Fegmaniax Digest <==----------==> (Send posts to the list to fegmaniax@nsmx.rutgers.edu) (Send adminstrative commands to majordomo@nsmx.rutgers.edu) (Send comments, etc to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@nsmx.rutgers.edu) <==----------==> Volume 3 Number 139 Today's Topics: ------- ------ hello again another east coast date! completely off topic, sorry Tour Dates Spet 21-October 7th Re: Tour Dates Re: If time is round and space is curved ... CRD The man who invented himself Re: If time is round and space is curved Re: If time is round and space is curved read your Foucault Re: another east coast date! sex sex sex... Re: Wire (No Robyn Content) Re: If time is round and space is curved Re: If time is round and space is curved Re: another east coast date! (fwd) Re: If time is round and space is curved veins o/t queen=Fogerty? Re: sex sex sex... Re: veins o/t queen=Fogerty? Re: sex sex sex... [][][][][][][][][][] From: bing@student.umass.edu Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 19:55:31 -0400 Subject: hello again To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu hello fegs, do you remember me? My name's Bradley. I used to be in Tacoma, I used to be eighteen, and I used to actually sleep and eat. I'm at the University of Massachusetts now and haven't been on the lists for months. I encourage all my old friends (and anyone who remembers me) to drop me a line. Just a quick personal message-- it's all fish and sex and weirdness from here on out! Bradley bing@student.umass.edu [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 21:51:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Gary Assa To: Robyn Subject: another east coast date! IMAC music center in hutington, Long Island. I have a bad feeling only 30 tockets will be sold and the show will be cancelled. It is not easy to get to, way out of the way, and an obscure venue. I have been there. Tix are $25, and there are seats. --------------------------------------------------- 1. Earth is 98% full. Please delete anyone you can. 2. I came, I saw, I deleted all your files. 3. The world will end in 5 minutes. Please log out. [][][][][][][][][][] From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 16:08:49 -0600 To: JAY LYALL Subject: completely off topic, sorry Cc: The veins of Her Majesty the Queen >....ok a NZ Robyn-nonsequitor....did anyone see the film Quiet Earth which i >think was a NZ film....reading this made me think about it and a Robyn like >moment in it when the guy holds the gun to the head of a Jesus on a giant >cross and demands that God talk to him "or the kid gets it." A NZ film it was indeed. BTW, the star of the movie, Bruno Lawrence, died only about a month or so ago. Much missed too, as both an actor and a musician - he played drums for a variety of NZ bands, notably his own Blerta. James James Dignan, Department of Psychology, University of Otago. Ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk St., St. Clair, Dunedin, New Zealand pixelphone james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz / steam megaphone NZ 03-455-7807 * You talk to me as if from a distance * and I reply with impressions chosen from another time, time, time, * from another time (Brian Eno) [][][][][][][][][][] To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Tour Dates Spet 21-October 7th From: robert.zarzecki@radiowave.com (ROBERT ZARZECKI) Date: Sat, 16 Sep 95 17:40:00 -0500 Hello Everyone, I got this info from Mrs Wafflehead today. Tour Dates: September Thursday 21st Solana Beach, California @ Belly Up tavern* Friday 22nd Los Angeles, CA @ McCabes ~ Saturday 23rd Los Angeles, CA @McCabes (2 shows that evening) Sunday 24th Santa Barbara, CA @ The Underground # Monday 25th San Francisco, CA @ Great American Hall # Wednesday 27th Portland, OR @Berbaties Pan # Thursday 28th Seattle, WA @backstage # OCTOBER: Wednesday 4th Hoboken, NJ @Maxwell's ~ Thursday 5th New York @mercury Lounge Friday 6th New York @ Mercury Lounge-Deni Bonets' Band is supporting Sat 7th Huntington NY State @Inter Media Arts Center ~ * Robyn is co Headlining with peter Himmelman Band # Robyn is being supported by Tiddas and Moris Tepper ~ Robyn is being suported by Tiddas Deni Bonet will be accompaning Robyn on all East coast dates. Moris Teper has also been asked to play with Robyn when he goes into the studio to record some more new material. Moris has worked with Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits and Frank Black. Tiddas is an female Australian trio. That's all she wrote folks. Sorry if (insert your favorite town here) is not on the list. Mine isn't either!:-( Anyone hearing of Philadelphia area dates, please post the dates.... BTW The Huntington gig in New York state is on Long Island. Rob Zarzecki (on the lookout for more Robyn tapes) Where's Captain Quiff...............................++++++ [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 23:47:42 -0700 From: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: Tour Dates (Rob Zarzecki posts Robyn's tour dates) > Monday 25th San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall # This is a year and a day after his last San Francisco performance (at Neurotic Records) ! Is this going to be the pattern from now on? Once a year, Robyn buys a plane ticket to the U.S., visits his friends on the West Coast and in the Northeast, and plays some solo concerts (at the same old places) along the way? Not that I mind the familiarity and the intimacy of this approach, but it doesn't bode well for the rest of American Fegdom, trapped in the 3000 miles in between, where the only tours that come by are massive organized extravaganzas. I saw Robyn's last show at the University of Illinois, and while it went off pretty well, you could see that the money one makes only partially offsets the whole bother of dragging a band and tour bus all the way to Champaign Illinois, setting up in an unfamiliar auditorium, and playing to a crowd of people who barely know you -- a necessarily large crowd, since you need to make enough to afford the travel expenses. It's so much easier to just drop into the good old acoustic-friendly Great American Music Hall once a year and play to the San Francisco fan base. But some day I'm going to leave Berkeley, and I'd like to hear Robyn again after I do. - David Librik librik@cs.Berkeley.edu p.s. I saw Al Stewart at the Great American Music Hall last night, and he made the comment that it's nearly impossible to get quirky English singer-songwriters (by which he meant himself) booked in the Midwest. Too true. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 03:51:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Livia To: your mom Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved ... > In the hopes that this will spark discussion and not argument well, since i was the one who started this whole thing (with a parenthetical comment as to why queen elvis was one of my least favorite robyn songs), i guess i should expand a bit on why it bothers me if i remember correctly, i said something like 'it's presumptuous for a straight guy to write a song about overt gayness'. now, i wasn't aware of any personal sexual ambivalence on his part, so that might change it a bit. but since he is hardly the 'out' person he describes in the song, my discomfort still stands. and it goes something like this: i'm a middle-class white female heterosexual of liberal beliefs. so while i strongly support gay rights (and many other rights), i don't think it's my place to try to speak for gay people (or black people, or poor people, or whatever). and i especially don't think it's my place to tell them how to handle their struggles and obviously i feel that he is doing both here it's hard to break it down line by line: something that seems patronizing or didactic to me could just as easily be considered sympathetic by someone else. it's the overall feel of it: the gay lingo, the way it's in the second person, the play on elvis the king (when elvis was such a flamboyant, even campy guy in his later years), even the somewhat melodramatic tone he sings it in. (and the way he seems to be so pleased with it that he includes two different versions of it on the album) i like robyn in both ironic and sincere mode, but this song seems like an embarrasingly miscalculated mix of the two. his sincere songs work because they have the feeling of personal experience, but this one doesn't. in fact, there are times when i almost feel he wrote it as some sort of misguided attempt to prove his sincerity. like, he woke up one morning and thought, hey, i could enhance my credibility by writing a song about gay people. but he had a bad hangover that day or something i'm rambling, but my point is that i can't think of a single other song by him that gives me anything like that reaction. there are a few that bore me or leave me cold, but nothing else that makes me squirm [][][][][][][][][][] From: cj.burnham@ic.ac.uk Subject: CRD The man who invented himself To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 15:45:26 +0100 (bst) I met this man called Mr Barrett or something in the South Kensington Subway playing this tune on an old guitar. Anyway I gave him 50p and he showed me how to play it. {This tune is played on the joannah on CD so it sounds natuarally enough a little different on guitar. These are the chords but it's worth hunting around to get those inversions right. Lyrics from Mr Mellotron, Chords from Tin-Ear. Intro F Gmin Bb C F Gmin Bb C F F Bb F He came bursting out of nowhere Bb F like a sphere into the sky Bb F And he cast his light on everything Gmin Bb it was like he never died Bb F And he landed right on target Bb F But the target rolled away Bb F And it left fim pointing nowhere Gmin Bb You could here the children say Bb C F G#min He's the fellow, the man who invented himself Bb C F F He's the fellow the man who invented himself And it continues in the same way for the next verse, and then, Bb F Nobody knows where he's from Bb F Nobody knows where he's gone gone gone F2 C But he's not here The F2 chord looks like this (it's still an F chord, just an inversion) 1 1 3 3 0 x Have fun tabby cats [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 15:31:59 +0100 To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu From: Jim Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved My understanding of Robyn's approach to lyrics comes from an interview I read a few years ago (wish I could remember where so I could quote, but you'll have to take my word for it, and I'm massively paraphrasing). The gist of what he said was that lyricists have always relied on the cerebral, conscious mind in an attempt to make sense of the world, but that he was more concerned with the subconscious, expressing more of a non-rational, non-linear dream-state where 'making sense' is not the object. The results of this process lead to some pretty wild and jumbled imagery as the subconscious can throw up some bizarre stuff - most of us forget our dreams and what its like to be in them, but some (I suspect Robyn's one) can tap into their subconscious/dreamstate and use it creatively. Robyn has always had a fascination for transexuality (uncorrected personality traits and egyptian cream to name but two) and has never shied away from occasionally bizarre sexual references (my favourite being sex with loaves of bread - and if anyone can explain the line "if I was man enough I'd come on your stump" I'd be grateful). He's also the only entertainer I know anywhere in the politically-correct world to directly deal with pornography in a positive light (Messages of Dark:"pornography reassures a man, fills him with delight", plus "flesh cartoons" and others). None of this necessarily means that Robyn spends his spare time in a dress watching porn movies - but he might recognise the appeal, however buried, in his subconscious, and be brave and honest enough to express it. What I'm suggesting in terms of the queen elvis debate is that Robyn is entitled to be heterosexual, but is able to deal with a subconscious homosexuality - the idea fits with the lyrical philosophy described in my first paragraph. (I don't care about his orientation either, as far as I'm concerned he can sleep with goats so long as he continues to write marvellous songs!) I understand the argument that 'straight' people are not the best people to address 'lesbigay' issues, but for a 'straight' to recognise there is a latent 'lesbigay' side to us all buried in our subconscious is a constructive point and one that only a 'straight' can make (lesbigays are 'out' and therefore homosexual in their conscious minds). The thing is, if Robyn's concerned with the subconscious, he isn't making a point, there is no political statement other than "this lurks in my mind, possibly yours too, lets have a look at it." One other point, I once read an interview (again, I don't have a copy to refer to) where he described queen elvis (the album concept, as distinct from the song) as being about isolation. The Queen (of England) and Elvis (Presley) are two people who have media constructed personalities, they are (or were) unknowable and unapproachable, both coccooned in their own worlds - you feel like you know them, but you don't, you only know the mythical media facsimile of the 'real' person. Lyrically this comes out most plainly in "veins of the queen," where he gets as close to the 'real' person as possible, ie, inside them. Its possible to argue that the song queen elvis is, on the face of it, about being 'in the closet' but is simply another way to express the same idea of a "front" hiding the real person inside. JIM BOWER waffle from my head [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 12:01:33 -0500 (CDT) From: JAY LYALL Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved To: Jim@jimbower.demon.co.uk Cc: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu >with loaves of bread - and if anyone can explain the line "if I was man >enough I'd come on your stump" I'd be grateful). He's also the only I always took this to mean that if he was more daring he'd go on some trip but instead he stays in the complacent life of the Home Counties burbs kinda thing.... ...as for the sex stuff I think its all pretty irrelavent...myself I don't believe in the concept of "sexuality" and think the sub-cultures built around them are a bit dodgy...read your Foucault.... anyways I still assert that the song is about Madonna and her trafficking in the superstar-sex thing.... jay %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Jay Lyall "Capy Toad Blast" "If you could free my inner child hist1a@jetson.uh.edu Then I could free your inhabitions." University of Houston --Lloyd Cole "I was born to cheese you." "If absence makes the heart grow fonder --Robyn Hitchcock Then I don't want to see you any more." --Replacements %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% [][][][][][][][][][] From: mad5c@server.cs.virginia.edu Subject: read your Foucault To: fegmaniax Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 13:47:51 -0400 (EDT) Gee Jay. Which particular Foucault would this be? Mike. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 00:58:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Terry Marks Subject: Re: another east coast date! To: Gary Assa Cc: Robyn Sigh... Southern west coast Northern west coast Northern east coast Sigh.. In Florida and feeling left out. Terry "The Human Mellotron" Marks a013645t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us [][][][][][][][][][] From: bing@student.umass.edu Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 17:08:41 -0400 Subject: sex sex sex... To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu I wish Camille Paglia was on this mailing list. [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 15:26:15 -0600 (MDT) From: David Scales a/k/a Captain Oblivion To: ZeroSummer@aol.com cc: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: Wire (No Robyn Content) On Wed, 13 Sep 1995 ZeroSummer@aol.com wrote: > < pretty slow and gloomy, with much less prominant guitar than on Pink Flag.>> > > Perhaps, but I think "I Should Have Known Better" is about as brilliant as a > song can get. ...and I'd put a vote in for "On Returning", which is a piece of near-perfect pop, in that peculiar Wire-y way... Dave Scales / Captain Oblivion "He wonders if he, too, might have made a similar mistake." --Talking Heads [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 17:26:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Terry Marks Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved To: JAY LYALL Cc: Jim@jimbower.demon.co.uk, fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu [various comments about 'Wax Doll' > anyways I still assert that the song is about Madonna > and her trafficking in the superstar-sex thing.... > > jay Which song? Queen Elvis or Wax Doll ...Thinking of submitting a Wax Doll/Doll Parts (the song by Mrs. Love) medley for GF3 Terry "THe Human Mellotron" Marks [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 16:38:11 -0500 (CDT) From: JAY LYALL Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved To: a013645t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us Cc: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu >> anyways I still assert that the song is about Madonna >> and her trafficking in the superstar-sex thing.... >> >> jay >Which song? >Queen Elvis or Wax Doll Queen Elvis....and the Foucault reference is Michel Foucault's "The History of Sexuality, vols 1-3"...he basically says people have sex with partners and that the idea of a "Sexuality" that can be defined as Hetro-sexual or Homosexual is used to control and limit the behavior of individuals....it should also be said that Foucault died in 83 of AIDS after spending the last years of his life in SanFrancisco's S&M scene....ok I guess it doen't have to be said, but I said it anyways.... Wax Doll/Doll parts? "I wanna be the girl with the most squid?" jay > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Jay Lyall "Capy Toad Blast" "If you could free my inner child hist1a@jetson.uh.edu Then I could free your inhabitions." University of Houston --Lloyd Cole "I was born to cheese you." "If absence makes the heart grow fonder --Robyn Hitchcock Then I don't want to see you any more." --Replacements %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 95 17:24:58 EDT From: KeN SaBaTiNi Subject: Re: another east coast date! (fwd) To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: If time is round and space is curved To: JAY LYALL Cc: Jim@jimbower.demon.co.uk, fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu [various comments about 'Wax Doll' > anyways I still assert that the song is about Madonna > and her trafficking in the superstar-sex thing.... > > jay Which song? Queen Elvis or Wax Doll ...Thinking of submitting a Wax Doll/Doll Parts (the song by Mrs. Love) medley for GF3 Terry "THe Human Mellotron" Marks [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 95 17:40:32 From: Russ Reynolds To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: veins o/t queen=Fogerty? Listen to "Rock & Roll Girls" off Fogerty's "Centerfield" album. I betcha that's what Robyn had in mind when he said he thought "Veins" sounded like a Fogerty tune. Russ [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 19:33:18 -0500 (CDT) From: "Jeffrey with 2 f's Jeffrey" To: "Us...we wanna be some anglepoise lamps yeh!" Subject: Re: sex sex sex... On Mon, 18 Sep 1995 The Artist Formerly Known As bing@student.umass.edu wrote: > I wish Camille Paglia was on this mailing list. No, you don't. I can just *imagine* the traffic she'd (de)generate.... --Jeff "I would sign with a major [label] tomorrow Jeffrey Norman for the right price. I would offer them University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee a vinyl-only album, no video, no tour, Dept. of English & Comp. Lit. in exchange for control of CNN." e-mail: jenor@csd.uwm.edu --Jello Biafra, Boston Phoenix 12/8 [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 19:55:50 -0500 (CDT) From: "Jeffrey with 2 f's Jeffrey" To: "Us...we wanna be some anglepoise lamps yeh!" Subject: Re: veins o/t queen=Fogerty? On Mon, 18 Sep 1995, covered in sequins, Russ Reynolds wrote: > > Listen to "Rock & Roll Girls" off Fogerty's "Centerfield" album. I betcha > that's what Robyn had in mind when he said he thought "Veins" sounded like a > Fogerty tune. > Russ > At first I thought that was a joke--remember Fogerty got sued by his old record company for nicking songs from himself, cuz he no longer owned the rights?--but I think you're right. While we're on the subject (which one?) has anyone else noticed that the beginning of Supersuckers' "Born with a Tail" is melodically identical to the Monkees' "Take a Giant Step"? (Lessee...monkeys have tails, so I'm sure it's an homage...) --Jeff Jeffrey Norman Does "anal retentive" have a hyphen? University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee --t-shirt spotted at the MLA, Dept. of English & Comp. Lit. San Diego, 1994 e-mail: jenor@csd.uwm.edu (thanks Erik!) [][][][][][][][][][] From: bing@student.umass.edu Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 21:58:06 -0400 Subject: Re: sex sex sex... To: fegmaniax@ns2.rutgers.edu sure Camille's contributions would add a little more, er, "animation" to the discussions, but there's always room for a little "Sexual Personae" on the Feg list. It'd probably take us all an hour to read her postings (if she writes email anything like she talks) though. bradley [][][][][][][][] End of this Fegmaniax Digest. Archives can be found at ftp://fegmania.wustl.edu/fegmaniax/archives/ For administrative questions, send mail to owner-fegmaniax@nsmx.rutgers.edu For subscription requests, send mail to majordomo@nsmx.rutgers.edu. Slipping you the midnight fish...