How I met Robert Fripp
Met him many years ago through a record promoter (Polydor)..and met him again (ever so briefly) in Charlotte, N.C. last month when he played a concert there. The audience was offered a screen with colorful images generated as impulses, hypersensitive to sound. It was easy to get completely lost in those ever-changing images – or in simply watching the graceful gentleman in the black leather jacket facing his intricate electronic equipment with guitar in capable hands. Often, as the sound reverberated, I would close my eyes and imagine spirits summoned to turn my worldworn thoughts toward the one light that we call home. It isn’t just any man who can feed such inspiration into the hungry soul. Mr. Fripp is the living hymnal, dust blown off the cover and the ancient notes come to life.
He told the audience that playing inside an old church or cathedral is the most enriching experience for the player as well as the listener because of all the melodious strains in the building’s history that have preceded that performance. I can identify with that, as I sing in a choir and when we perform in the older cathedrals, we sense they are places where you can somehow experience the sacredness, sadness, wonder, and joy of those who have come before you.
