Re: a call to Live Looping Artists everywhere

["matt davignon" <mattdavignon@hotmail.com>]

I think Rick deserves a lot of credit for putting this together. He's been 
working for months on getting some sort of live looping community down in 
Santa Cruz. (Come to think of it, Miko Biffle's been working at it too, 
especially with his Cobra performance a few months ago.)

Are there more people in different areas of the country (or world) who are 
into arranging such things?

Matt

>From: "Rick Walker (Loop.pooL)" <GLOBAL@cruzio.com>
>Reply-To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
>Subject: a call to Live Looping Artists everywhere
>Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 20:54:41 -0800
>
>Dear Delightful Loopers (thanks Kim!),
>
>   I am happy to announce that Laurence Bedford (owner of the beautiful, 
>huge
>old movie theater, the RIO THEATRE in Santa Cruz) and I have struck a deal
>to produce an ongoing LOOPING FESTIVAL (probably once a month) in this 
>next
>year.    The festivals will be free to the public and the performers will
>donate their time and performances as well (just like the SOLO BASS 
>LOOPING
>FESTIVAL which commences this coming Tuesday, January 23rd with Steve 
>Lawson
>from the United Kingdom headlining.
>
>       I am very excited about this!!!   Our small community (50,000 
>people
>or so) actually has
>8 solo looping artists (including long time Loopers Delight contributor,
>Miko B!) that I am aware of and there are a handful of artists from the 
>Bay
>Area as well (Scott Kungha Drengsen will be playing our bass fest and the
>inimitable Matt Davignon of CT-Collective fame) that I'd love to showcase.
>
>     I would also like to throw it out there to solo loopers (or groups 
>that
>are primarily based around looping as opposed to a group that has one 
>person
>who loops occasionally) outside of the
>greater Bay Areas (Monterey and San Francisco) who know that they will be
>traveling through the
>area to please contact me ahead of time and see if we can put together a
>showcase for you.
>
>     The whole Solo Bass Looping Festival arose because Steve Lawson
>contacted me, letting me know that he would be in the area and wanting to
>know if I wanted to do a show with him (who wouldn't :-).   The response
>form people, the press and radio has been really envigorating.
>What started out as a gig has now mushroomed into a larger event (and,
>depending on continued interest, possibly a yearly occurence)
>
>     I've thought long and hard about the vicissitudes of promoting this
>emerging art form:  hearing back from people that only 15-50 people were
>coming to there respective local looping shows.
>As with most emerging art forms and underground musical and artistic
>movements there really is no money to be made so bars, nightclubs and
>promoters tend to steer cleer of us.  This can be pretty discouraging and 
>it
>can all seem so futile after a while.
>
>       What comes to mind is an interview I read with one of the early
>rockabilly musicians from Texas a few years ago (I wish I could remember 
>his
>name but I cannot).   He said, and I paraphrase wildly,
>
>     "These young musicians, nowadays, don't seem to be very committed to
>their music.  If they don't make a certain amount of money, then they 
>don't
>want to get their guitars out of their cases.   When we were first 
>starting,
>we felt that we were on a mission to take this music (rockabilly) to the
>people. We would pile into our station wagon and set out across Texas
>looking for places to play. We would go up to a local Piggly Wiggly Market
>and ask the manager if we could play up on their roof for free.   We would
>play anywhere and as often as possible for anyone."
>
>     This small interview was so inspiring to me and I realize that I got
>into music because
>it was so exciting.   Unlike some people,  I never did it to meet girls or
>be famous or make money.   The music was the most important thing and I
>wanted to play anywhere and as often as possible.   I actually was lucky
>(and really naive) because I learned my instrument in the public eye-even 
>if
>it was a crappy drunken frat kegger at San Jose State ;-)
>
>     Anyway, I just wanted to exhort people to get out there and start 
>doing
>it for free..........
>ANYWHERE.    You'd be suprised how many little coffee shops and bars are
>struggling and would love it if you brought 10-20 people to their
>establishment as long as it doesn't cost them.
>You'd be suprised how ready most people are for something new and 
>audacious
>and unconventional here at the start of the Naughties.
>
>     People forget that during the heighth of the Psychedelic era, the
>average attendance at the
>Fillmore Auditorium was only between 150-250 people a night.  It was 
>always
>the same 10 bands that rotated on the bill with occasional outside acts.
>The energy and creativity of a movement
>always proceeded the social acceptance and monetary viability of that
>movement.
>
>     Let's be obnoxious and put live looping out there as a community.   
>I've
>done it a lot.   Please contact me if you want any input on how to do it 
>in
>your own community.
>
>     Thanks for tolerating my little soap box rant, fellow loopers,    
>yours,
>Rick Walker  (loop.pool)
>

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