Oh no! Has Orianthi gone crazy!

There are rumor's coming from the AC camp that Orianthi has indeed lost her mind! 


After dealing with some difficult decisions over the last few weeks, like which leggings to wear onstage and should she continue to get catering looking for small red apples EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

She is now convinced she is giving birth to a giant red apple, particularly after a random feathered plant suddenly started growing out of her head! She is praying every night that it's an apple tree!

Needless to say the band are being fully supportive in this matter and her mental health is of the highest priority. 

Rome and beyond

We have had pretty bad jet lag, you don't realize it at first then you start waking up in the middle of the night and feeling tired all the time. 
We got to Rome and had a day to rest before my parents arrived from Alicante where they now live.
I had not seen them for over two years, too darned long but at last we had been able to arrange a mutual stop over in Rome,where we had a couple of days off in a row.


I got a call from the front desk that they had arrived and I almost dive bombed the two sets of stairs to get downstairs to the lobby.
I hugged my mum so hard, it was two years worth of hug! We cried so much that when we stopped and looked at the receptionist she was sobbing right along with us.


You have to understand a little background about me and my mum. We spent seven years together on our own after she left my father, she was my whole family and we are extremely close despite the many miles of distance across the years as I traveled to work in Germany and Canada as well as all over the UK and now of course the USA.  She married my stepdad when I was ten who became our rock and I adore him. He and Steve are very similar, both having dry and wicked humor so it was wonderful to have them in the same room for a few days and a lot of laughter ensued.


We chose to make the Colosseum our main stop as far as sightseeing, it turned out to be about a four mile walk all told, quite enough for the four of us as we were all still tired from recent long flights and early starts. (plus the fact that none of us is in our prime!) 


The Colosseum was amazing! We had an official tour and I learned about what had really gone on there, it was mind boggling. There were lots of things that I was not aware of (I had probably not listened at school) but things like the fact that there was a canvas cover over the top! The Romans were so clever they had designed it so that it was all in small sections so they could open a few or all by a system of rope pulleys. 
The range of wild animals that were made to fight and die was enormous, from porcupines to elephants! It was sad to know that so many animals and people had died there for sport and indeed some animals were brought to the point of extinction.


My parents came to the Rome show with us, the band the boss and Sheryl made them feel really welcome. I am not sure who made who laugh more, the band or my mum. It was a perfect venue for their visit, there was a balcony with a row of comfy seats which was cut off to the public so they could watch the show from there without being surrounded by excited fans.
My mum LOVED the show, she was clapping and gasping at the bosses antics with Cold Ethyl, the monster and the guillotine, I am sure dad liked it too but he is far more reserved. 


I recon that the three shows in Italy have been amongst the best audiences so far, they knew the words to all the songs and had such fun which of course means the band has more fun.


Tommy has been sick with a cold, the bug has been passing around the band and you know who started it all off ...... no mention of a name but he is pretty nifty with drum sticks (: 


We are in Switzerland now, it is grey and foggy. Tonight is the Winterthur show so I will close out by saying that Rome was awesome all way around.

Ok, which way?

The streets of Rome:

Mum and dad holding hands:

The outside wall of the Colosseum:

The inside of the Colosseum, the wooden stage is no longer there so you can see the system of tunnels beneath where it had been.

Padova and Trezzo

Our bus driver, jolly Jonnie:

Tommy is all snotty:

Trezzo show

Istanbul airport lounge

After a one and half hour flight from Jakarta to Singapore then twelve hours to Istanbul, we are in an airport lounge waiting for the flight to Rome. I have slept for about eight hours but still in a 'happy pill' daze. The lounge is huge, there are mirrors all over the place, the walls and the ceiling.


In my search for the bathroom I walked around a corner and nearly bumping into someone I realized I was talking to a huge wall of mirror and had smiled and apologized to myself!


Now I am listening to Steve and Orianthi play a little short scale acoustic she bought. What a lovely way to relax in an airport. Steve just played 'Solsbury Hill' and then he showed Ori a tuning and some chord voicing's she had not known about, they are having fun playing and sharing music.


He told her he will send his bill later, ha ha!


These moments are precious.

Singapore and Jakarta

We left Perth on Singapore Airlines and it was awesome! 

The hostesses were gorgeous their beautiful Batik outfits and so very polite and sweet.

The hotel at the other end in Singapore was huge, it was a bit like staying in a mix of Disneyland and Butlins (the Brits will know this)!
There were children running about everywhere and a Universal Theme Park.
We were treated very well and even spent a couple of hours checking out the park as their guests. 


We started with the really terrifying stuff........ Shrek! Seriously, the only tricky bit really was the fact that it was all in the dark so poor Steve had to hold on tight to me and then couldn't see the screen with the 3D glasses. But he could hear and feel the effects, we even got sprayed each time someone sneezed on the screen.........They had over done that by the fourth time but it was funny.
The seats rocked about and jolted but on the whole it was a tad lame, ok if you were ten though. 


Chuck, Tommy and Glen went on a roller coaster before we happened upon another ride that looked interesting although there was not a big line which should have given us a clue..... It was called Treasure Hunt and you sat three in a ride which was a little old beaten up car like Indiana Jones might have owned.  
In we get and off we go, probably reaching a grand speed of 1 mile an hour we edged our way to the left then to the right, along a hillside for a few yards then down a small hillock. 
Chuck was in the front in the drivers position and the man and I were in the back. 


Suddenly we turned a corner and wham!!!! We were back at the start! That was IT! 
We laughed till we nearly cried, we were still waiting for it to start and it had ended! Ha ha, it was for 4 year olds!!!!  


The show went well and the band were great in Singapore but it was so hot and humid, I felt for them all  as they dripped their way to the end of the night.


Next stop was Jakarta and a day off before the show.
The ride to the hotel was exciting to say the least! We had a police escort of two bike riders flashing and weaving about in front of us as we left the airport and with three cars in our convoy I assume there were police at the back as well.
We hit the main road into Jakarta and I have never seen so much traffic chaos in my life, I thought San Paulo was bad! Four lanes of cars with no gaps to be seen and all moving so close somehow without touching each other.
Our police escorts decided to take the hard shoulder, moving stray cars out of the way as we went, I have no idea how we did not hit anybody, particularly the hundreds of scooter riders who seemed hell bent on risking life and limb.


Here is 19 seconds of vid I did on the ride into Jakarta

The hotel at the end of our crazy 45 minute journey from the airport was/is stunning, I took a couple of pics but they will not have done it justice. 
Today we start a 23 hour journey on three different flights to Rome.


See you in Italy folks.


Pics from Singapore day off and show day

At soundcheck

View from Singapore hotel window

Jakarta Hotel

For the chocoholics, a fountain of yummyness!

Newspaper gaff

This was a first!

Yesterday a major Perth newspaper published a review of the AC show before it had actually occurred!


Rumour has it that the reporter for said newspaper had some very interesting questions in an interview before writing his in depth review of a show he could not have seen unless he was a time traveller. 


Here is one:


"How long has Alice been playing guitar"?


Mmmmmmmm..... very interesting.

"Played to a packed Challenge Stadium last night"

Goodbye Melbourne hello Perth

The second night in Melbourne was better I felt, the crowd were even more enthusiastic and my man was really happy with what he played. His custom Gretsch is sounding amazing and he is now getting people commenting on it which pleases him greatly. It has a distinctive woody, vocal tone or in his words like a big black girl singing! Perfect!! Add this great tone to what his fingers do on the frets and you have the unique sound that can only be The Deacon.


We both have heavy colds, thank you to xxxx (no name mentioned here but you know who you are) We love you Glen! Ooops name slipped out (: 
I was worried about the flight to Perth but the Lemsip saved the day and all went smoothly, the last time I flew with a cold it was into Switzerland and I got a sinus and ear infection afterwards.


I cannot say that things were totally smooth once we got to the hotel in Perth, Ori got trapped in an elevator! She was in there for over an hour and a bunch of us waited outside the jammed doors trying to make a bad situation bearable by chatting and keeping up her spirits as best as we could. She kept really calm and sat down. 
All ended when the hotel finally got the engineer there, an upgrade quite rightly followed.


The new W2MN album is getting great reviews, some people don't get it but of course that is to be expected. The vocal effect on 'I Am Made Of You' seems to be dividing people, the purists think it's over the top or uneccessary but I personally think it fits the track perfectly.


Steve's solo on that song is getting some well deserved attention and for those reviewers who don't seem to have read the credits, Steve played on every basic track apart from 'Last Man On Earth''.


He did solo's on:

'I Am Made Of You' 
'The Congregation'
'I'll Bite Your Face Off' 
'Something To Remember Me By' 
'When Hell Comes Home' 
'What Baby Wants' and a large portion of the 'Underture'.

My only other comment on this subject is that I think the song 'When Hell Comes Home' is simply genious! Well done to Michael Bruce, Alice Cooper and Bob Ezrin.

Below is a pic of catering for the band and crew in Melbourne, it does vary from venue to venue and country to country but on the whole it's extremely yummy, as was this!

Steve and Tommy waiting for the screen to drop at the start of the 2nd Melbourne show

Steve and Ori, Melbourne   

Hello Perth