Julie's Big Adventure

Goin' Down To Liverpool

2007-05-31T17:22:00.000-04:00

Goin’ Down to Liverpool

With Battle of the Bands behind us, we got up at the crack of dawn….again…to jump on the train to Liverpool. The birthplace of The Beatles and Rock and Roll!!!! It was about an hour and a half to two hour train ride from London. We were in first class. The train ride was pretty uneventful and I was SOOOOO tired. After all I had just survived Spike Edney’s Rock and Roll Boot Camp!
We got into Liverpool and went to some hotel that I can’t remember the name of to have lunch. This is NOT the hotel we would be staying at after the Cavern club (remember this point; it is important later in the story). After lunch we went out to get on the Magical Mystery Tour bus to take us on a tour of Liverpool. It’s a two hour tour (not to be confused with a THREE hour tour) to check out all of the important Beatle things around Liverpool. I decided that since the tour is a few hours, I should run and use the ladies room before we take off. Everyone wasn’t aboard yet, so I figured that I had time. I told people sitting near me “don’t let them leave without me, I’ll be quick”. I ran into the hotel that I can’t remember the name of and used the bathroom. I ran out and around the corner only to see the back of the Magical Mystery Tour bus as it was taking off without me!!! I RAN and I mean RAN after the bus in the middle of the road……EVERYTHING I had was on the bus…cell phones, cash, passport,laptop etc. Remember I also had no clue where we were staying that night. I just knew it was out of town somewhere!!! I can’t catch up to the bus!!! HOLY SHIT!!! NOW what do I do??? I don’t get rattled easily folks, but this did it…for more than a few minutes….After the SHEAR panic wore off
I went into the hotel that we had lunch at and here is the basic dialog:
****WARNING PROFANITY ALERT****
ME: Umm…My tour bus just left without me. I was wondering if you could give me the number of the tour company so they can call the driver and get him to come get me.
FRONT DESK GUY #1: Oh are you a guest at the hotel?
ME: No, we were just here for lunch.
FRONT DESK GUY #1: Oh, Well I can’t help you.
ME: No, really it’s the Magical Mystery Tour bus. There is only ONE. Can you PLEASE just get the number for me?

ME: You don’t understand…I’m here with the Rock and Roll Fantasy camp. I have NO CLUE where we are staying tonight and everything I have is on the bus!!! I don’t even have any cash!!!

FRONT DESK GUY #1: I don’t have a number for them. I don’t know what to tell you.
ME: Then why don’t you give me a PHONEBOOK and I’ll look up the number myself!

There was NO listing for Magical Mystery Tour. Obviously the actual tour company is under a different name….SHIT…why wouldn’t a hotel in LIVERPOOL ENGLAND know this??!!!
ME: You HAVE to know who the tour company is that runs it?
FRONT DESK GUY #1: Well, I don’t know what to tell you.
My blood pressure is rising so fast at this point that I hope I don’t stroke out. Jules DIES in Liverpool after being ditched by the tour company. I wonder if Paul McCartney would write a song about it.
Finally FRONT DESK GUY #2 comes over…
FRONT DESK GUY #2: Can I help you?
ME: YES!! I need to track down the Magical Mystery Tour bus!! They left without me, and I need them to come back and get me. I have no $, cell phone..etc etc etc….
FRONT DESK GUY #2: OK
He then tells Font Desk Guy #1 to help me get an outside line to call them.
ME: THANK YOU!
I get the people on the phone and tell them my ordeal.
THEY can’t help me either because they are just the reservations people.
ME: Can you PLEASE give me the main number then??
They give me the # and I call…
ME: HI…I have a predicament… ..
TOUR GUY: OK, I’ll call the driver hang on.
Time passes…

TOUR GUY: The bus is too far along on the tour to come and get you, so you need to have the front desk guy get you a cab and go to George Harrison’s house. The bus will meet you there.
ME: I have no cash on me.
TOUR GUY: The tour guide will pay your fare.
Whew! Success!
Front Desk Guy #1 grudgingly goes out with me to get me a cab…
FRONT DESK GUY #1: She needs to go to . She is NOT a guest at this hotel.
CABBIE: You’re going to have to do better than THAT mate, I have no idea where that is.
FRONT DESK GUY #1: It’s George Harrison’s house…The Tour company will pay you when you get there.
CABBIE: well I’m not taking her anywhere if she has no $! How am I supposed to get PAID. What if they don’t show up?

ME: LOOK…THIS is what is going to happen; YOU are going to drive me to George Harrison’s house..we will wait there for the fucking bus, keep the meter running and they will PAY YOU WHEN THEY GET THERE!! If they DON”T show up, YOU will take me on a tour of Liverpool and take me to ALL of the things that I am here to see. THEN you will take me to the Cavern Club, where I am playing tonight. And keep the meter running. When they show up there YOU WILL GET PAID!! It could be a VERY lucrative day for you so DRIVE!
CABBIE: I don’t know if we are going to the right place. You aren’t even a guest at the hotel…why were you even there?
ME: It’s not MY fault these fucking BONEHEADS left me here OK? I got in from London this AM…I have had NO SLEEP for DAYS because of Rock and Roll Fantasy camp yadda yadda yadda…ALL I want to do is hook up with the bus…and my belongings, see my Beatles stuff, play the fucking Cavern Club and go HOME!!!!
CABBIE: Well, what if yer mates aren’t there when we get there, what if they LEAVE because you aren’t there? How am I going to get PAID!
ME: THEY WON’T LEAVE!!! They will WAIT for me!!! This REALLY isn’t difficult!

We arrive at George’s house and the bus wasn’t there yet. The Cabbie starts freaking out..
CABBIE: This is where the coach sits on the tours. They must have left!
ME: They KNOW that I’m going to be here…They would have waited…they just haven’t made it here yet…CHILL OUT!
FINALLY…The Magical Mystery Tour bus comes round the corner.
ME: SEE…THERE they are…now let me get you paid!
The guide guy pays, I get back on the bus. Go off on a rant about the whole thing. People apologize for forgetting me….sigh..you know we were ALL zombies at this point I really can’t blame them….Luckily I only missed Penny Lane and the sign is gone now anyway. At the end of the tour, we went down Penny lane again, so I really ended up not missing anything.
Then they dropped us off at the Cavern Club….But THAT is another story….

Battle of the Bands (the whole story)

2007-05-31T04:02:00.000-04:00
Battle of the Bands at Abbey Road

WOW!! What a trip THAT was! We were the 5th band to go up. Our singer, Jeff started to freak out a bit when it was getting close to our time. Spike calmed him down. Poor Jeff isn’t really a singer, he just sort of got shoved into it cause no one else was a singer. He had lost his voice the night before. I mean everyone was SO fried. Anyway, we hung out and watched our competition. Some of the bands played the T & A card, and got some cuties to go up on the stage and dance around. Like THAT’s not dirty pool .
So, finally it was our turn. We go up, complete with the guy with the little flashlight to light your way onto stage. His name was Tim and he is the tour manager for the Pretenders. I hope he tells Chrissie I said hi. One of the techs from John Henry Studios was there to plug in my bass (like I couldn’t do that myself) . Then he says: “your monitor isn’t on, but the one by the keyboard is. We’ll get yours on” . I said “OK”, Spike was running all over the place making sure everyones microphones worked, Ciara had to deal with her double pedal because the tech didn’t do it right.
Then it was showtime! Spike yells “ONE TWO THREE FOUR>” and the intro to Sgt. Peppers was great, but I couldn’t really hear my bass very well. It was LOUD in there. The room was very “live”. in other words not enough stuff to absorb the sound so it was bouncing all over the room. Sgt Peppers was great, Jeff was ROCKIN, Fred got the "Lick", life was good!!! So everything was cool…….until the Bass Player Curse happened… I had to sing backup harmony vocals, no problem, like I said before, all of the sudden I could sing and play bass at the same time. That has ALWAYS been a challenge for me. Personally, I think that it was the energy in Studio 2 that made it happen. It is really a sacred place. We get to “We’re Sgt Peppers Lonely yadda yadda yadda” where I have to sing and realize that I HAD NO MONITOR. They never turned it on, or it was fried…I have no idea! The keyboard (that no one was playing) monitor was working, but I couldn’t hear it. It was WAY too far away!! Then I got lost in the song cause I was thinking in my head “HOLY CRAP I CAN’T HEAR MYSELF”!!!! I chilled out and just waited til I could jump back in. Bill Wyman said that you don’t have to play every note. It’s OK…I took HIS advice at that moment. Thank’s Bill! The crowd was freakin’ out. Everyone was screaming and dancing and having a GREAT time!!! I was trying to stay calm and not obsess on the curse. Ciara was right on as always. It’s SO great to play with a kick ass drummer. She was even better than my drummer in Jeez Luweez that I always gush about. This chick is only like 24!! Everything in the studio was one take with her….Unreal! Dizzy Miss Lizzy went great! Justin (Jeff’s 14 year old son) did the Chuck Berry hop thing across the stage I Get By With A Little Help went fine. I just screamed out my vocals so maybe I could hear something. That song isn’t as complicated as Sgt Peppers so it was fine. Ciara did her drum solo which was fantastic . Cool Brittannia went great . We end “Cool Brittannia” with a BIG “E” chord and Spike yells “ ONE TWO THREE FOUR” and into the Sgt Pepper reprise we go. After we go and take our bow, and off the stage with us….and there was the damned press right in our faces before we were even off the stage…I was just yelling obscenities at this point because all I could focus on was the fact that I had no monitor and it messed me up!!! So I most likely got bleeped like Ozzy Osborne. I went to the cafeteria to chill out, people said we were great, I guess no one could hear my issues…the it occurred to me that I have had MUCH worse gigs with bands that I have played with for a year..cool..
There were 7 categories (because there were 7 bands and “everyone’s a winner”)
Best original song
Best Band Name….stuff like that
The BIG one was Best Over All Performance
I figured we blew it because of ME….They started announcing the bands and what they won, I was standing there with my drummer….then there were 2 left, what a surreal moment when we realized that Spinal Cracker won!!! It was pretty cool ! After hours and hours and hours of practice, latte lunches etc…we did it!!! We all got JBL Ipod docking stations for a prize!! How cool man…..I will have the DVD etc in a few months.
Before we left Abbey Road for the last time, I went back down to Studio 2 for one last time when it was quiet and serene. I looked around and just STILL couldn’t believe I was standing there…and recorded bad renditions of Beatles songs there!! I burned that wonderful sight into my brain so that when I have dementia, THAT will be the thing that I remember. Was this all a dream? No, it REALLY happened. It was time to split at that point, so I took one last deep breath in there, took one last look at the doors, and turned around and left. Did I mention that the doors to that studio are like vault doors? It’s like there is something SO special in there that it has to be sealed off and must be fiercely protected from the rest of the world! No one is able to defile this space!! Unbelievable!!
We drank some Moet at the hotel bar, I talked to Neil Murray for quite a long time. I kept monopolizing him. You can tell he is a deep thinker as I am, and a bass player to boot. There is a LOT to learn from people like that. I hope I didn’t annoy the crap out of him!!
Off to Liverpool in the Morning…..

I don't even know what day it is!

2007-05-30T10:01:00.000-04:00
OK guys, i am VERY sorry, but i am now at this crappy hotel by the airport with crappy intenet in the lobby. It is CRAZY expensive to be on here and i can't post pictures from here. SO, you are all going to have to be patient and wait til i get home. I know it sucks, but it's the best i can do....i REFUSE to pay 2 bucks every 20 minutes!!

Quick rundown of Liverpool with more details later.....time is ticking here:

The Magical Mystery Tour bus left WITHOUT ME!!! ALL of my stuff was on it: cash, passport, cell phone...you get the idea. and i had absolutely no clue where we were staying...story when i can type for free...

Cavern Club was AWESOME...being able to play Beatles song there last night with REALLY GREAT musicians was just so invigorating!!! I wrote messages on the bricks in there for some of you...pictures later....

I got a weird feeling at Strawberry Fields...Man, it just gave me chills to BE there!!

More tomorrow folks! sorry

Battle of the Bands

2007-05-29T21:15:00.000-04:00
Well folks............Spinal Cracker did it!!! We won Battle of the bands!!!!!! Liverpool was AWESOME, but we JUST got to our hotel...I am freakin EXAUSTED and have to go to bed cause i have to catch an early train in the AM....I will post ALL about the cavern and The Battle tomorrow after much needed and much deserved SLEEP!!!!!!

Cool Brittannia

2007-05-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

Well This is it....Battle of the Bands tonight at Abbey Road...AGAIN!!! (Sorry Dave!) This is my FANTASTIC drummer, Ciara, and me with Jon Lord from Deep Purple. He was really cool....And me with Mr. Paul Carrack. He played with Squeeze (sang on Tempted) and he wrote and sang "How Long (has this been going on) which surprisingly is not about a chick...it's about his bass player that was cheating on him with another band!!! Paul Carrack was also with Mike and the Mechanics and he sang "In The Living Years"..He played these songs for us today, and believe it or not, i got choked up (along with other people in the room that have "issues") when he did In The Living Years...Check out the lyric sometime or better yet listen to it...He was AMAZING...He is actually one of the VERY few people who has recorded an album where HE played ALL the instruments himself. The talented people that i have had the opportunity to meet, greet, and jam with here just blows me away.
So....we worked SO hard to put together our battle of the bands thing. we have 15 minutes to play and it is supposed to be 3 songs 2 classic rock and one original....My councilor is Spike *fucking* Edney, Queen's musical director and keyboard player...so, of course we are doing a medley:
Sgt. Peppers LonleyHearts Club Band (jimi Hendrix version)... We are playing it in "E" instead of "A" <------that was for Dave Drum's information.
Then we go into ..
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cockers Version)
Our original song (that Spike wrote in like 30 seconds) Which is called "Cool Britannia" It's a bluesy thing in "E" with a GREAT hook. <-----for Dave Drum
then...just when you think it's over...
Sgt Pepper (reprise) with the key change and everything!
We have been working SO hard! It's a LOT to learn in a few days...with no sleep no less, so hopefully we can pull this off tonight and don't look like jackasses!!!
The Judges for tonight are:
Paul Young (Every Time You Go Away..Oh Girl..etc)
Graham Gouldman (he wrote "For Your Love" when he was 19) He's written TONS of hits!
Kiki Dee (Don't Go Breakin' My Heart)
I THINK Randy Bachman .. yeah man.. as in BTO!! He surprised us a few days ago and did a Q&A played some of his songs for us...Told us the story behind "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"...He originally wrote that song to tease his stuttering brother! Amazing the cool stuff you find out from these guys!
and i can't remember who else cause my brain is fried!
And I need to sign off to get ready for the big gig, and run through this medley one more time so i don't SUCK!!
Send me good vibes!!!

I've got Blisters on my fingers

2007-05-27T21:37:00.000-04:00
OK...surprisingly i have no blisters, but one of the tour managers came round with a box of band aids for the wimps yesterday!! HA HA HA..i, of course didn't need anything!

Short one tonight folks! Battle of the Bands is tomorrow night at Abbey Road...Oh yeah, and MY band gets to record in Studio 2 again in the morning.......short story:

Jon Lord from Deep Purple was here today...what a great guy..he came to our studio and played our "original"tune with us on Hammond Organ...How cool is THAT? And we got to hear the famed Smoke on the Water story right from the horses mouth..

My drummer and I have totally bonded , and i now have to sing harmony and play bass guitar at the same time...for some reason it isn't difficult for me here...I don't know why..I'm very perplexed...must be some weird brain block thing...

I also got a GREAT compliment tonight from people who i admire greatly...I'll tell you all about it in person..not on here.

No pics tonight..i need to sleep.as it is I'm up WAY too late!!!

Wish me luck folks!!!! After this , it's off to Liverpool!!!!!!!!

JAP

Studio 2 @ Abbey Road

2007-05-26T20:29:00.000-04:00

OK...this was SO freaking intense, and VERY emotional for me...I just can't even write tonight...To be there was SO surreal..there is like a special aura surrounding it....the doors are VAULT doors like at a bank! I just don't have the words for you all tonight..and i apologize! I'm just at a loss to describe what I experienced today.....It really just literally brings tears to my eyes..and i can't help it. I took pictures of like every square inch of the studio....to be posted later... i HAD to get some drink tonight to be able to sleep....campers AND councilors are having the same issue with the sleep thing...everyone was screaming for valium...too much input for our brains to handle! i guess that is why all the musicians get hooked...who the hell can sleep??

Abbey Road is a trip in itself...but...actually RECORDING in Abbey Road in STUDIO 2 is the most incredible thing i have EVER done in my life...EVER!! Wake me up. i must be dreaming!! I do NOT deserve to be there let alone be recording bad renditions of Beatles songs there.....That room is a treasure that should be safeguarded like the Crown Jewels....

You all KNOW how I feel about all this..kind of..

Emotions are running high.....I just can't even write!

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH MOM!!!!! I NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!!!!!

I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS AS LONG AS I LIVE!

JAP

Like a Rolling Stone

2007-05-25T19:01:00.000-04:00
I'm SO tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm SO tired my mind is on the blink....

Today was a trip...well BOTH days have been a trip so far....anyway, didn't sleep a wink....again...WAY too much input for my brain to handle yesterday...Most campers had the same issue. And I must say, that these stories are VERY abbreviated..there's just SO much going on...WAY too much to type when I'm beat, so I'm just going to do the best that i can.

I want to say that my councilor, Mr Spike Edney is SO incredibly talented...and patient with us amatures! Really!!! He is SUCH a great and talented teacher and musician and arranger...I wish i had the talent in his little finger. I have good pics of him, but they come up like crap on here, so I'm not posting them...He can just go from instrument to instrument without thinking, or missing a beat. It is just AMAZING...

So, today we got on the bus bleary eyed from yesterday at 9AM. of to John Henry and off to Studio 5 we went. We had a few hours to learn "It's All Over Now" by the Stones so we could be ready for Bill Wyman's arrival. Bill is another bass player....this posed a problem...Lucky for me I can play a little guitar. SO...I got to play Brian Jones Part in the song..I don't know how to describe it on here, but it's the little acoustic da dadada daa dadada da dadada thing that rides through the song. If you listen to it hopefully you'll know what i mean....You know it is VERY difficult to learn these songs in like a few hours and then play them for these people...or WITH these people! So, Bill showed up at like 3:30 i think? I don't even know what day it is at this point so b ear with me.....anyway, we played it for him...Spike played bass, Bill was like "you played it too loud..it's NOT that kind of song!" to Spike!!! Gawd!! I was WAY i the background cause i was WAY freaked out! I haven't played a 6 string guitar in a LONG time! So, THEN, Bill Wyman comes up and plays bass WITH us .... THAT wasn't intimidating!! There is just no way to describe what THAT was like....I'm speechless....The guy is ANOTHER rock LEGEND...Rock and Roll Royalty.

After that, he hung around, signed stuff...Here is the picture..I look like I'm going to piss myself don't i?
Then other campers showed up and he did a Q & A for a while, then Jammed out with Spike and Simon Kirke and Spencer Davis for a while....Like I said...there just are no words...It was Rock and Roll Bliss!

We also worked on our stuff for battle of the bands. i went to a master class that Simon Kirke did...it was GREAT...I enjoyed it emensley even though i am not a drummer. These guys are just SO freaking knowledgeable and talented it's just crazy!

Supper was curry I sat with Neil Murray from Whitesnake (bass player). He is a genuinely nice guy! VERY humble and just down to earth and normal...I can't wait to take his master class tomorrow.

The BBC is doing a feature on OUR band "Spinal Cracker" so they were following us around ALL DAY...as well as a zillion other journalists from The Daily Mirror and other publications that i can't remember. My band has been getting interviewed after EVERYTHING we do...There is some sort of documentary thing that is getting filmed as well....What a trip.

Tomorrow I'm pretty sure the guest is Gary Brooker from Procol Haram (Whiter Shade of Pale)

And that, folks is the short version...I REALLY have to try and get SLEEP tonight......I don't want to be a zombie again tomorrow...

Abbey Road tomorrow.....We record in Studio 2 The Beatles Studio .............. 'nuf said

DAY 1-Spinal Cracker

2007-05-24T19:55:00.000-04:00
First of all these pictures LOOK blurry on here, but my copies are clear...If anyone wants any, just email me and I'll send you a *real* copy. And i am WAY too tired to turn this one around...Obviously this is me with the LEGENDARY Jack Bruce from Cream

Last Night:

Champagne welcome in the Mayfair bar with our councilors...LOTS of MOET champagne to go 'round, and we got to meet all the guys and our fellow campers!

So, Day one:

We had to catch the shuttle to John Henry Studios at 9AM sharp! I of course didn't sleep ALL NIGHT cause i was all worrieed about auditions in the morning! So:

Got up
Got out of bed,
Ran a comb across my head....

Got on the bus with my fellow campers and were taken to John Henry Studios where we picked our guitars and had oriantation. My councilor, Spike Edney from Queen, scoped out the Gibson T-Bird for me and i grabbed it. I couldn't bring mine, just way to huge to bring on the plane. Anyway, I met my band. I have a chick drummer, Kira YAY! a keyboard player, Fred, and 2 guitar guys, Jeff and Justin. Jeff and Justin are father and 14 year old son doing a bonding thing. I wish MY parents wanted to bond like that!
Most of the bands that went up sounded like crapola..1 because they have never played together before, and 2 because they were nervous! We did OK, We played "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks! Pretty Painless..Then the councilors went up and gave us all a show!!! They did All Right Now, Can't Get Enough of Your Love (Simon Kirke singing and drumming) and a bunch more classic rock tunes....IT WAS GREAT!!!..Then we went to our Studios to start practicing. We did Strange Brew for a few hours cause Jack Bruce was coming to check us out at 2:30...We broke for lunch (can't remember what time) and the food was great! Thai Curry chicken, rice etc....Then back to work. We then worked on Birthday by the Beatles of course, for a while....Then Jack Bruce showed up....We Played Strange Brew for him..Yeah, THATS not intimidating when you are the bass player...this guy is one of the best bass players IN THE WORLD!!! I was cool and just played. My hands didn't start shaking til i was done!! Then i had to relinquish my spot so he could jam with my band. I was happy to do so and just sit back and watch a MASTER at work!! He shook my hand, said I did a great job and i basicly wanted to throw up at this point......You know a while back when i told a local musician who shall be nameless, about this and that Jack was going to be there...he said "I'm better than him" ...To that musician: Get off your high horse, You can't even hold a candle to him, neither can I or ANYONE else i have EVER seen!!! You play in a shitty fucking BAR BAND get over yourself!

THEN the other campers came in, and after a question and answer session (SO COOL) he jammed Cream tunes with Bruce Kulick (Kiss) Simon Kirke (Bad Company) and Spike...I'm going to post more pics later..I'm just tired and want to get this blog done...But let me tell you, the look on Bruce Kulicks face was priceless! Now, here is the guy who took Ace Freyley's place in Kiss when he got carple tunnel, and he was like peeing his pants being able to play with this guy!!! The look of admiration and respect was amazing..i DO have a pic of that..After that, Bruce Kulick was like drooling on himself and said "well, THAT was MY rock and roll fantasy!!"

Jack Bruce ROCKS, he is a REAL MUSICIAN!! He rocked the HELL out of that place for us!!!!

After that (and after we all caught our breath) it was back to work.....We decided to name our band "Spinal Cracker" (it's from Come Together) and worked on Birthday some more....Then we started working on a medly for Battle of the Bands which i THINK is Sunday night....More on that later...

After that, our "band manager" came in and said our shuttle was ready to take us to ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS..>> ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS!!! They do NOT allow tourists there....EVER.. And here WE were going there to record! So, we got there like i said...pics later...some folks took the picture at the zebra crossing. We are doing that Saturday because we were totally a cluster fuck!!! No cameras allowed in the hallways, cafeteria, or the garden in the back..VERY strict about that......

We were in Studio 3 today which is where Pink Floyd recorded like EVERYTHING...the vibe was incredible....we were there for 3 hours and recorded Birthday...I'm just floored...there is more, but i REALLY have to get to bed so I'm not dragging tomorrow!! Tomorrow Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones will be visiting us!! Yeah...the Rolling fucking STONES!!

More later folks!!

Cheers!!

Rock Stars need sleep too!

Here we go

2007-05-24T03:38:00.000-04:00
OK Folks,

It's the crack of down here, and I have to go grab my shuttle to John Henry studios. I met my councilor last night and he seems very cool. Today the special guest is Jack Bruce from Cream!!

More Later!

London Eye and Star Wars!

2007-05-22T18:53:00.000-04:00
This is the London Eye. It's a HUGE (and i mean huge!) ferris wheel thing with these pods that you hang out in. It takes a half hour to go all the way round, and it was boring and not worth the $30. A great view of London, but London really doesn't have a skyline to look at.
The COOL thing was when we were in the place buying our tix. All of the sudden I heard music...it was Star Wars music...huh?..Julie looks around and sees a big podium thing with a huge picture of Yoda on it....At that moment was when i realized the Exhibit was HERE......................

This is Han Solo frozen in carbonite (SO cool!)!!! It was at the Star Wars Exhibit..I also ran into Darth Vader in the hallway (he looks MUCH taller on TV). Remember in Episode 4 (Star Wars) when he choked that guy to death by just waving his hand at him? Well, he did that to me, so of course I found it necessary to act out the whole choking and dying thing in the hallway...I was entertained! :) There was all kinds of cool stuff there: Princess Lea's hoochie mama outfit from when she was Jabba The Hut's slave...and tons of miniatures that they used to film battle scenes etc......There was even life sized pod racers and such..AND the parts of Darth Vader's mask thing when Luke takes it off him at the end of Return of the Jedi .. "but father, you'll die if I take this off you"......what a good time! Shane, you would have LOVED this!!!!

I HATE THE FOOD HERE!!!! I just HATE it...I am WAY too much of a "foodie" to enjoy anything this country has to offer...barf!

Does THIS look appetizing to you??

How 'bout THIS?? I STILL don't know what this was supposed to be....It was some sort of inedible transfat thing...UGH!!! We left that place and ended up at Benihanna YEAH!!! Benihanna was the first meal that I have had here where i left FULL!!!! It put me in a MUCH better mood.

Tomorrow I check into my hotel for camp...finally...Hopefully the shower there is not like the one here!! It looks great......but....here is a typical shower:

You get the water at the temp you want and get in...everything is great for about 90 seconds, then the pressure changes and the water goes from comfy to SCALDING for about 15 seconds or so, then the pressure gets better and the water gets FREEZING for about 30 secs....luke (i am your father) warm for about 15 secs...more pressure, then back to normal for about 90 secs ..then...repeat over and over again!!! Good GOD!!! Is this the British way to make people conserve water??? Dunno, we'll see how it is at the next hotel!!

I always loved Europe and everything, but there is NOTHING like the good ol USA. I'll tell ya folks, we may have our problems right now, but there is just no better place to be!! Sometimes you can't fully appreciate what we have until you leave the country for a while.

My poor Mother is miserable and can't wait to get out of here!! She's pretty much never cared for the UK anyway, Italia was always her thing (and mine for that matter). In Italia, no matter what, at least you get great food, and all of the people are beautiful!!!

Why couldn't the Beatles have come from Tuscany or something!! LOL

Off to bed with me...remember I am 5 hours ahead of you all.

May The Force be with you Jedi!!

Pictures!!

2007-05-21T19:40:00.000-04:00

I finally figured out how to work my camera and get some pics on here.

This is what you see at the curb when you are going to cross the street. For those of you that don't know, they drive on the opposite side of the road than us...and the drivers side is on the right. weird. but....A LONG time ago when i was here with my folks in the 80's i looked the wrong way and almost get taken out by a double decker bus!! My Dad pulled me back just in time. Now at least there is a "cheat sheet" below the curb!!
BTW I hear that gas just keeps going up in the US since i have been gone. Here it is the equivalent of TEN DOLLARS A GALLON!!!!!!!
Tomorrow I am going to check out the Star Wars exhibit, possibly the aquarium, and try and get more pictures of things.
I also move to the Mayfair hotel tomorrow....Rock stars should be starting to show up there in the next 24 hours.......I will keep my eyes peeled. You all know i can sniff out a rock star from Miles away....anyone else I'm like...huh? Hence the whole Carmen Elektra episode with the Joan Jett video.....If you don't know what I'm talking about...long story short: I went to NYC to be an "extra" in a Joan Jett video last year. Carmen Elektra showed up and i hadn't a clue who she was...I had to call deb and ask "who is Carmen Elektra?" The director ended up placing her next to me...she smelled like good perfume, not that cheap "ho cologne" crap that smells like watermelon!!!
More tomorrow

Harrods and the political mood here

2007-05-21T09:33:00.000-04:00
Hmmmm..I guess i have to mention that just about every person who i have encountered here i.e. cab drivers, bartenders, random people ALL have something to say about the current political climate. Basically,over here, the anti-American sentiment is not against you and me per say, but against Bush and Blair! These people are counting the days until Blair steps down, and they can't wait for Bush's term to be up. Everyone is weary of all this BS in Iraq. I am glad that we, the American people, are not being blamed for this. But remember this is the UK, and they are our biggest ally. Some festival in Paris just got canceled. It was supposed to be a 3 day party celebrating American music....They got a whole bunch of threats of violence from Muslim extremists screeching anti-American stuff......pretty scary. Europe is basically waiting and hoping for the Clintons to be back in charge of things. The Clintons were popular around the world ... These people REALLY hate Bush...and Blair for that matter....It is all anyone is talking about. Anyway, enough of that. I just thought it was interesting as these folks see this thing differently than we do.

Harrod's:

what a HUGE place. There are something like 200 restaurants there!!! We checked out the famous food court and then had some chow. I had some Sashimi (raw fish mmmm) . Because of the awful exchange rate, my lunch cost me $40!!! It only had 9 pieces of Sashimi, and I left hungry!!!! It's SO FREAKIN EXPENSIVE HERE!!! It's killing the economy here because American tourists can't afford to come here to spend any money. I've been to Harrod's in the 80's and it was PACKED full of people...Saudis were buying so much stuff that it had to be taken out in these huge trunks and put into fleets of cars out front. None of that now...It really wasn't that busy, and I haven't encountered any Americans hardly at all. This thing with the money is absolutely crazy! A cup of coffee, just regular coffee is $5!!! Not to mention my little 7oz bottle of OJ that cost $5. It is totally unaffordable right now!! We didn't spend long there, it is simply too expensive. It's almost depressing. You all know how I love food, and i always want to try something different. It's just too much $! Hopefully the new leadership here, at home and the World Bank will somehow fix this. It's really bad! We then checked out the memorial to Diana and Dodi :( that was just SO tragic!! I took a pic, but have to figure out how to get it off my camera and onto here. The memorial has their pictures, and encased in glass is one of the wine glasses left on the table before they left the Paris restaurant........and the engagement ring Dodi was going to give her. So sad.

Last night we hooked up with an old friend that we used to travel with in the 80's. We had supper at the Mayfair Hotel which is where i will be moving to in a day or so for camp. Food was GREAT! I had a rib eye steak that was out of this world!!! Fresh green beans..This has so far been my best meal here!! And it was fun to hang out with an old friend!!

Dunno what's up for today.......

The Guinea Grill

2007-05-20T08:28:00.000-04:00
Last night we went out hunting for food and decided on the Guinea Grill. We went in with no reservation (damn Americans) so we had an hour to eat cause they needed the table. Everything is SO freaking expensive here!!! A Fillet was 24 pounds which is 50 bucks!!!! I just got the duck which was WAY cheaper! Not that I can't afford it, just that I have freezer full of fillets from Omaha Steaks that i paid like 12 bucks each for....I just flat out REFUSE to pay 50 dollars for a steak!! I'll eat pizza every day here if I have to. This exchange rate is killing the economy here, as no Americans are coming over and spending money! Hopefully though it will help the economy in the USA as the British can travel to the US and get bargains galore!

The people sitting next to us were really cool. They were British and live down the street from the restaurant. They ended up getting us an after dinner wine from Hungary called "Tokay". WOW was this stuff great!! It tasted like liquid honey, but not as sweet. Something about the natural sugar in the grapes from the frost blah blah blah...You can google "Tokay" and read about it if interested.

After that we came back had a night cap and crashed around 12:30.

I of course woke up at about 4:30 AM and was WIDE AWAKE until about 7AM....sigh...Jettlag sucks!

Today, i think we are going to go to Harrods to check out the food court. It is one of the biggest in the world and we are sure to find something different that we have never tried before. Harrods is a HUGE dept store in London. It is owned by none other than Mohammad Al- Fayed, who is Dodi Al-Fayed's father. Dodi Al-Fayed was Princess Diana's boyfriend that was killed along with her in Paris. Apparently there is a tribute section in the store to the two of them. I will try and get a picture.

Since seeing the food court of this place on "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" I just HAVE to visit!! I wonder what is on the menu today?? Tongue sandwiches maybe?

We'll see.

TTFN

JETTLAG!!!!!!

2007-05-19T12:01:00.000-04:00
Oh MY!!! I am having a VERY hard time with jettlag!! I am thinking that it is because my life runs on "bar time" and everyone else has a normal schedule. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better.

Last night we ate at this little Italian place. Excellent food!!! I had *real* pizza. That crap at home that they call pizza is a cheap ass Americana imitation!. And a terrible one at that! I had 2 different beers that I have never tried before (or heard of for that matter). One was Italian and the other was from Switzerland I think. Who knows, my brain is so cloudy I can hardly think!

Speaking of cloudy. I haven't seen the sun since we got here. It's chilly and damp. Yup! I"m in London!

Last night I ditched my Mom and went to the local girls bar (yes, that would mean the lesbian bar). The bar is VERY appropriately named "Candy Bar". THEY had Budweiser!!! Not Bud Light, but that was OK. What a totally different girl scene than in the US. The girls take MUCH better care with their appearance that the women at home. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, go out to your local lesbian bar. They ALL look like they came out of a cookie cutter: no style...at ALL...WAY too much inappropriate piercings, WAY overweight, HUGE baggy clothes, and shaved heads. Basically, they all look like a bad Jackie Gleason with pierces on their face!!! Here it was like jumping into an L Word episode. There was wall to wall beautiful women!! WOW!! Even better than NYC or LA! I didn't really talk to anyone there. I just checked out all the different liquor. The best vodka they had was Absolut.....YUCK! They lost points for that AND the fact that you can smoke in the bars here still. The ban takes effect July 1.

Speaking of smoke....It's everywhere! I can't escape it! It's worse than when I was in FL last month!!!! ahhhhhh!!!! Though you CAN get Cuban cigars here. I think I'm going to get one and smoke it just to say I did!

I've been so jettlaged out that I haven't even dealt with installing camera software into this thing. That will be tomorrows project when I feel a bit better (i hope). Then I can post pictures for you all!!

I left my bass home (did i say that already?). It is just a monster and WAY to big.......So, don't i get an email from my councilor, Spike Edney, that he changed the key to "Birthday" to G....sigh, looks like I'm gonna be transposing on the fly! Oh well, it's not like I've never done that before.

Well, that's it for now. Sorry it's not very exciting yet....

Off to Starbucks!!

London Day 1

2007-05-17T20:30:00.000-04:00
First of all Silverjet was GREAT!! What service. Great food, comfy seats that have built in massage, and they flatten out so you can sleep in an almost real bed!! Everyone got their own entertainment thingie that had noise cancelling headphones and a bunch of movies, tv shows and tunes to entertain. Not to mention that the food was actually edible and we even got *real* silverware. And there are only 100 seats on the plane, so you can actually move! The free champagne was pretty cool too. This airline is awesome....I never want to fly overseas with any other airline. It was more than basic coach, but WAY less than business class and about a tenth of what first class costs....but you are getting first class service....Whoever started this airline is a genius!!

A driver met us at the airport to take us on the 1 hour or so trip to London. This guy never shut up the whole entire time!! We were kinda tired from traveling all day and just wanted a peaceful ride....oh well. He found it nessicary to tell us all this stuff about London that we already knew because we have been here before....AND to top it all off, he had a terrible studder...

Mom got us a 2 BR 2 BA apartment in London. Unfortunately our apt wasn't ready when we got here so we had to sit around in the lobby for a few hours. There was like, I don't know, 20 or so people from India hanging around also....there are a LOT of them here, and they were loud!! Finally they called us to go to our apt. WOW! What a great place! We have a kitchen, washer/dryer free Internet etc. The beds and pillows are comfortable and everything. So, we tried to sleep for a while. Just as I was about to go into dreamland WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, you got it....a fire alarm started going off....Do you believe it? It was a drill for the staff, but it scared the hell out of both of us. And what's up with fire alarms going off everywhere we go?? After that, my adrenalin was flying so sleep was impossible at this point.

A little later we went out to forage for food. My past food experience in the UK has not been fun. They eat a lot of organ meat here and pretty much everything is boiled to death and bland.......but....that was then and this is now.........we ended up walking up the street being VERY careful to look BOTH ways as they drive on the opposite side that we do. There was a zillion pubs with people drinking Guinness in the streets being very jolly! The liquor laws here don't suck like they do in the US. They actually encourage people to drink here!! anyway, we went past a zillion restaurants and settled on this place that was a "Polish-Mexican" restaurant...the food was very tasty and i tried my first Polish beer. As we were sitting there, these 2 guys walked in and sat next to us. One of them had on a Barbara Streisand concert Tshirt...FAB-U-LOUS!!! So, of curse we chatted with those gents for a while. They were here from Philly getting ready to go on a cruise. Why do gay guys have radar for my Mom?

We then went to an Irish pub so I could get a Guinness. You can still smoke in the bars here and it was quite suffocating as I am not used to that anymore! The folks were all nice, and it cost $16 for a Guinness and a Vodka Gimlet!!!! Good God!!! The funny thing is that I was going to pay with my debit card, but their machine was screwed up and we didn't have any English Pounds (currency over here) with us. They just let us skate for free.

A quick walk back to our apartment, and here we are.

I think tomorrow we are going to go look for some culinary treats......

The Adventure Begins

2007-05-16T21:00:00.000-04:00
Since everyone is interested in my trip, I have decided to just write a "blog" nightly to keep everyone updated. I decided to just blog my whole trip instead of just the fantasy camp part, so here goes:

After a VERY turbulant flight out of Buffalo, we finally landed in Newark with terrible weather.

So, here I am sitting in the lounge for Silverjet Airlines at Newark ready embark on my trip to London for Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. Newark airport pretty much sucks! We (my mom and me) had to eat crummy airport food whe we got here, so we found a Chili's and got some chow. In the middle of eating our crappy airport food, the fire alarm started going off at a deafining volume!!! It went off for no less than 10 minutes straight!!! Then it stopped....then it started again...then it stoppped....you get the idea. Anyway, it took us a while to find our lounge for our airline because there are no signs! Then they couldn't find my reservation. Turns out something wierd happened and I had to fork out another 4 bucks for my ticket. Anyway, after that got straightened out, we got into the lounge and had a seat. We have unfettered access to espresso, soft drinks, top shelf booze, champagne and some tasty snacks. They have little sandwiches with roasted veggies and goat cheese as well as proccutto and fig sandwiches...MUCH better than Chili's!!! THIS is more like it! Also free wi-fi in the lounge.

This airline is a whole airline of business class. We get beds and personal entertainment centers and everything. Apparently there is 1 flight attendant for every 15 people on the plane. Should be pretty neat! Time to board....more later!!