Tag: Nearfest

NEARFEST 09 Pt.2: Gong and PFM

Someone is dancing in pajama robes and a wizards hat.  It must be Daevid Allen and Gong. In this second part of the Echoes Nearfest 2009 review it’s the Old Guard Part Two. Gong is the rock mirror image of the Sun Ra Arkestra.  Like Sun Ra, Gong is  a free-wheeling eclectic band that wraps…

NEARfest 2008

NEARfest celebrates 10th Anniversary. I’ve only been to 4 NEARfest festivals, and you can read my previous postings for 2007, 2006 and 2005.  Their 10th anniversary still found a festival happily wed to a 70’s Prog sensibility of fret burning guitar solos, complicated time signatures and pitch bending keyboard runs. The only group that served as…

NEARFEST 2005 REFLECTIONS

“There is no progress in Progressive Rock.” Those are words I heard over and over again during the recent NEARFest, The North East Art Rock Festival. Whether I spoke to bassist Patrick Djivas of the Italian rock group, PFM, Roger Triguaux, guitarist with Present or Paul Sears, drummer with The Muffins, they all had the…