OT: Finding people to play with/learn from

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Nick asked:

"As a young (still in college!) aspiring live looper currently in san
luis obispo, I've found it amazingly hard to find like-minded people
to play with, either just jamming or getting a regular group together.
Can anyone recommend any places to go, either actual places or
websites, to find people interested in music beyond just regular
rock/punk bands."

Hi,  Nick, 

First things first....................welcome to this list.   You'll 
find that this community is a wonderful resource
for assuaging the "I can't find anyone in my area to relate to Blues"

So,  a couple of suggestions to answer your question from a grizzled 
oldbie  <grin>

1)  If you build it , they will come:        

Plan a modest free live looping festival by yourself in San Luis Obispo 
or the neighborhood.
and find a venue that will host it for free just for the sake of the 
energy that it will produce.
Try getting someone at the University to sponsor such an audacious thing.
Then invite anyone to play who can make it there.     I'll definitely 
come play and I live
three or four hours north of you.   There are several people from this 
area who would to,
I predict.

There are a ton of loopers in the San Diego, LA, Orange county areas 
with a dirth of options for
playing this kind of music and you'd be surprised at the amount of 
people who will respond if you do it.

I've done dozens of events like this in my life and done them all on 
very, very little budget so I'll be more than
happy to help you out if you contact me offlist  looppool(at 
sign)cruzio(dot sign)com if you need any advice
or even just a bit of comraderie or a pep talk if you get discouraged.

You'd also be surprised to find that there are probably several live 
looping artists who are hanging out
in their bedrooms, garages and basements who will jump up to participate.

Hans Lindauer, who no longer lives in your area,  put on three really 
wonderful Live Looping Festivals (Loopstock)
in Los Osos and SLO several years back.    Since he left that area,  
nothing really has happened in that area so
you are due for some new looping energy there.

Bernhard Wagner,  the Swiss (originally German) live looper was inspired 
by that festival and the Y2K series to create the largest
live looping festival in European history.

2)  Come perform at Y2K9 up in Santa Cruz,  next October 14-19.    
You'll just love hanging out with all the loopers who come
from all over the US,  all over California and all over the world to 
perform there.    It'll give you a ton of inspiration

3)  Consider moving to Santa Cruz or the San Francisco Bay Area or 
Silicon Valley (all adjoining) because there is
probably as much live looping per capita going on here as anywhere on 
the planet.

4)  Find and contact artists on this list who you relate to and who 
relate to what you are doing.   Be really aggressive about
putting up tracks on a MySpace page or on 
Youtube.com..................one of the best ways to create music of 
this type is
to do collaborative work with artists from all over the world and with 
the miracle of the internet and fast new computers,
we have this ability to make music with people who do not even live 
where we live.

The reason that I started doing live looping festivals was precisely the 
reason you posted:    I was lonely and wanted to connect
with other people who loved this medium for creation.

So I"ll reiterate number 1)

If you Build it,  They Will Come

Get Involved.   Have the courage to be aggressive in doing so.   Don't 
worry at all about being a newbie..............Go for it.

and good luck.
Welcome to the tribe!!!!

Rick Walker
www.youtube.com/OrangeDaygloPlastic
www.youtube.com/looppool