Errors-To: admin at elephant-talk dot com Reply-To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Sender: moderator at elephant-talk dot com Precedence: bulk From: moderator at elephant-talk dot com To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Subject: Elephant Talk #1112 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 1112 Monday, 7 April 2003 Today's Topics: Re: A tour expense "break-down" and justification of ticket price Credo (& comments on Fripp's diary) king crimson lyrics Tony Levin Band The Power To Believe Re: Mike Giles Re: TPTB, Horns, Touring RedHotChiliPeppers playing KC live What exactly annoyed Adrian at the Detroit show? That is a fact of life David Sylvian / Derek Bailey collaboration Denver blizzard, SCI Ticketing TPTB - Best Crim Tony Levin Interview Playboy of the Western World Gig prices Re. Schizoid/Facts of Life The Power of Belief TPTB Level 5 - live? Fripp's solo in Facts of Life GIG REVIEW: Roseland Theater, Portland Oregon 25 March 2003 GIG REVIEW: Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send all posts to newsletter at elephant-talk dot com To UNSUBSCRIBE, or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message with a body of HELP to admin at elephant-talk dot com or use the DIY list machine at http://www.elephant-talk.com/list/ To ASK FOR HELP about your ET subscription: Send a message to: help at elephant-talk dot com ET Web: http://www.elephant-talk.com/ Read the ET FAQ before you post a question at http://www.elephant-talk.com/faq.htm Current TOUR DATES info can always be found at http://www.elephant-talk.com/gigs/tourdates.shtml You can read the most recent ten editions of ET at http://www.elephant-talk.com/newsletter.htm THE ET TEAM: Toby Howard (Moderator), Dan Kirkdorffer (Webmaster) Mike Dickson (List Admin), and a cast of thousands. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest system v3.7b (relph at sgi dot com). ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 02:14:36 -0500 From: "NightWoundsTime" Subject: Re: A tour expense "break-down" and justification of ticket price >If all that stuff that you listed in your post makes the ticket price 50 >dollars, then explain to me why other bands who have MUCH bigger fan bases, >who play MUCH bigger venues, who have much bigger crews and many more people >to pay and also COULD charge a lot because they are MUCH more popular than >King Crimson Sorry for going back a few episodes, i've gotten a bit behind with the constant traffic lately. In the above quoted message Mr Jordan Clifford made a solid case for King Crimson's ripping us off by comparing them to Phish and Britney Spears. In Britney's case he justified her 50 dollar+ ticket prices by the crew she carries etc. He also though complained about set lengths, and this is what I have to add. King Crimson has never played long sets. Their music will not allow it. Check any archival release, 1-2 hours is the absolute standard for this band. Now I could be digging a hole for myself, especially if others can refute this, but the quality of King Crimson's music demands shorter sets. I myself played piano for many years. In the last 3 or so I performed many times playing both jazz, classical, and quite modern music. I could play literally hours of jazz without becoming overly fatigued. This is what Phish does: repetitive riffs, easy soloing (mostly), looong shows. Great for them. Mind you I like a bit of Phish myself. I've never been to a a show but I've heard a few bootlegs, official and non, and I really can't take a whole 3 hours at a time. Same thing with the Dead or any other overly long "jam band" set. So let me make the case for complex music. Just last year I undertook a massive, 4 part sonata by Alberto Ginastera (any of you familiar with classical forms know this is a broken rule, sonatas are 3 parts. Well that's just the beginning of the madness.) The first movement of this piece I'll venture to say was every bit as complex as a KC composition, boiled down for one musician. The basic strategy was to keep a steady 8th note beat, and every measure in the piece was constructed in a new time signature. 3/4, 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 8/8. Some of these measures even had little dotted lines through the middle, a suggested breakdown of the beats. The physical jumps on the piano were massive and took thousands of repeats to master. Mind you this was just the first movement. My point is that any time I undertook performing this piece in it's whole, my brow, my suit, the piano, the floor underneath me, everything... would be completely drenched. Not just the physical exertion but the mental exertion of keeping such a meticulous count practically turned me to jelly every time. I can't imagine keeping this up with 3 (or 5!) other musicians. This is exactly what King Crimson does. And this is why I love King Crimson, they do the music I like to perform myself, in the medium I love to listen to (rock). So ease up on them for only playing just over an hour, or for Robert sitting happily on his stool. It may look easy for him, but keeping up with his own compositions is a full time job. Matt Dunlop "This night wounds time," View my live music list at http://db.etree.org/NightWoundsTime ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 16:51:57 +0000 From: Mr Tea Subject: Credo (& comments on Fripp's diary) At last. After pussyfooting around TPTB for a while - putting it on low and leaving the room, stuff like that - I finally cranked it up and gave it the listening it deserves. Ahhhhh! Mmmmmm! Yes! Thank-you, Adrian, Robert, Trey and Pat. King Crimson is alive and well. As the last strains of the final track died into silence, I felt the same kind of deep ennervation that I have experienced when emerging into the world after a really good film (like Trainspotting or Toy Story). And I remember feeling the same sort of thing right after the snatch of studio chatter in the runout groove to Larks Tongues in Aspic, side 2, some 30 years ago. Top entertainment, and no mistake (apart from maybe 'Happy...' - but that's in a long tradition of edgy/dodgy songs like Cat Food and Happy Families, so provided a welcome feeling of continuity, despite my desire that it should be concluded a lot more swiftly than it is). On to other matters. I don't make a regular habit of reading Mr Fripp's diary, but I found myself on the DGM site recently and browsed through the entries for March. Of particular interest was the observation that the band 'UK' was an indicator of what a Fripp-free mid-70s Crimson might have sounded like (9 Mar, 14.16), and that comparing UK's debut with the 73-4 Crimson canon would provide 'a clear picture, in broad strokes, of the nature of [Fripp's] contribution'. Sort of like measuring the water level in a bath before and after somone has got out, I suppose. I have so far resisted the temptation to listen to 'Red' and 'UK' back to back, although I bought both at the time of their original release. Suffice it to say that my original vinyl copy of UK hasn't been listened to in more than 20 years (my project to digitise the best of my huge record collection hasn't got past 'C' yet) while my original Island pressing of 'Red' wore out through over use, got replaced by a Polydor edition, and subsequently by the first CD release, the 1989 'definitive' remaster, and (damn my profligacy) the 30th Anniversary special in the dinky gatefold sleeve. I guess that's a fair indication of the value that I have placed on Mr Fripp's input to KC's output. Elsewhere (12 Mar, 23.00) our diarist mentions that 'Agnus Dei' by Thomas Tallis is providing much needed 'help'. With that in mind, I would like to recommend to all and sundry the immense healing power of another Tallis composition, 'Spem in Alium'. Over the course of 10 minutes or so, 40 ethereal voices take the listener soaring through gleaming, shimmering, heaven-piercing spires of sonic glory. And it's all about humility. Seriously folks, I'm going all tingly and weak at the knees just thinking about it, and if music was subject to the same strictures as recreational drugs, this would definitely be a controlled substance. BUT... if you follow up this recommendation, take care over which recording you buy. The best I've heard is a 1974 performance on EMI by David Wulstan and 'The Clerkes of Oxenford'. A 1985 Gimell release by Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars comes a respectable second, while the one to avoid is a 70s Decca recording with the choir of Kings College, Cambridge, which is just a florid, overblown mess (musta been cut with something). Cordially, Nick pp Mr Tea -- Brew of the day: Yorkshire Gold by Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 15:30:09 +0100 From: pierluca dot mancuso at virgilio dot it Subject: king crimson lyrics Hi, I'm an italian fan of King Crimson, I have read with great interest the Elephant-talk, there are a lot of information. But I have a question. Why there aren't the lyrics of their album? thank you for the cure of the site. Bye, Pierluca Mancuso. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 20:09:57 -0500 (EST) From: ewok_lij at localnet dot com Subject: Tony Levin Band I've been listening to Double Espresso for a good long time now, and WOW! Those guys really rock. Is it just me, or would it be very interesting to hear that band do some Liquid Tension Experiment tunes! Paradigm Shift, Universal Mind....et cetera. I could just imagine Larry Fast really unleashing on those songs. It would be incredible. Or so it seems to me. In other news, why did Robert say in his diary that Crimson has come unfixed!? Not another lineup change! These guys just got so tight together, I'm dying to hear what will happen next. Any thoughts? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 01:29:23 EST From: Pat6915 at cs dot com Subject: The Power To Believe It's time I let my thoughts on this great record be known. First of all this album rocks and rocks hard. I can't really pick a favorite track since they're all great. All the material on this album is new. None of this was on any previous studio album. That we were able to hear some of these tracks prior to the release of The Power To Believe is because King Crimson were gracious enough to let us hear the music being developed. There aren't many other bands that would do this. To my ears this is not a mix of the old albums like Red or Discipline but all new music which may have been influenced by the past. Somenone said that the lyrics to The Power To Believe are "She watches over me. " I believe the actual lyrics are "She washes over me." Robert , Trey , Pat , and Adian, this is my favorite Crimson album, great job guys!!!! I hope you will return to NYC on this tour. I vote for the Chicago 3/14/03 show for the KCCC, I have heard great things about the show. Pat Sullivan ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:07:46 +0000 From: "Michel Champagne" Subject: Re: Mike Giles Craig writes: >You may wish to check out Kevin Ayers-"Yes, We Have No Mananas". >MG plays drums on all tracks. Not on the copy I have he doesn't. Perhaps on another Ayers LP he does, but not this one. >(This is one that tends to fall through the cracks. Not phenomenal, OK, now I *know* you've got the wrong LP in mind, as "Mananas", while far from spotless, contains some of the most finely crafted pop of the period, thanks in no small part to the talents of the late, great Ollie Halsal. Interestingly enough, a search of the web for Ollie turns up two Patto albums on Amazon.com, so I decided to read a few reviews for fun and, whadd'ya know: Customers who bought this title also bought: The Power to Believe ~ King Crimson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 10:07:56 -0500 From: "NightWoundsTime" Subject: Re: TPTB, Horns, Touring Brian Mafi said: >The "horns" onstage...um, they strike me as being a representation of the >"window frames" on the new album cover...anyone else see that? Well I haven't seen the stage setup but this suggests that fripp is the gas masked dude with his back to us (unless he's sitting on the right side of the stage), Trey's the other gas masked one. Pat is the nurse lady and Ade is the naked baby? WTF? Of course I haven't yet seen the stage. Perhaps someone who's snapped a picture could put it online. :) >I'm getting amped about seeing them 3/29/03 @ the Wiltern. Saw the Bears >there mid -80's (I'm holding up my claws...GRRRR!) Ya know, if I saw somebody do what you just described above I think I'd be very uncomfortable and a little creeped out. ;) Peace Matt Disclaimer: I know that someone out there will jump all over above said statements about pictures and requesting digital posting of said materials. I promise this statement was made in sarcasm and as an attempt at humor. May I suggest that those with no sense of humor just from now on assume most of the absurd comments in this newsletter are entirely sarcastic and that some of us do enjoy the humor, and generally find the enthusiasm of others to act as the Fripp police infuriating. Oh and to those who found that run on sentence confusing, I'll state it very simply. RELAX :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 00:28:39 +0200 From: Mikko Saari Subject: RedHotChiliPeppers playing KC live I checked Red Hot Chili Peppers live at Turku, Finland - and guitarist John Frusciante made an surprise! At the halfway of the concert, he went solo and played & singed KC:s "Lament" approx. three minutes! The crowd applaused, but did they know about why or what? Well, I did...soon KC is having a concert at Helsinki first time, can't wait! At 2000 I flew to Copenhagen just to see their show...cheaper outcomes this time! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 18:05:18 -0500 From: "Ron Born" Subject: What exactly annoyed Adrian at the Detroit show? Just read Robert's diary about the March 13th Sate Theatre Show. He mentions that something happened to annoy Adrian and that led to them performing a short concert.Does anyone have a clue as to what this could have been? Wade ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 16:56:16 -0800 From: "Scott Steele" Subject: That is a fact of life >Since there have been a few posts dissing "Facts Of Life", I just want to chime in that I for one enjoy that track very much. It was especially ripping when performed live. I enjoy it quite a bit too. It might be my favorite track on The Power to Believe, which is an incredibly strong album all the way through. I agree that the live version is mindblowing - Fripp's solo came across very clearly in Portland and Seattle, less clearly in Vancouver when we were up close to the stage and getting more stage sound than front-of-house sound. >...here's hoping the rigors/consequences of touring don't sour Robert on giving live performance; he certainly stated his misgivings about tourlife in one of those current interviews. I share this hope with you. - S. np: Chick Corea, Converge scottst at ohsu dot edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 23:19:42 EST From: TheGlarb at aol dot com Subject: David Sylvian / Derek Bailey collaboration David Sylvian and Derek Bailey got together in February and improvised three pieces of music which make up the bulk of Sylvian's upcoming release, "Blemish"...due in April. brian ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 12:59:51 -0700 From: Weasel Subject: Denver blizzard, SCI Ticketing Greetings and salutations, fellow Crimsonites. Well, Mother Nature - in her infinite wisdom - decided to throw a monkey wrench into my plans for seeing Crimson play live for the first time since 1996. The largest snow storm in 90 years hit the Denver area two days before the Crim show (actually, the String Cheese Incident show, but I'll touch on that later) at the Fillmore in Denver. Since I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico (yes, there is a *New* Mexico), I decided it wasn't worth risking my life and vehicle to try and drive hundreds of miles through snow covered wasteland, even though I had shelled out mucho dinero for the tickets almost a month in advance. So, I contacted SCI Ticketing about possibly getting a refund, but explained I'd be more than happy with just a credit for a future show for any of the artists for which they handle ticket sales. The next day I received a very nice email explaining how they were aware that many people could not attend the show, and that they would "try to make it right" for those like me who just couldn't make it. The next day I learned that the Crimson part of the show was cancelled (couldn't get their equipment to the venue), but that the String Cheese Incident would perform as scheduled. Well, that's all nice and good for the neo-hippies, but I wanted to see Crimson. I emailed SCI Ticketing again, and basically they told me that because String Cheese Incident played, there would be no refunds or credits to any ticket holders that didn't want to risk their lives to see Crimson play. Nice. I learned several things from this "incident": 1. When push comes to shove, even neo-hippies are money-grubbing weasels. I can only imagine SCI dragging their stuff to the Fillmore through six feet of snow (which is a great venue, BTW) in a desperate attempt to actually play that night, so that they wouldn't have to give anyone their money back. 2. Never, ever, buy advance tickets to any event that takes place in Denver between October and June. It will snow. Same goes for airline flights that go through Denver (happened to me back in the 80s, spent 11 hours at LAX because the Denver airport shut down). 3. Trust your first instinct when making purchases. I had extreme reservations about buying advance tickets for this show, especially once I found out about Crimson sharing the night with another group (imagine my horror later when I found out that Crimson was essentially the opening act. Blasphemy! I'm almost thinking the snow was the Spirit of Crim's reaction to such an insult.) But I did anyway. Never again. So, did anyone else get the same story from SCI ticketing? I would love to try and somehow get DGM involved, but they probably have nothing to do with it. I feel screwed, but I still stick by my decision not to go (it wouldn't have mattered anyway, and I would have spent some $60 on gas). RANT MODE OFF Quick question: Does anyone else think that keyboardist Yuka Honda (formerly of Cibo Matto) would fit right in with Crimson? I got her solo CD (Memories Are My Only Witness), and while it doesn't sound like Crim, the basic approaches to music appear to be similar. Maybe I'm just dreaming... That "chord" at the end of Dangerous Curves - I swear I've heard something like that in a Monty Python's Flying Circus episode somewhere, but I can't remember the context. HELP! Later, Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 06:09:09 -0800 (PST) From: Man In Space Subject: TPTB - Best Crim Hi Crimdings, count me in the 'TPTB is the best Crimson album ever' team. Here's why: - before, Crim has often been a bunch of fave musicians of mine, occasionaly making music I loved. TCOL was the first album I enjoyed from A-Z, despite of its sound. Later live-versions of that material and PX, made me even more nuts about KC2000. Now it seems PX and Crimson have grown to one entity again, and they have produced the most dynamic, consistent yet varied album in Crimhistory. And by far the best sounding. - no incarnation has ever been so tight and balanced : all the players have room to shine, and shine they do. Belew has never played better, Fripp's playing is finally start to show hints of what he has done for other artists, Trey is one of those technical marvels who still manages to sound fresh and to downright rock, and Pat is next to a brilliant and innovative drummer, a very creative force. No one dominates here, unlike in previous incarnations. This is a band. - I don't really listen much to 70's stuff by anyone anymore, I like new music, and I'm really excited about the integration of rock/metal and electronic (dance) music that is happening the last ten years. IMO, TPTB is the best result of this so far, I suspect mostly thanks to Pat Mastelloto, my hero(dudu-dudu-dudu-dudu- Patmaaaaan!). This man is for me the most inspiring musician I have encountered in years. This album moves me, makes me want to rock and/or dance, sometimes burns my nose because when floating eyes closed (despite Ade's sound advice) I bump into the sun, keeps getting better at each listen even when I already knew most of the material, and it always ends too soon it seems. Did I mention I think this is the best Crim album ever? slukes, Jan SSP http://www.maninspace.be http://www.belgiummp3.be/mp3/Man_In_Space/ new tune : Disobeying The Galaxy ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:11:44 -0500 From: John Garaguso Subject: Tony Levin Interview Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio will broadcast an interview Saturday April 5th, at 8pm EST, that they conducted with Tony at the Conduit Club prior to March 28th's performance. Tony sat down with John Garaguso of DAPRR and gave a really interesting interview on his status within King Crimson as a band member, his impressions on the new KC release The Power To Believe, his touring with Peter Gabriel, his recent solo material, and much more. For the interview and 2 hours of music from Tony's career, tune in on Saturday April 5th to Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio. Interview will be archived following Saturday's broadcast premiere. www.deliciousagony.com Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio, LIVE 24/7 on the Internet Progressive: Moving forward; advancing; making use of new ideas; promoting or favoring progress toward better ideas or methods. Our Site: http://www.deliciousagony.com/ To connect, go to: http://peace.str3am.com:6140/ (for media player, see our site) We are a proud member of The Progressive Rock Radio Network (http://www.progradio.net/) Please support the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation's Anti-Landmine Efforts (http://www.vvaf.org/) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:27:12 EST From: GORTAY at aol dot com Subject: Playboy of the Western World On the album "Bewitched" Robert Fripp and Andy Summers pose the question "What Kind of Man Reads Playboy?" (Side 1, track 2). In Elephant Talk 111, Mark Newstrom writes "Enough. Back to reading the articles in Playboy". Well, I guess that answers that question. Gordy. xx ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:39:44 -0800 From: Bruce Bubier Subject: Gig prices I've been reading about the gig prices and ticket master surcharges (which I loathe and do my best to avoid). My experience: My ticket to the Atlanta show at the Variety Playhouse on March 1st cost $25. The venue legally seats a maximum of 1,100, though I'll bet there were more at this show. There were no surcharges because I bought my ticket at the Variety box office and not at a Ticketmaster outlet. The show was quite a bargain. Here is what I have paid to see Crimson/Fripp in the past (not including any surcharges). 1995-11-11 $26.00 1990-09-27 $13.50 (Fripp & Crafties) 1984-06-29 $15.00 1981-10-30 $ 8.50 1981-11-04 $10.50 1980-07-12 $ 6.00 (League of Gentlemen) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 17:02:10 -0000 From: "Richard Heath" Subject: Re. Schizoid/Facts of Life In issue 1111, 'Wafo' wrote, with reference to 'Facts of Life': "in fact, given what's going on in the wider world right now, the song COULD be interpreted as an anti-war protest, which strengthens the similarity [to 'Schizoid Man'] even more". My own reading of the lines "Doesn't mean you should, just because you can/Like Abraham and Ishmael fighting over sand" would be that they are fairly unambiguous (except, of course, they are fighting over what's UNDER the sand...) Richard Heath ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:05:17 -0800 (PST) From: rone at ennui dot org (circadian rhyme) Subject: The Power of Belief > Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 15:09:38 -0500 > From: "Mike Miller" > > The new Crimson album is, in my opinion, fantastic. However one thing > confused me. The disc is called, "The Power to Believe", and that is a > positive lyrical theme that runs through the album - "when she gave me back > the power to believe." There are few lyrics on this album, which is typical > of any Crimson album, but this is the repeated statement. I couldn't help > but notice in Facts of Life the lines "nobody knows what happens when you > die / believe what you want, it dosen't mean you're right". What's going on > here? There's no contradiction. Belief and knowledge aren't the same thing. You won't truly know what happens when you die... until you do. rone ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 13:15:50 EST From: Scprintup at aol dot com Subject: TPTB Level 5 - live? Is Level 5 on TPTB live recording that has been overdubbed upon? As it fades out, I seem to hear people cheering and whistling, as if at a concert. The liner notes indicate the soundscape was live, but not anything else. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 13:28:15 -0500 From: "Roy Strattman" Subject: Fripp's solo in Facts of Life >>Does anyone else out there think Fripp's ripping solo in Facts of Life sounds >>very reminiscent of his solo on A Sailor's Tale? Yes, and it's also similar to his solo in Larks Tongues Part 3. Same effects. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 19:01:20 +0000 From: "Danny Anderson" Subject: GIG REVIEW: Roseland Theater, Portland Oregon 25 March 2003 I can't and won't go into any great detail about the concert except that it was stunning. The difference between the TCoL band and the TPTB band is evident. Same guys, far more cohesiveness. Also, this band more than any other Crim exemplifies RF's protest that King Crimson is not the Robert Fripp band. High points: Listening to the sound check in the Roseland Pub below the concert venue. Dangerous curves, Fact Of Life, Level Five and LTIA pt. 4 (including 4 mis-starts). The Power To Believe pt. 2 didn't make it for me on the CD. Live it was incredibly aesthetic. Got a free poster from the guy putting them up. A woman asked to buy mine after the concert (I refused). The tightness of the band. Low points: Sitting where I could not see Pat. Some guy named Ian lighting up a joint 2 seats over from me (c'mon guys - I'm 50 and long since passed that). Taking the Trey Gunn CD ROM home and finding out that I may have a defective one. It doesn't automatically open and when I go into the c: drive I hae to "manually" open anything. All in all, the best Crimson concert I have been to. Set list: TPTB 1 Level Five Happy... TCOL Elektrik Eyes Wide Open Fact Of Life ProzaKc Blues TPTB 2 Dinosaur Dangerous Curves LTIA 4 encore 1 Deception of the Thrush (interesting that the first part of it is more of the TPTB 3 arrangement) Oyster Soup encore 2 Vroooom Yours, Dan Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 16:44:17 -0800 From: "Scott Steele" Subject: GIG REVIEW: Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland Emory says: >I remember getting frisked upon entry to the Savoy in 1981, and have seen "goons" searching the audience for cameras and whatnot at various Crimson gigs over the years. And in years past on ET I've bitched about it, and continue to believe it's largely a self-defeating approach. And I find myself encountering and "tripping over" Fripp's somewhat hostile approach to the audience (and I have little doubt he's got a lot to do with this). And I'm not going to try to excuse it...it sucks and is distracting...a show-within-a-show that sets up the real show for defeat. Or triumph. I saw three shows on Sunday, MondTuesday Tuesday nights (I write this on Wednesday afternoon). Of the three shows, one of them was substandard. Guess which one was the most lax on discovering cameras and recorders as the concertgoers came in the door and went to their seats? Guess which one was second best because people throughout the audience were puffing on skunky weed? At least they weren't recording the show. Guess what happened at the best show of the three? Right - it wasn't recorded by anyone, one flash went off during the show (Fripp sighed, collected himself, and played with heart the rest of the evening, and the camera was immediately confiscated), and the skunk weed was at a minimum. The difference between these three shows was palpable. When Fripp tells you that it kills the show for him if you record it, or take flash pictures of him during the show, or smoke heavily in the auditorium while King Crimson is performing, what would lead you to believe that he is joking? Why would anyone disobey the signs which were all over the lobby and even outside all three theaters? "By request of the band: No smoking, no recording, no photography." The show in Seattle, the one I am sure was videotaped, had no heart - instead it was dispatched by professionals. Thanks for being professionals, guys - you did your best under heartless circumstances. There was nothing wrong with this show, but none of the possibilities of the show were even hinted at. All of those possibilities were realized in Vancouver and in Portland. I've been to a lot of Crimson shows, but the reality of the destruction that comes from taping a show has never been clearer to me than it is now. >I sometimes feel as Crimson fans Fripp is the burden we must all share! Is it really a burden to not record a show or snap pictures during it? What's the matter, you can't remember what you just heard and saw? Hey, no one likes smoking pot better than I do - I've been doing it for a long time. But I wonder: Is it a burden to wait and smoke the stupifying stuff before or after the show, instead of during? It is even more of a burden to know what is possible from this band and to watch someone take the possibilities away from all of us - the band, the audience, absolutely everyone. >So perhaps on some level all these shannanagins are really a giant message from Fripp saying: "LOOK AT ALL THIS STUFF WE'RE DOING--THIS MEANS WE GIVE A CRAP SO WHY DON'T YOU?!" I don't know what the shenanigans mean. I do think that Fripp, Belew, Gunn, and Mastelotto give a crap. So why don't we? Is it unreasonable for us to do something that would make it more likely to see a better show? >In the end, all I can say is that if Crimson treats its listeners like children, that's the way they'll act. "Expectation is a prison". Conversely, if that's the way they act (childish), why would anyone treat them differently? A Park West Chicago reviewer had a single complaint: >My single biggest complaint: the audience. I thought this particular crowd was exceptionally rude. All three audiences were pretty good at the shows that I saw, with the exception of Mr. Video Taper in Seattle. There was one obnoxious fellow who was requesting songs by reading song titles from his entire CD collection - he actually hollered out "Inductive Resonance", which I thought was pretty funny and sad all at the same time. - S. np: Weather Report, I Sing The Body Electric scottst at ohsu dot edu ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #1112 *********************************