Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Monty Python. No more gigs this summer. Sinus disease. Women are better. Running out of CDs? What to do! At the home. Previews.

JCHNOBODY EXPECTS

Roger CortonThe Spanish Inquisition!

JCHI love it. For our generation it’s like ‘Shave and a haircut. Two Biiiits!’. It’s like an irresistible reflex.

RCIt’s a given. But as much as I love Python, why are we talking about this?

JCHBecause it never really dawned on me how multi-layered that skit really is. I mean, I’d almost forgotten about Graham and Carol. With each ‘take’ they get less and less engaged with the whole business. Even though it’s THE SPANISH INQUISITION! They’re just tired of the whole thing.

RCLook. Spit it out. There’s a point in there somewhere, right?

JCHOK, ya got me. It looks like there will be no tour this summer.

RCWhat? Why?

JCHBecause, Dear Readers, my nose […]

While Rog is away, I culled this from the editing floor of our previous rants on ‘Creativity’. I went off on a jag about ‘language’ and improvisation. I don’t think readers understand how much editing he does on each of these little chats. As we all know, even the most interesting conversations can sound pretty crap to the outside world in their ‘raw’ format. Our average conversation lasts fifteen to twenty minutes, but somehow he manages to squeeze them down into the 800 or so word rants you see–blissfully free of my fits of profanity, inanity and ‘like, um and ya know’. I should be a lot more appreciative. But what to give the guy who has everything? 😀

JCHI had this friend back in Detroit I went to votech with. He had this gag when we were studying hard stuff. He’d start acting all (sorry) ‘retarded’. Spastic twitching, etc. And he’d say “Myyyyyyy braaaaaaaain hurts.” You know… like how computers in movies used to actually smoke […]

Part 4 on practicing creativity. AKA ‘our longest rant ever’. Why consciously practicing creativity matters. Jaron Lanier. Bernie Worrell. Mining for sapphires. Light pollution. Wilt Chamberlin. Malcolm Gladwell.

Roger CortonWe haven’t had enough talk, talk talk yet about ‘creativity’?

JCHNo. No we HAVEN’T. I promised last time that I was going to explain why this matters so much…

RCTo you.

JCHAnd should matter to you.

RCI am usually reluctant to use the word ‘should’.

JCHWhich is why I’m where I am and why you’re… er… never mind. (laughs) But assuming that someone cares about what I care about than yes, I am going to finish up my…

RCLecture is the word I think you were going for.

JCHAs Fred Flintstone used to say, “How very droll.” OK, here we go. I think it matters for music in general but for progressive rock in particular because, frankly, most of it STINKS.

RCMost of what?

JCHMusic, […]

Part 3 on practicing creativity. Vigilance. Bee stings. Total Recall (yes, again). Was Not Was. Ejaculation. He Man Woman Haters Club. Hypnogogic states. Un-Mindfulness. Is eccentricity a prerequisite for being creative or does practicing creativity exercises turn you into a kook? Dog trainers.

Roger CortonHow you feeling, son?

JCHNot great. I just got past one of my little episodes, right? So I go out into the yard, you know, literally to smell the flowers, and a bumblebee flies right up my nose.Ever had a sting on the inside of the snoot?

RCUp your nose? Ouch! If it weren’t for bad like you’d have no luck at all, son. But you have been talking about expecting the unexpected!

JCHI have, haven’t I? Well, you caught me. That was a perfect moment to find me some creativity, but I missed it completely.

RCJust curious, what do you do for that sort of thing?

JCHMissing a creative opportuniy? I rant about it […]

More on practicing creativity. Brian Eno’s cards again. Mutations. Mis-hearing. Mis-copying. Stravinsky. Rick Wakeman. Wagner Tiso. Mushroom hunting. Bruce Dickinson. Excuse me while I kiss this guy.

Roger CortonWe got comments from our last installment. The gist of which were, “I’m not interested in suffering.”

JCHWell, me neither. So let’s try this. I’ve made great sport of Brian Eno…

RCWho is crying about it at some Swiss bank even as we speak.

JCHNo doubt. But it was really only pique. He was right. I was wrong. I used to think that one could be truly ‘creative’. You know? Pull completely new ideas out of thin air. I had nothing but disdain for anyone who used gimmicks like playing cards to generate ideas.

I now realize that the idea of ‘creativity’ is mostly a myth. Ideas almost never just pop up out of nowhere. They are almost always the result of accidents, mistakes, kismet, coincidence or more precisely mutations. I also realise how hard […]