re critique of the 30 minute loopfest

["William Walker" <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

I‘m not sure how long this thread has been going on but I thought I’d chime in. I have played at, and helped facilitate a few  of these festivals with Rick . Initially I hated the 30 minute time slots as I too did not feel it gave adequate time to the performances, particularly the people who had traveled the furthest. I’ve sense changed my tune about it as I have seen in the case of the SC Loopfest that Rick has come to accommodate out of towners by creating other performance events leading up to the main festival to showcase those who have traveled so far. As far as the short slots go, I have learned to take the 30 minutes as a challenge to get my thing across. Yes, sure it would be nice to play more, because sometimes I don’t feel like I’m hitting my stride until my time is almost up, but that is what warming up is all about J  I do feel however it would be nice to have short breaks either between performances, or perhaps every three or four sets, not only to give us gear nerds time to chat each other up, but to give the audience a chance to stretch their legs and give their ears a rest. It has been my experience that no breaks means many people opt to miss performances to catch a breather. This is ok, but I find that some performers get left out in the cold when people start leaving during their sets to take a break, particularly if their set comes after a more established or popular artist.  I wish there was a way to minimize this phenomena, because it’s pretty frustrating, but it is also a small price to pay for allowing more performers to participate. Last year I had a particularly crappy Loopfest, because of personal calamities , and I had a set marred by the dreaded technical difficulties (which made 30 minutes seem like 10 minutes), yet in spite of that I am not ready to abandon the format. And believe me, as Rick can attest, I fought him tooth and nail over time slots early on. I’d much rather play longer, but not at the expense of denying someone else a chance to play as well.

Bill