Mod-Music@EDDIE.MIT.EDU.UUCP (01/14/87)
Really-From: uwvax!astroatc!gtaylor@seismo.CSS.GOV (Pereant Qui Ante Nos Nostra Dixerunt)
Hello. I am down to about the last 15 or so copies of "A
Little Net.Music: The USENET Cassette," having sat on some
orders for a while (while I worked on my *real* job-sorry
for the delay) and finally sent them. Unless there is a
prairie fire of sudden interest in them, I don't think I
shall re-order them. For the layman, this means that your
last chance to get a net tape for only $4.25 is just around
the corner.
Having said that, I should point out that the next tape will
have a long way to go (in whatever form it assumes) to beat
this one for its sheer, nervy collision of styles and
shapes. Although I hope this isn't true, I fear that I'll
have polished stuff coming out my ears for the next tape
(all those people who didn't actually believe that I was
serious about doing the tape) and a little less of the
rough-and-ready things that the first one posesses.
Okay. This is the official announcement that the ingathering
of material for the second net.tape (as yet untitled) has
begun. Stemming from a large amount of net correspondence,
there are a few things you should know:
The submissions are open to everyone with a real live,
verifiable network ID. I know that's arbitrary for your
brother or boyfriend or whomever, but the object of this
undertaking is to stimulate *contact* between persons via
the network medium. This means that pseudonyms are
out....you have to be revealed as your real self.
The best chance you have of having something make it onto
the tape will rely (I hope) on doing the best version of
what *you idiosyncratically* do, not in being trendy or
anti-trendy. I'm pulling myself up to my full bourgeois
pluralist height here and claiming that I pledge myself to
be the advocate of *all* save the arrogant elitists among
you (they can fend for themselves). As proof, I can only
offer my last bit of net.editing and net.assembling on your
behalf. I have some turf to defend now.
If you've submitted before, you can submit again. In one of
those situations (I think they'll be rare) in which there
are 2 of exactly the same thing (or nearly), the new person
may get the benefit of the shave with Occam's razor. I'll
worry about this when it really happens. Remember that if
you submit stuff the second time around, you've got your own
tough act to follow.
It will also be of immeasureable help if your work is
*short.* 4 minutes tops is best, shorter is just fine, 5
minutes puts you in some trouble. I realize that this is an
arbitrary limit that interferes with the scope and breadth
of some of your work (it certainly puts the hex on *my*
stuff, anyway. It only gives me time for one tempo change
and level shift at most....), but it's the best chance that
we've got of keeping the input of persons maximized.
With the exception of a jazz chart or classical performance,
the work you submit must be original.
I'd particularly like to stress that I'm quite actively
interested in some of the kinds of performance that didn't
make it onto the last tape (folk, industrial, bop, classical
originals etc.). I know that for some of you who've
responded by mail, it's hard to have your work placed along-
side stuff that you either hate or don't consider to be
music or would never listen to. I'd urge you to send me the
stuff anyway...it might be worth it to somebody.
Your work should be a cassette dub (the best dub you can
manage, please. I'm resolved not to be swayed by the
vagaries of how much disposable income you've got to spend
on geegaws, but your work will dub off a little better if
it's a good cassette) of *recent* work. We are assuming that
anyone who submits is currently producing musical work and
not dubbing off something from their youth. One of the
things this project serves to do is to put us in touch with
other working artists.
If you elect to send me more than one thing, please enclose
a full and complete set of liner-type notes for the record-
ing, and rank your order of preference for the stuff you
send me. As happened last time, I shall make every effort to
use your choice for #1. If you've got some sort of commer-
cial cassette or LP release out there, by all means include
the information about where to find you that I can include
with those notes. We want other people to know about your
work.
Be sure that you include both your real *and* your elec-
tronic address with whatever you send me for possible inclu-
sion. I may need to be in touch with you to fill in the
details or discuss something.
Finally (and this is a delicate matter for me, since I've
been thinking pretty hard about it), this cassette will be a
tad more expensive than the last one. The costs of my dupli-
cation are going up and I misjudged postage costs on the
last one and I didn't figure any sort of cushion for han-
dling costs. So (except for those 5 or 6 kind souls who sent
me a check for $5 and told me to buy a can of Jolt with the
leftover $.75. Bless you.) I lost a little money on the
deal. I hope that this doesn't offend any of you too terri-
bly, but I'd like to add in a little handling of my own
here. I'm also looking into some interesting and inventive
ways to package the cassette to make a more interesting and
"fun" object. Y'know-ART....
So there you have it. It's not like you've only got 3 weeks
to send me the cassette, but I'd appreciate it if you'd get
on the stick. I held up the last cassette for quite a while
for stuff that didn't ever show up, and I'd like to avoid
that if possible.
FINALLY, here is the address for contact:
Gregory Alan Taylor
USENET tape project
602 Russell St.
Madison, WI 53704
United States
If you're desparate to talk about what you're doing (this
means that you might want to eschew doing this while I'm
working, okay?), I can be reached at
(608) 221-9001 (work. Please use this sparingly)
(608) 246-9621 (home or answering machine)
Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to hearing
from you (figuratively and literally), and I'm as excited
about this one as I was last time.
Regards,
Greg
--
A silence so rare/more than I can stand/sweeps like a flood
through life's flesh and blood/and steals away/with my heart.
Gregory Taylor:[...ihnp4!nicmad OR ...uwvax]!astroatc!gtaylor