The PA Happy Birthday Thread

Huntermike85 was, in fact, born in 1986, so either made a typo in his forum name, or else couldn’t quite class himself as a mathematician in the mould of Professor Pat or Bald Friede. He celebrates his 35th special day today, but from where? This could have been a complete mystery had it not been for your roving reporter having a wee gander at his forum contributions.

Mike, as we simply must call him, came here and announced to us “Dudes!”, in a  “PR Hype” that we simply must pop over to the Newbury Comics website and get for ourselves a FREE Blooddrunk Pint Glass when we pre-ordered the new Children of Bodom album, because those guys, you know, were “sick at Fontana”. Personally, I’m not altogether surprised if they spent their time drinking pints of blood, but it takes all types, I suppose.

However, if there is one thing which sets a prog rock website apart from all other music sites, it is that we tend to listen to a lot of, erm, prog rock. The clue is in the title, you know? Our friend didn’t quite get this, because here is a link to our very good hairy fellows, said kiddies of Bodom playing their melodic death metal track In Your Face https://youtu.be/5SgN5lvWZwQ If that is melodic, well all I can say is that I can’t wait to hear the real gloomy metal stuff.

The band took their name from The Lake Bodom Murders, one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in Finland, according to that den of knowledge, Mr Wiki Encycolpedia Unreliablus Lake Bodom murders - Wikipedia Cheering, but appropriate, stuff on which to base your death metal, I am sure you will agree. Here is our hairy cornflakes website Children Of Bodom - Official Website and you will all join with me in noting with great sadness the passing of their guitarist, Alex Laiho. The website is still live, but I can’t see whether the band will be carrying on with their mission of bringing joy and harmony to the hairy kiddies of the world.

Newbury Comics, by the way, are actually a music retailer based in New England, that part of the Land of the Free founded by the pilgrims who were somewhat fed up with the Old England. It started as a comic book vendor in Boston, but has morphed into music. Here is their website Newbury Comics | Music, Pop Culture Merch, and a Wicked Good Time! I am especially tempted to cheer myself up by parting with 32 bucks for Juliana Hatfield’s Blood https://www.newburycomics.com/products/juliana_hatfield-blood_exclusive_lp which takes us on a deep dive into the dark side.

So, happy birthday Mike. We know you are a Hunter. We know you are a cheerful death metal soul. We know you are a dude. But, in all honesty, we know absolutely nothing else about you. But we do, though, still love you, and you are now immortal!

In other news, I would love to send a very heartfelt Penblwydd Hapus to my very good friend, Caerllysi, or Will Mackie as he was born 67 years ago. Will has, surprisingly, never posted here on PA, but I have purchased many a good album from his mighty fine website. Take a look, and support him at; https://www.caerllysimusic.co.uk/index.html 

Elsewhere, no present collab birthdays to report. But fear not. They will be back. 

However, never have we come across a man who is surely doomed to spend his eternal afterlife in a wretched state of hellfire, with goblins of varying sizes undoubtedly shoving extremely pointy sticks up a certain passage for all of time to come. A man for whom Purgatory and a decent smiting are, quite frankly, far too good for him.

Compton Effect joined our brigade in December 2005, and stayed with us for all of three months. The forum name is after the unusual result witnessed when X-Rays are scattered over certain materials 6.4: The Compton Effect - Physics LibreTexts Clever so and so! Isaiah Cantrell, as his no doubt extremely holy and god-fearing parents named him 31 years ago, as his first act informed the assembled masses that it was “criminal” that Hella were not on Prog Archives. As we shall soon find out, this was a somewhat unfortunate adjective for our friend Isaiah to use. As it happens, said post rock artistes were added to our glorious temple HELLA discography and reviews So far, so good. But what happened next, my friends, is proof positive that John Wetton could only have presciently sung about Our Isaiah when he penned the lyrics to Fallen Angel.

Take a look, please, although there is an obligatory mental ‘elf warning attached to this link for those of an ever so slightly nervous disposition; https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2020/09/15/sacred-heart-jesus-statue-destroyed-vandalism-el-paso-st-patrick-cathedral-catholic-church/5810792002/ Yep, in St Patrick’s Cathedral, our poor fallen chum, after smoking too much of the funny weed, destroyed a statue of Jesus. The American Muslims were, in solid solidarity, appalled! However, the Bishop, in the manner of most decent church folk, did pray for our prog sinner, and, by Old El Paso, does he need it! We should, though, pause and reflect for a short while, and certainly praise Isaiah for his magnificent post-rock hair. Heavy, man!

So, when you all retire to your pit tonight to sleep the sleep of the blessed prog faithful, spare a thought, and a prayer, for Isaiah. Your prayers count! Every one could commute the sentence to a spell in purgatory! Happy birthday, sir! Switch from the weed to the beer, before it’s too late!

Elsewhere in proggerland, Infinity, or Stephen, celebrates his 44th birthday today. Stephen is a senior member who can’t remember what he said because he lost his head, so something very much in common there with Isaiah. Happy birthday, sir! 

I think that it would also be nice if we started a thread to celebrate Ronald, as we already do with Febus and Slartibartfast. Why? Well, no matter what niggles, rows, and moans we have (and I have been responsible for a few) about certain contributors, collaborators, the amount of time it takes to add bands, and etc., there is one thing I am sure that all loyal readers of this little thread will agree on, and that is PA has added immeasurably to the pleasure we take out of life. I would also add that there are many other prog sites out there, some of which I visit regularly such as Prog Ears, Prog Aspect, Prog Planet, and so on, but NONE of them comes anywhere near close to being the jewel of an archival reference site that PA has become. Not one, and for this, Ronald and Max deserve a huge amount of credit.

I get the impression that not many are familiar with Ronald. My understanding is that he was a quiet man, and his English was rather poor. He did, though, add a massive amount of data to the archival side of the site. It is, therefore, fitting that we pause for a moment to wish him a happy birthday up there in Prog Heaven, but more importantly, remember him as a true prog innovator.

And whilst we are at it, why don’t we have a look at a birthday boy who was a member of a band added to the site by ProgLucky himself? Christophe is 52 today. His full name is Christophe Bellieres, and he was the guitarist and singer with Maldoror, a French Symphonic band who released a lone LP in 2004 called L’Arbre-Cimetière, a work which attracted a favourable review from, amongst others, my very good friend Thomas “Tzirmay”, so it must be good. MALDOROR discography and reviews These days, our long lost friend, who joined in 2005 and did not post a single word, is a guitar teacher who has published books on the subject https://www.di-arezzo.com/music/10124125/christophe-bellieres-i-#39-m-learning-the-guitar-just-guitar-method-with-tablatures-sheet-music.html and also has appeared on a YouTube channel https://youtu.be/wH9KgNeZw1g I had thought that he had given up prog playing, but a little further research shows that he plays with a band Apairys, and, what’s more, they have been the subject of a marvellous interview by our very own Todd Apairys - Progressive Rock Music Forum It’s quite a recent one, and certainly very good. They are categorised here as Heavy Prog, and have released just the one album APAIRYS discography and reviews

So, let us shout out very loud Joyeux Anniversaire to our founder and Christophe, an undoubted beneficiary of Ronald’s vision.

Elsewhere, Zitro, a Prog Reviewer, is 34 today, although he doesn’t appear to have visited in a while. Nevertheless, felicitations! 

I promise that the silly stuff will return tomorrow! 

However, before I introduce you to said clever clogs, let us first examine his signature when he registered with the beloved brethren in February 2017. I quote; “Life’s a journey - I’m not of this world. I’m just a passin’ thru”. Now when I read that, I thought, ‘ere we go. Yet another doomsayer promising us eternal damnation with knobs on, who really should have concentrated on young Isaiah, our star from t’other day.

But no, in order to understand this particular quote, you need to put on your Stetson, make sure you’re all holstered up, and take yourself back to more innocent times in the Home of the Brave. Have a look see at this https://youtu.be/LhnXMCqZrdg Yep, Jim Reeves. Bloody Jim Reeves. The mind really doth truly boggle. 

Paul Trusswell celebrates his 62nd birthday today, not in deepest Montana, but here in dear old Blighty. When I tapped on his homepage link to see what other cowboy delights I might find, and searched his 4 posts, I was pleasantly surprised. HOME Yep, it’s not just any old blog site, but a Trusswell Family Portal, bless. Hence, the clever clogs description. I would love to be clever enough to create something like this, rather than struggling as I do with the concept of copy and paste.

Our Paul is clearly quite a religious chap, what with the wonderful quote from Paul’s Epistle to Romans. He resides ‘oop North, in sunny Macclesfield, to be precise, and there you can find out all about his church, which is clearly of the Happy Clappy variety. Paul and his equally lovely wife, Jan, fix computers, so if any of you have rusty keyboards, or squeaky mice, then give them a call. 

However, there is prog in there. As he advertised to the glorious prog masses, our Paul ran an intertit radio show, and, what’s more, it were prog! Topographic Tunes On the first one, the ubiquitous sounds of Fanfare For The Common Man filled the Lazland headphones. Regrettably, Paul hasn’t recorded anything for our delectation since 2017, but, as we all know by now, when The Lord calls then everything else needs dropping! 

Paul is also a huge fan of Macclesfield Football Club, and we do have something small in common, in that I did spend a while following them, because I knew their goalie Boaz Myhill - Wikipedia I gave young Boaz his first game in senior cricket whilst at Oswestry Cricket Club, and a damned good player he was too, as well as being a cracking, if barking, lad.

So! Happy Birthday, Paul! Walk with The Lord! Give us some more prog, please!

Elsewhere in Proggerland Birthday stuff, today is a major celebration of the great and the good. Here goes....

SC Meltdowner, Samuel Cadima, is 27 today. His initials tell me, in no uncertain terms, that Mummy and Daddy knew 27 years ago today that he was destined to be a Special Collaborator on the finest website known to progkind. Oh to be 27 again! He is an SC on the PSIKE Team and resides in Portugal, so probably not altogether familiar with the delights of Jim Reeves, but that doesn’t stop us wishing our friend a very special happy day!

And that is not all. The Fonz, aka Wicket, a Prog Reviewer, and a damned good one, celebrates his 27th birthday today. It is clearly a 27th special day in PA! Happy birthday, Dave, or should that be Arthur?

Whew! That’s it. This Birthday Thread, I might add, has been produced a mere two hours after I received my Covid-19 jab, part the first. A glorious day in Lazland, and what made it even more satisfying is that it was that marvellously reliable British one made in Oxford, not that awful foreign muck! Freedom beckons! What the f**k is that proboscis growing out of my left foot? It weren’t there this morning, missus!  

Because, of course, us lot here on Prog Archives are always very happy to celebrate the works of our intertit rivals. We know that we have the finest site on planet Earth, but that doesn’t stop us recognising others, and especially when they come from Holland. Now before we discuss today’s immortalised hero, let us remind ourselves what, precisely, Holland is famous for. What are the 10 best things to come out of that wonderful flat country? Well, according to one of those trip advice website thingies, here is the list;

1. Windmills. Here in Wales, of course, we tend not to need machinery in order to generate piles of wind. For evidence of this, simply google The Welsh Windbag himself, Neil Kinnock
2. Tulips. Yep, them lovely flowers. Please do make yourself feel very mindful by taking the time to listen to; https://youtu.be/qPsq6flck2A Ahh, LingalongaMax! Cannot beat it!
3. Beer. This is gratuitously incorrect. The Dutch are responsible for that awful  stuff which tastes like elephants piss, Heineken. It is not, repeat not, proper beer. Bloody cheek!
4. Bicycles. They ride a great deal in Holland......
5. Signature delftware items. Vases and piss pots to you and I
6. Famous painters. Rembrandt, for example, who was almost as good as our bloke, Roger Dean, the difference being, of course, that Dean did Yes covers, and the so-called master didn’t on account of him failing an Anderson interview
7. Beautiful canals. This is getting silly. Every civilised country has these. Have those tourist chappies never visited Birmingham, for heaven’s sake?
8. Cheese. Mr Laz is allergic to this, the worst thing The Almighty invented. In any case, my comments on number 7 also apply here
9. Wooden clogs. Should any of you wish to experience these, I am informed that Psychedelic Paul does a nifty number, cash sales only
10. Liquorice sweet candies. They really are scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Every civilised person knows that there is no compare to Bertie Bassett, end of

I for one was extremely disappointed that our tour guides didn’t mention the rather famous persons of the female persuasion who reside in a number of lovely Whoopy Parlours in the Red Light District, for which Amsterdam is most certainly famous. I have never been there, but my best mate, bless him, swore by their therapeutic value.

So, let us now discuss someone properly famous from Holland. Greatqueenowl, or Joris Donkel as his clog-striding parents named him 56 years ago today. For 13 years until 2016, our very good friend was the ‘ead ‘itter at that wonderful website, Dutch Progressive Rock Pages, or DPRP as those in the know tend to call it. Our Raff, I believe, used to contribute to this, and it is an altogether fantastic prog resource, especially for new releases given that they don’t take an aeon to add somebody for consideration. Four stars to PA’s five; Dutch Progressive Rock Page - DPRP.net This year is their 25th anniversary, bless them.

Joris has a Sadbook page, which you can see here Joris Donkel | Facebook and looks gloriously bonkers in his costume. He works for Boreas Energy, who are a corporate from the Land of the Free, and specialise in Wind Power, so very handy for all those windmills Holland is famous for. Come to Wales, boys. More flatulence here than in a typical Argentinian beef herd! Joris is a systembetreuer, or systems administrator to you.

He joined in January 2010, and stayed with us until May 2010, without passing on any of his prog wisdom. This does not, though, prevent us from shouting out gelukkige verjaardag to our rival! You’re number one of interest from Holland to us! Drink lots of elephant piss!

Elsewhere, Icarium, or Christoffer Rekstad, a wonderful VIP member here celebrates his 35th birthday today. Felicitations, sir!