Re: Yuppies and Loops, was Re: Looping show tonight, Friday in Portland, OR

["Michael P. Hughes, Ph.D." <pycraft@elec.gla.ac.uk>]

various:
>To give an idea of the setting for last nights
>gig, NW 23rd in Portland, OR is yuppie central.
>It's a shopping district, full of little fru-fru
>shops and restraunts. Starbucks is a chain
>coffee house and suffers from the sterile
>interior of all such chains.

Do you really want to be playing in a venue to which you're so obviously
hostile?

>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?

Yes.  I'm sure the people who attend such clubs do go places during the
day.  Just don't assume that includes everybody; is there a more outre
coffe house in your area?  Where the Kerouacs and Sartres of Oregon hang 
out?

>3. To what extent should the setting determine
>the performers actions? i.e. is it appropriate
>to play chamber music in a rock club and
>noise/performance art in the opera house?

Yes, but it may not be acceptable to play chamber music to rock fans who
don't like chamber music. 

>4. To what extent should the audience reactions
>have an impact on what the performer performs?

100%.  If you're there (rather than at home) it's because of your audience.
 If they don't like what you're playinbgf you may as well be at home.  It's
OK to challenge their perceptions if that's what they want.  However,
that's probably not what they want if they're there to drink coffee.

>Personally, I'm about to foist myself and work on the Internet Cafe 
>market.
>I still feel like it's unorganized enough to be interesting, though still
>perhaps necessary to pass the hat, unless everyone just loves the crap out
>of you, in which case it's no longer just coffeehouses anymore, is it?

I've been thinking of that too.