‘an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, ingenuity, skill, and often of money’
- les jeux et les hommes, roger caillois
such is play (according to roger caillois) and indeed such is much of playing music. comparatively little of it is work (paid employment) and comparatively little of it is economically viable in terms of reproducing the labour value of the player (certainly over the extended periods of time we refer to as a 'career').
except for busking (which perhaps explains its lowly status).
of course with gambling play can become positively harmful. people wish to demonstrate that they are not controlled by money, to demonstrate their autonomy, by betting the farm (so clifford geertz argues in deep play: notes on the balinese cockfight). there can be no rational theory of economic gain to support their decision, just a desire to feel alive.
the young fahey records his first album (blind joe death) himself and gets 100 copies pressed up (he is supported in this by his earnings from a job as a petrol pump attendant in takoma park and some money from the local episcopalian priest). some of these he sells but mostly he gives them away or hides them in thrift stores.
already it resembles an art project more than a slick commercial operation.
but already this history hides his juvenalia - the recordings he'd made for joe bussard (as blind thomas for example).
the second album is different. the second album benefits from playing live in folk clubs over on the west coast and from his studies leading to his MA in folklore from UCLA. another graduate of the anthropology department there was notorious faker carlos castaneda.
there is something to be written in the parallels between their lives.
he has ED denson taking care of business. it's the one where he gets some sense of his worth both as a musician and as a writer with the sleevenotes. the site of the game is now takoma records.
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