Re: grumpy loopers

[Tim Nelson <tcn62@ici.net>]

Cantankerous?! Us?!

One of the things that makes me the grumpiest about playing with a group of
musicians has absolutely nothing to do with the music. Once everyone has
shown up, set up and gets playing it's fine, but as often as not there's
the simple logistical problem that any project involving a number of people
gets proportionately more impossible to schedule as the number of people
involved increases, especially when the people have day jobs, lives, a
distance to travel and/or attitudes. Concensus issues get easier with fewer
players, too. Looping technology enables us to do more with fewer people,
thereby increasing the odds of actually doing SOMETHING on any given
occasion! On the other hand, there're fewer hands to carry stuff when
playing out, but at least the vast sums of money taken in at the door don't
have to be split in as many ways. (Admit it, how many of us thought of that
right away when multi-member ska or swing bands started getting popular
again?! A $68 Tuesday night door take divided by guitar, bass, drums, 2
saxes, 2 trumpets, a trombone, a piano player and a vocalist comes to a big
$7.50 each before deducting gas money. If you bought two drinks of
Glenlivet and a set of those wire things that many of us use on our
instruments but don't talk about here, you're in the hole. A loopist and a
drummer could split that 68 bucks in half and take home a hefty $34 each,
riding in one vehicle! :-))

At 11:45 AM 10/30/99 -0700, Jim wrote:
> I think musical collaboration is a remedy to
>individual mediocrity. 

Yep, it sure can be, as long as everybody's listening to each other and
respectful of each others' contribution. Otherwise it's the sum total of
the individual mediocrity of everyone in the room.
>
>This is coming from a guy who has done more masturbatory wanking on his
>guitar and bass and drum machine than a hermit teen male with "special"
>magazines would do on his "instrument."

Who amongst us can truly claim otherwise! We even use "special" devices. 
;-)
>
>If you must dis Fripp's stage demeanor, please do so elsewhere. :-)!

Apart from the artist-in-question's attitude, Mr. Pokorny never said how he
otherwise enjoyed the performance... Nor did he reveal who the ornery
looper was for that matter, but since you mention RF, I wanted to include a
link to a response Fripp wrote to someone who was complaining about not
being able to see him at a Fripp/Sylvian concert because of the "moody"
lighting, but I couldn't find it. If anyone can locate it, it's hilarious;
Fripp actually sent the guy a small check as a prorated refund with the
condition that the whiner never again come to see him or listen to his
recordings...

Tim (Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky, Rotosound Swing Bass and Dunlop nylon
plectrum user, but let's not get started on that!)