Re: More Brook/Gasparyan.

["Alan Imberg" <alan_i@sprynet.com>]

In defense of Michael Brook (I doubt he really needs it), he tours about
once a decade. Clearly, his talents are more suited for the studio, judging
by the quality of his solo and collaborative recordings. I wasn't entirely
disappointed in the San Francisco performance but he did prepare the
audience for what he anticipated as performance shortcomings and there was,
indeed, shortcomings in the presentation. I agree with Travis' comment. To
paraphrase the mighty Frank Zappa: "Shut up and play guitar!"

I'm curious. Is there anyone on this list that saw the Brook/Gasparyan show
at the Womad Festival in Seattle? That was the show prior to the SF show 
and
Brook claimed it the be a great show.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Stagner <dave@spnz.org>
To: <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 4:59 PM
Subject: Re: More Brook/Gasparyan.


>
>
> Travis Hartnett wrote:
> >
> > This is one of my pet peeves--onstage apologies for poor
preparedness/lack
> > of confidence/new material/being drunk/etc.  As far as I'm concerned,
you're
> > announcing that you're about to suck.  If you're sucking, the audience
will
> > recognize it all by itself.  Many times, they won't, and perhaps you're
not
> > sucking.  I'd advocate taking all the credit for happy mistakes and
ignoring
> > most unhappy mistakes.  Anything short of an amplifier bursting into
flames
> > or howling mic feedback should pass without comment from the performer.
>
> Which reminds me of a loopy performance... some years ago, i saw Steve
> Tibbetts perform in Cedar Rapids.  Although the performance was
> outstanding (indeed, astonishing), the sound was marred by a serious hum
> problem with his electric guitar rig.  They worked around it by
> concentrating on acoustic material, but he obviously wanted to let it
> rip.  After one bout with chasing hum between songs, he said "There's a
> ghost in the machine".  About a minute into the next song, one of the
> speaker towers (about the size of a coffin) leaned forward and fell,
> achingly slowly, to the floor three feet below, landing with the
> tremendous *THUD* of something very broad and heavy landing square on
> the floor at speed.
>
> Tibbetts and Anderson didn't say a word.  They didn't even break
> stride.  They finished the song, then got some help picking the speaker
> up, and finished the set.
>
> THAT is professionalism.
>
> -dave
>