Another snippet from the new opera, The Boats, the big finale: You Can Dream With Me. Escaped salmon. Career opportunities. Crisis and Chinese expressions. Playable mockups. Creative at the wrong time. Performance therapy. Woody Allen.

Roger CortonA new snippet!

You Can Dream With Me (Snippet)

JCHSnippet my arse.

RCI misspoke. It’s a substantial piece of music. What gives?

JCHI dunno. I guess my thinking is that the opera stuff is such a stretch for regular listeners that there’s no need to be ‘stingy’. It’s not like I’m gonna sell racks of these things.

RCSo what you’re saying is that because it’s less of what people want, you’re making up for it with larger portions?

JCHI never thought about it like that. We lose money on every sale, but boy do we make it up in VOLUME! (laughs).

RCVolume–that’s good. OK, so what’s it all about?

JCHWell, it’s the finale. And […]

If a white man doesn’t enjoy hip hop is there racism involved or just old age? The Atlantic hates Progressive Rock. Narcissism. Eating yer veg and broadening our minds. Beyoncé. Sugar Hill Gang. Grandmaster Flash. Sir Mixalot. Hamilton. Kendrick. The Guest Rapper Killed The Guitar Solo. Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Journalists and music criticism. Rap, vegetables, Reagan and ketchup. Glenn Miller.

Roger CortonOK, there was a recent article in The Atlantic which is just damning of Progressive Rock. The author calls it ‘the whitest music ever’. So to respond you think it’s a good idea to talk about ‘rap’ music. Possibly the least prog-friendly music (if I can call it that) on this here planet. Why, Oh why?

JCHWell, first of all, I generally love The Atlantic. It’s probably my fave print mag ever. But they have this whole other group of people who blog for them; maybe they’re the minor league team. They tend to do narcissistic pieces like that.

[…]

Glenn Campbell, RIP. JC’s Co-Pilot. Not Steve Howe. Monkees. Superpower. Oceans Below. Louis Shelton.

Roger CortonYou wanted to talk about Glenn Campbell.

JCHYeah man. My fave. Absolutely my fave. Playing. Singing. The cat.

JCHThere was this period when he was doing Wichita Lineman and Galveston and so on and I just thought he was the coolest.

RCSeriously?

JCHOh yeah. When I was a kid he did a TV special where he got to play and that was it for me.

RCThat’s so funny to me because everyone always thinks you play like Steve Howe.

JCHThat’s only because Steve is the only guy in ‘Prog’ who was coming from any vaguely (cough) ‘country/folky’ aspect and to yer average ‘Prog’ fan [fake chinese accent] velly solly, we all look arike to you round eyes. (laughs). But his […]

The official video for totally epic The Solid State Siren.

Roger CortonWe haven’t talked in a while. Is it time to get back to new music?

JCHNot yet. Still dealing with some nagging health issues.

RCSay no more. OK, so why this video now?

JCHWell, aren’t you the one who’s always after me to keep the site (cough) ‘fresh’? A lot of people don’t get a chance to hear the whole piece just from the ‘snippets’.

RCYou mean the people who you often describe as “wanting something for nothing” (laughs).

JCH. Yeah. Those people. But after a while, the vast majority of sales that are to be made have been made. So it makes sense to present the thing as it was meant to be heard.

RCAnd you’ve gotten good results from doing this with Progress, right?

[…]

Part II.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. A follow up where JCH actually reads a book (shock). Moody Blues. Definitions. What makes for a real Indian? Even more Fripp.

Roger CortonYou finally read it (laughs)?

JCHI did. So a couple of quick things I got WRONG and then off to the weenie roasts.

RCYou? Using the ‘W’ word?

JCHWell that’s what happens when you review a book you haven’t actually read! (laughs).

RCGood point.

JCHI didn’t realize how much the thing reads like a history. Fact. Fact. Fact. Fact. Far less of an analysis then I expected.

RCI know. The way you were gassing on.

JCHWell in my defense all those reviews, the guy is giving all these long expositions

RCLike in that Libertarian magazine article. Ayn Rand and […]