http:///ericmartin//ericmartin/tourdates.cfm?event...

Hey everyone,
I'm writing you from a bullet train between Nagoya and Osaka Japan. I've been here for about 3 weeks now. I was here in early February with my Mr. Big brothers promoting our tour starting this June. I went home for 8 days, picked up my wife and kids and came back to Japan to begin promoting my latest solo album, Mr. Vocalist #2. I'm exhausted but lucky to call this work.

Since I've been here, I've done a million interviews, TV shows, radio spots, photo shoots, rehearsals and shows! I had a CD release/DVD filming show on 3/4 and it was fantastic. The band here in Japan was spot on. They are all Sony's top session players and played on both of my latest releases. I had a very special guest star, Ayaka Lida, sing "I believe" with me. She is a very young, talented, famous J-Pop singer in Japan and since she covered "To be with you" I thought I would cover her song "I believe!" We did a duet of the song and the crowd was very surprised. She's so full of soul and I can't wait to sing with her again. It was great to see my sons raising the roof in the balcony; well one of them (Dylan), Jake fell asleep after the first song. What am I a lullaby singer now?! After the show, Sony exec's came backstage to raise a toast to my album entering the charts at #1, just above U2 and Coldplay. I looked like a deer in the headlights I was so shocked. I knew it was a good record but thought people would have to hear it before deciding that. Never in my life did I expect it to debut at #1. Thank you Japan! I hope you all enjoy this album as much as I did making it.

So I'm here for another few days, home long enough to make "Dad's night" at my kids school and then off to LA to do some Mr. Big business. On that note, the hype here is amazing. Fans, press, etc can't wait for this tour (either can I). I love making records, promoting them, etc. but there's nothing like sharing the stage with talent like Pat, Billy and Paul and making live music. Our tour is selling out fast. Budokan sold out in minutes and another show was added the next day at the Yokohama Arena. If you plan on going, I believe this is one of the only shows with tickets left..

Several fans have asked me about Mr. Big coming to their city. Yes we are trying to visit as many cities as we can. There are several offers on the table and at this point it's just a matter of scheduling since we all have solo projects we've been working hard on and we do not want to just drop them. It's important for us to maintain a bit of both. Please keep checking my "tour dates" section to see what's been added. I'll try to keep everyone in the loop as well.

For now, here are my tour dates. I'm doing some solo shows in the US and the Japan dates are all with Mr. Big. Check out the Muir Beach BBQ on 5/24. This is the event that I do every year with my best friends and songwriting partner, Andre Pessis. We raise money for the Muir Beach Fire Department. It's a fun gig of our favorite covers. My wife Denise is going to play drums with us this year so that will add to the good times. Mark Holley and I will join forces to do the Marinwood Music in the Park on 7/24 and back to Philly for the always fun Township Park event. Hope to see you at one of these shows.


May 24
Muir Beach BBQ Muir Beach, California

Jun 5
Zepp Sapporo Sapporo

Jun 7
Zepp Sendai Sendai

Jun 9
Kouseinenkin Hall Ishikawa North Sendai

Jun 10
Zepp Nagoya Nagoya

Jun 12
Zepp Hukuoka Hukuoka

Jun 15
Grand Cube Osaka Osaka

Jun 17
Hiroshima ALSOK Hall Hiroshima

Jun 18
Osaka Kouseinenkin Hall Osaka

Jun 20
Budokan- SOLD OUT Tokyo

Jun 21
Yokohama Arena Yokohama

Jul 24
Marinwood in the park music series San Rafael, California

Aug 2
Township Park King of Prussia

~E~

Hey everyone,
Sorry I have not confirmed all of your "rumor" questions but we were asked to keep this under the radar until now.  I can't wait to get on stage with Mr. Big again!
Eric

Original Mr. Big Reunites For Japanese Tour



Finally confirming the rumors that have been circulating the internet for weeks, all four original members of the popular 90's rock supergroup, Mr. Big, are taking to the stage together for the first time in 13 years for a reunion tour of Japan.

The Japanese run will bring back the magic of the original chart-busting foursome: vocalist / frontman Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert, guitar, Billy Sheehan, bass, and Pat Torpey, drums. The tour takes off in Sapporo on June 5 and culminates June 20 in Tokyo with a feature concert at Budokan—the famous Japanese venue known for its rich history of legendary performances by rock's elite. The band will record a live CD / DVD during the Budokan show that will also mark the band's 20 year anniversary!

Formed in 1988, Mr. Big forged its place in hard rock history combining trademark "shredding" mucicianship with awesome vocal harmonies and signed a record deal in 1989 with Atlantic Records. The self-titled album. Mr. Big, received critical and commercial success in the US and Japan but it was the band's second album, Lean Into It, that provided the major breakthrough. Lean Into It, featured two ballads that established the band as a commercial success, "To Be With You and "Just Take My Heart", propelling the band the band to huge international success and record sales in the multi-millions.

Gilbert left the band in 1996 to pursue a solo career and the original members had not shared a stage together until late 2008 at Gilbert solo show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Paul was joined onstage by Sheehan and Torpey to perform a couple of covers songs and the three had such a good time together, they contacted Martin a few days later and the reunion was put into montion.

While no concert dates beyond Japan have been announced as yet, the band is looking at possible dates in Southeast Asia and America later in the year

Mr. Big Japanese tour dates for June 2009:
6 / 5 Zepp Sapporo
6 / 7 Zepp Sendai
6 / 9 Kouseinenkin Hall Ishikawa
6 / 10 Zepp Nagoya
6 / 12 Zepp Hukuoka
6 / 15 Grand Cube Osaka
6 / 17 Hiroshima ALSOK Hall
6 / 18 Osaka Kouseinenkin Hall
6 / 20 Budokan

Hey gang,
Allen Shellenberger, who happens to be the drummer of one of my favorite bands, Lit was diagnosed with a grade 4 malignant brain tumor. The medical bills can be costly so the Make A Noise Foundation has set up an ebay auction to try and help raise some money for him. Please check it out and bid on something that could really help him out.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/make-a-noise

~E~

Holy Mothers of invention… what a long ass flight. Man it was Oakland to LA. With a 3-hour layover then 10 hours to Lima Peru and 5 to Buenos Aires. I was spent when Martin & Charlie picked me up from the airport. Hell I have done these long flights before but I think my backside is still sore from Europe (Yeah so is my pride but that's another long story). Anyway the cool thing (literally) was the weather, it was ice cold. I love it; it's better than the heat baby. Trust me it can get hot as a pistol down here in the summer. Oh yeah by the way, it's winter here.

So I get to the beautiful hotel in downtown Buenos Aires at around 9 in the morning. I'm right smack dab in the middle of everything from the Casa Rosada (you know what I'm talking about? Yeah that balcony…."Don't Cry for me Argentina" …Now do you get it?), the European influenced buildings on Diagonal Norte Street, The Cabildo (the Government house used in colonial times), The Obelisk (the main icon of the Capitol city, it's looks like the Washington monument back in the USA) and tons of other great architecture. Well I crash out at about 11:00 am and wake up the next day at the same exact time…spooky huh? So here I am with 6 hours to kill before heading off to practice with my old amigos "The Road Vultures.

So I press…yeah you heard me…lol. I start pressing those wrinkled ass black shirts of mine that have been bouncing around my suitcase for a few days. I watch a movie (the classic shoot 'em up love story "True Romance"…. Whew, Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette have got some pretty hot chemistry daddy-O ). Hours go by fast and the next thing I know I'm rockin' out with the boys in the band. They sound amazing. They have got ten times better and I liked the way they sounded before but it means a lot to me that they stepped up and raised the bar in their own musicianship. They must have taken voice lessons because they've got those humble pie harmonies down now. To make the night even better Adrian Barilari the great Argentinean rock vocalist from the Heavy Metal band Rata Blanca stopped by to sing a few songs with me.
That man has got a lot of soulful singing power. I love his attitude as well, a totally laid back and confident guy. I'm sorry for running those songs over and over again Adrian! But man we sing great together.

Back at the hotel now, I can't sleep. I guess I had too much sleep from when I got here. Oh well I talked to Denise and the boys on the web cam. They look and sound great. Dylan is getting ready for the Marinwood park gig on June 27th. Yeah he's practicing on his ukulele (he thinks it's a guitar custom built for him). He runs upstairs and get's it every time I pick up my guitar to write something or strum out an idea. He always wants to jam, oh man I have created a rock star. Now Jacob… he's turned into a stop and smell the roses type of character. He's a total independent. He's slightly passive and shy but then out of nowhere he's got this comedic side that will have you belly laughing. The kid has definitely got some talent. Did I mention that they are only three and a half years old? They pick things up from what we say and use our words against us all the time. Like the other day I put Dylan on a time out for pushing his brother and he said to me "let's not get a head of ourselves Ok Daddy?", after I said what the…. He says "Daddy are we going to have a problem here." 3 frickin' years old can you believe that???? Who's running this asylum anyway?

Well I'm starting to fade kids. I had better get some rest for another day of rehearsal. Friday is the first gig and I'm looking forward to it in a big way. It's wonderful to be back here in Argentina.


~E~
Ps. I'll write soon

Easter Sunday, March 23rd - VH1 airs "Aftermath"" The Station Fire Five Years Later. 

9pm Central time

8pm Mountain time

What's up gang,

So I finished the Australian tour on a screaming high note;  A hot & sweaty, "Alive and Kickin" show in Sydney. Thanks to my new best friends all over OZ; you boys and girls know how to show this Californian a good time. So after that wild adventure and another 19 hour airplane flight, I went home to the Bay Area for 3 days to kiss the wife and kids.  Now I'm in Argentina opening for my old compadre, Richie Kotzen.  I just finished my set, I thought the boys (The Road Vultures; Christian, Charlie and Pablo) and I did a damn good job tonight…(hell the audience in Mar del Plata loved it so we must have rocked da house)!

RK and his band (Johnny Griparic (Bass) and Dan Potruch (Drums)) killed tonight.  Man I forgot how great that kid is! This tour is going to be cool.

All right Gang it took about 5 hours to drive here on a tour bus (that were sharing with 15 other people…the opening act "Madison" , a couple crew dudes, promoters and what looks like a booster club..Lol)  and we've got a 5 hour trek back to Buenos Aires.  It's about 2:30 in the morning and I figure we get back at….shit I don't want to think about it. 

(Meanwhile 6 F-ing hours later)

Ugh…..what a trip. That was a bus ride from hell….more like the Antarctica. That broke down, stripped gear smelling, Ice box of a bus barely made it back to the hotel.  In a few hours RK and I have an in-store to attend and than it's off to the next show. We are filming live tonight for a DVD so you kids better be on your best behavior…or not.

E

PS. I'll get back to everyone soon.

G' day gang,

I'm here in the land down under having a wonderful time rocking out for the great Aussie fans. I have had a few mishaps along the way (you know me boys and girls?  I'm cursed). The airline lost my luggage (I eventually got it back), my in-ear monitors blew up before the show due to the Australian high voltage power (I've been pretty scratchy for a day or two), custom agent harassed me (they had me sing "To be with you" and we were all as one after that)  and a dingo ate me baby….no….just kidding.  After my first show in Adelaide, which was a hell of a lot of fun…(thanks to the fans for a goodtime), I stayed at the home of my promoter, John McNamara. I'm here to tell you it was unreal.  John and his beautiful wife Sheila live way out in the country, about 3 hours from Melbourne, in a town called Clunes. It's a ranch style house in the big sky country baby!  You've got your sheep, hawks, kangaroos, koalas and no human around for miles.  His Mum and Dad live about 10 or 15 minutes away on a bigger sky country ranch; an easy 15 acres that's for sure.  When you pull up to the gates and down this long driveway you see Kevin and Bonnie McNamara's Dynasty/ Dallas looking mansion. They both train greyhound dogs for racing. They have this full size race track on the grounds it's truly an awesome sight to see. This lovely hard working man has been doing this gig for 35 years and treats all the dogs like if they were his own. Their fed better than me at home….lol. Well after a few days of interviews, radio performances and kicking back in the country my new mates and I are off to Melbourne for another new adventure.  I'm going to stop now because I'm typing in the car.  I'll write more later.

~E~