Re: Is it "Live" or "Memorex"

["Jimmy Fowler" <jimfowler@prodigy.net>]

"AS I do think Spooky creates something out of a nothing per se but more in
the sense that he is articulating that which we have yet to perhaps observe
& where its drawn out of a something which has always been there for anyone
to observe."

i think this argument creates a very slippery slope in that one could 
easily
walk this ideal into the realm of absurdity.  i mean, that's like reading a
book and then talking about something that may or may not have been
elucidated...and then calling it your own.  sorry, i can't get with that
idea...not because i want to get down on spooky, but it's an ideal that i
can't rationalize.

"I dont really believe anymore that a musician ever starts with a blank 
page
in as much as they articulate things which are already present and 
available
to all of us."

in this case, can one ever take credit for writing a song?  coming up with 
a
"new idea"?  once again, that darn slippery slope...

"i think yet again, these sentiments are in turn folks maybe reflecting 
more
of their own expectations and placing their own demands on a performance &
performer & that aint got anthing to do with any music we could articulate,
hear, like dislike know or avoid"

of course...i don't think there's a universal in this case.  i don't think
you have an option other than to apply your personal aesthetic.  who's to
say "dj spooky is wrong"?  certainly not me.  otherwise, there is no "like"
or "dislike".  how is it that one decides what lp they are going to buy?
it's what they look for in the music.  each artist/musician/etc. is at
liberty to do whatever they please.  as a member of the buying public, i'm
going to take the liberty to discuss it within the confines of groups like
this.  am i unjustified?  if so, we need to go about firing every art 
critic
in the world.

"but it's not quite accurate to say he only reassembles others' sounds."

i sit corrected.  for argument's sake, let's assume that i'm talking
strictly about his sample-based music...cut and paste stuff...not his own.

"how much of what you play on your instrument is really ~yours~ and not 
some
rehash of something else you heard?"

i don't think anybody can escape their influences, at least to some degree.
does what i listen to come out in my own music?  absolutely.  is it
intentional?  not really.  i never set out to mimic what i've heard in an
overt way.

"that's exactly what coltrane did for many of his songs when he was getting
established. many of *his* songs were patterned after the jazz standards of
the day"

patterned, yes...but just copies?  not really.  i think something like this
probably has a bit to do with the harmony involved.  trane may have liked
the way certain chords moved to other chords.  that's like saying "sorry
dude, can't use bricks to build your house...i've already done that".
things like chord progressions, as far as i see it, come across more as
formats.  like the blues format...been done a trillion times.  it's a
platform.  it can be incidental.  "moment's notice" has a lot of ii-V's 
that
move in half steps...and this can be found in oodles of tunes.  same thing
as a I chord turning into a ii.

this is getting fun.  i'm finding all kinds of holes in my own theories...

-jim