Robert Fripp's Diary

Hotel Acceptable Tokyo Nine oclock

Hotel Acceptable, Tokyo.

Nine o'clock arrives very, very early at 09.00. E-flurrying & then to new reading for the morning: Peter Vansittart's In Memory Of England: A Novelist's View Of History (John Murray 1998) acquired recently from a second-hand bookshop in Liverpool, close to Toyah's theatre.

Now, dribbling gently.

12.25

If we adopt the strategy - don't do the same thing twice - the second time we'll be doing the same thing. Another approach might be --

23.43

Tonight's performance was the first of three evenings in the same hall, the first two of which are being filmed for satellite tv & DVD. When cameras appear, the show is threatened.

Tonight's performance felt very much a first night, with remarkable new Clams Crimsonique. Also, a relaxed and open approach to getting out of them. Suddenly - disaster! de-railed!
? ? ? ? ? ?then, why not?
? ? ? ? ? ?then, waiting until an opening appears;
? ? ? ? ? ?then, moving towards the opening.

Some technical problems, but that is always the case. The audience were mostly dark, set well back from the front of stage. The band were also set well back from the front of stage, in the opposite direction. The outcome: onstage alienation. But some of show was very good, while some was very strange. We marked down four pieces as quite unacceptable for tv/DVD.

A typical Japanese audience for Crim: mostly quiet & respectful until the end, then enthusiasm.

Ade has abandoned in-ear monitoring.

Now, to something different -- visiting American Manager Charlie Hewitt recently floated the idea of a South American tour. This was something that we considered two years ago, with calls being made to promoters from The Agency in New York. As regularly happens, King Crimson performances were subsequently announced in territories we have not only never been to, but have no current plans to visit.

Back in England for a week, between the USD & Japan, I made a call to an informed chum who brought me up to speed on the current situation for touring Latin America. The political situation in various countries apart, finance is presently contingent upon shows being filmed for television, in addition to sponsorship by beer and/or cigarette firms, and/or Coca Cola and (Charlie mentioned, from a deal he has recently concluded) ice cream. I don't see King Crimson standing under a large placard or poster promoting beer or cigarettes. Ice cream I might consider, but only if large amounts were made freely available backstage; Ade might be happy to get his classic Coke on ice as part of a sponsorship deal. But sponsorship as a principle - not.

So, before leaving the venue, I mentioned to Charlie that KC was not likely to be heading south anytime soon.

This is an example of the many practical concerns and details that are burning issues for me which the other Crims accept, shrug off, or are prepared to endure. Conventionally, the Ten Commandments for The Happy Gigster are these --

I would replace these with two principles --

Offer performance where necessary conditions are honoured. Be true to your calling.

On these two hang all the law and the profits. These two principles, stated negatively and presented as a working maxim for Crimson tour management when lining up the logistics of a tour, is this --

the show does not have to go on, where the quality of the performance is compromised.

This makes me a difficult character to work with professionally, in addition to the numerous personal failings commented upon by former Crimson members, and online fans whose consumer rights have been violated. So, this is a formal acknowledgement that the life of a working player is no longer right for me. Alternatively, I am no longer the right person to be a working player.

This is now official: I am in the wrong line of work.

Back in the hotel & a call to the Luvvie, whose news is that she has been asked to appear in I'm A Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here. The programme is being filmed in Australia during late April & early May.

Now, very tired.