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Okay, I admit this is getting a bit off topic now.... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Miko Biffle" <biffoz@arczip.com> > > So yeah, maybe thousands could pull it off, but what would be the point? > It > would be insincere, and most audiences can smell that a mile away-so >while Do you think this is a true statement? Hmmmm. I guess I'm skeptical. Given how well marketing, even the most blatant and superficial, works with the masses, I've always been inclined to think that the "herd" falls for just about anything if it is pitched right. How many pop stars can you think of that are completely contrived in their show and act, but the crowd just eats them up. The herd loves in insincere. Since when was honesty in the entertainment business a plus for the hoi polloi? This is why people looooove Vegas so much...it's pure cheese and superficially. Now maybe Keller has a unique following of special people who managed to weed out the herd instinct, but that would be surprising. I would take the newer dead or phish head scene (even with the neo-hippie punks who drive to concerns in their parents BMWs, but haven't showered for weeks and are wearing dirty, filthy dreds) as an example of a crowd that flocks to the contrived, but that would be a thread on its own. :) Again, this does not reflect negatively on Keller. I think he knows what he is doing. All people with a good business mind and an understanding of the mass mentality do know what they are doing. The herd is a massive potential of untapped financial potential. And if I was comfortable with playing mediocre music and dancing around like a white-boy clown, I'd be doing the same thing! Heh heh....sorry, I haven't had my coffee and I'm sleep deprived from staying up with a sick kids... > it might sound similar: competently played, no offensive mistakes, even > some > fake passion-there would probably still be something missing. Fake passion, real passion, purple passion, purple people eater passion....the entertainment industry could care less. Like I said, sometimes playing the "I'm sincere" card backfires, because people flock to insincerity. It adds touch of mystery and inaccessibility to the artist that keeps fans guessing and hoping. Good entertainers are often good actors as well, so it is difficult to tell whether what they are doing is a real reflection of their selves and personal life story. > When music is distilled down to it's mechanical nuts-and-bolts, it's >easy > to > think you might be able to quantify and decode an event-I find it hard to > believe that maybe you've never witnessed a magical moment where "simple" > music, played by an "ordinary" player, (maybe even with a few clams >thrown > in) moved an entire roomful of people. For a creative guy, you're > sounding > somewhat intolerant. It's not intolerance...it's sincerity. Couldn't you tell that I was playing a role of the devil's advocate? Partly, and partly not...that's for you to figure out, I guess...but you sort of validate my point above. With little effort on this list, I "could" write response after response and no one will ever know whether I actually believe what I'm writing or not...this can be the case for anyone, and even music performance....looping or not. I can take on any persona I choose, and in the end only my closest friends and musical colleagues understand my motives and thinking processes. But, seriously, yes, I have experienced many magical moments from utterly simple pieces of performances. I don't see your point, though. I was intentionally marginalizing his performance with the observation that what he does is not particular difficult to do or that original and creative, and magical moments don't negate that fact. But it does stand true that he is successful at what he is doing. I'm just not going to put him on another type of pedestal when his act doesn't warrant it. From entertainment value, yes, he's a winner...from a creative music, artistic value...he's lost the race, in my opinion. I wasn't at Keller's concert, the one in the video), but it certainly doesn't sound like one that would give me any of those magical moments (it's all subjective). But I admit, it is hard to tell what can happen at a live event. One can't always control his/her own emotions. Who knows, maybe I could become a Keller fan! I could learn to love Vegas afterall. > > I'd just like to suggest that intent and context might be important > aspects > of a performance and those admiring audients appreciate something the > performer provides; to quantify them as stoned simpletons only highlights > your own prejudice. > Oh ja . . . there's my boring 2 cents. Well, it's more than 2 cents. I've managed to write all this criticism of a performer, fully admitting it is my own perspective, without personal attack - suggesting someone is intolerant or prejudice. That is one skill in the art of debate, being able to argue a point without committing the fallacy of Argumentum ad Hominem. We are exchanging ideas here (true or not, probable or improbable), which is a 2000 year old tradition that has proven success without personal attack. The beauty of respective discourse is the ability to stay at the level of ideas, and not involve the character or alleged character of the person, which has no bearing on the facts. No respect take, however. I'm used to it given my academic background. ....now back to looping. K-