Prog Contest 2022: Round 1 Match 1

Here is the first of the first round matchups in Jethro42's Prog Rock Tournament on the Sputnik Music website. For the second year in a row, my rec is up first (and for the second year in a row, my entrant is going up against the entry of a User named Zig. I think Jethro's trying to start a war between Zig and myself.)

Frogg Cafe - Bateless Edge

Frogg Cafe is a quintet from my very own hometown of Long Island, New York. They began their existence as a Frank Zappa cover band, but soon began creating original music. They describe their sound as a blend of progressive rock, pop melodicism and fusion jazz. progarchives.com says "Their music alternates from light, airy piano and violin parts to darker, intense guitar passages, creating a dynamic contrast; the use of the trumpet also adds interesting tonal colours."

https://froggcafe.bandcamp.com/releases

vs.

Pekka Pohjola - Visitaation

For his 4th solo album, Finnish composer and bassist Pekka Pohjola (1952-2008), one of the greatest Scandinavian musicians of all time, puts everything he had: his sense of melody, boundless love for jazz and prog rock, Mr. Frank Zappa's teachings and an absolutely unique look at the nature of neoclassical music. This instrumental record is a 32 minute entity joined not only by a brass section, but also by the strings and woodwinds of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. An ambitious album that, for once, achieves its lofty goals, and in spectacular style to thrill.


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/13jsiukSg8oNVBKACx3X3f?si=4cZ0GZskTBSc6kFIfAyfog

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVDUIxuUWxE

Voting ends next Saturday, February 26th. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Prog Rock Contest 2022: Preliminary

OK, so as I said in an earlier post, this year's tournament has a new host, the esteemed Jethro42. (And guess what band he's named after.) Our old friend Friday13 hasn't disappeared entirely, though, as he is a participant in this 2022 clash.

Here's a little background on the tournament, and its history: Friday put together the first one in 2013. In 2014, he switched it over to a Psychedelic Rock tournament. However, this proved to be less popular. So he went back to prog rock in 2015. He kept it going as a prog rock battle ever since, until last year, when he announced that the 2021 tournament would be his last. And at the conclusion of that contest, he surprised us by announcing a Tournament of Champions, which included all of the previous winners.

Again, these are intended to be relatively obscure albums competing, albums that have drawn less than 30 ratings apiece on the Sputnik Music site.

Here's the list of previous winners:

2013 - Los Jaivas - Alturus de Machu Picchu (1981) - A Chilean band that blends folk and symphonic rock

2014 - T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland (1970) - A British psychedelic/progressive rock band

2015 - McLuhan - Anomaly (1971) - An American prog rock band that blends jazz and psychedelic rock

2016 - Landberk - One Man Tells Another (1994) - A Swedish progressive art rock band

2017 - Universal Totem Orchestra - Mathematical Mother (2016) - An Italian symphonic jazz rock band

2018 - Carmen - Fandangos in Space (1973) - An American prog rock band that mixes rock music with flamenco music and dance

2019 - Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere (2017) - A Norwegian symphonic prog rock band

2020 - There was no contest, as Friday took a year off (as did much of the world, thanks to COVID).

2021 - Regal Worm - Pig Views (2018) - A British crossover prog band.

Tournament of Champions (2021) - Universal Totem Orchestra - Mathematical Mother (2016)

As you can see, the winners have come from several different countries, many different sub-genres of progressive rock, and a time span from 1970 through 2018 (although with the '70s having been prog's heyday, there tend to be more entries from this era than from any other). I don't know about you guys, but out of these eight albums, there were only two I had previously been familiar with.

The tournament historically has had 16 entries every year, although last year and this year, that number was increased to 20. The host has to approve each entry as meeting the criteria of the contest. (You can't claim Duran Duran is prog, for example. You have to have an outside source saying the artist is prog, such as progarchives.com, Wikipedia, or even Sputnik Music itself.) And so far, in his first turn as host, I'd say that Jethro's criteria has been even stricter than Friday's.

For each of the first 10 weeks, Jethro will present two entries that he believes go together in some way or other, and everyone will vote on their favorite, after giving each album at least one (but hopefully several) listens.

This year's players, much like the bands who'll represent them, also come from a number of different countries. Here are this year's entries:

1. Il Giardino Onirico - Apofenia (2019) - An Italian crossover prog band

2. Maquina! - Why? (2013) - A Spanish proto-prog band

3. Mezquita - Recuerdos De Mi Tierra (1979) - A Spanish symphonic prog band

4. Circus - Movin' On (1977) - A British progressive jazz rock/fusion band

5. Polis - Weltklang (2020) - A German heavy prog band

6. Frogg Cafe - Bateless Edge (2010) - An American progressive jazz rock/fusion band

7. SBB - Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykkiem (1980) - A Polish eclectic prog band

8.  Axis - Axis (1973) - A Greek progressive jazz rock/fusion band

9. Novela - Sanctuary (1982) - A Japanese symphonic prog band

10. Pekka Pohjola - Visitation (1979) - A Finnish progressive jazz fusion composer/musician

11. The Mercury Tree - Spidermilk (2019) - An American heavy prog band

12. All Traps on Earth - A Drop of Light (2018) - A Swedish symphonic prog band

13. Brand X - Product (1979) - A British progressive jazz rock/fusion band

14. Steel Mill - Green Eyed God (1972) - A British heavy prog band

15. Slapp Happy - Slapp Happy (1974) - A multinational avant-garde prog band

16. Present - Barbaro (2009) - A Belgian avant-garde prog band

17. Flaming Row - Mirage - A Portrayal of Figures (2014) - A German progressive metal project

18. Sisare - Leaving the Land (2018) - A Finnish experimental/post metal prog band

19. Jono El Grande - Melody of a Muddled Mason (2015) - A Norwegian avant-garde composer/artist

20. Supersister - To the Highest Bidder (1971) - A Dutch Canterbury Scene prog rock band

My own entry, the Frogg Cafe album, is the only one I've ever heard before, and Slapp Happy and The Mercury Tree are the only other artists in this group I've ever listened to.

The breakdown by decades is as follows: nine entries from the 1970s, two from the 1980s, two from the 2000s, six from the 2010s and one from the 2020s.

As you can see, there are a variety of prog styles represented. For those of you who know my tastes, I my usual bias is towards folk or symphonic prog, and against jazz and experimental, but of course this year, my own entry is more jazz based.

As I mentioned in my last post, the first matchup has already been set, and SPOILER ALERT, I'm in it! So I'll be back to tell you about it shortly.

VERY Brief Update on Prog Contest

Yikes! The contest started today, and my Frogg Cafe LP is in the first matchup! 

This year's tournament has 20 entries, and so far, the main list is still missing two album descriptions. So I'll get the contest info up here as soon as I can, so I can tell you about that first match and who I'm up against.

I'll be back!

New Prog Contest and '80's Cruise Update

Just to let you all know, there's a new prog rock contest gearing up on the Sputnik Music website, and I've thrown my hat into the ring. I know a lot of you guys were following along with last year's contest, and with the Prog Tournament of Champions contest that followed it. As promised, our good friend and host, Friday13th, has hung up his contest organizer hat (at least for now), but another User, Jethro42 has stepped up to host this year's tourny. Jethro has won two previous Prog Rock Tournaments, and he's one of the most knowledgeable people I know about this particular genre, so this should be fun.

It's not clear exactly how many contestants we'll have for this one - it will be a minimum of 16. And we're not sure exactly when we're starting, but I expect Round 1 to begin within the next few days.

I'll be listing all of the contestants and the matchups here, but here's a SPOILER ALERT: My entry this year is none other than Long Island's own prog masters extraordinaire, Frogg Cafe, and their fine 2011 LP Bateless Edge.

So far, the Frogg boys are one of only two American bands in this year's contest (the other being The Mercury Tree), but we'll see how the final lineup shakes out. In any event, I think this album can do some real damage in the tournament. I turned Jethro on to Frogg Cafe a few years ago, and he rates them highly, but they're going to come as a surprise to most of the other contestants. So wish them (and me) luck.

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In the meantime, Denise and I are now within two weeks of our '80's Cruise out of Port Canaveral, and I'm starting to get psyched. The entertainment schedule came out yesterday, and it looks like we might only be able to eat dinner in the main dining room three times, the schedule is so packed.

I'm especially looking forward to seeing A Flock of Seagulls a couple of times (even though the only original member in the touring band is Mike Score). And other top choices include Human League (who'll be getting on the ship in St. Thomas and getting right back off again after their two shows), Belinda Carlisle and Berlin.

We've had a few cancellations from the original lineup, but not nearly as many as I'd have thought, and Entertainment Cruise Productions (ECP), the host company, has done a great job replacing the ones that cancelled with pretty equivalent acts. So 38 Special, Morris Day and the Time and John Parr are out, replaced by Night Ranger, CAMEO and Paul Young. To be honest, the only way this effects me is I'm a little sorry to see John Parr go - I've always loved "St. Elmo's Fire" (otherwise known as "Man in Motion").

Other acts on the ship (roughly in the order of my level of interest in them) include Gene Loves Jezebel, Modern English, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Dire Straits Legacy, Johnny Hates Jazz, Dramarama, ABC (Denise hates that I have them this low on my list), Jack Russell's Great White and the Sugarhill Gang. There will also be some solid (from what I hear, anyway) '80's cover bands, including Jessie's Girl, Strangelove (a Depeche Mode tribute band) and Trial By Fire, plus some solo musicians for the various ship bars, etc. And our old WLIR/WDRE friend Larry the Duck will be there, as well as Lori Majewski (from Sirius FM) and a trio of former MTV Veejays, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodwin and Alan Hunter. (Who? Whatever.)

Now I'm trying to keep some perspective on this. There are still a bunch of ways this could go sideways. If either Denise or I test positive for COVID, it's game over. They won't let us on the ship. If the airlines get wonky on us (like they have a number of times in the last few months) it could be a problem. (Although we're flying in a day early, so we're trying to give ourselves a little wiggle room here). And of course, we're flying out of New York in early March, so there could always be winter weather to contend with.

This will be our first cruise since the world got closed down in March of 2019 (when Denise and my son were actually on the last '80's Cruise). It will be my first cruise since our family cruise on the Carnival Conquest in 2017. So fingers crossed.

In the meantime, the 2023 '80's Cruise has been announced for next March leaving out of Los Angeles (!), and Denise already booked us this week before we even know the lineup! (I'm hoping for Thomas Dolby, since he's done the cruise before, and he lives on the West Coast now, and maybe Missing Persons). They're supposed to announce said lineup on the first night of this year's cruise, and Denise assures me we can cancel without penalty by March 25. Ho boy!

I'll keep you updated beforehand. And of course, assuming we actually make it onto the boat, I'll give you the full review afterward. Will I get my hair done with the guys from Flock of Seagulls? Will I shoot some heroin with Belinda Carlisle? Will I even bother getting off the ship in the Caribbean? (Right now, the first two are looking more likely than the last one, but we'll see.) Stay tuned!

New Jethro Tull Album/Belated R.I.P. to Jeff Curtis

Jethro Tull, one of my favorite bands of all time, just put out a new album. It's called The Zealot Gene, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I really wanted it. After all, Ian Anderson (who for the uninitiated is not only the last original member of Jethro Tull but he's also been the unchallenged mastermind behind the band since Mick Abrams left after their first album) is 74 years old now. His voice has been decimated for decades, to the point where I've decided I just can't bear to see him live anymore. And the last project he released, 2017's The String Quartets, was kind of cringy, due to both his vocal issues and the we-don't-give-a-crap attitude of the BMG record label on which it was released. (They couldn't even be bothered to get the order of the songs right on the album cover.)

It's hard to see your heroes go downhill. A few years ago, I saw Leslie West in concert. He was very hard of hearing, in a wheelchair (because he'd had both legs amputated, due to diabetes), and had lost a significant amount of his guitar-playing ability. A month or so later, I almost bought a ticket to see Gordon Lightfoot at the Westbury Music Fair until I went up on YouTube to hear what he sounded like in the present. I discovered that he sounded like a random old man singing Gordon Lightfoot songs on a park bench. Keith Emerson reportedly committed suicide because he was scheduled to go out on tour and was terrified that he was going to humiliate himself in front of his fans because of the deterioration of his keyboard-playing skills. All of this only reminds me of the effects of aging I see in myself every day. (I'm about a decade younger than my '70's musical heroes.) It's not something I enjoy.

So when I heard that Ian was putting out a new album under the Jethro Tull moniker, I was more anxious for him than I was excited. Last year, Yes, put out a new LP (The Quest), and while it certainly wasn't one of their best efforts, I found myself relieved that it was at least a credible effort. I desperately hoped that Ian and the lads could pull off the same. Because if it turned out to be an embarrassment, it would honestly hurt my heart.

In the end, I needn't have worried. While I wouldn't put it anywhere near Jethro Tull's Top 10 albums, it's actually pretty good. It's better than last year's Yes LP. In fact, to me, it's better than any album of original music Jethro Tull has released since 1987's Crest of a Knave. (Some JT fans are pretty fond of 1995's Roots to Branches, but I've never been one of them.) It's not as good as either of Ian's last two solo releases, 2012's Thick As a Brick 2 or 2014's Homo Erraticus (both of which probably should have been released as Jethro Tull albums), but those were both first-rate projects.

The recording for Zealot Gene began in 2017. However, first a heavy touring schedule and then the COVID pandemic delayed its finish for a few years. The band here consists of Ian on vocals and his usual assortment of other instruments (flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, etc.); Florian Ophahle (who actually left the band in 2019, after most of the guitar parts had already been recorded); David Goodier on bass; Josh O'Hara on keyboards; and Scott Hamilton on drums. Ophahle's replacement on guitar, Joe-Parrish-James, also played on one track.

This brings up the elephant in the room, the absence of longtime guitarist Martin Barre. Barre replaced Mick Abrams in the Tull lineup for their second album in 1969, and this is the first original studio album released under the JT name without him. At one point, Anderson was quoted as saying that it wouldn't really be a Jethro Tull album without Barre (which is probably the reason TAAB2 and Homo Erraticus were released as Ian Anderson albums), but he's obviously changed his mind. Some Tull fans are a little upset about this. However, the reason Anderson decided to release this under the Jethro Tull appellation was that this particular lineup (prior to Ophalhle's departure) was (not counting Hammond) actually the longest-standing lineup in Jethro Tull's history, but they had never played on an original JT album. I can see Ian's point.

While its not exactly a concept album, there are two thematic threads running throughout. The first is the concept of The Zealot Gene itself, Anderson's explanation for some (most?) of humankind's propensity to see things purely in black and white, and to get worked up to murderous intensity over extreme positions. The second is a comparison of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible - each song comes with an associated Biblical quote and is loosely based on that quote or story. 

There are 12 songs on the LP, and they're mostly pretty good. Critics have latched onto the full-band tracks like the title track, "Shoshana Sleeping", "Mine Is the Mountain" and "Mrs. Tibbets", and understandably so. "Mine Is the Mountain" is a particular goody that finds an all-powerful and possibly insane God ranting up on his mountain and threatening to turn people's children into corpses and their wives into pillars of salt if they piss him off. Nevertheless, I would caution listeners not to sleep on the three little acoustic almost-solo tracks that Anderson slipped into the album's second half. "In Brief Visitation" is actually my favorite song here, and "Three Loves, Three" is only slightly behind it.

And thankfully, in this case, Anderson was able to write songs that his voice could largely still handle. You can hear his loss of vocal power here, but at least he's not croaking like he was on the vocals of the String Quartets LP. And all of the other instrumentation is excellent - in fact, his flute work is often exquisite.

So in the end, rather than being an embarrassment, The Zealot Gene actually turned out to be a welcome addition to the Jethro Tull discography. And as of the beginning of 2022, Anderson is already hard at work on another album. Whether it will be an Ian Anderson solo album (and I suspect it will be) or another Jethro Tull is uncertain at this time. Am I still anxious for him? Hell yeah! But at least I'm a little hopeful this time as well.

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I'm late talking about this, and for that I apologize. However, unfortunately, I learned a couple of weeks ago that local Long Island musician Jeff Curtis had passed away. Jeff was well known on the local scene as an excellent guitarist. He released (at least) two excellent albums of instrumental music, 1998's Dreams and 2003's The Next Place.

I don't really have any details about his passing. Denise let me know about it after seeing it on Frank Walker's Facebook page.

I can't really say I knew Jeff very well. I booked him several times for Long Island Music Coalition events. I always found him to be a nice and amiable person, and I rated him as a first-rate musician. My heartfelt condolences to his family. I was sad to hear that he's no longer with us.

Review of Aimee Mann's "Queens of the Summer Hotel"

I posted this review a few minutes ago on the Sputnik Music website:

Review Summary: This album needs context.

On the whole, this album seems to not have been as well received as Aimee Mann's previous release, 2017's Mental Illness. And I get it. At first listen, it seems kind of plain, and the songs maybe a little simplistic. Even the instrumentation doesn't reach out and grab you. There's a lot of quiet piano and strings, and the style seems slightly dated. Frankly, when I first heard it, I was somewhat disappointed, as Mann has long been one of my favorite artists. So how did Queens of the Summer Hotel become one of my Top Ten Albums of 2021? It's a matter of context.

To really get what's going on here, you have to go back to the early 2010's. At that time, Mann and her sometimes collaborator Ted Leo (of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists) were playing around with the idea of trying to turn her 2005 LP The Forgotten Arm into a Broadway musical. That album told the story of John, a down-on-his luck boxer riddled with addictions, and his relationship with a young drifter named Caroline. The potential project even drew some interest from a veteran Broadway producer. Unfortunately, in 2014, Rocky the Musical, a stage version of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movie hit the Great White Way, and Mann and Leo immediately realized that Broadway probably didn't have room for two boxing musicals. (It didn't help that the Rocky production was something of a flop.)

Nevertheless, Mann was clearly intrigued by the idea of dipping her toe into musical theater. (Maybe the interest was there all along. Let's not forget that her career as a solo artist received a major boost thanks to her contributions to the 1999 film Magnolia.)

In any event, while I'm not 100% sure of the timeline, somewhere along the way, Mann managed to get a commission to write songs for a stage adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir, Girl, Interrupted. This is the tale of the eighteen months Kaysen spent in a mental hospital in the late 1960's in a ward made up of mostly troubled young women from wealthy families. Hollywood released a film adaption of the book in 1999, directed by James Mangold and starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. The film is a bit more sensational than the memoir, though, and the songs on Mann's album are based on Kaysen's original account of her story.

This structure gave Mann the chance to explore the theme of mental illness, one she is clearly fascinated by. (Mental Illness, after all, is the title of her previous LP, and Mann herself entered a rehab facility in 2002 to deal with a variety emotional ailments.)

Once I learned this, and read up a bit on Kaysen's story, the album took off for me. What we really have here is a series of musical character studies of the people comprising the author's recollections. There's Kaysen herself, an 18-year-old who gets talked into checking herself into the hospital for depression after a suicide attempt, supposedly for a "few weeks," but is held there for 18 months; Lisa, who is diagnosed as a sociopath (which may or may not be accurate); Daisy, who has an unhealthy and somewhat creepy relationship with her father (and whose eventual suicide impacts all of the other patients); the drug-addicted Torrey; and Polly, a young woman diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose body is disfigured by the scars she received from setting herself on fire.

Mann's version of the story is peppered with references to artists who suffered from mental conditions themselves, such as Robert Lowell and Syvia Plath. Even the title of the LP, Queens of the Summer Hotel, is taken from the title of a poem by Ann Sexton, a poet who struggled with bipolar disorder.

Many of the songs refer back to Kaysen and her feelings of disassociation and not being whole. Others are sung from the viewpoint of other characters, such as "Home By Now", where Daisy describes her father's special "love" for her; "In Mexico," told from the viewpoint of Torrey, whose parents check her out of the hospital against her will and bring her to Mexico, where her addiction once again overcomes her; and "Burn It Out", where Polly expresses her belief in the healing power of fire.

One of the emotional highlights of the album is "Suicide Is Murder", which describes the impact of a suicide on the people left behind: "But beware cause anyone who knew you/Will be cursed, and part of them will also die." She goes on to describe the act as "a heartless killing spree." The song is a real gut punch.

Mann brings it all together on the final track, "I See You", where she sings about each of the damaged souls from Kaysen's tale with compassion and understanding. Her descriptions reveal each girl, even the seemingly cold-hearted Lisa, as a full person and not just as a collection of symptoms and psychoses. They're just trying to make lives for themselves, even as they each struggle with their individual pain and confusion.

Queens of the Summer Hotel left me hungry to go back and read Susanna Kaysen's memoir. It's a beautiful album, and one full of heart and humanity.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Top 20 Songs of 2021, Part 2 - #'s 10-1

Well, a year's worth of listening goes into making up these year-end Best Of lists. So let's bring it all home and put 2021 to bed.

Here are my Top 10 Songs of 2021, from # 10 down to # 1.

10. Epica - "Rivers" Epica - Rivers

This is from my #1 album of the year, Epica's Omega, and it's the slow ballad of the LP. The piano is gorgeous here, but the track's strongest point is that it allows vocalist Simone Simons the chance to really demonstrate the sheer beauty of her voice.

9. Soen - "Illusion" Soen - Illusion

Finally, a win for the boys. This is Swedish supergroup Soen's second time in three years on the Top 20 Songs list, thanks in no small part to the mesmerizing vocals of singer Joel Ekelof (as well as to some majestic guitar work by Cody Lee Ford). This is a slow-to-mid-tempo track of epic grandeur.

8. Chvrches - "How Not to Drown" Chvrches - How Not to Drown (with Robert Smith)

Well the girls are back, but this time, Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry gets a very able assist from The Cure's Robert Smith. This one is kind of hypnotic, and what a grand team up!

7. Tigers Jaw - "Lemon Mouth" Tigers Jaw - Lemon Mouth

This is another one of those bands that seems to have at least one song in the running for this list every time they release an album. This alt rock band tends to alternate male and female vocals, and in fact Brandon Walsh seems to actually take about two thirds of the leads. But bandmate Brianna Collins sings this one, and does a beautiful job on it.

6. Maggie Lindemann - "Knife Under My Pillow" Maggie Lindemann - Knife Under My Pillow

Disney brat Olivia Rodrigo had the teen set eating out her fingers this year, and I get why. But if I was going to put my money on an up-and-coming pop princess, I think it would be this 23-year-old Texan. This is my favorite track from Maggie Lindemann's debut LP Paranoia, which was released last January. It's something of a pop punk ode to night terrors.

5. Wolf Alice - "The Beach II" Wolf Alice - The Beach II

This laid back, soft tune by British alt rockers Wolf Alice also sounds like a nursery rhyme. It's not all that complicated, just really pretty, made even more so by singer Ellie Rowsell's highly pleasing vocals.

4. Icon For Hire - "Enemies" Icon For Hire - Enemies

This is a bizarre little track that I heard early in 2021, and it just stuck with me all year. It's got kind of a playful horror vibe.

3. Torres - "Thirstier" Torres - Thirstier

Well, you saw Torres' "Don't Go Puttin Wishes in My Head" on the first half of this Top 20 list, and honestly, it was almost a coin toss as to which of these two songs I liked better. They're both about the same complicated relationship, and while the first was more bouncy and joyful, this one is about the pure desire that pulls Torres towards her partner. Both tracks really needed to be on this list.

2. Teenage Wrist - "Taste of Gasoline" Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline

This one is just a classic alternative rock single with a perfect hook. This is another one of those songs (and albums) that I heard early in 2021, and it just stayed with me all year. I'm amazed that this LA band isn't better known. It should be.

1. The Sere - "Always the Cold Moon" The Sere - Always the Cold Moon

Whoa! Just when you thought New York had been totally disrespected, with none of the top local albums making the Album of the Year list, here comes a local lad to win the grand prize and take the Top Song of 2021 title. I don't know much about who this synthpop artist is, other than that his name is JonS and he's a New Yorker. I found him by complete accident on Bandcamp.com. But this very '80s-style electropop song was without a doubt my favorite track of the year. It's from an EP of the same name. So eat our undies, rest of the world! New York is back, baby!

And with that, we put 2021 to bed. This Top 20 playlist can be found on YouTube at Top 20 Songs of 2021.

So, 2022 music will start coming out in a week or so, and I'll also be starting my listening for my Fleetwood Mac article and getting ready for the 80s Cruise in March. And who knows, maybe I'll even sneak in an album review before then.

So don't do anything I wouldn't do, and I'll see you guys real soon.