Errors-To: et-admin at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk Reply-To: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Sender: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Precedence: bulk From: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk To: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Subject: Elephant Talk Digest #298 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 298 Wednesday, 21 August 1996 Today's Topics: Free Sample Tape Available From Nuclear Gopher Cheese Factory Crimson TV trailers What, no Schizoid Man!! F.S. 2 Hersey Tix Re: THRaKaTTaK and we poor KC novices Drugs True or false? HORDE Festival- Pittsburgh Elephant Talk T-shirts Parliament/Funkadelic & King Crimson on Tour together!!!(I wish). Before this topic is banned National Health archive recordings - feat. Broof Re: Moraz & Bruford "Flags" ET Submission Vernon Reid and Fripp Help with quote, please. Scott Johnson / Gold CDs / The Emotional Fripp Belew's pre-concert concert in Philadelphia Re: Fripp's presumed shyness or rudeness KC on stage - equipment The Doublemint Trio Enthusiastic crowds? And the packaging award of the year goes to... Merriweather Gig FFWD>> - definitely 'Frippy' (fwd) Re: Elephant Talk Digest #297 ET-King Crimson 16.8.96 Earthbound II--Is It Sans VS3? Trey sotto voce KC/XTC Trey Saves The Day in NYC kc sound bytes Re: Ears of clay Bill Bruford on radio / Jamie Muir, Michael Giles on CD 21st C. SM 2 for 1 deal! Youth Rock When can you meet the band? Contest for Philadelphia tickets (female only) Frippertronics essay now online Musical inspiration/Live performances KC & GD tickets available Gunn's _The Third Star_ et post Re: The Creative Process according to... Mr. Fripp Ticket for the Merriweather KC Show!!!! GIG REVIEWS GIG REVIEW - Great Woods 8/15 MA Horde Review with Set List HORDE review 8/17 Gig Reviews -- Hartford & Saratoga Springs Gig Review - SPaC aTTaCK - King Crimson in Saratoga, NY 8/16 H.O.R.D.E. Review gig review - Saratoga HORDE King Crimson at Great Woods, Mansfield, MA 8/15/96 ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send all posts to et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk UNSUB/ADDRESS CHANGES: Send a message with a body of HELP to et-admin at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk, or use the DIY list machine at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/et/list/ ETWEB: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/et/ (partial mirror at http://members.aol.com/etmirror/) THE ET TEAM: Toby Howard (Moderator), Dan Kirkdorffer (Webmeister) 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 3.0 package. ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- ************************************************** Hi folks, sorry this issue is so big. This is unintentional. I know this causes some people problems. NB: The Dead/Crim topic is now officially extinct! No more on that please. Thanks, Toby ************************************************** Date: Fri, 02 Aug 1996 13:43:00 -0800 From: Ryan Sutter Subject: Free Sample Tape Available From Nuclear Gopher Cheese Factory This is not directly related to KC, so if you want you can skip this message, but: My record label, Nuclear Gopher Cheese Factory, is currently giving away a free sampler tape for folks to listen to. There is original music by The Lavone, Sy Park, Rhett Sutter, The Frog, Super Power Trio and some others. Most all of us are Crimson fanatics and there is a KC influence on much of the music (although sometimes that influence is more in spirit than actual sound). Anyhow, I've been a faithful ET-er for a long time and I know of no more musically discriminating group of people on this planet. I would like to invite anyone who wants to to come to my site http://www.skypoint.com/members/trex/ and listen to some samples and order your free sampler. Hope you like it, and sorry about the non-KC content. Ryan Sutter Nuclear Gopher Cheese Factory http://www.skypoint.com/members/trex/ Fine music, aged in a musty cellar since 1986. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 19:40:29 +0200 From: christian hack Subject: Crimson TV trailers It seems that there is a Crimhead working at the German private TV station "VOX". Last week I watched two trailers announcing for the evening program and the soundtrack was "Indiscipline" for a French Alain Delon thriller, and "LTiA, Pt.I" for a German thriller production. The use is very effective and lasts 20-30 seconds. Maybe someone took notice too. Christian Hack ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 14:38:05 -0400 (EDT) From: ADERKAZARIAN at MBLN1 dot MBLN dot LIB dot MA dot US Subject: What, no Schizoid Man!! Oh man, just got through reading Tuesday's ET hoping to discover what I might see Thursday at the Great Woods HORDE show, and, goddamn it, there's no Schizoid Man in the set, or so it was for the previous HORDEs. Who else thinks this is a great mistake? Not only does it deprive many Crimson fans from seeing this song live for the first time ever, but you would think that it would be a good move on Crimson's part to play one of the few songs in their catalogue that may be familiar to non-Crimsonites. Plus, it would've been a great song to blow the crowd away with. The rest of the set looks great, but they should do away with VROOOM or Elephant Talk and add the Schizoid Man!!! Trey, you've got two days to read this and rectify the situation or I'm going to be bummin' (though still incredible happy :-)). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 19:51:21 -0400 From: Mark Geehan Organization: Voicenet Subject: F.S. 2 Hersey Tix Crimsoner's, I have two tickets for H.O.R.D.E. @ Hersey Park Aug 23rd (CK 4:45pm). They are general admission and I will sell them for face value. Email: geeharp at voicenet dot com mark_d_geehan at ccmail dot orl dot mmc dot com Telephone: (609)486-5329 (days) (609)486-9720 (eves) ------------------------------ Organization: University of Mining and Metallurgy From: swierk at student dot uci dot agh dot edu dot pl (Pawel Swirek) Subject: Re: THRaKaTTaK and we poor KC novices Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 11:57:33 +0200 (MET DST) On 09 Aug 1996 14:01:24 GMT Neil_Jones at tvo dot org wrote : > Not true! I'm a KC "novice", having only really heard IN THE COURT OF THE > CRIMSON KING, IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON, STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK, and one > listening (so far) of THRAK. I bought THRaKaTTaK and love it! It is far > from "impossible to hear"-it makes me want to hear more KC. I have all King Crimson albums. I heard all of them. They're good. It's hard to sayign which King Crimson album is the best. all their albums are good (except "Earthbound") > I guess what I'm saying is that KC isn't some elite secret club. You don't > have to know all the history of the band, have heard all the bootlegs > discs, or have advanced to a certain level of fandom to enjoy > THRaKaTTaK. Give us novices some credit. It is very hard to get all bootlegs. There are a lot of bootlegs. greetings -- Pawel Swirek @KING_CRIM on IRC ( * - not yet, maybe in future ) 1 Mailto: king_crim at irc dot pl 2 PGP finger: swierk at student dot uci dot agh dot edu dot pl 3 WWW : http://student.uci.agh.edu.pl/~swierk 4 :-) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 07:02:19 -0700 From: Josh Emery Organization: Emery Distributors Subject: Drugs >i am so sick of all the anti-drug bs on this list! i am only 26 yrs old, so >I don't know alot about the early kc days, but i'll dare to speculate this >much: if these guys haven't done some heavy drugs in their lifetime, then >my name is QWERTYUIOP ASDFGHJKL, from ZXCVBNM! > >alcohol, tobacco, and caffiene are drugs. if people see this as straight, >then that is a perceptual problem that probably stems from a poor >education. Fripp claims he has never done illeagle drugs and won't drink alcohol befor a show because it dulls the senses. He does drink coffee. I think Fripp has told stories of dinners after shows where most of the other members drank a little too much - this is back in the 70s. But again this is after the show. This is very different from the earlier Dead days when someone would have to help Bill Kruetzman stay on his stool and drum. I dare say even the Dead toned done their drug use towards the end and I believe the musical content of the show is better when the musicians are capable of playing thier instruments. With KC though I think you are going out on a limb with "heavy drugs". Unless you're including caffiene, alcohol and asprin as heavy drugs. >they were selling drinks at the THRAK show, i think that it was severely >distracting. i didn't notice any deadheads getting obnoxious, but there >were plenty of 'professional', 'downtown' types who I think were expecting >something more like a 'monkeys reunion' or something, running around all >tipsy trying to explain to their dates who in the hell KC is, meanwhile the >CGT played a furious set. I agree with you 100%. At the show I was at two people behind me talked through most of the show and were very excited to here CGT play the theme from Ordinay People sometimes known as Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Josh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 09:19:10 -0400 From: ASchulberg at aol dot com Subject: True or false? The following are snippets from a post on the Bryan Ferry?Roxy Music mailing list AVALON. Anyone know if these statements are true? 1. Robert Fripp,later,has collaborated with Eno and played in a Ferry's single (i don't remember the name but it was of the time of 'In your Mind'). 2.Also,Roxy made the Avalon tour with King Crimson in 1982. I have never heard of Roxy and KC touring together and find that really hard to believe. I've also never seen a mention of Fripp playing on a Ferry single. Anyone have any info on this? Arnie Schulberg ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 09:19:23 -0400 From: ASchulberg at aol dot com Subject: HORDE Festival- Pittsburgh KC played for exactly one hour and were dynamite. I was in the fourth row and didn't need the binoculars I brought unless I'd wanted to see their nose hairs. The set was mostly from the "Discipline" album with "Red", "Waiting Man" and "VROOOM" and "THRAK" (maybe one other non-"Discipline" song). No "Schizoid Man". Major bummer. It was great to see them. I only wish they could have played for another hour. Belew was front and center and was clearly the star of the show. Fripp, who did not look well, looked at a spot on the floor about two feet in front of him and held himself stock still when not playing. His face showed almost no emotion. Funny how that vacuum he creates is so compelling. Met Trey Gunn at the rear of the pavillion during Lenny Kravitz's set. Talked to him briefly. He seems like a real nice normal guy. Offered to buy him a beer but he declined. A couple of minutes later I saw Mastellotto standing in the same spot having a cigarette. Guy in front of me had seen and talked to Bruford before the KC set. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 10:48:27 -0400 From: ASchulberg at aol dot com Subject: Elephant Talk T-shirts I was at the HORDE Festival last night and was trying to hook up with another Elephant Talker. Our plan was to meet at the Possible Productions table but they didn't have one!!! I was thinking how much easier it would have been to spot my fellow ET'er if we had both been wearing the official Elephant Talk t-shirts. It would also let the band know that their special Internet followers are there. Suggestion to Possible Productions: How about an Elephant Talk T-shirt available to subscribers to ET (only?). Arnie Schulberg ASchulberg at aol dot com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 13:33:26 -0700 From: Patricia Anne Belanger Organization: Union Gas Limited Subject: Parliament/Funkadelic & King Crimson on Tour together!!!(I wish). Parliament/Funkadelic & King Crimson on Tour together!!!(I wish). ------------------------------ Date: 14 Aug 1996 15:37:33 U From: "Jonathan Block" Subject: Before this topic is banned Some responses to a comparison of King Crimson and the Grateful Dead focused mainly on the audience of "Deadheads" without considering the music enough. Though we've heard from so many bands over the years that "we're better live than in the studio," the cliche is truest in the case of the Grateful Dead. Both Crimson and the Dead have improvised more onstage than on record, tho the Dead less as the years went on and Crimson more. THRaKaTTaK is as close to the Dead that Crimson ever gets. The main difference between the two is that the Dead is decidely American in its songs and musical heritage. I won't argue that the Dead partied harder than any incarnation of Crimson; just check the stats - GD: 3 dead from drug or alcohol abuse (a fourth in a car accident); KC: 0. But the beauty of both has always been the interplay between the members. You all know some examples of unbelievable KC interplay. For the Dead, I recommend 48 minutes from May 14, 1974 (Weather Report Suite>Dark Star>China Doll) for some amazing GD collective improvisation. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 22:43:42 +0100 From: bigbang at alpes-net dot fr (A. Leroy) Subject: National Health archive recordings - feat. Broof Hi all, Some of you are surely aware of one of our favourite drummer's less well- known musical activities during the 70's - his participation in one of England's best progressive rock bands ever : National Health. This was somehow the basis to the Bruford project, as it featured keyboard player Dave Stewart as well as bass player Neil Murray who was involved in the preparatory stages of "Feels Good To Me". Bruford was in the band from the autumn of 1975 to december 1976, and although he left before the recording of the band's first studio album, he took part in numerous radio & studio sessions. In 1990, a double CD set with all three National Health albums was released on the Minneapolis label East Side Digital. It featured a short excerpt from "Paracelsus", one of the band's BBC recordings. According to Dave Stewart, Bruford himself had vetoed the release of any further archive recordings, thinking it might prejudice his own career in the States (for whatever reason...). So it seemed unlikely that a whole CD of this stuff would eventually appear. Now East Side Digital are about to put out "Missing Pieces", a 54-minute CD with all these unreleased recordings (all of which feature Bruford, apart from a couple of bonus tracks). There is apparently a problem with the manufacture of the booklet which has led to the official release being postponed - although there are some copies of the original pressing in circulation in Canada. Meanwhile, for more information, I advise you to check out my website, CALYX, which is devoted to "Canterbury School" music : there you can get more details on the history of National Health, the credits of the CD, and a scan of the CD cover. The URL for this is : Of course (I almost forgot !), this stuff is very recommended to people with a taste for adventurous and very complex progressive rock ! Aymeric Leroy ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 17:08:18 -0400 From: Otherroad at aol dot com Subject: Re: Moraz & Bruford "Flags" In The Artist Shop on the Discipline page under related recordings I had listed the album "Flags" by Patrick Moraz and Bill Bruford. At the time I did that we actually did have a couple in stock so I was not aware that it had been deleted from the catalog. But those went quick and when others tried to get it, we weren't able to reorder it. We checked with Caroline and found that it had been deleted from the catalog. So, my apologies to anyone whose hopes I may have falsely raised with my listing of that album. Why it's been deleted and why "Music for Piano and Drums" was never released on CD domestically (U.S. that is) is a mystery to me as just about everything else of Bill's has been available. Gary ************************************************************** Gary Davis The Artist Shop The Other Road http://www.artist-shop.com OtherRoad at aol dot com SUPPORT THE INDEPENDENT ARTIST!!! ************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 17:21:56 -0400 From: MikeTEACHR at aol dot com Subject: ET Submission Yes You Too Can THRAK After reading several spins on the intricacies of THRAK, let me add my own. THRAK, before it was a song, was an exercise in the "division of attention" in Guitar Craft courses. I went to my first in 1986, and we THRAKed. First we did it as a clapping exercise. First, we would count bars of five, and clap on 1 and 4. Then we would count bars of seven and clap on 1, 4, and 6. The division of attention part came when half of us were then asked to clap the five part and half of us the seven part. First we would all count and clap the five part for four bars, and then split off; fivers doing their thing for 14 bars, seveners doing their thing for ten bars, meaning we should all reunite at the same beat for a final four bars of the five part in unision. Depending on how well we did this, we might attempt it with guitars later on in the course. This is easier said than done, and as you can see, it's not even easy to say. Videophiles can see and hear a Guitar Craft version of THRAK on the VH1 Easter Sunday shows many moons ago. (insert perfunctory signature quote here) Mike Black ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 22:08:33 -0400 (EDT) From: James Hannigan Subject: Vernon Reid and Fripp Regarding Vernon Reid; I saw Masque at the Knitting Factory in NYC about a year ago, and he "shredded," as they say. Don Byron was there, and some other talented musicians. My main recollection of it is a lot of jamming. I don't know if his record is similar to the show. I also saw him with Living Colour a couple of times. I disagree with Fripp's contention that Reid doesn't at least borrow from him. the first track off Stain has a very LTIA p. II-like riff. Nonetheless, he's an exciting guitarist. - Jim Hannigan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 00:26:22 -0400 (EDT) From: JPRICE at TrentU dot ca Subject: Help with quote, please. Good evening happy hippies, one and all, I'm working on the FAQ this evening, and I'd appreciate it a lot if some kind soul out there with the '95 tour book could e-mail me an exact quote from the part where M. Fripp talks about the Marine 475 "lyrics." I'd like to be accurate and I didn't have the cash that evening at Massey Hall. (My VROOOM shirt is showing some wear, however.) I'll be sure to give credit. Thanks, J. P. Hovercraft aka jprice at trentu dot ca Co-FAQ guy "aLSO THRaK ZaRaTHUSTRa" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 96 06:31:13 UT From: "Jim Sciarra" Subject: Scott Johnson / Gold CDs / The Emotional Fripp In ET #295, gondola at deltanet dot com asked if anyone was familiar with Scott Johnson. I have an album by him called "John Somebody", recorded in 1986, and have been keeping an eye out for more of his work for the past 10 years, without much luck. Where can his albums be found? Is "John Somebody" available on CD? I haven't heard the album in years, but I recall it being more Eno-ish than Fripp-ish, if you know what I mean. In the last ET, Gordon Emory Anderson blasted another poster for his sarcastic comments regarding gold CDs. Granted, the poster's statements were rather over-the-top; however, I cannot accept Emory's defense of gold CDs. I _do_ consider myself to be an audiophile, and strive for the ecstatic experience of "perfect" sound....but the CD is a digital medium. Emory is trying to imbue the medium with analog characteristics, but the fact is, the laser in a CD player is picking up a stream of digital bits. Each bit is either "1" or "0", on or off. It is not possible for some bits to be more on or off than other bits. I do not question the fact that gold is a more reflective surface than aluminum, but I am compelled to point out that it doesn't matter. An increase in reflectivity does not affect the on or off status of each bit. Thus, it cannot possibly have any effect on the quality of the sound. Finally, a few issues back someone spoke about the relative lack of emotion in Fripp's playing with King Crimson, and noted that Fripp has demonstrated an ability to play with extreme passion outside of the group. The poster asked if anyone else had felt emotion from Fripp's work outside of Crimson, but the thread did not get picked up. I would like to follow up by mentioning some of the non-Crimson tracks where Fripp can actually move me to tears: St. Elmo's Fire, from Brian Eno's "Another Green World" The Hammond Song, from The Roches first album as a trio. Teenage Wildlife, from David Bowie's "Scary Monsters" Wave. from David Sylvian's "Gone To Earth" Threnody for Souls in Torment, from "The Bridge Between" There are surely other examples, but I'll leave some for other people to mention. Back to lurking. Jim ------------------------------ From: mathias thallmayer Subject: Belew's pre-concert concert in Philadelphia Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 02:44:46 -0400 (EDT) (I saw this ad in a small Philadelphia newspaper. --Mathias) The Mid-Atlantic Branch of NARAS and Martin & Co. present "GUITAR STYLINGS" Monday, August 26th 7:00 PM Middle East Restaurant, 126 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia featuring ADRIAN BELEW Passenger/Caroline Records Recording Artist Admission: $5 members of NARAS Information and advance reservations call Erin Riley at the Mid-Atlantic Branch Office (215) 851-6308 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Fripp's presumed shyness or rudeness From: garage_sale at juno dot com (Mark B Weber) Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 09:57:42 EDT > From: max dot bracco at iol dot it > Subject: Fripp's presumed shyness or rudeness > > -Many posts pointed out that Mr. Fripp is always sitting off the > spotlights > -and even runs away while fellow bandmates go front stage to receive > ovations > -from audiences. > > -He's not rude at all, he is really shy (or better to say he suffers > -agoraphobia, fear of large crowded places). You must know that we are > -really lucky to see him clearly on stage during these KC tours : because > -some years ago, when he toured with Sunday All Over The World he even > -played some shows offstage, hidden in a side-scene of the bandstand (at > -least that happened in Barcelona, Spain). > -MAX from Italy I agree Max. I'm not sure if it's his mood or what, but from my experience, Fripp seems to play more inspired when he is not in the physical limelight.Here's a list of KC and related shows I've seen and Fripp's visibility and the quality of the show. September, 1973 - Auditorium Theater, Chicago - Very visible and out in the open. Band was well lit that night. Good show, but not over the top. April, 1974 - Auditorium Theater, Chicago - Hardly visible at all this night, sitting off to the side in the dark most of the time with Cross and Bruford lit and Wetton in the spotlight much of the night. Even when Fripp talked to the audience, he was pretty much in the dark. Incredible show, extremely tight and over the top. September, early '80's (Sorry for the inaccuracy, but I'm presently out of town)- Park West, Chicago (Right after Discipline came out) - No light on Fripp that night. KC received a 2 minute standing ovation that night before they ever played a note. KC performance was way, way, over the top that night. Truly one of the most extraordinary shows I've ever seen. Belew and Fripp's interplay was in the stratosphere. I believe two encores and full band bow with Fripp and Belew coming out for an additional bow that night. (During the bow Belew began yanking on Fripp's tie). 6 Months later (or so) University of Chicago, Fripp as well lit as the rest of the band. A good show but the performance wasn't to the level of the previous one. This is of course, not to mention his tour under the pseudonym of Dusty Roades in Peter Gabriel's band, where he was pretty invisible. KC is not about individuals but a truly group oriented sound. And whatever it takes for Fripp to help create that sound on a given night is okay with me. Mark Weber salehouse at aol dot com P.S. If reviews don't exist of on the ET site of these shows, I'll try to put them together from memory. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 21:32:01 +0100 From: GW Subject: KC on stage - equipment For the hardware-freaks: The September-issue of 'Gitarre und Bass' included two pages with informations about the string-driven 'crimsotronics' of the recent tour and some photos of that equipment (taken at the Cologne gig): --- Robert Fripp --- Fernandes Les Paul Gold Top (custom) with sustainer, Kahler-Vibrato, Humbuckers and MIDI-Pickups. 2 x Eventide H-3000SE harmonizer 2 x Roland GP-100 preamps 4 x TC2290 digital delays Sound Sculpture switcher Yamaha GC-2020B compressor/limiter Alesis data-disk Furman PL-8 Plus power conditioner Carver power-amp Roland GR-1 guitar synth MIDI-mouse switch Roland US-20 unit-selector DigiTech whammy pedal MK2 DMC MIDI-switcher/footcontrol 3 control-pedals TC-Electronics footswitch 2 x 12'' fullrange-monitor --- Adrian Belew --- 2 Fender custom-Strats w/ Kahler-Vibrato and Sperzel-Locking mechanics, single-coil pickups, Roland GK-2A pickup (for the GR1 / GR50). Fishman Pro-EQ Sovtek Big Muff Boss FV-300H Volume-Pedal DigiTech Echo-Plus Juice-Goose PD-2 power-distributor 2 x Korg A-3 multieffect-processor Foxx Fuzz-Tone / Electro-Harmonix frequency analyzer (in MIDI-rack). Mesa Boogie TriAxis preamp 2 x Boss RPS-10 (one for pitch-shifting, the other for reverse echoes) Roland GR-1 guitar synth Roland GR-50 guitar synth Boss SE-70 multieffect Boss SE-50 multieffect Uptown-Flash switcher Roland SDE-330 Dimensional Space Delay Mesa Boogie Simul-Class 2:90 power-amp MIDI-Midigator RFC-1 footcontrol 2 x 12'' fullrange-monitor --- Tony Levin --- Music Man 5-string bassguitar, 4-string fretless, Ned-Steinberger upright prototype, Chapman stick. Trace-Elliot-AH-600 SMX amp-top w/ 2 x Trace-Elliot 4 x 10'' cabinet Bonneville tube-top w/ 4 x 10'' cabinet Boss CS-2 compressor DOD FX-35 Octoplus octaver MXR Phase-90 Volume-pedal Real-tube fuzz Boss DD-3 digital-delay custom-made tube-compressors Lexikon Vortex delay --- Trey Gunn --- 8-string Warr Guitar Meat-Ball Envelope-Filter T.C.-Electronics EQ DigiTech whammy pedal MK2 Volume-control pedal MIDI-control pedal Boss tuner Behringer Composer compressor Trace-Elliot CP12 peamp Roland GP100 preamp Eventide DSP4000 ultraharmonizer ART SGE Mach II Sound Sculpture MIDI-switcher MIDI-Midigator RFC1 footcontrol Trace-Elliot PPA1200 power amp 2 x fullrange monitor All musicians have a digital control-unit for the monitor-system, mounted on microphone stands. Ciao GW ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 17:02:59 -0400 From: vanvalnc at is2 dot nyu dot edu (Chris Van Valen) Subject: The Doublemint Trio This came to me late last night or early this morning.... Flash to a boardwalk near the shore on a bright sunny Summer day(the Doublement Twins are history). We see six shadowy sihlouetted figures walking slowly in time with the looping rhythm of a familiar riff played on the Chapman Stick The the sunlight illuminates them with the first crashing guitar chord. They continue walking along the boardwalk as the vocals come in: "Gum, gum, gum, it's only gum...." The balding longhaired guy reaches into his jacket pocket to retrieve a pack of DoubleTrio Gum. He opens the pack, unwraps a stick, throws the gum away, and pops the wrapper into his mouth and chews. He offers a stick to the bespectacled guy, who also tosses the gum and begins to unfold the foil. the foil unwraps to something well beyond its usual size. It finally ends up at a finished size of about two feet by two feet. He uses the foil to fashion a mask to hide his face. "...Bubble Yum...Bubblicious..These are gums with a B this time..." He then offers a stick each to the guy with the ponytail and the guy with the shaved head. Instead of playing games with the wrappers, they each procede to stretch and pull the gum until it reaches the dimension of about 8 inches wide by about 3 feet. They then strap the slabs of gum across their chests at about a sixty degree angle, keeping both hands near either end of the gum. This leaves only one stick of gum for the remaining two guys. One of these guys usually wears a suit that is the same color of a competing brand --Juicyfruit Gum. But today his suit is the DayGlo green of DoubleTrio Gum! He grabs the stick from longhair. Not wanting to feel left out, the other guy grabs the other end of the stick. They pull and tug for what seems like an eternity. The gum finaly splits into four equal thin long pieces, one in each hand of both combatants. The commercial finishes as the sextet faces the camera as it freeze frames with the famous tag line: "DoubleTrio Gum! DoubleTrio Gum!"(Elephant blast....Cut!) CV If you have an unpleasant nature and dislike people this is no obstacle to work. --J.G. Bennett Catch "Forever Knight" on the Sci-Fi Channel every Monday at 8PM and midnight, EDT. --Lucien LaCroix ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 17:33:15 -0400 From: Emuguy5830 at aol dot com Subject: Enthusiastic crowds? a note-- In the last ET, Rochelle Athey said something to the effect that the crowd at the Cincinnati Horde was very enthusiastic. Now, I don't doubt that this is true, but is this generally what other Horde attendees are finding out? The Horde I attended (Nashville, Aug 10) did not treat KC well at all. Throughout the set, people left and talked and were completely inappropriate. During Thrak this seemed especially true. More people left during it than any other song. It doesn't bother me so much that these people don't like KC or that they can't appreciate fine music but that they didn't show any kind of respect to the people who do, that they were offensive to keep me from enjoying KC totally. Perhaps that's what I get for going to the Horde. On an off-note, for those of you who are attending the Horde somtime in the near-future, try and check out Medeski, Martin and Wood, a truly great jazz band. Sadly, they weren't in Nashville on the tenth, but from what I understand, they are part of the Horde. --Matt C ------------------------------ From: aprasad at ccs dot carleton dot ca (Anil Prasad) Subject: And the packaging award of the year goes to... Date: Thu, 15 Aug 96 19:37:02 EDT Trey Gunn's The Third Star... Folks, this is one of the most beautiful CD packages I've seen in years. Stunning. It's a fold-out, all-cardboard cover featuring spectacular altered landscapes and astronomy imagery. Liner notes are presented as four heavy-stock cards with further thematic artwork and quotes from Hardy, Van Gogh and Blake. Seriously, this thing is a feast for the eyes. And the ears? Gunn's time with Crimson is speaking through his music, but it _definitely_ has its own personality, vibe and identity. There's a whole lotta explosive stick/warr stuff going on -- it's definitely a progression from his last disc... and my God! You can dance to some of it! I can easily see Future Sound of London, DJ Food or whatever remixer giving "Indiera" some wicked treatments. If anyone's still wondering just what it is Gunn contributes to King Crimson, this disc's your answer dammit. Anyway, look for a proper review of this thing on Innerviews in the coming weeks. But for now, the quote from Buzz Aldrin included in the artwork of Third Star says it all: "Beautiful!... magnificent desolation!" ET'ers are gonna love this disc. ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ Anil Prasad aprasad at ccs dot carleton dot ca Zedd Entertainment anil at zedd dot com ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ Escape from media malaise is only a mouse click away... INNERVIEWS: A music 'zine for the 21st century http://www.carleton.ca/~aprasad/ ZEDD: Ottawa's entertainment & new media monthly http://www.zedd.com ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 20:29:52 -0400 From: Jerry Boyle Organization: Westinghouse Subject: Merriweather Gig Is anyone interested in getting together for Merriweather gig? We're driving in from Pittsburgh (caught them at the Horde fest) and are most anxious to see them sans Horde. Interesting note: Took my two sons (14 & 11) to Horde fest to turn them onto the wonders of live Crimson. 14 yr. old, who plays drums was blown away. 11 yr. old jumped up and said "yes!" when the band broke into "Elephant Talk" (which was very well done!) Horde note: at most gigs seating is wide open for first few bands, so very easy to get terrific seat for Crimson. Also, credit the band with not playing it safe, but daring to improv and play more creative songs than more commercialized crass would do! See you in Maryland! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 01:35:07 GMT From: et at blackcat dot demon dot co dot uk (Elephant Talk) Subject: FFWD>> - definitely 'Frippy' (fwd) Organization: Elephant Talk > I was wondering if anybody out there has the FFWD>> album. I just > got a couple of Orb albums and found out today that they collaborated on > FFWD>>. > Is it available in the States? Is it like the Orb or more Frippy? Ah, an opportunity for me to decloak from lurking mode... FFWD>> is largely based on Mr Fripp's soundscapes, approaching The Orb's sound only rarely and even then nothing at all like the 'Adventures...' or 'UFOrb' LPs. If you like the 'soundscpaes' (particularly the 'Blessing Of Tears' album and also the track 'Bringing Down The Light' on Sylvian/Fripp's 'The First Day') I would recommend further investigation. But there's not a lot of Orbish qualities, rhythmns are few and far between and the main input seems to be the customary sound effects scattered all over the place. Definitely more Frippy, no question. Don't know anything re a US issue but in the UK the label is Inter-Modo/Discipline and cat. no. is INTA001CD for the CD. regards, Ian Calder ------------------------------ From: "Garry Robert Garner" Subject: Re: Elephant Talk Digest #297 Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 09:20:10 -0700 I have to relate yet another "Fripp Encounter", as told to me by my son. King Crimson played at the Ventura Theater (a scant 20 minutes from our town) the last week in July. Unfortunately for me, I had already booked a vacation for that week before discovering that KC would be playing so near to our little Ojai. My son and his girlfriend had great seats near the mixer (I don't think there are any bad seats at this tiny theater) and said that the show was fantastic, and he was quite amazed at how all the tunes had changed and progressed and improved etc. (But of course, that's all well documented in other posts.) As they were leaving the theater, they walked with friends around the side of the building. Noticing a light shining from a second story dressing-room window, they spied Mr. Fripp, who seemed to be standing in front of a mirror. (Most likely putting some tea tree oil on his flying CD scar.) One of my son's friends couldn't contain his enthusiam, and began to gush "Oh, thank you so much Robert, you're a genius, you changed my life, King Crimson rules, blah, blah, blah". Not even looking away from the mirror, Mr. Fripp casually reached over and shut the window. I LOVE IT! Well, having missed KC playing in my own back yard, my wife and I are flying cross country to Maryland to see them next Sunday and the Merriwether Post Pavillion in Columbia. I guess I must be a true "Red-Head", or possibly just deranged. If anyone has any tips or warnings concerning this venue, (like "don't eat the nachos" or "bring a mosquito net") I would greatly appreciate it. Until later, Neputnya ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 20:17:31 +0100 (BST) From: Markus Schneemann Subject: ET-King Crimson 16.8.96 as an old Swiss/German Crimso-Fan since 1978 I was delighted to find you on the WWW. It's a pity that "Islands" isn't available anymore, they took it out of the catalog in 10/95. I'm especially interested in the lyrics of KC 1969-1974. Are there any books by P. Sinfield and R. Palmer-James available ? Where can I get the lyrics of "Red" ? It's great that KC, and ET (still) exist. Markus ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 96 15:01:07 CDT From: Paul Gelpi Organization: The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL Subject: Earthbound II--Is It Sans VS3? Greetings all! Does anyone know if for Earthbound II a different tape of the show is being used for the master? In other words is DGM simply reissuing the original album which was recorded on an inexpensive Revox tape machine and processed through a VS3 which distorted the sound and was evidently not representative of what the audience heard. Thanks in advance for any info. Happy listening--remember there's new Belew on 10 September. Paul Gelpi pgelpi3 at ua1vm dot ua dot edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 17:04:10 -0400 From: mathias thallmayer Subject: Re: Belew's pre-concert concert in Philadelphia The correct phone number is (215) 854-6308. Sorry about that. The font they used has a 4 that looks like a 1. Also, it's more of a workshop/demonstration than a concert and will have local musicians on hand in addition to Adrian. Finally, it's open to non-members for $10. -- Mathias iconoclast at tarkus dot ocis dot temple dot edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 96 22:58 BST From: ronc at cogs dot susx dot ac dot uk (Ron Chrisley) Subject: Trey By the way, I've uploaded a pic from the KC San Diego 96 gig. It's at http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ronc/images/TREY.JPG It's very dark, but still not too bad. Ron ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 22:43:29 -0700 From: Karen Baumgart Subject: sotto voce Hi there, Just an observation, cover design on Adrian's-Desire Caught By the Tail and the Bear's-Rise and Shine were credited to Sotto Voce. Also, why is the nifty little design on my Discipline t and sticker not the same as the one on the record? Don't get me wrong though, I like it! -spike Life's a blast, let's explode! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Aug 96 00:58:28 -0700 From: Robert Cervero Organization: Univ. of Cal. -- Berkeley Subject: KC/XTC Being new to E.T., I've followed recent debates/discussions/diatribes on the similarities between KC and the Dead. I actually see stronger parallels between my 2 favorite bands, KC and XTC (which in some are worlds apart, but in other ways are musical brethern). I might be off with this, but anyone who is really "in" to both groups could probably relate to this. They share the following: 1. Iconoclasism. Cutting edge, daring, and heads above the crowd in their respective music genres' -- KC (prog-thrak rock), XTC (pop). Neither outfit has been willing to compromise their music -- and by not "selling out" to the musical establishment, neither has really had a top commercial "hit", thank god. 2. Multi-layered, multi-textured melodies and themes. Superb musicianship. If you listen (in sequence) to ITCOTCK, Larks Tongue, Red, Discipline and (from XTC) Black Sea, Skylarking, English Settlement, Oranges & Lemons (as I did before writing this), you'll have been treated to a soundscape of richly textured, bountiful, and cerebral tunes that, collectively, almost overwhelm. 3. Enigmatic, mole-like, brilliant leaders who suffer stage fright -- Fripp and Andy Partridge of XTC (which doesn't even tour because of Partridge's phobia). Both are highly respected among their musical peers. And both have branched into ambient-celestial music over the years on their own. 4. Heady lyrics -- both groups have been graced by gifted tunesmiths (Sinfield, Palmer-James, Belew) & (Partridge, Moulding). 5. Crafty, if not a bit off-centered, guitar duos -- (Belew,Fripp) & (Partridge, Dave Gregory of XTC) 6. Pat Mastelotto. He's drummed for both outfits. 7. Cult status -- small but loyal fan following, each group having its own unsolicited, fan-sponsored web site -- XTC's is Chalkhills, and if you follow it as I do, you'll be amazed by similarities in the degree of fan fanaticism and loyalities. 8. Strained relationships with record producers. 9. Long periods of dormancy, only to be resurrected by their respective leaders. 10. Retrospectives. Both have put out several retro albums of their past work in recent years. There are surely more parallels, but 10 is a nice round number to stop at. I might be off base on this, but if there are any other Crimso fans (my preference over "Crimheads" for sentimental reasons) out there who also are Chalkhillers (code word for XTC fans), I'd welcome reactions. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 96 09:12:12 EDT From: Michael Garnice <74762 dot 304 at CompuServe dot COM> Subject: Trey Saves The Day in NYC I don't think that Trey has been thanked sufficiently for posting KC's start times at HORDE. Festival logistics can be a real problem. Case in point: As we entered Downing Stadium yesterday in NYC, we were handed a schedule that had Crimson starting at 4:55 rather than 3:30 . I decided to take the advice straight from the Coconut's mouth and sure enough, they went on at 3:30. Without Trey's post I probably would have missed the entire set!! THANKS TREY!!! As for the set, it was a strong hour without a wasted moment. Robert had equipment problems for the first few songs. Later, Tony upright bass was breaking up when bowed. But they closed with a very strong, long Indiscipline that was the highlight. No 21st CSM, so its still been 22 years since KC performed this tune in NYC (and when they will again is anyone's guess)! -Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 09:08:39 -0700 From: Jim Baumgart Subject: kc sound bytes Want your computer to sing "Elephant Talk!" when you get mail, or how about to play "I'm ready to leave..." (from Dig It) on windows sign off? Play Larks Tounge III when a compile is done? It's cool. If you want to download some kc sound bytes (I've done about 10 files in .wav format) visit my URL http://www2.connectnet.com/users/baumgart/kingc.htm I know its easy, anybody can sample a CD, however, it does take a little time, I've done it, and you are welcome to take a copy for your own personal use. Forgive me for copying a graphic from ET. -Jim Jim Baumgart Teknowledge ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 04:19:32 -0400 From: Larxtongue at aol dot com Subject: Re: Ears of clay Hello; "Gordon Emory Anderson", in 296, said: < The sarcasm in the above-posters' message seems to imply the < only difference between the electromagnetic surface properties of gold and < aluminum are color! As an optical/electrical engineer, I know that even if < this were true it could be enough of a difference to be audible (or at < least worthy of consideration as a factor in sound quality) I am not an optical/electrical engineer, and I possess only slightly better than a typical end-user understanding of CD technology. But it is my understanding that the electromagnetic qualities of gold and aluminum, while certainly quite different from each other, are completely irrelevant to your assertion:The EM-qualities issue, in this context, could only possibly relate to aluminum's suceptability to oxidization, which, given sufficient time for this to develop, would render it an inefficient reflective surface for CD's. Since gold does not oxidize, it is a preferable choice for long-term performance. But CD's are read by an optical process, not an electromagnetic one. Or perhaps you were thinking of your 8-track tapes. "May the sun shine on you today and every day..." LarxTongue, Assistant to the V.P., Ears-of-Clay Meathead Club ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 19:05:25 +0100 From: GW Subject: Bill Bruford on radio / Jamie Muir, Michael Giles on CD 1) German radio "WDR5" will feature Bill Bruford in it's "Jazz City" on September, 24., 10:20pm. Michael Ruesenberg will ask him his "Fragebogen" - questions (questionaire). BTW: There was a THRaKaTTaK-review in Jazzcity a few weeks ago. And I missed it. grrr .... Michael Ruesenberg, if you read this: is there a chance to hear (or read) this review again ? 2) In a local record-store a saw a CD from Jamie Muir, Michael Giles and David Cunningham, called "Ghost Dance" (1995). It has a cover with a picture of the three musicians and a text with a message (that I didn't understand ...). Has anybody any idea what this record is like ? Is it worth buying ? Is there any conection to KC or is it a complete different pair of shoes ? Ciao Gerd ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 13:06:55 +0900 From: ohsawa at csg dot sony dot co dot jp (Tomoyuki Ohsawa) Subject: 21st C. SM Hi Everyone, Last Saturday at Shibuya, Tokyo, I bought a new 21st C. SM mini-album Disc with only 21st C. SM's . So RF is back to SM. KC did play it in LA, I read in ET. So it's really back. Amazing! I thought RF would never play that tune for the rest of his life in public. I was wrong. Other subject: Did anyone listen to the new "rock" CD from Discpline label? RF plays guitar in that CD. I forgot the name of the band. Is it worth buying? Bye, Tom ************************************************** Tomoyuki Ohsawa Entertainment Business Development Department Sony Corporation ************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 11:07:51 PST Subject: 2 for 1 deal! From: alstew at juno dot com (Al Stewart) Hello, I would like to offer 2 c.d.'s for 1. I will send Thrakattack & Fripp's solo Exposure on c.d. for a c.d. of the 73-75 lineup w/ Whetton live & of 'decent' sound quality (I've heard book of saturday is a good recording?) especially if it contain's 1 more red nitemare. Please e-mail me at the address below if interested. ALSTEW at JUNO dot COM ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 13:12:12 -0400 From: "Gordon Emory Anderson" Subject: Youth Rock ETers: As I am the single white sheep in a family of pro musicians, I often have interesting discussions/arguments, in particular with my father (who has played a LOT of Jazz and classical over the years). He has always complained bitterly about the record industry, and its predatory approach to musicians, so as a result I have begun to read to him some of Fripps writings from recent releases. He finds these quite fascinating--he has never listened to any rock in large part (I think) becuase it represented in his mind the very epitome of an "industry creation designed to kill off real musicians". He has always been uninterested in any "electric instrument", and is even wary of amplification of any kind. As a result, he has never heard any of Fripp's recordings (and sadly probably never will--"sure, sure, he's probably a great player, but i already don't have enough time to hear what I want to hear"). Nevertheless, he listens very intently when I read Fripp's writings, and acknowledges that the writer has been where he has been, despite being a "rock geek". When I tell him that KC never gets any air play, despite the quality and power of their music, my father replies "they pissed somebody (meaning some industry big-wig) off, that's for sure. Their probably not paying (the record stations) to play their tunes". Recently, however, I suggested that I thought that sometimes even popular rock groups with little musical ability can have something of relevance to say at the beginning of their short life cycles, but that they quickly fade for a number of reasons. The first is that success insulates from them from the further life experiences that are the fuel of any real artistic endeavor. The second, of particular interest here, i think, is that with growth and maturity it requires an increasingly sophisticated "set of chops" (musical skills) to express and transmute the experiences of muturity. Kind of like the old testament cloud of God that the israelites were following, when the cloud moves on you gotta get up and follow it. This leads me to the following rumination/question. As I listen to the radio, I find that at least most popular rock is certainly created by, made for, and marketed to a culture of youth (like 14-25, i'd guess). (Either that or you have a "classics station", which is like a museum of mediocrity). Why is this? Anyone out there in ET land want to take a guess? Somewhat older folks like myself (in my early 30s), as well as those in their 40s not only grew up with rock, we finally have a higher (on average) disposable income. But maybe its not the record compamies but, as I sort of mehntion above, the artists fault. Maybe many artist have not recognized the need for "Discipline", so as a result inspiration moves on and looses them. KC, I must say, is one of the few bands of geezers that is not merely a sort of nostalgia-machine, but has remained fresh and vital within the realm of what we must call "rock". I think that this is in part a reason for our mutually-shared love for this band! Enough talking! Adios, -Emory PS: If anyone knows Fripp's Email, could you cc him a copy of this? I'd like to hear what he'd say. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 17:23:56 -0400 (EDT) From: FISHBOY Subject: When can you meet the band? Hello, I'm going to the Asbury Park show on 8/24. Does anyone know when the best time is to possibly meet the band before the show (either before or after soundcheck)? If not we'll probably just wait around after the show. Thanks, Andy Acunzo aacunzo at ccmail dot sunysb dot edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 20:05:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Martin Subject: Contest for Philadelphia tickets (female only) This is contest open to KC listeners (and ET subscribers) for two (2) tickets to the Monday night (Aug. 26) at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. Rules 1. Must be an adult females, >25 2. Write an essay, 25 words or less relating to this contest 3. Provide a description of yourself 4. You provide own transportation 5. To attend with two gentlemen {sic} 6. E-mail response by August 24, 1996 4:00 PM 7. Mind altering materials will not be provided but not discouraged 8. After concert, refreshments from a former Best of Philly winner, may be provided. Winners will be two individuals (or one person with dual personality). Wives, girlfriends, creditors, preditors (lawyers), and family members are ineligible Seats are located in Orchestra, under cover, concert is under all weather conditions. Best of Luck! For a list of winners send your request on the back of a fifty dollar bill. E-mail to the above address ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 23:07:22 -0700 (PDT) From: The Man Himself Subject: Frippertronics essay now online I've written a brief synopsis of Frippertronics for Looper's Delight, an on-line web site devoted to loop-oriented music, theory, practitioners, etc. The essay is located at www.annihilist.com/loop/tools/frippertronics/frippertronics.html I invite any ET readers to check it out, and to make any comments, additions or corrections that they see fit. Enjoy, --Andre LaFosse ------------------------------ From: Matthew Nolan Date: Tue, 20 Aug 96 14:11:05 BST Subject: Musical inspiration/Live performances In ET#296 > This is only part of the Frippian philosophy, and you can believe it or not > or, if you prefer, just enjoy its effects while being skeptical (as appears > to do Bruford). Anyway, anyone who have ever tried to play an instrument > in a band (also amatorial, but passionate) has experienced some strange > timewarp or emotional thrill in catching musical ideas from nowhere : some > twilight zone that rarely opens its doors to let us in. After that you > probably wonder "how the hell have I played this theme, or how could I > invent on the spot such a pretty line ?" And this often really trascends > your conscious technical skill. Great musicians have the gift to reach > this feeling very often (but not always when they play) ; amateurs maybe > only happen to taste it once in a lifetime, but it's a thrill really > worthwhile. I have to agree with this. Musical inspiration does often appear "from nowhere" the problem is, it quite rapidly returns from whence it came. You'll play something brilliant, be aware of its brilliance, even other people will remark upon it and say "play it again" - but can you remember what it was? Thank technology for tape-recorders (I think Genesis had a period of composition by recording jam sessions - do KC ever work like this? Anybody?). However, I found an old tape of a live gig of mine with an improvised variation on a drum rhythm around the toms - sounds great - can I reproduce it? NO! Either my talent is receding or I just need to practice more to regain some lost technique. This phenomenon relates to Mr. Fripps comments on his lisening habits, I believe he has commented that he doesn't listen to CDs/Records much, but prefers to see live performance. So, can "live" recordings, even when supported by video, truly convey all that would be absorbed if you were there in the flesh? I suppose they are "closer" than studio recordings, maybe Virtual Reality technology has something to offer here? Then again, maybe the at-that-instant effect comes into play and even the most perfect facsimile of a musical experience is not the same when experienced at a different time. The moral of the story: Go and see KC (and any other bands/performers of interest) in the flesh at every sensible opportunity, reservations about expense are immaterial. I am a "young" KC fan (yet I am now fan-atic, 11 albums already) and so have only seen them live once (Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 30/6/96) although I would have seen them last year as well if I had known about it. The SBE gig was not the best reviewed in ET but was still stunning, a recording would be great, but less stunning. I'm eating bandwidth again. Enough, no more, 'tis not so sweet now as it was before. Thanks for your ears (or should I say eyes, come to think of it, does anyone receive this in braille?) Matt Nolan. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 08:56:56 +0100 From: ggc Subject: KC & GD Kudos to Davis Hollister, I couldn't have echoed the sentiments about being more comfortable among Dead Heads. Just a few other thoughts. Hmmm sure looks like a lot of Dead Heads are quite well enveloped by the music of KC..I wonder why this is? To those who have insinuated that GD is "the worlds worst band" or "totally lacking in morals" are extremely closed-minded. I too was a GD naysayer back in the 70's until someone literally dragged me to a show. Many of you Crims-heads have probably felt the same way when playing KC for a friend have heard a comment of "What is this S@#t" Only to have you say:" You should just see them live." There is an incredible likeness in loud aggressive improve music brought to you by KC & GD. So shed your stereotypes, challenge your prejudices, Open your minds and unplug your ears. Reach out to your local Deadhead, and ask them for a copy of one of the more psychedelic 2nd sets of a live GD show from the last 8 years. If you open your minds, and your hearts and ears you will not be dissappointed. Their Drums Space improvs will enlighten you. PS When it comes to influential bands, can anybody argue the place of the Dead when it comes to taking care of its fans, and its organizational family? I didn't see us getting any tix through Possible Productions, although I hope they follow the lead that GD established 13years ago-Dave DSMRNGDO at aol dot com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 12:53:06 -0400 From: Michael Tripicco Subject: tickets available I have a good pair of seats available (at cost) for Merriweather Post on Sunday, 25 August. Contact information is given below. Thanks! -Mike ==================================================================== M. J. Tripicco miket at sothis dot gsfc dot nasa dot gov Code 664, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 Tel: (301) 286-9244 / HOME: (301) 604-3814 Office: 2/W20B ==================================================================== ------------------------------ From: sbienkow at bu dot edu Subject: Gunn's _The Third Star_ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 14:42:48 -0400 (EDT) Fellow Eters: If you agree with any of the following statements--ANY--run out to the nearest record store, or call Possible Productions, and get Trey Gunn's _The Third Star_. *I have and enjoy Trey's _One Thousand Years_. *I have Trey's _One Thousand Years_ but I'm now in the market for something a bit more exciting, more rocking. *I am a fan of King Crimson, and I really like their album _Discipline_. *I am a fan of some of Mick Karn's work. *My favorite time sig is 7/8. *I am interested in expanding my Horizons Of Rock. *I think precise, inventive, drumming is a good thing. *I dig funky, cool, art-rock. *I subscribe to Elephant Talk. As you can tell, I really like Trey's new album. It is, in my view, a stronger album than his previous one. Highly recommended. In other news, I attended the Boston/Great Woods HORDE show last week. They opened with Thela Hun Ginjeet. The sound began rather poorly. I think it has to do with all of the noise involved in a live version of Thela. The 7/8 guitar riff which is clear on the studio version comes across rather messy as the first few notes of the concert. The high point of the show was Thrak, the improv section of which had a taste of "Tight Scrummy" to it. "Frame by Frame" was also very good. At this concert seating was open during the KC part, which is the first part of the concert. So get there early and enjoy! --- Justin Weinberg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 21:10:15 +0200 (MES) From: Ulrich Von Hecker Subject: et post Here is a review of "The Starving Moon" by the "Europa String Choir". The disc seems to have grown out of the activities of some people related to guitar craft courses in Europe during the early 90 time. It features some nice guitar craft style music (Alessandro Bruno and Udo Dzierzanowski) which is constantly enriched by a viola part played by Cathy Stevens. Some of the pieces resemble in sound "The Moving Force" on "Show of Hands" where Cathy Stevens plays viola with the League of Crafty Guitarists. "The Starving Moon" certainly is not always so energetic as the League can be, but it is instead more oriented towards fragile, yet lucid chamber music. The viola element is a good thing in that it can underscore some linear, steady aspects of the cross-picking sound. Most pieces have been composed by the three members of the group; Fripp contributes a soundscape on "The Saving Grace" which mingles very nicely with the viola. Precise cross-picking can also be observed in the Bach adaptation "Prelude" which is drawn from the violoncello solo suite in G major. Musically, I did not like this piece especially. As it seems to me, to derive a sentimental line from notes picked from the arpeggio chords (as it is done to obtain the the viola part) and imposing it upon the structure of the piece -- which itself was certainly not conceived in the spirit of any melody/accompaignment framework -- implies a similar misunderstanding as becomes blatantly apparent in Charles Gounods "Ave Maria". And in fact, this was the first piece that came to my mind when listening to "Prelude". In sum, an interesting disc that shows new directions in which guitar craft could evolve. Excellent in the mastery of rhythmical complexity, it is not very daring in terms of harmony. An exception to this is "The Saving Grace" which really seems to be going somewhere. Anyway, strings touched with bows are a fine option, sometimes. Ulrich von Hecker ------------------------------ From: "Gerd Weyhing" Organization: Rechenzentrum der Uni Mannheim Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 12:44:37 MET-1 Subject: Re: The Creative Process according to... Mr. Fripp Hi Max, thanx for the excerpt of RF's Interview. I think many Crimheads would enjoy reading the whole Interview. Is there any possibility of posting it to the ET Web Site ? Gerd =:-# ------------------------------ From: JLAWREN3 at email dot usps dot gov Subject: Ticket for the Merriweather KC Show!!!! Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 07:34:10 -0400 I have one ticket for Merriweather Post Pavilion show in Colombia, MD on Sunday the 25 of August of the year 1996. The show starts at 8:00. The seat is a very good one, and I am asking the face charge of $45. Please contact me immediately by E-mail at jlawren3 at email dot usps dot gov. Please leave a phone number in your response, as there is no time to loose!! rock on, Jeff Lawrence jlawren3 at email dot usps dot gov ------------------------------ From ADERKAZARIAN at MBLN1 dot MBLN dot LIB dot MA dot US Fri Aug 16 15:21:03 1996 Subject: GIG REVIEW - Great Woods 8/15 For whatever reason (shorter show, daylight, 20th row center, better playing), Crimson was far superior than they were a year ago at the Orpheum, Boston. They ripped it up. No other way to say it. Bruford and Belew were the highlights. Bill played with more joy and ferociousness than I've ever remembered him. Adrian, simply, was the best I'd ever seen him. His solos were both creative and powerful (something I've knocked him for in the past). Fripp was actually kinda sedated. Sure, he did his typically incredible Frippian things, but it was all predominantly texture. Last night he allowed Adrian and Bill to shine. Set List: 1. What I must presume to be "Prism" started the show off, although only Bill and Pat played. (Adrian looked on). 2. Thela Hun Ginjeet (with the vocal tape). 3. Red. 4. Dinosaur 5. Matte Kudesai 6. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream 7. B'BOOM/THRAK 8. Frame by Frame 9. VROOOM 10. Indiscipline. The threesome of Thela/Red/Dinosaur was particularly powerful and a great way to start the show. Matte and Sex sort of slowed things down a bit but the pace was quickly picked up by B'BOOM. This was the meat and potatoes of the show - B'BOOM was FABULOUS! Forget about Pat - last night Bruford took over and slammed away on those drums. This got the (rather feeble) HORDE crowd going more than anything. THRAK was also superb with a freaky chug-a-lug sounding middle section by Tony and Adrian. VROOOM and Indiscipline were also very powerful. I think the funniest moment during the show was when three burly Hell's Angels-like gentlemen stood up in the first row and started dancing and singing the lyrics to Frame by Frame. Not what one would expect to be your typical Crimson fans, but Adrian was cracking up over the sight of them. They may in fact have spurred Adrian on to those frenetic solos of his. Well, that's all! A terrific night marred only by the absence of Schizoid Man. I still can't figure out why this isn't being played. Can't wait until Sunday at Saratoga for show #2! Alan H. DerKazarian (aderkazarian at mbln dot lib dot ma dot us) ------------------------------ From: Michael Kelly Subject: MA Horde Review with Set List I suspect like many folks here, I went to the Horde Festival simply to see Crimson. I had minimal expectations for the abbreviated (1 hour) set and the larger festival line up. To my surprise we all had a good time and stayed for the entire event. I liked Rusted Root (7 piece rock band with lots of percussion and a violinist)and especially MeShell Ndegeocello (funk/hip hop singer/bass player) and will probably pick up her new disk. Don't get me wrong, none of the other performances came close to the quality/intensity of the KC set, but it was an enjoyable day. Of course we intentionally left the Pavilion during Lenny Kravitz. We were a relatively old group (30's, 40's and 50's) in a young, tie died and peacefully altered crowd. KC came on at 4:55 sharp to a half full Pavilion and a small crowd milling about on the lawn. There appeared to be a fair number of KC fans in the small crowd and the audience responded better than I had expected they would to be honest. Nothing like the roars for Lenny Kravitz however. Never under estimate the bad taste of the American public. I have to say that from my perspective there seems to be something very different with this incarnation of KC. Personally I feel the other three incarnations produced their best material right at the start, followed by weaker stuff then self destructing by the third or fourth album. This is probably least true with the 72-74 band but somewhat accurate I think. Anyway, I am stunned by the way that this incarnation seems to be getting stronger and stronger. The set was painfully short but action packed. The band was very tight and actually seemed to be enjoying themselves (big grins all the way around). I truly hope that this incarnation finds a way to manage to continue in the long term. It is a little frightening how good they are getting. Below is a set list with some minimal thoughts on a few of the songs. Drum Duet - This "composition" was my favorite drum piece yet. I was reminded of the Drummers of Burundi. What a way to open a show! Thela Hun Ginjeet - (with recorded audio narration) Red - I don't think I ever really heard this song until last fall in Springfield, MA. Now I can't get enough of it! Dinosaur Matte Kudasai Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream Soundscape - It's taking a while but the soundscapes are starting to grow on me, especially within a band context. Very Nice! B'Boom Thrak - I'm sure the "being there factor" is relevant but as others have noted the improv is only getting better. There was an early Belew/Levin interaction that the band seemed to pick up on and there was no turning back. Frame By Frame Vrooom Indiscipline - I realize my interpretation of these interactions may be completely off the mark but here is how I saw them. As Adrian started his vocal "I do remember one thing" he paused and asked "Did I say that we are King Crimson? I just wanted to make sure you realized who we are?". Now this could be that he thought the audience to be clueless and slightly slack, but I had the impression he and the band might have been pleased with the response of those listening and perhaps thought the audience mistook them for another band. I was pleasantly surprised by the small but relatively attentive audience. Also amusing was during the slow building intro of the song, Pat M. came down to the front of his drum kit and sat next to Trey for a bit. He seemed to be helping an audience member count time by snapping his fingers in an exagerrated fashion. About that time threw in a quick fill. Pat stopped snapping his fingers, pointed at Bruford, shook his head as if to say "no no, don't try to count time with him!" and then when back to snapping his fingers. We were all glad we went even with the abbreviated set. Obviously would of preferred a regular KC show but having been able to see/hear these guys live 3 times in just over a year, I can't complain. Thanks guys for all the output lately - it's been great! "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered!" Number 6 ------------------------------ From: claire shindler Subject: HORDE review 8/17 I checked out the HORDE show in Hartford, CT yesterday. Overall an excellent day. Strong performances given by Lenny Kravitz, Michelle N'Gdecello (whose last name I just ruthlessly hacked up), and of course Our Boys. They started with the 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 percussion duet then went into Thela, followed (in no particular order) by Elephant Talk, Red, Dinosaur, Vrooom Vrooom, THRAK, Frame by Frame, something off of Beat which utilized taped spoken parts, and they ended with Schizoid Man! A few amusing moments: -Robert Fripp solemnly setting up his equipment while the tribal percussion and flute playing of the band on the second stage filled the air, to which he seemed totally oblivious. -B'BOOM and THRAK alone were worth the price of admission. Fripp's soundscape elicited a lot of "what the fuck is that?"'s from the crowd and cleared a lot of people from the audience. The THRAK improv got rid of a lot of people too. Funniest moment: the improv (much more coherent than anything on ThrakAttak but still way, way out) died down and it was just Adrian making scraping noises with his guitar pick. He scratched the side of his face a few times in synch with the sound, and then with perfect comic timing, everyone else went back into the main theme. -The quiet section of Dinosaur (just Adrian on guitar synth and Tony on his upright) caused two body-pierced high school guys behind me to ask each other where the orchestra sounds were coming from. Their conclusions: either they were taped or one of the drummers had a little keyboard hidden somewhere in his kit. :) This part went on quite a bit longer than normal. -Adrian checked his watch to make sure there was time for one more song before nodding to Bruford to start the count for Schizoid Man. -A smart person at the venue's management made it general admission seating for Crimson's set, so I got to sit in the 5th row despite having bought my ticket (second to last row) the same day. -The audience was quite receptive until the soundscape which set up the drum duet which set up THRAK. They went for Thela and Dinosaur. Peter ------------------------------ From: Mike Stack Subject: Gig Reviews -- Hartford & Saratoga Springs Hello there. Been a while since I've made a post to ET, but I've seen two shows in the past two days, figured you guys might want to hear a bit about them. My friend Scott and myself caught the Crimson show in Hartford, CT (a mere 45 minutes from where I live and around 20 from where Scott does...) and Saratoga Springs, NY (a mere 3+ HOURS for us...). Still, a few comments I'd like to make on the shows in general. I'll start with the Hartford show: The Meadows in Hartford is actually a pretty nice place to see a show. The lawn is emmense, and the enclosed area is nice. We arrived fairly early, and wandering around, met a bunch of Crimheads (anyone out there, I'm the big guy with the long brown hair, the stubbly goatee, and the Moody Blues shirt..), including one family who had weened their children, the youngest looking around 7 or 8, on King Crimson. Ah, future plans for me. :) So anyway, upon entering, we found out that the policy for this HORDE date was that we could move down and sit wherever we please for the first two acts, namely King Crimson and Rusted Root, so this was a really nice thing. We moved down to the first row, dead center, it was truly a great place to be. The sound probably could've been better further back, but nonetheless, to see their expressions was just great. Various band members walked out to staggered amounts of applause. Fripp himself came out to much applause, as the first three rows were Crimson fans now, and then Bruford later, who yelled back at the shouts of his name, "SHUT UP!" and disappeared backstage. Anyway, after an eternal wait, the show FINALLY started, opening up with the two guitarists, and the two drummers, with BB and PM performing their drum duet, called "Elevens'" on the setlist from Saratoga Springs. "Thela Hun Gingeet" was brutally loud during Fripp frenzied playing. Highlights included "Red", which was just unbelievable, and drew some crazy looks from the crowd. The few people still there who weren't interested were gone shortly afterwards. "THRAK" was purely amazing, I've intentionally ignored all reviews so I could be surprised at the show, and was just blown away by Belew's little trick with the power drill. It was just unreal, not to mention a fair amount of two-handed finger tapping (I THINK this was in "THRAK"..). Somewhere during the set, these two girls came over and kicked two Crimheads out of their seats (which I don't understand, I mean, it WAS general admission..) and proceeded to read a newspaper, and then left during the final surprise of the evening, "21st Century Schizoid Man", instrumentally, unbelievable, though Belew's vocal take I didn't care for, which is surprising, since I love his vocal side. In any event, a killer show which left me wondering why I had any desire to see Lenny Kravitz before. :) After the show, we ran into Pat Mastellotto, who was surprisingly unfriendly, and Trey Gunn, who was a really great guy. For those of you heading out to Asbury Park, Trey said no opening act, and that it was going to be a very "different" show, perhaps with two sets. Also, we were assured that Fripp has plans for the next 200 years or so for Crimson. :) We also mentioned to Trey about the girl reading during their set, his response: "I'm surprised someone could read while we were playing." Set List: Elevens' Thela Hun Gingeet Red Dinosaur VROOOM VROOOM Elephant Talk B'boom--> THRAK Frame by Frame Neurotica Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) was absolutely jam packed. After getting stuck waiting in line with "Talking Drum"/Larks II blaring to the strange looks of many stoned Blues Traveler fans. We arrived. There was apparantly no limit set on tickets at this show, 'cause people just kept coming. The lawn was absolutely flooded. Upon arriving, we were spotted by the first of many Crimheads we'd run into during the day (for those there, I had a red VROOOM shirt on from the THRAK tour..) including three who drove from Ohio to see the show. In any event, it was a fun day, even if we couldn't move up like we did the day before. Bruford came out once again beforehand, again the shouts were raised (this would probably be my fault this time...), BB looked into the crowd and shouted back at us. So anyway, they eventually started, and the stoned crowd was in for a shock. "Elevens'" and "Thela..." were again the openers for the evening. Highlights of the set included an incredible violent Larks II, just pure brilliance. During a very odd "B'boom", with lots of different percussions and soundscapes, I noticed Levin looking to his left and laughing. Glancing over, I saw a woman DANCING to the rhythmic pounding of the tune. Dancing? To Crimson? It gets worse. Apparantly, after the monster "THRAK", with a really strange improv, she had inspired a few people, 'cause a group started to dance during "Sex Sleep...". During "Elephant Talk", which was just amazing, there was a whole bunch of them dancing. I was in complete shock. Moreso I think than the people who fled the pavillion during Larks II. It was unreal. The closer for the evening, "Indiscipline", featuring some amazing work from BB, not to mention the rest, and just in general rocked really hard. All in all, an impressive, but short set. Funny part was, many people were really enthusiastic about the band that day, so maybe they made a few fans. Ran into Tony Levin briefly afterwards, had a chance to shake his hand, but little more since he was in a hurry to get somewhere apparantly. Set List: Elevns' Thela Hun Gingeet Dinosaur Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II B'Boom--> THRAK Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream Elephant Talk Indiscipline mike "i will climb this high wall in remembrence of clancey" -bauhaus ------------------------------ From: "Mascarini, Rick (Corp)" Subject:Gig Review - SPaC aTTaCK - King Crimson in Saratoga, NY Date: Mon, 19 Aug 96 12:08:00 PDT SPaC aTTaCK - King Crimson @ SPAC, 18th of August, 1996 (part of H.O.R.D.E. '96) Life is full of surprises. Good and bad. Sometimes one thing leads to the other and every now and then some other experience happens out of the blue. Well, King Crimson on the 18th @ SPAC created that other experience. Neither good or bad, but something indescribable. Originally scheduled to hit the main stage at 5PM, the Crims appeared out of nowhere at around 3:30PM. Fortunately, my wife and I were there early on and as we headed to our seats, Bill and Pat started their drum duet. The sound was a mess - mostly due to the amphitheater being empty! Even when they started the first full band song, Thela, the sound was a work in progress to say the least. Pat seemed to be having the worst time of it with either his own equipment or not being able to hear the others or maybe both. Robert looked bemused. Tony, Bill and Trey all seemed to be enjoying themselves with Adrian have the most fun, especially with the audience. Following the opening numbers and surveying the lack of crowd, Adrian said in mock tone Hi, we re King Crimson and welcome to our annual picnic and rehearsal! My wife and I looked at each other .... we couldn t believe this .... we were actually at a King Crimson rehearsal with about 30,000 people at the same venue but elsewhere in the park. What a joy! Our seats were two rows behind the mixing desk and a little to the left. You could hear everyone talking on stage, laughing and generally being as confused as we were. There were of course some die-hard Crimsoids dancing directly in front (about 3 or 4) and that must have looked really odd from the stage. Next came Dinosaur, excellent! Sound is now better and starting to resemble instruments being pumped through large PA gear. The band is now relaxed and starting to have fun (even Robert!) Now, some people start to notice that KC is on stage and start running into the main amphitheater. I think the strains of Dinosaur (something these youngsters may have recognized or heard on a radio?) had an effect. Well, next came Lark s II (with no setup i.e. Talking Drum) and some grim-teen jumps into a seat directly in front of us and is trying to figure out who s on stage. Talking, talking, talking and more TaLKING ......!! Finally he turns around and interrupts our moment and sez Hey, who the hell is dis!?! Annoyed, I snapped King Crimson! No sooner did the words leave my mouth, and he was gone (now I know I did gargle before I left the house .... or was it something I said !?!) Lark s II was playful (if that could be) with little parts being warped out - remember, this is a KC rehearsal! Once done, some very interesting soundscapes -into- B BOOM - into - THRaK - improv - etc. Robert s soundscapes keep getting better and better. Electronic water droplets being panned from side to side with distant wind as backdrop is a poor attempt in describing today s Scape. The Improv was delightful - long droning sustained notes from the stringed instruments and delicate percussion. On to a T.Lev intro into Elephant Talk. Again, the gang is mixing it up. Good solid rendition. Robert s solo was even audible this time. Adrian again addresses the now larger (by about 200 hundred more) crowd -- For those of you who just came in, we re King Crimson, I mean we re STILL King Crimson! ........ and WE WON T STOP BEING KING CRIMSON!!! Everyone was laughing. This was incredible! Jokes at rehearsal, with about 500 hundred fans and 29,500 others milling around the fair grounds. As I said, a different experience. Finally, Indiscipline. Bill s intro drum solo was spectacular, slamming right into the main theme. Adrian blasted through the lyric with wild abandon and bounced to a counter rhythm all his own. Wonderful! Superb! And with the final screams of ..... I LIKE IT! , the rehearsal was over. Sadly, too short. Final bows, and gone! Sometimes Life is full of surprises. Good and bad. Sometimes one thing leads to the other and every now and then some other experience happens out of the blue. One of life s many mysteries. Peace, rmm - Saratoga, NY ------------------------------ From: "ROBERT HICKSON (908) 218-6296" Subject: 8/16 H.O.R.D.E. Review Review: King Crimson at H.O.R.D.E. Downing Stadium, Randall's Island, New York August 16, 1996 Don't quote me on the order of the set list since it is coming from the memory of an aging Deadhead (that doesn't make me all bad, does it?). I may be missing a song, but it went something along the lines of: 11s (I think this drum duet is what folks have been talking about) Thela Hun Ginjeet Red Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream Dinosaur Indiscipline B'boom>Thrak VROOOM Elephant Talk In the liner notes to..."The Great Deceiver" perhaps...Mr. Fripp shares his opinion that an outdoor concert is really more of an event with a musical backdrop than something with the musical performance as the focus (again, I beg for lenience on my memory due to the somewhat random firing of a synapse or two...). I believe this to be an accurate generalization and found it to be one of the high points of the Crimson/H.O.R.D.E. experience. Being completely spoiled by 7 KC theater shows in the past year (at which I sat like a good little Crimso and let the music play through the very core of my existence), and eagerly anticipating next week's Asbury Park show (at which I will try to allow each note to swim within the aura of my soul), it was great to kick of my shoes and DANCE! YES! I DID IT, AND I AM NOT ASHAMED! Oh, the glorious experience of letting the music into my body, playing me like a little drum. I fealty free to sing with Adrian (sotto voce, of course, as not to disturb the others). Dressed as a big deranged pun'kin, I was the contradiction embodied within a jack-o-lantern: wearing a somewhat sinister smile which evokes the horror of the dark side. Ah yes, the kind of pagan celebration which I have been missing for over a year now. All was right in the universe again. First of all, H.O.R.D.E. did some folks the disservice of handing out a schedule of events which listed KC as coming on at 4:30. I'm glad I was standing in front of the soundboard at 2:25 when a stage announcement said they would be on in 5 minutes. The opening drum duet (which I assumed was "11s") was spectacular, as we have come to expect from Bill and Pat. "Thela..." was strong, but it appeared as if Robert may have been stifled by some minor equipment problems. During "Red" someone made a left as the band went right and there seemed to be a moment of confusion. I am completely willing to accept responsibility for that one - it is very likely that I was the one who went left as the 6 guys on stage went right. All of the newer material was great. Kudos to the band for the courage to do B'boom>Thrak in front of such an audience - very few seemed to have an inkling of what was going on. I guess the only down side to the day was getting my ya yas out early and then sitting through Spin Doctors, Rusted Root (who are quite good), Lenny Kravitz (a little bit of cheese was flying through the air during his set), and Blues Traveler (a damned hard working band who know how to jam and just might be able to prove that the harmonica can effectively lead a rock'n roll band). All in all, a swell day. One question for Mr. Fripp: would you ever consider gaining about 100 pounds and growing a big white beard? (Oh, come on folks, lighten up. It's just a silly little joke!) ------------------------------ From: ADERKAZARIAN at MBLN dot LIB dot MA dot US To: et at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Subject: gig review - Saratoga HORDE What a disaster! At least I think it was a disaster (if someone else was at SPAC on Sunday the 18th could you confirm this. I wonder if me seats were the problem.) Problems: 1. Unlike Great Woods, SPAC didn't allow general admission for the first two bands, thus Crimson played to a nearly empty auditorium which caused problem #2: sound. With so many plastic chairs staring them in the face, the sound was literally bouncing all over the place. The distortion, at least from where I was sitting, was difficult to cut through.Problem #3: Crimson was bumped up from 5:00pm to 3:50pm and they only played for 50 minutes. What a waste. Belew himself commented on all this when he stated, "Welcome to the King Crimson Rehearsal Picnic," 'cause this is what it must have felt like to them. They certainly tried their best but the problems were difficult to overcome. Set list: 1. Prism 2. Larks Tongues in Aspci II 3. Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream 4. THRAK 5. Elephant Talk 6. Indiscipline. THRAK was slow, fairly short, and lumbering, but it still sounded great. The highlight by far was Indiscipline: this was long and very THRAKish. The best version I've ever heard them do live, period. A great ending and highlight to an otherwise unfortunate show. aderkazarian at mbln dot lib dot ma dot us ------------------------------ From: "Lin Sprague" Organization: WhizBang InnerPrizes Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 16:25:34 -0500 Subject: King Crimson at Great Woods, Mansfield, MA 8/15/96 I've been a subscriber to ET for a long time, but I've hardly ever posted, mainly because at any given time I'm 2 to 4 months behind reading them (I'm up to mid-June now.) Today, though, I'm inspired, I'm on fire, and I just have to let it out: I saw King Crimson at the HORDE show at Great Woods, last night, and I'm still walking on air. I know these concert reviews are a little repetitive, but I'm not going to let that stop me! Here are my poorly organized comments on the day: I had no idea what the schedule of the day was, but I never considered that Crimson would be first on the bill. My ticket seats were way on the side in the back - not good at all. I was sitting in the 6th row center talking to some friends when KC took the stage. No one came along to throw me out of their seats, so, thrilled, I stayed. I think this is the tour's policy rather than Great Woods', so I suggest that you get there early and sit in the seat of your choice. I haven't seen King Crimson live since 1973. This show didn't spoil my memory of those shows 23 years ago. I haven't yet fallen entirely in love with Vroom and Thrak - I hadn't been able to really hear that Mastellano and Gunn contributed anything much. Now, after seeing them play, I understand it much better, especially the drum interaction between Bill and Pat. Although Pat's percussion was not very audible, at least from my seat, he and Bruford were really playing to each other and having a lot of fun at it. The whole band seemed to be having a grand time - even Fripp radiated good humor, sitting on his stool with a prim smile on his face. Tony Levin was having fun, too, snapping pictures, playing up to the videographers, trading lines and odd noises with Belew during Thrak. He impressed me all over again as to what great tone, taste and energy he has. They opened with Thela Hun Ginjeet. The sound was harsh and unbalanced at first, with instruments appearing and disappearing while the mix was adjusted. Finally, during the 2nd song, Red, everything came together. Here's (what I remember of) the set list, not in correct order: Thela Hun Ginjeet, Red, Matte Kudasai, Dinosaur, Trak, Sex Sleep Eat Dream, Vroom (no coda), Frame by Frame, Indiscipline, some percussion sections (B'Boom, maybe.) A highlight of the set for me was Thrak. I user to hear it as a only a simple, noisy, insistent rythmic riff. I now see it to be an amazing polyrythmic extravaganza for 2 drummers. I can't wait until I can sit down and get to know the rhythms better, now that I've found a mental entrance to this difficult piece. Adrian and Tony (on bowed electric upright bass) traded odd noises during an almost comedic free middle section. It was a short set, but totally satisfying. The Possible Productions worker-bees were out in force, spreading the good word and postcards. The rest of the festival was anticlimactic - Blues Traveler was boring, and Lenny Kravitz was mindlessly entertaining. -- ...Lin Sprague... lsprague at user1 dot channel1 dot com lsprague at crater dot ma02 dot bull dot com End of Elephant-Talk Digest #298 ********************************