09.22
Motel Modesto, Yugville-On-Motorway, Los Angeles-ish, California.
Habit = habitual;
Habit + presence = skill;
Habit + presence + attention = craft.
09.43 Morning View I…
Director Bill is on the other side of an interlinking door between our rooms, sharing with Brian, He-Who-Makes-Monsters-In-His-Spare-Time. The roar of traffic is constant, although this room is at right angles to the large boulevard on which Motel Modesto sits.
For current Happy Gigster life, I have accepted the necessity of carrying external supports for the personal life, such as i-Pod & noise-cancellators. This is a move I resisted for many years. Sitting in a room with the above view, and complementary coffee from the El Modesto Banqueting Chamber, this makes my morning here acceptable. Orchestral Purcell & (the conservative philosopher) Roger Scruton’s Gentle Regrets is transforming a grey day’s view over stairs & parking lot. Free hi-speed access allows me to deal with an inbox of (at last count) 237, visit various sites of determining & powerful interest; a mobile ‘phone enables me to speak to friends & family; my guitar is close at hand; the tv is cable-connected & re-runs are programmes that I actually like. So, life-on-the-road is very much better, in its outer aspects, than KC life-on-the-road 35 years ago.
11.20 From this morning’s e-frenzy…
One… of the creative forces behind the set design (at the Tuning The Air performances in Seattle) brought her father to the gig on Monday. He is visiting from Mexico. Speaks rudimentary English. Last evening I visited them socially and we were talking as best we were able, with H and D interpreting when necessary. I noticed his copy of the program sitting on the table, with little notes next to song titles, and he told me what his impressions had been… He just had a little star next to Eye of the Needle. When I asked him what it meant, he replied in English, “This one is a hymn.”
23.15 Slow Music’s Lobby Call was 17.00 for a drive to the Largo I…
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Largo Dressing Room I...
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Club I…
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Observation: this early-evening, in conversation over coffee with pals before soundcheck, I noticed Robert looking out of Fripp’s eyes.
This later-evening: two differentish sets. Possibly the second was the strongest. Perhaps any first set is, in part, a negotiation of the listening space?
"Music is a quality, organised in sound and in time."
