Re: isolated here in Hollywood

[Francis Leach <ba754@lafn.org>]

Michael Peters wrote:
> 
> hi Francis,
> 
> >I wonder how I relate to all of you with the way I came into looping
> (writing my
> >own software, etc.) without much knowledge of what was going on at the
> >Guitar Center, etc., but instead, developing looping concepts in my 
>Ivory
> >Tower and musing on Steve Reich's music, etc. and how to do something
> >similar with computer source code which I was writing
> 
> Yes it might seem like we're looping guitarists only but there are a 
>couple
> of other instrumentalists here, we've had quite a number of discussions
> about computer-generated or -controlled loops, and the minimalists are
> without doubt one of the major influences for most of us.
> 
> I'd love to learn more about you and your work on our "Personal Profiles"
> page - if you want to be present on this page, please send the info to 
>me,
> and I'll work it in.
> 
> I'd also love to hear your opinion about my little "history of looping"
> article from our website - you seem to be quite familiar with the
> minimalist roots of looping, and maybe you can correct or contribute
> something.
> 
> Michael Peters
> mpeters@compuserve.com
> http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mpeters
> 
> HOP - Fractals in Motion ..."the only screen saver you'll ever want"
> http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mpeters/hop.htm
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   INTERNET:Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
> Sent:   Saturday, March 29, 1997 3:56 PM
> To:     INTERNET:LOOPERS-DELIGHT@ANNIHILIST.COM
> Subject:        Re: Looping in London 10-iv-97
> 
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> Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 06:42:05 -0800
> From: Francis Leach <ba754@lafn.org>
> Organization: lafn.org
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> 
> Dr M. P. Hughes wrote:
> >
> > David O'Torn - I mean Orton - said
> >
> > >>Just a brief note to say I will be adopting a solo loopist stance on
> April
> > >>10th at the the Clock Tower in Croydon, London (UK) from 1pm till 2pm
> (lunch
> > >>time)
> >
> > Another UK looper! Does that make, oh, about 3 of us?
> >
> > Michael
> >
> > Dr Michael Pycraft Hughes      Bioelectronic Research Centre, Rankine
> Bldg,
> > Tel: (+44) 141 330 5979        University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ,
> U.K.
> >     "Wha's like us?  Damn few, and they're a' deid!" - Scottish proverb
> 
> 3 in London!  And one, me, feeling isolated from you all in the
> newsgroup.  Why?
> 
> Because I don't use the same looping software and the same looping
> hardware that most of you use . . . let me explain.
> 
> Though I am a professional musician, in 1983 I became a computer addict
> and began to write my own source code.  The first extremely simple
> program I wrote was a BASIC program to play Bach's Prelude in C
> (well-tempered) on my /CPM Toshiba machine that played on the primite
> built in speaker . . . not very sophisticated . . .
> 
> But then, in the next few years, I began to take college programming
> classes in the following languages:  LISP, C, BASIC, Prolog, Logo,
> Pascal, etc.
> 
> And tho I then had no MIDI setup, I was fascinated and quite creative in
> writing looping "space" music that used a combination of aleatoric and
> constraining devices to create a patterned music that was based on chance
> patterns . . . my favorite composing influences, were Steve Reich, Terry
> Riley, Philip Glass, etc.  all of whom I became extremely interested in
> and how they "looped", while I spent 9 years writing classical music
> reviews for the Pasadena Star News.  My most challenging writing about
> the concerts I attended were about LaMonte Young, John Cage, etc.  I even
> attacked Cage at a party in Pasadena, in his honor, by approaching him
> and asking "Why don't you believe in patterned music!"  His charming
> response to me was by smiling and saying while extending his hand in a
> most disarming manner, "Perhaps when you know me better!"  I find him
> socially delightful, but though I didn't tell him, I still disliked his
> music immensely.  But I did find people like La Monte Young, whom I
> interviewed, and Steve Reich . . . very intrigueing indeed . . .
> 
> So during those using, I began to form theories and opinions about
> looping (For loop1 = 1 to 4 . . . . .next loop1)! that were reflected in
> my composition source code.  And then, about three years ago, I bought my
> first polyphonic synthesizer, an old Kurzweil K1000).  Years previously,
> I had obtained an early Roland monophonic synthesizer, and took classes
> at Pasadena City College on a Moog) . . .
> 
> Well, I installed MIDI cards in PCs, the next couple of years, sold some
> computers (I had picked up many in thrift stores) to the Electronic Music
> Laboratory I became involved with at LACC (Los Angeles City College),
> began to both continue with the aleatoric music source code I both wrote
> myself and was a consultant on with another programmer from IBM, on and
> on and on . . .
> 
> It's to long to tell all this, right?
> 
> But to shorten my background story:  I continued to be obsessed with the
> principle of looping, and how, in recursive usage of looping (ala "Godel,
> Escher, Bach"), I could gradually change the musical sound loops ((MIDI
> now on a Kurzweil, Roland W-50 drum machine, Cakewalk software), as they
> occurred).
> 
> So, we arrive at this week, and I am in the midst of creating a memorial
> looping piece (with my sometime composing partner) based on
> "Heavens-Gate".  It has both an elegaic sound similar to Albinoni's
> famous funeral piece, and Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", and a
> recurring space music feel . . . .!!!
> 
> Well, anyway, I'm isolated here in Hollywood, from you guys and I read
> your messages about certain looping software and hardware, and I wonder
> how I relate to all of you with the way I came into looping (writing my
> own software, etc.) without much knowledge of what was going on at the
> Guitar Center, etc., but instead, developing looping concepts in my Ivory
> Tower and musing on Steve Reich's music, etc. and how to do something
> similar with computer source code which I was writing . . . it did work
> and sometimes the bugs in my code produced the more interesting sonic
> results than my cleaner code . . . .
> 
>Thank you Michael Peters, very much:  I'll very definitely find the 
personal profiles which I suppose are at 
www.Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com and fill one out . . . I'm also 
looking forward to reading your essay on the history of looping.  
I appreciate your answer . . .
Ciao
Francis Leach