<<> Man would I love to get a copy of that. Any
thing you might be looking for in trade? (I'll
include anything from my own catalog in that
offer.)>>

I used to do a lot of tape trading, but at
present my cassette decks aren't hooked up. At
some point though, if I can ever get things
straightened out around here, I'd like to see if
I can't get back to do some trading (though Id
on't know how many people still trade tapes,
everyone's gone to CD-R's now, I think).


<<I seem to recall you being the only person to
respond to my mention of AP on an RMP thread
about whether there were any black prog artists.
That was a couple of years ago, wasn't it?>>

I don't recall the specific topic in question,
but I do know I've talked about the band a lot in
virtually every online forum I've posted in, and
I do recall posting about them many times on RMP.


<<Hmmm...yeah. It's difficult to know what people
will consider for festivals, eh?>>

No kidding. I've been trying to get Rob LaDuca
and Chad Hutchinson to book AP for NEARfest for
several years. I think Rob told me at one poitn
"We didnt' really care for the CD they sent us in
99, and we haven't heard anything else by them"
or something to that effect.

It bugs me because they cover a wide range of
prog bands, they've had RIO type bands,
symphonic/NEO prog stuff, I can't understand why
they'd object to AP.

Then last year, they went and got this band from
Finland called Hydria Spacefolk, and were
trumpeting how they were book their "first space
rock band", and I was like, "You guys coulda had
a space rock band any given year if you'd listen
to me and book AP". Hydria turned out to be a lot
better than I expected, but they were way more
conventional than AP.

Then, I made a suggestion to the people who book
the Right Of Spring fest, which is held in
western PA every April, and no less than three
people (admittedly people who had nothing to do
with booking the fest, but anyway) who basically
told me that ROSfest mainly deals with symph/neo
bands and probably were unlikely to consider a
group like AP. I had one person actually say
"instrumental psych?! Take a look at the bands
who've played ROSfest", like I was being an idiot
for making the suggestion.

I'd love to see them play ProgDay. Apparently Deb
Sears (wife of Muffins drummer Paul Sears) was
pulling for them to get booked this year, but the
organizers instead went for A Spacious Mind. Deb
promises that she'll go to bat for AP again if
there's a ProgDay in 2006 (this is one fest that,
you never know if it's gonna be the last one, or
if they'll survive to the following year). So
we'll see on that one.

<< I do know this much, there's been talk of a PB
reunion show (the original SST era lineup) and if
that happens, Doug may come out and be part of a
special gig event.>>

Oh that would be cool. BTW, I was checking out
your website, and went to the Paper Bag/Bag
Theory website, and was reading on the history of
the band. I was particularly intrigued to see you
guys had recorded for SST. Back in the late 80's
and early 90's, I used to hang out at a record
store in Cleveland Hts called Wax Stax, and they
used to get a lot of the SST stuff in, as they
were heavy into all the punk/indie/alternative
music stuff back before it was hip to be into
that stuff.

Anyway, I remember taken note of SST, as they had
Negativland and Henry Kaiser, both of whom I was
really into at the time (Negativland's Escape
From Noise is one of my all time favorite
albums... remind me to tell the story I have
about seeing Negativland back in 92 or 93).

Anyway, it was funny, because I don't remember
the name Paper Bag, though I iimagine if I had
seen it, I wouldn't have known the band might be
of interest to me. I know a lot of the SST stuff
was more in the punk/hardcore direction, which
truthfully never interested me as much as psych,
prog and experimental music.

ANother thiing I noticed on the Paper Bag website
was, I was looking at the Bag Theory section, and
saw mention of the names Tom Shannon and Matt
Brown. Now, I know Matt and his wife Tasia from
the AOL Yes boards (but haven't talked to either
of them in over a year, last I heard, Tasia was
pregnant, but that's very old news). Never got to
meet Tom, I'm afraid, but I hear he was a great
musician and a very nice guy.

<< We're also looking at getting Jugalbandi and
Points Of Friction involved.>>

Don't know either of them, I'm afraid.

<<I want a "rematch" duets show with Doug! The
tape of the Cavern show bit the dust ages ago
(neither of us have copies) which is a bummer
because not only was it a great show, but Minoy
was in the audience and sat in with us for a
couple of pieces.>>

Minoy is another name I don't know. Sorry to hear
that tape no longer exists. I'm sure that had to
have been a cool performance. Well, if you guys
could get somethiing together with Doug, that
might be give me sufficient excuse to request a
couple days off from work and return to Califonia
again (I've been there three times, I was in the
Navy for six months in San Diego in 91-92...oh
man, I remember going to the Tower Records on
Sports Arena Blvd and being floored by all the
cool prog imports they had...anyway, then I went
to LA to see Magma in 99 and spent a few days
with Matt and Tasia...that was a fun week!).

<<Some people don't equate "space rock" and prog,
even though AP strongly bridges any perceived
gap. But you know how it is- for some folks if it
doesn't sound like the cliches, it's not prog. I
don't particularly care for viewpoints that
narrow.>>

Well, I still love bands like Kiss and Uriah Heep
and Deep Purple, and I've lately gotten into Pat
Metheny and Duke Ellington (SEE?! I told you I'd
figure a way to work Duke into the discussion!!!)
as well as Stravinsky, Ligeti and Bartok. And I
also like Ralph Towner, Anthony Phillips and
Richard Leo Johnson, so I'm all over the board as
a listener. To me, it doesn't matter WHAT it's
called, so long as it sounds good (to my ears, of
course).

As far as thing of "space rock" (I hate that
phrase btw, it never bothered me until the mid
90's, when it suddenly became hip with the
alternative people to dig bands like Hawkwind and
Can...anyway, that's why I refer to AP as
psychedelic music) not being considered part of
the "prog" sphere, as it were, I consider
psych/space rock to be two sides of the same
coin. Both are taking "rock music" and doing
similiar things with it, in terms of taking it
into new, strange directions (to quote Barney
Gumbel's comment on the Meet The B Sharps episode
of The Simpsons).

But it's kinda weird how segregated the prog
community is, in so much that a lot of people are
only interested in only little field. There are
people who are only interested in the
neo/symphonic bands (or as Rob LaDuca once said
"A lot of people don't want to know about
anything that doesn't sound like Yes or Genesis).
Likewise, you have people who only care about the
RIO stuff, Henry Cow, Thinking Plague, Birdsongs
Of The Mesozoic, etc.

I remember the controversy back in 2001 when it
was announced that Magma were going to headline
Saturday night at NEARfest 2002. There were
apparently a lot of people who felt Magma didn't
deserve to be headliners (I hope that my e-mail
address and the previous comment about going to
LA to see Magma in 99 would indicate my opinion
on THAT issue). I couldn't believe that stink
that was raised on RMP about that one.

It's just amazing to me how narrow minded people
are. And then these are the same people who turn
around and talk about how narrow minded people
who listen to only pop music or mainstream rock
music (which no longer has anything to do with
REAL rock music, as far as I'm concerned) are.
What a bunch of hypocrites.

Anyway, It's nearly 2:00 am here, I'm tired, and
I'm not sure but I think this Anthony Philliips
CD I'm listening to is nearly over, so it's going
to time for me to do some pushups and crunches,
take a shower and go to bed soon. :-)



May you never thirst!
The Scuba Diver Presently Known As Chris
"Thanks guys! I too love the sound of cats in boiling water!!" Mylar,
sarcastically commenting to one of the bands performing on Talent Night at his
night club, Mylar's








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