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April 1, 2008
Written by Robert Fripp
09.02 Basement Belewbeloid, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. 
The solicitor advising on the proposed charitable status of the GCFRP has written, in response to my tetchy yesterday-response; and suggested that they leave the matter in abeyance for a month. From my reply to this suggestion… Briefly, it’s this: to determine & establish, for a certainty, all the ways in which GC operates reduces it to a mechanical system. GC is a creative activity, responding to arising needs in the moment. An analogy: in much of my professional life, I am an improvising player. This on the basis of over 40 years as a professional. That is, my improvising choices are not arbitrary, but they are not pre-determined: they are made in the moment. If I were to be presented with 10 categories of questions as to how & why those choices were the right ones to make, I might write a book in response - but I wouldn’t be undertaking the act of improvising in a particular moment. Instead of writing a book, I might write in response to the questions - which students? which players? which teachers? - the right students, the right players, the right teachers, at the right time & in the right place. Who will be chosen to perform? Those who can, are willing & available! What is the criteria for selection for a scholarship? Because they need to be there! This won’t work for bureaucrats, it works for artists. And how might this "satisfactorily" answer the questions for the Commissioners? For me to go down this nullifying, mechanical path is to establish an approach that is exactly & precisely the opposite of GC aims & intentionality. If I had nothing else to do with my life, I might (although I doubt it). Life is too short, and we are already several months’ shorter on our lives than when we began this. So, many thanks again for yours & R’s time... please send me your invoice & I’ll be happy to settle it personally. Let’s abandon this immediately. Yesterday’s 10 questions, all of them seemingly reasonable in & off themselves, apply to conventional undertakings that fit within conventional boxes which may, or may not, be ticked as appropriate. The questions indicate a particular mindset, value system & approach that, in & of themselves, also seem entirely straightforward. For example… 5. It is also not clear who would provide any education or training and what relevant skills or qualifications they have to do so. Please can you clarify this? Sure! The founder of Guitar Craft has no qualifications at all. One possible approach: continue with the application & play the game. Fudge a bit. Lie a little. Dress it up. Fit within the boxes. Act within the constraints of bureaucratic mind & regulation. So, would it be possible for this tetchy, irritable, grumpy charity applicant to play the game? In some situations, perhaps, I might be prepared to do so. In this particular situation, at this particular time, I decline any attempt to fit Guitar Craft within a format of rigidity that is entirely contradictory to the spirit, raison d’etre & way of doing things I know as Guitar Craft. Were I to do so, it would be fundamentally dishonest. Why am I angry? I am angry with myself for allowing me to be persuaded that the process of formal application would be both straightforward & possible for GC, when it has already taken 8 months; and even the name of the GC Institute was rejected as not meeting the necessary criteria (now Foundation). Time & energy distracted sufficiently, an additional 10 categories of questions have appeared. I find I have no will to invest additional time & energy in a process that has no bearing on the essence of Guitar Craft (alternatively expressed, the essence of Guitar Craft does not fit within the boxes provided); primarily because I do not believe in the process. There are some who can go this route and, clearly, many do. Why do I stop here? I feel myself dying inside. Enough. 09.25 An online blog… … However, I supported the artists concerned (and saved 50p or so) by buying direct from Fripp’s website, DGM (and got the 2CD version of the Fripp & Eno, now unavailable on Amazon).... Just for good measure, here’s a signed copy of their 1975 classic, "Evening Star"... 
Well, it’s signed Robert Fripp, but it’s not signed by any Robert Fripp I know. 11.45 A morning practising, learning, listening. 19.28 Day Three in the Crimson Rehearsal Zone I… 
II… 
III… 
IV… 
V… 
VI… 
A personal highlight of today: TLev finds the keycard to his modest accommodation of more use as a pick than as an entry-mode to joy, slumber & refreshment of the spirit… 
The list of truth, wonder & terror arising… 
Another good day with the Rhythm Buddies locking further & developing apace. Addressing Level Five, a prospect so terrifying that I had not considered it; but Crim comes with terror not far behind. THRAK approached, but the look on Ade’s face as THRAK was being played was a winner. Fine as a quartet! Ade suggested. THRAK will not be thrakking this August. Subjectively, I am feeling better at the end of the third day than at the end of the second. The second day of anything is hard.
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