More Germany

Adrian, me, and Julie on stage at Zappanale 17 in Bad Doberan, East Germany

So the first thing that happened when we arrived in Germany is that Continental Airlines lost two huge cases belonging to Adrian with his equipment. Not his guitars, but effect pedals and loops and stuff like that -- equipment crucial to at least four strong songs in our set.

At first we were really freaked out. But then we calmed down and realized we were the headlining act and we were all accomplished musicians. Notice how I say "we" and I include Julie and me along with Adrian in that statement? I'm laughing when I type that. Adrian has a thirty five year career and Julie and I have been performing since 1999. But thanks to our eight years with Rock School and traveling all over the world, Julie and I know how to jam and we had a meeting and just decided to cut the four songs and really jam out on others and so that's what we did.

I was nervous because all of a sudden it hit me. I'm playing with a legend, we're the headlining act, and also, I had to play in front of the new Rock School All-Stars, who really kick butt! Julie and I played with a lot of those kids before we graduated and we were nervous, especially since Rock School had played the night before to like seven encores.

I have to admit, I sat in on a song with the All-Stars on Saturday night after midnight. What happened was they did so many encores, the kids were exhausted and cold, and that's when the crowd started screaming for a cover of Stairway to Heaven. Since I'd played that many times growing up, I offered to sit in on drums, and it was a lot of fun.

So back to our set with Adrian on Sunday night. We got on stage, and I looked at the crowd, and everyone was so into it and such fans of Adrian that I relaxed. As you may or may not know, Adrian is a Frank Zappa alumni, meaning, he played with Frank Zappa before he died and is revered by all of the Zappa freaks who throw this festival each year in Germany to honor the music of the late great Frank.

Our set did not include any Zappa music; it's all a mix of songs Adrian did throughout his solo career and with King Crimson.

Unfortunately, because we did not have the missing equipment, we had to cut one of our really strong songs, Matchless Man, but luckily, after the show wrapped up the stuff was mysteriously "found" by Continental Airlines and delivered to us so we had it in time to take to Italy. Our theory is the two cases were held up in customs because that was the day George Bush made a sort of secret visit to Bad Doberan.

Oh my god, he rode a bicycle through the city. I don't know if I'm happy or sad to have missed that. I don't think this is the place to get political, but let's just say that those in attendance at Zappanale are not exactly George Bush fans and it was very tense with all of the military helicopters flying overhead. The various FBI and stuff almost ruined the show for a lot of people at first. I'm just glad that by the time I played with Adrian on Sunday night, Bush was already long gone and at the G8 summit in Russia. But I mean, what are the odds that he'd be there in that tiny village the same time as Zappanale? Even if it was just for a day or two.

Anyway, by the time we played the second song, Dinosaur, we completely chilled out and had the best time of our lives. The crowd went crazy and gave us a standing ovation, screamed for an encore, and we just had a blast. Julie and I both had insane solos and I know that our set was recorded on both CD and DVD and will be available through the Zappanale website shortly. It's usually a retrospective of all the bands that played over the course of three days so what songs they choose for the CD/DVD will be a surprise.

Afer the show we were swarmed with people and it was kind of embarrassing signing so many autographs and having my photo taken; Julie and I gave a long interview to a German radio station -- they're going to use our voices and then dub in the German translation so that should be interesting.

It was such a relief, though, learning that the lost equipment had been found when we got back to our room Saturday night. We went back into town for the after-party and played a goofy game of Survivor...don't ask...it involved all kinds of weird challenges...just think of being a little kid and going into a restaurant and pouring ketchup, mustard, sugar and salt into a glass of water and daring someone to drink it for a dollar...only amp that up considerably, and well, you know...it's all rock and roll.

Be back with a report about out Italy show last night a little later. I think it went well, considering all the travel and anxiety we had over the past three days.

Music is the best!

(By the way, that is the official Frank Zappa motto. That, and "there's no such thing as a dirty word")

Auf Wiedersehen,
Eric Slick