From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #179 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, July 3 2000 Volume 09 : Number 179 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: warning: 89% Canadian geographical content 2% B.T.O. [overbury@cn.ca] Re: "My Little Pony!...I've seen him on telly!" [digja611@student.otago.a] oh one more thing [digja611@student.otago.ac.nz] Re: no 177, varia. [digja611@student.otago.ac.nz] Re: miracles [Michael R Godwin ] Re: Chocka, Eb and Holly [Michael R Godwin ] Re: eels concert (Lots of BS, I mean B&S, actually) [Michael R Godwin ] OT: word games [Fwd: A Small Call for Help] (fwd) [dmw ] Making good use of my digital camera (100% gerbil content) [lj lindhurst ] RE: eels concert [Larry Tucker ] Re: Making good use of my digital camera (100% gerbil content) [Glen Uber] Re: gerbil content [Eb ] portland music online interview [johann johann ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 22:36:43 -0400 From: overbury@cn.ca Subject: Re: warning: 89% Canadian geographical content 2% B.T.O. > > - -- > > Ross Overbury > > Montreal, Quebec, Canada > > It is pretty common for everyone else in the world to leave out the province > when referring to a city in Canada: like, 'Edmonton, Canada' instead of > 'Edmonton, Alberta'. I do it mostly to irk separatists. But wouldn't one say, "Cheesequake, New Jersey, USA?". Mmmmm. Cheesequake. - -- Ross Overbury Montreal, Quebec, Canada ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 17:23:19 +1200 From: digja611@student.otago.ac.nz Subject: Re: "My Little Pony!...I've seen him on telly!" This reply probably also deserves to go to this, the "Flying-nun-and-occasionally-Robyn-Hitchcock" list: >> Sneaky Feelings are a problem. They're one of my favourite NZ bands, but >> that's based largely on seeing (and supporting) them live. They never fully >> gelled in the studio. Their first album contained their best songs, but the >> recording was on 8-track, so it's a little dodgy at times. The later stuff >> was over produced. It's still well worth having, but it would have been far >> better if they'd found that middle ground of production. Lead Sneaky >> Matthew Bannister has since recorded an album and two EPs with the >> Dribbling Darts, David Pine has just released a solo album. > >So the compilation is hit and miss? I'm not sure exactly what's on it, but if it's got their best-known tracks you won't go wrong. They put out three albums, and the description I gave was of the overall feel of the albums. It's quite possible that in a compilation the under-and over-produced feel that I find with the albums would cancel out. >> Snapper - the first album (which I think was called Shotgun Blossom) is the >> better one. They remind me of a harder Stereolab: walls of distorted guitar >> with (usually) quiet vocals buried deep in the mix. > >Yes - I was just thinking that last night as I listened to In Love With These >Times: they've got that Velvet Underground/Kraftwerk blend that Stereolab >found...I >thought it was just a fluke! > >> >Any suggestions? Should I at least move on to the '90s or is FN famous >>for the >> >same few years of albums and always will be? (The offerings from 'Freak The >> >Sheep' are a little less on the charming pop side and a bit too >> >post-modern for >> >my liking.) >> >> FN's best years were the 80s, but the stuff from the 90s is also well >> worthwhile. Hmm... a must have list (other than the groups already >> mentioned) would probably include: >> >> Straitjacket Fits (Melt, Hail) > >I think 'Hail' was released in North America very briefly. I know the >other album, >sort of. My ex-girlfriend was pretty big into the FN stuff. She was a big >fan of >The Clean and The Bats. > >> Tall Dwarfs (Weeville, Fork Songs) > >Well, I actually have these! Weeville came out on Homestead in the States >- same >label as Brave Words. Fork Songs I picked up when the store I worked for was >dealing with an Aussie distributor (I regret not picking up the cheap >Triffids' >stuff when I could've!)...I also have 3EP's which I have only dabbled with. > >> Chris Knox (Croaker, Seizure) > >Seizure I've on tape but also not really indulged much. His latest (Beat) sounds excellent, BTW, from the little I've heard of it. >> Look Blue Go Purple (Compilation) > >uh... LBGP was a four-piece all woman band from Dunedin during the 80s. They put out three EPs which were collected together on a CD which i think is simply called "Compilation". >> Jean Paul Sartre Experience (Love Songs) > >'Einstein' is genius (no pun). this came out on a small label in the >States and, >though I don't own it, have quite a few of these songs on compilation >tapes. I also >liked Bleeding Star though it's a quite a different sound. Bl;eeding Star is very good (and was an album I was trying to remember the name of - thanks! :) Various parts of JPSE ended up in Superette and Stereobus, and David Mulcahy has recently gone solo with a very good first album. >> Verlaines (Way Out Where, Juvenilia) > >Way Out Where I thought - at times - was brilliant. Juvenalia is a compilation >isn't it? The last two albums were pretty good I think but suffered an >even less >pleasant fate than Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb at the hand of the same >label! >When I saw the band (I think it was for Way Out Where) I inadvertently ran >into >Graeme Downes in the 'lav' almost immediately after the show; he seemed >one step >away from a nervous breakdown...I tried to let him know that the show was >excellent: that much outflow of energy and emotion would leave anyone >distraught...is this why he decided to get out of the rock star business? >Enquiring >minds need to know! he gets pretty wound up in his performances. He's not completely out of the business - the Verlaines, though, have folded. For over a year he was working in Auckland and the rest of the band were in Dunedin (these cities are at the opposite ends of the country, about 1200 miles apart), and the strain of that was too much for the band. Inerestingly, he is now a musician part-time, whereas for his 'day job' he lectures in popular music here at Otago University. Oh, and yes, Juvenilia is a compilation of all their early singles and EPs. >> 3Ds (The Venus Trail) >> Stereobus (Brand New) >> Able Tasmans (? recently released best of) >> Superette (Tiger) >> Headless Chickens (Body Blow) >> David Mulcahy (Oddy Knocky) > >OK - I am outdone...my list finished six bands ago! Apart from the Able Tasmans and Headless Chickens, these are all relatively new bands (ie, from about 1990 on). The Able Tasmans do poppy, often wistful tracks often with a strong rolling keyboard sound (the best of their albums - other than the compilation - is probably their first: "A cuppa tea and a lie down"). Headless Chickens move into darker territory - sort of light industrial rock (if there is such a beast). The 3Ds are, I suppose, a twisted pop version of Snapper in a way (I'm not describing these very well...). The rest - see my comments on JPSE. >> >I will gladly remaster my increasingly rare (magnetic particle is falling >> >off as >> >I speak) Tall Dwarfs Profile tape, though you probably had lunch with >>Alec and >> >Chris last weekend so you don't need this kind of thing : ) >> >> oiops, yup I've been namedropping a bit... Actually I don't know either >> Chris or Alec. That tape sounds interesting... Dunedin's a pretty small >> city (120,000), so it's pretty difficult NOT to know at least a couple of >> well-known musicians (especially since I worked in student radio here for >> several years). >> > >No, no - I think it's great to be part of such a community and you >certainly don't >come across as a name dropper. Fear not! > >> >Another, other, final (promise) question: I have a tape that I made from a >> >double CD compilation of NZ pop...it's got a song with the refrain, "There >> >is no >> >depression in New Zealand..." It's quite clever - rather frantic in a late >> >'70s >> >kinda way...Do you know who this is and, if so, do they have anything out? >> >> That is the classic song "There is no Depression in New Zealand" by Blam >> Blam Blam, who had a compilation CD out (can't remember the label offhand, >> but I could look it up... Lead Blam Don McGlashan is one of NZ's top >> musicians, notably in recent years with the Muttonbirds (whose albums "The >> Muttonbirds" and "Envy of Angels" are essential, IMHO...) >> > >Randi's got 'Envy of Angels' though I certainly never in a million years >would've >or could've made that connection! > >> :) if you need any help tracking any of these albums down, let me know... I >> might be able to help out... > >thanks muchly...of course, if there any Canadian bands you are curious >about (oh, >wait, that's unlikely...) I can and will track them down...unfortunately >most of >our talent gets bought up by our neighbours to the south and then we can't >tell >anymore if they're 'Canadian' or 'North American'. [...] >but it's very hard when you're a >little country (30 million but the brain drain continues...) staring at the >biggest, certainly LOUDEST nation on the earth. :) one of the things about coming from NZ - a small country next to a much bigger neighbour (our 4 million compares with Australia's 20 million) - is that we understand these things and do tend to notice the difference! I can't think of any Canadian bands I'm looking for stuff from off the top of my head, although I do like what I've heard of Canadian music (and my weird and eclectic collection has everyone from Robbie Robertson to Captain Tractor). One band that ISTR are Canadians that I'm pretty fond of is Bare Naked Ladies. >thanks for your offer and hope you will have a good winter (errr, right?), yup - just past the shortest day. Thankfully our winters aren't as cold as yours (the weather's modified by the sea everywhere in the country), but it's a fairly unpleasant 6C/42F and drizzle today... Hope you're enjoying summer! James PS - hope you had a good Canada day the other day, too! PPS - I am a proud owner of the "Listen to the band" 4CD boxed set. Fantastic. It even had my favourite (very little known) Monkees track ("Take a giant step"). A must for Monkeemaniax. James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 17:38:39 +1200 From: digja611@student.otago.ac.nz Subject: oh one more thing Mainly to Tim I suppose... I forgot the cardinal rule: if you're a NZer talking to someone in Toronto, you have to say six words: Go the Raptors! Yay Sean Marks! James James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 17:39:13 +1200 From: digja611@student.otago.ac.nz Subject: Re: no 177, varia. >> But tonite I knew would be different. > >Tell me that "tonite" hasn't become an acceptable spelling. only for the raw material from which tons are refined. >> again. I dimly recall that "The Door Into Summer" was a >> really good song... > >Door into Summer is a beautiful song. > >"And he paid for it with years >he cannot buy back with his tears >and he finds out there's been no one keeping score >And he thought he heard the echos >of a penny-whistle band >and the laughter from a distant caravan >and the brightly painted lines of circus wagons in the sand >fading through the door into summer" > >Makes you cry. Makes me cry, anyway. and also Heinlein's best novel. But I regress. Being someone who naturally sings the harmonies rather than the melodies, I have a big soft spot for theMonkees' "What am I doing hanging round?", too. James (still surprised to find out Last Train to Clarksville was about Vietnam) James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 11:54:48 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: miracles On Sat, 1 Jul 2000, Eb wrote: > (yeesh, what a gray-haired list...where's the new talent?) Well, I saw a hot new combo last night, called Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings - absolutely sensational 11-piece playing tunes by Ray Charles, Louis Prima, Fats Domino, Brooker-Reid, Jagger-Richards, Dan Hicks, Felix Cavaliere, Hoagy Carmichael, Junior Parker-Sam Phillips, Screamin' Jay Hawkins etc. The illustrious Martin Taylor on jazz-blues guitar and the incredible Albert Lee on country licks; Georgie Fame and Gary Brooker on keyboards and vocals, Beverley Skeete terrific on vocals; hot sax players; very self-effacing bass guitarist. Wow! Don't miss them. Total age of band approximately 528 years ... - - Mike Godwin (Yes I'm back - after several months of gut-wrenching chest infections and asthma attacks ...) PS Eels are on in Bristol in a couple of weeks. Worth catching, I take it? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 11:57:34 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Chocka, Eb and Holly On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, matt sewell wrote: > Chocka is short for chocka-block - a term for hellishly busy... I dunno what > the Hogarth is, it always strikes me as an area in a city. The Hogarth is a big roundabout in Ealing(?); Chiswick(?); West London anyway. - - MRG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 11:59:25 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: eels concert (Lots of BS, I mean B&S, actually) On Thu, 29 Jun 2000 overbury@cn.ca wrote: > Graham Parker wrote a song called "Hold Back the Night". I don't > know if that's what you're talking about or not. The original version was by a disco band called the Trammps; GP and the Rumour only did a cover. - - Mike Godwin (making up for lost time) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 08:35:54 -0700 From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: psychedelic in Seattle > The fourth Terrastock festival of arts and music takes place this year over > the weekend of November 3rd - 5th. Wow!! No Elephant 6 bands, though... and I'm either not familiar with or not real keen on a lot of the confirmed bands. I'm very curious to see the Lothars, though - they're a band that consists primarily of theremins. And the Green Pajamas are supposed to be good, and I really dig Mazarin... Oh, decisions. Isn't this at the same time as NXNW? n. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 12:08:47 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: OT: word games [Fwd: A Small Call for Help] (fwd) if you don't like word games, quit reading now. 0) why? 'cause both of these lists have a lot of smart, erudite folks. a) note that there is no guarantee that there are any solutions b) unlike most word games, this one would be very suitable to a brute force computationally-aided approach, provided someone knew where to find a suitably big word list in an easily parsed form. i don't. anyone? c) given the number of strictures, i wouldn't be inclined to disallow proper names BUT what Dick doesn't say is that he's mostly working with ESL students (at least that was true last time we talked about it), so esoteric substring words may be somewhat problematic. d) have fun. - -- d. - - oh no, you've just read mail from doug = dmw@radix.net - get yr pathos - - www.pathetic-caverns.com -- books, flicks, tunes, etc. = reviews - - www.fecklessbeast.com -- angst, guilt, fear, betrayal! = guitar pop - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Subject: [Fwd: A Small Call for Help] I'm sending this message (from my brother) to the smartest people I know, in hope of receiving some help.... thanks in advance for any insight you can provide! BMW > Bar, > > Need your help in conjuring up a word. Try not to laugh, but it's for a > math enrichment unit I'm writing up on basic set theory. > > Won't burden you with all the details of the example I'm trying to concoct, > but I wish this particular example to involve two sets whose elements are > letters of the alphabet. I'm thinking that the example will resonate much > more effectively if the letters can form recognizable words. The two sets > will have a nonempty intersection (mathematese for common letters). The > kind of word I'm looking for is a character string having three segments > with the following characteristics: > > 1. Each letter is different from every other. > > 2. The first and second segments of the character string contain the > letters that would belong to the first of the two sets. > > 3. The second and third segments of the character string contain the > letters that would below to the second of the two sets. > > 4. The complete character string is a recognizable word. > > 5. The substring consisting of the first and second segments is also a > recognizable word. > > 6. The substring consisting of the the second and third segments is also a > recognizable word. > > 7. The substring consisting of just the second segment is also a > recognizable word. > > 8. The substring consisting of just the third segment is also a > recognizable word. > > 9. It would be nice, though not essential, for the substring consisting of > the the first segment also to be a recognizable word. > > My attempts so far to confect such a word have been uninspired and woeful. > Probably the best shot I've taken has been the word CONJUGATE, where you > view the segments, in turn, as CON, JUG, and ATE. Unfortunately, it > satisfies neither condition #5 nor condition #6. > > Please let me know if YOU get any inspirations. There is no need for each > segment to be a separate syllable, nor to be limited to just one syllable. > (Enjoy!). > > Love, > > D ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 13:12:54 -0400 From: lj lindhurst Subject: Making good use of my digital camera (100% gerbil content) Well, everyone who looked at our gerbils and said that one's not fat, she's PREGNANT, was RIGHT. She was pregnant. On Saturday, Allen's gerbil Dizzy* gave birth to a whopping EIGHT gerbil babies: http://www.w-rabbit.com/dumbstuff/gerbilbabies1.html Hey, if you want one, they're FREE to good homes!! lj *"Strangers With Candy" fans will appreciate that she is named after Jerri Blank's baby!! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 13:28:06 -0400 From: Larry Tucker Subject: RE: eels concert A follow-up to Eb's post about the Eels show at the Roxy in LA last Sunday night. Sorry for the lateness, but I was in San Diego all week. I've only really become fans of this band with this years DAISIES OF THE GALAXY and this show just cemented that bond. It was a wonderful show. Lisa Germano was a terrific addition on vocals and the wide variety of instruments she played. Butch looked great in his nun habit on drums. E was surprisingly chatty and humorous. A pretty cover of Elvis Pressley's "Can't Help falling In Love" was one of the encores. I also didn't know if I'd make the show. I arrived in San Diego that afternoon and called the Roxy for tickets. I was told the Sunday show was sold out, but the Monday show wasn't going to work for me. Anyway the girl in the ticket office picked up my NC southern drawl and said she had gone to UNC (I live in Chapel Hill) and said she'd have a ticket for me at the door for me---and it was there. And to follow EB's celeb or interesting attendees as such. Linda Hopper, ex of Magnapop. And this guy I was talking to, later told me he was the film editor for The Power Rangers series, but I forget his name. - -Tucker ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 11:32:53 -0700 From: Glen Uber Subject: Re: Making good use of my digital camera (100% gerbil content) On 03.07.2000 10:12, lj lindhurst wrote: > Well, everyone who looked at our gerbils and said that one's not fat, > she's PREGNANT, was RIGHT. She was pregnant. On Saturday, Allen's > gerbil Dizzy* gave birth to a whopping EIGHT gerbil babies: > > http://www.w-rabbit.com/dumbstuff/gerbilbabies1.html Q: Why don't gerbils drive? A: They can't get out of Gere! - -- Cheers! - -g- "I value kindness to human beings and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and old men and women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer." --Brendan Behan +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Glen Uber uberg@sonic.net http://www.sonic.net/~uberg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 12:27:12 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: gerbil content >On Saturday, Allen's >gerbil Dizzy* gave birth to a whopping EIGHT gerbil babies: > >Hey, if you want one, they're FREE to good homes!! If you're going to mail them out to various Fegs, don't forget to use a *padded* envelope. Stamping it "FRAGILE" would probably be a good idea, too. (And if you use staples to seal the package, do be careful.) Eb np: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=369332802 (do I hear $66?) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 20:20:10 -0400 From: johann johann Subject: portland music online interview ROBYN HITCHCOCK & GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Story & Photos by Queenie Underappreciated by most, these two singer/songwriters find themselves in the same musical boat. Both recently parted ways with Warner Brothers, both have released label-free records available for purchase from their respective websites (www.robynhitchcock.com and www.grantleephillips.com), and both are unsung heroes in a world of plastic pop stars and one hit wonders. One can't help but think, "Surely a small part of them still dreams of mega-rock-stardom!" But after talking with these two intelligent, well-spoken fellows, I suspect that they are both perfectly content where they are - unfettered by the constraints and pressures of a major label. Both have a solid, loyal fan base and neither shows the signs of an inevitable fade into obscurity that less sincere artists might. After playing together four or so times on their brief west coast stint, the between-song patter was pretty well honed, and by the time they reached Portland they had us in stitches. Grant does a terrific impression of William S. Burroughs, by the way. After playing their own songs, one playing and singing back-up for the other as they took turns, they favored us with a few choice covers, including a few David Bowie songs, The Beatles, and The Everly Brothers. But the showstopper of the night was, without a doubt, an absolutely camp rendition of "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting," in which Robyn put down his guitar and danced about, clapping and chopping at the air. I laughed until my mascara ran into my eyes. After the show, Robyn and Grant, with an entourage of very hungry people, came out into the seats for a quick interview. Both seemed to notice for the first time the small balconies on either side of the stage. GLP: We should have sang to each other from these little...portholes - we could have been in a dream, and I could have been there and you could have been there, harmonizing across the room. RH: Yeah, actually if we had radio mikes... GLP: Aw man... RH: Now you see it from the audience's perspective it's totally different. GLP: It is. RH: Could have put the camera crew on stage and just been up in those dueting boxes. Q: I think that would have gone over really well. GLP: It would have. We could have been hooked up with a harness and sort of a Peter Pan flying wire. RH: Probably that's more for you than me, but that's a nice idea...anything you want to know particularly? We're in earshot. GLP: Two things off limits: Inseam for one. Q: Inseam...alright. GLP: We don't talk about it. I think that's it, really. Q: So the boxers or briefs question is no good? GLP: Boxers or briefs question? That's good! I like that! Q: Actually, I wasn't going to ask that. I did want to ask - you both released your latest records, if I'm right, strictly on the Internet and at shows like this - but not in stores. RH: Actually Grant, yours is in stores a bit, isn't it. GLP: Initially, it was something that was only available through the website - www.grantleephillips.com - you could click on there and that would hook you up to some folks who would mail it to you within 48 hours. Now it's at a few different online services, but it's also available at a few mom and pop stores, and even at a couple of [other] stores across the country. It's sort of salt and peppered around the country. By and large, the website is still the place, and the shows, where I tend to get it out into the world. Q: So has that been successful for you both? RH: Seems to be, yeah. It doesn't take that long for the whole thing to go into profit, which is nice. And it's comparatively easy because it's comparatively simple. Again, as long as you're...once you get caught up in the whole business of distribution, then that would start to get costly because you have to start paying people to do that. It may be that that follows on, but certainly the initial thing is strong enough just through the website and gigs. And it gives you a very basic security - it means that for people like Grant and I, our website is also our record company. You aren't going to get involved in the higher ramifications of marketing. Your website isn't going to be able to fly millions of radio programmers in to a gig and things like that, but it's a moot point whether that makes any difference anyway. GLP: One thing Robyn and I have discussed on our various travels is this realization that there's an intimate aspect to the both of us - and some folks would argue that that's perhaps one of our finest aspects - so approaching our distribution in a kind of intimate way seems to suit us as well. There's a feeling when you're beginning in all of this that the people that come to your shows are very emotionally invested in it - you can sense that - but as the machine swallows you up and begins to service your product, if we want to call it that, then it becomes less human and becomes less intimate and we tend to lose our way. This makes a lot more sense, really. RH: I don't know if the statistic is true, but supposedly, most albums that sell over a million or two million copies are only played once by the purchaser. In other words, the mega-sale that the company's after where you're selling five or ten million copies - you're selling to people who aren't going to listen to them. Basically, the role is to try and sell music to people that don't care about music. You're meant to start with this sort of hardcore enthusiasm that people like Grant and I have, but it's then meant to mushroom out into this sort of very watered down stuff. Like people who go to gigs so they can go get stoned in the parking lot or whatever - sixty thousand people turn up, it's an affair for people to come to or a big festival, but they're not necessarily into the music. So we're basically at the very, very undiluted end, which is very small - it's very concentrated. It seems to be one of the laws that the bigger it gets the sort of blander and more disengaged it becomes. GLP: I think it's kind of a testament that as expansive as Robyn's catalog is, folks come every night and shout out song requests that span beyond a decade, and these people know the words probably as well as Robyn, and he knows them pretty well. That's a pretty satisfying thing, when you know that there's that kind of investment. And I don't know that you're going to find that necessarily when it becomes all about a hit single. RH: No, in fact from my experience of heavy radio exposure for certain things, that kind of stuff seems to wash off very quickly as well. And the stuff you had with the... GLP: Sure... RH: It's a kind of superficial triumph, that potentially can make you money, but... GLP: And you always know... RH: Does anybody really care? GLP: You always know when you get to that song in the set and you do it and then you sense as though the evening is basically over for that portion of the audience. They're on their way to their cars. Q: I've often wondered how somebody with ten, fifteen, twenty years in the business that hasn't had a string of radio hits, how you come up with a set list? You've got this massive catalog... RH: Well it's easier, I think, because if you have had a string of radio hits, you've really got to play them or you disappoint the audience. They've come to hear the hits. Obviously there are better known songs of mine - people will holler out for the Dead Wife song, Balloon Man... Q: Madonna of the Wasps... RH: Madonna, yeah...which is nice, at least I wrote them. But I don't have to play them every time. And we don't do anything off Jubilee... GLP: Is that true? RH: Or off Perspex Island...we're not doing the songs we had to lip sync to...we're just doing the songs that we like. And to a certain extent, we've slightly A&R'ed each other, Grant's sort of picked up some quite old stuff of mine, and there's a lot of stuff off your new one that I'm encouraging us to play. GLP: Right, that's true. RH: You said you try to avoid playing stuff off your new record. GLP: Yeah, I went on the road back in March, and I have to admit there's a part of me that felt a bit obligated to play certain songs that were associated with the band that were probably more well known, even though I was also selling an album and promoting an album that I just created within a month or so of that tour. That's kind of a strange thing, but Robyn's been really encouraging about that, to push a lot of the intimate stuff. RH: Well, it's a good record. There's great songs on the Buffalo albums, but this one's probably...the most intimate one you've done, so the songs connect fairly quickly and fairly deeply, I think. Particularly, my favorite is "Serenade" and "Don't look Down." So we've sort of [encouraged] each other a bit, we don't have to lurch off and play our greatest flops. Q: What is - this is kind of broad, vague question - but what is on the musical horizon for each of you individually? GLP: Musical horizon - sort of like that Benjamin Franklin answer - is it a setting sun or a rising sun? Q: In the future, if you like that better. GLP: Gosh, that's an interesting question - it's sort of an ongoing process, it's not necessarily like there's some sort of goal or some sort of carrot at the end of the stick. I'm constantly recording, constantly writing and performing - it's likely that I'll continue to put records out in this very independent way. I may go another round with a label if a record warrants that. It's likely that Robyn and I may find it in our schedules to do this type of tour together again. RH: Yeah, we might get a gig in New Zealand. We're trying to see if we can get some gigs in Arizona. (everyone laughs) In fact, that's the great phantom project, is to try and play...what were we going to do? From Salt Lake City across to New Orleans. But whether we'll do it is...but hopefully we'll do something. My stuff is more...I'm just kind of tidying up after myself, I've got a lot of old...I'm actually finishing a novel that's my main thing at the moment, I've been working on it for a while between records, now it's my major thing. Hopefully it will be ready to put out last year - released. And I've got lots of old back catalog stuff to sort out - there's a Soft Boys record which is out of print, so I'll probably be consolidating my stuff through the Museum of Robyn Hitchcock, or Editions PAF!, which is the label wing, which my new record Star for Bram is on, which is actually the companion one to Jewels for Sophia. I'm just choked with all this stuff - I've got about three or four years of biographies and all sorts of things to wade through and then I'll make a new record, but it won't be anytime soon. I've just been going for so long that there's an awful lot of just stuff to tidy up and clean up and figure where it goes. Also, you know, in a few years there won't be product anymore. The line between radio and records will have melted and you'll just turn on the taps and it'll just come out like that. GLP: Like some black liquid. RH: Yeah, and we the artists have to figure out how we get paid in the middle of all that, that's the main thing. Otherwise the only source of income will be doing gigs. Or if they make our songs into a musical. Q: I'm going to be up all night now trying to imagine that. (deafening silence as my joke falls onto the floor and flops about like a dying fish) RH: So it's all moving along...I can't think of the right way of putting it...it's like a plane coming in to land, but as the plane comes in to land, the runway is also in motion. That's the way it feels at the moment. Q: So you're really very busy - no intention of slowing down. RH: No, no, not really. Q: I guess people are just so used to you constantly touring that they're kind of shocked at the small number of dates you're playing this summer. RH: I did an awful lot of touring last year. I did far too much. I'm definitely cutting back on that, but I wanted to do this with Grant. And I think the main thing also for me is to keep making the show slightly different. I was with Tim's band and Kimberly last year, then I was on my own, then I was with the Egyptians. It's good not to keep coming back with the same shows in the same places, so each time there's a different element to it. But the Grant Lee Hitchcock show has quite a lot of possibilities...but again, we don't know what they are. Q: It was really fun, I had a good time. RH: Oh, glad you liked it. By now, the restless, hungry entourage was more than ready to bolt to the nearest restaurant to eat. After thanking them and bidding them farewell, I walked to my car, pleased to have been witness to a performance by a match truly made on Mars. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #179 *******************************