Stinging in the New Year

Anyone really surprised the Police are reuniting? Anyone? No? Of course not. There's so much money to be made, and for those amazed at how well the older 'n' wiser model sounds, what were you expecting? These guys are total pros, and Sting would never waste time on anything less than slick and perfectionist, or at least as perfectionist as the Police ever were or will ever be. It's nice to learn the band's world tour this summer will be just the three of them (that's fewer ways to split the cash), but the preview performances, from the Grammys to today's live webcast, have been proficient but not passionate.

Two neat asides. One, guitarist Andy Summers is almost a full year older than Keith Richards! The other is this most likely apocryphal Sting anecdote that's funny all the same (via a friend):

"My friend XX knows a guy who played Trombone on tour w/ Sting in the '90s..... apparently, Sting got FURIOUS that this dude's trombone playing was upstaging him and started subtly fucking him over -- "forgetting" to book his hotel rooms, stuff like that. After one show, Madonna started talking to Sting about how amazing the trombone player was, and apparently Sting threw a total hissyfit about it.

..... So in the wake of this, trombone player gets a call in his hotel room, and it's from Sting's wife. "Sting would like to see you... can you come up to his room?" Trombone player is confused, but obliges. Sting's wife opens the door and says, "oh, he's in the bath right now."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll come back later."

"No, please, go ahead in."

So trombone player goes into the hotel bathroom to find Sting luxuriating in the bath tub. "Oh, hello," says Sting. "I was just wondering if you would mind washing my back."

At that point, the trombone player walked off the tour, leaving Sting trombone-less.

I really hope this is a true story."