From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #310 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, August 17 1998 Volume 07 : Number 310 Today's Subjects: ----------------- used Kershaw sessions CD spotted cheap- any takers? [JudeHayden@aol.com] Re: the persieds/eddie would go [woj sven-woj ] Re: Peter Holsapple > Robyn Hitchcock [woj sven-woj ] Re: from randi - a Robyn webring? [woj sven-woj ] Re: film roles? ["Daniel Saunders" ] Re: film roles? ["Hallucinogenic Woodpecker" ] Re: film roles? [Terrence M Marks ] Full Mojo poll [M R Godwin ] Re: film roles? [M R Godwin ] Re: This is a song about a superhero named Tony... [M R Godwin ] Re: Full Mojo poll [M R Godwin ] RE: Full Mojo poll ["Chaney, Dolph L" ] Re: musings of a kiwi-pop dipper [Danielle ] i got a million of 'em... [Eb ] Storefront Hitchcock [West ] (no subject) [Joel Mullins ] guzzling live sparrows and then jumping off the empire state ["Capitalism] Re: Kiwi-pop musings [Martin_Bell@idg.co.nz] Re: film roles? [kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander)] Quailish Employment [The Great Quail ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 23:03:27 EDT From: JudeHayden@aol.com Subject: used Kershaw sessions CD spotted cheap- any takers? Hey there, feg neutons- I don't know if anybody is still looking for this or not, but I just today saw a *fair* used copy of the Kershaw CD for $5 at a local store. (By fair I mean some small scratches, booklet wear, definitely looks used but should play fine). Any parties interested in me picking it up on their behalf, please let me know. They also had a like new copy of the UK version of Jazz Butcher Conspiracy's "Waiting for the Love Bus" CD (the version without the 2 bonus tracks "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Everybody's Talking") for ONE MEASLY BUCK ($1.00)! I went ahead and grabbed it since it was such a bargain, but I already have it, so that's for sale too. Keep on feggin' Jude P.S. For anybody who's keeping score on this, *my* top five albums of '98 in no particular order: Posies "Success", Komeda "What Makes it Go?", Mavericks "Trampolene", Pulp "This is Hardcore", and Liz Phair "whitechocolatespaceegg". (Of course, Chris Isaak and Graham Coxon's CD's have yet to be heard by me...) Honorable mentions: Splitsville "Pet Soul EP", Cornelius "Fantasma", Adrian Belew "Belewprints", and Neil Finn "Try Whistling This". Like you care! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 23:06:38 -0400 From: woj sven-woj Subject: Re: the persieds/eddie would go also sprach Bayard (walden@universe.digex.net): >i saw a bumper sticker with a smilie facce and the slogan EDDIE WOULD GO. >now that we have discovered the true meaning of 'porn star' on childens >clothes, does anyone have any light to shed on this? Eddie? there's a not-very-interesting band from down your way called "eddie from ohio". my guess is that they are what this is referring to. (everyone catch all those antecedents?) i'm trapped in vt100-land at the moment so i don't know for sure, but check out and you might find a picture of said bumper sticker at the bottom of the page. woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 23:10:29 -0400 From: woj sven-woj Subject: Re: Peter Holsapple > Robyn Hitchcock also sprach griffith (hbrtv219@email.csun.edu): >I've got a boot CD of REM performing at The Borderline in London >(I believe the show was in 1991). Among the guests performing with REM >are Billy Bragg, Peter Holsapple, and Robyn Hithcock. For some lame >reason, the manufacturers of this disc edited out Robyn's songs (I've >read that he performed 'Arms of Love' and 'Listening To The Higsons' with >all of the others chiming in). if anyone really needs to hear these shows, i have complete recordings of both nights that bingo hand job did the borderline thing. just let me know. +w, going for the all-susan posting record ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 23:17:34 -0400 From: woj sven-woj Subject: Re: from randi - a Robyn webring? also sprach Tim Fuller (ct965@freenet.toronto.on.ca): >I forgot to mention this again - but what do people think of there being a >Robyn Webring - cool...? or stupid...? hmmm. i think webrings are not a bad idea as they allow related sites to be tied more closely together. on the other hand, there aren't *that* many robyn-related sites on the web and most of them link back to each other anyways. so, in a sense, we already have a webring, just not an organized one. that said, i don't have a problem with having one and, if no one else wants to volunteer and the general consensus is that we should, i will set it up. woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 22:13:05 -0700 (PDT) From: "Daniel Saunders" Subject: Re: film roles? > > > In fact, this begs the question: In what film roles would Robyn have > >been perfectly suited? Rhet Butler? Chewbaca the Wookie? Dirty Harry? No, > >really. Whaddya think? I'd like to see Robyn in a minstrel role, like Jonathan Richman in There's Something About Mary. Except instead of singing about the plot he would be singing about squid and transvestites and what not, and eventually he'd be replaced with someone sensible but boring. And then he'd sneak back into the movie and start singing again. Daniel Saunders ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 00:29:26 -0500 From: "Hallucinogenic Woodpecker" Subject: Re: film roles? >In fact, this begs the question: In what film roles would Robyn have >been perfectly suited? Rhet Butler? Chewbaca the Wookie? Dirty Harry? No, >really. Whaddya think? > > I'd like to see Robyn in a minstrel role, like Jonathan Richman in There's > Something About Mary. Except instead of singing about the plot he would be > singing about squid and transvestites and what not, and eventually he'd be > replaced with someone sensible but boring. And then he'd sneak back into > the movie and start singing again. Mr. Wonka in _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_?? I would say Robyn could fit easily in to any Monty Python movie, but I think that would be too eerie. dave ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 02:42:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: film roles? I say that Robyn should play Robyn in the next Batman movie. (With Eddie Murphy in the title role) Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 14:41:43 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Full Mojo poll On Sat, 15 Aug 1998 MARKEEFE@aol.com wrote: > Well, I'd have to seriously question just how "representative" that poll > was. And, if it *was* representative, then I have to seriously question the > tastes of all Britain-kind. I mean, zero votes for the Clash?! C'mon! You can certainly question the taste of the great British public, but the representativeness looks OK to me - the sample consisted of 5,000 people of all ages interviewed by the British Market Research Bureau, which is a bigger sample than most of the political opinion polls. Full list is below. Points of possible interest to fegs: The Beatles (#1), John Lennon (#47) and Paul McCartney (#68) all have separate entries. The 3 Tenors (#60), Pavarotti (#9) and Placido Domingo (#35) all have separate entries - tough luck Carreras! At #77 is forces' sweetheart Vera Lynn. REM at #57 just push the Spice Girls down to #58. The Floyd are at #27, Bowie at #29, Dylan at #41. No sign of Roxy Music, the Kinks, the Zombies or the Byrds. Following the recent discussion of who was the top 70s act, it is clearly Queen at #4, pipping Elton John at #5. James's choice, Billy Joel, creeps in at #91, and Eric's choice, Zeppelin, come in at a more respectable #46. Phil Collins just beats George Michael for top 80s act, with Michael Jackson a few places behind. The list is dominated by solo vocalists. There are very few US rock bands: the highest-placed are Bon Jovi(!) at #26. Nirvana are neatly sandwiched at #83 between Paul Robeson (#82) and Johnny Mathis (#84). Robeson, who sang 'Old Man River' in 1936, must be the most old-fashioned act on the list, although Bing Crosby goes back a long way too. Abba only make #21, one place ahead of a surprisingly highly-rated Neil Diamond. Despite the presence of Daniel O'Donnell at #31, C&W is virtually non-existent in the list: Jim Reeves at #16 and Tammy Wynette at #99 are the only US country artistes (unless you count Elvis and the Eagles as country). Anyway, here's the list in full: 1 Beatles 2 Elvis 3 Sinatra 4 Queen 5 Elton John 6 Celine Dion 7 Cliff Richard 8 Oasis 9 Pavarotti 10 Phil Collins 11 George Michael 12 Nat King Cole 13 Bing Crosby 14 Michael Jackson 15 Shirley Bassey 16 Jim Reeves 17 Rolling Stones 18 Simply Red 19 Rod Stewart 20 Madonna 21 Abba 22 Neil Diamond 23 Bob Marley 24 U2 25 Diana Ross 26 Bon Jovi 27 Pink Floyd 28 Eric Clapton 29 David Bowie 30 Barbra Streisand 31 Daniel O'Donnell 32 The Carpenters 33 Dire Straits 34 Ella Fitzgerald 35 Placido Domingo 36 Boyzone 37 Wet Wet Wet 38 Tom Jones 39 Tina Turner 40 Backstreet Boys (who they?) 41 Bob Dylan 42 Roy Orbison 43 Meatloaf 44 Paul Weller 45 The Verve 46 Led Zeppelin 47 John Lennon 48 Michael Ball 49 Radiohead 50 M People 51 Lighthouse Family (again, who they?) 52 Michael Bolton 53 Status Quo 54 Prodigy 55 Prince 56 Luther Vandross 57 REM 58 Spice Girls 59 Fleetwood Mac 60 3 Tenors 61 Glenn Miller 62 All Saints 63 Bryan Adams 64 Enya 65 Simon & Garfunkel 66 Lionel Richie 67 Whitney Houston 68 Paul McCartney 69 James Last 70 UB40 71 Matt Munro 72 Mario Lanza 73 Buddy Holly 74 The Eagles 75 Stone Roses 76 Barry Manilow 77 Vera Lynn (forces sweetheart, I'm your twin...) 78 Frankie Vaughan 79 Genesis 80 Bruce Springsteen 81 Perry Como 82 Paul Robeson 83 Nirvana 84 Johnny Mathis 85 Robbie Williams 86 Chris Rea 87 Kiri Te Kanawa 88 Stevie Wonder 89 Eternal (who they? he? it?) 90 Beautiful South 91 Billy Joel 92 The Seekers (presumably the original Judith Durham Seekers, not the New Seekers) 93 Take That 94 Harry Secombe 95 Jimi Hendrix 96 Beach Boys 97 Alanis Morrissete 98 Madness 99 Tammy Wynette 100 The Police - - Mike Godwin PS I won't even try to calculate how long ago it was that I saw Frankie Vaughan (#78) on TV with the Kaye Sisters singing "You gotta have something in the bank, Frank"... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:07:10 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: film roles? On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, James Dignan wrote: > > In fact, this begs the question: In what film roles would Robyn have > >been perfectly suited? Rhet Butler? Chewbaca the Wookie? Dirty Harry? No, > >really. Whaddya think? > > for some horrifying reason, when I read this, the words "Dr Doolittle" > sprang to mind. Not sure why. But it would work... Gub-Gub the pig would be played by Mucky (with Bucky as a body double on the intimate cabbage-eating sequence). Tim Keegan would be Tommy Stubbins. Chee-Chee the monkey would be played by a friend of Charlie Watts. The Moon Moth would be played by Madonna of the Wasps. The Great Sea Snail could be played by a Victorian Squid. The birds in perspex could be auditioned to see if any of them could cut it as Polynesia the parrot or Cheapside the sparrow. Mr Gareth Hobbs would have to give up his useless jobs to play Matthew Mugg the catsmeat man. You could be on to something here, James! - - Mike G. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:29:11 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: This is a song about a superhero named Tony... On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, woj sven-woj wrote: > never saw the pixies, but i did, by accident, catch a solo acoustic > black francis gig at maxwell's in, um, 1991? yeah, sounds right. > anyways, it was a ferocious show. i could barely see him (yeah, he is > short), but the sounds he got out of that guitar were amazing. very > cathartic. Talking FB, I was interested to see that ex-FB ex-Beefheart multi-instrumentalist Eric "Kitabou" Drew Feldman is currently touring with P J Harvey. I might check them out if they play anywhere near here. - - Mike G. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:04:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Full Mojo poll > On Sat, 15 Aug 1998 MARKEEFE@aol.com wrote: > > Well, I'd have to seriously question just how "representative" that poll > > was. And, if it *was* representative, then I have to seriously question the > > tastes of all Britain-kind. I mean, zero votes for the Clash?! C'mon! On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, M R Godwin wrote: > You can certainly question the taste of the great British public, but the > representativeness looks OK to me - the sample consisted of 5,000 people > of all ages interviewed by the British Market Research Bureau, which is a > bigger sample than most of the political opinion polls. I think this all just goes to show that people don't really like music. I've been considering this for some time. I wondered why the radio plays shit and the great bands are ignored until their influence shows up in others. Only musicians and music lovers care about music. Most people will take any crap you offer them. They don't know the difference. Most folks have no mechanism for distinguishing good from bad. They shop in malls pretty much exclusively. They don't go out of their way to find a good grocery market. To quote Janeane Garafalo: Acid Wash Jeans? Sure. Rush Limbaugh? Yeah, I don't care. He's kinda funny. Lion King? Yes. Soundtrack? Absolutely. That's most people. There are only a few of us discerning folks. And as you would imagine, there are even fewer that actually agree. I guess what amazes me most is that there are thoughtful, discerning people who CHOOSE the pulpy crap mass-market bullshit and like it. > Nirvana are neatly sandwiched at #83 between Paul Robeson (#82) and Johnny > Mathis (#84). Robeson, who sang 'Old Man River' in 1936, must be the most > old-fashioned act on the list, although Bing Crosby goes back a long way > too. Wasn't Paul Robeson an american football player who retired and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company to become one of the great Othellos? Or was that somebody else? > Abba only make #21, one place ahead of a surprisingly highly-rated > Neil Diamond. I'm not surprised by Neil Diamond at all. When exactly was the poll put forward? I would've guessed Diamond got a higher ranking than Sinatra had Frankie not just kicked off. > 6 Celine Dion I'm sure I'm not the only one sickened by this. > 9 Pavarotti Liars. > 36 Boyzone Never heard of them. > 40 Backstreet Boys (who they?) And this is the kind of ignorance I envy, Mike. This is also the reason I hate people. Backstreet Boys are another of those lip-synching dance acts consisting entirely of muscular, barely post-pubescent boys. They have one album that will be forgotten in two years. Yet they're on this list. I hate people. > 51 Lighthouse Family (again, who they?) No clue. > 89 Eternal (who they? he? it?) Yeah, weird. So the list is dumb. That's about that. I could really do without people. Short sighted, no attention span, easily led. Bitter this morning. J. ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 18:04:38 +0100 (BST) From: M R Godwin Subject: Re: Full Mojo poll On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Capuchin wrote: > Wasn't Paul Robeson an american football player who retired and joined the > Royal Shakespeare Company to become one of the great Othellos? Or was > that somebody else? That sounds probable. He is still remembered over here as a great bass singer. He was thrown out of the States for being a communist, and definitely did some serious acting while living in the UK. He sang a lot of spirituals, and, as I say, the definitive version of 'Old Man River', which comes from Jerome Kern's 'Showboat'. [various snarling noises snipped here] > > 36 Boyzone > Never heard of them. > > > 40 Backstreet Boys (who they?) > And this is the kind of ignorance I envy, Mike. This is also the reason I > hate people. Backstreet Boys are another of those lip-synching dance acts > consisting entirely of muscular, barely post-pubescent boys. They have > one album that will be forgotten in two years. Yet they're on this list. > I hate people. Aha. You obviously don't know that Boyzone are a bunch of lip-synching, muscular, barely post-pubescent boys. They had a UK hit with some film title recently. > So the list is dumb. That's about that. I could really do without > people. Short sighted, no attention span, easily led. > > Bitter this morning. There's not much point being bitter - many of the acts regularly discussed on this list _were_ in the rankings (Beatles, Bowie, REM, Floyd, Beach Boys, Stones). The votes for banal teenybop outfits presumably come from really young kids, and the votes for Mario Lanza and co. come from people who are even older than me! Anyway, they are just on different wavelengths. - - Mike G. PS But I take your point about Celine Dion - why would anyone want to buy a Celine Dion record? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 13:13:30 -0400 From: "Chaney, Dolph L" Subject: RE: Full Mojo poll Mike G. said: PS But I take your point about Celine Dion - why would anyone want to buy a Celine Dion record? I take this as my cue to tell my favorite Celine Dion story. I was in Tower a couple of weeks ago, and her album _Unison_ was on a "Nice Price" display at the front of the store. At first glance, I thought the title read _Unisom_. Together with the fact that Celine is the favorite singer of the shrill paper doll that almost became my mother-in-law, that sealed my feelings about her. Dolph np: Jack Frost, _Jack Frost_ p.s.: Chris Knox is my new hero! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 11:00:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Danielle Subject: Re: musings of a kiwi-pop dipper Martin is very clever, and I must second him here: >One album which has not been mentioned to date, which I > wholeheartedly endorse is Bressa Creeting Cake's self-titled debut.... > Bressa main man Ed Cake is as mad as a cut snake, but the guy is a serious > musical genius IMHO. It rocks, it rolls, it whimsies, it psychedelics, it > reaches inside you and caresses your musical pleasure centre - it too > clever by half and me a wafflehead....One of the bestest, most sadly overlooked NZ > albums of the last 5 years - I wouldn't be without it. I can only think that my brain must be rotting in the Louisiana heat - how could I have forgotten this record? (It comes of having no access to my collection for weeks and weeks, I suppose.) I've been a fan since their student radio cover of the Honey Puffs song, when they had what I think was a better name... in any case, I got that album and after three listens it just 'clicked'. In fact, 'Palm Singing' is in my head right now. Lots of fun. Besides which, an ex-member (haven't they split up?) had the same job as I did in a different library branch, so he deserves some royalties. Auckland City Libraries' pay rate is *dismal*. > ALSO David Kilgours first, self titled solo album is his best, in my > opinion, while Dave Yetton's (ex JPSE) Stereobus album is a lot better than > James infers in his recent faint praise. I forgot to leap up and down protesting James' lukewarm review. I like that Stereobus album too - but I wouldn't want to take anything away from Bike, either. And you're right about the Kilgour album. Hell, anything Martin says about NZ music from now on, just mentally add a 'Danielle says "me too"' and save me the effort, would you? ;) Danielle, getting very impatient for her record collection - has it gone by way of *Sweden*, or something? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 11:35:30 -0700 From: Eb Subject: i got a million of 'em... >On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Capuchin wrote: >> Wasn't Paul Robeson an american football player who retired and joined the >> Royal Shakespeare Company to become one of the great Othellos? Or was >> that somebody else? > >That sounds probable. He is still remembered over here as a great bass >singer. He was thrown out of the States for being a communist, and >definitely did some serious acting while living in the UK. He sang a lot >of spirituals, and, as I say, the definitive version of 'Old Man River', >which comes from Jerome Kern's 'Showboat'. http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/cpsr/robeson/ Eb PS He won a honorary Grammy at last year's Grammy awards, and the award was presented by Patti LaBelle and some moonrivery guy who used to be Claudine Longet's husband.... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 11:45:02 -0700 From: West Subject: Storefront Hitchcock From the September issue of Ice, "the CD news authority": Robyn Hitchcock's "Storefront Hitchcock", an album of music from the Jonathan Demme-directed film of the same name, arrives October 27 on Warner Bros. In addition to eight spoken interludes from Hitchcock, the track list reads thusly: 1974 Let's Go Thundering I'm Only You Glass Hotel I Something You The Yip Song Freeze Alright Yeah Where Do You Go When You Die? No I Don't Remember Guildford Beautiful Queen ...and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary". No mention was made of the vinyl version we've heard about. If there's a vinyl news authority out there, would you stand up please? Somethingly, West. - -- *********************************************************************** West A. Moran E-mail: ipalindromei@earthlink.net "...No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity." "But I know none, and therefore am no beast." --William Shakespeare, "Richard III". ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 13:59:01 -0500 From: Joel Mullins Subject: (no subject) > PS On Fri, 7 Aug 1998, Ben wrote: > > "Dark Green Energy" is on the skinny, waifish UK CD, where as the > > bloated American version has "8 Miles High". > > That explains why I couldn't remember ever hearing an RH version of 'Eight > Miles High'. Is it any good? Both songs are on the A&M Records Greatest Hits CD, along with a few other B-sides. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 13:54:12 PDT From: "Capitalism Blows" Subject: guzzling live sparrows and then jumping off the empire state don't know about where you are, but it's pretty much autumn here. it's so funny, too. i was just sitting there friday afternoon feeling *very* sorry for myself, 'cause it seemed summer would *never* end. then, just like that, a little breeze kicked up, and a few clouds started appearing. and a few hours later, i went outside, and it was just like, "hot damn! it's autumn!" it changed that quickly. all of which is to say that, unlike jeme, i'm in a better mood today than i've been for months. and with the demise of that cursed el nino, we might actually get some *rain* in seatle this winter. what a novel thought. hey! i just discovered what "candyfloss" is. it's cotton candy! cool. there are lots of other "britishisms" in robyn songs, of course. here are some others that i can recall him thoughtfully decoding without even being asked: perspex = plexiglass gaffer tape = masking tape spanner = wrench ...oh, there are lots of others. i guess i can't think of them, after all. i was pleasantly surprised to see dire straits ranking so highly. the brand new issue of Race Traitor (#9, "Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness") is very, very good. of possibly especial interest in these parts would be an excellent article by charles radcliffe, called, "Whitewashing The Blues." has a few articles from this issue, but not this particular one. Are there not instances when the refusal to serve is a sacred duty, when "treason" means courageous respect for the truth? --Manifesto of the 121 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 09:15:51 +1200 From: Martin_Bell@idg.co.nz Subject: Re: Kiwi-pop musings From my recent e-mail >David Kilgours first, self titled solo album is his best, in my >opinion Ooops, that's what happens when your fingers are typing faster than your brain can think. Mr Kilgour's first solo album is, of course, entitled "Here Come The Cars". The title track is the finest homage to Brian Eno I've ever heard, and a wonderfully intoxicating piece of music in its own right. Martin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 17:58:43 -0400 From: kenster@MIT.EDU (Ken Ostrander) Subject: Re: film roles? >> In fact, this begs the question: In what film roles would Robyn have >>been perfectly suited? Rhet Butler? Chewbaca the Wookie? Dirty Harry? No, >>really. Whaddya think? > >for some horrifying reason, when I read this, the words "Dr Doolittle" >sprang to mind. Not sure why. But it would work... doctor who! come on. when's this going to happen? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Aug 98 20:11:03 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Quailish Employment Howdy Fegs! I write bearing good news: After a long and arduous NYC career search, I have finally landed a permanent job, yipee! I am -- get this! -- "Art Director/Webmaster" for "Fashion Planet," the Web site section of the in-house fashion magazine known as "Fashion Almanac." I've been doing this for almost two weeks now, but I just got my email hooked up today. . . . so I will try my best to get back online and catch up with my email as soon as I can. So how did I, a guy who thinks any shirt over 15 bucks is a luxury, land a job as Art Director of the Internet's 7th largest fashion site? Glad you asked. . . . Basically Fashion Planet's whole Web staff and design team was fired after a failed attempt to buy the site out from under the parent magazine - -- don't ask me, the politics are hazy -- and through our own lovable LJ, I was hired as a Freelancer to work *one day* for them -- Sunday, all day long. See, they had to get their August issue online by Monday morning, and it was an incomprehensible mess . . . . So I reported for duty and spend *19* straight hours designing and coding my little heart out, fueled only by coffee and the spectacular view -- Fashion Planet's office is on the 55th floor of the Empire State Building! I saw the sun both set and rise over mid-Manhattan, and suddenly Frank Sinatra's song didn't seem as cheerful anymore. Yeah, the city doesn't sleep, because idiot freelancers are working all night long to meet idiot deadlines. . . . Well, my work was pretty good, and I didn't lose my mind; so they asked me back the next day, and the next, and then again. Finally the CEO offered me the position of Art Director and acting Webmaster! I have over 100 resumes floating around New York City, and I land a job I got coincidentally through a friend. Hm. But the neat thing -- aside from working in the Empire State Building! -- is that I am virtually in Total Control of the computer studio. Soon, oh soon I will be actually *hiring* assistants to help me out, ha ha ha ha! (I can see the interview now: "So, do you view your supervisor as a friend, a boss, or a God empowered over Life and Death itself? Hmm. . . . ? And by the way, can you correctly pronounce 'ia ia cthulhu fhtagn?'") The only real drawback is that the August workload is phenomenal -- I am basically doing the work of a whole staff, aided only by a pair of interns who divide their time between school and learning ye olde trade on the job. So I am essentially working 10-12 hour days, which is unfun, but I am told soon things will change -- we are anxiously awaiting a big investment which will provide us with the ability to triple our staff. At that time I hope things will settle down, and I can get back to worshipping squid-gods, daydreaming about Linda Tripp, and making prank phone calls to Billy Bragg. But aside from the hellish hours, the work itself is great, and I love it, but the site is still a sprawling and hybrid mess -- I am slowly hacking my way through it, correcting and organizing, redesigning and recasting it. The topic of fashion is of course the most vacuous and pointless and uninteresting thing I can possibly think of (Well, there's always Voyager's Harry Kim), but at least I get to look at copious GIFs of leggy supermodels while I work. In short: Yes, I have sold out, and I am completely a whore for Madison Avenue. (At least it's not Starbucks.) If you want to take a look, the site is at http://www.fp1.com Again, I apologize that I haven't written or posted much lately, but I am sure you understand why. I'll try to get back into the swing of things as soon as I can. . . . - --Quail PS: I get to meet Puff Daddy in a few months at a company party. And there was much rejoicing: yaaay. - ---------------------------------+-------------------------------- The Great Quail, K.S.C. | Literature Site - The Libyrinth: TheQuail@cthulhu.microserve.com | www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth www.rpg.net/quail | Vampire Site - New York by Night: riverrun Discordian Society | www.rpg.net/quail/NYBN 73 De Chirico Street | Arkham, Orbis Tertius 2112-42 | ** What is FEGMANIA? ** "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." -- H.P. Lovecraft ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V7 #310 *******************************