Then I figured out she must have been in the booth when I was getting footage of their booth. I apologized, and she walked off, then a REMO employee came up to me and said “that was Sheila E.”.

When I got back to Portland, Mim asked “what happened to your arm (because of the bruise). I explained that, of course, I had walked into a door- I mean, got slugged by Sheila E.

So last night at La Vee Lee, Mim, Roy, Louise and I went to see the whole Escovedo gang – the dad Pete (71 years old and plays his ass off), two brothers, the mom came out for a few songs (it was her 69th birthday… and she plays percussion… I imagine even their dog plays some kind of percussion instrument) with Sheila E. as special guest (her dad made fun of her new project the whole night).

(this pic is not from last night)

It was an awesome show!!! Salsa music, when played by the best salsa players in the world, is absolutely muy calienté! Sheila is off the hook great.

Anyway, after the show, I told Sheila I have been waiting 12 years to get a slug on the other shoulder to even me out, so she slugged me on the right shoulder (not as hard).

I was ready for a room lit only by black lights, with low sofas scattered around, spreads of food and liquor, and the band would be back there, getting ready for the gig by meditating, doing Yoga, having some Satannic ceremony, doing drugs or getting a massage… their entourage would be in full party mode, a few puffing on a hookah in a corner, women in lingerie coming on to the stage manager, lines of coke on a mirror, bowls of M & Ms with all the brown ones picked out. This would finally allow me to get a small taste of what being a mega-rock star is all about.

So finally we enter the Green Room… it is brightly lit, mostly empty and looks like a small hotel lobby… there are only three people there, one cooler with some pop and water, and other with beer. One person is telling another they have been getting some disturbing text messages from a mutual friend lately. I feel like we are crashing a tax preparer’s convention.

To add insult to injury, the walls are not even green. Not even close.

So we ditch the green room after 30 seconds or so and get back to our seats. TOOL was amazingly good, Danny is a phenomenal drummer and I’m proud to say I taught him everything he knows. Hehehe, not really, but we did have some long jams in KC that resembled some of their tunes, weird time signatures, etc… he was already well on his way to developing his style when I met him.

Afterwards we did try the after party which was more fun, a couple hundred people in another banquet-type room with an outside area nestled in the middle of downtown LA. We hung out with some of Terry Bozzio’s bandmates, Rufus Philpot and Alex, a guitarist from Austria, and chatted up Scott Kinsey, a keyboard player and composer extraordinaire. And finally Danny showed up, so I guess we partied with the band a little bit!

I have never seen a pianist with more chops, her technical skill is unparalleled. As well as her command of every idiom of jazz from stride to classic bebop to modern improvisation to her own blend of the folksy, classical, and ethnic with jazz.

http://www.hiromimusic.com/

Just simply mind-blowing.

Last night Michelle and I went with some friends to see Joe Zawinul.

It ranks easily as one of the best musical performances I’ve ever seen. Bass player from Cameroon, guitarist from Brazil, percussionist from Rio, drummer from Brooklyn, singer Sabine Kabongo from Belgium… a fusion of Brazilian, African, American jazz, Austrian folk tunage, truly world music. Incredible grooves. Amazing!

I hung out with the bassist, Etienne Mbappe, for a whole break, in the courtyard… he said he developed his style independently of Jaco, only heard Jaco for the first time several years prior.

Here is a review/interview:

http://www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=1521