RE: DON'T GO, ANDRE

["Chris Roberts" <cpr@musetrap.com>]

here here.. :)

Andre, I'd hate to see you go.. as well, I am a bit confused as to the 
motivation...
it seemed to me that you asked great question and we had a flameless 
discussion
about it.. hehe... so, at the risk of opening a can of worms, can you 
clarify?

peace
-cpr

>-- Original Message --
>From: "loop.pool" <looppool@cruzio.com>
>To: "LOOPERS DELIGHT (posting)" <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
>Subject: DON'T GO, ANDRE
>Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 14:39:30 -0700
>Reply-To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>
>
>A letter to Andre LaFosse:
>
>you just wrote:
>
>
>> It actually has something to do with a quote which I learned from Rick
>> Walker, ironically enough:
>> "There is no us and them; there is only us."
>> So when I hear about - for instance - somebody using a DL4 to loop under
>> a solo, who is "not a looper per se," it raises questions for me.  It
>> makes me wonder where the distinction between the "them" of this
>> DL4-touting singer-songwriter is made, to differentiate him from "us."
>> It makes me wonder what the common defining traits are of the 500-odd
>> people who are on this list, reading this thread right now, that would
>> imbue them with a "true looper" designation, that's missing from our
>> Line 6-soloing emmisary of the "them" delegation.
>
>I find it sad, Andre, that your mind is so made up about these matters
that
>you wouldn't even read the response letter I sent to this list
>as soon as I read your last post. My response posted before this response
>did.  I'll quote myself briefly but you can refer to the whole letter if
>you'd like ( WHAT's A LIVE LOOPER, ANYWAY?).
>
>r. writing:
>
>"I typed that rather hastily, 'Dre.   I should have said that he doesn't
>CONSIDER himself a 'live looper', which would distinguish
>him, in that sense, from someone who actively thinks of themselves as live
>loopers, like myself or Matthias Grob or Per Boysen
>or, perhaps, you.............It's a hair split of course and, as with all
>categorizations, intrinsically
>innacurate and made merely to make the point that live
>looping techniques have insuated themselves into the live performances
of
>lots of musicians who, five years ago, wouldn't have used them."
>
>
>My intent with that post was actually to say that I was excited that a
more
>mainstream pop artist has been influenced by all the energy that everyone
>has put in here at Loopers Delight.   I had no intention of being 'Us and
>Them' about it.  I was clumsy with my rhetoric so I'm sorry you missed
that
>intent.
>
>Being a human being I am very, very far from perfect; very far from living
>up the ideals that I try to live up to.  I'll be the first to admit it,
but
>this is historically clear:
>
> I have tried extremely hard in the last five years of my life since 
>joining
>this list and becoming enamored with the concept of a live looping 
>community
>to be as all inclusive as I could possibly be.    Everyone who knows me,
>including you, my friend,  knows this to be true. At the risk of boring
>people with details,   I've gone so far as to invite every single person
>in
>our community and even rectuited young and  middle aged talented musicians
>who have never even used live looping to be our 'newbies' at looping
>festivals.   I donated my own looping devices to these artists in an 
>attempt
>to turn them on to the techniques that I've grown to love in live
>performance.   I've produced festivals of Found and Invented Sound,
>Live Digital Video Animation, Voice and Electronics.  I've hosted 
>Festivals
>for Emerging Electronica in my region..........played acoustic music at
>Singer Songwriter Showcases; fought for the rights of Street Musicians
in
>my
>town...........argued with the mayor and city council to try to keep Arts
>Funding from being eliminated in my community.......donated countless 
>hours
>trying to support the establishement of three music venues in this area
that
>would be open to ALL MUSICIANS and artists and all without every paying
>myself a single red cent.      I did it, selfishly, so that I would have
>a
>community that I could belong to.  I did it altruistically so that others
>would feel better about being artists with some sense of emotional support
>for what they do in a culture that practically spits on the concept.
>
>To accuse me of being devisive in this community ("Us and Them")  is
>complete and utter bullshit and after everything I have said and done in
>print and action to support your own personal career it really hurts me,
>personally that you would say it..............especially in public.
>
>In many many conversations with you in person and in print over the years,
>you have consistently refused to participate because you have been
>uncomfortable with the category or the attempt at community building in
the
>so called Live Looping Community.   Because you are so intelligent and
>creative and innovative and such an important artist in my mind,  that
has
>always been painful to me, but I have grown to accept it. however.
>
>you also wrote:
> >It makes me wonder a lot of things - like why serious, intelligent,
>> critical discussion, which can take into account the 40 or 50 years of
>> historical precedent for the subject of the discussion list, always
>> seems to make a bunch of everyone's collective undergarments in a forum
>> made up principally of adult, middle-aged men.
>
>This sounds a little ageist to me, my friend, and smacks of the same 'us
>and
>them' mentality that you are accusing me of.     I can only sit back and
>chuckle, patronizingly, as I realize that in a mere ten years you'll be
one
>of those middle aged men.  I've gotten my panties in a bunch a few times
>myself (because I know I'm a drama queen at times..........lol) but it
has
>almost always been when I sensed strong injustice,divisiveness or meanness
>in people's posts.
>
>> For the time being, I don't want to be a negative vibe merchant -
>> especially to the people whose work and music I've spent innumerable
>> hours trying to be supportive and enlightening about over the course
of
>> eight and a half years.  So as wise man once said, "My work here is 
>done.
>Now, I must go."
>> Perhaps I'll poke my head back in at some point.  In the meantime, those
>> who want to know how to track me down.
>
>I'm so sorry that your personal feelings of not belonging and being 
>excluded
>and not being recognized and not be supported financially by this 
>community
>have led you to this.
>
>You are one of our brightest stars and, potentially, one of our most
>inpspiring ones as well.   You have the capacity with your intelligence,
>your articulateness and your brilliant command of your instrument to 
>guide,
>instruct, inspire and , even more importantly
>to nurture the people at this list.   This is a gift my 
>friend.............
>a gift that I wish you would not throw away because you are feeling
>alienated presently.
>
>Don't go, Andre.    This little community would be the worse if you did.
>
>yours,   Rick
>