Einar's articles from the NWCA Newsletter.

March 1993

Important Note: These articles are history and all references to upcoming meetings and contact addresses and phone numbers and other things that change with time should be ignored. I decided to leave them in for readability.

March 1993

Hi! This month I went to a show at the "Ditto" that one of our members put on with his band "Shallow Head". I was so impressed that I mention it here. I had a wonderful time and felt inspired to get off my duff and do things. Thanks guys. So often I get wrapped up in what I'm tinkering with in my basement that I forget how much fun it can be to just get up and play. Their approach to blending the sequences and live music was basic, simple, obvious, and something that I wouldn't have thought would sound so clean, full and LIVE!!! Now when I talk to Paul, I picture him in front of his stack, doing his rock star thing, not sitting in the studio, slaving over a mixer or a sequencer.

The main reason I went was because I had the luxury of getting their demo tape in advance, and after listening to it about 20 times, I was excited to see them pull off the live gig.

Last month we got to see Craig Rosenberg's computer animation which impressed me very much as well. From now on when I hear him say he does computer animation I will have these flowing surrealistic images to remember and to associate with his name and face.

Of course some of the people at our meetings actually have their work released and you can go to the store and buy it to check them out. Sky Cries Mary, for example, have CDs out that you can pick up just about anywhere.

I've been thinking, wouldn't it be nice if we all had a sample of each other's talents? I realize that we have a Tech Check at the beginning of the meeting each month, but I am timid when it comes to talking about myself and my music. Shyness aside, I have a hell of a time describing what I do. I assume that many of us are busy with something that is difficult to describe in a few seconds to a group of people. I also realize that at this point we are probably too large a group to play tapes of our music at the end of each meeting -- which was a favorite part for me.

I would like to see us circulate samples of our own work so that we can all get familiar with what everyone is doing with this technology that we keep talking about. For starters, I went to Costco and bought a dozen cheap tapes onto which I'll throw a couple of pieces, and I will have them at the next meeting for anyone who wants to take one home and listen to a few seconds -- or the whole thing if you're a brave sort! I bought cheap tape, because I realize that I may not get them back, and that's OK with me.

I would like to hear anything that anyone is doing, especially at home where I can just sit back and listen, so I hope someone would like to just swap tapes with me. Look for me during the Networking time if you're interested.

Since we are CYBERartists, there are those in our midst who don't do work that can be swapped on an audio tape. If you are a video sort, maybe we can borrow your VHS tapes? Maybe we can buy them? If you program cool things for computers, maybe you have disks you would like to have people check out. Photographers? Poets? I would think that it might be nice to marry together people whose artistic directions might be similar, but whose mediums are different. It would make networking easier, more fun and personal.

So, see you at the March meeting!

P.S. In April I'm going to bring in as much portable MIDI equipment as I can with the intention of demonstrating the wonders of being a modern musician on the go. If you have or have access to such things, join the party! Yamaha's QY20 would be a great score for that night, if anyone has one by that time. I probably won't. If you would like to show off any other devices that you walk around with while doing your art, bring it in. CZ101? Rockman? Zoom? Video camera? 4-track recorder? Midi controllers? Pignose/portable amps? Effects? Notebook computer? DAT recorder?

Please talk to me if you think you have an idea!

See ya,
Einar

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