From: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org (avalon-digest) To: avalon-digest@smoe.org Subject: avalon-digest V3 #153 Reply-To: avalon@smoe.org Sender: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk avalon-digest Tuesday, June 23 1998 Volume 03 : Number 153 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [AVALON] avalon cover [1960 Joe ] [AVALON] A Really Good Trip! [Heather Marie Propes Subject: Re: [AVALON] avalon cover ShyGuy8119@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 98-06-19 23:04:09 EDT, you write: > > Anyway, being that Avalon was the last Roxy album, I saw Avalon and the image > on the cover as a sort of imagery representing the finality of this album > project.. Like Avalon was Roxy's swan song or something. Like when Arthur > died, and Excalibur was tossed back to the woman of the lake, Camelot was all > over (so I think: I am ready for your corrections, gang!!!). > > I like that interpretation very much, but there are so many, I don't think > there is just one...it can mean something different to everyone...this is one > of the many great things that I praise about the early '80s Roxy: their music > and BF's lyrics went to such amazing creative heights, that even the album > artwork can be analyzed into something of its own... > > I loved the album cover....so mysterious anhd enigmatic... and I did not know > that Lucy Ferry was the mystery-woman in the Celtic cloak and helmet. Yeah, I guess that makes sense but I still would have preferred something more appropriate to the tone of the album. I would have liked Ferry to design some sort of ultra-romantic cover that matched the ultra-romantic music on the album. It just seems that the cover with the whole Conquistador explorer thing and the talisman on the back leads me to expect something different than what the music delivers. I'd bet that the original photo shoot might have set out to capture something different (which is why Lucy is the cover model), but maybe they saw how gorgeous that one photo came out and decided to keep it. Did they know Avalon was going to be the Roxy swan song while recording it? Joey Trum. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 15:49:52 -0500 (CDT) From: Heather Marie Propes Subject: [AVALON] A Really Good Trip! Hi everyone. I'm back from Toronto. It was great. My fiance attended the math conference and I went sightseeing. Toronto is the most "European" place I've ever been on the North American continent. It was beautiful. On that "A Really Good Time" thread - it reminds me of a movie I saw on vacation - "The Last Days of Disco" (great movie except for the insipid ending and the lack of RM, who definitely belong in any representation of the "twilight of the disco era"). Anyway there was a scene toward the end when they had all lost their jobs and the young ex-lawyer was furious - not becuase he had just fallen off the professional ladder and his career had taken a backslide, but because the disco era was ending - so he launched into an angry monologue about how disco will be forgotten or parodied. It was great. His monologue also reflects the spirit in which I see "A Really Good Time." This song is so great because it, like the speech, raises the nightclub lifestyle, the need to go out and have fun, to the level of high virtue. Ferry is not saying "We trust that she'll lead a noble life and be an example to her children," he's saying, "She'll have a really good time. That is the only virtue he is concerned about - the ability to go out and have fun. He, like Milan Kundera - is taking what is "light" and making it "heavy," which gives this song the irony that makes it great. Now, as for Avalon, having grown up in Long Beach, with Catalina island just off the coast - I always thought the album was taken from the name of the town that is the capital of Catalina, and that the "story" was not about Arthurian mythology (which seemed much to heavy and dark for me) but about two Southern California yuppies who take a weekend to "get away from it all" and go to Catalina. Somehow this narrative always seemed more enchanting to me. I mean a romance in the Arthurian Avalon would probably be rainy and grey. Your dress would be ruined when you walked along the beach. On the other hand, think of Catalina, warm weather, sandy beaches, horse ranches. That's my Avalon! Ciao, Heather Marie Propes asbuch@midway.uchicago.edu http://student-www.uchicago.edu/users/asbuch/index.htm#hometop ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 21:11:54 -0400 From: jspellma@techadvisers.com Subject: Re: [AVALON] A Really Good Trip! Have you ever been to Boston? It's not as hip as New York or L.A. but it does feel much like Europe, especially the North End, Chinatown and Newbury Street. It is certainly more like London than anywhere I've been. Lot's of things left over from when the English came over. I think I may be the only one from MA on this list. They hate to build new things like Stadiums and Convention Centers, therefor we end up losing out on things but, it's the price they pay to retain the ambiance. Jim ------------------------------ End of avalon-digest V3 #153 **************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to avalon-digest-owner@smoe.org