Arts: Prog Spring

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Prog Spring Prog Spring Prog lives! By David Weigel Posted Friday, Aug 17, 2012, at 07:45 AM ET Here is a list of the musicians, artists, and other figures mentioned in this series, along with brief bios. I'm sitting in the Zoellner Arts Center in Bethlehem, Pa., right in front of a middle-aged man wearing a thick beard and a T-shirt that proves he saw Genesis on their 1977 tour. He's yelling right into my ear. "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers!" "Refugees!" "Man-Erg!" These are songs by Van Der Graaf Generator, but the band, up on stage, isn't playing them. "Shouting out requests is futile, I assure you!" announces VDGG's singer/composer/genius Peter Hammill to the crowd of 1,000-odd obsessives.  "We've got a set list." It's the final weekend of June. Hammill's band, Van Der Graaf Generator, is performing at the last-ever North-East Art-Rock Festival—NEARfest. In its 1970s heyday, VDGG consisted of up to five multi-instrumentalists. They have slimmed down to Hugh Banton, on keyboards; Guy Evans, on drums; and Hammill on piano and guitar. Their hair, respectively, is white, nonexistent, and white. They're playing for people who knew them when that hair was shaggy and black. In Bethlehem, I want to see who still lives, loves, and listens to prog. Every day, a crowd files politely into an amphitheater and watches a short film projected onto a scrim above the stage. An asteroid hurtles toward Earth, picks up momentum, and crashes. The planet cracks and bleeds like a sunburn. It explodes—two new planets are born ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Who Needs ACORN? Not Just the Pregnancy Blues How Do You Say Gay in Arabic?	Advertisement
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