Using pre-recorded material in performance

[Travis Hartnett <tiktok@sprintmail.com>]

I'm curious as to how many people are using some form of pre-recorded 
material when they play out, and what the audience response has been.  
I know that some people assume that I'm playing over backing tracks 
from a CD or something similar when I play (I don't), but I've never 
heard anything negative from them about that idea (maybe the ones who 
disapprove just don't talk to me).  They're always a bit surprised when 
I explain how it's all Live Looping, and sometimes I'll do a tune 
that's a combination performance and talked-through demonstration on 
how it works.  A friend of mine has been doing open mics recently, 
playing live guitar over a CD-R of backing tracks that he'd recorded 
(he's got a Johnson amp simulator, a Tascam CD player and a little 
mixer all mounted on a music stand when he plays, so it's just one 
cable out to the sound guy), and the musician's union has yet to bust 
him (joke), and it aroused my curiousity as to how widespread this sort 
of thing is outside karaoke bars.

TravisH