last clarification as Andre leaves the list

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

Andre had already unsubscribed and I will take the opportunity to write him
off list
so I know that he will not read this short post.  I make it because I wish
to clarify the historical record
in response to several things that he said in his very last letter:


Andre wrote:

"I have by no means "consistently refused to participate" in "looping
gigs. "That's over a dozen self-consciously-defined "looping music gigs"
I've
been a part of in the last two and a half years.  So no, I don't
necessarily object to playing a gig that's billed in such a way."

and then went on to ennumerate the number of gigs that he did that I
produced or helped produced
and I want to go on record as saying he is absolutely correct and I also
want to say on record that
I will write to him an apologize for 'over dramatizing' what I said about
his refusal to participate
in live looping shows.   It's not true and I feel embarrassed that I was
upset enough about his leaving
L.D. that I greatly overstated the case.   Sorry, Andre!

he also wrote:

"What I do object to is going into a situation where I've learned, from
experience, that I'm not going to be happy as a player.  Having done the
marathon festival/short solo set length/no soundcheck/no mid-performance
break shows, I know from that experience that I don't enjoy these gigs,
and I don't play to my satisfaction at them.
............. Two or three of the gigs
listed above met these conditions, and they were by far the most
enjoyable of the gigs for me as a player - the difference was truly
night and day for me (and for the audiences as well.)
In many ways, it's unfortunate (and, I'll admit, quite depressing) that
you were never able or willing to offer that kind of gig to me."

I do have to say, however, that this is a bit innacurrate from my
perspective.   To say I was never able (certainly true at times) has been
true because we were always on 1) a huge multiple artist bill with strong
time constraints or 2) multiple artist tours where I did not have control
over the time of the performances in gigs where I was not producing (bars
and such).  To say I was unwilling  is absolutely preposterous and an
incorrect assumption on Andre's part.    The style of the gigs and tours I
have booked  (and goddamit, how many other people have worked as hard as I
have for little or no pay to try and promote Andre's artistry and the
artistry of others?) has reflected the fact that, frequently, we had no
'name' draw with the looping artists we were working with (outside of
Michael Manring, bless his heart and incredible artistry),  so I made
multiple artist bills to show people what a cool thing that we were doing
(using the metaphor of live looping).

To clarify,   Andre has always been ambivalent about the 30 minute
blitzkrieg sets at the big Loop Fests I've put on and I understand his
frustration.
I, myself, have to take a really tiny stomp box pedal looping rig to those
kinds of shows that are out of town and can't to my full show because there
isn't time for a more grandiose setup.   It sucks but it is the nature of
the game at any festival, no matter what the genre (or
non-genre..........lol).

In the last festival, I specifically knew that Andre would turn me down for
this reason and I offered to give him the only full (45-60 minute) slot and
the headline status (both in publicity and in concert billing) that I've
ever offered anyone at any of the festivals that I've thrown........I also
offered
him an honorarium for playing, to come out of the profits of the festival.
Again, this is unprecedented in the festivals that I've put on for two
reasons:
I've tried until very recently, to be very egalitarian about how I booked
the shows so that everyone would have a chance to play, and, hence a have a
sense of truly belonging to the community (the community that has a very
simple definition:    People who use live looping devices and who want to
play at the festivals................lol................no more definition
than that............just whoever wants to participate.)

For many other reasons, Andre turned me down, but he told me, specifically,
that it wasn't fair of me to offer him something that I wasn't offering the
other loopersand that he didn't feel comfortable accepting on the basis of
that:   That meant he wouldn't accept a normal slot for lack of time in
front of the audience and lack of funds and he wouldn't accept a longer 
slot
with pay because I couldn't offer it to everybody.     Nice double bind.  I
gave up.

So, let the record state:    I like Andre.  I consider him a friend and a
colleague.  I think the world of his artistry and innovation; his
intelligence and his articulation.  I,  will miss him at this list, despite
the fact that, as friends and colleagues we have gotten 'into it' over and
over and over..............lol.

I'm with him, though:    I define maturity as the ability to engage people
in rhetorical dialogue with mutual respect and without name calling and I
have regretted the amount of that kind of behaviour that finds it's way 
onto
Loopers Delight occasionally.  That being said,  I think we are like any
other community:   we are not perfect and things get good here and they get
boring;  they are harmonious and they flair up into disruptiveness and lack
of respect...................We just have to deal, eh?

sincerely,   Rick Walker