i never get to the movies much these days… i was happy to see IRON MAN on the plane home then the next day saw BAT MAN dark knight etc i LOVED iron man i thought it put batman to shame, i would like to see Favreau work on the batman franchise… Ledger’s Joker brought a small bit of the smartness of Iron Man to Batman, but i know that ‘the dark night’ though a lot of fun was one of those ‘in one ear out the other’ films that i wont remember in a few months

thanx again to everyone who was at our shows this summer… i have been listening to the KAMERA cd, they supported us on a bunch of our European gigs; some great songs, do check out KAMERA, i think that they will be around for a while, have a great future

“A study of Clem Burke, the drummer in Blondie, found that drumming for 90 minutes saw his heart rate rise to the level reached by the average top-flight footballer, and for the same period of time. Burke’s body was put under such stress during his gig that his heart averaged between 140 and 150 beats per minute, even reaching as high as 190. He also burned up to 600 calories per hour during the scientists’ trials.”

“Clem, 52, arrived at the Oxstalls campus, in Cheltenham, hours after playing a gig at Suffolk’s Latitude Festival. He said he felt a lot fitter now than when he first picked up the sticks, and he has learned a lot about himself during the programme. ‘I’m better at it now and a lot fitter,’ he said. ‘This experiment has opened up to me how my body is working. I had an initial interest in physical fitness which was why I became involved in the first place. The whole thing has been great,’ he said.”

Radio 5 Live speaks to Dr. Steve Draper and Blondie’s Clem Burke after a study found that the drummer’s fitness rivalled that of a Premiership footballer.

“A unique dedicated drumming laboratory will be built at the University of Gloucestershire’s Oxstalls campus and over the coming months it is envisaged that other professional drummers will come forward to undertake physiological profiling.

Via the Clem Burke Drumming Project, academics from the Department of Health, Sport and Social Care also aim to join forces with the University’s popular music degree course to develop community outreach programmes targeting overweight and disengaged youngsters.

Dr. Steve Draper said: ‘This is the first facility of its kind in the world and we are extremely excited about the potential here. It is a unique collaboration between science and arts.'”

xxximagesxxx

the tour is winding down… currently sleepless in Glasgow

there is a tv show or something i heard: “win a day spent like a rock star!!” no fooling… one of our days might start late lets say: 4:00 pm leave hotel, 4:30-5:00 get to venue, sound check, dinner sometimes, 9:00 ish do show, 11:30 travel in bus for eight hours get to next hotel (7:00 am) try and sleep, then repeat whole thing two more times then day off spent traveling to next city…

but the crowds have been maybe the best for a long time… as i mentioned before there is something about this particular summer tour that everyone is feeling; some kind of bump up in appreciation/attendance

so thanks a great great lot to everyone who has come to see us… thnx a lot too to some of you that we see at every show! there are some very dedicated fans that we see all the time, we do notice that you are there

when we get back home i promise that we will try and get a new recording together, its been much too long, some new blondie stuff is way overdue

i am gonna try again and sleep… i slept a little on the bus on the way here, its tough to get back there to the dream realm after waking up watching ‘Raging Bull’ and checking into my room

BEIRUT click here, still great stuff!!!

xxximagesxxx

lots of younger kids at the European gigs! here are the troops outside our Moscow hotel… thnx!!

sooo in spite of jessie jackson wanting to ‘cut his nuts off’ we are still behind O’B whats odd is that while traveling it seems that the only people IN THE WHOLE WORLD who think Bush is cool are the ones in the US who actually voted for him… i have talked to hundreds of people here in Europe and in South America etc and unanimously they dont understand how this guy got to be president of the US, twice

we are in St. Petersburg Russia… off to Moscow in a bit… beautiful here, the white night is upon the city thereby staying light (the sky that is) almost the whole day with a little darkness in the early morning… the sun sort of sets without actually going down below the horizon… Debbie and i were here in St.P about ten years ago (April 1997) quite a difference, now its way up scale here, not as many wannabe Russian Mafia dudes lurking in leather jackets which was the prevailing style back then (just like home though in the US we have many more genre stereotypes for fledgling gangsters to emulate) i did have a fantastic time here in 1997, not to give another impression, then we were here for almost two weeks, i wish we had more time now, but we are just rushing in and out of places with our ‘off’ days spent traveling… the shows have been going nicely… Guilfest for example was memorable, people seem to be liking us playing the whole album… its ironic that though ‘HOG’ was sort of buried on the second side of the LP it works very well in that spot when playing the record in order in Tel Aviv with the STRANGLERS who were really great!

i am frequently asked what new music i am listening to and usually i dont have an answer… but now i am really loving BEIRUT, just fantastic references and just great overall… this guy ZACH CONDON and his band are so adventurous while still traditional… Barbara came upon Beirut just a little while ago and i have been really hypnotized since… i love french Chanson and related and these guys are pushing the envelope BEIRUTBAND.COM, click do check it out and i hope to see you at some of the BLONDIE shows that are left

just a couple of things one i am really behind Obama and i would urge all of you once again to get out and vote… i really vividly recall watching the last election returns in Lima Peru, it was very surreal and awful… Lima is in very bad shape with rampant poverty and being there in some strange way underscored the hypocrisy of the whole thing even more profoundly i also recall watching old John Kennedy speeches and thinking how modern politicians dont speak as directly any more, answers to questions being oblique and loaded with double talk… Obama’s dialogs are reminiscent of JFK’s directness… its about time to create some meaningful change in the US… i get excited with the prospect of a black man as president just that is such a huge deal it’ll do a lot to repair some of the old damage in America

besides that we have been doing a punk version of “My Heart Will Go ON” the dumb song from the Titanic film… the joke is that it lends itself so well to a punk format anyhow we learned it from the girl band SWITCHBLADE KITTENS, we used to have their version on our opening tape and liked it so much we started playing it thnx Kittens Link