Gary: I'll answer some of this is the next thread, as this one's getting big!

Dennis

Hail O Ought-One Discussers:

As was mentioned above, the Festival did achieve a great feeling, much like K&D New Music Bazaar, I thought. Open, anarchic, interesting, not pedantic. A brownian hub-bub of jostling aesthetics. And coming down to Montpelier (another world, for many of us) was marvelous. Never before at a Comfort Inn by the freeway have I heard someone practicing new music flute in their motel room.

A couple venues going at the same time is I think ideal -- the excitement of multiple concerts and of the festival "taking over" downtown is good. Also the opportunity of concert crawling, checking out an alternative to the concert one's at.

I had a fantastic time and really like the energy of the festival. And of course echo the appreciate fanfares to Dennis and David that were trumpeted above. I creating a monument to you, your effigies out of donuts, all jelly filled with hawaiian sprinklies.

I think having specialized venues is a good idea.
So all the gear and security can be assembled in one place. the only negative thing about this is that the "audiences" get specialized to. I like the idea of not knowing what the heck is going to happen at a venue.

A piece of mine, the focus of my performance crashed and burned due to technical failure. I was so overwrought about preparing for this piece (due to an insane rehearsal schedule during the weeks previous to the festival) that when it tanked I actually laughed my head off. Ok, just my pancreas. But thinking about why my particular piece failed technically, revealed to me an unfortunate shortcoming with the festival. (I'm certainly not upset here. I knew this was an anything goes festival, a making something extraordinary happen on a shoestring, a anyone-in-their-right-mind-wouldn't-even-have-tried -festival. I just mention it to help for next time.) I wasn't able to get into the space until hhalf an hour before the 12 show, and then I'd only time to deposit my equipment, I couldn't set up, or sound check. The people performing before me ran late. This cut my already way too short set up time down. So we figured we'd start late. But our audience was leaving, people seemed to be getting ancy for us to start, etc. So we rushed through. I didn' quite have the space I needed so my setup was a mess of cords. So I ended up started without having the opportunity (OK I didn't take the opportunity, but I was rushing insanely) to do a full computer/sound check and started the concert. So two minutes it I realized someone was totally screwed up and had to stop. Life goes on, it wasn't the end of the world. In fact it was a testament to the festival that people were friendly and supportive about it, and the overall tone of the festival meant that I didn't vivisect myself with a MIDI cable and a Roland Ginsu550X knife.

So I'd suggest that time limits be quite strictly enforced, so that noone runs into anyone else's time. Also we need to work out a way to have proper set up time, and to have a secure place to leave stuff that was set up. But that should be easy to fix, I'd think.

An idea I had: I'd love to have a panel discussion between composers, perhaps moderated by K&D. There could be several of these. This'd be nice to create dialogue. Also, I like the show so much, there could be something of the show about the discussions. Or perhaps there could be a few live interviews (like the show) or interesting pairings of composers for on-stage discussion.
I had a fantastic time at 01. I met lots of interesting and friendly composers and heard a wide range of music some of which I loved, some of which I hated. I look forward with great enthusiasm to '03. And this time, I'm ready to help early.

Best,

Gary

I'd like to add my own kudos to David and Dennis for their efforts on O1FNP. I think Mike L. summed it up well above--you guys have big dreams and some serious chutzpah to make them reality! And I'm already looking forward to zipthree.

Between hearing new sounds and making or renewing friendships, I enjoyed nearly every moment of the weekend. Like Matt, I feel bad that I missed some events; but my pleasure with what I did hear more than makes up for that disappointment.

Overall I think that nearly all of the problems that arose this time would be solved by a budget and/or larger event staff, and thus are really non-issues. But here are are my opinions on some of the things that have been bouncing around recently:

1. Keep the multiple venues. Yeah, we'll miss some shows, but if they are all documented then we can hear them later on the radio, web, etc. The choices make things feel much bigger, and empower the audience.
2. Classify venues. I'd suggest that if the tech budget is limited again next time that you classify the venues explicitly beforehand, such as: #1 has full tech support for electrified music including engineer, mics, P.A., etc.; #2 is a DIY venue with PA provided but no other support; and #3 is acoustic-only.
3. Curate the content more actively. This would be necessary if you adopt the model above for venues. Plus, as word gets out about how cool this festival was, you may have twice as many interested composers and performers next time. I don't know how it can be done fairly, but you might have to say "no" to some of us in 03. It would be best to decide how this will be done before accepting submissions for zip3. I don't want to shut anyone out, but it would be best to keep things down to a manageable size.

Best wishes to everyone,

Doug Geers

"I had more music programmed on 01 than the two of them combined." -- say what?! That does it. I'm erasing the suitable-for-framing recording of Slumber Party Massacre!

Amen to that, Eric! It's been my privilege to be counted among their friends since '83 (1st festival, at which we formed the Consortium of VT Composenerds). They have always been like that, crazy & great, lotsa fun and extremely talented, and perhaps best of all, most kind, generous, and thoughtful. We are all very fortunate to have them as our most worthy champions. Thank you both for everything, dear Dennis & David!! (Go ahead, deny it all, blush, scream, I don't care. You are, and well deserve to be, loved, admired, cherished...and yes, definitely counted on!)

I thought it would be appropriate to provide some respectful constructive criticism on the recent 01 Festival. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any. In my opinion 01 was a complete success on its own terms. The vibe was great, and the juxtapositions of music were often mind and ear-boggling. That's the first thing that doesn't happen when you have aesthetic gate-keepers, rather than enabling cheerleaders. This is not to say that the next event could not be even better with more funding and organization; but it is important to realize that a unique character for the festival has been acheived, and it is important to build on that for the next one.

On two controversial points, time-share programming and the venue, I'd be happy to see the same thing take place next time. The anarchy in the scheduling reflected the stylistic anarchy of the programming, which enhanced my enjoyment of the events I was able to attend. I found Montpelier and the churches a fine location for the concerts. And the more times you do something like this in the same place, the more residents begin to realize that something interesting is going on in their back yard.

Finally, David and Dennis cannot be commended often enough for their remarkable generosity and dedication in making this festival happen. Like many guest composers, I had more music programmed on 01 than the two of them combined, and that's not because of any lack of performable music on their part! Their selfless promotion of other people's music is quite inspiring, and one can only hope that they will permit themselves to share more of their own music next time. I'm definitely going to think of nice things to do in the future for these pathologically optimistic champions of new music.

Eric Lyon

Dennis-

You mentioned Trenton in one of your last
posts -- were you the one who organized the
Trenton Avant Garde Festival(s) of the early
'90's?

Anyway, Dennis and David, I wanted to add
my $0.02 -- thanks for putting together,
administering and coddling '01. It will definitely
be the most memorable event of my summer.
I had as much fun meeting up with folks from
my past (and present) in Montpelier as I did
playing. Probably more.

I cant be critical -- I would never have the balls
to attempt such a broad-scoped series of
events. I know how difficult musicians and
composers can be, hell I can be as testy as
anyone, and I probably was. I think my biggest
misconception was that the festival was one
of these meta-events; the ones who have a
ton of volunteers who seem to be tireless
devotees of new music. Kind of like
Gaudeamus or something. That
misconception came from two places:

1) your internet presence is pretty vast - if
perhaps niche. For me, I guess that translated
into "these guys have a good handle on the
details of maintaining a great music site,
therefore they will have a good handle on
supporting a live event" - or something like
that. I knew it was a first-time thing, yet I was a
little bit surprised that some of the details
were overlooked. Nevermind, I still had fun,
even if I sweat a little more than I had expected
- if you can believe I was capable of sweating
more than I did in my concert...2 towels-worth.

2) There were so many people involved, I
thought there would be a little more
comeraderie from the flock. I know I was
happy to help out moving tables and
equipment, etc.

I have no bones to pick. I had a good time. I
hope that you all have the energy for another.

Thanks again.

Mike Lowenstern

But seriously, folks, friends don't let friends go without a contract in writing. A written contract with folks who promise this in exchange for that makes clear and unambiguous everybody's expectations and saves lots of hard feelings between friends later. A cable here, a blank dat there, a bicycle the other time---these are nothing, but a relationship, a friendship---that's a treasure not to be underestimated.

The image that brings to mind:

"...I'll call it... the Ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me...."

--- last thoughts of a whale accidentally or improbably called into existence a couple miles over the surface of Magrathea

Re the last, Doc, if I had little faith in trust and good will, I wouldn't have spent the last six months doing Ought-One. Indeed, the day good will fails is the day I stop doing this kind of work; fortunately, save for a few rough patches, it's served well since the first festival I helped bring to life in 1973. Urban or rural, the most I've lost doing it is one bicycle, a few cables, and money. Even when I lived in the worst part of downtown Trenton, or previously had to walk daily through the Plainfield riots of the late 1960s, there was nothing to sustain through all of that but hope, dreams, imagination, and work.

Even in the final weeks of planning Ought-One, when I had no income and no prospect of any (I'm heading for the temp agency on Tuesday), it was only the belief in a wonderful event -- and the understanding of that belief from Stevie -- that could sustain me.

So I'd rather end up face-down dead than give up trust.

Dennis

Re: Check-in, check-out multivenue stuff... The danger is that it becomes a check-out check-out affair.

Re: bearded baby: I don't do boys and I don't do rug rats.

Re: other: I just got a packet of inkpen drawings by Bonotto showing scenes that I didn't get to attend at the festival. I didn't have the chance to hook up with Nurit Tilles (but she was chatting with Eleanor as I put away my DAT set), but she's clearly recognizeable in one of the pictures.

Re: unplugged. No, seriously.

Re: monitors, handshakes, security, trust: In mid-Vermont, people can operate on a handshake without locks. --Until a new college president and a bunch of non-Vermonteers descend on a place all at once. Then everything changes.

Matt, I would never flame you, I secretly want to have your little bearded baby!

As of this morning (not all bills received or money paid out, but pretty close): Ought-One deficit is $850.16 ... not too bad!

Thanks to everyone for helping bring this down so far -- our angels, sponsors, contributors, etc.

Oh, gosh, back to the regular K&D show today, with an interview with Guy de Bièvre, taped earlier this year at Logos.

Off-duty for awhile,
Dennis

For later, for later, for later.... :)

http://zipthree.com/

Should be in everybody's DNS by now.

Hmmm, once you get to Lebanon NH, you're practically at Boston's doorstep... Frankly I'd rather not hold a public event in a state where the only place to buy liquor is in the middle of the highway, that seems like courting disaster...
Samuel, next time we do this, I'll monitor you so you're certain to have a monitor. Maybe we'll pick up a monitor lizard, too. Hey, we could solve the tech problem for '03 really easily, by making it the K&D "UNPLUGGED" festival, bwahahahahahaha!

PS, Samuel, save your breath flaming me for making light of things. I don't care.

To earlier Doc Matt message: Lebanon, NH, is nothing. It's down the road from Dartmouth, though, and they were delighted at the results; maybe we can hook up next year.

Burlington is UVM (University of Ver Mont), and genuinely anti-art town with the world most wretched media (a USA Today-owned paper). There are good venues like the Flynn Theatre and the UVM music building and the two cathedrals, but they are far apart.

Dennis

James: Actually it was a three-venue festival, excluding the installations. Christ Church alternated with Unitarian only because the latter was in use for an opera workshop.

Doc: I understand the problem, and I wish there could be a way of solving this short of having everyone perform multiple times, or having folks wait around. On the other hand, if we could find the funds, we could do instant video documentation that could be running after concerts that might be missed.

I don't know ... there's got to be a way to maintain the level of excitement that overlapping performances creates, without dragging things out. I think three days is too long because,as it was, some composers came and went in a single day, and certainly others wouldn't be able to afford the expense of the extra day (thus missing music anyway).

There's time to think now!

Dennis

James,
How about you and me pose for "Girls of Ought-one" and try to sell it in San Francisco?
I have rollerblades... Canary and Sue, next time you come, I'm throwing a nuptual shower for you, nyah nyah! I hope my sweetie will be recovered from her illness and able to come next time, but if not, I may be even sillier than I was this time. I may start commenting (in American Sign Language) on the gams of ladies in the audience...
We'll just have to see whether I can maintain my veneer of softspokenness!

Choice is good, but I want the choice to attend each event or walk outside and volunteer outside, not attend this one or that one. And if I'm volunteering inside one event, that shouldn't preclude me from attending another. Multiple simultaneous events create the same illusion of choice that 120 cable TV stations create, while actually reducing our freedom!

Hello:

I'm in favor of multiple venues at the same time. Certainly it forces people to make some tough decisions, but it is the only practical way to cram in a lot of stuff into 2 days. If you go with a one venue at a time option then you either have to extend the festival, or turn a lot of interested composers/performers away.

I would be in favor of making it a 3 day festival if others thought it would work. Perhaps you could then bring it down to a 3 venue festival.

I'm an American. I like choice. Certainly that means I can't experience everything, but that is o.k. I think the multiple venue thing also adds to the excitement level.
____________________

In terms of fundraising, I'd be willing to pose for a "Men of Ought One" calendar.

[on second thought - probably not a good idea]

James Bohn

Somebody in the rush of things called me gentle and soft-spoken. Little did you know that I was cursing loudly behind your back in American Sign Language all festival long. That funny bit where I appeared to be fidgeting with my hair was actually the word "pinhead"!

:-D

Re the history:

1) About Heasley's and my 'equipment geography conflicting': You might want to mention that Tom Heasley and I set up exactly where David asked us to: I.e. We didn't just walk in and take over the place, we tracked down and consulted with one of the two festival organizers and followed his directions.

2) I would also point out the following (as evidenced by threads): The issue, in our case at least, was not self-reliance. We had everything we needed and more to perform GIVEN THE PROMISES THAT WERE MADE TO US. The fact that the PA at Trinity was a) Tiny b) Not on poles (in fact partially obscured by the pews!) and c) had no monitor speakers was pretty depressing when contrasted either to what we'd been asking very, very specifically about for months and what we'd finally gotten OK'd for, and also compared to the 'deluxe accomodations' at Bethany where they had a dedicated PA, sound man etc. Actually, there was no PA (no personnel!) @ Trinity until I went over and collared you and you collared Bennet, who was unprepared to support another venue adequately because of all of the other musical events going on in the area (maybe Zip-3 should NOT take place when other things are going on).

3) The sound check for Ratgeyser (to be performed @ 3PM) took precedence over Crippled Symmetry's sound check (to perform @ 12PM), and our own. At 11:50 AM, Crippled Symmetry were finally able get their soundcheck and perform. This annoyed a few folks (mumble, mumble) because it was, let's say, insensitive or undiplomatic. Sound check precedence should always be based solely upon who goes onstage first.

4) Logos, Elodie etc. indicated in conversation that they'd had specific needs articulated months ago which weren't met. It was only through Logos' affability, flexibility, determination and the help of many others that Logos was able to perform at all. And they took it all with remarkable grace and equanimity. I hope to be as calm as they are someday... but then again, I'm from Brooklyn, not Ghent.

In the future, this compilation of logistical needs, scheduling etc. s/b to be honchoed by someone who does little else but that one task. For some reason, there seems to have been a lot of mangled communications between artists and y'all and even between y'all and Bennett, and between y'all and the churches (witness the early morning insanity @ Trinity on Sunday when we discovered that they WERE having a service).

reads real good, dennis. (if a tad frightening.) why didn't you just get several bottles of Everclear for the more difficult folks?

Just a quick link. I don't usually let anyone read my drafts, but since there's some question about timing of news releases, etc., I've posted my working draft of the Festival history (just the administrative side, my job, not the musical side, which David is presently writing). It's here: http://ought-one.com/pdf/follow10.doc

Please keep in mind that this is a draft, it's missing large chunks, and it's my perspective. And it's FYI, not a joint project. U got a history, u write yr own! :)

Dennis

addenda to the above: actually, i hope that we do have multiple venues --that was one of the "festival's" --and it *was* a festival-- really anti-didactic charms. ("thees ees moderne; you vill stay. is goot for you.") but i agree it was a bitoverstretched: it should be restricted to two venues (that's plenty.)

hey: i like *one* of the definitions of nonpop meaning ...ok, what's on across the street?
as a composer, i don't *much* mind people wandering in (quietly) and staying to find out whatever it was that piqued their curiosity. or not.

the informality of montpelier was, in short, a real complement to the character of the festival itself. you don't often see a lot of smiles among new music audiences; despite the rigors everyone went through, that was certainly the case here.

sam clairborne's point 12 *is* an important one. i did volunteer work for the princeton rep company years ago, and the (newark) star-ledger's art section asked for stuff five weeks in advance. we found out later that the paper "itself" wanted the info two *months* in advance (despite what the arts section rep "said".) since a lot of papers deal in this kinda double-talk, the rule is: the earlier the better. greyfeeld@aol.com

Suggestions, mostly from a tech-head standpoint:

1) Multi Venue ONLY makes sense to me if none of the performances are simultaneous, so the already tenuous audience isn't split (and so I git to hear it all!).

2) Technical person on staff whole job is to expressly coordinate EXACT needs of performers and either meet those needs or at the least, articulate what needs were not meetable well ahead of time (there's nothing more annoying than relying on something promised and then having the rug pulled out from under you).

3)That person or some other person would also make sure that each venue would have: adequate power (including extension cords/power bars), a PA system with someone manning it and with Monitor speakers as well (some performers needed a different monitor mix (michael Manion needed a cue to headphones with a click track, during Ratgeyser, for example) - we didn't, but if many do, then you need a multi-bus mixer with dedicated cue mix).

4) The person manning the PA board should also run an X-Y or Co-incident pair of mics to DAT, as SOME of the performances got.

5) A tech-head on staff armed with a tackle-box full of adaptoids, a box full of cables and a soldering gun for all of the problems that do (and did) crop up. Without my trusty tackle box and cables, Ratgeyser, for one, would have gone by the boards...

6) A pre-set schedule of when and where each band, artist, performer, what have you will load their equipment in to prevent reoccurences of the boom-box traffic jam that hobbled us at Trinity.

7) A pre-set schedule for soundchecks (we got one on Friday because I ran and got a PA, but it proved useless once saturday rolled around and we found that our 'monitor' speakers had morphed into PA speaks for the audience). Jeseph Benzola et. al. had perhaps 5 minutes before they went on with concert #1. We all want to to a good job and give the audience their money's worth. Adequate equipment and souncheck time will help all of us achieve that goal.

8) A secure space to put equipment away after it's used so that artists can then go hear other music and meet others. We left early because we just couldn't find a safe place for our stuff and were tired of babysitting it. Trinity was wide open and mostly deserted, and although nothing was stolen, that may have mostly been due to luck and/or our paranoid guard duty. Or not. I'm glad I didn't lose anything and I hope no-one else did, but I for one, would gladly chip in for a security guard.

9) Ticket takers at the door of each venue. Many people walking by Trinity saw the Ought-One Festival concert listings and wandered in to watch for free, not even KNOWING that the event cost money. I'm glad they came, but I think a lot of the 'gate' was lost in this fashion.

10) Because of the paucity of PA, power cords, security etc. I personally think one venue makes FAR MORE logistical sense unless the budget and staff grow by an order of magnitude. I think we over-reached and hence there wasn't enough equipment and personnel togo around and some performances weren't documented. Special thanks to Joseph Benzola for recording us to DAT! - we also took a feed right out of our board direct to MiniDisc, others might not have been so fortunate.

In short, for the sake of both the audience and the performers: I think the festival needs to be much more tightly organized in a logistical sense. You need a real anal retentive Nazi for that gig... it's worth it.

11) Fundraising: I dunno, we represent a virus inside a bacteria inside the stomach of an ant to the larger music community - so it's a hard sell.. What about magazines like The Wire, Cadence etc.? Who funds IRCAM and LOGOS foundation besides their respective governments? What about an NEA grant? or state arts grant Lots of composers are really good at getting those, perhaps they could lend their expertise to get one for the festival in 2003.

12) P.R. - Some magazines like the New Yorker print out of town festival listings in every issue. Either no press-kit was sent to them, or more likely, it was sent too late in their editorial cycle. A professional P.R. Company would be best if the budget grew. If not, stuff needs to be sent out much earlier to make some deadlines.

What's in Lebanon NH? What's in Burlington?

Multivenue can be okay, but I want to attend ALL the concerts, like I do at SCI events, where there's a concert in the chamber music room, then a choir concert in the lecture hall, then an orchestra concert in the big hall, then a quartet in the chamber music room, etc. I wanna hear it all. Even if it kills me. Somewhere in all the stuff that rolls off my ears like so much tepid water there's a piece of music like Dave's Insanity Sauce (that's a semi-liquid concentrated capsicum paste at a pH of about 1, for those who don't know it). Every big festival has at least one. The only way to catch it is to hear everything. And one-thing-at-a-time is also easier for a non-participating audience member to understand.

Dennis,

I don't think we are far apart on the last point, about audience size. I, too, would love a large audience. I simply mean to say that I am not deterred by a small audience. I am, perhaps, a little less disappointed about audience size than some other participants. But what audience there was certainly seemed to be enthusiastic. I was a very happy camper.

Rob,

We agree on almost all points except the last.

I've long had a dream to have new nonpop heard by larger audiences, and worked very hard doing it over the years. David and I doing K&D is just the present manifestation. As project director for Trans/Media in New Jersey, we presented 75 concerts and three vast avant-garde festivals. In Vermont, we've presented dozens of concerts of all sizes. Few people leave unrewarded, regardless of whether they are musicians or not, or new music listeners.

I deeply believe in the value of wider presentation, and trust the attending public to meet my work with theirs, my fun with theirs.

Beginning in Vermont with this latest effort was valuable because I knew that audiences here would come to the concerts (and despite some complaints, they certainly did ... my head counts of 'known Vermont concertgoers' put the number very high for new music) and give us a good start on establishing the nonpop meta-genre.

Certainly I was disappointed that the attendance by Vermont's own composer community was so low. I can't explain that at all, save for perhaps rural isolationism.

I don't think we should redirect the festival either artistically or geographically to get larger audiences, but I do believe that it's possible to encourage and reward them for attending by providing wonderful music in a great setting.

"Star power" helps, but I'm not interested in that. (I did write to Kronos asking that perhaps they could come disguised, just for fun. No answer.)

I'm wandering. What I meant to say is that there is no conflict in my mind between large audiences and wonderful art. There is enough audience to go around ... which cycles back to the media issue.

If one of us can get, say, Katie Wagner of TV Guide Channel Music News to latch on to one of these composers, you know what will happen? Yup.

Dennis

I have made several free-flowing, somewhat self-contradictory suggestions, resulting from my enthusiastic mind thinking months ahead of schedule. Let me sum up my own preferences:

1. I prefer the grass-roots approach, meaning no corporate or government interference.

2. I like the informal, interactive, multi-venue approach. Especially the multi-venue approach.

3. I like the downtown Montpelier atmosphere very much. It's easily accessible, attractive, with four venues close to one another.

4. I prefer any form of organization that keeps performers and composers in control.

5. Large audiences are nice, but should not be the main determinative factor in making artistic decisions. To a large extant we were composing and performing for one another, and we are the best audience for new music. What's wrong with that?

think about Providence.
it's an *extremely* weird little city, it's an hour from boston, and i believe the folks who run the town are always eager to have artistic groups in (what with the RI School of Design and all.) also, you might be able to get a better class of student-chamber orchestra when the transportation from all points is so easy.
but --on the other hand-- i really *did* enjoy it's being in montpelier (and middlebury, come to think on't) -- perhaps if there was, at the same time, some kind of art thing going on, the crowds might be bigger --and the press more eager to turn it into an event several weeks in advance...

Matt,

One venue at a time. Let's talk about it. I liked the multi-venues because of the check-in/check-out approach. It would have worked better with larger audiences (q.v.)

As for locale, I know that doing it elsewhere would be nigh impossible for us under current conditions. We'd need substantially more funding and probably institutional support, not to mention running into conflicts with existing programs and, worst of all, having to moderate the quality and diversity of the programs to meet the sponsors' demands.

I might be dead wrong on the last comment, but Goddard's actions have re-engaged my wariness of institutions.

Dennis

Rob,

I think corporate sponsorship is viable, but here are three things that militated against it:

1. Late start (confidence killer)
2. First time (companies = no risks).
3. Moved mid-stream from Goddard to Montpelier (confidence killer)

We have an event with a history now, and though, like Jeff, I am not fond of corporate hands on me, I am less fond of government hands on me. Best of all, to my mind, are individuals and pro-active foundations. These latter have a direct commitment a project, and I appreciate being in direct touch with people who believe in it.

There's a long story behind our corporate approach, and why it didn't work this time. I'm writing the history of the event now, which will be posted on line in a few weeks. I am not a marketer, which is why I hired two marketing people to do this work. When no money (i.e., no percentage) flowed in, it was logical for them to bow out.

I'd be much more encouraged if I could know why our pre-event press coverage did not exist outside Vermont. Again, some thoughts on that will be in the post-Fest report, and ideas for improving it are welcome any time.

Dennis

Would it work any better if the venue were a place known worldwide for strange entertainment? Say... Berlin? Las Vegas? Cedar Rapids?

Just a vote for one venue at a time. I keep having the feeling that I missed most of the cool stuff.

More on corporate sponsorship:

If corporate sponsorship is not viable, either because of lack of interest or because of potential inteference, then what about grant money?

On the other hand, being primarily involved in acoustic music, I am perfectly content with the festival being a grass roots endeavor.

Quick note to Robert: We had two professional fundraisers. Neither could shake the corporate trees successfully, and they bowed out a month before the Festival, leaving us on our own. There's just no money in new music was their feeling, no matter what equipment is used. Some of those approached were Mackie, Tascam, Sony Music, Coda, Sibelius, Sweetwater, Syntrillium, Fostex, Genelec, JBL, and Twelve Tone, none of whom would even provide equipment, much less sponsorship. Only Shigeru Kawai came through.

Dennis

and so it begins... i think i'd rather have a half-baked festival full of d-i-y'ers...

anyways, as soon as they found out it was a fest of music by anarchists, leftists and general crazy people the corporate sponsors who want heavy branding recognition will leave running and screaming!

:)

fwiw, i'm not totally against corporate sponsorship, my company - a public software company - almost helped out... almost... cuz we were in the middle of (sic) down-sizing...

jeff

A couple of after-thoughts, while looking toward the future:

The services of a Corporate Development-type person (professional fundraiser) ought to be considered for the "Ought-Three Festival." Professional fundraisers generally work on a percentage basis, can pinpoint, through consultation, the best source of funds, and provide guidance on how to actually solicit the money. Moreover, professional fundraisers specialize. There are probably fundraisers who have quite a bit of experience in raising funds for festivals, etc. For example, whereas a significant number of performances involve electro-acoustic music, corporate sponsorship from manufacturs of electronic equipment could no doubt be obtained, as well as loans of equipment, etc. Sometimes, just the use of the name is enough. By way of example, the Tweeter Center in Mansfield Massachusetts, a popular Tanglewood-style outdoor venue for rock performances, is called the Tweeter Center because Tweeter (a Boston-area retail electronics chain) pays to have it called the Tweeter Center. There are lots of similar examples.

I have participated in at least one concert completely underwritten by a corporate sponsor--a "Musical Celebration Series" held by the New England Distributor of Rogers Organs. Not only did corporate sponshorship provide sufficient funds (they were the actual organizers), representativess of Rogers Organs parent company in Japan--Roland--company to the event. The end result, I had a piece played at concert attended by people who came as far away as Asia. And they were entirely enthusiastic to see their product highlighted in an event.

Question to all: Before the Fest, I prepared news releases as Word documents, placed them for download, and suggested folks cut in their own info and send these to local media. Did any of you do this? Did the stories get printed? Can we get a copy?

Thanks,
Dennis

[This message was just sent to the Ought-One list]

To all who participated in the Ought-One Festival: Our heartfelt thanks. It was exciting throughout.

We'll be posting a full followup online as we recover, and (slowly) be in touch with each of you.

Already we're thinking of Zipthree Nonpop 2003 in two years. That should give us time both to raise adequate funds and to engage the media outside our local area. Being noticed outside Vermont (for anything except cows) is probably our single biggest planning frustration (aside from having to move this huge event with seven weeks' notice!).

If you're missing anything, or need any sort of followup from us, please get in touch.

The Ought-One site http://ought-one.com/ will be a permanent archive, with new material added. Don Corson will also have a Zope site ready for material from you. We'll link to it.

Should you have recordings, photos, videos, drawings, etc., we'd be most grateful to have copies to use on the Festival site, and for future publicity. There was some excellent documentation, and we'll be happy to share it as soon as it's cataloged.

We *very* much encourage your feedback posted to the discussion board at http://maltedmedia.com/discus/ We especially appreciate critiques and suggestions, but most importantly we'd like to hear about *practical mechanisms* for improvement next time around (always keeping in mind that Vermont is a rural venue, a rare and open and self-reliant place to present new musics).

Our sincere thanks again -- and thanks, doubly, because we did not have a chance to thank each of you for your efforts, or even at some points maintain a coherent conversation with you!

We hope you had a rewarding experience, heard music both within and outside your taste, met composers you never expected to sit down with, and felt your engagement with colleagues was stimulating. Oh yes, and we hope you enjoyed the fresh food contributed by Vermont's farmers and grocers, and prepared on-site by a staff directed by my (Dennis's) wife, artist/writer/midwife Stevie Balch.

Again, many thanks to everyone.

Dennis and David

Waaa! I didn't have piles of groupies to service me after my concert! Rip off! Rip off! Waaaaa!

Hi, David,
I got my RCA-to-RCA which was only used in Phonophonie to make the CD players reach the mixer (we never did plug anything together right that night, I don't think John's A Capella was played in stereo and that was probably what was bothering Beth in rehearsal) but it's only about 4' long. A lot of cables got mishandled by various people and then bundled back into Dennis's green-for-go pack, at the bottom of which he had a recycled dust-cover for something that ta-da! was full of adapters of every kind, including the kind we needed to get the CD players into the mixer (wrong side of the mixer but at least sound came out). Next time I volunteer to help people set up their tech, I'll have to bone up on the latest in quirky mixing boards first. I'm a composer but I don't own much in the way of audio equipment--believe it or not I didn't even use notation software until the late '90's!

OK, here's a negative comment: I'm missing a cable, stereo RCA to RCA, about 12" long, answers to the name of Beezwack.

And remember the new mantra: "oh oh two in Saskatoon."

maybe this isn't such a hot idea after all. after this weekend, everyone will have "Champ" represented by a bass clarinet...

oh, boy!!!
after reading the national post article, we *have* to have the next festival in burlington....
a whole evening of one-minute chamber-orchestra works (single woodwinds, string sextet, and *especially* percussion) dedicated to champ, the burlington bay monster.
(come to think on't, that's an event that might be easy to raise money for....)
greyfeeld@aol.com

Oooh, I missed this:

http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20010818/652363.html

Jeff, you crack me up, as usual.
Next time, I gotta get a chamber orchestra together.
If the target is 2003 then the target funding level gotta be $1000000. That'd be just enough to do the thing right.
I felt out of place being dressed professionally for an event full of people in their gardening clothes. But then, I feel out of place everywhere, so what else is new.

Matt

true story:

before i left i found this really cool rock. it was dark purplish-grey and had all kinds of fools gold crystals in it, square, like borg cubes and they glow all goldenish. if you didn't find such a cool rock when you were at the festival its your own fault cuz i had to look a little to find mine. then i smashed it up so i could fit it back in my knapsack. . there's like this slot where one crystal got knocked off - like a negative space slot. really, i'm not kiddin' around...

it was a little heavy all and all - even after i got it squeezed in. finding rocks is a lotta work and if you have a nervous breakdown cuz i found a rock and you didn't that's kinda sad...

:(

it was fun rock-collecting with all you guyz and i hope to do it next year when i will bring a pick axe and possibly a geiger counter...

jeff

I was honored to be a part of this festival. I
only wish I got to hear more, I only spent three
hours on Saturday and heard some of VCME and POJO.
Both excellent.

Maybe next time those of us with kids
can organize a day care co-op of sorts and be able
to enjoy more music. Although I am sure my 2 year
old would be happy to perform, hearing him sing
the alphabet over and over might only belong in
the bad-dream room.

With so many people, there are bound to be a few
sour grapes. I have to say, however, that this is
the least I have had to do to get one of my works
performed. And one of the best performances.

Thanks everyone, especially Dennis and David

thanks for the festival. i drove up from new jersey. i now hate trees but i had a fantastic time. highlights for me: nurit tillis, michael lowenstern, robert polansky, and beth anderson{string quartet}. please do this again next year.to all those complaining, don't be silly, the very fact that this festival happened is an achievement. if you heard one great piece of music or had one played, there should be no complaints. thomas thoifm@aol.com

"88 keys of fun." now, *there's* an album cover to draw.

Hi all,

My computer is finally back in the house & hooked up after serving double duty as Manfred's 4-channel demo unit.

Quite a lot of feedback. Phew. Thanks to all for it, including the negative. We've never been given the accolade of 'hubris' before! But then we've never had anonymous posts before, either. :)

Missing anything? I hope not, because (save for a few unrecognizable cables) we came home with everything we brought.

Anybody who didn't get thanked or who watched me drift off in mid-conversation, apologies.

Now some sleep, at last.

Dennis

Well, everyone, because I was a volunteer, and therefore had a perhaps larger emotional investment in the fest than some other participants, I have avoided contributing to the swirling storm of the several post-fest threads on this board.

So, while remaining silent on the criticism/praise front, I would like to thank the following people who allowed me to break their concentration on their own pieces, and generously helped me out while I was volunteering during the festival: James Bohn, Eric Boyer, Matt Fields, Tom Heasley, Ha-Yang Kim/ Nathan Davis, the Loons, Hunter Ochs. Thanks, all, and thanks to anyone else who I've forgotten in the intervening moments...!

Also, just to clear the record ("Ed Meese's" post in the "Ride to the Airport" section), the Ill Wind Ensemble requested to do our set acoustically, so we were without mics by choice.

See you all later,
--John

Howdy Folks:

I certainly enjoyed the festival. Every aspect of it.

Kudos to Dennis and David. Those of us who have been involved in organizing conferences or festivals can appreciate how much work they put in. It is particularly challenging doing it for the first time. And a first time on such a huge scale!!! Name me 2 other people in the world who can (having not organized a festival or conference before) could organize a festival featuring over 100 composers and 40 concerts in 2 days!!! Come on, I dare you, name them! Show me!

THEY ROCK!!! THEY ROCK MY WORLD!!! THEY ROCK YOUR WORLD (even if you don't yet realize it)!!!

Being one who does techical work on a regular basis, I am VERY impressed with their herculean feet [sic].

I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of one Mr. John Levin. John is one of the nicest guys to attend the festival, and worked his butt off as a volunteer sound-and-generally-helpful-guy. Kudos John. It was nice meeting you, and I enjoyed working with you. [I'm listening to your CD as I write this]

In the same ARTery [sic], Matt Fields deserves a citation as generally-helpful-softspoken-and-eager-to-help-cool-guy. Kudos Mr. Fields. Nice guy, nice record-o-phonist.

There were other volunteers that deserve congradulating, but John and Matt were the 2 I ran into most frequently.

Favorite Moments:

Pegs Thatcher Landcruiser and her flute-o-phone dance party!

Nurit Tiles and her French-o-Rag-o-thon!

Mr. Michael Arnowitt's 88 keys of fun!

Seeing other composers who do unconventional things with unconventional instruments (Eve Beglarian, Joseph Benzola, Brenda Hutchinson, John Levin, et. al.). I don't feel so lonely anyone.

Getting a chance to show some of the stuff I enjoy doing, and actually having an audience!

Seeing a toy piano on the cover of "Seven Days".

Getting to meet people I've known only through ASCII (Benzola, Harrington, Lyon).

Getting to see people I haven't seen in too long (Anne Decker, Drew Krause, Keith Moore, Taimur Sullivan, and of course, Dennis and David).

Meeting new people that I didn't know under any guise before (Michael Arnowitt, Matthew Fields, Kyle Gann, John Levin, Michael Manion).

The generally un-smarmy, un-hey-look-at-me-i'm-a-shameless-self-promoter, laid-back, comfor-table atmosphere of the festival. Such a refreshing taste for a festival (maybe its that pure Vermonster water).

Beer with O1 buddies!!!

Wore my Ought One shirt over my shirt and tie to work today. Some of the computer jocks had no idea I make music.

On my way out Sunday night, I snitched a Passport as a souvenir.

Today I looked at it and realized that the cover is a magic-eye stereogram.

If you stare at it long enough, you see God.

Bwahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the idea of a next year's festival is enough to get me to play the Mass. lottery again. especially if there's a designated bar to argue endlessly, but enjoyably, about the state of music afterwards....

Oooh, Phil's voice, Margaret's flute and Mary Lou's green violin, that would be an ideal trio, 'cept Mary Lou lives on the other coast.

I can dream.

Hey Ludlow Contingent,
(or anyone else still lingering in Vermont...)
If you want to make a pit stop in Brattleboro on the way home from the fest, let me know.
John
work 802-258-3156
home 802-254-4230
john@sover.net

Oooh, I've got it.

Margaret's e-mail is bouncing, so I'll post it here:

It'll probably be December before I finish the project I'm writing right now (the hour-long Sages-of-Chelm project), but then maybe I could consider writing something for Phil's voice and Margaret's flute and a something. Probably no words and no rock beat, though, and I'd only consider starting it if there's sufficient enthusiasm from Margaret and Phil.

Okay.

Matt http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fields