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