More Comments: Get Outcher FlameThrowers, Cherooties!

[Len Bullard <cbullard@HiWAAY.net>]

Gotta do this in one post.  Gigging tonight out of town.
Sure is Friday the 13th all over.  Are we having fun, or what!

[Emmy]

 > It's a shame your views on "Gaffaweb" are so negative. But I guess
you
> can't please all the people all the time... . 

I said it was a lovely resource.  Hardly negative.   I also said it 
contained content about the personalities of the LoveHounds 
who created it.   If that is negative, so be it.  It is also true.
I was taught in university and in journalism not to do that
when doing scholarly work or reporting.  So?   It's your 
work.  Do as thou wilt.  Just let others do the same without 
being called names or told they suck, or condeming them 
to a place in OTHER purgatory.  In other words, don't 
judge where you aren't ready to be judged.

My comment is, y'all get your panties in a wad all too easily.  
Thin skin and audiences don't mix.

[Dale Campbell]

> Do you want your stories told to you live, by a "storyteller"?  

I always loved it when someone reads to me.  So do my kids.
Seems normal.

> Do you want your songs sung to you live, by a performer?  

YESS!  Particularly if the performer is Kate Bush.  You bet!

> That's the way it USED to be done, before recording
> technology.

That's the way it's still done by most who can.  It's great fun.
Try it.  You'll like it.

> The Beatles put out albums without touring. 

Only after touring and then, only after Hamburg.
Then they got scared to death of the audience.  
Could be something in that.  Didn't she make some 
remark about not liking the attention, and calling 
her fans "utterly mad".  Fear kills performance.

>  Steely Dan put out albums without
> touring.  It's not UNHEARD-OF.  

Nope.  But did you see the recent Steely Dan tour?  Fantastic!!

> And if that's how they feel, fine.  If Kate
> doesn't want to tour, fine!  I'm just GLAD to get the albums!

Me too.  Now get off your ass and tour, KB.

> I'm rambling...I'm sorry.  But I'm tired of hearing Len's "Litany of Tour".
> Kate doesn't owe him (or anyone) a tour any more than she owes him a roll in
> the hay.

Nope.   But I won't quit asking.  I can always ask.

Roll in the hay?  Ever really tried that?  Like a pool, sounds great, 
works lousy.  Take a thick blanket and some bug spray.

>To me, it's a sign of a true artist to record albums and not tour, while it's
>a sign of an Old Fart to tour and not record albums.  Is the essence of that
>statement clear?

Sure.  You own a CD player and can't play a lick.

[Andrew Marvick (IED)]

> The value of spontaneity is not guaranteed in art -- it must be
> tempered by, informed by, enhanced by an equal measure of judicious,
> intelligent contrivance 

True.   But until you know what *Turn Over Or Burn* means, it is
dangerous 
to ignore spontaneity.  Bore the waitress; lose the gig.

> Anyway, it all depends on who's doing the studio/live work in the first
> place.  

Studio musicians for the most part.  Read the album covers.

> Kate Bush doesn't use the studio as many others do:  she does not use
> it simply to polish and tidy up a rough-hewn recorded performance. 

Yes she does.  Read her comments about getting all of the takes and 
combining them later into a whole.  The difference is, she gets the 
musicians into the studio and records as much spontaneity as she 
can get.  In fact, that is the secret of the art.  Players burn after so
many 
takes polishing the performance just as a lot of paintings are 
destroyed by too many layers of paint.

> Kate Bush uses the studio as her instrument, and she plays that instrument 
> with vastly more eloquence -- and emotional expressivity --  than *anyone* 
> uses the stage (not to mention the studio).  

She's good.  Take Del out of the process and we might get a different
result.
As to the stage, different medium altogether and very different rules
apply.
It's one reason I want to see her live.  Different experience.  Might
even 
be better than the studio.  Whatever, it would be kate live and that is
worth any number of flat notes.

> So the standards one might apply to the ordinary artist simply are not 
> appropriate for Kate Bush.  

Yes they are.  She farts, sneezes, hits bum notes, has bad days, and 
chews people out just like the rest of us.  But as they say in the
standards 
committees, standards are great because there are so many to choose
from.

> "Pure emotion" is projected by Beethoven in the
> scores, not merely in  performance.  If it didn't exist in the original, it
> could not be resuscited in performance.  What matters is the talent with
> which the expression is made -- not the venue or the medium. 

True.  But until he couldn't do it any longer, Beethoven was a widely 
respected performer.  It wasn't until his day and by his example that 
most professional composers could thrive outside a court or without a
patron.  It was one of his notable contributions.  It is said that 
had Franz Shubert lived longer, he would have enjoyed the same 
success.

> If the love were real, it would neither expect nor demand repayment
> from its recipient.  

I'll remember that defense next time the wife asks me to take out 
the garbage, keep the lid down or reciprocate oral sex.

> If Kate Bush were forced to produce and
>perform to the nauseating extent that some fans would demand of her if they
>could, how likely is it that the result would still be of the quality that we
>have been fortunate enough to receive to date?  

Hard to say.  Some composers are quite prolific.  As to the Dead tours 
vs her albums, apples and oranges.  But Dead albums got better as 
the Dead played more and learned more about playing.  Kate layers 
albums, Andrew.  The skill there can be attributed a lot to 
the studio musicians, most of whom, tour quite a bit.

>   She  Really    Is 
    
Nah.  But if it makes you happy to believe it, more 
power to you.  Hey, Elvis thought he could heal 
the sick.  Too bad he couldn't heal his drug addiction.

[Dale]

>I'd just like to make it clear that I value Len's input in
>this mailing list.  "If you don't like the content, don't read
>his posts." is not an acceptable option (baby & the bathwater,
>you know).

When you're ready to drink the bathwater, let me know.
I'll send it in a magical post.  ;-)

>Kate has obviously chosen not to tour.  She has that right.
>Len has told us how he feels.  He has that right.
>Now, let's talk about something ELSE.

I'll buy that.  I still want her to tour.  Litany: chorus and refrain

> "Why do I have to do this?  I write good music, and I don't
> just toss it off.  Why, at thirty-seven years and my ninth
> album, am I still having to stay on the road eleven months
> a year when someone like Tracy Chapman can come along and
> have one huge hit and is set for life?"
>   - Nanci Griffith, _Rolling_Stone_, 92-04-02

Perhaps because no one was interested in *really* deep 
introspective songs sung by someone with a boring 
voice and plain face.  Welcome to show business.
Don't play Bach if they came to boogie.

len