Robert Fripp's Diary

Hotel Acceptable Paris The hotel

Hotel Acceptable, Paris.

The hotel lost its Quite appellation this morning at breakfast.

The breakfast staff who worked the week's shift were replaced by two young men who were not on top of their game. A reliable indication of anyone's sense of personal presence is the quality & quantity of their speaking. The two young men in service uniforms were shouting at each other, this passing as conversation, and laughing loudly just behind the service entrance door. Their noise spilled into the restaurant. In addition to this, the sliding partition to the bar, usually closed, was ajar. Music played in the bar, which it did not in the week, and formed an inappropriate background rattle.

If this weren't a sufficient clue, the very-warm temperature of the coffee and hot milk were a further indication: the presence of absence. This is a dangerous condition: vulnerability enters a situation unnecessarily.

From Hernan's GC Diary for yesterday --

A rumour/strong comment with a gossipy element enters uninvited our conversation and changes the evening's feel: "This L4 is an invention, to attract people to Kiel, younger players should go out and play with bands, do their thing instead", it is always again remarkable to establish that this kind of comment comes from those who have, for whatever reasons, decided not to attend, or have not been actually accepted --

Gossip is always poison, an expression of lack of self confidence, this is when GC Issues are trivialized-dramatized and become Guitar Social Club concerns, luckily the wine is good and we're confident about what we are doing, would I have any doubt at all about the integrity of this course I would cancel it immediately.

That's if Hernan didn't beat me to it. Gossip is an absence that takes tangible form. Its effects are destructive and, in time, return to the originating point. Fortunately, in this case, the decision to hold the Kiel Level Four is sound & well-based: the course originates in necessity. Gossip won't harm this course: it simply makes an unpleasant smell where otherwise the air is fresh & wholesome.