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 #118 Fegmaniax Digest Volume 5 Number 118 Friday May 30 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: ------- ------- say cheese congratulations, mrs hedblade Re: The Eb Method? Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) Re: The Eb Method? Re: Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) Mumbo Guambo (was The Eb Method?) World Music Awards (no Hitchcon) Bait? Re: Dangerous cheeses! (fwd)- only peripheral RH if any repetition? Re: Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) curiousity still 'piquing' :) A Penis-Song Question erotic robyn LA Weekly responses to monday's mail... plus "lust is my birthright" Sacramento Show yak yak ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 21:48:10 -0700 From: "Mark \"the rubber chicken of love\" Gloster" Subject: say cheese Yea. When I play with cheese competitively, someone always gets hurt. Such a terrible accident happened to my anglo forefathers that my last name lost several letters. I suddenly want to study chemistry. I'm even finding a certain respect for plumed avians. I don't like flamy stuff on this channel, unless it's the flamy hair of a scottish lass, but don't get me going. I get to (have to?) spend much of the weekend with friends who are heavy on the Virgo. I should be a wreck by Monday. Hope ya got your CD's Terry. Smiles, -Markg ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 00:58:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: congratulations, mrs hedblade Can someone post lyrics for "It's a Hedblade"? this is an historic occasion... the first song about a feg! (at least the first one about a feg on this list!) Big thanks to friend and co-conspirator mark for the public kindness. =b ------------------------------ From: Terrence M Marks Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 01:52:08 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: The Eb Method? > Can't say that I really agree(d) with what Eb's > been throwin' down lately, but I think this little > spoof of Eb is really mean spirited. Come on, > people! Play nice! Bah. You want mean-spirited, you oughtta see the Kinks list. I got some foul-mouthed adolescent kicking me in the shins while people cheer.... But yeah, that *was* a bit mean. Terrence Marks Remember-Jesus is your friend. normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ From: JASONBRAB@aol.com Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 02:09:34 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) on Wed May 28, the woj of noise wrote: >>all things considered, i never really understood the appeal of autographs.<< I can sympathize with your sentiments...I used to feel the same way years ago, and now kick myself when I think about signatures I could have easily had but wouldn't ask for because it seemd too "silly" or "fan-ish." (I won't even mention who---it's too painful.) When I looked back at those missed opportunities with regret, I started considering the matter differently. I've come to look at autographs as a tangible momento of having met someone whom I admire. I don't consder myself an autograph "collector" (someone concerned with monetary value, or who wants a signature of ANY famous person)(and I could never understand the appeal of BUYING an autograph---to me its meaning is in its being a souvenir of having met and talked to the person); and there are plenty of people (sports stars, even the President) whose autograph wouldn't mean a thing to me---not becasue of any disregard for the person, but because I don't feel the personal connection to them that I do to the musicians whose work has meant so much to me. In a way, I suppose the same argument could be applied to taking amateur photographs...the snapshot you take of Robyn Hitchcock (or whoever) is not likely to be as good as the ones you find in any professional magazine. If you want a really good picture, cut one out of Rolling Stone or The Bob. But in another way, no other picture in the world, no matter how technically good, can capture the moment when you were standing right there, next to that person at that particular moment, and therefore no other picture can evoke that memory with such redolence...in that sense, your snapshot or Polaroid can be TO YOU the best picture in the world, because it captures as nothing else can your highly personal reminiscence. An autograph can be the same thing: a material embodiment of a personal moment... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 01:10:25 -0500 (CDT) From: Mississippi Malcolm McDowell Subject: Re: The Eb Method? On Fri, 30 May 1997, Terrence M Marks wrote: > Bah. You want mean-spirited, you oughtta see the Kinks list. I got > some foul-mouthed adolescent kicking me in the shins while people > cheer.... > But yeah, that *was* a bit mean. Oh Terry, haven't you noticed how many people jumped up to defend you over there as well (one of whom was me? :))? Your mistake was in assuming that they discuss things there. They do not. They say things like "I was driving in my car and I saw a duck, and it reminded me of 'Soap Opera', which I bought in high school where I met my wife. God Save The Kinks!". They are extremely averse to being shaken up precisely because no one -ever- does it. That's why they reacted to you the way they did. It's so rare that there's ever anything interesting going on. They're a buncha silly fogies, for the most part. ObRobyn: I didn't get the impression that "It's a Hedblade" was a full-length song. Was it, Jay? Of course no one would ever do "It's a Dodge", it would sound too much like a commercial and even if it didn't, it's a really boring name compared to Hedblade. Love on ya, Susan ******************************************************************************* "The worship of the beautiful always ends in an orgy"- Benjamin Disraeli, "Lothair", lxxvii ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 23:39:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Wet Toast Tweezers Subject: Re: Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) >...the snapshot you take of Robyn Hitchcock (or whoever) is not > likely to be as good as the ones you find in any professional magazine. If > you want a really good picture, cut one out of Rolling Stone or The Bob. of course, with bobby, most of the pictures in magazines are likely to be bad. thus, taking pictures by anyone may turn out less than perfect. of course, of late the haircut has gotten better, and this has helped. over, .chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 00:17:35 -0700 From: Nick Winkworth Subject: Mumbo Guambo (was The Eb Method?) On Thu, 29 May 1997 18:49 The Guambat pfeeted: > > Can't say that I really agree(d) with what Eb's > been throwin' down lately, but I think this little > spoof of Eb is really mean spirited. Come on, > people! Play nice! Hmm. I must say I have noticed the occasional provocative comment coming from that direction. However that is not always a bad thing as long as it stimulates friendly discussion and not a flame war. Intentionally provoking or not, my only comment is that I've been impressed with the thoughtfulness and civility of the lists responses, in general *not* rising to the bait. (The "banter" thread being a good case in point.) Until Kens post that is. Whatever you may think about the merits of his views this sort of post is simply counterproductive. (IMHO) The simple way to beat the provocateurs (as Ken draws them) is *not* to rise to the bait. Ignore them or respond (if you must) with calm logic. If the fires don't take hold they'll get bored and drift away. In my book Eb is free to post whatever he likes. If its a "Robyn Hitchcock sucks" post, just ignore it and move on. If it's an interesting and constructive comment then welcome and support it. We're not all going to agree on everything - on most things actually - so tolerance is the watchword. Its up to us. In the time I've been subscribed Feg has been one of the most flame-free lists around (with one or two notable exceptions ;)). Lets try to keep it that way, eh? Go Guambo! ~N ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 02:30:56 -0500 (CDT) From: John Littlejohn Subject: World Music Awards (no Hitchcon) On Monday, the World Music Awards air on ABC. Artists include Celine Dion, Ace of Base, the BeeGees and our dear friends the Spice Girls. Gloria Estefan, Jon Bon Jovi and Lionel Richie - this last perform a selection of his hits - will also appear. Are these the seven trumpets? They certainly blow JL P.S, no one make a crack about that last line and the Spice Girls! -* "Si vous m'obstaclerez, je vous liquiderai" - Churchill -* ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 00:42:44 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Bait? People say I was flamebaiting when I complained about Robin's contrived storytelling, and yet look what happened: I complained, and suddenly a few other dissatisfied customers came out of the woodwork, no longer afraid to deviate from the standard RobynGodThink. And it evolved into a good discussion of Robin's "banter," past and present. So yay for Eb, for daring to think the unthinkable. And of course, just because I don't like his storytelling hardly means I was "flamebaiting." Sheesh. Is any negative comment on this list construed as "bait?" Must we all worship Robyn above all other musicians? Because I'm sorry, I just don't. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:07:45 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Dangerous cheeses! (fwd)- only peripheral RH if any On Thu, 29 May 1997, Mississippi Malcolm McDowell wrote: > > One man in the crowd, who tried to avoid a bouncing Double > > Gloucester cheese as it went off course, lost his balance and > > fell about 100 feet down the hillside. This is what you risk when you say "Please direct me to the cheese"! - hssmrg PS Idea for an SF movie: "Attack of the 50 foot Camembert"? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 97 07:32:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: repetition? Miles notes: >Anyway, to pick up on the repetititve Robyn stories/songs thread, as >someone >else has suggested, I think this is a phenomenon created through Fegmaniax >-- if I wasn't on this list, I'd've been amazed and surprised by Robyn's >shows this year. I gotta agree with this. In the same way that tape trading can spoil new material before it's released, set-list trading can hinder one's enjoyment of a live show. This time around I'm merely skimming the set lists, avoiding the details of his between songs ramblings and deleting new song lyrics without reading. I was able to dub the Cats Cradle show for the tape tree without hearing too much of it and I intend not to listen to it again until Hitchcock leaves SF. I want to get the most out of this show. And if I'm successful my next challenge is going to be not filling up on bread before the meal comes. -russ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 97 07:42:00 -0800 From: Russ Reynolds Subject: Re: Autographs (vs. bought-o-graphs) >in another way, no other picture in the world, no matter how technically >good, can capture the moment when you were standing right there, next to >that person at that particular moment, and therefore no other picture can >evoke that memory with such redolence...in that sense, your snapshot or >Polaroid can be TO YOU the best picture in the world, because it captures >as >nothing else can your highly personal reminiscence. have you ever been photographed with Charlie Watts? :) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 13:44:05 -0400 From: twofangs/randi spiegel Subject: curiousity still 'piquing' :) Susan wrote... >When I was listing the female list population I was going >completely off the top of my head, so of course there were too many for >me to remember everyone. Appy-polly-loggies to whoever I missed :) Appy-polly-loggy unnecessary but gracefully accepted. I'm happy to know there are so many females on the list, whenever I go to see a Robyn show in Toronto, the audience is _at least_ 3/4 male. I've always been curious about that...is it the same everywhere? I'm also wondering if any male persons in this "globe of fegs" melt into "a puddle of goo" when they see/talk to Robyn. Jay, were your butterflies doing acrobatics when you interviewed him? Do any of you "smart and beautiful" men out there find Robyn's work erotically charged? ;) (I smile and wink but I really am curious) Randi today I found this quote (from a 1994 interview I did with RH) for the lovely and talented Mississippi Malcolm McDowell... "Happy the Golden Prince is just about a penis" - RH ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 15:12:53 -0700 From: mrrunion@tng.net (Runion, Michael R.) Subject: A Penis-Song Question twofangs/randi spiegel wrote: > today I found this quote (from a 1994 interview I did with RH) for the > lovely and talented Mississippi Malcolm McDowell... > > "Happy the Golden Prince is just about a penis" - RH Speaking of penises (sp?), Can anyone give me any info on a song I heard Robyn and the Egyptians do for the Lovelines KROQ show? It was quite country-fied and was something about so-and-so having their penis cut off. I only heard it once, at the close of a Lovelines show being aired locally early early in the morning (prior to 6am)...I was just starting my trek north to last years Athens gig. Now, I have the Lovelines show on tape that RH&E did back in '91, and this particular song at least wasn't sung during the broadcast. Maybe a quick studio take done before or after? Can anyone help? Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 17:32:16 -0400 From: kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander) Subject: erotic robyn >Do any of you "smart and beautiful" men out there find Robyn's work >erotically charged? ;) (I smile and wink but I really am curious) hoo-ah! robyn's visions of funky aquatic lust burn like a tire rolling down the frozen highway. it might be easier to find robyn songs that don't have anything to do with the murky underbelly of libido. 'certainly cliquot' is very erotic with the popping champagne imagry. 'agony of pleasure' is silly and sexy. so is 'wafflehead'. what about 'bones in the ground' and 'it's sounds great when you're dead'? 'vibrating'is sultry and resonant, 'beatle dennis' always makes me wonder what's going on that they don't notice the plane crashing down on the studio, 'tropical flesh mandala' HAS to be about sex! everything on FEGMANIA! is libidinous. KEN ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 14:37:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Griffith Davies Subject: LA Weekly Here is LA Weekly's pick for Saturday May 31 Robyn Hitchcock at the Roxy With a writer's tortured brow, a satirist's waggish wordplay and a cool-headed voice that's veddy British, Robyn Hitchcock has manufactured his own acquired-taste status over two decades. Whether playing with the Soft Boys, the Egyptians, or on his own, occasionally one of his songs, such as "Ballon Man" and "I Often Dream Of Trains," will wiggle its way into semi-popularity. But big, big things are happening on Mr. Hitchcock's horizon. Early next year will see the release of _Storefront Hitchcock_, Jonathon Demme's concert film shot in two days in NYC. Meanwhile, the raconteur rocker is doing a happy little tour "with an acoustic guitar and a teapot" to support his wonderful _Moss Elixir_ album, his 23rd (!), which is gem-ful of more endearing stories, like "Filthy Bird" and "Devil's Radio." He may even dig out such oldies as "Uncorrected Personality Traits." And, as always, his surreal repartee between songs leaves you wondering whether you should be laughing, chortling, or both. Libby Mlyneaux ______________________________________________________________ Griffith Davies hbrtv219@email.csun.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 18:21:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: responses to monday's mail... plus "lust is my birthright" John wrote: >Wow, I'm left speechless at this comment. Robyn's stream-of-consciousness >stories are 50% of the reason I attend so many of his shows. I always >thought that if you were a fan of Robyn, it was based in part on the >between song banter. Eb>You must find those banterless Robyn albums TERRIBLY frustrating. ;) Nah. But not as interesting, IMO, as a tape of a concert with *unique* and sometimes superior versions of songs, plus (bonus!!) banter. Yes, the banter varies in quality. So does the voice, the playing, the audience, the sound system.... It all adds up, you know? It's true the monologues are not as varied as they were, same goes for the setlists.. i've seen over a half dozen rh shows and pretty much enjoyed them all, but none has even come close to approaching the gigs at the diamond club in toronto in 1990, or SUNY 10-2-90, or kennel club SF 5-21-91, in terms of setlist or spoken words. On the bright side, his musicianship and voice have gotten better, and he seems to be having a fine time, if a bit tired sometimes. I wrote: >I just meant if you wanted to see someone who looks vaguely like robyn, >(according to my roommate and "retinal damage") Eb>I suspect that Fegflinger Susan may hand you your head on a stick for Eb>saying Tom Petty looks vaguely like Robyn Hitchcock. ;) I didn't say it, they did. The song goes, "Oh, Betty/I might look like Tom Petty/But I can assure you I ain't...." ..In reference to post closings like "[name of poster], who thinks ..." Eb> PS FOURTH person, Bayard? Well, it's not first person cos' you're not using "I", not 2nd person cos you're not using "you", and not third person b/c you're not omniscient. I suppose it's your mental self referring to your cyberself or vice versa. Eb>Secondly, Chesnutt's superb 1996 album About To Choke has ZERO Michael Stipe input, as far as I can see. Vic hardly needs to rest on Stipe's laurels. :( Easy there, old boy. I think the Quail was merely remarking on the similarities notable in the vic/robyn/athens/bermuda/isosoles pentagram. Eb>I haven't heard Chesnutt's version of "She Doesn't Exist" unfortunately. No, it's not unfortunate. I doubt you'd like it. It's not like anything else he's done, I'm told. I think he later released it himself on a limited run cassette of songs he did just for fun. Eb>The overall concept of Glass Flesh doesn't appeal to me very much, to be honest. I believe in your rebuttal of the Eb method, you restated your thought as (paraphrasing here) you don't much care for tribute records in general. That's a bit different, as the concept of a tribute record and the concept of _GF_ in particular are fairly divergent, in my mind. GF was conceived and best succeeds as a utilization of the existent online community to achieve an ongoing compilation of artistic expressions related to RH's work. This is an arrogant way of saying that we did it for the fun of it. As a side effect, the consensus seems to be we ended up with a pretty great CD. (over 300 sold so far! thanks everyone!) Kay remarked: K>Terry, Terry, its something about how females are built. We hear, K>we relate, we lust. For men I believe the process tends to be K>reversed. What impresses me about female musicians (aside from talent!) is their onstage demeanor. Especially when subtle, movement, facial expression, etc are oh so effective. In terms of looks, I've always felt weird about getting the hots for someone I don't know, so that's stood in the way, but I agree about luticia (sp?) of stereolab. i only ever saw a photo of harriet wheeler (sundays) that was the size of a pinky fingerprint, but it was supercute. the singer of bouncy electronic band republica has a great onstage attitude too, and edie brickell simon as i recall did wonders long ago (sheesh, it must be 9 years ago now)... and natalie merchant is ok... sometimes it's charisma that vastly outweighs traditional or trendy "goodlookingness" (eg juliette lewis, gillian anderson.) I respect RH immensely but I'm not attracted to him physically. Randi asks: >So, did anyone ever come up with what brand of acoustic he plays? He played a martin in georgetown on may 17 1993. My guitarist friend was there and we accosted RH after the show. I was nervous more cus I didn't want to bug him than b/c i was awestruck or lovestruck. My guitarist friend asked what model it was. "Wot, the cheeze grater?" =b ------------------------------ Subject: Sacramento Show Date: Fri, 30 May 97 00:51:07 -0700 From: Mark Bauer Thus spake SydneyC33@aol.com: >Tell me, please, are there any Sacramento Fegs, or is >this a rare and endangered species? There's at least one. I'm a devoted, albeit lurking, Feg and Sacramentan. I'll be at the show next week (cutting paper napkins into little crescent moons, of course). Mark ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 21:21:02 -0400 From: the woj of noise Subject: yak yak also squach the great quail: >As far as I can tell, the true leader of the Cult of Feg is >actually Woj's identical twin "Woj Sven-Woj", who is rumoured to take his >instructions from the severed head of Andre Breton, a rumor i can neither confirm nor deny. however, i can tell you that my identical twin usually goes by "skippy", which rolls off the tongue a wee bit easier than woj sven-woj. (i have an evil twin as well, known to the few unfortunate to have met her as "the slu beast". that probably is best left unexplained.) also sprach miles: >Anyway, to pick up on the repetititve Robyn stories/songs thread, as someone >else has suggested, I think this is a phenomenon created through Fegmaniax this is true to an extent -- i've seen it crop up on other mailing lists that i'm on/have been on -- but i think that a mailing list only exacerbates, not creates, the situation. anyone who simply sees one show during a tour, by choice or not, will never know otherwise. however, anyone who sees more than one show per tour or trades tapes or follows fanzines or whatever, will be aware of it. also sprach eb: >People say I was flamebaiting when I complained about Robin's contrived >storytelling, and yet look what happened: I complained, and suddenly a few >other dissatisfied customers came out of the woodwork, no longer afraid to >deviate from the standard RobynGodThink. whether or not robyn's storybabble is any good isn't a new topic, by any means. it's come up in fegmaniax's six years occasionally -- in fact, i seem to remember that it was one of the earliest things discussed on the list (feg was founded not long after the eye tour, which was when a lot of people -- including yours truly -- received their first exposure to robyn's solo shows). regardless, discussions in the past do not invalidate discussions in the present or future. you'll excuse me for being skeptical of your comment about "robyngodthink". yes, there are fegs who think he can do no wrong, but there have always been other fegs who have, without fear, hoisted robyn by his petard when they feel he warrants it. go read the archives sometime. also sprach randi: >I'm also wondering if any male persons in this "globe of fegs" melt into >"a puddle of goo" when they see/talk to Robyn. 'fraid he's not my type (i'm sure the gooey people are thrilled to hear this), but i understand the attraction -- just don't feel it myself. also sprach ken: >hoo-ah! robyn's visions of funky aquatic lust burn like a tire rolling >down the frozen highway. i think you're missing the point. it's pretty clear that the songs that don't have to do with food or seafood have to do with sex...the question is, does he get *you* all frothy? >'agony of pleasure' is silly and sexy. hmmm. i'm not sure about the latter, but i certainly don't think it's silly. it's a pretty oblique angle on copulation but hardly silly. woj n.p. polvo -- thiseclipse n.d. red hook esb (wahoo! the new hampshire brewey is finally open!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest. *sob* .