Re: Finding people to play with/learn from

[Toby G <carpet8@mac.com>]

Couldn't you just play at an open mic or something?

t
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com>
To: "LOOPERS DELIGHT (posting)" <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 9:43 PM
Subject: OT: Finding people to play with/learn from


> Nick asked:
> 
> "As a young (still in college!) aspiring live looper currently in san
> luis obispo, I've found it amazingly hard to find like-minded people
> to play with, either just jamming or getting a regular group together.
> Can anyone recommend any places to go, either actual places or
> websites, to find people interested in music beyond just regular
> rock/punk bands."
> 
> Hi,  Nick, 
> 
> First things first....................welcome to this list.   You'll 
> find that this community is a wonderful resource
> for assuaging the "I can't find anyone in my area to relate to Blues"
> 
> So,  a couple of suggestions to answer your question from a grizzled 
> oldbie  <grin>
> 
> 1)  If you build it , they will come:        
> 
> Plan a modest free live looping festival by yourself in San Luis Obispo 
> or the neighborhood.
> and find a venue that will host it for free just for the sake of the 
> energy that it will produce.
> Try getting someone at the University to sponsor such an audacious thing.
> Then invite anyone to play who can make it there.     I'll definitely 
> come play and I live
> three or four hours north of you.   There are several people from this 
> area who would to,
> I predict.
> 
> There are a ton of loopers in the San Diego, LA, Orange county areas 
> with a dirth of options for
> playing this kind of music and you'd be surprised at the amount of 
> people who will respond if you do it.
> 
> I've done dozens of events like this in my life and done them all on 
> very, very little budget so I'll be more than
> happy to help you out if you contact me offlist  looppool(at 
> sign)cruzio(dot sign)com if you need any advice
> or even just a bit of comraderie or a pep talk if you get discouraged.
> 
> You'd also be surprised to find that there are probably several live 
> looping artists who are hanging out
> in their bedrooms, garages and basements who will jump up to participate.
> 
> Hans Lindauer, who no longer lives in your area,  put on three really 
> wonderful Live Looping Festivals (Loopstock)
> in Los Osos and SLO several years back.    Since he left that area,  
> nothing really has happened in that area so
> you are due for some new looping energy there.
> 
> Bernhard Wagner,  the Swiss (originally German) live looper was inspired 
> by that festival and the Y2K series to create the largest
> live looping festival in European history.
> 
> 2)  Come perform at Y2K9 up in Santa Cruz,  next October 14-19.    
> You'll just love hanging out with all the loopers who come
> from all over the US,  all over California and all over the world to 
> perform there.    It'll give you a ton of inspiration
> 
> 3)  Consider moving to Santa Cruz or the San Francisco Bay Area or 
> Silicon Valley (all adjoining) because there is
> probably as much live looping per capita going on here as anywhere on 
> the planet.
> 
> 4)  Find and contact artists on this list who you relate to and who 
> relate to what you are doing.   Be really aggressive about
> putting up tracks on a MySpace page or on 
> Youtube.com..................one of the best ways to create music of 
> this type is
> to do collaborative work with artists from all over the world and with 
> the miracle of the internet and fast new computers,
> we have this ability to make music with people who do not even live 
> where we live.
> 
> The reason that I started doing live looping festivals was precisely the 
> reason you posted:    I was lonely and wanted to connect
> with other people who loved this medium for creation.
> 
> So I"ll reiterate number 1)
> 
> If you Build it,  They Will Come
> 
> Get Involved.   Have the courage to be aggressive in doing so.   Don't 
> worry at all about being a newbie..............Go for it.
> 
> and good luck.
> Welcome to the tribe!!!!
> 
> Rick Walker
> www.youtube.com/OrangeDaygloPlastic
> www.youtube.com/looppool
> 
>