People Planning for ProgDay

This week Steve Burnett reminds us that even though it's still mid-summer, it's not too early to buy tickets for the upcoming progressive rock festival held every Labor Day weekend at Storybook Farm.

Steve writes: "I am a fan of progressive rock, which wikipedia describes as developing from "late 1960s psychedelic rock" and represented by bands such as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis.

One of my favorite parts of the Triangle music scene is also one of its least-known: for the last thirteen years ProgDay, the world's longest-running progressive rock festival, has been held in a pasture outside Carrboro (yes, there is always a backup venue prearranged in case of bad weather, but almost never been needed). ProgDay XIV will be held August 30 and 31 on Labor Day weekend this year and ticket sales opened up on the event website on July 1st. Every year for the last eleven years (I missed the
first two) I have been astonished by many of the performances, and I am looking forward to this year again."

David: those with an exceptionally good memory will remember that my former band, Smokin' Granny, played ProgDay in 1997, and for several years performed at the unofficial "ProgDay pre-show" the Friday evening before the festival.

(Photo: Steve Burnett performs on theremin)

New Sounds in Raleigh This Week

Today I would like to introduce you to our new correspondent, Steve Burnett, a long-time participant in the Triangle's active avant-garde and electronic music scene. He performs solo as Subscape Annex, using various electronic devices and instruments. This week he performs at Meymandi:

Sunday in Raleigh the Burning Coal Theatre presents an evening of
avant-garde music and sounds titled "An Evening of New Acoustic and
Electro-Sonic Arts'.

Date/Time: Sunday July 13, 7pm

Venue: Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School Auditorium
224 Polk St., Raleigh NC 27605, (919) 834-4001

Tickets: Available at the door, box office opens at 6pm. Tickets $10.

Performances for the evening:

Subscape Annex processing foundsound timescapes in "About Last Night...."

Craig Hilton performing on the Chinese juzheng and laptop processing

Bicameral Mind hybridizing two very different approaches to live electronica

Tomas Phillips and Dean King, playing minimalist ambient pieces with electronics and laptop

Judge Schreber's Avian Choir performing "Molt" by Bob Pence, described as "a doom metal chamber-snuff piece for rock'n'roll trio and 8 string players."

Sounds like a very interesting evening ahead!

Bonnaroo Music Festival

Our special correspondent, Durham bassist Brian Preston, made the journey to the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee a couple of weeks ago.

D: Sounds like you had a great time Brian. Tell us, what were your favorite bands?

B: Well the thing I learned about Bonnaroo is that there is so much going on all the time you really only see a small fraction of the action. Out of the bands I saw my favorites were Stephen Marley, Umphreys McGhee, Metallica, Zappa plays Zappa, and Grupo Fantasmo. Pearl Jam was pretty good too.

D: Excellent! How long is the drive to Manchester? At least we're not talking Manchester, England!

B: From Durham NC to Manchester TN is a good 8 hrs 30 mins. But alas, it takes longer for stops and to enjoy the beautiful Smokey Mountains as you head into Tennessee.

FYI, From Durham England to Manchester England is only 2 hrs 10 mins (131 miles!)

D: Bonnaroo is a true multimedia event. Did you check out the art and movie offerings?

B: Art was everywhere... exhibits of all kinds. There was a very cool fire exhibit that climaxed with giant smoke rings being propelled into the atmosphere... over the Metallica show!

D: Did you run into anyone you know from around here?

B: Amazingly, No! But each camp neighbor in our area was from NC: Charlotte, Wilmington, Greenville...

D: Thanks for that report Brian!

BitWorks West Visits Joe Cocker's Ranch

As some of you may know, our marketing director for the western US resides in beautiful Durango, Colorado. That would be my sister Julie. She just sent me this note:

I just returned from this little town called Hotchkiss here in Colorado. Believe it or not, the famous musician, Joe Cocker, lives on a ranch in an even smaller town right near there called Crawford. So, he put on a show at the little fairgrounds in Hotchkiss as a benefit for his children's foundation. It was cool.

One fun memory I have of Joe Cocker dates back to when I was in graduate school, studying robotics. We visited University of Utah's robotics lab on a trip years ago. U. of U. was known for its work on the Disney animatronics robots. In the lab, they had a robot without skin--all the guts exposed--who was singing and dancing to a Joe Cocker song. So, if you're ever at a Joe Cocker concert, make sure it's not the robot.

Anyway, Julie also mentioned that she enjoyed dancing with Jeff from Aspen, so Jeff, if you happen to be reading this, you should drop Julie an email: julie at bitworksmusic dot com.