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
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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
"...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
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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
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
Zappanale 20!
Oh man, here's a tasty You Tube from Friday (8-14-09) night's show in Germany - Project Object featuring the usual suspects (Eric's back there on drums - you can hear him even if you can't see him...ha ha, the plight of the drummer)...along with Geronimo Black on guitar (the late Jimmy Carl Black's son) and the insanely talented Robert Martin on sax.
More later. I'm not awake yet.
More later. I'm not awake yet.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Happy Birthday to Robin Slick!
So yeah, today is my birthday though as I just remarked on Twitter, I'm now officially at the age where I must begin either ignoring said birthday or start counting backwards.
No, that is not my cake, I found that pic on Google images just now and thought it highly appropriate. But my cake, a rich butter pound confection that will be the last fattening thing I consume this month and next (and this time I mean it!), will be from here because they are truly the best pound cakes in Philadelphia.
And while Julie is in Nashville prepping for the upcoming Adrian Belew Power Trio tour, Eric will be arriving home tonight from Germany and he's coming straight here to have dinner with me and, yep, to sing Happy Birthday though he probably won't have cake, being vegan and all. I know, I know, I should have ordered a vegan cake but that will be for next year, I promise. The best part of the birthday song is that the dog always joins in. I'm totally serious. I will get Eric to record it on his iPhone and will post it later.
Now watch, this will be the one year the dog doesn't sing, but for whatever reason, that song drives him nuts and the minute you launch into it, he starts howling along. It is seriously one of my life's most simple and joyous pleasures.
So nothing much is happening right now, EXCEPT THAT I'M LEAVING FOR NASHVILLE ON THURSDAY AND I'M GOING ON TOUR FOR THREE WEEKS, TOO!!!!!
Ha ha, yeah, I know I've already shouted that from the rooftops a few times but I'm just a tiny bit excited. My plan is, at least in theory, to live blog from the entire tour. Now of course that will depend on a lot of stuff - whether the venue has Wifi, whether the hotels really do have internet (so many times they either charge way too much or tell you that you need an ethernet cable which they have at the front desk, only you go to the front desk and they are out of them. I am not going to go out and buy one myself in advance because I can never get them to work right, anyway). Also, it will also depend on how busy I am. I am hoping to be so busy selling merch and meeting and talking with fans I won't have time...but I figure if I have Blogger set up and just point my mac with iPhoto in "your" direction, I'll be able to post photos and at least short blurbs daily. In any event, trust me, I will find time to at least do regular blogging if I can't manage the live stuff and I'll still take plenty of pics to post in my down time.
So what I'm trying to say here is: If you come to the shows, don't be shy, come up and say hello, and special preference for your photo to be posted on my blog is to WEAR YOUR E-SHIRTS! Cool? Cool!
I also learned that ABPT tour out west for October is a GO GO GO, so people on the left coast, start saving your money!
Anyway, I think that's it for me today - I am taking the day off to hang with the dog, do some writing, and take care of some last minute stuff before I leave on Thursday. But of course if there is any breaking news, I'll be back.
Behave yourselves today, and if you want to buy me a present, instead of doing that, why not buy yourself a good book instead? Ha ha - I know a great author and here's her page at Amazon.
Later,
xo
No, that is not my cake, I found that pic on Google images just now and thought it highly appropriate. But my cake, a rich butter pound confection that will be the last fattening thing I consume this month and next (and this time I mean it!), will be from here because they are truly the best pound cakes in Philadelphia.
And while Julie is in Nashville prepping for the upcoming Adrian Belew Power Trio tour, Eric will be arriving home tonight from Germany and he's coming straight here to have dinner with me and, yep, to sing Happy Birthday though he probably won't have cake, being vegan and all. I know, I know, I should have ordered a vegan cake but that will be for next year, I promise. The best part of the birthday song is that the dog always joins in. I'm totally serious. I will get Eric to record it on his iPhone and will post it later.
Now watch, this will be the one year the dog doesn't sing, but for whatever reason, that song drives him nuts and the minute you launch into it, he starts howling along. It is seriously one of my life's most simple and joyous pleasures.
So nothing much is happening right now, EXCEPT THAT I'M LEAVING FOR NASHVILLE ON THURSDAY AND I'M GOING ON TOUR FOR THREE WEEKS, TOO!!!!!
Ha ha, yeah, I know I've already shouted that from the rooftops a few times but I'm just a tiny bit excited. My plan is, at least in theory, to live blog from the entire tour. Now of course that will depend on a lot of stuff - whether the venue has Wifi, whether the hotels really do have internet (so many times they either charge way too much or tell you that you need an ethernet cable which they have at the front desk, only you go to the front desk and they are out of them. I am not going to go out and buy one myself in advance because I can never get them to work right, anyway). Also, it will also depend on how busy I am. I am hoping to be so busy selling merch and meeting and talking with fans I won't have time...but I figure if I have Blogger set up and just point my mac with iPhoto in "your" direction, I'll be able to post photos and at least short blurbs daily. In any event, trust me, I will find time to at least do regular blogging if I can't manage the live stuff and I'll still take plenty of pics to post in my down time.
So what I'm trying to say here is: If you come to the shows, don't be shy, come up and say hello, and special preference for your photo to be posted on my blog is to WEAR YOUR E-SHIRTS! Cool? Cool!
I also learned that ABPT tour out west for October is a GO GO GO, so people on the left coast, start saving your money!
Anyway, I think that's it for me today - I am taking the day off to hang with the dog, do some writing, and take care of some last minute stuff before I leave on Thursday. But of course if there is any breaking news, I'll be back.
Behave yourselves today, and if you want to buy me a present, instead of doing that, why not buy yourself a good book instead? Ha ha - I know a great author and here's her page at Amazon.
Later,
xo
Thursday, August 13, 2009
In Memory of Les Paul
ETA: If you are around at 2:00 p.m. eastern on Friday, August 14, a radio station out of England will be broadcasting the brand new studio album by the Adrian Belew Power Trio, also known as "e". Here's the link.
So in October, 2005, Eric Slick sat behind the drums and performed for Les Paul in honor of his 90th birthday. Les had a smile plastered to his face the entire time - he was really tickled because the band played a few of his most famous songs. Here's a photo from that day (Eric still had his shoulder length hair) and my accompanying blogpost, which includes the very first photograph of Julie Slick and Adrian Belew when Julie was "just a fan" and a poignant photo of Jack Bruce with Julie's significant other, Matt. Oh yeah, John Mayer was there, too.
That night, Eric and Julie would meet Adrian Belew for the first time. Adrian was performing at the Roseland Ballroom that night in further celebration of Les' birthday, and Julie and Eric were performing with the School of Rock Hall of Famers (all-stars who had graduated the program). Eric and Julie would later play with Adrian in March of 2006 at the New York Knitting Factory as Hall of Famers again, and it was there that Adrian found his band, the trio that has now toured four continents in three years.
Tomorrow night, Eric takes the stage in Bad Doberan, East Germany at Zappanale, where he will perform with Project Object and Frank Zappa alumni Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ike Willis, Denny Walley, Robert (Bobby) Martin, and Don Preston. One of the songs he's going to be playing, with Robert Martin on vocals, is Whipping Post, and yeah, Duane Allman played a Les Paul. So in honor of that, and in memory of the late, great Lester William Polsfuss, a/k/a Les Paul, who flew away today, I give you the Allman Brothers, 1972, Live at the Filmore...Whipping Post:
I can't resist. Here's the Frank Zappa version, with Robert Martin on vocals. Have I mentioned what a lucky bastard my son is? Here's hoping someone posts a You Tube in a couple of days of that one.
It was a pleasure meeting Les Paul. He was brilliant, charming, and he mesmerized us when he spoke. I will never forget that day, ever. And he autographed the pickguard of our vintage Les Paul. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a photo.
Later,
xo
So in October, 2005, Eric Slick sat behind the drums and performed for Les Paul in honor of his 90th birthday. Les had a smile plastered to his face the entire time - he was really tickled because the band played a few of his most famous songs. Here's a photo from that day (Eric still had his shoulder length hair) and my accompanying blogpost, which includes the very first photograph of Julie Slick and Adrian Belew when Julie was "just a fan" and a poignant photo of Jack Bruce with Julie's significant other, Matt. Oh yeah, John Mayer was there, too.
That night, Eric and Julie would meet Adrian Belew for the first time. Adrian was performing at the Roseland Ballroom that night in further celebration of Les' birthday, and Julie and Eric were performing with the School of Rock Hall of Famers (all-stars who had graduated the program). Eric and Julie would later play with Adrian in March of 2006 at the New York Knitting Factory as Hall of Famers again, and it was there that Adrian found his band, the trio that has now toured four continents in three years.
Tomorrow night, Eric takes the stage in Bad Doberan, East Germany at Zappanale, where he will perform with Project Object and Frank Zappa alumni Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ike Willis, Denny Walley, Robert (Bobby) Martin, and Don Preston. One of the songs he's going to be playing, with Robert Martin on vocals, is Whipping Post, and yeah, Duane Allman played a Les Paul. So in honor of that, and in memory of the late, great Lester William Polsfuss, a/k/a Les Paul, who flew away today, I give you the Allman Brothers, 1972, Live at the Filmore...Whipping Post:
I can't resist. Here's the Frank Zappa version, with Robert Martin on vocals. Have I mentioned what a lucky bastard my son is? Here's hoping someone posts a You Tube in a couple of days of that one.
It was a pleasure meeting Les Paul. He was brilliant, charming, and he mesmerized us when he spoke. I will never forget that day, ever. And he autographed the pickguard of our vintage Les Paul. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a photo.
Later,
xo
Monday, August 10, 2009
Odds and Sods for Monday, August 10, 2009
ETA: Oh yeah, baby, Keep it Greasy as performed by Project Object with Eric Slick on drums in the Netherlands last night. This is sick!
Awesome. Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled blogcast.
I won't keep you in suspense. When @julieslick (as I now like to refer to her twitterly self) came over on Saturday night, she created one hell of a meal.
We had a mixed grill - everything was cooked on the barbecue: Coconut curried scallops, endive, zucchini, wild mushrooms, and fingerling potatoes over arugula and Julie's fresh spicy basil salsa verde. The carnivores among us had steaks -- grass fed strips.
Then, as part of an elaborate ruse to throw a surprise birthday party for her significant other, Matt, last evening, she swung by here yesterday morning to pick up supplies she had hidden in my refrigerator as well as wine, a paella pan (for that is what she made - both traditional and vegetarian)...anyway, I reminisced about how great the previous evening's dinner was and sighed, "God, that was awesome but now I'm so hungry. I don't suppose you have the time to make your poor old mother who-is-not-invited-to-the-party breakfast before you leave, do you?"
To which Julie responded by going into the kitchen and whipping me up the following: Curried over-easy eggs with a splash of hot sauce and arugula in whole wheat toasted pita with sliced white peaches and blackberries on the side. I mean, really. Look what she just "throws together":
Okay, so I did have the white peaches and blackberries in the house so good on me for that...and eggs, hot sauce, curry and whole wheat pita bread are staples here, but still, I would never have thought to do what she did. At least not so effortlessly.
So I got a very nice surprise when I just downloaded these photos - I found some very sweet shots I didn't know I had from the Adrian Belew Power Trio's show at the Canal Street Tavern last month, taken by their proud father, Gary Slick:
Oh man, look at Julie in this next picture -- how freaking beautiful is she?
And notice @mrericslick clearly has great fashion sense - he's wearing his e-shirt!
The trio's traditional autograph/meet and greet after every show.
I am getting more stoked by the moment about this tour (click on link - it's Pollstar and there's new shows added - one which stood out is at the Turning Point in Piermont, New York - it looks like total hippieville). It's hitting me that I'm going and I'm like a little kid, all excited.
It doesn't take much to make me happy -- like, I smiled when I saw this on the Zappa Forum board...I found it under "Last Non-Zappa Album you bought":
So now you know what the autographed copies of e look like, but of course if you buy one from me on the upcoming tour, the trio just may personalize one for you special.
By the way, both Julie and Eric have updated their blogs recently. Eric just played a Project Object show in the Netherlands...he's off until Tuesday when he plays in Spain. Julie is working like a madwoman in her studio in a valiant effort to make sure there are Slick/Seahag CDs and yes, DVDs of the Adrian Belew Power Trio ready in time for the tour...and maybe...just maybe...a very special surprise...fingers crossed...for those who attend the shows.
And just in from the Netherlands - several You Tubes of last night's Project Object show. I am posting this one, Florentine Pogen, because even though he's on bass for this run, you'll get to see the amazing Robbie "Seahag" Mangano and Eric Slick along with fellow geniui (that's plural for genius in my world) Ike Willis, Andre Cholmondeley, Eric Svalgard, and Don Preston...and yeah, you can only imagine how good Robbie, Eric and Julie are as a band together, too...but wait...you will get to hear that soon. And as awesome as Robbie is on bass...oh man, on guitar...well, I'm sure many of you who read this blog regularly are already hip to Robbie's talent but watch him here on bass:
And here's the link for a whole slew of You Tubes from last night's show. I gave up trying to decide which others to post so just go to the page and watch them all!
Eric is off today to fly to Spain, where the lucky bastard gets to play tomorrow after spending two days at a luxury beachfront hotel there. I know I already posted a photo of that in a blog entry below so I won't make you all (and myself) jealous again. I'm kicking myself that I didn't throw financial caution to the wind and join the band for Zappanale, where they will not only be joined by several infamous Zappa alumni, but holy cow, Terry Bozzio is the headliner. Which means that for the final jam on Sunday night where all the performers join in, Eric Slick, whom everyone calls "Baby Bozzio", will share a stage with his "old man" Terry. Arghh...what was I thinking? Why aren't I there?
Oh well. Next time!
Still waiting for reviews to come in from this tour...you know the drill...if I find any, I'll add them in. I sort of think this is going to happen as I notice I'm getting website visitors from various news agencies all over the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Stay tuned...
Later,
xo
Awesome. Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled blogcast.
I won't keep you in suspense. When @julieslick (as I now like to refer to her twitterly self) came over on Saturday night, she created one hell of a meal.
We had a mixed grill - everything was cooked on the barbecue: Coconut curried scallops, endive, zucchini, wild mushrooms, and fingerling potatoes over arugula and Julie's fresh spicy basil salsa verde. The carnivores among us had steaks -- grass fed strips.
Then, as part of an elaborate ruse to throw a surprise birthday party for her significant other, Matt, last evening, she swung by here yesterday morning to pick up supplies she had hidden in my refrigerator as well as wine, a paella pan (for that is what she made - both traditional and vegetarian)...anyway, I reminisced about how great the previous evening's dinner was and sighed, "God, that was awesome but now I'm so hungry. I don't suppose you have the time to make your poor old mother who-is-not-invited-to-the-party breakfast before you leave, do you?"
To which Julie responded by going into the kitchen and whipping me up the following: Curried over-easy eggs with a splash of hot sauce and arugula in whole wheat toasted pita with sliced white peaches and blackberries on the side. I mean, really. Look what she just "throws together":
Okay, so I did have the white peaches and blackberries in the house so good on me for that...and eggs, hot sauce, curry and whole wheat pita bread are staples here, but still, I would never have thought to do what she did. At least not so effortlessly.
So I got a very nice surprise when I just downloaded these photos - I found some very sweet shots I didn't know I had from the Adrian Belew Power Trio's show at the Canal Street Tavern last month, taken by their proud father, Gary Slick:
Oh man, look at Julie in this next picture -- how freaking beautiful is she?
And notice @mrericslick clearly has great fashion sense - he's wearing his e-shirt!
The trio's traditional autograph/meet and greet after every show.
I am getting more stoked by the moment about this tour (click on link - it's Pollstar and there's new shows added - one which stood out is at the Turning Point in Piermont, New York - it looks like total hippieville). It's hitting me that I'm going and I'm like a little kid, all excited.
It doesn't take much to make me happy -- like, I smiled when I saw this on the Zappa Forum board...I found it under "Last Non-Zappa Album you bought":
So now you know what the autographed copies of e look like, but of course if you buy one from me on the upcoming tour, the trio just may personalize one for you special.
By the way, both Julie and Eric have updated their blogs recently. Eric just played a Project Object show in the Netherlands...he's off until Tuesday when he plays in Spain. Julie is working like a madwoman in her studio in a valiant effort to make sure there are Slick/Seahag CDs and yes, DVDs of the Adrian Belew Power Trio ready in time for the tour...and maybe...just maybe...a very special surprise...fingers crossed...for those who attend the shows.
And just in from the Netherlands - several You Tubes of last night's Project Object show. I am posting this one, Florentine Pogen, because even though he's on bass for this run, you'll get to see the amazing Robbie "Seahag" Mangano and Eric Slick along with fellow geniui (that's plural for genius in my world) Ike Willis, Andre Cholmondeley, Eric Svalgard, and Don Preston...and yeah, you can only imagine how good Robbie, Eric and Julie are as a band together, too...but wait...you will get to hear that soon. And as awesome as Robbie is on bass...oh man, on guitar...well, I'm sure many of you who read this blog regularly are already hip to Robbie's talent but watch him here on bass:
And here's the link for a whole slew of You Tubes from last night's show. I gave up trying to decide which others to post so just go to the page and watch them all!
Eric is off today to fly to Spain, where the lucky bastard gets to play tomorrow after spending two days at a luxury beachfront hotel there. I know I already posted a photo of that in a blog entry below so I won't make you all (and myself) jealous again. I'm kicking myself that I didn't throw financial caution to the wind and join the band for Zappanale, where they will not only be joined by several infamous Zappa alumni, but holy cow, Terry Bozzio is the headliner. Which means that for the final jam on Sunday night where all the performers join in, Eric Slick, whom everyone calls "Baby Bozzio", will share a stage with his "old man" Terry. Arghh...what was I thinking? Why aren't I there?
Oh well. Next time!
Still waiting for reviews to come in from this tour...you know the drill...if I find any, I'll add them in. I sort of think this is going to happen as I notice I'm getting website visitors from various news agencies all over the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Stay tuned...
Later,
xo
Friday, August 07, 2009
Prague Rock
So my curly hair is back and woo hoo, I've only owned it since Christmas but I finally know how to work some of the basic features on my new macbook. I managed to take this totally raw, untouched picture of myself today...and I'm excited because it just may be the only good photograph of me in existence now that I'm an old broad so I'm stoked to see I've still "got it". Well, at least a tiny glimmer of "it". Whatever. I'm just glad I at last have something I can use for bio pages for all of my various haunts and projects which actually looks like me. I'm not kidding when I say I am so unphotogenic that more than one person has remarked "Wow, you are so much better looking than your pictures."
Okay, okay, so I'm not a super model but at least I'm not a two bagger (one for my head and one for your head in case my bag falls off).
Anyway, I'm in a great mood. My muse has returned in full force and I'm working on two books at once, maybe more. A random email that went around my publisher's loop asking about authors who wrote series got me thinking that the Three Days in New York City trilogy is still not done. When Bitten to the Core comes out this December, I not only leave another window open for a sequel but grew to love one of the new characters so much that I suddenly got a strong urge to do a spin off for him/her. (Sneaky, aren't I?) So that will bring the series to five books and who knows what will happen once I start writing the novel featuring character #2. Also, to add to the fun, out of nowhere, I've regained enthusiasm for what started out as my first YA book but quickly realized -- due to usage of the word "fuck" 37 times in 100 pages -- that it would never qualify for Young Adult though still a coming of age story; anyway, I'm on a roll and quite happy. It also means that when I go on tour for three weeks with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, I will be in my room writing on the laptop during down time which suits me just fine...in other words, I won't get in the band's way.
And in other good news, at my request, and I can't believe that I did this because I am always adamant about print books over e-books...well, I realized I've lost the war and the entire modern planet now owns Kindles, Sony Readers, iPhones, etc. because they are cool! I am not going to relive 1990 again...i.e., when I walked into Tower Records all dazed and confused. "But...but...where's all the albums?" Overnight, it seemed, the world had changed and I was like some bumfuck nitwit without a clue and more importantly, without a CD player. Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that Daddy Left Me Alone with God will be available on Kindle in the very near future and also in other e-book formats. I've decided to join the 21st century in this regard enthusiastically after all and I'm not even kicking and screaming. In fact, I'm going to get myself a Kindle because I am a voracious reader and I can't be bringing 500 books with me when I do things like go on three week tours...it blows my mind that I can instantly have any book I want, 24 hours a day. The concept is amazing.
Speaking of tours, I heard from Eric, who is in the Czech Republic - Prague, to be exact, and yes, it must be said, since he's playing Zappa music in the Czech Republic he will indeed be playing "Prague Rock" (*ducking*)...anyway, he just emailed me this photo:
And then I checked out his hotel, and found this photo on my own - it's adjacent to where he's staying, as is the photo of the river he sent:
That's the Prague Castle, baby.
There was a nice little article about Project Object and their show in Prague tomorrow night which popped up...in fact, Eric made the news twice, though the second article managed to have what is becoming an alarmingly frequent journalistic mistake...this time the damn Philadelphia Inquirer, published in the city where he was born and raised, managed to fuck up his age and say that Eric is 19. Eric is 22. What do they teach these kids in journalism school, anyway?
So yeah, Eric plays Prague tomorrow night, then heads to the Netherlands. He's living the dream...well, Julie, too, that is for sure.
By the way, I heard the recording from the show on July 15, 2009 at John and Peters in New Hope featuring Eric Slick, Julie Slick, and Robbie "Seahag" Mangano. It is amazing! Julie is busy producing/mixing/mastering or whatever it is she does and there will be a CD of the show available any day. Those three musicians are so good it's sick! It's also magical...when you hear it you'll know what I mean.
Hey, speaking of truly magical CDs, great reviews continue to pile up for "e', and notice the new banner at the top of my blog here? It's a direct link to Adrian's website, where you can purchase the new CD, signed or unsigned, rare CDs and downloads, as well as your very own e-shirt. Or, you can get your e CDs and e-shirts from me on tour starting August 21. We can even take our pictures together with my macbook har har. But about those reviews...
Let's start with Progressive Ears:
"I haven't heard the Power Trio live yet (maybe next time they come to Carrboro), but I have Side Four and also Live Overseas, both of which are outstanding. But even with those high expectations set, "e" is blowing me away.
The comparison that has to be drawn is with King Crimson at its heaviest and most experimental. This is all instrumental, with none of Adrian's pop tendencies showing at all. There's very little here that feels like improv or "ProjeKct" work, though; the playing is very tight and high-energy.
I can't say enough good things about Julie and Eric Slick. Both as a pair, and also as individuals, they stand up very well in comparison to any of Crimson's rhythm sections. Eric's drumming is highly inventive, with driving polyrhthms that come as naturally as breathing. Julie plays her bass like a lead, and she's fully capable of matching Adrian note for note. Their unison runs are simply marvelous.
Adrian, of course, is Adrian. The liner notes say that this is performed live in StudioBelew, but I can't imagine how he's doing some of this stuff live. There's got to be two of him somewhere! This is his best work in quite some time, which is not to suggest that he's been slacking off anywhere along the line. It feels more like the Power Trio is bringing out the best in all three musicians, and I can't wait to hear more."
*****
"This puppy is easily the best Crimson to come along in quite a while!
The e-shirt is very comfy. I slept in mine last night."
*****
From Planet Crimson:
"On the first listen, I liked it okay. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.
On a second listen, I was grooving to it.
On the third and fourth listens I was digging it.
Fifth, sixth, and seventh listens, air-trio rocking to it.
On the now eight listen it has me grinning like a baboon."
*****
"I hear so much Crim in this release. Much more than any of Adrian's solo stuff. I have to wonder how much (if any) of that is deliberate. Do you think this could be a musical statement of sorts? To me it sounds like Adrian letting folks know just how large his contributions to King Crimson was (is?)."
*****
"I doubt Ade specifically intended to make that kind of statement and I doubt he really has anything to prove in that regard. I think that's just the direction the muse has been going.
Any group propelled by such a powerhouse rhythm section is almost inevitably going to reach Crim-like levels of intensity anyway..."
*****
So that was some interesting commentary and as usual, I'll add to them as I find them. It's nice to see intelligent conversation and various fans' thought process here...it says a lot about the CD.
Oh, and once again, for all of those who are asking about the absence of a track list on e, here's Adrian's official explanation:
"e" is actually one 43-minute piece. but I sub-divided it into 5 sections (a,b,c,d,and e) and further into sub-sections when necessary. for example "a" has 3 different sections so one is called "a" one is "a2" and a third is "a3". I really would have preferred to have NO track markers: one big piece. but for those listeners who would perhaps want to skip a certain part I made it into 11 different tracks.
they are:
a
a2
a3
b
b2
b3
c
d
d2
e
e2
Cool? Cool.
Hey, thanks to everyone who has been sending me "where to eat" suggestions in all the various cities I'll be visiting on tour. They are most appreciated and of course I will be blogging from said tour every day so I'll be providing you with daily reviews and photographs. I'm going to try and do it mostly vegan, though, with two exceptions...Quebec City where I will eat whatever the hell I want because they have some of the best food in North America, and Annapolis for the alleged world's best ice cream. (My whole family has had it two years in a row...I have never even been to Annapolis...and they've been torturing me with it ever since.)
Speaking of that, my own daughter just sent me an email including those very words "Just to torture you" in the subject line and this of course contained a link for the flavor page. Good freaking lord - coconut nut ice cream?
That's worth a three hour drive alone. Well, in my sick little world, anyway.
So here it is Friday night and now I feel like I'm part of Amanda Palmer's Friday Night Loser Club because it is 9:00 p.m. and I'm doing a fucking blog post. Julie's significant other, Matt, bassist for the band she produces, Cheers Elephant has a gig tonight at 11:00 p.m. at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia...if you are in the area, you can still make it in plenty of time and I highly recommend it.
But since if Amanda Palmer says it's cool to be a loser, then I'm a loser, too, and like any good loser at 9:00 p.m. on a Friday night, I'm going to bed.
Later,
xo
Okay, okay, so I'm not a super model but at least I'm not a two bagger (one for my head and one for your head in case my bag falls off).
Anyway, I'm in a great mood. My muse has returned in full force and I'm working on two books at once, maybe more. A random email that went around my publisher's loop asking about authors who wrote series got me thinking that the Three Days in New York City trilogy is still not done. When Bitten to the Core comes out this December, I not only leave another window open for a sequel but grew to love one of the new characters so much that I suddenly got a strong urge to do a spin off for him/her. (Sneaky, aren't I?) So that will bring the series to five books and who knows what will happen once I start writing the novel featuring character #2. Also, to add to the fun, out of nowhere, I've regained enthusiasm for what started out as my first YA book but quickly realized -- due to usage of the word "fuck" 37 times in 100 pages -- that it would never qualify for Young Adult though still a coming of age story; anyway, I'm on a roll and quite happy. It also means that when I go on tour for three weeks with the Adrian Belew Power Trio, I will be in my room writing on the laptop during down time which suits me just fine...in other words, I won't get in the band's way.
And in other good news, at my request, and I can't believe that I did this because I am always adamant about print books over e-books...well, I realized I've lost the war and the entire modern planet now owns Kindles, Sony Readers, iPhones, etc. because they are cool! I am not going to relive 1990 again...i.e., when I walked into Tower Records all dazed and confused. "But...but...where's all the albums?" Overnight, it seemed, the world had changed and I was like some bumfuck nitwit without a clue and more importantly, without a CD player. Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that Daddy Left Me Alone with God will be available on Kindle in the very near future and also in other e-book formats. I've decided to join the 21st century in this regard enthusiastically after all and I'm not even kicking and screaming. In fact, I'm going to get myself a Kindle because I am a voracious reader and I can't be bringing 500 books with me when I do things like go on three week tours...it blows my mind that I can instantly have any book I want, 24 hours a day. The concept is amazing.
Speaking of tours, I heard from Eric, who is in the Czech Republic - Prague, to be exact, and yes, it must be said, since he's playing Zappa music in the Czech Republic he will indeed be playing "Prague Rock" (*ducking*)...anyway, he just emailed me this photo:
And then I checked out his hotel, and found this photo on my own - it's adjacent to where he's staying, as is the photo of the river he sent:
That's the Prague Castle, baby.
There was a nice little article about Project Object and their show in Prague tomorrow night which popped up...in fact, Eric made the news twice, though the second article managed to have what is becoming an alarmingly frequent journalistic mistake...this time the damn Philadelphia Inquirer, published in the city where he was born and raised, managed to fuck up his age and say that Eric is 19. Eric is 22. What do they teach these kids in journalism school, anyway?
So yeah, Eric plays Prague tomorrow night, then heads to the Netherlands. He's living the dream...well, Julie, too, that is for sure.
By the way, I heard the recording from the show on July 15, 2009 at John and Peters in New Hope featuring Eric Slick, Julie Slick, and Robbie "Seahag" Mangano. It is amazing! Julie is busy producing/mixing/mastering or whatever it is she does and there will be a CD of the show available any day. Those three musicians are so good it's sick! It's also magical...when you hear it you'll know what I mean.
Hey, speaking of truly magical CDs, great reviews continue to pile up for "e', and notice the new banner at the top of my blog here? It's a direct link to Adrian's website, where you can purchase the new CD, signed or unsigned, rare CDs and downloads, as well as your very own e-shirt. Or, you can get your e CDs and e-shirts from me on tour starting August 21. We can even take our pictures together with my macbook har har. But about those reviews...
Let's start with Progressive Ears:
"I haven't heard the Power Trio live yet (maybe next time they come to Carrboro), but I have Side Four and also Live Overseas, both of which are outstanding. But even with those high expectations set, "e" is blowing me away.
The comparison that has to be drawn is with King Crimson at its heaviest and most experimental. This is all instrumental, with none of Adrian's pop tendencies showing at all. There's very little here that feels like improv or "ProjeKct" work, though; the playing is very tight and high-energy.
I can't say enough good things about Julie and Eric Slick. Both as a pair, and also as individuals, they stand up very well in comparison to any of Crimson's rhythm sections. Eric's drumming is highly inventive, with driving polyrhthms that come as naturally as breathing. Julie plays her bass like a lead, and she's fully capable of matching Adrian note for note. Their unison runs are simply marvelous.
Adrian, of course, is Adrian. The liner notes say that this is performed live in StudioBelew, but I can't imagine how he's doing some of this stuff live. There's got to be two of him somewhere! This is his best work in quite some time, which is not to suggest that he's been slacking off anywhere along the line. It feels more like the Power Trio is bringing out the best in all three musicians, and I can't wait to hear more."
*****
"This puppy is easily the best Crimson to come along in quite a while!
The e-shirt is very comfy. I slept in mine last night."
*****
From Planet Crimson:
"On the first listen, I liked it okay. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.
On a second listen, I was grooving to it.
On the third and fourth listens I was digging it.
Fifth, sixth, and seventh listens, air-trio rocking to it.
On the now eight listen it has me grinning like a baboon."
*****
"I hear so much Crim in this release. Much more than any of Adrian's solo stuff. I have to wonder how much (if any) of that is deliberate. Do you think this could be a musical statement of sorts? To me it sounds like Adrian letting folks know just how large his contributions to King Crimson was (is?)."
*****
"I doubt Ade specifically intended to make that kind of statement and I doubt he really has anything to prove in that regard. I think that's just the direction the muse has been going.
Any group propelled by such a powerhouse rhythm section is almost inevitably going to reach Crim-like levels of intensity anyway..."
*****
So that was some interesting commentary and as usual, I'll add to them as I find them. It's nice to see intelligent conversation and various fans' thought process here...it says a lot about the CD.
Oh, and once again, for all of those who are asking about the absence of a track list on e, here's Adrian's official explanation:
"e" is actually one 43-minute piece. but I sub-divided it into 5 sections (a,b,c,d,and e) and further into sub-sections when necessary. for example "a" has 3 different sections so one is called "a" one is "a2" and a third is "a3". I really would have preferred to have NO track markers: one big piece. but for those listeners who would perhaps want to skip a certain part I made it into 11 different tracks.
they are:
a
a2
a3
b
b2
b3
c
d
d2
e
e2
Cool? Cool.
Hey, thanks to everyone who has been sending me "where to eat" suggestions in all the various cities I'll be visiting on tour. They are most appreciated and of course I will be blogging from said tour every day so I'll be providing you with daily reviews and photographs. I'm going to try and do it mostly vegan, though, with two exceptions...Quebec City where I will eat whatever the hell I want because they have some of the best food in North America, and Annapolis for the alleged world's best ice cream. (My whole family has had it two years in a row...I have never even been to Annapolis...and they've been torturing me with it ever since.)
Speaking of that, my own daughter just sent me an email including those very words "Just to torture you" in the subject line and this of course contained a link for the flavor page. Good freaking lord - coconut nut ice cream?
That's worth a three hour drive alone. Well, in my sick little world, anyway.
So here it is Friday night and now I feel like I'm part of Amanda Palmer's Friday Night Loser Club because it is 9:00 p.m. and I'm doing a fucking blog post. Julie's significant other, Matt, bassist for the band she produces, Cheers Elephant has a gig tonight at 11:00 p.m. at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia...if you are in the area, you can still make it in plenty of time and I highly recommend it.
But since if Amanda Palmer says it's cool to be a loser, then I'm a loser, too, and like any good loser at 9:00 p.m. on a Friday night, I'm going to bed.
Later,
xo
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Chasing the Clouds Away
So here's an interesting/fun journal entry from Gary Platt regarding "e":
"Hi friends,
Yeah, I know I was shy about writing there for awhile, sorry about that.
Enough about me talking about me, how about you talking about me? OK, well, Gary just finished a wonderful new instrumental record from one of the great guitarists/orchestrationist (!?) of our “time”; Adrian Belew. His Power Trio recorded mostly live in Adrian’s studio at his Ponderosa there near Nashville. I had the privilige of mixing the tracks in the evenings in my own studio prior to Adrian’s visit with me here in San Francisco. His visit with me was pure joy, we just had tons of laughs together, we’ve always had that for some reason. We put the final touches on it, then I mastered it up and now it is on the market (Aug 3rd). the album is entitled “e” and features Julie and Eric Slick, a brother/sister team that would make Karen Carpenter sit up in her grave. Ok, that was crass. But anyway, Julie is a total monster bassist and Eric is waay beyond drumming - he’s superb. These two provide the most amazing “wall of sound” (Wallace Hound??) behind Adrian’s many guitar personalities. When you think Adrian is playing a piano, he’s really playing guitar. Weird shit like that. And the grooves on this record are killah, I mean there are some really hard-drivin’-never-in-4/4-where-the-hell-is-”one” grooves and a half. Anyway, my audio life is complete, at last..."
Well, that's good to know, Gary. My audio life is complete at last, too.
Hey, and a huge thanks to Kill Ugly Radio and The Idiot Bastard for their "e" shout outs as well!
And guess what? I get to hear that wall of sound live, up close and personal, for three weeks! That's right, I'm going on the entire tour with the band, will be at every show...look for me at the merch table at most of these venues:
Aug 21, 2009 Bijou Theatre
Knoxville, TN
Aug 22, 2009 Smith's Old Bar
Atlanta, GA
Aug 24, 2009 Orange Peel
Asheville, NC
Aug 25, 2009 Jammin' Java
Vienna, VA
Aug 26, 2009 Sellersville Theatre
Sellersville, PA
Aug 27, 2009 "e" listening party @ Rembrandt's
(powertrio will be mingling with
crowd as "e" CD is played).
This is not a concert. Philadelphia, PA
Aug 28, 2009 BB Kings
New York, NY
Aug 29, 2009 Maxwells
Hoboken, NJ
Aug 30, 2009 Ram's Head on Stage
Annapolis, MD
Aug 31, 2009 World Cafe Live
Philadelphia, PA
Sept 1, 2009 Iron Horse
Northhampton, MA
Sept 3, 2009 Center for the Arts
Cotuit, MA
Sept 4, 2009 Center for the Arts
Natick, MA
Sept 5, 2009 Narrows Center for the Arts
Fall River, MA
Sept 8, 2009
Theatre Petit Champlain
Quebec City, QC
Sept 9, 2009 Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire
Montreal, QC
Sept 10, 2009 The Mod Club
Toronto, ON
Sept 11, 2009 Tralf Music Hall
Buffalo, NY
Sept 12, 2009 Rex Theater
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm excited. Especially about Montreal and Toronto, where I've never been, and Quebec City, where I'd like to spend eternity.
One final reminder to catch Eric Slick on drums tonight at Silk City with Glenn Alexander and Dave LaRue - they go on around 11:00 p.m. but get there early for the opening act, Base3 with Tim Motzer...in fact, when I was just collecting those links, I was reminded that tonight is the CD release party for Base3 and that Tim is written up in this month's issue of Guitar Player Magazine (click on that link for a cool video). So basically this is going to be a pretty amazing show at an intimate, funky club with great food and drinks...one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia...I just hope I can stay up that late.
Unbelievable story that Eric just told me: We first met Adrian at Les Paul's 90th birthday celebration at Roseland Ballroom in New York in 2005...Eric and Julie played with the School of Rock Hall of Famers (Rock School All-Stars who are graduates...I am not sure if this group still exists or not because Eric and Julie are always on tour with other projects). And who was Adrian's guitarist for that event? None other than Glenn Alexander. How freaking spooky?
In other news, through the magic of Google, I just learned my son is in yet another band, tentatively named "Young Ice". *Snort* and Eric made fun of Seaslick. Well I never! Ha ha, just kidding, very cool name; I'm loving that Eric seems to be everywhere these days in an alleged depressed musical environment. Bah on that and I can assure you, it is alleged...there is just amazing new music out there, like the band Julie Slick produces, Cheers Elephant, who are in the studio recording a brand new release with Ms. Julie as we speak. Anyway, Young Ice features guitarist Nick Bockrath, who is also in Zoe Kravitz' band, Elevator Fight, and Zoe is of course the daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. Zoe was at Eric's birthday party and sat next to him while he jammed on the drums. Unattractive, isn't she?
God, life is so unfair.
Oh, I'm kidding.
Anyway, I think that's a wrap for me. I am determined to work on my novel today though rumor has it that Julie is swinging by later on to help me "organize my entertainment center". I didn't even know I had an entertainment center but whatever, Julie is talking techie terms to me and it's not that I tune her out when she does that, it's just that I have no idea what she means so I simply let her do what she wants and I'm usually happy with the results.
Except for last summer when I was at the beach house for two weeks and returned home exhausted to find my entire kitchen re-arranged...but that's a whole 'nother story. Ha ha, but hey, ever since they first put her on my belly fresh out of the womb, she has been the CEO/Social Director of this family and apparently the interior decorator as well so nothing should surprise me at this point.
Oh well. It could be worse. God I love my family.
Later,
xo
"Hi friends,
Yeah, I know I was shy about writing there for awhile, sorry about that.
Enough about me talking about me, how about you talking about me? OK, well, Gary just finished a wonderful new instrumental record from one of the great guitarists/orchestrationist (!?) of our “time”; Adrian Belew. His Power Trio recorded mostly live in Adrian’s studio at his Ponderosa there near Nashville. I had the privilige of mixing the tracks in the evenings in my own studio prior to Adrian’s visit with me here in San Francisco. His visit with me was pure joy, we just had tons of laughs together, we’ve always had that for some reason. We put the final touches on it, then I mastered it up and now it is on the market (Aug 3rd). the album is entitled “e” and features Julie and Eric Slick, a brother/sister team that would make Karen Carpenter sit up in her grave. Ok, that was crass. But anyway, Julie is a total monster bassist and Eric is waay beyond drumming - he’s superb. These two provide the most amazing “wall of sound” (Wallace Hound??) behind Adrian’s many guitar personalities. When you think Adrian is playing a piano, he’s really playing guitar. Weird shit like that. And the grooves on this record are killah, I mean there are some really hard-drivin’-never-in-4/4-where-the-hell-is-”one” grooves and a half. Anyway, my audio life is complete, at last..."
Well, that's good to know, Gary. My audio life is complete at last, too.
Hey, and a huge thanks to Kill Ugly Radio and The Idiot Bastard for their "e" shout outs as well!
And guess what? I get to hear that wall of sound live, up close and personal, for three weeks! That's right, I'm going on the entire tour with the band, will be at every show...look for me at the merch table at most of these venues:
Aug 21, 2009 Bijou Theatre
Knoxville, TN
Aug 22, 2009 Smith's Old Bar
Atlanta, GA
Aug 24, 2009 Orange Peel
Asheville, NC
Aug 25, 2009 Jammin' Java
Vienna, VA
Aug 26, 2009 Sellersville Theatre
Sellersville, PA
Aug 27, 2009 "e" listening party @ Rembrandt's
(powertrio will be mingling with
crowd as "e" CD is played).
This is not a concert. Philadelphia, PA
Aug 28, 2009 BB Kings
New York, NY
Aug 29, 2009 Maxwells
Hoboken, NJ
Aug 30, 2009 Ram's Head on Stage
Annapolis, MD
Aug 31, 2009 World Cafe Live
Philadelphia, PA
Sept 1, 2009 Iron Horse
Northhampton, MA
Sept 3, 2009 Center for the Arts
Cotuit, MA
Sept 4, 2009 Center for the Arts
Natick, MA
Sept 5, 2009 Narrows Center for the Arts
Fall River, MA
Sept 8, 2009
Theatre Petit Champlain
Quebec City, QC
Sept 9, 2009 Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire
Montreal, QC
Sept 10, 2009 The Mod Club
Toronto, ON
Sept 11, 2009 Tralf Music Hall
Buffalo, NY
Sept 12, 2009 Rex Theater
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm excited. Especially about Montreal and Toronto, where I've never been, and Quebec City, where I'd like to spend eternity.
One final reminder to catch Eric Slick on drums tonight at Silk City with Glenn Alexander and Dave LaRue - they go on around 11:00 p.m. but get there early for the opening act, Base3 with Tim Motzer...in fact, when I was just collecting those links, I was reminded that tonight is the CD release party for Base3 and that Tim is written up in this month's issue of Guitar Player Magazine (click on that link for a cool video). So basically this is going to be a pretty amazing show at an intimate, funky club with great food and drinks...one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia...I just hope I can stay up that late.
Unbelievable story that Eric just told me: We first met Adrian at Les Paul's 90th birthday celebration at Roseland Ballroom in New York in 2005...Eric and Julie played with the School of Rock Hall of Famers (Rock School All-Stars who are graduates...I am not sure if this group still exists or not because Eric and Julie are always on tour with other projects). And who was Adrian's guitarist for that event? None other than Glenn Alexander. How freaking spooky?
In other news, through the magic of Google, I just learned my son is in yet another band, tentatively named "Young Ice". *Snort* and Eric made fun of Seaslick. Well I never! Ha ha, just kidding, very cool name; I'm loving that Eric seems to be everywhere these days in an alleged depressed musical environment. Bah on that and I can assure you, it is alleged...there is just amazing new music out there, like the band Julie Slick produces, Cheers Elephant, who are in the studio recording a brand new release with Ms. Julie as we speak. Anyway, Young Ice features guitarist Nick Bockrath, who is also in Zoe Kravitz' band, Elevator Fight, and Zoe is of course the daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. Zoe was at Eric's birthday party and sat next to him while he jammed on the drums. Unattractive, isn't she?
God, life is so unfair.
Oh, I'm kidding.
Anyway, I think that's a wrap for me. I am determined to work on my novel today though rumor has it that Julie is swinging by later on to help me "organize my entertainment center". I didn't even know I had an entertainment center but whatever, Julie is talking techie terms to me and it's not that I tune her out when she does that, it's just that I have no idea what she means so I simply let her do what she wants and I'm usually happy with the results.
Except for last summer when I was at the beach house for two weeks and returned home exhausted to find my entire kitchen re-arranged...but that's a whole 'nother story. Ha ha, but hey, ever since they first put her on my belly fresh out of the womb, she has been the CEO/Social Director of this family and apparently the interior decorator as well so nothing should surprise me at this point.
Oh well. It could be worse. God I love my family.
Later,
xo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)