08.28
The sky is hazy, and the hunt for AOL is about to begin --
09.29
E-flurrying successful at the second attempt, calls to DGM HQ, Father-in-Law Beric & Little Willcox. Little Willcox is in Glasgow for the next batch of touring with Calamity Jane. She sounds in good cheer & very happy to be back with her team.
Here, I came to the end of Ian Kershaw's magisterial Hitler:Nemesis at the nearby Starbucks, with the regular homeless people that come in early (the outlet opens at 05.30). I found myself homesick, and very much missing my Wife.
Backtracking:
Saturday 18th. January: Trey was given the job of driving Adrian & myself to Sunset On Sushi. Or should that be Sushi On Sunset? Whatever the eating description, we left in Trey's hired Jeep at 18.15 for the restaurant/gig, the press entered the upstairs area for the Playback at 18.45, & heard an abbreviated TPTB for c. 30 minutes. Press continued entering through the Playback.
The sight of the sound engineer filled me with terror. Noise permeated his presence, his lack of physical quietude, his constant motion, suggested this was not the man to be responsible for any sound affairs of KC. This was followed by a Q&A which may, or may not, have been recorded by the engineer. Adrian & Trey were on very good form & I enjoyed being with them immensely.
The promised table for us to have dinner together may or may not have materialized had I waited for long after the Q&A. Two autographs later, one accompanied by questions relating to Crimson in 1972, and I was fleeing.
I welcome the opportunity to converse with informed people who are generous enough to take an interest in Crimson activities. How & why they are attracted to Crimson is of particular interest: are their reasons for being attracted the same as mine, I wonder? But when the CD covers come out, contact between human beings recedes. I am no longer Robert in conversation with another human being, but Fripp. And Fripp signs things & answers questions on what he did or might have done over the period of the last 34 years. So, clasping my humanity as close as I might, Robert fled taking Fripp with him.
It appears that Vic Garbarini is not able to get to Los Angeles for an interview, and when I arrive in Nashville on February 13th. for KC rehearsals my mind will not, and cannot, be on verbalizing & interviewing. Adrian's interviewing has been of heroic proportions, and for this I am grateful. This is not a time for me to do interviews, in any case. Damage has been done. If there is any hesitation or refusal to give Crimson coverage because Fripp has declined interviews, then Crimson won't get the coverage. This will increasingly distance Crimson from Fripp and, hopefully, unwind the spiral that becomes self-propelling.
I welcome the right questions. I dread the commonplaces of received wisdom from professional journalists, the tricksiness of informed and clever writers, the deference of polite & respectful characters. I welcome burning questions, where necessity informs & energises the interaction.
Have I mentioned that this is not the time for me to do interviews?
Sunday 19th. January, 2003: one interview in the morning, telephony, e-flurries, packing, and catching up with Adrian. The current concern is to get definition and clarity into our band calendar.
09.51
Back to Monday morning, and to complete packing. Off to the airport at noon & to Madrid via London.
"Be very careful about the beginning.
Then, be very careful about the end.
Then, be very careful about the middle."
