It's gonna be a night for partying, no doubt about that. It's not every day that you usher in a new year. We're not just talking nationwide here, we're talking a worldwide celebration.
Goodbye 2012! Hello 2013!
I'm content to bring in the new year in a relatively quiet way -- spent with family members at home eating chips and dip, maybe watching a movie or two, playing some games and listening to some music, tuning in to a rockin' New Year's Eve show on television as it gets closer to the stroke of midnight before giving my lovely wife the first kiss of a new year and hugging the kids.
That's how it'll be this year. But two of our kids are away from home this time, and our oldest is getting ready for a big life adventure of his own to start his year, living out a dream. It's going to be a very quiet, very simple New Year's celebration at home for us this year.
But I know exactly where there's going to be one whale of a party today. I know because I was at one just like it at this same time last year. It's not your typical New Year's Eve party. There's a birthday celebration that goes along with it. It's a birthday celebration for a musician, a "brother" of mine who has a whole lot of good musician friends to play with. It's filled with good food, good drinks, good friends, family, and plenty of good jamming.
My "brother" is a musician who appreciates a solid groove, whether it's soul or rock or blues or jazz or fusion or something even more progressive. It can be a groove that's funky, simple or more complex. But there's one thing that it has to be more than anything else: the groove has to be SOLID!
My "brother" and I have spent many hours listening to those grooves together, mostly in our younger years. That's how it was last year at this time too. While I was being lazy as I tried to kick a nasty cold, he was busy tooling around his house -- setting up microphone stands, mics, cables, guitar stands, guitars, a drum kit, amps, a laptop computer to record it all -- and the music we listened to back in our younger days was playing on the stereo while he was working away. It was music that brought smiles to our faces, even all these years later. Just like it used to be.
When his numerous other friends arrived for the party toward late afternoon and the live music started playing, it was good. It was very good. It lasted for hours, pretty much non-stop until the clock ticked midnight and 2012 arrived.
It was all about the groove. It will be that way again this time around, I'm sure.
I may not have been a total and complete newcomer to progressive rock by the time I was formally introduced to it in the fall of 1978. There were hints at a personal taste for it coming from me going back to the more adventurous days of The Beatles, and then when they broke up I needed to find some other band to awaken more of my senses the same way an album like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" did.
Then, when I started hearing the sounds coming from Electric Light Orchestra -- the same kind of strings I'd heard from a tune like "I Am the Walrus" -- I knew there was hope.
As I got deeper into the ELO catalog, I started to realize just how much of a pop direction ELO had turned toward while still hanging on to that more "progressive" string sound. When I picked up an ELO greatest hits album, there was one song in particular that I fell in love with. You could say that there was no "pop" about it. This was full-bore progressive. The Beatles didn't even do a song like "Kuiama."
More time went on, and I happened to hear a song on the radio by an American group that caught my ear as well. It, too, had a violin in it. What was it about those stringed instruments that got my attention? It was all so ... progressive. Rock music with a somewhat classical feel to it. The song was from Kansas, "Point of Know Return." That was my first purchase of a Kansas album. I now have just about every Kansas album ever released. I could almost start to say, "Beatles who?"
Then I went to college for a year, straight out of high school. I met a lot of different people from all over the U.S. -- from all over the world, for that matter. That was where my progressive rock appreciation really began, with bands like U.K., Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant ... the list is too long.
That was still just the beginning. A seed had been planted, and even well into adulthood -- with a family of my own -- I still kept searching for progressive music that would make my ears take notice. There are newer bands still out there, willing to "push the inside of the envelope" and stretch things out a bit musically ... bands like OSI, Liquid Tension Experiment, on and on.
You could call this "introduction week" for The Crossover Music Channel, a bit of a "getting to know you" time. I've introduced you to my musical wife, my musical college roommate/good friend/"bro," musical friends of his that I've come to know since the first of this year, even an online friend of several years from "across the pond" who'd like to make something with his musical talents.
Paul Richards of the California Guitar Trio (Photo By John G. Miller)
Now, to wrap up this "meet week," I'd like to introduce you to the person whose hands are playing the gorgeous six-string acoustic guitar that's shown in the title photo: Paul Richards of the California Guitar Trio.
My introduction to the trio (CGT for short) came early last decade with members of an online progressive rock music discussion site raving about them. They talked about CGT being "disciples" of Robert Fripp, the mastermind behind the trailblazing prog rock group King Crimson -- a favorite of mine. They talked about CGT always putting on a spellbinding live concert experience. CGT got sparkling reviews from those who'd seen and heard them, and the fact that they played with and learned under a genius like Fripp sealed it for me: I had to check them out.
So, in 2002, I went to a well-stocked and locally owned music store, found a copy of the CGT album "Yamanashi Blues," and bought it.
It was love at first listen. The sound of those three guitars together just jumped out of the speakers, thanks to the quality of the trio's playing and the quality of the recording itself. That CD has had a very regular place in the rotation of any 10-disc changer I've had ever since, and it's because the music runs the gamut of my own musical tastes. There's rock, there's classical, there's classic surf tunes, there's a jazziness to it at times ... their musical tastes are boundless. They can change it up at a split second's notice.
That's why I have Paul Richards' hands playing the guitar featured here so prominently -- it's music that crosses over so quickly and effortlessly.
I later went on to add the CGT album "Rocks The West" to my collection. Any CGT release I can get my hands on is treasured.
Hideyo Moriya (Photo By John G. Miller)
But CGT is not about three guys from California playing guitar. Richards is a Utah native, and he still keeps his home base in Salt Lake City. Hideyo Moriya is from Japan. Bert Lams is from Belgium. Each of them has a residence in the United States now, but they're scattered except for the days when they're on tour or recording together.
When you witness the awe-inspiring teamwork that goes into their playing, it makes the fact that they live so far apart even more impressive. But that kind of teamwork tends to happen when you play together for the better part of 21 years and study together with Fripp before that, as CGT has. Since studying with Fripp, they've gone on to open for King Crimson, to play in Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists, and to play and record and become good friends with legendary Crimson and session bassist Tony Levin.
Even after about 10 years of appreciating CGT's music, I had never had the opportunity to see them play in person. Thanks to being on Richards' Facebook friends list and the fact that we live in the same area, that all changed in early August when I received an unexpected Facebook invitation to a live "private event" the group was throwing together at the "A" Gallery in Salt Lake City the evening of August 11, "thrown together" because a date at Park City that night had fallen through and CGT wanted to do a local show before setting off on a southwest leg of a U.S. tour. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the invitation to the private show at the gallery's outdoor sculpture garden. It didn't take me long at all to accept the invitation.
Bert Lams (Photo By John G. Miller)
If you've never had the chance to experience CGT live, here's a simple suggestion: Do it!
My wife Amy and I arrived early enough to get seats in the front row, just a few feet in front of the trio's effects boxes. I was spellbound for the rest of the night and days later. Questions that I'd had for a long time (for example, "How do they get those electrified sounds out of those acoustic guitars when they play something like Pink Floyd's "Echoes?") were answered just by seeing them play it, up close and personally. I was fascinated by the trio's ability to communicate with each other without them having to speak a word. I was amazed watching them play a complicated Bach piece using a technique taught to them by Fripp himself, "circulation."
If there was a particular point in the setlist that showed CGT's "crossover ability," it was when they played "Ghost Riders on the Storm" -- a flawless mix of the cowboy classic "Ghost Riders in the Sky" mashed up against The Doors' rock gem "Riders on the Storm," and it was performed flawlessly. All I could do as I sat and watched was to shake my head and laugh in amazement.
When the show was over and "Happy Trails" was played, we made our way inside the gallery to look at the paintings and sculptures, and to meet Paul's wife, Stacey Richards. We had a common love for American Eskimo dogs we could talk about with her. She served as a gracious hostess.
We then made our way back to the autograph/merchandise table, where I could meet Paul in person after having introduced ourselves to Hideyo and Bert and chatting briefly before and after the show. Each of the players are very personable, very easy to talk to, more than willing to take as much time as needed for a "fanboy" like me to grab a photo with the group.
Not all groups are that warm and welcoming. It was all part of one very memorable night.
Hideyo Moriya, myself, Amy Miller, Bert Lams, and Paul Richards.
