Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 4 Sep 1992 12:51:02 PDT
From:         David Malbuff <SPGDAM@UCCVMA.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

On Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:29:47 EDT the Bloomster said:
>
>You spoke to Cippolina?! Tell me everything! I never got to see him play, and
>bitterly regret it. Henry Kaiser once said that he never really improvised, he
>just repeated preconceived licks-- but I think Kaiser has extremely inflated
>standards for improvisation.
>

I spoke to him two or three times a week for a couple of years. Underneath my
disguise as a mild-mannered bass player in a punk rock band, I was really
EQUIPMENT MAN- roadie to the stars! Well, "stars", I dunno, but I always
thought John was great.

Kaiser is right to some degree. Cipollina had a unique style of playing, but
after repeated listens you had a pretty good idea where he was going when he
launched into a solo. I never minded though; as my buddy Bob said, "Who else
plays like that?"

John was absolutely oblivious to musical criticism. It didn't bother him; he
simply dismissed it. He played what he wanted to play, the way he wanted to
play it, and if you didn't like it, fine. There was always another job coming
up. When I humped gear for him, he was working in three bands and always
rehearsing with one or two others.

I have been meaning for a while to post a tribute to JC here on allmusic,
but I haven't had sufficient time (stuff like this I do off the cuff, can't
you tell). He passed away a couple of years ago, you know. He would have
been 49 this past August. Maybe I'll do it in time for his 50th birthday,
a year from now.

You can hear John's influence on the first Dire Straits album. When they
came to town Knopfler told everyone how much he admired his playing.

He played lap-steel guitar, too; he had it mounted on a stand and he played
it standing up. One band he was in featured Buddy Cage on pedal-steel; they
got into some pretty hair-raising duets.

John never used flatpicks; he used thumb and finger picks. Look closely at
the picture on the back of their first (black) album, and you'll see.

I can't believe I didn't include his solo on "Pride of Man" in my solo list
yesterday. That's the archetypal Cipollina solo. Again, Kaiser's remark is
basically true. John had certain trademark riffs he always came back to, and
his solos were generally excursions from trademark A to B to C and back again.
But they were HIS cliches. :-)

>
>He published his songs on _Just for Love_ under the name "Jesse Oris Ferrow."
>He also claimed to be the Chester Powers that wrote "Get Together."

I think he did write "Get Together", but his real name was Jim Murray.

>
>And I say again, if you haven't heard the two tunes from the _Revolution_
>soundtrack, you're missing something-- they're as good as anything on that
>first album.

You mentioned _Maximum Darkness_, which I have and cherish; how do the
versions compare IYO?

>
>Michelle Shocked does an altered version of "Soldier's Joy" on _Arkansas
>Traveller_, and she says that the original meaning of the term was morphine,
>which was the least unpleasant treatment they had for wounded soldiers in the
>old days.
>

Makes sense. That does it; I'm getting that album. I keep hearing good things
about it. I thought she was very overbearing when she first came out; perhaps
I owe her another listen.

>
>Brian Wilson recorded a second solo album last year and delivered it to Warner
>Bros, who declared that it wasn't good enough and declined to release it.
>Apparently Eugene Landy wrote it all.

I liked the 1989 album. Did anyone else?

David
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