Sander Roscoe Wolff

by Sander R Wolff
The Long Beach Union
Published 9/8/92

Steve Hackett has a new band and, in addition to performing old favorites from his numerous solo releases, will be premiering new material. He’s at ease playing progressive rock, pop, classical solo acoustic, Japanese koto and the blues. He balks at classifying his music, although he says that ‘Guitar Noir’ may come closest to describing what he does. His newest album, Time Lapse, was recorded live and features many of his best pieces from the last 17 years.

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Author, Playwright and Mystic
Talks about the Nature of Reality

by Sander R Wolff
The Union
Published 12/10/90

He’s written countless books, both fiction and nonfiction. Personal change, quantum physics, mysticism, conspiracy and James Joyce are reoccurring themes in many of his works. Robert Anton Wilson, armed with humor, soft-spoken enthusiasm and a keen mind, has carved out a place in literature that really didn’t exist before. His fiction doesn’t fit easily into any category.

Wilson’s first historical novel, Masks of the Illuminati, is set In England in the late 1800’s. It’s the tale of Sir John Babcock who demonstrates that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. By claiming to have an understanding of the occult information coded into Clouds Without Water, a privately printed book of sonnets, he unknowingly enters into an initiation process.

“Initiation is always the attempt, sometimes more successful sometimes less, but always an attempt to create a new Imprint,” Wilson said. “Primitive initiations, by and large, are more effective than the ones in the modern world because so-called primitives are willing to go a little bit further with those things. If you read up on the initiation rites of African tribes or native American tribes you’ll see the attempt is to create a powerful shock that will create a new imprint, to create the same chemical releasers in the brain that a near-death experience would create.”

In Masks, Babcock believes he is being initiated into a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, an ancient fraternal organization. Little does he know that he’s being manipulated by The Beast, Master Therion, 666, the drug-crazed sex fiend Aleister Crowley. Wilson has studied Crowley’s work in depth and had a few observations.

“There are essays and letters by Aleister Crowley that make it quite clear that he was trying to come up with a technique of initiation that would be a lot stronger than what Freemasons were currently using, and one of the things that Crowley wrote about was [that] it’s hard, in the modern world, because the candidate is pretty clear in his head that you’re not going to murder him, whereas in primitive conditions they think, ‘Jesus, maybe they are going to kill me. ’”

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by Sander R Wolff
Published in the The Union sometime in the late 1980’s

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic stretches the boundaries of live performance. They work as a quartet, and almost all of the music they play is scored, but there’s this thing, this edge, this dangerous line they walk between classical structure and an auto accident.

Most of their pieces go through changes. Bits are calm, beautiful even, with their standard set-up of guitar, piano, keyboard and sax, but it never lasts for long. They switch back and forth, each playing drums, saxophonist Ken Field going between synthesizer and flute.

“So the fact that any one piece sounds like it has a lot of different styles in it is strictly due to the multiple personalities that the particular composer has,” Field said.

The second cut off their current Cuneiform C.D., Faultline, is “They Walk Among Us.” It has drumming that sounds a lot like “When the Levee Breaks,” and when asked, guitarist Martin Swope fessed up.

“Actually, all the things that Eric plays [on the piece] are sampled from the Beastie Boys, which are samples they stole from other people. The idea was if it was laundered through the Beastie Boys, it would be ok to do,” said Swope.

“Maybe I Will,” Rick Scott’s only composition on the record, jumped out at me when I first heard it. It’s complex, with a lot of interplay between the instruments. But again, there was this thing… just 4 notes in the whole piece.

“I work in the structure,” said Scott, “and also attempt to figure out how many melodic permutations that I can come up with to maintain peoples’ interest. I try to suggest some harmonic movement, even though it’s a little more dicey. I mean really, when you think about it, you’re dealing with a limited number of notes anyway, with 8 notes or 12 notes maybe. Probably not 12, maybe 11, so changing that to four is really just a matter of degree.”

Despite the debate on the number of notes, these guys really know what they’re doing. They’ve existed as a group for almost 10 years, and have been touring extensively on the East Coast. This tour is their first to the West Coast (having discovered that they could fly their equipment for free) and, after tomorrow’s concert at Bogart’s and Wednesday’s show at Club Lingerie in Hollywood, they’re gone.

So if you like challenging music, you’ll love these guys. This Great Religion will open the show, so get there early. And you know that you’ll see me there!

Hear A Brief Audio Clip From The Interview

Birdsongs’ Own Page

by Sander R Wolff
The Union
Published some time in the early 1990’s

As I sat, watching and listening to The League of Crafty Guitarists perform Sunday at Peppers in The City of Industry, I was struck by the eyes of the players; gazing into space, unfocused. They seemed the perfect example of calm assurance, sitting on folding stools, with perfect posture. When not playing, resting their left hands on their knees palm up and their right arms hanging at their sides.

I spoke at length with Paul Richards, a member of the L.C.G., and he told me of the Guitar Craft school, created by King Crimson founder Robert Fripp. Richards began the Level One course in ’86, and except for breaks to complete his college education, has continued studying and performing under the direction of Fripp.

“I knew that Robert had a different approach than a lot of other guitarists, more of an intellectual approach or maybe even a spiritual approach to playing the guitar,” Richards said. “The best thing [was] trying to let go of all that and just go for it, because actually when I came to the course it wasn’t anything like I could have imagined anyway.

“During that [first] week, the focus is on technique, on how to play the guitar rather than what to play, so there are a number of exercises that are presented, right and left hand techniques. In addition to that there are exercises in attention that are presented to develop and cultivate attention. It’s a beginning for developing a personal discipline in practice.”

The focusing of attention is central to the Guitar Craft training, and the work involved in learning the specific techniques moves beyond mere guitar playing.

“Everything is geared toward this type of work. Besides playing the guitar all day we each take our turn in helping prepare the meals and [taking] care of the house, things like that. This is also part of the course. Part of the Level Three course is to apply the same quality of attention and work we apply to our guitar playing to an ordinary mundane activity like cleaning the toilet or sweeping the floor or chopping onions for a meal. So it expands, in that sense, from just being a guitar player to doing things in general. At one point Guitar Craft becomes a way of life.”

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by Sander R Wolff
The Union
Published sometime in the early 1990’s

He was a founding member of the progressive rock bands Yes and King Crimson. He’s played with Genesis, and has toured or recorded with countless others. But Bill Bruford, drummer extraordinaire, really isn’t interested in recounting past glories, but in devoting his creative energies to his current group, Earthworks.

“[Jazz] is the thrust of my career right now, in that particular direction, ’cause there’s something I think I can do there with electronic percussion particularly. Taking that into jazz and having it taken seriously as a jazz instrument and trying to be creative on the chordal and pitched melody side of the instrument.”

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by Sander R. Wolff

Fred Frith is a man whose work is not easily classified. His career as an improviser is only surpassed by his career as an instrumentalist, except for his career as a composer, which may, at this point, have surpassed both.

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Healthy Carrot Bran Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup white unbleached flour
1 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup grated carrots (appx 4-6 carrots)
¾ cup buttermilk (this may change)
1/3 cup honey (avocado honey if possible)
2 tbs black strap molasses
1 very ripe banana, smashed with fork

Optional: ½ cup toasted pecan pieces and/or ½ cup golden raisins, place one pecan piece on the top of each muffin before baking

Combine and mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and combine and mix remaining ingredients. Gradually add dry to wet, mixing gently until moistened. Do not overmix! Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes, or until bamboo skewer comes out clean. Cool on rack.

Sander’s Savory Winter Chicken Stew

Note: Except for the instant coffee, all the ingredients in this recipe can be purchased at Trader’s Joe.

1 Package (4 pieces) bones skinless chicken thighs
1 package organic carrot nubbies
1 package butternut squash
1 head garlic – cloves skinned
3 shallots – minced
½ cup dried Morello cherries
1 package mushrooms
2 stalks celery – chopped
3 tbs Garlic Oil
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tbs salt
1 tsp pepper
1 onion – chopped
1 cup Cab wine
1 cup chicken stock (low sodium)

Preheat oven to 300. Heat medium dutch oven over medium flame. Cut chicken into meaty chunks (quartering thighs works well). Add flour, salt, and pepper to bowl and dredge chicken chunks, shaking off any excess. Add garlic oil to dutch oven and brown chicken in batches. Do not overcrowd pan. Remember that you don’t need to cook the chicken all the way, just brown the outside. Remove browned chicken. Drain all but one tablespoon of fat from pan. Briefly brown onions, shallots, garlic, and mushrooms, and remove from pan. Deglaze pan with wine, scraping the bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add all ingredients back to dutch oven, cover, and bake in oven for 2 hours. Remove and let stand, covered, for 30 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 ample servings.

Note: To deepen the flaver, add 1 teaspoon of instant coffee, and a ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon, to the liquid immediately after deglazing.

When I can, I love taking pictures of my friends and family. This post will be, from now on, where I post nice shots of Lauren. For example:

Lauren, Shari, and I went for a walk this morning along a reclaimed area that runs beneath some power towers. We love the walk, and the City of Lakewood has done a wonderful job of planting lots of native and drought-resistant species. Prompted by Lauren, I paused for a moment to snap a few pictures.