meanwhile...

I'm driving to florida to lay in the sun.
see you on monday.

e is coming

a cup of coffee and a slice of time

Rejoice! One of Two New Records is NOW AVAILABLE!!!
Michael Clay the man with four hands Plays the Music
of Adrian Belew and King Crimson!

truly when I hear michael clay play some of his rolling arpeggios
I think "he must have four hands" but I have met the elusive
concert pianist and if he does have four he hides them well.

michael's touch on the piano keys is as should be expected
from an artist who routinely tackles the demanding works
of the great master composers in concerts across the world.
he is at times delicate, at times bombastic, but always
surprising in his harmonic choices and cataclysmic
performances. this is a man who must practice hours
on end each day to keep his abilities fine tuned.
and it shows.

so why is a virtuoso concert pianist playing songs of mine?

search me. michael clay has seen every incarnation
of king crimson ever to tour the U.S. from 1970 onward.
so we know he is a glutton for punishment.
for the true story of the genesis of this record
see the blog called "Michael Clay Plays The Music
Of Adrian Belew And King Crimson" from 11/07.

michael has discovered through his improvisations of
these songs a way to somehow affect the heart
and the head simultaneously. no easy feat.

for the most part coffee is solo piano performances.
it will not rid you of any junk in your trunk.
nor will your booty shiver and jiggle helplessly.
it will not implore you through poetic device to
surrender yourself to the lust of another.
there are no words. no singing. no bouncy backbeat.
no repetitive chorus to stick on the walls of your mind.
no loud raucous jangly guitars. no thumping bass riffs.

just the pleasure of hearing a man seemingly
with four hands expertly performing decent pieces
of songwriting from yours truly and in two cases
from the 1980's line up of king crimson i.e.
robert fripp, tony levin, bill bruford and me.

for me personally it is an honor to have michael
chose to render my work in such a way.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, but I want
to be clear in warning you of its content.
it is mostly solo piano improvisations.

michael and I chose these songs:

the lone rhinoceros (with cello accompaniment)
bad days
the man in the moon
time waits
frame by frame
intermission (guitar only*)
fly
she is not dead
sleepless
union terminal (guitar and piano improv duet**)

* intermission is a new musique concrete piece
created by me on solo midi-guitar for the purpose of
clearing the air in the midst of such keyboard frenzy.

** union terminal is an improvisation by michael
and me (electric guitar and piano only) with an aural
backdrop of the sounds you might hear in a grand old
train terminal such as the one in cincinnati, ohio
which is in fact called union terminal.

the title a cup of coffee and a slice of time
you may recognize as a line from the song 1967.
an artist named rob sinkus sent me the gift
of the above photo he made in 1992 titled after the lyric.
I liked it so much it has always hung in the kitchen
of StudioBelew where it remains today.

oh, and it case you are wondering, yes, it is
the music you heard playing in the background
after our concerts.

a cup of coffee and a slice of time
is NOW AVAILABLE for pre-ordering at StoreBelew.
we expect to have copies in our hands in 2 weeks
and to be ready to send them to you immediately.

if it sounds like your cup of tea, er, coffee
order your copy now.

poem to eric on his birthday

happy birthday eric slick
we like the way you use your stick(s)
you are not too bad on the eyes if you're a chick
and you're funny too
so we like you.

and there we were!

to all of you who showed up for our quick midwest jaunt: thank you so much for your inspiration and enthusiasm. we, the trio, were thrilled with your response, especially to so much new music you've never heard. amazingly, 4 out of 5 were sold out! not an easy task in this economy. I'm not sure what caused the low turnout in my hometown Cincinnati (maybe they are tired of me) but the fans who made it out were fabulous. it was nice to see rob bear and bob bear and so many other dear friends I rarely get to see. kenny and christy nevels, stan hertzman, john reynolds, laura nyswonger, cassandra stepp, joe madrigal (the original guitarist for sweetheart) jeff crow, phil bates (who made a lovely woodcut of each us) and terry williams, one of the first drummers I learned from. my only regret was the low turnout. on the other hand, in st. louis our sold-out crowd was one of the loudest audiences ever! on a thursday night! peter jest, our long-time shank hall promoter was very pleased with the milwaukee audience*. I could tell because he was telling drummer jokes after the show. both chicago shows were knock-outs and proved to me the importance of playing to seated audiences. some people prefer it to club settings. in chicago we were able to meet with some of our staunchest supporters from the manufacturing sector. interestingly our main endorsements are all in chicago: parker guitars for me, lakland basses for julie, and ludwig drums for eric. we couldn't be happier with the instruments they produce and the treatment afforded us.

this year has started off slowly compared to last year's windfall of shows across 3 continents in 18 countries, but there are reasons (apart from the economy). first, we needed time to complete e, a very important step toward the future and second, we needed to change booking agencies; something which always requires time and effort. the good news is more dates across the USA are on their way! and maybe something in the fall for europe as well.

also on the way are two new records for your listening pleasure.

* to the two people who hated the show at shank hall: I am sorry. you can't please everyone, but I like to try. I hope you two will still give e a chance. new music often takes more than one listen to appreciate.

here we come!

be sure to make it out to one of these 5 shows, please,
and bring everyone you know.
brains will break and smiles will ache.
we'll be playing some brand new music from e
as well as some past favorites you haven't heard in a while.
and boy are we psyched!!!