Re: Dangerous (learning) curves (was Fast & Trashy, Slow and Chaste)

["Steve Lawson" <steve@steve-lawson.co.uk>]

> I agree Per, but I've got to make a comment about the Repeater being a
> "Clever Loop Recorder" as if that's a negative?  Of course it is.  Very
> clever.  Have you seen Bill Walker's rig?  Lot's of gear, yet he
> manipulates his Repeater and what's feeding it with the grace of a
> ballet dancer and looks just as comfortable doing it as an 80 year old
> blues musician (but more spry!)

..there's an interesting mental aside here about who we use as examples of
what a piece of gear is capable of. The Andre exploits the EDP more fully
than anyone I've ever come across, I've still heard very few people 
actually
attempt anything similar (seems like Torn has copped an Andre lick or two,
and I know I certainly have, but to a very different end...) Same with
Bill - which his Repeater useage is remarkable, it's just an extension of
his remarkable musicianship, and I'm sure he'd make a unique noise with a
fretless banjo and zoom bass effetcs unit. In the case of peeps like Dre 
the
hamster dude and Billy Ray Walker, they are terrible examples of anything
other than being one-offs. Even having watched and been mesmerised by 
Bill's
music (or maybe it was the monkey suit...), I still didn't want to get or
explore a repeater, any more than listening to Tori Amos makes me want to
get a piano, or Kelly Joe Phelps makes me want to play guitar. I did 
however
want to make music that had a similar impact on my audience to the vibe I
got from Bill's choonage. With Andre, it was his playing and ideas and
aesthetic that drew to get an EDP, plain and simple, but I still wouldn't
use much of what he does as an example of what to do with an EDP. It's more
an example of what to do with an Andre! shamown!

Another quick example - is an EDP more versatile than a JamMan? Of course 
it
is, any muppet could tell you that from comparing the manuals, but you
wouldn't get that feeling if you watched Phil Keaggy play - you'd come away
feeling like the JamMan was about the coolest box anyone ever invented.
Which says more about Mr Keaggy than it does about the JamMan. It's only
when your mind and paradigm are applied to both units that you get to see
which 'fits'...

...just a mind ramble from a very hot afternoon in London... I'm off to
Italy in the morning, to play a gig, and to record some schtuff with the
wonderful Luca Formentini, so it's gonna be a loopalcious weekend 
(currently
listening to Luca's 'A Life From The Inside' CD, which is fantastic - not
sure if it's available yet though...)