In trying to reorganize my life and the various elements in it, I rediscovered (some months ago) my blog - this blog. I knew it existed, of course, but haven't posted here in almost a decade. Sheesh those 10 years have gone by fast.
In re-reading my posts again today, I see I opined, briefly, on the notion of Donald Trump becoming president, as he was running - and then not running - in the 2012 election cycle. And OMG, he did it again in 2016 and won!* I do not say this with joyful enthusiasm but in abject horror. I am still horrified 4 years later - and more so. I could not have predicted that a Trump win would lead to the deaths of so many - the failed military mission at the start of his term to the 130,000+ and growing deaths from delayed and failed action on Covid-19. And that inaction - amplified by the fact that I don't think he gives a f*** (asterisks mine) about anyone but himself (and I am not alone in that thought) - has meant so many job losses because business needed to close - temporarily or permenently.
How it relates to music - because this is primarily a music blog - is that our beloved artists can't tour, losing income. For lesser known artists, it is devestating. That is, a Madonna, a Beyonce, a Springsteen, a Rolling Stone or two (or more) may be able to weather the downtime and loss of income. But for many a musician, and many of our prog musicians... not so much.
I was mocking the idea of a Trump presidency... but I find the world can yield unexpected things, both good and evil. Sadly, this instance is evil.
This is a music blog, as I said, so I'll leave the politics here and move on. Though I have some more off-topic commentary, sort of.
While I have not been entirely silent since my last blog post in 2011, I haven't been prolific. A brief explanation:
In 2012 I moved from... well, one place to another, it doesn't matter from where to where, but still within California. At the same time, more and more of my job responsibilities took more and more of my time. But I managed a few reviews that year... and several over the last 8 years. Not many, but some. Listened to a lot more than I've written reviews for, so there are many notes and scribbles here in "the office" that will see the light of day. So, things chugged along through 2013, 2014, 2015... but 2016. Long before the nightmare began (see paragraph 2), my narrative arc took a detour. My father, aged 82 at the time, took a tumble down his driveway one January morning and was badly injured. So I was spending more time at the house, helping my mother care for him until his fractured wrist could mend (with the aid of an inserted metal support).
Within a few months, however, things would turn again. My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. While my sister more often took him for chemo, I was spending even more time at the house, helping, as again, my father was not able to drive, shop, etc. (my mother had stopped driving years before).
16 months later, he passed away. Here's where music comes in....
My dad liked music. He was not a musician, but has a rather eclectic record collection - Afro-Cuban jazz and classical mostly. But he also liked a smattering of "pop" music... one song he particularly liked was "Horse With No Name" by America. You know, "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name... felt good to be out of the rain..." and so forth. I think he found it whimsical, and it is, in a fashion. I, too, like America and this song. For a time we shared a home office so what I was listening to he heard, too, and would share his thoughts. Much of the more extreme metal he likened to Klingons singing (and didn't like it), other things (the more approachable proggy stuff), he might get closer to listen. He was an aeronautical engineer by trade, and I imagine he heard things more mathematically than I did, whereas I am more about emotion, feel, execution rather than mechanics. Going back a bit earlier, to 1985 or so, I'd play Marillion's Misplaced Childhood on the main stereo in the living room, loudish. My dad commented once that he thought it sounded like Duran Duran. I had to laugh, I didn't really hear it the same way, but it got me listening differently to Duran Duran. (I think I note elsewhere - here or on the main site - that I don't think of them as prog, so don't worry; some proggy/art rock elements, yes). He liked 50s rock - when you could hear what the singers were singing, he'd say. I listened a lot to the tracks on a 4LP (maybe 5LP) box set he had... lots of classics there. He liked Pink Floyd, especially The Wall, though I think more the movie's visuals than the music. He liked the Moody Blues, too. Lots of memories centered on music.
As I drove home with his urn, one of the songs that came on the radio - early in the trip - was "Horse With No Name." Almost 3 years later, that still makes me sad.
After his passing, I was at the house full-time caring for my mother, all but officially living there (and have since moved back in). We - my sister and I - also embarked on the already-planned-before-his-death remodel of the home to better accomodate my mother, who then went into hospital for a bit of time for heart surgery; she later stayed with me during part of the remodel... Still, I managed to post a review or two. And recently have posted a few more, so slowly getting back into it. Listened at lot, wrote very little.
Those are my non-musical "highlights" of the last 10 years or so. In a previous post below I mention prog aritsts who had passed - to that list we sadly have to add Keith Emerson and Greg Lake; John Wetton, Alan Holdsworth; Neil Peart; Andre Matos (Angra, Shaman), Hansi Cross, of his own band Cross, but also head of the Progress Records label; Piotr Grudzinski (Riverside); Lemmy (Motorhead, though they weren't prog)...
What's in rotation right now? Well... nothing at the moment, per se. I'm looking at some of the upcoming (as of 1:14pm July 11, 2020) festivals as a starting point, so we'll start with Art Rock Festival VIII (this link goes to our festival section on the main site, from there you can go to the page on this particular festival) which will allow us to catch up with Threshold, for one. But first, we'll finally polish up our review of Bent Knee's You Know What They Mean, which we didn't do last month. They were scheduled for the ArcTanGent festival, that has now been moved to 2021 (so far, only Opeth have committed to the new date). Sitting here, too, prominently, are RPWL's Tales From Outer Space and Live From Outer Space, which we pulled aside as they were slated for the Midsummer Prog Festival, that had since been postponed to 2021 (they are on the bill!), and for Night Of The Prog festival, that had also been posted to 2021 (they are on the bill!). Ah, and in checking those facts, we see more updates are necessary, as Summer's End has been postponed to 2021 due to continued Covid-19 concerns in the UK.
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One final musical note (ha!): In this new reality of social distancing, what keeps popping up in my head is "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" (the title to a 1970 - 50 years ago! - Van Der Graaf Generator album). For 2020, that is "The Most We Can Do..." (In double checking some facts, I see I should add Nic Potter of VDGG to the list of prog passings in the last decade (he passed in 2013)).
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*"won" is subjective in that we all know Hillary won the popular vote. Don't get me wrong, she was a flawed candidate with her own baggage that, without that, maybe more of the vote in certain states would have swung her way, despite any outside influence, giving her the delegates in the Electoral College. Where would the US be in that scenario? Where would world be?....
