beyond:what, or whom? re-sent: faulty slip.net

[Texture444@aol.com]

dear folks,
to begin: please pardon the appearance, here, of any over-simplistic
descension into dime-store philosophy.
but:
anyway:
in my too-limited dialogue w/the creative musical community, particularly
w/the phylum of a)guitarists & b)loopists, i continue to strive to 
encourage
*all of us* to bypass (or, even: go beyond) what bryan helm pithily 
describes
as a >>battle of the bands mentality<<.
whatever's currently-considered-to-be-'great art', systems-thinking &
methods, fame & notoriety, ideological backdrops, the fade-to-black icons 
of
popular culture: these things come & go, enter & vanish, shift &
metamorphosize into: what?
 (i mean, cripes, one day yer life-as-you-know-it goes, na?!), so. even the
subtlest & most mesmerising of gauzy worldly veils conceals something.
imho (& in my own experience), music- at its essence- formlessly-
(!formlessly!: ephemerally: unfixedly)- embodies human potential for
transformative experience, for solace & psycho-spiritual delineation on 
this
fascinating, fleet & stunning earthly plane.
in such light, it's possible for one to consider one's attempts @ >>going
beyond fripp<< as something other than merely a more "intellectual" version
of the "faster-louder-higher" or >>battle of the bands<< syndromes; it's
possible to transform this "negative" energy of (oftimes, contained)
competition into a vital force with which to fuel one's abilities to 
receive
& transmit soundwaves that benefit oneself & one's listeners: broadening 
the
bandwidth, allowing the fragile, fracturing shell of ego-centrism to meld
gracefully w/the entire remaining pantheon of innumerable internal
beings/symbols, & step down: at least, for a minute: from its 
surreptitiously
usurped throne.
what was i talking about? oh yeah: fripp, or whomever, as symbol: as
benchmark.
is it "wrong" to emulate (thereby, learning from) yer heroes? methinks, 
no!,
not at all: but it can be extremely self-deluding/unhealthy to continuously
ape their actions to the degree that music's transformative potential is
*obviated*, is temporarily lost to you: serving witness to pop-culture's
propensity for the denial of the most basic kind of self-realisation: &
exhibiting an unfortunate lack of both compassion & respect for yer own
evolution and, ultimately, that of yer hero's, to boot.
as loopists, maybe we're presented w/a different slant on music, via these
unique (but, still-infantile!) set of tools: the loop like a mirror, the
development of the act of reflection being always "in potens", the group of
accompanying musicians: our own internal orchestras of symbols, and 
further:
driven towards ritual ecstacy both uniquely personal &, at once, communal 
in
nature: "see the artist play w/her just-discovered-self, ma!": et cetera.
so:
for me, 2 focal questions slither their snaky way into view:
what seems more critical to me:
queries for a more personal perusal:
can we get beyond our *own* limitations in this chosen medium? even those
limitations that seem fenced & barriered by what we (possibly: mistakenly)
assume to be our heroes boundaries?
can we aspire to something of more lasting value than feeding the harsh
fecundity of a two-headed, two-dimensional societal beast with it's 
continual
this-vs.-thatting?
anyway.
well.
sorry if i blathered: i do that, now & again: i mean no harm.
i promise i'll post w/something more concrete, sometime.
best to all,
david torn