Supper's Ready! Come Get Some Prog Rock Saturday!

Can I take you back to the Fourth of July, 1992 for just a minute?

We were ringing in Independence Day at my Great Aunt Gloria's house in Connecticut.

The marshmallow ambrosia was quivering and the pool water was tepid: perfect conditions for a 10 year old Tiki T. But then something happened. Aunt Gloria's son Scott (20 years my senior) was living at home with his parents. He had taken over the huge basement, converting it into the swinging pad of a failed musician. Lava lamps, Zappa posters and a special alcove designated for all the guitars he never really played. Well, he approached me and my cousin Christopher and asked us to come down to the basement, because he had to "really show us something." I could smell sour wine coolers on his breath.

Well.. he showed us something, alright.

He showed us fucking prog rock.

My cousin and I stood, wrapped in our frayed beach towels, while Scott spun Yes, ELP and Genesis. We could not give a shit. Scott smoked cigarettes and conducted in the air while we stared longingly out at the shimmering pool.
"You kids are really hearing something interesting, right now!" he exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about the time I had lunch with Rick Fucking Wakeman??"

I was ten and Chris was five. We had no idea who Rick Fucking Wakeman was.
We didn't know the music was special, and we definitely didn't know that Cousin Scott was deep in the throes of alcoholism and depression, to the point of an eventual suicide in 1997.

But now when we look back at this memory, it has so much joy. So much rich sensory detail. And it was way way better than getting molested (which seems to be the staple of people's basement memories). Chris and I remember the time fondly, and we laugh about Scott's unbridled excitement about this weird music. We remember the kitschy basement down to every last psychedelic throw pillow.

So join us for these extra special Saturdays this summer. We will revisit some prog classics and break out some new ones. Hope I see you there! And hope we can make our own memories.


XO!
Tiki T.