The Weblog Of Dr. Dot Stein
Chris is a sweet heart. It's hard being a musician when your big brother is Mick Jagger. Chris never asks for help and has his own cool style. His band is called "Atcha".
He is fantastic, I have known him for years and highly suggest checking out his band if you are in the area
x
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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.
Info about Jeff:
Jeff Pilson (born in Lake Forest, Illinois, USA) is an American bass guitarist specializing in the heavy metal music genre.
He was a member of popular 1980s heavy 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'
—————————————————————————————
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
Tue 07/22/08 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Mem. Arena
Thu 07/24/08 Selma, TX Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Fri 07/25/08 The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Sat 07/26/08 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Centre appearing at "Alhambra Summer Jubilee"
Sat 08/02/08 Alhambra, CA Downtown South Second Street
Fri 08/22/08 Detroit, MI Renaissance Center
Fri 08/29/08 Woodstock, VA Shenandoah County Fair
Sat 08/30/08 Atlantic City, NJ Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort
Wed 09/17/08 Livermore, CA The Concerts At Wente Vineyards
Fri 09/19/08 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery
Sat 09/20/08 Primm, NV Star of the Desert Arena
I am jumping ahead here, as in, I still haven't done my wild thanksgiving night blog lol, but 'this just in' has to come out now before I forget any details.. I went to the "Columbia Halle" early this evening to say hi to my pal Anna , who works backstage and just wanted to give the band, Foreigner my flyer (I wasn't planning on massaging anyone as a very good friend of mine bought me a ticket, so I was just planning on watching the show). When I stopped into the production office to say hi, I was surprised to see so many familiar faces. Most of the people who work with the band knew me from other bands they have toured with, mainly Iron Maiden. The wardrobe lady said "oh my god, Dr. Dot is here, the one from myspace!???" She came in and told me I had left a funny comment on her page of a cat taking a shit. Me? Nooooo! That can't be. heh heh. She took a picture with me and promised to send it to me on myspace asap 🙂
Jeff Pilson, the bass player, used to play with Dokken years ago ^
When I mentioned I didn't bring my massage table, but I DID have some massage oil with me, Jeff put his hand up first, so he got the first massage. The band does have a guy on tour with them who does massages, named Peter, from Sweden, whom I've met before at Iron Maiden, but Peter is usually busy working on the lead guitarist and founder of Foreigner, Mick Jones, so sometimes they can use an extra set of hands and Peter lent me his massage table to work on the band. This was indeed my lucky night.
I kicked Jeff's ass good. He really need a deep tissue, brutal massage to sort him out before the show. Touring is HELL on the body and I think everyone on the tour, roadies, bus drivers, caterers and managers, not just the artist, need massage on a regular basis to survive. It recharges their batteries so to speak.
Jeff is super cool, lives in LA and is a big tipper. Great guy! The whole band is on health kick, no alcohol or even cigarettes were to be seen backstage. If you want to remain in the music biz for a long time, you have to take care of yourself or you will burn out (like the Happy Mondays for example). You just can't party hard every fucking night on tour and expect to last. It just doesn't work.
Kelly Hansen , used to sing with a band called Hurricane ^
^ CAMEL TOE ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This shot was taken seconds before they went on stage. I was horrified when I saw the picture and noticed my raging camel toe. Oh well, what can I do? It's there, staring me in the face. Oh Lawd!
You're gonna think I'm just a brown nosing cunt, but let me tell you, this band fucking ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually never watch the whole show. I usually watch one or two songs. Last time I watched the WHOLE show was when I saw Steve Vai in NJ. I LOVE Steve's show, so I watch it in full. This band, Foreigner is tighter than a Chinese virgin. TIGHT I tell ya. I just gave into the cheesy-ness of it all, you know the 80's rock bands that you secretly love, but are afraid to admit to listening to at home alone? Like Styx, Journey, Foreigner, Pat Benetar, The Cars.. well, I fucking LOVE Foreigner and have never seen them in concert before. My massage team, however, has massaged them before, as they toured with Def Leppard and my team was doing that tour, so "we" got our hands on them, but this was my first time "feels like the first time". Oh man, I was singing along to every fucking song, jumping up and down, howling after each tune and clapping like maniac. I was happier than snoopy at dinner time.
The show didn't sell out, as it was a rainy, Sunday night here in Berlin, but it was still packed and I was surprised how many Germans in the audience were singing right along with me to the songs. They knew the freakin' words. It was sooooooo fun. If you just give in and sing along and relive the 80's, it's a blast. The singer KICKS serious ass. I was surprised when I heard it is NOT the original singer. EH?? I thought. He sounds identical, if not better. His voice is perfect and he is so energetic, he can give Jagger a run for his money. Not to mention the tight white pants he was wearing, well, he was packing' a mean pistol and it got the females in the crowd all sooooo excited. I just love REAL Rock bands, you know? Long hair, sexy singers with tight pants, ridiculously long guitar and drum solos and all that. LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff in action ^
Tom Gimbel on Sax ^
Tom tore up the sax solos on "Urgent". I never realized how much sax is needed for Foreigner songs . Anyways, Tom is a sweet heart and I loved how he spiced up the show.
When they played "Juke Box Hero" I nearly creamed my jeans lol. I actually forgot that song. It was like every song they sang was a hit. Seriously, they are underrated. Go ahead and scoff at me, take the piss, make fun of me, whatever, I still love them and they are fucking hot in concert.
It also drove me wild to know that in 24 hours, they will be opening for Led Zeppelin in London. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I already booked my flight back to NYC on Dec 11th, so I could not change all of my plans. Dam Jimmy Page for breaking his finger, as this show is the alternate date. They had a previous date in Nov. that I could have gone to. Oh well, I have seen Led Zepp before (at Live Aide) but I would have LOVED to go and be there tomorrow. Sigh.
Foreigner's normal drummer is Jason Bonham, John Bonham's son. Jason wasn't here in Berlin, as he is in London rehearsing with Led Zepp, but their other drummer, Brian Tichy is out of this fucking WORLD good! He was smoking hot ^ in every way. Schwing!!!!!!!!!!! heh heh.
Some people write me and ask me if I still get excited when I meet a star or see a show etc. I have seen well over 3,000 live shows so far but yes, I still get excited. Tonight I was giddy as fuck. I was indeed a fan. A fan meeting a band she loves. Mick Jones is sooooo nice. He sounds American as he has lived there over 30 years, but he is from England. He has a kick ass sense of humor and didn't mind when I told him I found his guitar playing to be "dirty". His solos are razor sharp, crystal clear, but his riffs are raunchy, sexy, dirty, gets your pelvis moving, if you know what I mean. He has been playing for over 30 years and he STILL fucking rocks. Hard.
I had so much fun tonight, I felt 18 years old again, yay! The security guards, who know me, must haven been shaking their heads behind me as I danced like an obsessed freak. AAhhhhhhhhhhh, loved it.
Robbie, the production manager nabbed a set list for me and all of the lads signed it for me. Aw, they are sooo sweet! Mick asked Peter, the massage therapist, to go get me one of their Live Dvd's. OMG, I told him I would pay for it, but nooooooooooo, Mick insisted I have it as a gift. These guys are the bomb.
< The DVD Mick gave me
^ It's all superb live footage. So if you can't see them in concert, you can still get their DVD online..
Their singer, Kelly, looks a bit like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. I said that to someone backstage and they said "don't say that to him, he gets tired of hearing that", so I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so. Some bands break up, reform and get a new singer that just does NOT cut the mustard, like Queen and Paul Rogers (eh? WTF!???????????????????? George Michael would have been prefect, but not Paul with his rough, raspy voice, it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard) BUT Kelly is fucking amazing; sounds exactly like the original, Lou Gramm and is much hotter (just an observation 🙂
Another example of bands finding a new singer and hitting the nail on the head is AC/DC. Brian does a perfect job (as good as anyone could do) of filling Bon Scott's shoes. A perfect fit indeed.
Anyhow, I have to get to bed, it's freakin' 8:30 AM and I'm STILL awake and have to pack for my flight to NYC which leaves in less than 24 hours..
x
FOREIGNER TOUR DATES:
12.10.07 O2 Arena London
12.10.07 Offenbach Frankfurt
12.11.07 Volkshaus Zurich
12.13.07 Papp Laszlo Budapest
12.14.07 Gasometer Vienna
12.16.07 Filharmonie Stuttgart
12.28.07 Fort Myers FL
12.29.07 Boca Raton FL
Click HERE to see a funny video (poking fun at how some Germans speak English