Backwards Blogging...

Okay, I admit I'm stealing this idea from my second favorite bassist in the world, Tony Levin, but since it's been over a week since I've blogged and so many cool things have happened, I'm going to start with last night and work my way backwards. But first, we all know my #1 bassist is:



Julie Slick, who hopefully one of these days will sit down with our brilliant webmaster and finish her website...and as I've already written in previous posts, Julie heads down to Nashville tomorrow to Adrian Belew's studio for several days leading up to their June 10 gig at the Riverbend Festival...she is going to be making all kinds of magic there and hopefully fulfilling the dreams of a lot of Ade's fans.

Oh yeah, one more thing I want to shout from the rooftop before I launch into my blog in reverse, if you are anywhere near the Philadelphia/Bucks County area, mark June 20 on your calendar, and I will naturally be promoting this big time over the next three weeks, but following his 1:30 performance with Oblivion Sun at NEARfest, both Julie and Eric will be the special guests of the California Guitar Trio at the Sellersville Theater at 8:00 p.m. that night, performing several songs with the band including one from Pink Floyd and another from King Crimson...and that's just a little tease.

As I said, more on that in future posts but it's going to be AMAZING.

Oh wait, if I am doing this correctly, I should really start with today and my crazy brilliant drummer son, Eric Slick, who, because he does not already have enough to do, is in the studio today from noon until 5:00 p.m. recording with Tom Hamilton and the American Babies; then he heads over to a jam with David Fishkin and I just tried to find where and when that is via Google and MySpace and failed. If I talk to Eric at any point today and find out the details, I'll come in and edit.

**Okay, I did find out the details of Eric's gig tonight - see ETA at the bottom of this post.

Here's a recent pic of crazy Eric on tour last month:



Anyway...

Last night, Eric went with me to the Highline Ballroom in New York City to see a bunch of my friends read from Smith Magazine's Six Word Memoirs.

I was able to lure him there as my partner in crime because headlining the show was the absolutely hilarious Eugene Mirman from Flight of the Conchords, one of the funniest comics ever, Todd Barry...and someone Eric met while he was still in high school and I have an autographed copy of her book on my shelves to prove it, author Amy Tan. Oh, as a totally wild side note because I'm afraid I'll leave this part out in all of the other excitement, Amy read a very funny piece on email etiquette -- well, really, she related that she pondered quite extensively on how to sign an email, and oddly enough, and after much debate and what appears to be quite the internal struggle on her part, I learned she signs her email the same way I do -- xoxo

I never gave my sign-off any thought at all. xoxo just seemed a good a way as any. I wasn't about to use "ciao" or "Very truly yours" in a freaking email. Amy even analyzed whether to do it xxxooo or ox (no wait, I think I just made that part up and if I did, Amy, you should steal it. The "ox" part I mean. I know you had a problem with how many x's and o's to use).

When I first bought tickets for last night, I was going because my pals Susan Henderson, Ellen Meister, and Joe Maida were reading (oh...let me qualify Joe...he's really Eric's friend/fan, too and a major friend of Ween but then the two of us starting emailing about music, kids, etc. etc. so now Eric and I both have custody of Joe) and two people I really wanted to meet would also be in the audience, brilliant author Luis Urrea and his beautiful wife, Cindy. Ha ha...last night I also learned that while I met the Urreas through my blog, which I already knew, I thought it was because they stumbled on my writing...here, it turns out Luis is a huge Adrian Belew fan and he found me while googling Adrian. Score another one for Eric.

Then, after I'd already bought tickets, on Thursday a little blurb appeared on Twitter from Amanda Palmer, that she was the surprise musical guest. Now, we all know I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, and if you are also a fan of either Amanda or Neil, and you've read their blogs and seen the amazing photos of the two of them by Kyle Cassidy you also know they are now officially "out" as a couple and that yes, Neil was already in New York for Book Expo America, the opening of Coraline the musical, and a joint show with Amanda in NYC on June 3. Would Neil be in the audience as well? If I saw him would he say hello and would I have a chance to redeem myself after our great embarrassing (well, to me as a slobbering fan girl) meet-up of a couple of years ago? Ha ha, trust me, I'm over that, had a couple of fun email exchanges with him since, and recently even had a twitter or two with him...in fact, just the other day he wrote "@neilhimself:@RobinSlick I watched the Why We Wax film, and you were not only in it, but you were wearing a Death shirt! Was very impressed."

I just realized something - I'm going to have that made into a Twitter t-shirt. But only if they will make it for me in black with white lettering.

But seriously, I had already bought my tickets before the Amanda Palmer announcement and was really looking forward to seeing Susan, Ellen et al and meeting Luis and Cindy, especially the latter as they were just in Philadelphia for a reading at the Free Library, which is literally blocks from my house, and I was still suffering from the great dental debacle and couldn't make it. And I was teasing Eric the whole time about the surprise musical guest...he knew of Amanda but had never seen her live and I knew he'd be interested but I didn't let on who it was until we were actually at the Highline.

Normally, because I am both nearsighted even with expensive contact lenses and neurotic, I would have gotten there at 6:00 p.m. when the doors opened to snag a seat right in front and do the happy hour thing but Eric had to teach so we literally got there about 10 minutes before the show started. Ellen immediately found us and even though we've been friends for years, she had never met Eric so I did the proud mom thing, and then I really got my chance because Cindy Urrea found us as well and I finally got to meet Luis and even more importantly, he got to meet Eric (xo) and then he said "I saw Neil and Amanda walking around holding hands".

I think it's pretty safe to say that anyone who reads my blog knows that little comment made me smile in a big way and Eric nervously glanced at me like I once again made him my accomplice in something awful and humiliating. (When I met Neil a couple years ago, I dragged Eric with me and then I insisted he take our picture together --Neil and yours truly, that is -- and I don't know that Eric has forgiven me yet for that oh so totally uncool moment.)

But already having met Ellen and Luis and also being greeted by Joe, our friend from Ween, I quickly dispelled Eric's fears by pointing that out.

But he still looked at me warily, and then, as luck would have it, when the show started in what was now a standing room only venue, I realized we were, well, standing, right next to Neil and Amanda! Eric shot me a look like "Don't you dare!" and on the other side of me, Ellen was urging me to say Hello. I kind of wanted to introduce Eric to Amanda, actually, because I know she is a big Trent Reznor fan and figured she knew Eric's "boss", Adrian Belew, and trust me, if I had my wits about me, I would have, but what did I blurt out instead when I saw them?

"I'M TELLING THE INTERNET!"

Amanda heard what I said right away and turned around and flashed me a huge smile, but Neil, who was standing right behind her and holding her and Oh.My.God are those two in love...they just radiate and are so perfect for each other it's a thing of beauty...anyway, Neil didn't turn around because he probably figured I was some weirdo fan...well, wait, I am a weirdo fan so that part may be true...oy....but you know, he stared straight ahead in the way celebrities do when they are out enjoying a night off and really don't want to make eye contact or talk to a stranger but ha ha, this is me we are talking about, I'm not a stranger! However, I decided if I bothered him again it would be the most unhip, cheesy thing I ever did and even though I knew he would be friendly if he realized it was me, I just could not bring myself to say anything else.

But then Susan Henderson came over to us, and Sue did the incredible interview with Neil on her website...I had "introduced" them in cyberworld, now I had no choice but to introduce them in the real world, but that meant I had to talk to him! Oh God. Would Eric refuse to ever go out in public with me anywhere again let alone hip clubs in New York City? Thank God for Ellen, whom I love dearly, because she doesn't put up with idiotic behavior. She stepped in and even though she doesn't know him, tapped Neil on the shoulder...he turned...saw me, smiled broadly (yeah!) I quickly introduced Sue...and then...and then...he kissed both of us on the cheek.

I wish I could say I'm never washing my face again but even I'm not that much of a lunatic.

And truth to tell, I have an even bigger crush on Luis Urrea. (Hi, Cindy!)

Seriously, Neil is so totally sweet and I did not bother him at all after that...I mean, we may have chatted briefly only I don't even remember what I did say to him because suddenly the two Ketel and clubs I drank on an empty stomach slammed me and after whatever conversation we did have, I happily returned to listening to the extremely entertaining show.

Amanda was great - she played her ukulele and performed a new one she wrote, Dear Old House That I Grew Up In, and a fantastic cover of Radiohead's Creep...in fact, here's a recent You Tube of that...but first, did I mention that Neil stood next to Eric the whole time Amanda played? Yep. I snuck a look at him...Neil, that is...he was mesmerized and that is one love sick puppy. It's so cute!

Okay, enough of that. Here's Amanda and this was from Coachella a few months ago. Damn I wish the Adrian Belew Power Trio had played that gig! Maybe next year?



The Smith Magazine part of the show in which my friends took part was absolutely fabulous! Larry and Rachel from Smith shouted out a name and each writer came running up to the mic and read his/her six word memoir. Some were laugh out loud funny; some were a little sad...all were fantastic. I was wondering how the hell they were going to pull that off and they really, really did an awesome job.

Sooo..I think that covers today and last night.

Let's see. Earlier in the week, I wrote. And wrote. And realized that my Young Adult book contains the word "fuck" 37 times in under 100 pages. Clearly, I either need to find another word or abandon the idea that I can ever write anything young adult. I will try and figure this out over the course of the next several days, in between dealing with an ongoing fucking dental nightmare which I can't even blog about; it's too painful both physically and emotionally. Bleh.

Oh, I know. Still in reverse mode, I can tell you about Monday. Memorial Day, that is. As is the usual Slick family custom, we went to Ocean City, New Jersey for the day, and there were no significant others involved. It was like we were transported 10 years back into time. Donuts for breakfast, a surrey ride, miniature golf, pizza from Mac and Manco's, and then home before traffic picked up, only we were too late for that and sat in gridlock for hours but I was too happy to have a panic attack so I somehow made it through that without freaking out and...oh enough, here's some photos from that fabbo day:









So I'm pretty sure that was my week, but if I remember anything else or find out where the hell Eric is playing tonight with David Fishkin (he's a sax player), I'll be back.

**ETA: Just talked to Eric..his gig tonight is at Big Rock Candy Mountain, 1822 North Hancock Street, Philadelphia, PA at 9:30 p.m. and admission is FREE

And if you want to follow any of us mentioned in this post on Twitter, here's the official list:

Me: @robinslick
Eric: @mrericslick
Luis and Cindy Urrea: @urrealism
Ellen Meister: @ellenmeister
Susan Henderson: @litpark
Joe Maida: @mightyboognish
Amanda Palmer: @amandapalmer
Neil Gaiman: @neilhimself (as if the world doesn't already know that)

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Friday, May 22, 2009

Okay, listen up - tonight there's going to be an awesome show at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia:



Yes, Julie's boyfriend, Matt, is the bassist for Cheers Elephant and yes, she produced both their first and upcoming new CD, but tonight, Eric Slick will be sitting in on drums with the band and that's going to be a blast. "It's a family affair..." Who sung that again? Oh well, who cares. Not me. I'm in full holiday mode today and ready to have some serious fun this weekend. Wait. It was Sly and the Family Stone, wasn't it? I loved him but how fucking demented did he get in his old age. Whoa. Pretty fucking demented. I had to hit Google, because for a minute, I wondered if he died last year but found this instead:

"Reemergence

On Sunday, January 14, 2007 Sly made a short guest appearance at a show of The New Family Stone band he supports at the House of Blues.

On April 1, 2007, Stone appeared with the Family Stone at the Flamingo Las Vegas Showroom, after George Wallace's standup act.[2]

On July 7, 2007 Stone made a short appearance with the Family Stone at the San Jose, CA Summerfest. He sang "Sing a Simple Song" and "If You Want Me to Stay," and walked off stage before the end of "Higher." He wore a baseball cap, dark glasses, a white hooded sweatshirt, baggy pants and gold chains. Stone, who took the stage at about 8:45 p.m., cut the set short, in part, because the promoter was told that the show had to end by 9:00. The band began their set over 90 minutes late reportedly because the stage management was poor and the promoter's band played for 30 minutes longer than scheduled. Sly's 15-minute set came only after his sister, Vet, and the rest of the band performed for 35 minutes. As he exited the stage he told the audience near the front of the stage that he would return. He did return, but only to tell the crowd that the police were shutting down the show. While many blamed Stone for this incident, others believed that the promoter was at fault.

The same scenes were repeated at the Montreux Jazz Festival on the 13th July 2007 with over half the sold-out venue walking out in disgust even earlier than his stage exit.

The same happened again one day later at the Blue Note Records Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Here he left the stage after saying to the audience that "when waking up this morning he realized he was old, and so he needed to take a break now". He did the same again one day later, performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

But as the tour progressed, Sly seemed to be more confident and animated, often dancing and engaging the audience. By the time the tour rolled into Paris, things appeared to be improving, and Sly sporting an afro and a headband, performed an energetic and absorbing show, with one his finest performances of "Family Affair." At the Bournemouth gig, Sly performed a feat many of his detractors would not have believed possible. During the performance of "I Want To Take You Higher," he prowled the edge of the stage, and jumped off into the photographers pit, provoking roars of approval. He performed soulful versions of Stand, "I Want To Take You Higher", "Sing A Simple Song", "If You Want Me To Stay", and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", (which at one point morphed into "Thank you For Talkin' To Me Africa", a track rarely performed in public). But the show was marred by sound problems and the vocals were barely audible through much of the show.

On January 4, 2009, Stone appeared briefly at the George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic concert at the House of Blues, Las Vegas. He appeared dressed in what appeared to be a children's spiderman costume. Once he took off his mask, he had a large gray mohawk and a smile on his face. He sang a few songs and hit a few notes on the keyboard and then disappeared. Some people in the audience were chanting "Bootsy!" because some people thought that's who he was...but George Clinton introduced him as Sly Stone and everyone immediately knew that it wasn't Bootsy."

Okay, enough of that. And I said I didn't care.

Getting back to me...

Last night was pretty wild, too. I went to a 68th birthday party bash for Bob Dylan and a bunch of local musicians played his covers to honor him. I drank Ketel One and club soda for most of the night so it all sounded good to me and regrettably, I do not remember much after the first hour or two.

Speaking of birthdays, Eric's was INSANE. Even if you are not a vegan, you really need to eat at Horizons. One of the best meals I've ever had in the U.S.

In other news, we now have some idea of what the next few months will be like: Julie heads to Nashville from June 1 to June 11 to work at Studio Belew; Slick Daddy will be flying down for a visit June 5-7; the new studio Adrian Belew Power Trio CD "e" is in very secret hands on the west coast where it will be joined by Adrian himself for four days next week....Eric has a bunch of gigs as usual as the Riverbend Festival approaches on June 10, but he'll be down in Nashville on June 9, play the show, then head for Bonnaroo where he'll be performing every night...details to follow...both Julie and Eric are doing a special gig with a very special band and I'm not sure if I can announce that yet or not; Eric is playing NEARfest on June 20, then the Adrian Belew Power Trio will set off on tour from July 17-August 1 and from August 20-September 2...so far...as soon as I have the details, so will you.

And as for me, yes, me again, it is my blog, I am enjoying a much needed break from the world and have returned to full-time writing in a big way...working on two books simultaneously and will be taking it a minute at a time...

So be well and have a great holiday weekend. If I get any cool news, I'll be back.

Later,
xo

Happy Birthday Eric Slick!

Well, I'm officially old. My "baby" is twenty-two years old today.



Happy Birthday, Eric!

And in case you are a new reader to this blog, the official INSANE story of Eric's actual birth can be found right here. Sadly, I did not embellish one fact...in fact, I actually toned it down to make it more "politically correct".

So our gift to Eric is a brand new double bed and mattress for his new place in the Graduate Hospital area (the lucky bum)...hardwood floors throughout, brand new state of the art kitchen, three stories with finished soundproof studio basement...wait...what the fuck am I, his real estate agent? Ha ha, I'm just excited for him, and oddly enough, today is also his official moving day.

And to top off the festivities, tonight the family is taking him to dinner at Philadelphia's premier vegan restaurant, Horizons, where we'll be dining on:

Starters:

Florida Corn "Sopa De Tortilla" charred poblano broth, avocado, tortilla stix

Smoked Portobella Carpaccio black olive blini, rosemary mustard, crispy capers

Exotic Mushroom Fritters hearts of palm and tomato stew, saffron aioli

Salt Roasted Golden Beet Duo sliced with house smoked tofu on rye.

Tartare with seaweed caviar and cucumber dill sauce

Jamaican BBQ Seitan jicama slaw, smoked chipotle dip

Spanish Chopped Salad smoked tofu, avocado, hearts of palm, cured and green olives, red onion, patatas bravas grilled lemon- caper dressing

Red Leaf Salad lolla rosa, grilled green onions, roasted pears, pistachio vinaigrette

Entrees:

Pan Seared Peppercorn Tofu curry creamed spinach, garbonzo crepe with hearts of palm chick pea stew, cucumber coriander chutney

Grilled Seitan yukon mash, grilled spinach, horseradish cream and roasted red pepper tapenade

Mushroom Pub Plate - wood grilled portobella with grain mustard sauce stuffed deviled oyster mushrooms pickled beech mushrooms creamy maitakes and peas over truffled celery root puree

Catalan Tempeh braised black beluga lentils

Spanish salsa verde smoked eggplant-stuffed piquillo. preserved lemon aioli

Pacific Rim Grilled Tofu spicy gochujang glaze, korean fried rice,edamame puree, smoked miso glaze

Dijon seitan and cauliflower terrine. grilled royal trumpet mushrooms sauteed brussels sprouts, baby turnips and lettuce roasted rutabaga salad

Sides And Small Plates

Maitake mushrooms with rosemary and miso

Grilled spinach with preserved lemon aioli

Fresh trofie pasta with garlic and truffle oil

Baked potato fries with chipotle dip

Brussels sprouts and tokyo turnips with mustard cream, curried garbanzos with rice and chutney

Desserts:

Key Lime Cheesecake mango ceviche

Chocolate Mousse mac nut cookies

Coconut Cupcake pineapple gazpacho

Saffron Creme Brulee with lemon-hazelnut cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bomb with peanut butter ice cream

How's that for some vegan food porn? I'll try and remember to take some pictures for my next post.

So Happy Birthday, Eric Slick...you are in fact the man...and oh yeah, here's another tease...what Friends of King Crimson band will both Julie and Eric join on stage for a Philadelphia area show next month? Stay tuned....

Later,
xo

Odds and Sods for Thursday, May 7, 2009

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


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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Moving on...

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

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





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





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

Love it.

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



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

Later,
xo

Decadent days in Orlando: The Romantic Times Convention 2009

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



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

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






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

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



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



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



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

At least in theory.

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



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



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



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



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



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



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





Hey, Susan Henderson! Barry says Hello!

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



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



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



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



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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Later,
xo

It's all about Eric Slick, anyway

Morning.

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



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

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



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

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





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