Performance Theory, Pt. 1

[The Man Himself <altruist@shoko.calarts.edu>]

Kim sez:

> People get confused if they
> don't see you making motions that correspond to the sounds they hear, 
>which
> is a problem for loopers. 

This reminds me of a loop piece I did several months ago, at a Guitar
Department concert here at Cal Arts, which requires different phrases to
be entered into the Echoplex and then allowed to loop for a few times
before the next phrase is played. 

I walked on stage, plugged in, and played the first phrase, then began the
loop and stopped playing.  After a second or two, I suddenly heard a pair
of people in the front row saying (at full conversational volume): "Oh,
look at that!  A guitar that plays itself!"  They then began laughing
(again, making no apparent effort to conceal this reaction.)

I suddenly looked over and stared right at them.  When they suddenly
noticed I was glaring at them, one of them uttered, "Oh.....!" and were
immediately quiet.  Then the whole house broke out laughing, myself
included. 

Any other odd performance stories out there?

--Andre