Fish, Frogs and the Future

Fish at the Ramblin' Man Fair in Maidstone, 2018.

 Fish has announced his retirement for next year. He will also close his label Chocolate Frog Records. He said he would sell the rights, likely getting on the bandwagon started by Bob Dylan and just peaked by Queen. Fish already sold his share of his Marillion tracks from 1982-88 to Primary Wave, one of the leading independent music companies who have Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, the late Olivia Newton-John and many others on their roster. Primary Wave could have Fish's solo catalogue on their label as they have the Cambridgeshire-born Australian legend in a deal she signed before she passed. Fish only just reissued his first two albums on LP and CD. He has expressed the difficulties of dealing with the manufacturers and the post after Brexit for EU fans. He and his wife Simone have been running the label themselves and have been moving house to the Outer Hebrides from Midlothian. They have been downsizing like many people their age. I'd love to buy the LPs except for the first, which I have the original of already, but the fish here aren't biting! Going to see him is even more elusive than his former colleagues coming to the US again since it's not like forty years ago. We'll just have to keep an eye on things for the next year and a half and see where this goes.

Identity crisis

Fish in Franken Germany; 2018. Courtesy Stefan Brending/Wikimedia Commons.

 If an artist or group has a common or generic name, chances are someone else will have it too. Before the internet, that was the case. If one makes it big, the other may contact their solicitors and settle out of court. I wrote a similar post years ago on our sister retail blog. In recent years, when I try to look up some people, I find mp3s from the wrong ones, who may not realise that the "real" one even exist. Spinoffs and disputes over use of the name by former members isn't exactly what I mean since that's a different post entirely. These are the ones I know off hand, but there are tonnes more out there.

Asia (my Asia settled with lesser known mid-West band and lesser knowns come up for mp3s)

Duran Duran (there are an obscure band called Duran Duran Duran)

Fish (pictured; can even be confused with Phish)

Tony Banks (once found an unknown artist with same name)

Ray Wilson (same)

Justin Hayward (there's also a DJ)

Brian May (Queen guitarist and late Australian film composer)

Roger Taylor (drummers for Queen and Duran Duran, which would probably have caused issues back at EMI)

Rush (even the boys have some chancers that are really fly by night calling themselves that)

Savoy (can also get mixed up with Savoy Brown with late Oswego County resident Kim Simmonds)

Jim Diamond (was once a Diamond Jim out there)

PhD (his duo had to contend with a hip-hop one)

Bandit (his earlier band with AC/DCs Cliff Williams and Kate Bush's husband Danny McIntosh)

Status Quo (not to be confused with hip hop artist Stat Quo or song from High School Musical)

IQ (you have to have one to know who the real one are)

Jadis (even them, but could even get conflated with character on The Walking Dead)

Pallas (founder Graeme Murray originally called his band Rainbow, but that's in the same boat)

Magnum (I recently got a CD from the wrong Magnum, which I got rid of)

INXS (was once a shop in the Mohawk Valley)

Visage (was spa run by my doctor likely stopped by Steve Stranges estate if not the state)

Genesis (was once obscure band in the US at the same of the one I know being formed and another in Colombia, and also the late Genesis P-Orridge)

Alan Williams (because of others with the name, the one I used to know used the name Al Chantrey)

Toyah (not to be confused with Toya)

Slaughter (Clark County and Canadian bands)

X (US and Japan)

The Beat (Paul Collins's Beat and The English Beat)

Earth, Wind & Fire (not to be confused with Earth Fire, who Boris wants me to find)

Cinema (short-lived Yes spinoff settled with other Cinemas after becoming Yes proper again)

Tony Kaye (original Yes member and fellow UK pat and director)

Jon Anderson (not to be confused with country artist John Anderson)

Michael Jackson (even the King of Pop had two others with the same name)

Joe Jackson (his dad and the pop/jazz artist)

Paul Young (solo artist and late Sad Café/Mike & the Mechanics vocalist)

Vanessa Williams (SU alum, Melrose Place co-star [both did Soul Food], and gospel artist)

Bush (UK and Canadian bands)

Jadis - More Questions Than Answers

Fair use of image for critical review. Courtesy Jadismusic/Amazon.com. Designed by Geoff Chandler (Garys brother)

 Jadis's new album, More Questions Than Answers, lives up to its name! Their first in eight years' time, the band are in classic form, since I was able to preview it on YouTube. It's just getting the album that has become elusive. I was planning on getting it on amazon.com with my usual $5 off from Bing (almost £4), but once I had the gift card, the site ran out of copies, even if that bi-weekly discount barely covered P&P or VAT. Frontman Gary Chandler told me in an e-mail that they're still under the radar four decades after he started the band and that he doesn't have a full-fledged setup for getting out product. I thought he had a deal with RSK, who distribute Jadis' former and IQs (founded by current member Martin Orford) label Giant Electric Pea. I did tell Chandler that his modus operandi is not unlike that of Fish with his label, which he'll close next year, but that's for another day. It's not like the old days of selling tapes or LPs out of the boot of your car or in the post since the internet has opened more doors in the past few decades, including Pandoras! On that note, no one has put mp3s up officially or unofficially (to Orfords relief) just yet. Not even a pirate CD, since I have none from Jadis at this time. A few third-party dealers put the CD on amazon, and a couple more have on Discogs. Even Barnes & Noble would have carried it on their site (you have to spell the first the words as one, probably to avoid confusion with other things, but that just makes it harder to look up. I had less trouble finding Robbie Williams LPs at my local B&N!). The band have had a deal with InsideOut in the past, which helped get a few of their albums in shops more easily, even when it was a true indie. The new one I wound up ordering direct or through BandCamp (a haven for artists who used to be with or could never get signed to the big boys, yet that site claim to just have a four track promo). It may have set me back a little, but it cut out the middle man. Not sure if it went out yet when I wrote this or it was sent out with no tracking number to cut costs. I don't even think Nad Sylvan gave me that when I ordered from him a few years ago. I got his autograph on two separate orders, while I got the bands on Medium Rare by surprise (the same thing happened with Sylvans boss Steve Hackett) without even trying.

Once fans get their copy, it'll be worth the wait. Now if only the bands solicitors could get others with the same name to change it (Magnum and Pallas too, but those "other bands" may not even realise the "real" ones exist just because of how generic the names are. Same with Fish, IQ and even the boys Rush (that's for another post similar to one on the sister blog).

Yes - Mid-Hudson Civic Centre

Yes later in 2010 in Paraguay

Show was on 2/2/10. I used to live several miles north and it brought me back to the area after a decade away. This was only bumped up because there was no image until now. This would be the last time I would either go to the mid-Hudson Valley or see the band again (as Benoît David and Oliver Wakeman had left the band after that, and Chris Squire and Alan White are no longer with us, while I'd see Steve Howe three more times in Asia, including six months later in Rochester). Setlist.fm has the right order.

Setlist (in order of original release except *):

Siberian Khatru*
I've Seen All Good People*
Astral Traveller
Yours is No Disgrace
South Side of the Sky
Heart of the Sunrise
And You and I
Onward
Machine Messiah
Tempus Fugit
Owner of a Lonely Heart
Masquerade/SH Solo TBD
Roundabout*
Starship Trooper*

Dropped:

Clap
Mood for a Day
Aliens Are Only Us from the Future
Close to the Edge
Soon
Parallels
Awaken
Long Distance Runaround

This was my third time seeing Yes, the second with Benoît David and Oliver Wakeman (and the bands second time at this spot). The was smaller than the last two places I went to, apparently because it's a small town. I used to live in the area, so I came in on the train.
There were just a couple minor flibs, but no one noticed. It wasn't 100% full, but people of three generations came. A lot of people were having drink standing up at the side of the auditorium.
I've accepted Benoît enough that I picked up his other band Mystery's CD before the show and paid $20 US. That's another story. However, I still hope things are patched up with Jon Anderson in future, as we all do. Or maybe he can't handle these long tours anymore. He's an old man now.
I had to leave just as the last song finished to catch the bus, but I didn't miss that much.
The old guard still have what it takes and you won't see them at over-60s anytime soon! The local press still mention all three as original members. Of course, we know better! Oliver came more into his own. Just wish his vocoder sounded better on "Tempus Fugit". Benoît makes the songs his own. Some people still slag him off (excuse my language!).
Overall, I give it an A-, and a good time was to be had by all.
Because there was no studio album to promote, the merchandise table had solo albums instead, akin to the 1976 tour. I bought Beneath the Veil of Winter's Face from Mystery (Benoît David) I already have (Alan) White and Fish Out of Water (Chris Squire). Holding out for Homebrew 4 (Steve Howe) on emusic.

Prom-enade

 

Prom fashion show from 2015 with our Michæla (second from upper right), taken by Poppi

    If Rolling Stone can branch out, so can I. I've posted more than once about my prom experience in bits, and I've tried putting it on Facebook, Bored Panda and Nextdoor, but it just isn't as effective, and they just disappear like they would on X. This site is more designed for such an article.

Like many people, I didn't get to go to prom in high school when I was the age of these kids (I didn't even realise my niece Michæla had like her folks had [my sister is her mother]). My grades weren't the best to say the least, we probably couldn't afford to have me go too, I didn't dress up that nice in those days, and I had no desire anyway. Not long after that, I transferred out of town to another school for a period, but I wasn't sure if prom was held at that stage, although I later learned it was before I went, and occasionally since after changing direction. There were other dances and events held throughout the year however. Prom never crossed my mind at that point either. I'd be lucky to get a reunion with anyone from that era, but that's for another day. Just one with people who attended before I was born.

It took all the way until 2015-16 for me to finally regret having missed out on junior prom and senior ball after looking on Syracuse.com or seeing it around. Can't recall what triggered it, yet many things came into my life quite late and some still have yet to occur. Only just went to my first two weddings just before that (again, for another time). I thought I would be trying to come up with a prom for others who also were denied that rite of passage they seen on TV or movies, or saw their friends and families get to embrace. Turns out that has been a thing for some time. Drew Barrymore is said to have paved the way since even she's in the same boat as me, but didn't finish school, and put together a couple do's and went on one of the chat shows, so when her two girls are older, she can take them to get their dresses for their big nights. In recent years, adult or second chance proms have been held nationwide.

Here's the list of all the post-traditional proms (we can change the narrative here) I have attended:

1. Singers Karaoke Club • Syracuse, 21/5/16 - My first one nearly two decades late!

2. Singers • 20/5/17 - Last one until this year

3. Wholely Grounds at the Road • 14/4/18 - NY 175, Onondaga Hill (had to dig up the calendar since everything is lost to obscurity)

4. Marriott Syracuse Downtown • 10/3/19 - Charity family event held in grand ballroom upstairs*

5. Wholely Grounds at the Road • 13/4/19 - They closed in September (I just know that the event wasn't right before Easter), Alice in Wonderland/Charisma Records theme (final one at this location)

5a. Studio 54 • 21/6/19 NY 5, downtown - I didn't really stay long because of delays and the hours*

No events in 2020 because of the pandemic, of course.

6. TK Tavern • 16/10/21 Camillus (original location), Salt City Collective (Meetup group) - Also the closest thing to a second chance homecoming in CNY since this occurs more during that season, although I'll consider setting up something with that name since I missed out on that as well

7. Sharkeys Bar & Grill • 23/7/22 CR 57, Liverpool (Bayberry) - Clay Panthers Pop Warner football team fundraiser*

8. TK Tavern • 2/10/22 - Salt City Collective; moved the next years event after fire in January 2023

9. St Josephs Catholic Church • 20/5/23 - W Genesee St., Camillus*

10. Brewerton Centre for the Arts • 24/6/23 - US 11, Brewerton*

11. Ukrainian National Home • 14/10/23 - S Wilbur Ave., Tipp Hill - SCC new location (may be just the one time)

12. Singers • 8/6/24 - Full circle (only one in town at the same time as the regular kind this year; Hollywood Nights theme [I don't always remember those, and they're hard to come up with since many are overdone like Gatsby])

13. SCC ?/10/24 TBA

*One-off and/or not held again since

Younger people who didn't have prom a few years ago because of COVID can now attend since it's usually at the local or at least serving drinks (I don't drink). They make a great fundraiser if anyone needs to raise money and are held year round nationwide (yet you may still need GoFundMe just to bankroll the budget to hold the event unless you can find sponsors). I would get a right headache from a regular prom today at my age listening to todays Top 40! I don't need to be prom king or even have a date (been stag all my life). It's never too late. I'd consider holding a second chance homecoming in the fall since no one has had one here yet and I didn't get to go to that either, even though some may call it prom lite (semi-formal could even be that). There should also be one just for senior citizens since I don't know if one was done here before either. Why just let the kids have all the fun? Now if I could only get to one of theirs just to see it in person, noise or no noise (I have managed to get downtown for ones held there and see them head inside since the pavement is public property).

FYE/Transworld locations

2014 Connecticut location; courtesy Mike Mozart

 Link