Looping Laurie Anderson

[Mark Sottilaro <mark@cdm.sfai.edu>]

I saw Laurie Anderson last night at Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium.
Over all, a
good show, but nothing really musically or technologically cutting edge,
as she was
during the 80's.  And so the world catches up.  Over all entertaining.

She played with a bass player (Skuli Sverrisson) and pre
recorded/sequenced
accompaniment, and there were definitely times when Skuli Sverrisson was

looping.  All gear (except a foot controller that I couldn't make out)
was hidden from
view.

I know we've been through this before, but with a role model like
Laurie, why do we
find so few women interested in working with new tools (such as loopers)
in Music?
Are there still women on this list?  There were some time  back, but I
left the list for a while and have seemingly come back to a "boys"
club.  Bizarrely enough, I always
thought that our beloved loop leader Kim was a woman, until I met him.
When you
assume...  and so the web degenders us.  But still the question as to
why most
women (I've met) seem to avoid music that's off the "beaten trail."  The
women that
I do know that are interested in new modes of aural expression, seem to
be as in
the dark as myself.

Perhaps I only wonder this, as my date drifted into deep sleep during
the
performance.  Ha!