the act of doing in the moment

So I was trying to write a bit about the phrase "It is what it is" which seems omnipresent in speech patterns of late but I pulled the post. It was just too gnarled and convoluted. I'll get back to it at some point but for now, enjoy ubu.com's archiving of "On the Edge" an astounding 4 part 1992 British TV series on the art of musical improvisation across the world. The world might be a very different place if all our television programs were so clear, articulate, entertaining, and pointed. The fact that it is written and narrated by free improvising pioneer Derek Bailey doesn't hurt. The documentary travels across cultures and musical genres giving a well rounded sense of improvisation as an act intrinsic to the way humans make music. Much of the footage in this is not available elsewhere and at no point does the topic grow stale. Really, it is worth two hours of your time whether you are a musician or not! FYI, the four episodes appear in two parts on the page.