From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #96 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, March 9 1998 Volume 07 : Number 096 Today's Subjects: ----------------- my previous post.... [tanter ] Scoob and the gang [Danielle ] Re: Nuts ["BENJAMIN.BRETTENNY" ] Cartoon deviants 'n' Puff [Ross Overbury ] Re: Cartoon deviants 'n' Puff [tanter ] Re: ["Jon" ] Re: RE: How did Scoob and the gang make their money? [MARKEEFE ] Re: my previous post.... [donald andrew snyder ] Re: God Walks Among Us [wojs of mass destruction ] Re: some light reading - an influence on the man? [Bayard ] digging out buried vocals. [Bayard ] Re: [Robert Thompson ] Re: How did Scoob and the gang make their money? [kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Os] [0%RH] Yoko [hal brandt ] never mind the nutter ["Capitalism Blows" ] a glass of trades [Bayard ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 01:14:19 -0500 From: tanter Subject: my previous post.... was, of course, total bull. "Puff" is just a nice little song about a boy and a dragon. Too bad it was written in the 60s--people will forever try to turn it into something full of vice or vice-related. People still ask Peter, Paul and Mary about it and they still answer, although by now I don't think they should have to. Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 20:13:00 -0800 From: Danielle Subject: Scoob and the gang Eb wrote: > If Scrappy Doo is so morally wrong, I shudder to think about the volatile > opinions held about the later "robot" Scooby (can't remember the > character's name).... No. The robot Scooby (whose name escapes me also) is just a dumb idea. 'Morally wrong' is defined by the recent 'baby' Scooby abomination. Incidentally, six of my friends were converted wholesale to the 'Fred-Daphne-Velma' mixed sexual orientation love triangle theory this afternoon at the New Zealand/Zimbabwe one-day cricket match. It made for some dirty but entertaining between-over banter. Thanks, you lot. ;) Danielle, pleased that we won for a change ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 13:52:19 +0000 (GMT) From: "BENJAMIN.BRETTENNY" Subject: Re: Nuts Totally off the point- does anyone have any idea how the word "nuts" came to be used to mean crazy? I have for a long time regarded the word "nut", to mean head, as in the thing on ones shoulders, and the adjective "nutter" describes an individual who is less than stable on a mental level.So from here it is easy to see why "nuts" has essentially the same meaning as "crazy". Also this follows for phrases such as "head case" which mean the same thing. BEN ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 98 9:03:35 EST From: Ross Overbury Subject: Cartoon deviants 'n' Puff > >So what's the story about "Puff..." being a song about pot? I don't > >remember how the words go, but apparently there's a lot of double > >entendres(sp) regarding "Puff" and Johnny "Paper." > Anybody else here a fan of Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse? The style of his show is now being copied by dozens of new "zany" cartoons. I think it was killed pretty much singlehandedly by the small but fanatical group of "concerned parents" who watched episodes for "thinly veiled drug references". I remember one episode that showed a huge Elvis balloon in the Macy's parade (NYC) that broke loose and started terrorizing the city by slurping up snacks from hi-rise windows until it came across a flambe pizza that caused it to explode. Oh, the humanity! One episode that was censored was based on a Chaplin film where the Tramp falls for a flower girl. The Mighty Mouse version shows the flower girl giving MM a bunch of posies that crumble to dust. MM thanks her graciously and pockets the dust. Later, when she's in trouble (IIRC) he's weakened for some reason, and when he needs inspiration continue his effort to save her he pulls it out and smells it, then rushes to her aid. This charming moment was reduced to an ad for cocaine abuse by the 2 or 3 or whatever fanatics on the self-appointed committee to save our kids from Mighty Mouse. They threatened a boycott of the MM show's sponsors if this dangerous propaganda were allowed to remain in the footage. I may have raved about this already a couple of years back. If so, forgive me; I'm under the influence of the Sydney flu (*not* drugs). PS: Paul is dead! - -- Ross Overbury Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 09:49:20 -0500 From: tanter Subject: Re: Cartoon deviants 'n' Puff At 09:03 AM 3/8/98 -0500, Ross wrote: > >PS: Paul is dead! > And I just had breakfast with Elvis! Marcy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 18:18:28 -0000 From: "Jon" Subject: Re: > Somebody's got to do it... > > Jon McG and Robert Thompson, > > Welcome to fegmaniax, where we discuss armpits, movies, > polyphony, phony psychics, lucid dreaming and Eb. er...polyphony is not in my pocket dictionary. Eb? I'll let you know... Phony Psychics. Cool. Is James Randi a member of this list? > So waddya think about Oasis? > > -- > Ross Overbury Now we're talking. What's not to like? Sounds great on a pub juke box. Jon M ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 13:41:43 EST From: MARKEEFE Subject: Re: RE: How did Scoob and the gang make their money? In a message dated 3/7/98 6:33:08 PM, Chris wrote: <> That must be it. - -----Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 19:20:49 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (luther) Subject: fegs on gigs On Sun, 8 Mar 1998 01:23:27 -0500 (EST), you wrote: >Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 16:10:44 +1300 (NZDT) >From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) >Subject: varia (warning, RH content approaching 2% level!) > >>> Actually, do bands with fegs normally post on here before >>>gigs? >>> Is it in poor taste? >> >>They often do, and it's not considered in poor taste at all. Can't speak for >>others but I myself regard these type of announcements as community bulletin >>board event posting type things. I would even be delighted to go to such >>gigs, but none of them ever seem to occur in the Chicago area. > >I've never posted a 'come and see me play!" message, although I may have >mentioned it in passing if it has had any bearing on ongoign conversations. >I just figure than none of you would come along :( well, Bayard, his friend John from a cool band called Volare, and a scottish-feg-whose-name-I-can't-think-of-right-now did, along with various friends, signifcant others, and babies. A really appreciative crowd, especially for a band which has existed in this form for a week and a half!!! Fegs are good audience members (big surprise!). Oh, for weepy (bed-sitting) songs, how about "I've been a mess" by the American Music CLub, "I misunderstood" by RT(!!!!!),(obligatry (for me) Thompson reference :-) ), and "Aquarium" off 'eye' "- All you need is love, all you get is afraid.' -luther w dudich ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 14:50:35 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Cartoon deviants 'n' Puff >Anybody else here a fan of Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse? Oh, I ADORED that show. That was really the last cartoon that ever excited me. The episode that comes to mind for me is the one with that wiggly-fingered restauranteur making mouse burgers.... Interestingly enough, wasn't Mighty Mouse's boyish pal on that show named Scrappy also? Or am I confused? He was great -- so perfectly cute and enthusiastic that you couldn't wait for someone to squash him. :) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 17:53:34 -0600 (CST) From: donald andrew snyder Subject: Re: my previous post.... On Sun, 8 Mar 1998, tanter wrote: > "Puff" is just a nice little song about a boy and a dragon. Too bad it was > written in the 60s--people will forever try to turn it into something full > of vice or vice-related. People still ask Peter, Paul and Mary about it and > they still answer, although by now I don't think they should have to. Vice is such a strong word ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:42:44 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: drugs & children's books >In a message dated 98-03-06 14:54:27 EST, tclark@apple.com writes: >> So what's the story about "Puff..." being a song about pot? I don't >> remember how the words go, but apparently there's a lot of double >> entendres(sp) regarding "Puff" and Johnny "Paper." > >that was Spiro Agnew's theory, which I think pretty much sums up everything >you need to know about it (for non-americans: it's a load of shit). i mean, >most fantastical children's records/books can be twisted into being about >drugs if you try hard enough.... hence Jefferson Airplane's not so subtle dig at this idea by writing a song that was "oh no, not about drugs at all, it's just based on a children's book" - White Rabbit. good song, tho' 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: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:44:45 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: some light reading - an influence on the man? >I think so. I certainly couldn't imagine Robyn writing "the face of death >is my best friend" today... or even the unbelievably rousing celebration >of mortality that is Only The Stones Remain. which reminds me... the other day - as one is wont to do - I found myself reading a book of essays by Albert Camus one tea-break. I was reading "Minotaur, or the Halt at Oran" - or more specifically the 3000-odd word section called "Monuments". Within these 3000 words - a mere three or four pages - are the followign two sets of sentences: "Oran is, moreover, very attached to the two [stone statues of] lions which stand on it's main square.[...] It is said that, at night, they descend one after the other from their pedestal and pad silently around the darkened square, stopping on occasion to urinate at length between the tall dusty fig-trees." "Stone, of course, cannot be destroyed. All that can be done is move it around. Whatever happens, it will always outlast the men who use it. For the moment it lends itself to their determination to act [...]Before that indifferent bay, they will still go on for years piling up heaps of pebbles along the coast. In a hundred years - that is to say tomorrow - they will have to start again. But today these piles of rock bear witness for the men who wend their way among them, their faces set in a mask of dust and sweat. The true monuments of Oran remain its stones." Is it mere coincidence that within a handful of pages are two passages which bear more than a passing resemblance to the ideas behind "Underwater Moonlight" and "Only the Stones Remain"? It would not surprise me at all to learn that Robyn had read Camus... is this a possible influence? 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: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:39:02 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: musicology, we welcome you, weeping and Rooby rooowo! >Welcome to fegmaniax, where we discuss armpits, movies, >polyphony, phony psychics, lucid dreaming and Eb. you missed out Scooby Doo! talking of whom... >what with the scarf (there's a better word for it that I can't think of) cravat. Comes from the Croatian word for Croatia, where the fashion originated (useless fact no. 537 in a continuing series) >_The Final Cut_. No question. Unbelievably powerful by the time it's over. especially the Soldier's Dream, or whatever it's called (it's YEARS since I've heard this album!) >>to Gilbert & Sullivan. That and music hall were probably early influences >>on a lot of British music in the earlier part of this century, some tending >>more towards the former influence (Noel Coward), some more towards the >>latter (George Formby and his ilk). > >Some of a well-written and IMHO (mostly) true hypothesis snipped for brevity. thenkyew >>like. I think it's just the different pool of influences. Whereas American >>rock & roll, in its early days, had as its strongest influences blues (and >>ultimately Negro spirituals and worksongs), country and western (from >>Appalachian folk and the like), jazz, and vaudeville > >Only a couple quibbles here. The first is rather small and more me being a >pedant than anything else, but said Appalachian folk and the like was >oftentimes descended from traditional English folk (and a lot of these >tunes, like Blackjack Davey to name an obvious one, changed in tone and/or >lyrical content somewhat to reflect the different setting, but retained a >lot of the same stories), so couldn't that be thrown in? that's true... House Carpenter is another example that comes to mind. The thing is though that Appalachian folk had continued to evolve away from English folk for some time, and Country and Western took in other influences as well, such as the more widespread use of guitar due to the Spanish influences on American culture. I agree about the jazz/blues connection, but it is a separate influence - an analogy would be a crossbred lion-tiger cub (tigon? liger?). Both animals have a common ancestor, but the crossbreed probably doesn't look much like it. Oh, and I forgot tin pan alley as an American influence. >> - in that order, in Britain the influences were music hall/vaudeville, >blues, traditional >>English folk, and jazz - in that order. > >Not really arguing here, but here's a question: what exactly is the >difference between someone like Noel Coward and someone like George Formby? It is mainly a class thing. George Formby's fan base was the working class and lower-middle class, whereas Noel Coward appealed more to the upper and upper-middle classes; the way the material was pitched varied accordingly. There probably is a technical name for Coward's variety of music-hall - calling it "music-hall" conjures up a completely different image. Musical Revue, perhaps? >Incidentally, one of the things that always fascinated me about Ray Davies' >songwriting is the way that he combines both of these strains effortlessly. >I still hear more of the Coward influence though. "Sunny Afternoon" could >almost be a cheeky response to "Stately Homes Of England", methinks :). ...but done in a more Formby like style. Yes, I can see that. >>with bands like Blur. Both XTC and Robyn H show some influences of >>(particularly the Kinksian variant of) music hall based rock, albeit > >The thing is, I think the Kinks -are- the real influence here, especially >when talking about Blur. agreed. "Country House" or whatever its called is very clearly Kinks influenced. But there's also a big Kinks in fluence on XTC ("Everyday story of Smalltown") and Robyn ("Trams of old London" springs to mind for some reason) >Totally off the point- does anyone have any idea how the word "nuts" came to >be used to mean crazy? no idea. One interesting (or perhaps boring) thing to consider. In the US, a crazy person is a nut. In the UK, he's a nutter. 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, 8 Mar 1998 22:13:34 EST From: Crashedlux Subject: Re: some light reading - an influence on the man? in my opinion, the influence is rather obvious in most of robyn's earler work. his sardonic sense can only be attributed to the likes of existentialism and camus is the best example i can think of...well next to sartre...but i seem to recall reading in an interview or the liner notes to one of the reissues to his earlier works that he did in fact, read camus.... excuse my lack of real and consistent punctuation....im lazy! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 23:41:39 -0500 From: wojs of mass destruction Subject: Re: Pleasure of the Aching Void also sprach Brett Cooper: >Can anyone tell me what happened to Sandra and Trudy who ran the fan club >back in the 80s? I used to belong to it when I was a little kid... if i remember correctly, sandra is living in arizona somewhere. she was subscribed to the e-mail list for a while, but fell off a year or two ago. trudy is still in new york -- i run into her occasionally (usually at robyn's gigs). woj n.p. susan mckeown -- bushes & briars ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 23:58:48 -0500 From: wojs of mass destruction Subject: Re: God Walks Among Us also sprach Russ Reynolds: >anyone know where I can find the "God Walks Among Us" Cream cover on the >net? I thought it used to be in the fegmaniax archives but it doesn't seem >to be there now. it's there: . +w ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 01:32:47 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: Re: some light reading - an influence on the man? don't forget the story "the golden prince"... by oscar wilde, i believe. a very different sort from the one we know, though. in regards to the "children and possibly drugs thread", I'd like to mention that Russ set me straight re. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Apparently is is indeed regarded as being inspired by a drawing by young julian, nothing more, though the drawing has never surfaced. So I guess we may never know exactly what the song's about. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 08:32:19 -0500 From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: More Quailspiracy?? Whilst shelling prawns for dinner last night, I was watching Warner Bros. cartoons on the Cartoon Network when along came a cartoon featuring a character named.... "CRACKPOT QUAIL." I am *not* making this up. Utterly aghast, I pondered the true depths and distances of the Quailspiracy - that it seems to have wormed its feathery tendrils into the very heart of childhood innocence! When would it ever end? But that's not all. The night before, I had had my very first bona fide Robyndream (tm), in which Robyn was a character in a sci-fi submarine movie who had had gills implanted in his legs. Is this a message? A threat? Will we all be transformed in the coming Quailpocalypse? Who can say? And to top it all off, it appears that Neutral Milk Hotel is also deeply immersed in the Quailspiracy, for only a few days after I bought their album - on THE QUAIL'S RECOMMENDATION - I heard them on the college radio station for the *second* time in a month! Are they secretly beaming Quailspeak into the brains of innocent Michiganders, in collusion with the Regents of the University of Michigan? (The poster for their album is in every record store here! Even the ones that don't stock the album!) Only time will tell, but when the citizens of Ann Arbor, MI begin uttering the word "hmuh!" in shrill voices, I cannot be held responsible for the results... As Lord Fanny from "The Invisibles" says, "THIS THING IS BIG." n. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 11:26:24 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: digging out buried vocals. On "the other list" we have been haing great success with figuring out lyrics, with only a couple of exceptions. for example, the verse in surgery with the quieter vocals behind (and partially obscured by) the foreground vocals. Also the final verse in "The Lizard" that's mixed way into the distance. in the interest of completeness and correctness, I submit this method to you, the Big list, in the hopes some intrepid soul will sally forth to meet this challenge... and achieve immortality.... - -------------------------------------------------------- From: SAlpert5@aol.com There is one method of removing vocals that are mixed for the "center" of a stereo track. You invert one channel's polarity (such as with a mixer that offers this possibility),and ADD it to the other channel (with the correct polarity) and listen to this "difference" channel. If you are lucky, you can cancel out the vocals, and maybe hear some of the background material in the forefront now. As for the backing vocals, they will be auduble in this new mix if they were not panned dead center of the stereo mix. An alternate method is to use a "Dolby Surround" receiver, and only listen to the rear channels (turn off the front channels and center channel). This may accomplish the same thing. But if it is a "pro logic" arrangement, then it is possible that what you are looking for will still be in the "Front", in which case just turn off your 'center channel' speaker. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 12:53:56 -0500 From: Robert Thompson Subject: Re: Hey Ross: Thanks much. I find all this Hitchcock talk very interesting. It's a pleasure to be on such an entertaining list... All the talk of Mike Love leads me to recommend the Nick Kent book "The Dark Stuff" which features an amazing piece on Brian Wilson. And for RH fans, there's a cool story on syd Barrett as well... > So waddya think about Oasis? > Actually I try not to. I must admit to owning and reviewing their first album for a magazine. I found it kind of infectious and stupid. Not bad pop music. They've put out some terrible stuff since then and the recent assualt of a fan by Liam should be punished by forcing him to listen to Yoko Ono albums repeatedly at high volume. I don't understand why anyone would break the nose of a fan simply for taking pictures. I'm of the opinion that stars give up some privacy for their cash. This isn't a rock star attitude, this is ridiculous. Robert > -- > Ross Overbury > Montreal, Quebec, Canada > email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 13:04:04 -0500 From: kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander) Subject: Re: How did Scoob and the gang make their money? ><< But who is Scrappy Doo's mother? > > Exactly! Truth is, Scrappy should have never existed. Yet another good >reason why the Scrappy Years should just be written off as a sick, money- there were other relatives. scooby dumb ("dumb dumb dumb dumb" to the tune of beethoven and that silly sherlock holmes getup) and scooby dee (who scooby doo had some serious heat for) are two names that i remember. haven't seen any episodes with either in a long time. i don't know who scrappy's mother is, but i also stopped watching when he became a regular. there was a great conversation about scoob and the gang in linklater's _slacker_. mostly about the way the cartoon had a drug culture subtext. concerning money, at least one of them must've come from money or received a stipend for their mystery solving. now i like to think that they were selling dope or sex or something. KEN ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 11:28:28 -0700 From: hal brandt Subject: [0%RH] Yoko Robert Thompson wrote: > ... should be punished by forcing him to listen to > Yoko Ono albums repeatedly at high volume. While Yoko's attempts at straight pop songs are pretty tuneless, her primal kabuki vocal raveouts prove that John wasn't just being led around like a dog on a leash when he gushed over her records. Listen to "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band", "Fly" or the recent "Rising" to have your eyes and ears opened. I was right down front during her show in Chicago on the Rising Tour and she was totally compelling. It needs to be said now that John isn't here anymore to say it! /hal ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 12:00:37 PST From: "Capitalism Blows" Subject: never mind the nutter well, i wasn't able to find the Eaten By Her Own Dinner 7" until *after* the rhino reissues. so, i was particularly excited to finally hear Dr. Sticky. and, it's tough to beat that live Heaven on FEGMANIA! and, i love the demos on TRAINS and EYE. hm, i guess i'm saying you should get 'em all, bayard. maybe you don't need HEN, but it's got cool liner notes. but, according to his record in the fegwhateverthefuckthemiddlebitisicon, professor fane has LIQUOR on cd. i only ever watched about two episodes of the show, because i couldn't fucking stand it (although the olympics thing was ok.) but that was my favorite scene in Slacker. it wasn't really anything to do with a drug culture subtext, though. unless you count tv as a drug. it was to do with how tv turns kids' minds into mush. yow! i hadn't heard this part. y'all know i've got some issues with the hall, it having taken them three years to get the velvets enshrined. (!) but, they sure know how to throw a party, sounds like. i know he usually introduces Yip saying that it's a song about *death* from cancer. but i think i've heard him say a few times that it's about *dying* from cancer. and that fits better with his explanation on SPECTRE. aren't there two different versions of Dark Green Energy? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:01:28 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: a glass of trades i'm almost caught up on trades of tapes i was supposed to make for people. my detailed records show I have outstanding trades with: thomas narten dan poppe andy snyder daniel saunders gary parker alisa lowden and am owed tapes by: c. aaron lowe andy ruppenstein r. ben adams (of these three, i think only aaron is currently on the list, but this is just for correctness/completeness.) So I still need to settle with y'all, but this is a lot better than how backed up i was a few months ago. email me with what i owe you and the nitty gritty details. should have all this finished up soon and then i can take a break from the madness. I turned off all the lights and listened to "Robyn Hitchcock's Christmas Party" the other night. Really superb song choices and amazingly clean cuts between songs. Lobsterman has outdone himself yet again. The _Glass Flesh CD II_ deadline approacheth. I've pushed it back just a bit, to my birthday-- April 29. Get those presents in the mail. Please email me reminding me of what you're doing (and your progress) so I may compile a list of reserved songs. The submissions have been really interesting lately-- I have full confidence that the next release will surpass even the much-acclaimed first disc. I had the pleasure of meeting Luther the Feg and Stewart Russell the Scottish Feg on the weekend. We drank pints of newcastle and huge bowls of coffee and watched the artistic absurdist spectacle of Number Nine Line, involving house plants, lots of stuffed dinosaurs, excellent dalek impressions and an 8-track tape. I got to help break an Air Supply record-- woohoo!!! yes, nick, lots of silly photos were taken. (: =b ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #96 ******************************