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Sarasota News Leader November 2, 2012 Demperio explained that presuppositions about music are what often discourage people from enjoying experimentation. "There were people at the show on Friday who came up to me and said that it's not music, that it's noth- ing you could dance to, so it's not music," he said. "Well, you could dance, if you wanted to, to anything. You could dance to the sound of a car accident, if you're so inclined." Although none of the artists who performed at the event did anything this extreme, Demperio emphasized that the music can get somewhat loud and that it is important that listeners pro- tect their hearing with earplugs if necessary. Aside from keeping an open mind about the boundaries of music, Demperio suggested that listeners also consider who it is creating it. "Realize that the guy or girl who's making the music is a librarian, is an artist, is a janitor, a newspaper writer," he said. "The common link between all of those people is that they have an addiction to sound equipment." Not only do shows like Lumpytunes Live offer these passionate people –– who might not oth- erwise meet –– an opportunity to get together and share ideas, they help to develop a strong, interwoven community of individuals who share a common interest, be they musicians or listeners. This idea is big part of the reason Demperio decided to bring Lumpytunes out of the studio and into the community once every year, and it fits in perfectly with the goals of WSLR. Page 81 "It really opens the community up to the mu- sic, because people from all walks of life lis- ten to the station," Demperio explained. "The radio station is kind of a conduit for people to have access to experimental or noise mu- sic that normally would shut it off or not be interested or not seek it out." A sort of feedback loop is created, then, be- cause the Lumpytunes program exposes com- munity members to a type of music that they may not have been interested in before, and then Lumpytunes Live brings them all togeth- er in person. There are results to back this idea up, too: Demperio said that although many in the audience at the event were WSLR programmers, musicians and friends, he saw dozens of new faces throughout the night. In this way, difficult listening, especially on a local level, can be seen not as about alienating listeners, as is the common misconception, but the exact opposite: engaging listeners and fostering community, creativity and collabo- ration. For those who were unable to attend Lumpy- tunes Live, or who want to satiate their de- sire for more experimental music, the St. Pete Noise Fest begins on Friday, Nov. 2, at the Venture Compound in St. Petersburg. It will feature more than 57 acts –– many of which are local to Sarasota –– over the course of two nights. Click to listen to part of a Lumpytunes program with Wampo