Hey Artpaws,

Reading your post, two quotes came to my mind that I feel might be worth
sharing. One closer to home, the other further.

In an interview with John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman asks:

"Why aren't you playing so many instrumentals on stage?"

JR replies:

"Generally because the instrumentals I prepared for my solo albums are
mindbenders. None of them are easy to play. None of them, in fact, allow for
anything ever to go wrong. There's no room for improvisation in any of them,
whereas a lot of instrumentals I used to play were a bit of a constructed tune
followed by more or less an improvisation, not freely improvised, but with a lot
of stock phrases that may or may not be used depending on how I felt. I seem to
have gone away from that type of playing, and it takes a lot of bravery on my
part to attempt any of these set pieces, is what it's down to

SG: You're just reluctant that you might make mistakes, and the domino theory,
the whole piece would just fall down on you.

JR: Yes, once the tune collapses of that nature, there's just no way of picking
them up again. It's just laziness on my part. ...


The second is from a short story by Thomas Mann from 1897 that I happened to
read yesterday. It seems to pinpoint something of what you're saying about
self-image and attitude, and how that works its way into how one presents
oneself. The story is about a self-termed 'dilletante' and his conclusions to do
with how best to carry oneself in public life following a fall from grace:

"The world displays a readiness, born of indolence, to pay a man whatever degree
of respect he himself commands. Be as you will, live as you like- but be bold
about it, display a good conscience and nobody will be moral enough to comdemn
you. But once suffer yourself to become split, forfeit your own self-esteem,
betray that you despise yourself, and your view will be blindly accepted by all
sundry. As for me, I am a lost soul"

- - - -

Thought I better update news on current transcriptions, and the status of the
promised 'Easter' tab. I've lately got stuck into a handful of Fahey works, and
a bit of Davy Graham and that sort of thing, so I haven't made as much progress
on Easter as I would have like to report, but it's started, and that counts for
something I guess. Should have it done in the next few days tho!!


Best wishes,

Robbie


--- In robbiebasho_forum@yahoogroups.com, "artpaws" <artpaws@...> wrote:
>
> Alan,
>
> I was most interested in the tail end of your comment, when you mention
"...before his spirit was broken." Could you elaborate on that?
>
> On another front, I was reflecting on Robbie Dawson's wonderful donation of a
compilation of live dates Robbie played from 1965 to 1982. I am guessing that
when he was in the DC area, he might have been just as active.
>
> Since I am myself beginning to gear up for more active public performance, I
found this listing a great inspiration, seeing how much on a week-in-week-out
basis Robbie put himself on the line. I think any musician who plays for
audiences will tell you that public performance entails a whole different skill
set from playing in private, deep in the shed. My worst battles in this regard
have been with the performance of classical repertoire, in part because the
pieces are demanding (and so is the audience, believe me) but also because the
notes are set in concrete. But even playing in the raga style, with
improvisation as a mode, one goes through a lot of inner struggle.
>
> I would say I am in the middle foothills of this particular ascent: One hopes
to capture the spontaneity and freedom and flashes of insight-on-the-fly that
occur in one's studio, but to do this exposed, alone on the stage, in public.
There are several dynamics involved, I have found. [If you hadn't already
figured, friends know that I tend to examine everything in minutest detail:
another struggle when trying to play spontaneously! Maybe the freedom I am
seeking is precisely that freedom from myself in this regard. But that also
seems to me a universal constant.... but i digress, as usual....]
>
> One of the dynamics involved has to do with one's persona, the presentation of
self. If one aspires to the heights, and wishes to create the conditions
conducive to that, then the daily mask one wears is often not going to be
adequate. I suggest thinking about this when one hears, or reads, Robbie
pontificating in interviews about what he is doing and what it means.
Personally, I still think he over-identified and was ego-inflated as a result.
But I don't really fault him for that, having struggled myself with this issue.
>
> One of the ways I have come to think of that public persona issue is by
comparison with the pilot of a large jet airliner. Most people, myself
included, think of themselves as shy (I have heard studies that claim as high as
75%). There are also public persona issues that are worrisome about arrogance,
narcissism, and many other little toads one has to deal with. Yet, when it
comes to a jet liner, one does not want to hear the pilot dig his big toe in the
ground, and get all self-effacing, and put down his abilities, and apologize in
advance for every failing, etc etc. If we are going to try to go up to 35,000
feet tonight, I want to know that the pilot knows what he is doing (despite
whatever qualms or ailments he may have), will take us near outer space and yet
deliver us back home, happy and healthy and exhilarated. The pilot has a
responsibility to project that competence and assurance, and then to deliver on
demand.
>
> Basho stepped up to the plate, over and over, and delivered....
>
>
>
> --- In robbiebasho_forum@yahoogroups.com, "Alan" <alan@> wrote:
> >
> > Greetings friends! The Vanguard tapes are an entire unreleased album,
recorded by Robbie in 1975-1976, and for me his finest hour by a million miles,
it seems there are not that many fans of his North American phase, however I am
one. I have listened to this back to back with his later recordings, and to me
it is black and white, this is before his spirit was broken. I do not work for
Vanguard or iTunes! I just know beauty when I hear it.
> >
>