Thursday, February 9, 2006
Juneau musicians honoring prog-rock with "Tom Sawyer" concert
Posted at 1:14PM | comments (3)
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This Friday, Feb. 10, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on West Willoughby Avenue in Juneau, Alaska a group of local musicians will put on a concert tribute to progressive rock entitled, appropriately, Tom Sawyer. From the article.
Last August, Andy Engstrom and Ward F. Ward started thinking about paying homage to some of the bands that inspired them to play music ... such as Rush, Kansas and Dream Theater, so-called "progressive" performance-oriented music that was technically challenging and not necessarily played to death on mainstream radio.
They rounded up a handful of like-minded musicians ... and started rehearsing in September.
The name they chose for the show: "Tom Sawyer," in honor of the song from the 1981 Rush album "Moving Pictures."...
... In the spirit of the over-the-top compositions, the show will include an elaborate multimedia stage show. Patrick Race at Lucid Reverie is putting together some movie clips and images to go with the show and will screen them on 12-by-12-foot video screens on both sides of the amplifier stacks. Two hand-held camera operators will be recording additional live video of the crowd. ... The videos will be sold later this year to support those projects. ...
... "Ward and I wanted to hand-pick musicians that weren't only composers in the same style that we liked, but were also master musicians," Engstrom said. "And yes, the material is extremely difficult and very challenging, but we wanted something that was going to be rewarding for the audience to hear and see and also rewarding for ourselves to put together. There's really no time for anybody to relax in any of these songs."
This almost makes me want to live in Alaska! I'm definitely going to try to get my hands on some video from this show when it becomes available.
Rush covers to be included in the show are Tom sawyer and Spirit of Radio. They'll also be doing Dream Theater's Pull Me Under and Another Day; Kansas's Carry on my Wayward Son; Ozzy's Perry Mason and Diary of a Madman; Saga's On the Loose; and Led Zeppelin's Kashmir.
#2 - Posted 2/13/06 @12:32PM by 
Hi folks,
Just wanted to give kudos to our kindred Alaskan brothers in paying tribute to Rush ! Afterlife is also performing a concert tribute to prog-rock including Rush on March 25, 2006 on Long Island, NY. Press release below. Hope to see some of our tri-state proggers at the show -- say hello !
Todd
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'AFTERLIFE : The Ultimate Progressive Rock Experience' Performs in Concert at Brookhaven Lab, March 25
February 13, 2006
UPTON, NY - AFTERLIFE : The Ultimate Progressive Rock Experience will perform in concert on Saturday, March 25, at 8:00 p.m. at Berkner Hall Auditorium on the campus of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. The concert is sponsored by the BNL Music Club and is open to the public. All visitors to the Lab age 16 years and over must bring a photo ID. Doors open at 7:00 p.m and there will be a cash bar in the lobby.
From the first wave of symphonic/classical progenitors like England's YES, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the early 70's - to the "New World/Art Rock" music of bands such as Rush and Kansas -- to the "Neo-progressive" songs of Asia and Saga in the early 80's - AFTERLIFE pays tribute to the golden era of progressive rock with spot-on performances of hallmark tunes from the masters.
The progressive rock genre features inherently mystical thematic elements and blends the driving energy of rock 'n' roll with the dynamics of symphonic classical music and jazz. The term "progressive" was coined in the early 70's simply to emphasize the "new feel" of this type of music compared to previous types of rock -- but by the early 80's that term had stuck and has since became an enduring description for this musical style, now also with many sub-categories.
AFTERLIFE recreates the sounds and aura from a magical decade by taking the audience on a journey featuring a light show spectacle and state-of-the-art full-fidelity stereo sound. They reconstruct the music note for note - from ELP's interpretation of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" to the songs of YES including "And You and I" and "Heart of the Sunrise". For younger folks, this is what it was like to be there - and those who've been there will be transported back.
Berkner Hall Auditorium is an acoustically designed 490 seat theater with spacious seating, a great view of the stage and a newly installed state-of-the-art high-end audio system. The evening's performance will be preserved and mixed live to CD on a 24 track recorder.
Tickets are $15 online at www.ticketweb.com Search For Tickets by typing in the keyword 'Berkner'. Tickets will also be sold at the door that evening. For more information call (631) 344-3413. Brookhaven Lab is located on William Floyd Parkway (County Road 46), 1.5 miles north of Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway. Hear the band at www.AFTERLIFEband.com