From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #182 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, May 8 1998 Volume 07 : Number 182 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Of Ghastlycrumb interest (15% RH content +/-) [shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott] RH, Those nights last week and a hello. [Ethyl Ketone ] Re: veteran cosmic rockers [Chris ] more lou [dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich)] defending the velvets [dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich)] i remember eno [dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich)] this sounds like... [dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich)] Re: i remember eno [Ethyl Ketone ] Re: i remember eno [Ross Overbury ] needing introduction. . . [Thomas Rodebaugh ] Re: i remember eno [Jon Fetter ] Re: i remember eno [Jon Fetter ] Re: i remember eno ["Hallucinogenic Woodpecker" ] Re: the great debate, round 933 [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James] Glen Baxter & 60s bands [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)] Re: absolutely no NMH content [Terrence M Marks ] Re: i remember eno [Terrence M Marks ] Astonomy Domine [nicastr@idt.net (Ben)] Suede [nicastr@idt.net (Ben)] Re: absolutely no NMH content [nicastr@idt.net (Ben)] Re: absolutely no NMH content [sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain)] Re: absolutely no NMH content [sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain)] Eno's no bounds [Jonathan Turner ] I CAUGHT UP!!! [Capuchin ] BAYARD, DON'T!!! [Capuchin ] Re: lime and limpid green [M R Godwin ] Probably Redundant Travelogue Part Two (Feggathering, Movie, Alcatraz, and The Best Show Ever) [Capuchin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 19:57:47 -0500 (CDT) From: shmac@ix.netcom.com (Scott Hunter McCleary) Subject: Of Ghastlycrumb interest (15% RH content +/-) Our recent parody of the Ghastlycrumb Tinies put me in mind of a book I had as a kid that actually is kinda Gorey-ish and darkly Robynesque. Anybody remember Struwwelpeter? Gruesome Germanic tales of kids who didn't behave and the evil fates that befell them -- starvation, dismemberment, self-immolation. All lovingly illustrated, of course. There's a page with an English translation of several of the vignettes at: http://echo.com/~selmo/struw/Struwwelpeter.html I actually remembered a lot of this once I started looking at it, and I hadn't seen the book in probably 30 years. Apparently, Struwwelpeter was Tim Burton's inspiration for Edward Scissorhands. I just keep thinking "Robert Plant" for some reason. n.p. -- Michael Nyman, Double Concerto for Saxophone, Cello and Orchestra ========= SH McCleary Prodigal Dog Communications 3052 S. Buchanan St., #A1 Arlington, VA 22206 shmac@prodigaldog.com www.prodigaldog.com Welcome Schuyler: www.prodigaldog.com/baby/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 18:27:15 -0700 From: Ethyl Ketone Subject: RH, Those nights last week and a hello. Greetings Fellow Fegs, Finally returned to the list after a year or so hibernation (translate: new job) and must post about the film/GAMH show of recent past. OK, I've seen this guy every time he's come to town for something like 12 years. And I wondered often what happened to the piano. For those fegs lucky enough to make the show, I needn't wax poetic. Let me just say that this was one of the best! And coming on the heels of the film, it was like some kind of parallel universe existence for 48 hours. Of course I spent 4 solid days indulging in only RH's entire catalogue at home, the office and in the car. Not a moment out of the clutches of his extraordinary view of the universe. Astronomy Domine. That's all I need say. Did someone say they taped it? The SF Weekly's constant dissing of RH sounds like a personal issue, like he refused an interview once or something. Too bad, because the film audience, packed house that it was, were extremely rapt and engaged by the film. My friend sitting next to me hardly knows Robyn's music and he was completely converted by the film. I hope it gets fairly wide distribution but I am afraid it will end up in the college and art house circuit (and precious few left of those I must say). And I'm very glad to be back on the list after reading the first batch of postings. Not sure what this feg gathering kinds thang is but sounds like fun. I'll be there in spirit, even though my body will be in Romania. Take my eyes, I've used them. - - Carrie "Questions are a burden for others. Answers are a prison for oneself." **************************************************************************** M.E.Ketone/C.Galbraith meketone@ix.netcom.com cgalbraith@psygnosis.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 19:13:26 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: absolutely no NMH content JH3 shouldn't but...: >>>I can't see "Heroin" or "Run Run Run" or >>>"Waiting for the man" as being on a level above "Words", "Salesman" >>>or "Daily Nightly". Check out any songs written by Peter Tork, too. > >>Oh, dear. This is where I give up and write off this discussion as >>an utterly lost cause. > >Just so this doesn't necessarily look like the convenient excuse for a >wise-crack that it is, allow me to join the chorus of those stating the >obvious: Having a lack of concern for lyrical content in popular music does >not make you a philistine. I even know some rock critics (or former rock >critics, at least) who would agree - my wife, for one. Yet again, you twist my words. It's not so much a question of "lack of concern for lyrical content" -- it's a question of him "concernedly" ranking PETER TORK on the lyrical level of Lou Reed, fer chrissake. And superficially summing up VU's lyrics as "Lookie, we're on smack." There's a difference between the above and just saying "Yeah yeah, I know the Monkees didn't have much substance, but I thought they did some really catchy pop tunes and I love 'em for that!" Know wut I mean? I DO like the Monkees, you know -- after all, they did some really catchy pop tunes. It's just that I somehow manage to avoid tracing all modern music back to their influence. Somehow. In other news, by sheer coincidence, I heard the new Lou Reed disc (Perfect Night Live in London) today. It's EXCELLENT -- his best live album as a solo artist. In the liner notes, Lou gushes about his new effect box "The Feedbucker" (apparently, it's designed to filter out all the feedback that results from amplifying an acoustic guitar -- food for thought, Robyn?), and such gearhead issues usually don't interest me much, but boy, whether it's the Feedbucker or just the production, it's impossible to deny that the musical texture IS amazingly clear and right-there-in-yer-room. And how the hell does Lou remember all the lyrics to "Coney Island Baby" and "Dirty Boulevard" onstage, anyway? In yet other news, a new local friend of mine just disclosed to me that he has seen Elvis Costello in concert *79 times*. JEEEEESUS! Can any of you approach that number for RH shows? Personally, I don't think I've seen any one artist more than about SIX times. (For whatever reason -- promixity, most likely -- I think I saw fIREHOSE the most...well, either fIREHOSE, Sonic Youth or El Grupo Sexo, the latter whom were barely ever heard outside of Orange County.) Eb PS For those who care, there's a recently established official Lou Reed website at http://www.loureed.org -- I wish the discography had complete track listings, but otherwise, it's pretty well-done. GREAT greeting page. Meanwhile, John Cale's web presence continues to be amazingly sucky, with his one worthwhile website stuck in eternal limbo. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 22:11:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Subject: Re: veteran cosmic rockers >No. And it's hardly a given that the Beach Boys were great after Pet >Sounds. You could compile one very good anthology disc of their post-Pet >Sounds work, but that's about it. I'm willing to let "The TM Song" rest in >peace. No! No, I'll not have this. Next thing you know, you'll be trying to tell me that Mike Love - "Looking Back with Love" is a horrible album. ;) Actually I think "the TM song" is okay, (it may be a nostalgia thing) , but would definately not ever use it to argue about how great the Beach Boys were. Chris who likes the Beach Boys, the Monkees, the Velvet Underground, but still doesn't like the Dead :) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 02:27:12 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich) Subject: more lou On Wed, 6 May 1998 22:29:28 -0400 (EDT), you wrote: > hope you >don't prefer 'rock and roll animal' with it's ghastly heavy metal guitar >and crap 70's production! >Julian I still don't see the big deal of this one... the songs lack essential (IMO) backing vocals (the Velvets WERE a pop band too- this proves it a bit more), Lou's vocals are...well, you know, and the arrangements are overblown.... I'll take the Velevets 69 take of "heroin" over the "rnr animal" version any day! -luther ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 02:24:34 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich) Subject: defending the velvets On Wed, 6 May 1998 22:29:28 -0400 (EDT), you wrote: >------------------------------ > >Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 14:23:45 -0500 >From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) >Subject: Re: muddled and amateurish > >>Well, I know you're being sarcastic, but I think that that pretty much >>sums it up. I just dig songs with melodies more than songs without >>melodies, and MB are more melodic than the VU. >> >>Terrence Marks >>normal@grove.ufl.edu > >What about "I'll Be Your Mirror", "Sunday Morning", "Femme Fatale", "Candy >Says", "Pale Blue Eyes", "Beginning To See The Light", "After Hours", "Who >Loves The Sun", "Sweet Jane", "New Age", etc...? There are a *ton* of very >melodic Velvets songs! "what goes on". "ocean". "all tommorrows parties". need anyone say more? Some people just piggonhole them for the noise part of their sound. but they made some GREAT pop music too. and just remember, Robyn's covered a LOT of VU songs! i'm sure HE's more influence by Vu than moody blues. -luther ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 02:30:15 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich) Subject: i remember eno On Wed, 6 May 1998 22:29:28 -0400 (EDT), you wrote: > >> Any fans of the music of Brian Eno out there? > >Luther, how many times have you suffered through my sig file? And you have >to ask that question > well, maybe you just liked that one song! :-) >np - Before and After Science... one of the three greatest rock albums >ever! (hint, hint!) > >hmmm. No emotional resonance in "Everything merges with the night"? or "By >this river"? And as for ambient, yes, I like it a lot. Not as much as his >songs, sure, but have a listen to "Music for Films", "Music for Airports" >or "Discreet Music" and you'll find there's a lot of good work there. As >for the 'song' albums, you missed both "Wrong Way Up" (with John Cale) and >"Nerve Net" (both goodies, IMHO). There's also the album he did with David >Byrne ("My life in the bush of ghosts") which uses tape collage effects and >'found voices'. oh, th eone with "do you have the Jezibel Spirit within you!" strange record....Fela Kuti riffs and radio exorcisms at the same time...interesting mix, though! -luther ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 02:34:17 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich) Subject: this sounds like... most of the members of the 'prog-rock supergroup' of sorts 801, who put out a great, fun live album....prog rockers playing "you really got me" (that's right, Kinks content!) and the BEST rendition of "tomorrow never knows" with eno on vocals! -luther > >The BBC tape mentioned by dlang -- this sounds like the same recording put >out by Griffin (CD 137) as _Dali's Car_. Here's the info from the All-Music >Guide: > >- -------------------------------------------------------------------- >Artist: Brian Eno >Album Title: Dali's Car >Date of Release: 1994 (approx.) inprint >Genre: Rock >Styles: Electronic, Art-Rock/Progressive-Rock, Experimental >  >CD Griffin 137 > >Phil Manzanera-Guitar >Francis Monkman-Clarinet >Simon Phillips-Drums >Michael Desmarais-Drums >Brian Eno-Synthesizer, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals >Guy Humphries-Guitar, Vocals >Bill MacCormick-Bass, Vocals >Brian Turrington-Bass >Lloyd Watson-Guitar, Vocals >Philip Bambow-Guitar, Vocals > >1. Pow Pow Negro Blowtorch >2. Fever (Cooley/Davenport) >3. Fat Lady of Limbourg >4. Third Uncle >5. Baby's on Fire >6. I'll Come Running ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 20:04:20 -0700 From: Ethyl Ketone Subject: Re: i remember eno > oh, th eone with "do you have the Jezibel Spirit within you!" > strange record....Fela Kuti riffs and radio exorcisms at the >same time...interesting mix, though! "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts"... Eno and Byrne. Hmmm - Byrne again. Now the connection to Demme and on down the line to Robyn... Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? - - carrie "Questions are a burden for others. Answers are a prison for oneself." **************************************************************************** M.E.Ketone/C.Galbraith meketone@ix.netcom.com cgalbraith@psygnosis.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 98 23:32:52 EDT From: Ross Overbury Subject: Re: i remember eno Carrie said: > > oh, the one with "do you have the Jezibel Spirit within you!" > > strange record....Fela Kuti riffs and radio exorcisms at the > >same time...interesting mix, though! > I love African music, but the couple of Fela recordings I own remind me of that "jamming band" thread. Fela hasn't quite clicked with me. Knowing I prefer more traditional sounding African music to '70's Makossa style stuff, is there any Fela music that could win me over? Funny, but King Sunny's "jamming" suits me well enough. > > "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts"... Eno and Byrne. > Hmmm - Byrne again. Now the connection to Demme and on down the line to > Robyn... > > Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? Does Syd count? I've spent the last few days discovering The Madcap Laughs. Today I told Bayard that Abbey Road side 2 and Madcap can both give me goosebumps. What I didn't say was that one's like goosebumps from a sunrise seen from a volcanic crater and the other's like goosebumps from witnessing a circus train wreck. - -- Ross Overbury Montreal, Quebec, Canada email: rosso@cn.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 23:37:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas Rodebaugh Subject: needing introduction. . . hello all. . . others seem to be introducing themselves, and i've just finished my finals, so . . . i've been here before, actually. my name is tom and i used to contribute little things (like a short thing describing robyn as he might appear on deep space nine), and occasionally ask questions or suggest things that always managed to be redundant. . . something about time and space, they're always getting in the way. . . anyway, i'm after a phd in clinical psychology these days, which mainly involves me being shut in a windowless room for eight months out of the year. but it's summer, and the digest will distract me from the fact that my girlfriend is in england (and unlike me, she doesn't like it there). i have a redundant question already, for those of you who have gotten this far--someone mentioned unhatched crablings III and IV. was this facetious (or factitious?) or a real thing? i seem to have missed those, and i'd love to hear songs i haven't heard before! (hmph, and i never did get my second volume of the video bootleg, either. bother.) aw well. any info much appreciated. hi people! is k around ever? is there still much mentioning of toast? ah, the good old days. . . tom ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 12:12:38 +0800 From: Jon Fetter Subject: Re: i remember eno >Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? >- carrie "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" has been in my CD drive for the past week. I hadn't listened to it for a year. Is something catching? Jonster np--need I say? - ------------------------------------------------------------------- "They are grubby little creatures of a sea floor 530 million years old, but we greet them with awe because they are the Old Ones, and they are trying to tell us something." --Stephen Jay Gould ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 12:08:03 +0800 From: Jon Fetter Subject: Re: i remember eno >>hmmm. No emotional resonance in "Everything merges with the night"? or "By >>this river"? And as for ambient, yes, I like it a lot. Not as much as his >>songs, sure, but have a listen to "Music for Films", "Music for Airports" >>or "Discreet Music" and you'll find there's a lot of good work there. As >>for the 'song' albums, you missed both "Wrong Way Up" (with John Cale) and >>"Nerve Net" (both goodies, IMHO). There's also the album he did with David >>Byrne ("My life in the bush of ghosts") which uses tape collage effects and >>'found voices'. > > oh, th eone with "do you have the Jezibel Spirit within you!" > strange record....Fela Kuti riffs and radio exorcisms at the >same time...interesting mix, though! > > -luther "America is Waiting" is my fave on "My Ghosts in the Bush of Life". Played it at my wedding reception and confused my grandmother. Jonster - ------------------------------------------------------------------- "They are grubby little creatures of a sea floor 530 million years old, but we greet them with awe because they are the Old Ones, and they are trying to tell us something." --Stephen Jay Gould ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 23:44:28 -0500 From: "Hallucinogenic Woodpecker" Subject: Re: i remember eno > >Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? > "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" has been in my CD drive >for the past week. I hadn't listened to it for a year. > Is something catching? There must be an epidemic because _Piper_ has found its way to my CD player quite often in the past week. Maybe it is the talk of Robyn playing "Astronomy Domine", which I still want to hear. - --dave ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 16:51:04 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: the great debate, round 933 El Tel asks: >I have an interest in this band. That is sufficient for me to listen to >it. How much radio interest does, say, Mr. Dignan have? (James, how much >radio interest do you have?) Mr. Dignan's music is very good, >popular or not. not much, sadly - not even on the local student station :( Thanks for the kind words though... I'm hoping to get my A into G enough to do another tape release by the end of the year, but I've been severely sidetracked into the visual arts lately (I'm getting more interest in my painting than my music!). BTW, expect something a *little different* from my standard fare of GFII. 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: Fri, 8 May 1998 16:59:11 +1200 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Glen Baxter & 60s bands >PPS. Really? *None* of you are Glen Baxter fans? Hard to believe. hey - did I miss something here? Yes, I'm a Baxter fan. Funnily enough, I often end up comparing his work to Edward Gorey's... oh, and sixties music I like? Beatles, Who, early Stones, Monkees (yes, Monkees), a little Beach Boys, Kinks, Donovan (yes, Donovan!), Dylan, King Crimson (although they were mainly 70s), very earlky Pink Floyd (they peaked around the time of "Set the controls..." for me) 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: Fri, 8 May 1998 01:07:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: absolutely no NMH content > Yet again, you twist my words. It's not so much a question of "lack of > concern for lyrical content" -- it's a question of him "concernedly" > ranking PETER TORK on the lyrical level of Lou Reed, fer chrissake. And > superficially summing up VU's lyrics as "Lookie, we're on smack." There's a > difference between the above and just saying "Yeah yeah, I know the Monkees > didn't have much substance, but I thought they did some really catchy pop > tunes and I love 'em for that!" Know wut I mean? Yeah. Peter Tork. Admittedly, half of his stuff was never released ("Lady's Baby", "Tear the Top Right Off My Head", "Merry-Go-Round". This is, unfort, his best stuff. [Before you ask "if it was so good, why was it unreleased", well, The Monkees recorded well over twice as much material as they needed, including two Tork singles.]) and you're likely to dismiss "For Pete's Sake" as hippy ramblings. Either I'm really missing something, or VU's lyrics just *don't* go much beyond the superficial. Are VU&Nico and White Light/White Heat particularly bad examples of Mr. Reed's lyrical abilities? If not, there are few writers that I wouldn't rank above him. What's so great about Mr. Reed's music, anyhow? Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 01:10:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: i remember eno > Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? > - carrie Yeah. Picked up a copy of Ummagumma. Been listening to "The Body", and I plan on spending a good amount of time listenng to "More" when I get back home. Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 01:52:32 -0500 From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) Subject: Astonomy Domine Since this song has been discussed recently, I was wondering, which one do you prefer? The studio version on "Piper" or the live version with Dave Gilmour on "Ummagumma"? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 01:54:10 -0500 From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) Subject: Suede While we are on the subject of "Does anyone like...?", I'll have to ask if there are any other Suede fans on the list?!?! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 02:06:10 -0500 From: nicastr@idt.net (Ben) Subject: Re: absolutely no NMH content >Either I'm really missing something, or VU's lyrics just *don't* go much >beyond the superficial. Are VU&Nico and White Light/White Heat >particularly bad examples of Mr. Reed's lyrical abilities? If not, there >are few writers that I wouldn't rank above him. What's so great about Mr. >Reed's music, anyhow? This is the way I see it... if you don't have some sort of facination with drug addiction, cross dressers, S&M, serial killers, and so on, then you probably are going to get nothing out of much of Lou Reed's work. This is not to say that Lou *only* wrote about the dark side of things, but I think that's what attracts a lot of people to his work. It's sort of like Fox's "Sacariest Police Chases" programs, you get a view of something most people rarely, or never, encounter. You must remember that Lou was writing about things he saw on a day to day basis, he was hanging around with many of the people who became subjects of his songs. I think this translates into his work by making it so *real*. You don't listen to a song like "Heroin" and think this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. I'd recommend checking at the documentary that's running on PBS now, it gives more insight into where Lou is coming from. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 01:18:09 -0500 From: sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain) Subject: Re: absolutely no NMH content >Yet again, you twist my words. It's not so much a question of "lack of >concern for lyrical content" -- it's a question of him "concernedly" >ranking PETER TORK on the lyrical level of Lou Reed, fer chrissake. And >superficially summing up VU's lyrics as "Lookie, we're on smack." I agree with Eb, for what it's worth. Terry -was- trying to put Peter Tork as a lyricist on a par with Lou Reed, and I'm sorry, that just WILL NOT wash. If he were arguing that Eb was overemphasizing lyrical content, ok, but he was trying to say "the Monkees had profound lyrics too" and THAT, THAT, IMHO doesn't work. Neither does saying the entire output of the Velvet Underground reduces to "Look ma, I'm on smack". Incidentally, in case it isn't blindingly obvious there were a lot of bands in the sixties that were quite open about drug use and references thereto- it seems odd to mention the VU as being sensationalist in that regard. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 01:28:59 -0500 From: sdodge@midway.uchicago.edu (amadain) Subject: Re: absolutely no NMH content >This is the way I see it... if you don't have some sort of facination with >drug addiction, cross dressers, S&M, serial killers, and so on, then you >probably are going to get nothing out of much of Lou Reed's work. Um, actually, most of what Lou Reed writes about is every day emotional stuff. Yeah, he writes about what he sees on the street, sure, but the point is- the trappings are immaterial- he writes HUMAN, not freak, as opposed to something like the Springer show where it's all about a circus. And most of the time he writes very insightfully and empathetically. He's not trying to exploit freak novelty, he's trying to show the underlying emotional connections between all of us. Now I happen to think John Cale is a -better- writer but that doesn't mean I'd undervalue Lou's talent. I also resent the grouping of S&M automatically with serial killers, but that's something else again. >not to say that Lou *only* wrote about the dark side of things, but I think >that's what attracts a lot of people to his work. It's sort of like Fox's >"Sacariest Police Chases" programs, you get a view of something most people Well, I can't say as the VU subject matter ever seemed all that odd to me. Seems pretty every day, as I said, most of it. Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 08:55:24 +0000 From: Jonathan Turner Subject: Eno's no bounds is the headline above a 2 page interview with Father Brian, in today's (UK) Guardian (8th May issue), to mark his 50th birthday next week. I haven't had time to read it yet, though one quote did leap out at me - "I think Media Studies should be compulsory for children, so that they can learn to recognise the mutation of information within the process of mediation.". Cute photo of Brian with Roxy in '72, too. Jonathan. "Sometimes I cry when the feeling fails to come and I feel cheated and I feel dumb oh but I, I feel everything when Eno sings " - The Jazz Butcher ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 02:23:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: I CAUGHT UP!!! OK... I am now officially cught up on fegmail. I'm sure I have replying to do, but I'm now reading today's mail as it comes out. Phew! For those of you waiting for the second installment of my travelogue, well, I sent it. I'm guessing that Woj has a filter that'll bounce anything over XX kb to him for approval before sending it to a few hundred unsuspecting people. Part Two is maybe 38k (that's six times longer than Carole's post about SXSW... and that's just Part Two). I hope I don't piss anybody off. J. ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 02:29:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: BAYARD, DON'T!!! Um... Bayard, don't read Part Two of my travelogue when it comes out unless you've already received your birthday present from Eddie. I mistakenly spoke too much too soon assuming that someone else would mention it in their posts. I feel stupid. I just wasn't thinking that gifts were supposed to be surprises. I'm terrible at secrets. Everyone else: Don't mention what I said about Bayard's gift. It's not much, but it's there. Sincerely, A. Heel ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 11:54:55 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: lime and limpid green On Thu, 7 May 1998, Ross Overbury wrote: [re:] > > Just curious, anyone else been listening to old "Floyd lately????? > > Does Syd count? I've spent the last few days discovering The Madcap > Laughs. Today I told Bayard that Abbey Road side 2 and Madcap can both > give me goosebumps. What I didn't say was that one's like goosebumps > from a sunrise seen from a volcanic crater and the other's like > goosebumps from witnessing a circus train wreck. Wait till you get to "Barrett" - that's more like pulling some bunting and the red and yellow mane of a merry-go-round horse out of the wreck. - - Mike Godwin PS Of course the version of Astronomy Domine on Piper, with Syd vocal, is definitive. I've just bought the recent mono reissue and I will report back any noticeable differences. PPS The Hitchcock / Windsor version at the 12-bar isn't bad either! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 17:30:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Probably Redundant Travelogue Part Two (Feggathering, Movie, Alcatraz, and The Best Show Ever) >From Chris's place just off Castro, it's only a short walk down to the Patio Cafe. Once inside, Chris motioned to the host and said, without even a touch of silliness and all the forthrightness of a secret serviceman confirming the President's hotel reservations, "We have a reservation... for Mister Feg." "Of course you do... right this way." They'd put together two or three tables along the back of the patio agains the glass wall separating the plants from the animals. Pleasant conversation and a few drinks. Sydney showed up. We ordered appetizers. Eventually Nick walked in. Eddie made me retell the story of the flying sports car. Mark said that the same thing used to happen quite a bit near where he lived in Nevada. He said it was some particular model of Corvette that had a bone to pick with Bernoulli's Principle. So I guess now the story will have to say Corvette and people might think I can actually tell the difference between a Corvette and another car. We ordered entrees. Karen was accidentally served the split pea soup instead of the soup she ordered. Mark took it off her hands obligingly and really wanted to eat it until Sydney dipped her ravioli in it. I still don't understand what happened and I was watching the whole time. I guess the next most interesting thing happened when time came to settle the bill. Everyone tossed their share into the middle of the table. I guess most of us just carried ATM excretia because it was mostly twenties. We came up about forty dollars over the tab. Mark organized the cash and someone changed out a twenty for singles. After figuring for a generous tip (note Eb, that bay area fegs seem much more courteous on the surface than LA fegs), Mark took a pile of ones and fives and passed them to Sydney on his left. "Just take whatever you think you need and pass it around." Fegs are the coolest people. I don't think anyone felt cheated. We headed out about an hour early for the theater two blocks away. We all had advance tickets. The line was already wrapped around the block. I can only hope that this somehow influences potential distributors. I will admit to being a little more than surprised that the film has an audience. Among the folks in line were Cynthia and Chris from Seattle. Very cool. I got confused about ticketing and the doors and things. Nick straightened me out without making me look like a fool. After a very long while we were let into the theater. At this point we split up and sat in two different sections. I'm blind and sat in the third row. Chris, Karen, Eddie, Cynthia and Chris and maybe some others followed me down. Nick, Mark, Sydney and whoever else sat about halfway up on the left side. I know you all care who sat where. There was a ridiculous wait before the film. When we first entered, Eye was playing on the auditorium sound system and was followed by some Soft Boys tunes. I remember Underwater Moonlight. The Castro is a nifty theater, though. There's a big Wurlitzer that raises up in front of the stage before the screen and a man played standard Wurlitzer faire up until the flick was introduced by the creative director of the San Francisco International Film Festival. This fellow climbed up onto the stage and told us that Jonathan Demme couldn't make it because he's blocking his new film whose name escapes me. He introduced one of the film's producers who spoke for a short time about the making of the movie. Robyn was then introduced to overwhelming applause. This was not just a film festival crowd. Folks were obviously there to see Robyn. What can I say about the film? I traveled to San Francisco to see it. It's full of Robyn and Robynsongs. Of course I was going to love it. But it's a thousand times better than even I expected. The first part is Devil's Radio and 1974 and I think a little slow to get going. The stories are really inventive and totally new to me. Contrary to what the reviewers in papers are saying, I think it'll probably win more than a few fans if they get a chance to see it. As the movie goes on, Robyn talks less and plays more. The songs vary pretty well between earlier and more recent material. Airscape and Freeze are back to back which makes me want to cry. Those two songs hold the most important places in my heart of all Robynsongs. Tim pops up in two tunes, as has been said. Deni is in just one, if I recall. The closing scenes of I Don't Remember Guildford keep you planted until the flick's fully ended. I appreciate that. Overall I think it's a stunning accomplishment. I think it's amazing that Robyn can be simultaneously thirty feet tall and timid. The storefront 'gimmick' is very well executed and never distracting. I think it's interesting to note that the title is never shown forward, only backward as if viewed from the inside of a storefront window. We had a brief discussion off and on over the next couple of days about how the movie could be cropped for television viewing. I think it'll probably be a combination of letterboxed scenes and cropped bits. I would hope, of course, that it's all letterbox by the time the thing hits any kind of commercial release. The photography is beautiful. The shirts are vivid. And I'd never quite noticed how sensual Robyn's mouth is. The movie is spectacular. After the movie, as you all know, there was a short question and answer with Robyn, Deni, and Peter (the producer). Robyn was sometimes evasive and sometimes very earnest and direct but always scalding and acidic toward the person posing the question. I can't imagine why someone would want to ask Robyn a question when you just KNOW he's going to tear you to shreads. And the only person who wasn't torn to shreads asked the most inane question of all: What is Vera Lynn? Bah. Do a little research, dearie. Join a mailing list. However, the Vera Lynn question did yield a more vivid interpretation of the song than the one on Spectre. Robyn says that the song is all in the mind of the dying man pre-, mid-, and post-op all the while medicated to the gills. His head is filled with images of the war and the forces sweetheart interrupted by reality, death, and a yipping terrier. It's all very clear. I wish I could write like that. Robyn did this amazing thing where he noted the differences in the way people speak from Canada down to Texas... how the voice is higher and pinched in the throat very much in the north, but loosens up as you go south until you're in Texas where voices are very round and deep. A brilliant perception, if you ask me. As a former actor, I find that sort of behavioral insight fascinating. And does anyone really know why and where the radio stations change from W to K? If you have the means, I highly recommend getting a copy of this Q&A. I'm pretty sure Eddie's tape is listenable. Robyn let us know that Deni would be with him at the show the next night. Karen turned to me and said "Well, you just might get your wish" or somesuch. You see, my great wish has always been to see Robyn play Flavour of Night with Deni. Robyn on piano, Deni on violin. That's the way that song was intended, if you ask me. When folks started filing out, fegs started taking pictures. They're a snappy lot. A bunch of us gathered in front of the stage for a picture with Nick's camera... some strangers took it, if I recall. We were all directly in front of the Wurlitzer. As we were gathering together and trying to figure out how everyone could get in the shot without cutting of Chris's head or my entire left half, someone in the balcony put a spotlight on us. That great big fegfoto will probably show some shiny white skinned people with washed out lips and red eyes. I can't wait. We were beat and headed straight home to bed. In all honesty, I was dozing in and out in a middley part of the movie and missed almost all of I Something You. I can't wait to see it again. Back at Chris's, Eddie and Karen got a look at the World's Coolest Sleeping Bag. It's this weird old military thing. It has sleeves! For God's sake, sleeves! It's a sleeping bag with sleeves and a hood and a zipper crosswise at the knees so that you can open it up and run in a hurry... or wear it as a parka. There is a hood for warmth and a second outer hood that doubles as a sheath for the bag when it's rolled up. This one is water proof. All in all, if you put the bag on properly and completely, you make a very satisfying Jabba the Hut. If you unzip the knees and step your legs through without rolling up the bottom bit and buckling the belt, you can drag the foot end behind you like a fat tail and become a reasonably menacing Godzilla. It's the coolest sleeping bag in the world. It was way too hot for my sleeping bag. Morning came early and we all got up and cleaned up and headed out. Karen had never been to San Francisco before so we were ready to see the town. It didn't really happen. She insisted on seeing Alcatraz, though, so that became our focus and the day's big central activity. We rode the muni and then the bus... we walked from pier 1 to pier 41. I bought a snow globe for the girl at the candy store. Karen bought a new watch. Eddie bought lemonade. Chris bought a slice of pizza. There were no cool video games at the arcade save Galaga. Kite shops often sell yo-yos. I dragged everyone along upstairs to visit the kite shop on the most commercial of piers. it had no yo-yos. But the flag store was horrifying enough to be amusing. It made us all think of James. We should chip in and send James one of those big Flags Of The World nightshirts. We almost bought Ian an Irish flag to replace the Union Jack in his window so his father wouldn't bitch so much. They had some really cool Stars & Stripes pants. They also had a Stars & Stripes G-string that I hope nobody will ever actually wear. The phone rang at the flag shop and Eddie answered it. "Flag Shop!" He cheerily greeted the surprised customer. He listened for a moment. "Alright, just a moment." He put the fun against his shoulder and turned toward the counter and the rest of the shop. "Is Joe here? hey... hey... is Joe here?" The girl behind the counter looked really flustered. She said "No, he's... wait... hang on." She picked up her phone and hit a button to pick up Eddie's line. She greeted the customer all over again and probably confused the hell out of him. She listened for a moment and then pulled a big book out from under the counter. "Well, he's not here, but I'll tell you what's available..." I stopped listening to her and turned my attention to Eddie. Eddie hung up the telephone in his hand and said "I could have done that... Well. I mean, I didn't know where that book was or what's in it or how... ok, maybe I couldn't have done it. Say, can I burn these?" We weren't thrown out, which really surprised me. We barely made our boat out to Alcatraz. There was a lot of wind and even more children. Standing in front of me near the bow were three fourth grade boys from a town outside LA. They all had perfect hair. Two of them were wearing sunglasses that cost more everything I was wearing and carrying at the time (including my over-stuffed pockets). I'll bet each and every one has been on an audition. They were just grim reminders that no matter how many cool Robynpeople there are, I was still in California and I still hate people. Eddie and Chris had to wait for the next boat, so Karen and I were on the island half an hour ahead of them with time to kill. The first thing you see when disembarking at Alcatraz is a ranger shouting for everyone to come together and listen for a minute about what you can and can't do, where the restaurants are and a little propaganda about the place. It's funny how they alternate between telling you that Alcatraz was never really a home to the most horrible criminals in America and that everyone who ever served time at Alcatraz completely deserved any suffering they might have endured and that there's no such thing as injustice. Although the big sign at the entrance still clarly reads "Welcome Indians" in red paint, there's only the fewest token references to the indian occupation of Alcatraz from 1969-1971 (even the destroyed Warden's House which was burned by the indians in their initial demonstrations and stands now only as a reinforced shell wears a sign stating simply that it 'caught fire in 1970.' Awful). This is really interesting. The ranger said that being in isolation on Alcatraz simply meant not having contact with other prisoners... she said it did not mean being in a room without windows. She said it did not mean bread and water and it NEVER lasted more than 19 days. She also told us that a former inmate was in the bookstore signing books and answering questions. This made me sick right away. Yeah, she's lying about isolation. Yeah, it's weird that an inmate would want to come back to such a place. But a bookstore?!? I got a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I found my way around to the bookstore. There was a table set up and an elderly fellow sat next to a stack of large format paperbacks. A younger fellow sat on his left and said nothing. The elderly fellow was talking about what a rotten kid he was and how the Lord had saved him. He said he was on Alcatraz for 10 years and 1 day. He was just going through the motions... probably answering the same questions he'd answered Monday-Wednesday 8am-4pm for weeks. The fellow sitting next to him got up to get a drink or go to the restroom or something. I lept on the fine opportunity. "Were you ever in isolation?" "Oh, of course. I can't imagine anyone stayed here without doing a little time in the hole." "The ranger said it just meant you didn't get to talk to other inmates." "Well," he said a little conspiratorially, "that's where the rangers haven't quite got their facts straight. They'd put you in the box or somewhere and you would just be in the dark. You had no way of knowing how much time had passed and sometimes you weren't fed I think more to mess with your head than to make you hungry. I'd pass the time by tearing a button off of my shirt and throwing it up against the wall and then crawling around on my hands and knees until I found it again... then I'd throw it again. I spent two months in there once." I can't tell you how much I appreciated his candor... nor how much I wished everybody there had heard what this man had just said. Maybe they'd stop looking at the place as if it were a closed theme park and more like what was: the seat of American inhumanity in modern times. The fellow came back with a cup of water and sat down next the elderly man behind the table of books for sale. A woman standing next to me asked "How long could a person be kept in isolation?" Without looking up, the man said "Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that. You'll really have to ask one of the rangers." Subject closed. By this time, Eddie and Chris were disembarking so I went down to the dock and met up with Karen again so the four of us could head up to the top of the island. We walked the long, steep road and got to the top. I mentioned the Warden's house. I didn't see an entrance into the original military barracks that became the guards' and family apartments. The industry centers and gardening sheds are rubble. The flower gardens have gone to seed and bright dots claw their way along craggy beaches and cliffsides. The main prison building is, of course, the central focus. There's another bookstore up there and a gift shop with mugs, t-shirts, shot glasses and bumper stickers. I got that sick feeling in my stomach again. I turned to Chris and said "Sheesh... they don't have a gift shop at Auschwitz." "Actually, they do." He shot back. I couldn't argue. Never been. All I could think was "Jesus Christ! 'I survived the Holocaust and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.'" They sold an I Can Read style book about one of the escape attempts. It's a doosy. Eddie bought it for Bayard for his birthday. I saw the receipt. He paid for it. Karen took the audio tour. The three of us just tried to keep up. It was kind of weird being among the very few not wearing a yellow box on his belt with a tetherered headset, walking blindly and taking cues from an unheard voice. You could see who was at what place on the cassette by watching when different groups of people turned their heads to look at different things. In the cafeteria, for example, the tape must tell the listener to come in and sit on one of the benches facing a particular direction. It's really creepy to see all the people who file into the cafeteria find a place and sit facing forward, upright, listening, staring straight ahead. If you walk around without the audio tour, you get a better chance to look at things for yourself, I think; soak up the details. There's all kinds of misleading things. Some of the cells are mocked up to look lived-in with shaving cream bottles on the shelves and packages of tobacco near the beds. The photos they have of prison life are ludicrous. The only photo in the cafeteria is of prisoners sitting around with big plates full of food while a man at the far end of the room sits on a stage and plays guitar. Yeah. Alcatraz had live music every night at dinner. Of course. There's a huge blowup of a photo in one of the cells showing that same room decorated to the nines with pictures on the walls and personal effects on the shelves. Three pillows on the unmade bed. There are no signs saying when the picture was taken, but it's very obviously from the indian occupation even though there's no mention of the occupation at all outside of the bookstore near the docks and a small commemorative room in the exhibit hall. The only photo of the yard depicts smiling prisoners in the sun playing baseball on a well manicured diamond. Yup. Hardened criminals with bats. Also, the day we were on Alcatraz, the weather was pretty good and still the exercise yard was the least pleasant place to be. It was windy, smelly and very cold. If you hit a baseball out there with any kind of loft, it'd be carried over the wall and into the ocean every time. It's a mess. When we did get a chance to say what was supposed to be the only isolation block (still fully one quarter the size of the prison), we saw a wall of cells much larger than the regular cells (presumably because folks in isolation get more walking room because they don't get to leave for meals or exercise) and a row of six smaller cells with low ceilings and now windows.. double barred and holed up behind a solid steel door with a small grate window that could be covered by a heavy hinged shutter. I've heard tell that there are worse dungeons on the lower level, but I couldn't find anything like an entrance into that area (but the building sure does ride high on that concrete foundation... there's obviously some kind of basement there). The six small cells have a sign out front describing them as the severe disciplinary isolation cells. It says that a prisoner might be kept there for no more than 2-5 days, sometimes on a restricted diet. So much for consistency. Personally, I tend to believe the old guy. The whole place creeped the fuck out of me... and think anyone who doesn't feel the same is pretty sick and hangs around other people too much. We headed back about two hours after we arrived. A long walk and a longer busride. A long wait at the muni station and a long ride on a crowded train. We ate tastey burritos per Mark Gloster's recommendation of Taqueria Zapata two blocks from Chris's. There was barely time to get to the Great American Music Hall before the doors opened. The line for the show wasn't nearly as long as the line for the movie, but it was still a good cheery line of fegs. While walking up, Chris and I approached Mark Gloster in line. Chris tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up from the paper he was reading, waved a confused wave, and went back to his business. I thought he was just showing us how weird we were for trying to say hi when we were very obviously expected to show up. Chris and I both seemed to brush it off. We took two steps forward to talk to the rest of the fegs and were greeted happily by... Mark Gloster! Don't you see? There were TWO of them! There was our smiling rubber shark guy and four people ahead of him in line was this near double deeply engrossed in a pamphlet. Weirded me out. Chris and I both were wholly convinced that it was the amazing RotoMark. The existence of another Mark doesn't bode well for the future of humanity. Is this where our gene pool is going? I hope all of your prayers are with those seeking a cure. I picked up my will call ticket just as our beloved Tom Clark was coming up the street. A man standing next to the window kept asking me for money. Tom went to the window to get his ticket and the fellow asked him for money as well. Tom said "Man, I have to pick up my ticket." The fellow shot back "Hey, can you pick up a ticket for me?" Tom looked confused at the street fellow and said "Aren't you on the guest list?" Damn. Brilliant. We chatted for a bit in line about our expectations. I may have mentioned my little wish to see Flavour Of Night with piano and Deni. Eddie looked like he'd be happy if Robyn stood up there and read from an East Bay telephone directory. (Incidentally, I dated a girl whose greatest fantasy was to hear Robyn read from Finnegan's Wake. I may have mentioned that before.) Eventually we were all let in. Tom's wiley charms got him in first... he brought Nick with him and the two scoped us some fantastic seats at a table just to the right side of the auditorium. On my way in through the door, they took my ticket (not my stub, my whole ticket) and asked me for ID. Nobody ELSE got asked for ID. Sheesh. So I reached for my wallet and said "Alright... I don't drink or anything, but..." He cut me off. "Yeah, ok, fine" and he stamped my hand. When I turned around to Chris, I saw that he had a little blue treble clef or something. I had this weird red swirly thing. I got concerned. I ran back to the fellow who asked for my ID. "Hey... is there like someplace I can't go or something I can't do because of this?" I was curious... I didn't want everyone to sit in the balcony and me to be declined because I have a red swirly stamp. "You can't drink." Oh. OK. The first thing I noticed when I came into the auditorium was the big black piano onstage. I turned to Nick. "There's a piano." I let Chris know. "Hey, there's a piano." Eddie was already in his seat. "Hey, did you see the piano?" Karen was nearby. "Hey, Karen... check out the piano." I was a little excited. Nick did what he could to burst my bubble. "It could be for the supporting act." Who says 'supporting act'? Damn brits. There was a chink in Nick's defense. "Yeah... but even if the piano IS for the opening band, they're not going to MOVE IT before Robyn comes on. It'll be available." Boyo. I was a tad jumpy. I took my seat. The waitress came by and asked for food and drink orders. People ate. People drank. I again expressed my concern over the red swirly stamp. She said "if you really need to order a drink for somebody, you can just show the bartender your ID... I'll let you order whatever you want." Even better. I asked for a cranberry juice with soda water and a wedge of lime... no ice if I could get it. Some feg decided to get smart. "Yeah? What kind of glass do you want that in?" "Oooh!" I said, nonplussed. "A pint glass would be great." "So you want a double?" asked the waitress. "If a double means no ice and a pint glass, sure." I was kind of confused. The feg who helped me so much by letting me specify receptacles then asked "Has anyone ever called you High Maintenance?" The answer, if you care, is no. I'm not high maintenance because, although I always ask for exactly what I want, I'm totally cool if I get something else... usually. We passed around Bayard's birthday book. Cynthia and I signed the front end paper, but then mark decided to caption a photo with his signature and things went downhill from there. We all ended up adding a word or two to the pictures in the book. It's pretty sick. But I think the book itself is more disturbing than anything anyone wrote... but I do recall Tom Clark asking me how to spell syphilis. John Partridge came by, but there weren't enough seats for his friends. I shook his hand... he looked at me without any kind of clue. I can barely count him as a feg met. So the opening band came out. Cheri Knight and her band of Jooves... no idea what they called themselves. Very very country. I think I liked it... it's just not at all my thing. While they were playing I thought "Sheesh, I could write a song better than this." So I tried. Oh, yeah, I failed. It was awful. I put my pen away and tried to enjoy the show. The band rotated quite a bit. The backup vocalist and guitar player left and was replaced by the mandolin boy. Then the drummer left so that guitar player girl could come back. Cheri tried to explain. "When we took this gig, we were given a few restrictions which we've followed to the letter... we only accepted it because we really wanted to open for Robyn. First, we had to play acoustic. Normally we like to rock, but this is pretty good, too." OK, personally I couldn't imagine this band really rocking anything. Way too much twang and just a little too *ahem* clippity cloppity. But how could she say that they were following the rules to the letter and playing acoustic when she very clearly held a large electric bass and played it throughout the show? Someone will have to explain that one to me. I'm not kidding. "Second, no drums. So we put [insert drummer's name here] behind this stool we stole from the bar and she's been playing this tambourine with a brush and stick." Yeah... she rocked. She had that little egg-shaped shaker thing down, too. "Third, we couldn't have more than four people onstage at any time. But we didn't want to go without the mandolin so we're just going to trade off all the time." There was a fourth rule, but I forgot what it was. They played a full set and left. We were pretty excited. Maybe it was just me. Robyn came out in short order. Same black shirt with white dots Robyn was wearing at the film. I made some comment about hating it when I forget to pack enough clothing for a trip. I guess it was only ironic to One-Pants Brelin. Incidentally, at the film someone asked where Robyn gets his shirts. He claimed to get them second hand at thift stores. Yeah, right. He also said he bought out the entire supply of a now defunct French designer's store. This is pretty likely. Those are damn expensive shirts, if you didn't know. Robyn had his big english acoustic guitar. There was some incredibly good banter. He played some songs. They were pleasant. Robyn told the story of tiny policemen and shortened chairs. He played an acoustic Balloon Man which kind of stunned me. "And it rained like a slow divorce / and I wish Titanic hadn't stayed on course" He played Chinese Bones, as is pretty usual these days. Bayard would be interested to note that he said "I had never seen a man". "They opened Peter Sellers' heart and they told him a story Just 'cause you are not yourself doesn't mean you can't die He passed away in a hotel, I just hope to hell I don't." I was rapt. It was pretty great. I guess it's important to note that neither Cheri Knight nor any member of her little musical thingie so much as touched the piano. After about five songs, Robyn walked over and sat at the bench before the keys. I think people were happy. It got really loud for a minute. Robyn played just about the most straightforward and just plain bummer song he's probably ever written. I'd never heard it before and I don't know that anyone at our table had either. Robyn said that he just realized he hadn't played piano at a live show in a while. Hrrm... was that not a vital thread just before my trek south? A spy in the house of feg, if you ask me. He also mentioned that he'd recently "moved in with a piano" so we'll see if that comes out as anything in the future. Someone shouted out "Ice cream hands!" like a big loser. Robyn mumbled something that sounded to me like "You never learn, do you?" He put his hands down on the keys (watching his fingers the whole time) and played the first few unmistakable bars of Flavour Of Night. Um... I got a little more jumpy. It was half as happy as can be! I may have kicked Karen's chair. When Robyn should have begun the vocal, he sort of restarted the tune from the top. A dark shadow ascended from stage left, knelt and picked up a violin shaped shadow. I kind of wigged out. I hate to admit it. I got a little crazy. I beat the hell out of the bottom of Karen's chair with my feet. I bounced a little. OK, I just about popped. Nick gave me a soothing pat, but I don't think that could have possibly done anything to alieviate the ridiculous surge of pleasure enhancing neurochemicals squirting from every pore and drenching my world in glee. Karen shot me a "hey, stop kicking the hell out of the bottom of my chair" glance and I settled a little. The song commenced. Yeah, it was as incredible as it could have been. It was dramatic and vivid and painting prettiness and all those cascading eyes. Quoth Eb, "Wheeee!" The rest of the show went by. It was incredible. I was in this ridiculous blissful state from Flavour Of Night on. DeChirico Street was by far the highlight of the Post-Flavour Of Night show. It was at a fever pitch and Deni blew me away. Robyn had this huge, silly ear to ear grin. "Hearing Deni and me play makes you want to go out and get married, doesn't it?" The funny thing is, I was thinking exactly that. Robyn claimed Deni had never heard Astronome Domine. I know I hadn't. She listened for the first verse and played simple things for the second... by the end she'd written a competent and beautiful violin part. She even spoke once or twice during the show. Now... I'm not a huge strings fan... I like a good fiddle with some guitar music. Violent Femmes have pulled it off, I think, with teh greatest success. I'm really happy with Deni's work on Moss Elixir/Mossy Liquor. I loved the tour with Billy Bragg and Deni. but I guess I didn't really have a high opinion of Deni as a person before this trip. Somewhere along the line I decided that Deni is super cool and really an amazing person. I'm going to call that a growth point. There were a couple of encores. Robyn came out in that orange shirt with the too equally spaced green apples. The details don't give an accurate picture of the amazing qualities of this show. It was vital and happy and powerful and Robyn was THERE and ON and MOVING. I haven't seen him happier... probably ever. The lights came up. Those of use that could gathered at the front and took more photos. I actually got to speak to Glen Uber. Russ didn't show, so far as I know. (am I the only person on this list who never had a metal phase?) Eddie tried desperately to get someone to take the Alcatraz book back to Robyn for a signing. It didn't happen. We left the hall and walked up the street to find a bar that would take us. We were in the tenderloin. It was a mess. We passed maybe three massage parlors and four adult video stores. We went all of a two and a half blocks. We ended up in some weird phony english pub thing. The clientele was pretty spooky. Nick bought a round of drinks. I fell down the stairs on my way back form the bathroom. This was a much more informal and talkative gathering than dinner the night before. The conversation was fantastic. I could easily call anyone there my good friend. A fellow came up to our table to sell us flowers. We had all this cash in the middle of the table from drink buying and tip leaving, so there was no way to just let him walk on by. He was given maybe two dollars. Eddie asked him to sign Bayard's book. I couldn't believe it. The fellow did... no problem. I'm a little bummed he didn't leave a personalized message as well. Eddie decided we should sing for Bayard. Then Eddie decided everyone in teh bar should sing for him. he wouldn't drop it. He stood up and insisted on everyone's attention. Whenever anyone at all tried to go back to their conversation and mind their own business, Eddie ran over to them and nearly shouted "hey! Can I get your attention? Hey! I'm trying to talk here." I'm honestly very surprised he didn't get hit. We did sing. Eddie got it on tape. I hope Bayard enjoys it. Someone tried to sell us a clock radio. It was late. We all went home. I slept like a rock. Stay tuned for Part Three: Driving Home and Being Poor. ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #182 *******************************