Seattle fest

In regards to the comments on the Seattle Microfest in July...I was somewhat flabbergasted, I will admit, to Kraig's comment that it was "Lame" that Rod Poole wasn't invited. First of all, Chris Morda, who is putting the show on, decided who got invited...I was quite delighted and honored to be asked, I was not expecting it, nor did I solicit the invitation. I believe Chris came into some $$$ somehow (not sure of the details, and it's not important either), so he decided to spend it on this fest. Besides myself and Catler, Chris's blues band is on the bill (Chris has a 12 tone plus guitar he will be playing, besides a lap steel), and local composer/fretless guitarist Tom Baker, who is a fine player/composer. So, 4 different takes on micro music, not bad for a first time fest.
I am not sure if Chris is even aware of Rod...but, even if he was, I'm not sure, after thinking about it for several days, why it's "Lame" that he's not on the bill. I've put on 6 microtonal concerts in Denver over the years, and I invited the folks I really wanted to hear/hang with, and I invited them for my own personal and musical reasons. Since it was my concert, I feel like that entitles me to choose/ask whoever I want. But, that doesn't mean it's "Lame" that I didn't ask other musicians, who may be very talented as well. If I had big amounts of $$$, and put on another show, that would enable me to ask more folks, and have a wider array of musicians play. But, that still doesn't obligate me to ask any particular musician/musicians, if, for whatever reasons, I don't particularly want to ask them. And, as any other human being, I have my own personal likes/dislikes, and there's some very talented folks who I may never ask to play on a concert of mine, because I don't particularly enjoy their concept; but, that doesn't mean I don't respect their musicianship. I know Mozart was a great genius, but I don't particularly enjoy listening to him...so what? I would expect anybody else to do the same, and would afford them the respect to use their time, $$$, and resources as they see fit.
I am always delighted when someone in the micro world gets something happening, whether it's a new CD, a concert, or something like Beardsley's radio thing (good show, man, hope it opens more doors for you). I figure it can only help the rest of the community. And, I am always looking for new folks to hang with, swap CD's, whatever...and I just found a new bunch of folks in the Denver/Boulder area, who I wasn't aware of, who are doing a micro concert in August up in Boulder. I was quite surprised to find these folks, and plan on being in the audience if possible (Chris Mosely is the guitarist's name, he plays 36 tone eq and fretless, and he's quite a good musician...he's on my friend's page at myspace.com/microstick). I guess I could say it's lame that I didn't get invited to play on that one, but I think it's better for me to give them whatever support I can, and that's what I'm going to do...and perhaps we'll do something together down the road if possible. I'd sure like to, the more the merrier.
So, to sum it up...here's a guy in Seattle that is actually spending some serious $$$ (he's actually paying us pretty well to do this, which is most unusual for a concert of this type in the 1st place, and I'm very grateful) to put on a concert of pretty serious microtonal music...but, instead of a show of support from our microtonal compadres, the response was a bit lukewarm, at best...all I can say is yow.
Sure fooled me, and this has changed my opinion a bit of what I somewhat naively thought was a loose brotherhood of folks who were all basically trying to do the same thing, to some degree. And that's too bad, in my opinion, cause we all need all the help/support we can get. I plan on being there, physically/emotionally/spiritually for anybody I can, and now see that this sentiment is not shared by others, and I think that's a loss for all of us...Hstick

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Neil,

{you wrote...}
>Sure fooled me, and this has changed my opinion a bit of what I somewhat naively thought was a loose brotherhood of folks who were all basically trying to do the same thing, to some degree.

Don't despair, you are reading a lot into just a couple of comments from less than a handful of people, and I'm sure most people both hope it is a good time, and are happy to see *something* happening.

That said, about this "brotherhood": I've never called myself a microtonalist, because there are so many ways that can be used/abused, and so many paths one can take, that I can't possibly share intimate musical connections with *everyone* involved in this. I usually find, and this appears to be the case here, that while it is a microtonal guitar fest, the common denominator is really the guitar, and the body of language that develops from that (as well as the blues). When I need to feel support for my music, I go with communities that have the most in common with its intent, rather than whether or not it is microtonal. But that's just my take on it.

When I made my comments, it was mostly along the lines that it would have been nice to see more variety in the line-up, but you are right in that the founder will go with his tastes (none of us had knowledge of just how it was being put on and funded, and certainly he gets to call the shots!). It would be cool some day to have a micro gtr gathering that showed not just the array of tunings in use, but also the wide range of musics and playing styles - classical, ambient, jazz, blues, whatever - and give people a wide taste. But, like I said before, maybe next year.

>And that's too bad, in my opinion, cause we all need all the help/support we can get. I plan on being there, physically/emotionally/spiritually for anybody I can, and now see that this sentiment is not shared by others, and I think that's a loss for all of us...

Maybe I was just viewing this as a lack of support from some of the other guitar pathfinders. So I'll just stay positive and look forward to hearing about this fest, and plans for a next one, too!

BTW, Neil: will they be recording these? They could have Lord Krishna himself playing the Universal Microtonal Guitar and I still couldn't make it up there - it would be great to have an audio sampler of the proceedings.

Lastly, have a great time over at the U of W - I played that room back in 1980 with the Partch Ensemble!

Cheers,
Jon

ok lame was too much, i just hate to see my friends with talent ignored.
to each his own . i hope the festival goes well,
you already know i enjoy you playing

microstick@... wrote:
> In regards to the comments on the Seattle Microfest in July...I was somewhat flabbergasted, I will admit, to Kraig's comment that it was "Lame" that Rod Poole wasn't invited. First of all, Chris Morda, who is putting the show on, decided who got invited...I was quite delighted and honored to be asked, I was not expecting it, nor did I solicit the invitation. I believe Chris came into some $$$ somehow (not sure of the details, and it's not important either), so he decided to spend it on this fest. Besides myself and Catler, Chris's blues band is on the bill (Chris has a 12 tone plus guitar he will be playing, besides a lap steel), and local composer/fretless guitarist Tom Baker, who is a fine player/composer. So, 4 different takes on micro music, not bad for a first time fest.
> I am not sure if Chris is even aware of Rod...but, even if he was, I'm not sure, after thinking about it for several days, why it's "Lame" that he's not on the bill. I've put on 6 microtonal concerts in Denver over the years, and I invited the folks I really wanted to hear/hang with, and I invited them for my own personal and musical reasons. Since it was my concert, I feel like that entitles me to choose/ask whoever I want. But, that doesn't mean it's "Lame" that I didn't ask other musicians, who may be very talented as well. If I had big amounts of $$$, and put on another show, that would enable me to ask more folks, and have a wider array of musicians play. But, that still doesn't obligate me to ask any particular musician/musicians, if, for whatever reasons, I don't particularly want to ask them. And, as any other human being, I have my own personal likes/dislikes, and there's some very talented folks who I may never ask to play on a concert of mine, because I don't particularly enjoy their concept; but, that doesn't mean I don't respect their musicianship. I know Mozart was a great genius, but I don't particularly enjoy listening to him...so what? I would expect anybody else to do the same, and would afford them the respect to use their time, $$$, and resources as they see fit.
> I am always delighted when someone in the micro world gets something happening, whether it's a new CD, a concert, or something like Beardsley's radio thing (good show, man, hope it opens more doors for you). I figure it can only help the rest of the community. And, I am always looking for new folks to hang with, swap CD's, whatever...and I just found a new bunch of folks in the Denver/Boulder area, who I wasn't aware of, who are doing a micro concert in August up in Boulder. I was quite surprised to find these folks, and plan on being in the audience if possible (Chris Mosely is the guitarist's name, he plays 36 tone eq and fretless, and he's quite a good musician...he's on my friend's page at myspace.com/microstick). I guess I could say it's lame that I didn't get invited to play on that one, but I think it's better for me to give them whatever support I can, and that's what I'm going to do...and perhaps we'll do something together down the road if possible. I'd sure like to, the more the merrier.
> So, to sum it up...here's a guy in Seattle that is actually spending some serious $$$ (he's actually paying us pretty well to do this, which is most unusual for a concert of this type in the 1st place, and I'm very grateful) to put on a concert of pretty serious microtonal music...but, instead of a show of support from our microtonal compadres, the response was a bit lukewarm, at best...all I can say is yow.
> Sure fooled me, and this has changed my opinion a bit of what I somewhat naively thought was a loose brotherhood of folks who were all basically trying to do the same thing, to some degree. And that's too bad, in my opinion, cause we all need all the help/support we can get. I plan on being there, physically/emotionally/spiritually for anybody I can, and now see that this sentiment is not shared by others, and I think that's a loss for all of us...Hstick
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--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

microstick@... wrote:

> I am always delighted when someone in the micro world gets something happening, whether it's a new CD, a concert, or something like Beardsley's radio thing (good show, man, hope it opens more doors for you). >
Thank you. It's more than a radio thing...it's a dvd release. Have fun with the fest.

--
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db