Fegmaniax Digest Volume 3 Number 11 Today's Topics: ------- ------ Furs tune/another Q Furs tune/another Q (fwd) CD re-issues liner notes Robi Hitchcock (fwd) Robyn at Toad's Robyn touring??? The Man Who Invented Himself [RAdams7@aol.com: CD re-issues liner notes] grateful bones midnight fish next round of reissues the furs & the meat. tour [][][][][][][][][][] From: mikester@bix.com Date: Fri, 03 Feb 1995 20:31:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Furs tune/another Q To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Reply-To: mikester@bix.com >Ah, but is the inverse also not true? That is, didn't one of >the P-furs members (drummer? Vince Ely?) play on one of >Robyn's albums - Black Snake Diamond Roll? And the (an?) other Furs drummer (Rod Johnston) played on Groovy Deca(o)y. ---Mike ----------------------- "People ask me why I'm obsessed with fish, but it's not true. They're just there." ---Robyn Hitchcock, 3/25/88 ----------------------- [][][][][][][][][][] From: shmh@netcom.com (Marge Holland) Subject: Robi Hitchcock (fwd) To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Date: Fri, 3 Feb 1995 19:08:23 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: shmh@netcom.com (Marge Holland) This old interview came from a friend of mine. Thought it may interest some of you. Marge Forwarded message: > From Twoaday@aol.com Thu Feb 2 08:02:02 1995 > From: Twoaday@aol.com > Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 11:04:01 -0500 > Message-Id: <950202110355_10962374@aol.com> > To: shmh@netcom.com > Subject: Robi Hitchcock > > Margie Pie, > > You may very well have seen this already, but just in case, this is a little > ditty that I found in the Mondo 2000 GOPHER. > > Enjoy. > > Whitey. > > --------------------------------------------- > > Painless Regurgitation of Hysteria- > A Chat with Robyn Hitchcock > INTERVIEW BY RICHARD WHITE > > Like the aboriginal songlines of Australia, Hitchcock's music makes > a journey across a deep subconscious Dreamtime creating a familiar, > yet aberrant, world. And-like aboriginal song maps-each landmark, > each twist of the tale, each layer of exposed psyche is anchored in a > character, circumstance or event. He sees himself as a story-teller. > Along with fellow Soft Boys Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, he's > been telling us his uncategorizable stories since the late 70's. Miscast > for the times, The Soft Boys played mostly to deaf ears. Hitchcock's > solo projects-Black Snake Diamond Role and Groovy Decay-were > largely ignored by a public entranced by technopunk new wave. > Adored mostly by critics, Hitchcock dropped out of the music scene, > supporting himself by writing for other bands, notably Captain > Sensible. In the early 80's, The Soft Boys re-formed and > metamorphosed into The Egyptians. The latest Egyptians record, > Perspex Island, is Hitchcock's 16th recording. It's his least abstract > and most revealing work to date. Though, for many of us, Robyn's > songs have always revealed disturbing, dark (and funny) areas of the > mind. Hitchcock is-thank gods, ongoingly-a very odd man. > > -Richard White > > THE BALLAD OF STRETCH ARMSTRONG > > M2: I saw you when you played Seattle at the Bumbershoot music > festival. You were telling stories that led into the songs. Do you think > of your material in a filmic sense-more visually than aurally? > > RH: I do. I was never that interested in how the thing actually > sounded. Records were a blueprint. You'd have to chain in the words. > The purpose of the words was to create a cartoon- a flesh cartoon. > Life is a series of flesh cartoons with various characters painlessly > rupturing themselves like Tom and Jerry. That was my attitude. They > were anesthetized folk songs, if you like. All sorts of horrible things > happened to people but it didn't really matter. They replaced > themselves very quickly like Tom and Jerry. You know, Tom's face > cracks completely when he smashes into a wall, he slides down and > then it reforms. There is that sort of painless regurgitation of hysteria. > > M2: Do you feel the same way about this current cycle of songs? > > RH: No, these songs are much more vulnerable. If one of these songs > cracks it would stay broken. > > M2: What brought about that change in point of view? > > RH: Well, our cells replace themselves completely every seven years. > So apart from a DNA molecule, there's not much of us left. I guess I > just replaced myself. > > REFUGEES FLEE HIPPOCAMPUS > > M2: You've replaced your ideas. But you wouldn't replace your > memories, would you? > > RH: I'm sure we edit our memories. We only use a little bit of the > brain. It's like Australia-we don't really know what the rest of it's > doing. There are theories that if you have brain damage, you can > actually relocate what you have left from the damaged area to a new > area. Start again. I don't know where you put it in the meantime-sort > of a holding area. > > M2: How would you find it? > > RH: God knows. So, given all this self-replacement, I just felt like > singing more vulnerable songs. Some of the old stuff I find a bit cold. > > M2: Was it a colder period of time for you when you were writing > those songs? > > RH: Maybe I was cold. I was just frightened of everything. I still am. > Anyone with any sense is scared shitless. Anyone with any shit is > scared senseless. > > M2: By what? > > RH: By what they imagine, or other people's lack of imagination. > What unimaginative people are doing. The demons are inside and out. > You can't win. > > M2: And imagination is key in relating to your music. > > RH: Well, for mine you certainly need a degree of imagination. You > don't need MTV. You can get your own pictures just from listening > to it. If there was any principle behind it, that's what it would be. Like > old folk ballads-before radio and TV, people passed news to each > other in songs. Although my songs aren't current affairs-like the > volcano in the Philippines, or the Lacharbee air crash-they're still > transmitting stories. > > M2: It seems that you have a vision that could be translated into film > or theatre. Is that an aspiration? > > RH: Intellectually yes, but not emotionally. I don't feel driven towards > it. I'm driven to write songs. Maybe it's just a habit-like lowering your > head to go through a doorway when you could just cut a hole for your > head. I've been drawing and painting for years. I suspect it's because > I'm a visual person working in song that makes it interesting. There > are millions of other artists. I'm cross-pollinating. I'm like a frog > mating with a butterfly. > > SINGIN' IN BAHRAIN > > M2: The Aboriginal belief is that our ancestors sang the world into > existence. > > RH: Really! > > M2: Yes, it's like a map. They travel from one point to another by > singing songs. Each point on the map is a verse or an element of the > song. Does that have any resonance with how you work? > > RH: It depends on how literally you take it. I'm not necessarily > manufacturing a future out of my songs. Sometimes I think my songs > are messages from the future to me. A lot of them are messages to me > from myself, but they're not as abstractly mystical as singing the world > into existence. They are about me closed off by myself, so enclosed > that the song is waving a finger at me, saying "Take a look around > you, son, and see what's really going on." > > APRIL IN PERSPEX > > M2: What about a couple of the songs here on the record. I'm > interested in "Birds in Perspex." What is Perspex? > > RH: Perspex is like plexiglass in this country. "Birds in Perspex" is like > a paperweight-those paperweights they sell at seasides with crabs and > shells in them. In my case there are birds, a frozen moment waiting to > happen. You know they're probably dead, but they are suspended and > there is a_ possibility that they could start to live. It's a song about > releasing the tension. And Perspex Island is a sort of portable Avalon. > > M2: A place where animation is suspended? > > RH: Well, not just that, but a dream-a sort of heaven. A little > transparent island that's potential_ floating around. > > M2: What about "Lysander?" > > RH: Lysander was a Greek general. But I was really thinking about > the Lysander, a little aeroplane in World War II that used to drop > French resistance workers in the middle of the night in occupied > Europe-a reconnaissance plane. It's a hovering song. It's about > somebody not quite committing themselves to a relationship. It's an > early autumn song_ You know those decals for model aircraft? When > you put them in water, it takes a while before they float away from the > paper. I imagined you have a parasol with birds and serpents on it. At > some point they actually float off the parasol and start spinning > around in the air by themselves-a bit like the birds coming alive in > "Birds in Perspex"-all these two-dimensional beings being freed from > what holds them. > > WHAT IS REALITY? > > M2: "She Doesn't Exist" tells an interesting story. > > RH: It changes persons. He starts off saying he couldn't care less, but > he obviously does-just shows what you get for dwelling in the past. > The idea is that there is a presence in your life-but you never see them. > Michael Jackson may not exist, you never actually see him, or > Winston Churchill. Madonna, God, any of them-people that are of > some importance but are not physically there. They may never have > existed. Sherlock Holmes didn't exist but he does now. He is now > post-dated into his era. It's that gap. There is no physical proof of > someone's existence, yet there is a mental residue. If you have a leg > amputated, you carry on feeling it. It's like old girlfriends. The > impression they've left on you is much more important than where > they are now, or how they actually feel. Or whether they are even > alive. > > [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 00:28:52 -0500 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu From: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu (John B. Jones) Subject: Re: Robyn touring??? Reply-To: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu (John B. Jones) >So he's touring eh?? Any word on him touring in Canada?? Not unless he's planning on playing a few places twice. Last fall he played gigs in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Calgary. >P.S. When does "You and Oblivion" come out in stores? Is it the >beginning of March? I got a flyer about the re-issues at the last RH show >I was at but lost it (of course; I could quite easily lose my own head >if it wasn't attached to my shoulders, etc.) The last thing I heard was that it was due out at the end of March. Still no word on track listing. It is mean of them to keep us in suspense like this! Hey, any word on the K records release? Like when it is coming out and if it will be released on CD as well? ____________________________________________________________________________ John B. Jones jojones@mailbox.syr.edu LYRIC OF THE MONTH: "You don't know what I'm thinking cuz I'm not thinking anything, I used to have a thought or two but now I only smile...." -Lisa Germano ____________________________________________________________________________ [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 08:05:11 -0500 (EST) From: Gary Assa To: father bungholio Cc: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: tour Reply-To: Gary Assa > >What is this about a Robyn Tour??? How's about dates? > > at this point, it seems to be in the booking stage - no official > announcement of dates has been made by anyone that i'm aware of. > all i know of is a confirmed date at amherst college on april 9th > (i was told this by the guy who booked the show) and a show of > uncertain date at toad's place in new haven. > Thank you. Toad's. Excellent place. I'm there. I'll give them a call. [][][][][][][][][][] From: BritPop@aol.com Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 11:18:30 -0500 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Robyn at Toad's Reply-To: BritPop@aol.com I awoke to a foot of snow today, with dreams of Spring. And two tickets for Wednesday, April 5 at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut! If you're anywhere close, please join us. New Haven is central to Boston, NY, Hartford etc., so let's make it a gathering. For those that don't know it, New Haven is home of truly the best pizza in the world (yes, I've been to your city and had it there ;) So let's all meet up at Pepe's Pizzaria Italiano before the show. Plus, there's a real funky hotel in town if you want to make a night of it. And you could take the train to New Haven (how appropriate). E-me for info. I'll be glad to coordinate. Love and Fishes, Karen Bouchard aka BritPop PS The local ticketmaster phone charge is 203-624-0033 or 203-744-8100, if your local outlet won't sell them to you {fools}. PSS Combine your night out with a day at The Maritime Center at Norwalk. I could give a guided tour for all you fish lovers, 'cause I work there! [][][][][][][][][][] From: MisfitToys@aol.com Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 14:53:22 -0500 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: the furs & the meat. Reply-To: MisfitToys@aol.com fegomaniacs- robyn does cover "The Ghost in You" on the b-side to the promo only single of One Long Pair of Eyes. It was put out by A&M. SP-17729 One Long Pair of Eyes (Edit) (3:56) b-side The Ghost in You (3:29) (R. Butler/T. Butler) (recorded live at McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica 30 July 1988) recorded by Woody Nuss direct to DAT Freeze (Shatter Mix) (4:16) it was pressed on red vinyl. i know all this stuff because i heard a 5th generation tape of it and was amazed by it.... i saw it once in lower manhattan for $25, which i though was excessive for the one song.... then right before i left san francisco, i found a copy, for $5. i opened it up and found that there were actually 2 copies of the same 12" red vinyl in there.. i was shocked, so i pulled them out to make sure that i was right, then i noticed that one of them said, "WCBN FM" in marker in the center, and across the other it says "ROBYN H!" and on the vinyl itself it said, "ANDY M.".. so i recognized the handwriting from something else of mine that he did sign for me.. i checked the only thing i have signed by all of them, "Near The Soft Boys" that i got andy robyn and morris to sign when they did an instore at Rough Trade on haight street.... and it was andy's real signature as well... i couldn't figure out why it was only $5, but it seemed like i ought to have it... now i have invisible history and i can really hear the performance of the Ghost in You and it is cool. and yes, vince did play on BSDR. and on Spectre, robyn says that he wanted to call up richard butler and have him sing Railway Shoes, then does a great impression of Mr Butler, so i would imagine that robyn & the furs know each other on some lever.... oh, and i just remembered something... my brother loves the dead, and once while we were in the car i was playing Chinese Bones and he swore that robyn was covering the dead... i said, "ewww" and made sure, i mean, the dead don't write like robyn.. i was reading the liner notes to the Deadicated CD that he got for me (the jane's cover is great) but in the interview bits they talk to suzanne vega.. she said that she was nervous about playing with the dead at the garden or something, but then they decided to cover Chinese Bones and she felt better about the whole thing.... and my brother says that maybe i am right, maybe the dead do cover robyn in concert... has anyone else heard this? Herbie Elf, DDS TheToyThatWouldNotFit [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 15:32:25 -0500 From: father bungholio To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: grateful bones Reply-To: father bungholio MisfitToys@aol.com sez: >oh, and i just remembered something... my brother loves the dead, and once >while we were in the car i was playing Chinese Bones and he swore that robyn >was covering the dead... as you say, your brother got the roles reversed but it's true that the dead and suzanne vega covered "chinese bones". not only have i heard it, i also have a copy of it: a bootleg cd was pressed of this show which was a rainforest benefit at madison square graden. i must say that this is the most strung out version of this song i've ever heard. woj [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 04 Feb 95 13:58:16 From: Russ Reynolds To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: Furs tune/another Q (fwd) ======== Original Message ======== Russ writes about Robyn and the P-furs... >...and at the end ... he yelled...something like "let's go > and...join the Psychedelic Furs!" Ah, but is the inverse also not true? That is, didn't one of the P-furs members (drummer? Vince Ely?) play on one of Robyn's albums - Black Snake Diamond Roll? Andy / ruppen@demog.berkeley.edu ======== Fwd by: Russ Reynolds ======== Yeah, in fact I just picked up the BSDR reissue and I thought the story in the liner notes about "I watch the cars" was pretty funny (Vince, on the day Lennon was shot: "Why couldn't they have shot Richard Butler"). BTW, I have to say I really like "invented himself" without the horns! I'll probably also hear happy whistling from now on whenever I hear that song, having read how it was inspired by "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life." -Russ [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 15:30:31 -0800 From: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: The Man Who Invented Himself Reply-To: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) Russ writes: >BTW, I have to say I really like "invented himself" without the horns! I'll >probably also hear happy whistling from now on whenever I hear that song, >having read how it was inspired by "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life." They not only got rid of the horns, they got rid of (or mixed way down) the guitar which twists its way across "when you're waiting for your baby..." Feh. I like the better quality remastering, but I think I'll keep my old CD of Black Snake as well. Though the "Life of Brian" origin would explain why my ex-girlfriend was convinced the "The Man Who Invented Himself" was about Jesus. Think about it ... - David Librik librik@cs.Berkeley.edu [][][][][][][][][][] From: mikester@bix.com Date: Sun, 05 Feb 1995 11:34:53 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Furs tune/another Q (fwd) To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Reply-To: mikester@bix.com >BTW, I have to say I really like "invented himself" without the horns! Me too! >I'll probably also hear happy whistling from now on whenever I hear that song, I did this. Replace the horn line with the whiseling from "Bright Side." It fits! ---Mike ----------------------- "People ask me why I'm obsessed with fish, but it's not true. They're just there." ---Robyn Hitchcock, 3/25/88 ----------------------- [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 05 Feb 1995 10:53:35 -0600 (CST) From: JAY LYALL Subject: next round of reissues To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Reply-To: JAY LYALL Anyone have a target release date for the next round of reissues? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Jay Lyall "Capy Toad Blast" "I'd never belong to a club that hist1a@jetson.uh.edu would have me as a member." --Groucho Marx "Some things come in, Some things come out, "We'll inherit the Earth, And next time round But we don't want it." I'll be a trout." --Replacements --Robyn Hitchcock %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 13:45:01 -0600 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu From: pzzz@mail.utexas.edu (efrat) Subject: midnight fish Reply-To: pzzz@mail.utexas.edu (efrat) i was reading some native american myths, and i came across this line in a tale about how the earth was made. thought it would be an interesting follow- up to the "slipping you the midnight fish" conversation. ......at first there were only a brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to multiply, and so it was. ........ while i'm writing i might as well ask-- does anyone know what musicians, authors etc. that robyn is fond of? machines can't scream efrat [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 5 Feb 95 14:43:53 CST From: Cullen Grace To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: [RAdams7@aol.com: Re: CD re-issues liner notes] Reply-To: Cullen Grace Please do something to stop this same message from being repeated over and over again; I do not know if the problem is with ns2 or AOL but I have received the same thing 20 times in the last 24 hours and I don't like the idea of having my mailbox stuffed for the indefinite future w/ the same lame joke. I doubt the problem is on my node since this is the only message (RADAMS7 thing on note transcription) that's had this little problem, which is not quite so little, anymore. Thanks! Cullen Grace grac@midway.uchicago.edu --------------- Received: from ns2.rutgers.edu by midway.uchicago.edu for grac Sun, 5 Feb 95 03:41:30 CST Received: (daemon@localhost) by ns2.rutgers.edu (8.6.8.1+bestmx+oldruq+newsunq/8.5) id XAA27101; Sat, 4 Feb 1995 23:46:59 -0500 Received: from mail04.mail.aol.com (mail04.mail.aol.com [152.163.172.53]) by ns2.rutgers.edu (8.6.8.1+bestmx+oldruq+newsunq/8.5) with ESMTP id XAA27095; Sat, 4 Feb 1995 23:46:56 -0500 From: RAdams7@aol.com Received: by mail04.mail.aol.com (1.37.109.11/16.2) id AA230759385; Sat, 4 Feb 1995 23:43:05 -0500 Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 23:43:05 -0500 Message-Id: <950204233637_13260979@aol.com> To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: CD re-issues liner notes Sender: owner-fegmaniax@ns2.Rutgers.EDU Precedence: bulk Reply-To: RAdams7@aol.com Cripes, you couldn't pay me enough to transcribe those notes! They are very, very long and extensive, in teensy print. [][][][][][][][] End of this Fegmaniax Digest. Archives can be found on fegmania.wustl.edu:/fegmaniax and ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax. For administrative questions, subscription requests, and all that boring crud, send mail to fegmaniax-digest-request@nsmx.rutgers.edu. Slipping you the midnight fish...