How often does one of your favorite artists play a concert in your backyard?  Never, right?  Oh sure there are those contests where you can win and have the band play in your yard.  How many times do people in apartment buildings win and can’t have it happen?  How many times does the band set up in the backyard and the old neighbors call the cops after one song and they break it up before the band can play five songs?  How many of these contests are bogus and no one really knows who wins if anyone?

A pipe-dream, right?

Well this isn’t a contest, and Alan Parsons will not be in my backyard.  There are too many damn rabbit holes for them to set up a decent stage.  But one thing I can guarantee, my neighbors wouldn’t call the cops.  They are so used to the loud music coming from my basement recording studio, they are numb to it, or they are illegal aliens and can’t risk deportation, or they have loud Nitrous-burning cars that are featured on the Speed Channel.

Yeah, my neighbor has a Nitrous burning 57 Chevy!  The coolest car I’ve ever seen, and I have seen a ton of them.

Back to Alan Parsons.

Parsons will be playing a concert at nearby-to-my-home Lehigh University.  A meager fifteen minutes away!  How stinking awesome is that?  If you are a Parsons fan the drive is worth it.  As this is going to be my first time attending Lehigh’s Zoellner Arts Center, I have no preview as to the caliber of the venue, but there have been many prestigious acts.  The Tony Levin Band played there a while back, but I still have a major personal beef with Levin, so I will only see him with either Peter Gabriel or, should we be so lucky, a new incarnation of King Crimson.

The following is a press release from Zoellner Arts Center

Zoellner Arts Center kicks off its14th season with The Alan Parsons Live Projecton Saturday, September 11 at 8 pm. A classic rock mastermind, turned progressive rock master, Parsons—the tour-de-force engineer behind Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles’ Abbey Road—and founder of his best-selling namesake group, performs with his current globe-trotting band for a night of art-rock magic. His visit to Zoellner Arts Center marks the beginning of a world tour with stops in Israel and Europe, including Poland, Russia and Holland.

Parsons started his music career at the age of 19 when he acquired a job at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Working his way up the music industry as a recording engineer, he was fortunate enough to work with skilled artists such as Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd. In 1975, he joined forces with Eric Woolfson to form The Alan Parsons Project. The group’s debut album Tales of Mystery and Imagination landed them a deal with Clive Davis’ Arista Records label.

Throughout the years, Parsons held the role of engineer/producer while Woolfson was the songwriter/musician. Guest artists and performers were invited to participate in the recordings of different tracks. The last project Parsons and Woolfson undertook together was a re-mastering of previously unreleased tracks from past recordings in April 2009.  Woolfson passed away in December 2009 at the age of 64 after battling kidney cancer.

Parsons latest enterprise is an instructional series entitled The Art and Science of Sound Recording. A song on the series, All Our Yesterdays, features Parsons as the lead vocalist backed by some of LA’s finest musicians.

In conjunction with the performance, Zoellner is hosting a post-show opening night party in the lobbies with desserts and beverages.

Tickets for the September 11 performance are $38/34.  For information, call 610-758-2787, ext. 0, visit Zoellner Ticket Services Tuesday 12-6pm, Wednesday through Friday 12-5pm, or Saturday 11am-1pm, and 90 minutes before curtain for ticketed events or order online at www.zoellnerartscenter.org.

END RELEASE

So there you have it!  You DO know Parsons work, even though it might be through other artists, he has been a major factor in progressive music, even taking part in the Beatles contribution to progressive.  He is promoting a new album and this is guaranteed to be a powerhouse show.

Of course, I will be there to cover the event.  As I am told, this event is selling quickly so get your tickets NOW!  If you miss the, the review will pale in comparison, I’m sure.