Biographies

What is the goal of ProgressiveWorld.net?

To create the most comprehensive and user friendly website for progressive music fans, enabling you to find any link, band page, or general progressive music related information possible. Add in honest reviews of new and old recordings, and I think you'll find accurate information that is of benefit to all of us, considering the price of import CDs and blind-impulsive purchasing.

We here at ProgressiveWorld.net will strive to inform you, the prog listener, about all new releases, concert and tour information, interviews, reviews and allow you opportunity to communicate your likes and dislikes in a forum designed to be the finest, and most comfortable internet environment available.

We encourage your input and continuing feedback as we strive to supplement the ever-growing progressive rock community.

The History:

The genesis of ProgressiveWorld.net started in mid-to-late April 1999 with a crazy idea: what if there was a website that gave you everything you needed to know about progressive music, and even stuff you didn't know you needed to know? Parts of ProgressiveWorld.net were already in existence - Progressive Music Review and AudioVision - but alone they could only cover so much.

Progressive Music Review, a quarterly ezine publishing reviews of both new and past releases, was born out of two ideas. When the time came for Stephanie to use her personal web space, the hunt was on for content other than another vanity page (Hi. This is me. This is my pet. - Who cares!). Well, she already was writing mini-reviews for a friend, hoping to guide her towards a more progressive music experience - why not write them for a larger audience? And so, Steph's Place In Cyberspace was born. It was going to be a portal to Stephanie created content, including Progressive Music Review.

The other impetus was the desire to have a showcase for her web site design talents, again something other than a "vanity" page. But, it would have to be a site that allowed for more creativity than her employer's site did.

After the first issue, the portal concept was changed, the whole site becoming just Progressive Music Review. After a rocky start, PMR was off and running. By April 1999, even some "celebrities" stopped by to say hi.

It was with the April 1999 issue that a new idea was presented by John Gabbard (see our goal above). Thus, ProgressiveWorld.net was born. For two long months, they worked out the framework for the site you are now visiting ... with some programming help (the original message boards) from Bob Grimm.

The site officially debuted in August, and by November Larry "Larry D" Daglieri had come on "staff" as a frequent contributor. In late January 2000, John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg was added to the "staff," contributing reviews, features, and interviews.

Over the course of the past 5 years [now 14+ -ed. 2011], other voices have joined - David Cisco, Duncan Glenday, Davide Guidone, Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck (a syndicated reviewer of prog and non-prog music), Igor Italiani (who also writes for Italy's Metal Force), Tom Karr, Eric Porter, Marcelo Silveyra (who you might know from his own Progfreaks.com site), Joshua Turner, and Clayton Walnum (musician and author of various computer-related books), along with various guest contributors including Hess' Tom Hess and Lightspeed's Rod Chappell.

It is by no means finished. ProgressiveWorld.net is a living, breathing entity. Its content will not only be shaped by us, but also by you, the progressive music fan community. Send us your reviews, your interesting links, your comments, practically whatever you want. This is your site. Tell us what you want to see.

Stephanie Sollow

The brief biography of me is: born outside Los Angeles in 1967, where I've lived for most of my life so far. Spent four years living outside San Diego while attending San Diego State University earning a degree in English, emphasis: British Literature before 1800. While there, I learned to appreciate classical music, finding beauty in the works of Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and others. I acquired a deep interest in Arthurian legends, both from a literary and historical perspective.

I have always loved music. It has been, and continues to be, the soundtrack to my life. Never a day goes by that I am not listening to something. On those rare occassions when I can't, there is undoubtedly something going through my head.

I once had hopes of being a musician myself - I play a little rhythm guitar. My collage roommate and I had thoughts of starting a band, me on guitar, she on bass - it never happened. I did write a song that I was quite proud of, loaned the lyrics to someone else in the dorm who was a musician and would set it to music, and that was the last I saw of it (somewhere, out there, I may be a songwriter. Or just a footnote in the city dump). Nothing came of those ambitions, though I fool around with ambient textures on a keyboard (yeh, yeh, I know what they say about anyone with a keyboard).

But, even still, music, as a living and breathing entity, is extremely important to me. I listen to a wide variety of music, both within and without the progressive music genre. While a list of my favourites would be rather long for an introduction like this, the list would include the following artists: Arena, Kevin Braheny, Rick Braun, Phil Collins, Djam Karet, Eagles, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Fish, Galahad, Genesis, Icehouse, Billy Joel, David Lanz, Live, Marillion, Queen, Robert Rich, The Rippingtons, Steve Roach, Rush, Saga, Jonn Serrie, Spock's Beard, Tangerine Dream, Tempest, and Yes.

I guess for completion's sake I should add that my other interests include science-fiction, both filmic and literary (one of my favourite movies is Silent Running) and history, particularly British history (my roots are European). Of course, there's the techogeek side of me, too, that is finding this whole Web thing a thrilling challenge.

Well, there's me in a nutshell (no picture of that available, but I'd be the large nut in the centre, face buried in a book, reading in the glow from a computer monitor situated atop a rock in the middle of the woods, while an endless stream of progressive classics issued forth).

Here at Progressiveworld.net I am publisher, contributing editor, and webmaster; I write the news, compile the concert listings, keep the festival listings up to date, keep the releases page up to date, manage the links pages, handle all the pr for the site, and more.

By the way, the Spring/Summer 2000 issue of Progression Magazine was my debut as a columnist, and I've been a rater at Gnosis for about a year or so. [My tenure with Progression ended in 2008; I still rate CDs at Gnosis, but I'm woefully lax about it of late - SS 2011]

John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Based in Belgium, BoBo is also frequent contributor to various print progressive publications including Progression (USA), Mellotron (Argentina), Aloha (Holland), iO Pages (Holland), Stage (Belgium/Holland), and Euro Rock Press (Japan). BoBo joined the staff of ProgressiveWorld.net in January 2000 and has contributed not only reviews, articles and interviews, but his feedback on the general site layout has help shaped ProgressiveWorld.net into what it is today.

He has also released If Only Stones Could Speak, which included guest performances from Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn), among others.

[Bobo currently hosts "On The Rocks" on MENTtv in Belgium -ed.

David Cisco

David joined ProgressiveWorld.net more than three years ago [now about 10 years ago -ed.], and is currently serving in the US Navy [well, now retired-ed.]. While he names Rush as one of his favourite bands, he writes enthusastically about progressive music that sits on the edge between progressive rock and AOR.

Larry Daglieri

Larry is one of the most avid Prog/Power afficianados on the scene. A devotee who devours every release in the genre he can get his hands on regardless of how obscure, and spreads the gospel via phone, fax, email, and internet. Always one to share his opinions of each new title he acquires, he has helped enhance many music libraries world wide.

Larry's self-professed passion for the music is contagious, and he is at the nucleus of a growing number of highly vocal fans that have dedicated their free time to keep this movement vital. This growing underground has taken rise on the internet and become a testament to the fact that these are indeed exciting times for prog/power music!!!

[This blurb courtesy Larry and the Perpetual Motion Board {Larry still posts at PM, which can be found here} -ed.]

Tom Karr

Tom has played music and collected records, 8-tracks, tapes and CDs since 1969. Growing up near San Francisco, he was a fanatical concert attendee throughout the 1970s, and with the exception of Hendrix, The Beatles, The Doors and Genesis, has seen virtually every notable band of that era including, of course, ELP, Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gentle Giant, Camel, Kansas, Pink Floyd, UK and countless others. A "decent" lead guitarist, he played in a number of unknown and unpopular hard rock, metal and punk bands in the seventies, eighties and nineties. Tom’s band in the eighties, Claude Coma And The I.V.s opened many shows in Southern California and Mexico for acts such as Suicidal Tendencies, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Agent Orange and other well known punk bands. The band released one album during Tom’s tenure, Manslaughter, in 1985. Tom also plays bass and is in the process of teaching himself to play keyboards. He lives in San Diego, CA with his wife of twenty-plus years, E.

He is a huge fan of symphonic progressive rock, particularly English, Italian and continental progressive bands of the 1970s. He is an aficionado of keyboard led bands, but is also a recovering metal head. He tries to avoid sins of the past such as Judas Priest, Racer X, and Megadeth but still allows himself to enjoy his teenage favorites like Deep Purple, UFO and Budgie.

Tom joined ProgressiveWorld.net in March 2004, originally to supply reviews of the classic and some not-so-classic albums of the 1970s, the golden age of symphonic progressive rock. Not entirely a creature of the past, he is an avid listener and fan of Glass Hammer, Cairo, IQ, Spock’s Beard, The Flower Kings, Niacin, Ars Nova and many others.

Besides music, Tom’s interests include politics and journalism, Roman and Greek history and oriental culture and film. His idea of a good time is sharing a plate of fried wontons with his wife while watching a cable news channel with a guitar in his lap and his pet rat Fah-Lin on his shoulder. A printing press operator for the twenty five years, Tom and E are now enjoying early retirement.

Clayton Walnum

Clayton “Clay” Walnum, a former magazine editor, is a freelance writer who has published nearly 60 books and hundreds of articles and stories. As of this writing, his most recent books are The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Home Recording and Pro Tools Recording Guide. Clay has been a progressive-rock fanatic since the birth of the genre in the late 60s and has seen in concert all of the prog greats -- including Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, ELP, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull -- at the start and peak of their careers. His favorite group is The Beatles, with Yes following a close second. Having performed for about 20 years in professional cover bands, he plays guitar and some keyboards. Now, he composes and records music in his home studio. Clay’s favorite “modern” prog groups include Spock’s Beard, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, Echolyn, Porcupine Tree, and Planet X. On the more mainstream side of things, Clay listens to stuff like Radiohead, Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani. When writing for ProgressiveWorld.net, Clay tends to review only those CDs he enjoys, not wanting to slam CDs that other people might like.

In addition to the separate CD reviews Clayton has written, he also contributed the regular column The Prog Life and has written articles on Yes, Genesis and King Crimson (see Articles).

Tony Emmerson

Born in the rolling hillsides of Derbyshire, England, Tony Emmerson had little chance to discover the world of Prog. A chance stumbling through the back catalogue of Genesis at the tender age of fifteen meant that his favourite album was Selling England By The Pound long before he'd even heard the term "Progressive Rock".

Moving to London in order to pursue a degree in chemistry, he soon became exposed to the classic Progressive diet of Yes, ELP, Crimson and others. Gigs by the local tribute band ReGenesis formed a gathering place for the Prog faithful, where tapes, ideas, and occasionally spouses, were swapped freely. Or cheaply at least.

A prolific writer, the newsgroups and Internet discussion lists gave Tony a place to play, but his first serious break was a result of a chance meeting in 1997 with Mel Huang - political analyst, Prog expert, and successful journalist. Almost instantly he became a UK Correspondent for Progression magazine, delivering an interview with Genesis exile Anthony Phillips in his first issue. Further interviews included Mike Oldfield's bassist Carrie Melbourne, and a surprisingly personal audience with the legendary Peter Hammill. He has also contributed to numerous official and unofficial fanzines and web sites.

Increasingly disaffected with the current English Progressive scene, Emmerson has been openly critical of many of the acts dominating the movement nowadays. Believing the innovation of 'classic' Prog to have been replaced by the imitation of newer bands, his main interest lies in artists that are still pushing forward the limits, such as After Crying, King Crimson, and Hammill, as well as classic performers such as Yes and John Wetton. His current preoccupation is the discovery of bands that had remained hidden within the Soviet domain, examples being In Spe, Ruja and Mess.

Controversial and outspoken, in normal life as well as music journalism, Tony has attracted as many enemies as friends. He remains the only person to be banned from both the G99 Genesis Convention and "Strictly Banks" - The Tony Banks Tribute Concert. However he has remained true to himself and his convictions. And beer.

Outside of music journalism, Tony works in finance, and his main interests include motor-sport, literature, politics and science. He is also an occasional lyricist. A newcomer to ProgressiveWorld.net, he aims to highlight and explore albums overlooked by history, due to lack of distribution, or public apathy, or critical ignorance. A noble cause indeed...

[Tony is currently teaching English at a university in the Czech Republic -ed]

John Gabbard

[Although John Gabbard's participation in ProgressiveWorld.net ended in 2000, this site is partially based on his vision, and so here's a bit about him as well -ed.]

I have been a fan of prog-rock (or as they called it in my day, "classical rock") from as far back as the late 60's/early 70's. With groups such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues still making music, with the Internet and mail order distribution (i.e.ZNR, Synphonic, and Musea to name a few), and numerous progressive rock festivals across the US ((i.e. ProgFest, ProgDay, Nearfest etc…), progressive music is as strong as it was more than 30 years ago, and I am still a fan.

I have lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for 45 years and have traveled most of the North, East and South of the tri-state area. Between the ages of 18-30 , I worked as a lighting tech and sound engineer for the "Young Invaders," a local rock band (straight-forward rock n' roll!!). While travelling, I'd take a box of prog tapes on the road and the band members would call it "grasshopper music." I still haven't figured out why, exactly. While travelling with the band, when most of the musicians would play golf, I'd take the car and hunt down local record shops in search of new and interesting music. I spent countless hours driving and countless dollars in gas money hunting down the first "Acqua Fragile" LP, which is still a prized find. Unfortunately, I have not traveled to the West, Overseas, or into Canada or Mexico where some of the finest progressive rock has thrived, and still is thriving.

In the early 80's I worked at Peaches (a local record chain) where I was in charge of the Progressive Rock Section (can you believe it?) where I was exposed even further to the progressive rock genre. Working at Peaches for 2 years enabled me to make many local and international connections (i.e. promoters, reps etc…). In fact, to christen the opening of Peaches here in Cincinnati, I was serving drinks and happened to turn around, only see Phil Collins (with Genesis at the time), who beckoned to me "Could I have one of those, mate?"

In the last 10 years I have had my own cable television shows; the first, "VideoVision," was on the air from '85-'98, in which I interviewed over 400 film stars (Mel Gibson in particular). The second show, "AudioVision," created as an offshoot of VV, has been in existence since '97, and is geared toward the promotion of music. In addition to interviews with progressive rock artists (Yes, John Wetton, Marillion), I have also interviewed artists as diverse as Yanni, John Tesh, and Amy Grant, to name a few.

The lastest, and largest creation is ProgressiveWorld.net.

Richard Zywotkiewicz:

Canadian screenwriter Richard Zywotkiewicz is also a host for Attention Surplus Disorder, a radio show every other Saturday (Sunday, really) on CJSW from 12:00 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. US/CA Mountain Time, where he and his cohorts will play "Progressive music in all its forms, with a main focus on progressive rock and genres closely associated with it, such as jazz fusion, psychedelia, and even progressive folk!" You can tune in online at www.cjsw.com.

You'll find Richard's scribblings in various places, but Richard has also been the writer/director of the 2002 film Stiffed, an independent Canadian film about the day in the life of a rock band, and, wrote the 1999 thriller Beyond Redemption (aka A Twist Of Faith), which starred Andrew McCarthy and Michael Ironside.

We'll include bios the other contributors here in due course, but uh...they never got around to sharing them. So, missing are Joshua "Prawg Dawg" Turner (find more reviews by Joshua at Music Street Journal), Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck (find more reviews by Keith at Muzik Reviews), Marcelo Silveyra, Marcel Haster (find more reviews by Marcel here), and Eric Porter

We're still striving towards meeting our goal. Part of that was moving to a dababase driven model in 2005. It has taken time to move all the content - not that the moving took a long time, but that life kept interrupting. However, I'll take that over my life being interrupted by... something dire... or worse. As we... now back to me, with cameos from Keith... march forward... we'll continue with the new. - Stephanie Sollow, Editor

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Published on: 1999-08-20 (4218 reads)