Re: since this list started

[Loopbozo@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/28/2004 6:25:14 PM Mountain Daylight Time, matthias@grob.org writes:

> wow, Bryan has been one of the first 10 members of this list, 8 years ago...
> how have you been?
> you did not lurk all this time, did you?
>
> whats your impression?
> how did the list develop since then?


    Well since you asked so nicely Matthias I'll let you ,and anyone else who cares to know ,the answers to these questions( keeping in mind the need for loop content).First off - I've been unemployed since the end off March which has left adequate time to become fairly human both physically and mentaly but the cash flow logistics suck for most pursuits,artistic or otherwise. However a month or so into this unpaid vacation my friend Bret Moreland gave me one of the infamous "Chinese" lap steels of recent LD list fame, so I've been dicking around learning and looping with it and the results are sometimes beautiful or amusing ,,or not. I fried the power supply in my synth at the same gig I got the lap steel so the choice was obvious. As a result all the recording I've done this summer has been lap steel and drum loops,just to make myself do something rather than nothing.I still just use a JamMan sometimes with a Vortex but lately not,so as to clean up the signal path for the lap steel, and I just record to MD to archive it. I'm supposed to loop and record with the other members of BrotherSync this week in pursuit of a 3rd CD's worth of trax.. we'll see what transpires there.Secondly- No I have not lurked all this time. But the scarce nature of my posts is in direct relation to my basic techno-primitve stance on looping compared to many people on the list's more technically informed workings, I have nothing of interest to add many times. Also the few times I have contributed information I know to be true and relevant to the thread in question, I've been given verbal grief by some other fleeting list member over my use of linguistics and semantics and waste of bandwidth, so why bother. If you look at my outdated LD profile you'll note that I've looped since 1978, so I aint likely to stop just cause people don't like what I do, but I have stopped inviting them to the gig.Thirdly-What is my impression? My current overwhelming impression is that these are difficult days for sensitive people and I fear for all childrens' well being in a world such as this one.But I think you mean to couple that inquiry with the nature of the list's evolution as it were...Well nothing more loving/scathing was ever posted about the nature of the LD list than the famous "Loser's Delete" post of years past, but I do have my own perspective to share.My impression of the list is that over the past 8 years there has been a steady flow of new loop hardware (mostly software) ,that is constantly re-defining what the state of the art is in looping technology.One of the results of this
process in regards to the LD list is that the people who are using new loop systems get very involved in their move toward modern looping procedures and as a result usually lose interest in the "retro" aspects of older loop devices, which are all some people on the list are able or willing to use anyway. I believe the gap between users that arises as a result of this ,usually causes people to seek out a list that is more specific to their looping device or platform of choice. The LD list is always at its best when the context of the discussion is more music/sound/loop in nature, rather than gear specific prattle.Probably the single most notable milepost to mark the decline of the wider loop thread presence on this list was the fallout from 9-11-01.I believe that some of the posts that appeared on the list in the weeks following that event were signifigant in causing some people to re-define their need to participate in this forum.
However I believe the list is still the best overall portal to begin one's journey into the loop information experience, and I doubt if I'll feel the need to  "uncircumsize" myself from it anytime soon.But then again I haven't read any of the posts subsequent to this one...so......thanx again for asking. How about you Matthias?

                                                                 sincerely,
                                                                                bryan helm