Part II of a discussion of Dave Weigel’s new book The Show That Never Ends, a history of Progressive Rock, which is getting all sorts of discussion on social media. The chat ended breaking down into two broad topics. Part I was about Robert Fripp vs. Keith Emerson. This time, we discuss the notion of Progressive Rock as ‘art’ or entertainment. The Prog Tree Of Life. Jumping The Shark. No regroup. Mr. Natural.

Roger CortonOverall, why do you think the book is getting so much attention?

JCHI think a lot of it is that this guy is a well-placed writer and the fact that he is a good reporter. He covered this like a for realz news story. There may or may not be that many fans left. They just make a lot of noise (laughs). But he gave the whole thing real gravitas by covering it like real ‘art’ and I’m sure the fans get that.

RCI know you mentioned the […]

Part I of a discussion of Dave Weigel’s new book The Show That Never Ends, a history of Progressive Rock, which is getting all sorts of discussion on social media. The chat ended breaking down into two broad topics. This week? Career Planning: Robert Fripp vs. Keith Emerson. Filet Mignon with Ketchup.

Roger CortonWhere you been, man? We gotta discuss this book.

JCHSick. And you know I haven’t actually read the thing.

RCBut surely you’ve heard about it?

JCHThat guy has like the best PR agent of all time. I expect to see a review in Juggs Monthly (laughs). Nobody gets that reference. Dude, where did you get that?

RCWikipedia. I didn’t get the reference.

JCHWow. I gotta stop doing jokes like that. I haven’t seen a for realz skin mag in twenty years. Anyhoo, nothing but interviews. Probably the biggest thing to happen to ‘Prog’ in a decade. And I have […]

I Know What You Want: Dance music. We decide to tackle a thorny subject. After unexpectedly great initial sales, fans decide realize complain mightily. Nice beat. I Give it an 85. But is it really ‘Prog’? Talking Heads. Kraftwerk.

Roger CortonAfter some pretty great initial results, the sales of Progress plummeted like the proverbial stone. Expected?

I Know What You Want (Snippet)

JCHExpected. Or rather, I think the fact that the initial sales were good was the unexpected part.

RCPart of it was, I think, the fact that some of us were expecting a (hate to bring up a sort spot) a tour.

JCHI get it.

RCAnd I think another issue, which we’ve decided to handle

JCHFULL FRONTAL. NOW DON’T SUGAR COAT IT, SON!

RCDance music.

JCHRight.

RCBecause the scuttle butt was that Progress is that…

RC“It’s just like Compartments”

RCie. […]

An oldie but still a classic: Open Your Eyes, the epic from Compartments in a new video. Ants again for the first time. Rick Wakeman’s cape.

Roger CortonI see you redid the old videos for Open Your Eyes. You combined the three parts all into one. Why?

JCHAnts (laughs). You remember when the computer servers crashed last summer? I lost a ton of old original materials.

As Editor, this is where I jump in with a ‘We Regret The Error’. As our readers know, I chop out a lot of material from our chats in order to make these (cough) discussions readable. My goal is 800 words even though we rarely make it. Sometimes I’m not as careful as I could be and in this case, I hacked out the entire portion of our chat on 08/24/16 where we discussed the server crash. I apologize for not […]

Happy Birthday Dr. Bill Bruford. Max Roach. How JC’s drumming has (cough) evolved. Terry Gilliam. Too many notes, Dear Mozart. How do you record yourself playing with yourself? And do Penis Extenders really work? Practice. Practice. Practice. Physicality vs. composing away from an instrument. Some thoughts on recording a conversation with yourself.

Roger CortonBill Bruford had a birthday this week. Did you know he was a PhD?

JCHI do now. I actually tried reading his dissertation.

RCAnd?

JCHAnd it’s supposed to be some analysis of how various drummers approach (cough) ‘the beat’. That is, their approach to ‘time’. Now you know I have no trouble posting links to pretty arcane shit, but that thing? WOWSA! It never ceases to amaze me how people can be such great musicians and have such a BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING internal process. I mean seriously. Especially Brits. Fripp too.

RCI know exactly what you mean. I bought one of Fripp’s guitar video courses sight unseen and […]