Robert Fripp's Diary

Music explains itself.

07.45
Music explains itself. We use words.

Musical analysis breaks "music" down into discrete elements: pitch, amplitude, duration, timbre (and Cage suggests, silence). When we listen, we are able to focus on each of these elements & notice how they are skilfully arranged into a whole. That is, analytically, in performance (and composition) the discrete elements are unified.

When we listen, we listen to the parts.
When we hear, when the shift takes place, we hear the music.
When we hear the music, we hear the whole.
When we hear the music, the music changes: the music becomes part of us, and we become part of the music.

Our participation in the event changes the event.
Our participation in the event changes us.

But - hey! - why take my word for it? And, two alternative views on this from the Guestbook.

Responses To The Guestbook:

cyril brocard ([email protected])
28-Jun-2000 09:47 GMT
france Just a few words about Crimson's show in Paris. I've never fully agreed to Robert's comments about autography, photography and the like. Neither did I really agree with his comments about venues in terms of capacity and acoustics. And finally, I never quite understood what he meant by "expectations closes the listener's mind".

But then, I went to the show. And it all became obvious. I can't put it into words, but out of EXPERIENCE, it's obvious that for this Crimson at least, the music can only reach its full potential under the conditions edicted by Robert. I'm not trying to convince anyone, but the reasonably sensitive audient should just go to the next KC concert and judge by him/herself.

In Paris, the audience seemed very silent for a Rock show. It was not passive silence, however: there was a palpable active quality in it. The quality of respectful, open-minded, listening. And the music flew, becoming a personnal and collective experience. But active listening is a challenging experience for the raw, uneducated audient. It took me time to successfully "tune in" with the music, and one of the reasons is that the show was not what I had expected it to be: expectations had closed my mind (nice one, Robert !). Once I realised that, I managed to put aside my negative feeling and "grasp" the moment ... Wow !

A new perceptive world of awareness opened its gates. All of a sudden, the texture of life seemed so dense and palpable ! Of course, given the energy level reqired to access this new world, there were lower moments. Sometimes the music failed to reach me, sometimes I knew it was there but I couldn't summon the energy to grasp it. On the whole, though, Fripp and the lads have left an unforgettable print onto my mind.

The music was surprising, disturbing, thought provoking, frightening, sad, joyful, delicate, powerful... Just like life.

My perception of music (and, more generally, of art) will never be the same, now.

RF: Cyril is describing the shift which takes place when we move from listening to hearing. Everything is the same, everything is different. We move from being alive, to living, to living our life.

Craig Winter ([email protected])
12-Jul-2000 04:38 GMT
USA When I attend a show, I don't want to be "taught" anything, particularly a form of behavior that smacks of dogma.

RF: Dogma is fixed, inflexible. Crimson is flexible, but the degree of flexibility possible in performance is largely dependent upon mutual consent & negotiation of our performance space. So, I present reasons & arguments for why & how I experience performance as I do.

I want to be brought in by the force of the music itself. Even if I know the group and their music, I want the same sort of pleasant surprize I might enjoy going into a record store and hearing something played on the sound system which speaks to me, despite the fact that it's at a low volume and there is all sorts of extraneous noise.

RF: "The force of music" doesn't act by "force": it acts by permission, consent, acceptance & the willing engagement of the party wishing to be "taken".

When I read lots of "I wants" there is in me a sinking feeling, and a sense that it's time for someone to move on.

Show me the magic.

RF: This demand effectively puts Craig outside the arena in which magic is waiting, willing & available to be "shown". When we "want" magic, we close off our own availability to the moment in which magic appears. When we demand that magic presents itself to us, on our own terms, even if magic bit us on the ear we wouldn't know.

Don't lean on me as a requisite element of the performance.

RF: An invitation to engage is rather different to being "leant on". Declining an invitation to engage puts anyone, even Craig, outside the "magical" event: they become a spectator, not a participant. This is acceptable, encouraged, even welcomed, at many performances. Not Crimson performances.

Craig is at the wrong show. Time to move on?

I know as a writer that I can't work unless I'm isolated from all distractions, but that's a problem I have, not the distractors. I have friends who have written some of the most brilliant material while riding on trains as children race up and down the aisle and conversations rage about them. I'm in complete awe of their concentration.

RF: Respect. Respect for concentration of this intensity. But this is a larger topic.

Briefly, knowing my frailties, Crimson / Fripp posts "house rules". When these rules are violated, there are consequences and repercussions, most of them undesirable. Like, the possibility of magic appearing are prejudiced.

To use one final and completely flaky analogy (but it amuses me), I'd be flabbergasted to pick up a book and read in the forward that the author could not do his best work, and in fact left the last chapter out, because "others" would not allow the sort of atmosphere necessary to produce something really good. Crap.

RF: If the analogy is "completely flaky", private amusement is insufficient justification for public commentary.

To quote a pragmatic Zappa fan, "Shut up and play yer guitar!"

RF: Then this applies to Frank and not to Fripp.

Craig clearly declares what he wants, and then declares his unwillingness to allow it to happen.

09.21
The sky has opened. Effluvium maximum est. Temperatures around 92F are rather more than this Anglo is able to cheerfully handle, so rain is a relief. And Adrian won't have to water the garden today.

18.41
Mahler. Thank you, Father Mother God, for Mahler.

Crimson is getting tighter.

We're rewriting individual equipment programmes. My blasting sounds seem to be getting more metallic, I notice. This isn't "intentional", in the sense of Fripp has decided to go metal. They are just getting more metal.

Responses To The Guestbook:

Pawel Skalinski ([email protected])
Poland I was flipping through the DGM site, when the following Fripplet appeared at the bottom of the screen: "Suffer cheerfully".

RF: Well spotted. What does Pawel understand by this?

Rick Whitehurst ([email protected])
USA If Mr. Fripp seems happier playing to audiences in Japan, then he must absolutely detest playing to the audiences in Los Angeles.

House of Blues?
Monday and Tuesday Night?
starts at 9:00?
standing only? (no seats)
General admission 35.00 a ticket?

Oh well, I'll be there anyway!

RF: If Rick is in doubt, better to stay away. Otherwise, see you there, dude.

Kade ([email protected])
USA Perhaps Fripp is happier because he does not let some things go?

RF: It depends upon which things to hold tightly, and which things to let go lightly.

We hold tightly to principles & codes of conduct;
We let go of grievances & umbrage.
Then, we move on, lightly & rightly.

Terry Tungjunyatham ([email protected])
26-Aug-2000 13:02 GMT
United States of America As I work in an architectural firm, I heard lots of stories. Frank Lolyd Wright's son (who's also an architect) was invited to give a commencement speech at a university graduation ceremony. The moment he stepped in to the space he said 'I will not be present under such hideous space'. And he just left.

RF: This man has my sympathy & support.

The Bournemouth Institute of Technology & Design has, to my eyes, been constructed without any reference to principles of design. In New Haven - home to Toad's Place - the architectural school building is hideous & out of place on its street. In Pevsner (a series of guides to architecture of distinction in the UK) there is no reference to Edwin Lutyens. Nicholas Pevsner was a modernist, and his value judgements were shaped (to a considerable degree) by an ideology which excluded Lutyens.

Trey Five Winds (ET)
Sun, 27 Aug 2000 18:02:06 CDT
Subject: To Be Or Not To Be Crimson As a fan of Crimson -- even an "unconditional" fan, just to warn you ahead of time -

RF: Unconditional love is one thing, "unconditional" fandom is something else. Better to be sceptical, impartial, open, and critically loyal than to be an "unconditional fan", which is a pain in the butt.

Ted Tomanas ([email protected])
USA Speaking of "Lizard", this short phase of KC is the least documented in their history. Although the Lizard band did not tour, and Fripp has no ownership of studio outtakes (Damn!), do any private rehearsal tapes of this lineup exist? How about auditions of Bryan Ferry and Rick Kemp? I could stand one more disc from this period. And also discs that contain any of the songs listed above, although I suspect they were never played live. But I could be wrong

RF: I have the tape of rehearsals with Rick Kemp.

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes ([email protected])
Actually, I *hate* country. So yesterday I ordered a ticket for the Saturday night show at the Fillmore. I'm looking forward to this more than any concert I can remember in twenty years.

Onward, fellow cultists!

RF: Oh dear.

aa ([email protected])
20-Aug-2000 01:53 GMT There is truly no shame in being a dope

RF: Until we know that we are a dope.

Before, we were dopey. Then, we had an excuse. Now, we know that we're dopey & the situation is radically different. Before, the basement was dark. Then, a light went on. Our perception of the known universe changed at that point. Some are happy to forget; some can never go back to what they knew before.

If we're happy being dopey, we'll also be equally unhappy (this is inevitable). But accepting our dopiness, denying the light that went on in our world, doesn't honour our humanity.

Jim Crowder ([email protected])
18-Sep-2000 20:00 GMT
U.S.A. I am sure that like any good teacher, you want to help as many persons as is feasible

RF: Not quite. Not "as many persons": my interest is in the right persons, however many that might be.
And I am not a teacher: "Guitar Craft Instructor" is about all I am able to bear.

and you do not teach strictly for the money (you can't possibly be making any profit from the courses, am I right?).

RF: If there's money, I take it. If there's no money, I take that too. If there are bills, I pay them. And sometimes other people pay the bills too.

Mark Taylor ([email protected])
16-Sep-2000 15:02 GMT Moving on (from the DGM Guestbook anyway). But before I go, one last comment. I discovered KC in 1972 at the age of 16. That music turned out to be like the powerful spring on a diving board. I jumped and bounced up and down on it for a long while - years. One day, several years ago, I sprang out and away and plunged into the deep end of the pool of creative music Apart from listening, I have also grown to be a pretty decent guitar player with a fairly comprehensive harmonic vocabulary - I can grab lots of colorful chords Thank you RF. You were once a sort of god, now you are just a very, very good player.

RF: Hooray! An outbreak of maturity! Even if accompanied by exaggeration.

At the point where we drop our projections, and see the humanity of those whose humanity formerly escaped us, something real may begin.

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes ([email protected])
15-Sep-2000 16:23 GMT
Land of the Flea and Home of the Knave Meanwhile I clearly have been spending too much mental "time" on things Crimson, because last night I had One More Crimson Nightmare... Dreamed I was at the Fillmore next month, the Saturday night show (I have my ticket in my pocket right here and it clearly says No Cameras), and all of a sudden dozens of flashes went off. The band broke off what they were doing, punted the set list, and broke into a forty-five minute version of "Louie, Louie."

I awoke screaming and laughing.

I think it's time for me to go do something else for a while.

RF: Yep.

Biffy the Elephant Shrew ([email protected])
15-Sep-2000 15:37 GMT
Earthbound Robert Fripp writes in his diary:

"Do you fondle gatefold covers of your favourite prog acts in the privacy of your bedroom? Fine. The current Crimson's not for you."

Are those my only two options?

Sorry, Robert--despite your apparent desire to alienate the old-line Crimso fans, this representative of that much-maligned genus loves the new album and is looking forward to hearing the new material live. Better luck next time.

RF: Darn.

Cirrus Lear ([email protected])
10-Aug-2000 19:59 GMT
usa how about a reunion tour of Fripp,Lake,Giles,Macdonald, and Sinfield? It's definately not 30 years too late, the album still is one of the most listened to. I know that sounds like a rehashed question, but it would be more appropriate, since all of the original members of the first Crimson album never really stopped making incredible music for the public all these years. Maybe for just one night to perform live in an intimate setting, playing the whole entire 1st album and release a new LIVE 30th ANNIVERSARY version of IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING. That would make many fans happy. It's not a matter of getting a bunch of more mature and wiser musicians together and reliving old times, but perhaps bring a fresh and bold new perspective to a truly classic album, and give it even more longevity. The band is very capable of performing it even better live now, than thirty years ago as far as skill, and technology. It wouldn't take too much discipline to sort whatever differences there may be,if any.

RF: Words fail.

Grant Colburn ([email protected]) Robert Fripp wrote: "If we offer our services to music, it's not up to us to decide the outcome. If we offer ourselves to music, sometimes the answer is no. If we offer ourselves to the public, sometimes the answer is no".

Ah, but how truly ironic and confusing a life can be when music keeps saying yes, while the public at large says no (RF's) use of the word "hobby" though seems belittling in a way.

RF: There is a difference between American & English understandings of this word. Hobby in England may be half of your life. Probably, think "amateur" or "semi-pro".

A hobby is normally something you do in addition to what your basic life function or calling is. For me I'm a musician whose hobbies are reading and collecting Indian brass statues among others. Regardless of support, music is not the hobby of my life.

RF: Good luck!

Grant ([email protected]) Yet it seems to me the more I reread past basement commentary that actually Robert Fripp has probably spent his own quality time in and attempting to escape from the basement. Surely, one does not know the details of the landscape so clearly unless one has had time to study one's surroundings in detail.

RF: This is precise & correct.

So again the question is, where is he now? Has he escaped the basement?

RF: How is this a matter of concern for Grant?

Is there even complete escape?

RF: Over time, our centre of gravity can change. Then, the basement serves the proper function of a basement. Like, it's where we store the hard-drive which we access from the garden floor.

Or does the "taste" of what's beyond the basement lead one to taking outside trips from the basement for longer and longer periods of time

RF: The quick answer is yes.

Do you truly ever completely escape, never to return?

RF: Do things fall downwards?

In 1979, when I was visiting the Stavravouny (Orthodox) monastery in Cyprus with my essence brother Peter, I was struck by a painting in the courtyard. It depicted monks climbing a ladder to heaven. Angels were flying, offering support and encouragement to the holy aspirants in their ascent. Flying devils were also on hand to knock the unwary from their hold, and these unfortunates were falling into hell where a fresh team of demons were waiting.

We all live in the basement, or close enough to it, that when we find ourselves on the garden floor, it's like a miracle. The question is simply - who wishes to live on the garden floor? Some people don't. I've met some who refuse to even consider the idea: looking at their faces, it's as if a portcullis has fallen.

But if we wish to set up residence on a higher floor, this then becomes a practical question. Then, there are practical answers and specific work to be done.

where are you Mr. Fripp?

RF: What concern is that of Grant's?

George DAndrea ([email protected])
USA How can one be sure that the garden we think we reside in , is not the mushroom cellar in someone else's basement ?

RF: We only know we were in the basement when we've left it. How this happens is, experientially, utterly mysterious.

There are distinguishing characteristics & "landmarks" which we learn to recognise, primarily through acquaintance with someone who knows them.

J. D. Mack ([email protected])
18-Sep-2000 01:54 GMT "Perfection is a destination. Imperfection is the journey." - Derek Smalls, from the booklet accompanying the newly re-released "This Is Spinal Tap" DVD.

This question, of course, assumes that you've seen it. If you haven't, may I highly recommend it?

RF: KC all went to see it in Los Angeles when it opened (1984). It was and is a hoot. Adrian has even played with them -"Fat Bottomed Women" was one of the songs, I believe. In 1993 I approached Derek & Nigel Tufnell at the Virgin Upper Class check-in at Heathrow (they were flying to Los Angeles, Sylvian-Fripp were flying to Japan) and shook their hands in homage.

One of the most appalling improvs Crim ever undertook (it began a show in Tokyo in 1995) was so awful that it is referred to as "Jazz Odyssey".

Jim Lange ([email protected])
USA Would Mr. Fripp please define discipline?

RF: Wait until February 1st. 2001. Otherwise, use your initiative.

Also, are the Soundscapes a sacred place for you?

RF: Yes.

Mats ([email protected])
Sweden Well, what confuses me all the time is the DGM principle "working in the market place, without the values of the market place"

RF: What's the confusion?

and yet Robert Dickey wrote (10 jun 2000): "simple fact: if he can't control the product, he won't get paid. So simple, it bears repeating: the man won't get paid!"

RF: Mr. Dickey's post is simplistic. Please forgive me if I don't address it in detail here.

Well, if that ain't the values of the marketplace I don't know what is! Can anyone help me?

RF: That won't be easy.

One cannot just draw the lines arbitrary, whatever suits your needs.

RF: There is little that is arbitrary in my life.

Drop that principle of "values of the marketplace" then it would get some credence to it all.

RF: Actually, all possibility of credence would escape. This would be "drawing the lines arbitrary".

Now it's just bollocks.

RF: We can agree on this.

What is annoying, is King Crimsons (or mr Fripps) contradictory behaviour, regarding actually agreeing to play the HORDE festivals a couple of years ago, when everyone knew where KC stood, and everyone knew where HORDE house rules stood. And accepting this, while mr Fripp found it really hard anyway, is nothing but following "the values of the marketplace".

RF: This is impressively dopey, even for Mats.

The principle is to abide by a house rule, regardless of whether you like it or not. To do otherwise would be non-consensual. A Crimson house rule is: no photography. A Horde house rule is: "open photography". So, on a Crimson tour we ask that the Crimson house rule is honoured; on a Horde tour we honour the house rule of a Horde tour, whether I like it or not. How can this be "following the rules of the marketplace"? This is not a rule of the marketplace: it's a rule of the house. We enter the spirit of the event. Alternatively put, we get with the program.

I think that all of DGM has to redraw their map of real life, so it has more correspondence to reality, not the other way around. Trying to mould the reality according to their map, as I feel they're trying to do now.

RF: A characteristic feature of the basement is that reality appears upside down.

Mats is suggesting that daily life - Mat's "real life" - should set the standard for "reality", and that DGM should "redraw our map" and "mould" our behaviour accordingly. "Real life" (in Mat's terms) in the music industry is one of exploitation, control & violation. So, Mats is suggesting that DGM should redraw our route map and base our standard operating procedures on EG Records (for example). It is true that DGM is attempting to mould the actuality to reality. I also note that Mats view of real life is the inverse of mine.

Perhaps, time for Mats to move on?