Bredonborough.
A busy day.
This morning various business exchanges, moving stuff & an e-letter to the GC Team. From the letter to the GC Team --
dear team,
many thanks for your input, comments & suggestions. these have all been valuable & useful in clarifying my thinking.
yesterday morning i visited the (possible GC House) intending to declare my interest in the property, while trusting that i would recognise what was appropriate in the moment: the place is haunted, it seems, and several people (including the neighbour) wonder what the banging is at 02.00 am. the New York Room lives! i found that i let go of the idea & returned home, to find that my offer on another property in town (not suitable for GC) had been accepted.
nothing is lost & i have a better sense of what is involved. this is what i see...
1. a small>medium house for L5 and above:
mature characters able to work from their own initiative;
R&D;
individual work;
developing small groups (eg the CGT, BT, Zum of the future);
repertoire;
excercises;
special projects.
time frame: short>medium>long term.
2. a medium-size house for L4 and above: i.e. the presence/visiting of mentors
for day-to-day supervision.
time frame: short>medium.
3. any interest payments on a property acquired by RF to be met by RF;
outgoings & rental to be met by GC/students.
ie it is not the responsibility of RF to maintain the running of a GC property;
it is not the responsibility of GC to pay interest on the acquisition of an RF property.
nb were a GC body, or consortium, to acquire a property in its own name, other options open.
4. the acquisition of a small house is possible, perhaps within 2-3 years. it may be that The Annexe (small) becomes available for a L5 house within that time, if it's no longer needed in its present function or as a DGM office. should a neighbouring property appear, this becomes significant.
5. the matter of families: this requires a very large property & community, where there is right proportion between children & adults and support with childcare. D has experience with this at claymont; B & H also have experience.
i don't have any sense of a GC venture on the scale of sherborne or claymont at this time, and in the long term it is unlikely to be in england. the prime alternative is essentially what we have now: informal regional groupings of Crafty families.
6. my own work, particularly where we live, is directed increasingly towards L5 and above & increasingly less with beginners. as mentors develop, they address the needs of the less experienced. large courses of mixed experience is increasingly the place where i am available to new Crafties, and i am prepared to travel to these. otherwise, bredonborough is becoming the geographical focus of my life & increasingly will be.
and then the 'phone goes, and everything changes.
David & Indeg visited Bredonborough. They are with their family in Lampeter, North Wales, for half-term holidays & drove across via Hereford for lunch & tea.
DGM HQ will probably be moving location in a year or so, and the location will follow wherever David, Indeg & their four children decide to live. This is a decision primarily governed by education & schools. Indeg has not visited Bredonborough before and, if the world were perfect, DGM HQ would be within easy reach of World HQ. More accurately, if the world were perfect DGM HQ will be in the right place and, if I'm lucky, it'll also be where we live. Meanwhile, I trust the process.
David mentioned a recent conversation with KC's agent. The agent seemed surprised that I am playing (most likely) the Royal Albert Hall with G3 and not with King Crimson: he can book us there, after all. It doesn't seem to compute that KC are not playing the RAH because I actively oppose KC playing the RAH. It's doesn't figure in my thinking that, merely because we can play a particular venue, there is any particular reason for us to do so.
The RAH is an awful gig for a rock group. Because rock groups play there doesn't mean the sound is good: the sound is appalling. But the RAH is an event, just not a musical event (for a a rock group). The db level is maxed at 97, restricting dynamics, and the space is echoic. It's too big for Crimson, and too small for Crimson, but for Soundscapes it's fine.
One of the joys of being in support is that I accept the choice of venues, by the headliner, as given. It's their choice & I support it, knowing that Soundscapes work in just about any acoustic space.
Now off to Brummytown with T for a show: Footloose. The producer is Tris Baker, T's producer for Calamity Jane.
"Suffer cheerfully."
