From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #320 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Saturday, August 21 1999 Volume 08 : Number 320 Today's Subjects: ----------------- eb all over the subject line ["JH3" ] Elvis was a legend [Paul Adams ] ending with Eb's nose in the shit [DDerosa5@aol.com] Re:"Inconceivable" [Eb ] just something funny [ultraconformist@mail.weboffices.com] Re: ending with Eb's nose in the shit [Tom Clark ] Cleveland instore? [John Jenks ] Joyce had epiphanies on the toilet... [Natalie Jacobs ] RE: ending with Eb's nose in the shit [tanter ] Re: big hits and phased cookies [Ken Ostrander ] George W. Bush is NOT MY FAULT! [steve ] Epiphany? Euphonium. Toilet? Trumpet. [Capuchin ] Re: Epiphany? Euphonium. Toilet? Trumpet. [Eb ] a bad case of history [Bayard ] Re: a bad case of history [Capuchin ] wanted: reviews of fegMUSIC! [Bayard ] Re: just something funny [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V8 #319 ["Russ Reynolds" ] Robyn In-Stores in Boston? [ThothBoy@aol.com] brain train [Ken Ostrander ] comics again [hal brandt ] Re:"Inconceivable" ["Capitalism Blows" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 13:21:38 -0500 From: "JH3" Subject: eb all over the subject line >>>but I think we'd all agree that academia is the most socially >>>dysfunctional environment you'll find in a free country. >>That's another ridiculous thing to say, and trivially false (try >>polygamous families in Utah, for example). >i tell ya, when i read john's comment, it looked like the greatest >straight-line i'd ever seen. but i just could not for the life of me >think of the perfect payoff. drew's example comes pretty close... Oooh, can I try a few? 1. "But you forget that the very existence of modern academia proves that we do not live in a free country." 2. "What's so bad about being socially dysfunctional, you...you... why, you probably don't even have a Master's Degree!" 3. "You want socially dysfunctional, try working for the goddamn Defense Department, you left-wing cheese-head." 4. "I assume this is *not* counting the Internet, then?" 5. "Sure, we'd all AGREE with such a statement, but speaking as someone who has worked in academic administration and is married to a college professor, you're still wrong." ...I could go on, but that would just be giving away more of my top-line material. (I should also point out that technically, polygamy is illegal in most Western countries, so it shouldn't count... I'd use wacko religious cults and Wall Street as my examples, personally.) John H. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 11:48:13 -0700 From: Paul Adams Subject: Elvis was a legend >Ran across an old Robyn review (or was it recent, >on the list?) that claimed "Queen Elvis" (the song) >was about "what if Elvis were a woman?" Around when it was released I recall Robyn saying that it (and "Veins") was about ultra-public figures like the Queen and Elvis; how their lives are so surreal it's tragic. This idea seems to have led to a character "Queen Elvis" who's an icon of troublesome ambiguous sexuality. Closeted homosexuality as a metaphor for the unseen side of celebrity. Issues of public scrutiny vs. private life, alienation, isolation, etc. Paul np: Mike "Sport" Murphy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 14:48:58 EDT From: DDerosa5@aol.com Subject: ending with Eb's nose in the shit I kinda like that the last digest ended with me saying "there's no digest today": it's like being told the whole last season of Dallas never happened... looking at Bush's campaign, I wish Texas had never happened. (did you see the brilliant way James Carville "dismissed" the GWB/drugs fracas today by saying "After the Monical Lewinsky ordeal, nobody will care what George had up his nose twenty years ago"? Subtle way to get the coke reference across, you evil Cajun...) and, dunno why, but just thought I'd correct Eb, who replied: Sometimes, the invention of the laptop doesn't seem like such a good idea. Have to point out I sent that silly art post on a big clunky desktop, that's why it said sitting THERE. And anyway, I'd never use my laptop on the toilet, it makes it harder to reach for the bathroom tissue. (you thought I was gonna make a "crappy post" joke, dincha?) all right, back to my boring report ... dave hey, who's going to Viv's going away party tonight? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 12:26:49 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re:"Inconceivable" MGodwin: >A lot of contributors seem to think that art is done for other people. >I've already opposed that view. Most art in history was done for a god Same diff. An audience is an audience is an audience, mortal or immortal. Speaking of pomegranates, the Mystery Men soundtrack really *sucks*. Practically every song is a deja-vu ripoff of *something*, and two even seem to plagiarize: "Back in 1999" is entirely based on the (uncredited) riff of "Waiting for My Man," and the Spearhead track is based around the (uncredited) opening measures of Satie's "Gymnopedie." Meanwhile, the only two decent tracks on the disc are -- you guessed it -- ripped off from *another* soundtrack: Saturday Night Fever. Sheeeeesh. And no Tom Waits track, besides. Nice to see a tiny picture of Waits' character inside the booklet, though...now I don't have to sit through the film just to see how he's costumed. Eb, who never understood why the film was a "Feg event" in the first place ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 14:53:30 -0600 From: ultraconformist@mail.weboffices.com Subject: just something funny Have a look at www.godhatesfags.com. Somebody's sabotaged it but good :). Love on ya, Susan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 13:12:52 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: ending with Eb's nose in the shit On 8/20/99 11:48 AM, DDerosa5@aol.com wrote: >I kinda like that the last digest ended with me saying "there's no digest >today": it's like being told the whole last season of Dallas never >happened... >looking at Bush's campaign, I wish Texas had never happened. > >(did you see the brilliant way James Carville "dismissed" the GWB/drugs >fracas today by saying "After the Monical Lewinsky ordeal, nobody will care >what George had up his nose twenty years ago"? Subtle way to get the coke >reference across, you evil Cajun...) http://www.gwbush.com/ - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 16:18:17 -0400 (EDT) From: John Jenks Subject: Cleveland instore? Any sign of a Robyn instore appearance in Cleveland? Is anyone going to the MABD show at the Agora on Sunday? johnj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:07:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: Joyce had epiphanies on the toilet... Dave speaks from his porcelain sanctuary: >Adopt-an-artist! Never mind the pesky starving kids, or abondoned pets, >get a timeshare on the next Picasso...or at least invest in the next >Jeff Koons. I'm really surprised that Susan hasn't mentioned this (or maybe she has - sometimes I hate being on the digest), but Momus is a big proponent of a return to the patronage system. I'll let Susan explain more. Livia inquires randomly: >what's an euphonium? A tuba-like instrument, which can be heard most pleasingly on XTC's "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her." (Stupid yet cool fact: the guy who played euphonium on that song also played on Nyman's "Draughtsman's Contract" soundtrack! Quail, take note!) I believe the strange gnome-like bearded guy from NMH is also a euphonium practitioner. Or maybe it's a flugelhorn. What's a flugelhorn? In other news, after many, many years of vicious, crippling Beach Boys phobia, I finally purchased "Pet Sounds" and listened to it for the first time last night. Wow. Just.... wow. I no longer fear and despise Brian Wilson. My life has become a sunnier place. n. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 14:15:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Griffith Davies Subject: Largo Just a reminder to L.A. area fegs. Robyn is playing at Largo this Thursday (08/26). Since Jon Brion is doing his usual show on Friday, and Grant Lee Phillips is playing on Saturday, I can't help but think that Robyn will show up on those nights as well. I might go on Friday night. griffith ps - Largo is located at 432 N. Fairfax Avenue between Melrose Avenue and Beverly Boulevard. Call 323-852-1073 to make reservations..... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 16:35:00 -0500 From: tanter Subject: RE: ending with Eb's nose in the shit >On 8/20/99 11:48 AM, DDerosa5@aol.com wrote: >>(did you see the brilliant way James Carville "dismissed" the GWB/drugs >>fracas today by saying "After the Monical Lewinsky ordeal, nobody will care >>what George had up his nose twenty years ago"? Subtle way to get the coke >>reference across, you evil Cajun...) snorting coke is a good way for Bush to ally himself with some of the good ol' boys. he can tell a certain sector of the population, "hey! I'm one of you!" of course, most of those people don't vote, but that's beside the point! just remember, Bush supports capital punishment, carrying concealed weapons, killing defenseless animals, taxing the poor unequally and not paying educators well. I wonder how that will translate into his campaign! Marcy (living in deepest, darkest Texas) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:31:21 -0400 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: big hits and phased cookies > >Has Robyn ever done anything with phasing? Maybe that's what he needs to > >get his stuff on the radio. More phases. > > "Tonight" is the only one that springs to mind but it seems to me he's got > at least one or two more. I think there must be something on Y & O but per > a previous discussion that album probably doesn't count. > > Phasing is cool. That's why "Sky Pilot" is one of the greatest songs in the > history of man. And the drum solo in "Frankenstein" kicks all other drum > solos' asses because of the phasing (didja know drum solos had asses? they > do! Also, many of them are *performed* by asses). > >What about "The Live-in Years?" ok, i have to admit that i'm not really sure what phasing is. i'm guessing that is has something to do with the echoey sound on the songs that have been mentioned. i submit, on this understanding, that perhaps... you'll have to go sideways when i was dead moon inside the lizard winchester aquarium love ken "not that other guy" the kenster np. mag earwhig! guided by voices ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:06:34 -0500 From: steve Subject: George W. Bush is NOT MY FAULT! DDerosa5@aol.com: >looking at Bush's campaign, I wish Texas had never happened. I just wish the Bush clan had stayed in Maine. Let me take this opportunity to apologize in advance, to all right thinking Fegs, should Mr. Empty Suit actually win the presidency. It just goes to show how bankrupt the Republican party is when the best they can do is a guy that has done nothing in his life but trade on his family name. It's doubly sad that he is actually better than the rest of the Texas Republicans. Texas used to be a reactionary Democratic state, now it's a reactionary Republican state. So all that is required for a Republican to be elected is that he refrain from admitting that he used to get "serviced at a Mexican cathouse" and be sure to shake his opponent's hand after any debate. If you think the Republicans in Congress are bad now, fear the day that they get a President that won't veto their bills. Be afraid, be very afraid... - - Steve P.S. Texas is still better than Florida. P.P.S. Apologies also to non-U.S. Fegs. _______________ We're all Jesus, Buddha, and the Wizard of Oz! - Andy Partridge ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 15:57:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Epiphany? Euphonium. Toilet? Trumpet. On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Natalie Jacobs wrote: > Livia inquires randomly: > >what's an euphonium? > A tuba-like instrument, which can be heard most pleasingly on XTC's > "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her." (Stupid yet cool fact: the guy who > played euphonium on that song also played on Nyman's "Draughtsman's > Contract" soundtrack! Quail, take note!) A euphonium is the brother of the modern baritone horn. It's generally the shape of a tuba but about half the size (As you can imagine, the marching version is much like a souzaphone, but smaller). The euphonium nearly always has a fourth valve used to drop the pitch from its usual Bb to F (like a trombone with a trigger). It has a larger bore than the baritone horn and so it has a deeper, richer tone. There used to be a fairly common version of the euphonium that had two bells. They're sort of a novelty today. If a tuba is a bass, a euphonium is a cello. > I believe the strange gnome-like bearded guy from NMH is also a > euphonium practitioner. He is. I've also seen him play a souzaphone, a baritone horn, a badly damaged trumpet, and... > Or maybe it's a flugelhorn. What's a flugelhorn? A flugelhorn is an Eb trumpet. It looks like a trumpet, but with a larger bell and a deeper body. A flugelhorn is often called an alto horn (just as a euphonium is a tenor horn and a trumpet is a soprano horn). It has a deeper, richer tone than a trumpet and, of course, a lower pitch. A flugelhorn is the viola of the band world; the trumpet, a violin. > In other news, after many, many years of vicious, crippling Beach Boys > phobia, I finally purchased "Pet Sounds" and listened to it for the first > time last night. Wow. Just.... wow. > I no longer fear and despise Brian Wilson. My life has become a sunnier > place. I did this last summer with similar results. Something about August... J. - -- ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 16:04:15 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Epiphany? Euphonium. Toilet? Trumpet. >> Or maybe it's a flugelhorn. What's a flugelhorn? > >A flugelhorn is an Eb trumpet. It looks like a trumpet, but with a larger >bell and a deeper body. A flugelhorn is often called an alto horn (just >as a euphonium is a tenor horn and a trumpet is a soprano horn). It has a >deeper, richer tone than a trumpet and, of course, a lower pitch. Keyword: Mangione. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:40:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: a bad case of history i'm looking for the song "a bad case of history". I hear it was an outtake from _element of light_, and was played live back in that era. i have plenty of stuff to trade, in your choice of formats. Also- multimedia types - I want to purchase something i can plug into my pc and digitize video with. i don't need anything on the order of an avid or a media 100, just something that can get video and audio from a VHS tape into an AVI, MPEG, or .rm file. (something uncompressed first that will become the latter two. maybe .qt too) There's a soft boys video in it for you. =b ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:22:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: a bad case of history On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Bayard wrote: > Also- multimedia types - I want to purchase something i can plug into my > pc and digitize video with. i don't need anything on the order of an avid > or a media 100, just something that can get video and audio from a VHS > tape into an AVI, MPEG, or .rm file. (something uncompressed first that > will become the latter two. maybe .qt too) > There's a soft boys video in it for you. There are a large number of video capture options for people who give money to Microsoft. You can get anything from a fairly low quality video capture/tv tuner card to an add-on card for a reasonable video card to a high end combo card to replace your old video card. They'll run you from about $50 up. It really depends on quality and what kind of video you currently have. Lemme know if you want to get down and dirty with details. Stuff. J. - -- ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 20:29:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: wanted: reviews of fegMUSIC! I am expanding the fegBANDS feature of my site to include reviews, in addition to links and MP3's. In the interest of getting them done faster, and getting some different viewpoints, I am calling for ya'll to submit reviews of some fegmusic. Let me know if you're interested. Ross Overbury, I am looking in your direction. Let me know. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 21:38:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: just something funny ultraconformist@mail.weboffices.com wrote: > > Have a look at www.godhatesfags.com. Somebody's sabotaged it > but good :). > > Love on ya, > Susan but sadly, it didn't last all that long since Pigfucker Phelps jr. got some sort of cease and desist order. you can still get to the sabateurs real site (http://www.godlovesfags.com), but the initial page reconcede's ownership === "America's greatest natural resource, still, to this day, is the moron" --Martin Mull __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 05:40:01 -0700 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V8 #319 >Joan Jeanrenud has left the Kronos Quartet? Holy mackerel. > >Eb Years from now I'm sure we'll all remember where we were when we heard the news. - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 05:43:58 EDT From: ThothBoy@aol.com Subject: Robyn In-Stores in Boston? Greetings, I know that Robyn's playing here tonight in Boston at the Roxy...I was wondering if anybody knows if he's planning on doing any other gigs while in town, either at an in-store at a record shop or somewhere else. Thanks for any info. peace Dave ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:13:23 -0400 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: brain train Brain train Robyn Hitchcock, Flaming Lips, Sebadoh, Cornelius, and Uqu join to bring smart pop to town By Jim Sullivan Globe Staff The multiband tour, which stops at the Roxy tonight, goes under the heady tag of "The First International Music Against Brain Degeneration Revue" and, indeed, it offers a smarter, more complex brand of contemporary music than you might find on, say, "the Family Values" tour or at the "Ozzfest." This antibrain degeneration package - with veteran Oklahoma-based band Flaming Lips at the tip of the bill, followed by former Massachusetts and now West Coast lo-fi kings Sebadoh, English singer-songwriter-guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, Japanese popster Cornelius (a.k.a. Keigo Oyamada), and Uqu - should challange and entertain. "it is all stuff that you would want to listen to," explains Hitchcock, "not just music to crash your car to. It gets your attention and Wayne [Coyne of the Lips] makes a point before the show each night to the audience taht you just let your mind go and that your brain will grow if you exercise it. That might sound too educational; it actually is a bit more fun than it sounds." The tour also has a psychedelic bent to it. Which these days might be defined as... "Music that could have been made on drugs," offers Lips singer-guitarist Coyne. Operative word: could. "When I think of psychedelic I think of Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead, but I come from the old school. I do see how a lot of young people when you say 'psychedelic' they just mean stuff that isn't dance or rap." Drugs may or may not play a part in the creation of psychedelic music, which could be said for music in general or virtually any art form that reaches beyond the norm. Musically, speaking neo-psychedlia is about sonic exploration, off-center twists on conventioinal rock and blues riffs, unorthodox instruments coloring the mix. It's about expansiveness, about dreamscapes, about music as open-ended and adventurous. This is where Coyne and his mates, drummer-turned keyboardist and guitarist Steven Drowzd and bassist Michael Ivins, live. (Longtime guitarist Ronald Jones recently left; the drumsk, played by Drowzd are on tape.) As evidenced by their latest effort, the stellar "The Soft Bulletin," the Flaming Lips, in their 15th year, make music that has marmth and uplift, even if it traverses some fairly gnarly territory. There may even be a concept. "I don't think there was one by design," says Coyne, "even though the songs tie in nicely. I can see they are all talking about the same thing and one sort of bookends the other. The themes involved are of love and death and isolation and desperation, yourself vs. the universe type of thing." Which is not to say the mundane doesn't come into play. "Buggin'" concerns the summer nuisance of mosquitos. The Flaming Lips' music has little to do with the wave of hard rock and metal out there - "A lot of people would prefer nothing more than to be bludgeoned to death," says Coyne - and the band favors movement and variety over the course of an album. "People forget that adults actually like variety," Coyne says. To the Flaming Lips, notions of orchestration and sophistication are not bad things. Coyne likes the idea of a big, dense sound that can be "soft and loud at the same time," and, "with the right movements behind some of the lyrics you really do get this sense of hope, this triumphantness." "The Soft Bulletin," with its frequent piano-based melodies, has a sense of quiet grandeur. "These things that I do," says Coyne, "I realize sometimes hit people as being absurd or strange, sometimes just plain unwanted, really. We take our lumps as they come and proceed on. I just think this monster that is musical evolution has to go somewhere....I figure that I am making my contribution the best I can. I look at it this way: The music industry, and the music evolution, is like a giant whale and I am just a little flea on the back of it, flying through the ocean. I try to place myself somewhere where I can best position myself to have the mot impact." Occasionally, the Lips drift into the mainstream - they had a hit with "She Don't Use Jelly" in 1994 - but it always comes as a shock. "We're never prepared to have it," says Coyne. "Sometimes, the momentum builds. I really do want to reach as big an audience as we can, and at the same time, I want to reach them with what I want to say [as] opposed to with what they want to hear. What people want to hear is always changing and we are always changing. Sometimes, the spheres collide, naturally, accidentally. It's hard to tell if it's going to be like that horrible train accident in India or whether they just melt into each other. "We just do what we would like to do," Coyne adds, "and hope that we can convince people it's hip regardless, even if it is not. Being ahead of the curve is something, well, you don't actually know what a curve is." Like Coyne, Robyn Hitchcock, once of the Soft Boys and Egyptian, now touring solo, probably has no idea of a curve either. He has long been used to swimming in a peculiar pool of his own design. A sharp pop songwriter, weaned on Bob Dylan and Syd Barrett (of the early Pink Floyd), Hitchcock favors odd, yet affecting, lyrical metaphors, and a wide-ranging musical palette that runs from folk to rock. He also likes insect songs. "Antwoman" is the offering on Hitchcock's latest CD, "Jewels for Sophia," his strongest effort in years. But what about the insects? "You see people watching baseball or football in bars all over the world," Hitchcock says, "and you could be looking at photographs of ants. I know people identify with sports figures; I guess I am the exception. But I find insects incredible; there is a danger about them. It is a visual thing too. I write about things I like the look of and less about computers and sports." On "Jewels for Sophia," where Hitchcock is joined by guests like R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, former Bostonian Jon Brion, and ex-Soft Boy Kimberly Rew, there is a mix of soft and hard, pensive and full-tilt with wit and whimsy informing most everything. "I have managed to get my personality on there," says Hitchcock, "but I think it is the most comforting sound we have put out in the last 10 years. The latest albums have all been quite somber. I think this is like me staring out over the lake, shaking my hand over a glass of wine during twilight. It may be a bit more life-affirming." There are some dark passages. The disc starts off with "Mexican God," with Hitchcock singing "Pray for anmesia to finish you off/This is the evil I wished on so many/Time will destroy you like a Mexican God" and "The horror of you floats so close to my window/At least when I die, your memory will too." By the end of the song, Hitchcock is on the grill, secure "at the end of your rod." "I like crawling through a deep tunnel before emerging into a dome of a bright strange loft," Hitchcock offers, of the song and its placement. "It took a very long time to organize the placement." ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 08:23:38 -0600 From: hal brandt Subject: comics again DDerosa5@aol.com wrote: > Cool beans-- You must read STRAY BULLETS! /hal ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 12:59:42 PDT From: "Capitalism Blows" Subject: Re:"Inconceivable" < > >thinking of Wallace Shawn again... I was watching 'Atlantic City' recently (keeping up with the trends, as always - at least it was a bit newer than 'The General' which was the last film I saw) and I thought I spotted Wallace as a waiter. Maybe it was just someone who looked like him.> from : 52.Atlantic City (1980) (as Wally Shawn) .... Waiter i would never have guessed that he's been in 58 movies to date! _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #320 *******************************