[Slowhand] R:R:R:R: Blackie

[Gaetano Villari]

DeltaNick,
 
>>Unfortunately, you're wrong about my disliking Clapton.>>
 
I'll carry on.
 
Jokes aside, I was meaning that nobody can obviously change Clapton. What
you call his occasional auto-pilot playing is his playing at that time, his
musical choice, like it or not. What's the point in taking issue with it? He
wouldn't be EC if he wasn't playing that way. Do you want some other flavour
or intensity while listening to his solos? Then you should look out for
somebody else.
 
>>I also enjoy some songs more than others, as I'm sure you do.>>
 
I have my preferences about Eric's work. They reflect my personal tastes,
but have nothing to do with the artistical value of Eric's music, because he
s an artist and art has an aesthetic and cultural value for itself: the
value deriving from history. That's why most people except perhaps my little
niece would deem the scribbles I draw while talking on the phone more
culturally valuable than a Kandinsky's masterpiece (even though they often
look quite similar). Luckily or not, my history is not Kandinsky's. Nobody
would probably offer a cent for my scribbles unlike for Kandinsky's
paintings. Nobody would offer more than a fiver for my guitar unlike for
Blackie (Eric, forgive me). Art is often hard to understand and you may not
like it, but that doesn't affect or diminish its cultural meaning.
 
So Eric wouldn't have been the same if he hadn't been born at a certain time
 hadn't been raised in a certain way, hadn't got to know certain people.
Eric's whole history, which is built on ALL his phases, including the ones
you don't personally like, is the reason for the artistical value of his
music. What I'm saying is then that you can of course have your personal
dislikes about Eric's art but can't state them as absolute values, because
they're subjective, then arguable. And obviously I'm delighted to read them
here as long as they're put forward as personal opinions. The point is,
DeltaNick, that I've often read you here state some very personal and
subjective opinions as if they were stone-engraved drops of Truth you were
lavishly passing on to free us all from Evil.
 
;-)
 
Cheers
Gaetano