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Re: FW: Disappointed in Hollywood (I WAS THERE TOO)



** miko thought that i was being generous yesterday, i guess i'm gonna 
feel a little surly (and long-winded) today . . . 

Yeah... I'm a bit more discouraged and embarrased by the fundamentalist 
vibe I've been hearing since then. Be careful how you experiment folks... 
YOU COULD BE NEXT!

> So, in trying to understand Gary's comments, we should note that his 
>(and in fact, my own) expectations were that "music" would be heard last 
>night... and that the evening was primarily intended to be a "musical" 
>evening.

Hi Kevin...

Go buy a record you've already owned if you want something predictable. 

Adventure starts when your tent is ripped up by a bear and it's raining 
and birds are shitting head, and you just have to laugh...

I wish you (Gary, Kevin) would provide some contrast to measure your 
comments against. Like maybe comparing Stig and Anna's seeming lack of 
musicality to another more-successful-in-your-opinion concert and artist. 
Then we might see the perspective with which you view an event or piece of 
music.

Kevin wrote...
>> And Anna, bless her heart, I think she really needed something else 
>from you last night, Steuart, because all she could do was make goofy 
>sound effects herself. 

** ya know, anna has played with some master musicians in america and 
europe: peter kowald, david moss, etc. at this point, i may difer to their 
opinions of her instrument and artistic sesibility/value over yours.

I'm sorry... I'm pretty sure Kevin and Gary would probably find Peter 
Kowald, Sonny Sharrock, Derek Bailey and dozens other musical adventurers 
unlistenable. But that's throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Kevin...
>> You were the only one who had their hands on a true musical instrument. 
>She was the icing on the cake - if you weren't making music, then music 
>would not be had.

** careful, your condescion is showing. plus, anna likes what i do with 
her.

This is priceless... Yeah, poor Anna. The thought that her voice IS an 
instrument? What a stretch! *-) She's all helpless and you didn't PROTECT 
her Stig! Where the hell is chivalry when we need it most?!

Kevin...
>> However, I could see early on that this performance, indeed the whole 
>evening, was not about music.

** for you.

Well... for many it's about checking out babes and umm... killing an 
evening... sort of a facsimile for a tv set. But you can't change the 
f***ing channel.

I rarely see non-musicians running around with bitchin' bass guitars 
though... If you had only used your flanger from hell Stig... then they 
would have been impressed! 8-)

Kevin...
>> Steuart, I wish you had respected us as an audience a little more to be 
>a little better prepared than you two were, and to figure out how to make 
>such unusual instrumentation work together more effectively.

It's improv Kevin! I'd respect an improv artist LESS if I knew they had 
canned their ideas so they could repeat them. Adventure starts when you 
leave the trail.

Many very high-level players make it a point to NOT plan anything and walk 
out to perform "instant" compositions cold. It's IMPROV with capital 
letters... not canning a chord progression and then soloing over it (like 
I sometimes do). You're out there with no net. Try it a few times with an 
audience... and be sure to do it SOLO so you only have yourself to blame, 
and see if you don't learn a little humility and empathy for others skills 
at this type of commitment.

** anna was feeling the burn of being the "entrepaneur" for the evening. 
if you've ever put on your own gigs, you know what this is like; if you 
haven't well, you'll just have to wait for that wonderful feeling of 
anxiety. i feel like you're looking for ammo here . . . 

Yep... It's exteremly hard to be a patron / booker / stage manager and 
still have anything left for creative performance. Like I said... 
commitment to the community of improv is hard work. 

Kevin...
>> Had I been riding herd on your rig last night, Steuart, I would have 
>been using loops to create rhythmic feels to give a tangible, solid 
>foundation to the "music" that Anna was creating. In between her "musical 
>phrases," I would have been adding things on top as well, to enhance 
>feeling and provide a counterpoint. It would have been great if you two 
>could have "talked together" during the performance, using your 
>"instruments"! I liked some of
those sound effects you did a lot, but my own opinion is that such effects 
are a means to an end, not an end in itself. I would have wanted to create 
enough of a solid sound canvas that both you and Anna could have painted 
on it at the same time... and in a  complementary, musically pleasing way. 
I would have seen that as my responsibility, since I was the only one 
actually using a traditional musical instrument.
 
This is pure condescension... 

** i'll mention this to her, maybe she'll be interested. 

She's gonna leave and join an Abba reunion band in her misery after THAT 
gig! No more Knitting Factory for you Anna! (Soup Nazi mode ON). Oh JOY to 
be on the Holiday Inn circuit!

Kevin! I can't wait to hear you play!... I'm sure I'll be lifted to a 
higher plane and be grateful to you for the inspiration you provide not 
only me... but every other adoring person in the room. 

I've been humbled many times in my life onstage and off... by many 
masterful players... and have yet to hear any of them espouse such 
close-minded dogma. 

Kevin... you're playing the uber-sensitive here and it stinks... In 
person, you're probably polite to a fault, so as to not EVER offend 
anyone. But on the internet?! Why NOT?! Have at 'em! The audacity to play 
so-called music without NOTES?! MELODY?! NO WORDS?! HERESY!!!!! Texture? 
DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!

Kevin..
>> And if we don't get that, you shouldn't then be surprised if we use the 
>same vehicle you used to promote the event, to give back to the community 
>our impressions of the event, perhaps even using rather pointed language. 

Well as long as it's in the dictionary Kev... Oh yeah... we're going to 
ram right through the damn wall with that vehicle until we all understand 
what REAL music is.

** i don't have a problem with that. i don't think that all of you 
reasoning has been valid, but it' an interesting dialog. hope you don't 
mind the pointed rebutal.

You're far too kind Steuart... 

>> In this case, the most honest thing about Steuart's gig spam to this 
>list was that he did, in fact, correctly label it as "spam" when he sent 
>it to the list. 

Bile, gagging... (Please be sure to let us know where and when you're 
gigging Kev!)

** i'm truly sorry that you didn't like the performance; unfortunatly for 
you, you and gary both decided to come to [probably] the most "out" gig 
that i've done in the last three months. but . . . . excuse me. how many 
times do you do anything that "holds value for everyone who attended"? 
this is just ridiculous to assume that it would. If you feel that you 
deserve to like
everything that you hear or see, go back to what you know.  

I can accept comments like...

"I didn't like it." or... "I hated it." "It's not my style." "I like more 
definition." "It's difficult listening." "Do you have problems with 
threats?" "Do dogs howl?" "I'm gonna tell my mom!" "You suck!"

Whatever...

But when someone presumes to objectively KNOW for all of us what the TRUE 
definition of (anything) is, I become distrustful and downright wary. 
History has shown that when a major, powerful, influential, charismatic 
figure appears and makes these kind of claims, many horrible events and 
injustices follow. 

Not to grant that you're major, powerful, influential, or charismatic.

May the muse be with you...
-Miko Biffle