NOISE

Your G3 tourmates—Dream Theater's John Petrucci and ex-Mr. Big guitarist Paul Gilbert—don't have the name recognition of past participants like Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen. What attracted you to them?

Each time that we do a G3 we try to come up with a combination of people with some differences we hope will create some interesting creative tension. And in this case we have guys that have occupied a lot of super, heavy-metal shredding progressive music. Not blues players, not avant-garde players, not straight-ahead rock players, but guys that can really play a lot of different stuff. Jamming with them is like taking a wild roller-coaster ride—you have just a slight amount of apprehension mixed in because these guys are very unpredictable.

You're celebrating the 20th anniversary of your breakout album, Surfing With the Alien, which features Silver Surfer cover art, just as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is about to be released in theaters. Kismet, or is there some strange super power at work here?

[Laughs.] Well, back in 1987, the comic world was pretty much dead in the water, so we were able to license the artwork from Marvel, and the two become synonymous for years and years. But it's been rough going since ... The record sold several million copies around the world, and they suddenly got very protective about their Silver Surfer image, so it's cost us dearly to be able to keep the artwork for the album. They won't let us use it for T-shirts anymore. And I'm not involved in the movie at all, which makes me pretty sad.

In 2003, Rolling Stone put together a list of the "100 greatest guitarists" of all time, and you were a glaring omission. Were you bothered much by that, or by the fact that while you were left out, one of your students—Metallica's Kirk Hammett—checked in way up at No. 12?

Well, it's great when I see my students on there. But I remember back in '88 when I got my gig working for [Mick] Jagger, I wound up with my own page in Rolling Stone. So once in my past, the magazine acknowledged that I existed. What's exciting is that they put guitar players back on the cover again—Derek Trucks and John Mayer. That in itself is so fantastic, because guitar players for the last 10 or 15 years haven't gotten a lot of press. So to see that was pretty amazing, not a rapper or a girl with hardly any clothes on, but actual guitar players.

We're glad to see Derek and the Dominos warhorses "Got to Get Better in a Little While" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?" in Eric Clapton's recent setlists, but we can't help wishing he'd dig even deeper into his bulging back catalog for some of these:

1 "Here 'Tis" (The Yardbirds, Five Live Yardbirds, 1964) Can't you just picture the Grand Garden turning into a full-on rave-up? Okay, neither can we, but it's fun to dream.

2 "All Your Love" (Bluesbreakers, Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton, 1966) Any volunteers to spray paint "Clapton is God" on the concourse wall if he plays it?

3 "Politician" (Cream, Wheels of Fire, 1968) Sure, it's a Jack Bruce tune, but since the Cream reunion never made its way to Vegas, maybe Jack and Ginger Baker would be kind enough to drop by.

4 "Presence of the Lord" (Blind Faith, Blind Faith, 1969) Provided he rocks it out like the version on Crossroads 2 (Live in the Seventies).

5 "Hello Old Friend" (solo, No Reason to Cry, 1976) Tailor-made to open every single Clapton show ever.

6 "I've Got a Rock and Roll Heart" (solo, Money and Cigarettes, 1983) "I get off on '57 Chevys/I get off on screaming guitars"—way to know your audience, Slowhand.

7 "Forever Man" (solo, Behind the Sun, 1985) Even fully cheesed out during the '80s, the man recorded some killer tunes.

8 "Old Love" (solo, Journeyman, 1989) The gorgeous cut that jump-started Clapton's blues resurgence.

With Robert Cray. March 10, 8 p.m., $47.25-$157.50. MGM Grand Garden Arena, 891-7777.

1. "I'm drowning in the __________ River/Bathing my mem'ried mind in the wetness of its soul/Feeling the amber current flowin' from my mind/And warm an empty heart you left so cold."

A. Mississippi

B. Moon

C. Willy Wonka's Chocolate

D. Whiskey

2. "A hostess takes our order/Coffee or tea or something stronger to start off the day/Well, it's a __________ morning/'Cause I'm leavin' baby somewhere in LA."

A. Tequila Sunrise

B. Irish Coffee

C. Bloody Mary

D. Virgin Mimosa

3. "Well I gotta get __________ /And I sure do dread it."

A. Laid

B. Drunk

C. A haircut

D. A tax audit

Answers: 1: D; 2: C; 3: B.

Anberlin


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