Bredonborough On this day in
09.37
Bredonborough.
On this day in 1920, my Wife’s Father was born.
Into the Cellar I…
II...
… for morning reading I…
II...
10.17 Two crashes of MS Word to the Diary entry for today. Perhaps it’s a sign? The entry began with: Moral courage. Third take, which rarely has the power of Take One…
A pal of mine has recently been sacked from his firm by a Power Possessor, who didn’t like pal pointing out that the firm’s expensive new computer system didn’t work. The Power Possessor was formerly an importantly-placed person in the music industry, a large company of my close professional acquaintance.
One little person in a largish-company, pointing out what was self-evident, to a Power Possessor who didn’t want to hear the clear and obvious, resulted in personal dismissal = moral courage IMO. So, what might happen if all little people pointed out, carefully and responsibly, the results of failures and shortcomings that follow from decisions made by Power Possessors with effect in their lives?
The difficulty of speaking out in front of Power Possessors has been mentioned in this Diary before; eg noting the standard practice of gagging clauses at
Mr. SG Alder’s EG (What have we done? We have nothing to hide! SGM > RF in person 17april1991 at 62a, Kings Road, Chelsea). Lawyers and blocking lawyers = overwhelming power; eg an expensive litigator brought out to explain why UMG needn’t pay 19 years back-royalties on Summers & Fripp. Our behavior was not illegal! is a frequent trumpeting from the financial sector in recent years. There is insufficient evidence to pursue a case! as with the Metropolitan’s investigation of phone-hacking allegations at NewsCorp; until a sufficient will to investigate and then – oh no! - quite enough evidence to pursue a case or two or three.
According to one report, Barclays employed 37,000 staff, with only c. 150 fiddling and diddling the
Libor rate (
Libor scandal). This would seem to support the notion that change, for good/bad, is always effected by a small number of people, a notion I have accepted as given for as long as I remember.
However, one thought of the morning… perhaps, in this time of the world, there is a shift: to where significant change is effected by large numbers of people, little people, who together are nearly all the people; working together in networks; networks working with and within other networks; to effect good change.
What is good change? In one word, sustainability, on all scales and levels; including the financial system micro- and macro-.
10.29 An erupting
scandal in the UK which even includes
pix of my Wife of TOTP in 1981…
The BBC responded to reports on Sunday that inappropriate behaviour by Savile had been an "open secret" at the corporation by saying it had found no evidence of any misconduct by the broadcaster.
If I had not presented scanned documents on this Diary, what evidence of professional misconduct at EG by Sam G Alder Esq. would be known, other than rumours (eg as in Bill Bruford’s autobiog: questionable business practices)? And, as per the Met investigations of NewsCorp above, if you’re not looking very hard, you’re not likely to find very much. Particularly when what you do find incriminates Power Possessors at the body/company/institution responsible for conducting the investigation; ie investigators investigating themselves.
What! Those in positions of authority and power acting to conceal their abuses of authority and power?
Perhaps what has changed, the major shift in the past 35 years…
Little people, of my youth and upbringing, knew their position in life, their place in the scheme of things: they were screwed. They had no voice. They had no power. They had no hope standing up to Power Possessors, despite the nominal claims of a liberal democratic state and the rule of law. Historically, there have been a few protests, which didn’t always lead to successful outcomes for the littling sort:
The Peasants’ Revolt and
the Tolpuddle Martyrs spring to mind (my late pal, the antique dealer Michael Legg, was a filial descendant of a Tolpuddle Martyr). The change is, now the middling sort have also been royally screwed by Power Possessors.
Mr. Sam G Alder found himself worked over by managers at the Lloyd’s Insurance Bazaar – allegedly. The court case against Lloyd’s, that Mr. Alder drove for
his syndicate, found in the syndicate’s favour, mitigating the losses for its Names. What! A manager who abused their duty of care to clients themselves abused by managers abusing their duty of care to their clients? – allegedly.
So, today we have the littling sort + the middling sort, and perhaps all sorts, being worked over by Power Possessors of whatever class, level and background: an endemic, all-pervasive abuse of power now increasingly coming to light and being revealed for what is was and is:
an abuse of trust.
Accountability is in the air?
If we add persistence + duration to the equation, of acknowledging, addressing and redeeming honest grievance, we get A Great Future For Rough Music.
10.47 To a respected colleague…
people used to be rude to me, now i'm older, they’re too respectful!
10.59 Oh no! Another Power Possessor
who abused their position?…
11.36 From a respected and famous author…
I was reading the booklet that accompanies the FRAME BY FRAME box set this afternoon. The reviews in (mainly) the UK music press of King Crimson's albums and concerts depressed me. Not even because they were so nasty and dismissive, but more because of the mind-bogglingly arrogant presumptions made about your own inner motivations. Rather than merely saying "This music is not to my taste" or even "I detest this sort of music", they were apparently able to peer into your mind & heart and declare that you were acting in bad faith, uncommitted, emotionless, insincere, lacking conviction, etc etc. I find this extraordinary.
If there's one thing I've learned in observing musicians for forty years, it's that even the most wretchedly awful, hopelessly boring groups care about what they do. Cynicism may be rife amongst journalists and record company executives but it is surprisingly rare amongst the folk who actually produce the goods.
Knowing this, it seems even more arrogant for a journalist to declare that King Crimson -- who avoided so many of the strategies that would have made them financially more successful, in favour of uncommercial exploration and risk -- were acting cynically or half-heartedly.
From the reply…
… press treatment of KC. it baffles me, even today, that so much of the english media was so intentionally nasty. reflecting on how and why over the years, i came to this:
1. we see in others what we know most deeply in ourselves;
2. so, the comments were personal descriptions by the commentators of themselves;
3. therefore, comments had little to do with KC.
4. anything powerfully positive attracts a negative force of equal force.
all in all, part of my education.
Off for a hot date with my Wife. Yippee!
18.41 Firstly, out to St. Anne’s Church at the Piddle, putting flowers T picked from our garden on Beric’s grave I…
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Then into Worcester for lunch and a visit to the
Chocolatier Of Wonder . Walking around prior to going into the cinema, suddenly all manner of eruptions on the Minx’s smartphone. As mentioned above, many newspaper and online pix of Jimmy Savile feature the well-known TOTP photo of him with T. So, a slew of requests for tv interviews: can Channel X come up to Bredonborough and film an interview with you, almost now, please?
Well. Onto the cinema and Looper: the incongruities/ambiguities of time with varying potentialities/actualisations governed by choice and decision making + high action. Metaphysics that blow up – yeah!
Back now to e-flurrying. Our procedings with UMG via iTunes proceed.
19.01 To a respected professional who has recorded an acoustic version of Discipline…
discipline is a fearsome beast. i remember the very first time it ventured out into sunshine, in a rehearsal room in NYC at the end of 1980. various bass players came in and bill tried hard to present them with the figure. then tony levin arrived, and as bill was explaining kinda nodded a peremptory - yeah, gottit!
this is the most
recent version that i've been close to...
very much looking forward to hearing yours.
I might also mention, at that 1980 “audition”, T Lev also played LTIA Part Two – although he had never heard it before! And when Tony learnt the piece, he didn’t play it any better, and not always as well! Astonishing. Tony is one of the (small number of) greatest musician-influences in my life.
20.54 A short MinxWalk of the town. Settling to view Love And Marriage.
