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 V5 #63 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 63 Monday March 31 1997 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: the world's tiniest electric viola playing just for you (fwd) Re: That Thing You Do Re: Ravens Re: Belly Re: Feg Digest V5 #62 The black crow knows... Re: Ravens Re: Ravens Re: The black crow knows... Re: Ravens Re: Belly Re: Belly Happy Easter Re: Belly Re: Belly Re: I'm sitting in a grass hut on the shiny side of the moon... Re: Belly Lovetrain or gravyboat? Re: Animation Re: Lovetrain or gravyboat? Received: (from majordom@localhost) by clairseach.ecto.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id EAA13647 for fegmaniax-outgoing; Sat, 29 Mar 1997 04:26:37 GMT Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 22:26:40 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: the world's tiniest electric viola playing just for you (fwd) Thought you guys might like to hear a -positive- assessment of Robyn Hitchcock fans, for once. This is from the John Cale list. Love on ya, Susan On Friday, 28 March 1997, Monica Kendrick wrote: >> Thank Deity -- it's not just me! Somebody else's mind slaloms the same >> inexplicable subliminal-cultural-icon-to-poultry-issue twists! > > >>>>>Oh my. -That's- a commonality I've noted among Cale fans--yes, there > are some, I guess-- a certain elasticity of brain, an ability to "think > sideways." Mind you, I have to say I think the greatest associative-gymnasts > in the (ugh) -fandom community- are, not surprisingly, hardcore Robyn > Hitchcock fans, with Tom Waits fans a very very close second, in the running, > headed for home--though Eno fans make a very good showing, especially if > they've made a study of "oblique strategies,"... ------------------------------ From: TchdnJesus@aol.com Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 23:45:29 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: That Thing You Do In a message dated 97-03-28 03:35:57 EST, Hedblade@aol.com writes: > The question that comes to mind is, how on Earth could Robyn and Andy- two of > contemporary music's best interpreters of 60's-esque pop, have been refused? > No slight to Adam Schlesinger (who 1) was nominated for an Oscar (tm) for > the song and 2) also plays in a great pop combo called Ivy), but excuse me > for saying "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???" well, i would guess that it would have to be more than just having a good song, in this case, but it would also have to be VERY immediately hooky yet notso that you can't take hearing it 40000 times within the confines of the film. which very, very, very songs are, no matter who the writer is, and robyn and andy are both a bit too clever overall [i don't mean this is all that negative a way], but schlesigner is good at. or to put it more simply, then needed a McCartney song, not a Lennon one...... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 00:32:34 -0500 From: lobsterman Subject: Re: Ravens >(Subject: is part of a long and involved point about images of London >which I'll make some other time. Probably). Damn, I read it hoping it was a discussion about my favorite Stranglers album. Oh well. -jbj /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-//-/-/-/-/-/-/- John B. Jones e-mail:jojones@mailbox.syr.edu web: http://web.syr.edu/~jojones "condemned to hell for every sin but littering" -soul coughing \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 03:41:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Belly > > there..Screw Nirvana..this is what alternative was meant to be > > Eh? Some of us LIKE Nirvana, you know. No offense...ragging on Nirvana comes naturally after all these years. > >..real music > > by real people who know how to play their instruments > > Yeah, that Dave Grohl, such a -lousy- drummer :). > I will admit Cobain wasn't the world's finest guitarist, but if that's > what you're into, go buy some records by Rory Gallagher :). Well, I'm just deflecting one of the standard criticisms of alternative music... > Seriously though, I think those records are extremely overproduced. But > then I hate production. Loathe it in fact. Someone should put a warning > sign up in studios that says "PLEASE USE PRODUCTION SPARINGLY, IF IT ALL, > FOR THE GOOD OF YOUR MUSIC AND YOUR LISTENERS. THANK YOU" (of course > there are always the exceptions- if you are Beck, for example, you may > feel free to disregard this :)). How do you mean, "production"...whenever you go into the studio, you produce something...I don't get it. Terry ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 21:09:45 From: Keith Hanlon Subject: Re: Feg Digest V5 #62 >Robyn Content: He did a version of "Feed the Tree" (if anyone has a tape, >I will trade for it...), and he said that "There was something there [in >the music], but you can't hear Tanya Donnelly [the lead >singer/guitarist/writer] through all of the stuff they put on top" I remember Robyn hosting 120 Minutes, and after that song, he said something about feeding it "through the proper oriface." >Also, dating Scorpios can be a great deal of fun. One simply must pick >the right Scorpio. I get touchy when people Scorpio-bash. My girlfriend knows it bugs me, so she tries to make it worse by singing, "if he treats you horribly, he's probably a Scorpio." Is that where this thread started? Keith ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 11:47:45 -0500 From: Greg Harris Subject: The black crow knows... I'd like to take Terrence up on his suggestion to recommend a non-RH title that came my way recently. It's a group from Wales called the Longpigs and their first album is called "Sometimes the Sun Goes Out". It's been released in this country on Mother Records, a Polygram imprint that U2 are responsible for. Their sound is remeniscent of the LA's with just a dash of Radiohead thrown in for good measure. I haven't been able to stop listening to it since I picked it up. Also, I haven't seen any mention of the import "Kershaw Sessions" cd. I'm reminded of it due to the Andy Partridge reference in the last digest since the liner notes suggested Robyn would want Andy to produce a future album. GAWD, I'd love to see that happen! Anyway, that's all for today, folks. --Gregorian ------------------------------ From: amroth@zetnet.co.uk (Phil Edwards) Subject: Re: Ravens Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 22:02:30 GMT >From: Truman Peyote >Subject: Re: Ravens > >On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, Phil Edwards wrote: > >> It's Harrods with an A, and there weren't any trams in London in the >> early '80s (or '70s, or '60s come to that). Must be a bus. > >Yes, there were. They were called Trams of Old London (tm). Er... do what? Trams mean tram tracks, which, as far as I was aware, could only be found in Britain (until recently) in Blackpool and on the Isle of Man. Certainly not in good old Old London, or not in any part of it I've frequented in the last couple of decades. Unless Old London's actually a different place, a la New York... Phil heading for the travel agent -- Phil Edwards amroth/at/zetnet.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 17:33:16 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Ravens On Sat, 29 Mar 1997, Phil Edwards wrote: > >On Thu, 27 Mar 1997, Phil Edwards wrote: > > > >> It's Harrods with an A, and there weren't any trams in London in the > >> early '80s (or '70s, or '60s come to that). Must be a bus. > > > >Yes, there were. They were called Trams of Old London (tm). > > Er... do what? Do ask Robyn. He's the one who wrote a song called "Trams of Old London". Love on ya, Susan P.S. I KNOW what Trams are! Geez! What kind of Anglophile do you think I am. :) ------------------------------ From: Hackinaway@aol.com Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 21:11:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: The black crow knows... I have the Kershaw CD..... ------------------------------ From: Hackinaway@aol.com Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 21:17:35 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Ravens Just wanted to smirk at you for being so silly and fun Susan ; ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 20:54:44 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Belly >From: Truman Peyote > >Eh? Some of us LIKE Nirvana, you know. Yes. Some of us even thought Nirvana was the best new band since REM. ;) In his excitement, I'm afraid Terrence came off a bit snooty in his post. >>..real music >> by real people who know how to play their instruments > >Yeah, that Dave Grohl, such a -lousy- drummer :). Yeah, and that Tanya Donelly, such an AMAZING guitar-player. ;) Yes, Belly has broken up. Gail Greenwood plays in L7 now, and Donelly will have a solo album coming out shortly (I believe an import EP is already available). I liked Belly, but thought their records were pretty uneven. And the second album also had its dull-as-dishwater production working against it (Glyn Johns should stick to classic rock). I'd rank the early Throwing Muses records a lot higher than the Belly discs. I also would highly recommend Kristin Hersh's solo album Hips & Makers, which I also like better than anything by Belly (as well as much of the Muses' own output, oddly enough). Eb ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 02:29:37 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Belly > >From: Truman Peyote > > > >Eh? Some of us LIKE Nirvana, you know. > > Yes. Some of us even thought Nirvana was the best new band since REM. ;) In > his excitement, I'm afraid Terrence came off a bit snooty in his post. Again, I apologize..I was trying to ward off criticism... (When you mention "alternative", most people think "Oh. Nirvana. People who can't play", etc.) No offense was meant. > > >>..real music > >> by real people who know how to play their instruments > > > >Yeah, that Dave Grohl, such a -lousy- drummer :). > > Yeah, and that Tanya Donelly, such an AMAZING guitar-player. ;) > > Yes, Belly has broken up. Gail Greenwood plays in L7 now, and Donelly will > have a solo album coming out shortly (I believe an import EP is already > available). Well, I can't play the guitar from "Gepetto" without retuning. And since when is "lots of tricky chord changes" that great...Full Moon, Empty Heart is 3 chords (E,A,D) but that's all it needs...I mean...you don't need to show off. (Though I'm tempted to write a song called "The SOng With All The CHords I Know"...instrumental, natch) Terry ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 03:29:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: Happy Easter Hello. I'd just like to wish you all a happy Easter. Terrence Marks Second Student in the Tendo Kasumi School of Philosophy -Seeking enlightenment through normalcy. normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 11:31:40 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Belly On Sun, 30 Mar 1997, Terrence M Marks wrote: > Again, I apologize..I was trying to ward off criticism... > (When you mention "alternative", most people think "Oh. Nirvana. People > who can't play", etc.) > No offense was meant. Two things: 1. Terrence, -PLEASE- stop using that word alternative. I beg of you. There is no such thing as alternative music. Stop perpetuating the myth. This music is TOP 40, plain and simple. It is only considered "alternative" by like, hard-core Jimmy Buffett fans or something, anyway, and lord only knows you don't need to worry about their musical opinions! 2. Since when did the quality of rock and roll have anything to do with amazingly skilled playing? Incidentally I saw a fantastic 60s garage/R&B band last night who, aside from the bassist, could barely play at all :). > show off. (Though I'm tempted to write a song called "The SOng With All > The CHords I Know"...instrumental, natch) Hehehe, me too. Only in my case it would be rather too short. Love on ya, Susan Happy bunnies and things to everyone! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 23:02:26 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Belly On Sat, 29 Mar 1997, Terrence M Marks wrote: > > Eh? Some of us LIKE Nirvana, you know. > > No offense...ragging on Nirvana comes naturally after all these years. After all these years? Huh? It's not as if they'd been around forever :). > Well, I'm just deflecting one of the standard criticisms of alternative > music... Ack! There's that word again. You -know- how I feel about it. I tried to explain in private email why I feel this way, but I guess I wasn't clear. This may be an age difference thing (I'm pushing up to 26). > How do you mean, "production"...whenever you go into the studio, you > produce something...I don't get it. Well of course. I was speaking rather flippantly and not very literally. What I meant was- it's generally not all that good of an idea to bury songs in bunches of doodads in order to mask the fact that they aren't that interesting. Also, I really don't like heavy production on -anything-, I'll admit it. It only "works" in rare cases (yeah, ok, allright ROXY MUSIC ARE GREAT, I know :)) and I don't think a well-written song generally needs huge amounts of strings, wood-nymph choirs, flutes, horns, and what have ya to sound good; this is why generally when I hear lots going on in the background I tend to think there ain't too much happening in the foreground, if you catch my drift. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 23:58:35 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: I'm sitting in a grass hut on the shiny side of the moon... On Fri, 28 Mar 1997, Mark Gloster wrote: > ...shaving tennis balls because there isn't much to do... You must be one of the people that puts bags on parking meters. The laddie friend and I were wondering about this the other day. Now I am fairly intelligent, he is insanely brilliant, but even with our combined brain power we -could not- work it out. The best answer we could think of is sheer boredom, which often motivates absurd behavior of the type you describe above.. Or perhaps it is to keep people from getting diseases from the unsanitized ones, since whole planets have been wiped out by diseases that come from things as mundane as unsanitized telephones :). > FegSusiax: > > I will gladly read this channel whether Susan Truman Peyote Dodge Dart > Smith Wesson and Ni is the sole poster or not. Dodge-Veg-o-Matic, if you please. And uh, thanks. I think. > BTW: Severe Tire Damage is not the twin song of _Jacob Lurch Got Runover > and Now He Has a Wafflehead_. No, it always struck me as being closer to "Linden Arden Lost His Snacktrays". > Also, dating Scorpios can be a great deal of fun. One simply must pick > the right Scorpio. Ah yes! Well I know :). After brief forays into other areas of the zodiac I am pleased to report that I am back with another of my beloved Scorpions. They aren't -all- horrible :). > heard it and I love listening to it overandover. There have only been > two major releases that have turned my head the last year, Beck's effort You didn't like "Different Class"? I thought it was -smashing-! > Miscellany: > > I was sitting in a San Jose brew pub with three of my favorite people > who will remain nameless, as they may fear the cascading guilt by > association, discussing spousal response to Fegmaniacle behavior. My > sweety, who had introduced me to Robyn's music in the first place, once > told me that fegmaniax was a good place for nerdy people who don't have > lives. It's NOT? Maybe I have the wrong mailing list then ;). > Uh. I'd hate to think that's us. For the most part we don't write > about his probable genital proportionalities, That doesn't mean no one thinks about it (juvenile snicker) :). Sorry, that was terrible. It won't happen again. At least not today :). > or what kind of socks he > wears; instead, we have informative discussions upon the patterns and > fabric of his shirts. I know! We are so much more urbane than other mailing lists. > I mean, we even got resolution on the > Mucky/Bucky/Plucky the Pig contraversy. Yes, well, we did resolve that by going to the source. The Bryan Wilson controversy remains open, however..........(not that I am suggesting it be revived). > Geez, this keeps us outa' > trouble. Speak for yourself. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ From: Ross Overbury Date: Mon, 31 Mar 97 9:07:54 EST Subject: Re: Belly Susan wrote: > > Well of course. I was speaking rather flippantly and not very literally. > What I meant was- it's generally not all that good of an idea to bury > songs in bunches of doodads in order to mask the fact that they aren't > that interesting. > Also, I really don't like heavy production on -anything-, I'll admit it. > It only "works" in rare cases (yeah, ok, allright ROXY MUSIC ARE GREAT, I > know :)) and I don't think a well-written song generally needs huge > amounts of strings, wood-nymph choirs, flutes, horns, and what have ya to > sound good; this is why generally when I hear lots going on in the > background I tend to think there ain't too much happening in the > foreground, if you catch my drift. > > Love on ya, > Susan > > Let it Be/Abbey Road. Same period, same band. Pick one. Now imagine John Lennon's first solo album with lots of strings and effects. You're absolutely right, of course, that inappropriate production can come between the writer's concept and the audience. That can include leaving the sound too raw as well as overembellishment. It depends on the songs, doesn't it? Once I thought I might become a producer. I always wanted to try recording without EQ, panning or even volume controls by moving a band around a single stereo pair of microphones. I'd still make a multitrack recording, with different takes for each instrument (where necessary), but the instruments would be recorded in the same room through the same 2 microphones at the same settings. The idea was to get what would sound like a live recording of an optimal performance. That's still production, but it wouldn't sound syrupy! -- Ross Overbury, would-have-been-producer Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:49:25 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth CC: Truman Peyote Subject: Lovetrain or gravyboat? On Wed, 26 Mar 1997 the carpal-enhanced Susan typed: > > maybe I should say Susan's digest, since 50% of the content was hers. > > ;-) > > Ok, so I'm a geek. Like you all didn't know this already! :) > ....snip.... > I'll settle down a bit once school starts back up (ha!). Just carry on posting--I didn't hear anyone complaining! > > If memory serves me correctly, there has even > > been a marriage! > > When was -that-? Who was involved? I've been hanging round this Colney > Hatch for well on two years now (has it been that long? jesus, I really > need a life) and I can't recall any mention of such a thing. Well Ms Susan, just for you I dredged the archives... The pairing I best remember was technically "coupledom", rather than actual marriage -- but hey, they mentioned having kids together, how more serious can you get? Jay and Sarah were the protagonists (that's Brownlee, not Hedblade!) and they were looking for an "our song" suggestion. (It was almost exactly one year ago) And by the way, yes, you were there! (See archive v4 #73) If you're reading this, Jay and Sarah, I hope everything is still going well. Love 'n gravy ~N ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 14:19:11 -0800 From: Nick Winkworth CC: "Reynolds, Russ" Subject: Re: Animation On Thu, 27 Mar 97 Russ Reynolds sketched: > I actually asked him about this during an interview circa 1984. His > response, in a nutshell, was that it would be much too tedious and time > consuming for him. I've been holding out hope ever since that he'd > change his mind some day. For him, sure. These days all the artist has to do are a few key frames and a bunch of underpaid and expoited artists in Taiwan or wherever fill in the rest ("tweeners"?). You don't think Matt Groenig draws every frame of the Simpsons, do you? He may not have the patience to do a full length film, but a six minute music video would be on the cards I should think. Would make a nice segment for the new movie, too. ~N ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 16:28:20 -0600 (CST) From: Truman Peyote Subject: Re: Lovetrain or gravyboat? On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Nick Winkworth wrote: > On Wed, 26 Mar 1997 the carpal-enhanced Susan typed: That's ME! In addition to posting huge amounts of drivel to this mailing list, I am also learning to THINK C (joke for the macheads among us :)). So my wrists do get rather weary as the day goes on. > > I'll settle down a bit once school starts back up (ha!). > > Just carry on posting--I didn't hear anyone complaining! Well no, but very few of them were -responding- either :). Seriously though, I think it'll be a long while before I have another day like that. > Well Ms Susan, just for you I dredged the archives... > The pairing I best remember was technically "coupledom", rather than > actual marriage -- but hey, they mentioned having kids together, how > more serious can you get? Ah, it was the word marriage that threw me. I still don't think there have been any marriages (yet). I do remember Jay and Sarah. Haven't heard from them in quite awhile, have we? Maybe they're busy raising young Jasper or Brenda :). > Jay and Sarah were the protagonists (that's > Brownlee, not Hedblade!) Yes, I know, I've met Jay H's fiancee and that's not her name :). Love on ya (and carrots too), Susan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .