Conferences are always interesting to me, each one has its own feel and the Arts Presenters Conference in New York City (APAP) definitely feels like one of the more hectic ones, taking on the mood of the city. There is a combination of dance, theatre, music, comedy, just about everything -except for maybe Heavy Metal (I quote from a musician I met there,,,,"this doesn't seem to be the place for a Heavy Metal band".... (hint: it's not!).
People are selling their shows, their artists, and in some cases their souls...
We had a booth in the exhibit hall, did three showcases, and couldn't resist a few photo ops with the beautiful Taipei Li-yan Peking Opera Theatre performers, and a vampire from Scorpio Dance Theatre.
I also had a chance to hear a few showcases from other musicians - a beautiful lute/vocal concert by Morriongiello and Young, fascinating and beautiful songs from Colombia by Calle Sur, an energetic set by Eileen Ivers, local favorite The Prodigals, even a pop-type group called 425, that combined singing and acting - making all the instrument noises with their voices. They also gave out twinkies.
I tried unsuccessfully to get Vita to try one (he has never had one) insisting that eating a twinkie was the final step in celebrating his green card, but apparently there is some book or movie about twinkies that dissuaded him from ever trying one.
Other highlights -
1. Reading a book I got from Ken Waldman (Alaska's fiddling poet) called "Are you famous". kenwaldman.com
So that was my APAP conference experience. It's not quite as fun as the police conferences I go to when I play with the pipe band, but it is a great chance to see what's going on within the industry - and to let people know about us and set the groundwork for future concerts.
A few days after APAP I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit my grandmother who is 97 years old. Just hanging out in the nursing home was a good antidote to APAP. It reminded me that life is really about the people you love and if you can have them with you as long as possible, then you are really blessed.
Being the top or bottom enchilada at industry events isn't really that important in the scheme of things.
Creating beautiful music that means something is important and reaching people in ways that only music can, that's why we do what we do. The other stuff is just gravy.
