The Cook Inlet beluga is an isolated population of beluga whale and one of the most endangered populations of marine mammals in the world. During the 1980s the population numbered approximately 1,300 whales. Today that population is only about 300 individuals.
On December 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service announced its proposal to designate more than 3,000 square miles of ocean as critical habitat for the highly endangered Cook Inlet population of the beluga whale. That means the plan is open for public comment — and you can add yours today!
Sign here to submit your comments to the NOAA and let them know that designating critical habitat would be a crucial first step in protecting this iconic species.
Me, Lance and Katelin before the show. I introduced Katelin to Lance online and suggested he let her play a tune during her trip to NYC and he did and everyone loved their jam.
Lance's last minute set list^ (which he forgot in dressing room 🙂
Lance, who normally plays guitar, told me he learned drums first when he was little. He took to the drums to let little Tallan Noble Latz (age 9) play guitar and Katelin Deutsch (age 10) play bass, during a fucking ridiculously amazing rendition of VooDoo Chile. OMFG, they received a standing ovation. Respect!!
Lance Lopez in action (sorry, this one was taken with my crackberry ^)
Lance plays so similar to Jimi, if you close your eyes and just listen, you swear you're listening to the real thing.
I have heard many people try to play Jimi, but Lance, in my opinion, nails it the best. Hands down. He is on fire!!
Katelin in the groove! Tal Wilkenfeld better watch her back. Katelin is amazing and is NOT a snotty bitch like Tal. (this is not an opinion, it is pretty much a known fact, Tal is arrogant as fuuuuuuuuuuuck). tsk tsk, be nice to the folks on the way up as you will probably meet them again on your way down.
The members of PROJECT/OBJECT feel that Frank Zappa is one of the 20th Century's greatest and most important composers, and they are on a mission to bring his music to the masses by faithfully recreating the live Zappa experience.
PROJECT/OBJECT formed in the early '90s as an offshoot from an annual Frank Zappa birthday celebration that took place in guitarist Andre' Cholmondeley's basement in New Jersey. As the event grew in size and popularity, PROJECT/OBJECT decided to take their show on the road, performing Zappa's music in more cities and larger venues, with a growing set list from every era of Zappa's 30-year recording career. The band strives to stay true to Frank's vision of constantly challenging the musicians and the audiences.
Frank Zappa was extremely influential to many musicians and bands, especially many jambands, including Phish, moe., and Deep Banana Blackout. While many jamband fans are aware that Frank Zappa was influential, they are largely unfamiliar with his music. Of those who are familiar, many were too young to have seen him in concert. PROJECT/OBJECT is the closest they will get to the live Zappa experience, and the band has been enjoying increasing support from this growing scene.
PROJECT/OBJECT is now and always will be the world's ONLY ZAPPA TRIBUTE BAND that has played so many gigs and complete TOURS with so many of the ACTUAL PARTICIPANTS in Zappa's Musical Universe – musicians from virtually EVERY Zappa lineup…from the 1965 band all the way to the 1988 band!! Other acts may outflank them with big budgets and fancy, misleading ads, but PROJECT/OBJECT is the World's ONLY band to go to for fans that want an intimate, excellent evening with ACTUAL, AUTHENTIC, OFFICIAL ZAPPA ALUMNI…..
In every new market they visit, PROJECT/OBJECT converts the curious into dedicated fans. They want to remind old Zappa fans of the way it used to be and let younger fans, who never experienced a Zappa show, see and hear the way it was.
[trap.]: innovative international power trio shaped of : Merlin Ettore (Canada) :: hybrid drums Matjö Pe (france) :: explosed trumpet/mad keys Elektremi (Germany) :: intuitive electronics
Recently based in Berlin, [trap.] have been spawning raw power and future in sound in the studio and on stage.
[trap.] is known to hand over to their audiences energy packed beat fireballs surfing on hypnotic silky sounds waves. Expanding it’s horizons, [trap.] is know to collaborate with a wide range of instrumentalist wonders of various musical scenes.
[trap.] is currently in production recording an EP. Release in Berlin scheduled for late May 2009.
[trap.] is endorses Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals and Ableton software.
If it's REALLY important I can get up at 7am (when I usually go to sleep). Massaging Mr. Gregg Allman is REALLY important. Gregg has had massages from my team now and again, but this is the first time I got to massage him myself. I can't count the times he told me “this was the BEST massage I have ever had!”. I asked him if he likes Frank Zappa's version of his song “Whipping Post” and he said “I love it”. That is my favorite Allman Brothers Band song fyi.
Saturday night (last night) was pretty entertaining. Met up with Aaron Lewis , singer of Staind who is by FAR the Dot Bots favorite client. He gets a massage pretty much every single day of every tour he does and he LOVES our massage team (the feeling is mutual). He is super generous, funny as hell and a good challenge (he expects EXTREME deep tissue, like no other!). Anyways, Aaron had his two hour massage then we went over to the Franz Club where the Eagles of Death Metal were playing.
I have not been to the Franz Club for years, so when we (Aaron and I) got out of the taxi, I asked the very first people I could "which way exactly is the Franz club?" – but I said it in German as it IS Berlin. The guy, looked at me like I was nuts and I said it again in English- and added we are looking for the backstage door to the Eagles of Death Metal. He said "WE ARE the Eagles of Death Metal" ha ha. I didn't recognize the singer, Jesse Hughs, as his hair is longer now..There was a video camera rolling the whole time, but I wasn't sure why- there was a massive soccer game tonight so I just assumed it was the local news, but it was a tv crew following the singer and drummer of the Eagles of Death Metal around outside for some reason, lol. So, I say "I am Dr. Dot and this is Aaron" and he said "I know who you are" and then he shook hands with Aaron and gave me a hug. I was perplexed as I had never met him before and he could not see my Dr. Dot shirt under the umteen sweaters I had on – eh? Guess he knows the Dr. Dot massage team and assumed I was just one of the Dot Bots lol. ANYHOW we all went backstage and had a BLAST.
Jesse Hughes , singer of The Eagles of Death Metal ^
Jesse, Aaron and Eagles of Death Metal drummer, Joey Castillo ^ who also plays with Queens of the Stone Age
Guitarist of Eagles of Death Metal, Dave Catching ^ was super cool to talk to. He played me some OLD Roxy Music on his iPod and I have to admit, I will be looking it up online and buying it. Sounded great. It was before the Talking Heads had formed and you can tell the Talking Heads must have been heavily influenced by early Roxy Music (the Brian Eno connection going on too)
This was taken months ago ^ just thought I would toss it on here again
We came so early to the Eagles of Death Metal show and Aaron and I both couldn't be bothered to see the opening act, so we booked it to White Trash for some yummy grub and ARROGANT service. The hostess there pretty much SCREAMED at us to get out of the big booth and move to the tiny table Wolfgang the owner reserved for us. JEEEZE. Even Aaron could not believe how fucking bitchy they are there. White Trash is fun and the food is great but they are FAMOUS for snotty fucking service. Not kidding. Their french fries are called "Fuck you fries". lol
Took these pics of Aarons new tatt's while awaiting our grub.
Aaron had his hands tattooed not so long ago ^ looks mad cool.
He told me who certain songs of his are about, he said no one knows except him and his band. Felt privileged to know that inside info. I swore to secrecy, so I will just have to leave it in my will. lol
Ate and ran out of there to make it back in time to the Eagles of Death Metal gig. They still had a half hour before show time, so we had some laughs. Some cute groupies slinked back stage, oooh la la:
Their tour manager, Louie and I go WAY back. I have known him since 1989. He used to tour for YEARS with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Great to see him again. "Rock and Roll never forgets"
Two minutes before show time. Jesse is pumped up and ready!
Drummer Joey waiting til the very last minute to put sticky tape on his drums sticks so they don't slide out of hands.
"The band's on stage and it's one of those nights, oh yeah The drummer thinks that he is dynamite, oh yeah You lovely ladies in your leather and lace A thousand lips I would love to taste I've got one heart and it hurts like hell If you can't rock me somebody will If you can't rock me somebody will"
Rolling Stones
The Franz Club was beyond sold out. This was a special record company gig, super hard to get in if you didn't have a hook up. The band sounded fantastic. VERY energetic. Their intro song (before band comes out) was "Ladies Night" super funk!
Well, gotta get to bed, the Staind show is tomorrow at the Columbia Halle, gotta rest up.
My mate Julie and I bought tickets to go see Liverpool play Hertha here in Berlin at the Olympia Stadium. Last time I was there was a couple summers ago to see the Stones. I actually saw Liverpool FC play there before, think it was August 1993. So fun to watch them play. They are amazing. AND The Beatles come from Liverpool, so naturally I am going to support them. Their color is RED, so my gal pal and I wore red.
Tickets were only 25 euros ($35?), which is pretty fair. This was just a "friendly" match, nothing big at risk. Everyone was super relaxed (read:drunk) and having a great time.
Olympia Stadium, Berlin (not taken day of game fyi)
Our seats weren't that great, or even next to each other, but we managed to find an easy going security guard who went against the strict German rules and let us in a section that wasn't *gasp* the one on our ticket. We wanted to sit with Liverpool supporters (where the most red shirts were). As I said in my video, above, we soon found out, that just because they were wearing red and supporting Liverpool, doesn't mean they are FROM Liverpool, or even the UK. There were all East Germans, yes, I know, there is no more "East or West" officially, but mentally, it's still here. The "Ossi's hate the Wessi's" etc.. Anyways, the East Germans HATE Hertha (Berlin's Football club) so much because they are "West" that they would rather support the "Inselaffen" as they call the Brits (the Island Apes, because the UK is an island, blah blah).
Lots of players falling down and lots of "ecken" (corners?) wtf does that mean? I admit, I don't know all the football lingo and all, but it's even worse trying to figure out the football lingo in another language. I can speak and read (and write) German, but these sport terms had me confused.
We did the wave a few times. I love that. We all sang the football songs, and Julie told me as I walked up to have a slash (piss) the guys were singing "Get your tits out" but I didn't even notice because I thought it was just another football chant and blocked it out. ha ha.
These lads sat two rows in front of us and asked us to pose for pictures like 10 times. They are from East Germany too.
Julies perky tits are a bit hidden here… I guess I squashed them. Sorry Julie. Word: Underwire Bra.
A sporty sausage fest.
Julie and I were asked by at least 50 guys to pose with them for a picture. So, why not ask them to take one of us? Julie was like "wot the FUCK Dot? Why are all these people asking us for pictures??". A couple of the German guys asked me if I was 'Dr. Dot' and one said he saw me on TV, one on Big Brother (I was in the BIg Brother container for one whole day a few years ago massaging all the peeps. You can see pics at www.puredrdot.com click on LINKS and see Big Brother banner). It was actually getting embarrassing as people were trying to watch the game and there was this massive hoopla around us, omfg. I am UNDER exaggerating. Seriously. Wish Julie would put her two cents it. She is a writer too, so perhaps she will blog too. The girls seated a few rows up from us were shooting daggers at us with there eyes. Hey, get yourself a red dress. Red is THE color apparently.
Julie and I took a taxi to the game to save time, but decided to take the S-Bahn (over ground train) towards home. It was so fucking packed outside the Olympia Stadium anyways, that no taxi would ever get through. So we plowed along with the hordes of football fans (some hooligans too) and squeezed onto the train. I usually never take public transport here (used to years ago) because you can basically walk anywhere in Berlin (keeps legs slim), rollerblade or walk. PLUS, Germans fucking STARE. I mean they REALLY do not know the difference between an innocent glance and an outright 5 minute long stare. No one has ever taught them that it's kinda rude. lol. I remember dating a massive brick layer from London named Kevin years ago, like hmmm, 1993, here in Berlin. He was a weight lifter and built like a brick shit house (normally not my type, but he loved Elvis, so that won him brownie points). Anyways, I remember my fling with Kevin didn't last long because every time we went somewhere in public, like a pub or the underground train, Germans would stare at us (I was doing Madonna dopple-gaenger shows (impersonations) for money because I could not speak German yet and so I had a short white wavy bob (like her Blonde Ambition tour cut) and super thin eyebrows and he looked like a fucking wrestler. Anyways, they would stare and he was so aggressive (he told me he took steroids to get bigger muscles ) he would SCREAM at all the Germans who looked at us, which of course, brought more attention to us, and then more aggression from him towards them. Omfg. Nightmare. Anyways, Germans stare and I was dressed in red, as you can see, and had the cleavage on at full force (hey, we only live once, let them breath. Someday they will shrivel up and rot, so for now, they are out).
The guys on the train heard Julie and I talking in English (we can both speak fluent German) so the lads didn't know we could understand them at all. The train was PACKED and they were making LOUD, obnoxious comments about her skirt, her tits, my tits, my dress, etc. We just smile to each other and kept on talking. After a few stops, some seats became available and she and I sat across from one another and the hooligans sat next to us (there were loads of them). The train got a bit quiet when they sat down next to us and they kept on talking about how they would LOVE to do this and that to us. They suddenly I turned to the loudest one and in perfect German, loud enough for everyone to hear, I asked "So what was that you said awhile ago about my tits?". His jaw hit the floor. They all turned bright red (guessing they were around 20 years old). The whole train, apart from them, was laughing their asses off. Snap.
I wasn't offended or pissed, I mean, if you dress that way, you have to expect some flack (got it every day in High School when I was dating Joey Ramone, but instead of Red, I was wearing PINK every day (hate pink now, would never wear it again). Most of the time, I wear sporty clothes, but sometimes I like to vamp it up. SO bring it on, I have a massive sense of humor and a sharp tongue. What was that one of my friends called me the other night "Tornado Tongue." hmmmm. heh heh.
Well, neither Julie nor I are BVG (Berliner public transportation) savvy, so we got off at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and were both so famished we would have eating the South end of a North bound skunk at that point. We scarfed down some amazing German bread (Germans make the BEST fucking bread I have ever had) and then headed over to Murry's Irish Pub (used to be the Emerald Isle). My mate Steve is the cook there (he is from Dublin and is engaged to a German lady). A lot of the English speaking community of Berlin hangs here at Murry's. Hey, if you feel like just speaking English, you hang out with fellow English speakers. So we do.
Great BOWIE shirt, no?
Sid and Nancy in Berlin? ^
This is "Beano" and he is from Ireland and reminds me of Sid Vicious . He sings with a punk band too. The blond girl (Anne) is his German pal. All of us English mother tongue folk all see each other about town, drink at the same places and basically all know each other. Most of us all get along.
Two English regulars (guy at far left if Graham) and Steve (did his hair blond recently) and Julie. Dam I wish I could remember everyone's names. Why can't people wear name tags? heh.
Steve and I ^ My neck looks like one of the Olsen twins in this pic. sigh.
Another blog, another morning that I am STILL up at 9am. Seriously thinking of going to Thailand for Christmas and New Years. Just a random thought. I need something new; always going to the same places. Just a tad afraid of the mosquitos(sp?), American haters (will I get kid naped and decapitated live on TV? Will a hurricane wash me away? What a pussy I am turning into lately.). If you have been to Thailand, tpell me, where did you go? Where is the best place to go? Not into lady boys and shopping. Clean beaches, good hotels and mostly, where one can feel safe. Yawn, off to bed.
Went to a soccer match last night (it's now 8:25 am and I am still up). Liverpool vs Hertha (Berlin's home team). The score was 0-0 so everyone went home happy; erm, drunk. I didn't drink anything as they only served beer and coke. Never drank a beer in my life, not gonna start now. I took many pictures and even made a video, but they will have to wait a few days to make it on here as I am swamped, as usual.
I found out the karaoke stripper is Swedish (karaoke bar owner Ron emailed me and told me). No wonder. Those folks LOVE to be naked. ha. The sun has made a brief appearance, so maybe we will finally get a taste of summer here. Not whining, mind you, I like it like this. If it's too hot, the men get too horny and people get cranky, or crankier I should say.
So glad Karadzic was found. Hope they fry his ass in the electric chair. All those people (over 8,000) he had killed. UGH!! Nightmare!! Anyways, the construction workers are already outside my window, making noise, so I have to try to get some sleep now. Tonight was lots of fun, will spill guts asap.
No, I am not a Foreigner in NYC, I mean the Rock Group FOREIGNER played in NYC last night at Gotham Hall..well, it wasn't open to the public, it was a private show and luckily for me the band invited me and my girlfriend Brooke to come and watch. The night BEFORE was also AMAZING. I don't even know where to start anymore, I have so much to write I am feeling rather swamped. I still haven't even finished my France, Rome and Florence blog yet! YIKES!!!!!! Freaking out here!!
Let me jump back to this past December to my first Foreigner blog (click HERE to read it) so you can get a feel of how much this band has been growing on me. Some of my friends wind me up telling me "enough with the FOREIGNER already!!!". ha ha. But I surely don't have to remind anyone that good old fashioned rock and roll bands are far and few in between and this band is not only amazing in concert, they are also fun as FUCK to hang out with; even the managers and crew are a blast to be around. Sigh. I have had NO sleep at all since Monday; since Foreigner rolled into town. Ha ha.
My pal Tom Gimbel , rythm guitarist, sax player and backing vocals had some free time, as did the drummer, Brian Tichy and their tour manager assistant Eric so we all went to Arlene's Groceries for some LIVE karaoke. It was so surreal, I am still smirking about it right now as I type. I signed up to sing Back in Black and Brian stepped in and took to the drums (you see, this is live karaoke, as in you don't sing to a tiny TV, you actually sing lead vocals with a KICK ASS band. They have this every Monday night at Arlene's ).
The guitarist ^ of the karaoke band is out of this world good. He's from Northern Ireland and has a very charming accent by the way (not that it matters, I'm just sayin')
I was kinda nervous about having a stand in drummer, I mean, did he even KNOW Back in Black? There were no rehearsals or anything but what the hell, he seemed overly confident, so we went for it. HOLY FUCKING SHIT can this guy play drums. Sigh. It sounded like we had all jammed together for years. He beats the shit out of the drums and the MC even said "that is the loudest fucking drummer I have ever heard in my life" heh heh. It was PERFECT.
Then Tom came on stage, took the mic (audience was now aware of the fact the Foreigner was in the HOUSE) and Tom sang "Hot Blooded" with Brian on drums again. The crowd was creaming their jeans. It was fantastic. I have videos of all this, and will post them ASAP. Again, I am swamped as FUCK. The house drummer was "not amused" at Brian playing two songs, but things got even worse after Brian chugged a few drinks and got antsy, like musicians do (the want to be on stage playing, NOT watching) so Brian went on stage again (without an invite ha ha) with some Mexican dude he made friends with and the dude sang "living on a prayer" by Bon Jovi and Brian, once again, tore it UP! He was PERFECT. I was swooning over his ability to just jump in on any song and NAIL IT. Improv at it's BEST!
Tour manager/assistant Eric acts as baby sitter/buddy while out with the band ^
;
Tom and Brooke ^
The band were all impressed that Brooke is an Opera singer. She is also a karaoke DJ on the side. When she sings rock and roll, it's like butter. The girl has amazing PIPES! (her "lungs" are pretty impressive too 😉
Mick ^ founder of the band, is really polite, friendly, calm…great guy!
Tom told us we had to dress REALLY nice as it was a Black Tie affair. He saw us and said "oh Lord! Lay low until the band starts and the lights are low, so all the wives (not wives of the band, wives of the rich business men there) don't freak out. Most of them were wearing what appeared to be prom dresses. ugh.
Jeff the Bass player is SUPER cool and is usually the one needing massage the most.
He was a member of popular 1980sheavy metal bands Dokken and Dio. He currently has his own progressive metal group called War and Peace, which was formed in 1993, releasing two albums: 1993's War and Peace and 2004's The Walls Have Eyes. He also works with his ex-Dokken bandmate, guitarist George Lynch in a two-member group called Lynch/Pilson.
He also played in the band Wild Horses (not to be confused with the British band of the same name).
Although he is a renowned primarily for his work as a bass guitarist, Pilson also plays guitar and keyboards.
He played a member of the band Steel Dragon in the 2001 film Rock Star as well as playing on the film's soundtrack.
Pilson is currently the bass player for seventies rock band Foreigner.
Tom in action ^
As I said, Tom told us that since it was a DELL computer private corporate show, for 400 people tops, we should lay low and let the ol' corporate, rich wives shine. We did….for MOST of the night. During "I want to know what love is" we couldn't take it anymore and slinked onto the dance floor, slowly moving towards the stage. There was A LOT of lighting in the place and it was a small hall, so the band could see EVERYONE on the dance floor. Brooke and I slow danced, DIRECTLY in front of the stage, grinding into eachother, squeezing each others buttocks but never cracking a smile. We gazed into each others eyes and ignored the whole room on purpose just to wind the band up. It was so fucking funny distracting the band with our loving slow dance (have you seen the film The Wedding singer? When Drew Barrymore slow dances with the young boy who grabs her butt the whole time?) – well that's what we were doing. It was hysterical. The band naturally told us ALL about it after, saying how hard it was to concentrate lol. I thought they would be mad at us, but we were tired of behaving for so long. heh heh.
Kelly ^ has a slight resemblance to Steven Tyler but I have never told him so. Rock stars hate being compared to other artist.
Don't know why Brian has that look on his face. He must be tired from the night before- too much karaoke!
Ahhhhhh, lovin' life
Isn't Brooke cute?
Uh, never seen a white bike like that before. Had to mount it.
After the show we all went to an Irish pub near their hotel as the Hotel Bar was lame as fuck and closed early. It's NYC, the place that "never sleeps"? I don't think so. Berlin never sleeps. NYC naps.
Apparently Brooke makes me sweat ^
Eric got the karaoke bug too and sang some Chris Isaak for us.
Brooke and Mike Bluestein Foreigner keyboardist ^ has a hell of a resume'
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May 17th, 2008 (look how long it takes me to blog now a days)
Over the two days we hung with the band, they grew to LOVE my driving (and my JBL speakers/sound system) in my car. Some of them preferred to have me drive them to and from rather than hired vans. HEH! My stereo by the way, was louder than the gig. The band was tight as FUCK but the acoustics in that hall are crap. Lots of echo…so the band had to keep it down a bit. But I doubt they cared, corporate gigs (DELL) always pay well 😉
If the band is heading your way, you should try to catch their show. I have seen over 3,000 shows and they are one of the tightest bands live, ever.
x
Thu 05/15/08 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre
Fri 05/16/08 Westbury, NY North Fork Theatre At Westbury
Thu 05/22/08 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theatre
Fri 05/23/08 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
Sat 05/24/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe
Sun 05/25/08 Stateline, NV Harrah's Tahoe
Fri 05/30/08 Torrington, CT Warner Theatre appearing with Bryan Adams
Tue 07/15/08 Augusta, ME Augusta Civic Center
Fri 07/18/08 Portsmouth, VA Ntelos Wireless Pavilion
Sat 07/19/08 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Sun 07/20/08 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amph. At Encore Park
