The Manifesto of the First Wednesday Progressive Rock Night Series
The First Wednesday Progressive Rock Night series at the Rock N Roll Cafe was started in October 1995 on a trial basis by Tidal Pool Productions to fill a terrible void in the New York City rock club scene. Until then, there had been no place to go to hear progressive rock music. As long as audience attendance continues to support the idea, the First Wednesday Progressive Rock Night will be held the first Wednesday of every month at the Rock N Roll Cafe.
We hope that each First Wednesday provides a unique club experience: an evening of pure progressive rock, uncontaminated by generic drivel. The bands have been chosen for their inventiveness and attention to musical detail. We have also had the good fortune to team up with Bob Wolf of Sights and Sounds, our resident Professor of Progressive. I personally have been led by Bob to more great prog rock in the last 6 months than I have found on the mass market in the past ten years. Bob will be playing excellent hard-to-find CD's each month starting around 7pm, and also while the bands are exchanging their equipment on stage. If you are interested in anything you hear, you can take the opportunity to buy a copy from him - you may not find it anywhere else! He also will have prog rock publications on sale.
Previous First Wednesdays have included performances by Mistress Quickly (formerly Ars Nova), Bon Lozaga (of Gongzilla, formerly of Gong), Black September, Braindance, Scott Hathaway, Ten Ton Tide, and others. For a complete listing of bands that have played First Wednesday, click here.
Current Status
In spite of brisk CD sales and faithful attendance by corps of enthusiastic regulars,
the series was placed on hold in the winter of 1997 by a combination
of ambivalence on the part of club management and the unfortunate
coincidence that the first Wednesday of January was New Year's Day,
which must be the slowest night of the whole year for the club
business.
Due to Bob's and my limitations, which were compounded by the slow
drink sales and consequent meager cash flow at the last few Prog Nights,
we have not yet re-started the series.
However, I still believe that it is the only way to market
live progressive rock music, and I make an effort to ensure that
Ten Ton Tide is always on an all-progressive bill. If you have
a progressive band and some management talents, and would like to
contribute some time and energy to making it happen again,
don't hesitate to
e-mail me about resuscitating the series.
The Tidal Pool web pages were created by Dan Gibson, (c) Copyright 1995 Dan Gibson. All rights reserved.
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