Wednesday, May 26, 2010

New Blood Tour, Pt 2 Dates Announced



(PG photo taken from Radio City Music Hall gig by Zenrider.)

You only live once! If you haven't seen Peter Gabriel and the New Blood orchestra, you still have a few chances left in September and October, 2010. Only catch -- all of the gigs are in Europe.

- 12.09.2010 : AVENCHES / Switzerland

- 14.09.2010 : LEIPZIG / Germany

- 16.09.2010 : BRUSSELS / Belgium

- 17.09.2010 : ARNHEIM / Netherlands

- 19.09.2010 : AMNEVILLE / France

- 22.09.2010 : MADRID / Spain

- 23.09.2010 : BARCELONA / Spain

- 30.09.2010 : MANNHEIM / Germany

- 02.10.2010 : KOELN / Germany

- 03.10.2010 : HAMBURG / Germany

PG's hard working crew are also trying to get a date for Verona, Italy, finalized and perhaps once for Zurich.

I have a reason for living again! Suddenly, the sky is bluer, food tastes better and my writer's block has completely crumbled to dust. I also won't have any urge to go shopping on Amazon.com or eBay for a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnng time.

Now, I just have to figure out which show I'll go to.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Half Birthday with Peter Gabriel Pictures


Today's my half-birthday. The weather is celebrating with ice-cold, wind-whipped rain as if it was November 18. I've been pitiful recently, so I cheered myself up by re-entering the world of eBay. I left eBay in May of 2000, back when it eBay was REALLY eBay and not an actual, respectable company that it is today. I just assumed I was banned because I was a seller and let a couple of auctions expire unintentionally before I ran off to England.

I subsequently lost most of my Peter Gabriel collection, except for some random bits my Mom saved. I've had my PG CDs and tapes stolen or destroyed by an angry Peter-substitute boyfriend so many times that I'm now wary of getting all of the CDs replaced.

But Mom did save two photo albums filled with photos and magazine clippings about Peter. I like photos of PG, 'cause it's not like I have a shot with the real thing, is it?. Photos of him pleases me. I like the way he moves through the air. When I came back from the UK and went online again, I discovered that there were thousands of free downloadable PG images online. I had about 300 - 400 before my hard drive crashed. My Mom is convinced that it was the PG JPEG collection that did in the hard drive.

I prefer candid photos of him rather than professional shots or concert snaps, but at this point I'll take anything I can get. So, I went on eBay and bought several photographs of PG, inlcuding a better version of the image next to this post.

At least my photo albums won't crash like a PC hard drive.

Well, I better get back to work to pay for all of my future eBay misadventures.

Monday, May 17, 2010

New Book Idea: Dream Peter Project


A few posts ago I wrote about how I would tackle writing a biography of Peter Gabriel. I've had to officially scrap the idea because a biography of PG came out in France in 2008 -- which means that it's too soon for anyone to write a new bio of him. Anyway, since the traditional publishing industry is dead, I'd have to self publish the damn thing and that would cost me at least $10,000. So, screw that.

Then my hard drive crashed and I spent 8 days offline. Now, birds gotta fly and fish gotta swim and writers gotta write. So I went at it with a pen and paper, like in the old days when I actually had the stupidity to think that anything I could write would ever be read by Peter Gabriel.

I've been dreaming about Peter since I was 16 (and now I'm 40.) I consider Dream Peter and PG to be two separate beings. I've learned a lot about dreams, lucid dreams and working with dreams in all of these years. I believe that when we die, we slip into a dream state and never wake back up. So, in the end, all we are are our dreams.

I've been spending time writing a book about Dream Peter, who visits me in all kinds of guises, including this image I found online from the website of clothing store Jhanes Barnes. Will this book ever be published? Probably not. Will I make any money off of it? Not a snowball's chance. And yet I'm writing it anyway.

There are those two voices that talk to writers when they write. One says, "This book is really going to help someone. Keep at it." The other says, "This book is only a pathetic plea to get attention. Why bother? It's not like Peter is ever going to read it!"

Guess which voice is talking to me now?

Friday, May 14, 2010

Hard Drive Crash & New York Psychic

My apologies to any clients that have been trying to get a hold of me since 5/6. My hard drive crashed and could not be resurrected. I'm now starting over from scratch, reinstalling all of my software. I also lost all of my Peter Gabriel images (and I had about 400), so no image to accompany this post.

It's been a strange week offline. I was so driven to write that I resorted to pen and paper, believe it or not. I went through two pens. If I didn't get the computer back up soon, I was going to have to start scraping marks on wet clay tablets.

What About the Psychic?

Oh, yeah. While I was in New York City to see Peter Gabriel, I had to walk from SoHo to Manhattan. On the way, I came across many street vendors, including Lyn the Psychic. I thought, "Oh, what the hell," and had my first reading in donkey's years.

She first began by praying to the Higher Powers for her to clearly communicate what needed to be said for my greatest good. She then said, "You're not from around here, are you?"

I guess it was stamped on my forehead, because I got a lot of that when I was in New York. She also asked me why I was in New York city. After I mentioned that I was seeing Peter Gabriel, she said, "You've no shot with Peter Ga--"

"I KNOW THAT ALREADY!"

She also told me, "Do something wit yer hair!" Now, I kind of doubt that the Higher Powers were talking through street vendor Lyn there. I have a feeling that was Lyn talking.

Off the Market

She seemed fascinated by my left palm and said I wouldn't have any problems with money (HA! I quake to see how much this hard drive crash is going to cost me.) She also said that I may move, due to my job, but that I would not be forced out of my home.

Then she said that I tended to isolate myself and needed to see more people and perhaps date.

Whoa. The week before, my Mom's cleaning lady tried to fix me up with a date and I nearly blew a gasket. Mom then sat me down and asked me if I was ever going to date again. "Are you kidding me?" I said, "The last guy put me in the hospital, stole every penny I had and burned my home down. The only reason I went with him was because he looked like Peter Gabriel. And the guy before him was a psycho. I'd have been better off never dating ANYBODY and kept a torch for Peter all of these years."

"You mean you're never going to date again?"

"The only man I'm interested in is Peter -- and he's not interested. So, if I can't have him, I'll have no one."

"Well, I think that's sad."

"Sad? You should be bouncing off of the roof! This way I'll never get beat up again and I'll always be around to take care of you."

No pleasing Moms, sometimes. She hated whatever guy I was with and now she hates that I don't date. Huh???

Anyway, I asked the psychic, "Have you been talking to my Mom?"

Being Alone

Lyn wound up by saying that I should join a YMCA and meet more people, because "it's not good to be alone". I hated to burst her bubble, but loneliness has nothing to do with how many people are in the same room with you. I was lonely when I had boyfriends. I could be in a room of 1000 pairs of eyes looking at me and I'd still be lonely.

Loneliness is something you have to work on inside of yourself and no one can help you do that. You become comfortable with your own company and work on from there.

Besides, I'm not exactly a catch. I'm tall, about 30 pounds overweight, have breasts that have given up all hope and am 40. Believe me, you don't need to be a psychic to see that I have no chance with a man like Peter Gabriel.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Still Recovering from New York Weekend to See Peter Gabriel at Radio City Music Hall


In the next few days, I'll get a proper review of both the soundcheck and show by Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, May 2, 2010.

Some highlights:

* The night before, a car bomb was discovered in Times Square, about half a block from Radio City Music Hall. No one was hurt and the bomb was diffused, but it was a sobering shock to the open the weekend with. I had to walk to the hotel on West 32nd street from a Mexican restaurant in Soho (about 5 - 7 miles.) Although Times Square was blocked off by the time I reached it, I can't help but wonder if I'd be typing this now if the bomb had gone off.
* I had a migraine beginning at 7am 5/2 and still had it before the soundcheck. It would return after the adrenalin died down the next day. Adrenalin is a great painkiller, but only for so long.
* It was FREAKIN' HOT! This actually turned into an advantage, getting us into the soundcheck early.
* Lots of differences from the Berlin show of March 24 for both soundcheck and concert. Same T-shirt, though.
* This time, I got to meet PG. Let's say PG treated me to a viewpoint I hadn't seen before any of the other times we met. No -- you all have filthy minds -- his marriage was not put at risk in any way.
* This time, he gave me an autograph as well as an eyeful and a very sweet memory
* In between sets, I got to shake hands with pianist Tom Cawley and have a very brief chat.
* I got to meet many other PG fans, which was just about as nice as meeting PG.
* This photo of PG is the outfit he wore when I met him.

Off to gather my head together!