It's the place where we cornered Christian Vander and tried to get him to translate "Polish my mumper" into Kobian. He weaseled his way out of it.Originally Posted by chalkpie
It's the place where we cornered Christian Vander and tried to get him to translate "Polish my mumper" into Kobian. He weaseled his way out of it.
Haha - true story!!
Was anyone else really shocked when the New Trolls/UM one was cancelled, and also that big one on the west coast? I had tix for both, and I didn't know an event could be cancelled just due to low sales. I would have assumed you'd just have to go on with it and cancel any plans for the next one if you wanted to. Or pretend that all the bands were sick.
All the bands were sick, Jed. You just heard wrong about low sales.
There. Better?
WHY would you assume it would have to 'just go on' if 'just going on' meant an inability to pay for things, which would lead to the cancellation of the festival anyway?
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
As I said, I didn't know an event could be cancelled because of low sales - I'm not in the entertainment business. It was probably in the fine print somewhere though.
You can cancel anything for any reason. You can sue anyone for any reason. You can kill anyone for any reason.
Doesn't mean there might not be legal repercussions afterwards.
I suggest a class action suit! Let's exume the 5 year old dead corpse of the cancelled NearFest and give it a proper cross-examination.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
It happens all the time. I remember ELO cancelling their late 90's US tour because of low ticket sales, as one immediate example.
Does anyone remember if tickets actually went on sale for the Stateside Genesis dates on the Calling All Stations tour? I know the tour was announced, they were supposed to play Gund Arena here in Cleveland (they'd have been one of the first concerts there, actually), the dates are listed in the Opening The Musical Box book, but did they pull the plug before the tickets went onsale or what?
One of my favorite NEARfest memories: Roger Trigaux asking me "Where is pissing room?!". I should have said "Oh, you mean the water closet?", but I didn't think of it at the time. I just showed him where it was.
I just think that was one of the best efforts I've seen anyone make to bridge a language barrier.
Well, what I remember Dave doing at NEARfest wasn't so much "sequences" (not the way I understand the word to mean when talking about synths, anyway) but the spacey synth noise stuff, like what Del Dettmar used to do in the Space Ritual era, ya know the twittering sounds, filter sweeping white noise and "bubbles".
I can understand having sequencer type stuff on playback, that actually kind of makes sense, but it just seems to me like the Del type stuff should be done live. But like I said, in the general scheme of things, I imagine it doesn't really matter one way or another. It's not like I was ever going to see Hawkwind five or six times in a tour, thus having to hear the exact same "TARDIS lift off" sounds multiple times.
That's disappointing to hear that Tim's left Hawkwind again. He was kind of the main reason I was even curious to know what Hawkwind was doing these days. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to bring the current version Stateside sometime in the near future. If they played Cleveland, I'd go out of my way to try to see it, because there's always that chance it took be exciting.
As I recall NF was cancelled right before the plane fares had to be booked. Someone else would know the details better obviously.
You can cancel, but the later you do the less of your money you can get back. Some bands might need deposits, there is travel, the venue may have a deposit, etc. There's a point where things are bad but you still might lose less money to go through with it, while holding out hope of a future event (which a cancellation would generally rule out). There's also a point where things are bad enough that you should pull the plug. It's up to the promoters.
A festival asked Carl Hupp Project to play. They offered him a time and money and after he said yes they just blew him off. They refused to return any attempts he made to contact them. So yea, you can do anything you want to.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
Yup. That was about it. Massive expenditures for band plane fares and sound system deposit were coming and coming fast. Ray and Jim made absolutely the right decision. It is not worth imperiling the finances of your family for a hobby music festival.
I have a pretty good NEARfest pissing story.
I don’t remember why, but for some reason I was at the venue early on Friday and there was hardly anyone there. I went into the regular lobby bathroom to take a piss, and another person came in right behind to me. We were both standing at the urinal and it turned out to be none other than Roye Albrighton from Nektar. We are standing their peeing and he says “so are you with one of the bands then?” I stutter something to the effect of “no, just a fan here for the festival”, and started gushing about how I had been a Nektar fan for years, but never had the chance to see them. He was very cool, and told me he hoped I enjoyed it. I walked out lf the bathroom thinking to myself, I just pissed next to Roye Fucking Albrighton! Anyway, it was a very surreal NEARfest moment for me, and one I will always remember.
Most of us still have residual effects of those years when we think of the friends we made and still have, the autographs, the photos, and the great memories. Every year when I play in the Progressive Ears Fantasy Hockey League I think that because of Nearfest, I actually got to meet most of my opponents.
I had a similar experience, but it was at ProgScape and was when I first met Michael Bennett.
Don't get carried away, now!
Did you guys shake hands?
They shook penises.Did you guys shake hands?
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
2009 was my fave.
As for unexpected- I was walking past Zollner Saturday and - there was Daevid just sitting there ! I had to stop and say Hi ! I must have seemed a babbling fool to him. Also got to talk to Miquette out front Fri, at first I didn't recognize her, but it dawned on me eventually. She actually went in and brought Jonny out to talk after I asked if he was there. All the bands were great that year. But meeting Jeff (from Cyndee & Jeff) was just as unforgettable. We hit it off pretty good. Ahhhhhhhhhh... the good old days !!
I do miss NF around this time of year. The hanging out with the PE folks was the best part for me since I did not care to much about seeing some of the bands. I would indeed go in and give them a listen but it did not last long for some bands. It was funny when the guitarist for Pallas thought they were getting standing ovation but it was everyone walking out. Maybe they would have sounded better if they weren't completely pickled at 2 in the afternoon.
I had to leave the Magma show because it was just to intense. Yea, ol' NF. Good times were had by all.
On a side note. WTF do you all see in Hawkwind? A friend played 2 CDs (1 live) and when it was done I said "Was that Spinal Tap?"
Thank you, Toad!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Supposedly at the first Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards was standing at the urinal doing his business when Johnny Cash stepped up to the adjoining station. Richards said something to the effect of "I can't believe I'm taking a piss next to Johnny Cash". And Cash rumbled, "oh trust me Keith, the experience is very over-rated".
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
It's not the fact that there is no longer a NEARfest to experience anymore that should be a let down, but the fact that there was a festival that you came away with a lot of good memories to last a lifetime that makes it all worth while.
Watch out! That's how they nabbed George Michael!
In the autograph line after the Hillage set, Steve notices that I'm wearing a Magma badge around my neck. I point to the Magma mandala badge I'm also wearing and he says, "You've got the yin and yang of French prog rock, then!". I then turned to Miquette and greeted her by saying, "Bon jour, mademoiselle Miquette", and Steve says, "Listen to this nice polite young man!".
Then the next day, Steve and I talked a bit in the lobby, and he mentioned the video that used to be on Youtube, of Magma performing the song Otis, subtitled with the "phonetic" lyrics. He was talkign about how hilarious it was, so I told him about the "Jade chant Magma" video, which he hadn't yet seen.
I remember hearing that Daevid was upset that the NEARfest audience (mostly) remained seated during the Gong set.
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