Wednesday, November 26, 2008

People Of Oz!! Here We Come...

what's done is done. time moves on and so must I.

early tomorrow (turkey day) I'll be boarding a flight
for 26 hours of flying to australia.
in 1979, the first time I went to australia with david bowie
the flight took a total of 36 hours.
some things do get better with time.

eric, julie, and andre will follow a few days later.
I have several days of TV and radio press to do first.
we are sooooo excited about playing australia.
our first show is at The Corner Hotel,
the place where the audience body-surfed me around the room.
I have visions of them handing me out the back door this time.

the people of OZ will love the slicks.
just like everywhere else in the world.
it amazes me how seemingly overnight the power trio
became a bonafide international touring act.
japan, mexico, canada, russia, hungary, switzerland,
italy, germany, lithuania, the netherlands, austria, and spain
all in the last 18 months!
it's been a lovely ride so far.

thanks to all of you.

happy thanksgiving.
love, adrian

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Life is very sh Part III

since I'm on this train of thought, I would like to clear up one more thing.
a few months back I was asked by dweezil zappa to join the zappa plays zappa
show in canada for an onstage performance of flakes, the dylan imitation.
in an email to me dweezil also asked that I make certain
andre cholmondeley, my tour manager and guitar tech,
would be persona non grata.
in other words dweezil did not want to see andre at the show.
there is an ongoing battle between the zappa family and andre.

I told dweezil I would try my best to insure he would not see andre.
but I put it off and put it off and I want to make this clear:
I did not say anything to andre.
andre had no idea that he should keep out of dweezil's sight.

why did I not keep my word to dweezil?
andre is a valued member of my crew and a friend.
I know how much he loves frank's music.
I could not bring myself to hurt andre's feeling.

naturally, the worst happened.
andre was banished from watching the show
by one of the zappa crew members
and things got a bit ugly.

I want to apologize to both andre and dweezil.
I should have told andre or should never have
given my word in the first place.

on a happier note:
when I walked onstage to sit in with zappa plays zappa
armed with only a harmonica and my pitiful dylan voice,
I suddenly felt transported back to my time onstage with frank.
dweezil so resembles his father in looks and in voice
that I had to do a double take to be sure where I was.

it was a very special moment for me
which brought back a flood of memories.

I miss frank.


Life is very shor Part II

the mighty krimson was supposed to perform on the west coast in 2009.
that was where we left things following our last night in new york city.
just before leaving for the power trios marvelous tour of 8 countries in europe
I received an email from krimson's strategic advisor mr. andy leff.
andy asked everyone for their schedules for may.
at the time I believed the power trio was booked in may,
which turned out not to be true (not yet)
and I said so in my reply to the members of the mighty krim.
somehow this was offensive and the whole tour
was called off because of my remarks.
for that I am deeply sorry.
I did not mean to offend anyone.

this morning I penned an email to robert with my apology
and my thoughts about the great adventure we've had thus far.
in so many words I told him I loved him and was very proud
of the work we have done together.

more importantly perhaps I said this,
"any time, any place you would like King Crimson to perform:
count me in. I will be there."

and there it stands.
doesn't mean krimson will tour again
but I certainly hope so.

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting.

I have just learned that Mitch Mitchell, one of the best rock drummers of all time was found dead of natural causes in a hotel room in Portland. what a sad sad thing. as a younger man, when I was still playing drums for a living, Mitch Mitchell was setting the world on fire with his ferocious drumming. he was unique. just listen to manic depression. wow!

as a young drummer my strongest influences were ringo, mitch mitchell, michael giles, and bill bruford (in chronological order).

a few years ago I met mitch at a mike gallaher gig here in nashville.
the next day he came out to StudioBelew for the afternoon.
we jammed together and spent some time talking about the jimi experience.
mitch wanted me to sell him one of my cars!
I will never forget the honor of meeting him.