Bernard Stollman RIP

[brownie]

They were not. They were in the US during WW2.

[sgcim]

This should tell you where he was at:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/bernard-stollman-the-esp-disk-story-by-clifford-allen.php

I first heard the Fugs on an ESP sampler. RIP, BS.

[Peter Friedman]

Chuck, though not a fan of most of the ESP records, I greatly enjoyed your piece.

[clifford_thornton]

Great piece, Chuck. "They exhibited the spare elegance of money." Yes!

I think your experiences and the striking way you conveyed them captured one of the essential aspects of Stollman -- that he was at any moment at once there and not there, a shape changer of some primal, ectoplasmic sort. (Perhaps, as he saw it, his debts and obligations were owed in another universe.)

BTW, other than the records he made (which certainly are evidence of a powerful sort), does anyone have direct evidence of the nature of Stollman's involvement in/understanding of the music he recorded?

He does go into this somewhat here. Very early interview for me; thanks to a bit of Clem/MomsMobley's ball-busting, got some egregious errors/weirdness straightened out. But it's still pretty weird...

[danasgoodstuff]

The news is not yet up on the ESP website that I could see - sadly typical. But still, stuff got recorded that otherwise might very well have not been, so a huge thanks for that.

[AllenLowe]

I love Chuck's piece, not least because I know this guy and have met his equivalent too many times: narcissistic hipster, flake, self-centered, deluded in the way only the rich can afford to be deluded.

These types may be smart and personable as necessary, but, once burned by their kind (well, maybe thrice burned) you no longer give a damn how much money, brains, or ideas they have. Just not worth the association and the disappointment.

Edited April 22, 2015 by AllenLowe

[Leeway]

Thanks for the recollection, Chuck. Inclined to assume that all those record stories mentioned are history as well (?). Another lamentable fact.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

I think I took a whiz next to him at iridium about 10 years ago.

[Chuck Nessa]

I admire your restraint.