Re: Divergence of goals and opinions
By Rob DeLand
I would like to express my agreement with what Pete Woodworth and Doug Rhodes (and others) had to day about our goals & opinions. I don't see a problem at all with the various topics we discuss here, or their relevance to historical AMI. Let's deal with the facts, and go from there.
That anyone would come into this hobby by way of MIDI should be no surprise to us - it's funny, you know, the blues music people have the exact same problem on Blues-L, the email list for blues aficionados (spelling?). In that field, many people have come to love the traditionalists (Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Sun House, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and a zillion "roots" blues artists) by way of the MODERN practitioners: Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and even Led Zeppelin (try discussing Led Zeppelin on blues-l and you will invite an AVALANCHE of objection from all corners of the list!!).
The "old stuff" in blues and AMI is essentially unheard of by those outside our circles, and we should be grateful that the "new stuff" is there to serve as a lightning rod to attract those like ourselves: we're interested in the old, but we don't realize it exists until we stumble on it via the new! If there's new blood out there, how will they ever find us otherwise?!!!
The same thing applies to Artis Wodehouse's Gershwin stuff, in my opinion. The AMI purists (look out, another word that incites flame wars! Purists hate being called purists!) seemed to hate Artis' work, and yet I'm thrilled that so many people were finally exposed to the Gershwin rolls, regardless of how it came about. I'm recutting one of Gershwin's Welte rolls in my current list; guess how many people I will reach with my efforts? Maybe a dozen or two. Artis made millions aware that Gershwin made some excellent reproducing rolls. If only 0.1% of them dig a little deeper, she still had more impact than I.
Well, I've gone on about this enough for now. Robin, chill! We'll miss you if you stay away, and how can I tease you about recutting PianoLodeon rolls if you're not listening?!!!!! You could change your business name to Big-A__ Hole Notes. ;-) See you in St. Louis in about 30 days...
Your pal,
Rob
(deland_robert@macmail1.csg.mot.com)
[ Editor's Note: I trust you know Robin well enough to pull his
[ leg here. And for those of you who don't know or remember the
[ context of "St. Louis", the AMICA convention is in St. Louis. |
(Message sent Fri 24 May 1996, 16:56:21 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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