Official Blondie Web Site: Chris Stein

Blondie: Chris Stein
News about Chris Stein, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Blondie.

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mon july 22 (back in NY)
Posted by Chris Stein at 7/22/2002 07:42:00 AM

back in nyc for a day or so, tomorrow is the nyc show at jones beach... gratifying to hear everyone likes the direction of the tour, set, etc... i have really been enjoying these shows a lot, tempted to say 'more than in the past' but stuff like that is so realative and i cant really be sure its true as ive gone through so many different incarnations within the band... all that aside i HAVE been liking these shows a lot, somehow they feel less like work and more like play the american cities are just weird i cant figure why some are so seemingly hip and youth oriented while everyone on the steet dresses so conservatively... i couldnt believe the fucking statue of mary tyler moore in minneapolis... thus far i havent been able to talk to too many of you, we generally get in the bus and leave after the show... i regretted not taking my laptop and will have it for the next leg... id like to write more but "time" is limited right now... what else... oh the hip hop exhibit at the walker museum in minneapolis was totally great anyone around there should try and catch it... so far ive run into WYCLIFF, THE ROOTS, and DANZIG in various hotels... i was also playing "GRAND THEFT AUTO" on the bus and noticed debbies 'scarface' song "RUSH RUSH" in it, (also debbie is going to be a voice on the next one i think)... im really sorry that anyone has trouble getting into any of the shows due to age restrictions, that sucks as far as the band is concerned and i would just recommend some creative i.d. usage to try and get around it... i dont know what we could do about it now that we're already booked into places with restrictions... ill try and report at greater length from the road when i have more down time in hotels etc thanx again as usual you all rock chris

tue july 9 (back in NY)
Posted by Chris Stein at 7/09/2002 07:43:00 AM

back in ny after first three shows... thnx for the comments as usual everyone seems to have enjoyed the shows... we've made some changes in the band setup, (yeah this doesnt refer to jimmy's absence of course, he's got some stuff going on that he couldnt avoid attending to and will catch up with the tour as soon as possible, his keyboard/synth tech kevin who's job is usually dealing with sequence triggers, acting as extra hands is doing a great job of filling in) we set up closer together now, clem is playing electric drums that produce much lower stage volume and as a result doesnt have to be isolated like last time, no side fills, everyone is using ear monitors including clem, and i never drink anymore... theres prob some stuff im forgetting but so far the sets have felt different to me, i cant speak for everyone else but i feel more in control relaxed... we're still puzzling over the set, i see that those of you whove written are liking the material we picked, it was totally debbies idea to make the show more rock, harder... the two new songs are "diamond bridge" and "golden rod"... everyone recognises "havana affair" by the RAMONES but im not sure how many know "love comes in spurts" which was writ by RICHARD HELL/JOHNNY THUNDERS and performed by the HEARTBREAKERS... when the HEARTBREAKERS split up so did the song, it became JOHNNY'S "one track mind" with the same music and RICHARD'S second version of "love comes in spurts" with a slight alteration of the chord sequence, any way we're doing the original version which i always liked the best of the three, also we're playing "see no evil" by TOM VERLAINE and TELEVISION which is an all time classic rock song and fun to play... im still a bit concerned that the general audience will want more of the 'standards', but we'll see how it goes over the next few dates... it was nice standing in the warm rain with the troops in st. paul... as yet i havent been approached by anyone who mentioned the site... today im back in nyc, next show is in walker mn. see you chris

tue july 2
Posted by Chris Stein at 7/07/2002 07:44:00 AM

i was gonna send this in and ask barry to attach it to the last bit but i see that hes already put it up so i guess this is really the actual final pre tour yak
amazingly i sent in the last posting about six hours ago, in the meantime i went uptown and did a very small amount of work on two new songs we've got going,earlier i'd called Arturo Vega of RAMONES fame (hes the guy who does all their graphics, invented the eagle logo etc etc though id expect the majority of you all to know that) about the poem i referred to that Dee Dee wrote about Joey
Artie, as he's known, sent it to me a few hours ago so here's the whole e-mail i got from him:

Hey Chris, this is exactly the way DeeDee wrote it, he did not care much for grammar

JOEY

I LIKE DRAGONS SO MUCH THAT I LOOKED UP AT THE SKY TO TRY AND SEE ONE. I SPOTTED ONE IMMEDIATELY IT WAS A SEA DRAGON DESGUISED AS THE TIP OF A CLOUD FRAMING ITSELF IN A BEAUTIFUL BLUE SKY.

IMAGINE ONE FLYING OVER ONE OF THE MEADOWS HIGH ABOVE NEW YORK CITIES CENTRAL PARK ONE CROWDED SUNDAY AFTERNOON. MAYBE THIS DRAGON COULD BE JOEY RAMONE.

HE'D HAVE TWO FLASHING AND LOVING EYES AND WOULD WINK DOWN AT EVERYBODY STAIRING UP AT HIM IN AMAZEMENT. THEN HE WOULD SPREAD HIS FIRERY WINGS AND FLY TOWARDS THE SUN TO CALIFORNIA TO BE WITH ME AND JOHN.

I DON'T SEE WHY NOT. HE COULD BE A BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN AMBER ONE WITH A SILVER LIGHTENING AMBIANCE RADIATING FROM HIS BODY AND HIS WINGS.

DEEDEE RAMONE

im not exactly sure when he did it, sometime soon after Joey died... i first saw it before Dee Dee joined him to fly around... its even more intense now, i dont know if Dee Dee was too familiar with Wm. Blake, but i get those images from it...
  oh yeah the amazing thing is that even though its only hours later i got some responses from the thing i put up before
    see you all
       c