Pooter (of the psychedelic shack) has posted a great review of "Yellow Star Mailing List", completing his review of the J2K trilogy. Follow this link and scroll down to the middle of the page.
There's a new review of "Fantastic" up at Ytsejam.com, check it out naow funk so bruvah...
I am compiling the next releases for the PAle series, which will be two CDs of Cold Sky, the band featuring Hyam Sosnow of Jugalbandi on drums, George Radai of Paper Bag on bass, myself on guitar and vocals, and later, Leon on keyboards. I was originally only going to put out one very packed CD of stuff from both eras of the band (trio and 4 pc.), but have decided to split those up. The trio version of the band not only did different arrangements but also did some songs that were dropped when Leon joined. There should be enough material to have a CD for each lineup.
Work on "Jugalbandi: 1999" will continue in January, I hope to have the two CDs out by February.
Well technically it's still the 27th, but if I put that down you wouldn't look here, would you? If I have more news tomorrow things will get complicated.....
Psyche van het Folk played a selection of GS tracks during their 11/27 show: "Congruence Asserts Its Presence", "Snallygaster", "Was It Childhood", "Wednesday 10 p.m." (1 min. excerpt), "As The Sky Turns To Fire", and "Cold Sky". (These are all off "Always" & "ISOTF", which were both reviewed there.)
Difficult Listening, a radio show in Australia, played "Looking For Paradise" and "Giger Landscape" at the end of their most recent broadcast (11/24). Judging by their accumulated playlists, this is one cool show for afficionados of the offbeat. They offer a web simulcast, check 'em out!
Well, the worst has happened: I have posted more of my old poetry. (You were warned.) The newly added pieces are: Address To The Big Valley Coffee House , Barrio Story , Demon , Backside, Clothes Make The Man , The Strainer , Sins Of The Carrot Wavers , On Invisibility , Repression , Stranded , and Prototype.
For those who prefer something a little more innocuous, I've put up a list of "songs I can't listen to just once". Yes, it's come to this. It's been sitting around forever and I finally posted it. There are more lists sitting around too. You have been warned!
There are new reviews of "Fantastic" and "Always" at the Belgian "Psyche van het Folk" site.
Tom Shannon, bass player with Death & Taxe$ and Bag: Theory, passed away on the 14th due to complications from brain cancer. I have put up a tribute page to Tom from the Paper Bag site, and am inviting people to send in their thoughts and remembrances of him.
There have been additions to the DreamCovers page and the "Responses to Sound Quality" page.
Back on 9/30, I got a bit of airplay on Eufonia, a Mexican prog radio show. I only found out about this in the last couple of days when I went to check their site out. No tracks were listed, but it's 2 hours and only a handful of other artists were listed for that show, so it's possible they played more than one track.
I've added a new piece to the writing corner, "Some Thoughts on Sound Quality vs. Musical Quality".
There are two great new articles up at Aural Innovations. Both are review/retrospectives. One is on my solo work (everything now covered by the PAle series), the other covers all the Paper Bag albums. As always, I advise enjoying the rest of the site, the new issue is great. And don't forget the Aural Innovations Radio tribute to Greg Segal (show #58) - it's the perfect soundtrack to the retrospective article! Anyone new to my work can get a very good introduction to it this way. And many people not new to my work can still discover new things through these.
There are new reviews of Jugalbandi's "Cram" and "Yellow" discs at Progressiveworld.net.
"Always" and "ISOTF" have been reviewed in issue #41 of Progression.
Work has begun on "Jugalbandi: 1999!". It will be two discs and will be offered on the Great Artiste 89 equivalent of the PAle series- budget, $6 each ($12 for the set). No guess as to how soon it will be available, but we hope it will be by the end of the year.
There is a new piece for the Writing Corner, "Some Thoughts on Pretension".
Psychonavigation Trips has continued in their unceasing support for "In Search of the Fantastic". Songs are played on what seems to be a very regular basis. A big thanks to the folks over there. Please go check them out.
Major announcements this time. First, the budget priced CD line, "the PAle series" is now ready to go. For the the opening volley, almost everything previously listed on the "Solo Projects" page is now available on disc. (The exception is "Experimental Guitar"; but the studio pieces on that from '86 now make up "The Fourth Of The Three".) The majority of the discs are selling for $6. There is a lot to tell about this, but rather than repeat it all here, please click through to the PAle series' page via the link above for full information.
In order to cover this newly available material better, I have been doing some updating and adding to the website- so far covering 92 pages, to be exact. You will now find pages for most tracks on the CDs. On these you will find lyrics (where applicable) and instrumentation lists. There are a few new illustrations on these pages as well and I am working on more. (Example, for those who didn't know- the song pages on "Night Circus" are all illustrated.) There are "Next" links on the song pages so that you can cruise through them easily, giving you an enhanced audiovisual experience if you're listening to the CDs while online.
I've added a permanent link to the Aural Innovations Greg Segal tribute from the Sound Clips page, and I've included a track listing. Anyone who would like to get a free, well rounded listen to what I do could do no better than to check this out.
Speaking of Aural Innovations, the next issue will feature an article on my solo stuff (everything now being released on PAle), and another article on the Paper Bag releases! Keep your eyes open for it. I will of course post an announcment and a link here when it's up.
There's a hilarious yet complimentary review of "Fantastic" up at Splendid E-Zine.
There's a lot to cover this update! I was temporarily unable to upload changes so a lot of news and announcements went missing. Let's work backwards and catch up.
On 9/22, Aural Innovations posted show #58, which is a 2 part Greg Segal Tribute. This covers about two and a half hours of material, mostly taken from my solo work (including many songs from the early cassette releases, not compiled on "Always"); but there are also a few full Jugalbandi tracks and even a Paper Bag track. I highly recommend this show to anyone who wants to hear full tracks that cover a wide range of my music.
On 9/8, Progressiveworld.net put up a review of Jugalbandi's "View".
On 9/5, Modern-Dance zine put up a review of "Always" (scroll down ).
On 8/10, ISOTF got some airplay on the Gagliarchives, a show which will be familiar to most 'net savvy progfans.
Other than these, there is more big news. I am currently at work on a budget CD line, the PAle series (Phantom Airship limited edtions). These will be going for around $6 each and will cover the original solo releases in their unremastered state, archival recordings, and most likely some band material (Cold Sky, Dog Neutral, and possibly Jugalbandi). As the name implies, these will be available on a very limited basis. I will post more details soon.
There's a new review of Jugalbandi's "The View Is Better From The Top Of The Food Chain" at Splendid E-zine.
There's a great new review of "Fantastic" up at pOoTer's pSycheDelic shAcK. (Scroll down to the Greg Segal section and re-read the killer review of "Always" too while you're at it.)
Jerry Lucky devotes a couple of paragraphs to Greg Segal and Jugalbandi in his latest column at Ghostland Progressive rock site.
The current Drug Music show features "What Once Was Is" off ISOTF; and the first suggestions for the Dream Covers list have arrived.
There's a great new review of Jugalbandi's "The Cram And Stuff Method" at Splendid E-zine.
There are a couple of additions to the Writing Corner page. First, we have Dream Covers, which is sort of a cross between the Golden Throat anthologies and a "dream team" list: songs covered by unlikely people. It's currently a pretty short list; suggestions are welcome and will be credited, see the page for details. Also posted at Writing Corner today are a small batch of poems, selected from about a 10 year period. These may or may not end up as song lyrics at some point, and I may add more here- I have several large folders from that time period.
Also today: news for 2001 has been archived on its own page, see link below.
It's been a good couple of days for activity. There's a review of "Always" at Prognosis; and there's a review of Jugalbandi's "Yellow Star Mailing List" at Splendid E-Zine. Also, Screamin' Streamin' Audio has Jugalbandi's "Remembering Precognition" on their 6/27 show (in addition to having the 6/10 show, with "Cram", still archived there too).
Dreams Wide Awake played "The India-Appalachia Railway" from ISOTF on the 6/22 show. They also announced last week that, due to the setting of CARP rates the station they broadcast through would have to stop webcasting soon. Their final broadcast date will be 8/31/02.
The rates set by the librarian of Congress, while lower than the original CARP recommendation, are still high and will ultimately be forcing most of the US based Internet broadcasters out of business.
There is a new Jugalbandi review, for "The Cram and Stuff Method", posted up at Prognosis. I expect there may be more reviews of GS related material there soon.
The Ink19 interview has arrived! Many thanks to writer Dave Aftandilian, who asked wonderful questions and wrote an evocative introduction, and also to the editors there. It's the first in-depth interview since the release of ISOTF and there's a lot of info about the creation of the album; plus some in-depth discussion about how I got into music, the origin of the bowed device, the definition of "prog", and much more.
More fun with Internet radio: On 6/8, broadcast (& internet simulcast) show "Dreams Wide Awake" played "Returns" off of ISOTF. Of course Doug Goffus was broadcasting/webcasting "As The Sky Turns To Fire" on WEBR at around the same time (see previous update for schedule of upcoming stuff). And "Screamin' Streamin' Audio"'s current show features Jugalbandi's "The Cram And Stuff Method" (the title track, not the whole CD- so a mere 26 minutes).
The Ink19 interview should be posted by the end of the week- so says the interviewer, who was told this by the editor. I'll be in good company; recent interviewees have included Peter Murphy and John Paul Jones.
Internet radio news! So far so good...CARP's recommendations have been overturned, which means for the time being Internet radio has a future. That may change on the 21st of this month, when a ruling is due on what rates actually will be charged. But assuming they don't charge everyone off the 'net, here are a couple of examples of why I'm happy to support Internet Radio:
"La Villa Strangiato" with host Gary Lauzon will have "Always Look On The Dark Side Of Life" as its featured album on its 6/4/02 show. He'll be playing about 25 minutes off it, and interested parties not within Ottawa broadcast range can check out the show's streaming audio webcast starting at 6 p.m. EST (North America). And the 6/20 show will include Jugalbandi's "Erwin Park (reprise)".
Doug Goffus hosts "The Goffus Rock Experience" every Saturday from 6 to 8 pm, EST, on Virginia's WEBR. Beginning next Saturday, June 8, he'll be playing tracks from "Always" every other week during the first hour of the show:
June 8: As The Sky Turns To Fire
June 22: Cold Sky
July 6: So Far
July 20: A Man Who Was Here
August 3: The Time To Be
August 17: Demolished
Thanks to Gary and Doug for their support!
Still no word on the whereabouts of the Ink19 interview; the interviewer and I are both wondering what's up, as it's been about a month since it was submitted. Considering they gave him a deadline, we both assumed they were actually interested in posting it. Any change in its MIA status will be reported here.
Jerry Kranitz has posted an all Portland, OR show for Aural Innovations Radio # 46, featuring the ISOTF track "What Once Was Is".
Chris at Remember The Future informs me that the playlist there is in flux, but that anyone wanting to know what is currently posted should look here.
There's a really good review of the Jugalbandi set in the new issue of Expose' (#24). (As of this date no info about the current issue is posted online yet, but if you don't know about the magazine you should follow the link and check it out.)
Hopefully within the next couple of days I will be posting a link to a recently finished, lengthy interview by Ink19's Dave Aftandilian (see his excellent review of "Always" there too.) The interview actually ran longer than what will be posted, and it's possible that the full thing will surface here eventually.
Great new review of "In Search Of The Fantastic" at Aural Innovations! Inspired by this and other comments I have received, I've added what instruments were played on each song to the notes for ISOTF. I was hesitant to do this at first, but I'm pleased to say that even with this information available, the whole magic show has not been given away.
Check out this joint review of "In Search Of The Fantastic", "Experimental Guitar", and Jugalbandi's "The Cram and Stuff Method" and "The View Is Better From The Top Of The Food Chain" at Bret Hart's "The Unheard Music".
A pretty large update this month- lots has happened since the last one.
You will notice a slightly new look and structure for the site. Reviews and Interviews now have their own pages, for example. Also, in response to several requests I have added a page with the previous pictures of me from the main page. There have been changes to just about every section, some subtle and some extreme. This renovation will be ongoing, so check back, you never know what you'll find.
The entire catalog- both GS CDs, the tape, and the 3 Jugalbandi discs- can now be purchased in one go for $45 plus S&H. See Products page for details.
We will be accepting PayPal for purchases in the very near future.
There is now a page for GS up at the Giant Progweed, and to this are linked their new reviews of "Always" and "In Search of". "Always" comes of age with its first primarily negative review; but the same reviewer really enjoyed "In Search Of" which thus far seems to be a real crowd pleaser.
To the list posted on 3/4/02 of GS related songs in rotation on Internet Radio show Remember The Future, add: "As The Sky Turns To Fire", "Introduction", "Discharge (edit)" and "The Time To Be" from "Always Look On The Dark Side Of Life"; "The Toast Beckons" from Jugalbandi's "The View Is Better From The Top Of The Food Chain"; and "Approaching Readiness" and "Get Out And Walk" from Jugalbandi's "The Cram And Stuff Method". This brings the total of GS-related tracks playlisted there to 16. Expect to hear lots of great music there: I've heard personal favorites from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Gabriel-era Genesis, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Be-Bop Deluxe, Yes, and so on. It's also introduced me to a lot of newer bands I probably would not have heard much of otherwise. If you're like me, this is what you wish broadcast radio sounded like.
The cool folks over at the Internet Radio show Psychonavigation Trips have playlisted "Looking For Paradise", "Nad" and others from "In Search Of The Fantastic". Psychonavigation Trips specializes in head music- sounds in the service of shamanism/spiritual ascension, consciousness exploration, creative visualization, and some good-old-fashioned tripping.
Also likely to be playing GS and Jugalbandi tracks are Live365 stations Applied Space, Triad Radio, and Space Mules Attack. All have received discs and have responded favorably but no tracks have yet been confirmed as having been playlisted.
Progradio.net has also received a package and their website mentions GS and Jugalbandi as being among the artists you can hear on Progressive Rock Radio Network stations.
Catch music on all of these shows now before the big boys legislate US Internet radio out of business. (Despite claims to the contrary, this seems to be exactly what the industry heads want. Supposedly they are acting on behalf of artists- they sure as fuck aren't going to be helping me out if they succeed!) For more info on the impending Internet radio holocaust, please check out saveinternetradio.org and RAIN.
Some highlights of activity from last month:
On 3/29/02, Jugalbandi's "The Cram And Stuff Method" (the track, not the album), was played in all its 26 minute glory by The Christopher Currie on his show "This Night Wounds Time". (There's a RealAudio link to this show's live stream at www.queensu.ca/cfrc; it airs Friday nights, midnight to 3 a.m., EST)
"Looking For Paradise" was played on "Psych Out", 3/25/02.
"Sahara 1909" was played on Joel Krutt's "Pushing The Envelope" show, 3/24/02. (This show has a RealAudio link for live stream broadcast at www.whusfm.saup.uconn.edu; show time is Sundays, 10 p.m. to midnight, EST.)
"Sanctuary" from ISOTF was played on Automaton Hit Parade, 3/13/02. (Also played on AHP but not previously reported here: "The Bad Ass Ride", 2/27/02; & "Paradise Is Where You Find It", 2/20/02.)
Mike Sirofchuck strikes again! On 3/12/02, the entire "In Search Of The Fantastic" CD was played on Mike's "Free Form Radio" show on KMXT, Kodiak, Alaska. Mike rocks! Thank you!
"Returns" from ISOTF was played on Don Campau's "No Pigeonholes" show, 3/10/02, and will be rebroadcast throughout Europe by Radio Marabu.
Links added on front page:
to review at ProgressoR for "In Search Of The Fantastic";
to EAR RELEVANT MUSIC HOEDOWN Internet Radio show #7, featuring "Looking For Paradise" from "In Search Of The Fantastic;
to Internet Radio show REMEMBER THE FUTURE, which is now playlisting 8 GS related tracks: "Sahara, 1909", "Returns", "Snallygaster", "The Deros Discover King Solomon's Mines", and "The India-Appalachia Railway" from "In Search Of The Fantastic"; and "The View Is Better From The Top Of The Food Chain", "Erwin Park (Jam)" and "Castle Bravo" from Jugalbandi's "The View Is Better From The Top Of The Food Chain".
Minor changes to the Art Gallery and Products pages.
2/6/02: Link added on front page to pOoTer's pSycheDelic shAcK review of 2 Jugalbandi discs ; page added, "Just what is a Phantom Airship?" 2/3/02: Page added for "Alone", poem by Edgar Allan Poe, off "In Search Of The Fantastic" (link from ISOTF notes). 1/31/02: Pages added for upcoming release, "In Search Of The Fantastic". 1/25/02: The "gig/news" and "updates" pages have been combined and are now just under updates.
1/22/02: The Aural Innovations review/interview is up, and it's massive. "Always" and all 3 Jugalbandi discs are reviewed, and the interview is huge and covers a lot of territory. And in this same issue, there is a review of the new Bret Hart/Greg Segal Duets disc. (This is within a larger article covering BH's Duets series- an excellent read, Bret is an interesting, talented and daring musician, and Jerry Kranitz' thoughts on improvisation that begin the article are at once simple, profound and penetratingly accurate.) As always, I strongly recommend checking the whole issue out.
1/21/02: The latest review is at Ink19 and what a killer review it is! Thanks to Dave Aftandilian, its author. Amazingly cool descriptions of the music. He has the Jugalbandi stuff too so let's keep our collective fingers crossed for more.
On 1/13/02, Don Campau played "Night Circus pt. 2" on his "No Pigeonholes" show, which comes out of Santa Cruz and gets rebroadcast by Radio Marabu in Germany (who also broadcast Lord Litter). For more info, go here.
1/18/02: PS to the last update: shoulda mentioned this one! On 11/13/01, Mike Sirofchuck of KMXT Kodiak Alaska devoted his full 2 hour "Free Form Radio" to showcasing my work- an hour of Jugalbandi and an hour from "Always". These discs have been getting a lot of international airplay and coverage, but this is the first time anyone devoted their whole show to them and I really felt that deserved mention. Thanks, Mike!
1/14/02: New reviews of ALL currently available Greg Segal and Jugalbandi material at ProgressoR. Great reviews, great site, be sure to explore it!
This month's photo is the most recent one to be posted here in a while and is by none other than Chrissy Barr. She took a lot of pictures, she's taking more; expect to see plenty of her work here.
Big news: new GS release coming! The working title is "In Search of the Fantastic". It's the first album of all new solo recordings since Darkland Express. This is unlike anything I've ever done. It's instrumental and experimental and features a lot of bowed device and Appalachian dulcimer, in addition to the many guitar sounds you might expect. There is a new sound there too, though- I recorded some tracks with the 7-string guitar. Love that low end! All percussion is played with an orchestral approach (though not necessarily that style)- no full drum kit, but there is snare and low floor tom (tuned and played as tympani), and a fair amount of unusual percussion. Anyone who thinks this instrumentation guarantees a predominantly mellow listening experience obviously doesn't know me very well. Check back here for updates.
This recording pushes back the scheduled release for the CD remastering of "Experimental Guitar". But it is still planned to release that within the year. News of this will be posted here.
Material is also currently being worked on for a new vocal/song-oriented album, so those of you worrying that I've given up on that aspect of music can rest easy. Those of you hoping I'd given up that aspect will have plenty to chew on with the currently scheduled releases.
Speaking of new recordings, also recently in the can is a duets CD with Bret Hart. This is not on Bret's catalog yet but the recording and cover are finished and only awaiting release. Check back here for more details or check Bret's site.
Coming soon: reviews and an interview on Jerry Kranitz' stellar "Aural Innovations" site. It's a very extensive interview and the issue will likely be the most in-depth coverage of my work to date.