Timothy Winton

Ask me who my favorite composer is and I’ll name three. Mozart is a fave ever since I saw Amadeus. Steve Reich is to me the most consistently exciting of all the minimalist composers. But, if I had to choose just one composer it would be Ennio Morricone, the most prolific film composer in history.

The Italian Maestro has scored well over 500 film and television shows in his over forty year career, the great majority are Italian, but he still manages to compose, orchestrate and conduct for big budget Hollywood films on a regular basis. He is most famous for his Spaghetti Western collaborations with director Sergio Leone including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West and A Fistful of Dollars. Morricone is much more than a composer of Westerns, however, having been nominated for five Oscars (never winning) and winning a Grammy for The Untouchables.

And why do I mention this? I just picked up Ennio’s soundtrack to Fateless. Based on a Nobel Prize winning book by Imre Kertesz, the movie is about concentration camp survivors. Though I haven’t seen it, I am in love with the score. It is both classical and majestic and features the pan flute, used to such great effect in Morricone’s score to Once Upon a Time in America. I heartily recommend Fateless to any music lover.

And now on the rock and roll music front, Bob Dylan has a new studio album called Modern Times (first in five years) due in stores on Tuesday. I’ve scoped out the best price of $12.99 for the limited edition version with a bonus DVD at Best Buy and will be knocking on their door with credit card in hand on Tuesday morning. I’ve heard two songs from Modern Times and seen one video and it appears Dylan has another winner. ‘Rolling Stone’ gave the CD five stars (highest) and has a cover story with the man himself in their latest issue.

I guess the beauty of music is that artists such as Bob Dylan and Ennio Morricone, so widely divergent in their style but equally brilliant in their art, can excite a listener such as me. There will always be new music to discover.

On Saturday night August 19th in Lake Worth, FL, Adrian Belew and his ‘Slick’ power trio rocked a capacity crowd of about 150 in The Bamboo Room blues bar. The small venue proved excellent for close up viewing of the ‘Twang Bar King’ in action. Adrian rocked the house with a generous helping of tracks from his recent Side One and a number of King Crimson classics.

The venue had advantageous seating from all angles, with the furthest seats at the bar a mere 50 feet from the stage. The upstairs to a converted warehouse, the Bamboo Room offered some fine acoustics and Adrian offered a loud and energetic set of his legendary guitar prestidigitations. The site was small enough to hear the direct emanations from the guitar and bass amps and crack of the drum kit as well as the PA.

Arriving early I was able to get an up close look at his guitar rig and copy down the set list which has aided me greatly in coming up with this review. The set list consisted of 17 songs, a few wound up not being played in the hour and a half concert, however.

The show opened with a rocking version of “Writing on the Wall” from Side One and was followed by a three piece version of “Dinosaur” that delighted Crim-Heads in the audience. The power trio then moved into “Ampersand” and “Young Lions” to great effect.

Adrian’s new rhythm section, which was stolen from Paul Green’s famous School of Rock, consisted of youngsters Julie Slick on bass and Eric Slick on drums. Both of them underage for this 21 and older drinking establishment. I’m glad the venue let them in and they provided terrific, if not flashy, support for Adrian’s wild excursions.

A highlight of the show was the Grammy nominated “Beat Box Guitar”. Adrian provided some of his most intricate guitar parts and the song was stretched out through an extended improvisation in the middle section that was not even hinted upon in the versions on Side One and Side Three. At first during the improv Adrian traded slap bass licks with Julie Slick, presumably from his guitar synthesizer. He then drifted into some ambient passages and even quoted the Crimson song “Discipline.”

The show then picked up with “Matchless Man” which proved a lyrical treat I had never noticed previously in the song. A personal highlight came when the Slicks left the stage and Adrian went solo electric. Samples of car horns and traffic began to play and Adrian electronically looped some arpeggios for the song “Drive All Night” (this title is according to the fan next to me). Adrian then went into extended soloing and wammy bar histrionics over the top of his so called “Beloops”

The instrumental tune was followed by a solo “Lone Rhino” accompanied by just a rhythm guitar which was looped after the last chorus and augmented by guitar generated jungle sounds, including a heard of elephants, roaring lions and charging rhinos. Adrian then broke into “Big Electric Cat”, also from his first solo album.

Adrian then proceeded to ask the crowd if they knew what time it was. To the delight of many he said it was time for 1980s era King Crimson. He then proceeded to close the show with “Frame By Frame”, “Three of a Perfect Pair”, “Elephant Talk” and “Thela Hun Gingeet” (Jungle Heat). Adrian has said in interviews that when it comes to the King Crimson material, he basically writes the vocal songs and Robert Fripp writes the instrumentals. These four powerful numbers in which Adrian pulled out all the stops proved just how talented he is as a song writer, even without the mighty engine of King Crimson behind him.

Adrian Belew was also extremely generous with his time. He sat for autographs at the merchandise table and signed my Side One CD (won from Jeff Duke in a Krimson News contest) and signed my Limited Edition hardcover book In the Court of King Crimson by Sid Smith. This book has a number of autographs from other Crimson alumni and when I mentioned to him that I still needed Fripp’s signature, he offered to sign it for Robert. I said I would catch him at ProjeKct Six. Adrian said Robert was still not signing. I also managed to talk briefly with Eric and Julie Slick’s proud mom and she mentioned that she reads Krimson News every day.

I would recommend any music fan, not just King Crimson fans, try to catch The Adrian Belew Power Trio when they hit the West Coast in November. His musicianship is unparalleled and Adrian Belew has and is taking the electric guitar to places that have never been explored before.

At the prompting of Crimsoid on my diary page (I didn’t know anyone even took a peak at these posts), I have decided to shell out $39 and go see Adrian Belew at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, FL. My number one goal being to get Ade to autograph my previously multi-autographed hard cover edition of Sid Smith’s In the Court of King Crimson.

Since Adrian Belew fans are few and far between in these parts, I’ll trek 15 miles north for the show by myself. The venue is an authentic vintage blues bar and only holds 150. I have a reserved seat at the bar. This should be a great experience and I’ll post a review in this little old blog on Sunday.

Just checking in briefly for my first post under Krimson-News’ new blog software. It is going to take some getting used to. Put together a loan package for $43,000 from the Small Business Administration for hurricane repairs and shipped it off to Fort Worth, TX today. I fell asleep on the couch watching the movie Woodstock and just finished playing my Gibson Explorer for an hour. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Asia comes to South Florida. If they do I will be there. I bid you good night.