Alan Benjamin
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Homepages: My rather modest personal website is alanbenjamin.tripod.com/ (Note that there are some Pekka Pohjola and Gentle Giant photo pages that can be accessed from the bottom of the "Photo Gallery" page.) My band, Advent, also has a site located at www.angelfire.com/nj/adventmusic/
Geographical location: Bridgewater, NJ, USA
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DOB: January 30, 1963
Enjoy these Styles and musical qualities: Canterbury, Difficult, Modern Classical, Symphonic, Flamenco, Zeuhl
Other styles/genres/qualities of music that I like not listed above: Chamber, Classical, Fusion, Intelligent Pop (mostly an oxymoron, but there are a few good examples), Modern Tango (Piazzolla)
Favorite or well-respected bands/artists Gentle Giant, Kenso, Albert Marcœur, Música Urbana, Pekka Pohjola, Mr. Sirius, Ken Watson, Frank Zappa (to name but a few)
Dislike these Styles and musical qualities: Ambient, Kosmiche or Kraut Rock, Improvisational, Noise/Industrial/Urban, Musique Concrète, Blues, Space, Psychedelic
Musical styles or qualities that I do not like: Anything that lacks musical substance. While I have a distinct appreciation for instrumental (and vocal) mastery, it does little to compensate for music that is not inherently composed/arranged in an interesting fashion. From a stylistic perspective, my least favorite genres include '50s/'60s Rock, Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening, (straight) Blues, Disco, Opera, Punk (although I love the Cardiacs), Rap (including any "-hop" variant), and Trance.
Occupation(s): Systems Engineer (specializing in routing, switching, and voice-over-packet technologies) for the "worldwide leader in networking for the Internet"
Other musical activities: Founding member of the progressive-rock band Advent. Instruments played (in approximate order of capability): guitar, (fretted and fretless) bass, recorder, (Chapman) Stick, mandolin, violin, keyboards, drums, glockenspiel, and flute.
Hobbies / obsessions: Collecting the best possible music from all parts of the globe--and seeing it live whenever the opportunity presents itself. Also appreciate a good game of ping-pong, seeing a superior movie, and experiencing a night of high-caliber stand-up comedy.
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