Media Watch: various and sundry

I hope all my readers are safe and cozy during this holiday season, however you observe.  Here are some recent finds...

The first one is from last year, I hadn't seen any mention of it on social media previously.  Trevor's brother Derek appeared on the Where Are They Now program hosted by Cindy Alter.  Alter is herself a well-known figure in the history of South African pop/rock as she was the leader of the all-girl band Clout who had a big hit in 1978 with their cover of "Substitute" (not The Who song, but rather by The Righteous Brothers) as well as overseas success in the UK.  Cindy ended up working with Trevor later on in Los Angeles, though I don't believe anything from their collaboration was ever officially released.

This is a very interesting discussion regarding the Rabin family as well as Derek's explorations as a musician and then his shift into entertainment-related law as well as serving as Trevor's legal council, in addition to Cindy's own recollections of the time.  I was amazed how alike Derek and Trevor sound in terms of their inflections, and they share a similar sense of humor as well.

Derek also provides yet another version of Trevor's development deal with Geffin, which adds a bit of specific chronology to the story in that the Asia proposition comes first (which he ultimately turned down although Geoff Downes has intimated they weren't interested either), and then the move to Los Angeles and period of songwriting for a possible album, which could be said to be the source of most of the material he then brought to Chris and Alan.  So in Derek's version Trevor was dropped due to Geffin's lack of interest in the material he demo'ed at the time rather than refusing to join Asia.  Derek does verify that Trevor was in talks with RCA for a deal when the call came from Chris.

For those craving even more Rabbitt tales, Duncan and Patric have also been guests on the program (which is a veritable cavalcade of ZA's popular music past) and so here are their episodes as well.

This year another Yes-related podcast debuted - Yesshifts - hosted by a father-son duo of Yes enthusiasts, and one of their episodes is specifically a discussion of what might have happened to YesWest if they had actually continued as Yes without Jon Anderson.

https://anchor.fm/yesshift/episodes/Ep-10---What-If-Yes-West-Went-On-Without-Jon-Anderson-e15ujgv

Uploaded to YouTube this month, Yes' appearance on Rockline in October of 1987 to promote Big Generator - all of the band is present for this interview.

And for anyone who might be interested, if you are a patron of the Have You SEEN This? podcast, I made two appearances recently with co-host Jen - to discuss the lesser-known 1987 films Siesta and Gothic (episodes 119 and 122).  Those episodes are only available for Patreon members, and joining for only $2.00 a month is a great way to support an entertaining and insightful podcast about odd and obscure films!  We are working on recording another Trevor-related episode for next year.

https://www.patreon.com/haveyouseenthis

Take care, stay well, see you in 2022.

not a video, but a Visualizer

Premiering today, the official visualizer for Outlanders' "Closer To The Sky" featuring the lovely Tarja Turunen, the serene scenery of Antigua, some interesting artwork...and of course that beautiful song.

Real ones know, part three

From a recent interview with Tarja Turunen, regarding Trevor's appearance on "Closer To The Sky."

The first single to be released from this project, "Closer to the Sky," was released on 26th November 2021 and features the guitar playing of Yes’ Trevor Rabin. Speaking of the track, the singer tells us to expect a catchy song, with plenty of earworm qualities (which instantly shot it to “first single” status): 

“Trevor [Rabin], as a guitar player – I’m a huge fan, not only from Yes, but from his movie soundtracks too. I’d been following his career, so it’s astonishing for me to have him on one of my songs – it’s like “Whoa!” – but the song is beautiful! We have a visualiser filmed – I wouldn’t call it a music video, but a visualiser, since there’s no video production on it, but it shows the beautiful island of Antigua, or starts the process of showing where we’ve been working; what we’ve been doing; what a beautiful island it is. That’s about all I can tell!" [chuckles].