Re: A CALL TO CREATE LIVE GRASSROOTS LOOPING FESTIVALS

[jim palmer <jimp@pobox.com>]

austin would be a great place for this stuff.
there is a good audience there for such things.
i would definitely come down from dallas for it.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jimmy George" <jimmy@loadhandler.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>; <GLOBAL@cruzio.com>; 
<Mbiffle@svg.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 12:10 PM
Subject: RE: A CALL TO CREATE LIVE GRASSROOTS LOOPING FESTIVALS


> i am also very interested in being part of any type of looping movement. 
>a
> looping festival is a great idea! we could host this in austin texas at a
> number of venues. please feel free to email me directly both at
> jimmy@loadhandler.com and jimmyg@jimmygeorgearts.com  to discuss 
>further. i
> think that having an annual looping festival is a great idea. i would
> happily drive else where if need be to join such a cause.
> 
> peace
> jimmy george
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Biffle [mailto:Mbiffle@svg.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 6:39 PM
> To: GLOBAL@cruzio.com; Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: Re: A CALL TO CREATE LIVE GRASSROOTS LOOPING FESTIVALS
> 
> 
> Rick Walker wrote...
> > I recently wrote a letter to a fellow respected looping musician asking
> him if there was a chance of setting up a looping festival in the city 
>that
> he lives in.   This is part of the letter I recieved back from him in 
>reply
> (which also generously shared contact and club information in his city):
> 
> >> He wrote:
> >> "........Well, as far as 'my city'  being "happening"...I'd say 
>there's
> about fifty musicians who work together in various loose-knit 
>configurations
> and attend each other's shows (in groups of a half-dozen or so).  
>There's no
> audience beyond that......... I'm not really interested in setting up a
> mini-festival.  I dealt with that ..... where I used to live and it was a
> massive pain in the ass for very little return.  The public doesn't 
>really
> care how you make
> interesting sounds, unless perhaps it's something exotic and fashionable
> such as the Theremin--they just want to hear something 
>interesting......."
> 
> To which Rick replied...
> > I hear what you say about looping and looping festivals.  It is 
>virtually
> the same here. We've only  had 50-100 people per show for 4 looping 
>shows.
> To be frank, though, I couldn't care less about popularity.   I care 
>about
> the quality of the work and the nurturing of young artists in a culture 
>that
> undervalues their unique contributions... snip... > My point is that
> community and energy are more powerful, culturally speaking than pure
> monetarily driven commercialism... snip... > My point?    Energy, 
>Community
> and Creativity is what changes our culture for the better.  
> 
> I've gotta jump in here as well... Regardless of audience demographics, 
>I've
> found that meeting other musicians and creating community is really what
> drives MY playing and motivates me. Dialog with your peers really brings 
>a
> sense of shared effort and minimizes the feeling of lonliness pervasive 
>in
> "unpop" culture. 
> 
> Many of us are lucky enough to be playing semi-normal sounding music 
>which
> somehow fits into an existing scene. What about those really wanting to
> experiment? Push limits? Our audience is first and foremost our peers...
> other players out there trying to have dialog with each other and learn 
>from
> each other.
> 
> This same problem exists in radical free-improv music... the so called
> "creative" music scene really has an intense, thriving worldwide 
>community..
> certainly with a small devout audience... but more certainly fueled by a
> commitment among the players to follow the creative impulse honestly 
>**where
> ever** it arises regardless of current trends and audience 
>demographics...
> It's been discussed to death recently over at the BA-NEWMUS list, and 
>it's
> apparent that REALLY going for it and doing whatever you really feel 
>like,
> is never going to appeal to large masses... It's too damned 
>unpredictable...
> but it sure is HONEST and because of that it gains a fanatically loyal
> commitment by a core group of artists, and an ever growing group of
> listeners. What's so awful about that? I'm proud to be "unpop"!
> 
> Rick...
> > Somebody once said that artists are the antennae of a culture, picking 
>up
> and/or creating the emerging trends before the sweep over the culture.  I
> agree.
> 
> I've heard this said too... Thanks for reminding me of this Rick... I
> completely agree also.
> 
> Working together NOW... talking... playing... experimenting... 
>learning...
> All of this will inform our collective growth and make for a meaningful
> dialog which will MAKE SENSE, in some way to listeners. We'll ultimately 
>be
> connected and not lonely anymore... or maybe we'll all be lonley 
>together? I
> can live with that! 8-) 
> 
> Anyway... I'm off MY soap box now as well...
> 
> Best,
> -Miko Biffle
> 
>