From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #31 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Tuesday, February 3 1998 Volume 03 : Number 031 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: Saturday night? [Chris Cracknell ] Re: Alloy: Alloy Shirts - How Cool!!! [PROCAT1@aol.com] Alloy: Alloy Shirts - How Cool! ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Re: Alloy: Welcome, New address & miscellany [Paul Baily ] Alloy: Another meeting story (off-topic, slightly long) [Beth Meyer ] Re: Alloy: Valentine's tales... [Eclipse ] Alloy: my back foot! [thomas@headspace.com (Thomas Dolby Robertson)] Alloy: One thing [Elaine Linstruth ] Alloy: Popup Video [Elaine Linstruth ] Re: Alloy: Saturday night? [Chris Cracknell ] Re: Alloy: Saturday night? [MsSakamoto@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 02:14:10 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? In article <34D6BE8C.48C2@a.crl.com>, you wrote: > Similarly, the lack of a posted response to the birthday tape is >somewhat disapointing, since a lot of people on the list obviously put >quite a bit of effort into it (and made a fantastic job of it too, I >might add!), and only a handful were there to present it in person. On >the other hand, it -was- a birthday present, and as such was given >freely without judgement or expectation, (and we all enjoyed the whole >bit, too!), so... ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Ummm... actually Thomas did post a most gracious response to the B-day tape shortly after he received it. It said something to the effect of having given him many hours of enjoyment and he didn't realize that the people on alloy were so... ... I can't remember the exact words oddly talented... diversely talented... something like that. You might of just missed the e-mail is all. I've missed some too. CRACKERS (I was flattered from hell!!) - -- Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\ *NEW CrAB URL* http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html ***| \^^/ Bira Bira Devotee - FES Member - Samurai Pizza Cats Fan| =\/= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 03:49:37 EST From: PROCAT1@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Alloy Shirts - How Cool!!! got mine and my wife's shirts in today!! great job! maybe this shirt will turn my wife into a dolbly fan as she's got to wear hers everytime i wear mine.....thusly she'd better learn to love that shirt! thx to everyone involved. and a special thanks to stephen who i must, i can't believe he "floated" me a loan on these, w/o having ever met me!!! actually, as i'm a lurker, we haven't even spoken much :) nice to see there is trust in this crazy world of ours. now, i'm going back to my lurking hole....but on my way i'm writing stephen a check and sticking it in the mail! nuff for know, mark ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 04:52:52 -0500 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Alloy Shirts - How Cool! To Mark and All shirtowners, > thx to everyone involved. = > and a special thanks to stephen who i must, i can't believe he = > "floated" me a loan on these, w/o having ever met me!!! = > actually, as i'm a lurker, we haven't even spoken much :) > = > nice to see there is trust in this crazy world of ours. = Oh, it's nuthin' ... We're a pretty close-knit group. ************************************************************** And besides, I have designated Porch Light marksmen in every city on that= = shirt just *itching* for the go-ahead! Thug2: Yeah! *************************************************************** /\/\errily, /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 07:21:23 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: web pages In a message dated 98-02-02 21:18:48 EST, JDMack wrote: << J.D. Mack http://members.aol.com/jdmack01 (is personal web page promoting frowned upon in this group?) >> No! :) Go to http://members.aol.com/DThurkirk/medicineshow.html for mine and Dave's, if you like paintings (we're also listed in the CyberCafe index) Robin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 02:14:09 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? [All I can say is half your luck, Crackers! -PB] In article <199802021913_MC2-31A1-FC11@compuserve.com>, you wrote: >real-time. It is very pleasing to see the Tap Room up and running once >again. (If it weren't for the Tap Room, Mary and I would probably have never >met! Perish the thought!) A very big "Thank You!" to those people >who put forth the effort and kept the faith. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~ Wow! Met on-line through a chat room, brought together by a mutual affection for the works of Thomas Dolby... very romantic. I just love stories of how people met when there's lots of variables involved that could have caused the event never to happen. It's kind of like how I met my wife. I was a student at Humber College and I was living in a flat this guy had made in his basement (typical student dwelling). I was very big on BBSing and had a number of online friends, one was a woman the age of my own mother. She told me about her daughter and the two of us met and started going out together. Things got very hot and heavy and my girlfriend was spending a lot of nights at my place and like most people who are young and in love, there was very little actual sleeping going on. Then one day my landlord took me aside and said, "Gee, I don't know how to tell you this... but you see... well... there's no form of insulation between your flat and the rest of the house. I mean, if you fart we all hear it. And... well... when you first moved in here you were a very quiet student and just kind of studied all the time. But now you've got this girlfriend and.... and.... well.... we hear everything." "Oh my god!" I thought, "The applesauce incident!" "And it's not so much that my wife and I mind." my landlord continued, "It's just that we're really having problems explaining some of the noises to our kids." "I understand." I said turning a bright red, "I'll be out by the end of the month." "No no no... you don't have to move, just maybe go to her place once in awhile." "No... I HAVE to move now." I said, never wanting to see these people again. So I began immediately looking for an apartment of my own where my girlfriend and I could satisfy our carnal lusts with some privacy. But as fate would have it, the relationship soured and we broke up. I was having a great deal of trouble trying to find an apartment on my own so I decided since there was no need for that degree of privacy, I'd look for some shared accomodations. I picked up a paper and called a number of places. There was one place that really interested me, it was a house owned by a photographer who was a single parent with a young daughter. He was offering a greatly reduced rent in exchange for occasional babysitting. Since I was an A/V Production major and needed a darkroom a lot (I had built a darkroom in my old flat) this sounded great. There was also another ad for shared accomodations. This young woman had rented a house and was looking for housemates to share the rent. It was the first place I went to check out. I got along with this young woman immediately and didn't even bother checking on the other place (although I called to cancel so as not to be a jerk). I moved in on Feb. 2nd. This young woman was Beena. On valentine's day I asked her if she had plans that night. We'd really gotten to know each other quite well in the two weeks we'd known each other. She had no plans so we went out on our first date (a blues bar called Chicago's in T.O. where I was frequently found hanging out with my online friends). Well, that night I moved into Beena's bedroom and turned my old bedroom in the house into a darkroom. Two years later, on Feb 14th, Beena and I got married. And this Feb. 14th will be our 10th anniversary. When I think of all the little variables that added up to our finding each other it can get quite scary. One little change and things would have been different. If my basement flat was properly insulated... if I'd found an apartment on my own... if I'd picked up the Sun or Globe instead of the Star (these are legitimate Toronto newspapers, not the supermarket tabloids of the same name... although the Toronto Sun is kind of iffy ;) or even if I'd gone to check out the photographer's place first then it's highly likely that I wouldn't have found my wife, my love, my soul-mate, the mother of my two beautiful children, and the light of my life. It can scare the shit out of you sometimes when you realize how lucky you are and I often lay in bed at night thinking I'm the luckiest bastard in the world! Anyone else have a good "how I met my other half" story to share with us this special month? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~ >And finally, I apologize if I seem the intractable stick-in-the-mud: To me a >"REALLY BIG NEWS" event from TMDR would be of a different nature . . . but >apparently Thomas has given up publishing and performing the music that >attracted me to him, preferring instead to concentrate on this new >business. I can't fault him for it, I'm just disappointed. I guess I have >to face the music, or more acutely, the lack thereof. But it's hard ! ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ ^~ Actually, the "REALLY BIG NEWS" was a bit of a letdown for me too. When I saw the post I was expecting a ad, but I was hoping it was going to be an ad for a new album. Infact I was giddy with anticipation for the news and went nuts waiting for it. When it finally came it was a "oh... well that's nice too." I was interested in the new compositions in beatnik format until I realized I'm using a 486 and a Lynx shell account so these new compositions might as well be encoded in nazi-TV signals beamed in from Vega for all the good it does me. Phooey! Oh well... I'm embarrased to make this selfish admission but I often find myself hoping that "Headspace" is just something that Thomas has to get worked out of his system and then he'll return back to making music. But I can completely undestand why "Headspace" is so important to him. It would be more satisfying to be mentioned in the media as "Thomas Dolby: the man who revolutionized music on the internet" than it is to be called "Thomas Dolby: the guy who recorded 'She Blinded Me With Science'." Sometimes I get the guilty feeling that we musical fans of his are just an uncomfortable reminder to him of a part of his life he really doesn't want to have to deal with anymore. But on another note reguarding the Saturday Night Live with Thomas Dolby... If anyone has the message that was posted here that gave the text that popped up when "She Blinded Me With Science" was popped on "Pop-Up Video" could you please repost it... I missed it the first time around. I love that show. Trivia and music videos... give me a Guinness and an accordion and I'm in heaven! CRACKERS (My life goal is to have one of my videos "popped" from hell!!!!!!) - -- Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\ *NEW CrAB URL* http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html ***| \^^/ Bira Bira Devotee - FES Member - Samurai Pizza Cats Fan| =\/= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 98 22:34:13 +1000 From: Paul Baily Subject: Re: Alloy: Welcome, New address & miscellany >4) Comment (to my own slight embarassment) that I finally got and sent >that photo in to Paul for the Alloy scrapbook (remember that?), but it's >small and fuzzy and probably not worth anyone's time. Oh I'd disagree! Your photo has a really appealing, dreamy, 'escape with me' feel about it. It could easily be from an Enya vid. (I mean that as a compliment BTW ;-) Thanks for sending it, I'll put it up this weekend so y'all can see what I'm going on about. On a related note, it's never too late to send YOUR photo in for the scrapbook (yes, YOU! :-) cheers, Paul. [Who's nervously waiting for the March edition of MacWorld Aust to hit the stands...] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 08:03:57 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? In a message dated 98-02-02 19:47:03 EST, Miles wrote: << Before I answer that question, let me state the following: My commentary is not intended to belittle our dear Thomas or cause anyone to be disaffected. I've (we really) worked on this message at some length but fear it is impossible not to offend someone. Apologies in advance . >> I don't offend easily by a long shot. You know I can take whatever you dish out, Miles my love :) <> Actually, I don't feel cheated at all. It would have been nice for him to chat, but also probably necessary to keep some control over his time there - which, if he were swamped with questions, might have been difficult. From what I've heard, it sounds like he does truly respect and love his fans. << And finally, I apologize if I seem the intractable stick-in-the-mud: To me a "REALLY BIG NEWS" event from TMDR would be of a different nature . . . but apparently Thomas has given up publishing and performing the music that attracted me to him, preferring instead to concentrate on this new business. I can't fault him for it, I'm just disappointed. I guess I have to face the music, or more acutely, the lack thereof. >> Thomas' big news couldn't possibly have been to announce some kind of tour or recording thing. He has said many times over that this is currently impossible, even though he'd love to do it. I'm CERTAIN!!! we'd be the first to know about it if this changed. (right? :) To me, "big news" from Thomas would be that he was visiting Boston for a few days & could he and Robin go out for rich deserts at Ice Cream Works while he was in town... but he didn't say that either :( love you dearly & sorry Mary and Miles were a little disappointed.. Robin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 09:45:37 -0500 From: Beth Meyer Subject: Alloy: Pop-up video notes -- I don't have them Hi, folks; >But on another note reguarding the Saturday Night Live with Thomas >Dolby... If anyone has the message that was posted here that gave the >text that popped up when "She Blinded Me With Science" was popped on >"Pop-Up Video" could you please repost it... I missed it the first time >around. I love that show. Ah, Crackers, thanks for reminding us. I checked and, alas, I don't still have the list of comments that was posted around last May (Elaine, was that you who so kindly provided it?). However, I do remember a few bits, having seen it at least twice. My favorite was the following sequence of notes, which I may not remember totally verbatim. This started after Dr. Magnus Pyke had been introduced and during a scene that featured him: "Dr. Pyke refused to wear a lab coat in the video because he was not an M.D." "Fine for impersonating a physician: $500" .... "Thomas portrayed a sexually frustrated vampire in the film 'Rockula.'" "Fine for impersonating an actor: $0" :-) Cheers, Beth - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beth Meyer School of Psychology Pager: +1-404-866-1362 Georgia Institute of Technology FAX: +1-404-894-8905 274 5th St. gt9020a@prism.gatech.edu -or- Atlanta, GA 30332-0170 bmeyer@psy.psych.gatech.edu http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gt9020a/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 10:57:29 -0800 From: Eclipse Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? Chris Cracknell wrote: > > Ummm... actually Thomas did post a most gracious response to the B-day > tape shortly after he received it. It said something to the effect > of having given him many hours of enjoyment and he didn't realize > that the people on alloy were so... ... I can't remember the exact words > oddly talented... diversely talented... something like that. > > You might of just missed the e-mail is all. I've missed some too. > > CRACKERS > (I was flattered from hell!!) Did I miss that? Erm, how embarassing... -- E(lipse ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 11:17:15 -0500 From: Beth Meyer Subject: Alloy: Another meeting story (off-topic, slightly long) Hi, folks; >Wow! Met on-line through a chat room, brought together by a mutual >affection for the works of Thomas Dolby... very romantic. I just love >stories of how people met when there's lots of variables involved that >could have caused the event never to happen. It's kind of like how I met >my wife. >Anyone else have a good "how I met my other half" story to share with us >this special month? Well, thanks for the story Crackers, it was neat! I'm glad your housemate experience (the one with Beena, anyway) turned out so well. Hearing about it kinda makes me wish that my one housemate experience, in '96 when I had to go off to another city for an internship, hadn't turned out so horribly. But then, I suppose part of the reason for it my problem that my housemate was looking for an outcome like yours and Beena's, while I was (and still am) happily married and wanted nothing of the sort. (That topic is fresh on my mind, as I unexpectedly ran into my former housemate with the criminal tendencies last night as I was leaving a reception for grad students at my school. He immediately covered his face with his folded-up umbrella and ducked off into a side room, which was probably wise if rather bizarre to see. Still, I was sort of shaken and still can't concentrate very well today, which is why I'm sending e-mail when I should be working!) Anyway, in response to your request, there is an interesting little story of how my husband and I got together. I was in my last year of college, with a double major in English and computer science. Mark transferred into the same school that year, also majoring in computer science. Now, a little background; it was a small school, and in my four years there, many people had wanted to study with me before tests to "pick my brains," since I usually knew the material fairly well. However, I had come to realize that I did better if I studied by myself rather than talking about what I already knew well. Also, I had not had a boyfriend for some time, and was not particularly expecting one. Anyway, Mark and I were in a computer class together that winter term. One evening just before a test in that class, I was working on a programming project for the class in the computer lab. Mark was the only other person in the lab that night, working on the same project. He came over to my station a couple of times to ask me questions about the assignment. Then, a little later, he came over and we had the following conversation: Mark: "So, would you be interested in maybe studying together a little for the test tomorrow?" Beth (smiling sweetly): "Oh, no thank you. I've found that I do better when I study by myself. But thanks for the offer." Mark (looking a little puzzled): "Are you sure? I mean, maybe we could go get a hamburger or something..." Beth (cheerfully): "No, I really do prefer to study alone. I've found I do better on the test that way. But thanks for asking, and good luck tomorrow!" Mark: "OK, then. See you..." Of course, I was assuming that what he was interested in were answers for the test, when in fact he was already prepared for the test and was much more interested in ME. So he didn't know quite what to make of that exchange. This was around early February, I think. Then on Valentine's Day, the computer club held a carnation sale, and I helped to run the table. At the end of the day, Mark came over to see about the sale and also bought me a red carnation. I finally figured out what was going on. (D'oh!) Our first date was the following night, the 15th. That was 12 years ago; four years later, on Jan. 13, 1990, we were married. So yes, if Mark had been a little less persistent, or if some other club had been running the carnation sale, who knows where I would be now! Oh, by the way, our last test in that class occurred after Mark and I had started dating. We did study together the night before that test. We both did horribly on it. (As you might imagine, very little actual studying took place!) OK, better try to go get *something* accomplished now.... Cheers, Beth - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beth Meyer School of Psychology Pager: +1-404-866-1362 Georgia Institute of Technology FAX: +1-404-894-8905 274 5th St. gt9020a@prism.gatech.edu -or- Atlanta, GA 30332-0170 bmeyer@psy.psych.gatech.edu http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gt9020a/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 11:46:06 -0800 From: Eclipse Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? > Actually, the "REALLY BIG NEWS" was a bit of a letdown for me too. When I > saw the post I was expecting a ad, but I was hoping it was going to be an > ad for a new album. Infact I was giddy with anticipation for the news and > went nuts waiting for it. When it finally came it was a "oh... well > that's nice too." I was interested in the new compositions in beatnik > format until I realized I'm using a 486 and a Lynx shell account so these > new compositions might as well be encoded in nazi-TV signals beamed in > from Vega for all the good it does me. Phooey! Oh well... > > I'm embarrased to make this selfish admission but I often find myself > hoping that "Headspace" is just something that Thomas has to get worked > out of his system and then he'll return back to making music. But I can > completely undestand why "Headspace" is so important to him. It would be > more satisfying to be mentioned in the media as "Thomas Dolby: the man > who revolutionized music on the internet" than it is to be called "Thomas > Dolby: the guy who recorded 'She Blinded Me With Science'." > > Sometimes I get the guilty feeling that we musical fans of his are just > an uncomfortable reminder to him of a part of his life he really doesn't > want to have to deal with anymore. I don't think so...he may not have a -lot- of time for us, with running little upstart business and spending time with his children, but it seems obvious to me that music is one of those things he truly loves to do... I mean, just -listen- to it, it's part of him. And that there are those of us who enjoy and appreciate his work, play, self-expression, etc through music must give him something to smile about...especially since most of us (all of us?) are kind, creative, intelligent people, who obviously have good taste in music. ;) Surely he's at least as eager to make more music as we are for him to. On the other hand, I often find myself wondering, how long could getting an upstart techie business off the ground take? Hasn't he played with the silly machines long enough?....and even more selfishly, part of me rather hopes that he keeps occupied with headspace just long enough that I'll be able to run off to Cali the first time he decides to perform live again! Only a couple more years... I'd die if I missed that... ;) > But on another note reguarding the Saturday Night Live with Thomas > Dolby... If anyone has the message that was posted here that gave the > text that popped up when "She Blinded Me With Science" was popped on > "Pop-Up Video" could you please repost it... I missed it the first time > around. I love that show. Trivia and music videos... give me a Guinness > and an accordion and I'm in heaven! > > CRACKERS > (My life goal is to have one of my videos "popped" from hell!!!!!!) > I just spent quite a while sifting through my mail box (and giving it a much-needed weeding out), and couldn't find it... I might have it, if I do, I'll send it, but probably someone more organized will get a copy out first. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 11:46:20 -0800 From: Eclipse Subject: Re: Alloy: Valentine's tales... Chris Cracknell wrote: > Anyone else have a good "how I met my other half" story to share with us > this special month? I'm sure everyone here has heard mine, but... I'll tell it again anyway! To start at the beginning, when I was in kindergarten I became friends with this girl named Tina. Amazingly, we stayed best friends throughout school and on up through the present time. We took rather different turns in life after we matured... for one thing, she seemed to have a new boyfriend every week before I'd even dated once. Eventually, for a while, she had one who ran a local BBS (frightening how often computers are coming into these stories, isn't it?), which she persuaded me to join. This was my introduction to BBSing. Despite some of the genuinely weird, sick and twisted people on that particular board, I thought the whole thing was pretty neat, so I looked for other places to call, and ended up on, oh, three or four different BBSes, which was all I felt I had time for. A good while later, that first board went down...first they said it was temporarily, then it became permanent, and I waited a while and thought, hmm, I should see if there's anywhere else worth while. The one that caught my eye was "Orca's Ocean"... at the time, I had only the most vague idea of what an orca was, and figured that perhaps orca, ending in "a", would be the name of a female sysop, which would be nice, as I hadn't found many other females who liked computers. So completely on a whim, I called the board. It blew my mind, the level of intelligence and creativity was far above anything I'd seen before (sort of like most mailing lists compared to Alloy, perhaps.. ;) ).. there was discussion of computers and science fiction and politics, some role-playing games, some decent poetry, and the whole thing was actually maintained and looked after. (Supposedly, this is what almost all boards used to be like before the whole thing became mainstream, but I was just plain born too late. I hear that everywhere I go.. "Usenet used to be cool... MUCKs used to be cool... once most of the people on the internet were intelligent and mature...".. right.) Orca, of course, turned out to be a guy, but I wasn't really disappointed... he was friendly and wrote these fantastic trippy cyberpunk poems, and he was as much of a flirt as I was (and am).. I decided that I liked him.. a lot... he decided that he liked my writing, and invited me to do nightly role-playing games on the board in real-time. I jumped at the chance, and the rest, as they say, is history. (And he really liked this musician that his dad introduced him to, some fellow by the name of "Thomas Dolby", and he went on about him and on about him, and finally sent me a tape with a handful of songs copied to it.. I thought, "Wow!", and that's how I happen to be.. here...) So if I hadn't met Tina, or she hadn't happened to be dating that guy, or I wasn't such a pushover when she tried to convince me to do things... If I hadn't been looking for a new BBS to hang out on, or if that one hadn't happened to catch my eye, or if I didn't have such a thing for trippy cyberpunk poetry... In other words, if it wasn't that trains collide on a regular basis, stars explode, and fireworks don't... Freaky, isn't it? Appologies for my long-windedness, and an early happy St Val's day to everyone! Who else has a story? -- E(lipse ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 11:01:33 -0800 From: thomas@headspace.com (Thomas Dolby Robertson) Subject: Alloy: my back foot! All, 1. Saturday night: I really enjoyed the event, and I think the programmers did a great job. However, having taken part in several online events at AOL and Compuserve in the past, I know that it is incredibly hard to give _everyone_ a great experience, even for huge compaines like those. And in order to keep one person the center of attention and 'accessible' to the audience, even with a moderator and a mature chat system, is quite a feat. I'm sorry I couldn't have participated more fully, but it was all I could do to make 3 postings--it seems many people weren't able to get in at all! To ask Curtis' system to provide as good or better an experience as an AOL online event is a tall order. If that's what the Alloyites want on a regular basis, you'd really be better to agree on an off-the-shelf Chat software package such as iChat or Parachat. I suggested this several months ago, and asked people to check a few out, without very much response from the List. The advantage would be that you could have it open all the time, but still stage special events--and some other company's R+D department has to do the brunt work! (No offense Curtis.) Leave the Tap Room for what it is great for--ongoing threads that evolve over longer periods, not in real time! Either that, or just accept that it has limitations when it comes to live events. If you can put up with those, just enjoy it for what it is! 2. T-Shirt-- I COMPLETELY love it!! I don't tend to wear my own marketing collateral out and about ;-) but I've been prancing around the house in it, as have my wife and children. 3. E(lipse and others, Judging by your comments about the Birthday Tape, you must have missed my posting to this list on October 15th 1997. If so, here it is again:- - ----------- Subject: Re: alloy-digest V2 #218 Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 19:45:04 -0800 From: Thomas Dolby Robertson Organization: Headspace Inc. To: alloy@smoe.org References: 1 Dear Alloyites, I was most touched by your wonderful birthday wishes, and especially by the gang who showed up to my SF lecture last week and the reception afterwards, to present me with the Birthday Tape. It's really an amazing present, and has given me hours of enjoyment so far. I had no idea you lot were musically so..... um, diversely talented! The activities on this list are really quite astonishing. I hope the list's new post-Tap Room home turns out to be a happy one. I think it would be nice if it had a musical component using Beatnik, so if anyone has honed their chops yet, perhaps they should get with Paul and see how sound might play a part...... I can envision members having melodic "handles" which play to accompany their postings, and I might consider regularly contributing sections of my music as triggerable RMF files. - -- Thomas Dolby Robertson - ---------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 11:06:34 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Linstruth Subject: Alloy: One thing I thought it might be a good idea to remind folks that on the old Taproom Anteroom or someplace, TMDR did specifically say in a Q&A that he makes it a practice of not responding to people who wish to send him their demo tapes or songs or whatever. It said something like, will I listen? yes will I let you know what I think? no. I forget the exact reasons, but we can assume that he was deluged at one time or another and just set a rule. And/or, he might have a real problem with telling people he hates their stuff, and/or, lying to them if he hates it but feels the need to be diplomatic regardless. I know I wouldn't want to be put in that position. So... it's not like we weren't "warned" for lack of a better word? He might feel that responding to the birthday tape would encourage a situation that he just doesn't want to get into. I'm going to go out on a limb and surmise that he's made these "rules" for himself as a result of past experience. Since it was a gift.. well, you know what I'm thinking. Maybe a, "got it, it's nifty, thanks!" could have been expected, but a song-by-song critique just doesn't seem appropriate coming from him, anyway. What if it made him blush, or got on his nerves, or he's shy? Just my 2 cents, don't get mad at me! - -- Elaine Linstruth Palmdale, CA (USA) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 10:54:52 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Linstruth Subject: Alloy: Popup Video Since I guess I'm some kind of packrat, I hadn't deleted this email (circa 5/6/97). I missed whoever asked for it.. just saw where Beth had quoted from it. Anyway, here it is; delete if you're not interested (it's kinda long). - -- (opening sequence) "She Blinded Me With Science, The Golden Age of Wireless, EMI 1982, Director: Thomas Dolby" - -Filmed at a real London sanitarium in May, 1982 - -Thomas Morgan Robertson, Born October 14, 1958, Cairo Egypt - -Egypt was also a birthplace of science in 3,000 B.C. - -(with arrow on "Miss Sakamoto") Actress hired from a catalogue - -Activists claim 14 million animals each year are blinded by scientists. - -Dr. Magnus Pyke -- host of a BBC-TV science show. - -He says, "Science!" on the record. - -He taught at a school Dolby's sister attended. - -(at Miss Sakamoto's red skirt) Psychologists say red can represent lust. - -Most popular color car in the US: red - -Chemicals called pheromones are more important than a sense of sight in mating. - -(at TMDR's sniffing while on Pyke's couch) They don't have a smell. - -Thomas was nicknamed Dolby by high school friends. - -They read it off the tape recorder he was always fiddling with. - -He settled a trademark lawsuit with Dolby Labs in 1987. - -Only 2% of people hurt by health care providers sue (while Pyke is knocking TMDR's knee with a reflex hammer) - -Percentage of suits won by doctors: 76 - -Butterflies were released but they flew away too fast to be filmed (at the mad scientist with the 4-pronged butterfly net) - -(at the other scientists on the grounds) These extras were hired for their 'mad scientist' look. - -(at the scientist shuffling across the grass with the smoking presumably-jet-powered skates) Dolby's father, an archaeologist. - -The guy on the roof is a singer and Dolby protege. - -A decade later he jumped off a building to his death. - -The Grateful Dead appeared on a 1992 Dolby album. (I thought this one was rather tasteless, myself.. after the reference to the suicide.) - -Dolby went to a psychiatrist once in his life. - -He left feeling overcharged (at the electroshock therapy headgear part) - -St. Vitus' Dance (n.): a brain disease causing bizarre movements (outside, looking at the mad scientists dancing weirdly) - -Pyke refused to wear a lab coat because he wasn't an M.D. - -Fine for impersonating a doctor: $5,000 - -Dolby married Dynasty's Kirby Colby in 1988 (picture of Kathleen) - -Fine for impersonating an actor: $0 - -Two years later he played a sexually frustrated vampire in Rockula. - -The title cards were added after Dolby found the video "obscure." - -Pop-Up Video was added to VH1 14 years later. Closing card: - -Dolby calls Pyke a "stodgy old bird" who badgered him throughout the shoot about his cab ride home. Although well-known as a scientist in Britain, Pyke was upset when he traveled to America and people kept coming up to him and yelling, "Science!" Who was the suicide in 1992? I was surprised to see the Dolby explanation.. he's really had that nickname since high school? And that Mr.. Robertson was in the video, that was interesting. The last factoid seems to quote Thomas about Pyke, so we can reasonably assume that all TMDR-related facts above were "checked." - -- Elaine Linstruth Palmdale, CA (USA) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 14:30:14 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? In article <34D76899.4BED@white-star.com>, you wrote: >Chris Cracknell wrote: >> >> Ummm... actually Thomas did post a most gracious response to the B-day >> tape shortly after he received it. It said something to the effect >> of having given him many hours of enjoyment and he didn't realize >> that the people on alloy were so... ... I can't remember the exact words >> oddly talented... diversely talented... something like that. >> >> You might of just missed the e-mail is all. I've missed some too. > >Did I miss that? Erm, how embarassing... > ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ That's okay, happens to the best of us (I missed the Pop-Up video post). Just check under the mat in your front hall for your invitation to the ball. CRACKERS (Sleeping Dolby from hell!!!!!!) - -- Accordionist - Wethifl Musician - Atari 2600 Collector | /\/\ *NEW CrAB URL* http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html ***| \^^/ Bira Bira Devotee - FES Member - Samurai Pizza Cats Fan| =\/= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 15:23:30 EST From: MsSakamoto@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? In a message dated 98-02-03 08:16:21 EST, crackers@hwcn.org writes: > Anyone else have a good "how I met my other half" story to share with us > this special month? Hmm. Mine's not nearly as interesting as yours was, but I'm in a particularly chatty mood right now, so... Almost a year and a half ago, a friend of mine, Lou, drove down from Cleveland (northernmost Ohio) to Cincinnati (southernmost Ohio) to pick me up to go to the annual Witches' Ball in Columbus (central Ohio). We were standing in a packed bookstore (the name of which escapes me at the moment, which is sad, because I live less than ten minutes away from it usually [although I'm at my mom's for the next month--I'm going back to Columbus 15 Mar.]), and I could just feel someone behind me staring at me. I turned around, and saw this tall blonde stranger smiling at me. I smiled back, and turned back around. I could still feel him looking at me, so I turned around again and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Suzanne." "My name's Abiathar" "Excuse me?" "Abiathar. Just call me Abe." So we hit it off pretty well, and it turned out he was just a little over a year older than me, and he was having a fight with his dad and didn't really want to go home. So Lou and I invited him to stay with us in our hotel room. When I had to leave for home, we exchanged addresses and such and parted ways. He gave me his number at his dad's and his friend Robb's number because he hung out there a lot. Abe called me every day for about the next week, and then hitchhiked down to see me. When he got back to Columbus, he wouldn't return my phone calls, and told whoever answered the phone at Robb's (where he started living) to say that he wasn't home. Robb was the only person who didn't lie to me about it, and the two of us became good friends. We didn't talk very often, because I was barely able to pay my mom for the phone bill, and we had our phone actually turned off for like three months. But this summer, I was going through my phone book, and saw Robb's phone number. I remembered our many hours on the phone that we had when he could call and such, and decided to see what he was up to. Well, at the time, he was in the hospital, so I didn't get to speak to him. I called back when he got out, and found out that his birthday was coming up. He was having a party (which happened to fall on Witches' Ball weekend) and wanted me to come to it. He picked me up, and we got along like magic. We've been together since. It hasn't been that long of a time (just since Oct. 24), but he's very important to me. And he stole one of my Alloy shirts because he's got them with him in Columbus (taking advantage of me being gone for the month!), holding them hostage, along with my copy of Wireless. Men! Was that rambling enough? Sorry if I bored anyone! - --Suzanne-- p.s. Abe still lives in Robb's attic and is actually now one of my best friends since we've worked out our differences. ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #31 **************************