I've been working with Mike Metlay, in some capacity, for almost two decades. Mike is one of the people that I know that represent a fount of knowledge about the history and current vector of electronic music. I've been wanting to record a conversation with him where we could talk about the history of the internet and early media arts. Mike was over to my home studio to do some research for Recording Magazine, we needed to take a break; we grabbed a recorder, hopped in my truck, and headed out for dinner.
Of course, the recorder (a Tascam DR-07 mk2 - now considered an offical EVIL DEVICE to me) gave me a lot of grief and provided some pretty poor audio. But we also get to capture Mike in full-on, ultra-opinionated, ultra-open mode. Once I pieced together all of the segments, we end up with almost an hour and a half of interview time, and fly all over the place. You see: Mike likes to talk, I like to remember, and the next thing you know we are in full-on 'old guy radio' mode.
During an early part of the conversation, I can't remember the name of a network that was an early online mechanism for discussions about the music profession. I can't believe I couldn't remember it, but I was thinking about the PAN network. You can find out more about PAN on a website that still maintains its existance on the web: http://www.pan.com/. Sheesh, I can't believe I couldn't remember that...
Enjoy!