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Looper's Delight
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> From: Rev. Doubt-Goat <dgoat@rocketmail.com> > Subject: Yuppies and Loops, was Re: Looping show tonight, Friday in Portland, OR > Into this little world set down 2 musicians with > piles of electronic gear full of little blinking > lights, strange 10-string insturments, wild..... > The result? Instant coffee house clearing! i've been there too !!! > The questions I have are: > > 1. Is it possible to play in a non-club setting > with a mixture of ambient, illbient and pop and > have an audience that will understand? My duo JFK's LSD UFO has had success doing shows at "new age" bookstores and we've also provided the music for an avant garde dance/painting mutimedia thing - it's funny - at that one the power went out - rendering my tons of electronic crap useless - but my partner continued to drum away gently, - the audience thought it was all part of the show and didn't really notice!!! I recommend reaching out to any art galleries in your area, too, we're gonna do an art opening this summer sometime - also look for weird dance companies or other artists who may want to collaborate and have your sound sculptures set the mood.. > > 2. Does the music listening public really only > want to hear remakes of what they are used to? Pretty much so. Someone else spoke of advertizing to the 'right people' or wordz to that effect - even this is tough. we sent out a mailing list, we've even massively flyered for a show after a local crimson gig about 2 yrs back, with feeble or no response. It's tough, people into challenging musaic like we all do - roughly tend to be in that demographic where they don't really go out that much!! and so the show times are another issue. Also - a lot of them have kids - so we need to develop all-ages, open events. We're gonna play the Trenton Avant Garde festival this september - any Jersey/Philly people - get in touch with me if interested - i can tell you where to submit a tape - it's mostly experimental music, but lots of electronics, loops, some poetry too. Perhaps you can look for stuff like this in your state.. call state parks and get an idea when festivals are gonna be, and if they have or would like to have music. Do it for cheap, sell tapes/CDs and get people exposed to this "new" form of music. I try to stay psyched - we playe last sunday nite - on a bill with Bon Lozaga - guitarist/looper from BON, GONG, GONGZILLA, CARYN LIN's band and various other stuff on his LOLO label. You can hear his stuff at http://www.artist-shop.com.. very cool In any event, you'd think this gig had all the right elements: - early start on a sunday night - 8:15pm - cheap - $5.00 - 18 and over admission - we did a sizable mailing list to prog heads/loop heads/ zappa freaks - huge e-mailing - local radio spots on an alternative radio station - local spots on a public/jazz station that plays tons of Bon's 'fusion' stuff - dozens of flyers handed out But - yet - we played to a tiny crowd !!! 20-30 people including sound man, bar owner, bartender, the other 2 bands, etc. Bummer. What does it take to get people out??? - We all had a good time, though, and the bar owner plaedged his upport for "stuff on the edge like this" and will do it again. But i too, would like hints on how we can all get our unique music heard. Are we all tripping ?? Is this self-indulgent crap in a world that wants songs??? I play those too in another project, and i DEFINITELY see the difference when we 'sneak in' a weird little jam. Ah, questions, questions. again - in summary - howza bout: - look out for bookstores, esp. those conducive to meditative, loopy stuff (i know - that's not all you do, but it's a foot in the door) - find public ways of showing people what you do - look for cool opening gigs, perhaps a 30 min set opening for a captive audience is better than having a whole nite -playing to 7 people..??! - get your stuff to a local college or public radio station, esp. one with a trippy radio show - forget everything i've said and try something that works!!!! Peace, and Loop away, Andre' east