Why ask these questions?

["loop.pool" <rickwalker@looppool.info>]

Jesse Ray Lucas wrote...

"Once you can define it and put it in a box, then it's dead.  Take it to
academia and be done with it.  Wait for the next wave of innovation to
happen and then box it up and take it to academia, too."

....in response to the recent polls about what looping gear loopers  use 
and
I can
surely resonate with his fears about the dangers of definitions and boxes.
All of my adult life
I've been associated with musical pursuits that were either brand new and,
hence, have no categories
at the record store, let alone academia or were stylistically marginalize
with the same results.
I've felt that sting of being hemmed in by intellectual boxes and felt the
sting of closed minds that prevented me
from reaching people that I knew would like what I was doing.

At the same time, I've also been very self conciously in a mode of trying 
to
promote live
looping with a lot of my work and I wanted to say a couple of things about
where I'm coming
from to perhaps allay the fears of people who are wary of that approach in
this community:

One of the things that I"ve noticed is that when communities become bigger
that they incorporate much more diversity.   Even with everyone on this
list, we are a pretty small
community.   I think it would be great for our community if it expanded 
it's
numbers............more creativity, more knowledge, more diversity.

One of the things that I have loved so far about the big festivals that we
have had so far is that I have never encountered a group of musicians (in
the dozen or so musical communities that I"ve actively been part of in my
life) that are so non-judgemental about each other and accepting and
supporting of each
person's attempts to be uniquely creative with there use of the looping
machines.
Their behaviour completely belies the  "put things in a box to reduce them"
mentality.
If anything, the reverse is true.  I believe that the Y2K3 loopers really
celebrated differences
and had no desires to pin people down either with style or with hardware.

This year it was stunning and very gratifying to me that Wayne Jackson
made his own proprietary software to loop his circuit bent toy instruments
and that Joe Balestrini came up with a novel way to use Ableton's Live in
realtime performance for his multi-instrumentalism................that John
Whooley had two DL-4 set up like holsters on his side like some zen looping
clown cowboy
, using only his mouth as an intrument as he went out on a long chord into
the audience
wowing people with his really idiosyncratic musical vision........

There was just a tremendous amount of stylistic and musical diversity and 
an
incredibly large number of
different looping devices and strategies being employed.   It was
exhilirating for me to watch and be part
of it and I only wish that you could have participated here yourself.

To me, Jesse, knowledge is a positive thing and knowing about who we are
gives us clues to what potential we can have
and where we can go.

That's my intention in asking these questions.     I have never intended to
reduce us by categorizing us, but rather to
expand all of our minds to who we are in the strong hopes that we will all
expand to what we can become.

Mine is an additive intention and never a subractive intention.   I trust
that you can respect that sentiment.

yours, respectfully,   rick walker