The Prog Digest – A Special Xperience Column

The Prog Digest – A Special Xperience Column – by Klyde Kadiddlehumper.

Howdy kids and kidette’s…

Your old Unkle Klyde here.  I’m easy to recognize – I’m sitting in the Barkalounger in the corner.  You know, the one with that nasty plaid fabric.  I’ll be wearing a pork pie hat (thank you Mingus for a fantastic piece that is as old as I am), that ratty old sweater, chomping of a nasty, cheap cigar and telling off color jokes in front of the kids.

At Thanksgiving time – Constant Companion and family have a holiday tradition.  Well, I am uncertain tradition is exactly the right word – but close enough.

While gathering around the table, Brudder-in-Law brings out the video camera and goes around asking what everyone is thankful for that past year.  The answers can widely vary – but you get the idea.  Some are sicky sweet, some goofy, some old and some new.  One day, these will all be edited together and the real craziness of the family will become clear.

This year, Klyde has an interesting set of things for which he is thankful – and here are a few.  Not the ones that I am going to present at the table – but a list nonetheless.

Concerts and music in general.  From the tried and true to the new and exciting. New music that arrived from House of Lords, Jon Anderson and Band of Geeks, the fresh release of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young from the Filmore East 1969, Tower of Power (yup, a Christmas album) – and so much more that it would take the entirety of our space.

Vinyl.  New Vinyl.  Old Vinyl (like the 4 12” Lou Reed singles we scored in NYC that came out of the Velvet Underground Museum when it closed).  New Vinyl – a remixed version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Simon and Garfunkel – The Lost BBC Sessions and more.  There are so many more.  Anywhere you go, be on the lookout for anything on Parachute Records – there are some funky rules in the UK and beyond about rights – especially if they are BBC recordings.  Very cool.

Mind you – none as cool as Mrs. Peel’s vinyl – but – well.

Friends – friends with us and friends not with us.  This has been a year of many losses.  Some losses we could see coming…..others sudden in a way that just makes you think.  In the family that is RadioRadioX and Xperience, it has been a mix of both and we cherish their memories and the times we had each and every day.  Their voices in our heads that remind us to not sit around and wallow in sadness and despair.

Best late friend advise given me (mind you in my head after he’d passed) was that the ancestors aren’t ready for me yet……face mortality like a Lawn Sausage song – disturbing, but not all that serious.

BTW – Brian, you’d of loved this years’ Christmas card.

And DO NOT take the friends with you lightly.  Your true friends will always be there, ready to defend you in the face of your own abject stupidity.  You know, the ones where you’d not only assist in burying the body but would bring the chainsaw……. figuratively, of course.

Finally – as Klyde was putting this little holiday missive together, friends’ mother, albeit elderly, passed suddenly.  Ellen and Faith – dinner with you and friends was great, and one hopes not so long between again.  CC and I and thankful for you guys – as always.

Happy Thanksgiving too each and every one of you all out there in magazine land.

Until next time.

Klyde

More from Klyde Kadiddlehumper…