Advice for the young(er) musician. 
I m often asked that question and give a reply I heard years ago from my friend Robert Fripp. . ‘Never fly Air Iberia’. After a short chuckle the interviewer repeats the question and I give the same reply with a somewhat more serious look, just as Robert did the first time I heard him use the reply. Sometimes we have to repeat it a few more times until the journalist realizes it is in fact a serious answer. 
I was reminded of this yesterday when we flew Air Iberia, from Madrid to Budapest. After an extremely long day driving from Portugal to Madrid and a very late sound check (due to local promoters pickup van getting in accident and then arriving at the venue to find they didn’t have proper 110 power specified on our rider) we played to an extremely nice Spanish crowd that seemed to all be chain smoking, cough cough, we left the club about 2am . Well we tried to leave. . – The cab that had Tony and I and our bags in had parked half on the curb as they often do on smaller euro streets and when he started to leave we heard the vicious sounds of him bottoming out and getting stuck with wheel(s) off the ground. . Tony and I get out to save weight and help lift the car and eventually get back to hotel for a few hrs sleep before out 6am wake up to get to Madrid airport. We are arriving early because we expect some delays with our overweight baggage, but today is going to be special . . .It starts as we offer the check in lady our Frequent Flyer cards, since our moocho mileage gold and silver elite status with most of the airlines often gets us a little extra baggage allowance.. . . However she replied, in a somewhat Soviet way, “these are meaningless”,. . mmmm. . .next as she tells us our overweight will be several hundred euros and is unwilling to negotiate at all , we try to repack and get more into our small carry on, in fact we didn’t even all have carry ons !. . But she doesn’t like that. . So next she sends us to another location to put every bag across scales. . At this point Tony suggested since there is not a stipulated amount of weight for our ‘person’ we could start stuffing our pockets with fuzz tones and compressors and draping our selves with cables ( . . cables really add up and can be extremely heavy so on most euro trips I ‘rent’ cables at each show. . but since this is 26 shows we have been taking some smaller items like cables). Next we return, but to the end of the line. . And accept our 10-euro per kilo overweight fee – ouch- - I understand the airlines are in trouble and need to raise prices but this does seem like gouging to me ( am I nuts?). 
After clearing security and getting to our gate (its getting close to boarding time) we realize, despite our confirmed seat request, she has put us in middle seats. . I also notice she never even bothered to enter ANY of the FF information. . So I approach the gate desk to inquire, but the employee refuses to look up or acknowledge me (or any one else in the line forming behind me)- - as I stand and holding my information so he could see in a quick glance I eventually interrupt him (he doesn’t seem to be ‘doing anything’ just looking down refusing to make any eye contact and acting like he cant hear. but when he does respond he says ‘no , your to late!’, he doesn’t care as I explain I was here almost two hrs ago, . . .same story with the seats, despite the flight not even being full we cannot have a change of seating assignments. OK. We board and after a few minutes Michael, who’s Birthday is today on this very flight, is one of the last to board explaining how that same lady appeared at the final check in and need a receipt from him. . What? He has no idea. . In fact neither do anyone of us or I recall being asked for the original credit card reciepts. . Especially in these days of Etickets. . As I adjust my seatbelt I open the in-flight airline magazine and first page I turn to has a full page photo of us Stickmen! In our Charlie’s Angles pose (or what I just call the ‘smell the pit’ pic) with a story of our gig promoting our talents that they seem to be very proud of . . .WTF? Why didn’t we have this mag a few hrs ago! I even wonder who the hell gave them permission to even use my photo?? As I look up I see our check in girl has boarded the plane and is walking directly to us, with a small smirk saying something like ‘so do you musicians have your receipts ? Luckily our road manager Frazza does and begins digging them out, while I hold up the magazine. She recognizes we are the same three dudes in their mag! She beams a smile and asks me to pass it to have a closer look, then while rummaging in her pocket for a pen to have us autograph ( I assume), I ask for it back. . She looks surprised as I say ‘I’d like to take that home to my mother’ . . . as she leaves as the 6 VERY loud men behind us are singing and shouting in drunk foreign voices while I keep thinking there might be an adjustment or change in seat assignments s coming our way. . .but no. . This is Air Iberia. 
 Ok enough of my venting- - In case you crave more ‘musical’ suggestions on advice to the young(er) musicians --- I’ll add a few less sarcastic things. 

1) Learn languages. . Its a huge asset . . .Tony Levin's Italian, Trey Gunn's Spanish, Paul Gilbert's Japanese, Bill Buford’s French have all gotten us out of various jams. You will be the hero of a tour when you can read the menue, find the venue, toilet, etc 
1B) learn to make good coffee. . .your buddies will appreciate this too.

2)- practice and play often, and whenever possible find musicians better than your self to play with. take every audition and don't worry about the money, just play! 
2B) Take every gig , even the crap ones. . Its remarkable the way musicians move up and down the food chain and in my experience work has always come from word of mouth . 

3)- get a metronome, and use it, -- and then don’t use it! Really. Try programming a few bars (loops or click or whatever) and then leave a few bars of silence and see if you can keep time without the metronome being your crutch. 
3B)- anything you think you can play easily try to slow down or speed up, or play at half or double the volume . . . that comfortable easy shit suddenly becomes VERY hard.

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