Ricochet Dream
ReportsFrom: "Bill Fox" billfox@fast.net To: "Ricochet Gathering" RicochetMusos@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 10:46 AM Subject: [RicochetMusos] Bill's RG2003 Report Friday, April 25, 2003. At 1 am, EMUSIC come to a close. I photocopied my playlist, put the original into the station log book, and headed for home. Once home, I did some last minute packing and went to bed. Three hours later, I woke to my alarm, showered, dressed, and did some more last minute packing. While eating a quick breakfast, I also packed a couple of sandwiches and oranges for the road. After loading the car, I set out for the New Jersey border and headed for the Newark airport. I parked in long term parking and started to unload luggage. Oops! I left a suitcase at home. My mind raced to calculate what had been left behind and how to get along without. The new mixer I had bought the day before, a sweatshirt, and a bunch of Xeroid Entity CDs. Actually, nothing critical, as it turned out. It was disconcerting... and fortuitous. I threw my travel bag over the retractable handle of the roadcase on wheels, attached my laptop case to my suitcase on wheels and extended its handle. I threw my guitar over my shoulder and wheeled both cases, one in each hand, to the shuttle bus. How could I have handled the missing suit case? At check-in, I was even more fortunate to have left that suitcase at home. New airline rules for domestic travel, a surprise for me, limit checked luggage to two pieces. I was one over the limit and had to pay $80. Imagine if I had been two over the limit! I ate one sandwich and orange around noon while waiting to board my first flight. I changed planes in Detroit and ate the second orange and sandwich after takeoff around 3 pm. After all, it was noon in Las Vegas and the airlines weren't about to feed anyone who isn't in first class. I touched down at Las Vegas on time without incident, despite severe cross winds. After retrieving my luggage, it was 5:45 PDT and I called Vic on his cell phone. He said that he'd send Dave to pick me up as soon as Dave finished dinner. So I went to dinner at the airport (I had a burrito) and then waited for Dave. The breeze was warm and pleasant. Dave Horrod (not Dave Brewer as I had assumed) drove up at the wheel of this huge white van. Off we went on our first adventure. We followed the sign for I-15 and ended up going east of I-215. Vic needed six sleeping bags and three pillows for the tent-cabins. Dave and I stopped at a Wal-Mart and obtained the items. At the checkout, the cashier wouldn't accept Dave's credit card without a photo ID so I vouched for his character. He's a character, after all! :-) But he didn't have any ID with him. I used my card and drivers license and off we went. As we approached the end of I-215, we began to wonder where I-15 would be. So we circled around town, enjoying the lights, returned to the airport, and followed the sign for I-15. That put us on I-215 going east. We passed the Wal-Mart and as we approached the end of I-215, Vic called us. (He had given Dave his phone and used Jim's to call us.) We turned around and took I-215 west before we finally found I-15. On the road south, Dave and I happily chatted. It was dar so I had no idea about the beauty surrounding us. All I could see was traffic coming to Las Vegas and the few resorts and casinos we passed along the way. Once into California, everything was nice and dark, exposing an exquisitely starred sky. We pulled in to the Nipton Hotel about 10 pm, 24 hours after EMUSIC had ended. Inside, I found all the people waiting for music to start. So I squeezed in and set up, guitars only. A most amazing jam session ensued. We went until about 3 am, an Okefenokee tradition held over for the desert. Before splitting for bed, I talked to Jens E. about his recording setup. I volunteered a snake and some adapters to enable him to record more tracks at one time. It was still windy and I slept in a tent/cabin using one of the sleeping bags and one of the pillows Dave and I had acquired. My, how the desert cools off at night. I turned on the tiny space heater full blast before going to bed. Saturday, April 26, 2003. I woke a little before 9 am and arrived just in time for breakfast in the Cantina. Marion said that I looked rather Bohemian. I must have looked a fright! After all, I hadn't been for a shower and was wearing the previous day's clothes. After some rye toast, a delicious muffin, and some OJ and coffee, I went for shower and dressed in the new day's clothes. I returned to the Cantina's deck and hung out with whoever was there. Since that was most of us, Vic held the first daily Towne Meeting there. This became the morning routine! I decided to go with Vic in the van to drive around the Preserve. Wolfram, Rein, Marcel, Dave, Marion, Chris, Del, and I forget who else (Anyone else?) drove happily through the Preserve, stopping wherever the beauty of the area demanded. At one stop, we saw a horny reptile spotted by Wolfram. We stopped for a snack and gas and drove around some more. The Mad Greek (malaka!!!) is where I had homos and pita and everyone had a great lunch. Back at the Nipton Hotel I started recording a pair of passing trains. I got all of 19 seconds before the batteries died. Since that wasn't enough time for me to walk away from the recorder, I erased the take. While I was reclaiming my gear, Frank Cisneros, who is the Manager of Road Crossings, wanted to know if I knew that I was trespassing. GULP!!! I said that I didn't realize that and would clear out immediately, never to return. But once Frank realized I was harmless and making recordings of trains, he appreciated and encouraged my activities. He loves trains and I was acting in a sane and safe manner, so he said I could come back as often as I wanted. He just didn't want to scrape me off the tracks! Wolfram loaned me his headphones/microphones which I used on successive trains. Of course, other Ricochet Gathering people recorded the trains, too. Frank saw that they were with me and didn't feel the need to interogate them. Back in the hotel lobby, I set up my laptop and Nord. But I reconfigured so Wolfram could use the Nord as a controller since he needed one. I ended up not playing the Nord at all this trip. Wolfram suggested an improvement to the Solina patch and I showed him my untested triple resonant filter patch and the one-of-four trigger sequencer selector patch that Howard Moscovitz and I designed. Dinner by Chef Morgan et al was amazing. Then we settled in to the White Elephant and Name That Tune activities. Frank happily recorded much of this on video. And then came the jam sessions until after two! G'night!!!! I went to bed while the music was still going on! Sunday, April 27, 2003. Sunday morning was pretty much like the day before. The excursion for the day was to Hole in the Wall. Dave Horrod drove the van. Dell, Marcel, Rein, Chris, and I (did I forget anyone?) went along. The dirt roads weren't bad. It was another long drive and we stopped along the way to take pictures and enjoy the desert's natural beauty. We climbed some rocks at our first stop. Some of the mini-flora was astounding. This might be a desert, bet there's life everywhere! When we arrived at Hole in the Wall, Dave and I braved the rings and climbed down to a nicely secluded area. We looked up at the tall formations and noticed a hole at the top of one rock formation. "Wouldn't it be great to see someone up there," we mused. We rejoined the others and climbed up to the overlook where we saw the same hole-in-the-peak formation... still looming far overhead! It's at this time when we heard some cries for help. A few repeats later, we decided that someone was really in trouble. I sprinted back to the ranger station and reported what we had heard. I jogged back only to find out that the cries had stopped. Just as we were about to leave, Search and Rescue arrived. Dave told them what we knew and we departed for the drive home. On the way, we found a nice hill to climb and took more picture. I was clapping my hands to hear the report from a nearby hill that faced us. Back at the hotel, the equipment was mostly set up on the Cantina's deck. I ate a huge steak at the Cantina before it closed. When I was done, Frank was still trying to find outlets that worked. He finally got help from the local electrician/handyman, whoever he was. I set up my gear and eventually the concert began. Dave,Volker, and Paul were up first. A fine beginning to the evening. Despite what they thought, I was thinking that this is why we've all gathered here; to hear music just like THIS. Wolfram was next joined by SSO, me, and possibly others. I took advantage of a lull in the music to play a drea my chord sequence. This resulted in what, for me, was the most satisfying comment I received the entire trip. Peter commented that it was simply brilliant. I don't want to lessen the impact of the other comments I received by other people. It's just that this particular comment hit a resonance in me for some reason. I'm not sure about the order of things, but I took a break while AirSculpture and Marcel took a turn. I returned during the SSO set. I finally tried some sounds and playing styles that seemed to fit into their style. It's uncomfortable to play in a new way but sometimes that can be a catalyst for good things to happen. Something good must have happened because the other comment that meant a lot to me came from Marion. I apparently pleasantly surprised her (almost as much as I surprised myself) with how I found a good space within SSO'd style. I have no idea what came next, but by 1 am I was knackered and crawled off to bed with SSO's pumping bass line off in the distance. Linda from the General Store loved it all and was there almost to the end which was 4:30 or 5 am I'm told. Monday and Tuesday will come in a future message to complete my account. Cheers, Bill --- end of message ---