Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp's Diary

Thursday 13 March 2003

Marriott Renasissance Center Detroit It

15.02

#1005, Marriott Renasissance Center, Detroit.

It is very cold in Detroit. It is cold in this room because the heating system is laggardly in the attention it gives to the thermostat.

Rising at 11.30, half my sleep on the Crimbus & half in the room, reading Zarathustra in the lobby downstairs & reflecting on possible futures. Calls to Toyah & DGM HQ. Now, dealing with arising saved e-mail. Here's one from Krimson News --

We have received a few fan queries about Trey being fired by you.

We do not intend to reply to the queries or post the info on Krimson News until something more official is said, but we thought you should know that the news is out amongst the fanbase.

My reply --

thanks for the info. at an appropriate moment, i'll comment formally on this. meanwhile, fyi...

trey has not been fired; crimson has been un-fixed; there are three current valid personnel configurations of KC; all three can exist simultaneously, even on the same stage; there are several possible future/s for crimson and it is beyond my power to direct which possible future becomes actual.

22.51

Mobile HQ, Crimbus outside State Theatre, Detroit.

An interesting evening. I felt as if we were being auditioned. The State has much the same feel as the Agoras that players of a certain age would remember from the early 1970s in Ohio. Upstairs is a theatre, with two balconies. Downstairs is a bar & an open space in front of the stage that, this evening, had folding chairs placed on it. Overall, the audience were generous & supportive, while not always sure how that might support might be conveyed. I only saw one flash and the violation present was contained.

However, there is one particular thing that kills Adrian's show as surely as flash photography & bootlegging does for mine. And it happened to Adrian this evening, during a solo. At that point Adrian left the building, although his body remained, and a purely professional responsibility to the performance took over. If the performance did not actually die on its feet, its potentially long & satisfying life came to an early conclusion. What a pity. No blame for Adrian. If a bullet is fired at your heart, there is little point in writing "heart failure" on the death certificate.

Overall, a Crimson performance where we presented who & what we were to a sufficient degree.

This is the second evening that the Lunar Module, and my position on stage, has been slightly re-oriented. I wish to have an ongoing connection to my Band Buddies, and have therefore adopted The Keyboard Position. This is intended to be exactly at 90 degrees to audience & band. It gives me full and constant visual contact with all the players onstage. But the effect of this is also to present the back of the guitar neck to much of the audience. This is not my intention. So, slightly re-oriented, my body now favours the audience while the guitar favours the band. Hopefully, this will not indicate rejection of the audience, while enabling me to be in ongoing contact with the band.

Despondency accompanied me to the Band Fisting that immediately precedes a Crim performance. I left it behind to walk onstage. Now, tired and in not quite full health, I am on the Crimbus and about to head off in the night with my Band Buddies towards Chicago.

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