From: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org (avalon-digest) To: avalon-digest@smoe.org Subject: avalon-digest V11 #70 Reply-To: avalon@smoe.org Sender: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-avalon-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk avalon-digest Friday, March 17 2006 Volume 11 : Number 070 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [AVALON] Eno bought eight [Chandla911@aol.com] RE: [AVALON] Perfumed Sigh ["KB Porter" ] [AVALON] Roxy on BBC2 this evening [Cassidys362@aol.com] To leave the list, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon-digest ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 04:14:30 EST From: Chandla911@aol.com Subject: [AVALON] Eno bought eight FORGET ABOUT IPOD AND GRAB AN IGOD A simple plastic box which promises instant karma and plays nine sequences of electronic notes on an endless loop has become the must-have accessory. Called the Buddha Machine, the box was invented by a Beijing-based duo of musicians, Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian, who modelled it on a popular Chinese device which intones Buddhist prayers. Thumbing its nose at the iPod generation and containing a tiny figurine of Buddha and a microchip, more than 10,000 have been sold in the US, after the New York Times described it as "beautifully useless". In the UK, eager buyers have snapped up 2,000 of the machines in a range of colours, with the only Scottish stockist selling out in days. Customers include Brian Eno, the music industry legend, who is reported to have bought eight machines, and Duglas Stewart, the lead singer of Glasgow cult band BMX Bandits. Stephen McRobbie, co-owner of the Monorail music store in central Glasgow, said: "There is a real buzz about them since they started to appear on websites. We sourced 25 and they went like hot cakes. "Musically they are very interesting, and I know people who have been put in a trance by them. The Buddha Machine is certainly not a piece of trash - it's real quality. "We have people collecting different colours because they really like them." Virant and Zhang Jian are part of an experimental China-based pop group called FM3, which has cult status in America and the Far East. They are renowned for subduing large, live crowds into absolute silence. To counter the current craze for downloading music from the internet, they decided to invent a static box containing the Buddha and the microchip, on which nine sequences of electronically produced notes are recorded. A sequence repeats constantly in the listener's ear until the user switches to the next in line. Although most have definable patterns, with up to 42 notes, some are only two notes long. Respectability arrived last November when the '15 Buddha Machine was reviewed in the influential New York Times. "Who says a boxed set has to include CDs?" the reviewer asked. "The 'Buddha Machine' is, literally, a small plastic box with a built-in speaker, a headphone jack and a little switch you use to toggle between nine different and quite lovely ambient electronic compositions. It is a weird, mesmerising, beautifully useless thing." US distributor Firstexposure.com's spokesman Eric Benoit said: "The Buddha Machine became a big deal at Mutek music festival last year when lots of serious musicians started to buy them. When bloggers started talking about them they got even hotter." Benoit said it took him some time to be convinced of their merits. "It's hard to say what their appeal is, because when you first see the machine you don't think it's that impressive. The loops don't come out with hi-fi sound but they are incredibly soothing." Manchester-based Baked Goods have now started importing them into the UK. Owner Simon Tomkinson said he was selling them even before they arrived. "I was sent an early version by a friend last year. I thought they were cool, but I never thought we would end up selling thousands," he said. "Every time I get them in, I sell out the same afternoon. We took 280 orders in one day. "The phenomenal thing is that people are buying half a dozen each because they come in different colours. I think people like them because they are lo-fi and a humorous take on the iPod." Mike Schiller, who reviewed the machine for the online culture magazine Popmatters, says it is the "cheapest pre-loaded iPod you'll ever be able to buy. It even comes in a number of different colours, for the fashion-conscious experimental music aficionado. Mine's a very stylish magenta. "Sure, the Buddha Machine is more than a little bit novelty. That's part of its charm. You can have a little pink or red or black box that plays music. You can display it openly. People will ask about it. It's an icebreaker. "But what's truly special about it is what FM3 has done with a tiny bit of recording space on a little speaker. It's mesmerising. It's portable relaxation." BMX Bandits' Duglas Stewart took his on tour. "Everyone else had their iPods and I had my Buddha Machine," he said. "Because iPods are everywhere, you could see them thinking: I want one of those. "I have now bought one for a friend in Japan and have two more on order." Stewart said the machines were originally marketed as a meditation tool, "but I just see it as a beautiful object that plays music". "It reminds you of the transistor radios that you used to hide under the sheets and listen to Radio Luxembourg on when you were a kid." www.scotsman.com Best wishes Richard Mills ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:39:16 -0500 From: "KB Porter" Subject: RE: [AVALON] Perfumed Sigh First: This post serves two purposes; the possible procurement of a "Perfumed Sigh" DVD any format, and personal agreement with an earlier post from Mikal. The former goal, hence. Mikal wrote: "The only recompense I would seek (collectively) is a hansom-ride and scroll to Eire early July ... (I have gold in the form of South African Rands which miraculously turn to dust when attempting to convert to Sterling ... must find meself a new alchemist ...)" for any "UK/European Avalonians" (who might gong in before the gavel falls) prompts reminiscences of a gold scarab, parchment, and kidd booty all neatly hidden and encrypted from an imaginative and deducing poe(t). A descendant only of old world pre-avalonians, and therefore not bound by Mikal's mysterious and wonderful workings, I now kindly ask this favor: Please, Is There Any Avalonian any where in Antarctica or Baffin Island who will kindly send a DVD copy of a "Perfumed Sigh" to me, or Richard, at my expense, reasonable (I owe him - who better to trawl museums in pursuit of finer art?), if such a kind fellow exists please contact me offlist with your requirements. Thank you. To the latter objective, my agreement with Mikal on suggesting the "In Your Mind" (IYM) album as the 'cool contender' "For once BF seemed to be having fun with his music (all self-penned songs to boot)". As much as I love Ferry's rendition of the "In Crowd" it isn't, in my not so very humble opinion, enough to redeem, nor elevate, "Another Time Another Place" (ATAP) into 'cool' status (even the cover art is massively flawed with the fag burned way down low, permanently marking Mr. Ferry as a shifty interloper of some ladder climbing events). So 'uncool' is ATAP that I haven't bothered to replace it when it went missing years ago, presumably to another time another place! Other Ferry solo efforts may include a 'playful' song or two but IYM has an overall upbeat and refreshing atmosphere. Sadly, its cover art appears to be on par with that of ATAP (it is my predilection to cringe at the sight of oily faces). My vote for Ferry 'solo', or rather non-'Roxy' art cover? None other than... Ta Da... "The Ultimate Collection". Best wishes. KBP ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:26:12 EST From: Cassidys362@aol.com Subject: [AVALON] Roxy on BBC2 this evening Caught about ten minutes earlier this evening of a political documentary/drama about some plot against Harold Wilson in the early 70s and amazingly it featured clips from 'Editions of You' and 'Strictly Confidential'...may have been others as I only caught the end. Our 'friend' at the BBC strikes again..... Regards Chris NP Strictly Confidential (what an amazing treasure) ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe avalon ------------------------------ End of avalon-digest V11 #70 **************************** ======================================================================== For further info, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: info avalon-digest