Re: Re: Great Quote about Looping by Brian Eno

["Randolf" <randolf@embryosongs.com>]

Thanks Rick, that was quite an experience you shared. The journeys you and 
Bill have undertaken and the experiences acquired and now shared with us 
over the years do make both of you living art ya.  Thanks!

Randolf
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick Walker" <looppool@cruzio.com>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 5:00 AM
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Cc: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Subject: Re: Re: Great Quote about Looping by Brian Eno

> richard sales wrote:
>    "It is fun to go back to old work and figuring out what you were 
>trying 
> to say and finally nailing it.  The fine line between self censoring and 
> becoming better is all about knowing when to let it go.  For me, the 
>final 
> call is when it REALLY stops being fun.  That's when I fold 'em... and 
> either release it or let it incubate till another day... or decade..."
>
> I really resonate with this sentiment.
>
> I've actually come to see all artistic output as a work in progress. 
> Usually do to time constraints, market contraints, personal constraints, 
> personell constraints
> or whatever,  we are forced to either release a record or, as Richard 
> says,  fold 'em and move on.
>
> Let me take a moment to illustrate this:
>
> I had a very rare opportunity in my life back in the early 90's.   I had 
>a 
> group with amazing musicians called Worlds Collide (including my 
>brother, 
> Bill) and we were doing all original instrumental fusions of many 
> different kinds of world ethnic musics.    At the time, we didn't have 
> enough money to go in and cut a decent record (and this was really 
>before 
> it was affordable to have a good home recording studio without spending 
> the thousands of dollars it would take (that we didn't have anyway).
>
> One, day, eating at the Catalyst prior to a weekend headliner we had 
> planned there,  an angel came to me in the form of an older man named 
>Bob 
> Davis who was a big fan of the band.    He asked me if he could buy our 
> album because he loved the music so much.  I told him that we didn't.  
>He 
> said,  "why?"  and I told him that it was pretty expensive to make an 
> album that was ambitious as the stuff we were doing.    Anyway,  to make 
>a 
> much longer story shorter,  Bob just gave me the money to make the 
>record. 
> I told him that I would get hold of our lawyer (we didn't have one 
> <blush>) and we'd work out a way to pay him back.
> He said, "no, you wont'".    And I said,  "why".     "Because this money 
> is a gift, it is not an investment and I only want one thing from you in 
> return,"  he replied.
> "I want you to make the album that is in your heart.  I want you to make 
> it as good as you can make it and I want it to be your vision, without 
> worrying about
> the marketplace."
>
> I was flabbergasted and began the long and hard work of trying to get 
>this 
> record recorded the way it was in my head.   I didn't hold back
> and finally, in the long run,  it cost about $12,000 (all of which Bob 
> generously paid) and took about a year to make working as hard as we 
>could 
> to make it.
>
> I'm very, very proud of that record.  We all really worked hard on it 
>and 
> it came out beautifully.
>
> When I look back at it now, however,   I realize that it is a wonderful 
> snapshot of who I was (and who the entire band was) at that time (almost 
> 20 years later).
> In the context of all of my own personal artistry,   it is a really nice 
> 'work in progress'.     I've grown immeasurably as an artist since that 
> time and I can't wait to finish the records I'm working on now,   but my 
> belief is that they will still be a work in progress, no matter how much 
> time or perfectionism I put into them.
> I guess because my head is full of ideas I want to manifest  it's become 
> much less important to me to edit heavily or to be perfectionistic.
> Just because of who we are,  we are going to try and get it 'right'. 
> That, of course, precluded a certain amount  of self censorship.    Heck 
> deciding what tunes
> go on the album and what ones don't is a form of censorship and move in 
> the direction of perfectionism.
>
> I'm just saying that it is being out of balance between output and self 
> censorship that is something to watch out for.
>