Robert Fripp's Diary

Friday 09 June 2006

Bredonborough Basement time is history

09.12
Bredonborough.

Basement time is history acting on us.
Ordinary time is awareness of time-flow.
Conscious time is knowing a present moment, and its extent.
Creative time is the future reaching back, pulling us towards it.

A wonderful, sunny English morning…

About-To-Be-Becoming Tasty Pears…

Back Door I…

Back Door II…

13.40 A morning builder’s meeting with Mr. Big Cheese of Big Cheese Developments. Then, to e-frenzying.

A few words on Soundscapes have been requested from our Estonian Churchscapes promoter, to alert an innocent Estonian public to the dangers of bleeping & droning…

From The Guitarists School

Soundscape performances, typically, visit several moods and areas of reflection, consideration and personal interest. The performances are part of an ongoing series, serving the aim of finding ways in which the creative intelligence may enter into the act of music , for both musician and audience.

Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence.

Alternatively, music is a quality organised in sound and in time. The quality is ungovernable, the forms of organisation mainly governed by the cultures and societies in which the music appears. The qualitative dimension of Music is an aspect of Creative Intelligence with which, through which, and to which, we may connect and be interconnected. This should not be difficult, as we are already connected. So why is it so hard?

The quantitative dimension of performance, for the professional player, is mediated by commerce and set within the commercial culture. Better, if possible, that performance take place outside that culture. Otherwise, better that performers and audiences drop the demands, expectations and values that accompany the impulses of commerce.

This series is part of a continuing exploration into, firstly, how one might be a musician, professional musician and human being simultaneously; secondly, how music might enter our sorry world, despite all our efforts (mostly unintentional) to keep it out.

Performance is utterly impersonal, yet intimate; and playing music always a privilege.

May we trust the inexpressible benevolence of the Creative Impulse.

Robert Fripp;
Friday 9th. June, 2006
Bredonborough, Worcestershire.

14.28 In response to an enquiry from a Spanish promoter, forwarded by The Sidney Smith…

it is increasingly difficult for Soundscapes to take place within commercial events, which is why currently i am playing in churches & cathedrals in the UK, and estonia in august.

partly, this is the actual space in which the performance takes place. partly, it is the expectations of performance that accompany conventional events - photography, recording, interesting visuals, the artist being entertaining, etc.

neither am i interested in getting in a van and driving around. i know spain, i have driven long distances to performances within spain, and i shall not do so again. being in one place for several days, in the same or different venues, is of greater interest.

at this point, your interest in me has probably come to an end. however, if you have any comments, here i am.

A similar response, to an enquiry for Soundscapes in Instanbul, with this added paragraph…

there is an additional problem: KC being a legendary act in many countries where it never worked, there is a large raft of expectations, excitement, etc., that is quite misplaced for either the person i am, or soundscapes as music.

Many promoters express an interest in KC/RF, often with quite specific offers. Few reply to my responses.

14.38 The Classic Rock Productions’ release King Crimson: Inside The Music 1972-1975, available very recently on Amazon US is no longer available, it seems…

I wonder if this is anything to do with the recent action of our US attorney.

The CRP release, which violates established licensing requirements and is therefore illegal, was available last year in the UK by mail order from Classic Rock Direct. I know, because my copy came from them. And I have been wondering why Classic Rock Direct was able to sell me a copy, when the DVD was not properly licensed (and following our threat of legal action against Pinnacle, the CRP distributor, was withdrawn from distribution to normal shop outlets).

Classic Rock Direct was recently renamed Warwick Media Distribution...

I wonder why CRD has changed its name. And King Crimson: Inside The Music 1972-1975 is not available for mail order sale in the UK from this website. And I wonder why this is not available for sale online within the UK when it was available for sale through Amazon in the US (until last week).

Amazon in Canada also had this for sale, until very recently but it is now Out of Print--Limited Availability. The release is declared an import. I am becoming confused. If the release is not properly licensed, and not released in shops within the UK because of that, and not available for UK mail order, who might be responsible for exporting the DVD to Canada for online sales?

Also in my morning’s inbox is an e-letter from our Japanese attorney, informing me that the release is no longer available from Amazon in Japan…

Amazon.jp also declares the DVD an import. I am now even more confused. How could an illegal release be exported from the UK for sale on other continents? Who is responsible for this?

15.12 Recently, on the DGM Live guestbook…

Recording Live Performances posted by jfrancis on June 01, 2006

JF: And, as much as I agree with and echo Robert’s spiritual aim vis a vis Music, I feel compelled to point out that the majority of the music-listening population of the planet does not share such an aim.

RF: Well, I’m not able to speak for the majority of the music-listening population of the planet, but I am authorized to speak for myself, so…

That is not my concern.

JF: It is possible to love to listen to music without any spiritual overtones
whatsoever; lots of people do exactly that.

RF: Agreed (assuming we share an understanding of what spiritual overtones might be). And I am often one of them.

JF: And a good live performance, captured in a recording, can be very good music to listen to.

RF: Agreed.

JF: So I must disagree with this assertion that recording live performances is a bad idea, an excercize in futility or any of that.

RF: This is a larger question, one which I have addressed at length elsewhere on many occasions.

Essentially, the recording of a live performance may present very good listening, but it is not the event; neither is it the same as being at the event. And (for me there is no doubt that) the act of recording the performance will itself have changed both the performance and the event, in subtle (an unsubtle) ways.

For example, in live performance the player addresses that particular audience, in that particular place, at that particular time. When recording a live show, one also addresses that audience, in that place, in that time, but also the audience extended in time and outside that place. In a practical sense, one speaks past the audience in the room to the audience they might become, the audience that might appear later, and to different listening cultures.

JF. After all, how is a recording of a live performance any different than a recording made in a studio, to the person who simply enjoys listening to music?!

RF: Firstly, which person?

Secondly, one is a love letter, the other a hot date. My Wife’s notes & letters to me are a joy, but I would rather take her in my arms. Fortunately, I have access to both, and each supports the other. But, I do not confuse the two distinct qualities of joy on offer.

Thirdly, Mr. Francis seems not to take into account the effect of an audience; and how its presence, and lack of it, entirely changes the nature of a musical event.

18.36 A wonderful, sunny English afternoon & early evening.

Early Afternoon…