Don't worry!  We'll definitley help O'Lugs out, and I too feel that the regulars deserve a little special treatment!  I was simply saying that I couldn't post a ton of questions asking Peter to answer them while others were perhaps left unanswered.  Peter may stay online for a while.  It's his call.  I have a feeling it will be for an hour or two depending on how it's flowing.  Peter is a real fun-loving guy, and I think he'll enjoy some of the characters we have around here...

So...here are some questions that I think should stir some discussion... Let me know if you think I should re-word anything. Anyway, I am going to TRY and get back here asap that night so (hopefully) I will get in on some "live"...maybe I can get some in BEFORE I leave...We'll see. Anyway, here are the Q's:

----------------------------------------------------------------

#1. It is well-known that Gene Krupa liked to smoke weed. It’s common knowledge that John Bonham drank a lot of booze. I’m sure there are many similar stories throughout the music business over the years. It would seem that some of the most memorable music was made by musicians who were under the influence of some kind of chemical. Jaco Pastorius, a musician you worked with, was a phenomenal player and a well-known alcoholic around certain areas of South Florida. Generally speaking, the message we send out is that nothing good can come of drug use, but there are so many contrary examples of this –all the heroin of the 50’s and 60’s and the great jazz players who were also junkies….the 70’s, Hendrix and LSD…The Beatles and LSD…all the coke that was around in the 80’s and 90’s…Do you see any kind of correlation between the drugs of a given era and the musical style of that era? Were you ever around Jaco when he was out of control? What was that like?

#2.What happened with the European trio (John T. and Palle D.)? Is it true that Manfred Eicher cut that band because he said that you “grooved too much” –or something to that effect? Will you be doing more work with the trio in the future? I loved the sound of that trio –especially recorded by ECM. What kind of studio set-up did you have when you recorded on ECM? What do you think “it” is that defines that ECM sound? Is it the room?-the reverb? I’m dying to know more about how to try and get closer to that kind of ambient “thing” they always get. How were the mics placed? What kinds of mics were being used on the piano and bass and drums?

#3.Which musicians had the biggest influence on you? What was the best advice you ever got from another musician?

#4.Do you happen to recall the gig you played at the French Market Mall (Oklahoma City) in 1983 with Steps Ahead?…the club was called “Bianca’s Jazz Club”. You were playing a green ( a specific color of green) Yamaha drums. The stage was very small, but it seemed like everyone was having fun …I know you all sounded great! I meant to say “Thanks!” for the influence your playing has had on me that night. You made me see that playing the drums could sound “elegant”.

#5.(A bass player wanted me to ask)...Do you ever think about shaving off the hair on your back when you look at that picture in that one ad?

Oh, and a BIG Thank you! for participating with this forum!

(um...you might not want to ask #5!)




hi.

Lugs-  Great questions!  Look good to me as is.  I too want to know what it was like working with Jaco.  I've heard so many stories about his crazy binges, but the guy some how "brought it" at showtime as one of the greatest bass players ever.  I will be sure to post these when the day comes!

Also (totally unrelated) I keep getting error e-mails from the board that private messages are not getting to you.  It doesn't provide much information, but it seems that your e-mail isn't valid.  Have you changed it recently, but not changed it in the forum?  I haven't been sending you PMs, but get these messages when someone sends something through the system and it is not received for some reason.  It doesn't say who is sending it, but I think someone may be trying to contact you.  Just figured I'd let you know...

Matt

olugs@lycos.com




hi.

I was on tour witha band in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area several years ago -like maybe 1985 and we had finished the gig and went out on the beach (They have these grass-hut type mini bars set up all alongh the run of beach associated with a particular hotel) and I was having a drink while watching the lightning storm happening off in the distance...a light breeze was blowing...it was really nice. Anyway, the bartender overheard  a conversation we were having about God-only-knows what...and the subject of Weather Report came up and then Jaco got mentioned...probably bass playing got mentioned...and the bartender chimes in and says, "Jaco -the bass player? Yeah, that guy was in here not too long ago, asking for a drink and he was drunk off his *** so no one was serving him and he was starting fights with everybody and yelling that he was the world's greatest bass player. What an asshole! The cops finally came and carted him off..."

Ironically, that kind of drinking must have played a role in his demise. Didn't he get into a fight with someone and he fell and cracked his skull or something like that? What was the cause of death? I forget...but I think it was something like that.

Look at the long list of names of the truly great players who were clearly addicted to drugs -not just in terms of "recreational" or "binge" usage...and yet, they were THE icons they were...many of them are untouched to this day in terms of creativity. Was that creativity drug-related? enhanced? How many of the world's most creatively-minded/artistic people are/were also drug addicts? I'm curious to collect opinions from all of us in that regard...but somehow, it would be interesting to get Peter Erskine's comments, since he was around some of those very icons.

genius + drugs = icon + die young   ?? 




hi.

Edgar Allen Poe -genius and was an opium smoker and an absinthe drinker

Jackson Pollock -genius and alcoholic

MOST of the great jazz geniuses had more than a dance or two with substances...the list is too long to name them all.

I guess my question is: "Who is totally clear and clean who is also creating something "new" that would be comparable to what those old, drugged-out n'er-do-wells were doing on a regular basis in the old days?" I mean, I realize there are some incredible players around these days...technicians who can "do it all" so-to-speak...but the direction of creativity seems to be more redundant than ever in the jazz world...and it should be the jazz world that's at the forefront of making things change...but I'll tell ya what...I know more about what Britney Spears' cooter looks like than I do about what's going on in various underground music scenes...because that's what makes the news..that's what's important now...that's what's on the television and the radio...and it begins to infiltrate our entire social essence to the point that nobody would frickin' care even if they knew that something new was trying to happen in the world of art/music. We've already been there/done that/seen it all already! What HASN'T been done? Painting with ****, piss and blood? -already been done. Having yourself shot through the arm for a performance piece? -already been done. Destroy the musical instruments...light them on fire...kick them to pieces? -already been done. Play really nice, melodic pieces with great lyrics? -already been done. Play "harmolodics"? -already been done...EVERY conceivable angle has been used so much that there are no more angles -they've all been rubbed smooth.

Musicians play on...but not as many people know enough to care. That facet of life is being conditioned out of people and replaced by pablam...

...but I digress...




hi.

If you write for a newspaper, why not just drop P.E. an email, and ask him if he would be willing to do a telephone interview with you.  To me that makes more sense than trying to scrap together an article from questions that will most certaintly bounce all over the place.

Do tell about the bouncer beating Jaco....Do you know any details? Dressed in MUD, you say?




hi.