I stayed in Plaka, the heart of the tourist district, and made the most of my free time wandering the streets, wondering at the ruins and dining at the tavernas.
I found myself remembering the odd Ancient Greek word as I studied menus and notices (all in English as well as Greek) but pronunciation is different from that we used at school and I would need some while before being able to cope with the basics. Even ‘thank you’ (efcharisto) managed to hide from my consciousness as I spoke to the audience at the club. So much for education….

Pianist Shuichi Chino and I shared some thoughts about life and death and the meaning of everything before embarking on a one hour improvisation session that swung between some very angry atonal passages and quite lyrical folk melodies: I enjoyed every moment.

My music education students at the University are all excellent performers this year and I really look forward to seeing them working with young people over the next few months. Some of my previous graduates are thriving in the job as music teachers and really changing the lives of some young musicians.

On the solo front I will be playing at the Little Music Theatre in Athens on 21st and 22nd of October. As well as a short solo set I will be performing with Chris Stassinopoulos (from Clearlight Orchestra) and his band ‘Explorers’. I will also be running an improvisation workshop for musicians on Saturday afternoon. If you’re anywhere near please come along. The website for the club is http://www.smallmusictheatre.gr

I’ve been working on solo versions of some King Crimson tracks for my performance on 28th August. ‘Exiles’ has evolved on a quite different tack to the DC Band version which is up-tempo and very assertive. The solo version adopts a slower tempo than the original and is very sparse throughout. If memory serves me right I first played the opening line of the melody at the jam session in Covent Garden in 1972 when we decided to form a new KC. Given the recent upsurge in interest in Zoomusicology the link between whalesong and ‘Exiles’ looks positively trendy!
Trio as a solo? Well, I’ve stuck to the spirit of the piece as far as I can and that means leaving a lot to chance…and the Boss Loop station.
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part One has been the most difficult to construct. I’ve taken some of the main themes and worked a violin piece around them. Apart from the playing there’s quite lot of tricky footwork in this one and I’m sure to fall over at least once…

I’d like to thank those who’ve sent messages of concern after the recent bombings in London. I do appreciate your kindness and consideration and I wish you all a safe and peaceful life in this uncertain world.

Have a good Summer! (is it still called Summer in the Southern Hemisphere?)

By the way Ron Chrisley sent in some very interesting photos and video from the London gig in April. I particularly liked this one – the first photo of an alien abduction of a complete rock group….

I spent Sunday with Mick and Alex checking out the recordings from the Asahi Super Dry Beer Hall concerts. We’ve outlined an exciting new album structure from these live stereo cuts but it will need a lot of work to prepare for release.

In my interview with Dick Heath (which will appear sometime on http://www.lcr1350.co.uk) he stumped me by asking why, since I already have a distinctive electric violin voice, I choose sometimes to sound like an electric guitar? Since I totally failed, then and since, to come up with a witty answer to this, I suppose I must make do with the truth, however boring. Growing up in the 1960s, I could not fail to have been bowled over (2nd cricket reference in this paragraph!) by the overdriven power chords and sustained distortion of Hendrix, Clapton and others. The whole revolution (triggered by the need to amplify the guitar to the point where it could be heard in big bands) seemed to me in the 1970s as relevant to the violinist (now struggling against the mighty guitar in the guitar bands) as it was to the acoustic guitarist of my father’s generation.

Food is sometimes compared with music as a cultural phenomenon; it is part of the way we identify who we are and who we are not. While I can understand that it is a good idea for children to learn to eat the food that everyone else in their tribe eats and be very cautious about trying new tastes (in case they turn out to be poisonous), I cannot see how that applies to music - what is the physical danger in listening to music from another tribe? Why are we so exclusive about our musical taste?

I am very excited about returning to Tokyo (solo and in collaborations with Japanese artists) in August. Visit http://www.musicterm.jp/poseidon/davidcross05/index.html(Japanese) and http://poseidonpro.at.webry.info/(Japanese) for details.

I attended a conference on ‘The creative mind’ where the first speaker, Wendy Wheeler, lived up to the title by bringing together biosemiotics, evolution, complexity theory and creativity (including swarm intelligence, information molecules, the umweld, E Coli and chaos theory). Margaret Boden identified 3 kinds of creativity (combinational, exploratory and transformational) and demonstrated a keen interest in interactive art. Dario Martinelli talked about zoomusicology (study of the aesthetic use of sound communication among animals – including humans) and played an unforgettable recording of a lyre bird which included imitating a saw and gunshots in its song repertoire. Dario thought we should not be so worried about anthropomorphism in interpreting animal behaviour; if an animal looks content, perhaps it is.

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Nerve-wracking but very exciting to be playing live again. We kicked off at the Standard Music Venue in Walthamstow. A very satisfying gig – flowers and fruit backstage and a great sound out front. Many thanks to Litmus who supported us. Unfortunately, Arch and I spent half the night reliving the event on video

Tokyo was sparkling.
The promoter, Tom Ohsawa led us from one gourmet restaurant to another and the Asahi Super Dry Beer Hall with its 200 ton golden flame was ideal for us. Lights, sound and ambience were perfect.

We played Friday and Saturday nights to wonderfully appreciative audiences who listened with real attention throughout, some of them already knowing the words to the ‘Closer than skin’ songs. The band is playing like a dream – veering between immense power and delicate subtlety. The ‘new boys’, Joe and Alex, have re-invented the material and introduced extra dimensions to the band. Arch is as self-assured on stage as on the album and Mick and Paul are playing with more authority than ever.

There was a question and answer session on Saturday afternoon where the participants were extremely well informed (one person even knew about my early experience with ‘Waves’ and ‘The Ring’?). It was a pleasure to develop a real dialogue based on intelligent questions. Some of the audience had travelled a long way to be at the event; Tomoko was the record holder, having flown from Italy to see us play.

I have a sackful of great memories (and quite a few presents) from the weekend – I will never forget the Saturday night version of ‘The Talking Drum’ when the whole audience sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me.

KCNN Diaries Sid Smith 27th April 2005

I spent a stimulating hour or two at Terminal Studios near London Bridge recording an interview for a DVD about King Crimson to be made by Classic Rock Productions.

Lots of the usual questions (why did you leave KC etc. - thank you Rachael!) but it did give me the opportunity to think about the music from my current perspective. For many years I ignored much that was achieved by the 72-74 KC band while I got on with exploring new avenues (and some dead ends). It is only recently that I have been able to see some coherence and continuity in my musical life before, during and beyond King Crimson.

'Closer than skin' is an important part of that picture. In creating the album Richard, Mick and I sought to bring together in one coherent style the disparate elements which can be heard in King Crimson and my own albums.

The minimal, rock, classical, romantic and modernist music in 'Larks' Tongues' (and 'The Big Picture') are all there in this album but condensed into ten songs. The voice and words give a tight focus to the music and stop it wandering off too far on its own path. Passion and pain are in the same test-tube - exactly what 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic' was intended to portray but this time Richard Palmer-James has a full canvas om which to paint. His bitter-sweet lyrics are delivered with authority by Dublin singer Arch Stanton (a man not prone to panic - although we tried very hard (listen to "Anybody" -track 10). Despite the barren landscape the violin, voice and harmony of this album are warm and moving. As Arch sings in track 5, "It's all for love, awful love.."

Having reached this far I realise that I have probably started writing a press release for the new album rather than a diary..then again, I am very excited about the album.

Nearby is the first photo of the current DC band.

I look forward to seeing some of you in Tokyo in a few weeks.

I have registered for a practice-based Doctorate via Prior Output at the University and began the process with a research seminar on the 9th of February. This took the form of a short performance and presentation about my music followed by a chaired discussion at the Sir John Cass Department of Art and Design. I focused on my use of the electric instrument and the qualities of my music. The discussion threw up some ideas I would like to explore more (including defining the genre of a musical style by ‘what it is not’ and a somatic understanding of the creative state).

I enjoyed Christmas this year, as I always do, but it is remarkable how events can overtake you nonethless. Everything is very much overshadowed by the earthquake and tsunami and the terrible loss of life. Music seems very un important in the wake of such a tragedy.
Still, we continue to plan for concerts in 2005.
We are currently looking at these KC tunes: Starless, Larks tongues in aspic part 2,
21st Century schizoid man, The talking drum, Exiles, Trio
and the following from "'Closer than skin": Only fooling, Awful love, Are we one, Anybody, I buy silence plus Tonk from the "'Exiles"album. I'll keep you posted.
Wishing you all a safe and happy new year!

I attended a conference on ‘Improvisation and Musical performance’ at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on Saturday 23rd October. There was a concert on the Friday night with three groups and two soloists. Caesar Villavicencio presented his 6 foot long e-recorder (or meta-recorder) which looked like the kind of pole for a bird feeder that I might make with a recorder mouth piece and a small display screen at the top end. Moving the recorder changed the stereo position or in other ways affected the way the sound was transformed; very exciting both visually and sonically. Musically, I felt most affinity with the ‘Sonic Arts’ performance by Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Rob Townsend (Tenor and soprano sax), Tim Giles (drums and midi triggers). Chris and Rob used laptop processing to transform their parts in real time and after the event (looped). Jazz based improvisation with lots of depth and a wide range of colours.

At the conference itself there were eleven presentations covering an immense field of interests and ideas. Even so, the presenters still managed to confine themselves to Western Art Music, Jazz and World music. There was not a mention of rock, not a fuzz-box to be heard….

Laudan Nooshin signalled that we may able to abandon the dualistic distinction between improvisation and composition; time to just consider the music without becoming too concerned about the exact chronology of its conception. Jeremy Chapman suggested that musicologists could perhaps look for similarities rather then defining by differences (is this just an academic habit?). Kathy Dyson made wonderful sense talking about her approach to teaching jazz through melodic improvisation and development of an individual voice. A refreshing counter to the ‘theorification’ of jazz (so different from the early aural development of its leading proponents).

27th September 2004

Naomi Maki and I have mixed the tracks from our recent recordings. We used a lot of material from the Overtones recording session – the Yamaha grand piano sounds particularly good.

Satomi, the Japanese photographer who took the Roppongi Super Deluxe photo on this page, came to London last week and brought some CDs of Japanese artists for me to listen to. I particularly enjoyed the sound of ‘El Silo’ a guitar, piano and drums group with a progressive intelligence. Incidentally, Satomi turned up wearing a kimono (not common in North London); she was en route to a ‘samurai party’ in Camden Town

Also I’ve recorded a solo on ‘Ancient Civilizations’ a track from a new album by ‘Clearlight’ drummer Chris Stassinopoulos. He is currently working on this in Athens (http://www.garageband.com/stassinopoulos).

27th July 2004

I've been listening to some Albert Ayler, struggling with the tension between playing tunes and being avant-garde and keyless in the late 60's.

The god brothers. I did meet up with Dean and we talked about a lot of things, including the new show 'Creation'. We're expecting to have a number of 'David and Dean' scenes in the show (stand up tragedy) as well as exploring the commonalities and differences of creation myths across the universe - or it may just be about the human condition or.....

Chris Richards, at the University, is writing a chapter in a book about tribute bands, and wanted to chat with someone about Jimi Hendrix. I obliged, realising very quickly how little I know about Hendrix or indeed any other rock icons. I wonder what my specialist subject is?

27 June 2004

I was invited to a great electro-acoustic concert last week by two Argentinian composers, Daniel Schachter (four works) and Javiar A. Garavaglia (one piece). Very small audience (possibly down to soccer -England were playing Croatia in Euro 2004) so everybody managed to get the best seats in the middle. Dramatic and fascinating sound sculptures presented with live manipulation and a certain playfulness from both composers. Javier is a viola player working live with sound transformation so I was particularly interested in his piece (based on repetitions).

I seem to be obsessed with viola players at the moment. Did some preliminary improvised recordings with Leon King who also plays Viola d’amour and Baroque Viola (member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment amongst others, also has a publishing company www.thekings.co.uk). He has an upcoming performance at St Martin in the Fields, on 6th August 2004 (7.30pm). He is playing the Vivaldi Ob d'amore Concerto RV393 in D minor, with the Kantrovich Ensemble of London.

Dean Allen and I (the god brothers) have been discussing a follow up to our play with music ‘That World’. We’ve got some very grand ideas and Dean seems to have suddenly gone into overdrive. We’ll be meeting up in a pub in Camden town sometime soon and may even talk about the show…