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Thread: James Bickers (Sea of Tranquility, Progression, Radio, etc) RIP (9/29/16)

  1. #1
    Member mnprogger's Avatar
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    James Bickers (Sea of Tranquility, Progression, Radio, etc) RIP (9/29/16)

    Not sure how many people remember him, and I know probably 15 years ago, I think his involvement in progressive rock fans/media, etc kind of was reduced as he focused more on other forms of media like Podcasting and Radio. Humor, arts, entertainment and things.

    But he was a journalist and media person who I can honestly say, was a very big inspiration to me as a music listener. Especially when I met him in Lansing, ILL at the 1st ProgPower USA festival in February 2001.

    I didn't realize he passed away almost a year ago, and was only 45.

    Rest in Peace.

    Here's more details of my experience with him, etc.

    http://allmediareviews.blogspot.com/...ace-92916.html
    Last edited by mnprogger; 08-29-2017 at 01:58 PM.

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    I can't remember if I knew about this or not, but I used to subscribe to Sea of Tranquility, and I remember when it had to cease publication and they rolled it into Progression magazine, which was a welcome and resourceful move.

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    Member progholio's Avatar
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    Sorry to hear that. I also met him at that same Progpower fest, very nice fellow. Ended up subscribing to Sea Of Tranquility and still have his bumper sticker stuck onto a bass drum. Yeah, i thought that was pretty cool when SOT was rolled into Progression and it became the "black pages".

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    Moderator Duncan Glenday's Avatar
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    I thought James was key in rerevitalization of various forms of prog, though he had a bit of a focus on metal.

    He created the Sea Of Tranquility magazine, and set up a small web site as well.

    After a time he sold the magazine to Progression, and the web site to Pete Pardo ("SoT dude" here on PE).

    The magazine was represented as "the dark pages" (or something similar) in Progression - with one of the primary writers being my friend Mike Popke.

    Under Pete and a few others <ahem> the web site was re-worked, and became the review site / webzine it is today - with 10 writers and over 20,000 individual reviews of albums in the prog and metal genres, over 1,000 interviews, and concert reviews, and many hundred articles.

    All spawned by James Bickers.
    Regards,

    Duncan

  5. #5
    I actually listened to James on his morning radio show on the local Luh'vul NPR station. I had to look it up to see if it was the same person as my former Progression colleague. I started listening to the classical station a few months before his tragic death hit the news. Sad stuff.
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