"Paradigm Shift" is completed: bless you, Program Zalman.exe.
Alex is currently running DAT to DAT transfers of Soundscapes at the World Financial Center for John Schaeffer's radio programme on the 13th.: we were planning to give John mastered edits, but the Devil has prevented David from working through a queue of hot excitements in the SADiE. David, another Hero, offered to come in but we suggested he stay at home and recover fully. David is through it, but weak, and believes this strain came through Sister-in-Law in Scotland.
Web-visitors from abroad are probably unaware that there is a major outbreak of influenza rampant in the UK, so bad it has claimed tv news headlines.
12.12
Terror! Terror! Speaking to Toyah on the `phone from the landing library I noticed damp extending from behind a bookcase. The wall behind is wet and several shelves of books, including two precious gems on Wimborne and Cranborne, are damp and damaged. This is instant flaccidity to anyone who sustains a worthy bibliophiliacal tumescence, particularly should they be Winburnian.
14.46
Mud Island, Memphis, was a turning point for Soundscapes. The last ten minutes is "an uplifting, soaring celebration" (to quote the Unline Diaries of Ulbert Stropp).
Beast! Beast! Thus the unmitigated comment of Robert Fripp.
Announcement from this morning's meeting of a Big Two: Club Members are invited to the Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles on January 27th. to participate in the launching / presenting of "Deja VROOOM". This is open to all members on a first come - first serve basis, wherever in the world they happen to live, but numbers are limited to two hundred. The Team in California are the most available geographically but, as Discipline is global and some of the Club Members are mobile, the invitation is open to all. Please note, we are not mailing out invitation cards.
20.06
Soundscapes are now at the Bayfront Center Arena, St. Petersburg, October 14th. 1997. This is my Mother's birthday, and today she would have been 83. Now beginning as I type, the excerpt included on "Sometimes God Smiles". Where does this music come from? It is unlike anything in Soundscapes before. On the insert card is written: "Some startlingly superb playing" (probably a quote from the Unpublishable Memoirs of Albert Poop).
When Chris Murphy & I arrived at this venue, a vehicle of supportive and generous fans was waiting for us. Then, I saw a man running. Instincts honed by years of harassment in the name of innocent patronage, instincts sharp enough to impress even Norbert Fragg, fired synapses in the brain: instantaneously I knew The Running Man's intended destination. An autonomic process of survival underway, Fripp's whipcords snapped at an increasing tempo propelling him towards the artists' entrance. The Running Man followed The Fleeing Man into the building where Escaping Man hurtled upstairs, somewhere anywhere, to escape an unhealthy & intense demand for attention. (Web visitors may be sceptical as to how Fripp could know, at a glance, that interest extended towards him might be OTT. This is an interesting topic (for me), but right now it is enough to write that a survival instinct is not something I feel the need to justify).
The Running Man left a present for me. It was a musical instrument which he had handcrafted, and a very generous gift; one that I hesitated to accept. At the end of the evening a security person gave me an angry note from the irate wife of The Running Man. She suggested her husband was emotionally stressed, should never have given me the instrument, and in strong terms requested that I give it back. The instrument was entrusted to the security person, a local, who kindly undertook to return it. Then, Chris & I walked to our van where the supportive and generous fans, who had been awaiting our arrival were now awaiting our departure, and requesting autographs. They appeared disappointed when I declined, and on our leaving I felt more wretched than on our arriving.
I no longer allow myself to take on board the seeming disappointment of autograph and photograph hunters. On many occasions, this has felt like emotional blackmail. My position is clear, publicly & repeatedly declared, and straightforward: this is not part of my life as a working musician. I am no longer prepared to have my integrity compromised by absorbing the desires of others.
Gerard Talbot has called me back: we are finalising a quid pro quo arrangement between BMG (through Gerard) & Virgin (through Declan Colgan) & myself. The release of Daryl Hall's "Sacred Songs" may use "Cigarette" & "North Star" in exchange for permission to use the seven original Hall vocals for "Exposure". This instructive story of everyday life in the mainstream music business c. 1978/79 is worth telling, preferably with a bucket nearby.
22.03
Soundscapes at The House of Blues, Orlando; 15th. October, 1997.
"Music is a quality, organised in sound and in time."
