there's a good bit in that diary book by Brian Eno where he gives each member of david bowie's band a "character" to be while they are playing together. he was telling them to play as if they were from such and such a planet in the year 3000 and the currently popular drugs were this and that etc. each band member got a totally different story and they didn't know about each other's.
sorry I haven't got the book on me.
it was pretentious but kind of fun. nothing wrong with a bit of pretention every now and then...
pretention
pretension
pretense?
somebody help me with my grammar
cheers