Friday, December 3, 2010

Drawing Music :: Robert Fripp's Soundscapes

Arts>World Financial Center program at the Winter Garden hosts really awesome free events. This time I went to hear Soundscapes by Robert Fripp. He's the famous English guitarist/composer, the founder of King Crimson.

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When I saw King Crimson live in NYC about 7 years ago, Fripp sat sideways to the crowd. The stories about his stage fright (even though the man has been performing for nearly 40 years by now) are well known. Way back when he'd even sit with his back to the audience.

Naturally, part of me was curious to see Robert Fripp's solo performance: does he still turn his back? Or hide behind an amplifier? But no..he was in the middle of the huge stage, almost smiling. At the end he took deep bows in all directions, looking pleased and charming. The acoustics of the Winter Garden are perfect for that kind of ambient music. Fripp's Soundscapes have been described as "lush sonic tapestries with electric guitar and digital effects". It was beautiful.

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12 comments:

  1. I was there also. Very nice drawings. You've manage to circumvent Fripp's longstanding prohibition against being photographed! :-)

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  2. thank you, Audrey!!

    thanks, TXC! So I heard...But you know, I saw a man nearby who was constantly shooting with a big lens. You think the prohibition has been lifted?:)

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  3. Hi there,

    Thanks for your kind words about my write up of this show over on my blog...

    I did notice you sketching away during the show, it's great to see what has come of it.

    As for photos, the announcer before hand requested specifically no flash photography. I think Fripp realizes, that at these free events, that some photography is bound to happen, but flashes are particularly distracting.

    I didn't mention it in my blog, but there was a guy *right behind* me who took a photo every 30 seconds or so with his camera. No flash, but that camera clicking/photograph sound I thought was very noticeable, and annoying for me at least. Fortunately, he stopped at about the 15-20 minute mark.

    Your art is very intriguing, I'm going to look at some of the other work now... :)

    Thanks!
    Mike

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  4. Fantastic! Wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

    Eric Anderson

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  5. @Martin, who emailed me via my website with a print request: you might have misspelled your email address-please confirm. thanks! -Julia

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  6. These are gorgeous. You are immensely talented.

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  7. Simply superb. Thank you for the art window of your eye.

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  8. hello Joseph, thank you for such nice words and for linking from you blog-there's some beautiful writing there, I'll be reading from now on! -Julia

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