Best of My Concert Photos

Arpil 9th, 2002 marked the 7th year I've been taking digital concert pics of Prog Rock bands and progressive artists. I decided to make a best of compilation. Check it out on my Photo Website.

Bands/artists include:

Tony Levin Band
Porcupine Tree (multiple shows)
Acoustic Asia
Marillion
Umphrey's McGee
Adrian Belew Trio (with Mikes)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (multiple shows)
Secret Chiefs 3
Zorn Patton & Frith
Spock's Beard
Carl Palmer Band
Ozric Tentacles (multiple shows)
The Flower Kings (multiple shows)
Green Milk From The Planet Orange
BX3 - Hamm, Berlin and Sheehan
Court
Tortoise w/ Lichens
Bob Drake and Friends (Hamster Theatre members, etc)
Fish
Peter Hammill
Thinking Plague

New song and video

Peter Hammill::Soiled Dove Underground::10-3-08

Impressions from a Peter Hammill Noob:

I have to admit that prior to this week I was a borderline Peter Hammill/Van der Graaf Generator fan. That is until I won some free tickets from Twist and Shout to go see PH in person. I wanted to hone up on some of his solo material, but was advised by those in the know in regards to his extensive back catalog I'd probably be rather overwhelmed in trying to do so, especially since PH usually changes up his set lists night to night making it nearly impossible to familiarize oneself with any of his material he might pull out. So, I found a few of his solo albums online, "Singularity", "Enter K" and "Patience" just to get a flavor of his style. I gave them many spins over the week and have to admit I found them really enjoyable. Where have I been in regards to Hammill's music?

I was also advised to just go and get in the mindset of seeing a master singer songwriter. Robert Fripp is quoted as calling PH the Jimi Hendrix of vocals so expect some extreme vocal acrobatics. OK, I can hear that in his recorded material for sure, how will it translate live? I'm not much of a singer songwriter guy, that is I generally find attending shows where it's just one guy and a piano, or in this case, also a guitar, to be rather boring. Chalk it up to my short attention span I suppose. Give me a band with lots going on. Well, that concern turned out to be rather non-valid to say the least. Peter Hammill is no standard singer songwriter guy! His performance was very captivating. His use of dynamics and nuance is top notch and lyrically I found myself really engaged. A standout example lyric for me was, from which song I have no idea, "The birds don't know which way to sing, my friend, and neither do I". I found myself applying many of his lyrics to the current world and political situations. I'm sure many of these songs are 30 years old or so, but still have a certain timelessness. I am definitely looking forward to exploring more of his back catalog.

Overall, Hammill seemed very appreciative of the audience. Sadly, there was only about 50 folks there, but it didn't deter him from playing his heart out. After the show he came out and signed autographs and was very fan friendly mingling and even joked around with us. He mentioned to us this was his first time in Colorado, believe it or not considering his long career.

I have a collection of photos on my photo site and have three digital videos shot with my digital camera, so they are nothing too fancy, on my YouTube Station.

Streaming Audio

Some of my original music:

Shortwave IraQ (2003) 19:09
M2 Dreams(2003) 11:35
Demo of 2006 Project Idea Side 01 17:32
Demo of 2006 Project Idea Side 02 10:31
Tutelary Authority(2008) 10:28

(Hit the "play" button. A media player will automatically pop-up)



Shortwave IraQ: "Shortwave Iraq" is a piece I did during the first week of the war on Iraq. I recorded Bush's speech and various shortwave radio snippits from around the globe over a couple nights right after the war was launched and added electric bass, programmed rhythms, field recordings and real percussion instruments to make this, perhaps reactionary piece of music.

M2 Dreams: "M2 Dreams" is an experiment with an old Hammond M2 organ I acquired for $35 at a local thrift store. All the organ parts/sounds are from this 50+ year old treasure in which I recorded a ten minute organ part holding down various chords and then utilized the draw bars to give the amazing textures. I then added programmed beats, field recordings and a former bandmate, Wayne Martein added the guitar part.

2006 Project Demo: The first three pieces on Side 01 are "Are You Popular", "Pixel Shift" and "Epiphany". They are a combination of synthesizer swatches I developed then added various other elements to them, such as, recordings from old stock movies and ham radio recordings, programmed drums, etc. The rest of the project consists of untitled pieces/sketches segued together. Unfortunately, this project won't be completed due to a surprise hard drive crash. These mp3's are all that remain. The project was tentatively called "Enigmatic Oddysses".

Tutelary Authority: An electronic/ambient piece I've been working on over the summer. It combines shortwave radio recordings, synthesizer pads, Jazz bass, tubular chimes and percussion loops. It's also the soundtrack to the "A Kite's Plight" video below.




A Kite's Plight by Steve Navarre from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Lunar Jam: An original, partly improvised electronic spacey piece performed live with a couple Pindral bandmates:


Lunar Jam @ 5th C.A.R.S. Prog Music Fest. 11-18-07 from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Steve Navarre: Bass, synths, effects
Gretchen Kunz: Guitar, flute, vocals
Jamie McGregor: Drums

Awe Shucks!

What a great guy Fish is! I'm honored to be mentioned in his thank you note in his blog after the 2008 North American tour:

want to sincerely thank everyone who bought tickets for the shows and the shirts and albums as you made it all possible. I especially want to thank Mo and everyone who put together the meet and greets which added another dimension to the tour. Special mention goes to Carlos Loera, Steve Cozart, Larry Schorr, Scott (Fish forum: raingod42), Steve Navarre, Jeff Kuhns, George Soltis, Rich Catena, Brian J. Walton, Denise (Fish forum: jigsawangel), Frederic Thaure, Richard (Fish forum: ranger), Shanley Driscoll, Mel Huang, David Gargano and everyone else who played a part in setting up and organising the meet and greets. I thought they were a huge success overall and I sincerely appreciate all your efforts.
Thanks also to Lori Hehr for working the media so well and giving us the umbrella coverage and the reporting on the achievements we managed on the tour.
A huge thank you goes to Rob LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson and all the guys at NEARFest without whom we would never have been able to get across, to Larry Webman for putting together a great tour and to Yatta who did a fantastic job holding it all together in the paper and form blizzard and in organising all the nuts and bolts that kept the ship together when we were out there. He is the master! =D>
Finally thanks to Frank, Gavin, Foss, Chris, Vince, Paul, Billy and Steve, who went through the pain barrier to create some memorable shows on an unforgettable tour!

Let's all do it again next year! ;-)

Fish's entire BLOG entry

Monofog Live @ The Hi-Dive Denver 5-10-08

Zombi Love Song by Monofog @ The Hi Dive Denver 5-10-08 from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Pindral Is Opening For Fish!