From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V7 #391 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, October 19 1998 Volume 07 : Number 391 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Silly Love Songs [Terrence M Marks ] i'm so tired...i haven't slept a wink [Eb ] Elliot Smith on SNL [Carole Reichstein ] Re: Elliot Smith on SNL [Eb ] Re: Silly Love Songs [amadain ] higher and higher, Jan H [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan] what the hell is a power ballad? [james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (Jame] Re: Jan H [Danielle ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 01:21:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: Silly Love Songs > The first has always been my biggest gripe, I think. What kind of > arrogant fuck thinks he has an original take on the grand concept of Love? > It's easily the most-written-about thing there is and yet people continue > to put in their two cents (and rarely it's that much). I think anyone > writing a love song/poem, a suicide or death-of-a-loved-one poem, or > coming-of-age story should stop and ask "What do I have to ADD on the > subject?" I think we'd have smaller, better books and fewer Geocities > websites. I've generally read for entertainment and missed most of that sort of thing. What are some examples of things that add new things on subjects? Terrence Marks normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 03:02:35 -0700 From: Eb Subject: i'm so tired...i haven't slept a wink Well, I spent another day matching wits with a trashed operating system, but I may have finally gotten the re-installation right this time. Let's hope so! Eb, thoroughly weary after another day of watching the computer reboot and reboot and reboot and crash and crash and crash.... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:01:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: Elliot Smith on SNL Griff said: > > 1. Elliot Smith is performing on SNL this weekend. Jon Brion will be one > of the musicians supporting him. > > 2. Is there an active tape tree right now? I thought that there was... > Doh! I forgot about this. I was drinking too much wine at my own party and completely forgot to sneak away to the bedroom and watch Mr. Smith make his SNL debut. That's what I get for not owning a watch. I'd be willing to make copies of my unhatched crabling tapes (thanks eddie!) in exchange for a video of this. Not that I have a VCR right now, but I plan to get one. :) Tiredly, Carole ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:36:14 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Elliot Smith on SNL Carole: >Doh! I forgot about this. I was drinking too much wine at my own party and >completely forgot to sneak away to the bedroom and watch Mr. Smith make >his SNL debut. That's what I get for not owning a watch. I'd be willing to >make copies of my unhatched crabling tapes (thanks eddie!) in exchange for >a video of this. I thought he was *excellent* on SNL. Huh. Really made me mad though, because his voice sounded so REAL and emotionally "there" on SNL, whereas on his records, he always employs that GODAWFUL double-tracking and filtering that drains all the humanity out of his vocal performance. Grrr! Get a clue, Elliott! :( Eb, seemingly operational again PS However, I still maintain that washing his hair regularly wouldn't constitute "selling out".... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 20:40:06 -0600 From: amadain Subject: Re: Silly Love Songs >On Sat, 17 Oct 1998, amadain wrote: >> >So can anyone think of a power ballad that isn't a love song? >> I can think of at least one: it's called "the majority of songs by the >> Who". It's really really good, too. > >Do you have to know what a Who song sounds like? Are you now going to tell me you have never in your life heard a Who song? Well, anyway, if you've ever heard "Love Reign O'er Me" you have some idea what I'm talking about, or, I can't remember the exact title but I think it's "The Bargain" (there's an original love song approach actually, since we're on that topic), or "Behind Blue Eyes", or "I Can See For Miles" or "Teenage Wasteland". Next you're going to tell me you have not ever heard any of these songs, and I guess at this point I can't be shocked any more :). >The big arrangement is everything. That's a power ballad right there. >Belted out, of course. Yeah, I think the belting has to be there mostly. Although Roger Daltrey is generally a more subtle vocalist than most who sing power ballads, which might disqualify the Who, he does have some serious lung power at times and hell, the arrangements are certainly big enough. >> What can I say, it was the age of saccharine. > >We need not apologize for the sins of our fathers. My father did not write "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". I am sure of this. Actually he's too old to be in any way "responsible" for any of that, he missed the fruity drink and shag carpet culture by several years. My SO, however, WAS in his youth during this period. He has possibly even more scorn for this stuff than we youngsters do, because he had to live through it all. He seems to feel that history has in some way vindicated him and his friends who hated the stuff at the time :). He does, however, know the words to "The Pina Colada Song" and will sometimes sing it to annoy me. >Brilliant. I know I'm about seventieth on lj's list, so in the meantime >Susan, will you marry me? That's a bit backhanded isn't it? What makes you think -I- haven't got a list, eh? *grin* >coming-of-age story should stop and ask "What do I have to ADD on the >subject?" I think we'd have smaller, better books and fewer Geocities >websites. Agreed. Actually maybe what we all need is a "book of cliches", that way, you can check the song or poem against it and then throw it out and start over if you've used too many. >"Sarah" by some early eighties craprock guy. Well, he seemed to care >about the song... and Sarah was apparently his girlfriend's name and she >was in the video and all of this... but it was still shit. So maybe it passes the sincerity test. Apparently it STILL didn't pass the staleness test :). There is a bit of a talent factor here ya know, too. I mean, (just an example that springs to mind here of a song about a specific person) I tend to doubt that Liza Radley is a real person that Paul Weller knew, but that song always chokes me up regardless- the heartache in it sounds very very real. Rather depressing when you consider that the guy you're talking about was singing to his real life girlfriend and she was even -present- in the video, and yet he still failed to move. Talent wasn't there and the alchemy didn't take place. Love on ya, Susan almost recovered :) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 14:42:56 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: higher and higher, Jan H >>I for one am sort of a natural surrealist. I wish I had a nickel for every >>time someone told me "you sound like an acid head". When I note that I've >>never done any psychedelic drug and have no wish to, people take that as >>some kind of Nancy Reaganish thang. > >Yea verily, sister Dodge. Because of my hair and general wierdness, >people always feel obliged to make acid comments to me. I must admit >posessing a considerable amount of curiosity about psychedelics- but >at the same time, the movie in here is pretty incredible without them, >and I really don't want to devalue my own natural show. I suspect there are a whole lot of us who feel that way. Other than one occasion when I ingested some of a friend's cake 'made with a secret recipe of herbs and spices' (which made me throw up, what's more), I've never ingested much more potent than alcohol or caffeine. Yet my train of thought is pretty non-linear at times, and people keep on making these assumptions. But why bother using something to get to a state I seem to be fairly close to naturally? >PS James, you get zero points for making me think about the stupidest >woman on earth, Jan Hellriegel. ;) No, I'm not a Westie >girl, though I did unfortunately grow up on the Shore, which is like a >little colony of West Auckland in certain areas... she's not as dumb in person as the media makes out (I used to work with her and was briefly in a band with her brother Rob) James ("...like Tipper Gore on crack") James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 14:56:31 +1300 From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: what the hell is a power ballad? >In a message dated 98-10-16 19:10:03 EDT, you write: > ><< So can anyone think of a power ballad that isn't a love song? >> um... you could make a case for "A day in the life" for starters. Someone has already mentioned most of the Who's catalogue, but not enough titles! So I'll tell y'all my vote for the greatest rock song of all time again: "Won't get fooled again". Even our Robyn has written some things that might just qualify: "Ride", "Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom" and "Oceanside" being examples. James James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 23:12:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Danielle Subject: Re: Jan H James defended that Hellriegel woman, little knowing that she is a pet peeve of mine: > she's not as dumb in person as the media makes out (I used to work with her > and was briefly in a band with her brother Rob) I would be willing to believe you if it wasn't for two unassailable facts (and in fact, if you can give me anything contradicting these it'll make me very happy) : 1) 'The Way I Feel' has always annoyed the *crap* out of me because of the line 'the stench but all overcomes you'. For *crying* out loud, it's 'the stench *all but* overcomes you', you silly wench! 2) If, in 1993, you have been told that you are going to be interviewed by one of New Zealand's most popular magazines, and they have also told you that the subject of the interview is 'one hundred years of women's suffrage', I think that it might have been wise to inform yourself as to what 'suffrage' actually *is* - rather than asking that question of the interviewer in the middle of the article. Danielle, cattily tossing up between Jan H and that annoying tit Katrina Devine for the 'New Zealand's Stupidest Woman, as Portrayed by the Media' title ;) PS I think Jeme is talking about Steve Perry's 'Oh Sherrie'. In the interests of accuracy. And yes, it *is* a really appalling song. Why can I hum the entire guitar solo, then? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? 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