From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #354 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Saturday, September 18 1999 Volume 08 : Number 354 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: speaking of British humor... [Michael R Godwin ] Re: any Fegs seen Richard Thompson naked? [Michael R Godwin ] Robynology [Michael Wolfe ] Two characters in search of a Magnetic Fields show [Natalie Jacobs ] Re: I'm not sure I'd want to see Brian Wilson naked, and I've never peeked down Joan Jeanrenaud's blouse, either [] Re: Two characters in search of a Magnetic Fields show [Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: speaking of British humor... On Thu, 16 Sep 1999, Eb wrote: > Did I hear that Charles Crichton died? Yes. Not exactly unexpected, as he was 89. His directing credits included 'Hue and Cry' (that early Ealing 'Emil and the Detectives' type thing with Alastair Sim as the pulp author whose stories pass codes to the crooks); 'The Lavendar Hill Mob' (Stanley Holloway and Alec Guinness robbing the Bank of England - excellent); 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' (local villagers take over a branch line threatened with closure) and 'A fish called Wanda', which Cleese brought Crichton out of retirement to direct. (I don't know who directed 'Fierce creatures' but I have seldom seen such ham-handed direction - Cleese must now wish that Crichton had taken it on). - - Mike Godwin PS The only other Ealing director of the same standard was Alexander McKendrick, who did 'Whisky Galore', then moved to America and directed the brilliant 'Sweet smell of success'. PPS 'Titfield Thunderbolt' was shot on location not 5 miles from here. A nearby pub is now named after the film. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 15:44:08 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: any Fegs seen Richard Thompson naked? On Thu, 16 Sep 1999, Eb wrote: > While I'm here...I own Rumor & Sigh, Mock Tudor, Mirror Blue, you?me?us?, > Daring Adventures, Amnesia and Hand of Kindness, plus Shoot Out the Lights, > I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, the first four Fairport Convention > albums and both French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson albums. What RT stuff am I > missing, that's essential? No answer, but I came across a Richard Thompson FAQ - post-Fairport up to 1996 - which features a discography at Q33: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sfy/RT/RT_FAQ.html#Q33 I also found a tab collection of some of RT's songs at: http://www.roe.ac.uk/mjpwww/rtindex.html - - MRG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 10:40:25 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: They've got the best Beatles & Libyrinths & smack! Eddie writes, >and next comes the smack habit. and then we start seeing ads on >www.libyrinth.com. "sigh", indeed. This is the second time someone mentioned my extravagant spending as being a symptom of a new job. Hmmm. Hardly! This does mean, however, that I may actually *pay* the credit card debt in some time under a year! (I remember in college, running up a credit card with as many Hawkwind imports I could find! I did the same with Robyn.) (In fact, I may still be paying part of that off.) (I should be allowed nowhere *near* a credit card.) Oh, yeah, and I already have a smack habit. But I prefer goofballs. And thirdly, I might as well prepare you -- since the Libyrinth is a business and my job now, there will probably be targeted advertising to generate revenue until we can get revenue from other sources, such as educational institutions, publishers, and a host of other ideas more tasteful than advertising. Have I sold out? Um . . . duh. On the other hand, I go from barely holding together a bunch of pages on the occasional weekend, answering tons of emails from people saying "when are you going to fix Kafka, add Auster or Rushdie, or take a day to edit my submission on Gaddis?", all the while I slave away from someone else, laying out asinine and offensive pages about fur coats and diamonds and hating my job; to having the resources to work full time on my obsession and my passion, all the while expanding it to include a whole mess of new authors, new directions, and new functionality. I should be able top actually *add* new authors now -- the last one was two years ago! -- not to mention attend conferences, develop sites to feature independent publishers, interview artists, hire editors, proofreaders and stringers, and actually -- and this makes me very happy -- *pay* some people for the work they contribute. Soon I'll have search engines, java-enhanced bonuses, site mapping, special features such as exclusive deals with artists and writers, and a new section where people can log in every day for quotes, links, reviews, and other changing literary-based features. I will also have special sections for teachers and college students. So there's my confession. Believe me, I hate advertising, and I already squawked enough that they know I won't stand for Coca-Cola banners screaming across James Joyce's face. But realistically, if the Libyrinth is going to really become a major site for literature, I have got to compromise at places. I knew that from Day One -- in fact, I was so nervous about making this into a business, I made them build a "Vision Statement" into the contract. And I looked hard and long, and I realized that the Libyrinth had been sort of stagnant. And if I have to make a deal with Mefisto in order to pursue this idea to it's fullest, so be it. (I always thought Faust was a reasonable guy. But why Helen? I would have gone with Salome.) Well, I know this will disappoint Eddie and a few others. And I'm not exactly thrilled, either. But for me, the good *far* outweighs the bad. I knew all that going in, and so far I have never been happier with work. I mean, God, what's happened to me -- I *like* work!!!!! Anyway, feel free to mail me comments, suggestions, copies of Das Kapital, Neil Young records, whatever. . . . - --Quail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth: http://www.libyrinth.com "His fervour for the written word was an interweaving of solemn respect and gossipy irreverence. . . " --Gabriel García Márquez ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 10:05 +0000 From: mrrunion@palmnet.net Subject: Music Tapes Hey, Okay, someone help me out here. I've only been haphazardly reading the various comments and reviews of the Music Tapes "69 Love Songs" album. Is this thing out yet? While stumbling through the local mall Camelot (after getting a haircut finally) and finding nothing (duh, but they did have a copy of NMH, so that was good), I browsed through their Muze for Music computer thing. It came up with a 1999 Music Tapes release called "First Imaginery Symphony For Nomad". No reference to "69 Love Songs". Didn't find any more info at CDNOW either. And, yeah, instead of spending any more time surfing for info, I figured I'd pop the question here. So, what's up? Mike p.s. Can anyone quickly tell me the chord to Mexican God? I figure G-C-F-G for most of it... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 11:18:09 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: Re: Music Tapes On Fri, 17 Sep 1999 mrrunion@palmnet.net wrote: > Hey, > > Okay, someone help me out here. I've only been haphazardly reading the > various comments and reviews of the Music Tapes "69 Love Songs" album. Is > this thing out yet? While stumbling through the local mall Camelot (after music tapes = imaginary symphony for nomad magnetic fields = 69 love songs (no e6 affiliation, but yet another artist one which the ebster and i disagree) - -- 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: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:38:50 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael Wolfe Subject: Robynology Ok, I'm at work, and I'm bored. Sue me. Luckily, I've got Gravy Deco in the discman, (man, it's been, like, a year since I've listened to this) the special Casio remix of Kingdom of Love is playing, and life is good. And I'm thinking about Jewels for Sophia. I'm a lucky guy; I really dig it, as I've stated publicly here before. What I've just realized, though, is how seductive it is. I find that there are lots and lots of times when I find myself actively looking forward to listening to it, and for any number of reasons. There have been mornings when the congealed, waxy ball of dread in my stomach that can accompany going into work has been softened significantly when I've reminded myself that when I get into my cube, I can check my email and start listening to Jewels. And I even find myself looking forward to the prospect. Not many other albums have been that compelling for me. This year, only Wilco's Summerteeth has had a similar effect (usually, it's specifically the song "she's a jar" that calls to me, though sometimes it's the title track). I love Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage, but as much as I've listened to it, the pleasure that it affords takes me by surprise -- the joy of "a place where we have been to" as it spins up out of the random noise, for instance. That's the nature of that album -- those contrasts, and the heightened power that they give to the musicality of the pop songs. It obviously works (for me), but it's not the same kind of enjoyment that I get from Jewels, not the kind that carries with it the delight of anticipation. I think part of it is that I love singing, myself. I spend a lot of time on a bicycle, and singing is one activity that can easily accompany cycling. Jewels for Sophia is practically MADE for singing along to -- the Ooooooh, Whap Shoo Wah Dah Dah of Mexican God, the joyous chorus of Viva Sea-Tac, and adding a third part to the beautiful two part harmony of Robyn and Grant Lee Phillips in I Feel Beautiful. Heck, as Jeme pointed out, Robyn himself encourages it in Antwoman. ;) In singing any of these to myself, I can't help but hear in my mind's ear the rest of the arrangements around my own singing. And as good as my imagination is in doing that, it makes me hungry to hear the songs themselves. There's more to it than that, though, and I can't put my finger on it, exactly. For instance, They Might Be Giants are really easy and fun to sing along to, no question. But they've never put out an album that grabs me like this one, and I don't find myself listening to them as much as I used to. That's fine though; it'll bear further thought. I was just trying to convey a taste of what this album gives me, even if I can't fully explain why it does what it does. I should've brought it with me today. Nuts. - -Michael Wolfe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:00:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: Two characters in search of a Magnetic Fields show Well, Michael K. INSISTED that I post a DETAILED report of the MF show last night, so here goes. (Feel free to delete at will.) Opening act: Snakefarm. A gal singer, a guy with a guitar, backing tapes, weird films. Kinda moody, dark stuff - a little on the ignorable side. I think I'd like it better on record. As the MFsters were setting up, my friend Sara and I tried to convince ourselves that the exotically handsome cellist was Stephin Merritt (it just seemed to fit, you know?), but of course Stephin Merritt was the small nebbishy Harry Dean Stanton lookalike at center stage. How such a tiny man can have such a deep voice, I don't know. The other band members consisted of an additional guitarist and Claudia the keyboardist, who also provided backing and occasional lead vocals. Merritt and the other guy also doubled on mandolin and banjo, respectively. This arrangement lasted till about four songs into the set, when Merritt managed to break three strings (!!) on his guitar. Surprisingly, he had neither extra strings nor an extra guitar, so he made do on mandolin for a while, then tried borrowing the other guitarist's guitar, but had trouble playing it because the strap was too long. Finally, he ended up playing nothing at all. I'm not too familiar with the MF's material, but as far as I could tell, most of what they played was from the new album(s). (Incidentally, Claudia announced that the box set is sold out but they will be making more in a couple of weeks.) They also threw in "Two Characters In Search of a Country Song" and finished the set with "Born on a Train," an audience request, and may have played other older stuff that I didn't recognize. The individual songs were all great, but unfortunately they chose songs that were very similar in style - probably due to their limited instrumentation - and they all started to blur together after a while. I was glad to hear some of my favorites from the box set sampler such as "The Book of Love" (which makes me get all weepy) and the morbidly funny "Yeah! Oh Yeah!", one of the few moments of humor in the evening. (There was another song called something like "A Night to Remember" which was funny, too.) But I wish there had been a little more variety. Another minor problem with the show was that Merritt is not exactly the most dynamic performer in the world. He just stands there with his head tilted to one side, staring off into space and strumming his guitar, looking vaguely worried. Once he actually lifted his arms over his head - whoo! - exposing a half inch of flabby belly, which I was tempted to poke. But that was about as excited as he got. Oh, and he smiled once or twice. But despite this, it was a good show and I enjoyed myself. Afterwards, I ran into my pal Brett from Wazoo Records in Ann Arbor, who kept urging me to give Merritt the Thoth I had brought. I didn't want to, because it would involve getting backstage, which I've never done before and felt nervous about doing. Finally, Brett said, "If you don't do it, I'll never let you buy records at Wazoo again!" So then I had to do it. I went over to the stage and got the attention of Claudia the keyboardist. After some negotiation, during which she repeatedly told me that Merritt was "wiped out" and that he was probably going to be rude to me, I was allowed into the inner sanctum. Merritt was slumped in a corner, his grey clothes and grey complexion blending in with the couch so I could hardly see him. I gave him the Thoth, and he smiled slightly and said, "Oh... it's a duck-headed person thing." I explained what it was, thanked him for a good show, he thanked me, and I fled back to Brett, who high-fived me and promised me a discount at the store. He'd better keep that promise. - - gnat "annoying rock stars for pleasure and profit" the gnatster ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 14:28:45 -0700 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Pet Sounds + , or Who Here Has Seen The Church Butt-Naked? Hey, Did anyone notice that they're re-releasing "Pet Sounds" in a new "Remastered Plus" edition? It contains both mono and stereo mixes of the ENTIRE album, all on one CD. Eek! I saw The Church last night. They were pretty decent. A whole lotta gothic echo-y guitar textures (mmmmmmmm) and a whole lotta yuppie-dudes in the audience (ick). The band shied away from alternative-radio hits like "Reptile" and "Milky Way," which probably ticked off the yuppie-dudes somewhat... if they even noticed. I think much of the very male-dominated audience was busy scamming on the two or three unattached yuppie-chicks in attendance. Natalie's description of Stephin Merritt's stage presence would work pretty good for the Church as well, so you might want to go back and read that again. ;) The set list was dominated by material from "Hologram of Baal" and covers. It seemed as if they were going for a glam vibe on the last song of the second encore, but it still came out all gloomy and atmospheric. As did the Iggy Pop song they did. - --Jason "I've got a wocket in my pocket" The Thorntonster "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 14:45:10 -0800 From: Eb Subject: I'm not sure I'd want to see Brian Wilson naked, and I've never peeked down Joan Jeanrenaud's blouse, either Jason: >Did anyone notice that they're re-releasing "Pet Sounds" in a new >"Remastered Plus" edition? It contains both mono and stereo mixes of the >ENTIRE album, all on one CD. Eek! I worship Pet Sounds as much as anybody, but I gotta wonder if Capitol has gone to the well once (or twice) too often with this one. I still have the early-'90s mono reissue, and I think I can be content with that. Did anyone here fork over the dough for the four-disc Pet Sounds box? Which outtakes are most notable, and why? Eb http://users.aol.com/buesken/bcr/bcr.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 18:14:28 EDT From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: Pet Sounds + In a message dated 9/17/99 2:30:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, jthornton@ucsd.edu writes: << Did anyone notice that they're re-releasing "Pet Sounds" in a new "Remastered Plus" edition? It contains both mono and stereo mixes of the ENTIRE album, all on one CD. Eek! >> I can't believe that I wouldn't have mentioned this. Maybe I didn't. Oh, and you're post should have read "Did anyone notice that *they've re-released* "Pet Sounds" . . . ", cuz it happened a little while ago. Just thought that was an important distinction, since people will want ot run out an d buy it. Or, at least, they SHOULD want to run out and buy it! The stereo version kicks ass. For those whoare dubious, the remastering as all okey-dokeyed by Brian Wilson. Oh, and they went back to the original 4- and 8-track recordings, so they essentially remixed (but not as an extended mega-remix!) the entire album in stereo as if it had been done that way over 30 years ago, rather than artificially stereo-izing the mono master tapes. If that didn't make sense, don't worry about it. Just know that you can truly hear more of what went into the music, particularly on certain songs (I forget which ones). And the whole thing's remastered, so even the mono version sounds better. Go get it!! - -------Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 15:49:12 -0700 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Re: Pet Sounds + > I can't believe that I wouldn't have mentioned this. Maybe I didn't. Hmmm. Perhaps you did, and I missed it. Or forgot about it, absent-minded feg that I am. :) >Oh, and you're post should have read "Did anyone notice that *they've >re-released* "Pet Sounds" . . . ", cuz it happened a little while ago. Aaaah. I see that I got confused at the Barnes and Noble website... I thought they meant for the category "Pre-Release" to extend all the way down the column to "Reissues," but on closer inspection I see that isn't so. Heh heh. In the future I'll have to slow down my scrolling-down some. ;) On a slightly Beach Boys themed note, here are two pictures I took of some real life "surfer crossing" signs in Encinitas, California: http://ugr8.ucsd.edu/arthur/newphoto/surfboy.jpg http://ugr8.ucsd.edu/arthur/newphoto/surfgirl.jpg Cheers! - --Jason Thornton, who has lived 'all over La Jolla' and right by Swami's as well "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 04:04:19 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: I'm not sure I'd want to see Brian Wilson naked, and I've never peeked down Joan Jeanrenaud's blouse, either Eb: >Did anyone here fork over the dough for the four-disc Pet Sounds box? >Which outtakes are most notable, and why? I've got it, but I know nothing about the technical aspects of music. The most striking thing to me (if I'm correct) is that the backing tracks seem to be live - with Brian's studio band adjusting things as they go along, and Brian conducting from the control room. - - Steve ____________________ ...Apple is the tail that wags the Wintel dog. - Herb Bethoney, PC Week ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 13:16:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: Two characters in search of a Magnetic Fields show On Fri, 17 Sep 1999, Natalie Jacobs wrote: > The individual songs were all great, but unfortunately they chose > songs that were very similar in style - probably due to their limited > instrumentation - and they all started to blur together after a while. from what i've heard of the set lists, they're picking songs which are pretty different in their studio forms, but the live arrangmeents do tend to make them all more similar. > (There was another song called something like "A Night to Remember" > which was funny, too.) that's "The Night You Can't Remember, The Night I Can't Forget" -- on the record, a jaunty ukelele tune. i'm really looking forward to see how some of the new songs translate live, but half the fun in that is hearing the song "bare", even if it isn't as good as the studio version. helps you realize just how rigged the album is. a ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #354 *******************************