From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #349 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, September 13 1999 Volume 08 : Number 349 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Elvis [The Great Quail ] Librafegmas begins with me [Natalie Jacobs ] Re: Librafegmas begins with me [Terrence M Marks ] Re: Librafegmas begins with me [Joel Mullins ] Re: I know what Toni Basil likes I know what Toni Basil wants... [Jeff D] Comedies more overrated than Frasier [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Old Man Preachy [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Elvis [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: A long post, about many things [Miles Goosens ] Re: re: potshots [dmw ] Re: re: potshots [Eb ] More film propaganda (NR) [steve ] a drop of blood in the water always attracts a shark ["Andrew D. Simchik"] Re: fegmaniax-digest V8 #348 [Doc ] Re: Comedies more overrated than Frasier [Joel Mullins ] Re: who has seen Eddie naked? ["John Barrington Jones" Subject: Re: Elvis >So what is the consensus on Elvis' "Mighty Like a Rose" and "The Juliet >Letters?" I *love* the Juliet Letters, but don't expect an Elvis rock album. These are songs performed with the Brodsky Quartet, and can be very beautiful, sad, or angry. The concept is great, too -- each song is essentially a "dead letter," the title track being a letter to Juliet of the "Romeo and --" fame. In fact, it was this CD that really first got me into Elvis and opened my eyes -- I had erroneously pigeonholed him as just an old punk rocker. But these songs are all very emotional and totally satisfying, and the music is superb. Hmph. Looks like the *Brodsky* Quartet still has their cellist. . . . - --Quail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth: http://www.libyrinth.com "Countlessness of livestories have netherfallen by this plage, flick as flowflakes, litters from aloft, like a waast wizzard all of whirlworlds. Now are all tombed to the mound, isges to isges, erde from erde . . . (Stoop) if you are abcedminded, to this claybook, what curious of signs (please stoop) in this allaphbed! Can you rede (since We and Thou had it out already) its world? . . . Speak to us of Emailia!" --James Joyce, Finnegans Wake ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:21:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: Librafegmas begins with me >Only 16 shopping days left 'til my birthday, Yeah, that reminds me. 14 shopping days till MY birthday! n. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:30:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: Librafegmas begins with me On Mon, 13 Sep 1999, Natalie Jacobs wrote: > >Only 16 shopping days left 'til my birthday, > > Yeah, that reminds me. 14 shopping days till MY birthday! Seven shopping hours left on my birthday. Terrence Marks Unlike Minerva (a comic strip) http://grove.ufl.edu/~normal normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:34:14 -0700 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Librafegmas begins with me Natalie Jacobs wrote: > > >Only 16 shopping days left 'til my birthday, > > Yeah, that reminds me. 14 shopping days till MY birthday! And 18 shopping days till MY birthday! - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 15:47:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: I know what Toni Basil likes I know what Toni Basil wants... "Jason R. Thornton" wrote: > >>I don't like Depeche Mode. > >And? but Eb loves Cause & Effect, right? :) > Hey, there's a new Gap borg-like drone-kids-singing > advertisement out on the TV. This time they're all standing > around and singing "Just Can't Get Enough." Vince Clarke must > be spinning in his grave. boy, those erasure record sales have REALLY dried up. the one good thing about these ads is that they each seem to disappear after about 3-4 weeks though. wonder what'll be next. i've got dibs on a Black Sabbath song in the betting pool; let's say "Paranoid." === "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: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:04:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Comedies more overrated than Frasier Eb wrote: > Eb, still scowling over "Ally McBeal" AND "Sports Night" > losing to "Frasier" for Best Comedy Writing, and David Hyde > Pierce beating Peter MacNichol for Best Supporting Comedy Actor > (is "Frasier" the most overrated comedy in television history?) You're forgetting The Golden Girls, Friends, The Cosby Show, any Norman Lear show other than All in the Family, I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy, Hey Lucy I'm Home, The Lucy Show, Lucy goes to Bootcamp, Lucy & Ethel's Lesbian Makeover, ermm, and the other one. Did I mention Lucille Ball sucks? And Ally McBeal. but mostly Everybody Loves Raymond. and anyways, how can respect any award where Andre Braugher was only nominated twice, and only won once. the only reason award shows other than the oscars exist is so that it looks like the oscars are doing a credible job otherwise. === "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: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:06:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Old Man Preachy "Jason R. Thornton" wrote: > By the way, I saw Moby on Politically Incorrect, and he seemed > like a dipshit when it came to discussing the Beastie Boys and > Buddhism. Sure, he discussed Christians in China as if they > were "authentic" believers being oppressed by the mean ol' > Communists, but then he turned around dismissed Westerners > who've adopted Buddhism as being "trendy." Those British > Colonialist attitudes just never die. wasn't that the other christian guy, the one who was trying to look like he was a roadie for the offspring? i seem to recall Moby sitting practically mum the whole night. I could be wrong. === "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: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:24:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Elvis Joel Mullins wrote: > So what is the consensus on Elvis' "Mighty Like a Rose" and > "The Juliet Letters?" I found used copies of them both > recently for about $4 a piece. I'm wondering if they're worth > the four dollars. I don't have anything after "Punch the > Clock," so I don't really know much about his later sound. well, they are certainly worth $4. MLAR is really inconsistant; it has some songs that I really like (other side of summer, hurry down doomsday, after the fall), a couple that are really overblown ("how to be dumb," his retort to bruce thomas's book about the attractions), and some absolute sludge (georgie & her rival, sweet pear, invasion hit parade). the two mccartney songs (so like candy, playboy to a man) are both okay, though not as good as the ones on Spike, but better than most of the ones on macca's Flowers in the dirt. and mitchell froom's production is really unnecessarily fussy as usual. if you take into consideration your basically paying for an EP with bonus tracks (lots of them), and it's worth $4, but i wouldn't pay a helluva lot more than that. i'll let other people do a better job of endorsing Juliet Letters than I will, but it IS really quite good. === "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: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 18:23:20 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: A long post, about many things At 05:06 PM 09/13/1999 -0400, Natalie Jacobs wrote: >>I haven't heard much Momus, but have a strong feeling that I wouldn't >>like him either. > >I'm reviewing his new album as we speak. Clever but awfully grating, is >how I'd describe it. And cold, as Dave D. (I think) mentioned. Cold? STARS FOREVER? Not to plagiarize Susan's comments on it, but I've found STARS FOREVER to be Momus' least misanthropic effort ever -- in fact, it's shot through with so much sympathy for his subjects and so much exuberance about "life's rich pageant" (to quote REM quoting Clouseau - and to put the apostrophe back in) that I wouldn't hesitate to describe STARS FOREVER as "warm." Some songs are so exquisite and achingly beautiful that they leave me in tears every time ("Mai Noda," "Paolo Rumi"), others ("Akiro Masuda," "Stephano Zarelli," "Noah Brill," "Natusko Tayama") have me bouncing around the room in a way that's very unwise for people in my weight division, and still others ("Steven Zeeland," "Kokoro Hirai," "Robert Dye") provoke fits of laughter. Undergirding all these songs are wisdom, understanding, and playfulness - qualities that we've seen from Momus before, but usually employed to corrosive or darkly satirical effect. But on STARS FOREVER, the challenge of writing "song portraits" for paying customers seems to have unfettered Momus from whatever creative or spiritual dead ends he may have previously reached, and as a result, the album has an outright buoyant feel. Sure, shadows creep in now and then, but they're part of life too. I'd say that Momus has taken some of his own advice from "Stefano Zarelli," using his own contradictions as well as those of his "sitters" as occasion to celebrate rather than ruminate. "Grating" may be in the ear of the listener. But "cold" -- I don't see or hear that at all. >But Aaron >Mandel gets mentioned in one song, which is cool. That is undoubtedly cool. later, m, pondering the widening gulf between his opinions and n's, despite their alphabetical proximity ====================================================== Miles Goosens UNlimited edition R. Stevie Moore CDs now available! http://www.rsteviemoore.com My personal website http://www.mindspring.com/~outdoorminer/miles "If a million people say a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing." -- Anatole France ====================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 18:42:00 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Le Petomaine (0% David Birney content) At 03:55 AM 09/12/1999 -0800, Eb wrote: >Dave: >>Eb, can you insult someones fave icon and start another flamewar, or post >>some new DB madness ? Button pushed: Smiths, Julian Cope, Radiohead, the Church, Siouxsie, the Verve, Wilco, Magnetic Fields, Apples in Stereo, Suede, the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Aphex Twin, Pulp, Pearl Jam, and have a strong feeling that I'd disagree with Eb's opinion on Momus should he ever investigate Momus more fully Agreed with EvenfuckingEb: Phish, Depeche Mode, Rush, Dead, Paul Kelly, Ani DiFranco Don't know and/or don't care: Bauhaus, Mercury Rev, Heidi Berry, Porcupine Tree, Stan Ridgway, Lois, Joy Electric, Wesley Willis, Dan Bern, Adam Ant, Morphine, Sophie B. Hawkins. That gives me an Eb Similarity Score of 6/33, or 2.5/20, exlusive of the Momus factor. Calculate your own! It's record-weenie-ish! later, Miles ====================================================== Miles Goosens UNlimited edition R. Stevie Moore CDs now available! http://www.rsteviemoore.com My personal website http://www.mindspring.com/~outdoorminer/miles "If a million people say a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing." -- Anatole France ====================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 19:49:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: Re: who has seen Eddie naked? you just haven't lived until you've heard quasi-feg Butch's Bern compilation. I can't get into any of Dan's releases, but Butch(friend of the lobster) did a magnificent job. DB really does have some amazing songs - he ought to, he seems to write more than ten a day... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 21:21:30 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: Re: re: potshots On Thu, 9 Sep 1999, Eb wrote: > The Ehh List, v1999.9.2: Dot Allison, United States Three, the Hippos... nothing i feel compelled to defend! mystery flat is losing his touch. although someone on the eitzel list did say something vaguely positive about dot allison...i think the gist was that some misery monger of note wrote lyrics for her. > Triumph 2000 is this those three hard-rocking cannucks of surpassing mediocrity what inflicted "never surrender" et al on us? did they go techno or something, or is this a completely random application of the digit two and a multiplicity of zeros to the same old unabashedly retro crap? those aren't actually rhetorical questions; i'm genuinely, morbidly, curious. for an artist/work to be "preachy" implies to me that the sociopolitical message is more succesful than the art itself = bad art. even preachiness that i agree with (live billy bragg, anyone? don't tell *me* i fucking drive too much!) grates. fwiw. fighting the bad fight every moment, every day, - -- d. - - "seventeen!" cried the humbug, always first with the wrong answer. - - oh no!! you've just read mail from doug = dmw@radix.net dmw@mwmw.com - - get yr pathos:www.pathetic-caverns.com -- books, flicks, tunes, etc. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 18:32:03 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: re: potshots >> Triumph 2000 > >is this those three hard-rocking cannucks of surpassing mediocrity what >inflicted "never surrender" et al on us? did they go techno or something, >or is this a completely random application of the digit two and a >multiplicity of zeros to the same old unabashedly retro crap? Nothing to do with the Canadian power trio. This is a new project by an ex-member of Spacemen 3. It sounds a lot like...uh...Spacemen 3. Not terrible, but not real inspired. "Ehh." Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 20:40:58 -0500 From: steve Subject: More film propaganda (NR) OK, if my ranting about PRINCESS MONONOKE isn't enough, I've found the dates for the traveling Studio Ghibli retrospective. Most of the institutions listed below are showing several films, and you can get more information at: >www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/films/festivals.html< If you like good films, you won't be disappointed. - - Steve _______________ September 9 - 18, 1999: Toronto International Film Festival September 12 - November 20, 1999: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC September 16 - 26, 1999: Museum of Modern Art, New York City September 19 - October 17, 1999: Brattle Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts September 24 - October 10, 1999: New York Film Festival September 30 - October 10, 1999: UCLA Film and Television Archive, Los Angeles October 2, 1999: Art Institute of Chicago October 21 - 29, 1999: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival October 28 - 31, 1999: Cleveland Cinematheque, Cleveland, Ohio November 5 - 11, 1999: Egyptian Theater, Seattle, Washington November 13 - 28, 1999: Berkeley Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California November, 1999: Hawaii International Film Festival - ----------------------------- ____________________ ...Apple is the tail that wags the Wintel dog. - Herb Bethoney, PC Week ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 21:58:44 -0400 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: a drop of blood in the water always attracts a shark >From: "Capitalism Blows" [Eb bled:] > > >translation: i have never, by my own admission, heard a dan bern song >despite him being compared most often to two of my heroes --bob dylan and >elvis costello-- and despite him receiving scads of euphoric notices on a >mailing list full of people whose taste in music i find hews rather closely >to my own. why? because somebody else "discovered" him before i did, and i >don't want to lose my hipper-than-thou status by actually taking somebody >else's recommendation. Son of a bitch! It actually worked. >From: "Jason R. Thornton" >By the way, I saw Moby on Politically Incorrect, and he seemed like a >dipshit when it came to discussing the Beastie Boys and Buddhism. Sure, >he discussed Christians in China as if they were "authentic" believers >being oppressed by the mean ol' Communists, but then he turned around >dismissed Westerners who've adopted Buddhism as being "trendy." Those >British Colonialist attitudes just never die. I don't like the Beastie Boys. I don't like Moby. >From: The Great Quail >Love and Rockets. That one was a shame. They'd just made yet another absolute-zero warmth record, but it was quite a nice one. Best cover art yet, too. >From: Doc [Eb] >>I don't like Julian Cope. >C'mon, England's own Iggy Pop? Cope? Iggy Pop? Really? [Eb again] >>I don't like Ani DiFranco. >Does this mean you don't "swing"? There must be a way I can turn "In or Out" into a parody about Adam West, but Final Fantasy VIII is calling me and I can't afford to wait. >From: "Jason R. Thornton" >Hey, there's a new Gap borg-like drone-kids-singing advertisement out on >the TV. This time they're all standing around and singing "Just Can't Get >Enough." Vince Clarke must be spinning in his grave. I had dinner with someone (I didn't know very well) recently who loves those ads. "They're so ironic! They're great!" she enthused. "Irony" these days means hypocrisy, having your cake and eating it too. The idea seems to be to appeal to dimbulbs who think, "oh, yeah, I remember that song! k00l!" and also to people who think, "look how formulaic -- they have cute sexually ambiguous kids singing old pop songs -- but the kids sing without energy and smirk, referencing the previous 'it's so easy' ads and making the formula an in-joke." So it targets those who aren't hip to the ads and also those who are. Granted she's sort of in the ad industry, but I think they're going to need another level of "irony" in order to target me. >I've known about the Kinsey scale, and the "10%" findings of his research, The 10% is iffy for a lot of reasons, as I'm sure you know. I would believe that at least 10% of men have at least considered hot-hot man-man nookie, and that only a few fewer would probably try it under the right circumstances, but that 1 of 10 men is queer as we understand it, as a social category -- I doubt that. Not that I wouldn't like to believe it. >Now, what do you think that Smashing Pumpkins song "Zero" is really all about? "God is empty! just like! me!" >From: Natalie Jacobs >Oh, Dave. During the recent NMH dispute, I started writing a long story >about Jeff Mangum's love child, who has a high level of hexagonal >pachydermichrons in his blood, and his fight against the evil Darth >Partridge, who is crusading against sincerity in all its forms. But the Man! What little I've heard of NMH sounds one hell of a lot less sincere than Andy Partridge. >p.s. Inadvertent minor starfucking: Turns out that a guy I've been >writing to is apparently the bassist from Dressy Bessy, an E6 satellite >band. He saw Robert Schneider's Thoth and wanted one of his own. I guess >I'm developing a reputation. :) I do like Dressy Bessy. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, wyrd@rochester.rr.com http://home.rochester.rr.com/wyrd/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 19:36:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Doc Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V8 #348 > Andrew said: > >>>C'mon, David Bowie proclaiming Lauryn Hill as a "breakthrough >>>artist"? Geez, hasn't that guy sucked enough dick in his lifetime? >I only quoted this. I didn't say it. Begging your pardon, I do apologize. Don't recall seeing a quote tag, but then again it was late in the evening when I posted initially. >>when a person of Bowie's stature gives endorsement to someone like >>Lauryn Hill may not just make Bowie fans think twice, it might make >>Lauryn Hill fans think twice as well. >Think twice about what? Are you suggesting that some >crossover may result from Bowie's "endorsement," one way >or the other? It seems really unlikely to me, and it's >not as if Hill is some low-profile critics' darling that >no one else has noticed. I don't see what you're driving >at here. Driving? Not driving, more like musing. Just wondering if there will be any sort of effect at all. I wonder if there will be Bowie fans who would pick up Lauryn Hill's music, on the strength of what Bowie's said. That's all. I agree, the chances of either happening are remote. I should keep my fingers off the keyboard while I'm wondering. I said to Gnat >>Gnat may disagree with me, but I think Andy Partridge's religious >>views did change somewhat between "Skylarking" and "Nonsuch"-- the >>man who wrote "Dear God" wasn't the same man that wrote "Rook" >Hrm. If you're saying that Partridge has become more inclined towards >Christianity over the years, then I'd say - well, I'd say you were out >of your mind. On the other hand, if you're saying he's become more >inclined towards spirituality in general, then I'd totally agree. Thanks for clearing that up. Obviously, there's a very small window open to me for posting on this list. Too early, I am cranky. Too late, I'm not specific enough. >Re. Snapple Penis - Your title describes the album perfectly. >>I cannot get into this album at all. Could you please tell me why you >>like it? I like XTC quite a bit, and this release (next to the Poi >>Dog Pondering CD) was the biggest disappointment of the year for me. >>Little help? >You could read my laboriously-written review at >seshat.homepage.com/av1.html, if you like. And you could also note >that I have a new homepage (thanks to Dolph!), at seshat.homepage.com. >(Seshat is Thoth's wife, in case you don't know.) I'm so glad I could provide a well-written springboard for Gnat so that she could plug her new homepage. You'll be at the Sands for how long, Gnat? Doing stuff off the new album with Bernadette Peters? >Can't help you with the Poi Dog Pondering, though. I always thought >they sucked. They were a lot of fun live. Their recordings aren't nearly as fun. And that last recording I'm using as a coaster. - -Doc __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 21:51:58 -0700 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Comedies more overrated than Frasier Eb wrote: > > (is "Frasier" the most overrated comedy in television > history?) Jeff Dwarf wrote: > You're forgetting The Golden Girls Was this overrated? I don't remember hearing anyone say they liked this show. But I didn't pay much attention to tv back then. > Friends This is a really good show. I don't think it's overrated at all. If it won a shitload of emmys all the time, then I'd say it was overrated. > any > Norman Lear show other than All in the Family, I was about to call you one crazy guy. Then I saw the "other than..." part. I'm so glad TVLand brought this show back. I probably went ten years without being able to watch it. > I Love Lucy, > Did I mention Lucille Ball sucks? Lucille Ball may not have been the greatest comedian, but the writing on her show was great...most of the time. I love the episode (I think it was the Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour) where Milton Berle guest starred. - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:09:55 -0600 From: ultraconformist@ets.cncdsl.com Subject: Re: A long post, about many things >it's shot through with so much sympathy for his subjects and so much >exuberance about "life's rich pageant" (to quote REM quoting Clouseau - and >to put the apostrophe back in) that I wouldn't hesitate to describe STARS >FOREVER as "warm." Oh I wouldn't either. The most striking thing about it to me is how - -humane- it is. It struck me as something that a lot of care went into, and a lot of love. A lesser artist would have written more or less straight biography. This is much more than that. He's created portraits of their inner landscapes and their personal mythologies and captured something of the essence of each individual. Many of them sound like, I'm not sure how to phrase this, but as if these are the characters they'd be in their own personal movies. > Some songs are so exquisite and achingly beautiful that >they leave me in tears every time ("Mai Noda," "Paolo Rumi"), And "Miles Franklin".....the aching poignancy of it, the intense longing for lasting love- "now when I dream of a man, I see him putting up shelves". >("Akiro Masuda," "Stephano Zarelli," "Noah Brill," "Natusko Tayama") have >me bouncing around the room I always get up to dance to "Natsuko Tayama" m'self :). >and still others ("Steven Zeeland," "Kokoro Hirai," >"Robert Dye") provoke fits of laughter. And don't forget the Ennio Morricone grandeur of "Team Clermont". That line about the Pabst Blue Ribbon can cracks me up every time. >corrosive or darkly satirical effect. But on STARS FOREVER, the challenge >of writing "song portraits" for paying customers seems to have unfettered >Momus from whatever creative or spiritual dead ends he may have previously >reached, Yes! This is totally what I felt about it. It just sounded like he took off and flew. It sounds like joy, to me. I'm -really- surprised that that's not coming up on Gnat's radar. Oh well. Love on ya, v. squid ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:05:45 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Comedies more overrated than Frasier At 09:51 PM 09/13/1999 -0700, Joel Mullins wrote: >Jeff Dwarf wrote: >> You're forgetting The Golden Girls > >Was this overrated? I don't remember hearing anyone say they liked this >show. But I didn't pay much attention to tv back then. The Devil likes it! At least according to the Kids in the Hall -- it's the show the Devil switches to after watching the initial appearance of Sir Simon Milligan and Hecubus. later, Miles ====================================================== Miles Goosens UNlimited edition R. Stevie Moore CDs now available! http://www.rsteviemoore.com My personal website http://www.mindspring.com/~outdoorminer/miles "If a million people say a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing." -- Anatole France ====================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:01:12 -0700 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: who has seen Eddie naked? Bayard wrote: > > you just haven't lived until you've heard quasi-feg Butch's Bern > compilation. Speaking of Quasi, has anyone heard their new album yet? Is it any good? - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: 13 Sep 1999 20:14:58 -0700 From: "John Barrington Jones" Subject: Re: who has seen Eddie naked? >you just haven't lived until you've heard quasi-feg Butch's Bern >compilation. I can't get into any of Dan's releases, but Butch(friend of >the lobster) did a magnificent job. DB really does have some amazing >songs - he ought to, he seems to write more than ten a day... One of the things that first sucked me in about Dan Bern was that his stage performances were reminiscent of Robyn's [1]. A vastly different set every night, with lots of banter and an improv song here and there. And then, Dan's shows started becoming even _more_ incredible than those Robyn shows I wax nostalgic about. He would unplug the PA system and make the audience pull up real close and have a basic campfire-type singalong. In some midwest town, he got the audience to file out of the venue single file with him and march around the block, all singing his "Jerusalem". And lest it sound like I can say no wrong, some of his shows I've heard on tape have _really, really_ sucked. Like he did one too many bong hits before the gig, like he's been reading Cat Power's "How To Win Over Your Audience". But that is just the thing: he is not afraid to take risks. Sometimes, he fails miserably. But most of the time, his shows are an amazing thing. Robyn, in contrast, stopped taking risks about 5 years ago. His setlists are calculated for maximum entertainment value. He has damned up the stream of consciousness rants for fear of becoming a parody of himself. He is living comfortably, in his London home, writing a song a month. Dan, as we are led to believe, has no proper home. Lives out of his van, tours endlessly, writes a song _a day_. Young, brash, cocky, sonofabitch. People compare Dan to Bruce Springsteen or Dylan or Costello. I think he is more like Woody Guthrie: constantly writing songs and traveling. he writes lots of topical songs like guthrie did, although admittedly without the political slant. Guthrie wrote alot of crap songs, alot of goofy songs, and alot of gems. Same with Bern. I'm done, John ________________________________________________________ [1] I am referring here to the solo acoustic shows, 1985-1991 or so. After 1991, forget it. It's just not the same. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #349 *******************************