I’m extremely sorry to have to report that Gus, mascot and brand identity of this little sideshow passed away yesterday. I’m not 100% sure but I think he was 16ish…

You well know, as much as I blather on about everything from highbrow aesthetics to low cost anaesthetics, I’m not much taken with sharing personal details. But Gus basically was the ‘the brand identity’ so it seems worth a mention.

Gus became that marketing identity in 2003 when I brought him to one of my first house concerts in Vancouver. Most of my nutty ideas are just that. But everyone thought it was cute as hell. And it didn’t hurt that Gus was more charming and better behaved than most people I know. All the little jokes about ‘is he your sidekick?’ seemed to beg the answer, ‘Why yes. Yes he is.’

Now everyone in the ‘prog’ world can get so stuck on the idea of sparkly capes and all that astral horseshit. Something about showing up with a guitar and […]