Re: Fripp news

[Chaz Worm <chaz@earthwormandfire.com>]

I must admit out its a shame losing Robert Fripp to the looping community. 
 But honestly, I thought of all Led Zeppelin's members, Jimmy Page would 
be most apt to experiment with looping.  Not Robert Fripp!?!"

Chaz Worm - Electric Light Opry
Former lead singer, bass and banjo for punkgrass supergroup Earth, Worm, 
&, Fire

On Sep 7, 2012, at 10:32 AM, Philip Conway <Philip.Conway@bristol.ac.uk> 
wrote:

> Ah, the perils of (mis)communication!  No worries.
> 
> 
> --On 07 September 2012 09:45 -0400 Douglas Baldwin 
> <coyotelk@optonline.net> wrote:
> 
>> Well said, Philip - My apologies for incorrectly implying that you
>> implied that... & etc.
>> I love the term "rentierism."
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip Conway"
>> <Philip.Conway@bristol.ac.uk>
>> To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
>> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 9:26 AM
>> Subject: Re: Fripp news
>> 
>> 
>>> Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that *Fripp's* 'retirement' was a purely
>>> materialistic decision but that this is the nature of the music 
>>> industry
>>> as a whole -- obsessed with legality and ownership and neglectful of
>>> creativity.
>>> 
>>> The 'posh offices', etc. was referring to the turn that the whole
>>> industry  has taken towards rentierism.  I didn't mean to imply that
>>> Fripp has any  of these things.  To me he just seems to be defending 
>>> his
>>> artistic and  commercial legacy against this kind of predation.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Philip.
>>> 
>>> --On 07 September 2012 08:43 -0400 Douglas Baldwin
>>> <coyotelk@optonline.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Knowing the Frippster just a teensy tiny bit (via Guitar Craft and a 
>>>> few
>>>> other brief exchanges), I feel compelled to comment on the many 
>>>> comments
>>>> given about his "retirement." First, note Robert's online diary:
>>>> http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm . Robert is a great writer, but he
>>>> often uses his own code to express himself. Regular reading of his 
>>>> diary
>>>> reveals this code rather clearly, and gives excellent insight to his
>>>> day-to-day life: his struggles with the music business, pictures of 
>>>> his
>>>> office and fellow workers, his lovely wife Toyah, and perhaps most
>>>> relevantly, his thoughts about retirement.
>>>>    Philip wrote (and several other posters said or implied):
>>>> 
>>>>> "I understood that as he is becoming his own management to keep
>>>>> following  up legal rights to his music of the past. Reminds me of 
>>>>> the
>>>>> tendency among  record labels to stop seeking out new great music in
>>>>> favor of focusing on  dealing with the legal rights to their back
>>>>> catalogue."
>>>>> 
>>>>> Economists call this rent, or rentierism.  The extraction of value 
>>>>> not
>>>>> by  producing anything new but by squeezing what has already been
>>>>> produced.  Actually creating new stuff entails risks and overheads;
>>>>> extracting rents  just requires a small army of lawyers and some posh
>>>>> offices.  That's 21st  Century capitalism for you - all gain, no 
>>>>> risk!
>>>> 
>>>> Philip's comment implies a stinky heartless materialism. Robert 
>>>> doesn't
>>>> seem to be very interested in making money through his back catalog 
>>>> per
>>>> se. What he wants is proper control of the Crimson/Fripp catalog so it
>>>> doesn't get abused by the fat grubs of 21st century music biz. He 
>>>> would
>>>> also like to distribute income properly to his fellow musicians, many 
>>>> of
>>>> whom do not have the background in real estate that he does, and so do
>>>> not have much in the way of a cushioning income to soften the blows of
>>>> the business. Robert certainly has no posh offices nor army of lawers;
>>>> the DGM offices are on a rural side street adjacent to the village
>>>> butcher, and Bobby often bunks down on the floor in a sleeping bag 
>>>> when
>>>> work demands it. The staff consists of two or three people.
>>>> 
>>>> Almost everyone who commented on the DPRP article was blindsided by
>>>> DPRP's stupidly misleading and sensationalistic headline: "Robert 
>>>> Fripp
>>>> Quit Music." That's poor English, for starters. What Robert has given 
>>>> up
>>>> on is his role as a front-line, headlining, touring-in-poor-conditions
>>>> performer and recorder of music that demands tour support. Robert is 
>>>> so
>>>> plugged into music that it drips in puddles around his feet. Music 
>>>> flits
>>>> around his rounded head like moths 'round a light. Almost every day he
>>>> does things with his fingers, heart, and ears (and what's between 
>>>> them)
>>>> than most of us could wish for. He's just sick of the crappy business
>>>> surrounding the public performance and distribution of music.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
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