tony, pat, and I entertained over the last week
I have to say you truly missed something special.
we had a ball!
highlights (for me) included the 75-strong camp jam
(conducted by tony and resulting in monumental moments)
which we filmed and recorded as gifts for each camper
(downloaded onto a USB stick with our cartoon faces),
having 30 or more guitarists divided into two sections,
one group playing my part in frame by frame
and the other group playing robert's part,
having a special viewing of the new e for orchestra DVD,
(which garnered a standing ovation from everyone),
some fabulous storytelling and big laughs,
and the final night's first-ever performance
by the pat, tony, and adrian trio
and 5 of the double trio (sorry, no markus yet)
blazing through a best-of set of krimson hits.
(if I may abuse the word "hits").
full moon resort is in a gorgeous mountain setting,
the staff are super nice people, everything very smooth,
(special thanks to amy and jesse for keeping
my jar of coke, coca-cola of course, filled with ice)
the food was much better than I expected
(I had planned on losing a pound or two, but...)
delicious in fact, the accommodations were,
well... very accommodating,
the bar, the nightly jam and campfire...
the entire experience was simply fabulous.
so much so that we have announced
we are doing it again next year
august 13 through 17.
there was only one thing which didn't surprise me:
the cool people who attended.
they proved once again I have the best fans anywhere.
to our happy campers I would like to say thanks again
and I hope each of you will sign in and take the time
to post a brief re-telling in your own words
of our encounter right here on my blog.
there were many manufacturer's who gifted things
for our campers to use and even things to take away.
we gave away a beautiful Parker Dragonfly guitar,
a bunch of Whirlwind gear, D'Addario strings,
Vic Firth sticks, 3 Ampeg bass amps, two guitar amps,
and 9 custom-made Hammerax cymbals given to us
by their not-so-evil-genius inventor John Stoddard.
we were loaned so many things including 50!
G-Dec amps from Fender and 3 drum kits from DW.
my friend David Koltai demonstrated a plethora
of his Pigtronix pedals, very entertaining,
and John Collinge gave a class on having
a career in today's music strange business
everyone took home t-shirts, a copy of tony's
book The Crimson Chronicle, strings, a copy of e,
drumsticks (once again featuring our cartoon faces),
Whirlwind cables, stickers, catalogs and pictures.
I want to thank tony and pat for being such great partners,
Amy Carpenter and Danny Heaps for making all of this happen,
our crew, John Sinks, Adrian Bienviedes, and Robert Frazza,
our resident crazed cartoonist Denis Rodier,
and the wonderful staff at full moon resort.
ps: if you missed it, it is never too early to sign up
and plan for next year's happenings at:
threeofaperfectpair.com
Sounds like a great time was had by all. Good thing it the hurricane waited to hit NY until camp was done. Although I dont play an instrument as a fan of yours and the muisc you play I wanted to attend but work and other things got in the way. I will try to make plans for next year.
ReplyDeleteI think its really awesome that you guys did this,there arent too many artists that do things like this for or with their fans.
Looking forward to the Two of a Perfect Trio show in Sept
Cheers !
Hello, Adrian. Thanks for an incredible experience at camp. It was a great time at a beautiful place with interesting people everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt was very special to see so many performances of songs I've listened to my entire life, and in such a different way. I will never hear these songs the same again. Definitely feel a more intricate understanding of how they were made and gained a certain insight into what makes them special. Seeing them broken down and taken apart, and then put back together as a whole was eye-opening and made the hair on my arms stand up more than once. Sort of like watching a blank canvas unfold into a masterpiece. Repeatedly!
Think it's fair to say my perspective of camp was a bit different. There were only a handful of us who didn't actually play an instrument and I was one of them. Although the technical aspects of instruction might have gone over my head, I still learned a lot from it in my own way, and hope to apply it to my craft.
I must say that you, as well as the others, were very accomodating and available to everyone there. Your stories were always interesting and frequently hilarious. Even if I heard the same story ten times that week, it never got old.
What would you say if asked the question "Having been through camp, what can you say now that you couldn't before?"
I would say that I now know people from all over the world. Not only that, but I share a bond with these people. A common bond forged in the Catskills based on the heartbeat of Discipline, due to the creative energies of King Crimson. Somewhere, Robert Fripp is smiling.
This is amazing to me. I'm a mailman from a small town in Ohio and I still can't believe that I now have friends all over the world.
Friends in Crimson.
Last but not least, I would like to say that more important than all the music I heard that week, the best thing about camp is I feel like I've come out of it a better human being with a better understanding of how to interact with others, and how not to. After watching and listening to the three Masters of Discipline interact with friends and complete strangers for 5 days, much could be learned about how to treat and approach others. Couldn't have picked nicer people to spend a week with.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you, Adrian.
P.S.
Can't wait to see the Two Trio Power Hour in Kentucky and Indiana!
oops , the url is incorrect , its
ReplyDeletehttp://www.threeofaperfectpair.com/
sounds wonderful , thanks for the review Micheal . i would love to see some clips of the jam session .
The camp was quite an experience. I first heard about it on this blog, and signed up that night. I'm not sure any other band would attract such a diverse and thoughtful group of folks. Some amazing musical chops among the campers too. A special thanks to Tony for providing espresso... never would have made it through the week without it. Hope I can go next year, it's too early to tell. See you in Boulder! The Colorado contingent of campers should arrange a pre-show party, eh?
ReplyDeleteI have talked so much about the ToaPP camp that my son wants in for next year! It was lovely...great stories, great music, great food, what more could we want?
ReplyDeletePeace,
Tadd
"having 30 or more guitarists divided into two sections,
ReplyDeleteone group playing my part in frame by frame
and the other group playing robert's part,"
One of many highlights. Thank you. We hope for more guitar classes next year. Say it will be so!
FUNNEST. WEEK. EVAR.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ade!!!!1!
I'm so there next year.
Hi Ade! The camp was unbelievable in many ways, and it did change my life (I changed from language studies to music school and applied for another college driven by the strength and desire of making music!)
ReplyDeleteI just want to point out a short and sweet moment which explains another side of what the camp was about.
It was a free-time in between workshops, and we bumped at each other at the hotel lobby/reception.
Unfathomably, we both wear (or at least wore) the same model of glasses! Yours having transition lenses and mine being plain old glasses, both with that round, old school design.
We made some comments about how people in good taste wear this type of eyegoggles, and after that moment passed I thought "wait, this was a cute little interlude with ADRIAN BELEW, A HERO OF MINE FOR YEARS NOW!!"
That and many other moments are lasting much longer than they originally did in chronological time. We are still jamming, 75 + 3, in my head and in my heart to this day, just as your solo and crimson work lives on :)
I guess this is what I wanted to say. I'm glad you haven't given up on writing music. It sure cheers me up on writing my own!