Progressive Rock Hall of Fame Official Power of Prog Page!

THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK HALL OF FAME PROJECT It's not just another new prog site. Its purpose is to legitimately set in motion a real and viable way to honor those involved in music's highest art form - yet it has been sadly overlooked by most all of the other music organizations since its inception. Progressive Rock is music advanced to its highest level, lyrically, melodically and rhythmically. With this in mind we hope to unify this great form of music by providing not just a site but a home for all involved in this field from musicians, labels, radio stations, Progressive press outlets and fans of this genre. THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK HALL OF FAME ADVISORY BOARD:

GREGG BENDIAN: for next year's round of voting another one of our winners has just been added to the Advisory Board: founder of the Mahavishnu Project in 2001, it's drummer and composer Gregg Bendian!The Mahavishnu Project is dedicated to reviving and bringing to today's audiences the excitement and the transcendent experience of visceral intensity of the early days of jazz/rock in general and the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra specifically. The band was formed by Gregg to perpetuate the spirit of live performance in which this music was created by performing this great music live! Return to the Emerald Beyond features a 11 piece band interpreting The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Visions of the Emerald Beyond, one of the most explosive albums in the fusion genre. This is not a sound-alike project; Gregg and the band do not try to recreate the solos of the original players. What they do do is capture the amazing intensity and fire that the Mahavishnu Orchestra exuded, add their own selves to it and allow people to experience it first hand in concert and now on record. The band just slay the material and play it with conviction and belief .

ALAN SIMON: Alan Simon will contribute his vast knowledge of Progressive Rock! Alan Simon's 2nd musical, Les Enfants de Future was released by Walt Disney in 1996. With the release of Excalibur he moved into the circle of major French composer-producers. "The Legend of the Celts" featured artists like Roger Hodgson and Fairport Convention. His next project was producing Roger Hogson's solo album "Open the Door", which went top 5 in Europe. In 2003 he wrote and produced "Gala" which featured Midnight Oil and went to top 5 in Australia. In 2005 Alan made his first full length film, "O Gengis" which has been released in 20 countries. His "Excalibur Trilogy" featured John Wetton of King Crimson/Asia fame, Jon Anderson of Yes, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Maddy Prior, Fairport Convention, Karan Casey, Alan Parsons, Andreas Vollenweider, Barclay James Harvest and Flook. The 19 tracks were all written by Simon with cowriters on just a few. Only one song is in his native French, the rest are in English with a few instrumentals also on the album.
The Progressive Rock Hall of Fame announced that the Best Progressive Rock Producer of the Year award went to Alan Simon Shortly after he won the award we asked him to join the Advisory Board and he said yes!

PETE BROWN:
* Contributing Editor, Vintage Guitar magazine
*Contributor, Guitar Player magazine
* Co-author, Legends of Rock Guitar (Hal Leonard Publishing; contains extensive prog chapters)
*Co-author, Shred! (Back Beat Books)
*Co-author, Gear Secrets of the Guitar Legends (Back Beat Books)
*Founding editor of Guitar Shop magazine
*Lead guitarist of Guitar Garden (the acclaimed instrumental-prog band,) www.guitargarden.net
And over the years, Pete has interviewed many prog musicians, among them, Ian Anderson, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, Alex Lifeson, John Petrucci, Roine Stolt, Andy Tillison, Gary Green, Daryl Stuermer, and many others.

JIM ROBERTS: Jim Roberts has produced, performed on or engineered records for John Entwistle (The Who), Leslie West (Mountain), Joe Franco (Twisted Sister), Joel Kosche (Collective Soul), Steve Luongo and Mark Hitt (TorQue) and others. He is an A.S.C.A.P. songwriter and publisher whose work has aired on Good Morning America, ABC World News Now, Good Day New York and various shows on ABC, FOX, ESPN, PBS, and NBC. Jim is on the advisory board of The John Entwistle Foundation. He is also a voting member of the Recording Academy (NARAS), the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

ROBERT BERRY: Robert Berry is a greatly respected veteran of progressive rock, who struck gold in 1988 as the frontman for 3, with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. He has been instrumental in the success of Magna Carta's series of tribute albums, and has contributed his producing and/or performing talents to a number of critically-acclaimed Magna Carta recordings and artists including Magellan's Hundred Year Flood, Altura's Mercy, The December People's Sounds Like Christmas and all of the Tempest albums on Magna Carta. One release that's gaining particular notice is A Soundtrack for 'The Wheel of Time', written, produced, and recorded by Robert Berry.

JOHN SEBASTIAN: Over 35 years in the radio business, this influential programmer broke bands like Genesis and Shooting Star. He also invented several Progressive Radio Formats, most noteably Classic Rock, EOR (Ecclectic Oriented Rock) which is now known as AAA (Adult Alternative) and he was a pioneer of NAC. (New Age Adult Contemporary) Early in his career in the mid 70's he made KHJ in Los Angeles a rock leader, as he would with countless other rock stations. In the 80's he was one of rock's biggest consultants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LAURIE LARSON:The conception of The Progressive Rock Hall of Fame began when NARAS voting member Laurie, learned that the only Progressive Artist on the list to nominate for a Grammy did not win. She was online with another NARAS voting member Jim Roberts and launched the site immediately. As the idea flourished she was joined by her friend Nick Katona. Laurie has been a DJ, Music Director, Program Director and Operations Manager for several radio stations in the Southwest for over 20 years, always fighting to get more Progressive Rock on the air. She was part of Steve Casey's research team (the founder of MTV) and Critical Mass Media that did research for over 800 Rock and AOR radio stations. She's been a rock journalist, and co-editor of Crossroads Magazine, the first magazine that tracked the airplay of Indie artists. She's also a photographer and musician.

NICK KATONA: Founder and President of Melodic Revolution Records. A new independent progressive label. Nick has been in the music business for 30 + Years from Music Retail Management to Store and Venue owner as well as Marketing and Promotion of Bands. Nick is also the Founder of The Clinton Art and Music Festival (New York) this music festival is in its 3rd year and is dedicated to promoting Independent Music from around the world. The collaboration of Laurie and Nick started in 2006 with Laurie joining Melodic Revolution Records for her second release Aquila. Both Laurie and Nick are passionate about Progressive Rock and believe the time has come for this genre to be recognized as one of greatest forms of music in music history along with all those who have shaped and have and made this genre of music what it has become today.