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"Prog Rock Girl" single released Feb. 20, 2025!
February 20: "Prog Rock Girl" single is here!
Find "Prog Rock Girl" on YouTube or as a free download on Bandcamp and share it with your Proggy friends! CDs are also available, but I can not ship any until April. Stop by one of my Bay Area gigs to get one before then!
"Prog Rock Girl" is a parody song in the style of Weird Al, based on "Punk Rock Girl" by The Dead Milkmen. It is a humorous look at women's experience in the Prog Rock world.
The story of the song
So, the idea for the song was born from a joking conversation between my friend (and Surplus 1980 bandmate) Moe Staiano and I while we were at a restaurant before attending the BEAT concert (BEAT the band is Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai and Danny Carey). As we sat on the outdoor patio people-watching, a woman walked by wearing a Yes t-shirt. We began to laugh about the stereotypical lack of women at Prog Rock shows, and one or the other of us came up with the idea of this parody song.
The very next day, I had a ticket to the next BEAT show in Napa, CA. Remembering our conversation, and with an hour-plus drive to the show, I began to riff on lyric phrases using speech-to-text. By the time I reached the venue, I had the first three verses.
Each August, since 2022, I attend Three of a Perfect Pair camp ("King Crimson Camp"), which is a fun, music-focused camp in the Catskills near Woodstock, NY. The camp is hosted by Crimson alumni Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto. One morning, I woke up thinking about the song, and how one of the lyrics said, "Listen to this song, and count! It's in eleven! And the bass is played by Crimson's Tony freakin' Levin." I thought, "hmm, wouldn't it be funny if I could get Tony to play on this song, then that part of the lyric would actually be TRUE!"
So I rustled up my courage and asked Tony at lunch. And he agreed! He said he had a few weeks after camp with no commitments, so if I could send him a track... I said "sure" as if the track existed. It did not. I immediately texted Moe and tasked him with finding us a studio so we could record his drums as soon as I got back from NY! Moe found us a studio, and with just a few days left of the two week window Tony offered, we went in and recorded the drums with a scratch vocal and guitar. That night, I sent the tracks to Tony. I woke up the next morning to a fabulous bass track! Tony delivered! And how!
Some time after that, I had another fun idea--the bridge lyric is about a gatekeeping man. The lyric calls him an "18th Century Schizoid Man" and then quotes the riff from King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". What if that riff was played with actual 18th century instruments? So I recruited friends locally and from TOAPP Camp to contribute flute, harpsichord, violin, recorder and double bass!
There are Easter Eggs aplenty in the tune, and a really funny lyric. I hope that Prog Rockers around the world will get a laugh!
Find "Prog Rock Girl" on YouTube or as a free download on Bandcamp and share it with your Proggy friends! I'll have CDs available at local Bay Area gigs, or you can order one at Bandcamp--but be aware I can not ship any until April!
Feb. 2025
2025 is rolling in big, I already have 25 gigs booked between my 5 bands! Last year I played 68 shows, which was a record for me. I think I might be getting better as a player. Maybe.
I'm getting ready soon to head out to the Big Ears Festival again (my 9th time), as well as a second time on Cruise to the Edge, a prog-rock cruise. Between those two events, I'll likely see about 80 bands and ensembles. Big Ears is always a treat, filled with artists that you already know, and some you have yet to discover. Much cross-pollination occurs, with artists collaborating with other artists in performances that you'll never see anywhere else. One of the best things about Big Ears is that, rather than some big muddy field with multiple stages, it happens in a variety of venues Knoxville, TN, that are all easily walkable. In an average Big Ears day, I generally walk about 6 miles!Cruise to the Edge will sail out of Miami, and spend 5 days on the water with bands playing from late morning until 1am. Everyone I mention the cruise to asks me where it's going. I don't know. Somewhere in the Caribbean. I don't care where it goes, since folks are on the boat to hear the bands. After the "big" bands are done, the musician cruisers get together and play in "Late Night Live." Songs and positions are chosen ahead of time, and you rehearse your parts at home, then when you are called on the stage, you play the tune with people you've never before played with! This is very similar to "The Roadhouse" at Three of a Perfect Pair Camp (another yearly event for me, which happens in August). These sort of things are the most fun of all! On Cruise to the Edge I will be singing "Siberian Khatru" by Yes; and playing guitar on "School" by Supertramp; "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel and "Time" by The Alan Parsons Project.
Surplus 1980 went into the studio in Nov. 24, and recorded 5 tracks toward a new album. We will write some more and hopefully get a new record out in the next year or so.
Hyperdrive Kittens are also going in to the studio in March, to record six songs, some slated for a single split, others for perhaps our own album.
Flock of Seagirls are heading down to Los Angeles for a pair of shows in July.
Airwaves continues our second-Friday residency at Alameda's Cinema Grill, which is probably my very favorite gig!
GrrlzTalk is working up new material and looking forward to some gigs this summer.
In January I got back to doing my Rok Dove solo aCOOstic show, doing a couple songs between each band at the Ivy Room's "Bang the Bay" event.