* * * * * * * kdm

Marcin Burmiński, the Polish designer of the annual Xmas picture of Klaus Schulze just wrote me:

... In art it's not so much "what" is done - but "how" it's done. The way of realization is important. Not the topic is important, but the artistic presentation.
. . . .It's the content, the substance that influences us. Which is only possible through form, and the impact is more intensive the more perfect the form is (in which it appears). "Form is the peak of contents" said Hebbel. The primacy of form was always inexplicable to the masses.
. . . .Artistic standards are purely of formal nature, hence how an artist shapes and manipulates, how he accomplishes atmosphere, how he creates tension and excitement, how he produces transitions, blendings, nuances and how he avoids the obvious...
. . . .In art, the "what" isn't so important because this was and is repeated many hundred times - it's the how, the form of the statement. In art, it's the mastership that counts, not declarations.
. . . ."It does not matter what you do, but how you do it." (Fats Waller)

...aus Gründen

Die Erinnerung kam plötzlich wie aus heiterem (& herbstlichem) Himmel:
. . . .Die schönen, klassischen Orte Südfrankreichs in den siebziger Jahren (Toulon, Nimes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Avignon, Valence, Beziers, ...) bei warmem und sonnigem Frühlingswetter, mit gutem Essen, dazu vollen Konzerthallen mit enthusiastischem Publikum... Ja, es waren sehr schöne Zeiten für uns beide Kläuse, Schulze & Müller.

I remember many visits in the South French town of Marseille; in the early seventies it was with 'Agitation Free', but afterwards also with Klaus Schulze, for five different concerts. Klaus Schulze concerts in Marseille we had in the years 1975, 1976 and 1977 always in April, and in 1978 and 1979 in November.

The last Marseille concert in 1979 was announced to happen again (as in the year before) in a huge eglise (or cathedrale), but for reasons I don't remember anymore, the place was changed at short notice, and we played in a Marseilles cinema. Problems with electricity in churches were not unknown to us, because these buildings were not built and prepared for loud electric concerts, and our stage lighting in particular needed many kilowatts. Now we had the electricity problem in that French cinema. The cinema itself was not able to deliver proper voltage for our stage light, and the concert promoter had already hired a power generator that was placed outside, near the cinema's back door. A thick cable went from there to us on stage. But this helpful machine was powered by petrol and as a result it made much noise, and in addition it was stinking of the exhaust fumes. Unfortunately you could smell and hear this double annoyance inside the cinema. Not good. What to do?

I sent a roadie to search for a shop that sell candles, plenty of candles. The clever man was successful. I placed these candles in a semicircle on the floor around Klaus and his instruments and they burned during the whole concert. Which gave the event a special, romantic atmosphere. Not bad.