmm...I think I'm gonna do it. Stay tuned.   But man, the benefits of eating this way - I haven't been above a size eight in seven years, Gary looks like he's 45 years old, and unlike most people our age, we don't have any aches and pains or major disorders.  KNOCK WOOD.

I just giggled to myself, guessing that there are no vegetarian Trump supporters.  They all look like they secrete pig juice.  Sorry for that, I'm tired of being nice.  Every time I say something against (not my) President Imbecile, one of his supporters comes back and says something to me like, "You're ugly and a c*nt."  I never attack them, I just attack their boy.  But, my gloves are off now.  And I see I've already made a mistake.  I should have said, one of them says something to me like, "Your ugly and a c*nt."   :)

Oy.

And on that note, I'm outta here for now.

xo

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States...

Leaked audio from Donald Trump's live microphone during performance of "God Bless America"... pic.twitter.com/5KsGCN2b2q

— Bad Lip Reading (@BadLipReading) June 5, 2018

HEART KILLER!

OMG, look at my son's face in this video :)

John Pavlovitz

In today's positive news, I would like to introduce you to John Pavlovitz.  John is a pastor I met online and he is an ardent Trump protester.  Like me, he is shocked and dismayed by the weird acceptance and idolization of Trump by Christians in this country.  Here's what John had to say yesterday, following the Supreme Court's most recent decision:

"Today’s Supreme Court ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop will be billed by Evangelicals as a victory for “religious liberty.”

It isn’t—at least not for these people. For them it’s license to be a jerk in Jesus’ name.

It’s about people professing to follow Jesus, who don’t have the slightest concern about emulating him.

It’s about people who wouldn’t know Jesus if he showed up as the least of these, across the counter from them looking for their kindness during one of the most important moments of their lives.

 To read the rest of John's article, go here:  https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/06/04/let-them-eat-cake/

To read other essays by John:  https://johnpavlovitz.com/

In other news, I am thrilled to be a Philadelphian today.  Here's what our Mayor had to say about the asshat in the White House, following his six year old toddler tantrum about our Super Bowl Champion Eagles:

Fragile egomaniac?  Trump?  Should we be even slightly concerned that an imbecile with a fragile ego is running our country?  D'OH!  YA THINK?!

The fact that Cadet Bone Spurs is threatening football owners and trying to control, let's face it, African American football players, is outrageous and I really hope people take to the streets soon.  And hell, I'm going to boycott football next year IF THEY DON'T ALL PROTEST AND STAY IN THE LOCKER ROOM.

F*CK YOU, TRUMP.

Ah, I feel better now.

Have a great day, fellow resisters.  xoxoxo

Natalie Prass is the ruler of all women and...

...this ("Sisters") is the song that brought down the house on Saturday night at Johnny Brenda's​.   Natalie Prass​ is a superstar.  Remember that you heard it here.  She held her arm up over her head in a powerful gesture as she sung this tune and she freaking owned the room.  Hundreds of drunk dudes suddenly went quiet and started swaying to the music.  Natalie isn't just an amazing singer, she's a brilliant song writer and lyricist, too.   And if you are near Philly, she's returning to our fair city and doing a Free at Noon concert this coming Friday at WXPN,​ and, also playing their festival on July 28.   So yeah, if you pay attention, good things are still happening in this country and people are making art in the dark and depressing era of Trump.  So there's that.  Anyway, since all I could do is post the snippet we filmed Saturday night, here's the official audio of Sisters.

Natalie Prass - Sisters (Official Audio) https://youtu.be/9T0wYQpAlzo via @YouTube

We're heading to New York City this weekend for the next chapter of music in June - Julie has a series of gigs at the Iridium with the Adrian Belew Power Trio.  Then we all head to Festival Pier in Philly on June 23 to see Eric with Dr. Dog.  Lots of music and family and, as always, great vegetarian food.  Now if Mr. Mueller and company would just slap some cuffs on a few dozen people in the White House including our dear leader and his degenerate pseudo-Christian VP, all will be well with the world.

Natalie Prass

Okay, it's time to post something positive.  Have you met Natalie Prass? 

In case you haven't stumbled on one of my many billboards posted all over the internet, Natalie is my son's significant other, and she has a new record out today.  Natalie is a superstar and this morning, she has spreads in Entertainment Weekly, GQ, and the Guardian.  I'll post links to everything, but I have to cut and paste the part of the EW article that has me sitting in my office right now, bawling.  To read the whole article, go here:  http://ew.com/music/2018/06/01/natalie-prass-the-future-and-the-past-interview/

"It really feels like people — regardless of their political views — will look back on the night Trump got elected and remember exactly where they were. What were you doing that night?

[My boyfriend, Dr. Dog drummer] Eric [Slick] and I went to an election party. The local comedy troupe had these stand-up shows, and it was just a big party and a lot of good people. Everybody was decked out in Hillary gear, and it slowly just got darker and darker and people started to cry, and leave. Oh yeah, I’ll never forget it. It was horrible.

Is it fair to call “Short Court Style” a love song about someone new?

It’s a song about Eric. I really feel like I’ve met my person in Eric. I’ve never felt so comfortable, and we can get through anything together. But we had to do so much work to get to where we are now. And it doesn’t stop; it doesn’t mean that we are in this blissful love relationship. Which we are, but then we also have problems that we have to face. It’s more about the hard work and the rewarding payoff of real love.

Here's a link to the Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/31/natalie-prass-the-future-and-the-past-review-musical-magpie-channels-karen-and-janet

And one more, to GQ:  https://www.gq.com/story/the-throwback-grooves-of-natalie-prass

And here's her new hit song:  https://youtu.be/0pv7rN-_IWU

So yeah, we're all pretty excited at Casa Slick.  Natalie is on tour right now, and not only will she be in Philadelphia Saturday night for a sold out show at Johnny Brenda's, she'll be back in town for the WXPN Festival on July 28.  She also has a bunch of gigs in Europe this fall, and Eric,who will be off tour with Dr. Dog by then, will sit in on drums.  Not a bad life, huh.

While I'm here bragging, Julie's been home for a couple of weeks - she lives in Spain now, or tries to when she's not touring - and she's got a bunch of gigs in New York City next week with the Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Iridium.  So we're pretty stoked about that, too.  And we're all headed to the beach this weekend, rain or not, we do not care, we're going solely for the purpose of eating Manco & Manco pizza and hitting some air hockey arcades.  We know how to live in the era of Trump, huh.  Music and food and hanging with people you love is everything.

But hey, if Julie gets permanent residency in Spain, and if Eric and Natalie decide to leave the country as well, and if there isn't serious flippage in the midterm elections, Gary and I are out of here in about five minutes.  I've been checking out property in Malaga :)  We're dead serious.  

Listen, we all have to do what we have to do.

Sorry, but...

...Ivanka Trump is a c*nt.  And so is Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway.  And so are you if you voted for him and still support him.

Ah....I feel better now.

By the way, if you are feeling this post is too harsh, take a look at these beauties.  Too funny.  You really can stereotype a group of people.  Most Trumpers, along with not knowing the difference between "your" and "you're" are either morbidly obese, missing teeth, and, if they aren't skin heads, have mullets.

A little more to get off my chest...I f*cking hate the Food Network

So apparently reading Trump tweets first thing in the morning triggers my anger gene and I figured I'd come here and spout a little more of what's been bugging me in America since the election.

Okay, here it is:  The Food Network.  Wtf has happened to their programming?  No, I don't even want to watch Guy Fieri one night a week let alone four nights.  Ugh.

As an east coaster, I do not want to be subjected to two hours a day of the god awful Pioneer Woman, a multi-millionaire with a voice like chalk on a blackboard, chopping processed cheese into little cubes and gushing God Bless America.

I don't want to see an aging, anorexic Giada's boobies as she pretends that she eats but really spits in an off-camera bucket.

Why is Jason Smith, a home baker, judging internationally acclaimed famous professional bakers?  Why is Scott Conant, clearly uncomfortable in his role of baking host, even on that show in his too tight suit?  Give the guy his own show cooking Italian food.  And why is Marcella made up and dressed like Barbie?

What happened to shows on actually cooking?  All we get are competition shows and ten year old reruns of competition shows.

Finally, are you owned by the pork industry?  Why is everything better with bacon?  As a vegetarian for close to ten years, your shows are all pork-centric and I really wonder, in light of all of the above, why I still continue to watch.

Oh yeah,  Trump is President.