From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #32 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 Wednesday, February 4 1998 Volume 03 : Number 032 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Saturday night? ["Mary A. Brown" ] Re: Alloy: my back foot! [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: His Musical Past/Present/Future [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Saturday night? [IT Admin - Govt Office North West Subject: Alloy: Saturday night? The always droll CRACKERS wrote: > "Oh my god!" I thought, "The applesauce incident!" Now, come on lad, you can't just write something like that and not = elaborate! Please tell me it had nothing to do with the Brady Bunch epis= ode = in which Peter (?) decided he was going to be Bogie and kept repeating, "= Pork = chops and applesauce"... > I often lay in bed at night thinking I'm the luckiest bastard in = > the world! Hmm, don't think I agree with the bastard part but it sounds to me as = though you're *both* lucky! > I'm embarrassed 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. You're not alone in this hope, believe me. Not that I can make any claim= s = to knowing our beloved Thomas but from what he has told me and from what = he = father said about him, I get the impression that in some ways he's not = always comfortable in the spotlight. He has said it is incredibly = expensive to tour but to try and sell CDs without going out to support th= e = music is next to impossible. = > But I can completely understand 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'." Exactly! Though from the tone of his voice when he told the crowd in SF = recently which songs he'd like to be remembered for, it sounded as though= he = has a great fondness and more-than-deserved touch of pride about some of = his = songs. > 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. And again, CRACKERS, you've really nailed how I (and probably others on t= his = list, right, BC?) feel. I'm sure he has great visions of the future and = may = get a little annoyed that folks like me tend to dwell on his past. I was= = thinking the other day how odd it would be if someone kept asking me abou= t = things I did when I was, say, 24. I'd like to think I've matured and mov= ed = on, but then again, I have never produced anything of such quality and = timelessness. = I'm sorry if Thomas felt attacked by Stephen and me. We tried very hard = to = temper our frustration as we wrote that message and certainly wondered = whether or not we should have posted it. I am happy, however, that it go= aded = TMDR to write to us. But I don't necessarily subscribe to "the ends just= ify = the means" philosophy. I've probably said far too much already so I'll end here and we can get b= ack = to the charming "how I met my significant other" stories. You know, I ne= ver = did hear how Thomas and the lovely Kathleen met... Europa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 20:06:23 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: my back foot! In a message dated 98-02-03 14:24:44 EST, Thomas wrote: << 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. >> Will you send Paul a photo of all of you wearing it? i didn't know Fruit of the Loom made family size! (sorry, but the mental imagery this produced was irresistable :) Robin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 19:43:12 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: His Musical Past/Present/Future In a message dated 98-02-03 08:16:21 EST, crackers wrote: << 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 doubt he could possibly mind having such ardent admirers of his creative work, talking about him all the time, crackers. Why else would he subscribe to the Alloy Digest? :) I know that if someone out there were discussing my paintings, for instance, I'd LOVE IT even though I don't paint as much as I'd like to anymore. Headspace may not make him as publically accessable as would his career in music, but I can see how it would be really satisfying for him to accomplish these great things with his company. Through it all, it sounds like he genuinely misses composing and playing for audiences. Having seen him in performance (alas, only on film thus far), I can't imagine him feeling really happy without at least some kind of public life. It's rare to see a performer who seems so at home on stage, in front of an *adoring* crowd! Besides, Thomas seems like an independent creature whose creativity will not be reshaped by anyone (hence the whole well-known disdain for record companies etc) and what he's concentrating on right now is Headspace. I love what he's doing with this company; it's way beyond my meager understanding of computers and incredibly inspiring. I still feel connected to it by way of music & communication. Obviously music isn't going to be part of his 'dark past', and having small compositions of his (see Imago Dei) springing up now and then is like coming across bits of gold when it happens. Very pleasant and tantalizing surprises. Robin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 01:21:08 GMT From: IT Admin - Govt Office North West Subject: Re: Alloy: Saturday night? At 02:14 03/02/98 -0500, Crackers wrote: > >Anyone else have a good "how I met my other half" story to share with us >this special month? > Right then, you asked for it. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (This is that wibbly wobbly thing they do on TV before a flashback, or as close as I can represent it in this mailer) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Think back to 1972 if you can. This may be impossible for some of you, not having been born by then. But it was the days when we all lived in black and white. (Artistic license; i.e. I'm trying to intimate it was a jolly long time ago.) I was in my last year at secondary school and at 17 years of age [no tears now, dear reader] had not had a 'serious' relationship with a girl .... not ever. When I started secondary school, it was an 'all boys' Grammar School. At the end of the second year, we merged with a Secondary Modern School near by, to become one of the new Comprehensive Schools, which had students of both sexes. This was quite a departure for us old Grammar School boys, and some of the old masters were disgusted by the whole thing [I remember one saying he'd never taught girls in his life and he wasn't about to start now]. But I digress. The merger caused several problems, one being that we ended up with about twice as many boys as girls. Not a problem for the girls, perhaps, but a real bloody nuisance for the boys. You may find this hard to believe, but I was a rather shy young man, and found it extremely hard to approach girls. So with such a lot of competition, I never got the opportunity to date any of them. Apart from anything else, I couldn't really imagine that any girl would be very interested in me, not being outstanding in any particular area, academic or sporting. In those days I had no idea WHAT girls found attractive .... in fact I'm not sure I do now. ANYWAY ..... as I said, nothing much happened until I was in the last year. And THEN, it happened, but I'm not sure how. By devious means, known only to girls, a message got to me that a certain girl, called Jill, would be willing to go out with me if I asked her. When I recovered from the shock, I replied by similar means (it sounds a bit like e-mail, now I come to think about it; you address a message, and it gets there, but you're never quite sure of the route). So we sort of agreed to meet up in the Horse And Jockey, a local pub where all the under age drinkers from our school hung out on a Friday and Saturday night. This was reasonably safe ground for a first meeting as we could be together in a public place with lots of our friends around for moral support, but were able to talk privately because with the racket from the juke box you could only just about hear what was being said by the person right next to you. Well, we met, had a few drinks, and a chat (more of a scream at each other really, but it amounts to the same thing) and agreed to meet again a couple of days later. In all we went out about half a dozen times, sometimes to the pub, a couple of times she came to my house, and a couple of times at a friend's flat, where NOTHING of a carnal nature took place. During this strange period, the school grapevine machine was in full swing, and a rumour got to me that Jill was already dating another boy, and was dating both of us on different nights. MY FRIENDS. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS!! I was astonished that such a thing could happen (as well as shy I was pretty naive, as you will have gathered.) I confronted her with this information, and she confirmed that she WAS dating someone else, had been for months, and would probably continue to do so. Well, it was all over for me, I couldn't carry on under those circumstances, and told her so. Another digression. Have any of you seen the film 'Gregory's Girl' with John Gordon Sinlcair and Clair Grogan? Well, I didn't know it at the time, but the screenplay could have been based on my experiences. It seems that Jill's friend rather 'fancied' me, so when I told Jill it was all over between us, she asked me if I'd like to date her friend, Lyn, WHO'S FATHER OWNED A PUB A FEW YARDS FROM THE HORSE AND JOCKEY!! (Sounds like a dream come true, eh boys?? Hence the capitals.) Just like Gregory, I was pretty shell shocked by this 'offer' and couldn't decline, and arranged to meet Lyn outside her dad's pub the following Friday night after I'd been for a drink with my mates at the Horse and Jockey. This was a very strange meeting, as we just met for two minutes in the street and I asked her if she'd like to go to a party with me the following day, to which she agreed. The rest, you'll probably be relieved to hear, is history. We went out regularly, though Lyn always had to be home by closing time, to help with the washing up. I often ended up going home with her and helping out too, which seemed to gain her parents' approval, even though I did have shoulder length hair at the time, and looked like a good meal would knock me over. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wibbly wobbly bit - back to the present day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We got married in '75, and have two kids (a son who's almost 19 and a daughter who's 17) AND we are still together, despite life's ups and downs. Incidentally, Jill married the boy she was dating at the time as well, and THEY are also still together. He's a policeman, and she isn't. Slarvibarglhee PS Couldn't stay awake late enough for the Tap Room official opening, and I'm away from the occife this week, so I'm conspicuous by my absence as I can't afford a lot of time on line from home. Hopefully I'll be back in there next week. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 20:43:22 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: how we met...! How Dave and I met: I worked at a leather store (jackets only!) in the mall when I was studying fine arts at the local university. Dave, whom I had never even set eyes on previously, and my very good friend Marc - who both were fine arts students at my school too - worked next door in the art supply store. I decided to apply at the art store because I needed a discount on supplies... and Dave is the one who handed me the application. He flirted with me outrageously, and I made a mental note to avoid him because I thought he was too much of a flirt (it turned out he wasn't really, it was just ME he was flirting with) We then became best friends. I was going out with Mike the guitarist & Dave was going out with Deb the journalist; this situation went on for a good year and a half. At one point later in our friendship Dave said he needed a model for some paintings, and I volunteered because I wanted to have more time to talk to him. Then Mike the guitarist and I broke up, & I went to England with my friend Holly for 10 days, where I met this guy Keith (the art student). When I returned to America Keith and I wrote to each other & he begged me to come back over Christmas... I just barely managed to afford it, and Dave drove me to Kennedy Airport to go and visit this guy! I then proceeded to have the MOST HELLISH THREE WEEKS OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!! (I won't even begin to tell you what happened. At least I had my Sherbet Fountains to sustain me) and when I got back, recovered from my triple-mega-plague/flu thing, and returned to work, I set eyes on Dave and was instantly, insanely in love. Except we had been friends all that time & I dind't want to risk scaring him off & ruining everything, and, he was still going out with Deb (though they had been decidedly on the rocks for quite some time). It took me weeks and weeks to get up the courage to tell him I was in love with him. But finally, on the floor of my apartment in this really, seriously haunted old Victorian house I lived at in Binghamton which was built by Admiral Asbury (his enormous old portrait hung in the entryway), over a bottle of Blue Bols, the truth finally revealed itself (he'd been in love with me too, it turned out, from pretty much when we'd first met). He broke up with Deb the next morning & six months later, Dave and I were married. It sounds like some kind of bizarre soap opera plot, but that's what happened I swear!! Robin ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #32 **************************