It is always a bonus for the Travelling Gigster to have a hotel room where it's possible to sit without revulsion or dismay (characteristics which describe, if not define, club dressing rooms on at least three continents).
Chapter Two is describing the invention of English / British "classical" music at the turn of the last century. This is very much the notion of "Englishness" familiar to, for example, visiting Americans. And it continues to carry a very powerful emotional charge.
A strong sense of English place, and time, accompanies me on my travels. Yesterday, over coffee with Bill Rieflin, I mentioned to him that the world I was born into has utterly gone. My maternal Grandmother, Gladys Louise Green, and who died at the age of 95 in the early 1980s, remembered the being given the day off from school to celebrate the relief of Mafeking (during the Boer War). This news had taken six weeks to reach England.
We are no longer surprised that the world of old codgers changes during their lifetimes (although the acceptance of this is itself very recent). But for a man of 52 to have been born into a disappeared world is a shock (for the man of 52!) and a sign of the increasing tempo of the increasing tempo of acceleration.
11.47 Borders Cafe, 3rd. Ave. & Morrsion SW.
Within five minutes of the hotel, and unlikely to threaten a return of yesterday's tumescence at Powell's. I have returned here for a latte and get this diary into shape for e-mailing to DGM World Central.
On my first visit, to inspect the books, I found Eric Tamm's bio of RF on the rock music shelves. This has been absent from bookshops for several years. My Sister went to Eric's instore at an Emeryville bookshop when his bio was first released. Perhaps this is a second printing? If so, a pity that Eric has not updated this from 1990. If not, a pity that this survivor has made it to the shelves. The book was written against my direct request: Eric's considerable talents would have been better directed elsewhere. As it is, the book is something of a non-book. This isn't a reflection on Eric: it's a reflection on the subject. But there is one superb chapter, one which (almost) justifies the publication. This is the chapter on Eric's experience of a Guitar Craft course. As such, the writing is direct and informed by Eric's own experience, rather than by his thinking.
Eric's GC chapter feels authentic, and carries the authority of a person describing the place in which they live (or lived). This chapter convinces me. It accurately reflects the flavour of Guitar Craft at that particular time, in that particular place.
The Williamette weekly freebie, here in Borders' cafe, has a blurb on P4: "Apparently unaware of the monetary rewards of nostalgia, Robert Fripp continues to shun the King Crimson moniker, though he's once again collaborating with Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Trey Gunn in various side `ProjeKcts'. In ProjeKct four, prog-rock's guitar progenitor Fripp trades riffs with Gunn and bassist Levin, while Pat Masteletto (sic) propels the rhythms with drums (RM)".
"If we can't play away from the instrument, we can't play with the instrument."
