I heard an interview on the radio today with John Cleese and Eric Idle of Monty Python’s Flying Circus fame. Apparently they’re plugging a new duo act they’re doing. During the spot, Cleese said something I keyed on that has absolutely nothing to do with their act. He said that, whenever possible, he would much rather travel between gigs by car than to fly. As a fellow traveler, I completely sympathize!

In 2000, I think the average traveler would have said just the opposite. Only fifteen years ago, plane travel was ridiculously cheap and the service was still reasonably good. Even though gas prices are (more or less) the same now as then, as a consumer I have a tough time understanding this radical shift. This is progress?

The practical effect for me is that when I started doing whatever ‘this’ is, ease of travel was a large part of what made it possible. Back then I make or could change plans at the drop of a hat and no problem. Now? […]

JC’s Top Ten Progressive Rock list.

Roger CortonSo after last week’s opera-thon, we agreed to get back to some red-blooded progressive rock. And what’s more red blooded than a good old fashioned Top Ten List? I guess we should start with the question, why does the world needs another ‘ten best list’?

JCHLook, Chris Squire is gone. Most of the founders are no longer productive. It’s becoming a memory. Like I said ten years ago, it’s a museum piece. And frankly, what passes for progressive rock these days is so far removed from what I thought it was about that I think it’s worth periodically revisiting the source.

RCTo stay on course. Fair enough. Then while we’re at it, we should finish defining our terms; what we’re trying to accomplish.

JCHRight. First off, I’m not saying these are “the best” although they may well be. As with any good survey, the idea is that if you make yourself familiar with these, you’re getting […]

Singing with volume! Why opera singers sound ‘that way’. Ronnie James Dio is not loud enough? Vibrato. Loudness. Spike Jones does Pagliacci. Jubilee Singers. Opera vs. Pop.

This is by far the longest post JCH and I have ever done together. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I edit these conversations to keep the word count to around 800. Many times I will break a talk into two or more separate posts because the last thing I want is to have these go from being digestible to a boring New Yorker novella. But in this case, the conversation was too broad (you’ll get the pun as you read) to easily break apart. Although it seems like yet another of JC’s diversions into classical music (and worst of all opera, ughhh) there are important points to be made about our beloved progressive rock as well as Detroit so please hang in there. I think you’ll find it interesting.

Roger CortonA couple of weeks ago I came […]

The official video for part III of the totally epic The Solid State Siren. Only took two years! Which is ironic, since the entire video took a whopping twenty minutes to throw together. Just another way to sample the music without actually paying for it (shock!) 😀

Post tour review. Many Words vs. Apollo 100. More music so bad it’s good. Shred intolerance is a real condition.

Roger CortonYou’re back. How ya feeling, champ?

JCHWell, better than I thought. Not as good as I’d hoped. I mean, you’re not supposed to say this but I was not feeling great at a couple of the gigs. I didn’t hear any snark, but one never knows.

RCHonestly, I’d tell you. Before we move on, we got a bunch of traffic on your Piracy You Can Believe In post. Like twenty messages.

JCHReally? Cool. I was listening to those Schickele Mix shows almost non-stop during the tour. We’re flying back to Seattle and he did this one joke and it was literally the ‘Coca-Cola shot out of my nose’ moment. I had always doubted that shit really happens. And then it happened to me. And the seats are tight these days so my seat-mates got sprayed.

RCHow embarrassing. […]