From: "Dave Brewer" deibu@getnet.net
To: RicochetGathering@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 1:48 AM
Subject: [RicochetGathering] Ricochet 2003 Report

Greetings everyone,

Well, here it is. I'm doing my fourth such report now. Wow! Much has happened
since 2000... Anyway, I'm splitting this up because it's quite long. This first
part will just be on my trip to Nipton, since there's some things that happened
then, and also, in case you don't care about that crap and just want to hear about
the gathering itself, that will be in the next one. Before I get started, I just
want to give a big thank you to everyone, especially Vic, for making this all
possible. So without further delay...

Thursday, April 24 -

This year's gathering is in the little town of Nipton, California, which isn't too
far from where I live in Phoenix. That's quite a change from the previous years
being in southern Georgia. So I actually went to work and whatnot like usual
today. After that, I came home and quickly (not really) packed my stuff in my car
to head out. I decided to drive up to stay the night with some good friends in
Cottonwood (a town in the middle of Arizona, where I lived my high school and some
college years at). They had just recently become parents, so I figured it would be
a good excuse to visit them and meet their new daughter. Also, I figured it would
be a little easier to set out from there instead of my place. 

I finally got out of my house around dusk. The drive up there was pretty
uneventful, and traffic wasn't too bad once I got out of Phoenix. Later on, I saw
a large owl doing some aerial maneuvers fairly close to the ground next to the
highway. I guess it was time for hunting small furry prey animals.

I got to my friends' house in about 1.5 hours. I spent some time with them for a
while that evening and went to sleep kinda late. It was really nice getting to see
them again. They actually like some electronic music as well, but there wasn't
much of a way for them to be able to join us. :-(

Friday, April 25 -

This morning, I got up about the same time as I usually do for work (I think I
started out like this all four years now! :-) ) which is 5AM. I took a quick
shower and quietly snuck out of the house before my friends got up. I filled my
gas tank back up and had some breakfast at the local Denny's. I actually had an
unusual breakfast (for me) that included sausage and bacon. I figured it would be
easier to just order one of the combo's they already had than to try to be
confusing with a special order so early in the morning. I don't normally eat meat
with breakfast, it's just too heavy for me. But luckily, this stuff wasn't too bad
and it didn't treat me wrong.

Another reason why I came this way to Nipton is because of a mountain pass I would
be taking. I basically learned how to drive on this pass, as the mountain (Mingus
mountain) is right near Cottonwood. It's also been a tradition starting back in
1990 for me to listen to Tangerine Dream's Melrose when I was driving over this
pass. So I popped that disc into the player as I set out for the mountain. This
pass is a lot of fun to drive, if you're not stuck behind tourists. It's very
twisty, and you gain elevation from about 3200 feet to just over 7000 feet. My car
also handles the road beautifully, and I usually take turns quite a bit faster than
the signs recommend.

On the way over this mountain, you have to go through an old mining town called
Jerome. Hey, there's a TD reference! :-) There's still lots of people who live
there, and the high school I went to used to be located up there (before I was
in high school). Now, it houses artist studios. This town is very neat with all the
old houses and buildings, many of them perching out over the slopes of the
mountain. The roads are quite narrow as well. There's also some places that are
believed to be haunted, including the Grand Hotel, which used to be a hospital.
There's a section with a few biker bars and shops and such, which I guess makes it
downtown. Sometimes, famous musicians will pop in unexpectedly to these bars. I
remember hearing that Bruce Springsteen popped in and played some music years back
when I lived in the area.

Anyway, after crawling through town, I got to the pass itself and was able to open
the throttle. :-) Luckily, there wasn't much other traffic on this road this
morning, but one vehicle that stuck out in my mind was an SUV of a newlywed couple,
with California plates. Heh, I just have to wonder what their story is for being
here after their wedding. I briefly thought about all the stories we carry about
with us as to why we're in a certain place at a certain time. Sometimes it's
interesting, like these newlyweds, or myself heading for an EM gathering. But
they're all unique, and we sometimes run into each other out in the world as we go
along in our own stories.

After my little 'scenic route' over the mountain, I backtrack around and reach the
I-40 to head more towards the direction of Nipton. This whole drive was really
laid back for me. I put the cruise control at a good speed so that I wouldn't get
the highway patrol on me. I also have a healthy mixture of EM and rock CD's to
listen to on the trip. I eventually reach Kingman, and make my way towards
Laughlin. I figured I'd have lunch here before the final leg to Nipton.

In Kingman, I was noticing quite a few bikers, but I didn't think it was that big
of a deal. As I got closer to Laughlin, the number of bikers around was growing.
Then I get into Laughlin, and there are thousands (yes really) of bikers all over
the place! What the?! I've never seen so many motorcyles on the road before in my
life! There were all kinds of bikes here, but it seemed like Harley's were the
most prevalent, judging by the constantly high noise level everywhere. It was a
really intense sound. I could close my eyes and imagine the town was being
besieged by giant mechanical locusts. I should have recorded these sounds for
future use, but I didn't have my minidisc with me, and I didn't have any decent
mics for it anyway.

I had gotten a message from Vic Rek on my cell phone while I was approaching
Laughlin, but I guess my phone didn't ring due to the mountains blocking the
signal. I found a place to pull over and tried calling him back. He said they
were planning on being at Nipton around 2 PM, and it was about 11 as I listened to
the message. I left him a message as well telling him I'd be having lunch here and
will probably be at Nipton around 1PM.

Now then, I set out to try to find a decent place to eat that wasn't at a casino.
I didn't think that would be so challenging, but it was (at least for me). In
town, I see signs everywhere welcoming bikers and soforth. I even noticed that the
entertainment was really geared towards the bikers. For instance, at one casino,
Quiet Riot, Survivor and Molly Hatchet were playing that weekend. :-) There were
also signs saying something like "Harrah's supports a no colors policy." Heh, I
guess they don't want to have any gang violence breaking out with the bikers...

I finally found a place to eat, which was a little Italian place (no, there weren't
little Italians there). I had a good, big turkey sandwich. The people working
there all had biker t-shirts on, and the guy who gave me my sandwich asked me what
I 'rode in on'. Heh, I replied, 'a Toyota Celica... Four wheels.' :-) Then I made
the comment that I didn't know what was going on here, and he asked me if I lived
in a cave. I replied 'Phoenix,' which he replied, 'ahhh, Cave Creek.' I chuckled
politely at the dumb joke (Cave Creek is near Phoenix). It turns out this was the
annual Laughlin River Run, which is one of the biggest biker gatherings in the US.
I'd heard of it before, but I never knew when it was. I took my time with lunch
then headed out. I had plenty of time to get to Nipton.

One thing I was noticing was how nervous I was driving through here. Not because
they were mean old bikers. In fact, I'm sure most of them are really quite nice
people. I was really nervous about trying to drive surrounded by all these bikers
who will dart in and around from any direction, which is exactly what they did. So
I just took it slow and let them go around me.

I got out of town with no real problems, however, I was driving with my moonroof
open so my ears were slightly numbed by the incessant rumbling of bikes. It's only
about 45 minutes from Laughlin to Nipton, and for the last half of the way (when I
turn onto highway 164, which Nipton is on), I popped in Tangerine Dream's White
Eagle. The first track, Mojave Plan, is the inspiration for the choice of this
location. It works very well with the desert surroundings, and the forest of
Joshua Trees zipping by my car.

I got to Nipton, which was really just a little grouping of trees and buildings in
the middle of a vast open desert area surrounded by mountains, at around 12:45. I
saw a van on the side of the road there, but noticed that it wasn't the crew of
people I was hoping to meet. I walked the length of the town along the highway,
which took about 5 minutes and looked around a bit. It was constantly windy, which
I didn't care for much, so I basically just waited in my car listening to music and
dozing off every now and then as bikers and other travelers came and went...

If I remember correctly, it ended up being about 2:45 when I finally saw the
van with Vic at the helm crossing the railroad tracks and pulling into the
dirt lot I was sitting in.  This was everyone coming from Las Vegas.  I
probably should have taken the extra day and met them up there, but I needed
to conserve vacation time, and I'd been to Vegas a number of times before,
so I didn't do it.  I immediately sprang out of the car and waved at them.
The van was loaded with lots of people.  I honestly don't remember who all
was in there.  And the people coming from LA were held up because of a bad
accident on the freeway.  We got settled into the little hotel and figured
out who would sleep where.

Eventually. the LA folks made it, but that would be around dusk when we had
everyone there (except for Bill Fox, who was flying into Vegas later in the
afternoon).  In the end, we had (besides myself): Vic Rek, Roger Smith,
Morgan Marks, Frank Arellano, Jerry Wutzke, Jim Moore, Dell Outland, Dave
and Marion Horrod, Chris (Vic's friend), a friend of Roger's whose name
escapes me at the moment (sorry!), Steve Whiteley and his girlfriend
Francesca, Bill Fox, Marcel Engels and his father Rein (did I spell that
correctly?), all three of the Airsculpture guys (finally, Adrian decides to
join us), Der Spyra, Paul Lawler (aka Arcane, aka Max Von Richter), Steve
Schroyder, Jens Zygar, a second Jens and Volker (who came with Steve S and
the first Jens).  I think that's everyone.  Man, my memory is not good
enough for this! :-)  Jens is SSO's sound engineer and Volker has actually
appeared on some SSO recordings under the name a.m. synaptik and has his own
trance project called Ololiuqui.

We grabbed some food at the cantina next door to the hotel right about the
time they were closing.  They actually had good food there, lots of barbeque
type stuff made to order.  They also had a family of cats living there in a
blocked off area.  The kittens had to be only a few weeks old and were
sooooo cute!  Sorry about that.  If there's one thing that makes this man
melt into a babbling goofball, it's kittens.  They reminded me of the cat I
left at home.  Mom cat just wandered around the dining area saying 'hi' to
everyone.

If I remember correctly, we hung around the cantina a while to get
acquainted/reacquainted with each other.  Meanwhile, some people snuck off
and began to rearrange the hotel lobby into something unrecognizable, yet
more friendly for playing and listening to music. :-)  There was some good
music made that night, but I don't remember playing much in it.  Everyone
was just kinda orbiting in and out of the conglomeration at will, which
makes it good for a constantly shifting sound palette.  There was definitely
too many of us to play all at the same time.  I'm trying to remember if Paul
played that night or not.  He usually got on my synths when I wasn't playing
(but I had to twist his arm to get him to do it! ;-) ).

It was a nice evening overall, and it ended late in true Ricochet fashion.
I might have even turned in before the music ended, I can't recall...

Saturday, April 26 -

I got up fairly timely because I knew the cantina was open for just a couple
of hours for continental breakfast.  I took a quick shower and fixed my hair
up (the last time I'd do my hair on this trip, since it would just get beat
up by the elements anyway :-) ) and went next door.

If I remember correctly, some people were already at the cantina when I get
there.  And there was buzz about an accident that happened some time after I
went to sleep.  The hard drive that the music was being recorded on crashed.
And when I say crashed, I mean it physically crashed onto the floor!  A very
tragic thing indeed to have lost all that music.  Hopefully the drive itself
wasn't permanently damaged.

Today, I wanted to just go wandering off into the desert for a nice hike.
But I was somehow convinced to go 4-wheeling with some folks instead, with
the promise of going to a nice spring in the end.  There were a few
different organized activities like this today, and we all split off to
enjoy the location.

Before we went, I ran into the store to get something to munch on.  I heard
they were doing this, but I was still quite surprised to hear the Okefenokee
Dreams 2001 CD playing over the store's speakers!  I must say it's a very
odd thing for me to hear myself playing like that.  Apparently, people are
really liking it when they hear it, asking where they can buy it.

The four-wheeling crew took two trucks.  There was Steve W, Francesca and
myself in Steve's Ford Exploder-I mean-Explorer, and Roger, Roger's friend
(I wish I could remember his name!), Paul, Steve S, both Jens's and Volker
in Roger's friend's big diesel pickup.  There was a walkie talkie for each
truck, snacks, drinks, cameras, etc... so we were ready to rock.  We drove
off into the Preserve, but missed a turnoff that we needed to take, so we
just kept going the direction our noses were pointing.  I was a bit bummed
by that because I didn't want to spend the day riding in a vehicle.  But we
did stop every now and then at an interesting site to take pictures and walk
a bit.  We also managed to get some actual four-wheeling in at one point,
climbing some steep trails.  Both trucks took it just fine.

At one point, we stopped at a neat rock formation and got out to explore.  I
was the first one to run to the rocks and start getting on top of them.
However, my haste was my folly.  I was at a point where I needed to jump to
another rock.  I misjudged the jump however, and fell about five feet down
inbetween the rocks into a bush.  I managed to bang my knee nicely into the
rock on the way down.  I'm grateful for the bush breaking my fall, as I
landed on my back, and maybe could have been hurt even worse than I was.
Man, my knee really hurt.  I immediately got off of the bush, thinking that
the longer I stayed on it, the more likely it wouldn't be able to recover
from my bodily assault.  I don't think anyone actually saw me fall, or heard
me yelp as I fell, but they definitely saw me limping after the fact.

Some of the crew were finding a way up to the very top of the formation (the
way I should have went in the first place!), and I wanted to follow.  But
given my knee wasn't too happy at the moment, I decided to stay on the
ground.

We posed for some pictures before heading out.  I had to keep answering
queries as to my well-being.  I really didn't want any sympathy or extra
attention.  I was stupid, and I didn't hurt myself too badly so it was okay.

We got back into the trucks and found our way to a formation called Hole in
the Wall.  It was a facinating volcanic formation with lots of hollow
pockets in the rocks, some of which actually going all the way through.  We
stopped and had some snacks here first.  And Francesca forced a bag of ice
on me for my knee.  I didn't want it, but I thanked her and proceeded to ice
my boo-boo for a few minutes.  We took some pictures here and then headed
out.

It was time to think of heading back home as it was getting late, and the
pickup was low on diesel.  We were actually closer to the south side of the
preserve (Nipton's on the north), so we went that way to a little town for
fuel.  Then we headed back through the preserve to Nipton.

After we got back, there was a point where I was just kinda jamming on my
synths with the headphones on.  Volker came in at some point and turned the
PA on, and we jammed for a bit which was a lot of fun.  There's patch on my
Korg that plays a bouncy percussion/bass/chord sequence that I like to
follow a blues progression with (don't ask me why), and that's what we
jammed on.  Volker added some really good manual sequencer lines to it, and
I played a bit of lead on top of it all.

This night, we decided to have our own barbeque of some kind of blackened
chicken, salad and other goodies.  After mowing down the food (Morgan
somehow got chef duties again, thank you!), we proceeded to the rest of the
night's festivities.  We were doing our infamous 'Tangerine Dream Name That
Tune' game.  I actually managed to lay down for a bit before the game.  I
must have been tired from my brush with death. ;-)  This year, Jim was
actually running the thing, and I did not compete in the name that tune
part, so there was actually a chance for others to win a few times. :-)  I
helped with the judging and noticing who rang in first to try to answer.  In
the regular exchange portion before the 'name that tune' portion, I managed
to snag a CD set of piano tunes from various artists including Klaus Schulze
(though I didn't hear much piano in his stuff) and Keith Emerson, and Der
Spyra's "My Little Garden of Sounds" (a very good disc, BTW).  Paul actually
managed to get a lot of the TD tunes correct, including the newer stuff.  It
was a lot of fun, but then it was time to make more music.

I actually started making music with Jens' Handsonic that night, as Jens was
parked at my keys, playing a little bit of background music for the first
part of the contest.  That was a lot of fun, as I'm also a bit of a
percussionist myself.  Maybe I should buy one of these things...  I think
this night, Paul played quite a bit.  I remember some really good bits that
he contributed to the music.  This night, Marcel played quite a bit as well.
He was using my Korg as a controller so he could play his Mellotron samples.
There was another hard drive available, so that (among other things) was
recording the music.

This night, I definitely turned in before the music ended.  I went into the
room (which I shared with Chris) and layed down with the door open.  It was
nice drifting in and out with the music going.

Sunday, April 27 -

Okay, I got up again this morning at the right time to catch the breakfast.
Not much really happened during the day.  We ended up planning the main
event of the day (and for the whole trip).  We were going to set up outside
in front of
the cantina and have a long set of music, going from one grouping to the
next.  It was to start with Paul, Volker and myself, then go to Der Spyra
and SSO, then to Airsculpture and Marcel, then SSO with Bill.  I guess we
were setting out to out-do the epic planetary ambience set we had last year.
Well, I think it was more than out-done!  It was incredible!

We spent most of the day planning out the whats/whens/wheres/hows of the
night, and moved the gear over to the deck infront of the cantina.  Paul and
I made the decision to try hammering out some chord sequences to follow for
our set.  Heh, that will prove to be a big mistake.

Meanwhile, I had lunch at the cantina, which was a very good ground chicken
burger.  MMMM!  We were wanting to start the whole thing around 4 PM, but it
was getting held up due to various details.  We decided to start it after
dinner.  Some people opted for McDonalds from the nearest town, but I ate at
the cantina again (which I greatly prefer!).

We finally got started around 8PM.  In hindsight, I would have programmed
some percussion or bassline loops in my XP just in case Paul, Volker and I
needed them to fall back on.  We didn't have hardly any time to practice the
chord sequences we decided on, and ended up just throwing it out for pure
improv.  Heh, we were struggling a bit but everyone seemed to enjoy our
opening movement.  I just wish I could have had some reverb on that
mellotron flute! :-/

We finished our set, and it was time to enjoy the rest of the musicians'
performances.  It was at this time that I found out that Jim decided to
out-do my mishap at the rocks the day before and break his foot!  It was
really quite swollen!

Anyway, there were some locals there checking out our show.  One guy in
particular who I'll probably never forget is Dave.  He was an older guy who
looked kinda like a biker version of Santa Claus.  He was a really friendly
guy, and was quite enthusiastic about the music we were making.  He was also
more than eager to share a smoke of his 'longbottom leaf' with anyone within
reach. ;-)  It was quite a fun time for all, hanging out, taking pictures,
enjoying the excellent music.  It was a wonderful party.  It was actually
the first time I'd had any alcohol in quite a while, so I was flying pretty
good after just a couple of small cups of wine.  Hey, I'm a cheap date. :-)

Heh, at one point, I went back to the hotel room to drop something off.  I
hadn't noticed that my roomie Chris had not been around outside lately.  I
burst into the room without turning on the light, dropped some stuff off,
then let out a sharp loud belch.  Then I saw poor Chris jerk up from his
bed!  I let out a quick, quiet, "I'm sorry!" and backed out of the room
quietly.  I felt sooo bad!  Later on, Chris came back outside and I
apologized to him for my lack of manners.  He said it was okay, and that he
wasn't sure he remembered it happening.

I ended up turning in myself at about 3AM.  I tried to stay up so I could
help move the gear back in, but they showed no signs of stopping!  I heard
that it went until about 4:30, when someone came out and complained about
the noise. :-)

Monday, April 28 -

I managed to get up in time for breakfast again luckily!  I've been missing
some great music at the ends of the evenings, but as long as I can have a
muffin and juice in the mornings, I'll be allright.

I felt a bit guilty for not helping bring stuff in at the end of the night.
All the synths and computers managed to get moved in, but the PA stayed out.
I actually packed my gear up after Airsculpture and Marcel finished, as they
were using my synths as controllers.

We were all pretty beat up after the partying, but it was cool.  I believe
just about all of it was recorded.  I even remember Morgan making some of us
nervous as he hovered over the analog tape and CDR recorders making sure
they were functioning properly.

Some people were going to go to Vegas and then Hoover Dam for some sight
seeing (and one person for a visit to a doctor's office for a bum foot).
They ultimately didn't make it to the dam though. :-)  I decided to stay
put, to relax and check out some more of the local sights.

I forgot to mention that Vic had to get the Ricochet T-shirts and TDI CD's
delivered to Nipton, but they hadn't arrived on Friday like they were
supposed to.  Luckily, the CD's arrived this morning.  I immediately snagged
a copy of TD's new Mota Atma, and while I was at it, also bought a copy of
Fanger and Schonwalder's Analog Overdose, and Der Spyra's Elevator to
Heaven.  After hearing Analog Overdose, I've decided I need to get AO 2 and
Fanger and Kersten's Splashdown as well.  Hopefully Vic'll still have some
available for sale through his website.  I also bought three of the posters
that Vic had made up.  The Ricochet poster is so neat looking!  I must find
a frame for it.  I also bought an SSO t-shirt from Jens earlier.  Sadly, the
Ricochet t-shirts didn't make it before we left.

Today was more or less an interview day for me.  Pete had set up a video
diary in one of the rooms, and I contributed some babbling on the subject of
the gatherings and EM.  I was also interviewed by Marion, which I guess is
related to her new job at Krautrocknet.  This is actually the first time
I've really been interviewed for music.  Hopefully, I did okay. :-)

My knee was actually doing a lot better this day, so I wandered out into the
desert a ways and then came back.  I didn't go very far since I didn't take
any water with me.  My knee actually still hurts a little bit, but I only
notice it when I use the stairs.

Oh, and today, I also whipped out Mota Atma and played it in my car stereo
for a bit.  Marion came and listened to it with me, and Frank also wandered
by.  MA's pretty good, I like the fact that they went back to more of a
classic sequenced style, and some of it even sounded like it could be
improv. 8-O  But I wished it had more of a melodic element in it.

Tonight, we set up some of the gear for one more time in the hotel.  But
first, we got to play with an invention of Spyra's a bit.  After buying the
Elevator to Heaven set, I noticed a blurb in there about something he made
called the Personal Ambient Sound System (PASS) and I asked him about it.
He managed to bring one with him.  It consists of soundproof headphones with
built in microphones, a backpack with sound processing electronics and a
control pad.  You can dial up all sorts of settings to change your aural
perception of the world around you.  It was quite facinating, and Spyra was
talking about all the different uses it could have, including a unique
concert he once did where the audience had these headphones on, and speech
therapy.  It was also entertaining to see a bunch of nuts making all sorts
of strange noises while surrounding a nut wearing the headphones. :-)  I may
have to see about buying one of these things someday.

As for the music, Bill, John, Adrian, Spyra and myself played first.  We
started out a bit shaky, but then it really started to gel.  Towards the
end, we just let it all loose and started goofing around with some
techno/disco flavored stuff that reminded me of Moroder.  Heh, I should have
broke out the vocoder for that. :-)  It was a lot of fun.  The night was
capped off with an excellent set from Airsculpture.  If they don't release
it, we'll all have to march over to the UK, storm their castles-uhhh I mean
flats, and take it from them! :-)

After that was done, we discussed what was going to happen for next year.
As Jim reported, next year it will be in Poland.  And it looks like the
roster of artists will only grow more impressive, and it will be a more
serious/professional event.  I'm fairly sure I'll go, but I'm not at 100%
yet.  We went to sleep, and I chatted with Chris a bit before drifting off
to sleep.  He was an interesting person to talk to, as he wasn't really
familiar with EM, but he was definitely open to it.  He did end up going
home with some new music of course. :-)

Tuesday, April 29 -

This is the end...  My only friend, the end. :-)  That phrase was stuck in
my head this morning for some reason.  The SSO crew got to have breakfast
this morning, apparently the first time they were able to get up early
enough for it.  We spent our time packing up, and trying to leave the place
like we found it.  We said our goodbyes, took some last photos, and parted
ways.

My drive back home wasn't nearly as interesting as the drive to Nipton.
Laughlin was quiet and not crowded anymore.  I stopped for lunch in Kingman,
which was interesting because I ate at a good Chinese restaurant.  I would
not
expect to find such a place in Kingman. :-)  They even had some kanji
(Chinese writing) on their sign.

I got back into Phoenix during rush hour, but I managed to get home without
too much delay.  I was nearly mauled by my cat however, who was demanding
the reason why I abandoned him the last few days. :-)

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this.  I enjoyed trying to remember it all.
I'm sure I still left out some details, but they should be covered by some
other people who attended.  It's always neat to see different points of view
of the same event.

Maybe I'll be making yet another report like this, after Poland in the
summer of 2004.  We'll see.  It'll be the first time this guy's ever been
out of the U.S. if he goes.  Will he be brave enough to go on such a trek?
We'll just have to wait and see...

Regards,
Dave B. (I've got blisters on my fingers!)

p.s. - Coming up next will be the Different Skies festival at Arcosanti in
Arizona this September.  Wow, I'll actually be going to two EM events this
year!  That's a first.  I know I'll see Bill there as well.  Hopefully some
other familiar faces from Ricochet will make it too.
 
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