From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #31 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Sunday, February 6 2000 Volume 09 : Number 031 Today's Subjects: ----------------- thoughts on the Ferrara show [fartachu ] Red Breasted Bird Tied to Rooster [Natalie Jacobs ] On the anecdotal tip... [Eb ] Re: On the anecdotal tip... [MARKEEFE@aol.com] Ohrwurm revisited [Sebastian Hagedorn ] ohrwurm etc. [Michael R Godwin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 11:07:05 -0500 From: fartachu Subject: thoughts on the Ferrara show >From: "James Francis" >Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 18:17:12 +0100 >To: woj@smoe.org >Subject: thoughts on the Ferrara show > >woj, > >Greetings from a former list member now living in the Slovak Republic. I saw Mr. Hitchcock >perform the other night in Ferrara, Italia (neatly placed on the line between Venice and Rome >and a perfect addition to my brief Italian vacation), and I thought I'd pass along my thoughts >about the show. You can forward to the list if you please. > >Robyn was in good humor, clearly enjoying himself, switching between Italian, English, >French, and German with (comic) ease. The club was very small: I'm guessing about 50 >people. He began the set with loads of energy, beginning with "Mexican God,” but he and Igor >were having technical troubles with the acoustic guitar (the IC or something like that?) and, >sadly, they were never able to get them straightened out. The result was that, sporadically, >most of the guitar sound would cut out and he'd be left only with the sound from the mike. To >Robyn's credit, he just continued to play through the songs and didn't look annoyed and didn't >spend lots of time on trying to get it fixed. Unfortunately a very beautiful version of "Lysander” >was marred especially badly by the sound problems and Robyn wrapped up the acoustic >portion of the show after only 7 or 8 songs. > >Then he went to the electric, and I hate to criticize my hero but I think the electric half of his >shows has been getting consistently less and less interesting in recent years (while at the >same time, at least at the shows I've seen, getting longer and longer). I think he has fun with >the electric, but he always looks a bit tired while he's playing it and his playing is not nearly >as focussed and a lot of the songs (old Soft Boys tunes, etc.) that he chooses to play just >don't work very well without drums and bass. The only real exceptions to this were "Insanely >Jealous,” which was his closer and seemed to wake him up a bit (it was great: for the middle >section he slapped on the psychedelic freak-out solo pedal with his hand), and "Unsettled,” >which ended with a delightfully Dylanesque "How does it feel?!?” But, in general, the electric >half just felt sluggish. I saw him in Minneapolis last summer with the Flaming Lips revue and >it was the same thing: he seemed almost apologetic for the acoustic songs, like he was >worried he was boring. > >In truth, it's the other way around: his acoustic playing is so beautiful, so innovative, the way >he reworks old songs in new arrangements, the beautiful scratchy folk singer songs that have >been emerging in recent years. . . . I listened to a bit of the soundcheck from outside (it was >quite easy to hear) and he played several new songs that were stunning: all off-balance and >twisting yet so melodic: the sort of maturity in song-writing that only a very rare artist >achieves. But the show itself featured no unreleased material, not even anything from A Star >for Bram. And, as I think about it, only three songs from Jewels. It played a little like an >introduction to Robyn: "Sleeping with Your Devil Mask” (which was great!), "My Wife and My >Dead Wife,” "Beautiful Girl,” "Raining Twilight Coast,” and the usual "I'm Only You,” "Madonna >of the Wasps,” etc., which maybe makes sense for a tour of a place where he's not especially >well-known. It's a measure of how interesting a performer he is that I was disappointed only to >hear his greatest hits and no new songs. > >All in all it was a sub-par Robyn show, but even a sub-par Robyn show is a great show, in my >opinion. As I said, he was in good spirits, and I can't think of anyone more engaging to watch >when he's in a good mood. > >Thanks for your continued great work on the fegmania site! > >James Francis >spine@whale-mail.com >jfrancis@ukf.sk ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 15:53:18 -0500 (EST) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: Red Breasted Bird Tied to Rooster > Using Altavista's invaluable translation, I have translated the set list > into Italian and back into English. I think you'll agree that this > sounds like an even better gig(!): Wow! Yeah! I'm really looking forward to hearing "of the beautiful Queen of the ice-skate" on "For Bram Shiny Twinkly Things"! Did anyone tape this gig? Maybe if we managed to run an mp3 of it through Babelfish, we could get an approximation... I'm glad everyone on this list is so knowledgeable about the official insect mascot of Ann Arbor, the earwig. Ann Arbor is the Mecca of earwigs: they come here to worship at altars of tree bark and bathroom tile. (It's alarming to take your toothbrush out of its holder, only to find a little pinscher'd creature nestling there...) n. p.s. Minions of the Thoth Mother will be glad to know that a tinfoil sculpture of Julian Koster (holding a musical saw and a bow) is perched atop a reel-to-reel in the WCBN studio, next to the mask of John Malkovich (or "Michael Stipe-ovich," as one wag has labelled it). np: the last (*sigh*) Morphine record ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 16:03:03 -0800 From: Eb Subject: On the anecdotal tip... I saw Cracker last night, mainly because there was a pseudo-Camper Van Beethoven reunion involved. The opening band ("Jonathan & Victor") included three ex-CVBers (Jonathan Segal, Victor Krummenacher and Greg Lisher), and the three popped onstage intermittently during Cracker's set to play some old CVB tunes (specifically, "Take the Skinheads Bowling," "Ambiguity Song, "Tania," "Eye of Fatima Pt. 1/Eye of Fatima Pt. 2," "Turquoise Jewelry," "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and "Sweethearts," if you're curious). I have to review this show, so I was skimming the CVB albums late last night to find a few songs whose titles I had forgotten. Wow, those albums hold up well (apart from a few punk-culture references on the debut). I think CVB would experience the very same career arc if they debuted today, which is mildly remarkable. They would've been an instant hit with the college crowd who currently swoons over lo-fi and Elephant 6. CVB was *so* important to me, way back when. Actually, it was a very good Cracker show -- better than the first time I saw the group, a year-ish ago (it took me several years to finally see Cracker live, for whatever reason.) The stiff radio polish of the albums drains away onstage, though Lowery is short on personality and Hickman sometimes has too *much* (he has a mild case of Lead Guitarist's Ego). I was writing down song titles (which I never do, unless forced), and it totalled 26 songs. That's a bunch. The show was about 2 1/2 hours long, and that's with only one three-song encore. Note: A Cracker best-of compilation comes out on March 14th, including a limited-edition second disc of rarities. Speaking of twisted college-rock relics, I recently traded someone an American Analog Set disc for a copy of Ween's debut, God Ween Satan: The Oneness. Though it was a top-ranking album on my "git list," I expected it to be really raw and undisciplined, and mostly just a collection completer. Surprise, surprise -- I like it better than any other Ween album, except Chocolate & Cheese. Yummy! Eb, sad that Camper Van Beethoven II & III and the third album are currently out of print (with the debut soon to follow?) The top 10 active threads in the alt.fan.cecil-adams newsgroup: 10) producing a semen specimen 9) ID that dialect comic 8) Water exploding in microwave? 7) What is the solid matter left in my humidifier/vaporizer? 6) the "Cheese" Pedal 5) Tom Lehrer (was Re: The Ultimate Food) 4) Cannibalism - was Re: Animal Rights...again 3) Lindsay Wagner's breastfeeding habits 2) Roy Rodgers Stuffed 1) Man tries to toss innards at arresting officers ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 19:58:25 EST From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: On the anecdotal tip... In a message dated 2/5/00 4:08:58 PM Pacific Standard Time, gondola@deltanet.com writes: << I saw Cracker last night, mainly because there was a pseudo-Camper Van Beethoven reunion involved. The opening band ("Jonathan & Victor") included three ex-CVBers (Jonathan Segal, Victor Krummenacher and Greg Lisher), >> Aw, poor Greg. What's wrong with *his* name?! << the three popped onstage intermittently during Cracker's set to play some old CVB tunes (specifically, "Take the Skinheads Bowling," "Ambiguity Song, "Tania," "Eye of Fatima Pt. 1/Eye of Fatima Pt. 2," "Turquoise Jewelry," "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and "Sweethearts," if you're curious). >> Was curious . . . now jealous!! << Wow, those albums hold up well (apart from a few punk-culture references on the debut). I think CVB would experience the very same career arc if they debuted today, which is mildly remarkable. They would've been an instant hit with the college crowd who currently swoons over lo-fi and Elephant 6. CVB was *so* important to me, way back when. >> Yup. I still listen to "Our Beloved" and "Key Lime Pie" all the time. The latter is right up near my all-time Top 10 favorite albums, in fact. << Actually, it was a very good Cracker show -- better than the first time I saw the group, a year-ish ago (it took me several years to finally see Cracker live, for whatever reason.) >> I saw them in spring of '92 for the first time, and they were great! I saw them 3 more times over the next few years (just kept ending up at their shows!), and they went a little downhill every time. Good to know they're back at it . . . or maybe it was just a particularly inspired night, due to the semi-reunion thang. << Speaking of twisted college-rock relics, I recently traded someone an American Analog Set disc for a copy of Ween's debut, God Ween Satan: The Oneness. Though it was a top-ranking album on my "git list," I expected it to be really raw and undisciplined, and mostly just a collection completer. Surprise, surprise -- I like it better than any other Ween album, except Chocolate & Cheese. Yummy! >> Heck I coulda/shoulda told ya that! I like the first half of "God Ween Satan" better than the second half, but it's a great album. - ------Michael "there's a tick in my head" K. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2000 13:52:20 +0100 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Ohrwurm revisited - -- fegmaniax-digest is rumored to have mumbled on Samstag, 5. Februar 2000 4:23 Uhr -0500 regarding fegmaniax-digest V9 #30: > At 12:03 PM 2/3/00 -0800, Jason R. Thornton quite insightfully wrote: > >> Of course, an "ohrwurm," while literally translating as "ear" + "worm," >> might still be an earwig. > > And, according to this page, > http://www.apiculture.com/galerie/dico%20_taxons.htm > that's exactly the case. Well, you never know. I had no idea. I haven't looked up the references, but I assume that the insect you call earwig which apparently has the 'official' name Ohrwurm in German is the same one that is called Ohrenpinscher in my part of Germany and Ohrenschlüpfer in the part of Germany where my girlfriend comes from. Both of us had no idea that Ohrwurm is the name of an insect. We only know and use it as the description of a catchy [annoying] tune... Probably the same goes for most Germans, but maybe I'm just totally ignorant in respect to biology ;-) That's why I chose the 'literal' translation, which is earworm. Apologies to all. Cheers, Sebastian - -- Sebastian Hagedorn Ehrenfeldgürtel 156, 50823 Köln, Germany http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 17:14:22 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: ohrwurm etc. I totally agree that those old Soft Boys songs don't work well without bass and drums. I'm sure that's why last week's Fleece gig was so successful. It was an embarrassment at Oxford watching Kimberley and Robyn playing 'Kingdom of Love' without a rhythm section. Thanks to all who recommended ways of forgetting 'Come Prima'. I am currently experimenting with wearing a paper bag over my head and reciting the words backwards whilst burning a Fire of Azrael. I had no idea that this thread would end up in a multi-lingual nature study discussion. All I can contribute is that 'dermaptera' probably means 'skin without wings'. - - Mike Godwin PS to jmbc: I particularly like that version of '1974' ... ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #31 ******************************