handling praise, and Larry's musical madness Re: away with mirrors (was: Re: some thoughts on Ted's queeries about art and self esteem and, oh yeah, looping)

[mungenast@earthlink.net]

"But what do I know - I use too much punctuation."

No, Jeff your punctuation is okay, and so are your and ArsOcarina's 
thoughts on handling praise: if someone wants to like your stuff, and they 
feel compelled to praise you, for goodness' sake, let them. None of us is 
getting rich at this music biz, so in lieu of great wealth, praise helps 
to fill to void... let it come.

Dissect your performance all you want TO YOURSELF or a carefully chosen 
fellow traveler, but responding to praise by saying "well, it needed work 
here and here and..." can be misconstrued as a diss to your fans: almost 
like telling them they have no taste and you don't respect them.

BTW, I traded CDs with Cooperman, and the little sampler he threw together 
for me is marvelous. Starts off with deliciously thorny solo classical, 
almost Schoenbergian, followed by some entertainingly demented 
experimental technoweirdness, replete with those backtones of his, some 
inexplicable noises, treated vocals. This is going into a hallowed place 
in my permanent collection.

The guy knows how to play, but he doesn't let that get in the way, if you 
get my drift. Most people with his chops aren't nearly as funny.
Well done, Larry.

~Tim Mungenast
www.mungenast.com