After spending 12 years playing the Stick, collecting information and listening to tons of music, I've just discovered that video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVxKrXnRlmc[/youtube]

The beginning of the show is just magical.

Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

The DVD, Neal, Jack and me that this came from is killer!

Seeing this video gave me a major correction on "Waiting Man" (one of my very favorites).
You know how your mind hears something a certain way, and somehow you're inexplicably prevented from hearing it the correct way...and you end up spending a very long time hooked on that wrong way?
Such was "Waiting Man" for me. Until I saw this live version, I was convinced that the first note (B) happened on the last 16th note ("ah") of 3. Once I saw this video and watched them playing it, and kind of dancing with it, the light finally came on in my head and I realized that the B happens on the 1.
Who can explain why these things happen in someone's head?
I did a quick transcription of the opening Stick part; the first measure shows the correct rhythm, while the second one shows what my head had been latched on to all these years.
(4/9: Replaced the original attachment with one that has the correct tempo marking, as well as ALL eighth note articulation marks. I also understand that the meter shifts to 4/4 for the 2nd verse, back to 3/4 for the interlude, etc. etc...)

Probably a psychologist, I would guess. I've been struggling with this phenomenon a lot when working on producing recorded music; it soon became a necessity to divide the work shifts among us producers to stay free from "hearing what one's brain makes up" rather than the correct mix that is to be sent out. I've also found that it is difficult to give a recording a fair treatment in case you are one of the musicians playing in the recording; you tend to hear and base your decisions on also what you were hearing inside your head when playing. The unique capacity of our brains - that still keeps us more efficient than computers in creative fields - is the fantastic way it can generalize and implement new directions just to "keep the show going". I've also stumbled over this "creative non exactness of the brain" when revisiting music, places, books and films from my past only to discover that all this in fact are very different than my memories tell. You can't trust yourself in that sense, but at the same time this "cheating with reality" is what all art is about; make stuff up and act as if it exists and it will start having an effect on the world as if it really does exist. Very interesting, I think Art, "magic" and psychological disorders all work with the same parameters.

There's an incredible moment at 48:45 where the insanity of Adrian Belew's playing, just as he dive bombs his trem, appears to affect the space and time surrounding him.
Or it might just be me...

Grayo the White