Y2K4

["loop.pool" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Ahhhhhhhh,   it is 7:22 a.m. in the morning and I feel really sad because I
just drove Sunao to the airporter bus to start his long trip home.

Sunao, Hans Lindauer, George Demarest, Scoots Galore..............errrrr 
Michael
Klobuchar, Bill Walker, Nancy and Chris (our partners) and I stayed up 
late 
(4 a.m.)
celebrating and decompressing from four days of looping in public.

Putting this particular festival every year is an exhausting affair but I 
find mind self
exhilirated and full of creativity at the end of Y2K4.

This year I had more selfless help from more people than I"ve ever 
experienced:   from
Bernhard Wagner's ceaseless enthusiasm and attention to detail with the 
website and
liason with Etheric Networks (the simulcast bandwidth providers) all the 
way 
down to
switching between the stereo chords from the two stages every 30 minutes 
for 
almost
24 hours of continuous music to Ted Killian's constant revisions of the 
beautiful poster
and festival's four page brochure (as well as his many stints manning the 
merchandicing table)
to Chris Cohn's excellent managing of both stages (damn,  I hardly had to 
use the '5 minutes'
sign on any artists this year because Chris was so on top of it all) and 
meticulous detailing of
the venue when we closed it down to all the door and merchandising 
managing 
by Matt Davignon,
Michael Klobuchan, Hans Lindauer and everyone else who manned that post  
to 
the photographic
documenting by Mark Hamburg, Sunao and the half dozen other snapshot 
taking 
loopers.

It was really a wonderful festival this year.  Honestly, I went into it a 
little bit burned out (from other
things in my life) and not very full of inspiration and 96 hours later I 
am 
tired but surprisingly
turned on by all I saw and heard.

I feel like I learned a lot from the users of every piece of looping gear 
that I use (and I own EDPs, the Repeater, DL-4s
and Ableton's LIVE) and can't wait to try them out in my next live looping 
excursion.    I also agree with my brother
(and several other people we talked to) that this year was the first time 
that we could see laptop/software oriented
live looping as a really viable alternative to the great hardware boxes 
that 
exist.    Andrew Chaikin's (Kid Beyond)
brilliant performance singlehandedly accomplished that paradigm shift . 
What he did with his voice, a mic, Ableton's Live
and a sophisticated midi footpedal was nothing short of astonishing.   
There 
were several artists, though, besides him who used
that exciting software effectively.     I can't wait for that company to 
add 
'1st loop capability' to their already robust suite of
software looping functions.

That being said and done, my mind keeps being blown by the sophisticated 
uses of both the EDP and the Repeater that I saw.
Relative newcomer Bernhard Wagner had my brother and I entranced with his 
'sub' 'insert' work on the EDP and my brother
continues to astonish me with his innovative use of arpeggio driven 
pitched 
loops in the Repeater.

There were also impressive uses of proprietary software by Amar, Warren 
Sirota and Wayne Jackson.........I can't wait to check all of that out
after I've slept for about a week but then there was the just wonderfully 
deft and natural use of older technology like Gary Regina's fantastic set
with the old Lexicon Jammans and Michael Klobuchars transparent work with 
his Boomerang (or the 'Rang' as he calls it).

Still and all, as George Demarest so deftly put it,   "Good musicianship 
trumps bad looping gear" every time and the musicality of this festival
was at an all time high.

Well,  I'm wasted and going to go and grab a few winks before the Annual 
Loopers Lunceon at 1 p.m. at the Catalyst but I just wanted to
say thanks to every one involved for a great experience.

Newcomer (only to this community but a looper for a long time) Bob Rice 
and 
I confessed to each other that we  were both verklempt when Council person 
Emily Reilly presented the "International Live Looping" placards to 
featured 
artists Bernhard, Michael, Ted and Headliner Sunao on Saturday evening.

"This is so cool,"  he said to me, "I"ve been doing this for 20 years in 
my 
home and to discover that this community exists is really wonderful."

Our community rocks and I feel really grateful to have been able to hang 
and 
listen to so many wonderful looping artists.

All right............I'm out a here.    R.