Wow. David Reid just sent me a link to his archive. What a good page. There is a video of Keith Rowe, guitarist of groundbreaking improvisation band AMM—jaw dropping. Hyperobjects!
Rowe has a fantastic term for silence in music: “un-intention.” I talk about it a bit in my writing. Good idea, yes?
Syd Barrett saw AMM and started using a Zippo lighter on his guitar. Then Pink Floyd toured with Hendrix. Hendrix saw Barrett using the Zippo...the rest is history.
Pink Floyd, “Interstellar Overdrive,” Tonite Let's All Make Love in London.
Syd starts playing the zippo about 10 minutes in.
Great stuff... Daevid Allen also saw Barrett using that and, voila, Soft Machine transformed into the wild psychedelia of Gong. (I'm not sure if it was the Zippo or not, since Daevid once told me that he used a surgical instrument.)
ReplyDeleteAdrian--you MET Daevid Allen?!
ReplyDeleteBtw I think your book on Glastonbury is fascinating.