Part of the conversation from EC's "pad paws claws" visit with Letterman dl: are you getting to travel all over the world? ec: yeah,but you know,I brought back songs with me from all over the world.Some of these songs from the new album Spike were written in exotic locations and some were recorded in some fairly exotic locations... dl: for example? ec: well,I wrote one song,"God's comic" in Greenland... dl: what is Greenland like?Who goes there? You were there working? ec: no,I wasn't up there working.They haven't quite yet got any venues up there,but we're working on that.we were there for a holiday,ya know,to see the big blue icebergs. dl: is it physically beautiful? ec: beautiful.physically beautiful.it doesn't have many people in it and that's a big advantage and strange thoughts come to mind.I wrote a song about...you know how when you were a child you were told that santa claus lived at the north pole? well,when you get up there it does put you in the mind that maybe God lives up at the north pole and he's hiding from us all.I wrote a song about a comedian going up to heaven,dragging himself to heaven...a bit like this beautiful studio here. dl: oh yes,this _is_ heaven ec: ...and he encounters the God that you find up in the north pole.there he is,he's lying on a big blue waterbed filled with tropical fish.He's got one of those video screen tv's,you know those five screen tv's like in "91/2 weeks"? In fact,he's watching "91/2 weeks" on one of them. dl: this is God now? ec: this is God now.he likes to take in everything.he's got a colorized version of "it's a wonderful life" on another screen. dl: he prefers the colorized version? ec: he prefers the colorized one by far. he's got a new movie they're making now,I believe.it's "the donald trump story",starring dennis hopper as donald trump. dl: that's interesting casting... ec: ..and he's got CNN on and the usual stuff. And NBC of course. and he's reading jackie collins' "rock star" with one eye and danielle steele's "star" with the other,and with his third eye he's reading "less than zero" by bret easton ellis. and he's listening to andrew lloyd webber,because you know God can always get tickets to "cats". and he loves andrew lloyd webber because he's so like paccini. and he says," I don't know. this is all you've managed to acheive in all this time? maybe I should have given the world to the monkeys. you know,davey and mickey and peter and Michael would have done a better job." then he gets out his guitar and plays "the last train to clarksville" dl: all of this came to you in Greenland? ec: all of this in Greenland. after the break,he talks about the tour with the 13 1/2 deadly sins. If anyone's interested,i could post this at a future date. he ends with: dl: elvis,do you ever think you're spending too much time alone? ec: too much time watching television,i think. Continuing after the break with EC and Dave; DL:(shows spike album cover) Is there anything we need to know about the cover of the new album?It appears to be you in clown makeup,what is that mounted on a .....? EC:It's a picture of show business.You know,they go out and get an elephant gun and go out and shoot the new artist and then mount him and put him on the boardroom wall.It's plain to see,isn't it? DL: Now this year when you start the tour for this album...is it beginning soon? Are you in the middle of it now? EC: I'm doing a little "secret" tour,it's like a solo trip.But rather than turning it into,like,a church affair with me sitting there with an acoustic guitar uh...I did a tour where I did a spinning songbook,like a gameshow wheel,and I've adapted the idea for the solo performance. DL: Now people would come up and spin the wheel and wherever it landed,you would play that song? EC:Yes. (Audience laughs) This is true! Whadda ya mean? DL: Now did you give away furniture or recliners? EC: No.You could go in a go-go cage and go-go dance or you could take a seat at the societal lounge,which is not unlike this beautiful desk here. On this coming tour,I've got a 6 foot satin heart like a big valentine card which is mounted on springs so it undulates seductively when you touch it.Instead of song titles,we're gonna have the 13 1/2 deadly sins.The original 7 deadly sins and then 6 1/2 new ones that we're dreaming up.We want to encourage people in the audience to...now in Los Angelas,we can't keep people off the stage and on the East coast people are kind of more reserved...so originally I wanted to release a pack of wild dogs from the back of the theatre to sort of chase them up to the stage,but you have health regulations and it's a problem from state to state,so it's come down to ushers with wolf suits bringing them up. DL: That's a nice touch... EC:We get them up on stage and we have a big turquoise velvet blindfold and you know when you...I know you often stay in the presedential suite when you're traveling... DL: Wherever I go,it's part of the rider... EC: Well,you know you have those tasselled keys? Well,we're going to give them a tasselled spike and if you remember "pin the tail on the donkey" from your childhood? We'll have these blindfolded people stab this heart and whichever sin they pierce,they'll have an opportunity then,a moral dilemma,they can either commit the sin live on stage (audience yells)...there's some sinners over there..and we'll have some paraphanelia to assist with the sinning or you can pick a song that you think best represents that sin. DL: So this will be very unique on this tour. EC: I would think so.It hasn't been done before.It was tried in Las Vegas a few years ago but they took it off.They have regulations,you know.