Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends. Welcome back Prog Magazine!

(Some of my collection of PROG Magazine)

It’s always something good happens for a new year in a new beginning. And believe me it is very good news. Not just the hero saving the day or Superman rescuing Lois Lane from Lex Luthor, but more than just that. When it was announced last year in December before Christmas that TeamRock had went into administration and laid-off some of the workers including who had been home to publications to Classic Rock Magazine, Blues, Metal Hammer, and Prog Magazine, it hit me hard.

Because not only that, but for me, Prog Magazine was sort of like my Bible to read about up-and-coming bands, articles, interviews, the albums that built Prog, labels to discover, and My Record Collection with people such as Zach Galligan (Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch), Comedian Bill Bailey, Sci-Fi Author Kevin J. Anderson, Photographer Mick Rock, Kavus Torabi, and Comic Book Artist Brian Bolland (The Killing Joke, Judge Dredd) to name a few, showing their love of the music and the inspirationals for them.

I would sometimes go to Barnes and Noble to find new issues or on eBay to find both old and new issues of PROG Magazine and sometimes I would have to pay my Mom back on finding some of the issues that would come in the mail. 

My blogsite, Music from the Other Side of the Room, wouldn’t haven’t gotten started if it wasn’t for both Houston Community College and Prog Magazine when it launched back eight years ago. And I can imagine the people who worked in which I mentioned about my tribute to the magazine last year in December, they worked their butts off to write the articles, interviews, and reviews.

My first reaction to that was “What a horrible way to end the year like that.” Because let’s admit 2016 was a rough year of losing artists including Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Prince, Glenn Frey, Alan Rickman, and the late great David Bowie. But then, something special happened. Ben Ward of Orange Goblin launched a JustGiving fundraising website to raise money to help the staff who were made redundant just in time before Christmas with no pay. They raised £88,760.00 ($109,853.81) and the band performed at a fundraising gig on January 5^th  of this year at the Black Heart in Camden, London. 

Stan “The Man” Lee always said, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” That’s what they did and the supporters of the magazines did, you give something back. And then just as if it was about to fade into nothingness, I read online that Future Publishing had saved Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, and PROG Magazine from closure.  It’s also the owner of titles including Guitarist, Total Film, and T3, which covers gadgets and technology.

It was like a breath of fresh air when I heard the announcement. Future deserves a big, big, BIG gigantic pat on the back for what they did. I wish Jerry Ewing and the rest of his team nothing but the best. They are for me in my opinion either the Justice League or the Avengers of Prog Magazine. (My geek shirt just popped out!) And hope to get the Prog train steam going up for more chugging like there’s no tomorrow. It’s going to take some baby steps, but as Captain America says, “Avengers Assemble!”