From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org To: fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Reply-To: fegmaniax@ecto.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@ecto.org Subject: Feg Digest V4 #200 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 200 Sunday October 6 1996 To post, send mail to fegmaniax@ecto.org To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@ecto.org with the words "unsubscribe fegmaniax-digest" in the message body. Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/index.html Archives are available at ftp://www.ecto.org/pub/lists/fegmaniax/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- Re: Chrissie and Cutler's (No Robyn content) CMJ article complete Re: poor man's Hitchcock Still Holier-Than-Thou After All These Years (apparently) What if... Hello Zappa Bashers (NR) Re: What if... CRD:Crawling/Smoothie/Black Crow Re: poor man's Hitchcock Re: Hello Zappa Bashers (NR) Northampton from Boston Re: Rex tackles the Difficult Subjects. Re: Still Holier-Than-Thou After All These Years (apparently) The Dregs of Mossy Liquor What's up with the Warfield? archives alive again! ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 17:37:08 -0400 Subject: Re: Chrissie and Cutler's (No Robyn content) In a message dated 96-10-03 23:29:09 EDT, david.baker@alcoa.com.au writes: >Sorry if I'm two weeks late in responding to this. I think the story behind >Chrissie > Hynde's engagement to Johnny Rotten is not actually a romantic one but a >proposed 'marriage of convenience'. If my trivia memory serves me correctly, >Chrissie Hynde was trying to get into the country and the only way she could >do was to marry someone from England. I think Sid Vicious actually >volunteered to do the job but didn't turn up on the proposed day (unreliable >chaps these Sex Pistols) so Johnny Rotten was going to do it. I think the >whole idea just fizzled in the end though. according to Lydon's memoirs, _Rotten_ (to which Chrissie contributed), it was the reverse. John couldn't make it at the last minute, so he sent Sid. Poor Chrissie.... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 17:44:22 -0400 (EDT) From: ! Subject: CMJ article complete you've already read a bunch of this, like as not, but here's the whole thing Robyn Hitchcock elixir vitae - by Tom Lanham If you want to discuss the wonderfully oddball Moss Elixir album with its creator -- the instantly likable British yarnspinner Robyn Hitchcock -- you'd better buy some popcorn and pick out a comfy seat. This guy has more surreal, and incredibly long-winded, tales than Grandpa Simpson. For example, sandwiched between charming Moss curiosities like "Heliotrope" and "I Am Not Me" sits a dreamy little acoustic piece called "Filthy Bird," which posits, while chorus strings scree like seagulls, that "a happy bird is a filthy bird." Which, naturally, reminds Hitchcock of a story. Or two. Filthy birds, he explains from his poolside chair at a posh Hollywood hotel, have waddled into his life "twice in central London recently. We'd just been to see Philade3lphia, the Jonathan Demme film, and we saw a duck right in the middle of Charing Cross Road, just walking across the road.. And it was a filthy duck, it had some oil on it and it didn't look like it had the energy to take off. And p[people noticed this duck. Pretty soon, two policemen turned up and they weren't very tall -- they were the kind of guys who wouldn't have been policemen 15 years ago, but they lowered the height limit because they were so desperate for cops. "So these two short policemen chased the duck into an alley and we all watched them pick it up. We all watched because they were *the police*. Then a van arrived, and they took the duck away to the river, to drop it in the Thames. And then about a year later, we were almost in the same place, and a very sad bird was lying on the ground, a dirty pigeon that he others had rejected. My girlfriend and I were standing there, and only one other person had noticed this bird, and he came up and wrapped it in newspaper and took it way, saying 'I'll look after this.'" A worried look suddenly creases the singer's boyish features. "I hope he wasn't a pervert or a sadist." So "Filthy Bird" is urging us to be kind to our fine-feathered friends? Hitchcock shakes his head no. "The song has more to do with the fact that you can only really be happy in this world if you enjoy evil, if you can accept a lot of brutality. Basically, you have to be sick to be satisfied with society as it is now, or even to be satisfied with the way the human being operates. What we have here is disease shot through with beauty. There are billions of little intricate things to celebrate in life, but I fell that the main carcass of humanity is beginning to stink us off the planet, and its only a matter of time before we go. I just hope we don't take everything with us. Um, that's what the song is about." That's Hitchcock's secret-- letting his thoughts, however strange, tumble out in pure streams of consciousness. So many thoughts that he had to add a vinyl-only postscript to the Warner Brothers release schedule: Mossy Liquor (Outtakes and Prototypes). A greatest-hits collection on A&M is also hitting stores this fall, chronicling a zany, brainy career that began two decades ago with the Soft Boys. Over the years, one thing has become clear: If it's a subject no other artist would dare attempt -- ghosts, mollusks, half-human hybrids, what have you -- Hitchcock will find a way to sculpt a song around it. Mention that his lilting, sin-song ditty "DeChirico Street" feels like surrealism meeting The Phantom Tollbooth, and the composer is off again, tangent-hopping. The children's-lit reference makes sense, he smiles, "because I write for adults as children, basically. I don't write as a man of the world. Even Raymond Chandler might've posed as being world-weary, but in a way, his world was almost like a child's world, because it was exotic and exciting. And surrealism is a 20-th century expression, but what it really is, is dreaming, and I suppose people like Bosch had it years ago. I think the surrealists deliberately juxtaposed things that were going to be jarring, but with my way of working, things glide through one after the other like they do in a dream and you don't have any power to control that." And since his work is an extension of the dream-state, Hitchcock cheerfully draws a logical conclusion: "My mental health is practically guaranteed by producing this stuff!" -- i also bought the Goldmine ish, which has rather a lot of text. are any among us OCR equipped? if not, perhaps we could divvy up this hummer so that a bunch of people type in one or two pages each. -- oh,no!! you've just read mail from doug -- dmayowel@access.digex.net a.k.a. dougmhyphw@aol.com -- get yr recently updated pathos at http://www.mwmw.com/pathetic/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Oct 1996 17:33:39 -0500 From: Outdoor Miner Subject: Re: poor man's Hitchcock At 10:27 AM 10/5/96 -0500, Brett Lanier wrote: >probably my least favorite album. Heh.)(As for artist longevity, uh, Peter >Hammill... (I'm trying to get killed.)) Now there's a strange animal. Pete appeals to my weakness for the grandiose (think the big Eurosynth wash of Midge Ure-era Ultravox), but he's so over-the-top dramatic/serious that I can't bear to listen to half of his stuff. Often the transition from the sublime to the gaggingly pompous happens within the confines of the same song, which makes listening to Hammill a particularly arduous chore -- no easy relief from the "skip" button. Later, Miles ===================================================================== I shift the blame to the worm in the bottle I shift the blame to anyone standing before me -- Wire, "Silk Skin Paws" Miles Goosens goosenmk@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu ===================================================================== ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 18:57:30 -0400 Subject: Still Holier-Than-Thou After All These Years (apparently) Brett Lanier says some (sort of) nice things about the intelligence of this list in response to some little dialogue between me & Truman: "I know that the level of intelligence really is a shade higher on this list, because it's rare for me to hear someone refer to Pynchon, but it's still "annoying" to read people being called morons." ... but the bitterness shows already: "I saw a couple of French words floating around, hinting that someone may be a bit too highbrow for Primus." ...Basically, he's a little miffed at me for dismissing a journalist as a "moron" for comparing Hitchcock to Les Claypool. Appreciating how condescending and "highbrow" my attitude might sound, I remind Brett that I also said: "I actually waded through the >whole goddam (review), trying to figure it out. Clearly, the journalist was a >moron." Meaning that I read more of it than I quoted, and determined that the journalist was a "moron" (no, NOT literally) on the basis of additional evidence, which I didn't share because who among you could be paid to give a shit? Ironically, I agree with Brett in most everything else he says... I'm just a bit tired of people calling me "intellectual" as if it were supposed to be as hurtful an epithet as "bitch" or "nigger". It isn't, so don't waste your time. I'll say it once, I'll say it loud: I'm bright and I'm proud. I will NOT make any apologies for possessing ANY kind of knowledge, be it of the French language, Pynchon, Robyn Hitchcock, Brian Wilson or Pacific manta rays (about which I know a great deal). Nor do I think anyone could EVER possess TOO much knowledge, or that anyone should ever be ashamed of any knowledge that they DO possess. My only regret is that I don't know everything yet... but I'd like to! I'm guessing, Brett, that you actually kinda feel the same way, since facile dismissals of Robyn as "annoying" or "sucky" (or whatever) don't sit well with you. No, I'm not "angry" with you... I just want to point out that, although you initially said that we were dismissing the Claypool/Hitchcock comparison on the basis of musical tastes (we were, bien sur), you've also branded me as a pretentious fuck on the basis of the same thing: musical taste (being too "holier than thou" to like Primus, when actually they just bore the bejeezus out of me on a purely visceral level). Not fair! Rex ------------------------------ From: BLATZMAN@aol.com Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 19:31:42 -0400 Subject: What if... Dear Haters Of Respect, I have an honest question for you. Now that the greatest hits album is out, we have all heard the 2 "bonus" tracks from the Respect sessions that didn't make the album (Allright Yeah & Bright Fresh Flower) 12 songs to choose from, 10 spots on the album. If you could replace these songs with your 2 least favorite songs on the album, might it have been a better album? Mind you, this is 20% of the album! I know I know. Maybe this is just trouble. But after listening to Bright Fresh Flower 100 times, it drives me nuts that he finished the album with Wafflehead instead of this track. I really don't get it. BFF isn't a "hit" song. It wouldn't have made his career any more profitable. But I feel it would have made the album more enjoyable. Better. I am asking this sincerely. Please refrain from those silly "maybe you should have mixed the album" statements. I LOVE Respect. It might have been one of my all time favorites if Wafflehead & Dust were replaced with the Bonus Songs. Be cool Blatzie ------------------------------ Subject: Hello Zappa Bashers (NR) Date: Sat, 5 Oct 96 18:53:30 -0500 From: Della & Steve Schiavo Would the Zappa haters please explain how he offended you to the extent that you have to bring it up on the list? Just a paragraph or two will do. Thanks - Steve ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 20:22:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: What if... I agree about Bright Fresh Flower. I disagree about When You're Dust. It's not too active, but it rounds out the album... And if I had a chance to assign track order to everything [I did this a while ago and posted it. No responses...], respect would've gone like this. Respect: (14,3) //Balloon Man, Railway Shoes, When I Was Dead, Flesh Cartoons, Wreck of the Arthur Lee, Messages of Dark ++The Fly, Vegetable Friend, Wafflehead //The Yip Song, Mr. Rock'N'Roll, Child of the Universe, Radio Storm, Listening to the Higsons, Satellite, Allright Yeah!, Surgery Terry "The Human Mellotron" Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 20:24:29 -0400 (EDT) Subject: CRD:Crawling/Smoothie/Black Crow I did some guitar stuff this weekend. Crawling and Black Crow Knows are kinda incomplete. If someone would eb kind enough to finish them off, I'd be very grateful. Terry "The Human Mellotron" Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu @Lady Waters It's in B. Sometimes the bass goes to A then E for a moment. THen it goes back. @The Black Crow Knows B E D B in the middle of the winter, in the middle of a wood standing in a clearing with a tiny leather hood E B so you want to know E B so you want to know ?? If you want to know what the future holds, ?? the black crow knows Telephones and viruses and the passion of it all ground up in a porridge and written on the wall so you want to know so you want to know If you want to know what the future holds, the black crow knows hovering above you like the speck in someone's eye measuring the distance between how and when you die everything that happens makes sense to someone else so far away above you, you'll never know yourself so you want to know so you want to know If you want to know what the future holds, the black crow knows @THe Crawling Bass: A:-5-0-3-0-5-0-3-0- D7 something is crawling yes it's crawling out of a dark place into a light place D7 something is spawning yes it's spawning G out of a damp place C D7 into a dry place D7 something is swarming yes it's swarming G out of a flaky place D7 into a scented place D7 G C oh I see the trails the broken stems of corn I see the shadows but not the thing itself I see the room of smoke on the horizon I hear the shouts and screams but I don't know much somethign is crawling ---- Bass G:----------------- D:-5-5------------- A:----5-5-3-3-5---- E:----------------- G D C D Why do you ask me why do you touch me Why do you ask me why do you touch me because there's nothing there it's only flesh and blood because there's nothing there it's only flesh and blood ---- you think you got her and you're a lucky guy but can you hold a fish? you think you know her you're so intuitive but can you know a mist? how long do you want it how long have you got it baby flesh and blood have you got it baby flesh and blood @SMOOTHIE [The "Like a real smoothie" is backing vocals, except for the F# E B outro] Like a real smoothie B walk down the street Like a real smoothie beating his meat Like a real smoothie look at him ooze Like a real smoothie look at his shoes Like a real smoothie B F# A E G D F# I can tell at a glance he's happy, with his heart in his fist he's a decent sort of chap, he never uses his wrist Like a real smoothie he gets it right Like a real smoothie goes on all night Like a real smoothie a squirm and a spurt Like a real smoothie all over her shirt Like a real smoothie he agrees with almost everyone, he's a friend of us all he's ornamental and you can easily fit a dozen of him in a hall Like a real smoothie down in Kingsrow Like a real smoothie doesn't have to be told Like a real smoothie when he's full of blood Like a real smoothie the worms in the mud Like a real smoothie up! G# F# C# Like a real smoothie C# that's how it is Like a real smoothie he doesn't fizz Like a real smoothie boogie and whole Like a real smoothie everyone told Like a real smoothie everyone knows Like a real smoothie how far he goes Like a real smoothie feels so good Like a real smoothie fear I would Like a real smoothie Like a real smoothie Like a real smoothie Like a real smoothie [repeat until you get tired of it] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 20:28:39 -0400 (EDT) From: in watermelon sugar Subject: Re: poor man's Hitchcock On Sat, 5 Oct 1996, Brett Lanier wrote: > >II: Les Claypool > >Me: ">In the other LA alt.weekly, which shall remain nameless, I saw the > >following > > > >>perplexing statement in a Les Claypool review: > > > >>"Les Claypool is the poor man's Robyn Hitchcock, the Frank Zappa of the > > > >>bass..." > > *ahem* Some might argue that Hitchcock is the poor man's Julian Cope. ;) Caroline ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 19:42:30 -0500 (CDT) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Hello Zappa Bashers (NR) On Sat, 5 Oct 1996, Della & Steve Schiavo wrote: > Would the Zappa haters please explain how he offended you to the extent > that you have to bring it up on the list? Just a paragraph or two will > do. > My explanation is this: Frank Zappa was mentioned in a quoted review of a show by Primus's Les Claypool, who was described in this same review as "a poor man's Robyn Hitchcock". In the course of discussion of said review quote and attempts to figure out what these strange comparisons might mean, there was some speculation as to whether or not calling Mr. Claypool "the Frank Zappa of the bass" was a compliment or not. Not knowing the critic's opinion, I ventured that i could not say, but that from me it would be a slam because I do not enjoy the works of Mr. Zappa. IMHO, this was not in fact a random slam but something that follows naturally from context. People on this list have diverse tastes. Often people slam artists whose works I admire or enjoy, and I often end up expressing very negative opinions about artists that others admire or enjoy. It happens on a mailing list such as this, where many people have passionate opinions and are borderline obsessive music lovers. Personal insults towards the artists in question are in my opinion completely unnecessary, and those who bash out of ignorance can be annoying (I do not do this out of ignorance- I have in my time dated two obsessive Zappa fans and have heard PLENTY of his work including the classical stuff). However, this is not the case with me. I just simply don't happen to like Frank Zappa and don't see why I need to justify this. Several people have tried in vain to convince me that Frank Zappa is the greatest, and have never been able to succeed, so everyone can go ahead and write glowing posts in praise of FZ if they wanna, but it isn't going to change me. I think I'm just missing the Zappa appreciation gene :). I guess that's the best I can do as far as explaining myself. Susan who sees the ghost of the Brian Wilson flamewar attempting to rise again in a new guise, and hopes that perhaps catastrophe will be avoided this time :) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Oct 1996 21:06:12 -0400 From: Alex Tanter Subject: Northampton from Boston Noho is an easy 2 hr drive from Boston. It's much nicer out west than out east. Much less smog, not so many people and we have trees!! :) You just take the Mass Pike to 91 North and get off at exit 19. Go left at the light, follow the road into town. After you go through lights at an obviously big intersection, take the first right. Iron Horse is on the left a wee bit after you turn. If this Noho show doesn't happen, I am going to be f'ing p'ssed!! (pardon me but I'm a bit frustrated with all this shilly shallying!!) Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 20:33:11 -0500 (CDT) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Rex tackles the Difficult Subjects. On Sat, 5 Oct 1996 RxBroome@aol.com wrote: > I: "Underwater Moonlight"; literary precedents thereof: > Some months ago, I copied a lovely passage from Thomas Pynchon's "V" to > the list which resonated ever so strongly with "UM"-- not so much the > idea as the imagery. Well, I'd repost it now, but my copy of said novel > is on loan. But it's eerie. The novel is also redolent of WWII raids; > Messeschmidts abound. Tell me which one you mean and I'll post it (I can't think of what you could mean at the moment, but it's been awhile since I've read that pertickler opus and i didn't read it all that carefully, really- oh hell, why don't I just read it again and try to figure out what you meant :)). > "Kawliga", however, leads us back to the never-poular thread about me > and my dad's band, so I'll leave it alone... except to say that I'd > kinda thought this was a public domain tune, but a quick search of my > record collection reveals that it is indeed credited to Williams/Rose... This is the same songwriting team that brought us a fey little classic called "Fill Your Heart" which appears on Bowie's 'Hunky Dory", and if I'm not mistaken, Rose is in fact "Broadway" Billy Rose who also co-wrote "Me and My Shadow" and was married to Fanny Brice. Does anyone know (or care, actually? I can't imagine who'd be remotely interested in some of the stuff I write :). Why do I do it, then? Compulsion, I suppose). > III: Pete asks about "Trilobyte" >It's to be found in all its glory on the vinyl-only "Mossy Liquor". A must. Oh yes, indeed. Everyone must have this! It is truly wonderful. > IV: Rex, guitars, sexuality, and, what the hell, Cadillacs again: > > " The obvious conclusion (on (Freud's) part) would be that I long to > > usurp male power, and not being able to grow my own phallus, decided > > to buy one that looks like a Telecaster. Or something like that :)." > > Which is precisely why we shoudn't care what Freud would say (do I know you > too well?)... Maybe. But that doesn't mean Siggy is necessarily wrong :) :). My favorite take on Sig comes from Vladimir Nabokov: "I do not want a nasty old man from Vienna poking his umbrella at ME" (can't remember it exactly, but that's the gist of it, anyhow :)). > but-- did Freud really think that Teles were more phallic than > most other guitars :)? 'Fraid that's kinda hard to say. More phallic than those curvy little numbers you have running around, though :). > (nb. I DO get the real intention here, but most pseudo-phalli are cheaper > than a Tele copy, as you know. How much does a China Pug go for these days, > anyhow?) Yer basic no frills model goes for about 10 bucks. The fancy stuff (with little buttons, zingers, and doodads for, ahem, various different areas) can run you up to 50 or so I would say. (interesting gender-related stuff deleted in the interest of something like brevity :)) Susan who says, now that I think about it, screw brevity! :) skip these postscripts if ya wanna, I won't be mad (though looking at them now as I revise this sucker, I see that they in fact comprise the majority of this post :)). > To Whom May Be Mocking Us: Ne vous inquietez pas. Votre Taxi arriveras > bientot. Ce n'est pas vrai, Rex. Le taxi est tombe en panne. Ils doivent prendre l'autobus. > To Whomeverthefuck, re: the following: > > "Huge success has frequently IMHO changed many artists and the calibre of > > their music has suffered but I also think there are many exceptions. I > > look at Neil Young and Peter Gabriel as two of these exceptions. Can > > anyone else name others? > > I'll take those two, plus: > > > > Bryan Ferry (though he's never been big in the U.S.) > > R.E.M. (not to stir up THAT again) > > David Bowie (for most of his career, 1985-88 excepted)" > > > My take (BECAUSE I KNOW YOU CARE!!!) But you know I do care, sweetheart, passionately. I can't speak for anyone else, though! :) > Young: immortal > Gabriel: from dust you come; to dust you shall return. With a few great > albums in the mid-80's under your belt. > Ferry: just now beginning to explore this one. I actually own most of the Ferry solo catalog and though I can't say I ever spent much time listening to "Bete Noire" and "Boys and Girls" after a certain point in my life (I'd say that my teenage romanticism played a large role in my appreciation of them :)), they're not bad albums. Personally, I think some of the early solo stuff is genuinely good though- mostly the covers, like "In Crowd" and "That's How Strong My Love Is"- and you may go ahead and laugh now if you want, I don't mind :) :). I feel compelled to point out also that the last time I saw him live (1988, that would be) he was very very very good- the audience got three encores and probably would've stayed there all night demanding more if they hadn't gotten the theater's management onstage to yell at people to please leave now, Mr. Ferry is tired! > REM: immortal immortal immortal I know how you feel about REM, Rex :). I can't quite match your enthusiasm, but I can't agree with those who cry "sellout" either. > Bowie: Basically you're right, but even post-'88 he's been more clever than > resonant. Hmmm........ Wasn't sure what to make of this, seeing as I've been a passionate Bowie fan for many moons, and don't really get into anything that's post-"Let's Dance", and even that album is a bit too radio-friendly, glossy, and what have you for my taste and kinda difficult to swallow for someone whose favorite Bowie record is actually 'Lodger' :), but it has a certain charm all the same. "Outside" in particular was rather disappointing, since it was a reteaming with Eno and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one hoping for great things- no, it's not awful, but it's close I think, and not particularly clever either (sorry, Miles :)). > May I add: > Jonathan Richman, forever in pursuit of his own muse. > ...and: And when I saw him this past Wednesday in Chicago, seemed quite sad about something. He did mostly love songs and in a very heartfelt way. Though we were treated to "Dancing In The Lesbian Bar" about midway through the show, I'd say that overall the show had a slightly melancholy feel to it. > stalking mainstream success > (Electrafixion, Love Spit Love, Morrissey, > and, perhaps most painfully, Peter Holsapple-- the "5th Hootie").... > Morrissey's last record was very disappointing, true. He appears to be treading water in a SERIOUS way. I think perhaps those legions of unquestioning adoring high school girl fans who send him 100 page letters may have finally affected his brain in some way :) :). In all seriousness, though, it really does seem at the moment that Morrissey is coasting. And just for the record, and so all of those black clad little honeys with the stories of their lives all set to go to the man Federal Express (and other, slightly more rational M fans :)) don't pound my sorry carcass into the concrete (as the Zappa types seem to want to :)) I, unlike many :) really LIKE Morrissey. I also like run-on sentences and parenthetical asides- ya think anyone noticed? :) To Whom Etc.: Je serais a la maison lundi apres-midi, probablement a 14 ou 15 heures (CA not IL). J'essayerais de te telephoner. Belles reves, ma chere. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 21:07:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Still Holier-Than-Thou After All These Years (apparently) On Sat, 5 Oct 1996 RxBroome@aol.com wrote: > Brett Lanier says some (sort of) nice things about the intelligence of this > list in response to some little dialogue between me & Truman: > to hear someone refer to Pynchon, but it's still "annoying" to read > people being called morons." Thought about this for awhile, because you know it didn't particularly phase me. Maybe cause I'm also a snob :) :) but more likely because I assumed that there was other evidence to support this conclusion that rex didn't feel compelled to share :) as he states below. > ... but the bitterness shows already: > "I saw a couple of French words > floating around, hinting that someone may be a bit too highbrow for Primus." Actually, I don't think this was meant harshly, but maybe I read it wrong. In any event, this is kind of an odd thing to say IMHO because I never really thought of Primus as "lowbrow" per se (though I must admit I don't like them either :)). > journalist was a "moron" (no, NOT literally) on the basis of additional > evidence, which I didn't share because who among you could be paid to give a > shit? As I thought :). > Ironically, I agree with Brett in most everything else he says... I'm just a > bit tired of people calling me "intellectual" as if it were supposed to be as > hurtful an epithet as "bitch" or "nigger". It isn't, so don't waste your > time. Well, that's going a little far, sweetheart, but you're basically right. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone in grade school/middle school/high school asked me if I read the dictionary, as if this were a BAD thing :). I suspect others on the list can relate big time :). > I'll say it once, I'll say it loud: I'm bright and I'm proud. Did anyone else get the image in their head of that scene in "The Commitments" where the saxophone player, after someone offers an explanation for why the Irish are suited to the playing of R&B, says in a thick Irish accent "Say it looud, I'm black and I'm proud" in an incredulous tone of voice? :) > I will NOT make any apologies for possessing ANY kind of knowledge, be > it of the French language, Pynchon, Robyn Hitchcock, Brian Wilson or > Pacific manta rays (about which I know a great deal). Do tell. Pacific Manta rays, eh? :) I see that I have only merely skimmed the surface of your fascinating self, love :). > Nor do I think anyone could EVER possess TOO much knowledge, or that > anyone should ever be ashamed of any knowledge that they DO possess. Hear hear! I seriously doubt that anyone here disagrees with that. > My only regret is that I don't know everything yet... > but I'd like to! Oh, that wouldn't be any fun for someone as curious as yourself! You don't really mean that, I know :). > although you initially said that we were dismissing the Claypool/Hitchcock > comparison on the basis of musical tastes (we were, bien sur), you've also > branded me as a pretentious fuck on the basis of the same thing: musical > taste (being too "holier than thou" to like Primus, when actually they just > bore the bejeezus out of me on a purely visceral level). Not fair! Well, these things do have the potential to be taken quite personally sometimes. Witness the Brian Wilson debacle :). And no, it isn't fair, but it does happen. I for one really don't want a mudslinging battle of that nature to erupt again (yes, I know that seems ironic coming from someone with opinions as strong as mine, but I don't take musical disagreements personally even so) and I think lots of people on the list feel the same way. So let's all play nice :) :). Susan (I still think that people who strongly dislike the Beatles are agents from Mars, though :) :)) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 23:31:44 -0700 From: librik@netcom.com (David Librik) Subject: The Dregs of Mossy Liquor Fegs, Having just spent the summer in Wales and thus unsubscribed to the list, I've finally returned to find two wonderful versions of the same new album waiting for me. But since I probably missed the main discussion of this, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the name of the last untitled instrumental on _Mossy Liquor_. Has Robyn ever given it a name in concert? The only things I heard about the new albums came from the British music press, whose excruciating style was honed early on in Robyn's career and whose approach has never changed since -- a good example is the _Q_ Magazine review of _Moss Elixir_ that's posted on the Fegmaniax web page. This technique consists of assiduously searching out every clever, creatively goofy line in a new Hitchcock album, and holding them up to public ridicule -- all the while suggesting that if only Robyn could excise all the surreal whimsy and Beatles influence from his music, he could manage to be some other songwriter, someone who the reviewer would really rather be listening to. Unfortunately it's often seemed as though Robyn Hitchcock's been taking that advice, album after album stripping away the chickens, squid, carnivorous food, and bouncy pop-rock melodies that were the reason I became a fan ten years ago. But _Moss Elixir_ and _Mossy Liquor_ are such wonderful albums, albums with nary a bad track from start to finish, perfectly arranged and produced, that I'm pushing Robyn's music on unsuspecting friends once again after a long and slightly embarrassed hiatus. - David Librik librik@cs.Berkeley.edu who's trying to figure out how to get "Trilobite" onto his answering machine ------------------------------ From: Cynthia Peterson Subject: What's up with the Warfield? Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 19:01:23 +0000 A query for Bay-Area Fegs: Due to unforseen circumstances, I'll be coming through S.F. on the night of the show. I called to order a ticket this morning, and was very confused by my options. What's better---Main floor General admission, or Main floor reserved? Is reserved seating in the back? Is general admission seating very competitive? (In other words, how early would you recommend lining up?) And finally, does coffee count as a "drink"? (It seems very weird to require a 2-drink minimum for a concert. Normally, I wouldn't complain, but I'll be arriving directly from Dublin, and in that jet-induced state, alcohol could be the kiss of death!) So what I got was a GA ticket. Hope this works out. Any advice or information on this venue would be much appreciated!! (Why didn't I think to ask *before* I got my ticket?) Cynthia ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 17:33:18 -0400 From: sister ernestine Subject: archives alive again! fegs, i was industrious this morning and resurrected the fegmaniax archives. all of the files that used to be available at fegmania.wustl.edu are now located at www.ecto.org, via ftp, in the pub/lists/fegmaniax directory. there are also links to the archives on the fegmania! web page (which is at http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/index.html, in case anyone has forgotten or didn't know). things are still somewhat disorganized and incomplete, but i hope to address that soon. woj np. zoe - hammer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .