"Diagramming a Set List"

Transcript
Page 1. Panel 1. A wall plate identifies the location as K-Labs. Text includes title and front matter. The World On A String. Volume 3 Number 1. CC BY-SA Ken Alleman 2020. A man, seen from around the jamb of an open door, works on something with blow torch, mask, and gloves. Panels 2 and 3. The torch has been squelched, a column of faint smoke rising from it. The man raises his mask. This is K. He says, "Oh, hello there. You must be the new Double-Oh-Zero. Would you like to see what we're building today?" Panel 4. We see a set of diagrams labeled "set list." The first is shaped like a W, the second like a U, the third a series of three columns cut by a line from lower left to upper right, and the fourth is the W again. K says, "A set list is sometimes treated as an obligatory thing, to be composed on the back of a napkin right before the show. There is a better way."

Page 2. Panel 1. We see a closeup of the W curve. K says, "The structure of a musical performance tends to look like this." The vertical axis of the diagram is labeled "intensity;" the horizontal, "set time." The top left of the W is labeled "opener," the first dip is labeled "filler, TBH," the middle peak is labeled "mid-set peak," the second dip is labeled "mid-set chill," followed by "rising tension" and "big finish, encore." Panel 2. We see a closeup of the U curve. K says, "Shorter shows may be more compressed, forgoing certain conventions." The top left of the U is labeled "opener," the dip is labeled "filler, TBH," followed by "rising tension" and "big finish." This diagram is appended with a note reading, "Trim as much lower energy material as possible!" Panel 3. K says, "To figure out which songs go where, it may be instructive to assign them certain values." We see a closeup of a diagram with three squares. One labeled #1 at the top, another labeled #2 in the middle, and #3 at the bottom. A line cuts through, leaving a majority of space in the #1 square above the line, roughly half of the #2 square, and very little of the #3 square. #1 is labeled, "The ones. Hits, high energy. Openers, closers." #2 is labeled, "The twos. In-betweeners." #3 is labeled, "The threes. Filler, laid-back. Slow blues, ballads." Panel 4. K says, "Then map them onto this image thus." We're back to the W curve. The upper left gets a couple 1s, then a 2 as it descends, a couple 3s at the dip, a couple 2s as it rises again, then a 1 at the middle peak. Way down at the bottom of the dip, the next number is a 3, followed by two more 2s as the line rises again, then two 1s at the top right to signify the closer and the encore.

Page 3. K addresses the reader one more time before putting his mask on and getting back to work. He says, "It may seem mercenary to treat your show as a progression of rising and falling numbers. But which is the more cavalier treatment of your songs? Our set list with the latest refinements, or the back of the napkin? And do us a favor, Double-Oh-Zero. Try to return this equipment in pristine order."

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