PapaJ profile picture

PapaJ

Just a Conduit

About Me

I'm a data warehouse manager by day, a progressive rock DJ by night, and a concert promoter in my spare time. I have 4 children because I didn't want 5! And of course there's my lovely wife, 2 dogs and 2 cats.
I also help organize the west coast progressive rock festival CalProg.

My Interests

Music, Movies, and more Music!

I'd like to meet:

Socrates so I could question his methods, Plato so I could point out that his views on moderation were excessive, and Immanuel Kantt so I could tell him that a nihilistic existentialist is just a pessimist with committment issues, Groucho Marx so I could learn that wacky walk, and his brother Karl so we could go out cruising for prolateriate Betties together.

Music:

I'm primarily a progressive rock lover going way back to the 70's with groups like Genesis, Yes and Gentle Giant, and now the new wave of prog including groups like Spock's Beard, Dream Theater, The Flower Kings, Izz, Frost, Echolyn...I also am a fan of "power-pop" including groups like Spiraling, The Verve Pipe, Sugarbomb and Owsley.I am actively involved in promoting progressive rock music in the Southern California area. I have a small production company called PapaJ's Productions and am the founder of CalProg. We put on a festival each summer in Whittier featuring some of the best prog bands in the world. We also do periodic "one off" concerts throughout the year. We have hosted Neal Morse and the Testimony tour, The Musical Box, and will be hosting Mike Portnoy's tribute to the Who called Amazing Journey on May 27, 2006. We also have a semi-regular prog showcase called "CalProg Nights" that is held at the wonderful Fullerton jazz club called Steamers. You can find more information about these events at the official website: ..http://www.calprog.com..

Movies:

Love Sci-Fi and other standard geekish fare.

Television:

I believe that TIVO will cause the downfall of Western civilization. I haven't left home on a weekend since I got it 2 years ago because I can't seem to catch up on my shows. Favorite shows include Criminal Minds, Heroes, House, Monk, Battlestar Gallactica, all the flavors of Law and Order and CSI, Lost, ER, Vegas, Ghost Whisperer (especially the weekly gratuitous cleavage shot from Jennifer Love Hewitt), Numb3rs, and Boston Legal to name a few. I suppose 24 should go in here although I think the only way to watch it is on DVD. Each new season incapacitates me for 2-3 weeks as I become a Bauer junkie.

Books:

Isn't this what people used to do before they invented DVDs?

My Blog

CalProg 2008 Tickets On Sale Now + LTE Pics

It's a busy summer and fall for CalProg! We just finished our biggest production yet with Liquid Tension Experiment at the Downey Theater. It was a great new venue with 350 more seats than Whittier to...
Posted by PapaJ on Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:38:00 PST

Neal Morse and Band to Play Downey Theater in SoCal

An Evening With Neal Morse and his Band Saturday September 6, 2008  8:00pm The Downey Theater in Downey, California Tickets On Sale July 12 - 8am Only at CalProg.com Neal Morse is one of my PRO...
Posted by PapaJ on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:23:00 PST

New Website - Papajarchives.com

I just put up a new website to host all my radio show archives as well as some home-made comedy bits and co-hosting antics of me and Gruno. This is a great way to stay up on the latest in progres...
Posted by PapaJ on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:41:00 PST

CalProg Announces Presto Ballet

CalProg Press Release April 8, 2008 CalProg Announces Presto Ballet CalProg is pleased to announce that the 4th and final band appearing on the main stage this year is the high-octane, hard-rocking S...
Posted by PapaJ on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:19:00 PST

Liquid Tension Experiment 10th Anniv. Tour

CalProg is proud to announce a rare appearance by the explosive progressive instrumental band LTE. LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT Mike Portnoy - John Petrucci - Jordan Rudess - Tony Levin 10th ANNIVERSARY ...
Posted by PapaJ on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:37:00 PST

IZZ Returns to CalProg in 2008

CalProg Press Release March 03, 2008 IZZ Returns to CalProg in 2008   At CalProg we receive huge volumes of requests for bands that people would like to see at our festival, but we have gotten th...
Posted by PapaJ on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:48:00 PST

SYLVAN Confirmed to Appear at CalProg 2008

CalProg Press Release March 02, 2008 Sylvan Confirmed to Appear at 5th Annual CalProg Festival   CalProg is pleased to announce that the Hamburg Germany based prog band Sylvan is confirmed to ap...
Posted by PapaJ on Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:27:00 PST

Echolyn Confirmed to Appear at 5th Annual CalProg Festival

CalProg is pleased to announce Echolyn as the first artist confirmed to appear at CalProg 2008 on October 11 in Whittier , California . The Pennsylvania based quintet has not appeared in California si...
Posted by PapaJ on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:54:00 PST

PapaJ Top 10 CDs for 2007

1 . Kaipa - Angling Feelings Although it had no bearing on this selection, this is the first Kaipa album without Roine Stolt. Doing the progumentary "The Evolution of Prog" this year, I was surprised...
Posted by PapaJ on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:23:00 PST

PapaJ's Top 10 CDs for 2006

An MP3 archive (podcast) is available for download featuring songs from these CDs here: http://www.calprog.com/papaj_archive.htm 1 - Frost* - Milliontown It's hard not to be jaded by the fact that thi...
Posted by PapaJ on Wed, 10 Jan 2007 04:57:00 PST