Fripp and Eno - Live in Paris, 1975

The current edition of Wired magazine has a review of a new issue of a live recording of Fripp and Eno in Paris back in 1975 or so. I have had a copy of this via the Air Structures bootleg for some while, but this is a "proper" issue via the DGM website. This I have to have.

A famous bootleg album

It was actually a bit disappointing in some ways. I had always assumed that Air Structures was a dis-jointed piecemeal recording which just highlighted bits of a continuous show. However it would seem that it was actually a pretty good version of the actual event. So the DGM issue was not all I had hoped it would be. I had thought there might have been a really long version of "Index of Metals", but sadly not.

Fripp and Eno, 1975. That must have been a truly shocking show!

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I must dig out the recent double cd of No Pussyfooting and listen to the backwards recording again (the way John Peel once played the track by accident)

Listening to music . . . .

Villa Casamanza, Nr Perugia, Umbria, Italy

With the villa empty but for me, I have made my base at the large table in the downstairs lounge. While our guests were with us, I wasn't able to listen to any music, but with the house to myself I have the ipod player on more or less all the time. This allows a suitably detailed listening to various artists for extended periods of time. As often described by Robert Fripp (see his blog at www.dgmlive.com) music remains a very mystical experience and, in many ways, is the most important thing in my life and the source of all that sustains me.

Today starts off with a live recording of Portishead from their spring tour, followed by two cds worth of Namlook & Schulze series "Dark Side of the Moog" and two cds of Ravi Shankar (no doubt inspired by seeing the sitars in Perugia yesterday). By the afternoon, I have moved onto John Fahey and Loren Mazacane Connors ("The Camellites" and "9th Avenue"), followed by a wonderful live recording of Joanna Newsom from 2006.

I haven't listened to Joanna Newsom for a couple of months, but it doesn't take long for me to be completly encaptivated by her again. It is possible that her track "Emily" as played by the full touring band is my favourite track by anyone ever!

What it is to be totally undisturbed by anyone or anything!

More alternatives to rat racing

Of all things, "The Great Outdoors" magazine has a feature on a woman who, three years ago, gave up her journalist job on radio to take up the life of adventure! Renting out her house, she now travels the world climbing mountains. As an attempt to diversify her finances, she has written a book called "Meetings on the Edge - a high-level escape from Office routine". An essential purchase I would say. Over the past week or so I have been examining various brochures from treking companies and am very taken with Mackean's story

I am, at this moment, at rather a crossroads. There is tremendous pressure on me to take some time and earn what is taken to be decent money and this will inevitably impact badly on other ideas for living. Different philosophies of life are in sharp relief and are, of course, wholly incommensurable.

As part of my continuing de-cluttering, I have come across a box of print outs of Robert Fripp's diary from 2001 to 2005 (http://www.dgmlive.com/). This is the model for what I am trying to do with this blog. Reading six months worth today, I was struck by the universality of the issues being addressed.

And six more carrier bags of books went to Oxfam in Oxford this morning bringing the total to 16 in the last couple of weeks.