Blondie: Chris Stein
News about Chris Stein, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Blondie.
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Posted by Chris Stein at 12/24/2003 05:52:00 AM
happy re-birth, death of the god etc, pagan updated celebrations to all concerned...
Did i mention that we had run into Uri Geller at an airport lounge..?. a guy drifting around the place with a really weird vibe, i actually pointed him out to DH "look this dude is a complete alien..." a few minutes later he approached and introduced himself, we had met once before years ago... a really nice person all around he bent 3 spoons for us... now as much as 'i believe' my innate skepticism kicks in, but the spoon bending (which he described as "parlor tricks", the implication being that he is capable of much more) is really an impressive thing up close and personal... we've all seen it; he gently rubs the spoon and it bends towards his rubbing finger... almost more impressive than the act of bending it was that it really did seem to continue bending after he handed it to me... say from 45 to 90 degrees... (no, the spoons were there at the airport lounge, i took them out of the pile and handed them to him... everyone i've told this to all want to know if he provided the spoons himself)
we sat around and talked for a while exchanged some anecdotes and ideas about ESP etc. (years ago in Australia, on our first tour there 1977-8, we found that Blondie was on the same circuit as was Uri... he was on tour doing what he does in many of the same theaters that we were playing in... i recall seeing graffiti backstage in one "URI GELLER LEVITATED THIS BUILDING"... one day we were sitting in an airport cafeteria (in those days we didnt get to go to the lounges) waiting for a flight and i was looking at a copy of the local free paper.... the cover was a shot of Uri's face staring out intently... on the inside there was only a small article; it said that if one stared into Uri's eyes on the cover photo 'something' would happen... i closed the cover and stared into the picture of the eyes and at that exact second a lady who worked at the airport dropped a huge tray of spoons, knives and forks producing a crash that made everyone in the vicinity turn and look...) finally he said that if i did a "simple drawing" he would try and copy it by mental connection...
on the first page of 'Money' by Martin Amis i drew a picture of a cat face; two big circle eyes and J like lines indicating a mouth and whiskers... right before i put it down i thought "i bet everyone draws a house" while i was drawing Uri had his back turned, he couldn't possibly have seen the thing... i covered it with my hand (yes completely) and gave him a copy of another Amis book "Times Arrow" for him to draw his version of what he "saw", stared at him, thought of the image... well, he drew two circles pretty much the exact size of the ones i'd drawn then said he was having trouble picking up the rest as he started to use the circles as wheels for a crude car... in a way this deal was more impressive than the spoon bending...fantastically he said "many people draw a house"... so is this all psychology... am i a two circle type as opposed to a house type? even if that's it it still was amazing and there was just that little "something" extra and out there about the whole encounter with him that left everyone buzzed after we parted company... regardless then of any nay sayers i for one am now a fan of Uri G. ... above and beyond his tricks he is a really great positive person, we talked a bit about Michael Jackson who he supports... his take on Michaels converted looks is one that i hadn't heard or considered and is the most reasonable explanation i've come across: simply that he (Jackson) was so pissed off at his father that he didn't want to even look like him... so there's that Uri was nice enough to put his own version of the meeting with us on his site http://www.uri-geller.com/index.htm
lastly for now even though i am appalled by rampant consumerism, media and related stuff, one of the coolest things i've run into is only available in Germany-Austria apparently; that is BLACK ICE GATORADE... at one of the German gigs Mark our front of house sound mixer was sporting a bottle saying he always checks out weird flavors and variations of products... being a big gatorade fan i was quite impressed Black Ice gatorade is pretty much black in appearance, really a dark red but when all together in the bottle it easily passes for black, tastes fruity...label is black and silver... why this isnt available in the states is a complete mystery to your humble narrator, i found something on their website to write in suggestions and comments and of course have not heard anything back about Black Ice even though the site thing promises a reply... so if any of you are as intrigued as i am by this dumbass phenomena try going to gatorade.com and innundating them with queries about "BLACK ICE GATORADE!!!!"... i brought two bottles back, even though i hate advertising maybe i'll put up a pcture... i mean how dare they only have this cool flavor only for sale in Germany??!!?
anyway have a nice thingy and happy stuff
love to you all
chris
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Posted by Chris Stein at 12/16/2003 05:53:00 AM
back in new york in one piece... anonymous rubber gloved hands reaching into saddams pathetic mouth... aren't they looking for poison hidden in teeth?... the whole thing is so fucking pathetic its unreal... in europe i saw a news clip about one of the new opportunities for making a buck in iraq: kidnapping kids and selling them back to their parents, this apparently isn't reserved for the rich or upper classes, just about anyone can get a kid swiped and then sold back for 5-10 grand, whatever... so the news dame is at the police station, she asks the top cop dude why they (the police) aren't taking more action about this trend... the police gets genuinely pissed off, he looks really honestly angry, the camera follows his hand as he flicks on a light switch... nothing happens he says "we have no electricity, we have no guns!"...
as i suspected little was made here in the states of the bush visit to London and the ensuing waves of British anti-war demonstrations
the tour went well and we have the new set down... last show was in Dubai which is a strange place to say the least; the black robes with the veils that the girls wear are actually pretty sexy when you see them on prettier younger women than what one sees in the stereotypes... also fantastic was just going to a mall (late at night, everything goes late i guess to avoid the days heat) and seeing like half of the pedestrians wearing robes... but Dubai is a wealthy oil based country, sort of sin-less las vegas
Belgrade also was an extreme, one of the best shows, biggest crowds, the city is still all scarred from the recent fighting and there is an atmosphere of tension and road rage all about
but the more i travel around these days the more obvious it is to me that everyone is the same with just variations in background... in some countries, like France, there is a stronger sense of national identity than in others, but the human condition is really much more similar from place to place than one is led to believe by local propaganda... everything balances out, a great deal is lost as well as gained... its like in New York city where there used to be a distinct flavor from one neighborhood to another, now there is just one big homogeneous mass that is all the same... London reminds me of NYC more and more... but obviously there is no turning back now everyone is stuck in each others backyard
ok what?... Monte Melnick of the RAMONES has spearheaded the absolute ultimate RAMONES text; a book called "On The Road With The RAMONES" that should be available everywhere... totally great! what a document! it's pulled together from interviews with everyone involved (me too) and tells the story in a great funny personal way including details that i didnt even know, as a matter of fact i doubt that any one of the people who contributed to the book could possibly have known all of the crazy things contained therein... 'on the road with the ramones' should be a textbook for the study of rock and roll as well as used in psychology class... a monument, i cant imagine many people let alone musicians, celebrities with enough balls to actually tell it like it is like this...
and ?... currently the big project is getting the baby to go to sleep, now that she's been out on the road she doesn't want to miss anything and resists going into dreamland quite vigorously... sooo ive gotten a lot of baby related messages from you all who've got em and would appreciate any tips on getting THEM (babies) to sleep with some kind of regular schedule... you know the drill she wont go to sleep by herself, wants to be held, can't put her down or she starts to cry, takes an hour of walking around with till she drops off enough to be put down, goes to sleep in the car etc etc we havent tried putting her on the washing machine yet... barbara's read a bunch of the books which of course all contradict each other, "let them cry it out" is one side the other is "pick them up over and over till they get to sleep"... she sleeps all night which is great but she doesnt take naps and gets over tired... so any suggestions...
i probably have more stuff but cant think right now... do check out the Ramones book
all 4 now
love
chris NY Dec. 16
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