It's interesting to read/listen to stories like this and see how the minds of different musicians work... "differently" (as one might expect). Some, like Allan, strive for both live music and anything released to be as close to perfection as possible. I've found others with whom I've conversed tell me that live is meant to be just that, "live" whether that's a great show, a good one, or a concert that's lacking. They really aren't bothered by mix-ups and "quirks" that occur because that is what makes things live. And sometimes, those quirks lead to amazing bouts of creativity. (WARNING SIDE STORY COMING).
I remember attending a Keith Jarrett concert years ago at Tanglewood in the Bershire Mtns (really hills) of Massachusetts. It was a solo effort and the way they had Jarrett's grand piano set up and venue's acoustics resulted in his having to compete for presence on the sound stage with a massive flock of birds up in the rafters. At one point, the technical people stopped the concert and attempted to shoo the birds away. Almost immediately Jarrett stopped them and had a conversation. They then proceeded to set up some additional mics so the audience could hear the birds more clearly...and for the remainder of his sets Jarrett played off what the birds were singing.
At least the story Jimmy related was one in which the band knew it was going to be videotaped. All too frequently this isn't the case today and the artist then has no control over his/her output. Given the ease of recording video and audio it's just about impossible to stop people from recording just about anything (except when one visits U.S. Embassies in foreign countries where they basically take everything you have with you except your underwear and make you leave it at the gate)
I can certainly empathize with Jimmy's situation of having camera crew running around on stage and disrupting things (though in my situation its more likely to be dancers who are letting a bit too much "loose" or drunks) and for the artist to have control over how anything he/she produces is used, put to use, or stored in a vault never to see daylight again. But as in Holdsworth's situation, none of us are permanent and eventually (though I hope it wont be for a long while) other people are going to have control over what we leave here on earth (sometimes even before we leave said earth). That pertains not only to artists like Allan and Jimmy but really to anyone who produces what might be referred to as "intellectual property." As a psychologist, whose work primarily focuses on supporting people with intellectual disabilities to live self-determined, high quality lives, I've developed a number of tools intended to be used to support these outcomes. Unfortunately, in a few cases, I found sometimes years later, organizations and individuals have appropriated and misused them to create additional barriers for such people. And, of course, this has become even more complicated by the fact that today it is so easy to "share" information (ANOTHER SIDE STORY)
I recently did a presentation at a conference on some of the work I am doing with my colleagues and after the presentation discovered an e-mail requesting additional information about the work. When I checked the time stamp I found that the e-mail had been sent during, not after my presentation AND, the person who sent it was not at the conference but thousands of miles away. When we eventually connected, I learned that a colleague of the individual had videoed and taken still shots of parts of the presentation on her smart phone and forwarded hem to her colleague.
So the fact is, while technology has made life a lot easier, we are going to need to adjust our ideas about what constitutes fair use sharing and make sure we leave a paper/electronic trail of what we want done with the intellectual property we produce once we are no longer around (and not assume that even our our loved one's are going to view the release of such intellectual property in the manner in which we intend.
For those of you who made it this far...thanks for reading this rant. Writing it took my mind off some of the angst I'm experiencing with respect to what's been going on in the city in which I live (Minneapolis) for the last few days.
