FEBRUARY 1 1988

Hi, it's 2:52 AM, late Sunday/early Monday, February 1, 1988. And...after I said good night on the tape last night, there was all kinds of commotion outside my room, and I cracked the door open with the chain on and it was Walt Fowler knocking on Ike Willis' door. Ike has the room next to mine. Ike apparently lost his itinerary and Walt had come over to let Ike look at his. So I barged into Ike's room when he opened the door and we sat in there for about four hours talking about his experiences, and about Walt's experiences fourteen years ago with the band, and having a good old time, so finally I got to sleep about 5:00.

I slept very late this morning, as you might imagine. I got up around...I don't even remember. It was late. And finally got in the shower about 3:00 in order to get over to soundcheck by 4:00. I didn't eat before sound...ah, excuse me. Rehearsal. I didn't eat before rehearsal, I waited 'til I got there. Had lunch, they had a little deli tray set up and a few hours later I had dinner.

And today was much better than the end of rehearsal last night, when Frank was worried. But Frank was still a little worried, because there was still the occasional memory lapse. But it was, all in all, much better, much more professional, much more in keeping with what this band's capable of. And, uh, we rehearsed mainly "Show #2" or "Long Show", which is the one which starts with "Black Page". There's been a slight change: instead of ending the first set with "Catholic Girls" and "Crew Slut", it's now "Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk" and "Sofa". He wants to get in all the new stuff, so that leads me to believe that "Catholic Girls" and "Crew Slut", which occupy those positions in several of the sets, will probably be, if not altogether thrown out, their role in life will be dramatically lessened. And, one interesting thing that happened today while most of the other people were in other rooms either eating or watching the Super Bowl, and losing money: I was finding some new string sounds - well, not new string sounds but previously undiscovered string sounds on the DX-5, and I started playing "Airport" on this string patch, and Scott, who was a few yards away, wanted to know if I had ever written it out. And when I said "no" he became very angry because he thought it was a really beautiful piece of music, and he said that if he was capable of writing anything like that he'd just have stacks and stacks of music paper all around his home, and that I should write it as soon as possible. I said "well, it's on tape", and he said "that's not good enough, what if you want somebody else to play it?" and I went "well, oh, you're right". So he made me promise him that I would write it out as a string quintet. So if I get motivated to do that I'll try to do it either at night after shows and between shows, or during the break between the US and Europe. Or maybe he'll just forget about it, but he probably won't because he was really taken with it. And while I was playing it, Frank walked in and asked if I had written it, and I said "yes". And he seemed to be at least intrigued by that.

And then it was over, and we came back here, and I watched some television and listened to some more of the Midnight Oil tape, and did this. So really, I spent most of today sleeping, and then went to the rehearsal. As I said, a good rehearsal, could be better, much better than yesterday's though. And Vivian's coming around tomorrow morning and that'll be great. I'm going to go to sleep and try to really mean it this time. See ya later.

Another thing that happened which I should mention is: on the ride home from the Palace Theatre back to the hotel here, I was in a taxi with Paul Carmen and Bobby Martin. We were talking about different things and Bobby mentioned that my technique of playing the guitar and keyboard simultaneously, in particular the solo that I did on the last night of rehearsals in L.A., was "really happening", and that it's something that I should continue doing. Which is nice to hear because every time I do that I wonder if it's worth anything at all or if it's just a gimmick. But so far everyone seems to be quite pleased with it, so I guess I'll continue plumbing those depths. Once again, a Bobby Martin-related anecdote which I just couldn't let slide. So there you go. Take it easy.

Next episode:
FEBRUARY 7 1988

Last episode:
JANUARY 30 1988