Re: ProjeKct 2 @ Palookaville, Santa Cruz, CA...

[Laurie Hatch <lahatch@dnai.com>]

>From:  Mike Biffle [SMTP:Mike.Biffle@wj.com]
>Sent:  Monday, March 23, 1998 8:58 AM
>
>     ProjecKt 2 w/Fripp, Belew and Gunn was pretty awesome friday night!

No kidding, WOOWWW.  Since Miko covered much of the gear stuff, I'll 
mostly 
just mention my general impressions. (Due to a maddening years-long series 
of 
unfortunate conflicts, this was the first time I'd heard RF live in 
literally 
decades, since early King Crimson.  So I was pretty curious, to say the 
least...)  Anyway, here was genius-boy and his wondrous state-of-the-art, 
red-twinkling toy chest. I really admire the finesse and brilliance with 
which 
he uses these tools to transform inspired string vibrations into something 
other-worldly - and doing it live, no less.  The music both fully utilizes 
and 
transcends its sources.  In my book, that's a fundamental definition of 
great 
musicianship.

(The same could equally be said of, for instance, pan-pipe and didjeridu 
virtuosos.  In other words, it ain't about the tools, it's all in how you 
use 
whatcha got.  -- 'Course, I wouldn't mind having another EDP or three, and 
maybe a couple Eventides, a Switchblade just for fun, in addition to the 
pan 
pipe and didj and...then all I'd have to do is learn to *play* the darn 
stuff...:-)


>     It's obvious that either Fripp or some slaving techie type has
>     programmed the hell out of all of his boxes! He gave his pitch
>     transposers a very heavy workout. And what a mess on the floor.

Yeah, no sign of an EZ-plug umbilicus from rack to floor pedalz.  Medusa's 
frolic.

I tried to snake in for a close look at Gunn's rack, but the 
sardine-packed 
gearheads were superglued to their hard-won tufts of turf. (Gunn's 
equipment 
list is at http://www.treygunn.com/equipment.html.)  He was playing his 
12-string Warr guitar.  What a great axe!  I'd love to try one out, never 
have. 
 Who on the list plays one?  Will you marry me?  You can keep the 
girlfriend!! 
:-)  (Digression: what'd really be cool is a fretless, although intonation 
:on 
big chords would be a mutha.  Plus, frets would make quite a difference in 
getting those bright hammered-on tones.  Although I once played a fretless 
bass 
with an add-on aluminum fingerboard shell that sounded *outrageous*.)  
Anyway, 
Gunn did some sweet contrapuntal stuff between high and low strings, the 
sound 
and execution were exceptionally clean.  He and Fripp set up rock solid 
grooves; they obviously enjoy playing off each other.  RF whipped off a 
few 
Karn-esque bass riffs here and there, which made this big-wave freak 
smile.  I 
particularly liked a tune that was built on simultaneous ascending and 
descending scales, more or less - TG doing one scale, RF the other.  At 
which 
point, somebody in the crowd yelled, "You guys are weird!"  Well, even 
Santa 
Cruz can be provincial...

>     Fripp was there early, looping away while all the gear freaks crawled
>     around the front of the stage like army ants. Nice spacey, complex,
>     intricate webs of sound. Synth as well. This went on for around a 
>half
>     hour, with the crowd looking like a gang of implantees from the
>     X-files, all out in a field waiting for the mother ship.

Ha ha, great description, Miko.  The warm-up loop was much more personal, 
spontaneous, and unpretentious than typical canned pre-concert 
mood-setters. 
 RF eased it back on after the encore, as the mother ship was lifting off.

>     PS: My wife Katie and I were able to hook up with fellow LD
>     contributor Laurie Hatch and her SO Rem! We had a great time at a
>     great show. Loop collaborations in the near future are imminent...

Yeah, ditto that.  Funny how ya can become "old friends" with people 
you've 
never actually met before...BTW, Miko turned me on to some reviews of the 
ProjeKct2 Ventura show that Frippoholics might be interested in.  Go down 
to 
"Gig Reviews":
http://elephant-talk.com/digests/et476.htm

Palookaville and SF:
http://elephant-talk.com/digests/et477.htm

One more thing, for Frisellophiles:  As if P2 wasn't enough inspiration 
for one 
night, found this used at a great little discount-discjoint before the 
concert: 
Smash and Scatteration with Vernon Reid.  Holy Cow, wish it were a double 
- 
this album is amazing!  Doesn't get any better, IMHO.  BTW, there's a 
brief 
Frisell/Reid rykodisc history at 
http://www.rykodisc.com/3/catalog/artist/150.html.  Click on the Smash and 
Scat 
icon for more album specifics.

laurie


>From jungle-prod@fdgroup.co.uk Tue Mar 24 09:22:04 1998