...

...

or if they do new stuff, then why reunite in the first place.....?<<<

...

...

It's time for Zorn to come up with some cool NEW shit.<<<

Perhaps he could get a sex change operation.

Arthur: I completely respect your candor and understand your reasoning, but... I think that IF the Naked City reunion happens -- and I'm still sticking hard and fast to IF -- Zorn and his Naked companions will simply enjoy themselves immensely, and a great number of fans, many of whom weren't around during this band's brief existence, will be happy to pay well to have a chance to enjoy themselves along with them. And I can't see that there's anything wrong with either side of that equation. What better gift to grant yourself on the cusp of turning 50? Far more people turn out for the latest public iteration of the Stones or the battered remains of the Who (careful with that mouse, Pete!), to name but two prestige acts that boast far less potential for spontaneous combustion. And almost no one ever complained on the handful of occasions that Ornette Coleman reunited his "classic quartet" -- indeed, the box office was probably many times that of the average Prime Time gig. We in the avant-garde camp just seem to hold our icons to a much more rigid standard. Perhaps we shouldn't. Like Skip already said, Zorn can still make sparks fly with Masada on a good night, even with a substitute drummer (the quite heroic Ben Perowsky) and a 20-minute time limit. Earlier in the evening, Zorn's set with the revitalized, sensitive and swinging Anton Fier and the spontaneously drafted Mark Dresser brought to mind nothing so readily as Ornette Coleman's late '60s trio or Lee Konitz blowing with, say, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette. I'm sure that it would have been very different had Arto Lindsay been available as promised early on, but then, the unexpected remains a very real aspect of even the slightest Zorn gig. It was still satisfying, and not merely in a "being in the presence of" kind of way. As for the other Nakeds, well, no one really seems to be accusing Frith and Baron of being incapable of blasting. Witnessing the jump-cut in Claudia Heuermann's Zorn documentary in which she seamlessly leaps from Eye fronting Naked City in the early '90s to Eye fronting Blade Runner in 1999, there's no question but that he can still deal the noise when he chooses. Horvitz's fingers still seem to be in good working order even if he's applied them to other paths of late; it's not like he was playing so hard before Naked City, either. And if you give Frisell a good set of earplugs, the Viagra some folks are prescribing would likely prove entirely unnecessary. Given that Zorn can still dish out a complete surprise now and then, like 'IAO' or Contes de fee, not to mention his continued willingness to take the risks involved with an album like 'Songs from the Hermetic Theater' (whether you view it as a bold new departure or a brave public failure), I think it's too early to call the emperor Naked along with his City. So I'm perfectly happy to let him have whatever birthday cake he wants and eat it too. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com P.S. Oh, and 'Masada Guitars' is real pretty, too. Nothing earth-shattering, but then, that wasn't the point.