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 #201 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 201 Monday October 7 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: What's up with the Warfield? Apologia; Minutia; Robyn reviews: US vs. UK Celebrity guest appearance (McGuinn speaks) Re: What if... Philly tix Drinks Before Keswick Show, Pearls Before Swine, and Directions MIX article (long) Re: What if... R/E Glenside Show Re: MIX article Re: MIX article Re: Apologia; Minutia; Robyn reviews: US vs. UK ME Review from Magnet Magazine Concerts A couple things tangential CRD:Black crow/Sensing the toast no rh--question about j. cope Re: Philly tix ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 15:42:46 -0700 (PDT) From: "Dot, the Itchy God." Subject: Re: What's up with the Warfield? hey all-- i am told that i do have my tickets, woohoo! the whole warfield thing is insane at times; basic sense is that if you are at a table you must buy the drinks. otherwise, no. it is odd how they try to divide that place into 40 million sections, no really *40 million*. (o.k. about three.) also, how many fegs are going to this show? is robyn doing any record store type appearences, while he is in town? and, has anyone rented a ballroom for our pre- and post-gig affair? .chris On Sun, 6 Oct 1996, Cynthia Peterson wrote: > 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 > ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:24:47 -0400 Subject: Apologia; Minutia; Robyn reviews: US vs. UK Truman's asking about which part of "V" has to do with "Underwater Moonlight". It's just a little section wherein a character enters a nightclub on Malta and notes some especially spiffy statues in alcoves... the narration then goes off on a tangent about said statues coming to life late at night after everyone's gone. The real clincher was that the images of the living statues were directly related to moonlight AND the influence of the tides, light being refracted through waves and all that. The giant squid steadfastly fails to appear. It's probably easier to find my quote in the Feg archives than in the novel-- it was back during the "Literary Robyn" thread. The Divine Ms. T also says: " if I'm not mistaken, Rose (Hank Williams' "Kaw-Liga" cowriter) 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)." But I LOVE this stuff. Wasn't that our doom, Dearest? Actually, I think it was Fred Rose, as in Acuff-Rose... but I'm probably a bit more country than you... Me: "> but-- did Freud really think that Teles were more phallic than > most other guitars :)?" Truman: " 'Fraid that's kinda hard to say. More phallic than those curvy little numbers you have running around, though :)" One of those "curvy numbers" IS a Tele, Sweets. But it's transgender, I guess; the pickguard and headstock are both a lot... well... curvier than average. (assessments of recent Bowie deleted): "Clever" was the wrong word. I guess that "interesting" is a better word. The latter-day Bowie is of interest because it's impossible to tell just what the hell he thinks he's doing, and thus equally impossible to tell whether or not he's achieving it, or whether or not, definitively, we should finally stop caring. Is this decay groovy or not? Mostly not, but it's weird. EMOTIONALLY TORN & FRAYED DEPT. Here's some ugliness that's my fault: Me: "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." Truman: " 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 :)." Firstly, I was actually stigmatized more simply as "knowin' all thahm bigwahrds", but such is rural West Virginia. And you don't even need to ask if I relate to this, Love. Secondly: Okay, okay, I was overreacting. I suspect it has to do with the pychic effects of too many anti- "Cultural Elite" election-time soundbites (how 'bout that debate? High comedy or WHAT?) and my immediate environment... LA is an AWFULLY anti-intellectual place. I've still not yet recovered from the near-castratory experience of film school, where I was constantly being told to K.I.S.S. --"Keep It Simple Stupid". (Fuck, I gotta move.) Anyhow, sorry for taking it out on all y'all. I'm under a lot of stress these days. David talks astutely about Brit reviews of Robyn: "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..." Right right right! The US seems to be more virulently indifferent to Robyn than spiteful to him. I mentioned the recent stateside reviews I've seen. The technique is nearly opposite--nobody has bothered to review the record except journalists who already, to some extent, LIKE Robyn. Therefore, the reviews are more like evangelistic career-capsules than assessments of the records at hand. And yes, they all flog a single lyrical excerpt to death, even when extolling Robyn's virtues. Apparently, pro- or con-, critics would like Robyn to be a lot simpler than he is. The fact that he's NOT is why I'm here. Rex _______________ "Do tell. Pacific Manta rays, eh? :) I see that I have only merely skimmed the surface of your fascinating self, love :)." Look at the artwork I sent you... the pacific manta piece is based on a photo in the same Time/Life Library book that engendered my childhood fascination with "the Cambrian Sea" and Trilobytes in particular. Did I mention that I almost majored in marine biology? Because I know, and I for once say this with no irony whatsoever, that you care. PS-- possible "celebrity guest" appearance may be imminent on the list. Details to follow! ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 01:26:49 -0400 Subject: Celebrity guest appearance (McGuinn speaks) This will be really anticlimactic, but here it is... I stumbled across Roger McGuinn's e-mail address. I think it's genuine. Understand that, to me, this is tantamount to finding St. Peter's phone number whilst trying to get ahold of God (Dylan, obviously). Not wanting to demand too much of St. Roger (St. Jim?)'s time, I decided that I should limit myself to two questions. The first was about Roger's pre-Byrds appearances on Limeliters records, of interest only to still-living people named James Broome (me and my father, as far as I know). The second related to "The Arms of Love", which Robyn says (on the "Spectre" interview) was written with McGuinn in mind. In last month's IRC chat transcript, Robyn reiterated a desire to work with McGuinn, implying that he hadn't yet done so (pity). Here's what I asked Roger: Rex: "> 2) A couple of years ago, Robyn Hitchcock wrote a song with you in mind, "The Arms of Love". It's lovely, although I'm not too keen on the way his version was produced; I think REM might've done it later, too, as well as Syd Straw. Anyhow, the melody always DID seem suited to your voice, so I was wondering-- have you recorded this? Have you heard it? (I've heard interviews with Hitchcock where he's said he'd love to work with you; I take that to mean that he never has.)" Roger: "No I haven't heard the Hitchcock song. All the best ..... Roger" Cursory, but touching, ain't it? Twice in one day he's managed to respond to sycophantic e-mails from my own sorry self. If it is indeed Roger (which I think it is). Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 10:48:31 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: What if... On Sat, 5 Oct 1996 BLATZMAN@aol.com wrote: > 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... If only this were true. This is yet another album that has not been released in the UK. There may be import copies floating round in Nottingham, but there aren't any in Bath! Less than gruntled - Mike Godwin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 8:30:34 EDT From: "mark allen" Subject: Philly tix Word on the street has tickets for Robyn's Nov. 14 appearance at the Keswick Theatre going on sale this Friday, Oct. 11. No word on prices. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 12:54:20 EDT From: "mark allen" Subject: Drinks Before Keswick Show, Pearls Before Swine, and Directions Drinks before the show sounds obligatory, K. Who else wants in? There's a coupla places near the theatre. Also, whoever needs directions to Glenside, e-mail me and I'll get ya there! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 13:02:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: MIX article (long) from the October, 1996 issue of Mix: ROBYN HITCHCOCK-Back To The "Moss" by Adam Beyda England's Robyn Hitchcock emerged in the late '70's as the leader of retro-rockers the Soft Boys, a band whose quirky psychedelia was oddly out of step with the era's prevailing punk rock scene. But being out of sync with the times has never deterred Hitchcock. A self-described child of the '60s and a true original, he has always pirsued his own idiosyncratic course, first with the Soft Boys, subsequently as a solo artist, then with his next group, the Egyptians. Over the years his recordings have reflected and embodied his strengths with varying degrees of success. By the early '90s, he and the Egyptians had fallen into making heavily produced records, apparently in a bid for elusive commercial acceptance. Hitchcock seemingly sought to contain this trend on his last record with the Egyptians, 1993's RESPECT. He put a mobile recording setup in the garden of his home on the Isle of Wight with the idea of recording everything live and acoustic in the kitchen. But when it came time to mix, the record evolved into something more dense and elaborate. "It got away from what I think I'm good at," Hitchcock says. "It might have been what the Egyptians were collectively good at, but I don't think it's necessarily what suited my songs the best. The voice and the guitar were kind of sublimated to the overall texture. It was music that you could have on in the background, and it made you feel nice, but you didn't really have to listen to it too hard. And that's not really what I'm about." After RESPECT failed to make a big dent in the charts, Hitchcock lost his deal with A&M, and the Egyptians broke up. But apparently this was the best thing that could have happened to him, judging by his new record on Warner Bros., MOSS ELIXIR. A welcome return to form, MOSS ELIXIR presents a wonderful batch of new Hitchcock songs in often acoustic, mostly uncomplicated settings. Once on his own, Hitchcock explains, he felt free to structure his songs entirely to his liking. "What I wanted with [MOSS ELIXIR] was to have the recording based around the song and the performance, rather than any attempt at some kind of beguiling texture in the background. I wanted it to be more about the tone of the voice and the guitar." Another aspect that played a crucial role in shaping MOSS ELIXIR was Hitchcock's approach to recording. "I particularly enjoy recording piecemeal," he says, "which is what I've always done up to the last two egyptians albums, which were done as recorded projects. I like it because it gives you time to get away from what you've done for a couple of months, to figure out whether you need to overdub a track or whether to keep working with that particular take. It's easy to work intensely for two or three days; it's much harder to work intensely for two or three weeks. You may work just as hard, but it becomes a routine, and you lose your perspective. And in the end, the studio becomes its own life, recording becomes its own object, whereas I think it should be a treat to record." MOSS ELIXIR was three very discontinuous years in the making, and in a first for Hitchcock, the sessions were extremely spread out geographically as well. A paripatetic sort, Hitchcock woould go into the studio wherever he happened to be. Studios he recorded and/or mixed in included The Complex in L.A., Hanzek in Seattle, Dub Narcotic (Olympia, Wash.) Manfred Knoop's (New Jersey), and Blah Street and RMS in London. Hitchcock produced the record ("inasmuch as that I caused it to exist), working with different engineers and a co-producer or two at the various studios. Toward the end of the process, Hitchcock ended up doing a lot of work at The Greenhouse Studios in London, with the studio's owner, producer/engineer Pat Collier. Collier is an ex-member of the original punk combo The Vibrators and a veteran of many sessions behind the board with everyone from the Soup Dragons to the Men They Couldn't Hang. He also happens to have been Hitchcock's main recording man from the Soft Boys era all the way through the solo and Egyptians albums of the '80s. Collier says that in his work with Hitchcock, the emphasis has always been on live tracking. "We always do a lot of overdubbing," Collier says, "but the whole thing starts from quite a live, large band point of view. It doesn't start with a click track or anything." He adds that Hitchcock works very intuitively in the studio. "He's very easy to work with, and he's very decisive--he knows if it's working well and going down to tape. If he's going to get it, he's going to get it in two or three goes. We don't spend two hours doing a vocal--if it doesn't work out in 20 minutes, then the best bet is to come back to it the next day." The Greenhouse is a two-studio, 7,000 square-foot facility, occupying four floors. On MOSS ELIXIR, Hitchcock worked in the top floor studio, which features a vintage 56-channel Amek 2520 with Master Mix 1 automation, and an Otari MTR-90 24-track. He mainly overdubbed and mixed at the studio, except for the song "De Chirico Street," which was entirely recorded and mixed at The Greenhouse. "De Chirico Street" is one of only three songs on the album that features a rhythm section (though the drums in particular are mixed relatively far back). The basic track consisted of three acoustic guitars, drums, bass and Hitchcock's lead vocal. Collier set the band up in the large tracking room. He used a 57 on Hitchcock's voice, to keep the leakage down, and compressed the vocal with an 1176. "His voice isn't particularly dynamic," Collier says, "but sometimes I'll stick an old 160 as well after the 1176, because for vocals I prefer to hit two compressors gently rather than hitting one hard." James Fletcher overdubbed numerous sax parts, an instrument Hitchcock had almost never used on previous outings. ("I've never been a sax fiend," he says, "mainly because of the way the saxophone is deployed----the ghastly mellow tooting as the lovers ooze through Central Park in corporate movies, or the brassy squiggles that emerge whenever a rock act is wealthy enough to afford extra musicians.") It may seem strange that he would choose to use horns (and strings) on such an explicitly unproduced project. But Hitchcock is quick to point out that though the album is very much built around the sound of his voice and guitar, he was not trying to make a stripped down record;rather, he was simply focused on adding only what he deemed necessary to bring his songs to life. Recording piecemeal helped him in this process, and he says that when he did add parts, "I was trying to go for sound a bit more rather than musicianship. If I had someone there to play, it wasn't to be a great player--though I think they are all great players; it was more to create the sound that was needed in that place, to add color, rather than 'here I am, and I'm going to feature a violin solo here' or whatever it is." In terms of sounds, Hitchcock admits to being heavily influenced by the '60s palette. The song "Beautiful Queen," for example, prominently features backward guitars, multiple harmonies and a variety of psychedelic touches. Hitchcock mentions that his two chief influences from that era are Dylan and The Beatles, and in fact in much of his recorded work there is often a creative tension between two currents: the distinctive tonality and immediacy of a singer/songwriter, and the kind of melodicism, sounds and song structures usually associated with more band-type efforts. If he's juggled these two tendencies throughout his career, on MOSS ELIXIR, at any rate, Hitchcock has succeeded in striking a good balance between them. "I have cut both ways," he says, "and I'm not sure that's been a good thing. Who knows? But I'm definitely at the moment cutting one way. I'm cutting as me." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 15:41:41 -0500 (CDT) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: What if... On Sat, 5 Oct 1996 BLATZMAN@aol.com wrote: > 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) Why address this to haters of "Respect" if you yourself are a 'Respect" fan? :) Just asking...... Actually, I don't fall into either of these categories. So is the opinion of someone who thought it had a few good songs but was overall pretty underwhelmed acceptable? :) > 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! Could I replace them with songs from "Eye"? :) > 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. Possibly. Actually "Wafflehead" is one of the tracks I like, although I think it's a really strange note to end an overall fairly serious record on. Perhaps you are right that it doesn't really belong there, although I'm kind of at a loss as to where it really would belong (putting it on one of those Rhino comps. wouldn't work, I don't think- they're mostly pretty lo-fi and primarily acoustic- maybe it belongs on the new "Greatest Hits" thingie on WB in place of "Bright Fresh Flower"?). Whaddaya think of this comp., by the way? I've seen it around but have been hesitant to buy it, since aside from the two "Respect" extras I already have everything that's on it and there isn't much there that I feel I must have on CD RIGHT NOW. Besides, it annoys me the way they split up "One Long Pair of Eyes" :).I mean really, what on earth was the point of doing that? > 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. Or maybe if Dust were replaced with The Dust? I always liked that one :). Actually, I think that one belongs on ME back to back with Happy Bird, although there's really nothing I'd want to remove from ME as it stands. Susan going to see John Cale tonight. and in a fairly small (for someone of his musical stature) 350 person venue, no less. :) As always, any Fegs heading to this show who want to get together before or after should mail me sometime today and I'll get back to you (I live really near the club in question so it'll be easy as pie for me to meet up with interested parties). Johnathan Richman, John Cale, and Robyn all in the same month. It's an embarrassment of riches (musically speaking, though not for my wallet of course). ------------------------------ Date: 07 Oct 96 17:08:29 EDT From: sCoTtO <102465.41@CompuServe.COM> Subject: R/E Glenside Show My sister who works a block from the Keswick just sent me this: >Nov. 14th at >8pm - tickets go on sale Friday and they are $19.50/each. These things are getting EXPENSIVE!!! Scott ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 14:11:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: MIX article ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 14:17:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: MIX article 1. sorry for the blank one--got a little trigger happy. 2. I should mention that any misspelled words in the article (such as "pirsued") are my own sloppy typos. I didn't have time to proofread. 3. Mix is basically a trade mag for the recording industry, which is why the piece leans toward the techinical. 4. five is a nice round number. 5. (see #4) -russ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 16:56:10 -0500 (CDT) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Apologia; Minutia; Robyn reviews: US vs. UK On Sun, 6 Oct 1996 RxBroome@aol.com wrote: > Truman's asking about which part of "V" has to do with "Underwater > Moonlight". It's just a little section wherein a character enters a > nightclub on Malta and notes some especially spiffy statues in alcoves... the > narration then goes off on a tangent about said statues coming to life late > at night after everyone's gone. The real clincher was that the images of the > living statues were directly related to moonlight AND the influence of the > tides, light being refracted through waves and all that. The giant squid > steadfastly fails to appear. It's probably easier to find my quote in the Feg > archives than in the novel-- it was back during the "Literary Robyn" thread. Why do I not remember this???!!!?? I think because I read this sucker long before I was a Hitchcock cultist :). Time to have another look. > The Divine Ms. T also says: > " if I'm not mistaken, Rose (Hank Williams' "Kaw-Liga" cowriter) 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)." > > But I LOVE this stuff. Wasn't that our doom, Dearest? > Actually, I think it was Fred Rose, as in Acuff-Rose... but I'm probably a > bit more country than you... True on all counts. I have to admit that Billy Rose came to my mind first- as you were raised on folk and country, so I was raised by a mother who loved musicals, which I suppose accounts for this :). > Me: "> but-- did Freud really think that Teles were more phallic than > > most other guitars :)?" > > >> Truman: " >> 'Fraid that's kinda hard to say. More phallic than those curvy >> little numbers you have running around, though :)" > > One of those "curvy numbers" IS a Tele, Sweets. But it's transgender, I > guess; the pickguard and headstock are both a lot... well... curvier than > average. A transgendered Telecaster. Hmmmmmmmm.............. > (assessments of recent Bowie deleted): > "Clever" was the wrong word. I guess that "interesting" is a better word. > The latter-day Bowie is of interest because it's impossible to tell just > what the hell he thinks he's doing, and thus equally impossible to tell > whether or not he's achieving it, or whether or not, definitively, we should > finally stop caring. Is this decay groovy or not? Mostly not, but it's > weird. What I find weird is that he got Trent Reznor in on it. Scary stuff. WHYWHYWHYWHY?????? What the hell was he thinking? Was this some sort of attempt to market himself to a younger audience? > EMOTIONALLY TORN & FRAYED DEPT. > ( the plight of intelligent misfits faced with an uncaring, nay hostile, school environment deleted in the interests of brevity :)) > Firstly, I was actually stigmatized more simply as "knowin' all thahm > bigwahrds", but such is rural West Virginia. And you don't even need to ask > if I relate to this, Love. Hahaha! That isn't unique to West Virginia! Were you also asked to "speak English"? :) :) :) > Secondly: Okay, okay, I was overreacting. I suspect it has to do with the > pychic effects of too many anti- "Cultural Elite" election-time soundbites > (how 'bout that debate? High comedy or WHAT?) It would be if it weren't all so downright scary. I mean, whatever, but it had to be one of the more boring debates ever. I found myself sorry that they shut out Ross Perot, because at least then it would have been fun to listen to :). > and my immediate environment... > LA is an AWFULLY anti-intellectual place. Truman Capote once remarked that you lose an IQ point every year you live there. Of course, this is not a worry for people like you, dearest, because you have lots to spare, but still......:) > I've still not yet recovered from > the near-castratory experience of film school, where I was constantly being > told to K.I.S.S. --"Keep It Simple Stupid". HAHAHAHA! And why, pray tell? Because the world needs more movies with Shaq and Bugs Bunny? > (Fuck, I gotta move.) Anyhow, > sorry for taking it out on all y'all. I'm under a lot of stress these days. 'Sok :). (stuff about Robyn and critics)> >> 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..." Right on. I wish I understood why people have this mania for categorizing that is so virulent that they need to turn something as unique as Robyn's musical output into something else (in their minds) in order to be able to accept it. Or, as Rex says (basically agreeing....:)) >Right right right! The US seems to be more virulently indifferent to Robyn > than spiteful to him. I mentioned the recent stateside reviews I've seen. > The technique is nearly opposite--nobody has bothered to review the record > except journalists who already, to some extent, LIKE Robyn. Therefore, the > reviews are more like evangelistic career-capsules than assessments of the > records at hand. Yup. Every American review I've read suggests wistfully that this could be the breakthrough album we've waited for all our frumpy little lives. > And yes, they all flog a single lyrical excerpt to death, > even when extolling Robyn's virtues. Uh huh. This is true. I think every single review I've read has quoted either "like a chandelier festooned with leeches" ("oh that Robyn Hitchcock, he's a goofy one!") or "I've gotta split/It's a quaint old-fashioned way to leave the room" ("Oh that Robyn Hitchcock is such a witty fellow!") :). > Apparently, pro- or con-, critics would > like Robyn to be a lot simpler than he is. The fact that he's NOT is why I'm > here. Hmm......I was hoping maybe I had something to do with it, too :). Susan > _______________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 17:56:40 -0500 From: mlang@inch.com (Steven Matrick) Subject: ME Review from Magnet Magazine =46inally got a chance to type this in..... Robyn Hitchcock- Moss Elixir All hait the kingdom of Hitchcock. Look at the world through the eyes of sardonic Brit who knows the real value of good blotter acid. These days a little more Lennon and a little less Barrett, Hitchcock distills his MOSS ELIXIR to present a potent portent of psychedelic popstuffs. Something happens to a man after he's made 20 albums: The need to prove oneself dissolves and the desire to entertain takes greater hold. The contradictions of internal life are well represented with songs like "I Am Not Me" and "Man With A Woman's Shadow". Even more of surreal soloist without those Egyptians, Hitchcock takes us all over town in his souped-up, newspaper taxi. The tender prey of humanity is dutifully sacrificed in "Filthy Bird," while the perception of velocity takes on new meaning in "The Speed of Things." For the die-hards there is a doppelg=E5nger, vinyl-only release called MOSSY LIQUOR that was imported from a parellel universe and has different versions of these songs. This ploy repeats his Groovy Decay/Groovy Decoy/Gravy Deco record conspiracy of a decade ago. Long live the queen! (Elvis that is.) [Warner Bros., 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505] by Mitch Myers ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 18:17:27 -0500 From: mlang@inch.com (Steven Matrick) Subject: Concerts Susan Wrote: "Johnathan Richman, John Cale, and Robyn all in the same month. It's an embarrassment of riches (musically speaking, though not for my wallet of course). " I am seeing or have seen (this month): The Loud Family/The Sugarplastic Bob Mould/Rasputina Tracy Bonham Los Lobos/Medeski, Martin, Wood, Richard Thompson Suzanne Vega Velocity Girl & Robyn (but only if he winds up playing at Maxwell's) !!!! Is this an insanely great month for live shows or am I just a spoiled chicken? steven matrick ______________________________________________________________________________ >From the September 24, 1996 issue of the Village Voice: THE FAVORITE COLOR "Delicate, exuberant rock swirling with fantasy and a current of psychedelia. Their new "Color Out of Space" is laced with teeth-grinding irony, but that never diminishes the sweet daffodil buzz." ---Natasha Stovall _______________________________________________________________________________ Coming Thursday October 24th to the Incredibly Comfortable Rodeo Bar (27th & 3rd Ave.): The Favorite Color & large amounts of Former Feelies!!! 9:00 The Favorite Color (Ohio Records: featuring huge Feelies fans Tris McCall and Matrix who saw the Feelies about 15 amazing times) 10:00 Wake Ooloo (Pravda Records: featuring Ex- Feelies Glen Mercer & Dave "the very tall percussionist" Weckerman) 11:00 Speed the Plough (East Side Digital: featuring Ex- Feelies Bassist Brenda Sauter and Feelies collaborators Toni Peruti and John Baumgartner) ______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 21:53:08 -0500 From: shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott Hunter McCleary) Subject: A couple things tangential Part the first: A week or so ago (but I'm a digester, so it usually takes me a while to get through these things), the lovely multiglot sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu said: > I'd rather not get into how this played out in terms of our sex life, but it > was pretty damn weird even for me, and I'm not easily shocked as far as these > things go :). Um, would that be the rhythm and blues method of birth control, Susan? ;) I had a girlfriend in college who played the bass for what I ultimately considered selfish reasons -- you figure it out. Part the second: There have been a couple mentions of Love Spit Love recently. By coincidence, I was listening to their (more properly "his"?) album the other day, and one of the tracks (Half A Life) sounds like Richard Butler trying to do Stipe. Now, Love Spit Love stands out from Butler's later Psychadelic Furs work in my mind primarily because of a harder, bigger guitar sound -- kind of like Automatic for the People to Monster. It crossed my mind that perhaps Monster is Stipe doing Butler -- and, please, no speculation on the more carnal interpretations of that notion. Anyone else see this similar evolution? Part the last: Just got done reading "A Wild Sheep Chase" by Haruki Murakami -- a very interesting read about a sheep that possesses people and makes them work his will. Very strange, and rather Robyn-esque. It's worth finding, IMO. A quick pre-show aside: Bayard -- State of the Union sounds good. ========= SH McCleary 3052 S. Buchanan St., #A1 Arlington, VA 22206 shmac@ix.netcom.com hypertext resume: www.agents-online.com/NALU/text/cv.html new homepage coming soon! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 15:50:42 +1100 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: CRD:Black crow/Sensing the toast I hear this: @The Black Crow Knows B D E D/B 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 A E If you want to know what the future holds E B the black crow knows --- >Bonjour Tracy >Avez-vous vu le 'Telegraph electrique' pour ce matin? >Vous serez tres intriguee, je pense... >- Mike Godwin >A STUDY of the physics of tumbling toast earned Robert Matthews, the >Sunday Telegraph journalist and Aston University visiting fellow, one of >the annual spoof Nobel prizes yesterday. The award may anger John Major's >science adviser, Sir Robert May, who complained recently that the "Ig >Nobel" ceremony brought science into disrepute after another British prize >winner was pilloried by the press last year. Last night's Ig Nobel Prize >Ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre honoured individuals >whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced". which reminds me of the suggestion that buttered toast and a cat may be the answer to antigravity. If buttered toast always lands on carpet butter-side down, and a cat always lands on its feet, strap a piece of buttered toast butter side up to a cat's back. Then drop the cat. It will continue to tumble forever, since it cannot land both feet down and butter down.... >"Wish You Were Here" refuses to take for granted levels of perception that >no one has any business not taking for granted for any human at any sanity >level. To paraphrase that last defiant sentence o' mine, the singer is >asking if the singee can distinguish between--for example--blue skies and >pain. I know some guy tried to wear his wife like a fedora, but I don't >think it's possible for any living creature to mistake pain for some >non-painy aspect of the physical world. At least, I think it would take >some serious "Gravity's Rainbow"-style Pavlovian conditioning to get a >subject to the point where a question like "Can you tell blue skies from >pain?" becomes relevant. And I can't believe Syd was that far gone. ohho! moving onto my territory here (synaesthesia and perception in general...). Considering that Robyn says he hears chords in particular colours, perhaps it's not impossible. After all, if you can cross modalities between auditory and visual perception, why not tactile and visual perception? No, the important question here is not so much "is it possible?", but "do you want fries with that?" James PS: coming soon, a rave review of ME from NZ's rock monthly "Rip It Up" PPS: Herb Alpert, no. Bert Kaempfert, maybe. 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 * and I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste, * and I've got one, two, three, four, five... * senses working overtime!" (XTC) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 96 21:47:52 -0500 From: "T.L.R. III" Subject: no rh--question about j. cope could anyone tell me if "floored genius I" would be a good thing to buy for someone not looking to buy a lot of cds who found that he liked "everybody likes to shag" (which he bought for four bucks as a tape)? i'm trying to figure out how to get the best cd to act as a julian cope representative in my collection. any opinions?. . . . .thanks, tom * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * "questions are a burden for others. addresses: * * answers are a prison for oneself." small documents: tlr121@psuvm.psu.edu * * --village sign large documents: tom@tlr121.rh.psu.edu* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 23:08:17 -0400 From: sister ernestine Subject: Re: Philly tix is anyone going to be buying tickets for the keswick show at the box office? if so, would that hypothetical person care to purchase a ticket for me? i'm planning on going there, but i am planning on avoiding ticketmaster extortion fees as well. i can and will pay in advance. woj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .