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 #228 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 228 Monday November 11 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: ------- ------- BOSTON SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED more from the mini-apple Re: Feg Digest V4 #225 Re: radio show cd San Francisco show??? anyone?? Re: San Francisco show??? anyone?? 11/16 Orpheum show moved! San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 Re: Wreck of the Arthur Lee Re: Feg Digest V4 #225 Wreck of the Arthur Lee RE: More, more, gimmee more Raygun article, Nov 1996 Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 Re: Two halves ... Re: SF Show NYC show 2 Halves, anybody? keswick show Dylan tape tree RE: Dylan tape tree Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Nov 1996 09:51:07 -0500 From: Alex Tanter Subject: BOSTON SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED The Orpheum show is now at the Avalon. I don't know where it is...can someone post directions or at least tell me which T stop? Thanks! Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Nov 1996 21:22:27 -0600 From: JASON KOFFMAN Subject: more from the mini-apple Hey folks, I'm a first time "poster" so have some patience. First off, I've seen many Robyn shows back in my home state of NY and have heard many live tapes from all over, but I rarely hear him perform any cover songs. I moved to Minneapolis 4 years ago and have seen Robyn play here every year since and he plays a few covers everytime! Now I know that some of you probably frown upon this business of borrowing other people's songs and would rather hear the millions of tunes that Robyn has penned himself, but I love to hear my favorite artist's bent versions of other great artists' songs. Not only do covers usually liven (sp.?) up a concert, but it often gives you even more insight into how an artist creates his/her songs. With that in mind, let's take a poll: "What covers have YOU heard Roybn perform live?" Here's the ones I can remember... - "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan: performed in Minneapolis on the current tour. Robyn loves Dylan (yeah, who doesn't) and his wordy poetic ramblin' suits Robyn well. He said that he likes to do Dylan songs when he's in Minneapolis since Bob is from here (well, sort of. he lived & played here, but he's FROM the not-so-far-away town of Hibbing, MN.) - "The Wind Cries Mary" by Jimi Hendrix: performed at the same show! High point: when Robyn gets to the chorus and sings, "Maaary" in his super low end bass-like voice. Chilling, man. - "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" by Bob Dylan: performed solo a few years ago in Minneapolis when touring with the Egytians. This one threw me simply because of it's obscurity. Off of "Street Legal", Bob's less popular period shall we say, but what a powerful song. - "Star" (um, if I remember correctly) by David Bowie: performed with Jill Sobule during her encore. She was Robyn's opening act in Minneapolis. Robyn didn't play guitar, but sang and gestured about AND played harmonica. Woo-Hoo! That's about all my mind can dig up at the moment, but I'm sure someone out there can help me. One last note about the "cheese hat" you've been seeing on the Robyn & Billy tour: it can be purchased at the cheese shop in the Mall Of America, right here in the Twin Cities! Now who says we don't have it all?!?! Later... JaSoN ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 13:40:36 -0800 (PST) From: The Hooded One Subject: Re: Feg Digest V4 #225 To Anyone Who Might Be Able to Help: I saw R.H. at the Vic in Chicago on October 30. I came prepared to get an autograph -- with my Moss Elixir poster and gold metallic paint pen. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch Robyn's eye before he left the stage (pre-encore), and after the encore, he saw me, but once he realized that I was seeking an autograph, he shook his head and left the stage. I felt quite embarrassed about the whole thing, and I didn't even SEEK a Billy Bragg autograph, even though I'd thought I would. I ended up with Robyn's setlist, which was very nifty, but was still a little disappointed I didn't get my autographed poster. My question -- how does Robyn *usually* handle such "requests"? Anyone know from experience? If I'd caught him before the encore, would he have been more willing to take the poster and pen? I intend to try again, if any of you Feggers out there think I have a decent shot at it........... Aaron ______________________________________________________________________ / C. Aaron Lowe | "I don't want to run and hide; \ |--------------------------| I've seen it all from either side; | | HoodedOne@geocities.com | Truth and fiction must collide someday." | | AaronLow1@aol.com | --Midnight Oil | |**********************************************************************| \ Visit my OLotW! -- http://zen.res.cmu.edu/People/aaron / \____________________________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 23:23:55 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: Re: radio show cd woj let us know about the following info that was forwarded to him: > >A word of explanation: The following are radio shows that are > >delivered to participating radio stations in the United States on > >compact disc (or recordable compact disc), as opposed to being > >broadcast to the stations via satellite. Once the radio stations have > >played them, they are supposed to be returned but invariably are not. > > They can be found if you look for them. Some feature live-in-studio > >renderings of songs you've heard, or, even more rarely, songs you've > >never heard (I'd recommend the Spin Radio Network title, featuring an > >unreleased live song "Ivy", as a disc worth tracking down). Others > >just feature interviews or album cuts and you'd really be better off > >giving that money to charity, or buying yourself a sandwhich. > >SPIN RADIO NETWORK > > #13 & 14 (1992) "Ivy" (live), "Yes I Do" (live), Interview^ Does anyone have this? I'd like to hear it (duh). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 23:35:45 -0500 From: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu (John) Subject: San Francisco show??? anyone?? I find it hard to believe that out of all the Bay Area fegs on the list, not one person has posted a setlist or their take on the event. Maybe you all just have more of a "life" than i do. but please, post a review. someone. a setlist at least. living vicariously through your experiences, i remain humbly, John +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ John B. Jones jojones@mailbox.syr.edu WWW-----http://web.syr.edu/~jojones "I often dream of trains till it gets light, The summer turns to winter overnight, The leaves fall so suddenly, The sun sets at four o clock, ----exactly what I'm dreading." -Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 22:09:43 -0800 (PST) From: "Dot, the Itchy God." Subject: Re: San Francisco show??? anyone?? On Sat, 9 Nov 1996, John wrote: > I find it hard to believe that out of all the Bay Area fegs on the list, > not one person has posted a setlist or their take on the event. > > Maybe you all just have more of a "life" than i do. but please, post a > review. someone. a setlist at least. > well it looks like i am the first, which i think is odd. since, or although, i do live in the bay area i do have a 200 mile long drive way thatt has a large valley and mountain range in the way, along with a desert on the other side. hmm... but, yes. us fegs hooked up before the show, and it was confirmed that all things considered we are all quite normal in every way. the only deviation was my insisting on calling glen all sorts of names that were just not quite on the mark (opps, sorry :) ). but, the show was good. billy was great the man at times need not the guitar. although some of the commentary was a bit 'modern' were is should have been 'post-modern' if you get my soical science drift. glen has the set like with proper attire and tunings to it. i think i can comment on some of robyn's technical stuff. first as mentioned in the bam article, he palyed the flyde [sp?] for the non-electric bits. telecaster, black unknown model [at least precisely] through a blackface twin reverb amp. the pdeal thing is a problem here but it seems the glen and chris censensus [sorry i cannot speel tonight too much driving] was that there was a chorus pedal [boss pedal green color] and asomething or other which i forgot [ again boss pedal four knowbs and violet colored] the stage banter was weak, i had read almost all of it on the list. also i though that the technical merits of his playing were less than par for the last two shows i saw in portland. it was sort of a let down, but i was expecting it to be a bit weak. in fact, i proposed to a few of the other in person fegs that the spet. 1995 show i saw in portland may be the best robyn show i will [ever??] see, or at least for a long time. am i saying that a peak has been reached, not really, but there was something in that sept. show that was not present in this show. final comment, i had the fortune to be near a person who must laugh at every word robyn says, sheesh. but, this person took that matter even further and was a a few point laughing a cord changes, very odd? as for billy i thought he cleaned up. overshadowed robyn by far. some of the commentary was a bbit based in the political past/cement that we know billy for. but it was great. explinations of proper sports [and what i call mere activities], winnie the poo and imperialism, neol gallagher commentary, belly buttons and goatees, and dylan problems. this was the highlight of the trip. blow away. spell check free tonight, .chris ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 12:07:15 -0500 From: Stephen Foskett Subject: 11/16 Orpheum show moved! The 11/16 Orpheum RH+BB show has been moved to the Avalon, according to the Orpheum's web site at http://www.tparty.com/biz/tpc/orpsched.html This is good because it's a nicer place to see a show. It's bad 'cause we all paid bigger bucks for the tickets than an Avalon show would have cost... Anyone up for a get-together beforehand? Stephen -- Stephen Foskett sfoskett@mass-usr.com U.S. Robotics, Massachusetts R&D Lab ------------------------------ From: Jabbertalky Subject: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 11:30:41 -0800 fegs, It's Sunday morning and I am finally coherent after a LONG Friday night in San Francisco. Thought I would recap the evening and post the set list for those who may be interested. My girlfriend, Carol, and I were the first to arrive at Chevy's for dinner. There was a reservation waiting for us under the name "Mr. Feg". We were just finishing up our beers when our table was called and Nick, Susan and Cynthia arrived. We were joined soon thereafter by .chris, who had come all the way from Reno, and two others: Chad and a friend of his, whose name I regrettably have forgotten. Tom and his wife Colleen arrived a few minutes later and the party was underway. We finished dinner and walked to the Warfield, 15 or so minutes away. Nick managed to snap a couple pictures of us. He said that they are going to be on the Web page. Which one? I don't know. Ask Nick :) We arrived at the Warfield at about 7:55 and were frisked, searched and finally allowed in. Chad, his friend, .chris, Carol and I managed to weasel our way to near the front of the stage. Nick, Susan, Cynthia and John Partridge were a couple rows behind us. The lights went down at 8:14 and Robyn entered from the right side of the stage (our right, not his) donning that black and white checkered shirt that he is so often seen wearing. Oh, and black pants. He stepped up to the mic. and found it was too low to be of any use. He then did his Dr. Frankenstein impersonation and asked one of the stage hands, whom Robyn referred to as Igor, to fix the mic. stand. That drew some laughs from the crowd, a large portion of which, if not Robyn fans, were seemingly familiar with him and were more than polite. The set list: 'Devil's Radio' 'Where Do You Go When You Die?' (?) -- a new song I had never heard, but am now in love with. He played a harmonica which, according to him, was "purchased in San Francisco and had never touched [his] lips." 'Serpent At The Gates Of Wisdom' -- a different harmonica in a brand new key which he used to play the piano fills from the recorded version. This song in a stripped-down form was poignant and emotional. We all agreed that it was one of the highlights of the evenings. He did draw several groans from the crowd when he said, "I left my harp in San Francisco." '1974' -- another new one which was absolutely hilarious and brilliant. I hope this one turns up somewhere soon. Deni Bonet took the stage for: 'DeChirico Street' -- during Deni's solo, Robyn said "I love glam rock". He then sang the next verse in a mock Bryan Ferry-Marc Bolan voice. The audience loved it. 'Egyptian Cream' -- "This is a song about a magic potion that can change a woman to a man to a blonde." 'Filthy Bird' -- "Our society is based on the fact that you can only be happy with blood on your hands." Deni leaves... 'Beautiful Girl' -- which I sang into my girlfriend's ear. 'I'm Only You' -- "Sometimes you miss someone so much, you become that person. Too bad it didn't work for the Christian church." Switch to the black Telecaster for: 'I Am Not Me' -- which he introduced by saying, "Get ready for some fuck-ass rock and roll!!!" 'I Something You' -- "I wrote this song 10 seconds after I finished singing that last one." 'You And Oblivion' -- double drop D tuning and that circular strumming pattern. Standard Tuning: 'Only The Stones Remain' -- ended the set Encore: Robyn returned wearing a plain purple shirt. Still playing the Telecaster: 'Clear Spot' -- "Dedicated to the Captain somewhere up the coast." 'Sinister But She Was Happy -- double drop 'D' and Deni again. 'Beautiful Queen' -- Deni ran her violin through an Octave pedal to achieve the descending cello/bass effects. I left at intermission and sat in the lobby during Billy Bragg. You'll have to ask someone else if you are interested in his set. I met John Partridge before the show and was introduced to Mark Gloster at intermission. I enjoyed meeting everyone. Hope you all liked the show. Chad and friend: What a nice surprise! Hope to hear from you again. Email me so I can get you a tape of that International Submarine Band album. Susan: I hope your trip was enjoyable. Sorry for all the confusion at the end of the night. Chris: I hope you made it back to Reno without too much trouble. Nick: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! for all the work in planning the get-together and for taking care of Susan and Cynthia. I really enjoyed talking with you. Keep in touch. I'll write a bit more tomorrow. Cheers, --g ______________________________________________________________________________ Glen Uber glen@metro.net http://metro.net/glen/ ______________________________________________________________________________ "One can find within music the entire range of the human soul, from humour and eroticism, to Salvation itself." --Mahavishnu John McLaughlin ------------------------------ From: Hedblade@aol.com Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 16:18:16 -0500 Subject: Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 << '1974' -- another new one which was absolutely hilarious and brilliant. I hope this one turns up somewhere soon. >> Robyn says it is going to be on the soundtrack and in the Demme movie. :) Sincerely, Jay ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Nov 96 18:20:41 -600 From: spine@iastate.edu (James Francis) Subject: Re: Wreck of the Arthur Lee what a shame. i think lee is an amazing, amazing musician and songwriter. i'm new to LOVE, but i bought this wonderful thing called the LOVE BOX that has a gazillion tracks on two cds (including all of their most-prized work, supposedly), and it's wonderful. robyn's even mentioned in the liner notes! i'd whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who likes robyn's work (especially the stuff from LOVE's first three albums). this is probably obvious to many of you who've known about LOVE for a long time, but i can really hear the influence on robyn in places. there's one song that sounds almost exactly like "empty girl." are there any LOVE devotees out there who can tell me if lee has produced anything of worth recently? (he talks in the box set about a desire to start working again.) before, i guess, this awful incident. . . thanks, "jim" francis ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Feg Digest V4 #225 Date: Sun, 10 Nov 96 18:27:13 -0800 From: Tom Clark "The Lobster Gang" >I saw R.H. at the Vic in Chicago on October 30. I came prepared to get an >autograph -- with my Moss Elixir poster and gold metallic paint pen. >Unfortunately, I couldn't catch Robyn's eye before he left the stage >(pre-encore), and after the encore, he saw me, but once he realized that I >was seeking an autograph, he shook his head and left the stage. I felt >quite embarrassed about the whole thing, and I didn't even SEEK a Billy >Bragg autograph, even though I'd thought I would. I ended up with Robyn's >setlist, which was very nifty, but was still a little disappointed I didn't >get my autographed poster. My question -- how does Robyn *usually* handle >such "requests"? Anyone know from experience? If I'd caught him before the >encore, would he have been more willing to take the poster and pen? I >intend to try again, if any of you Feggers out there think I have a decent >shot at it........... Besides the obvious in-store appearances where he's there to do just that, your best bet is tracking him down after the show. I'd think he would feel rather awkward standing on stage signing an autograph immediately after finishing a set. -tc ************************************* * Tom Clark * Apple Computer, Inc. * tclark@apple.com * tclark@netgate.net * http://www.netgate.net/~tclark ************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 19:06:23 -0800 (PST) From: The Mack Subject: Wreck of the Arthur Lee Hello, About poor Arthur's latest work, he put out a new album and single (I forget the album name, the single was "Girl on Fire"), under the Love name, nonetheless, and toured behind it back in...I think it was '94. A live album from the tour called "Once More Again" was released as well. There's a fanzine, called the "Castle" I believe, that documents all things Arthur. I heard, though I might be wrong on this, that the High Llamas became "Love" for the European leg of his '94 tour. It would've been the perfect match, as the Llamas sound to me like a near perfect blend of "Forever Changes" Lee and "Smile" Brian Wilson. -chad ------------------------------ From: "Baker, David(PIN-C09)" Subject: RE: More, more, gimmee more Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 23:07:36 -0500 Hamish Said: > I've also changed my mind about "Invisible Hits", it is just as good > as "Underwater Moonlight". I must agree with Mr Metcalfe though, they > really should have avoided those instrumentals. which is good to hear. I feel Invisible Hits is extremely underrated. I have read quite a few reviews of The Soft Boys Back catalog which state that IH simply was in the same class as COB or UM. On reflection, UM is probably the best of these but I certainly feel that IH is quite superior to COB and is full of extremely strong songs. I actually find the sound of the album (which Mr Metcalfe apparent dislikes) very appealing with the band developing a nice psychedelic edge which compliments the bite in the lyrics without being overpoweringly loud. I had the album for about a year before I found out that it was a posthumous odd and ends collection and I certainly never suspected that anything less than a full blown Soft Boys album. I find the collection to be really well balanced between warped, catchy pop tunes (Wey-Wey-Hup-A-Hole, Have A heart Betty, He's A Reptile), powerful psychedelia (When I Was a Kid) and scathing mid-paced laments on soured relationships. And two of my favourite tunes on UM (Old Pervert and I Got The Hots) also date from these sessions. In fact, I think I'm going to go home and listen to it right now. Dave. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 00:32:39 -0500 From: jojones@mailbox.syr.edu (John) Subject: Raygun article, Nov 1996 I found this at my local bookstore over the weekend. It's really good, probably the best bit of press Robyn has done for the new album. ----------------------------- So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish / Rabelaisian Without A Clue Meets The New Robyn Hitchcock by Jason Cohen and Michael Krugman This article appeared in Issue 41 (November 1996) of Raygun Magazine, and is reprinted without permission. Much thanks, tho. A word of advice: don't ever ride on top of an open double-decker bus during a rainstorm on a windy British island. This is where we found ourselves one Saturday this past summer [August 10, 1996], at the invitation of Robyn Hitchcock. He was gathering together 100 of his closest friends (okay, British members of his fan club, mostly) for a little trip around the Isle of Wight where, amidst the soaring cliffs and spectacular oceansides, he would deliver a few impromptu sets. Being visiting journalists from another country, we were given priority seats up top. So we probably deserved to shiver in the rain and cold, and shiver we did. Which isn't to say our endurance wasn't rewarded- for one thing, we were memorably introduced by Robyn as "Jason Cohen and Michael Krugman, who are joined by some ghastly umbilical." And he doesn't even know us that well. Anyway, after a long ride past many green valleys and just as many (mad) cows, the bus lurched up a hill and deposited us in a shoreside parking lot. As mystified surfers and beachgoers looked on, our little crowd formed a half-circle around Robyn and his compatriots, Tim and Jake [from Homer]. Together they delivered a set that included stuff from the new one, _Moss Elixir_, as well as oldies ranging from "One Long Pair of Eyes" to "Queen of Eyes." A little later, after the rain had begun, a second set was delivered, at a quaint, seemingly abandoned carnival and shopping plaza, the kind of place that sells sand sculptures and candy. It looked like the kind of place where the big ending of a Hitchcock film would happen. Alfred, that is. Considering that Hitchcock has long been one of those English guys who does better in America than his home country, it was reassuring to find out that he has British fans. And what a fine thing to do, spending an afternoon in the countryside with them. To top it off, as we returned to the bus stop and ferry launch, we happened upon two poor souls who had arrived late on the Isle, missing the trip completely. Generously, Robyn parked under an awning and did an extra half-dozen songs for them. A few weeks later, we met up with Robyn again in London, where he took us on a circuitous walk through the West End to get falafel, over which we chatted. PART I: "A be-in? As opposed to a wasp-out?" M: Was this the first time you did a bus trip like this? R: Last year I did one in the abandoned railway station, for the 25th anniversary of Hendrix's last gig. All the tracks had been taken up years ago, but the station's still there. I think next year we're gonna try and get a boat from the mainland to the island. It needs to be different every year. I really want to get some balloons, or a zeppelin- apparently they're about to reinvent the zeppelin. M: It's cool that you do this for the fans, that you let them get so close. R: The idea is kind of put them in my shoes, as much as possible--without them actually walking in the kitchen. Or, I get up in the morning and they're actually standing in my shoes. On the whole they're quite considerate people. And so it's nice to just take them 'round and say, this is where I wrote that song. That bus, that double decker, I used to listen to my rough mixes on that, I remember putting on the rough mix of "Airscape" and driving around. You wouldn't necessarily want all your fans to witness a divorce, or breaking a leg, or going to the dentist. But I'd really like to take the boat to the island, get on the bus, drive to the top of the hill at Tennyson Down, and then the balloons come and take them up, and I'm in the gondolier, singing. J: Tell us about the band you've been playing with. R: Homer is the band I'm borrowing, they're young British guys. The drummer plays with the Sundays, and the bass player with the Blue Aeroplanes. M: So neither of them are very busy. R: No, exactly. They're a very good little beat group. They don't have the dynamic musical range of the Egyptians, they're a bit more straight ahead. So for my purposes, when I want to sort of shake my flap, and get rid of some very middle aged rocks, I borrow them. M: Is it odd working with new guys after all this time? R: What is odd is when one of them replicates an old drum part, for instance, Morris Windsor, I worked with him for nearly 20 years, so suddenly hearing Patch playing one of Morris's old drum parts, you realize that Morris is probably more creative than he was given credit for, or that he claimed credit for, he was always frighteningly humble. And I heard Jake play one of Andy's bass lines the other night, and there's also Matthew Seligman's old bass line, and things like that, it's all there. Younger guys trying on older clothes. M: Were they Soft Boys fans? R: No, I don't think anyone much heard the Soft Boys. They'd have been too young. M: Tell us about Jonathan Demme. R: He appeared at a gig I was doing just outside New York City last April. I'd never met him before and the guy that runs the place said, "Can Jonathan Demme come and say hello?" and I thought, "Well, he can come up say hello the way Al Pacino could come and say hello, or the late Peter Sellers, y'know? Do stairs have steps? Sure." So Jonathan materialized with his wife and some friends, and it appears he'd been following my ventures for awhile, and I didn't realize this, so I said, "Oh well, I'd love you to do something," and he said, "Yeah." I imagined it more like being a video, but somehow this mushroomed into filming me doing a show in October in New York. It's me and a small audience, there will be cameras, and I've got Deni [Bonet], who plays violin on the album, is gonna do a couple of songs, and Morris Windsor, but its gonna be pretty sparse. And this will be my new album, so I'm busy writing songs for this project. M: When we heard you were going to do a Demme film we were afraid it was going to be Ted. (Explanatory note #1: At which point Michael has to explain that Ted Demme is the nephew of Jonathan, and, as the director of such films as _Who's the Man_ and _The Ref_, not quite his unky's equal in the talent department.) R: Are you going to be quoting yourself? J: I think that's why he said it out loud. R: I'm not familiar with him. J: He created "Yo! MTV Raps." R: A program I couldn't turn myself away from. J: Let's talk about the music business. You were without a record deal for a couple of years, but it seems like it was worth waiting around to end up on Warner Bros. R: It's still fertility month at the moment; we don't know what it's going to be like when the flowers start to wilt. As long as everything's sensible. Things start to go wrong when the record company is expecting a big turnover from an act. It's like they walk up to a tomato plant and just decided to empty all of the water that it needed for six months in one day. So they just get this wagonload of water, dump it on the plant, point at it and say, "GROW! C'mon you measly little fucker, it's time you sprouted!" I'm not a high yield guy. M: Surely they don't expect you to be a pop star at this point, they'll let you do more or less what you want. R: I wanted to put out the record I was making. I had enough money to record, but not enough money to record endlessly with a producer. It was a great, I was in a position where I had to call the shots. Sometimes I get indecisive and I defer to other people because I don't know what I want. That's the lazy side of me, it's better for me not to have other people to refer to, or defer to, because I very often will, but the buck always stops with me. In the end, they say Hitchcock's new record, they don't say Paul Fox or Andy Metcalfe's new record, so I've got to do it myself. M: So what does the company make of you? R: I don't know, you have to look at the fact that they've got people like [Elvis] Costello, and Lou Reed, who probably don't sell millions, so partly I think they like having you as art object, though obviously you've got to pay for yourself. If they don't have to spend millions of dollars making your record, or promoting you, then they can generate the kind of revenue that comes in from you sales, it should pay for itself. I suspect I'm basically decoration, I don't know. I think Warners is still more music-driven than accountancy-driven. J: Are you still doing much writing and painting? R: Well, I painted alot in [Washington] DC, because I couldn't write any songs. I think basically I was in the wrong place. When I got back to Britain, everything changed. It was fantastic coming back here. I'd never liked London until I lived in Washington; suddenly it became an attractive city. Things just went very well for me personally back here. I met the dark princess, and now we share a cat. It's like that. You get the dark princess, you get the cat. Sometimes, you can get poultry. (Explanatory note #2: the dark princess being Robyn's paramour Michele. You'll find the cat [Figgy]--and something close to poultry on the _Moss Elixir_ artwork). So things went well, and I've sort of stopped painting. See, my father, he used to paint and write, and I realized that the reason I paint and write is I saw him do it, on a holiday he'd always be writing a story, and at home he's be sitting in his room painting. I used to imagine he was a skeleton and he'd turn around and grin at me when I opened the door, so I didn't go in for 18 months. He was alive at that point. M: He was a novelist? R: He's got 10-12 books, all his best books were unpublished. They published about eight, which were sex comedies, and spy thrillers, but they weren't Raymond's mind at its most unleashed. My father's head would just roll all over the place. I mean, not literally. But somebody in New York is apparently offering me a publishing deal, so when I finish the Demme project, I'm going to try to get enough short stories together. M: "Spaniard In The Works" would make an excellent title. R: Spaniard in the works? Or Dylan had a "Sheriff In The Machinery," that was his response to that. So I'm going to give this guy some of my father's scripts, see if he'd be interested in relaunching Raymond Hitchcock. Raymond, he was always making up stories, but he had a military background, whereas I was a hippie so my stuff was a lot more rapid, entangled, and caved in on itself. My mother's got a sort of multi-tracked brain, it's just like a four-track, you can fade up any one of the channels to see what's going on, she just fades up different ones to speak, her life is a sort of constant dub mix. I've realized my parents were both quite evasive in a way-- they weren't shy, but I guess they weren't sure about things, so I've grown up incredibly uncertain. Someone reviewed my record once and said the function of Robyn Hitchcock is to make you doubt, just listen to that voice, you can't be sure of anything. I'm not sure if that's true but I wouldn't be surprised. PART II: "May you only get married once." J: Okay, let's talk about the new record. R: (Explanatory note #3: There is a long moment of silence.) Well, I'm sure there must be something I want to say about it but you'll have to trigger it. J: Fair enough. So I'll ask you something trivial, and then you can answer with something profound. M: That's usually how it works. J: So you recycled one of the songs you did on the K Records single. M: Is Calvin Johnson [founder of K] allowed to do that, associate with a major [label]? R: He was appalled at the idea of something of his being on Warners. But it wasn't like I was actually going to tow Bugs Bunny into his basement and prop him up. Maybe he would've liked that. Calvin's a very dry dude, he's got a one-track tape recorder. I think we're both walking away from technology in the same direction. He was a good guy to work with, and very fast. J: Homer play on the record as well? R: Yeah, they're on the ones that needed a rhythm section. It's quite fun, being a rock singer for a few minutes, and then I go back to what I really do, which is virtually nothing to do with rock. To me Nirvana are the ultimate 70s band, because they merged the Sex Pistols with Led Zeppelin, who at the time were in opposing camps, but that's what all that stuff is about. When I saw all that heading down on me in 1991, I kind of knew it was over, it was obviously going to be over for the Egyptians, and for me as a rock person, because there's too much finesse in what we did, it was too middle-aged. We were just clearly so out of sync with the cycle, it was like when the Soft Boys played in '77, we were just diametrically opposed-- they were January and we were July. So I just sort of spent a lot of time getting right away from the whole rock thing. M: Did that rock audience ever really take to you? R: It was never really "rock," but because of the R.E.M. thing, that sort of mid-tempo jangly pop was acceptable. It was something that we, if not pioneered, then we kind of picked up the torch back from the Soft Boys. It was legitimized big in the 80's, and we sort of capitalized on that with the Egyptians. J: You've said that you didn't really like the last two records you made. R: I thought the last two records were quite good but they weren't great Robyn Hitchcock albums. What they were was well produced, very professional, artful records that featured Robyn Hitchcock singing his songs, reasonably loud in the mix, and the whole was created by a producer and three musicians, they were done by committee. So what I really wanted to do this time was to have something that was done by me, me and my ego, thank you very much, bringing in musicians when I needed them. M: The songs themselves were kind of different too, the jokes were sort of toned down on the last few records. R: I just sort of tried to sober up in about '90. '88-'93 were very turbulent years for me, I was in and out of a few relationships, I was moving house alot, I was having severe attacks of drunkenness and sobriety. I didn't even drink for a year, I just had to really clear up; and the result was _Perspex Island_, which was perhaps a bit too sober but maybe it just had too much reverb on it, who knows. It's not as great as we hoped it would be and it's not as bad as many people think it is. It's just a piece of alrightness. In the end something's got to be either good or bad, there's gotta be a point where you discard it. The world of "quite nice' is death to music; to produce "acceptable" music is not enough. Obviously if you played it to a polar bear it wouldn't know either way, whether you were playing it Rage Against The Machine or Michael Jackson. M: I think it would recognize Rage Against The Machine. R: Maybe. Within the spectrum we inhabit, I wanted to make something where everything counted. The other side of it is that my kind of schtick had become something that was virtually a parody of itself 'round about _Globe Of Frogs_. I really wanted to try and move away from that, because I could tell with the feedback it was like, "Here's Hitchcock, let's out with the fruit, fish, vegetables, trains, and dead wives, isn't he wacky?" And it wasn't about that, it was about whether I was a good songwriter or not, not what language I was using. So I wanted to just press the songwriter button. Maybe I lost a bit too much of my plumage, I don't know what I am right now. What did you make of the album? M: I think it's great. It's the one I've liked most for a long time. R: Really? Since like _Eye_, or something? J: _Eye_ and _Queen Elvis_, yeah. M: I like the sound of it, it's not as produced as the last couple. R: Well, you know why that is, because it's built up from the voice and guitar, and then I stuck on what was necessary, where normally you do the backing track and drop the voice over the top, like dropping a jacket out of a helicopter and hoping it falls onto the clothesline. I figured I'd just do what Dylan does; I don't suppose Dylan was strumming his guitar and deciding to sing "Mr. Tambourine Man" over the backing track. J: Is this the record you wanted to make with _Respect_, in some ways? R: The prime difference with _Respect_ was it was meant to document Andy, Morris, and I playing together. And we played together very well. I thought we never really cut it in the studio, we were much more exciting live, and I wanted to just get a document of the three of us singing really simple-- acoustic bass, Morris with the shakers and me with an acoustic guitar [I cannot contain myself: yes! yes! this is what it SHOULD'VE been--jbj]. I should've just insisted on sticking a microphone in a bowl of fruit. M: Did you know it was the end of the Egyptians? R: No, I didn't, but it really makes sense now. We'd gone back to Britain, did the tour, in '93 we came back, and I started recording by myself, then we did some demos together and I just sort of realized that the record I wanted to make couldn't be made with a band, and that furthermore we didn't have to exist, there was no need reason for us to have our legs tied together. Our legs were chafing quite alot, it was time that we went out and breathed some air away from each other. I didn't like what we'd become to each other. We all had our assigned jobs, and I think it stopped us developing. So I'm doing what Dylan did backwards: I started out electric in a band and now I'm reverting back to troubadour-style, I can hear myself. M: And Dylan can't. R: (Doing a fine impersonation) I can't hear nothing no more. I just disappeared. M: Have you ever met him? R: No, you should never meet your heroes. J: It's a professional hazard for us. R: Do you find it makes you a bit cynical, because you're always meeting people and you realize that they're just shmucks? M: We've been lucky. It's mostly the younger bands who are obnoxious and unpleasant. R: I didn't have any success at all until I was 30. But I think it does affect you. I was sort of an alternative demigod in the States in the late 80's, I'd have alot of people buzzing around me the whole time, and I became even more self-centered because of it. It's physics, it's bound to happen that way, if everyone's staring in at you, then you actually start to feel that you're the center. That's why it's so hard for babies, first thing they pop out and everyone stares at them like they've just been in a fatal accident, they all look at the baby because they want to hide everything that's really going on in the world, they show the baby these blank moonlight faces, and they talk to the baby like it's braindead. They often do the same to you when you're dying. So I think, stars, it's a very difficult process for people not to lose perspective, and the chances are you go into the business because you're self-important anyway. If things go well, you're on a roll. I imagine the Oasis brothers are completely unbearable. J: And why wouldn't they be? But they're very distant, whereas you must get the kind of fans who think they know you personally. R: If so that's a good thing, because the idea is to produce something that's intimate, so that people pick up a very vivid impression of what it is like to be someone else. That way they have some sort of personal experience in a way that their idea doesn't clash with their imagination. That's one of the reasons I have a band, to get close, and this relies on trust. I have to trust that these people won't follow me home. This album, I don't know how intimate people could get listening to it, but it's basically my most tender record. I'm always trying hard to reassure people, especially myself. I listen to this record and it hasn't got much of a sting in it, but it's probably got more comfort in it. Because I'm 43-- angry young man is great. Petulant middle aged one is horrible. --------------- Carpally yours, John ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 10:43:26 +0100 (CET) From: "J. Isaacs" Subject: Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 He did Clear Spot!! Oh, foul, technichal foul!! Is there a tape out there??? James ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 14:34:19 +0000 (GMT) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Two halves ... I have just been listening for the first time to a tape of "Two Halves" (thanks a lot, Tracy). Easily the best RH songs I have heard for yonks (since "The Yip Song", I suppose) - I could almost see the point of Kimberley Rew. And I was pleased to meet Mucky the Pig in another lyric as well... On a different tack, when the Mega Fegbase gets up and running, would it be possible to have a "Recording Date" field as well as an "Release Date" field? Some of the songs floated around for years before official release, and it's nice to get a sense of the chronological songwriting development. Sleeping in the bayou in an old rotten cot - Mike Godwin PS Thanks to the Carpal Tunnel Crew for recent article transcripts - nice that RH has at last noticed what a good drummer Morris is... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 96 09:01:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: SF Show Glen, thanks for your review. I got caught in that monster east bay traffic jam after work and didn't reach the Warfield until 8:30. I figured by the time we parked, bought tickets and went inside it would have been 8:45 and Robyn's set would've been about over, so we took our $38 and spent it on beers at the Thirsty Bear, Seafood at Fishermans Wharf and a nightcap at Gordon-Biersch. Checked the voice mail a few times for word from Nick about a post-show gathering, but I guess there wasn't one. Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet everyone, especially those who came from outside the Bay Area. The irony is that I ended up working a half hour later than expected because I had to produce a late order commercial for...the Warfield. anyone buy an extra shirt if they had 'em? >'I'm Only You' -- "Sometimes you miss someone so much, you become that >person. Too bad it didn't work for the Christian church." almost word for word the same intro he used at the Great American Music Hall last year. Glen & Tom: This Wednesday and next Wednesday are excellent days for me if we can do a lunchtime bottling. Keep me posted. I've got three cases of clean bottles, probably enough caps to cover them all and a good shot at a bottle tree on loan. -russ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:20:31 -0400 From: lj lindhurst Subject: NYC show I ask again, because the show is a mere 5 days away-- does anyone want to get together for drinks and crack cocaine before OR after the show? lj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 13:51:41 -0500 From: nicastr@mail.idt.net (Ben) Subject: 2 Halves, anybody? Would anyone who has "Two Halves For The Price Of One" like to trade for a tape of it? I have some live RH to trade, and other artists. Ben ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:58:53 -0500 (EST) From: Rory Patric Connell Subject: keswick show can anyone tell me what time the glenside, pa show starts? I'm hoping i don't have to skip my thursday night class, again. but, anything for robyn...also, does anyone know how far away the keswick is from upper delaware. and, do they tolerate taping the show? thanks, Rory Connell ------------------------------ From: Alex.Stein@HBO.com Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:37:13 -0500 Subject: Dylan tape tree Help! I lost the name and address of my branch on the Dylan covers tape tree. If it's you, please send me email. Thanks. Alex (Alex.Stein@hbo.com) ------------------------------ From: firstcat@lsli.com Date: Mon, 11 Nov 96 15:16:15 Subject: RE: Dylan tape tree Message-ID\": \"\"" The three active trees are posted at http://www.lsli.com/tabs.htm --- On Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:37:13 -0500 Alex.Stein@HBO.com wrote: >Help! I lost the name and address of my branch on the Dylan covers tape tree. If it's you, please send me email. > >Thanks. > >Alex (Alex.Stein@hbo.com) -----------------End of Original Message----------------- ------------------------------------- Jay Lyall Channel Sales Director Livermore Software Laboratories, Intl. 2825 Wilcrest, Suite 160 Houston, Texas 77042-3358 1-713-974-3274 jay@lsli.com Date: 11/11/96 "I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals; I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants." --A. Whitney Brown ------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 16:52:45 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: San Francisco, 8 Nov 1996 On Sun, 10 Nov 1996, Jabbertalky wrote: > We finished dinner and walked to the Warfield, 15 or so minutes away. Nick > managed to snap a couple pictures of us. He said that they are going to be > on the Web page. Which one? I don't know. Ask Nick :) We arrived at the > Warfield at about 7:55 and were frisked, searched and finally allowed in. Oh, it wasn't all that awful. In Chicago they separated people by gender, body-searched them and made everyone empty their bags and such. I thought the Warfield security was beningn in comparison! > Chad, his friend, .chris, Carol and I managed to weasel our way to near the > front of the stage. Nick, Susan, Cynthia and John Partridge were a couple > rows behind us. The lights went down at 8:14 and Robyn entered from the > right side of the stage (our right, not his) donning that black and white > checkered shirt that he is so often seen wearing. Oh, and black pants. Same one he wore in Chicago, that little op-art number. It was quite becoming :). > The set list: > > 'Serpent At The Gates Of Wisdom' -- a different harmonica in a brand new key > which he used to play the piano fills from the recorded version. This song > in a stripped-down form was poignant and emotional. We all agreed that it > was one of the highlights of the evenings. He did draw several groans from > the crowd when he said, "I left my harp in San Francisco." Robyn's comment- "See what happens when I try to tell a joke???!!" > '1974' -- another new one which was absolutely hilarious and brilliant. I > hope this one turns up somewhere soon. I believe, as Thee Hedblade says, this is supposed to be included in the Demme film. > Deni Bonet took the stage for: > 'Egyptian Cream' -- "This is a song about a magic potion that can change a > woman to a man to a blonde." Wasn't "vegetable" in there somewhere too? > Switch to the black Telecaster for: > Encore: > > Robyn returned wearing a plain purple shirt. Still playing the Telecaster: It was slightly oversized and appeared to be silk, although I wasn't quite close enough to verify that. Anyway, he looked quite fetching in it. > 'Clear Spot' -- "Dedicated to the Captain somewhere up the coast." This was truly wonderful, perhaps even the highlight of the show for me (or one of them, anyway). Hope this cover shows up on the film soundtrack. > 'Beautiful Queen' -- Deni ran her violin through an Octave pedal to achieve > the descending cello/bass effects. Should also mention those wonderful curving hand/arm movements at the end, which this feg found quite swoonworthy :). This was also a show highlight! Although it was not quite as musically tight as the Chicago show, it was still more than satisfying. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I am really really looking forward to the Demme film. I'll be there with my lovely new "Jasper" t-shirt :). Susan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .