Re: Expectations, artifice, and a hell of a can of worms

["max valentino" <ekstasis1@hotmail.com>]

Wow...all I can really say is thanks to both dt and Andre for the in-depth 
responses.  One thing, and there are many, I really love about LD is 
threads 
like this where we can freely exchange ideas and see how others interpret 
this form inwhich we work.
Now onto the points:  David, I surely recognize your point:
>>
> > i'm not so sure about that.
> > these days, it seems there's been a kinf of amplified resistance 
>towards
> > 'challenge/surprise', in the ongoing musical balancing act 'twixt that 
>half
> > of the equation & the other: that of 'fulfilling expectations'.
and I have experienced the same.  But it has been my greater experience 
that 
the audiences which I play to almost need to be challenged and taken to 
some 
new listening experience.  Granted, my core audience is different and most 
likely smaller than yours, but I have found this to be true.
When I first started doing loop shows, I was using a drum machine to 
handle 
the rhythmic sequences.  I later added a 2nd drum machine and wonderful 
sequenced polyrhythms to put my loopage against.  My set was made of some 
solo bass/loopings stuff and then some more "complex" things using the 
drum 
machines.  I found that during the solo bass/looping part of the show the 
audience was rapt in attention.  Perhaps part of this was a "what the heck 
is he doing?" interest...but an interest nonetheless.  Once the drum 
machines kicked in about 80% of the audience was lost.....they went to 
sundry conversations, to fetch beverage...or just up and left completely.  
This perplexed me for some time.  Seeking higher consul, I learned of a 
general distrust in our audiences for the technological aspects of what we 
do.  Say what you want about the Madonna tour or NiN, but I think a large 
number of those audiences really do not, nor want to, know about the acres 
of technology necessary to bring those (same, repeated) shows off night 
after night.
My own looping shows are MUCH smaller, and more intimate...as is probably 
the case for most of us on LD.  In that case in it much more difficult to 
hide the technology of our process.  What I try to do is bring some 
humanity 
to that technology. I did not mean to imply that, by explaining or 
bringing 
the audience to the looping event, the gig should become a lecture or 
clinic 
on looping techniques, but to merely help point out to an audience who 
might 
be already wary of flashing blinking lights, that these are tools which 
impart, or can impart, a level of humanity into a complex musical 
equation.  
This might be by making a blunder...an obvious train wreck and then taking 
the audience thru the fast track explanation of what's going on...not 
going 
too deep, just enough to let them know that the looper-box is really just 
a 
tool (read:extension) of the musician using it.
Which brings us to Andre's tale of the mediocre musican and the ultimate 
rig.  I have always believed that is not the gear you use, but how youuse 
it.  Our creativity, and our abilities and talents on our chosen 
instruments 
govern the depth ( emotional, spiritual, intellectual etc.) of our 
artistic 
expressions.  We all get GAS, sure...but in the end isn't it better to 
keep 
it simple?  There might be a line of thought for the person who atarted 
this 
thread (Newbie)...keep it simple.
By the way, I dropped the drum machines from my set-up, and now play the 
percussive parts on my bass, into my JamMan, and take it from there.  
Audiences love that!  They get to witness someone mangling a bass 
(aligator 
clips, chopsticks , mutes etc.) and getting some wonderfully crazy sounds 
out it!
Certainly I have could have continued using sequences, but the directness 
of 
inviting the audience to witness, and sometimes take part in, the creative 
cycle greatly enhances my performance.
>
>Max: Are there specific venues/types of gigs/types of audiences that
>you've found to be surprisingly open (or opposed) to doing your thing?
>(I'm also really curious as to venues you like for doing a solo live
>looping thing, here in LA...)
Andre--- I haven't yet ventured too much into LA Propper (as if there is 
such a place), as a solo player yet.  Have done shows in the Valley, Santa 
Clarita, Lancaster and Bakersfield.  Pretty much coffee houses, Art 
Galleries, Restaurant/cafes...and the crafts show/fair thing, which is 
really very nice.  In thisenvironment, the intimacy I was speaking of 
really 
goes to the fore.  So much so that one of my "tricks" of late has been to 
ask the audience to submit some chords ("pick a letter between A and 
G..."), 
which then I throw together into a  progression and begin an improvisation 
with loops.  Of course, someone alwys seems to call out "C#minor"...but 
then 
I know there's a musician in the house.
One thing I would like to bring out now is that all this chat has been in 
regard to "solo" looping.  I do a lot of this, but one thing it has 
enlightened me to is how much I miss the interaction with other musicans.  
On the Solo Bass Looping Tour this summer, Rick Walker, Steve Lawson, and 
Michael Manring all played, as a trio, with their JamMan's all sync'd via 
MIDI.  That's three or four loopers at once, and to throw it all sideways 
Rick and Steve had DL4s (Steve even borrowed mine one night to use TWO 
DL4s) 
running non-sync'd!  To see and hear that (and it was all improvised) was 
a 
mind-blowing experience.  A brilliant exhibition of the musicians' skills 
(namely: restraint!!)...and some wonderful, magical music.
Are there others out there on this list who work with multiple loopers 
(that's players, not machines)?
This has been a great thread.....very inspiring as I am in the moment of 
some introspection regarding my own work and approaches......
Max



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