Efren responded:

...

He has to be an irritated Faith No More fan.

Actually, I thought this could've been written by Trey Spruance. He has expressed similar thoughts about this issue, see for example the interview he did with the SF Bay Guardian at http://www.sfbg.com/36/36/art_spruance.html, "Trey Spruance declares war on hipness by association". I think he is right, too. Too much dross is being passed of as acceptable or even great music in the area of free improv - as in any other area, for that matter. I totally agree that records like the dreadful "Weird Little Boy" and also "Hemophiliac" (which I haven't heard so I can't comment on its contents) probably sell only because the names of Zorn and Patton are attached to them. At this point, I don't think there are any irritated Faith No More fans left. They have been replaced by the irritated Mr.Bungle fans, who would rather hear a fourth Bungle album than any of the other projects Patton and the others have done since. Let's hope that Trey succeeds in setting this sorry lot straight with the "Book of Horizons" CD, to be released in May. Frankco

Bad blood

It must be a source of endless frustration for the starving artists of the noise and free-improvisation scenes, who often have trouble moving a few hundred units of their latest proud creation, to see an all-star side project like John Zorn, Mike Patton, and Ikue Mori's Hemophiliac effortlessly sell out a few thousand copies of an Internet-only CD ? priced at 45 bucks no less. The real knee-slapper is this overpriced CD (self-titled, and released in 2002 through Zorn's label, Tzadik) isn't even any good ? it sounds like something you'd yawn and fidget through on improv night at the local art-gallery storefront. So why would anyone recommend seeing this trio live? Morbid curiosity? A celebrities-at-their-worst-style fascination with public failure? Or the slim hope these talented cult icons reach beyond the Knitting Factory improv clichés and smarmy laptop computer gimmicks that characterize so much of the CD? Cross your fingers. 8 p.m., Slim's, 333 Folsom, S.F. $20. (415) 255-0333. (Will York)