1837 What really matters
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 12:08:28 -0800
From: redfox@ALASKA.NET
Subject: What really matters
I can't believe it.
Every few weeks it seems, Tango-L has a long, windy thread about tango styles lately. The more it gets talked about, the less clear the whole thing becomes.
I suggest we log off the computer, book a ticket to Portland, Oregon, and let's all dance at the tangofest for 7 milongas in 5 days. When it's all over, none of these "style" discussions on this list will matter any more. The only thing you will be able to think about is how wonderful someone's embrace was, how amazing the energy of a certain place was, and how completely disoriented you are because you had such a wonderful time that you are speechless. This is a very good thing. I'm looking forward to having conversations without words, being around people who know the power of a glance, and who bask in the wilderness of silence amidst chaos, in an environment where listening is done with the body and joy is expressed with the feet.
The only thing that matters is that we dance with energy, with a quality that does justice to the amazing music we're dancing to, and that we support each others' love of tango while we're on the dance floor. I don't really care how you dance, as long as you can put it out there on the floor, where the dance really matters and has meaning. When the Viscount Ballroom is packed with dancers at midnight getting high on tango, what matters is that you care enough about tango to dance it well and that you love the others around you enough to dance it with respect and courtesy. When it's 7am and many of these same people are still dancing at one of the late-night locations, nobody's going to be commenting on what style people are dancing, because it's not important. What's important is that you're dancing tango. Tango is not danced with your brain, it is danced with your heart and your own individual creativity and personality and passion for music and connecting with other l
ike-minded people. You have to be willing to let go of all the things that do not matter to access the core of the dance. Then the beauty comes out, for you and your partner to experience. After that, you won't miss the things that you left behind.
Love -
Dan Boccia
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 13:13:00 -0700
From: Carlos Rojas <crojas@HACIENDACDC.ORG>
Subject: Re: What really matters
Dan,
Well said. No wonder all the women in Portland love dancing with you.
Look forward to see you next month.
Abrazos
Carlos Rojas
Portland, OR
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 12:08 PM
To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [TANGO-L] What really matters
I can't believe it.
Every few weeks it seems, Tango-L has a long, windy thread about tango
styles lately. The more it gets talked about, the less clear the whole
thing becomes.
I suggest we log off the computer, book a ticket to Portland, Oregon,
and let's all dance at the tangofest for 7 milongas in 5 days. When
it's all over, none of these "style" discussions on this list will
matter any more. The only thing you will be able to think about is how
wonderful someone's embrace was, how amazing the energy of a certain
place was, and how completely disoriented you are because you had such a
wonderful time that you are speechless. This is a very good thing. I'm
looking forward to having conversations without words, being around
people who know the power of a glance, and who bask in the wilderness of
silence amidst chaos, in an environment where listening is done with the
body and joy is expressed with the feet.
The only thing that matters is that we dance with energy, with a quality
that does justice to the amazing music we're dancing to, and that we
support each others' love of tango while we're on the dance floor. I
don't really care how you dance, as long as you can put it out there on
the floor, where the dance really matters and has meaning. When the
Viscount Ballroom is packed with dancers at midnight getting high on
tango, what matters is that you care enough about tango to dance it well
and that you love the others around you enough to dance it with respect
and courtesy. When it's 7am and many of these same people are still
dancing at one of the late-night locations, nobody's going to be
commenting on what style people are dancing, because it's not important.
What's important is that you're dancing tango. Tango is not danced with
your brain, it is danced with your heart and your own individual
creativity and personality and passion for music and connecting with
other l
ike-minded people. You have to be willing to let go of all the things
that do not matter to access the core of the dance. Then the beauty
comes out, for you and your partner to experience. After that, you
won't miss the things that you left behind.
Love -
Dan Boccia
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 22:39:24 +0200
From: Christian Lüthen <christian.luethen@GMX.NET>
Subject: Re: What really matters
ooops,
and I thought I'd be able to dance to the music he plays ...
... :-))))
hasta PDX!
christian
On 26 Sep 2003 at 13:13, Carlos Rojas wrote:
> Dan,
> Well said. No wonder all the women in Portland love dancing with you.
>
> Look forward to see you next month.
>
> Abrazos
>
> Carlos Rojas
> Portland, OR
christian@eTanguero.net
https://www.eTanguero.net/
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 18:02:20 -0800
From: redfox@ALASKA.NET
Subject: DJing - What really matters
Dear fellow DJs and interested dancers -
The bottom line with DJing is that we provide the music to make for a great night of dancing, period. There are several necessary qualifications of a good DJ, but none of these involve what mechanism you use to play the music back. The requirement is that you play music that makes the dancers happy, period. You can use CDs, computers, mini-disc, vinyl records, cassette tapes or whatever you want. If it makes the dancers happy, you're a success.
The DJ that plays random songs or causes chaos with their choice of music is a failure, regardless of their choice of tools.
I have used a laptop to DJ with for over 2 years now. Before that I used CDs, and prior to that I used cassettes and vinyl records to DJ college dances. The computer has been a VERY reliable and convenient playback mechanism for me. I've had CD players skip on me, people trip on cords and unplug the entire system, speakers short out, or any number of problems while DJing. Most of the systems I am faced with when I travel around the country are so poor I'm very glad I have the computer so I don't have to use the 5-disc changer or worse. I use 160 kbps MP3 files, doing the MP3 compression on the last leg of my restoration process after using WAV files in every prior step. I have never once had anyone tell me that they thought the sonic quality of my music was poor compared to anything else, and I often have people tell me that my music sounds very clean. I'm pretty picky myself, and I don't notice any problem with the MP3 files. My greatest DJ challenge is not in the e
quipment, but in becoming more knowledgable about the music and more sensitive to the desires of the dancers.
Every song that goes into my computer is a song that I know very well and that has undergone close scrutiny. I do NOT load every song on my 400+ CDs into my computer, and thus I do NOT need a huge hard drive. I am currently only using 14 Gigs of space on my harddrive, so I do not buy into this stated "need" for huge harddrives (Does size really matter...?). I can spontaneously select songs to create my tandas and cortinas on the fly if I like, or I can program ahead if I'm confident in the dancers' needs that night - but none of this occurs without considerable thought. If I have to, I'll happily spend most of the night in the DJ stand to make this work. I think too many people are trying to both dance and "DJ" at the same time, using a computer to allow them to dance more. I'm not sure this is a good thing.
We DJs need to focus on the fundamentals of DJing, and not get carried away with the tools we use. We need to focus on the dancers and what they really want. Technology will only help us do our jobs with more convenience, it won't make us better DJs. If I play La Yumba at the right moment from a well-prepared piece of vinyl, CD, cassette, MP3 or whatever, it's not going to matter to the dancers what equipment I used - the only thing that will matter is that I selected the right song at the proper moment. That is what really matters.
Passionately -
Dan Boccia
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:09:29 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: What really matters, What really matters, What really matters, What really matters
Most of us offer our opinions on Tango-L, and I think it is understood
that we use the forum to discuss and exchange ideas about any aspect of
Argentine tango. A few find it necessary to continually remind us how
ignorant and/or misguided the rest of us are and tell us what really
matters.
With best regards for all
Steve
Stephen Brown
Never purporting to have a monopoly on the truth.
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:35:08 +0000
From: Jay Rabe <jayrabe@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: DJing - What really matters
Dan wrote ...
... I use 160 kbps MP3 files, doing the MP3 compression on the last leg of
my restoration process after using WAV files in every prior step.
--------------------------
What "prior steps" do you do to restore quality?
Thanks,
J
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Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:34:07 -0700
From: Lisa Raab <lraab1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: What really matters, What really matters, What really matters, What really matters
Yes, and the collorary is to be aware of those who purport to have a
monopoly on the truth.
On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:09:29 -0500 Stephen Brown
<Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG> writes:
> Most of us offer our opinions on Tango-L, and I think it is
> understood
> that we use the forum to discuss and exchange ideas about any aspect
> of
> Argentine tango. A few find it necessary to continually remind us
> how
> ignorant and/or misguided the rest of us are and tell us what
> really
> matters.
>
> With best regards for all
> Steve
>
> Stephen Brown
>
> Never purporting to have a monopoly on the truth.
>
>
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Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 02:08:35 +0200
From: "Kohlhaas, Bernhard" <bernhard.kohlhaas@SAP.COM>
Subject: Re: DJing - What really matters
> From: redfox@ALASKA.NET [mailto:redfox@ALASKA.NET]
[...]
> You can use CDs, computers, mini-disc, vinyl
> records, cassette tapes or whatever you want. If it makes
> the dancers happy, you're a success.
I agree wholeheartedly, any tool is only there to make the DJ's life
easier, not the to make the dancers happier. And it may not be
the same tool for every DJ. Yet, I still find it helpful to talk about the
advantanges and disadvantages that people find in various tools.
[...]
> I use 160 kbps MP3 files, doing the MP3 compression
> on the last leg of my restoration process after using WAV
> files in every prior step. I have never once had anyone tell
> me that they thought the sonic quality of my music was poor
> compared to anything else, and I often have people tell me
> that my music sounds very clean. I'm pretty picky myself,
> and I don't notice any problem with the MP3 files.
Even if MP3 soundquality would be a problem, one could simply switch to a different
file format, i.e. uncompressed WAV files or FLAC files (a lossless audio-compression).
Of course MP3 is the most common and supported file format these days,
but by no means the only one.
[...]
> Every song that goes into my computer is a song that I know
> very well and that has undergone close scrutiny. I do NOT
> load every song on my 400+ CDs into my computer, and thus I
> do NOT need a huge hard drive. I am currently only using 14
> Gigs of space on my harddrive, so I do not buy into this
> stated "need" for huge harddrives (Does size really
> matter...?).
Since I don't do any remastering/cleaning myself, but just take songs from CDs,
I do not scrutinize every song, before I put it on my harddrive, in fact
my hard drive contains many tracks not related to DJ'ing or tango at all.
However this only works, because I use an MP3 Database program to
classify the tracks by maintaining various tags, which I do little
by little over time.
I then can get various views over the whole database filtered
and grouped by various criteria, i.e. only tangos
suitable for dancing, grouped by mood and orchestra.
Working with just the file system would be impossible for me.
(I.e. I currently have 3900 tango tracks, but only about 220 of them are marked
as good for dancing).
[...]
> Technology will only help us do our jobs with more convenience,
> it won't make us better DJs.
No disagreement there.
The questions that remains though is, HOW can I learn to become a better DJ?
Am I just left to my own wits and skills of observation?
What do you recommend?
With Best Regards,
Bernhard
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 15:47:24 -0700
From: luda_r1 <luda_r1@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: What really matters
Lisa Raab wrote in reply to Steve's comments below:
"Yes, and the collorary is to be aware of those who
purport to have a
monopoly on the truth."
The word is "corollary".
And Steve wrote:
> Most of us offer our opinions on Tango-L, and I
think it is
> understood
> that we use the forum to discuss and exchange ideas
about any aspect
> of
> Argentine tango. A few find it necessary to
continually remind us
> how
> ignorant and/or misguided the rest of us are and
tell us what
> really
> matters.
When it is really you whom you'd much rather see
dispensing these pearls of wisdom, right? Which you
do, on a regular basis. :) And I don't really mind. I
frequently find something very useful in your
comments.
However. I feel the same about Dan's recent comments.
They were the most sensible, sensitive and
well-informed obvervations on DJ'ing I've read in a
long time. Someone asked for information, Dan gave it,
generously and profoundly. I wish more DJ's thought
like him. I did not get the impression at all that Dan
was trying to preach or moralize at us, and I'm sure
that was not his intent. As many of the responses to
his comments indicate. Why do the two of you feel the
need to put this negative spin on his observations?
Makes you wonder.
Luda
=====
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 18:14:45 -0700
From: Lisa Raab <lraab1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: What really matters
Are you a clairvoyant, Luda? Neither Steve Brown nor myself ever
mentioned names.
May be you ought to get your Ouija board checked out for it's 50K
checkup. It appears
to me it's malfunctioning.
Lisa
On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 15:47:24 -0700 luda_r1 <luda_r1@YAHOO.COM> writes:
> Lisa Raab wrote in reply to Steve's comments below:
>
> "Yes, and the collorary is to be aware of those who
> purport to have a
> monopoly on the truth."
>
> The word is "corollary".
>
> And Steve wrote:
>
> > Most of us offer our opinions on Tango-L, and I
> think it is
> > understood
> > that we use the forum to discuss and exchange ideas
> about any aspect
> > of
> > Argentine tango. A few find it necessary to
> continually remind us
> > how
> > ignorant and/or misguided the rest of us are and
> tell us what
> > really
> > matters.
>
> When it is really you whom you'd much rather see
> dispensing these pearls of wisdom, right? Which you
> do, on a regular basis. :) And I don't really mind. I
> frequently find something very useful in your
> comments.
>
> However. I feel the same about Dan's recent comments.
> They were the most sensible, sensitive and
> well-informed obvervations on DJ'ing I've read in a
> long time. Someone asked for information, Dan gave it,
> generously and profoundly. I wish more DJ's thought
> like him. I did not get the impression at all that Dan
> was trying to preach or moralize at us, and I'm sure
> that was not his intent. As many of the responses to
> his comments indicate. Why do the two of you feel the
> need to put this negative spin on his observations?
> Makes you wonder.
>
> Luda
>
>
>
> =====
>
>
>
>
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