20 Years of PE Memories! Share them!

[Yodelgoat]

Glad to forget all the years of worthless drivel I have endured. One of many forums I have wasted my life on.

[moecurlythanu]

^ There's a ringing endorsement!

[señormoment]

I’ve found that being completely honest may be deemed discourteous and irresponsible, and can illicit an undesired response or be ignored. Either way I’ve been frustrated at times, drawn into a negative vortex of the mind, and wondered what I’m doing here.
It’s good to realize that what others think of me is none of my business.
One can always lurk, or spend time doing something else.
Anyway, in music we share common interests and I think this is a good forum.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Glad to forget all the years of worthless drivel I have endured. One of many forums I have wasted my life on.

^ There's a ringing endorsement!

To be fair, this forum does have its drivel. Sturgeon's Law applies here as everywhere.

[auxfnx]

Without question that day in March of 2009 when I was discussing back and forth with one of my heroes of contemporary "progressive" music, Steve Gore of the Rascal Reporters - in which he played with his closest bud, Steve Kretzmer. From what I understood (I may be wrong), they were Bar Mitzvah/highschool friends of unseparable girth. Anyway, we were debating the role of free improvisation etc. in the context of out beloved "genre", him being one who largely created -extremely- through-composed tunes with an almost unprecedented level of melodic structure - yet in frameworks of such density that one'd might even escape the more or less direct references to Bacharach, Carpenters, Brian Wilson etc. were it not for the "diplomatic" character of the duo's basic approach, featuring farce, humour, elegance and the sheer gusto of pure sentimentality.

Gore never really took to free improv. It was from the booklet of RR's The Foul-Tempered Clavier that I got the Fred Frith-quote in my bottom sig. Frith was one of several old mavericks whom they'd lure into contributing to their mildly eccentric vision of song and tune, along with Dave Newhouse (Muffins). Didkovsky (Doctor Nerve), Guy Segers (UZero/Present) and others.

I got the RR's Happy Accidents back in 1997. My then-wife and I played it to our kid while he was still in her swollen stomach, and he obviously adored it. Who wouldn't? My wife would drive us around in our old Golf Joker, harass me for never finishing in my driver's license and pointing out that if I hadn't at least brought some great sound to the table of the damn car, she'd leave me on the pavement. Our son loved Lars Hollmer's Ramlösa Kvällar as well. And Simon Steensland's Zombie Hunter, Beefheart's Decals and Crac! by Area. He turned out alright, of course.

Steve Gore broke off the discussion on improvisation because he had to attend to some housework, promising to return to the same thread the next day. About 20 hours later, Steve Kretzmer reported on how Gore had apparently gone down a set of moist stairs, fallen and hit his head.

And it wasn't an injury or a spectacle. The man was gone.

It's by far the single most tragic incident I ever "witnessed" online, and one I can never really get by. This man was a mind of difficult, but outright brilliance - and yeah, he possessed that exact same of dread-beyond-dark-dry existentialist humour which has kept me alive through decades of immense challenge in the face of folks and the world. I can only imagine how sincerely devastating the whole event must have been for those who actually knew and loved the guy, not least his wife and Steve K..

I still cherish his voice, songs and preposterous outlook on life, and I wish there was an afterlife so that I could meet up with the man and have him do "Woman to Woman" realtime. But alas I've already been dead and know that there isn't an afterlife, here's a couple for you punters:

Wow, thank you for sharing. That is tragic to hear. He was an absolute genius, and I wish I got to know him.

[dgtlman]

Thanks for bringing this one back to the forefront. I just had to go back & reread all the posts. I'm amazed at how many previous posters are now "banned".

[Vic2012]

Lol. I perused the whole thread as well. Hilarious. I've sorta been lurking on Reddit. No intention of joining but it reminds of the rabbit hole of insanity, free for all, PE used to be 15-18 years ago.

[Yodelgoat]

To be fair, this forum does have its drivel. Sturgeon's Law applies here as everywhere.

Wow, did I say that??? Must have had a bad day... OK, Its not all worthless drivel. I apologize to all you non-drivelers. I've probably written as much drivel as anyone. Reading through this entire post, I have to say that I recall back in 2005, I had released a cd and came here - in all honesty, to "advertise" and wound up staying to read all the interesting stuff that's here. Admittedly, There are times when I have no interest in what people are posting. But of course, people rarely find my contributions all that interesting. I have probably doubled my cd collection as a result of being here. Considering my original purpose for signing up, its been a net loss of epic proportion.

[Trane]

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/fo...65310&#5665310

Anyone has news of John Davies (Mellotron Storm)?

Hasn't posted here or on ProgArchives since end of 2018...

Greg-Mozo, you're living not too faraway from him, I believe and maybe know him in person?

[Chain]

Dushanbe. That's it. I completely drew a blank.

Bill

Dushanbe Rock !!!

[mozo-pg]

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/fo...665310�

Anyone has news of John Davies (Mellotron Storm)?

Hasn't posted here or on ProgArchives since end of 2018...

Greg-Mozo, you're living not too faraway from him, I believe and maybe know him in person?

I'm only familiar with John's posts here. Don't know him in person.

[Garden Dreamer]

One thing I've noticed lately - WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE WOMEN MEMBERS? I hardly see any posts from them anymore, did we testosterone-fueled gents scare them all off?

EDIT: I see this was mentioned on page 5... just working my way thru the thread...

[Rarebird]

I was quite sure I joined back around then also, but my profile (and yours) says we both joined in 2012. Didn't PE have a "reset" or something a few years back? It's possible that 2012 became the new "joined" year because the site was starting over or something?

One thing I've noticed lately - WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE WOMEN MEMBERS? I hardly see any posts from them anymore, did we testosterone-fueled gents scare them all off?

I'm still here. No-one scares me off.

[Garden Dreamer]

Speaking of the ladies, I miss Jo (fusionera), RIP. I don't care for live chat rooms but I did check out the PE one when I joined in the early days and had a nice chat with her.

[kid_runningfox]

Speaking of the ladies, I miss Jo (fusionera), RIP. I don't care for live chat rooms but I did check out the PE one when I joined in the early days and had a nice chat with her.

When I was in SF in 2004 doing field research for my PhD, Jo invited me up to Cotati where she lived at the time and took me out wine tasting in the Nappa Valley. She was a lovely person, and I was very sad indeed when I learned that she passed. RIP.

[100423]

I'm still here. No-one scares me off.

[Polypet]

Wow, thank you for sharing. That is tragic to hear. He was an absolute genius, and I wish I got to know him.

I remember that day also. Steve and i had been very good friends for a long time. We had a daily correspondance for some time which suddenly cut off. I heard from Kretzmer what had happened. It's still one of the saddest days of my life. He was a good guy, a brilliant super talent and one of the funniest people i'd ever met. I'll never forget him.

This place is the only progressive music forum i frequent for any sort of actual hang. My friend Kurt Rongey (Underground Railroad) posted a review of one of my albums here. He told me about that and i came to check it out. Turned out it was a most excellent forum. Also many of my musical friends and/or people whose own music i admired appeared to be members. Having now met some of you on Thinking Plague's East Coast tour, i understand the camaraderie among folks here. It's a very friendly place and actually represents the wide swatch of progressive music (not just "Prog", thankfully). People here just seem to love music and talking about Yes (* joking *).

Seriously, i wish this place and everyone in it many more years of musical joy and happiness

[Yodelgoat]

Having now met some of you on Thinking Plague's East Coast tour, i understand the camaraderie among folks here. It's a very friendly place and actually represents the wide swatch of progressive music (not just "Prog", thankfully). People here just seem to love music and talking about Yes (* joking *).

Seriously, i wish this place and everyone in it many more years of musical joy and happiness

Wow, are you in Thinking Plague? Love your stuff. I have a friend here in Fort worth that said he knows you guys. Great Guitarist too. You are a part of my musical joy and happiness. Cheers.

[Trane]

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/fo...665310�

Anyone has news of John Davies (Mellotron Storm)?

Hasn't posted here or on ProgArchives since end of 2018...

Greg-Mozo, you're living not too faraway from him, I believe and maybe know him in person?

He's on RYM for now, but he hasn't responded on my PM there yet.

[Chain]

A-side.jpg

[Tangento]

I just read through all of this... it definitely brought back some fond memories. I was never too high-profile in the PE Universe, but I definitely spent MANY hours on the old site, awash in discussion, discovery and gut-busting laughs. I'm now reminded of some of the very real connections I had made with some of the folks here.

Some of the names that come to mind:

• Sean (we had mostly Zappa & Hackett in common, IIRC)
• Duncan Glenday (always such a helpful chap)
• Dave Kerman (we shared mutual interest in brutal Death Metal and blowing up job radios)
• Red Masque (I remember really liking their music, and Lynette was super cool)
• Udi Koomran (a genius; as well as a true Bungle bro)
• Kavus Torabi (I'm in the presence of greatness, AND he loves Reign in Blood and Voivod)
• Luis Nasser (that dude was wicked smahht, and funny as fuck)

Also, pretty much everyone here who loves Cardiacs
I still get notifications for the epic CARDIACS: Where To Start thread to this day

There are a TON more folks whom I remember fondly, even if I was less than memorable to them.
I'm also sincerely sorry to hear of some of the folks who've left us. R.I.P. to the lot.

One more: I'll never forget the epic, multi-page Zappa VS. Hendrix donnybrook that took place here, in which I took down Omega Monkey in a Zircon-encrusted choke-hold.

Good times.

I have (most of) the actual dates that everyone joined PEv2.0.

If you drop me a PM, I'll reset your join date back to your original PEv2.0 date.l

See what I mean? What a dude.

While I have you here Duncan, I notice that I have like 5 posts credited here on the 3.0 site. True, I never really took to the migration, but I'm pretty sure I've been more active than that!

[Trane]

While I have you here Duncan, I notice that I have like 5 posts credited here on the 3.0 site. True, I never really took to the migration, but I'm pretty sure I've been more active than that!

The post count was only activated three years (or is that 4?) ago.... Before that, everyone remained at 0, no matter jow much they posted

[MudShark22]

A-side.jpg

A finer example of progressiveness has never been found.

[Yodelgoat]

Oh I also recall someone who posted a LOT here used one of my comments in his sig...

"Listen Mr Potato head... isnt there a Star Trek Convention you should be at?..." (something like that)

Highlight of my posting career...

[Sputnik]

A-side.jpg

Damn, I'm still hunting for a copy of this! I need it, along with the album by that new Italian band, Il Peni Grande, who I hear are "up and coming." I can't even find camples of either of these. WTF?