From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #398 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, October 25 1999 Volume 08 : Number 398 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Astronomical Coitus [Eb ] Re: Astronomical Coitus [Christopher Gross ] so many questions! East Coast fegs... [lj lindhurst ] How to Travel With a Web Browser (0% RH, surprisingly) [Christopher Gross] Re: austin, 10/23/99 ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Re: How to Travel With a Web Browser (0% RH, surprisingly) [Capuchin ] Re: Astronomical Coitus [Ken Ostrander ] Re: austin, 10/23/99 [Ross Overbury ] You Know What They Say: Big Suit, Big...Coincidence [West ] Outtakes CD/Biographer [Bayard ] Re: #3 lyricist (10% EEVIAC content) [Eb ] Re: austin, 10/23/99 [Aaron Lowe ] Re: Indie Icons [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Eco & the Bunnywoman ["Dolph Chaney" ] Reply ["marlon.stone" ] The Brian [Eb ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 11:12:41 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Astronomical Coitus >You met Wallace Shawn? More to the point, you met Wallace Shawn, >writer of "My Dinner With Andre" and "The Designated Mourner", >noted character actor and 20+ year veteran of stage, screen, and >VHF, and your only frame of reference for him is as "the short, >sputtering 'intellectual' guy in 'The Princess Bride'?" I'm >absolutely disgusted. What's worse, even his impressive role on UPN's "Clueless" series wasn't mentioned. Sheesh! Eb (I'll post some Brian Wilson comments later) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:27:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: Astronomical Coitus On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, JH3 wrote: > >Ok, sure. Salmon Rushdie, Umberto Eco, and so on. All in the > >same evening. You were dazed. I'm sure I'll be able to forgive > >you, someday. > > Yes, but will we ever forgive *you* for spelling Rushdie's first > name the same as a common FISH? Oh, the humanity... Hey, that was an easy slip to make under the circumstances, since Eco's essay "How to Travel With a Salmon" is now available in the US. - --Chris, sad to see the end of the "Anything Christopher Walken is in, is good" rule ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:26:20 -0400 From: lj lindhurst Subject: so many questions! East Coast fegs... Hey, speaking of, anyone going to tonight's Elvis show? (If so, and you'd like to meet up for a drink afterwards, be looking for us. We're on the floor in Row Y, seats 7 and 9 (I think). We're the ones with Really Big Hair and Really Aggravated People sitting behind us.) And how about the Robyn show next week at the Bowery Ballroom? Anyone?? Anyone want to go have Indian food afterwards? Want to come over and play records and make prank phone calls? To Eb? And what about the Philly show? Shouldn't we be making plans on where to meet?/dinner?/drinks?/what police precinct to pick up Eddie from? Are we going to be hosting Special Guest Star Mike Runion? wha-wha-WHAT!! l "They Call me The Walrus" j ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:31:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: How to Travel With a Web Browser (0% RH, surprisingly) I promised my parents I'd try to get to Grandmom's house for Thanksgiving. Can anyone recommend good web sites for searching for and buying airline tickets? (Preferrably *extremely* cheap airline tickets. Ideally *they* would pay *me*.) Thanks, - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 13:47:25 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: austin, 10/23/99 >Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 16:37:54 -0500 >From: "bret" >Subject: Re: austin, 10/23/99 > >Damn fine show...... pulled some jems out of the hat.......... Yup. Robyn seemed in really fine form. He was relaxed, seemed to really be enjoying himself with the band, and the vibe was great. And the Departure Lounge were wonderful, too. I wished I could have stayed for the second set, but at $16 per head, I would have ended up spending $64 for my wife and me, which I wasn't in the mood to do. But he played "The Ghost Ship" which made it all worthwhile. Robyn played sitting down, saying he has hurt his back recently. He played the Fylde (sp?) acoustic and the blue and white Telecaster. The Cactus Club is a small, cozy place, and the back of the stage is draped in red velvet, which added nicely to the ambience. It was a thoroughly entertaining, yet intimate show. Playing with the ever-so-laid back Departure Lounge as his backup, Robyn's songs seemed to breath more. For a while there, the band was actually *grooving* -- their rendition of "Sleeping With Your Devil Mask" was top-notch. I've never been too keen on that song, but hearing it played that way floored me. Every other old song they played sounded just as good -- it was like running into an old friend you haven't seen in a long time, but he had finally grown up, got a good haircut, and learned how to dress, and relaxed quite a bit. I don't think I've ever enjoyed seeing Robyn play as much as I did at that gig. It felt like a Whole New Robyn. I almost blew off that show ("Ah, I just saw him a month ago...") but am very glad I didn't. I'm still surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Oh, and Kimberly Rew is hilarious -- I can't put into words how goofy he is on stage. But he's a heckuva guitarist. He played his guitar (a white Gibson ES-335, I think) like he was trying to wring every note out of it. Outfit: black longsleeved linen shirt with banded collar; blue pegged trousers with large green flowers all over them -- looked like somebody must have shot a couch and skinned it just for Robyn; and those curious black boots -- no laces or zipper, but comfy looking nonetheless. Merchandise: purple, and green-and-violet Jewels For Sophia t-shirts ($15), Tomato Pens ($5), cute little buttons ($1), JfS CDs ($15), and some merch for Departure Lounge. They also had a sign-up sheet for mailing list, which I've never seen before. ObTidbit: Somebody (Eddie, I think) asked (Robyn?) when the outtake CD would be out: January 1, 2000 was the answer, I think. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 12:14:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: How to Travel With a Web Browser (0% RH, surprisingly) On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Christopher Gross wrote: > I promised my parents I'd try to get to Grandmom's house for Thanksgiving. > Can anyone recommend good web sites for searching for and buying airline > tickets? (Preferrably *extremely* cheap airline tickets. Ideally *they* > would pay *me*.) Thanks, I've had exceptionally good luck with both priceline.com and cheaptickets.com. Cheap Tickets is actually a chain of travel agents in Hawaii and not just a web-based agency. As far as I can tell, they buy in bulk and resell only to "members" so that their rates are not "advertised rates" and other agencies don't have to honor any kind of "we'll beat anyone's fare" and the airline doesn't have to justify the low low price. You need a credit card to register on their website, but they have a secure web server and all is good. Prices are quite nice. Priceline does that odd "name your price" thing. It goes something like this: You enter some personal info to register. You tell them where you want to fly and on what day (you can't say what time) You tell them the maximum number of stops you'd endure (more hops, lower potential price, longer potential travel time. One or two isn't horrible for cross-country. You can sometimes get direct, but asking for direct limits your options.) You tell them how much you'll pay. They tell you that some folks will add to your bid if you read their ads and do some other silly shit (as in "Apply for our credit card and we'll say your bid is $250 instead of $200"... then, of course, you cut up the card when it arrives and beg to be taken off their mailing list). That whole mess is optional, of course. Their computer talks to a whole bunch of airline computers and the airlines decide whether they will accept that bid or not. The airline will look at particular flights that meet your criteria and see how many seats are available and the odds of filling those seats before the flight takes off and if it's worth it to nearly give away the seat. The idea being that a low fare is better than an empty seat. They get back to you within an hour and let you know whether or not you got the ticket at the price you wanted. You're welcome to try again if you failed. I've flown cross-country for less than $200 twice. So there. Je. - -- ______________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:15:49 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: Austin Show Howdy, I wish more list fegs could have made it to show, but I did get to meet Eddie, Aaron, Bret and Gene and his wife. I wish I could have spent more time getting to know the others, but there will be more shows. Eddie is apparently on a 4 or 5 week monumental voyage. He is following Robyn around the country. I believe he said the next stop was Atlanta, for Monday evenings show. That is after he sees the Sunday evening show. I think I heard someone say Atlanta is about 18hrs. from Austin, by car. My road drip to Austin was uneventful, but once we arrived, we had to dodge frenzied UT fans along Guadalupe Avenue after they released the herd from the stadium. Are the fans from all big football colleges so brain-melded or is it just at UT? I guess that's a stupid question, but the team spirit was almost unreal. It even looked staged at some points, but the attempted fervor at most religious awakenings is not as high. My friend Chris and I only saw the 8pm show as the option was t-shirt or second show, and I had never purchased an R.H. shirt so, I bought one. Semi-disappointed at myself for being so material minded, but we did sit outside the cafe, smoke ourselves into oblivion, OD on caffeine and listen to most of the second show along with the newest feg, a bag-lady from Omaha. The Cactus Cafe was kinda small, but very comfortable. The sound was great, the stage was small and the shows were good. The only problems I saw was during Birds in Perspex, when Robyn kept looking, slightly grimacingly at Kimberly and Tim. I did not really here anything wrong, but Chris said he thought Robyn look a bit perturbed at what they were playing, and then before the the encore, everyone but Robyn left the stage and the cafe. Robyn just walked to the back, near the bar and then I thought I heard him complain about everyone being gone, so he did the next song alone, though I think he expected the others to join him. Tim Keegan's show was kick-ass. I did not expect to enjoy the performance near as much, but they did an excellent job. My only complaint has to be with the bass lines. The bass player did OK, but he seemed a bit inexperienced and the notes were mostly ok, but I would have done something completely different. I always bitch about bass players. The drummer had a real interesting kit. A three piece DW with snare, floor-tom and bass drum, and a single 18 or 20 inch crash cymbal, plus a small bongo set attached were the high-toms would normally be, and no high-hat. He used brushes mostly during the Keegan set and had somehow attached a shaker-egg to one of the brushes, it sounded real cool. Does anyone know how he did that? It must have been attached somehow, but maybe just taped. His setup for Robyn's show was the same, except he pulled out a high-hat. For anyone who has seen Tim and the rest of the band perform lately, who was the keyboard player? Greg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 15:39:46 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: Astronomical Coitus >>Oh, I also met that weird little actor who played the short, >>sputtering "intellectual" guy in "The Princess Bride." >>Apparently he's a friend of Giovanna Calvino. > >You met Wallace Shawn? More to the point, you met Wallace Shawn, >writer of "My Dinner With Andre" and "The Designated Mourner", >noted character actor and 20+ year veteran of stage, screen, and >VHF, and your only frame of reference for him is as "the short, >sputtering 'intellectual' guy in 'The Princess Bride'?" I'm >absolutely disgusted. i think you'll agree that 'princess bride' is probably the most popular movie he's been in ('toy story' notwithstanding), and, consequently, the role is his most familiar. wally's been in so many movies it's not funny. well, sometimes it is. when he's in those goofy roles, he always plays them to the hilt. he's done everything from chevy chase's evil dealer nemesis in 'vegas vacation' to the egocentric uncle vanya, which happens to be my favorite of his roles. i think he's been in a couple of other woody flicks. ken "inconceivable!" the kenster ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 16:08:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Ross Overbury Subject: Re: austin, 10/23/99 On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Gene Hopstetter, Jr. wrote: > ObTidbit: Somebody (Eddie, I think) asked (Robyn?) when the outtake > CD would be out: January 1, 2000 was the answer, I think. CD? In addition to/instead of the LP, or was that a typo? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 13:15:31 -0700 From: West Subject: You Know What They Say: Big Suit, Big...Coincidence Michael Wolfe wrote (once upon a time): > Compilations of music, compiled for the purpose of working out > to, are completely unnecessary. All you need is a single album. > I will now impart to you the name of this album. > > Stop Making Sense, The Special New Edition From the DVD commentary track of Stop Making Sense, Mr. David Byrne: "You could watch this movie, not as a rock and roll concert movie, but as an aerobics video. If you just start at the beginning, and just do whatever I do, and do it for as long and as hard as I do, you'll be in good shape by the end of this!" And ya know what, folks? They're both right. Great minds think alike. Somethingly, West (with thanks to Reel.com for delivering this movie a day before it appears in stores) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 13:35:32 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: RIP I don't know why this has become the official celebrity death reporting network, but: Golfer Payne Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 17:29:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: Outtakes CD/Biographer > > ObTidbit: Somebody (Eddie, I think) asked (Robyn?) when the outtake > > CD would be out: January 1, 2000 was the answer, I think. > > CD? In addition to/instead of the LP, or was that a typo? they are forgoing the phonograph format this time out, i believe. just as well, as far as i'm concerned... PS. an anonymous tipster tells me the man doing Robyn's biography is one Joe Silva, of Spin(?) magazine... Also Mr. Silva apparently is a newcomer to the world of Robyn... so he will (hopefully) learn a lot before he writes this book.... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 15:08:34 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: #3 lyricist (10% EEVIAC content) Somebody, talking about Austin: >They also had a sign-up sheet for a >mailing list, which I've never seen before. Probably a good list -- I'm not on that one. El Jay: >(Sorry if I can't remember everything exactly, but I >was constantly disturbed by Quail standing up and screaming >"Alisssoooonnn!" throughout the show) >5.) Just Me Bitching Department: Geez, when did Elvis inherit the >kids-at-home-with-a-sitter/mom-and-dad-are-reclaiming-their-crazy-rock >&roll-youth audience? I could have sworn I was at some kind of lame >Eric Clapton concert or something... Oh, then you saw folks from the COSTELLO-L mailing list? I just took some time off to see a local *daytime* concert by Man or Astro-man? Only a few miles away, for once! I still don't think much of Man or Astro-man?'s music (they're in *desperate* need of a little nuance and melody to go with their punk energy), but damn, they sure put on an entertaining show. :) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 19:06:30 -0500 From: Aaron Lowe Subject: Re: austin, 10/23/99 At 04:08 PM 10/25/99 , you wrote: >On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Gene Hopstetter, Jr. wrote: > > > ObTidbit: Somebody (Eddie, I think) asked (Robyn?) when the outtake > > CD would be out: January 1, 2000 was the answer, I think. > >CD? In addition to/instead of the LP, or was that a typo? Instead. Robyn (or someone with the tour group; Eddie talked to them all, it seems - he's a bold guy!) told Eddie that the lower price of pressing CD's won out over the more aesthetic idea of making vinyl records. So the outtakes disc will be a CD, not a record. Aaron (*MY* take on the Austin shows -- I went to all 3 -- is in the works.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 17:26:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Indie Icons steve wrote: > http://www.ne.jp/asahi/junkmail/nightstop/Icon_rock_e.htm what were these things supposed to do? i didn't have the right plug-ins.... ===== "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, 25 Oct 1999 13:55:20 EDT From: "Dolph Chaney" Subject: Re: Eco & the Bunnywoman >From: "JH3" >Btw, I know it's a bit late to be pointing this out, but did anybody >else notice that Beck's keyboard player had long straight hair >and was wearing a CAPE? That would be ex-Jellyfish keysman Roger Manning, he also of the Moog Cookbook. Clearly, this man is full of silly goodness, and should not be confused with anyone named Wakeman. Dolph who now shares 2 states with JH3: (1) silly goodness (2) Illinois! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:03:02 +0100 From: "marlon.stone" Subject: Reply Hi Dave, thanks for your prompt response. When I said that I wsa a cynic when I first mailed you, I think that I was being a little too hasty, I mean I don't want to create too much of a bad impression! Actually regarding my job, what we do isn't that sinister or anything, and in the large it is all in the name of research, looking at starch metabolism in wheat. On the Hitchcock front, I don't know why you think the production on 'Perpex' is sugary, but I do like other stuff, such as 'Invisible Hitchcock' but I didn't mention it cos I wasn't sure it counted as an album proper. I have got all the Hitchcock LPs and it is difficult at times to say which one is better than the other. In terms of songs, the following make my top five: 'Eaten by her own dinner', 'When I was dead', 'Sleeping with your devil mask', 'I wanna destroy you' (probably a popular choice!), 'If you go away'. I suppose that I prefer his more overtly poppy stuff, but I also appreciate his acoustic stuff on 'Trains' and 'Eye' (esp. 'Flesh cartoons' and 'Certainly Cliquot'- I have named a cuddly penguin 'Cliquot' in homage to Robyn, but I hjave also named a cuddly parrot Leulliot after Valerie Leulliot of Autour de Lucie!). There has been some cuonfusion where I work over e-mail accounts, my address is marlon.stone@bbsrc.ac.uk, the previous address belonging to my colleague and friend Andrew Milligan should be ignored! Sorry but I am a new PhD student at Rothamsted, so I am just beginning to find my way around the Internet, a couple of years ago I was a total technophobe! Yours Marlon ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:26:09 -0800 From: Eb Subject: The Brian Well...it was a peculiar night. I had never been to the Sun Theater before (indeed, it only opened in early September), so I got there way early -- I wanted to check out the parking situation on surface streets. After spending so damn much on my ticket (with the threat of a required, expensive dinner also hanging over my head), I was looking to cut corners wherever I could. And I was supposed to get there at 6 pm for the dinner anyway, so I really wasn't early. The venue is located on the same lot as Edison Field, where the Anaheim Angels play. Formerly, it was a silly theme restaurant called "Tinseltown Studios," which bellyflopped. I found a residential street to park on, and walked over. Annoying Grateful Dead-esque "miracle" moment, on which I couldn't capitalize: I was sitting near the box office window, and Cindy Lee Berryhill (see her albums on Rhino and Earth Music...) came up to the window and claimed her ticket envelope. Shortly thereafter, I overheard her exclaim "Ohhhhhh! I could've brought someone!" In other words, she was alone but had been inadvertently given two tickets. D'oh. If I hadn't bought a ticket and showed up anyway, counting on finding a scalper or whoever, she might've been my angel. I've talked to her at shows in the past -- I bet she would've happily given the extra to me. Sheesh. :) Anyway, I shrugged that off and went inside. Weird set-up for a concert. There were three little rows of folding chairs in a pit at the front -- the rest of the floor was all tables. I think there were eight rows of 13 tables, with the eight rows divided into four tiers. The tables were long and rectangular, holding about eight people apiece, and were perpendicular to the stage. So, you do the math: 8 x 13 x 8 = capacity of around 832 people (actually, a sign on the wall said 814, so there you go). There was also a small standing area in the back of the theater, but it wasn't obvious whether folks would be allowed to stand there, once the show started. Now, I thought I'd go down and see where my table was, and check out the Ordinary Fucking People (see "Repo Man") with whom I was forced to share a table. It turns out my table was in the very first row of tables (good), but it was at the EXTREME right-hand side (bad, very very bad). The stage layout was such that sitting there, I wouldn't be able to see about 30% of the stage area. Grrr! Overpriced ticket, overpriced dinner, and now it turns out that I have literally the worst seat in the house? I was better off standing in back -- sure, I'd be farther away, but at least I'd be able to see all the musicians! So by now, it has occured to me that there's absolutely no reason to use my assigned seat. Not only I'd get stuck with buying an expensive dinner which I didn't need (there were four entree choices, priced between $17 and $20), but I'd end up with a horrible view to boot. Screw that. And yup, the folks already seated at my table were OFP, through and through. I wasn't real keen on sharing a cramped table with them all night, and forcing small talk. Not a good situation for me. So I decided, forget it. I'll just stand in back. So I did. The evening started out ominously. A gray-haired windbag with a phony, AM-radio baritone came onstage, and gave an introduction. He was a DJ at KRTH-FM, which is a depressing pop-oldies station in the area. He opened by saying something along the lines of "Welcome to the show...I hope we'll all relive some wonderful memories tonight...." ARRRRGH. Screw his syrupy nostalgia! If Brian really wants to establish himself as a relevant Artist of the '90s, this is the LAST sort of introduction he needs. So I gritted my teeth, while Mr. Boring Old Fart reminisced about the first time he heard the Beach Boys in 1962, met Brian Wilson, etc. etc. I hoped that a big cane would pop out and drag him offstage, but it didn't happen. Finally, THAT schlock was over. And then...more schlock. The lights went down, and suddenly a tape started playing. It started with a clip from "Been Waiting Too Long," and then proceeded into a puzzling clatter of percussion, and then various biographical quotes and interviews with Brian, the Beach Boys and others. After about five minutes of this, the tape quit and the lights came up again. Oops. Ten more minutes of waiting. Lights go off and on several times. Lights go down. The tape starts again. This time, a video starts playing simultaneously on two large screens installed in the front wall. Aha. Now, there are images to go with the sounds. The "clatter" turned out to be the drum section of a marching band -- a clip was shown of Brian riding in a local parade as Grand Marshal. Heh. Mystery solved. That damn film went on for close to a half-hour, though. It was interesting, but jeez, aren't we here to see live music? There was one part which made the film worthwhile, however. Whenever a Beach Boys got introduced in the film, the fawning crowd would cheer. Particularly when Carl and Dennis Wilson came on, for obvious reasons. But...when Mike Love was introduced, ONE guy cheered and the rest of the crowd BOOED. Hilarious! Even these aging, sentimental folks "reliving memories" hate Love. Heh heh. After the film was over, the music started. It was...um...disappointing. There were 11 people onstage, total. Two drummers, several guitarists, a sax/woodwind guy (borrowed from Poi Dog Pondering, apparently?), two backup singers, etc. The band sounded great, though, of course, there was a certain "Beatlemania" simulation quality at work. But Brian? Phew. His singing was absolutely APPALLING. Like, so bad you wanted to crawl away and hide. It wasn't so bad during the tracks with group harmonies, but when there was a song with a distinct lead vocal, the results were disastrous. "Don't Worry Baby" was particularly horrifying. Meanwhile, I don't think Wilson's keyboard was even plugged in. He certainly wasn't adding anything audible to the mix. He wasn't exactly "playing"...more like percussively "keeping time." He just limply bounced his hands up and down in alternating fashion, without ever changing position. It was like one of those old '70s cartoons where the main characters also have a pop band, and you see the same stock animation sequence every time they perform. My head was filled with images of Marcia bobbing at the organ with "The Brady Kids".... After 50 minutes or so, the band announced that they would be taking a break for a few minutes. Not a moment too soon. During the first half of the show, I had been dissatisfied with my view of Brian's face from that distance, so I went back down to the tier where my table was. This time, my empty chair wasn't even there anymore -- I guess another table borrowed it. Huh. However, there was also a little nook in the corner where I could stand, and because this space was about eight feet or so behind the table, most of my sightline problem was cured. So I stood there for the rest of the show, along with three or four other people. No waiter/usher ever told us to move, as I feared. Great. When the band came back onstage, Brian opened with saying something like "Well, the first half of the show was pretty ragged. So we're going to work real hard now, and blow the roof off this damn place!" He didn't sound real convincing, but the crowd went crazy. No surprise there -- they gave him a standing ovation after half of the songs played. But guess what? Darned if he DIDN'T sing much better from then on! He still didn't capture ANY of the emotion of the original performances, but he did hit the notes (well, most of them). So while he didn't make me "feel" the lyrics at all, at least he faithfully recreated the melodies. That's about all we can expect from him, I guess. So, at least the show concluded on a positive note. Songs? Uhhh...I don't take notes on such things, unless I'm required to do so. There were a few cool obscurities -- the program opened with "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and "This Whole World," which are both brilliant songs and not obvious choices. Bravo. The group also played both instrumentals from Pet Sounds, which thrilled me. Boy, "Let's Go Away for Awhile" is an amazing piece of music. I've never even tried to figure this out on keyboard, but I'm sure the chords are very, very difficult. There were also two songs which I didn't even recognize: "Kiss Me Baby" and "Back Home." I guess I should look those up on the Web, and see what's up. I was disappointed there was only one song from his first solo album ("Love & Mercy," given a nice "mellow" reading during the encore), because I think that disc (inconceivably out of print) is miles better than its reputation. Oh well. Other titles which come to mind: "California Girls" (terrible), "In My Room" (terrible), two or three songs from Imagination (who cares, beyond "Your Imagination"?), "Fun Fun Fun," a cover of the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," "Help Me Rhonda," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B.," "Caroline No" (thankfully, played as an encore during Brian's "on" phase), "Good Vibrations" (passable), "God Only Knows" (passable...I got my only "lump in the throat" during the opening bars), "Barbara Ann" (which I still think is complete GARBAGE -- WHY is this a favorite?), "Surfer Girl" (terrible) and "All Summer Long." The band probably did "I Get Around" and "Surfin USA" too, but I'm not sure. None of the esoteric Smile material was played, but that was predictable. I'm going to condense just a bit here, because this account is too long. Darian from the Wondermints (Brian's touring keyboardist) got me a pass to a "meet 'n' greet" after the concert. I assumed that Brian wouldn't show up to this after-party, but I thought maybe Darian could dart backstage with my Imagination CD and get Brian to sign it. See, terrified of reliving my nightmare last year of meeting Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach without a CD in hand, I made sure to take a pen and Brian Wilson disc with me this time, "just in case." Good thing I did. So, I was talking to a guy I know from Mammoth Records and suddenly, I see The Brian out of the corner of my eye. Nifty. He was immediately shepherded to a corner of the room by two other men (security?), but I had spotted Brian before most of the rest of the onlookers, so I was in the front of the sea of well-wishers. Apparently, a bunch of Brian's old high-school friends had come to the show, so he stood in the corner for a few minutes chatting with these folks, while five or six different people shot video and snapped pictures. But once that was over, I approached Brian and got him to sign my CD, amidst a crowd of other fans. Hooray. Unfortunately, the situation was too hectic to say anything meaningful to him...that's a shame. Maybe I'll get another chance, some day. I left, about 15 minutes later. Oh, other stars in the crowd, besides Berryhill: Stephen Root (late of NewsRadio) and beloved bon vivant John Stamos. I believe that's all I have to say, at this point. Except that my Mammoth friend told me that the L.A. show totally "blew away" this show...ouch. Eb ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #398 *******************************