PotLuckCon '08 - A Thought Or Two

There's so much I want to say about the PotLuck/TapeOp trip but I won't do it all at once.

As always I had a wonderful time with the Tape Oppers at PotluckCon. Every year I meet a bunch of interesting new people and enjoy getting to know the people I met during previous conferences better.

I've mentioned before that I'm not so good at socializing or meeting people I really connect with. Well these conferences are a really easy way for me to do just that. The folks who go are intelligent, funny, approachable and easy to talk to, passionate about their work and yet also interested in other things that are happening in the world. Yeah, there's a lot of technical and gear talk going on but these are people whose business is creativity and who have had to craft their lives unconventionally to accomodate what they want to do. Music isn't my business but we do have shared experience. It's definitely a highlight of my year to be in such a large group of people who either think kind of like I do or blow me away with how their brains work.

If you idolize an indie-rock music producer or recording engineer do not hesitate to go talk to them. The vast majority of them are incredibly modest and happy to talk to anyone about what they do. Ask them anything. Except "what was it like to work with Nirvana?" or whatever their big band is if they have one. They're funny in that they can totally idolize each other and yet have no concept of how they themselves are idolized in return.

That's all I have time for now. I hope I get back to the topic because I learned a lot of interesting (well, to me) things this year. And then there's the whole New Orleans experience to get into. You know how life is though: it keeps coming at you.