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Re: humanizing live looping

Tim -
 
I agree.  Engaging the audience is a good idea.  In fact, the odder the music, the more it can help to show a human face.  And I know Boston can be a tough town for musicians as so many of the audience members are also musicians themselves.  However, there are other ways of getting people's attention. :-)
 
At The Lizard Lounge last year I did a solo looping show.  As usual, 75% of the audience were chatting among themselves.  Why not?  They could while the music was quiet enough.   So after about 10 minutes, I introduced myself, made a few comments on the weather and invited people to talk as much as they could now, because pretty soon I was going to get very loud and they would not be able to.  10 minutes later, talking had essentially stopped.  You see, the nice thing about being a solo looping guy is that bands after me always have their stuff on stage.  I'd asked in advance if I could also use their amps in addition to mine.  So, there I was.  Looping some nice dark numbers so fucking loudly through about 500 watts of guitar & bass amps that talking essentially stopped. 
 
I wish I could get Tris to use his kitchen timer when we play!
 
David Kirkdorffer
UNDO
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 9:53 AM
Subject: humanizing live looping RE: My girl Nancy and promoters with loop bias.

Thanks for the useful insights. Yeah, Belew dealt with this early on by briefly explaining to his audience the concept of looping and then asking "would you like to see me make a loop?"
Always engage the audience in what you are doing, ALTHOUGH if you are playing a "hip" place like the Zeitgeist Gallery and your audience is made up of jaded, "seen-it-all" musicians, explanations are perhaps unnecessary. Friendly banter, yes, but not explanations, not to a crowd like that. That'd be like presuming to explain physics to Einstein (LOL).
Another idea for humanizing the looping thing, whether you're playing to "civilians" or to fellow musicians, is to do the Tris Lozaw Auto 66 thing... using a kitchen timer to limit your jams to, say, 5 minutes each. 
~Tim