Re: Y2K3 and thoughts on "community"

[George Demarest <george.demarest@oracle.com>]

Well, I can weigh in on this (Y2K3)

I share your surprise that not more has been written. I think more than 
one person was overwhelmed with so
much happening in one weekend. Also, some may, like me, feel guilty that 
they couldn't see more of the
performers to write about (in my case, I was madly working on my stuff 
so that I could put in a good
showing during my set).

So, here are some comments:

No two alike

I heard it said over and over, and although I didn't see as many acts as 
I would have liked, literally everyone I saw
had a unique and personal approach to the music (perhaps making Max's 
argument about a "technique" rather than
a "style"). I was very gratified to see a lot of personality coming out 
of even the shyest performers. The fact that
we all deal with the thrill of victory and the agony of the footswitch 
provides a certain shared common point of view
that is nicely offset by the quirky personalities that drive these 
boxes. From the hilarious to the strangely beautiful to
the deeply troubled, the bits don't lie.

People would love it

I think we all would have liked to have seen more people come out to 
hear (not just loopers). For many reasons,
even with the hurculean efforts of RickWalker, people stayed home in 
front of the TV. However, two non-looping-
initiated friends of mine *loved* it! Damn, people would love this if 
they'd come out and see it. An age old problem
for musicmakers (especially on the fringes).

Don't apologize or "bear with me"

people have to cut themselves some slack. Numerous performers were 
pretty harsh on themselves ("loopers, i am
not worthy!" "I'm not a musician" and "bear with me") for no good 
reason. While I'm sure many felt pressure
performing in front of their peers (for me one of the hardest things to 
do), it's a basic rule of performance to smile
through the glitches (and pretend, for the moment they were intended). I 
think that showing up and making even the
most modest music is worthy of respect from the audience. So, I would 
say, play your set, take a bow, and sit down.
Then tell people about your glitches and that you're not worthy when 
you're having beers afterward. So, bravo to all
who had the will to make music in a tough environment, take a bow. [clap 
clap clap]

Oh yeah, Brian Kenny Fresno was the funniest thing I've seen in a long 
time and a fine musician underneath it all. I would
name some others, but then you'd figure out all of the good stuff I 
missed chasing the gremlins out of my machines.

heave heart, and loop ye merry gentlefolk,

gfd




max valentino wrote:

>
> Fellow Loopsters;
>
> So now it has been a week since the Y2K3 Festival was held in Santa 
> Cruz (tell me, someone, is Santa Cruz still the looping capital of the 
> world?), yet I have read only but a few posts on the matter……wassup? 
> [much deleted]