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To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org
Subject: fegmaniax-digest V6 #112
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fegmaniax-digest       Monday, December 29 1997       Volume 06 : Number 112



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  Christmas            ["Matthew Knights" <mknights@harrywasp.prestel.co.uk>]
  Engineers                         [Terrence M Marks <normal@grove.ufl.edu>]
  Re: Engineers                             [Sean Hennessey <suggs@tiac.net>]
  Re:best and worst 0% RH  [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)]
  Uh, never mind....                              [Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>]
  not even musical content this time ;)           [Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>]
  Re:  Re:best and worst 0% RH - TCS            [MARKEEFE <MARKEEFE@aol.com>]
  Re: Engineers                           [Jon Kanis <jkanis@rocketmail.com>]
  TAPE TREE STRUCTURE--Robyn Xmas Party  [John Barrington Jones <lobstie@e-z]
  Brushes wit musical demigods (belated)                   [RxBroome@aol.com]
  Top Ten Class of '97                        ["trentd" <trentd@claynet.com>]
  Re: Brushes wit musical demigods (belated)      [Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>]
  Re: frank black/black francis             [jeffery vaska <jvaska@mail.com>]
  Re: fegmaniax-digest V6 #109      [Nick Winkworth <nick.winkworth@hds.com>]
  Re: frank black/black francis (0% RH)  ["Baker, David(KWI-C09)" <david.bak]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 10:54:48 -0000
From: "Matthew Knights" <mknights@harrywasp.prestel.co.uk>
Subject: Christmas

<where's robyn for christmas and what are his own views on traffic and
santa claus? >

Err ? Brenda's Iron Sledge ?

James observed:
<Top 10 of 1997? But there's still 2% of the year to go yet! >
But the final week of the year is hijacked and doesn't count.  Maybe I'm getting too
cynical but I feel that the 52nd week of the year is always set aside so that big
corporations can ram the likes of Perry Como/Bing Crosby/Jimmy Stewart reruns down
our throats across all TV / Radio stations.  Surely the final week of the year is a
creative void and can be discounted. In fact the year seems to end earlier each year.
Currently its somewhere around December 15th.

<Ever watched a high speed strobing light and felt slightly dazed when you
looked away? Same effect in miniature.>
I used to enjoy The Cramps shows here in London on their first UK tours in '79 and
'80.  The Cramps always opened their set with a massive strobe effect on stage.  It
never bothered me.  But I remember some Physics lessons at school where we were
warned about the danger of stroboscopic light.  Apparently the brain could be most
vulnerable at frequencies around 9 pulses per second or some similar level.

Matt

_________________________________________________________________
 Matthew Knights               mknights@harrywasp.prestel.co.uk
`Ton ame est un lac d'amour dont mes desirs sont les cygnes...'
_________________________________________________________________

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 15:37:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Terrence M Marks <normal@grove.ufl.edu>
Subject: Engineers

I've noticed a few songs which credit people as engineers.
What do engineers do, musically?

Terrence Marks
normal@grove.ufl.edu

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 18:07:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Sean Hennessey <suggs@tiac.net>
Subject: Re: Engineers

> I've noticed a few songs which credit people as engineers.
> What do engineers do, musically?
> 
> Terrence Marks
> normal@grove.ufl.edu

Hey,

I believe the engineer is the gent who runs the mixing board, places the
mikes, etc.  Meaning all the technical stuff.  There's a number of
Producer/Engineers out there who do both, but a lot of people, including
the godhead, George Martin, believe in keeping the two separate.  I tend
to think of them somewhat like the Director and the Cinematographer of a
film.

Also, alot of Bands like to work with a dedicated engineer and 'produce'
themselves.

Engineers are amazingly weird people (at least most of the ones I know).
They know all about how to hook the damn things together, what mike
reproduces what sound best, how to flange the sploshing flim or whatnot,
but tend to be a little behind on the English language! ;)  On the
otherhand, I dunno how to calculate the ohms ratio of my amp either...

tara - Sean

This message copyright 1997/98 Sean Hennessey.  All rights reserved.
*******************************************************************************
                  Sean Hennessey, President of the Boston Reds, 
                an 'unoffical' Manchester United Supporters' Club
            url: http://members.tripod.com/~boston_reds/red_army.html
               email: suggs@tiac.net       *Bassist: Slippy Keane*

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 13:52:07 +1200
From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)
Subject: Re:best and worst 0% RH

I sez:
>>>Top 10 of 1997? But there's still 2% of the year to go yet! That's like
>>>saying "What was the best album of the 20th century?" Give the year a
>>>chance to shuffle off before we go dissecting it, huh?

to which Eb a dit:
>Sheesh, James, let's not get hysterical. The industry's record-release
>schedule always poops out during December, anyway. All the
>Christmas-targeted albums come out in November....

and Marcy added:
>Interesting philosophy coming from someone in psychology.  On the one hand,
>one might do better to start early and think about what the past year has
>wrought and thus allow healing or dealing with it to begin.  On the other
>hand, starting to dissect one's year before it has physically ended might
>suggest a compulsive or manic disorder in which one constantly questions
>oneself rather than allowing one to just have experiences.

psychology, schmycology... I just don't believe that all my 1997
experiences are through yet! And as it happens, someone introduced me to
the music of the Trashcan Sinatras for the first time this weekend, and
today I grab a bundle of newly arrived CDs to review for the local student
radio station (there are less pre-release items over Christmas, sure, but
the vagaries of snail mail means there are still a few stragglers). So
perhaps I was right!

James

 James Dignan___________________________________               You talk to me
 Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University               As if from a distance
 ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street               And I reply. . . . . . . . . .
 Dunedin, New Zealand               with impressions chosen from another time
 steam megaphone (03) 455-7807               (Brian Eno - "By this River")

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 17:04:35 -0700
From: Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>
Subject: Uh, never mind....

OK, on further testing, it certainly seems that some URLs work minus the
"www," others don't. But if URL works without a "www," would that be true
regardless of the browser?

Eb

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 16:59:42 -0700
From: Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>
Subject: not even musical content this time ;)

Hey, I know there are a lot of WWW experts out there...a question for you:
Can ANY URL of the form "www.blahblah..." be accessed by just typing
"blahblah..." minus the "www."? Or does this vary from browser to browser?
(I use Netscape.)

There's no point in making your response public....

Eb

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 20:08:31 EST
From: MARKEEFE <MARKEEFE@aol.com>
Subject: Re:  Re:best and worst 0% RH - TCS

      Trash Can Sinatras are a great band.  Nothing new from them in '97,
though, James, so you can't use that as justification for putting off The
List.  Their 1993 album "I've Seen Everything" is to be treasured.  Their
first album, "Cake", from 1990, is also really good, but more straightforward
in a post-Smiths sort of way.   Their latest album, "A Happy Pocket", came out
in 1996, but was never released here in the U.S.  It's my least favorite, but
I still like it a lot -- a little too homogenous, I guess, although there are
a few stand-out tracks.  For those of you who like beautifully crafted pop,
give TCS a try.

- -----Michael Keefe

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 17:26:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Jon Kanis <jkanis@rocketmail.com>
Subject: Re: Engineers

Terrence Marks asks:

I've noticed a few songs which credit people as
engineers.  What do engineers do, musically?

"Musically" an engineer does very little.  But, as
Sean Hennessey wrote, he is "the gent who runs the
mixing board, places the mikes, etc."  This includes
but is not limited to, setting and adjusting the
levels of the EQ, compression and effects, punching
in overdubs, splicing tape, bouncing tracks and doing
whatever the producer asks of him (if asked nicely). 
The second engineer is usually the grunt, the
apprentice, the guy who goes after coffee if the
studio is big enough to warrant such a person.

The comparison of musical Producer to cinematic
Director and Engineer to Cinematographer is a good one.
The Producer usually is the one with the creative
vision; the Engineer does all the ground work to make
it possible to capture the organic process known as
"recording."

> Engineers are amazingly weird people (at least most
of the ones I know).

Engineers of all types tend to be very anti-social
beings with poor people skills. Hate to generalize,
but I've worked with many.

Jon
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 18:33:41 -0800
From: John Barrington Jones <lobstie@e-z.net>
Subject: TAPE TREE STRUCTURE--Robyn Xmas Party

if your name appears under the heading UNKNOWN: Dat or analog?, then please
email me and let me know your preference.

If you are a branch, or a leaf for the John B. Jones branch, please send an
email message to: lobstie@e-z.net and give me your snail mail address.  I
have the tapes all made up and just need addresses to put on the mailing
labels.

Thanks!

UNKNOWN:  DAT or ANALOG?????
dmw <dmayowel@access.digex.net> a>a or a>md
"Jeff Pearce" <moonloop@hotmail.com> a>a or a>md
Jason Thornton <jthornton@ucsd.edu>  a>a or md
Mark_Gloster@3com.com a>dat or a>md
mbrage@surgery.bsd.uchicago.edu (Michael Brage) a>a or a>dat


ANALOG BRANCHES:

Debora <debralk@ix.netcom.com>
	"Bret" <bret@nkn.net>
	firstcat@lsli.com
	Terrence M Marks <normal@grove.ufl.edu>
	Eric Loehr <loehr@javanet.com>
	Dave Librik <librik@jaka.ece.uiuc.edu>
	Tom Clark <tclark@apple.com>
	LSDiamond <ahardy@companet.net>
chichi@io.com (Zelda Pinwheel)
	Ner <headfx@ix.netcom.com>
	David Willems <dwillem1@ic3.ithaca.edu>
	griffith <hbrtv219@email.csun.edu>
	Sumiko Keay <P20SXK1@WPO.CSO.NIU.EDU>
	"Terry Linnig"<terry_linnig@hccompare.com>
	Jason Legacy <jlegacy@ultrix.ramapo.edu>
	"Daniel Saunders" <dsaunder@islandnet.com>
squeaky watson <woj@remus.rutgers.edu>
	dwdudic@erols.com (luther w dudich)
	"The Rooneys" <rooneya@pilot.msu.edu>
	Aaron Mandel <amandel@hcs.harvard.edu>
	"Wookie Conscious" <brasheas@coral.indstate.edu>
	"Twiggy Stardust" <adavidw@infocreations.com>
	Marshall Joseph Armintor <mojo@owlnet.rice.edu>
	Wanda <wand@interlog.com>
"Capitalism Blows" <etews@hotmail.com>
	Chris Henry <ad456@seorf.Ohiou.Edu>
	Carolyn Ellis <cellis@gslis.utexas.edu>
	basil@naxs.com (Brad Hutchinson)
	KarmaFuzzz <KarmaFuzzz@aol.com>
	Tanter <tanter@econs.umass.edu>
	Kevin.Welton@arm.com (Kevin Welton)
	Mark Ponder <meponder@bosco.meis.uab.edu>
KCasey <KCasey@aol.com>
	sharedon@mbcc.mass.edu
	dede_davis@juno.com (Diana L Davis)
	HLN1JC <HLN1JC@aol.com>
	DElaineMcD <DElaineMcD@aol.com>
	TROYD1@Westat.com (TROYD1)
	Keith Hanlon <hanlon@stewmac.com>
	lj lindhurst <ljl@echonyc.com>
jimm@sirius.com 10 copies a>a
	Jeff Cleveringa <jdclever@ees.eesc.com>
	"Kristin & Drew" <kmeanddrw@email.msn.com>
 	Sumiko Keay <skeay@niu.edu>
	Azura123 <Azura123@aol.com>
 	"Elizabeth Morgan" <morganea@hotmail.com>
	MichaelHooker <triumph1@idt.net>
	KeN SaBaTiNi <KSABATIN@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Della & Steve Schiavo <schiavo@airmail.net>
	Nick Winkworth <nick.winkworth@hds.com>
	Jon Kanis <jkanis@rocketmail.com>
	Jeff Rosedale <rosedale@columbia.edu>
	Miles <outdoorminer@mindspring.com>
	Alfred Masciocchi <cakrm@ameritech.net>
	Gary Parker <parkergv@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu>
	Cynthia Peterson <CynthiaP@visio.com>-
John B. Jones <lobstie@e-z.net>
	Mike Runion <mrrunion@palmnet.net> a>a
	hal brandt <hbrandt@milehigh.net> if needed
	Hedblade <Hedblade@aol.com> if needed
	delavina@juno.com (chris franz)- if needed
	ckouses@aol.com
	"Gene Hopstetter, Jr." <gene@edoc.com>
	Paul Montagne <montagnp@ucs.orst.edu>

"NORMAN PARKER" <PARKERNW@WCG.CO.UK>-  UK & other
	"Tony Blackman" <tony.blackman@dial.pipex.com>
	Didier L=E9onard <didier.leonard@lmch.dmx.epfl.ch>
	Noe Shalev <noe@machshevool.corky.net>
	David Jones <david@mastmoor.demon.co.uk>
	"Baker, David(KWI-C09)" <david.baker@alcoa.com.au>
	M R Godwin <hssmrg@bath.ac.uk>
	Ed.Doxtator@ssa.co.uk

spine@iastate.edu (James Francis)  a>a  Backup analog guy
	David Witzany <witzany@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>

"JH3" <JH3@alternatech.net> a>dat
	"Julie Burton" <JABurton@classic.msn.com>
	John Partridge <jpartrid@pacbell.net>
	David G Skoglund <David.G.Skoglund-2@tc.umn.edu>
	Bayard <walden@universe.digex.net>-DAT -a coupl
	Gregory Stuart Shell <gshell@metronet.com>- a>md or dat>md



- -jbj

- -*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#
John B. Jones			        Email: lobstie@e-z.net
House of Figgy-- http://web.syr.edu/~jojones/hitchcock.html

"When you're down/ It's a long way up
 When you're up/ It's a long way down
 It's all the same thing/ No new tale to tell"  -Love & Rockets
- -*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#-*-#

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 22:03:27 -0500 (EST)
From: RxBroome@aol.com
Subject: Brushes wit musical demigods (belated)

Hey kids-- it's been a while.

Although I've met my share of my own musical heroes (and consistently failed
to say anything intelligent to them), I couldn't resist chiming in with my
very favorite (read: most egregiously embarassing) encounter-- a chance
meeting with the Artist Formerly Known as Black Francis.

This happened some time after the release of "Trompe le Monde" but before the
official disbanding of the Pixies.  It was also in the waning days of my
undergrad career, which is to say during a woeful period of my life when I
lived in LA and did not have a car, so my life often consisted of tagging
along with my friends who DID have cars, and living at the mercy of whatever
they wanted to do.  For some strange reason I consented to go along with some
friends to a taping of Leno's "Tonight Show" (don't ask) on a night when the
musical guest was They Might Be Giants (really really please please don't
ask)...

So we're sitting in the studio audience and my friend Mike and I spot this
potato-headed guy in the crowd who, we think, looks kinda like Black Francis,
which we think is funny for some reason.  I mean, he was just there in the
audience like us, with some bleach-blonde bimbo, so it's obviously not Black
Francis, so we just kinda start making fun of the guy, thinking he won't even
get it... clever college humor like chanting "DEBAYYSERRRRR!" during all the
commercial breaks, which gets no reaction from the potato-headed guy but
really pisses off the warm-up guy, so it was kinda worth it...

Anyhow, after the show, the TMBG guys came up into the crowd and started
chatting with this guy as if they knew him, so we start to think, hey, what
if it really is... ?   I get stuck with the task of approaching the guy and
asking.  So as he's filing out, I tap him on the shoulder, which he tries to
ignore, but the bimbo makes him turn around and acknowledge me.  At which
point, I am terrified to hear myself ask, "Ummm, excuse me... are you Black
Francis?"

As I realize that I've just asked a question with all the sophistaication and
intrinsic meaning of "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" he cracks a big
grin, nods and rushes off as fast as possible.  Not too long after that, the
first Frank Black record came out, featuring, if memory serves, some guest
shots by one or more of the TMBG guys.

Happy holidays to y'all.  Spent most of this year listening to really, really
new dance stuff and really, really old folk stuff, so my "Top 10" is far too
screwy to post here.  But hey, I just got a banjo for Christmas and got to
sing Dylan with my dad for a crowd of 800 two nights ago, and that, my
friends, kicked ass.

Ding dong merrily on high,
Rex, the Prodigal Deluxe

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 1997 23:06:12 -0500
From: "trentd" <trentd@claynet.com>
Subject: Top Ten Class of '97

I guess I will follow in the footsteps of everyone else and offer my own
top ten list for 1997.  Here goes:

Top Ten Albums:

1)Radiohead  "OK Computer"
2)Ween    "The Mollusk"
3)Portishead    "Portishead"
4)Bob Dylan   "Time Out of Mind"
5)Bjork   "Homogenic"
6)Pavement   "Brighten the Corners"
7)Cornershop   "When I Was Born for the 7th Time"
8)Aphex Twin   "Come to Daddy"  EP
9)Spiritualized   "Ladies and Gentlemen....."
10)Morphine   "Like Swimming"

There it is.  There were a couple that probably should have made it, but
did not.  Man or Astro Man disappointed me with a song that included 25
minutes of complete silence, which turned me away quickly.  Blur started
off strong early in the year, but failed to keep up.  As for worst CD's of
the year I can think of two that stand out,   Oasis and the Rolling Stones.
 Any questions?

Gotta fly off,
Hallucinogenic Woodpecker

=============================================
"I'm gonna walk around the yard 'til I find a hill of ants
Take a magnifying glass, heat 'em up and watch them dance"

                    -Chuck Cleaver
                     Ass Ponys  "God Tells Me To"
=============================================

e-mail me at trentd@claynet.com

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 23:03:47 -0700
From: Eb <gondola@deltanet.com>
Subject: Re: Brushes wit musical demigods (belated)

>As I realize that I've just asked a question with all the sophistaication and
>intrinsic meaning of "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" he cracks a big
>grin, nods and rushes off as fast as possible.  Not too long after that, the
>first Frank Black record came out, featuring, if memory serves, some guest
>shots by one or more of the TMBG guys.

Frank Black has gone on record many times saying how much he loves TMBG. He
also opened for them on tour a couple of years ago....

Eb

np: Photek/Modus Operandi (surprisingly good!)

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 23:30:22 -0800
From: jeffery vaska <jvaska@mail.com>
Subject: Re: frank black/black francis

since we're talking about him...

does anybody know what black francis has been up to lately?  new album
some time soon (or did he just release something and i just missed it
altogether)?

Eb wrote:
> 
> >As I realize that I've just asked a question with all the sophistaication and
> >intrinsic meaning of "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" he cracks a big
> >grin, nods and rushes off as fast as possible.  Not too long after that, the
> >first Frank Black record came out, featuring, if memory serves, some guest
> >shots by one or more of the TMBG guys.
> 
> Frank Black has gone on record many times saying how much he loves TMBG. He
> also opened for them on tour a couple of years ago....
> 
> Eb
> 
> np: Photek/Modus Operandi (surprisingly good!)

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 23:42:33 -0800
From: Nick Winkworth <nick.winkworth@hds.com>
Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V6 #109

Eb recently riposted to James thusly:
> > Top 10 of 1997? But there's still 2% of the year to go yet! That's 
> > like saying "What was the best album of the 20th century?" Give the 
> > year a chance to shuffle off before we go dissecting it, huh?
> 
> Sheesh, James, let's not get hysterical. The industry's record-release
> schedule always poops out during December, anyway. All the
> Christmas-targeted albums come out in November....

I'm with James on this one. My musical discoveries are usually
completely unrelated to whatever the music industry is up to. I find new
music
a) When I hear it on the radio - but rarely mainstream shows (Dan Bern.
Yay!)
b) When someone buys me a prezzie (hence the importance of the years
last 2%)
c) When I hear something on one of those record store listening booths
(don't laugh - this has happened to me more than once)
d) When I follow up recommendations I hear (That's your cue. Keep 'em
coming!!)

The period between Chistmas and New Year is a time when many of us, not
involved with the music business on a daily basis, catch up on the
musical goings on of the year. What if I stumble across one of Eb's
worthy suggestions in a "sale" bin somewhere and it becomes my record of
the year ...on Dec 31st? Could happen.

Anyway, you can expect my best of '97 on Jan 1st ...or 2nd ...or maybe
3rd...

Japanese Cartoon Incident*: Just one interesting tidbit to add:
According to a news story I heard, Japanese kids are many times more
likely to be susceptible to this effect due to the homogenous
monocultural nature of Japanese society. In the west our genes are so
mixed up that the chances of a kid having the "being zapped by a TV
cartoon" gene are almost negligeable.

Oh, and we don't sit so close to the set either.

Chairs!

~N

*Copyright that band name now!

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 16:10:00 +0800
From: "Baker, David(KWI-C09)" <david.baker@alcoa.com.au>
Subject: Re: frank black/black francis (0% RH)

My knowledge of what frank black has been up to recently apart from
tirelessly plugging the Pixies 'best-of', is that he is recording a
follow-up with the same band that he did 'The Cult of Ray' with, which
should be out in the first half of next year. I think it will be released
under a band name (I can't remember what the name actually is) rather than a
solo album. I have my reservations about him using this band full time
because I thought 'The Cult of Ray' was the least impressive thing he has
released with or without the Pixies. Still, it was by no means a dud so
hopefully he will come up with the goods for the new album.

Dave
 - a friendly (if occasionally defensive :) ) engineer (with lots of
sociable engineer friends) who thinks that sound engineers should really be
called sound technicians because what they do can't be classified as
engineering.

 ----------
From: jeffery vaska
To: fegmaniax@smoe.org
Subject: Re: frank black/black francis
Date: Saturday, 29 November 1997 3:30PM

since we're talking about him...

does anybody know what black francis has been up to lately?  new album
some time soon (or did he just release something and i just missed it
altogether)?

Eb wrote:
>
> >As I realize that I've just asked a question with all the sophistaication
and
> >intrinsic meaning of "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" he cracks a
big
> >grin, nods and rushes off as fast as possible.  Not too long after that,
the
> >first Frank Black record came out, featuring, if memory serves, some
guest
> >shots by one or more of the TMBG guys.
>
> Frank Black has gone on record many times saying how much he loves TMBG.
He
> also opened for them on tour a couple of years ago....
>
> Eb
>
> np: Photek/Modus Operandi (surprisingly good!)

Alcoa of Australia Ltd  ACN 004 879 298

------------------------------

End of fegmaniax-digest V6 #112
*******************************