Re: OT: why musicians can't eat -- and why radio is so bad

["Mike Biffle" <Mike.Biffle@asml.com>]

'tom@swirly.com' wrote...
> As several people have mentioned, the terribleness of radio could be the 
>opportunity real music needs to get ahead.... somehow....

I like to motivate myself with thoughts such as this, but have to temper 
that. See below...

** as much as i bleive radio pretty much blows. the truth of the matter is 
that a lot of people seem to like it - - maybe WE are just out of step. 
just an idea as an antidote to my usual self-congratulatory ways. stig

Even with a proliferation of improv and experimental based music going on, 
couple with the internet, it does seem like we are still in a small 
minority. The fact that in there are only 3-6 small venues in big cities 
such as New York and SF, and usually maybe one or two places to play in 
medium size cities, tells me we're still in a very precarious state of 
infancy. This is mostly a perspective on the public 'live' music scene, 
but I use that as a barometer. It's great to go see some of these shows, 
but usually there's between 10 and 30 people attending internationally 
famous (in improv and experimental genre) artists shows. 

Often the 'venue' has been 'created' by enterprising folks renting a dance 
studio, gallery or some other type of space because there's no real clubs 
booking this kind of stuff. I'm very grateful that internet gatherings 
like LD allow us to collectively work the logistics of this stuff out. I 
fear without the internet, we'd be working in the dark, so to speak.

Sound-design and scoring visual arts based work seems to be the most 
acceptable area to gain ground with adventurous stuff, although I could be 
kidding myself... (DT's managed to have quite a career in that area...)

Best,
-Miko