Fishy Legal Things

I'm just wading through a draft version of the contract that needs to be agreed between myself and the book publishers. Boy, I see why lawyers get paid the amount they do. There are so many clauses and sub-clauses it's making my brain melt. Of course, minion writers like myself don't have agents - they always have to snaffle a healthy percentage and really aren't interested unless you're a fiction writer. Which means the emphasis falls back on my good self to organise this aspect too but thankfully I have a very astute lawyer who knows the difference between a preamble and a subsidiary right. I think.

I've noticed that Fish is going to presenting a Friday night show on Planet Rock (http://www.planetrock.com ) which should be worth a listen. Oh, as some of you spotted, the Dream Theater Book website ( http://www.dreamtheaterbook.com is down as mentioned in a post a couple of days ago. But, this should be sorted shortly . . .

Sweaty Betty And The Roadrunner

Just got back from London after The Big Meeting to decide the final details of the Dream Theater book with the publishers. I'm too beat to try and type in all the details at the moment, mainly due to a flight from hell. Tell me, why is it that whenever I get on a plane, the most clinically obese individual you can imagine always parks themselves next to me? I'm not talking slightly porky here either - hell, I've got a few extra pounds I could do with shedding myself. No, this was a "women" who needed one of those extendable seatbelts usually reserved for the pregnant. The safety drill was pointless. In the event of an emergency, there would've been no chance of finding my way to an exit. It would have been like trying to wade over a bouncy castle filled with rice pudding, which, without crampons and a sturdy rope, would have been a physical impossibility. So that was far from pleasant and ever-so-slightly alarming as you can imagine.

But other than that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time had down at Roadrunner Records in London, home of Dream Theater's new label and also where A&R men Derek Oliver and Dante Bonutto work. Who just happen to be the people who are going to be financing and publishing the DT book on their very own Rock Candy Record label. What a happy coincidence!

More later when I've showered off the residue from Big Fat Sweaty Betty.

Chubby Funster

Managed to catch a performance by Ricky Gervais at the Manchester Apollo last week. Perfect Valentines Day evening out. No red roses, no fixed-price Valentines menus, no waiters from Burnage pretending to be Italian. Instead some good-old politically incorrect gags about ME, Dawn French and obesity! What sets Gervais apart is the fact that he's natural and like, say, Billy Connolly, he just comes across as a bloke in a pub who is telling a few stories for his mates.

I see Marillion have released a few soundclips from their forthcoming album 'Somewhere Else' over at http://www.myspace.com/marillion Quite an intriguing listen, though you can't really appreciate tracks based on a few short samples. Not sure about the single choice though. I'm usually proven wrong, so 'See It Like A Baby' is bound to go top ten.

I'm off to London early next week for a meeting with the book publishers, so I'll finally be able to give a firm update of the masterplan. In the meantime, I'm trying to pitch feature stories (basically book extracts) at various editors to coincide with the book and DT album release.

Don't Be Alarmed

The dreamtheaterbook.com website will be offline for a few days in the next week or so while it gets moved to a decent host. But it'll soon be back up and running and ready for a re-launch nearer the book release date, complete with final details of the book's content, a few extracts and that all important store! Got to finish off a review of Helloween's latest live album for Classic Rock now, so it's only a short post. Can you believe the "snappy" title of that album?

Helloween: "Keeper Of The Seven Keys- The Legacy - World Tour 2005/2006 - Live In Sao Paulo"

Someone's having a laugh. I've only got 120 words to play with and that takes up almost 10%. Muppets!

Out Of The Chaos

I should be able to give you a decent update on the proposed DT book format in the next week or so, as I will be heading down to London to meet with the publishers to finally nail this down. So it looks like the dog is safe and not heading for eBay. In the meantime, thanks for the messages of support! Just for interest, I've posted below the final list of the interviewees . . .

Current Band Members:

Mike Portnoy,
James LaBrie,
John Petrucci,
Jordan Rudess
John Myung

Former Band Members:

Charlie Dominici
Chris Collins,
Stephan Erickson (a.k.a Steve Stone)
John Arch
Derek Sherinian
Chris Cintron

Album Producers/ Engineers

David Prater
Kevin Shirley
Terry Date
Doug Oberkircher

Cover Artists:

Larry Freemantle
Amy Guip
Dung Hoang
Hugh Syme
Storm Thorgerson
Peter Curzon
Dave McKean

Band Managers/ Record Label Personnel

Derek Oliver
Dante Bonutto
Jim Pitulski
Derek Simon
Rob Shore
Rikk Feulner
Bill Barclay
Frank Soloman
Janna Glasser
David 5-1 Norman
Derek Shulman

Other related Bands etc:

Bruce Dickinson
Pete Trewavas (Marillion)
Ben Huggins (Galactic Cowboys)
Jamshied Sharifi (Conductor – Octavarium / Radio City)
Jens Johansson
Chris Jericho
Sebastian Bach
Erik Neldner
Eric Gandras (lead singer with JP/ KM in Centurion circa 1983)

Princess What?

Blimey, the postman has come up trumps today, with promo copies of the new Magnum and Saxon albums, plus a Helloween live album. Not a bad haul for one day compared to the usual dross that clutters up the letterbox. I've not had a chance to listen to it all, but the new Magnum album sounds superb. Quite heavy in parts but still having that pomp, fist-waving edge that makes them such a euphoric band to see live. But, what were they thinking with the album's title? Are you sitting down? Beer in hand ready to dull the pain? Well just don't spray the Stella over the keyboard OK?

The new album is called 'Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow'! Why not call it 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' or 'A Hobbit's Second Breakfast' and lose all credibility? But what the hell. It sounds great, so balls to the comedy title. Then again, there's a song called 'Dragons Are Real' which hints that Tony Clarkin has gone all Ronnie James Dio on us. But there's some great sleeve art - well, if you like that kind of thing- which if my addled brain is right was created by their old artist in crime, Rodney Matthews.

Burning My Soul

Yeah I know. So much for New Year's resolutions huh? God only knows where the last few weeks have disappeared to. Actually they have been pretty stressful on the book front, with me trying to suss out whether the original publishers were going to come through and finance the thing, or whether I was going to end up trying to locate a way of paying for it myself. Working out all the options, I had actually managed to pencil out a plan that meant I could indeed scrape together the cash to self-publish. Sure it would have meant borrowing against the house, begging and stealing, probably selling the wife and the dog on eBay, but I know the DT fans will come through right? And buy all 5000 copies from a potentially destitute author? I mean, where else are you going to get 600 pages of Dream Theater heaven, a wonderful cover designed by someone you will all have heard of, and a potential freeby of the silver disc variety? All to be confirmed of course, but I know you guys will buy it right? Even if it does cost a shedload to produce in it's luxury box set.

But then, just as I was about to book a meeting with the bank manager, we are back at square one - with the original publishing bods now back on the scene and seemingly keen. I'll know more in a few days but trust me, don't write a book. Don't even contemplate it. The stress will kill you.