The PA Happy Birthday Thread

Because, over the weeks we have been doing this thread, we have had many personages to discuss. Many have registered and buggered off without sharing nary a thought with us. Some have been blatantly advertising their wares, many are of the musical persuasion, with a good few even within the Temple of Prog we call Prog Archives as artists. Yesterday, we even had a porn merchant, although as our extremely brave roving reporter, JD, stated, it amounted to a pair of legs hanging over what looked like a bog, so not too much excitement there, although we continue to live in hope.

But today, we have a MOP. Yep, a MOP. Given that everything in today’s corporate jungle has to be provided with an acronym, MOP stands for Man Of Principle, because this is what today’s Prog God is, a chap who didn’t leave because he was fed up, didn’t leave because he discovered the joys of ogling and listening to Taylor Swift far outweighed those of getting to grips with Can, didn’t even leave because he had been subjected to a font-mad rant by Ivana. Nope, Dragon Phoenix, who celebrates his 64th birthday today, left the forum on a POP (Point Of Principle) in November 2007, more than three years after he had joined and contributed wisely and regularly to the fanged throng.

So! Just what was the POP that turned the MOP? Have a look see at this thread; Black Sabbath inclusion - Progressive Rock Music Forum - Page 1 Yep, our beloved founder, Mad Max, had ordered the inclusion of those legendary Brummie ‘eadbangers, Black Sabbath, into the pantheon of prog. On 12 October 2007, Hennie Schape, our MOP, posted this POP; “Seriously, as much as I like listening to BS, this is the last straw. This site is making a complete mockery of itself. I am out of here.”

Before we examine what our Hennie has been up to these last 13 plus years, let us talk about this cataclysmic event in the history of PA, an event so seismic that it does offer hope for those still yearning for the inclusion of Sir Cliff Richard  into Prog Related. Here is the link that Hugues placed in order to provide an explanation to the hairy hordes. Simply scroll down to see the (very extended) reasons why Sabbath should be on the site; BLACK SABBATH discography and reviews

Let us, in true PABT fashion, cut out the BS (the smelly stuff, not the band). No matter what arguments there are for Ozzy and Co being on the site, it boiled down to one reason and one reason alone, which I shall refer to as the Big Tits reason. What this? Well, I shall explain. Imagine, if you can, an ever so clever academic whose specialism is, say, the examination of the behaviour of sub-atomic particles, a subject so desiccated it would make the Gobi Desert appear flooded, and so narrow that only a very select few clever clogs would ever bother to visit his ramblings on how quarks wobble when subjected to electromagnetic pressure. However, imagine that said latter-day Einstein decided to post a picture of a luscious blond with extremely large and desirable mammary glands alongside the Google ad, you might think that the site visit count would be considerably higher, and you would be right. Tits always attract more clicks than quarks, and that, my dear friends, is why Sabbath were plonked into our beloved site. Click bait. Simple as, although, of course, one could make an argument that as we are still here to debate such issues, it was a damned good and clever little wheeze on the part of MAX.

Anyhoo, what about our very learned friend Hennie since he had his strop? First, let us take a look at his blog site; Art for art's sake This is just about as impressive as it gets, and I am rather full of admiration for this. Take some time to have a good tour, including his discussion of pop/rock faves, which is really interesting for its eclectic range.

Talking about eclectic, when Hennie registered he listed his interests as “Bambi Phoenix, cocker spaniels, music, art, mafia, chess”. Now, my friends. I know what a cocker spaniel is, I know what music is, I like a nice painting, I enjoy watching mobsters whack each other in the movies, and I can even do a Queen’s Gambit when pressed. But, for the life of me, and I have tried, I have no idea whatsoever what a Bambi Phoenix is. No f**king clue! Therefore, an honorary PABT “special researcher” appointment to any of you who can educate the masses and I. Ta!

So, what else of our MOP? Well, here is a link to his photography/art site, also worth a tour of; Galerie LuS: Fine art and photography: Hennie Schaper For those of you visiting Holland, and Kampen in particular, why don’t you visit Hennie at the gallery, and inform him that you are only there owing to the PABT? You never know, somebody who would have added a huge amount to the site might come back.

So! We wish a Van Harte Gefeliciteerd to our very good friend, Hennie! Don’t be Paranoid, and Sabotage PA! Be Iron Man, and come back!

Elsewhere, no present collab news to report today. 

Terry G, or Terry Garrett as his parents very wisely named him 71 years ago, is a true veteran of “the scene”. He joined our spaced out throng in May 2005, and stayed for almost four years. When he joined, he was a telecoms engineer, and listed his interests as music, chess, gardening, and computers. So far, so relatively humdrum.

But, a look at one of the posts he shared with us gives a clue as to his activities when men were men, cows were cows, and each were particularly happy with that exalted status in life. In what will not be the first instance of mistaken identity running through today’s post, take a look at his very excited contribution of 17 March 2009 at the announcement that Comus had announced a tour of the Land of the Free that year; http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=56413 Our Terry, and this was a very easy mistake to make, had mistook our fine and highly regarded SC, Jim “Finnforest”, for Bobbie Watson herself from those exalted hairy, beardy types COMUS discography and reviews Said tour was, unfortunately, and in an eerie portent of the past twelve months, cancelled, and rearranged for the following year. Jim did not, I am afraid, carry on with the joke, and Terry left our shores never to be seen again until today, no doubt bitterly disappointed that “Bobbie” didn’t have the good grace to bother with a reply.

His signature was Ayup, and this, rather than being the greeting from somebody of the Northern English persuasion, as in “Ayup, lad, how’s tha today?”, was the name of the band he played in Sevenoaks, Kent, all the way back in 1964, the year that Mummy Laz proudly pushed your author out. The only other band member I have found of the list is Chris Cross (Allen), who went on to become the bass guitarist in Ultravox. No, really. Here is his WikiVienna page; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cross 

Regrettably, we have no trace of the boys performing on the world wide inter web. Scroll down on this forum on 23 January 2009 to see our hero with more reminiscing, and Terence Ruffle’s fascinating reports of classic gigs Terence Ruffle » Emerson, Lake and Palmer at the Oval September 30th 1972

So, what is our hero up to now? Well, he retired from working for British Telecom (old enough to remember when it was, pre-privatisation, The Post Office) in 2008, and since then has simply been enjoying himself Terry Garrett - Retired - Retired and enjoying time to pursue personal interests and family | LinkedIn

So! Happy birthday, Terry! It is a pleasure to be able to delve into, even for the briefest of time, the life of an old music stalwart, who was there and actually did it back in the day, before leading what I am sure was a fine family life!

In other news, it is a great pleasure to announce the 42nd birthday of apps79, an SC who I did work with briefly when we were both collabs on the neo-prog team. He hasn’t been around here for a wee while, but apps has, in fact, created a major storm hereabouts on the very day of his birthday. Yes! Look! http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28343&PN=258 Our  wonderful new member of the faithful, Mr Wintertree, had posted to complain that the exalted brother apps, in his review of The Winter Tree album, accused the band of plagiarism. MAGUS / THE WINTER TREE The Winter Tree music review by apps79 

In the interests of journalistic balance and fairness, the PABT did try to contact The Winter Tree’s keyboardist for comment on this, but was informed that Mr Richard Wright sadly was no longer on this mortal coil. However, I was able to get ahold of their spokesperson, a Mr Guy Pratt of Messrs Wall & Co, who provided me with the following statement:

“My clients wholly refute any suggestion that their seminal albums Saucerful of Secrets and Meddle were taken from the music and lyrics of Pink Floyd, an act now only remembered by a very few obsessive types on Internet forums such as Progressive Noses. Winter Tree will continue to delight the world with their original material, including in 2021 The Final Cut. Further, I can today exclusively reveal that Andrew Laitres appears on the brand new Peter Gabriel album, Foxtrot. It is hoped that all such speculation will now cease, and any further attempts to compare my clients music with a bunch of clapped out old hippies will result in immediate legal action to stop all defamation of character”.

Happy birthday, apps!

By the way, those of you wondering what all the fuss is really about, can listen to two of Pink Floyd’s tracks from The Winter Tree on GoggleTube here;

https://youtu.be/Pttl8KpbCew Babylon

https://youtu.be/9n0UzsSokB0 Guardian Angel

Personally, I think they sound f**k all like The Winter Tree, but there you go.

Pip pip!