Goodbye Film - End Of An Era

I've worked in the photo lab industry for over 20 years. The last 12 at a pro photo lab Qube visual, formerly know as Cies Sexton or Photobition. The other day was the last run of film processing for this business. I wrote this note to the other employees who may not have realized how much the photo industry has changed because of the digital revolution.

Hey, all. Thought I'd share some history of this place we call the Qube.

As most of you know the film department is being shut down today for good. It’s truly the end of an era for this place, and Denver really. Sign of the times though, like the music industry facing changes with digital music, the photo industry must change also. Face it, our life styles are ever changing as certain aspects become more and more convenient with digital cameras and mp3 players, etc.

(If some of my numbers are off here I apologize-Ray and Brent can maybe correct me). This place has been one of the most respected and largest professional photo labs in the country for the last 25 plus years. The film processing and photo services carried this place financially a good deal of that time. When I started working here 12 years ago we had 5 people working 2 shifts in the film department alone. I believe we averaged taking in $100,000 a month at times...just the film department! We had over 100 employees here, about half of which worked only in the photo side of things processing film, making photographic prints or taking in film related orders. The Customer Service department had over 10 folks (?) alone mostly taking care of the 100’s of photographers that used our services. I just checked that plastic slide mounter in the film department and over 58,600,000 35mm slides had been mounted on that machine alone in the last 10 years. Holy crap! That’s a lot of film! That’s not even counting the other formats that have gone through those machines.

So, I bid the end of that era a fond farewell here and look forward to what the future brings us. I’m still proud to be part of this place even though the times, they have a changed...and will continue to do so. Change is good as they say. :)

Best of 2007

Happy New Year! To wrap up the year thought I'd list some favorite recordings:

In no particular order:

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (Another classic in my book)
Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring EP (Fantastic companion release to FOABP)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times (Perhaps SGM's "proggiest" release yet)
Future Kings of England - The Fate of Old Mother Orvis (Their 2nd CD. A wonderful blend of early era Pink Floyd and Gabriel era Genesis)
Ian Neal - The Lake EP (Prog-tronic? Cool blend of prog and modern electronic stylings)
Saturation Point - Three (Post-rock with electronic elements)
Riverside - Rapid Eye Movement (Wow! These guys can do no wrong. Bookend to their Reality Dream Trilogy)
Saga - 10,000 Days (Send off to Michael Sadler. Done right!)
God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge (Post rock with keyboards and piano added)
Radio Massacre International - Rain Falls In Grey (Tribute to Syd Barret. Awesome!)
Flower Kings - Sum of No Evil (Roine said they were going to do an overtly prog album...nicely done!)
Marillion - Somewhere Else (Another fan polarizing CD. I' m on the side who likes it!)
Tuner - Pole (Pat Mastlotto and Markus Reuter's latest. "Modernistic rock")
Steve Moore - The Henge (Zombi Keyboardist's first solo CD. Great electronic effort)
Hiromi - Time Control (Super fusion album for this Japanese keyboardist)
Alan Pasqua - The Antisocial Club (Another great fusion album)
The Gourishankar - 2nd Hands (Interesting modern prog from the Russian Federation)


Best show would have to go to Genesis. Never seen them in person before. The guys can still bring it. Even though we sat way in the back of the Pepsi Center, the sound was great and the visual effects mind boggling. I thought they did a fantastic blend of their pop and more "artful" material. The Rockies won their playoff round against the Phillies that night too, making the evening even more enjoyable!

Great new prog band!

Band: Baron Rootes

Baron Rootes is a post-prog band out of Ishpeming, Michigan. Formed in the winter of 2006 this talented quartet of brothers decided to hole themselves up out in a remote hunting camp/recording studio in the backwoods. The Piirto brothers (grandsons of Finnish immigrants) stocked with an ample supply of vodka, beer, baked beans, eggs, pasties and deer jerky, took an oath not to come out of the woods until they had an album. Mission accomplished! While their album will surely go down as a prog classic, their live show is even better. It's a must see!

Album: Eudoxus (crater)

Tracks:

1-Nigel Payne - hectic opening instrumental track which features their now famous ax-and-saw-to-guitar solo...ya gotta see them perform this one live to appreciate the nuances.

2-Fred Ottman - 70's era King Crimson and Gabriel-era Genesis influences can be heard on this mini epic of sorts. Combine those classic prog elements with the sounds of farting and we have truly original piece...again live...well, the smell is definitely one of the important features missed when just listening to the album.

3-Watts's Spiny Rat - Another instrumental that takes the listener on what the band describes as a sauna induced trip. Apparently vodka and 140 degree sauna's can induce quite the hallucinogenic trip, as all the member swore they saw giant rats coming out of the sauna steam at one point.

4-Emperor Rosk - After one heats up in a sauna, am told running out naked and rolling in the snow to cool off is a tradition and can produce a euphoric feeling. It's all the band would offer as an explanation regarding the title of this quirky number which features a solo section of an odd sounding sort of rhythmic skin slapping. Again, seeing this one done live...well lets just say, while seeing drunk men run around on stage naked may not be that desirable to most, the skin slapping section will all make sense.

5-The 411 - The band set their instruments up in the cabin's kitchen and in this avant-garde tour de force. Clanging, banging, strumming, and striking everything within reach, including the kitchen sink for 45 minutes...well lets just say you've probably not heard anything quite like it. A few of my friends, after hearing this piece told me they wanted their 45 minutes back. You're mileage may vary. My fav section would be the frying egg on the stove solo at the 30:32 minute mark. The puking/heavy vomiting solo that end the album is one of music history's finest moments imo. This piece is a fan fav in concert because the audience gets free fried eggs at the end of the show. The guys are pretty good cooks I must say! The audience is encouraged to join in on the ending puking section. What a way to finish the evening!

Move over Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, these guys can perform a live set like none other.





Ok...if ya can't tell, this is a bit of a spoof...duh! The idea comes from Word magazine. The game is WikiProg. Make your own fictitious prog band by using Wikipedia.

1) go to Wikipedia.
2) click 'random article' - this is your band name
3) click again - this is your album title
4) repeat for album tracks
5) embellish

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Aug. 30, 2007

SGM kicked ass as usual. This is the second mid-size theater in row they played here in Denver. I'd guess over 300 folks showed up. So nice seeing them on a big stage and with a big PA again over the couple dive clubs they've played here in the past. I think it took Olivia their sound person a couple tunes to harness the PA, but it ended up sounding pretty good.

Highlights:

Tub Rings's keyboardist doing keyboard stand acrobatics. He'd jump on his stand and play the keyboard, then jump high into the air doing some leg kicks. Prog keyboardists should take note...we need more of this! ;) Also, these guys spit a lot. Another thing more prog bands should incorporate. ;) OK, I liked maybe half of what Tub Ring did...the best part of was their version of Blue Moon (?) from the movie Three Amigos.

During an intermission in Tub Rings set, SGM came out and set up chairs and proceeded to shave all the beards and mustaches off the Tub Ring members to commemorate the last show the two bands would do together on this tour...pretty hilarious stuff! I have some digital videos of this in my pic link below.

SGM's version of Bring Back The Apocalypse was mind blowing. What a great groove they brought that raised the ceiling and tears to my eyes...never heard that tune groove and jam so much.

They played mostly new stuff but mixed in a couple classics and a new tune Dan wrote about his dying father. They ended with 1997 (Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's...).

The show started with Tub Ring about 8:45. SGM played from 10:15-11:35...not too late!

After the show I got to present Nils with a DVD I made of their last show here in Denver. I mentioned this was my 4th time seeing them here and thanks for coming back. I told him I posted versions of some of the videos on YouTube to help spread the SGM word and asked if it was OK to do that. He said, "Yes, people like you are all we have." And, " thanks". I got my pic taken with him...very cool!


Link to the album of pics and digital videos of Tub Rings's keyboardist and the shaving and a few of SGM. I didn't go crazy recording this time...it was nice to mostly enjoy the show without worrying about photographing/videoing/recording for a change.

Tortoise ~ June 18, 2007

For those who might be uninitiated regarding Tortoise, I lifted this description from their Wikipedia page: Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to Krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica, and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.

Some have cited Tortoise as being one of the prime forces behind the development and popularity of the so-called "post-rock" movement. Others, however, have criticized Tortoise's music as being derivative of progressive rock.

Arriving a half hour before the doors opened it appeared that the crowed might be rather thin as there was no line at all out front of The Bluebird at all. I decided to take advantage of the nice evening and cheap micro brew prices across the street and headed to the Goosetown Tavern's patio until the doors opened. At 8:30 a few of us filed in and waited for Lichens to start (see my review below). I snagged a prime second tier rail spot right in the middle of the floor. Thoughts of poor audience turnout soon were put aside as a really nice size crowd began to showup right before Tortoise's set.

Tortoise came out about 10:20 and proceeded to wow us with an incredibly tight set of tunes. One thing really interesting about these guys is they are all multi-instrumentalists and they tradeoff on almost every song. They actually have two drum kits setup up face to face and on several of the songs have duel drumming. Three of them handled the kits. All the members played their two sets of xylophones eventually and all of them played some sort of keyboard during the course of the show as well. Three of them traded off on guitars and basses too. One could tell they really enjoined playing together as there was tons of grins at each other and they totally fed of the crowd's exciting reactions. We coaxed them out for two encores...they were extremely deserving! Throughout the show they had projected images which were mostly moving abstract, contemporary painting type of visuals...very fitting and not too distracting.

This was my first time seeing them live in person and it will not be my last. It's amazing how their live music grooves, because on CD a lot of the tunes don't really come off that way, but live they seem to improve the studio versions somehow that makes things even better...highly recommended if one wants to see a very tight band who's music isn't so ordinary, highly creative, but at the same time somewhat accessible.

I have a photo slideshow with music recorded that night on my YouTube Station (here).

Also, I have the complete set of photos on my Photosite (here).

Lichens ~ June 18, 2007

I had no idea what to expect from this opening act for Tortoise, but the buzz on the street was that it would be good. Turns out is was. Lichens is one guy, Robert Lowe, who totally managed to transfix the audience. Mr. Lowe came out and sat down on his stool. Near him was a mic, guitar and some effects pedals. He proceeded to pick-up the mic, put it up to his mouth and these lovely bird whistles started emitting from the PA. He did a variety of these all the while looping the different ones until it sound just like we were in an enchanted forest or something. While the bird songs were looping he picked up the guitar and did some improvised swatches, some of which were atmospheric some were sort of bluesy. This went on for a few minutes until he set the guitar down and picked up the mic again and began doing these deep toned whistles that sounded like wooden flutes. He started harmonizing with the previous tones he looped. All the while the bird songs where still playing. Next, he started singing wordless tones, starting in the lower registers and then he started harmonizing with those loops in higher and higher resisters. This entire piece went on for almost 25 minutes and was amazingly beautiful. A girl behind me at one point said in astonishment,
'this is crazy!" It was. Fans of droning, relaxing, atmospheric music might just check Lichens out. He has two CD's out (here).

COURT - from Italy

I first became aware of Court when they contacted us via Pindral's MySpace page saying they would be playing in Aurora on June 17, please join them. I had never heard of the venue they booked themselves into, but how often does one get to see an Italian prog band in Colorado? Gotta go check them out even though it was on a Sunday night.

Larry and I pulled up to Wyatt's Torch which was in a nondescript strip mall off S. Parker Rd. Much to our surprise there were only 5 cars in the parking lot outside. The place is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall club where they seem to really push the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. A sign in the place proudly proclaimed they were the loudest club in Aurora. Oh, boy. Upon entering we were pleasantly surprised to see a friendly face, Mr. Ron Perron, bass player for Stencil Forest and Colorado Art Rock Society friend, who was the only person there besides a few of the bar staff and the three piece band from Laramie, Wyoming who were the opening act. This was after 9:00 and the opening act was supposed to have been playing already, but they got delayed on their trip down. They got set-up and did a short opening set. Thankfully, the sound guy cut them off at 10:00 so Court could set-up. The Laramie guys weren't that bad really, but at 10:00 on a Sunday night with an early work day looming...let's get to the main act! In the meantime, Ron, who had already had the chance talk with the Court members, introduced us to some of them and we got to chat briefly. We explained we play in a prog band here in town and next time they come through let us know and maybe we could do a show together at The Oriental Theater. They seemed like really nice folks indeed and receptive to the idea. Keeping fingers crossed.

Court consists of a lead vocalist, drummer, two guitarists and a bass player. A couple of them also play a wind instruments, such as recorders, flutes and oboe. Very nice sounds. After setting up their gear, they stepped outside the back door to change into their stage clothes, much to our surprise, because there was only three real paying customers at this gig...professional to say the least!

I had not really heard any of Court's music besides a few samples from their MySpace page, so I wasn't really sure what we were in for. The band started into their set with some great instrumental passages. Wow, what a great sound! Lead singer Paolo soon joined. Such a nice voice and stage presence he brings to the table. His energetic and theatrical stage antics really added to the set. The band ripped through an hours worth of songs from their latest CD Frost of Watermelon and some older material as well. The music was a blend of all out powerful prog rock passages with some great folky ones as well. Very good blend of instrumental and vocal passages. Excellent musicianship too. Actually we didn't want them to stop even though it was well after midnight...they were that good.

After the show we got to talk to all of them and thank them for coming. We exchanged CD's and purchased one also. Talking to Francesco he said they are financing the tour themselves and looked at this tour as a nice US vacation. He told us he has lived in the States previously, spending some time in Carmel, CA and I think Ohio (?). The rest of the guys had never been here so they were wide-eyed with all the sights. Amazingly, they had just come from De Moines, Iowa the night before. They drove all night and arrived in Denver at 11:00 am and got to sleep before the show. Their next shows are in California and they have three days to drive out there. Hope some nice crowds show-up for them because they really deserve to be heard! Marco mentioned they were sometimes surprised where they end up playing because they really had to book the venues blindly...I think this was one of the surprises.

Upon heading to our vehicle after saying goodbyes the club manager stopped us and thanked us for coming. I had video taped the show and he asked me if I was going to post any of the footage on the web, because he said he was blown away by these guys. Just as we didn't know what to expect from them, I don't think he really had a clue what he was in for booking Court, but nice to see them gain some more fans, myself and Larry included.

I have a video of their performance on my YouTube station (here).

Also, I have a complete set of photos on my Photosite.