Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Triplicity (Footloose in NYC, 30th May 2001)

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This was recorded at the Bottom Line in NYC, NY; one of the city's many clubs that I don't believe exists anymore. It's tough enough to get started as a music performer anyway, but when small or middle-level venues like this disappear, it only gets tougher.
The central question becomes: how to keep body and soul alive and still make a living as a performer in what people are increasingly calling the 'attention economy'? Gotta grab a pair of ears to listen to you. How far do you have to adapt to the market in order to survive? Luckily for me, these are no longer my problems, but I'm interested to see how younger guys tackle them, in what William Deresiewicz calls (in his excellent book 'The Death of the Artist') 'the churn of continuous disruption'. Seems that you are obliged to build an audience by being intimate with strangers; selling your story, your personality, yourself - much as I'm doing right now.
And to think back: when I started, all I had to do was play the drums!
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