For those about to rock, we condemn you

• April 07, 2010

Below is an email exchange between Eothen "Egon" Alapatt and composer Lloyd Miller. Egon's request to include Mr. Miller's “Gol E Gandom” for a compilation on Now-Again Records was denied, but we were so impressed with his critique of pop culture, we asked his permission to publish the emails (unedited).

“Gol E Gandom” was previously included in the Now-Again/Jazzman compilation Spiritual Jazz, distributed by Stones Throw. Lloyd Miller's album A Lifetime in Oriental Jazz is also available on iTunes.

From: "Eothen Alapatt"
To: "Lloyd Miller"
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 10:54 PM

Hello Lloyd,

I'm just back from the UK where I hung out with Malcolm Catto and heard your awesome album.

I'm working on a compilation project with a friend of music from my labels, so I can try to better introduce some of my more "avante garde" releases in the French and Japanese markets. I asked him to go through my collections and pick songs that he loved. He picked "Gol E Gandom" as one of the tracks.

Would you be ok with this song appearing on a compilation CD? My thanks for your consideration,

Eothen

From: "Lloyd Miller"
To: "Eothen Alapatt"
Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 1:18 AM

Eothen,

Great to hear from you. So if my Gol-e Gandom cut is on a compilation I really hope it isn't going to be in conjunction with any of the jumpy ugly obnoxious rock junk that has permeated the whole world like leprosy destroying everyone's musical tastes and minds. I just am sick of it all and just want to provide an alternative and that can't be done by mixing with the enemy.

You probably can understand my concerns. If the compilation is of peaceful and uplifting Indian ragas, Chinese traditional, Balinese, Japanese, Debussy, Bach, classy cool jazz like Miles in the 50s or things like that, great. But I just don't want anything to do with rock and pop of any genre anymore; it is the opposite of what I stand for as you can see from my recordings. So let me know what else is on there.

Thanks, Lloyd

From: "Eothen Alapatt"
To: "Lloyd Miller"
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 11:16 AM

Hello again Lloyd,

I must admit, I love your emails because they are succinct and honest. I know what you stand for, which is why I appreciated the track that Malcolm played me.

The compilation is a variety, much of it, as you can imagine, in the folky and pop-psychedelic and funk forms. Of course we can forego including your track. BUT I would say this: I know you don't stand for anything but what it is you stand for. The inclusion of a song like "Gol E Gandom" amidst the music you hate MIGHT actually "cure" more than you think. I'm serious when I say this - sometimes I find the best way to introduce music like yours to a new audience is to bookend it with easily digested music that is immediately recognizable to the person buying the album.

Your call maestro, I'd never do anything to ruin the trust between the two of us.

With respect, E

From: "Lloyd Miller"
To: "Eothen Alapatt"
Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 11:32 AM

Eothen,

I appreciate you interest and efforts to promote better music amidst the invasive noise of today. But the most efficient way new that messages have been presented in the past by people such as Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, Buddha and others is not to water down the message by appealing to pop culture. Jesus didn't hire sexy babes from the Baal / Astarte mother goddess child prostitute cult to attract followers. He violently condemned Baal and the queen of heaven and just told it like it is often making a lot of people angry. Moses and Mohammad didn't mince words either and were pretty firm about presenting and maintaining the often bitter untainted truth.

People who are addicted to the musical sludge that is out there nowadays really aren't in any mind set to be converted to real music and should just stay where they are because they will never really give up the noise for something metaphysical. I have found that very few people can really totally reverse themselves unless some catastrophic event permanently stuns them into a different consciousness. People that hang out in bars won't ever be interested in drinking carrot and wheat grass juice instead of booze.

So thanks for thinking of me but I just can't be anywhere near the thing I am fighting fulltime just like an African-American just won't be affiliated in any way with the Ku Klux Klan. Once someone has become a zombie for the 8/8 inhuman electronic thumping, there is no way they will totally return to the swingin' 6/8 jazz groove of the 50s or the celestial sound of the coming post-apocalyptic Millennium. Maybe after World War III when 1/3 of the world's population has been grimly destroyed, then hopefully the ugly thumping will be stopped forever.

So for the moment, I just want to see Gerald's CD release of my recordings disseminated as is and I must refrain from affiliation with the noise of the Adversary.

Thanks anyway for your friendship and good will, Lloyd.

MP3: Lloyd Miller “Gol E Gandom” from Oriental Jazz (1968), reissued last year on Spiritual Jazz: Esoteric, Modal and Deep Jazz from the Undergound, 1968-77 (Now-Again/Jazzman).