The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

When purple things are pulsating on your mind, I'm the one whose clock you want to clean. Aiding is Sparky, the Astral Plane Zen Pup Dog from his mountain stronghold on the Northernmost Island of the Happy Ninja Island chain, this blog will also act as a journal to my wacky antics at an entertainment company and the progress of my self published comic book, The Deposit Man which only appears when I damn well feel like it. Real Soon Now.

Friday, January 30, 2004

YES, FOR WE MUST PAUSE FOR A MOMENT

Yeah, I wanted to pick up my entry with the Chris Scowling Squire story - but it's going to have to wait until after the weekend-

My YesFest (the special 35th Anniversary edition) continues tomorrow with the my first view of the Yesspeak DVD (5 hours long) and my first run through of the Ultimate Yes collection (maybe I should jam along on my keyboard?) and some other goodies I've acquired like the latest Steve Howe solo album and while I was on line waiting to get my wristband, someone from the YesNet who was waiting with me tossed me a CDR of a Yes concert from the Universal Ampitheater in 1997.

So this weekend will occupy me with endless hours Yes Music, a leather easychair, a glass of wine on the rocks, and a cuban cigar.

To be continued....

~

Coat

Thursday, January 29, 2004

FROM THE MOMENT YOU TELL ME...YES

The Tower Records at the Sherman Oaks Galleria was a fucking monkey house last night and I couldn't have been happier.

With Yes celebrating their 35th anniversary this week as one the longest rock acts writing and performing today second to perhaps The Rolling Stones or the Moody Blues (Genesis were there for a while trying their damnest to keep up - with thirty years under their belt, but Phil Collins sure put a skidding halt to that winning streak) and they wanted to party in style! Like I mentioned a couple of days ago, the new Rhino retrospective package, The Ultimate Yes has just been released (and I'm pretty disappointed that Tower charged $ 22 for the thing while both Fry's and Best Buy are currently selling it for $16 - and mostly it consists of stuff I already have on the prodigious In a Word: Yes boxset released two years ago) as well as the three hour plus DVD documentary Yesspeak.

Getting up at 3:30 in the morning to wait in line and have to chat up with likewise fans was seemingly worth it - to a certain degree. Using the remaining sicktime that I had for the remainder of my rookie year at the studio worked like a charm, but yet, the Tower Records staff said as we purchasing our stuff that everyone had to be online to get there before they closed down the door at 4 PM sharp. So yesterday, I had to rush out at work at 2 PM and take three buses to get back to my place while pausing to deposit my check in the ATM and I barely made it with ten minutes to spare. Apparently buses don't run as often as they do past 5 PM. So I secured a place in line- but nothing was happening until 7 PM when the band members finally strolled through the doors. I think Chris Squire was the late arrival - he looked as if he had been rudely awakened from a nap.

All this postering and idle warnings were totally unnecessary - I could've worked a full day yesterday, deposited my check afterwards, and still would have made it with time to spare, because it was just three hours of standing on aching feet and chain smoking Parliment lights unless someone was waxing nostalgic with me about all the Yes concerts I've been attending ever since I was fourteen years old. In the twilight hours towards the ushering of the doors being opened, I was mildly entertained by this songwriter who used to pen songs for Rod Stewart and who happens to be a acquiantance of a female friend who's husband who plays guitar for David Lee Roth (whew, what a fucking sentence). This guy broke my balls about looking me up on the internet and finding ton of shit on me- as he wants to hook me up with a artist friend of his out in San Francisco and needed credentials.

So without further ado - if you act now you can check out some of the photos of last night 's signing here: http://www.yesworld.com Click on where it says Yes at Tower Records and in the crowd shot you might be able to see me where Rick Wakeman is stationed trying to peer over some hulk wearing a burgundy shirt.

A few things I need to shout out about Yes:

Goddamn it, why does it look like guitarist Steve Howe is withering away to the sands of time to the Pharoahs? This guy is so frail looking (and not to mention three years younger than Jon Anderson, who is the oldest of the entire bunch, but yet looks young enough to race Frodo in a triathon to Moldor) that he needs to sit down in a rocking chair in order to strum away on his guitar. Someone in the crowd yelled at him to stand up and play and Steve piped back to the heckler that maybe you should try to play a acoustic guitar standing up at my age and see how it feels.
The honest truth: I'm worried about this guy. If all the members of the Yes Net groups held a death pool as of this very minute - what would the odds be in Steve's favor. It's just astounding that this is the same guy who when I saw back in '89 for the Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe tour would be ricocheting off the top of monitor amps and shaking his long mane around during every intriciately played guitar solo - now he sits like a decrepit invalid on a tiny stool having trouble adjusting his guitar strap. But when he's ready - he still rips into it as he proved on a little acoustic number he's come up with titled "Intervention Blues" - you could almost swear that they are the three guys in the room doing those same parts. (I've been also blessed with seeing a local threesome act out here who perform entirely on acoustic guitar called The California Guitar Trio do a faithful rendition of Yes' Heart of the Sunrise) I would just hate to wake up one morning and hear on the news or read on the internet that Steve has plucked himself to the Great Beyond by NOT EATING A PROPER DIET. MAYBE EATING SOME RED MEAT MIGHT BE GOOD FOR A CHANGE! I so worry about him.

Well, going to have to wrap this up for tonight - too many of my co-workers are busting my balls about the good time I had. Which is something unheard of in these parts- but tomorrow I'll pick up with my assessment of maybe why Chris Squire was such a sour puss last night- and comments on the happy go lucky tag team of Jon and Rick.

~

Coat

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

I'VE SEEN ALL GOOD YES PEOPLE

Yeah, I hope things are working right here. I've got a strange feeling that my blog has been hijacked.

I'll try to make this brief. Usually I write a new entry on Monday or Tuesday - but this week heralds the arrival of the new Yes 35th Anniversary products - which consist of the 3 CD greatest hits package (with some single edits of some songs that used to FM Radio friendly and a bonus CD of new acoustic remakes of 'Roundabout' and 'South Side of the Sky' plus new material which is only available on US editions ) and the new 2 disc DVD of the YESSPEAK documentary - interviews and trips down memory lanes. Now only if I hadn't had to wake up at 3:30 this morning to wait in line to get these products.

What? You're probably wondering to yourself - 'What the fuck's wrong with you Coatney- are you fucking insane? Who in their right mind would set his alarm clock to go and buy a lousy CD and DVD?

Well, it's like this- they're having a special acoustic performance at the Tower Records which is literally two blocks from my house in Sherman Oaks, Ca and in order to get in, I had to buy the products in order to get a wristband so I can see them perform live at 6:30 tomorrow night. So I'm a little fucking exhausted at this point - I immediately set out for work right after purchasing my Yes Goodies. Tomorrow I will be using the remainder of my sick time to leave early so I can get back in line and see the performances and get the new Yes Goodies signed by the decrepit members of the band.

Tonight, they will be on the radio at 10 with DJ Jim Ladd and will be having a televised performance on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn - so I still have plenty of hours to keep myself occupied. By the time 1:30 AM - I will almost have been awake for twenty-four hours.

Next time, I'll divulge further and tell you about the hundred or so people that were already standing in line - the staff at Tower didn't expect this quite a turn-out, so they were gracious enough to open the store at 8:30 AM and when I left the line was going around the building- They didn't think this promotion would fly - but as usual, they underestimated the tenecity of Yes fans everyone. One guy who was online before me (approx 4:30 this A.M.) flew all the fucking way from Puerto Rico.

Holy fuck- and you think I'm crazy?

Anyway - more on these people and the performance itself, and I will probably have to spill the beans on a proposed writing gig for Heavy Metal.

Happy YES days are here again.

~

Coat