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NEAL MORSE AT CALPROG 2004 | |
 "Sing with me, 'I've seen fire, and I've seen rain...'" No, no, no, it's Neal Morse not James Taylor and it's really only the stripped down Morse (ooer! Neal nekkid at CalProg?) set - the acoustic guitar - that made me think of the 70s singer-songwriter... and, of course, Neal is a singer-songwriter, yes? Of a Taylorly sort...  Quivering with excitement at playing to such an enthusiastic crowd, Morse mixed in Spock's Beard and solo material, along with a smidgen of Terry Jacks and Ian Anderson to boot, all while playing with his new toy that would record loops on the spot and play them back on the spot...  More Neal...  ... and again...  ... and again (yes, he too had the blurries*)  Why, what's this? I'm seeing things (fuzzy) or is that Nick D'Virgilio and Ryo Okumoto? Well, yes, to both. Poor Nick and Ryo weren't immune to the frustrating plague of the blurries. They sang "The Doorway" (the words to which Neal had forgotten (oops) and "June."  Hail, hail the gang's... partially here. No Alan, no Dave ... so, Spock's Stubble I guess, rather than a full Beard (thank you; I'll be here all week!) They were also plagued, truly, by guitar problems, as the second amplified acoustic just wouldn't amplify... and neither Doug Ott, who replaced the battery (truly), and Mike Keneally, who brought out not one, but eventually two, guitars could save the day ... but the set worked fine anyway  And Nick just played the one that worked... The beginning of the "blurries" story begins with Norlander... it's a running theme, you see. © 2004  © Copyright 1999, 2004 Progressiveworld.netPhotographs © Stephanie Sollow | |