Progster John profile picture

Progster John

About Me

Hail and well-met everyone. :o)I grew up with the great progressive groups of the 70's (the big four: Yes, ELP, Genesis, King Crimson), as well as the great classical and Broadway composers and a healthy dose of jazz from John McLaughlin and Keith Emerson. Of course Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman were my primary inspirations for taking piano lessons. I played keyboards for a while in a band of coworkers from JP Morgan Chase, and although it was a great experience and allot of fun, I was yearning to play progressive music. To that end, by a minor miracle I now have the honor and privilege of working with a Yes Tribute band in Central Florida called 'Ascension' (gotta love that name, very utopian like Yes ;o).I also have some experience with recording and arranging; the results which you can hear in my uploaded cover tracks posted on this page. I very much enjoy using my keyboards to color music, albeit through a progressive lens. My ideal dream band would be a five-piece prog rock group with a female vocalist. I admit it, I always admired the great Annie Haslam of Renaissance and other female prog singers, and I keep hoping that our Yes trib band lands a female vocalist. ;o) Anyway, I'm always open to conversing and networking with other musicians, although needless to say the challenging Yes/Rick Wakeman music takes much of my time.Gear List: Yamaha S-80, Hammond XK-2, Mini Moog Little Phatty, Two Midi Controller keyboards used to recreate a 70's style Mellotron, an MDR Ten Channel Mixer, two SxA100 monitors, and a Fostex MR-8 Recorder.BTW, I would be happy to add you as a friend if you send me an invite, though if you could send me a greeting first it would be appreciated.Cheers and prog rock on. :o)"If the summer changes to winter, yours is no disgrace."I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 11/05/2007
Band Members: Me, myself, and I, with occasional help from brother Dave on guitar. ;o) I also have the honor of playing keyboards for the Central Florida based Yes tribute band Ascension.
Influences: Genesis (especially Peter Gabriel era), Yes, Vangelis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Mike Oldfield, Pat Metheny Group, King Crimson, John 'Mahavishnu' McLaughlin, Triumvirat, Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Moody Blues, Aphrodite's Child, Renaissance, Esquire, Kansas, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Focus, Iona, Jethro Tull, Illusion, Harlequin Mass, Neil Morse, Mike Portnoy, The Alan Parsons Project, Affinity (Linda Hoyle), Landmarq, Andrew Lloyd Webber, UK, You and I (Hungary), The Beatles, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, The Who, The Doors, Curved Air, Enya, Flash, Laura Nyro, Manfred Man's Earth Band, Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, The Nice, Marillion, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, John Williams, Stanley Clarke, Howard Shore, Lisa Gerard, Thomas Dolby, Ultravox, Asia, Pink Floyd, The Buggles, Bach, Wagner, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Rogers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, many others of course. ;o)
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds: Thunderchild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw7G4MIr5sE 'Thunderchild' is the best song from Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds', and here is a live performance of it. Although I don't care for the floa...
Posted by on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:07:00 GMT

Lucky Girl (Sims 2 version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ9vQYYb40s Check out out this wonderful music vid that Learium created and posted on YouTube. What a clever tribute to Triumvirat; the great German prog rock...
Posted by on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:54:00 GMT

The Blade Runner Final Cut Collectors Edition

My Christmas present to myself was the just-released Blade Runner Collector’s Edition five DVD set, and it is awesome! For the Blade Runner fanatics (and I know there are a lot of us out there ...
Posted by on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:52:00 GMT

Ohmygod, I'm in a Yes Tribute Band! :o)

How cool is that? I mean, playing music I love with some fantastic musicians and a female singer with a voice like an angel; for an aspiring prog rock keyboardist like me it doesn't get any better th...
Posted by on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:51:00 GMT

The Asia Reunion Concert.

And what a wonderful show it was.  I mean front row center seats for a great band at the up close and personal Universal Studios Orlando HardRock Auditorium; it doesn't get any better than this.&...
Posted by on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:20:00 GMT