Jimmator Presses Lightly For Doom

When I found out about The Chapman Stick it was all I could talk about for at least a week. I've since aquired the recording Parallel Galaxy by the inventor of the instrument, Emmett Chapman, and am looking forward to checking out many more recordings by other stick artists. Check out the two instructional videos by Greg Howard on the site to see what this thing is all about.

I couldn't believe that the existence of this thing eluded my knowledge for so long, especially since it represents a nexus of some of my other interests:

• David Lynch's film adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel "Dune" (it's a vastly better experience than the SciFi Channel miniseries no matter what you say)


• The music of King Crimson


• The music of Leo Kottke


• The music of Porcupine Tree

What this all means is that, like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you can probably get to any musician though Adrian Belew. For instance, Don Johnson has a Belew number of no greater than 3 (Don performed with Dweezil Zappa on "Heartbeat", Dweezil performed with father Frank on recordings like "Them Or Us", Frank performed with Adrian on "Baby Snakes") Useful information, this.

What is also means is that I was prompted to dive headfirst into an obsession with King Crimson after seeking out Tony Levin's Chapman Stick playing on "Discipline" and the DVD concert video "Neal, Jack and Me". Get them (and many others) here.

Eventually, this led me to epiphany that my massive collection of CDs shall be archived in FLAC format. More on that stuff later. For now, follow some of these links and feel your jaw drop in stupified awe as your appreciation for underappreciated art stretches out into a wider circle.

Gee, that didn't sound pretentious at all, did it?