Good to be Bad! The new Whitesnake Album

Awww yeah- I recorded it. It rocks. Should be out in the fall '07. 11 new tracks

I'm in a video!

Here is the new Whitesnake video for the song "Ready to Rock", recorded live at the Wacken Open Air festival in Northern Germany, in front of some 100,000 fans! Summer 2006. Enjoy.

New European Adventure!

OK- So I've been super slackin... on the blogging...

but check this shit.... Weird shit happens for a reason- there's just too many coincedences in my life these days!

Went to London to pick up my dream bass. Yes, the one from a previous post in Newcastle. The one I've drooled over and felt a connection with like no other. The orig. owner Mark Palmer is still cool with me- but his buddy (who was now selling the bass) really let me down. We had negotiated the sale of that bass over the course of a few weeks... Lost lots of sleep over it. He even had it on EBAY and cancelled the auction so I could be sure to get the thing. After I bought a plane ticket to London to pick it up and give him the dough, he backed out. Bummer, to say the least.

But the glass is always half full in my world. I was already looking for an opportunity to go see my son in Denmark for a bit. I jumped on the London flight and continued on to Denmark to hang with Shilo. It was so great to see and hang out with him again, although the visit was short. He did however, make me forget about the bass- which no one else could do.

I went to with him to the local music store in Viborg, Dk, where my friend Kenneth was working. He informed me that there was a "Drum Day" event happening in nearby Arhus, with a performance by none other than ex-Whitesnake Bassist MARCO MENDOZA! So crazy to be in the same far off land at the same time for different reasons. He and I were frineds before this whole Whitesnake thing, and have tried to get together to play in the past. Anyways, I thought I'd surprise him by just showing up at the show, as he had no idea my son lived in DK, let alone near Arhus. Instead I called ahead of time and we chatted for a bit- which resulted in us performing together: closing the days events with both recent Whitesnake bassists sharing the stage together, backed by the LA drummer Zoro. It was very fun to play with Marco, as he's a very well rounded musician with very diverse influences not unlike my own. We tore it up! He can sing his ass off too, as most of you know. We got to solo, trade, slap, tap etc. What a rush! The Yamaha guys were stoked, as Marco was there for them, and I was also using a Yamaha bass. The crowd loved it.


Then the hardest part of the trip hit me out of no where.... the point when Shilo and I went our separate ways to get home. Outside the venue I actually broke down a bit (like I usually do when leaving him). As Shilo got a ride back to Viborg, Marco and I talked for a while about our kids and working away from home. It was comforting, but still tough. It is what it is.

MORE PICS HERE >>>
...and now HERE >>>


Now I sit in Heathrow airport trying to decide what my next move should be. Should I stay the original alotted 2 days here in the city I love to hate? I've got no where to go, but I'm looking up hostels here on the computer. Or should I just pack it up and get the next flight home since I'm already at the airport? Two days in London aint exactly cheap when your employer isn't paying for accomodations! So far I've spent one night in public places. I'm gypsy like that. We'll see whats next...
-U (Spun on Cappucino)

Almost Done!

James Brown- Front Row
Me and my date Fergie (Black Eyed Peas)
Waikiki Beach
Check back here for a tour wrap-up, countries I haven't covered, and a few more adventures since the end of the tour. Once that posting happens, I'll move back to my normal (non-Whitesnake) blog. Cheers!

Home Safe!

Current mood: Gleaning!

Smiling to myself in North Beach, San Francisco! The day is SOOO gorgeous and sunny. North Beach is the Italian part of town, with plenty of top-notch restaurants to choose from. It's 2pm- I made it home safely (after a LOOOONG day) and drove my car here today. I'm in the trattoria having chilled white wine with a Mista salad and the Rigatoni Bolognese is on it's way! Next to me is the laptop, and no less than 4 cell phones- don't ask. I'm setting up one of them, the Treo 700p, to replace my trashed Treo 650. Anyways... I'm soooo happy to be back. I've already been to the bank, and I'll go to the car wash next to wash my little reliable racer. It's an '88, but whoops butt! And it's mine. The tarmac at London Heathrow seems so long ago. Somehow they let my Bushmills through in my luggage. Sweet.
My heart is definatly here in San Francisco.

-U

Flyin in 2 days to Honolulu! awwww yeah.

SHHHHEEEEEEET! Tryin' to get home!

I'm at the airport at an internet terminal. Crazy flight stuff today, as 9 flights to the US were targeted for bombing. Mass confusion at the airport, but they are being as accomodating as possible. ABSOLUTLY NO CARRY ON LUGGAGE! No water- no glasses cases- no cell phones- NOTHING! just your documents and a rigid checkthrough. My Basses are under the plane in the SOFT case, originally intended for carrying on. I'm finally in the terminal, but we don't have a gate, and my SF flight is delayed. Can't find anyone from our party either. The guys on the LA flight are delayed as well. ALL european flight are straight-out CANCELLED. I've got a splitting hangover from my last drinks with The Answer- such brilliant lads- I wish them much success. I'm still drunk I think, which makes it not as bad. Wandering Heathrow some more until the flight, if it ever gets off the ground. I'd just assume flying tomorrow. We'll see....
Slightly aggrivated (but still smiling)
-Uriah

Letter to Arti. RE: Burning Man

Thanks man!!! I'm in Budapest!!!

Waiting in the hotel room before the show. We might get rained out, as it's pissing cats and hounds here- thunder and lightning as well.
B-day was WICKED Italian food last night!
Apparantly Matt and Christina are here in Budapest, but I can't find 'em!
I also got thrown in a pool at the club- camera, phone and all....
I'll have pics soon- just not any from my camera (RIP).

So yeah- For Burning man...I'm with you, and would like to include my tight homies. I'm gonna give you a list- you'll know most of 'em. email's are in case you're doing any kind of organization for this new camp. I can't wait to be a part of it! It's hard for me to organize from here, so maybe a mass email would be great.



Me
Jesse
Craig
arti
yes (might not due to school)
trance
Ben (roommate, if he can)
Dorian (My brother in Detroit- maybe)
Ryan (doubt it, but we may kidnap him)


That's all I can think of for now. I know I'm there for sure, even If I drive and sleep in the Acura. Might pitch in and do the truck thing like in the past, unless I roll solo.
Things I (we) might need to know- when are you going up? where will you be? theme for the camp (Red Light, I'm assuming).

Cheers mate!
-UD

LISBON PORTUGAL


GREECE


NORWAY


BARCELONA



BAND JACKET FROM A FAN



PRIVATE JET



ISTANBUL TURKEY



Istanbul girls. What did I draw?



BELGRADE SERBIA


BUDAPEST HUNGARY
(this is where I eventually got thrown in the pool, b-day style)



Miss Y'all, Man




-Uriah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Jul 31, 2006, at 10:46 PM, Arturo Everitt wrote:

Que pasa Chico,

Happy Birthday!!!!

What part of the world you celebrating in?

Are you going to Burningman? and are you camping with my New camp or with Declan, Dougie & the rest of the old clan?

The new camp is called, (drum roll please) The Red Light District (R.L.D.)

Here are pix from the debut of the R.L.D. at an event called Elysium. Needless to say there was complete debauchery in effect.

http://web.mac.com/turois/iWeb/2006/Elysium%20P.1.html


Happy Birthday
; )
Turo



Arturo Everitt Photography ... www.thephotographymachine.com

How long WERE we in Greece?

These pics are all out of order- I just wanted to get up some of Greece for now...
-U

Go EAST, Young man

I'm writing you this BLOG from... hold on ... let me check.... 18,100 ft. above Macedonia! I'm in a backwards facing seat and can literally reach around and touch the pilot from here in this small jet. Our second flight now on this 8 passenger craft- a cigar tube. So far we've flown in and out of Macedonia. There have been some great surprises on this run in the form of unexpectedly great people from places I've only heard of but knew nothing about. I'll separate this long (make-up) entry into 2 postings: Czech & Slovenia, and Greece & Macedonia. Find these 2 postings below. (Greece might take a while- What a trip!)

Czech Rep.
This was another festival over 20,000 fans stayin up late to rock out. I kinda wish we were in Prague, and this was a small town in the middle of nowhere. This crowd was there for a more metal billing overall, but showed us love none the less. They either didn't know the words or know how to pronounce the words, as the sing-alongs were a little challenged. We got out quickly for the drive to....

Slovenia!
Slovenia rocked! It was our own show and the folks there were very ready to see this band. Everything was cheap and the hotel was the most technologically advanced I've ever been in. Everything from videos, internet, movies, even the door unlock was on either the small, intuitive remote control or the matching mini keyboard. Wireless access of course.
Many of you who know me know that I need to get out and be with the locals to really get the best vibe of a country, as opposed to being a hotel room recluse. So I met a great bunch of folks who invited me to a home cooked meal and drinks into the wee hours. Very San Franciscan experience overall if I must say! One girl was about 6ft 3in and is a cop. On the way to dinner I got to experience her highway driving skills firsthand- not that I think I had a choice! A bit scary, but I embrace adventure!
The crowd kicked MAJOR ARSE! We were very close to them with a very minimal pit area, so there was lots of contact and reciprocation. They cheered and cheered and sang. Afterwards I checked out a local scene (The Skeleton Bar) before retiring back to the internet ranch. I ran out of batteries, so no pics here :-(

2 up in Norway, 1 in Finland

I thought London was expensive-- I obviously hadn't been to Norway before. My god! $14 beers and $100 dinners for 1! For some regular shit! But enough about that... Norway was perhaps one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Click the pics for the bigger versions- So nice!

From when we landed in Haugesund (sp?) to when we played in Skanovik (at the local yearly blues festival), the landscape and fjords and such were breathtaking. Got a few pics. Although there were people puking on the street in Cardiff, Wales, Norway takes the cake so far for the most drunks per capita. And many rude ones too. They did however love the band and filled the tent when we arrived. Apparantly, they love blues and not rock, with Whitesnake being their 1 exception. I do think we could've played jazz flute on stage and they wouldn't have known the difference though. I however wish I had taped the show, as I played my butt off! It was my best show playing-wise- going out on limbs and landing everything I intended to do. I love that and strive to make it so each time I play. Anyways, we did what we call a runner (again) where we run straight off stage to the vehicle- usually to beat festival traffic and get to a long drive ahead. I fucked around and was late to the van. Tommy tore my head off. I shouldn't have been late, but it was really 30 seconds. I'm just not that stressed on time like everyone- never have been. Everyone will survive! But out of respect for others I'm sure I can tighten it up a bit. I'm way more on my game than last tour, for sure! On a side note- I haven't laughed so hard in as long as I can remember.... Afrter going out for a few drinks, our driver, Solvi, piloted a bicycle we found that had flat tires, head first into an indoor pool at 3:30 am. Priceless! He's an Icelandic wonder. We also played in Oslo before flying to...

Helsinki, Finland... 3 days there. It turns out that my bassist friend I met at the Germany festival (Lauri Porra, from Stratavarious) lives a few blocks from our hotel and was in town for a day. We checked out his new apartment and played some bass ideas together. We're way similar in many aspects of our playing and careers. (check out his profile at http://www.myspace.com/lauriporra). We're both young bass whores with a main gig in older established bands. He gave me a lot of music, so I returned the favor with a dvd chock full of MY influences. The funk and rnb goodness, with some of my own stuff in there as well. One CD he gave me was Whitesnake Live: The Early Years. I had never heard the original "Here I Go Again" or "Fool For Your Lovin" before. Amazing playing! Melodic bass and Allman Bros. style guitars. "Like a Hobo" cracked me up! Thanks for the schoolin'!



We had dinner with his girlfriend- I had the RIBS- which were actually quite respectable (I got high standards comin' from the Baaaaay Errrrrria, CA) The show was huge- over 6,000 people, and it was our own show- not a festival. The opening band had 3 accordions and played old metal tunes. I love accordions, and am planning on getting one this year when I get home. One of our fans, Anya who had been emailing me for a while made the trip from Russia with two friends to see the show- what a great hang! They brought us as a gift, some fine Russian Vodka- I can't wait to crack it open! I'm waiting in an Airport right now, so maybe now's the time, no? Thanks Anya, Anastasia and my new St. Petersburg Tour Guide! And thanks to all the beautiful Finnish people who were so kind and welcoming.

Off to Czeck Rep.- Not Prague, but Brno.

Currently listening to: Joe Pass: Virtuoso

3 days off in London!

Great times. Timothy's b-day was on the 5th- excellent Indian food at Tamarind with the band and wives. Did some solo touring on the tube and the bus. Made a visit to the London Bass Centre. Hard to find in the heat and on foot. Great bass selection, and par for the course for UK customer service... Non existent. It was late- they probably wanted to go home. I didn't even bother mentioning that I was in a band. We all stayed at the Royal Garden again, but this time had the cool Princess Diana Kensington garden view rooms, which were nice. It also put the band close together so I could usurp the internet signal and spread it out to adjacent rooms via Airport Express, and share the ridiculous charge that we all love. WS Stickin' it to the man!
I didn't get to Camden again, but Covent garden shopping was all good. Lots o people and power cafe patio vibes. Fun times, but it was still London. Off to Norway!

Sheffield, Glasgow, Cardiff & Liverpool.

My strap broke. When I do that silly "Spin the bass" trick (In "Still Of The Night"), the leather just snapped, sending my Jazz bass flying at a high-velocity into Tommy's Drums and drum riser. The Priceless moment had TD in STICHES- he couldn't even finish singing the tune! I had no clue what had happened until Reb pointed out that my bass was in the drums! I switched basses and carried on, thankful that it didn't go into the audience and take anyone out.

Glasgow: The stab-wound capitol of Europe. I somehow managed to leave that place without either giving or receiving a proper puncture wound! Glasgow was perhaps the best UK audience (no offense to anyone else!). Everyone was loud and into it and the WS choir was in full force. They really gave a lot back. It also may have been the Hottest, Sweatiest, humid show next to Toulusse France. Hung with some really cool fans back at the hotel after. Annemika, Helga and Lorraine from Doug's board were there too. We gotta do it again sometime Lorraine- that was too fun!

Cardiff: Loved it. Met great people here in my first Welsh visit. Through lunchtime friendliness, myself and TD made friends with 2 beautiful ladys. One managed the biggest club in Cardiff, and we became her invited guests. What a great time- food and drinks and dancing! Her friend is a former reality show star in the UK, now with her own talk show and a life of papparazzi stalkers. Very sweet. Thank you girls for kick-starting our stay in Cardiff! And Mark and Jo and Louise- such great people in Cardiff to hang with.
I am glad I didn't see the guy Tomy ran into- who was walking down the street vomiting on himself though every facial orifice without even bending over to stop.

Liverpool: Big outdoor tent. Huge arena inside. Awesome backstage outdoor area. The power to the lights went out a few times- but the PA system and spots still worked. I hung out with the opening band (The Answer, whom I adore) on every break, shooting Whisky and talking shit. They're from Ireland, and definatly bring out some of my Irish blood. This was the last time I'll see them until we hit the UK again (yes, AGAIN) in a month or so.

Up next: London Baby! (The place I love to hate!)

Wow- What a bass!

So my new friend Mark Palmer from the Newcastle shows in England tells me about his new Fodera Bass. I don't think much of it until the next day when he emails pics... and it's the exact bass I've always wanted- Victor Wooten Classic in Spaulted Maple. It's 1/2 hour before showtime and everythings a bit rushed... So with the little time I have, I borrow Reb's lil Vox battery amp and go on our tour bus to check the bass out. It was heavenly! I could have played it for 24 hours straight. Thanks Mark for letting me try your new axe. Too bad the thing is a bit out of my price range! I'm from the school that you don't have to spend a lot to get the job done professionally. (We also took my $125 Fender Jazz on the bus). So I almost hate that this luxury bass sounds, feels and plays soooo well. It's perfect! This bass is worth the plunge- if there was nothing else going on in my life! My son needs to go to college! One day... it'll be justified. Sigh. Drool. [current mood: happy]