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Looper's Delight
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Wow!
The confessional "spirit" has really taken hold of the list today
(it seems). I was laying awake a little last night thinking (always
dangerous) and sort of mentally blew the dust off some old
files tucked back in a dark, dank, cobweb-encrusted corner.
I began to think about what my very first musical experiences
were. What were my first record purchases? I really don't
know what sort of "influence" these folks exert on my current
musical trajectory (relative to my list yesterday). These are
just some things that came to mind (remember I'm nearly 50
at this point, so this is all ancient history):
Very first musical experience: White southern -style protestant
acapella church music -- gospel hymns in 4-part harmony
(think "Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack" and you have
a pretty accurate picture -- I heard this every week throughout
my entire childhood).
My parents music: 50s white bread pop/smaltz and show tunes
(Elvis, Sinatra, the Lettermen, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, etc.) just
a little bit of folk music (Woody Guthrie, Peter Paul & Mary, et al)
and a little bit of country (Sons of the Pioneers' "Tumblin'
Tumblweed" comes instantly, immediately to mind).
My first instrument: Cheap $10 -$15 student guitar (an Xmas gift
from my folks in 1964 -- I had a cousin named Gary who was
a year younger than me that could aready play a few 3-chord
pop songs -- I wanted my parents to be as proud and amazed
at me as they were at him -- plus the Beatles hit the States
about that same time).
Very first record (LP) purchase: The Association (with the song
"Windy" -- I had a big crush on a girl named Wendy in Jr. High,
I got the disc in a fit of mooning, juvenile fantasy over her).
Very First Single (33.3 RPM): "Come Together" by the Beatles [Side 1]
Something [Side 2] (I wore that record out on an old Motorola
record player that had a tone arm that must've weighed nearly
half a pound)
2nd LP purchase: "Bookends" by Simon and Garfunkle (I had an
English teacher during my freshman year of High School who
thought they were the greatest thing since sliced whatever --
he made us "analyze" many of their songs to death).
3rd LP purchase: Wichita Lineman by Glenn Campbell (it's funny,
I still harbor a soft spot for those old Jimmy Web tunes).
[Then something changed -- I don't know what -- puberty?]
4th LP purchase: Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma" (Double LP for only
$4.99 -- wow! -- I loved "Careful with That Axe Eugene" and
played it at ear-splitting volumes). "Grantchester Medows"
becomes the first song I ever learned to play -- but I cannot
sing and play simultaneously so I give up hope of ever doing
that at all.
5th LP purchase: "The Collectors" by The Collectors (a Canadian
band of misfits from 1969 -- 2nd side of the album was a 20+
minute concept piece called "What Love Suite" an embarrassingly
corny mix of classical, jazz, rock and psychedelic elements --
I really dug the guitar player's fuzzed-out, chaotic, orgasmic,
solos -- I wanted to do that more than anything -- now, I don't
even remember the guy's name -- this inspired a long stream
of fuzz-box purchases and bad playing on my part.
1st live music experiences: My parents took me to a "Hootenanny"
folk music thing when I was between 8 and 10 and somewhere
else (maybe a church "talent show"?) where I hear somebody
play "Yakety Sax" on the saxophone a la Boots Randolph (these
are sortta intertwined in my mind and don't know which was first
or if they were even at the same event).
2nd Live music experiences: Dances in H.S. Some friends had a
band called Red Rock (they actually did Crimson covers at a
school dance -- a feat of moxie that still amazes me to this
day -- instead of a mellotron they had a violin player).
3rd concert experience: "The Grass Roots" (at the rival HS across
town -- a couple of friends of mine and I were able to sneak in --
I only remember the drum solo and the lighting, not much else)
4th concert: My first big-time concert (where I bought tickets for
a major show/venue) was ELP at the Hollywood Bowl --summer of '71
5th concert Pink Floyd at the Hollywood Bowl -- same summer
(my mind was blown away by the music -- and other things)
6th concert Alice Cooper at the Hollywood Bowl -- 1 or 2 summers
later (Captain Beyond, and Humble Pie opened)
After that I began to get into early Mahavishnu Orchestra and fusion
in general. But then I went away to art school in Mexico and was sortta
out of the "pop music" loop for a while. I hardly heard anything but
classical and Mexican folk ("mariachi") music for the better part of a
year. One significant exception however was being exposed to Isao Tomita's
music in Chapultapec park (in Mexico City). That was my first awareness
of "electronic music" per se. I heard it in a place called "the Grotto"
which had a quad (or even hexaphonic) sound system. It was amazing.
The music is embarrassing now but it was sure cool then.
When I came back to the States in '74 I was sort of musically lost.
I listened to and enjoyed some prog rock, Yes, Tull, Floyd, ELP,
and in particular King Crimson of the period . . . and began to
re-discover (belatedly) fusion. But, I also discovered Leo Kottke for
the first time. Also got to see Merle Travis perform at a "Day of
Folk Music" at the local community college. I began to experiment
with drop-D and open tunings, fingerpicking and slide playing myself.
But, the thing that really, really, really changed me at that time
was going over to a friend of a friend's house in Oxnard, CA to
hear a fellow named Randy Jones play music in his living room.
He'd rigged up a tape delay with an altered reel-to-reel and did
spontaneous duets with himself on an old Strat copy with a slide.
My musical world changed that night -- I was obsessed with
finding out ways I could do this as well -- and finding other
examples of this sort of music.
That, of course, lead me to Fripp and Eno's 1973 "No
Pussyfooting" and 1975 "Evening Star" LPs. I was "ruined for
life" by those discs. I liked a lot of other kinds of music (for
just listening) after that. But, my course was pretty much set
(for playing) to figuring out how to loop like Fripp (and that
fellow, Jones) forever after. Of course I didn't call it "looping."
I didn't have a term for it. I tried renting/borrowing expensive
tape "echoplexes" from music stores and eventually the
first few analog . . . and then digital delays came along.
I couldn't afford any of 'em "til I was out of college and married
with a real job -- remember I was a starving art student during
all of this previous time. My first delay was a DOD (or Digitech)
stomp box with about a 1.5 second delay -- hardly loop-worthy
by today's standards but I was happy at the time. Then Electro-
Harmonix came out with the 16-second delay and I blew may
savings (and nearly my marriage) by buying 2 of those puppies
(and the remote switches to control them). I finally had my
"Fripp-in-a-boxes" and an old Akai second-hand 1/4 inch reel-to-
reel and 2 Fender Champ amps and I was set. I also had a half-
dozen old stomp boxes of various types and a Morley wah/
volume/panning pedal. I was in heaven . . . the neighbors probably
thought otherwise (but at least the old lady with whom we
shared an adjacent apartment wall was already deaf). I bought
my first (chrome) Ebow in 1980 directly from Heetsound.
Throughout the early-to-mid '80s I was much too timid to play any
of this in any more of a public space than my apartment. If you
think loop-friendly venues are in short supply now imagine then.
In '86 or '87, through a mutual Friend, Jeff Kaiser heard about me
and pestered me to do a "House Concert" with him. That having
been successfully pulled-off, gave me some confidence to
do more . . . and then some more . . . and then some more.
And that . . . more or less . . . is that. The rest is covered by
my silly "bio" on Jeff's pfMentum label website I suppose.
I'm sortta surprised at the length of this e-mail. I originally thought
it'd be this short little thing. Somewhere after "Ummmagumma"
I lost crontrol and the rest is blather, blather, blather away.
Now I'm wondering whether I should press "send" or not. Gee.
See where this confessional spirit has gotten us. Argh! I should
have stopped after "Wichita Lineman."
Oh well, here goes.
Best of luck,
Ted Killian
http://www.mp3s.com/tedkillian
http://www.pfmentum.com/flux.htm