Reply-To: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Sender: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Precedence: bulk From: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk To: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Subject: Discipline #40 Discipline, Number 40 Saturday, 23 May 1992 Today's Topics: Close encounter with the Belew kind... Fripp, CGT and Belew in DC [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Thu, 14 May 1992 14:14:39 -0400 From: Jeremy Weissenburger <07822 at brahms dot udel dot edu> Subject: Close encounter with the Belew kind... Hey, kids! It's Capt. Apathy again! Anyway, I got to see Adrian Belew at Max's on the 13th. (I know, I missed the next show, with Fripp. I'm depressed, too...) I thought I'd tell you about some of the weird things that happened to me at the show. I won't mention the set-list, since it's been mentioned before. I will say that he dropped "Big Electric Cat" last night (Argh.). So, I get to the show at 6:30. He was planning on having two shows that night, but poor ticket sales (I guess) led him to have a late show at 9:30. So, since I volunteered to hand out flyers, I stood there for 3 hours, looking pretty goofy (but then again, that's my usual state.). I noticed a few people wearing "Mr. Music Head" tour shirts. Turns out he played at Max's for that tour. The shirts were simple- yellow, with maroon letters (I think they were maroon, not very good lighting from where I was...) Lots of people brought CD boxes, album boxes, and stuff for him to sign, hopefully. But, most went away empty handed. The asst. manager brought his Discipline CD for him to sign. (You know, I kind of resented that. I went there to see him, not Crimson stuff. But, whatever port in a storm...) Anyway, I'm standing there, listening to a local opening act. After that, this brunette starts setting up a T-shirt display behind me. I was surprised they had T-shirts to sell (people kept asking me beforehand "Are you guys selling T-shirts?" and I'd shrug my shoulders. "I'm with the fan club, I haven't a clue, man.") So, I started to chat with this girl, since we'd be hanging at the same place for the next hour or so. We formally introduce ourselves- her name is Martha. (In the back of my mind, I think there's some- thing familiar about that name...) So we chatted about lots of things: why the place wasn't filling up, the bar, smokers, Adrian, the L.A. riots, and human rights. You know, small talk. Finally, the show began. It was a pretty cool show, and I was grinning afterwards (of course). I hung around for a while, and asked Shawn (Marsh, the roadie I was supposed to see about the flyers. He then tells me that he really wasn't doing the flyers, and he had asked the fan club to take his name off the letters. So, those of you that are volunteering to give out flyers, DON'T ASK FOR HIM!) when can I see Adrian? Finally, I got upstairs to see the band. Remember Martha, the T-shirt girl? Guess who she was! Yup, it's Adrian's girlfriend! Small world. Anyway, we chatted for a couple of minutes on a few subjects. They offered me some water, and after about 15 mniutes and getting signatures from the band, we all shook hands and left. Things I discovered that night: 1) A "momur" is another word for monster. Turns out that Adrian's daughter used to say momur instead of monster. He thought it was a pretty neat word to sing, so he used it. (He kept saying he got that question asked all the time, and he should try to print it somewhere...) 2) Both Adrian and Martha are avid non-smokers. So, those of you who smoke and are seeing Belew in a club or theater, please contain your smoking until after the show. It really plays havok with his voice. 3) I had asked him if he would change the show for tomorrow, and he said he wouldn't. However, I think he thought I meant if he would be changing the show permanently, when I just meant for the 14th. Oh well. Anyone who's going to the show on the 14th, please tell me if they change the set-list around! 4) This is kind of personal, but for those interested, Adrian did not have the best of childhoods. His mother had tuberculosis when he was 10. He had to visit her in a sanitarium/hospital for two years. She finally passed on. (I had come in when he started discussing this. He consequently apologized for having such a "heavy conversation." I said it was OK. Happens, you know?) Also, his father passed on from lung cancer. This is probably is why he such an avid non-smoker. So, I emphasize again, PLEASE DON'T SMOKE AT THE SHOW!!! Well, that's it for me. If anyone goes to another show, and sees a brunette, that's Martha. Tell her Jeremy from Newark, DE. says "hi." Thanks! [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Subject: Fripp, CGT and Belew in DC Date: Fri, 22 May 92 18:17:34 -0400 From: bill at verdix dot com Lisner auditorium, May 14 1992 I arrived a bit late and missed maybe 5 songs. They started promptly in the midst of Parking Hell, how smart. Anyway... For the first set Fripp, Trey Gunn on stick, and the California Guitar Trio were together on stage. Fripp played electric with a big rack with a couple tiny amps on top and had a very bright sound. Fripp's emphasis on the value and difficulty of providing silence allowed them to perform independently and together. First songs I saw were Crafty Guitarists material. First two were (mostly?) the Trio. Then Fripp came in with a pattern on electric for two more Crafty pieces. On one Trey Gunn played bass and sustain lead simultaneously on the Stick. I believe Fripp played a bit of lead on the other. The electrics were a bit louder than the acoustics but that made the acoustics seem more like an orchestral backdrop -- except for when the acoustics started banging chords, which was almost painful. I think these small group versions compared quite favorablty with the League ensemble versions. The CGT then performed Bach's Chromatic Fugue in D Minor. This was amazing, with each guitarist taking a different line. Tonally I was reminded of harpsichord between the music and the sound of the amplified acoustics (rather unnaturally loud I thought though). They got a standing ovation for this one. >From this point Fripp went into a long Frippertronics piece. Trey Gunn seemed to be doing something but it was hard to hear seperately; the Trio was silent. I got the impression some were bored by this, and it must have lasted 10 minutes at least. I was bored a bit too, but in a good way -- very lulling. Also interesting, but slow to develop. Wall of sound with interesting harmonic structures. Towards the end Bob switched to playing lead over the built-up sound, with some dramatic slides and vibrato'ed Fripp-notes ( %) ). With the repeating sound still going, everyone left the stage. The sound must have taken 5 minutes at least to die out (or was faded) and some of us continued applauding most of this time, but there was no encore. There was a long set break during which I saw someone that looked quite a lot like Frank Zappa in poor health (had a cane) in the basement. I didn't find out if it was really him. Belew was pretty good. I don't really care for his poppier stuff but the band was good and at least I didn't have to stand up to watch (I saw The Bears at the 9:30 Club -- this was better than that. The three Krimson numbers were very enjoyable and got the best response. He played nothing off Desire :-(. Later I went to Tower Records and purchased the Tamm book on Fripp (last copy). Interesting, although it's mostly an analysis of the music which isn't exactly new to me. There is some basic stuff on Gurdjieff and Bennett which satisfies some curiosity (although I question how anti-ego these guys are when they say most people are asleep). One bit of trivia is Fripp is a left handed but plays right. At the show I picked up a California Guitar Trio CD. Again, impressive. There is no address on it except the publisher of their original tunes -- over half is cover, mostly Bach. Label is their own CGT. Sound is clean -- live to DAT -- but I was somewhat dissapointed to find the recording was done using only the Ovation guitars' internal pickups just like the recent Crafty stuff. I can understand why they do this -- they don't really consider the super-shallow guitars to be true acoustics anyway, and mikes pick up stray noise (etc.) -- but I can't help but to feel that the listening experience would be more exiting with a true acoustic (or augmented) recording. Bill s [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] To join this group or have your thoughts in the next issue, please send electronic mail to Toby Howard at the following address: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk The views expressed in discipline are those of the individual authors only.