Heading out to the UK for a string of festivals! Enjoy the tunes.

THE PARKLIFE WEEKENDER - Saturday June 9, 2012 :: INFO
Manchester, England

ROCKNESS - Sunday June 10, 2012 :: INFO
Loch Ness, Scotland

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert

Bernard Edwards, my long time partner, peeked out from behind the curtain at the sellout crowd in Tokyo's Budokan. "Look at that," he said to me right before we took the stage. "We did it. They didn't come to see us, they came to hear our music." That would be my last concert with him. After that show he went back to his hotel room and died on the sofa. His words were prophetically correct. We had done what we'd set out to do.

Our dream was never to become stars, our dream was to have our music heard. That's every composer's dream. Anywhere I go on this planet, I can anonymously sit and watch the world listen to my music. And if I'm on stage and I say, "One, Two, Awww," the audience instinctively responds "Freak Out!" They don't know me, but They Know The Song.

The composition "We Are Family" that we wrote for the group Sister Sledge, has been a part of every U.S. president's campaign and victory parties since the 80's. President Nelson Mandela knows The Song and last night I watched Britain's Royal family bop their heads to it. That in and of itself would be cool, but what's really cool is you can tell They Know The Song.

After my late exercise workout I had a quick business meeting

Yesterday, I worked through the night and I didn't do my exercise until later in the day. This gave me the rare opportunity to interact with my neighbors. Not just the humans - the animals too. I love all living things and we share this earth together. Since being attacked by cancer I have a different perspective on the Cycle of Life and death.

Without going through a bunch of high-school science chatter about the earth's microscopic changes from natural abundance and what "we" used to call atomic weight now called relative atomic mass - the earth is referred to as a closed ecosystem because basically things don't naturally escape nor enter it. In the most general terms, "What happens on earth stays on earth." Our planet nourishes the organisms that occupy it.

Here's my camera capturing a little of the The Cycle of Life Around Me.

My first meal after cancer surgery - I had a great fear of the unknown and started the blog a few days later

I originally started this blog because of fear of the unknown. During the course of writing over 480 blogs I've heard more stories about death and disease than I could've imagined. Most come to me personally and they've inspired me to live life to the fullest.

Two days ago, I went to my primary care doctor and all my blood-tests results came back perfect. I asked, "Is there anything I can do to improve?" - I was told, "No, the numbers are as good as they can possibly be." However, that's exactly what I was told nineteen months ago, a few days before another doctor informed me that a very aggressive cancer had attacked me. But now I only worry about cancer every ninety-days - when I get checked to see if cancer has re-invaded my body.

My new focus is on improving and sustaining my quality of life for as long as possible. I feel great but I can be in better shape - so today I started a longer exercise routine. This new routine eats up much more time and I may not be able to get a new blog out every morning at 4:50 AM.

If you don't see the blog post change at 4:50 AM don't be alarmed - I'm okay, I'm just working out! The blog will change at a later time. Please check throughout the day. I've been putting this exercise routine off for a long time but I know it's something I need to do. Something I've got to Try Before I Die.

Some of the most beautiful people, both inside and out - Just think, in Curacao this lovely girl is a stage hand - Ouch!

A couple of weeks ago we were in Curacao, and the shows and the crowd were so amazing we didn't want it to end. They have some of the most beautiful people there, on both the inside and out.

While we were playing "Le Freak" I saw this amazing crowd that had gathered and were having a synchronized dance party in the middle of about thirty-thousand people. I was so impressed I had to have security get them and bring them up on stage for the finale - "Good Times."

In the end, there were so many people partying with us they almost Made The Stage Collapse.

CHIC is not a cover band. I played on the original versions of every song we play in our set

CHIC is not a cover band. If you look at the original album credits of every song that I play in our set, you'll see that somebody from the CHIC Organization is playing on every song. The reason I use my band to record - or I join the band that I'm producing - is that it creates an atmosphere of camaraderie on the production. We feel like we're all in it together.

I've surrounded myself with great musicians my whole life and I love to feature them. Check out my drummer Ralph Rolle performing David Bowie's smash single "Let's Dance." On the original album mostly every instrumentalist in CHIC Is On The Record.

Meeting uber-producer / composer Giorgio Moroder at the IMS was exciting for me

I've spent the last week in Ibiza at the International Music Summit - and it was one of the most exciting weeks of my life. The IMS is a conference centered around dance music professionals. From the moment I composed my first dance record, my life has been on a wonderfully positive artistic arc. That doesn't mean it's been an easy journey - in fact I've experienced numerous tragedies, but that's just life and no life is a straight line to happiness.

The role music plays in my life is particularly rewarding. I never look at anything as just another job. On any given day a recording session can turn out like Adam Lambert's "Shady." It's a song that's on his new album Trespassing, that debuted at #1 on the Billboard Chart. Even a music conference like the IMS can potentially be Life Changing Too!

When I got home last night, the first tweet I read was about the following article from the Guardian Newspaper. I found it very interesting. People who've not read my memoir Le Freak, wouldn't know the story of how playing a festival, with the aid of a Heineken beer in a styrofoam cup, brought me out of my shell.

This is the first time I've ever put a reprint in my blog, but this year we're playing more festivals than we have since 'Nard and I started the CHIC Organization. I LOVE PLAYING FESTIVALS!

Q&A: Nile Rodgers of CHIC
The disco legend on his hippy childhood, CHIC's first festival and vibing with Johnny Marr in Manchester

Louis Pattison
The Guardian, Friday 25 May 2012

What are you planning for this summer's Chic shows?

We've changed our set a bit. We added a medley of Duran Duran's Wild Boys and INXS's Original Sin, both of which I produced back in the 80s.

So it's going to be a hit-packed set?

Always has been! By our second round of touring in 1979, we'd had five top 10 singles, plus the Sister Sledge stuff. We do some fun jazzy stuff, but it's hard to fit in because after all the stuff we love playing and the stuff people love hearing, we're 80 minutes deep.

Can you recall Chic's first festival? It must have been different to the New York nightclubs you were used to.

I remember it well. It was only our second show. The first Chic show was at a club called Casanova in Atlantic City, and the very next show was at Oakland Stadium, in front of 70,000 people. I had stage fright. That was the first time I ever drank a beer before a show.

Did it work out?

It was fantastic. I went on to drink quite a few beers!

So you enjoy festivals?

What we love is the interactivity. There is nothing like playing to a massive crowd when everyone is vibing on the same wavelength. I think Americans have lost the festival mentality a bit. As soon as a performer is over, or even before, we'll be running off to beat the traffic. Outside America, people still want to picnic, hang around outdoors. And that's me. I grew up a hippy. I lived outdoors. I was homeless for a while. I've always loved being with crowds, vibing.

Last year, you played Manchester's Warehouse Project...

Man, that was amazing. Magical. People were crowdsurfing, which we don't normally see at Chic shows. I couldn't believe how many hot girls there were in Manchester. We did a couple of songs we thought would be semi-obscure, because the venue had this dark, underground vibe. So we played a song called Soup for One, and the audience were all singing it back. Incredible! Then Johnny Marr came out to play with us on Le Freak, and it brought the house down. You know he named his son after me? Nile Marr, he's also a guitarist. He told me that right before we went on stage, and I was on the floor.

Are there any UK festivals you're particularly looking forward to?

One that sticks out is Rock Ness. Loch Ness is a wonderfully fabled story here in America.

And you're returning to Manchester for The Parklife Weekender – any chance you might play with Johnny?

I would love that. Matter of fact, I spoke to Johnny the other day, because I want one of his guitars. Maybe he can bring it down to Parklife to jam with us. You know what? I'm going to give him a ring as soon as I've finished with you.

Chic play Lovebox, Rock Ness, Vintage Festival, The Parklife Weekender, Camp Bestival and The Magic Loungeabout

Read the original article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/26/nile-rodgers-chic-festivals-guide-2012?INTCMP=SRCH

I'm heading home today after a week in Ibiza. More about this trip on tomorrow's blog, but in the meantime I would like to congratulate Adam Lambert on his first number one Billboard Album Chart entry.

I played on "Shady" and we had a lot of fun doing it. Below I'm posting videos from our session together.

Wishing you many more to come... Congrats Adam Lambert!

The good vibes in Ibiza are amazing

The good vibes in Ibiza are amazing. I'm feeling so good it should be illegal - and I didn't do any drugs - although I did just watch Pulp Fiction. The film's opening sequence features "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang and I couldn't get it out of my head. The telephone rang and it was Robert "Kool" Bell calling me. We had a bad connection and I couldn't understand what he was saying but I'm sure he'll call back.

Needless to say, whatever I did throughout a full day of interviews I had Kool & the Gang songs going through my head. The journalist were all asking me about my work - and though I talked about whatever songs they'd mention, in the back of my mind a "Kool" song was pumping. "Jungle Boogie," "Hollywood Swinging," "Celebrate," "Who's Gonna Take the Weight," "Get Down on It," "Ooh La, La, La (Let's Go Dancin')" "Funky Stuff," "Open Sesame," "Ladies' Night," and "Spirit of the Boogie." As I write this I'm singing, "Feel the Spirit, of the Boogie Band, It's the Baddest Little Boogie in the Land."