From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #269 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 Saturday, October 10 1998 Volume 03 : Number 269 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Alloy: Autobiographical work ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] Re: Alloy: songwriting [John_Hanson_at_FRMA01@ccmailgw.mcgawpark.baxter.c] Re: Alloy: Autobiographical work [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #268 [Applebabe2@aol.com] Re: Alloy: songwriting [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #268 [CJMark@aol.com] Alloy: 80s band tour [p.louie1@genie.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:20:16 +0200 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: Autobiographical work Hi All! (and a happy friday to you all!) Robin, you really got me thinking (no mean feat at 9am!),....on the same theme,..I started to think about autobiographical songs,...and rapidly came to the comclusion that although I sometimes write songs about people around me, they are all personal in one way or the other,.....the only way I can out it into words is by saying that songwriting is the best therapy,...the world's best outlet for angst, pain, broken hearts etc.,...only problem is that if I don't really FEEL for the subject matter, can't write a song to save my life,...Annie Lennox summed it up once in an interview I once saw, where she said something like " You never write better songs than when you're miserable and heartbroken",... I ....so the problem is that I'm just too happy these days to write good songs anymore LOL! Paul,...best of luck sweetheart (not that you need it,..) how exciting to give a talk about something as interesting as that! (and don't forget,...if you ever get stage fright, imagine your audience is stark naked except for black socks,...that usually gets me over stage fright anyway,...if it doen'y give me a fit of the giggles,....) Talking of throwbacks to the eighties,...I heard on the radio this morning that Nik Kershaw is going to be playing a concert in Helsinki this coming weekend!! WOW! talk about comebacks! (daft thing is that I wouldn't have minded going to see him, but I'm so embarrassed about it, and I don't know a soul who'd come with me !! heh heh !) Oh heck,...batteries are starting to fade,...if I don't get a coffee down me, I'm going to fall asleep at the keyboarmmmmmmzzzzzzzzzz. (Another crappy & half asleep production from the pen of,....) Lissu :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: RThurF@aol.com [SMTP:RThurF@aol.com] > Sent: 09 October 1998 01:36 > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: Autobiographical work > > > In a message dated 10/7/98 1:23:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time, > elaine@qnet.com > writes: > > << Next, is I saw a career-retrospective type thing about David Bowie, and > at > the end he said something akin to, some fans want to have the artist > doing > autobiographical works, but that is NOT ME. That got me thinking, I've > always approached Thomas' songs as being somewhat autobiographical. But > are they? >> > > I tried to give my opinion on this late last night in a different reply I > posted, with no success - it's really hard for me to put things into > words. > The question of whether an artist's work is autobiographical or not has > been > in my mind all day though! And a couple of things have occured to me. > > First of all, I think the emotions or ideas an artist communicates may be > autobiographical in nature, but that he may use a non-autobiographical > story > to relate them to his audience. What I mean by this is, though the exact > details of the song lyrics (for instance) may not have happened precisely > as > stated, or even at all, something did happen in the person's life to > inspire > him to write that particular piece. As far as I'm aware, artists try to > communicate a given idea in its very essence (which is why saying "this is > a > song about thus&such" may seem like overstating the point) & the piece > should > stand on its own. The audience is being offered an invitation into a > person's > creative life whenever they hear a well-written song, or see a good > painting > or any other work, which I think is a much more intense and intimate > experience than knowing what specifically inspired someone to do a piece. > Not > that there's any harm in wondering of course... right now I'm wondering > about > Rasputina's "The New Zero", a beautiful, slightly scary, fairy-tale of a > song. > And their "Watch TV" reminds me of a sort of flipside to Thomas' > "Commercial > Breakup'... about the recluse whose television shows have become her whole > world. Anyway enough about the Ladies & their brilliant new cd ;) > > As I was saying.. David Bowie seemed to be talking about the line which is > drawn between the 'show' and the mind behind (or I should say within) the > show. Again, Thomas himself seems to describe this very thing in his > brilliant > film "Live Wireless". > > The name of the film, when you think it through, is a juxtaposition in > opposing terms... 'livewire' and 'wireless' overlapping, which indicates a > combination of both intense connection and detachment. Thomas is the star > of > the film as stage performer, yet is also frequently shown in the isolated, > utilitarian projectionist's booth working the machinery that's running it. > Most of the time, the projectionist is lost in his own thoughts in his > room > that's lined with pictures, or gazing out dreamily at the audience & the > show, > and is moved to bursts of efficient activity & involvement whenever the > show > needs to be bumped into action. The audience are like automatons, giving > the > feeling of 'everybody's doing their part' in the performance - musicians > playing, and audience listening/applauding at prescribed intervals. Only > when > the projectionist messes up do they seem to notice him at all! But > throughout > all this, the projectionist keeps taking Polaroids of the performance, as > something he's drawing from as well as creating. He carefully labels each > photograph at the end and looks on them as if they're precious things. The > subtleties of this film fascinate me, even the way the projectionist > smokes > the cigarette in the beginning of the film, it makes him seem so aloof, > not > even the cigarette seems to be making any contact with him. It's really > very > well done. As you can tell I think this film is quite intense! > > Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 00:41:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Monya De Subject: Alloy: songwriting I completely agree about songwriting....it almost has to come from a real emotional source to connect with another person... unless anyone minds, i'll post some lyrics a friend of mine wrote--and they capture this idea very well. monya ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:48:15 -0500 From: John_Hanson_at_FRMA01@ccmailgw.mcgawpark.baxter.com Subject: Re: Alloy: songwriting - --IMA.Boundary.173029709 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: cc:Mail note part Does this include lyrics written by the Macc Lads ? John ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ >I completely agree about songwriting....it almost has to come from a real >emotional source to connect with another person... - --IMA.Boundary.173029709 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; name="RFC822 message headers" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: cc:Mail note part Content-Disposition: inline; filename="RFC822 message headers" Received: from ns1.baxter.com (159.198.180.56) by ccmailgw.mcgawpark.baxter.com with SMTP (IMA Internet Exchange 2.1 Enterprise) id 0061DBD6; Fri, 9 Oct 98 02:47:00 - -0500 Received: from chmls06.mediaone.net (chmls06.mediaone.net [24.128.1.71]) by ns1.baxter.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id CAA09513 for ; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 02:46:23 -0500 (CDT) Received: from smoe.org (080020908e73.ne.mediaone.net [24.128.147.247]) by chmls06.mediaone.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id DAA11424; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 03:43:35 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) by smoe.org (8.8.7/8.8.7/listq-jane) with SMTP id DAA04026; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 03:42:33 -0400 (EDT) Received: by smoe.org (bulk_mailer v1.10); Fri, 9 Oct 1998 03:42:33 -0400 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by smoe.org (8.8.7/8.8.7/listq-jane) id DAA04008 for alloy-outgoing; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 03:41:43 -0400 (EDT) Received: from epic3.Stanford.EDU (epic3.Stanford.EDU [171.64.15.36]) by smoe.org (8.8.7/8.8.7/daemon-mode-relay2) with ESMTP id DAA04004 for ; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 03:41:40 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from piratwin@localhost) by epic3.Stanford.EDU (8.8.8/8.8.7) id AAA11312; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 00:41:33 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 00:41:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Monya De To: "'alloy@smoe.org'" Subject: Alloy: songwriting In-Reply-To: <514B833CB5E4D1118E320008C724B24B03FDD0@OBELIX> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-alloy@smoe.org Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. Precedence: bulk - --IMA.Boundary.173029709-- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 07:30:55 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Autobiographical work In a message dated 10/9/98 2:47:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time, louise.ulfstedt@teleste.fi writes: << although I sometimes write songs about people around me, they are all personal in one way or the other,.....the only way I can out it into words is by saying that songwriting is the best therapy,...the world's best outlet for angst, pain, broken hearts etc.,...only problem is that if I don't really FEEL for the subject matter, can't write a song to save my life >> With my own work I have to have direct emotional inspiration as well, but in fact I don't work well if I'm too upset over something. What really gets me inspired is feeling a sense of connection with someone else, and the stranger the better. Too much angst & heartbreak just make me want to hide in my room & listen to cd's of other people singing to me about how rotten they feel, too, so I don't feel all alone in the world ;) Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 15:11:27 EDT From: Applebabe2@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #268 In a message dated 10/9/98 1:31:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time, owner-alloy- digest@smoe.org writes: << I've never seen the "Live Wireless" Film... Or any other TMDR film I'm ashamed to admit here.. but what the heck.. I did see him live in Vancouver, BC.. at least. But anyhow.. my point is.. do you know where I might be able to find a copy of "Live Wireless" ? I would really enjoy seeing some of that show.. as I think that is the show I saw live.. but it was so long ago.. that I remember far too little of it. >> Here goes my first reply, I know that all of you have been wondering if I was ever going to write......well here I am!!! Although I am not half as interesting as the rest of you, I do have a few things in my life that I am proud of. I am a mother of two children, Lindsey is 11 and James is 9. I have been married to my husband George for...... EVER!!! Actually, 12 years this coming March. We live on an apple and assorted fruit farm in the Hudson Valley of N.Y. State. His fathers owns and runs it, George helps out making the cider this time of year. Now for me, I own a cleaning business (don't laugh). I have always wanted to have something that I could call my own, and not have to answer to a supervisor or "boss", I have a big problem with that word. But I do enjoy it, even though it may seem to be a very "dirty" job. I also am the captain of my pool (billiards) team. This is one of the greatest loves of my life. I have been playing pool since I started college back in 82'. Eight years ago I started on this local team, we play against 15 other teams in our division, for 16 week sessions. We play once a week on Wed. nights, and I just love it. I am pretty good too, even though I hate to brag! Just like all of you, I am a Dolby fan. In the 80's, my friends would all laugh at me because I listened to his music, they thought I was strange. But to me, there was just something about him and his music that got to me. He was so different, and his music made me feel a certain way. I never did get to see anything more than his videos on MTV. I wished I knew about all his others works at that time. Over the years I moved on to different kinds of music (I loved Howard Jones by the way!!! B-52's, Talking Heads, Blondie etc...). And it wasn't until recently, and I don't know why, I was looking for an old Queen CD for my husband in a local music store, and Thomas Dolby ran through my mind. Well, I headed straight for that section, found the last CD of Wireless (had it on cassette long ago, and it is pretty worn out), and found the Minds Eye CD. Now I am back into his music again, I can't get enough!! I order the Minds Eye video, and am looking forward to acquiring more of his works. I was so pleased to hear that he was still around, and still making music. He is the master of sight and sound in my eyes. I hope he stays around for a long time! So there you have it, my life, and my opinion, now that I have gotten all of this off of my chest, you can all wake up now!!!! I enjoy reading everything that everyone writes. Some of you are so witty, and some are so interesting, I have a hard time waiting until the next days posts come in! Take care............... Stacey ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 17:52:50 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: songwriting In a message dated 10/9/98 3:43:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time, piratwin@leland.Stanford.EDU writes: << unless anyone minds, i'll post some lyrics a friend of mine wrote--and they capture this idea very well. >> Please feel free! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 21:47:52 EDT From: CJMark@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #268 Hey Stacey.. Welcome to the Alloyed.. although it seems you've been here for some time.. if just not as vocal as some of us.. (yours truly included) Anyhow.. glad to hear you enjoy the music and musical vision of TMDR as much as the rest of us. Ciao for now.. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Oct 98 02:21:00 GMT From: p.louie1@genie.com Subject: Alloy: 80s band tour Culture Club and Howard Jones are coming to the SF Bay Area finally. They'll be playing at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on October 30 at 8pm. I haven't bought my ticket yet due to a potential schedule conflict. :-( I just hope when my plans are concrete, the concert isn't sold out. However, now that I know the price of the concert in other cities, I can prepare myself for price sticker shock. =:-O - -Phil ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #269 ***************************