Re: FrippTalk

[aruss@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Andrew Russ)]

Subject: Re: FrippTalk
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Summary: The moment.  the momentum.
References: <9105212336.AA03245@up61.lsil.com>

In article <9105212336.AA03245@up61.lsil.com>, rpeck@up61.UUCP (Ray Peck) writes:
> With all this FrippTalk, I thought I'd contribute:
> On MTV Music News this past weekend, there was an item that said:
> "Robert Fripp, leader of arguably the most powerful Art-rock band
> of the 70's, King Crimson, plans to form a new version of that band
> this fall."  They also mentioned the new Fripp/Toyah disk.
> 
> Wa hoo!  I wonder if he's waiting for Bruford to finish the Yes
> tour?  I sure hope

     Hmmm.  And who else?  There were about 4 almost completely different
King Crimsons, yet each was truly a King Crimson.  The story Fripp told
that he'd put the band with Belew together and it turned out to be King
Crimson is completely believable.  (the same story also applies to the
reformation of Pere Ubu, as told by David Thomas in 1987).

> 
> Someone asked about League O Crafty Guitarists' new album.  I guess that's
> been answered, but I wanted to make sure that all fans are aware of the
> "Get Crafty" cassette-only release.  8-(  I believe it's only available
> from Guitar Craft directly: they were selling it at the LOCG show last
> year in Santa Cruz.

	It costed about $10, including postage, more if autographed by
Fripp.  It's all LoCG pieces (ie no Frippertronics), over half of which are
not written by Fripp, and the Fripp pieces are, on the average, no better
or worse than, or particularly distinguishable from, the others.  There's a
somewhat mechanical, Bach-like mechanical, feel to them.  But then recall
the League is about Craft, not Art.  The tape shows that the Crafties are
definitely becoming an entity rather than an extention of Fripp.  And this
is precisely the idea of the League.  

> 
> I've seen LOCG twice, and both times were completely
> life-altering.  It's a shame that the experience doesn't transfer to
> disk.  The life recordings are great, but somehow the music gains much
> of its impact from the focus of the moment, and the instant of performance.
> And (to me, at least) this is lost on disk, qualitatively differently
> than every other concert I've seen.

	There are other great live moments.  How well or how much can get
"captured" on tape (audio or video) varies.  My first impression watching
Live at the Hammersmith [note obligatory KaTe content] was how much better
it must have been to actually see the concert (even for just those 52 minutes).


> 
> It's as if Fripp perfectly captured what he's talking about here:
> 
> >Now we come to the humanistic and philosophical reasons why I oppose the
> >furtive taping of live music. I am seeking the quality of attention, of
> >being in the moment without expectation and without history, the moment
> >form. It cannot be repeated: how many times can one lose one's virginity?
>
	At the first LoCG concert i saw (DC, 1987), On the way out we walked
past the soundman, who had been recording the thing.  So apparently Fripp
documents his own performances.   By the way, i first read this article on
the back of the bootleg King Crimson album Indisciple Mining Rocks (1981
tour).  
>
> 
> /****************************************************************
>  * Ray Peck		       "The cumulative effects	of 	*
>  ****************************************************************/

				andrew russ