From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #129 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Saturday, May 20 2000 Volume 09 : Number 129 Today's Subjects: ----------------- re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 ["brian nupp" ] re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 [Bayard ] Trials and Tribulations [Michael Wolfe ] re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 ["brian nupp" ] re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 ["Marc Holden" ] Re: Mill Valley show June 22 - yes [Tom Clark ] Re: Mill Valley show June 22 - yes [Glen Uber ] beside the seaside moonlight ["jbranscombe@compuserve.com" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 12:54:24 EDT From: "brian nupp" Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 I always thought they were saying "click over." Like some mix down studio talk, but who knows? Brian >From: "Marc Holden" >To: "fegmaniax" , >Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 >Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 09:46:13 -0700 > >Right now I'm without a real copy of the CD (an ex-girlfriend stole it >along with many other CD's--I have a CDR of it), but I do have both >versions of the 45 (both sleeve variations--I think Bayard might have >posted them on the Glass Hotel). I'm listening to it right now and it seems >to be the same recording so far... here comes the end... same studio >chatter. I'd like to know what the whole "clickot" bit is about--at least >that's what it sounds like they're saying, just like on Eye. I always had >the same impression about it being the end of the Soft Boys, but I've been >wrong before. Later, Marc > >I think the mistake a lot of us make is thinking the state-appointed >psychiatrist is our "friend." ---Jack Handey >_____________________________________________________________________________________ > > > >7 > Subject: RE:"Let's Work Together" Thanks David...I learn more from this group...... - ----------------------------->>>>>> Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 10:13:59 -0500 (CDT) From: David Witzany Subject: "Let's Work Together" That's John Mayall, father of British Blues (to some). He's led his band the Bluesbreakers since the early 60's, and has seen some of the cream (sorry) of Britain's musicians pass through the ranks, including Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, and John McVie (who were all with him together, and left to start Fleetwood Mac), Mick Taylor (who headed off to join the Stones), and Eric Clapton. He has a great ear for guitarists; besides those above, he's had others who went on to decent solo careers, most recently Coco Montoya. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 14:02:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 > >Right now I'm without a real copy of the CD (an ex-girlfriend stole it > >along with many other CD's--I have a CDR of it), but I do have both > >versions of the 45 (both sleeve variations--I think Bayard might have > >posted them on the Glass Hotel). I'm listening to it right now and it seems > >to be the same recording so far... here comes the end... same studio > >chatter. I'd like to know what the whole "clickot" bit is about-- "Cleethorpes" i think. That's a place in England if i'm not mistaken. Planning a trip there? http://www.4tourism.com/uk/cleethorpes.html As to why he (robyn?) says cleethorpes, that seems like something Susan Even would know. Here are Marc's "Give it to the soft boys" covers: (autographed!) http://glasshotel.net/gh/ftp/scans/raw45a.jpg http://glasshotel.net/gh/ftp/scans/raw45b.jpg note they are very large in file size (no time to shrink em yet) and there is a nipple on one of them =b who's sue? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 18:29:35 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael Wolfe Subject: Trials and Tribulations Repent! Inc. sayeth: >by the way, saw The Trial the other night; and while i've never >noticed it before, anthony perkins is a dead ringer for michael >wolfe. heh... hee hee hee... heh. That's very interesting Eddie. Very interesting indeed. ...say, have you met my mother? She's... she's not herself lately. - -Michael Wolfe After all, a boy's best friend is his mother. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:08:06 EDT From: "brian nupp" Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 Doesn't Robyn say "Cleethorpes" in "When I was a kid" on Invisible Hits? Brian >From: Bayard >Reply-To: Bayard >To: brian nupp >CC: mholden666@earthlink.net, fegmaniax@smoe.org >Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 >Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 14:02:01 -0400 (EDT) > > > >Right now I'm without a real copy of the CD (an ex-girlfriend stole it > > >along with many other CD's--I have a CDR of it), but I do have both > > >versions of the 45 (both sleeve variations--I think Bayard might have > > >posted them on the Glass Hotel). I'm listening to it right now and it >seems > > >to be the same recording so far... here comes the end... same studio > > >chatter. I'd like to know what the whole "clickot" bit is about-- > >"Cleethorpes" i think. That's a place in England if i'm not mistaken. >Planning a trip there? http://www.4tourism.com/uk/cleethorpes.html > >As to why he (robyn?) says cleethorpes, that seems like something Susan >Even would know. > >Here are Marc's "Give it to the soft boys" covers: (autographed!) > >http://glasshotel.net/gh/ftp/scans/raw45a.jpg > >http://glasshotel.net/gh/ftp/scans/raw45b.jpg > >note they are very large in file size (no time to shrink em yet) and there >is a nipple on one of them > >=b > >who's sue? > ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 16:12:20 -0400 From: overbury@cn.ca Subject: Interview from "ABUS DANGEREUX" , dec 99 Submitted with sincere thanks to "Cathimini", who offered her permission for reproduction, her proofreading skills and much help in arranging the delivery of a copy of the magazine "Abus Dangereux" to this fegmaniac. ======================================= Abus Dangereux (French Fanzine) December, 1999; pg. 18 Fegmaniac Again by Cathimini (thanks to Kathleen Aubert and Olivier Nuc who allowed me to update this interview in October 99). Since 1996, there's been little news from Robyn Hitchcock. You And Oblivion, a collection of unreleased cuts, was available only as a hard-to- find import and his last album «Moss Elixir», was shuttled almost directly from Warner stocks to second hand shops. The Soft Boys reunion tour stopped far short of our area with no prospects for resumption. However, reassuring news trickled through with the last Grant Lee Buffalo release in which he sang and played harmonica, as well as on Tim Keegan and the Homer Lounge's (excellent!) first album, on which he played guitar. He could also be heard in the background music of the film «Judas Kiss» released in spring. But there was really nothing concrete until this June when I was stopped in my tracks by a small poster: " Beer Necessities " present acoustic evenings featuring Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Blegvad in a special concert at L'Hotel du Nord. Yes indeed, m'am, the place where the famous classic «Hotel du Nord» movie was shot . Flanking the photograph of Robyn, reviews from the NY Times and the SF Chronicles to entice the customer, but not a word in French. It should be said that this is hardly extraordinary since, without any pretention on my part, I think I'm the only person in this country who has written regularly on him and our last interview was way back on December 21, 1993. 1993?!! Time for a whole new bunch of readers of Abus to wonder who I'm talking about all of a sudden. Discovered with his group The Soft Boys and firmly established by various essential Eighties releases both solo and with The Egyptians, Robyn Hitchcock disturbs, intrigues and seduces with a mixture of aggressive rock'n'roll and brilliant pop, surreal poetry and macabre images. Rather too easily labeled eccentric because of his taste for the absurdity and marine creatures, Robyn has always been at the periphery of all styles of music, even psychedelia which still best defines the kaleidoscope of emotions and hilarious concepts which recurs in the majority of his exceptional songs. The 90's brought a certain recognition to him in the United States which allows him to concentrate on writing, drawing, painting and as well as music. A music which oscillates between the simplicity of acoustic and the richness of electric arrangements, either deliciously pop or wildly odd, according to his mood. A music which has not ceased to evolve since Robyn fell into the soup made by Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Syd Barrett, Nick Drake (as confirmed by the track that he gave us) or Jimi Hendrix whom he saw in concert at the Isle of Wight. A music which, since a few months ago, has taken on new life with the almost simultaneous release of two "best of" from A&M and Rhino, live records by the BBC at the Cambridge Folk Festival and the soundtrack of the film Storefront Hitchcock (and since this interview he has made Jewels For Sophia, finally legally available in our country). This last document is by far the most interesting because it establishes a direct link with current events, documenting a concert given in a New York city storefront. For anybody who has never had a chance to attend one of his performances, here's an opportunity to see how he can instill an incredible rapport with his audience using just two sentences: " Good evening my living and dead friends...I hope that everyone will smoke." And from there he shoots down Gene Hackman whom he does not want to hear any more about, because the characters that he plays are always shifty and nasty. A song perhaps inspired by Clint Eastwood's" the full powers ", because film is another of Robyn's passions and of his girlfriend Michele Noach, an artist whose work can be admired on the layout of «Storefront Hitchcock»? She is also the creator of all the packaging for the new album «Jewels For Sophia»... CM: Last time we saw each other we had the chance to talke about film but I never knew you knew Jonathan Demme (the Silence of the Lambs, Beloved...) well enough that he'd direct a film on you. RH: I didn't know him at all! Michele and I were in the dressing room of a little club near NYC when Jonathan Demme and his wife Joanna crossed the floor towards us out of the blue. And *pow* there they were offering to make a film! Eighteen months later, that's what we did, in a storefront in NYC. Because it was produced by MGM, it was shown only in art theatres and test screenings and in a few festivals. Since I doubt it will be shown in France, you can order the video from my web site. To get back to Jonathan, I believe he bought my albums because he's a record collector; he has been for a number of years. He's a fan, that's all! CM: Let's talk about your new album: Jewels For Sophia. RH: This album is much more rock'n'roll that the last ones. It was produced by Jon Brion who has worked with Fiona Apple and Grant Lee Phillips. He is a very good arranger. It is much more enthusiastic, lively, less dark than my last albums. There are some very dark songs as well, but the majority are upbeat. It was recorded in Los Angeles with Grant Lee Phillips, in Seattle with The Young Fresh Fellows, Peter Buck and my friend Tim Keegan, and in London with the rhythm section of the High Llamas and Kimberley Rew, who used to be in the Soft Boys. After 17 years, I could finally return to the studio with him without it posing a problem to me. Now that his adventure with Katrina And The Waves is over, he's trying to play as much as possible. He's a guitarist who loves his art so much that he's ready to cross the ocean to play an encore at the end of the concert. We will be touring with Tim and Kimberley, playing songs from every period, including the Soft Boys. CM: Why did you record in so many locations? RH: Because Michele and I travel a lot even though our address is in London. If I spent more time in Paris, I would probably record here. It depends on where I happen to be. CM: What's the story behind " Cheese Alarm "? After shrimp and fish,is this your new culinary obsession? RH: I wrote this song at 8 in the morning in a cafe in Chicago. I felt compelled to write it and I could not resist all these words: Roquefort, Gruyere, Brie which filled my consciousness at that precise moment. One must stop seeking out the metaphors behind all my lyrics. I talk about what I know and of what I like, in this case French cheeses, in particular Mimolette. [at this point we start a discussion on the origin of the cheese which in my opinion is Dutch, after which we return to more general considerations. ] But it is true that one cannot ignore that 3/4 of the world is starving of hunger while almost all the other quarter spend fortunes to lose weight or to fight bulimia. That's what my song is about, this absurdity. As in most of my songs it's partly egotistical in focusing on my vision of the things and partly altruistic in evoking the world as it exists in reality. CM: You released two compilations on two different labels at the same time: «Uncorrected Personality Traits» on Rhino and a best of on A&M. Does this mark pause in your career or a new beginning? RH: No, because it wasn't my idea. I had nothing to do with the A&M release. Rhino has decided to present regularly periods of my life like the Soft Boys compilation, a few years ago. «Uncorrected Personality Traits» presents material from 1980 to 1987. I chose the tracks and wrote the sleeve notes. It's not meant to release a boxed set that covers the complete career of Robyn Hitchcock, "hello, goodbye, that's all, folks". It's like the «Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival» which was recorded with The Egyptians in 1992, it just happened to be a year when I wasn't really busy. I just wrote some liner notes and set aside two or three tracks which weren't too good. But it wasn't my idea at all, it was the people who have been releasing the Kershaw Sessions series. All these discs really belong more to the people who wanted to release them than to me. My last albums are «Jewels For Sophia» which really belongs to Michele and me... and «Storefront Hitchcock» which I actually produced with Jonathan Demme. CM: Why have you recorded two almost exclusively acoustic albums before this one? RH: «Moss Elixir» was the first album which I made without a group and I tried to base everything on voice and guitar. Very simple, without the clouds, turkeys and trains and other gentlemen concealed in the fog. It is just me and nothing unnecessary. Same thing for «Storefront Hitchcock». The guitar and the voice are also at the heart of my new album. I would like to recapture these very simple things, often lost in the studio with all the instruments and the sound effects and the amplifiers, to put them on disc. Sometimes there is a little violin or sax, but they're in the background so that they don't spoil the essence of the subject. That's how I try to work now. As the concert which you saw yesterday evening: just me and from time to time some friends who make cameo appearances, like Syd Straw or John Blegvad. But no more foggy band ! CM: Is that why you recorded the new album with so many different people? RH: Exactly. It is fun to work that way because you know from the start that you'll be together only for one short period and so you avoid all that musical promiscuity. I've been musically monogamous too long... In addition I find it interesting to have the input of young people. Touring with Kimberley who is of my generation and Tim who is ten years younger makes it possible not to seem like some old fossil who is acting out his past like the Rolling Stones. The mixture of the ages is a very interesting and constructive thing for everybody. We have to encourage communication between the generations so that the old men stop thinking that all young people are stupid and so that the young stop thinking that the old people are all fossils. I remember this gypsy group where the musicians ranged from 20 to 80 years. Some had bellies hanging out of their too-tight nylon costumes, the singer was thrashing about in all directions completely away from the microphone... [ I'll skip over the hilarious gags and gestures with which Robyn imitated each member of the group] They were absolutely ridiculous at first sight but I had not seen such vitality since Captain Beefheart. They completely stole the spotlight from the Kronos Quartet who had invited them. CM: Storefront Hitchcock opens with a song which is entitled " 1974 ". What happened that year in particular that made you write a song about it? RH: Many things, but in a way, it was an unremarkable year. It was a grey year. I was 21 years old and it was the end of the hippies, it was the year Nixon was due to resign, when the oil shortage changed the world economy, when the war in Vietnam ended in stalemate... In fact I chose a year as insignificant as that because I was grasping for a lost time... in fact a time thrown in the dustbin. But life's like that; even if it isn't very interesting it's still your life. Most of Western life is spent travelling from one place to another, opening the refrigerator, turning on the faucet... nothing very interesting, but it is what occupies the majority of our time. CM: Is because of this sort of observations that you wrote a song like "Where Do You Go When You Die? "? RH: Who knows? It's certainly one of the questions that people ask me all the time. When you are dying and your life is flashing before your eyes, things can become significant to you that hadn't seemed interesting at all when you were busy living them. 1974 for example was very dramatic for me, but the world around me seemed very calm. Life is made of a heap of nothing. [NOTE: In point of fact, 1974 is the year or Robyn has moved to Cambridge at which point the history of the Soft Boys became possible, therefore a crucial year for the rest of us] CM: You seem to be touring a lot... RH: Oh yes, much more than before. I love it. I am much more at ease than the last time that you saw me [ NOTE: in December 1993 in the Passage du Nord Ouest, Paris ]. You see this year I've played in Spain, in Sweden, in Italy, in the United States, in Australia... in France. I'm also going to do a big tour of England. I leave for six weeks with Sebadoh and The Flaming Lips this summer. I love traveling that way, with just Michele or Tim. CM: It should be said that when you strap on your electric guitar to play a punk version of " Only The Stones Remain " like yesterday evening,one gets the impression that you're louder than a whole group. RH: If that's the impression I give, that's great. It's a lot of fun to play rock'n'roll without being in a rock group because it is a performance. It is me playing the role of a rock musician. I love not to having to share the stage with others. Moreover I now play songs from all my career. You realize that " Queen Of Eyes " is 20 years old? I have so many songs at my disposal! CM: Why did you release an alternative version of «Moss Elixir» in vinyl with different cuts? RH: Because I felt that there was too many songs left out. It's the same reason we will release an album with the out takes of «Jewels For Sophia» in February. It will be available only on my web site and at concerts. I'm starting my own label : Editions PAF! that will allow me to release all the songs that Warner will not want to include on the official discs. In the Eighties, I put out some pretty good stuff on Glass Fish, titles you could later buy on Rhino but I own the rights of certain discs like «I Often Dream Of Trains» or «Invisible Hitchcock», so I could edit them again... Sophia was someone who really existed whose photograph I saw but of whom I know very little, except that she was the wife of someone named Bram and that she was sent to a concentration camp just before the end of the world war 2. I have decided to entitle the disc of unreleased material «A Star For Bram». Michele: With the Internet, nobody can tell what will become of record labels as we now know them. That's why a lot of musicians have started selling directly on their web sites. Why bother with a label which sells three discs and taxes you 50% on your royalties, if you can sell thousands on your web site and pocket it all? RH: It is true that one has impression we're moving towards a global juke box and that my next disc may not be a physical entity at all. My music will emanate from a wall... While you're waiting for that moment to come, to see Robyn Hitchcock on scene with just his acoustic and electric guitars and his harmonica is too rare a pleasure for one to be satisfied to hear his voice come out of a wall, as pretty as the wall may be. One of the sources of this pleasure is his eccentric improvisations in a mixture of French and English, I have sensed throughout this interview. In accordance with this, I offer to you this very personal interpretation of the history of the music [*]: " Once this harmonica was played by Beethoven... He'd always walk through the ancient woods with his harmonica and his dog, always playing pretty melodies on the harmonica and on the dog... his 'Overture For Harmonica And Dog' is world-famous! [trying hard to tune his guitar] Beethoven, because he was deaf, never had problems with tuning. He would look at a tree... or perhaps the dog, and he would compose his music on the spot. But me, I am a little out of tune... " And believing the attention he's finally getting in France from his record label and the press, that would be a rather good thing. = Translator's footnote: [*] - original quotation in Franglais. This version translated into English. = To learn more about Robyn Hitchcock: . Faces R, S, 35 and 36 of "Abus Dangereux" history and retrospective interviews of the Soft Boys and Egyptions eras. Issues 35 and 36 may be ordered through vicious@club-internet.fr . www.fegmaniax.org - this site includes links to other sites dedicated to Robyn Hitchcock . www.robynhitchcock.com - the "museum of me" according to its author where one can buy "A Star for Bram" and admire the works of his sister Lal. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 13:39:03 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: nefarious, underground schemes >along without him....> > >i figured he'd just been "boning up" for the rmat. but perhaps you're >correct, and he is looking for somebody to kiss his most perfectly formed >ass. Oh, jesusfugginchrist...ENOUGH of this garbage. Here's the simple truth: Someone on the Feglist hurt me deeply on a personal level, in recent weeks. I won't go into it any further than that, but the bottom line is that I have feelings like any other mammal and the Feglist doesn't feel much like "home" right now. It'll take some time for me to stop grimacing at the thought of Fegmaniax, and I'm not real motivated to sacrifice my views/experiences on the Feg altar at the current time. Those who wishing to see my recent musical picks, check http://users.deltanet.com/~gondola/np.html. Otherwise, enjoy the silence. Yes, I saw Macha (disappointing, because the instrumentation wasn't as diverse as on the records). Yes, I saw Wire (disappointing, only because the show was so damn *short*...about 57 minutes including encores, which boiled down to about 10 or 11 songs). Yes, I'm dismayed that "Sports Night" was cancelled. Yes, I was screwed in my perfectly formed ass by the RMAT, like so many other Internet users (see http://www.rhino.com/rmat/test.html for further explanation). Yes, Ian Brown's Golden Greats is the year's first agonizingly bad album. Yes, the Claudine Longet compilation is now in stores, and the CD booklet botches my site's URL. Yes, list discussions are clearly just as prone to hostility without me. Yes, Giorgio. Yes. Yes. Yes. Eb http://www.tomposton.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 09:46:13 -0700 From: "Marc Holden" Subject: re: Underwater Moonlight geek Question #20 Right now I'm without a real copy of the CD (an ex-girlfriend stole it along with many other CD's--I have a CDR of it), but I do have both versions of the 45 (both sleeve variations--I think Bayard might have posted them on the Glass Hotel). I'm listening to it right now and it seems to be the same recording so far... here comes the end... same studio chatter. I'd like to know what the whole "clickot" bit is about--at least that's what it sounds like they're saying, just like on Eye. I always had the same impression about it being the end of the Soft Boys, but I've been wrong before. Later, Marc I think the mistake a lot of us make is thinking the state-appointed psychiatrist is our "friend." ---Jack Handey=20 _________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Subject: Mill Valley show June 22 - yes I have just confirmed with "A Source Close to Robyn" that the June 22nd show at the Sweetwater is ON. (note - not MAY 22nd, *JUNE 22nd.*) > like any other mammal you & Eddie ain't nothin but mammals, something something "Discovery Channel." have a great weekend. i need a new place to live. =b ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:45:10 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Mill Valley show June 22 - yes On 5/19/2000 3:36 PM, Bayard wrote: >have a great weekend. i need a new place to live. Friends said "Bayard, move away from there" "California's the place you oughta be!" So he packed up his belongings and moved to the Valley SILICON Valley, that is. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:49:57 -0700 From: Glen Uber Subject: Re: Mill Valley show June 22 - yes On 19.05.00 15:36, Bayard wrote: > I have just confirmed with "A Source Close to Robyn" that the June 22nd > show at the Sweetwater is ON. (note - not MAY 22nd, *JUNE 22nd.*) Cool, man! I'm definitely there! - -- Cheers! - -g- "The revolution will not be televised but it will have its own web site." - --Glen Uber, 25 April 2000 (apologies to Gil Scott-Heron) +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Glen Uber uberg@sonic.net http://www.sonic.net/~uberg ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 09:04:09 -0400 From: "jbranscombe@compuserve.com" Subject: beside the seaside moonlight Cleethorpes is a seaside resort on the east coast of England and has an intrinsic Bonzos/Pythonesque comedic quality to us Brits. I don't know how much is known over the pond about the saucy postcard heritage of British coastal resorts, but Cleethorpes represents the epitome of this tradition. Interestingly, in terms of Robyn references, Cleethorpes is the posh part of Grimsby, where people dug Led Zeppelin in 1974... jmbc Non sports fans stop here...Grimsby Town Football Club actually play in Cleethorpes... OK, that wasn't even interesting for people who like sport... Though I miss Eb even.... Mike Godwin, where are you? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 12:09:39 -0400 From: sofa king Subject: bowery ballroom inserts fegs, bruce haemmerle created some jewel box inserts for the cd-r of last year's bowery ballroom recording that has been floating about. i've put them up on the fegsite at . if anyone else has created any inserts artwork (cassettes or cd or whatever) and would like it up on the site for sharing, please send it to me. woj n.p. jorane ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #129 *******************************