Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Thu, 20 Aug 1992 09:35:53 EDT
From:         "Michael H. Bloom" <MHB@MITVMA.BITNET>
Subject:      The Fabulous Sequel

Hi folks, I'm back from two weeks in Java and Bali, and I've recovered enough
from jet lag to comment on the easier threads-- I'll have to get back to you
on the "how to learn to improvise" topic after I digest some of the excellent
commentary that's gone down already, but which I think misses the crux of it,
which is that it's a social skill and has to be learned in company-- but as I
say, I need more sleep before I can defend this notion. Herewith, a dose of
my usual blather:

From:         Russ Gelinas <R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU>
Subject:      ringo

>     Re. Marco's comments on Ringo's time: I understand the reason the Beatles
> went with Ringo in the first place was that he was the only drummer in
> Liverpool who could keep time.  Not the greatest technique, but it worked
> for the B's, and I still like to listen to his work.  I know Drummer thinks
> Ringo is a meta-god....surpassed only by Keith Moon.....and Neil Peart....

The way I remember it, when the Beatles did their stint in Hamburg, they had to
get a real adrenaline rush happening to connect with that audience. Pete Best
didn't have the energy level for it. Ringo did. They called it "making show."
Keith Moon was brilliant at it; I think he was a very important drummer. Which
is not to say I would have wanted to work with him :-)

From:         Mike McGuire <MIKEM@UCSFHC.BITNET>
Subject:      RE: Sophie B. Hawkins

> That's the one Carol babe.  I could of sworn she gave you credit for that
> one on the cd!  She said you influenced her to do the nude photo on the
> rock's on ht einside cover.

I haven't seen the photo yet, but it sounds an awful lot like the back cover
of one of Joni Mitchell's albums, the one before _Court and Spark_, the title
of which escapes me at the moment, dammit. Great Canadian singer/songwriters
think alike?

From:         Russ Gelinas <R_GELINAS@UNHH.UNH.EDU>
Subject:      fleck slide

>     Caught Bela Fleck et. al. on the tube recently, I gotta catch them live!
> Fleck played *slide banjo*!  Never heard (or thought) of that before.  Sounded
> like a muted dobro, very nice.  UFO Tofu is my next purchase.

That's gotta be one mutant sound. Banjos don't have a lot of sustain-- one of
the functions of the drumhead is to damp the vibrations coming down from the
bridge-- so how can you get that lingering tone that gives slide guitar its
poignancy? I can see I'm gonna have to listen to this.

Just before I left I saw Little Feat on Austin City Limits or something. I was
struck once again by how totally useless Craig Fuller was, and it occurred to
me, they should have invited Bonnie Raitt to join!

From:         "Leonard Watkins" <ISTS024@UABDPO.BITNET>
Subject:      Leonard's questions

> what two musicians (past or present) would you like have had to have the
> opportunity to see/hear perform/jam together.

Actually one of the games I used to play with my friends was to put together
imaginary bands, kinda like rotisserie baseball except the criteria could get
quite peculiar. One of my favorites was an ensemble of Robert Fripp, Anthony
Braxton, Janik Top (bass & electric cello for Magma) and Jerome Cooper-- all
intense hyperintellectuals with glasses and phenomenal technique. What a band!
In practice it would probably need a stronger drummer.

> and guitar oriented i believe duanne & srv share the same passion & energy

I never got that enthralled by SRV. I admit he does a good Hendrix cover, but
it's clearly a cover. But I haven't really been impressed with any new blues
players since Albert Collins. I do wish Duane was still around. That new live
Allman Brothers set is a nice piece of nostalgia, and has one really good jam.

> do you believe the use of drugs enchance or detract from one's musical
> ability. Musician mag had an article on this subject asking the artists
> the same question i expected hypocritical answers like just say no, but
> instead almost every one said pot enchanced their ability and their
> imagination was "less-restricted" what do you think. Coul Jimi have
> done it straight.....Jimi could have done it with his hands tied IMHO
> They all said cocaine was a definte detraction plus most other drugs

This is a question you can't properly give a pat answer to, as it depends on
every individual player/user's personal chemistry and relations with his muse.
The best you can do is describe tendencies, and even to do that, you should
certainly distinguish between the various substances and their usual effects
on music, which is generally pretty easy to do:

Alcohol: drug of choice for many, due to its anaesthetic (numbing) effect,
lowering of inhibitions, and ease of application :-) You hear it in a lot of
emotional musics, like blues, where it fuels the flame of anguish without
letting the performer be consumed by it, and similarly it was important in
the '70s evolution of metal, for dulling the pain of high end headbanging.
(The heaviest bands used hypnotic sedatives like ludes or mandies instead--
same psychopharmacological effect, in greater degree.) The rhythms in alcohol
music are generally unsubtle, although they can be extremely hearty, like in
R&B, zydeco, etc. Downside is addiction of a particularly loathsome variety,
rendering the user pretty incapable and stoopid; consider Jim Morrison.

Marijuana: one of my faves, a mood enhancer which also potentiates imagination.
Does interesting things to your time sense-- paradoxically, the notorious time
dilation effect sometimes makes you play slower, so you can really groove on
the texture between the beats; cf. reggae and too many Grateful Dead live sets.
But things that might generally be considered too boring for words become real
absorbing after a spliff or two-- in my case, hardcore Soho minimalism :-)

Opiates: somewhere between these two, and kind of unsavory. The ability to
block out the outside environment and listen down inside yourself is a boon to
improvisers finding their voice, but it'll also alienate you from your band.
Rhythmically, it's kinda brittle. And again, there's the addiction syndrome,
although you're not incapacitated the way a wino is.

LSD: I contend that the '60s proved that acid was unequalled as an imagination
enhancer-- seems to have greatly stimulated the appetite for new information,
and the ability to integrate that information into strange and beautiful new
systems. I can't imagine why more people aren't interested in something billed
as "mind expanding," and seemingly quite good at it. That said, I don't expect
ever to do it myself, as I'm not certain I want to confront the contents of my
skull with that degree of mercilessness. But I still think the best Grateful
Dead record is _Anthem of the Sun_, and I'm still fond of all the San Francisco
Summer of Love stuff, not to mention Faust and early Can.

Cocaine: I tried to play behind coke once. There are two shaky notes at the top
of what I laughingly refer to as my vocal range; on tootski I could sing them
quite clearly. But I got irritated at the plodding sameness of the (beer-based)
music this band did, and kept wanting to do something else to it, so I can now
see how coke leads to overly complicated arrangements a la Steely Dan. Which is
not to say it's inherently anti-musical, but all cokeheads need editors IMHO.
Also coke bears too much of the responsibility for disco.

Speed: thrash metal of the most insectile varieties. Great stuff, if you're a
misanthrope. Have you noticed how Lou Reed's _Metal Machine Music_ has grown
to sound almost quaint?

Ecstacy: rave music has psychopharmacological parallels to cocaine music, and
shoegazing to opiates. I'm not impressed.

Some day I would like to go back to school and turn this line of investigation
into my thesis.

From:         Rick <MMLRICK@UBVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Leonard's questions

> Wait a minute, didn't they become disco gods for awhile? I just remember
> that album cover that has them dressed in the type of '70's polyester
> that John Travolta shamed himself in during his brief moment in the sun
> between obscurity and has-been faded stardom? And their music reflected
> that toadying to faux-Bee Gees style too, as I remember selectively.
> (Also not a deadhead. Like 'em; don't wear their decals on my rear bumper.)

That's not fair! They did do that one album with "Alabama Getaway" on it, and
did wear excessively dorky looking white polyester suits on the cover, but it
was obviously a joke when you considered their grizzled beards and slouches.
And certainly the disco droids still considered them hippie relics and would
never have given them the time of day.

Regarding the idea that they made their music more danceable, they did get
Lowell George to produce _Shakedown Street_, and try to give themselves more
of a groove. I don't think it worked too well. I do think that, Garcia's aura
notwithstanding, the most important members of the band are the drummers.
(Personally, I'm a Phil Lesh fan.)

From:         Kevin Sonney <KEVIN.DAVINCI@MHS.UNC.EDU>
Subject:      Thoughts on Prince

> I'm  excited about his own LP's, but I'm even more excited when I
> can find a tune he wrote, performed by another artist.

Sinead's "Nothing Compares 2 U" wasn't bad enough, you wanna inflict *more* of
this on the world?

From:         weasels ripped my dress <watson@HG.ULETH.CA>
Subject:      RE: Help me create a FAQ file

> You forgot:
>
> MHBrittanica: Michael Bloom - Looks like Jerry Garcia, but talks like a
winning
> 	      contestant from the $64,000 Question...  Also holds the record
> 	      for longest post...

Thank you, O luscious lickable one, for that vote of confidence. Why did you
forget me, Drummer, was it something I said? You also omitted Jenna and her
spirited defenses of the PMRC :-) In fact, you neglected Censorship Wars!

I should mention, though, that I no longer look like Jerry Garcia. Last night
I shaved my beard off.
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