Errors-To: admin at elephant-talk dot com Reply-To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Sender: moderator at elephant-talk dot com Precedence: bulk From: moderator at elephant-talk dot com To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Subject: Elephant Talk #769 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 769 Monday, 20 November 2000 Today's Topics: GIG BIZ: Toronto tix for sale the clutchers Fw: RF guitar solo on the "Earthbound" LP A Cleveland Contradiction Re: Tony & Bill's Contribution to KC2000 Re: Polish interview with Fripp & Adrian Moving On Mike Keneally PCCK : First Action of the ProteKCtion team Town Hall 11/14 KC live in Mexico City Open Minded Yes But... Re: Pat's Snare Drum Mystery Old Woman with A Flashlight TG's PA ; Calls for BB GIG REVIEW: 11/17 Philly GIG REVIEW: DC and Philly ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send all posts to newsletter at elephant-talk dot com To UNSUBSCRIBE, or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message with a body of HELP to admin at elephant-talk dot com or use the DIY list machine at http://www.elephant-talk.com/list/ To ASK FOR HELP about your ET subscription: Send a message to: help at elephant-talk dot com ET Web: http://www.elephant-talk.com/ Read the ET FAQ before you post a question at http://www.elephant-talk.com/faq.htm Current TOUR DATES info can always be found at http://www.elephant-talk.com/gigs/tourdates.htm You can read the most recent seven editions of ET at http://www.elephant-talk.com/newsletter.htm THE ET TEAM: Toby Howard (Moderator), Dan Kirkdorffer (Webmaster) Mike Dickson (List Admin), and a cast of thousands. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest system v3.7b (relph at sgi dot com). ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 16:54:50 -0800 From: HOWARD SNYDER Subject: GIG BIZ: Toronto tix for sale I have two tix for the Toronto shows. Will sell them @ face value. Anyone interested please email me to: snyder7 at onebox dot com Thanks ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 18:07:42 -0500 From: "T.J. Mathews" Subject: the clutchers At Guru, a bar/restaurant about two blocks down from the TLA in Philly, we spotted some true fetishisers (sp) after the first show. I thought it so sad and funny I couldn't resist attempting to describe the scene. One of my two friends had the excellent idea to get some fluids after the show. As out-of-towners we really had no clue other than to walk and seek. We ended up at Guru. Ten minutes in Trey walks up. The excellent thinker mentioned above is a friend of Trey's so he stopped and chatted without any fanfare. Trey headed back to the eating area. Next was Pat, who told me the sad history of his drum stick that I had sitting there on the table. A few more minutes go by and there before us is one clearly nervous man clutching his lp copy of TCOTKC. He stopped and mumbled something about whether the band was there... then his buddy just as dumbfounded bumped right into him. He was ALSO clutching his TCOTKC lp! It was dark in there so I was unable to figure out if they were formerly conjoined twins. So "these two guys," who looked like they might wet themselves at any moment, proceed into the eating area. Their next smooth gesture was to walk right on by the table where Pat, Trey, and a guy with the tour were sitting. They went to two tables beyond them and started a conversation with complete strangers with, no doubt, impressions that their pot-of-gold was found. One man stood up and it looked to me like he nearly gave them signatures (John Doe, Tina Turner, who knows...) They then realized their error and stumbled over to Trey. I still don't think they noticed Pat. I was laughing too hard. No doubt Trey and Pat have signed all sorts of lps that they didn't help create. One nice thing is that these clutchers fled instantly. For these (k)citizens, and their ilk, I suggest a calculated action to achieve an end - get a move on. Some of us are laughing at your naivete. tj, dc-et2 (aka - bubbleman) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 18:06:56 -0500 From: "curtnibla" Subject: Fw: RF guitar solo on the "Earthbound" LP ----- Original Message ----- To: curtnibla Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 11:17 AM curtnibla wrote: Good Evening! I have a question that I hope you (or the ET community) can help me out with. The 15.30 version of the song "Groon", RF has an interesting guitar solo at the very end of this song. It sounds like a solo from the classical composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold. What is the name of this piece from this fine violin virtuoso artist?? I am extremely curious. Thanks for your help. Curt Lambergercurtnibla at yahoo dot comEastampton, NJUSA Curt, I have never heard mention of this before. Very interesting. Perhaps if you post it to ET at newsletter at elephant-talk dot com it would stir up some debate and somone who has heard of this will respond. Cheers, -sws -- ***************************************************** Steven Sthole : Software Engineer Computer Task Group e-mail: steve at bwn dot net / webmaster at stevenspage dot com my domain: http://www.stevenspage.com ***************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 22:19:13 -0500 From: Steven Sthole Subject: Re: RF guitar solo on the "Earthbound" LP While in Cleveland for the King Crimson show at the Odeon 2 weeks ago, a thought entered my mind and has been lurking there ever since. While at the show, I realized that I was experiencing music that ranks among the most creative, interesting and exciting 'rock' music that has ever been played. I also realized that not far away (a few miles or less, I imagine) was the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum". It just seems such a farce that such an original and creative force as King Crimson has not been inducted! I mean, Bob Seger is on the list for this year. Not to slight his music, but compare the contributions of the two to the music world! Granted, KC does not need induction into the R&R HofF to validate their music, their importance, or anything else for that matter. Still, it would be nice. Just a thought. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 11:21:08 +0200 From: "Mark Stansbery" Subject: A Cleveland Contradiction >> As much as I like them, never with Bill and Tony still in the group would >> KC have come up with something remotely like this. > >For the record, I have not yet acquired Heavy ConstruKction so can't >comment upon it's merits or otherwise. But, I think we should use caution >when making comments about what KC is NOT capable of as a double trio or >otherwise. KC continues to reinvent its own wheel. This listener finds >something interesting in every incarnation. Granted, Tony & Bill's >addition to the mix would produce a different beast. Maybe I can elaborate a little bit: In "Sapir" (the piece I was referring to) you hear Trey and Pat taking center stage and leading the proceedings with their totally unique idiom. Of course we never know what they would have come up with Bill and Tony still in the group, but almost certainly not this particular piece because Pat and Trey would have refrained to leave space to the other half of the rhythm section (They never particularly shone within the DT because of this). And I didn't mean it's better or worse, just that it is a refreshing perspective from the DT work. As for what KCCC#13 will reveal I don't know. I believe a lot of the projeKcts/COL material had already emerged (according to the Space Groove AB log, ConstruKction was a familiar piece in November 97), but certainly the color was totally different to what it is now (if not they would have recorded and released the album back then). And I believe Pat playing with pre-arranged loops, which is the big new element in KC2000 improvs (as well as P3, P4, PX) would never have happened with Bill (why bother playing against a techno-sounding loop when you have an acoustic-inclined BB close to you?). In 1997, Pat apparently kept this approach for side works (BPM or KCXtraKcts or whatever it's called now). But maybe KCCC#13 will prove me wrong. And remember Nash'97 aborted precisely because they didn't think they had reinvented the wheel. ___ Laurent Masse ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 11:35:30 +0200 From: masse at geocean dot u-bordeaux dot fr (Laurent MASSE) Subject: Re: Tony & Bill's Contribution to KC2000 >This is the only time I've seen Fripp come >clean about Tony's not being in the band. In also reading Adrian's comments, >it seems like there's more important information lurking out there that >Robert doesn't provide in his supposed tell-all diary entries. Sorry to disagree, but everything in this interview I've heard clearly voiced in RF's diary or AB's more sparse sayings. Especially the fact that when TL was available again, RF wanted to go on as a quartet because that's how he saw the group then. ___ Laurent Masse ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 13:45:32 -0500 From: masse at geocean dot u-bordeaux dot fr (Laurent MASSE) Subject: Re: Polish interview with Fripp & Adrian Hi Crimpeoples, I have been reading this long running discussion about "moving on," and a couple of points came to mind: People are discussing "moving on" as if it is a permanent state - as if once the Crimm is dropped that it can never be picked up again. I can think of nothing more wrong. I moved on for a long time. I started listening to KC in 81 when a friend played Discipline for me. Within a year I owned everything by the band (much to the consternation of my father, who said they had no melody, and that the song Discipline sounded like "math"), and within two I had most of what Fripp had played on, and most of Eno's output also (which like my interest in KC & RF, has waxed and waned many times). But after the 80's band RF began Guitar Craft, and from the first album I was not much interested. I bought "Live," didn't much like it, and gave it to my sister. A couple of years later I saw "Show of Hands," bought it, did not much like it, gave it to my sister (she always loved GC because she could paint to it). I moved on. I didn't stand around kvetching to friends about the direction that RF had taken, and I certainly did not buy tickets to concerts by the League of Crafty Guitarists. I also was not much into Sylvian-Fripp (I have never liked David Sylvian's voice, though I do think he is a very good musician). I did, however, listen to some really good, hard music (such as Faith No More and Tool) before the release of Vrooom, which only grew on me slowly at first. At this point I am really enjoying the output of this band. And strangely enough, in the last few years I found that the Crafty works grew on me, and have gotten into the CGT and other projects by crafties. Perhaps I changed, and the ears that I bring to the music are different at 34 than they were at 25 or 15. I see no reason why this should not be true - many other aspects of my life have changed radically - why not my desires to listen to different musics? Right now I am enjoying the Projekct related musics - all this improv and experimentation sounds good to me; but who knows what direction the band/its members will take tomorrow? Maybe the Double Trio will reform, maybe KC will cease to exist, whatever. But no matter what, who knows if any of us will like the music? But I certainly don't expect to like or dislike it. What I expect is that I will give the new music my attention and time, and if it does not move me to continue with it, then I will put it away for later. Which brings me to a final point - currency. I felt that RF's little words that were printed in "Frame by Frame" were important: "This belongs to 1974," etc., are indications of currency. If for RF the music from that time belongs there, then it should stay there. He has changed. I don't go back and continue to do most of the things I did when I was a teenager, and I certainly hope that when I am in my 50's that I will not be doing what I am doing now. Life moves on, and we hopefully grow and learn. Why should a person continue to play compositions that were created in a personal state that may no longer exist or give currency of meaning? To be played now they need to have current meaning, just as any other action in our daily lives do. And as a listener the music needs to be current. On this tour I have seen 5 shows, and at each I had a different mindset, attitude, and experience. The music was current for me. But had I have gone to the first and found it boring and uninteresting, you can be sure that I would not have been to the following 4 shows. Similarly, just because something is current for RF does not mean that it needs to be current for me, and visa-versa. That is a luxury, and means that I may get to see the music live. But if not, then I am relegated to recordings. That is the situation that was first presented to me with listening to the '69, '71 & '73 KC's, and it is the situation that I have now when listening to the GC recordings. But I promise that I will not be writing either to this board or to Robert and the other 20 or so members of the League complaining that they are not undertaking the "Tight Muscle Party At Love Beach Tour 2001." Kathy ------------------------------ Date: 19 Nov 00 13:49:38 EST From: Kathryn Ottersten Subject: Moving On Mike Keneally is way...way cool. Listen to Hat & Boil That Dust Speck! Steve Vai may be doing the guitar God thing but Mike is really writing some 'out there' stuff. Very funny, very engaging, and very very good. jim campaigner at usa dot net James Dusewicz ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 12:32:59 -0800 (PST) From: James Dusewicz Subject: Mike Keneally Hi Eter's we've written to the "Ebay community watch team" to demand them to take off 2 of their incriminated auctions, here's the mail: -------- >Subject: 498546496 RN42020010 Questionable Item >Item: 498546496 >Message: 498546496 and 496706187 >Hi >This 2 items are frequently sold by the same sellers >(under different auction titles but always with the >terms "USA CD" or "Earthbound CD")(more than 15 times >in the last month). >This is Fake products because never King Crimson has >issued this 2 records on CD. >Only USA or Eartbound on LP's can be legal products >You can contact the King Crimson Company to verify >what I've written (www.disciplineglobalmobile.com). >I demand you to immediatly cancel these auctions >Thank You >Nick Grimson ------ Here's their response: Hello Nick, We have reviewed the auction you have brought to our attention and taken appropriate action. We would also like to explain eBay's policy with respect to reports like yours. eBay is not in a position to make judgments about the authenticity or authorized nature of auction items, except in the most extreme circumstances. This may mean that we cannot remove the item about which you contacted us. In some cases, we refer the information to the owner of the rights (copyright, trademark, etc.) involved, if we know who they are and how to contact them. Although you may be extremely knowledgeable about these types of items, we often cannot remove items upon the representations of third parties whose credentials we cannot verify, unless of course the alleged infringement is obvious on its face. That is why we strongly urge you to notify the rights holder of the suspected infringement and encourage them to join our Verified Rights Owners (VeRO) Program (formerly called Legal Buddy Program). This program enables them to request the ending of allegedly infringing auctions. We appreciate your vigilance in helping us to keep inappropriate auctions off eBay. Regards, Burt eBay Community Watch Team -------- Conclusion: It's up to DGM to do the job, someone tell them and they don't verify. Hmmmm may be be a good opportunity for DGM lawyers... --- to be continued- Frienly yours Nick Grimson ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 16:32:59 EST From: Schizoid Man Subject: PCCK : First Action of the ProteKCtion team Just wanted to chime in on the subject. The band's playing was rather flawless, and frequently inspiring. Thge performers did seem to be synchronized and enjoying themselves immensely. I was lucky enough to get seats front row of balcony, where I enjoyed a great sound and vision performance. Was it my imagination, or did the first (all too brief) improvisation last until the instant that someone shouted?? It appeared to me that AB simply shrugged his shoulders and the band immediately began the next song.... No one has mentioned the 'light show' projected on a rear screen...any comments/critiques/corrections? The crowd was definitely lifted by the performance, but well-behaved on the whole. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 21:27:19 -0000 From: JasJohns22 at aol dot com Subject: Town Hall 11/14 I've recently played this for the first time in several months. The sound quality appears to have deteriorated remarkably with lots of distortion that wasn't there before. Anyone else experienced this problem? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 22:52:54 +0100 From: "Iain Kitt" Subject: KC live in Mexico City Good Evening Frippies n kinda Hi There Again! Uhm... I am not very happy if my postings are misinterpreted. So, here goes: 1) "Markus's argument is valid. If a band produces works that you consistently admire for x amount of years and then produce something unadmirable then the band has obviously taken a road that doesn't suit them as well as previous ones." Nono, not obviously... a very SUBJECTIVE observation, and a SUBJECTIVE emotion I was talking about. One cannot say that OBJECTIVELY some sort of music is bad or OBJECTIVELY a band has taken a road that doesn't suit them as well as previous ones - it is a SUBJECTIVE feeling, and I was referring to a possible SUBJECTIVE hurt caused by that. 2) "You fan boys can lie to yourselves all you want and give praise to this band just because it bears the name "Crimson", but I have seen the recent tour and my audio archive rocks more, out of the speakers, than this band does in person. You can say "move on" all you want but, as an objective listener, it is hard to say that this music (the compositions) are worth the praise that posters give them." My God, what is an OBJECTIVE LISTENER??? Dear Tim, I don't want to kick you here officially, but an objective listener has to be someone who actually doesn't like music - because if you like music in a certain way, it must be a SUBJECTIVE EMOTION (as emotions always are). 3) My actual intention was to say: No one can blame RKTreemore for being pissed off my Crimson. I was trying to invent some sensitivity in here (my God what a phrase!) - this is a discussion forum, so we have time and place to look behind what's been said. But still, LOADS of thanks for this one: "Firstly let me say that Gnad Markus made a spectacular point in issue #767" Markus 1) Fripp Clone 2) Crimson Fan Boy 3) Criminal (I mean, I didn't pay my park ticket last time and they punish me with approx. 3 TCOLs) PS. A Yo Hello! To David V. Wherever He May B - We Miss Ya! Enjoy Your Klaus Schulze Box! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 14:03:31 -0800 From: "Markus Gnad" Subject: Open Minded Yes But... I saw KC up close in San Francisco and I'm an electronic drummer myself, so I think I can answer your question. Pat is no longer using an electronic snare (a Roland PD-120 to be precise) but is using a real acoustic snare with two external triggers (they appear to be Red Shot Triggers) attached to the snare head to trigger electronic sounds (I suspect he runs one into his DDrum 4 module and the other to his Roland TD-10 module). ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 18:10:09 -0500 From: chipsf Subject: Re: Pat's Snare Drum Mystery Note to Trey: The old woman with a flashlight (wasnt that on old Syd Barrett song?) at Town Hall was a slightly confused usher. -Mike G ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 18:10:13 -0500 From: "Michael Garnice" Subject: Old Woman with A Flashlight Ive seen the double trio and the double duo a total of 10 times now, and Ive never been disappointed. I would like to bring to appropriate peoples attention a problem with Treys PA in the hope it can somehow be rectified. Too often, he is difficult to hear in the mix. This may be due to his primary instrument the WARR seems to have very little attack and a lot of slur. But consider this: I saw KC three times in a week this month (A.P., NJ; S.C. NYC #1; T.H. NYC). In the first and third venues, Trey was hard to hear. But in the second, for what ever the reason(s), he was loud and clear. What happened then was a revelation, as the crowd went ape for Trey, and he responded back with the best playing Ive seen at any KC show. The calls of Trey outnumbered that for Fripp, Adrian and Bruford (see below) combined. I hope this problem can be remedied, as there never seemed to be a problem with Tony Levins amplification, nor was Trey hard to hear in a NYC P2 show a couple of years ago. However, at Asbury Park in 1996, Treys solo during The Sheltering Sky was mixed so low, it sounded like a breeze blowing over a Coke bottle from across a field. Unfortunate but true, calls for Bruford occurred at all three shows. At Asbury Park, a guy in the 3rd row waited for the final curtain call. He was smiling proudly as if what he had done was the height of wit. At Town Hall, during an electronic percussion improv between Adrian and Pat, the cries for Bruford (mostly from one drunk sounding fan) were enough for Adrian to have to answer wrong guy. The moral of the story: there are apparently many motivations for calling out for BB during a double duo performance, and none of them warrant their negative impact. -Mike G ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 02:42:38 -0500 From: "Michael Garnice" Subject: TG's PA ; Calls for BB The first Philly show was quite a treat, but the 2d night struck me much so much deeper, I decided to review it (tho there are references to night 1). I won't go into extreme detail song by song, just some peripherals and that which really grabbed me... After a night in the front row with tj and other fellow DC-ET'rs, we decided that the balcony scene was probably better for sound. As for myself, the first night I was having problems hearing Robert and knew I'd prefer a clearer sonic perspective. Standing for so long can be fairly distracting, which made the few rows of stools in the balcony even more appealing. Even though Adrian's voice wasn't as clear and the sound may have been a little muddier overall, I think the balance of the performers was a little better. There is definitely something to be said about being down front to watch the hand action. And ya never know, ya might catch a pick or a drumstick ;) Crim broke hard early, leaving it all on the stage. Lark's IV, TCoL and FraKctured all in the first few selections. Blistering stuff. TCoL was a smidge fast as well, expanding the musician's challenge. The execution was exacting, save a bit of a train wreck in FraKctured where Fripp's fingers didn't quite 'round the corner, but he maintained and pulled a fine recovery. Adrian seemed to be having a problem with the higher notes coming across, I took it as a processing problem. During this night's particular version of Cage, Trey and Pat were playing a beat ahead (or maybe behind?) using (this is a guess here, please excuse my technical ignorance) the 1 instead of the 7 as the downbeat. This seemed to confuse Robert, who during some parts sat looking toward Trey/Pat with his hands across the strings. Pat seems to enjoy challenging himself and the others with throwing in some extras here and there. I was trying to figure out exactly what was happening, but found myself aurally outwitted. Perhaps someone else that was there has a better grasp of the situation and will explain it better than I. Pat and Trey seem to have some interesting timing scenarios worked out thru a series of hand signals. For example, after Trey showed Pat what seemed to be "a little bit" (index finger and thumb slightly parted) they went into this crazy timing pattern leaving the rest of the piece floating atop. (Was this during FraKctured? Maybe LTiA IV? I'll have to listen thru them to be certain.) At one point Fripp and Gunn had an interesting exchange trading riffs. Belew's leads get more and more insane every time I see/hear something new(er) by him. All seemed to be having great fun. And nary a flash to spoil the evening (though, as sadly reported in Robert's diary, there was some viddying going on). The highlight of my evening came from Deception of the Thrush. Trey's playing ran through me. I was near tears. I was hypnotized. At the end of DotT, they went quickly into Elephant Talk, which was sort of anti climactic for me. I felt I hadn't had proper time for "Thrush" digestion. I laid my head on my arms, on the railing. tj inquired as to my condition. I was laid to waste. This may have been the most moving piece of music I'd ever witnessed. It was as if each of the notes had been laid out in some other consciousness, anxiously awaiting their release...in that key, in that order, in that timing, with that tempo and that texture. Every note seemed just where it wanted to be. I thought I might be listening to the voice of some deity or perhaps the music of the spheres. Incredible. Elephant Talk was into the "E"s before I was really back in tune. Adrian threw in "et cetera", much to the crowds approval. I haven't a precise set list, but there were plenty of encores, tho they didn't include Heroes (and not really to my dismay). From Red to VROOOM, Oyster Soup to ProzaKc, Thela to some great improvs I was definitely sated. Even though One Time, SSEDD, Heroes and FxF didn't have an appearance, I felt like the evening was kept quite full with (seemingly) longer lead breaks, to my great pleasure. The crowd was a little better the 2d night than the first. Although there were a few calls for "Cat Food", etc., I think the band kept things rolling very well, keeping excessive audient audibilizing to a minimum. There was a bit of goofiness the first night where someone threw a small package up on stage to Adrian. Trey and the gang inquired as to it's contents and Adrian replied, "shower cap". It eventually found it's way back into the crowd, and actually back to it's originator (some of you already know him as the DC bubble-blower). Having the great fortune to choose the Guru as a post-show libation location after the first night, we were treated to the brief company of Trey and Pat. One of my cohorts made a great joke of Pat's extinguished cigarette in our ash tray, that we'd sell it on e-bay. (Any bidders? We assume we can clone him from his saliva, which should drive the price right up) The 2d night, my other friend and I chose the same location for after the show. Sadly, our DC counterparts had to get home and could not join us. Adrian arrived and asked us if we had eaten there and what the food was like. Pat showed up later. Trey didn't make it, tho Adrian mentioned he was expecting him. I suppose Robert was having a salad in the shower. Ok, enough fan-boy stuff. I admit being glad to share Pat's 11/16 stix w/tj, catching a pick and getting some great souvenirs at the merchandise table. I was quite happy to supply 2 friends ticket to their first KC show. As a new KC fan, I think the album selection has one a little overwhelmed for now, but I'm sure that's only until he starts to catch up to the rest of us on purchasing/perusing journey thru the however-many available albums. Well, it's a shame the tour is ending so soon, but I guess it couldn't go on forever. Many hopes for a quick return. 'course, the Trey Gunn Band and Mastica tours, a new Belew solo album or tour, some Guitar Craft Seminars or live Soundscapes wouldn't be bad things either, tho I'm sure these guys want to get back home for a while after touring. Thanks to everyone for their company at the shows, their humor and their hats. Cya again soon!? Dave PS: This is a completely opinionized review, and is based on my memory, which may be blurred by consecutive show dates. Your review may vary. No warranty implied or expressed. Product "as-is". No refunds or exchanges. All sales final. Not to be re-sold, printed, re-transmitted, duplicated or described without express written consent of the author. Yeah, right. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 18:17:53 -0500 From: Dave Subject: GIG REVIEW: 11/17 Philly I was lucky to catch the new double duo in action over the last ten days. First up were two contrasting gigs at the 9:30 in DC. The 9:30 is one of my favourite venues for its space though sometimes intimate feel, some good sightlines and a good bar and food outlet. But, the club is alien to your average 40 something KC fan as its in one of DCs less fashionable neighbourhoods though far from the horror story some reviewers have imagined. First night saw j and I in prime position on the balcony stage left. We had a good view of the whole band. Thankfully the sound was clean and not turned up to 11 a common 9:30 complaint. Despite arriving just before kick-off time, we snaffled an equally good spot on the second night. This thanks to ticket sales for the second gig being delayed inexplicably for several weeks. This, I am sure, affected the size of the crowd. Such a different atmosphere on South Street, Philadelphia ten days later. A tightly packed crowd anxiously awaiting their heroes created a much better feel. The Theatre of Living Arts is a small converted cinema with a rickety looking balcony. The slight gradient of the lower floor allows reasonable views even from the back where we wound up after a four hour plus slog from DC. And, I can report a greater female contingent in the audience! As advertised, the sets featured heavily the new stuff from TCOL. Some months back, I wrote an admittedly off-the-cuff review of TCOL for Elephant-Talk. The review trashed the release: I got trashed for it, mostly deserving. My initial feeling for TCOL is still there. It is (for me) an attempted recitation by Fripp of KCs 30 years or so in the business a sort of underture (as opposed to overture). Subsequent listenings have confirmed this to my ears. It has grown on me to the extent that FraKctured (a reworking of the classic Fracture) ranks up there in the KC pantheon. Okay, so I come clean here and say that TCOL material works for me live. Fripp really rawked in the freak out guitar passages of FraKctured. But, better than that: Live, I got a much better perspective on the construction of each song and on the complex interplay between Fripp and Belew. Oyster Soup still leaves me a bit cold, but Ive warmed to ProzaKc Blues and Larks IV". Old faves were there too. Red (c. 1975), the only survivor in the oeuvre from KC before Belew, still grabs you by the short and curlies. The Philly version an altogether superior gig - crackled and spun. Crazy Philly drunks staircase right pretended to pump iron to this muscular track. From the gamelan beat era, KC delivered the edgy Theela Hun Jinjeet and, Elephant Talk. (Youll have read elsewhere of Belews adventures one these two songs during the 9:30 sets.) (N.B. better without the pre-recorded found sound this may be a dangerous place, but its better left out live.) As I said, the DC gigs contrasted significantly with the improvs standing out from night one and the standards being highlights from the second set. One Time, one of few songs culled from Thrak, was a notable addition second time around. Both sets ended with Heroes yep the Bowie song (Fripp provided the wailing guitar on the original). Belew gave a good effort on the vocals, but I was left thinking why. Interestingly Heroes was absent in Philly. What a difference 10 days made. It was not only the venue that made this a standout gig. Despite a few technical problems and Fripp crapping up on FraKctured. There was something magical about the night. There was intensity and feeling in the playing. Fripp and Belew seemed totally in sync. The rhythm section kept it going all night. Trey Gunns solo during the encore was a beautiful as ever. The only let down was the lack of good improvs. But, heck this was worth a four hour plus journey (and three hours the day after) and a four year wait. Pete McClymont pjmcclym at erols dot com http://members.xoom.com/mcclymontp ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #769 ********************************