Rites of Spring festival

I meet George Rolden at his home in Coatesville Philadelphia. Thanks to Jill Hughes-Kirtland (editor, usaprogmusic), who drove me to meet this old acquaintance of hers from the Progrock world, I arrive in time for George’s weekly radio broadcast of Prog Rock Cafe; equipment housed in the basement of his home.
George politely and magnanimously welcomed us in on this somewhat chilly December night. Under Jill’s advise we had packed our bags to stay-over at his humble abode; a long drive back up to Jersey just wouldn’t work in the thick snow.
I set up the vidcam on the topmost shelf of George’s bookcase as swiftly as I could so as not to interrupt his radio schedule. We were ready for the simulcast of Prog Rock Cafe and Sonicfreakz’s video interview.

George is an old hand in the progressive rock circle. As the president and promoter of ROSfest – Rites of Spring festival held annually in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he has made ROSfest one of the premier ProgRock festivals on the North-east region of America; this region being New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Delaware. (continue reading…)

Tin Angel PA

A duo is probably the most efficient way to describe Francis singing and playing guitar, with Tom on keys. I have reviewed several acoustic shows in pint-size venues before. Some have outperformed my expectations, others just seem to fade into the noise of claustrophobia.

An innocuous stage setup lay before me at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia.
I had never seen Francis Dunnery perform until that night. I am of course somewhat familiar with Tom Brislin’s career. Mr Dunnery it seems has had a fairly illustrious musical career, being the frontman for sometimes rock, other times pop, but mostly ProgRock band It Bites during the ‘80s. It Bites had a fair amount of success including a #6 with song ‘Calling All Heroes’ on the UK Singles Chart. According to what I read online, his career also saw him hobnob with some significant names in the British ProgRock scene, such as Chris Squire and Robert Plant.
His most current projects are his solo performances and the recently formed New Progressives. The latter it seems, has as its mission, to develop a new approach to progressive rock.

Prog music has its roots in the British movement against pop and rock music of the late ’60’s/early ‘70s. Those who championed this style chose to push the boundaries in composition and live performance; hence the term progressive. Many iterations later, prog music has in many ways become more of a show than a movement. I would very much like the opportunity to sit down with Mr Dunnery to discover what he thinks he has added to the ProgRock repertoire; so Francis, give me a call. (continue reading…)

Suspyre's 3rd CD cover (courtesy of the band)

Ages are believed to correlate to the rise and fall of mighty civilisations and cultural tendencies,  with Aquarius traditionally ruling electricity, computers, democracy, humanitarianism, idealists, rebels and rebellion… so reads the Wikipedia entry.

It was no coincidence that the weekend I was exposed to “Hair” on Broadway, I should have on my travel schedule an encounter with Gregg Rossetti (please role the ‘R’s’ con brio), his band of merry men, his Lady April, and Lord Thomas Brislin, who wields a mighty axe; all chaperoned by Lady Jill Hughes-Kirtland.

Fair and long-haired leader Gregg is a student of Renaissance music while Sir Tom just joined 70s British progressive rock band Renaissance for its upcoming revival tour. The consistency in a certain tiny detail got me highly suspicious indeed.

The Renaissance (Rinascimento means ‘rebirth’) was considered a cultural advancement from the Middle Ages. The modus operandi of the Renaissance man was to champion ‘progress’. This ‘detail’ was to lead me to demand their inquisition at the watering hole known as Bar East.

As Jupiter aligned with Mars, my parallel universes were to move towards various head-on collisions.

This time, the scene is ‘just another Summer’s night’ in NYC. The drizzle would not abate as I walk the 9 minutes from the subway station to 1st Ave, between 89th and 90th Street.
Time check: 19:45; Place: Bar East. Target: New Jersey progressive metal band Suspyre. (#1)

(continue reading…)