Hotel Professionally Quite Acceptable Of

Posted by Robert Fripp
16 Jun 2003
Monday, June 16, 2003

Hotel Professionally Quite Acceptable Of The American Style, Warsaw.

10.20

The sky is grey. Morning reading over coffee in the Club.

13.57 Practising, saunerising in a sauna of European temperature that was already hot, now practising again --

22.12 Crimbus Outside Uncle Joe's Hall Of Amity, Warsaw.

This is a venue that, after the Double Trio came here in 1995, I swore I would never play again. It was booked into the current tour as the only available venue on this date in this city, on the only day Crimson were traveling between Moscow and Vienna, through Latvia, and could play Warsaw. The fee from this show helped underwrite the finances of the whole tour. And, if the finances work out successfully, I shall be paid per week on this tour what I would have received per night as a Soundscape soloist supporting Joe Satriani & Dream Theater last July.

Soundscapes were born in the Warsaw Congresshall tonight at 18.40 and were assassinated at 18.46.

It may be of significance, to those who take an interest in the subtleties of process, that this happened just as a transition was about to be made; i.e. where there was vulnerability in the performance. I stopped, shut off the sound & left the stage. The promoter's assistant told us Keith Jarrett & John Zorn have also taken the same position in this hall: a flash and the show is over. John made an announcement in Polish that was very direct, he said.

Crimson went onstage at 07.15 and the hall was already full. The sound was awful. Polish Crim enthusiasts deserved better, and so did the band. Adrian had a good night, the Rhythm Buddies had a bad night with low-end feedback onstage, I had a mixed night. The energy of the show came & went, there were strong moments, strange moments & moments when there was violation, unseen but present.

At the end a strong, supportive & generous audience were supportive & generous. Did I mention they deserved better? I have no idea what tonight might have been like at the front. I do know that this band deserves a better opportunity to present who & what-it-is to people keen to embrace who & what-it-is. Have I mentioned that already? Afterwards, Pat was told our sound had been better than for Yes last night, but that shouldn't be taken as any comment on Yes

After the show, to the Crimbus. It is now besieged by several fans who have no compunction hounding me. They are standing outside peering through the Crimbus windows as I hide from them.

The show in Vienna has now been cancelled - the hall is too small for this production. But then, it always was too small for this production. So we have a fierce overnight drive straight to Prague. Although it is likely the band will arrive on time, the equipment truck may not arrive soon enough to set up for the show. The problem lies in the border crossing from Poland into the Czech Republic. Border crossings are always as long as they are long and, in Eastern Europe, the flight of Time's Arrow is often a negotiable issue. This was also known when the Prague show was booked, and we have a paper trail from the past month on this particular topic alone.

Before leaving Hotel Professionally Acceptable for the soundcheck today, I re-arranged my Happy Gigster's TravelPro Wonder Wheelie and discovered that my wallet in the TravelPro had been professionally cleaned, re-packed & put back in such a way that I would not discover the theft. Regrettably, I have a very good idea in which city the cleaning took place. The loss represents approximately a week's wages on this six week tour. Theft is never innocent, to quote Rodney Collin.

23.14 The Crimbus is at the hotel for a midnight departure. I am being thrown around as the bus changes its parking place. I have now had enough of being thrown about on this bus. Or any other, for that matter.



Popular Posts

A Tale of Two Concerts
David Singleton
19 May 2025
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Robert Fripp
8 Nov 2024
What Is A Question?
Robert Fripp
23 Mar 2025
Hotel Professionally Acceptable, San Francisco.
Robert Fripp
23 Feb 2024
Motel Modesto, San Luis Obispo.
Robert Fripp
28 Feb 2024

Related Posts