From: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org (alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest) To: ammf-digest@smoe.org Subject: alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V1 #827 Reply-To: ammf@fruvous.com Sender: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest Tuesday, October 20 1998 Volume 01 : Number 827 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: 10.17.98: Nirvana @ NKU [long!!] [ceelove@ibm.net (Colleen Campbell)] Re: any suggestions? [Marie.Claude@canada.com] Re: The Gospel According to Frvous [Josh Drury ] Re: This could get interesting... [hKatherine@ehmail.com] Re: The Gospel According to Frvous ["A.J. LoCicero" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:04:43 GMT From: ceelove@ibm.net (Colleen Campbell) Subject: Re: 10.17.98: Nirvana @ NKU [long!!] On Tue, 20 Oct 1998 07:35:47 GMT, Matt Kenigson wrote: >> nelson & their families, as well as a guy named matt who said he used t= >o >> post on here about a year ago, but just lurks now. anyway... > >That's me! :) Welcome, Gabby! Er, Matt. *pokepokepoke* Gonna wear that pin now? >Thank you sooooo much for posting the great reviews of all of these! I >would never have known, otherwise. My hat's off and I bow low. It also >helps me remember why I might want to get a different job... *grr* Nah. Just move to Boston. Worked for me. And you can dance with me this way. .. though I don't have the title of "Solid Gold Dancer," like Heather earned. .. ceecee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:22:01 GMT From: Marie.Claude@canada.com Subject: Re: any suggestions? > how do you go about explaining Fruvous (without sounding as silly as = > I did)? Mary (Criket) gave a pretty good description of the Arrogant Worms that went as followed (or just about): "The Arrogant Worms are comedians who happen to sing, much like Moxy Fruvous are musicians who happen to be funny." So I guess if the person you're talking to knows the Worms (but frankly, what are the chances of that?), then I guess you can just reverse it :) - -- Marie-Claude "I'm beside myself. I'm over there." - -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:18:38 -0500 From: Josh Drury Subject: Re: The Gospel According to Frvous wahrend@my-dejanews.com wrote: > > 1. bargainville did great, wood didn't; people in US didn't at least appear > as fickle. 2. US population is 10 x the size of Canada's (roughly, last time > i checked), if you want your songs to appeal to a larger audience you tour > there. plus in the distance travelled to go from thunderbay to minnesota > (*wink*) you can probably reach 10x more people in the US than you do in > Canada (when you're touring I would imagine that its nice to have stops, > especially ones that pay). 3. the US market is 25 x the size of Canada's, its > a good idea financially to at least pay attention to that fact, especially if > you like being a singer and like eating. > > I think geography is key. Unless you're a huge band with regular stadium- or arena-filling crowds, it doesn't pay to cruise around in areas with low population (or fan) density, which is why the Northeast and southern Ontario are the hotbeds of Fruvous activity. Sure, they can tour about once a year to western Canada and the western and (rarely) southern states, but more than that might mean lower avaerage draws and reduced profitability. Wait a minute, I'm talking about Fruvous like they're capitalists... Josh Drury Winnipeg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:17:48 GMT From: hKatherine@ehmail.com Subject: Re: This could get interesting... In article <19981020021812.24324.00003299@ng107.aol.com>, shawnhark@aol.com (ShawnHark) wrote: > How do you know.... > > 1) When you can spout out Canadian political trivia off the top of your head. Check. > 2) When someone responds to your trivia by saying "He thinks he's Canadian." Check. Sort of. I AM Canadian. > 3) When you make arrangements ahead of time to crash with a complete stranger > after a show. Check. > 4) When you plan ahead of time to just go to a show, and assume you'll meet > someone at the show with crash space. Check. > 7) When you plan vacations around Fruvous shows. Check. > 9) When you come up with new ways to try and promote the band. Check. > 11) When "they guys" automatically refers to Moxy Fruvous. Check. > 12) When you actually spend time learning how to ger the umlaut character typed > from your keyboard. Check. > 13) When you have dubs of all the albums on cassette for the car, along with > several favorite mixes exclusively fruvous music. Check. > 14) When you have those cassettes handy to give to a potential fruvous convert. Check. > 15) When you create custom Fruvous mix tapes tailored to a person's specific > tastes in music to try and convert them. Check. > 16) When you start refering to "converting" people into fans, like its some > kind of religion. Check. > 17) When you feel compelled to respond to almost every item in the NG, and feel > like you hold back to avoid dominating the conversation. Check. > 18) When you decide ahead of time to come up with ten items to contribute, and > realize you're into the high teens before actually quitting. When you can answer "check" to more than ten of Shawn's reasons. Yisch! hKath - -- "I'll have a smile... to go." -- Topon Das - -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 16:42:55 GMT From: "A.J. LoCicero" Subject: Re: The Gospel According to Frvous Hugo Rodrigues wrote: > I'd like to chip in that the Canadian media and WEA lost that fervour. Then > when the band stopped aggressively touring Canada, the general public who > could have been swept into Fruheadedness never got the chance. > > The band is doing well in the US due to 5 years of almost non-stop agressive > touring there. Had they done that in Canada coast-to-coast they would have had > a much better fate. When I first read Hugo's post I just thought "Oh, that is a somewhat odd opinion" But as the day has worn on, something started to bug me. I finally realized that beyond the fact that I do not entirely agree with his analysis, one point that he made is absolutely incorrect. Fruvous has NOT by any means toured the US to the exclusion of Canada for the last 5 years. That would take us back to pre-wood days. That notion is incredibly silly. The last 2 years, I would tend to agree that they have done that, but their tour schedule cannot be blamed for the way that Canadian fans dropped them after wood came out. I'm sorry to take up so much space, but I feel the need to demonstrate this graphically. Below are a series of itineraries for '94-'95 taken from the old quills check the Canada-US ratio if you would, and I'll meet you on the other side... 1994 JUNE 24th Waterfront Fest Oakville, Ont. 25th Sounds of Summer Waterloo, Ont. 27th Cicero's St. Louis, Mo. 28th Stache's Columbus, Oh. 29th Schuba's Chicago, Ill. 30th Alvin's Detroit, Mi. JULY 01st Tecumseh Park Chatham, Ont. 02nd Friendship Fest Fort Erie, Ont. 03rd Blythe Theatre Fest Blythe, Ont. 08th Northern Lights Fest Sudbury, Ont. 09th " " " " " 12th Mercury Lounge New York, N.Y. 13th The Angel Philadelphia, P.A. 14th Calgary Stampede Calgary, Alb. 15th " " " " 16th Prairieland Ex Saskatoon, Sask. 22nd Folk on the Rock Yellowknife, NWT 23rd " " " " " " 28th-31st Just for Laughs Festival Montréal, Que. AUGUST 1-7 North-Eastern U.S.A. Rochester, Boston, Philly, Washington, New York 8-13 Mid-Western U.S.A. St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Buffalo 14th Mariposa Folk Fest Toronto, Ont. 17th-23rd Edinburgh Fringe Festival Edinburgh, SCOTLAND 26th Tønder Festival Tønder, DENMARK 27th " " " " SEPTEMBER - --For the months of Sept and Oct, 1994 Fruvous was in the UK.-- 1995: Saturday, June 17 Bridgeton, NJ Bridgeton Folk Festival Sunday, June 18 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere Tuesday, June 20 New York, NY Mercury Lounge Thur-Sat, June 22-24 Quebec City, PQ Nuit Black Festival Le Drag Friday, June 30 Chatham, ON Festival of Nations Saturday, July 1 Fort Erie, ON Frienship Festival Sat, Sun, July 8, 9 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival Friday, July 28 Toronto, ON Harbourfront Sunday, July 30 Guelph, ON Hillside Festival Friday, August 4 Edmonton, AB Fringe Festival Street Concert Sun, Mon, August 6, 7 Canmore, AB Canmore Folk Festival Saturday, August 12 Morrisburg, ON Upper Canada Village / Folkfest Sunday, August 13 Hamilton, ON Festival of Friends Fri-Sun, August 25-27 Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia Folk Festival Tuesday, September 26 Kingston, ONT Stages Wednesday, September 27 Hamilton, ONT McMaster University The Downstairs John Thursday, September 28 Peterborough, ONT Market Hall Friday, September 29 St. Catharines, ONT Brock University Isaac's Pub Saturday, September 30 Rochester, NY Milestones Tuesday, October 3 Sarnia, ONT Campbell St. Station Thursday, October 5 London, ONT The Embassy Friday, October 6 Port Dover, ONT Old Town Hall Theatre Saturday, October 7 Toronto, ONT Lee's Palace Tuesday, October 10 Quebec City, PQ Club D'Auteuil Thursday, October 12 Halifax, NS Mount St. Vincent University Friday, October 13 & Halifax, NS Dalhousie University Saturday, October 14 Monday, October 16 Yartmouth, NS The Red Knight Tuesday, October 17 Wolfville, NS Acadia University Wednesday, October 18 Sydney, NS Club Capri Thursday, October 19 Moncton, NB Chevy's Friday, October 20 Charlottetown, PEI University of Prince Edward Island Saturday, October 21 Fredricton, NB The Dock Pub Monday, October 23 Boston, MA The Middle East (Downstairs) Tuesday, October 24 North Hampton, MA The Iron Horse Wednesday, October 25 New York, NY Wetlands Thursday, October 26 Philadelphia, PA T.L.A. Saturday, October 28 Albany, NY venue TBA TENTATIVE Both cities & venues are tentative...still booking as we write this. Please call JAM at 416-534-1929 or email moxy@tvo.org to confirm dates. Wednesday, November 1 Toledo, OH The Main Event Thursday, November 2 Cleveland, OH venue TBA Friday, November 3 Columbus, OH venue TBA Saturday, November 4 Cincinatti, OH venue TBA Monday, November 6 Champaign, IL venue TBA Tuesday, November 7 Chicago, IL The Double Door Wednesday, November 8 Madison, WI venue TBA Thursday, November 9 Minneapolis, MN venue TBA Friday, November 10 & Winnipeg, MAN West End Cultural Centre Saturday, November 11 Tuesday, November 14 Regina, SK University of Regina Wednesday, November 15 Calgary, AB The Republik Thursday, November 16 Salmon Arm, BC venue TBA Friday, November 17 & Vancouver, BC Town Pump Saturday, November 18 Sunday, November 19 Victoria, BC Harpo's Tuesday, November 21 Prince George, BC University of Prince George Wednesday, November 22 Banff, AB Banff Arts Centre Thursday, November 23 Edmonton, AB The Rev Friday,November 24 Red Deer, AB venue TBA Saturday, November 25 Saskatoon, SK Louie's Pub Monday, November 27 Brandon, MB venue TBA Tuesday, November 28 Thunder Bay ONT venue TBA Wednesday, November 29 Sault St. Marie, ONT venue TBA Thursday, November 30 Sudbury, ONT venue TBA Friday, December 1 North Bay, ONT venue TBA Saturday, December 2 Ottawa, ONT Barrymore's Sunday, December 3 Montreal, PQ Club Soda Ok. So much for the last 5 years idea. wood came out on June 30th 1995 if I remember correctly, and for a number of months, Fruvous made a very credible attempt to "sell" wood to the Canadian public. They did TV appearances on Musicworks and Rita and Friends, they toured all of Canada. And they made two expensive videos which Muchmusic refused to play. From what I can see the big problem was that their change in direction had caught their established fan base (mostly teen-agers and university students) off guard. People had THOUGHT they knew what Moxy Fruvous was about. Wood was an almost calculated attempt to show them that they did not. They didn't respond well to that. I personally remember the talk on this Newsgroup when wood came out. the initial responses were along the lines of "Oh my gosh, what has happened to them? This is not the Fruvous I know and love!" (Hell that was even MY response upon first hearing wood.) I think the thing that made them successful in the US in '95 and '96 when they were not in Canada is that WE had mostly never heard of them, and didn't have preconceived notions about what they should sound like. They came down here and played a nice mix of Bargainville and wood material and our response was "hey, what a talented band!" not "what the hell has happened to them?". It was all a matter of perspective. Personally, I think that now that they have 4.5 CDs out and their eclecticism is out there for all to see that they can again be very successful in Canada. The fickle fans have moved on. The real fans are responding with enthusiasm from what I've read. This is reflected in their return to touring in Canada. I must say that the above analysis is a vast oversimplification. There were lots of factors which contributed to the Fruvous Canadian Rollercoster Ride. The press reactions to wood and to the band in general played a big role, also one cannot ignore the economic factors created by the presence of a vastly larger and denser population south of the border. Ultimately, I think Fruvous fans live where they live. It really is not an "us or them" contest. I could hurl accusations that the reason that they are Huge in New York State, and only growing in Michigan is that they toured heavily there and not here. I'd be right too, but in the end, what does that really mean? Fruvous toured most heavily where they got the best crowds, while at the same time continuing to expand. That is still what they do, and it is the only thing that makes sense for a professional musician from a business standpoint. Fruvous will never go back to being the exclusive property of Canada,(thank goodness!) but really there is no way they could have stayed that way anyway. Economics dictates that if you want to quit your day job, you really should try to sell your discs in the US. This is even more true of a grass roots band like Fruvous than of a corporately hyped band. Doing things the way they do, they are most likely never going to make megabucks, and that is probably OK with them, but they surely want to make a decent living. > I have my own ideas as to why certain decisions were made, but I won't post > them here. So you will just hint at them and let us guess? Why is that? If you want to discuss your ideas about Fruvous, then discuss them. Either we'll all agree with you, or some of us will get all huffy, and jump down your throat. That IS what a newsgroup is for isn't it? :) I think it is fine for us to speculate on the whys of history, as long as we remember that we are just speculating, and that really none of us knows why various decisions were made. A.J. - -- _____ _ / ____(_) | | _ ___ ___ _ __ ___ | | | |/ __/ _ \ '__/ _ \ | |____| | (_| __/ | | (_) | \_____|_|\___\___|_| \___/ @wwnet.com ICQ#: 13117113 ------------------------------ End of alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V1 #827 ********************************************