Sir Richard Bishop: C or D?

I dunno, I was kind of sad about that lengthy noise/drone/whatever track on While My Guitar....mostly because he's so damn good at playing normal that I don't need any of that stuff. Fingering the Devil is my favorite for that reason--1 day in the studio, solo acoustic and he absolutely kills it. Gotta see him live sometime.

I go to the other albums for individual songs, but as a whole album, it's While My Guitar.... Does it matter how well he plays? (rhetorically asking) I know he's good, but that's not the deciding factor on why his stuff works or doesn't for me.

I hear what you're saying but I think it matters to me. I really like unaccompanied guitar but finding someone who is technically skilled enough to play good unaccompanied guitar while also not being totally clinical is tough to do. A lot of what I feel in his stuff is a result of how good he is--his command of dynamics, the way he can back off and then come in and crush you, his musical vocabulary, etc.--lesser guitarists can't really do that stuff.

What you say is true, cad, but I agree w/ Mackro2. While My Guitar... witholds the blazing technique, but it's as rich and emotionally connected as any of his other work. (Though the best and most moving piece in the live show was Abydos, from Fingering the Devil.)

Improvika has been the best thing I've heard from him, but I also like Salvador Kali and (recently) Polytheistic Fragments...the last few times I've seen him, however, there were parts of the show where the improv seemed particularly uninspired

the last few times I've seen him, however, there were parts of the show where the improv seemed particularly uninspired

Or maybe not so indirectly...

sounds like he needs to stop playing gypsy jazz and Middle Eastern scales

“When I began my recording session back in December the first song I recorded was “Ka’an Azzaman” which is a cover song written by Elias Rahbani, born in 1938 and one of Lebanon’s finest song writers, arrangers and composers (I am half Lebanese just so you know). The version of this song that I was familiar with was an instrumental version by late Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid (1945-1981) who is one of my favorite guitar players of all time, and quite unknown to a lot of people.

<3<3<3<3<333333333333333

so good

Ka’an Azzaman rly is dope

out when?

26 may

My mom once told me I should play Dream Of The Lotus Eaters at her funeral.

so i know nothing about Omar Khorshid, but I'm digging this new Bishop record a lot. Where should I go to check out Omar? Is there a comp or something?

i only have polytheistic fragments but wow what a record. real talent.

Ricahrd Bishop's facebook status a few days ago was some anti-vaccination nonsense.

:/

If Omar Khorshid is who I think he is, I've always found him kind of cheesy, and not in a plasing way. But I will want to check this out. The Rahbanis of course wrote a lot of Fairouz's songs. (She was married to one of them, I forget which one.)

http://www.myspace.com/sirrichardbishop

I dunno, I've already got some stuff that sounds a lot like this that I never listen to.

love srb. i try to buy all his vinyl shit. lately hearing a lot of fahey, blackshaw and ben chasny. all else bore me to tears.

check out also this japanese dude called yousei. he only has cdrs out and i hope he is working on a record deal on a proper label. check his shit out :

http://www.myspace.com/youseis

"Ricahrd Bishop's facebook status a few days ago was some anti-vaccination nonsense."

Yeah, unfortunately he (they?) seems to be a conspiracy nut.

It's hard to tell when he's pulling legs, though. Cuz I for one love conspiracy theories, and if I were a different type, I might play devil's advocate and harangue people even if I didn't believe in it.

There was some blog article a few weeks back abt the supposed anti-semitism in the SCG's output.

xp Alex: Richard is fond of conspiracy theories.

Yes, let's rule out all conspiracy theories a priori, no matter how much evidence is staring us in the face.

(Not meant as a defense of anti-vaccination positions.)

Who is ruling out all conspiracies? I'd say if you believe in the existence of more than oh let's say three conspiracies you are probably a nut.

i dunno, on an aesthetic level i sort of like the fact that they may be crazy conspiracy dudes

The fact that Bishop is a nut does nothing to detract from my enjoyment of his music.

Half the time I can't tell when the SCG dudes are pullin my leg, which is at least one reason to <3 them.

dude can play; that's all i really care about

I guess. But it is kind of interesting that he's a bit shitnuts.

It certainly makes reading interviews (or viewing his facebook status) more exciting.

guys, i really, really don't think that SRB (or Alan, or Charlie) "believed" all this crap ... it's soooo a part of their schtick. like Ian says, i've totally known lots of dudes who are waaaaay into this stuff, can recite all kinds of arcana, illuminati stuff, but don't actually BUY INTO IT. Like the Napoleon & Josephine thing and the Dante's Disneyland material ... they are just well-versed in the stuff and can riff on it at will

DN: You seem to mostly be mocking when you write anything political - have you ever felt that your fans don’t get it?

AB: Yes-only a small percentage is truly qualified to “get it”. That may change over time but I’m not always mocking – sometimes I’m dead serious—it just may not be clear which is which.

DN: …and of course, do you care?

AB: It is never wise to express weakness in any situation, regardless of how much the social engineers wax on about how much women love the “sensitive male”. It’s a scam. Beware!

Alan's always fun in interviews! I can't not read that second response in the Uncle Jim voice. (I even found myself inserting "fellas" at select points the first time I read it!)

But yeah, case in point, it's a lotta chain yankin / mockery. And occasionally they (or at least Alan) mean it.

"Ricahrd Bishop's facebook status a few days ago was some anti-vaccination nonsense."

Maybe he watched the new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit last night? Because it was ALL about anti-vaccination debate, and featured his evil twin in disguise Hilary Duff as well...

oh, speaking of SRB, it looks like 'Improvika' has just been reissued on vinyl:

http://www.reckless.com/index.php?keywords=Improvika&format=&cond=&store=&is_search=true&srch=Search

I already have the Bo Weevil lp pressing but nice to know it's back out there on wax

"Maybe he watched the new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit last night? Because it was ALL about anti-vaccination debate, and featured his evil twin in disguise Hilary Duff as well..."

I knew I shouldn't have gone to bed after Biggest Loser!

he is a dealer of esoteric literature.

http://shop.ebay.com.au/merchant/esotericbooks_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

this is him right?

Who is ruling out all conspiracies? I'd say if you believe in the existence of more than oh let's say three conspiracies you are probably a nut.

Spoken like a true single-bullet man.

Spoken like a true the Rockefeller's are behind it all man.

this guy can believe whatever wacky shit as long as he plays a mean guitar IMO

The fact that Bishop is a nut does nothing to detract from my enjoyment of his music.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The fact that Alex in SF quotes himself does nothing to detract from my enjoyment of his posts.

lol

I'm going to get the Rockefeller-Bolshie-Kremlin triumverate on all your asses now.

so meh, the more pertinent question in my mind is WHAT THE FUCK was up with that exclusive Earth/SRB split LP that you could get if you lived in Lancashire or some shit like that. That is so stupid, and uncool to the "Base" here in the states.

that was for their Euro tour, i got one. I dont live in Lancashire

Sun City Girl in limited availability SHOCKER

that split is find-able on the net, if you just want to hear it ... it is awesome, but that is fairly obvious!

"lol how weird" is fine by me btw

haha, yeah the world is weird!

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/gms/3809089215.html
you can own sir richard's 88 Honda CRX! and some other stuff too.

I wonder where he is moving? Seems like more than your typical yard sale.

Man $200 Sir Richard guitar a pretty sweet deal. May catch some of the magic from those fingers ....

that amp looks p nice

this dude loves having garage sales

4 new albums up for download over here: http://deliradio.com/sir-richard-bishop
$11 seems kind of steep for mp3s, but...

also worth your time - http://www.sixorgans.com/?p=261

oh those are MP3?!? fuck that. I listened to three of them yesterday and liked what I heard, yay for streaming.

well, i dunno, maybe you can get them in lossless? they do sound pretty good, but yeah...

my favorite of the bunch seems to be mystery guild, but i haven't spent much time with them yet.

Fourteen SRB albums are now available for free to download until 1st September:

http://deliradio.com/sir-richard-bishop

Good grief, that's rather huge. Bump!

raaaaaaaaaaaaad. i only have four of those. thanks for the heads up dude!

http://www.sirrichardbishop.net/tourdates.htm

On the US east coast now but not in my neck of the woods. Oh well

He's playing in Brooklyn on Saturday but I don't know if I can make it...

also those free downloads are still active

somebody tell rick bishop :)

One of my favorite concerts of all time was this one: http://www.newyorknighttrain.com/zine/general/live/mar/live032206.html.

SRB's set was perfectly placed between different varieties of nutso noise.

i'm doing the saturday gig; he's also playing sunday at the new WFMU Monty Hall

Crap the tickets link from issue project room's website says sold out. It's through brownpapertickets-- maybe it's just one of those things where they stop selling them online the day of the show?

No, it was sold out. Great show! Dont miss the wfmu thing tomorrow.

Anyone else here at Monty ATM?

Well, the show was fantastic!

so hamish kilgour sat in with bishop? man, that would be cool to see.

He did! He just kinda casually screwed around with a plastic djembe and a few other percussion instruments. They did an unrehearsed little jam for a few minutes as the last number.

Richard was amazing overall though!

Tashi's set was very cool as well. Lots of tension and great use of sound with little experiments involving a bobby pin, a piece of foam & a safety pin.

oh man that would be cool
hamish has such a weird drumming style! i like it.

kinda bummed that i missed srb show here but o well

I was afraid I would! I drove to the venue and found a spot around the corner. Was kind of failing at parallel parking for 6 minutes as Richard sat on the sidewalk next to me smoking a hand rolled cigarette or perhaps a joint. I decided not to say hi...

wait fuck tashi dorji played the sunday night show as well? dammit. After saturday sold out I didn't try to get it together for sunday bc I really wanted to see dorji as much as SRB. I'm stupid.

He's playing Union Pool tomorrow night! There are still tickets. I've been asked to spread the word.

he's amazing live and i strongly recommend going

He sure is. Opener is Robert Millis (not a known name to me)

Millis was way more trad singer/acoustic guitar strummer than I expected but he did play one more experimental piece in the beginning.

Bishop is in Arlington, VA Saturday night

Robert Millis was in Climax Golden Twins, they are old friends

ohhh climax golden twins ok

Drag City announces Sir Richard Bishop August and September 2023 US tour

He’s coming to Baltimore, I may need to see this.

he's great live, it's amazing to watch him shred IRL

he'll be in Minneapolis tomorrow night. i think i may go.