Back from europe/looping inspirations

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

To my great disappointment, in my time in London and Paris I didn't get 
to hook up with any of the people who kindly emailed me. I do regret 
that and really need to make a bigger effort next trip (that darn 
"romance" thing! always getting in the way!). Just wanted to say thanks 
to all who got in touch.

I wanted to put forth how inspiring it was to take in a lot of 
non-musical artwork. London and Paris both have such amazing museums (in 
London, many of them being free to the public), full of works that have 
moved people for generations. For those who are feeling stuck musically, 
as I've been reading in some of the posts as I catch up, I recommend 
taking in other forms for awhile and using that as source material, 
rather than thinking of a particular musical thing to aim for. I loved 
the classical sculpture in the Louvre, and all the predictable 
Impressionists, and Picasso, but I found Dali (there's a dedicated 
museum in London) to be maybe the most applicable for improvised 
looping. Those surreal landscapes seemed like visual representations of 
the weird alternate universes that looping can create. I felt very much 
moved to try to "describe" those scenes musically.

Also, welcome back, Carla! I remember you rocking a Steinberger and 
Digitech Space Station back at the first Loopfest, and wondered if you 
still were looping.

Finally, just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of cooks here. Music 
is what I "do", I always say, but cooking is my hobby. I have all kinds 
of salsa recipes, but the best tip I can give (and I DO live in 
Mexico...) is to use Roma tomatoes, and to roast them until the skin 
blackens and peels, along with the jalapeno chiles if you're using them.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com