Re: Loopstock 2002...

[Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org>]

>>I think Jon Wagner (his performance with Mattias Grob  made me 
>>weep, I swear!) made a dat of the whole thing.
>
>Thanks for the kind words Mark!  This weekend and the days leading 
>up to it, were extremely special for me.
>
>About the recordings, I have several DAT tapes to wade through.

thank you for doing this job, Jon

>My quick review of loopstock:
>-Amazing group of people with an excellent vibe in the room.
>-Every single performer had multiple moments that really connected 
>with the crowd on many levels.
>-Each performance was truly different from the others, and inspiring 
>in its own way.
>-Many performers experienced technical difficulties which we all 
>understood, all performers overcame them with grace and style.
>-The amount of talent in the room was probably sending the earth off its 
>axis.

well said!
I just add:
- Hans organization was so perfect that we did not even notice it.
- The system with the two stages is the solution. Not only could we 
just turn around and continue listening (sometimes almost too 
immediately, for my taste) but all musicians had time to set up their 
things with care, I never felt any wave of stress through the whole 
day!
- The concentration was fully on the music. Gear was looked at 
quickly and hardly turned into the focus of the presentations (I am 
the one who could not resist to ask the stupid question after 
Richards spectacle: "How did you do that?" ;-)
- I still feel it would be good to also workshop and explain things, 
but it really should kept separately, its an all different vibe.
- The health food store across the road contributed greatly (the 
owner showed up after it closed!)


A thought chilled me: in some other families the members would soon 
install a jury and select the best. Maybe I should not even mention 
the idea, but I prefer to say: I will not come to wherever someone 
may do that ;-)

But I can still give my opinion, right? :

To me the festival spirit really came at Marks last piece. Maybe 
because we arrived late, but mainly because it had the power to do 
so... Thank you!

Max deeply moved me. He spreads a lot of love, musically and 
personally. And he gave me a marvelous CD!

Rick Loop.pooL seemed to be the one of us who understands to give a 
show, play with the public, direct it. We had a brilliant talk about 
this on Sunday. He has developed "strategies" to involved the public. 
We relaxed first laughing and even singing, and when he came to the 
bowls and the double flute in the end, we were really with him and 
went far! He is an example also for experienced acoustic musicians of 
our generation that do not have the punch to learn about the computer 
ways. And with this background, his computer music will stay organic, 
as I heard on a CD he sent me to Brasil!

Bill maybe brought the most professional ambient sound. His 
combination of MIDI guitar and Repeater seems to be a very strong 
element!

Ted impressed first with the biggest and apparently most rigidly 
structured equipment and second with the sound that came out. Very 
personal. I wonder how the next half hour of your show would have 
been. I am sure you could squeeze many other sounds out of your tower 
that show other sides of you, just as marvelous.

With Tom I had a similar feeling. He made even more personal sound 
out of a tuba and very little equipment and his wave involved and 
fascinated easily. But its as if you would keep asking a question to 
the world and the answer is not heard because the LD4 has no feedback 
control, so it acts like an anchor instead of following you on 
through our phantastic world. But I may be wrong, just do it your way!

Rich & Cliff were the ones with a ready composition with 10 distinct 
parts and video, nice to follow!

Sorry not to mention everyone here. All brought their own color and 
talent, it was amazingly rich!

Bill said:
>  I felt like I was at a big genial group therapy session for people with
>"Gear Acquisition Syndrom" , but instead of  helping us to cure our gear
>addictions, it just seemed to fuel them.

this sounds dramatic!
Really I was amazed how much effort we make to complete our sounds.
I had a hard time to keep me down on 5 rack units and one pedal. And 
all indicates that I should have a Repeater. But it seem essential to 
me to be able to set up quickly in any small space so I can 
participate in all kinds of cultural events. I certainly am 
privileged since I can mount several boards into the same box and 
create mixing elements into the equipment where they are needed 
instead of carrying a mixer, but still, why dont you try to do it 
without that box you only use once? ;-)

I had a really good time playing with Jon and Bill. I also had 
technical problems: I struggled in vain to make Garys PCM80 load my 
pitch effects, so I used it as Reverb and tried to create similar 
effects on Kims Intellifex which did not really succeed. So I had to 
basically play the guitar which is also nice ;-)
I hope we suggested a kind of meeting for next time. Jon and I had 
two rehearsals on Thursday and Friday, which helped and was fun and 
interesting for both of us.
Hopefully other partners can hook up even more spontaneously at the 
next meeting. It gives each one more time to play ;-)
Can you hear what comes out if Max throws me a MIDIclock line? Its my 
dream for next time ;-)

I feel a lot better. My story of the last years became connected to 
flesh and metal and smiles and a lot of hair ;-)
Remember me saying that my loops turned into music when I plaid with 
Marcio Miranda in 1988 in Rio? I was very exited about it but he (an 
extremely versatile musician that makes quite some money for his big 
family with all kinds of productions) cooled me down: "You dont 
expect to become old, based on a delay and a reverb, do you?"
Well, it seems that input and feedback is strong enough to keep this 
loop going for another while...
We started something that will not fade too soon.

Thank you all!
Matthias
-- 


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org