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Rick, you are a constant inspiration! May your enthusiasm be highly contagious! Thanks for the posting! Dennis Leas ------------------- dennis@mdbs.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Walker/Loop.pooL" <GLOBAL@cruzio.com> To: "Loopers Delight" <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 1:22 AM Subject: Why I produce LOOPING FESTIVALS: is looping a valid musical artform? > Dear Fellow Loopers (and fellow artists who don't consider themselves > loopers but use looping tools in their music). > > I've been reading with increasing interest about potential Looping Festivals > in places as far flung as Emeryville, California, > Seattle Washington and somewhere, mysteriously, in Germany. > > I've also noticed that the debate keeps coming up about whether LOOPING > should be considered a separate musical artform > or whether such festivals are "legitimate" or not. Indeed, in the past, I > have spiritedly debated this with our list coordinator (but > NOT leader) the esteemed and talented, Kim Flint. > > I can't answer that question for anybody. Each person needs to have >their > own take on it and figure out where they stand, > but I have produced 14 Looping specific Festivals in Northern California in > the last three years (with several festivals in the works for later this > summer and next year) and I thought it might be good to let everybody know > why I am working as hard as I am to promote the cause of LOOPING. I am > making NO MONEY doing any of it directly (although more on that subject > later ;-). > > With regards to the debate about Looping as an artform or Looping as merely > a tool that individual artists use in their works: > > Music is music and obviously with the diversity of styles and types of > musics on this looping site alone (from Tom Heasley's gorgeous Tuba > mantras to Richard Zvonar's sample manipulations to Andre LaFosse's > brilliant abstract guitar excursions to my wacky 'found sound' aesthetic to > Stan Card's surf rock grooves > to Steve Lawson's wonderfully melodic and crazy electric bass mantras, we > can't consider > Looping to be a 'form' of music. > > Why then, for god's sake, do I produce Looping Festivals? > > Here's the answer: > > 1) I want to foster community.................something sadly lacking >in > our culture............... > > Calling ourselves loopers creates a sense of family and belonging. > This feeling was very palpable, as I'm sure anyone who was there would > agree, at > Hans LIndauers' LOOPSTOCK in San Luis Obispo.................enough so that > Larry O graciously wrote us up in Electronic Musician last month. > > 2) Journalists and Radio DJs are sick of the status quo................we > have not been in such a horrible static slump in mainstream > pop music in almost 30 years. Calling attention to the new technology, > Looping, both educates and gives journalists and radio/televison dj/vjs a > handle................it makes them feel like they are part of the cutting > edge.............it gets great publicity: > I'm performed on air to a million people for a total of about 3 1/2 >hours > in > the last three years because of my efforts to promote > 'looping'................... > > You just can't get that kind of exposure any > other way as someone who is 'out of the box' (the dominant, major label > paradigm that has strangled creativity for so long). > > 3) I'm so invested, personally (and I think we should all be as > independent > artists) in exiting that box (lawyers, contracts, distributors, labels and > usury in general). Being part of a new 'movement', such as it is, is just > a way of identifying with something that doesn't have a strong > precedent..........It's a way of getting people's attention that something > 'new' is coming. People are starved for new creativity. Mark my words, > the next 3-5 years will see a new musical explosion even in major label pop > because people are so starved for something outside of the Major Label > paradigm. > > 4) Just having something tangible (the label LOOPING) to identify with has > gotten me offers to do musuem gigs, festivals, tours, > soundtracks, modern dance commissions and resulted in several artistic > successes. > > Two cases in point: > > A) The World's First Bass Looping Tour featuring bassists Michael > Manring, Steve Lawson, Max Valentino > and myself (as the only bass playing non-bass player on the tour enabled us > to > play a 30 minute set on KPIG, the worlds' largest internet radio > station.......2 weeks later, the head of TALKBASS.com > e-mailed me and told me that mentioning his website and the tour diary that > we posted every night after each cities' performance > had caused 20% raise in the hits to his site and that his website traffic > had stayed up consitently for at least the next two weeks. > He was very appreciative and I felt very proud of all the artists who > participate in that. > > B) The success of this tour's performance so excited the director of >the > San Jose Museum of Art that they have subsequently > hired me to curate a whole series of shows that showcase emerging trends and > technologies in both Music and Live Video > Animation. This has already resulted in the planning of the 1ST >WOMAN's > LOOPING FESTIVAL on Friday, October 4th, > the FESTIVAL of LIVE COMPUTER ANIMATION, where top artists in this field > will be 'jamming' visually with the loop based music > of WALKERS (my duet project with my brother, Bill Walker) and subsequent > BASS LOOPING festivals and festivals of Experimental Guitar. > > > 5) This new technology is allowing certain kinds of > music to be made that has never been possible before > and , certainly, never by one human being.................I can do >really > 'outside' timbral things and suddenly incorporate them into > a pop song in real time, if I want.................Some of the work >being > done > with Repeaters, EDPs, MAX/Dsp and !LIVE computer looping software > is unlike any other music that I have heard from one or two performers. > > For the first time ever, I can sample or loop a found object right in front > of an > audiences face and then 'play' that sample like a melodic instrument with > my wind synthesizer (or any other midi controller: guitarists, synthesists, > drummer/percussionists > take note). Heretofore, audiences have not been able to > connect strongly with how much the sampling world has effected modern music. > > 6) I learn like a m*therf*cker every time I do a festival with other > loopers. I get my creative juices > stimulated incredibly. I produce better 'art' when I perform at a festival. > > That's why I produce Looping Festivals..................in what other way > would I successfully be able to > promote a concert with myself and , say, a genius like Tom > Heasley..........what do we have in common: > LOOPING!!! > > > We are in the baby stages of learning this technology (or at least, I am) > and in learning how > to 'put it out' to the world in a viable way. > > Vis a viz, making money with Looping, as far as I can see, it cannot be > done much yet, but it is only a matter > of time. > > So what I shoot for is: > > 1) not losing too much money with a tour (I have a 12 country solo looping > tour scheduled for Europe and the British Isles for > next summer (2003). I > > 2) making as big a splash as possible by aggresively connecting to > indedpendent, pirate and college radio DJs and journalists > > 3) Always roping in one to several other artists (usually loopers in my > particular case) to > a) double or quadruple our draw and > b) create a sense of community > c) save expense money by scoring 'floors' to sleep on :-) > d) meet and collaborate with new artists (I'm an improviser, so I love > to do two solo sets and then a set of imrpov at nights' end) > > Those are my thoughts on the subject. To anyone who is remotely > considering putting on a looping festival > in their locale, please consider me a source for moral support and/or > advice/information about what I"ve learned > to make these events have maximum impact. > > To those of you who grumble and say "I don't care what he says, Looping >is > not a musical form" I say, > so be it................no need to compromise your values and > aesthetics..............but it is o.k. to let > us naive ones' have our fun, right? Also, I would invite you to come to > the after performance dinner > (or breakfast as in the case of Loopstock) and soak up a little of the > wonderful and exciting artistic > giddiness and vibes that happen there. After Loopstock, I was brimming > with so many ideas for > new things to do that I'm afraid I wore my poor brothers ear off on the 3 > hour trip home...........I was high for > weeks.........I'll bet others were as well (thanks so much Hans). > > Do I reveal myself for the idealistic, communalist, aging hippy that I >am? > DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!! > > Loop on my friends and go get 'em Emeryville, Seattle, Chicago, New York, > Germany, Wales, London, Paris and anyother > place that is considering having a looping festival. > > yours, Rick Walker (loop.pool) > >