Sunday, February 02, 2014

GONZO WEEKLY #63

This is quite simply the best magazine you will ever find that is edited by a mad bloke (and his orange kitten), and produced from a tumbledown potato shed on the outskirts of a tiny village that nobody's heard of in North Devon. The fact that it is published with Gonzo Multimedia - probably the grooviest record company in the known universe - is merely an added bonus.
THE GONZO WEEKLY
all the gonzo news that’s fit to print
Issue Sixty-Three February 1st
I PROMISED THIS WOULD BECOME A MAGAZINE AND I ALWAYS TRY TO KEEP MY PROMISES
NAMING THOSE RESPONSIBLE
This issue was put together by me and Captain Frunobulax the Magnificent, (who is, in case you didn't know, an insane orange kitten on the verge of adulthood) ably assisted by:

Corinna Downes, (Sub Editor, and my lovely wife)
Graham Inglis, (Columnist, Staff writer, Hawkwind nut)
Bart Lancia, (My favourite roving reporter)
Thom the World Poet, (Bard in residence)
C.J.Stone, (Columnist, commentator and all round good egg)
Kev Rowland, (Reviewer)
Lesley Madigan, Photographer par excellence
Douglas Harr, (Staff writer, columnist)
Jessica Taylor, (PA and laughing at drunk pop stars)
Dave McMann, (He ain't nothing but a) Newshound-dog
Orrin Hare, (Sybarite and literary bon viveur)
and Peter McAdam (McDada in residence)
 
THIS WEEK WE BRING YOU JEFFERSON STARSHIP, AUBURN, LIZ LENTEN, TONY MELENDEZ, ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, GRATEFUL DEAD, THE PINK FAIRIES, PAUL WHITROW, VALENTINA BLANCA, FIABA, CLEPSYDRA, GALAHAD, STU NICHOLSON, ALAN DAVEY, SPIRITS BURNING, DAVE BAINBRIDGE, CAROL HODGE, STEVE IGNORANT, MICHAEL DES BARRES, BLACK SABBATH, THE WHO,  STRANGE FRUIT, RICK WAKEMAN, BRAND X, BLODWYN PIG, CLEARLIGHT, ALL ABOUT EVE, THE DEVIANTS, RUPERT HINE, VANGELIS, PETE SEEGER, MARK MURDOCK, CYMBALIC ENCOUNTERS, RICHARD FREEMAN, HAWKWIND, KING CRIMSON, YES, ONE DIRECTION, DAVID BOWIE, ELVIS PRESLEY, WEIRD WEEKEND, RAIN, STEVE HACKETT, TESTAMENT, SILENT VOICES, NOX ARCANA
This is the nearest that you are ever going to get to a posh weekend colour supplement from the Gonzo Daily team. Each week we shall go through the best bits of the week before, and if there aren't any we shall make some up, or simply make our excuses and leave (you can tell the editor once did contract work at the News of the World can't ya?)
WHO GONZO? WHY GONZO? WHAT GONZO?
What? You don't know who Hunter Thompson is/was/might have been/will be? Without Hunter Thompson there would be no Gonzo Multimedia. It would have been completely different and that would have been an unforgivable pity. So here is:
C.J.Stone suggested that as well as explaining Gonzo to those wot don't understand, we should do a weekly quote from the great man himself. So here goes:

"A word to the wise is infuriating"
                                 Hunter S. Thompson
Social media stuff that I am really too old to understand, (my stepdaughter spent much of last Christmas trying to explain Twitter to me) but I am assuming that at least someof our readers are younger and hipper than I am.
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Website
Website
Google Plus
Google Plus
Email
Email
Pinterest
Pinterest
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
SO WHAT IS ALL THIS ABOUT, ALFIE?
It is simple; my name is Jon and I'm the editor of the Gonzo Multimedia daily online bloggything. Now there is a weekly magazine, once again edited by me and a small orange kitten from a dilapidated ex-potato shed  in rural Devonshire, to which you subscribed by opting in on the website. I hope that you all stay to join in the fun, but if it is not to your liking it is easy to unsubscribe again. But what a long, strange trip it is gonna be...

I keep on thinking that I ought to have some sort of a mission statement in each issue, but it is more than a little difficult to do one. Basically, (if you don't mind me sounding more like a wishy washy old hippy than my haircut in the photograph above would imply) I think that books and music are immensely important. I look around and see that we are living in a world where the things that I think are important are valued less and less by society as a whole; a world where asinine gameshows and so-called reality TV (which is actually a complete oxymoron, but don't get me started) are of more importance to most people than anything of cultural or spiritual value.

I am also very disappointed by much of what the contemporary music press puts out, and I decided many years ago, that probably the only way I could read the things that I want to read, would be to publish them myself. So this is what I have been doing for much of my life. I am also naive enough to think that music and art can change the world, and as the world is in desperate need of change, I am gonna do my best to help.
MORE LIKE A MAGAZINE: On the Road again...
And so the Gonzo Weekly expeditionary force sets sail for new and uncharted waters. Here, Mother and I discover to our dismay that the only CDs on sale at this particular motorway services are horrible, and that yours truly should really be severely reprimanded for - once again - having forgotten to bring something to listen to with us.

So, once again, I was forced into the expensive position of buying a couple of the monthly music magazines that I don't usually buy. And I have to say that I was particularly pleasantly surprised, especially by the music on the CD which came free with Progmagazine.

The thing which is most impressive is that many of these bands are young, or relatively so, and at the beginning of their careers. As I wrote recently, someone who really should have known better told me back in November that "rock music was dead in the water".

Well it's not!
It is just that the culture surrounding it, and the way that we consume it has changed beyond all recognition, and - from where I am sitting - it seems that it will continue changing for the foreseeable future.

Of course there will still be a music industry. Of course people will continue making great music. It is just that the relationship that exists now between consumers and producers of that music is completely different to what it has been for the past half century.

If that means that people of limited talent and transitory good looks, may well not make the obscene amounts of money that their kind has made in recent decades, as a resolute anti-capitalist, I feel that this can only be a good thing. Maybe now, people will enter into a career in music for the right reasons; because they are artists and have something to say, rather than because they want money and fame.

But enough of my yammering. On with the show.
THE THREE COMMANDMENTS OF GONZO WEEKLY:

1. Art is as important as science and more important than money
2. There is life after (beyond and before) Pop Idol
3. Music can and sometimes does change the world

If you think those three ideas are stupid then you should probably give up reading this magazine now. Otherwise... enjoy
As is the rest of this magazine, this is mostly about music, and the bits of contemporary culture that I find interesting, but it also has a smattering of actual NEWS, especially if there are ethical questions that effect us all, or one of those put in authority over us does something spectacularly inane. The nearest that this section will ever come to politics is laughing at politicians.
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
I was brought up in Hong Kong and always celebrate this festival. So this isn't just some fat hippy trying to be groovy...
  • Brewery bosses were left red-faced after some of the lights on their iconic sign were switched off to spell out a rude message just days after the firm announced a string of redundancies. The red neon sign above the Thwaites brewery in Blackburn, has blazed out like a beacon across the Lancashire town for decades. But shortly after the firm announced they would be axing up to 60 jobs, the letters H, I and E mysteriously disappeared, leaving a rather indignant message presumably aimed at bosses. Read on...
  • Born without arms, Tony Melendez learned early on in his life how to use his feet to strum a guitar, make music and stand out in a family of musicians. He gained widespread fame with his performance for Pope John Paul II during the pontiff’s 1987 visit to Los Angeles, and Melendez used the high profile to launch a musical career that’s taken him to 44 countries and international acclaim. Read on...
  • Following the announcement three weeks ago that two key members of the Allman Brothers Band — guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks — would be leaving the group at the end of the year, frontman Gregg Allman has more bad news for the group’s loyal fans: It will stop touring altogether at the end of 2014. In a new interview with Relix, Allman stated that he’s ready to move on. “This is it — this is the end of it,” he said. “Forty-five years is enough, and I want to do something else anyway. Everyone has their own real good perspective bands.” Read on...
  • With the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead‘s formation coming up in 2015, Bob Weir is urging the group’s surviving founding members to put aside their differences for some sort of commemorative event. The Grateful Dead were a stalwart presence on the concert trail for three decades until Jerry Garcia‘s death in 1995. Since then, the group has splintered into a series of smaller bands and, more recently, stopped playing together at all. “If there are issues we have to get past, I think that we owe it to ourselves to man up and get past them,” Weir told Rolling Stone. “If there are hatchets to be buried, then let’s get to work. Let’s start digging.” Read on...
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  The Pink Fairies are back!
We have known that this was in the offing for some time, but were sworn to secrecy, and we were not sure of the details. But Andy Colquhoun sent me this earlier today:
 

When’s The Fun Begin? 

From the Westway to the West Midlands and further beyond to Tyneside, the jungle drums have been beating for some time of late. But the suspense is finally over and speculation can stop.  Yes, it's true – for the first time in nearly 25 years, those legendary Pink Fairies of Ladbroke Grove are reforming for one last-throw-of-the dice and embarking on what has been referred to, with tongue perhaps not so firmly in cheek, as 'The Pension Credit Tour'.  Who was it that said “Pigs might fly?”

With much regret Paul Rudolph had to decline due to logistical reasons, but he’s wished the others well.  Larry Wallis has been ruled out of the equation due to health reasons, whilst the ever Marmite-like Twink (you either love him or hate him), is firmly ensconced in Morocco.

So, that leaves originals Russell Hunter and Duncan ‘Sandy’ Sanderson, along with guitarist supremo Andy Colquhoun from the ‘Kill ‘Em And Eat ‘Em’ line-up to spearhead the outing.  Lavishly assisted by Jaki Miles-Windmill, their co-member in the most recent incarnation of the late Mick Farren’s Deviants, they’re also joined by ‘Previously Unreleased’ George Butler, a co-conspirator with Sandy in The Lightning Raiders, and currently drummer with the Keith Richards-endorsed West London rhythm & blues combo, The Dirty Strangers –  yes, the two-drummer format returns! They all unite in barely cohesive glorious chaos for The Pink Fairies’ final hurrah! The best of luck to them – they deserve it.

Although leaning towards a Rudolph-orientated catalogue of delights there will be appreciative acknowledgements to Larry Wallis, as well as Andy Colquhoun’s own input on a couple of numbers.  So, there will be enough variation to satisfy everyone’s tastes.  Hell, they might even throw in a couple of Deviants’ numbers too if you’re lucky!  This may well be your last chance to see the legendary British underground rock institution in action, so don’t waste this golden opportunity to catch them live  – Do It! Oh, and don’t forget to boogie!

Pink Fairies will be performing at:
Robin 2, Bilston – 15th May 2014 – http://www.therobin.co.uk/whats_on/giginfo.asp?gigid=3591
100 Club, London – 17th May 2014 - http://www.the100club.co.uk/gigs/pink-fairies/
More dates to be added….?????
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  The Walrus was Paul
My old mate Paul Whitrow is out and about again. He is playing a free show in the foyer of the Colston Hall in Bristol this coming week. "Esteemed producer Paul Whitrow delivers a darkly warm and sinister selection of songs that have moved him across three decades of working with name acts.  Paul delivers quality product and demonstrates the strength of the Bristol music network by helping aspiring artists as well as established musicians. His own music runs with a subversive undercurrent and his choice of songs for tonight’s set will include a broad range of top quality songwriting delivered with an elegantly engaging simplicity."

Read on...
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST: Rock meets Opera
The lovely Valentina Blanca wrote to me this week inviting me to her next gig. Unfortunately its in Spain, and I shan't be attending. However, we do have Spanish readers, and I wholeheartedly recommend this to them. I hope that there will be films and photographs of the event so we can cover it second hand.
PECULIAR STORY OF THE WEEK: Portal to Hell in Indiana
(once again, courtesy Dave McMann)
Police chief and priest who examined 'possessed' children at 'haunted' Indiana home back official reports and say it's no hoax, revealing their evidence of evil
  • Latoya Ammons moved into a home with her mother and 3 children in Gary, Indiana in 2011 and started hearing footsteps in the basement
  • Over time, she and her children, aged 12, 9 and 8, became 'possessed'; their eyes would bulge, they'd shake and growl
  • A clairvoyant said the home was haunted by 200 demons
  • Sons were taken to hospital after one was inexplicably thrown in the house - while there a nurse and a CPS worker saw him walk backwards up a wall
  • Speaking to Mailonline, the town's veteran police chief, Charles Austin, says he became too afraid to enter the home at night and saw objects moving and recorded scary whispers
  • Catholic priest Father Michael Maginot carried out exorcisms on Ammons and gave Mailonline video footage and audio of strange occurrences in the home
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  Major Festival show for Clepsydra
Clepsydra have been announced for Night of the Prog Festival - Loreley Amphitheater - playing alongside Anathema, Collage & Long Distance Calling, with more acts to be announced...

Tickets are available from the following links:

http://shop.wiventertainment.de/index.php?k=4&lang=eng

http://www.reservix.de/
 — with Sakary Loor,Paulina ValenzuelaByron ByrockPaola ContrerasByron SasigChalo Satyr and Hedonia BlackDeath.
 
CLEPSYDRA AT GONZO (USA)
CLEPSYDRA AT GONZO (UK)
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  One from Galahad's archives
I found this on their Facebook page: "Earliest Galahad set list I can find. Gig at Bovington Legion, they loved us...not! Spot the covers (Mostly at that time)"

Check out the interview with Stu Nicholson elsewhere this issue...
 
GALAHAD AT GONZO (USA)
GALAHAD AT GONZO (UK)
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  Look What Alan Davey is up to...
 
ALAN DAVEY AT GONZO (UK)
ALAN DAVEY AT GONZO (USA)
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  A very cool new publicity poster for Spirits Burning
With citizen fishDaevid AllenHarvey Bainbridge,Paul HaylesDon Falcone and David Speight.
SPIRITS BURNING AT GONZO (UK)
SPIRITS BURNING AT GONZO (USA)
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST: Dave Bainbridge writes
I'm currently working on my second solo album, which I’m really excited about. In some ways it is an album I’ve always wanted to make, which really draws upon the excitement and exhilaration I first felt, listening to many of my early musical heros (Yes, Gentle Giant, David Sancious and Tone, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Curved Air, Hatfield and The North, Deep Purple, Clannad, Mike Oldfield, Keith Jarrett, The Enid, Keith Emerson, Allan Holdsworth, Alan Stivell, Ralph Vaughan-Williams and his contemporaries - the list goes on and on!). It was listening to all these great musicians and composers that first inspired me to become a musician and composer.

So, on the new album you can hear the kind of Celtic, progressive, spiritual, folk-rock influenced soundscapes that have been so much of a part of my work with Iona, but also with a larger that usual dollop of progressive rock type musical adventuring, where the emphasis is on great musicianship, new and classic sound combinations and evolving compositions with plenty of room for my improvisations on electric guitar, piano and keyboards. Definitely not a tribute album, but hopefully something fresh and new, building on the foundations of what has gone past. Music that transports you to another place. Music filled with passion and hope.
 
DAVE BAINBRIDGE AT GONZO USA
DAVE BAINBRIDGE AT GONZO UK
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST: Carol Hodge live with Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life
 
And lest you forget, Carol has a brilliant new album out on Gonzo
CRYSTAL GRENADE AT GONZO (UK)
CRYSTAL GRENADE AT GONZO (USA)
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST: The latest on Michael Des Barres' radio show
MICHAEL DES BARRES AT GONZO USA
MICHAEL DES BARRES AT GONZO UK
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST:  The Gospel according to Bart
Two great stories from my favourite roving reporter this week. The first is that Black Sabbathenjoyed their reunion album and gigs so much that they want to do it all again. "We're going back on the road," said Osbourne of potential recording projects. "We haven't really spoken about it beyond that. I'm down for it."
"Absolutely," said Iommi.
The second story concerns The Who. According to Uncut, Pete Townshend will be releasing his long awaited Floss project this year. However, according to Roger Daltrey there is also a new Who album in the works.

Who frontman Roger Daltrey says the inevitability of a new record by the band isn't so much a question of "when" as it is "whether." Speaking to the NME, he said that both he and guitarist Pete Townshend have the makings of a new LP should they choose to rise to the occasion. "Pete's got hundreds of songs so the only question is whether we get around to it," the vocalist said. "But he wants to make an album and I'm always ready and raring to go. We'll see."
THE WEEK THAT'S PAST: Gonzo Web Radio
There is no new radio show this week, but Strange Fruit presenter Neil Nixon is looking for help. There are some other exciting things afoot with another entirely new station being added to Gonzo Web Radio, and a total revamp of the radio index.
 
Strange Fruit, Miskin’s Radio’s home of alternative, off-the-wall and otherwise generally strange sounds is looking for a co-presenter. This is not a paid job, but would give the lucky individual the chance to present two hour shows of music generally ignored by radio, and broadcast them twice a month to be heard by Miskin Radio’s audience online and then archived on Gonzo Multimedia’s website, where their audience would devour them. Radio experience would be useful, but isn’t necessary. The ideal candidate would be able to come to our Dartford studios, be trained and begin work when ready. Alternatively, anyone capable of self-producing and Dropboxing shows will be considered. Fame and wealth are unlikely but the chance to indulge your most maverick musical tastes knows few limits in this job. In the first instance email Neil Nixon, nlnxn@aol.com to express an interest. Also check out our shows on Gonzo Multimedia’s web radio page and Miskin Radio’s own site – www.miskinradio.co.uk
For more news on Strange Fruit CLICK HERE
For more news on Canterbury Sans Frontières CLICK HERE
For the Gonzo Web Radio homepage CLICK HERE
What's been did and what's been hid
I am growing up in public, as it were. The Gonzo Weekly has been going for very nearly a year now, and we are beginning to find our feet. I am making changes as I go along, and - no doubt - some of these changes will turn out to be mistakes. So, let me know what you think. Do they work? Do you like them? Hate them? Or don't you care either way?

Please pass this magazine around as far and wide as you can. And encourage as many people as you can to subscribe. Remember it is free, and will remain so. However, I want as many subscribers as possible to move on to the next stage of the party. There might well be cake.

Remember, I am always looking for new authors. If there is something that you feel you could add to the general melange which is the Gonzo Weekly, please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. The more the merrier.

Although this newsletter also goes out in a plain text version for those of you who do not trust image intensive thingys in your browser, I promise that as long as it is technically feasible (which will be for the forseeable future) the text only mailout will continue. However, I strongly advise that for you to get the best out of this rapidly evolving publication, that you really should see it in all its picture-led glory.

Please tell your friends, colleagues and family about The Gonzo Weekly, and try to persuade them to subscribe. The more subscribers we get, the bigger and better and more effective the whole thing will be.
Remember, if you want more than your weekly fix of this newsletter you can check out the Gonzo Daily, which - as its name implies - does much the same as this newsletter but every day. It also features a daily poem from Thom the World Poet, and the occasional non-Gonzo rock music rambling from yours truly, plus book and gig reviews from our highly trained staff of social malcontents. And its FREE! You cannae say fairer than that!
Each week, some of you seem to recognise me. Yes, I am indeed that weird bloke off the telly who chases mythological animals. I have a day job as Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and also the editor of the CFZ Blog Network, and publisher of a plethora of books about mystery animals.
GONZO RELEASES FOR FEBRUARY 2014
1. Rick Wakeman    Live in Lincoln Cathedral
François Couture  writes how this set features Rick Wakeman playing the Grand organ of Lincoln Cathedral. He continues: “There are few recordings of Wakeman at the grand organ, fewer more in a solo setting, without an audience, and majestically recorded. For this rare occasion, he wrote a handful of brand new pieces and structures to improvise within. Melodically speaking, this is not his strongest material, but he is clearly enjoying the thrill of playing the behemoth and he puts a lot of feeling into his delivery.

2. Brand X    The X-Files - A 20 Year Retrospective
Disc one consists of ten previously unreleased live recordings in reverse chronological order, from the 1997 Manifest Destiny tour to the group's initial mid-'70s lineup, when Phil Collins and Robin Lumley were the band's drummer and keyboardist.  Disc two technically is not Brand X at all, but a sampling of extracurricular projects by group leaders John Goodsall and Percy Jones, in tandem and separately.

3. Blodwyn Pig    The Basement Tapes
THE BASEMENT TAPES contains radio sessions and live material recorded from 1969 to 1974, as well as two bonus tracks recorded in 1996. Basement Tapes buy CD music Previously unreleased BBC recordings from the former Jethro Tull guitarist, recorded 1969-1974. Basement Tapes songs Plus two bonus tracks from 1996. Basement Tapes album for sale Blodwyn Pig includes: Mick Abraham. Blodwyn Pig: Mick Abrahams (vocals, guitar); Jack Lancaster (violin, flute, saxophone); Andrew Pyle, Mike Summerland (bass guitar); Clive Bunker, Graham Walker, Ron Berg (drums). Basement Tapes CD music contains a single disc with 13 songs.

4. CLEARLIGHT featuring, Cyrille Verdeaux, Tim Blake, Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe, Christian Boule, Gilbert Artman Clearlight Symphony
This is one of those exquisite records that somehow slipped through the gaps of public consciousness at the time. But now its back, and you have the chance to revel in a warm bath of psychedelic weirdness. In 1975 Virgin Records released the first album of Cyrille Verdeaux compositions titled CLEARLIGHT SYMPHONY. Clearlight became the first French progressive rock band signed to a major British record label. Gathering accolades for its unique compositions and keyboard stylings, the music spanned from classical romanticism to lush experimentation. Primarily psychedelic, but also serving as a forerunner of new age music, the album's musical style manages to blend seemingly contrary elements: the symphonic rock concept is flexible enough to permit extensive jamming in both rock and jazz fusion styles. Clearlight Symphony does not officially have an artist name, but is now regarded as the first album by Clearlight who adopted the name later that year, after briefly using the name Delired Cameleon Family. Side one features group member Cyrille Verdeaux and three members of Gong; side two features the group that would become Delired Cameleon Family (Clearlight). Neither group is explicitly named as the artist.

5. All About Eve    Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet is the fourth studio album by All About Eve. Despite positive reviews at the time this album was in the wrong place at the wrong time and sadly slipped through the commercial net despite containing one of their most iconic songs - "Outshine the Sun" which is frequently used at the band's gigs for a finale.

6. The Deviants    The Deviants Have Left The Planet
Half live, half-studio Left the Planet bristles with the highest octane intake of new Mick Farren songs in years -- and anyone armed with the Barbarian Princes live album will already know what that means. Studio takes on that album's murderous "Aztec Calendar" and "God's Worst Nightmare" are joined by a sinister, semi-snarled take on Dylan's "It's Alright Ma," so battered that it effortlessly snags the honorable title of Most Deliciously Disreputable Dylan Cover Ever. The bulk of the album was recorded with Farren's Deviants lineup of guitarist/bassist Andy Colquhoin and former Motörhead drummer Phil Taylor -- itself an aggregation to make your skin crawl. Four live tracks from sundry Terrastock and L.A. shows, however, add a shapeless shadow to any sense of well-being which familiarity might conjure up -- the spectral "Yellow Dog" is chilling no matter how many times you hear it, while the closing "Memphis Psychosis" blends blues, Elvis, and dark dreams about Bo Diddley to equally spine-chilling effect. Farren walked this way once before, with the deranged take on "Mona" which highlights Carnivorous Circus. But that was a long time ago. This is what happened when Mona hit puberty. An unexpected reprise of Farren's 1977 single "Let's Loot the Supermarket Again" serves up a moment of light relief -- as light, that is, as visions of urban unrest and street fighting can be. But the overall mood of the album remains fearful, foreboding, and absolutely poisonous, a kick in the small of the back to propel you into a world which restructures the sound of the rock revolution before the media middlemen tacked their percentage on top -- and it proves that some things really can't be bought or sold. Peace of mind is one of them.

7. Rupert Hine    Live TV Show Sweden
In the early sixties, Hine formed half of the folk duo Rupert & David. The duo performed in pubs and clubs and occasionally shared the stage with a then-unknown Paul Simon. The duo's one released single (on the Decca label in 1965) was a cover of Simon's "The Sounds of Silence". The single was not a success, but was notable for featuring a young Jimmy Page on guitar and Herbie Flowers on bass.

8. Vangelis    Journey to Ithaka
Much to the excitement of music fans worldwide, the new feature length documentary on Greek music legend Vangelis titled 'Vangelis And The Journey To Ithaka' will be released on November 11, 2013 by Gonzo MultiMedia UK. The two-hour documentary includes interviews with Vangelis and many of his friends and colleagues, including Sean Connery, Hugh Hudson, Jessye Norman, Oliver Stone, Akiko Ebi, Julian Rachlin and many others. It also includes rare, historical footage, most of which has never been seen before. Another highlight includes recent footage of Vangelis improvising new music!
BACK ISSUES OF THIS PERIODICAL
Most of the back issues have now been archived on a dedicated Blogger site. Please use the navigation tree on the right of the page. However, please be aware that there are still a few formatting issues, and the magazine may not look as nice in blogger as we would have liked.

If, however, you are using the MailChimp archive, (below) please be warned: Magazines from #11-41  contain the cartoon at the bottom of the stressed out guy with the computer  Apparently someone has accused the public domain images site I got it from of hosting malware, and even though there was none found there by Google, the fact that I used an image from the site (perfectly legally) flagged our whole newsletter up as possibly containing malware. This should only effect people using Google Chrome, and I would strongly suggest that you click the 'proceed anyway' tab, and view the newsletter as you had originally planned...

Newsletter #36  Newsletter #35  Newsletter #34  Newsletter #33 Newsletter #32  Newsletter #31  Newsletter #30  Newsletter #29 Newsletter #28  Newsletter #27  Newsletter #26  Newsletter #25  Newsletter #24  Newsletter #23  Newsletter #22  Newsletter #21 Newsletter #20  Newsletter #19  Newsletter #18  Newsletter #17 Newsletter #16  Newsletter #15  Newsletter #14  Newsletter #13 Newsletter #12  Newsletter #11  Newsletter #10  Newsletter #9 Newsletter #8  Newsletter #7  Newsletter #6  Newsletter #5 Newsletter #4  Newsletter #3  Newsletter #2  Newsletter #1
THOSE WE HAVE LOST:  Pete Seeger (1919-2014)
Peter "Pete" Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture and environmental causes.

A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (lyrics adapted from Ecclesiastes), which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are sung throughout the world. "Flowers" was a hit recording for the Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while the Byrds had a number one hit with "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in 1965.

Seeger was one of the folksingers most responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists) that became the acknowledged anthem of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song", Seeger stated it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_seeger
SOUND & FOLK
HEARING COMES FIRST-sound from a distance
then close up-Doppler Effect
One person with one or more instruments
Ringing true to you/timbre singing with you
Then your voice activates-fills lungs-sings on
Church choir/folk song chorus/sing a long jamboree
You see how easy it sounds to sing freely
And WE has a stronger voice than I
Even if (at times)it sounds like you are the only one singing
He has gone.He left us the Hudson River,Newport Folk Festival
Songs on our lips for when the going gets hard-SING OUT!
Spirituals,Gospel,Slave Songs or Free-FOLK means WE over I
but it always takes one to start ..art..
 
(for what Pete Seeger gave to us-voice/trust..

Pete Seeger Dies--But His Spirit and Music Will Never Die
"THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD
Is to find the optimistic stories-and to sing them on".And Pete Seeger did!
In all his 94 years.he took folk songs and shared them so well
they are now part of our cultural heritage-what would peace rallies do without
WE SHALL OVERCOME?/IF I HAD A HAMMER/TURN,TURN,TURN
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?He sang people's songs
Founded the Newport Folk Festival,organized to clear the Hudson River
and turned the banjo into  an instrument of folk freedom.Awards?
He received many but did not care for them.Royalties went to causes-
he was anti--war,pro-peace,singing his way with Woody Guthrie
then with the Almanac Singers,then the Weavers.Folk lives!
largely because he would not stop singing for and with people
When his wife Toshi died in 2013,he was deeply affected
His songs live within us now-he gave us our voice back
Thank you Pete Seeger!Thank you-for our folk music!

PETE SEEGER SURROUNDED HATE AND FORCED IT TO SURRENDER
HISTORY IS A LESSON-THAT IF YOU SING
some will want you silent.If you sing true,others may sing with you
but they are few,and subject to pillory,too.So this must mean more than words
You can organize -a group of fellow travelers-call them-'THE WEAVERS"
They can take forgotten slave songs,freedom songs,and sing them for the ears of Nations.
You can gather other singers -for a Festival-Call it Newport Folk Festival
and encourage the bards of future truths -by providing a stage and audience
You can join in other people's activisms-from Civil Rights(providing anthems)
to OCCUPY.(providing positive presence).You start where you are-
say you are living by the mighty polluted Hudson River.Over years and songs ,
benefits and lawsuits,you can have your deep river cleaned.All is possible
It means more than words.Words are the suit you dress up in for others
You sing in different suits on different occasions.Words may be the same-
effect and context  changes."Actions are the thing,wherein we capture
the conscience of the King"

                                                                                 Thom the World Poet
 
THERE IS NOW A GONZO WEEKLY SHOP
Now, I don't know whether this is a good idea, a bad idea, or just an idea, but - as I believe you know - this magazine is put out each week on a budget of £25, and is free. It will remain free, but I would like to be able to generate some income so I can pay our contributing writers. So, 'why not flog Gonzo Weekly T Shirts?' I thought. 'Why not', I answered... 
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/gonzoweekly
EXCLUSIVE: Mark Murdock Interview
Drummer, keyboardist and vocalist Mark Murdock's 'Cymbalic Encounters' features eminent progressive-rock unit Brand X alumni, guitarist John Goodsall, bassist Percy Jones, and drummer Kenwood Dennard along with legendary jazz-fusion keyboardist David Sancious and other guests. Murdock shines as a renaissance man and offers a diversified set, highlighted by the largely memorable compositions and aided by a crystal clear studio production.
1. How did Cymbalic Encounters come about?

Firstly, I am pleased that Cymbalic Encounters has found a home with the Gonzo family. Cymbalic Encounters actually started with some demo recordings that I initiated some years back with Percy Jones. Percy contributed not only bass tracks, but to some of the songwriting, including some keyboard parts. As the recordings evolved, John Goodsall agreed to partake, which was a dream come true- to have what was once Brand X on my tracks. David Sancious, Ryo Okumoto, Kenwood Dennard and engineer/guitarist, Joe Berger and others were also instrumental in adding to the CD.

2. How did you first get involved with Percy and John?

Well, it goes back to the remote past as a teenager when I met Phil Collins on an earlyGenesis tour in the states. Jump ahead a few years and I made it over to the UK. Phil had me over to the Brand X rehearsals in Hammersmith, London where I met everyone while they were rehearsing for their first record, ‘Unorthodox Behaviour,’ and rehearsing for their first live debut gigs. They had a percussion rig in the rehearsal studio that I would jump on and play along. I went to Brand X’s first gig at LSE and Bill Bruford was actually playing percussion. So, years later I had relocated to New York from Phoenix only to find that Percy had moved to NYC as well. I was working in a music studio loft on 30th street where Kenwood Dennard, who plays on one of the songs on the CD, was rehearsing and reconnected me with Percy. I had several projects in the years I lived in NY and Percy supported a few recording projects and a few live gigs. One project was called ‘Eyes Down’ which is available as a digital download. It featured Shakar’s recording on electric violin and others guest artists.

3. Where was it recorded?

I recorded my drums at Revole Studios here in Tokyo. And my other tracks at Offshore Mobile Recording. Apart from the 21st Century method of recording, as you mentioned in your John Goodsall interview, where we share our tracks over the internet. Some of the tracks were actually recorded in NYC at Unique Studios, at least the ones with David Sancious. Percy also went into the studio later and did some tracks. The others were intercontinental. John recorded his tracks at RedStar Studios in Minnesota and Percy did additional tracks at home. All tracks were shuttled across the globe.

4. Were the songs prewritten or composed in the studio?

I actually camped out at David Sancious' house in Woodstock where we wrote and expanded on my initial ideas. It was such an honor to be acknowledged by David. The song 'Waters Of Marsh Harbour' ended up on the CD. There are a few more songs that may or may not go onto future works. Most of the songs that Percy and I wrote were a kind of ‘Fill in the blanks’ where I would write a section and then ask Percy to write the next section. The amazing element was when John came into picture as he complimented the music in a way that brought everything to life. It was obvious that John and Percy have an incredible musical chemistry. There are a few tracks that someone commented that sound like early Brand X, which was never my intention for that to happen. It must have been the chemistry at play.

5. How long did the recording process take?

Some tracks went through a kind of evolution spanning numerous years and others were recorded literally right before the CD was released. I ended up using some of the demo takes rather than the studio recorded takes of Percy. I think it’s true that working from a home environment is more favorable for creativity. You are not looking at the clock but there are other distractions. Sound wise, my engineer, Joe Berger at BEAM Audio NYC brought the whole thing to life with his excellent mixing and mastering skills. Joe also played several or more mean guitar solos on the CD. He and I go way back to high school in Arizona.

6. What is your next project?

Currently, I am still working tracks for the new CD, which again feature Percy and John and Japanese progressive rock keyboardist, Hiroyuki Namba, also Paul D’ Adamo and Dave Juteau will be doing some vocals.  There are a number of elements that were not featured on my first CD that will be on the new 2014 release. I can’t reveal too much, but there are a lot of different grooves and sound textures. I’m both a prog-rocker and a jazz-rocker at heart, so the best of both worlds.

Oh, forgot to mention that I am involved in The Dave Juteau Band which I played drums and produced his new pop/rock/funk CD, ‘Seeking Higher Ground’ which will be released here in Japan and soon overseas. Also. a Japanese progressive- rock band ‘Machine Messiah’ which I have started recording drum tracks for their upcoming CD.

7. Has there been any attempt to play live?

Yes, Cymbalic Encounters the live band is comprised of local Tokyo musicians.  We recently played a live debut concert here in Tokyo. To line up is: Tetsuya Ueda on fretless bass, Daniel Kubota from Chile on guitar, my son, Preston, 16, plays electric sitar on a few songs and previously mentioned, Dave Juteau from Nova Scotia on lead vocal and various instruments. Speaking of Dave, he actually played bass on the bridge on the song ‘Illusion Nation.’ The Tokyo band members are also featured on some of the tracks of the upcoming CD. as I want to feature this current line-up on the new CD so it will help represent the CD a little better.

There was actually an attempt to bring Percy and John over to Japan after my CD was released. There are still a lot of Brand X fans here in Japan. To make along story short, one of guys wasn't up to reliving the past, which I can respect that decision. Actually, I had everyone from the old camp willing to come over, Robin Lumley, Kenwood Dennard, Mike Clark, but without one key element I couldn't convince the promoter. It was a nice attempt, nonetheless. Not giving up the ship though. Hopefully, Cymbalic Encounters can build its own fan base.

Cymbalic Encounters Demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_2cRcTRYTs&list=UUs2NzeCrRwzjIZGs4DZhBsQ&feature=c4-overview

https://soundcloud.com/markmurdockmusic/cymbalic-encounters-sample

Cymbalic Encounters Live at LOOP, Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZXh-sYscmI&feature=youtu.be

www.cymbalicencounters.com
FaceBook: Cymbalic Encounters
Contact: cymbalicencounters@gmail.com
MARK MURDOCK AT GONZO (UK)
MARK MURDOCK AT GONZO (USA)
WONDERING WHY WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS WANDER


JEFFERSON STARSHIP
Wolverhampton Robin 2
40th anniversary tour
Last Tuesday saw Jon, my mother and I start a journey that would end up as an 850 mile round trip over three days, a journey from which I am still recovering as that is one heck of a lot of concentrative driving.  And considering I am quite adapt at losing concentration on something boring rather quickly – and let’s face it, driving can become more than a little boring on long hauls – such a long time behind a steering wheel put my grey matter into overdrive and all I want to do now is gaze out of the window and drift off into faerie land.

However, all being equal, considering that this trip included seeing Auburn, Jefferson Starship, my eldest daughter and her husband, and my youngest daughter and her boyfriend, I really should not complain.

So our first stop was Wolverhampton to see Jefferson Starship and their support bandAuburn at the Robin 2. This was one of many shows they are undertaking on their 40thanniversary tour.  It was not the first, and I am sure not the last, time that we have taken my mother along to a gig, and once again she was not necessarily the oldest person in the audience.  Her best line of the evening was a whispered, ‘There are not a lot of people here’ during the Auburn sound check.  After I had explained that this was probably because the doors had not actually opened yet, and were not due to do so for at least another half an hour, she seemed content and settled back to watch the comings and goings, as the sound check carried on.

Auburn opened with a rousing set and then came the headliners.  Cathy Richardson belted out songs like a good ‘un and those in the mosh pit (I say mosh pit – there wasn’t so much moshing going on as gentle body swaying and head moving, but then there were more folks over a certain age than youngsters and I guess, like me, they were conscious of the fact that one false, over-zealous move would invoke an expensive trip to a chiropractor).  But it was so encouraging to see those of a younger age there too.  The sounds and sights of the early ‘70s will live on, which is good news (not so fine for the likes of those going in one direction only though – but, upon thinking more on that subject, that is also excellent news).

And how good is David Freiberg?  I mean, come on he is only 9 years younger than my mother.  And he is still out there, up there and playing to the crowds.  Good man.  Good stuff.  Jon and I asked my mother whether she remembered any of the songs, but she was uncertain.  I would like to think that there might have been even a little glint of recognition somewhere in her memory; some of the songs would have been played at home fairly regularly backalong.

Jefferson Starship, and before them Jefferson Airplane, have always been consummate 'people's bands', and have singlemindedly pursued the same political, social and artistic agenda for nearly half a century. Although the lineup may have changed on numerous occasions, the fact that their agenda is predominantly that of the counterculture negates that entirely. Unlike some bands who we might mention, who - functioning entirely in the arena of entertainment - become a travesty of themselves as new and younger members appear to replace the older or infirm, with this band it doesn't matter, and we truly hope that their anarcho-syndicalist baton continues to be handed down the generations.

The show was brilliant.  During their encore, they performed a tribute to Pete Seeger  - who had died that morning - with a rousing rendition of ‘If I Had a Hammer’,  with Liz Lenten from Auburn joining them for that and for the last song of the encore – ‘Volunteers of America’ – as has become a regular thing during the tour.  CORINNA D 

 
JEFFERSON STARSHIP AT GONZO (UK)
JEFFERSON STARSHIP AT GONZO (USA)
EXCLUSIVE:  A conversation with Stu from Galahad
Galahad are an English Progressive rock band formed in 1985. They have released 8 studio albums, 4 live albums and 3 rarities collections. Over the last 25 years they have played with the likes of PendragonIQ andTwelfth Night. Galahad have performed their own shows and at festivals in Europe and North America, and have sold tens of thousands of albums despite never having had a major record deal. All releases are on their own 'Avalon Records' imprint other than some re-issues which are released in association with Polish label 'Oskar Productions'. In 2012 and after 27 years of existence Galahad released their first ever LP 'Battle Scars' in conjunction with Ritual Echo Records, on high quality 180 gram vinyl, in a gatefold sleeve, as a limited edition pressing of 300 which is already fast becoming a collectors item.
Stuart Nicholson talked about Galahad's early days: "...the band was formed just after the so called second wave of ‘Prog’ bands such as Marillion, Pallas, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon etc. of Prog bands came to the fore in the early Eighties. They all started around 1978 – 1981 and we started in 1985 after the bubble had effectively burst, but didn’t really get going seriously until 1990 onwards. To be honest we really did play just for fun in the early days and weren’t really that concerned about record deals etc. It was only after playing with some of the bigger bands when we thought. Actually, we are just as good as these guys so why not give it a go..." 
Galahad are releasing three EPs this year, and the arrival of the first one is imminent. So I thought this was a good time to ring up Stu Nicholson for a chat. Listen to our conversation here...
GALAHAD AT GONZO (UK)
GALAHAD AT GONZO (USA)
This story was first published in the Guardian Weekend October 26 1996. It was the first in a series of travel pieces called CJ Stone's Britain. This is the original version of the story. The published version was less than a third its length, and didn't include the all-important Church of the Resurrection story.

Dog's Bollox

There's an apocryphal story about Cardiff, that during the plague they buried some of the victims alive. People say that this is the reason that Cardiff has so many delinquents and messed up people wandering about
Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite
Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite
"It's the Mothership!" he said, leaping across the room to pump Steve's hand. "I always call him the Mothership," he added, turning to me, "cos that's what he is."
We're in the Flyhalf and Firkin in Cardiff, drinking Dog's Bolter, at a scuffed wooden table, on scuffed wooden chairs, surrounded by all the necessary accoutrements and symbols of a bar that takes its theme from the game of Rugby. The beer is glutinous and sickly and very, very strong. You get the feeling that it was supposed to have been called the Dog's Bollox, only the brewery had backed down. The stranger beams us an extravagant smile, and purses his lips. He has on a striped Burton's shirt with the cuffs ripped off, and his hair is cut short at the sides but long at the back. He is noticeably thin. That smile is almost child-like. It's as if he's trying to please the grown-ups. His eyes are charged with electricity.
"You're looking well," Steve says. "What have you been up to?"
"I've been in hospital," the other says. "I've been trying to get off the whizz. Two weeks without, and they chucked me out with a handful of Valium and a prescription for Temazipam. What good's that gonna do? So I had to get in a little powder to keep me goin', you know. But I'll be off it next week, you'll see. I'll be clean by the end of the week. I'll probably do a yard of whiz, and then that's it. I've always wanted to do a yard of whizz."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," I was thinking. "Where have I heard that before?" But it was a new one on me, hearing Steve described as the Mothership. Very apt: because there is something of the Mother about Steve - something nurturing and protective - while at the same time he reminds you of The Creature That Came From Outer Space. He's like a confused alien stranded on the planet, still trying to work out what the Earthlings are actually up to.
We caught a bus back to Ely, where we bought some chips. I had Chicken-off-the-bone, curry, rice and chips, because it was on special offer: £3 for a huge tray. Steve said, "when you need things heating up in here they say, 'do you want it in the microwave, or in the fat?' They say it like that: 'in the fat.' And 90% of the people say, 'in the fat'. That's what it's like round here."
I slept on the settee. Steve said, "the blankets are caked in Stonehenge mud, I hope you don't mind." I slept with them under my head. I went to sleep looking at a poster of a blue-skinned woman with violet nipples shaped like flowers and white hair and eyebrows who was glancing at me suggestively. Steve had said, "she's a spirit-being. She'll come to you in your dreams."
I certainly hoped so.

Read on...

NOW AVAILABLE FROM GONZO MULTIMEDIA

"Stone writes with intelligence, wit and sensitivity."
Times Literary Supplement

"Wry, acute, and sometimes hellishly entertaining essays in squalor and rebellion."
Herald


"The best guide to the Underground since Charon ferried dead souls across the Styx."
Independent on Sunday

 
C J STONE AT GONZO (UK)
C J STONE AT GONZO (USA)
SOME OTHER BOOKS BY C.J.STONE

Housing Benefit Hill: 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Housing-Benefit-Hill-Other-Places/dp/190259343X

 
 
 
The Journey Into... podcast features replays of old time radio shows. It also feature full cast readings of new and classic stories, as well as new flash fiction. This week it features a short story by my friend and sometime Gonzo Weekly contributor Richard Freeman, psychotic Gothboy of this Parish.

Check it out
YER GONZOID CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Hello -- how can I get ahold of a copy of the Quicksilver Hawaii 1970 cd set? Would an invisibility cloak assist?
thanks,
 
Michael

An invisibility cloak would certainly be an assistance, because then you could sneak up into a secret government laboratory, steal the time machine that they are undoubtedly building there with technology back engineered from the Roswell crash, and go back to Hawaii in 1970 and record your own version, having made sure that you use your invisibility cloak again to sneak into your friendly local hifi shop and shoplift some sort of hi-tech MP3 recorder thingy.

Alternatively you can just click on this link. I think that it was just out of stock last time you looked.
HAWKWIND NEWS
(The Masters of the Universe do seem to have a steady stream of interesting stories featuring them, their various friends and relations, and alumni). Each week Graham Inglis keeps us up to date with the latest news from the Hawkverse..
Hawkwind name battle rages on
Graham often reads stuff about Hawkwind, but he's not used to encountering words like "laches," "estoppel," "Madrid Protocol" and "waiver" in the pieces. Today he's been pondering the legal documents that effectively form the initial battle lines in a fight over the Hawkwind trademark...
 
After Nik Turner went ahead with his attempt to trademark the band name "Nik Turner's Hawkwind" in the USA, Hawkwind leader Dave Brock filed his opposition to this. The challenge was on the following grounds: 

False suggestion of a connection [with Hawkwind]
Likelihood of confusion.
Dilution [ie, weakening the Hawkwind brand - lessening its uniqueness].
Passing off [ie, imitation].

It seems that Turner considers North America to be fair game for a 'Turner Hawkwind' to operate in, saying (29 Jan) that Brock can't get a USA visa; that Brock actively conceals this from the Hawkwind fans, and that he (Brock) "has been untruthful to Hawkwind fans about his immigration and other legal problems."

However, a day later, a Hawkwind Forum Moderator made the following statement: 

"Today I have seen evidence that confirms that Dave Brock holds a valid visa for North America. The period of the visa runs from 2 October 2013 (5 days before the planned initial gig in Toronto) through 'til 1 October 2014."

Brock's opposition document further stated, "The HAWKWIND mark is synonymous with the musical group led by Mr. Brock and with a high level of quality of music and performance. When the audience attends a HAWKWIND show, their expectations are high and they look forward to enjoying a particular kind of music and experience. Without Mr. Brock, the audience would not receive the HAWKWIND experience that it expects."

Turner's lawyer dismissed that, merely saying "Turner denies the allegations of paragraph 7."

Turner also denies there'll be any fan confusion, saying "fans of Hawkwind are sophisticated music consumers who know exactly what and who they are coming to see."

Hawkwind's record company, Cherry Red, has also opposed Turner's application to register the trademark, and Turner's legal representatives recently filed a motion to dismiss, basically on the grounds that the battle's nothing to do with Cherry Red. It seems the matter is on hold while that request is being considered.
21st Century Crimson Glory
21stcenturyKing Crimson is reincarnate this year with Robert Fripp and Jakko Jakszyk leading the band, joined by winds wizard Mel Collins along with Tony Levin on bass and three drummers – Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto, and Bill Rieflin.  This will represent a major event in progressive rock circles as Fripp and his Crimson vehicle have a rich history as pioneers and practitioners of the form.
Of particular note for this new lineup is the inclusion of Jakko Jakszyk up front.  Jakko led an alumnus group of former Crimson band members called 21st Century Schizoid Band in the early 2000′s.  He was joined by brothers Michael & Peter Giles, Ian McDonald, and Mel Collins each from early versions of the band. They were captured live in Japan via high quality video production aptly titled “21st Century Schizoid Band – Live in Japan” in 2002, available fromGonzo Multimedia.
For any fan of live concert video and the early work of King Crimson, this disc is a must have both for it’s content and expert production values.  The track list is rich with early Crimson gems, absent from the stage for so many years.  After the end of the 1970′s, Fripp primarily performed “Lark’s Tongue in Aspic part II”, and “Red,” from the 70′s period, both amazing instrumental classics, but representing a pretty limited span of the band’s rich history.  Occasionally another early track has been performed, but this release includes a wealth of material from their first four albums including four songs from their debut, In the Court of the Crimson King.  Other gems like “Catfood” from In the Wake of Posieden, “Formentera Lady” and “Ladies of the Road” fromIslands, two from McDonald and Giles, and other solo work are included. Another early live release available on CD, Pictures of a City -Live in New York, includes tracks from Lizard, which had never been performed live.

Read on...
..This line-up - the 8th in the band's history - will be Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Mel Collins and Jakko Jakszyk.

...."The first performance will take place in either North or South America," Fripp told Uncut. "There will be rehearsals primarily in England, and the final batch of rehearsals will most likely be in America in August or September 2014. There is a plan to include the UK in the tour dates, but it depends on a number of circumstances. Right now the primary geographical focus is the United States."
 — with Jakko M JakszykRobert FrippBill RieflinTony Levin Official PageMel CollinsGavin Harrison and Pat Mastelotto.
THE YES CIRCULAR - FRIED GREEN TORMATOES
The Court Circular tells interested readers about the comings and goings of members of The Royal Family. However, readers of this periodical seem interested in the comings and goings of Yes and of various alumni of this magnificent and long-standing band. Give the people what they want, I say
This has been a really paltry week for news from the Yes camp. There has been practically none, and because I have been away for most of the week it hasn't been possible to search too hard for some. I suppose that I could always make some up, but I don't think you would believe that Kylie Minogue and Chris Squire are collaborating with members of The Residents to make a Throbbing Gristle tribute album. So we are stuck with a mildly interesting opinion piece about why the band changed their image in the 1980s.
There is also a peculiar interview with Rick Wakeman in which he expresses the wish that famous Olympic ice skaters will recreate his legendary 1975 King Arthur shows. But, that's it for this week. Just two stories. Hopefully next week will be a little more fruitful.

I am probably getting a bit OCD about all of this, but I find the 
Yes soap opera of sound to be absolutely enthralling, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next! 

 
MORE DETAILS OF YES AT GONZO (UK)
MORE DETAILS OF YES AT GONZO (USA)
Changing the world one gift at a time
The worldwide Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Our goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process.

http://uk.freecycle.org/
CAN MUSIC CHANGE US?
NEIL YOUNG SAYS NO
BOB DYLAN HAS NO HOPE
Now Pete Seeger has left the room
who will sing to for and with us?
For this is all he asked-that we sing back
in comfortable chorus,with lyrical truth
and this is where one voice becomes all voices-
call and response,echo and reply-a people's choir
on streets,in bars,wherever people are gathered
there will always be a need for song/and no one voice can carry us all along
Now that Pete Seeger has gone,who will be our minstrel troubadour?
Who will demand change with harmonic petition,simple instrumentation,basic integrity?
Folk traditions will find a way to be heard-over the too loud TV and the silent iphone
Your human voice ,wrapped in the skin of history,will find a way to sing with others
for the sake of being human,in trust that others will sing along..
In Victorian times every well-bred Gentleman had a 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; a collection of peculiar odds and sods, usually housed in a finely made cabinet with a glass door. These could include anything from Natural History specimens to historical artefacts. There has always been something of the Victorian amateur naturalist about me, and I have a houseful of arcane objects; some completely worthless, others decidedly not, but all precious to me for the memories they hold.

But people send me lots of pictures of interesting, and, may I say, peculiar things. But once again this week it is over to my lovely wife...
Framed One Direction handpainted oil canvas. Superb unique artwork!

And for just AU $2,995.00 (Approximately £1,590.18)

Is it me or do they look as if they have stepped out of the pages of a 1950s school yearbook on this painting?  Or perhaps they are supposed to?

I have no real idea, or much interest, what these children look like in the - for want of a better word -  flesh, so I cannot comment on whether this is, indeed, a piece of superb artwork, at least with regard to whether or not the artist concerned has captured a true likeness. All I know is that they are one of those spawnings from ‘The X-Factor’; one of those excruciating tear/faint/squeal/scream-inducing abominations of young girls’ fantasies who bedeck their bedroom walls with every picture they can possible lay their hands on.

Of course I bedecked my bedroom walls with posters of various males, but they were cool, because the music of my day was cool. And, let’s face it, having the x-factor meant something else then, i.e. a noteworthy special talent or quality or a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome (as put by a dictionary).  Hmmm?  Ah, I see.  That is why they called the programme ‘The X-Factor’  …… ah, clever.  It is because the winners have ‘a noteworthy special talent’.  Wow.  But a quick check has supplied me with the information that this particular boy band came third – ha that means they don’t have the x-factor then after all.

Okay so they must be good-looking then…. after all, if all else fails, good looks will act as a suitable magnet to attract the pocket money from within the pockets of all those wailing and weeping young girls.

I tell you what though. I bet that I am not the only one who is hoping that the name of this boy band means they will take a single route as far away into the uncharted places of this world as soon as possible.   In other words, get lost.

  

Music Memorabilia News


‘Is it possible to know just what items of music memorabilia will be most sought after in years to come?’ asks Sports and Music Legends Memorabilia. ‘Let’s just put it this way: if you’re one of the lucky ones who’s snapped up a ticket to Glastonbury 2014, keep hold of it’, they continue.

‘120,000 tickets gone in the space of an hour and a half. No Glastonbury has sold faster – and small wonder…’ they go on.

Why?   Well, apparently, rumours are rife that the festival will mark the return of one David Robert Jones.

http://www.sportsandmusiclegends.co.uk/music-memorabilia-news.php

Elvis P

I have discovered that in September 2012 a bible, which once belonged to Elvis Presley, sold for £59,000 ($94,000) at auction in Greater Manchester.  According to the article from the BBC the 1,600-page book was given to the singer by his Uncle Vester and Aunt Clettes in 1957.

A pair of the singer's unwashed pants were also on sale at the Omega Auctions in Stockport, but alas were not sold as bids failed to reach the reserve price.  Here we go again – bidding available for unwashed underwear.  Apparently: ‘Bids for the stained underwear reached £5,000 but the reserve price was £7,000.’  Well bust my gusset, what a shame and a surprise - the latter being that the bids got that high!
 
SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION TIME

Just in case you are interested, here is yer beloved Editor at iTunes

Bipolar, Jon Downes Lost Weekend, Jon Downes Hard Sports - EP, Jon Downes The Man from Dystopia, Jon Downes

Check it out now...
INTRODUCING THE NINE HENRYS
There are nine Henrys, purported to be the world’s first cloned cartoon character. They live in a strange lo-fi domestic surrealist world peopled by talking rock buns and elephants on wobbly stilts.

They mooch around in their minimalist universe suffering from an existential crisis with some genetically modified humour thrown in. I think Peter McAdam is one of the funniest people around, and I cannot recommend his book The Nine Henrys highly enough. Check it out at Amazon.
 
Each issue we shall be running a series of Henrybits that are not found in his book about the nine cloned cartoon characters who inhabit a surreal world nearly as insane as mine...
The Weird Weekend is the largest yearly gathering of mystery animal investigators in the English-speaking world. Now in its fifteenth year, the convention attracts speakers and visitors from all over the world and showcases the findings of investigators into strange phenomena.
Cryptozoologists, parapsychologists, ufologists, and folklorists are descending on Woolfardisworthy Community Centre to share their findings and insights. Unlike other events, the Weird Weekend will also include workshops giving tips to budding paranormal investigators, and even a programme of special events for children. The Weird Weekend is the only fortean conference in the world that is truly a family event, although those veterans of previous events should be reassured that it is still as anarchically silly as ever!
The event is raising money for the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the world’s only full time, professional cryptozoological organisation. The profit from food and beverages goes to a selection of village charities, mostly working with children.
BUY TICKETS AT A SPECIAL ADVANCE PRICE
the running order (so far) for the 2014 event
THE WORLD OF KEV
Kev Rowland
RAIN                  Mexican Way          (AURAL MUSIC)
There is nothing new about a hard rock band releasing an album of acoustic numbers, although generally these are live recordings and are standard versions of their own songs with some covers thrown in. To my ears the finest example of this is Tesla’s ‘Five Man Acoustical Jam’, which is just stunning, but having heard this I may have to rethink just how good that actually is. Firstly, Rain are an Italian hard rock band who have been around for more than thirty years. I know this because I looked it up, but I am still having some issues coming to terms with it as take it from me this doesn’t sound in the slightest bit Italian. In fact, I was convinced that they were Tex Mex, with some songs in Spanish and some in 
English, but they seem so much at home in the languages and feel that they had to be either Mexican or American, but Italian? Okay, so we all know that the finest Westerns of all time are the spaghetti versions, but music? Really?

What we have here is a band playing mostly acoustically (electric bass), who are bringing together Alabama 3, Johnny Cash, Tina Turner and the B 52’s into an amalgam of all that is good about Tex Mex. Powerful rhythms, great guitars, and vocals that never sound European manage to convey incredible depth and emotion to what they are doing. There are a few covers on here, with “Ride Like The Wind” being way better than the original (always liked the song but not the performance by Christopher Cross) and “Times Like These” being stripped back and very different indeed to the original by Foo Fighters.

There are some reviews of this album on some metal sites where it has really been critically destroyed, but that is due to an issue with small minded reviewers where they feel that if it isn’t heavy then it is no good. But, what we have here is actually one of the most intriguing albums I have ever heard from this label, certainly it is the most unexpected. 
STEVE HACKETT   Genesis Revisited: Live At Hammersmith          (INSIDE OUT)
Was there ever a band quite like Genesis? Through their ranks have been some of the most commercially acclaimed (Phil Collins, Mike & The Mechanics, Peter Gabriel) and critically acclaimed (Anthony Phillips, Tony Banks, Daryl Stuermer) artists of the last 40 years. But, to my ears there is one who stands head and shoulders above all these, Steve Hackett. Since leaving Genesis he has pursued many different styles, including classical, and has been in the odd ‘supergroup’ (GTR, Squackett) as well. His albums are always, without fail, finely crafted pieces of work and always immensely enjoyable. Back in 1996 he decided to revisit some of the Genesis songs he felt most close to, then repeated the exercise last year and toured with a show guaranteed to make any diehard Genesis fan drool at the mouth.
To put some things into context. Steve was with Genesis from 1971 to 1976, recording four studio albums with Peter and two with Phil. From those six (plus one solo song, which was co-written with Mike Rutherford so can justifiably be included) he has produced a live album of 150 minutes in length. Back in 2007 Genesis reformed and performed to massive audiences throughout Europe, but of the set they produced on their ‘Live Over Europe’ album only two complete songs are the same as here. Genesis moved on when Phil took over lead vocals, and again when they were reduced to just three in the studio, and many fans talk about the Gabriel period or the Collins period being their particular favourite. Me, I’ll say that the Hackett period is the one that suits me best thanks very much. Of all Genesis albums recorded with Phil on vocals the first three are easily the best, and I’m not a massive fan of the albums pre-Steve (although “The Knife” is and always will be an absolute classic).

Listening to this album is at first a blast from the past, as I spent my formative years listening to these songs, but then it turns into something far much more. Musically Genesis has always been controlled by Tony Banks who is an incredible musician (and very under-rated), but although he is also a guitarist he is first and foremost a keyboard player so the arrangements have always put the guitars somewhat in the shade. Now we have classic songs (mostly forty years old remember) given new life by a guitarist in control of his own band, with the additional confidence of always being on the road and proving himself time and again. He has mostly stayed very true to the originals, but when he has the opportunity to crank his guitar out he certainly does. “The Musical Box” may start gently, but it rips into a version that gives the song much more life and drama than one could ever imagine from the original. Also of particular note is the ending of “Shadow of the Hierophant” which is intense, powerful, moving and compelling all at the same time.

This album is what I always refer to as a review killer as once it hits the player all I want to do is hit ‘repeat’ and it takes concerted effort to move on to something else. If I had to ask for one song that isn’t on this set it would probably be “Squonk” but that is picking straws as we have everything else from “Supper’s Ready” (all 27 minutes of it) to “Eleventh Earl of Mar” from the criminally overlooked ‘Wind & Wuthering’. I could play this album all day, every day, and just wished that I had been able to see this performed. But as I live on the wrong side of the world I was unable to do so, so I will just have to keep playing this instead. Superb.
 
TESTAMENT         Dark Roots Of Thrash                 (NUCLEAR BLAST)
When one thinks of what this band have been through over the years it is something of a surprise to know that they are still going. But not only are they still going, they are producing some of the most incredible tight frenetic metal one could ever wish to hear. First off, whenever Gene Hoglan is behind the kit the guys in front of him have to lift their game as otherwise he will leave them for dead – easily one of the most influential and important drummers of the whole metal scene – so Greg Christian locks in and keeps his head down while Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson do what they do best, namely play guitar as if their lives depend on it. Then secondly at the helm is the man who refused to let a little thing like cancer stop him, Chuck Billy is a legend and this performance shows why that is.
 
Released with as a DVD/CD set I only have the one hour and forty minutes of music to listen to, but that is plenty to take in, as this is as brutal a set as one could wish for. The passion in “American Hate” is palpable while the fans at the Paramount in Huntington, NY back in February obviously had a blast. If you had been at the show that night this is what you would have got rammed down your ears. Apart from their most recent album I haven’t played much testament over the years but after hearing this I see that I am going to have to revisit my opinion of them as this is immense. All power to the production of this, as every nuance is captured as well as the sheer over the top metalness of it all.

Thrash rarely, if ever, gets better than this. Here is a live album that belongs in every metalheads collection.   
 
SILENT VOICES           Reveal The Change           (INNER WOUND)
Silent Voices was founded in 1995 by guitarist Timo Kauppinen, bassist Pasi Kauppinen, drummer Jukka-Pekka Koivisto and keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg. At the time their main influences were Dream Theater and Rush. A couple of years later the line-up was completed when Michael Henneken joined in on vocals. They may have had a break for a little while (six years since the last album) but they are now back with their fourth full-length release. Henrik and Pasi are also members of Sonata Arctica, and instead of replacing Michael (who left after the last album) they have instead brought in some guests to help them out, so vocals on this album are provided by Mats LevĂ©n (Therion, Yngwie Malmsteen), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Mike Vescera 
(Loudness), Yngwie Malmsteen, Obsession) and Mike DiMeo (Masterplan, Riot). To ensure that they got the sound right, it was mastered by Ted Jensen (Bon Jovi, Dream Theater, Megadeth).

The results is something that is progressive metal through and through, and will appeal to fans of both that genre and of those who want their metal to be melodic and hard hitting and may not normally think of prog as being their thing. The musical quartet behind this album have been playing together for years and it shows, as they trade runs and are tighter than a Mayan wall. The drum fills are wonderful, with real inventiveness that add to the overall sound without detracting from it, while Timo can surely shred with the best of them. Henrik has a very fluid style, moving between different sounds to get the best from each section of a song while Pasi can also take the lead when he wants to, but is often to be found at the back providing wonderful counterpoint to the main metallic proceedings.

Needless to say, with singers of this standard the overall result is nothing short of superb, and here we have a prog metal album that is probably more of the latter than the former, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and here we have something that is hard hitting and fun throughout. If you haven’t come across this band before, and it has been a while since their last album to be fair, then you owe it to yours ears to get this now. 

 
NOX ARCANA
by Corinna
Nox Arcana

Nox Arcana is an American neoclassical/dark ambient musical duo, from Cleveland, Ohio formed in 2003 by Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski.

‘Nox Arcana specializes in concept albums based on gothic fiction and classic horror literature. Such literary references include H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, The Brothers Grimm, Ray Bradbury, and Edgar Allan Poe. Some of their albums also make reference to medieval themes and ancient mythology.’

These guys really do set the mood, if that mood is dark and stormy.  Nox Arcana are maybe not for those who prefer uplifting and clap-happy tunes, but if you are sitting in front of the fire on a wet, wild and windy night slowly reading your way through the pages of a gothic horror novel then these are the chaps to listen to.  They will set the scene perfectly.

Check out their website

Go to YouTube and have a listen:
The Great Old Ones
Pirates
 
THE BEST LAID PLANS...
It has been a totally peculiar week because nothing actually worked out anything like the way we were expecting, but as always seems to be the case, we got there in the end.
I suppose that's why I call this column what I do. because my life never works out the way that I think I am going to.

I was chatting to the lovely Liz Lenten after the Jefferson Starship show this week, and she was telling me how she now has a Project Manager to organise things. I don't think that I could even organise getting a Project Manager, other than either Mother or the Orange Kitten.
The week has been very much overshadowed by the death of Pete Seeger. He was 94, and at that venerable age, death can not really be said to come as a surprise, but he was a giant amongst men, and the world will be considerably poorer without him. The fact that there are no less than four poems in this week's issue which Thom wrote to pay tribute to this remarkable man, is testament to what  a giant, and an inspiration he actually was.

His legacy truly will live on. Or at least, it had better do if there is any hope of saving this poor benighted planet from the clutches of destruction.

Rest in peace Pete.
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