There Goes My Hero…
No, I haven’t been neglecting this blog. But as I tried to find the best way to express the tragic news of December 29th, 2017, so much else seemed to be going on. I mean I usually post about the music I was into in the previous year and a list of top ten or twelve most listened-to songs from CDs I purchased. 
Then there was the release of the new Colin Tench Project album. I decided that I had to do that one first. But, yeah, then came the shocking news that my friend, the brilliant and, let’ admit it, lovable Colin Tench suddenly and without warning passed away.
I was standing there in my work room and had just picked up my smartphone to check something when a message came in from Gordo Bennett. He broke the news to me, having just heard from Colin’s sister. I think I would have just fallen through the floor if I could. Only days before, Colin had sent me the entire album in a file so I could listen, enjoy, and write a review for Prog Archives ahead of the album’s official release. We talked about the review and the incredible album. Our final words were some pleasant Christmas greetings to one another. For the next few days I thought more about the album. I had questions to ask, things to point out, and compliments to give. There was so much more to tell Colin about his wonderful work.
And then that news. I barely moved for the next hour or so, just standing in one spot trying to fathom how it could be that this lively, active, fun-loving, creative, humorous, talented, friendly, and energetic person could so suddenly take leave of the world of the living. The community reeled. Musicians, friends, fans, family, colleagues, and acquaintances were stunned, crushed, mortified. Photos and memories were shared, tributes paid, proposals for a tribute album were made, and yet during all this a brilliant new album of music was waiting to be heard.
The official CD release date was January 30th, and Colin’s sister and nephew took over and did a stellar job of filling all the pre-orders and new orders. The Colin Tench Project’s second album, “minor Masterpiece” reached tenth position on Prog Archives’ top 100 albums of 2017, a pretty decent feat as it had only been released in the final week of the year. The album features vocals by Peter Jones and Joey Lugassy, bass by Petri Lindstrom, orchestral arrangement by Gordo Bennett, drums by Joe Vitale, and of course guitars and keyboards by Colin Tench. Sonia Mota created the imaginative cover art.
Music Is A Journey
As recent as last November I had in mind to start a video series about music. The premier episode was to be about the new Colin Tench Project album and Colin’s music career. This is what became the first episode indeed, but with the grievous dual-purpose of being a tribute to a great and unique musician who had passed on. For now, the series continues with episodes featuring people with whom Colin has collaborated or people who have worked with the people who knew Colin. Episode two featured Petri Linstrom, Blake Carpenter, Andres Guazzelli, Stef Flaming,, and Gordo Bennett. Episode three is in the planning stage and will be recorded next week and hopefully up on YouTube by April 14th.
Moonwink
While all of this has been going on, Gordo Bennett and Joe Serwinowski, collectively known as GorFusion, have released their second piece of music entitled “Moonwink”. Last year it was “Waxed Apples“. Gordo is planning on and working on moving ahead with more GorFusion music, including a side project called GorAcoustik, and also two projects under the GorMusik moniker. We’re hoping this will be a big year for Gordo.
As with “Waxed Apples”, I did the cover art. It came together as a conceptual piece we talked about last year and which I began last summer. I had in mind to shoot the entire scene as one shot but found it was easier to shoot the main components and then add the together in smartphone photo manipulating applications. After a lot of small edits and changes, the final art work was released to the public along with the music.
As for me, I will keep making more videos for now and hopefully still write more music-related blog posts such as another installment or two in my essays on heavy metal series. I hope the next post won’t take so long to come.
Music is a Journey 