We interrupt our multi-part rant on ‘Criticism’ for the second snippet from the new album, Progress, called Take A Picture. Famous fretless bass players with two syllable names. Pino. Jaco. Jon Anderson and Olias of Sunhillow. The Roger Dean planet. Unconventional finger picking. Bach. Superbia. Catholic sin. Satan. The usual.

Roger CortonI was going to publish the other parts of our mega-chat on (cough) ‘criticism’ but this site is supposed to be about your music and not ‘Humanities 101’. So I made an executive decision to get this up. ASAP.

JCHWhat’s that old business joke about ‘asap’?

RCIt makes a sap out of you and me. Us oldsters really know how to tell a joke, eh sonny?

JCHNo doubt. Probably nobody under thirty has even heard that knee slapper. But in reaction to your ‘executive decision’, allow me to be a bit more with the youth of America. “What…ehhhhhver, dude.”

[…]

First snippet from the new opera, Boats. Nostalgia. Peter Gabriel & San Jacinto. Deadliest Catch. Willy Loman. Death Of A Salesman. Masculinity. Is golf as boring as opera?

Roger CortonGreat news. Another snippet?

JCHAnd the bad news is. It’s about the other opera.

RCI’ve given up trying to tell you to stay focused on one album at a time. So, is there a story in there someplace?

JCHWell that’s the other bad news. It’s a lot like Detroit The Opera. Except that it’s about fishermen. It’s Detroit. With fish. And manly men.

RCManly men?

JCHYeah. Not to digress, but I was listening to Peter Gabriel the other day. And I hadn’t noticed before; he covers this one theme over and over; There’s this ancient way of doing things that gives life–especially men’s lives–real meaning. And then it blows up. For example, “San Jacinto” is a great vignette. I think it’s his best lyric by a mile

[…]

Or, “can it be wrong if everyone does it?” An NPR article on copyright that totally misses the point. Someone is making money on invented language? Peter Hollens and Middle Earth videogame sounds vs. Steve Roach and Ambient Electronica. Cosplay. Piracy. Point Counterpoint. Jane You Ignorant Slut. Fresh vs. Freeze-dried food. Some dark ideas on the future.

JCHOK, so there was this story on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/08/08/487291905/why-taylor-swift-is-asking-congress-to-update-copyright-laws

JCHAnd I wrote a comment, which got deleted for some reason. So, sneak that I am, I re-posted it two days later (and below).

RCHoly Invented Language Batman! That guy is just like what you were ranting on Invent Your Own Language last month!

JCHExcept that he found a way to monetize the thing.

RCHe makes a six figure income! Making D&D sounds?

JCHI mean, who knew there was so much interest in ‘Cosplay’.

RCCosplay?

JCHGoogle it, homes. Apparently, playing dress up is a big deal nowadays. […]

First snippet from the new album, Progress. Chaplin Modern Times. Boiling the frog. Astoria, OR gig is a go.

Roger CortonMan. I go away for a few weeks and the whole place goes to hell!

JCHThings have been busy.

RCOK we’ll knock off a few items in a minute. But without further ado, you have a snippet preview of the new record.

JCHYep.

I Know What You Want

RCThis is not what I expected.

JCHWhat were you expecting?

RCWell, not dance music. It almost sounds like EDM. Is the whole record like this?

JCHI’m glad you mentioned that. No, the whole record is not like that. If you know anything about what I do by now, it’s that picking one ‘representative’ cut is a fool’s errand. But to yer point: we live in the age of EDM. In a sense, […]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Monty Python. No more gigs this summer. Sinus disease. Women are better. Running out of CDs? What to do! At the home. Previews.

JCHNOBODY EXPECTS

Roger CortonThe Spanish Inquisition!

JCHI love it. For our generation it’s like ‘Shave and a haircut. Two Biiiits!’. It’s like an irresistible reflex.

RCIt’s a given. But as much as I love Python, why are we talking about this?

JCHBecause it never really dawned on me how multi-layered that skit really is. I mean, I’d almost forgotten about Graham and Carol. With each ‘take’ they get less and less engaged with the whole business. Even though it’s THE SPANISH INQUISITION! They’re just tired of the whole thing.

RCLook. Spit it out. There’s a point in there somewhere, right?

JCHOK, ya got me. It looks like there will be no tour this summer.

RCWhat? Why?

JCHBecause, Dear Readers, my nose […]