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Looper's Delight
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93 I apologize to all for the incorrect date in the message. Obviously, I really meant April 10th. Slap on the temporal wrist for me! On the other hand, the gig has raised a few questions for me that I'd like to share with all and sundry. To give an idea of the setting for last nights gig, NW 23rd in Portland, OR is yuppie central. It's a shopping district, full of little fru-fru shops and restraunts. Starbucks is a chain coffee house and suffers from the sterile interior of all such chains. Into this little world set down 2 musicians with piles of electronic gear full of little blinking lights, strange 10-string insturments, wild whammies and machines that go !ping! Have them play strange drones and dissonant loops, interspersed with pop songs influenced by the likes of Bill Nelson and King Crimson, set to medium volume and then stir vigorously for 2 hours. The result? Instant coffee house clearing! The Yuppies couldn't seem to understand what we were playing, the kid's either didn't understand the loops or were bored by the lack of a constant beat, and the old folks thought it was too loud! When we stopped playing, the place quickly filled up. My impression of the night was that we were too weird for everyone who came through, with maybe four or five exceptions. I have new appreciation for what David Torn and Robert Fripp face when they do this stuff. The questions I have are: 1. Is it possible to play in a non-club setting with a mixture of ambient, illbient and pop and have an audience that will understand? 2. Does the music listening public really only want to hear remakes of what they are used to? I play in a standards jazz band as well, and I know we would have had an audience in the same setting. 3. To what extent should the setting determine the performers actions? i.e. is it appropriate to play chamber music in a rock club and noise/performance art in the opera house? 4. To what extent should the audience reactions have an impact on what the performer performs? 5. What are the roles of the performer and audience? Should there even *be* roles? 6. etc. etc. etc. Of course, I have my own ideas about the above questions, so I would like to hear everyone else's opinions! As loopists, I think these questions are one's we should be asking ourselves everytime we perform in a public setting. 93 Rev. Doubt-Goat (Aethetics for all!) ---"Rev. Doubt-Goat" <dgoat@rocketmail.com> wrote: > > 93 > > The Ascension Conspiracy will be playing a 2 > hour show at the Starbucks at NW23rd and NW Hoyt > in Portland Oregon tonight, Friday April 23rd > from 8pm to 10pm. Sorry for the late notice. > Dammit Jim, I'm a musician, not a publicist! > > The Ascension Conspiracy consists of: > > 1. The Grand Conspirator Orpheus on Stick, bass, > vocals and loops, and > > 2. The Rev. Doubt-Goat on electric guitar, lap > steel and loops, and > > 3. The Right Honourable Alesis SR-16 on > electronic drums and drum loops. > > Loops provided by JamMan. > > 93 > > Rev. Doubt-Goat (Loops for all! A loop in every > pot!) > _________________________________________________________ > DO YOU YAHOO!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > > _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com