From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #248 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, September 5 2000 Volume 09 : Number 248 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Since the list is moribund (1% Oliver content) [Tony.Blackman@sita.in] *gloom* [Natalie Jacobs ] amuZnet interview [the real dick cheney ] Oxford ["Gary Sedgwick" ] re: Eb-endorsed [Eb ] Re: amuZnet interview [Tom Clark ] Who's your favorite Partridge? ["Russ Reynolds" ] Re: Oxford ["matt sewell" ] Re: Since the list is moribund (1% Oliver content) ["Elizabeth Setler" I've never heard anything disturbing and/or dissonant from Mann, > nothing which would sound out of place on commercial radio. She has a very > bland, ordinary voice which immediately makes my attention wander. I find > her pretty generic and conservative, for the most part. Lucky for her she > has such striking looks. And heeeeere comes Elizabeth to protest.... ;) I'll have to agree that you'll never hear anything disturbing/dissonant from Mann. In the UK (at least) 'Long Shot' was released as a single and although the regular release had the "You fucked it up" line, the radio version didn't. Unfortunately I can't tell you what it had in its place as I'm at work right now and so haven't got access to my CD collection. Despite the fact that I'm not sure that I would label her voice as bland, you're right in that she doesn't sound out of place on commercial radio, and to that end I'm still amazed that she hasn't had that much commercial success (in the UK). In London she manages to sell out largish venues (Shepherd's Bush Empire etc.) with little in the way of sales, probably marking her (in my book anyway) as a "cult" artist. Tony P.S. I may get round to putting some of my Broxbourne trip photos on the Web on my day off this week, or is anyone planning something major and could use more photos? P.P.S. Edinburgh - The 2 shows I saw I enjoyed. It was nice to see Robyn solo for a change on the Saturday night as I hadn't seen him solo for a while and whilst Tim was there on the Sunday (and I'm not much of a fan), the sound in the venue was excellent. Nice to see Stewart and jmbc there too. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 14:46:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: *gloom* So, I'm back on the list now. Did you miss me? I didn't think so. :P It's Labor Day at last - marking the end of one of the worst summers of my life. Among other things: I got fired, found out that several people I thought were my friends were not my friends at all (one of whom was partially responsible for getting me fired), the political shit at my new job is so bad I'm already thinking of quitting, I owe large amounts of money to various doctors, the city of Portland, etc., my uncle Bill (a jazz saxophonist who performed with Billie Holliday) died of leukemia two weeks ago, and I recently discovered that my thyroid condition is potentially fatal! Whee! (Of course, that's only if it's not treated... but still... pretty fucking scary.) Thankfully, all of this is somewhat balanced out by getting to meet and hang out with hordes of wonderful fegs (especially the magnificent Randi), playing my first gig, finally getting to see Of Montreal, and just living in Portland. I'm definitely not sorry I moved here. In fact, I would probably be far more miserable if I hadn't moved. Uh, anyway, thanks to all of you for being great people and/or not deleting this message. I'm going to go give myself a swirly now. n. np: Black Heart Procession and Palace Bros. on an endless loop ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 17:00:48 -0400 From: the real dick cheney Subject: amuZnet interview just spotted this over on yahoo...it was allegedly published in july (twice and once in august!), but with its focus on _jewels for sophia_, seems like it should have been july 1999. i can't find any trace of it from last summer though so apologies if this has been posted and i just missed it... woj - ----- http://rock.yahoo.com/rock/music_news/amuznet/story.html?s=n/amuznet/rock/ne ws/20000718/20000718003 Robyn Hitchcock ~ Rock's Oddball Iron Man Interview Alex Green With a sage-like wisdom, a dazzling sense of humor, and a quick and clever tongue, Robyn Hitchcock is hard to match. With a career that has spanned twenty-five years, yielding over twenty albums, tours that have found him playing with the likes of R.E.M. and Billy Bragg, and a Jonathan Demme directed feature film Storefront Hitchcock, Robyn Hitchcock has proven himself to be rock's oddball iron man. Able to muse about beautiful girls, the shapes of the things emerging from the dirt in his back garden, and where we go when it looks like it's over, all in the span of a three minute and thirty-four second pop song, Hitchcock is quite possibly the greatest living songwriter. On his new album Jewels For Sophia, Hitchcock continues his lyrical obsessions, traversing a familiar world of insects, sad royalty, and women who might but probably won't. Like it's name suggests, Jewels For Sophia is loaded with women; from the enigmatic "Elizabeth Jade" to the Audrey Hepburn-like subject of "Antwoman", to "Dark Princess," whose main character is an elusive princess who hides in the shadows, the album is a collage of women who slip through our lustful hands. Combining the wit of Oscar Wilde, the impending doom of Woody Allen, and the pop sensibility of the Beatles, Hitchcock knows how to make even the morbid, sad, and peculiar, deeply appealing. On his new disc Hitchcock offers a discursive set list: There's an Ogden Nash inspired tune ("The Cheese Alarm"), a broken-hearted ode to Seattle that wonders aloud what happens to a city when it loses its best son ("Viva! Sea-Tac"), and the simplest of love songs ("I Feel Beautiful"), that finds its narrator confessing he feels beautiful simply because the object of his affection loves him right back. From his home in West London in early May Hitchcock discussed the themes of his new disc, and our ongoing mission in the ephemeral world. amuZnet: It's great to be a Hitchcock fan because there's such a wealth of material. Can you be stopped? RH: There's always been quite a lot, it just gets released in uneven bursts. I was actually working on this album while the Storefront project was going on . Some of these songs were recorded two years ago, but it all got delayed waiting for Storefront to come out. amuZnet: There are women all over this new album. From Sophia, to Elizabeth, to Sally. Does a beautiful girl still inspire a great pop song? RH: Well that was one of the things that pop songs were going to be about, always were about when the whole thing was very simple. Some of my stuff has always been that way, but more people usually pick up on the fact that I don't usually write about beautiful girls. They claim that I write about beautiful insects, or beautiful trams, or beautiful planes, or beautiful spheres or whatever. I generally try to write about beauty in some form, certainly as I've gotten older I've found it harder to dwell on horror, I suppose. amuZnet: But if it's an insect, or a plane, or a tram, isn't the sentiment fairly similar? RH: Well it's a positive sentiment, yeah. It's turning your faith towards the light in that respect; it's a sentiment you can warm yourself on. But I wouldn't say that all these things are interchangeable. I suppose there's probably more songs on the new record about women, or inspired by different women, it seems to be headed that way. But songs have always been that in a way--for centuries. You know, love poems, that kind of thing. amuZnet: I could certainly see the lyrical "Elizabeth Jade" somewhere in the Norton Anthology in between Browning and Byron. RH: Well thank-you. amuZnet: What about all these female figures running around Jewels For Sophia? Is it hard to distinguish them from each other. RH: They're all very distinct people. I can definitely tell them all apart. amuZnet: Every album you've done has some very distinct characters. Do you find yourself to be really close to your subjects? RH: I think in the end the characters are always an excuse for a song. Some of the characters exist in the outside world, and some of them are my own creations, my own hybrids, if you like. But in the end the songs all need to be written and I think they just find people to be written about. I'm a great believer in thinking that the feeling is there and therefore you just find something to hang the feeling on. Maybe you want to feel depressed by something so you find some cause to be depressed, or you want to be uplifted--in terms of a mood, in terms of writing--and you find an excuse to be up or down and then that gives your song some identity. It's like you need to have a name; when a child is born and you don't have a name within about a week you're in trouble. Songs need titles first or nothing happens. amuZnet: Is it easier to amplify the outside world or mythologize the internal world? RH: That's a very good question. I think in the end the two become interchangeable. I think you ingest the outside world, then probably mythologize it , make it your own, and sent it back out again. It's rather like matter cannot be created or destroyed--that's what we're told by science. All of the atoms and molecules simply get re-jigged around and come back in different forms, so what is a piece of toast today actually was Napoleon two centuries ago, and most of Julius Caesar is a fire hydrant. Maybe it's the dominatrix in the artist that insists that it can dominate the outside world by recreating it in a sort of miniature version which it then feeds back. Maybe it's the ego just trying to say to life, "Listen I can do what you do." amuZnet: So then do we spend our lives being fooled by matter? RH: I don't think we get completely fooled by matter; it's a nice thought. Maybe we're fooled by how we perceive matter. I don't think matter cares what we think either way. I don't think it's out there to hoodwink us. amuZnet: That's tricky stuff. RH: Yeah but the alternative is anti-matter which has to be kept away from matter. I don't think there's any way we can conceive of it, but we can't really do much else. I've often wondered if it was possible to think a certain thought and it would kill you. A thought that kills and all you have to do is think it and it will wipe you off the map. All they need for the ultimate weapon is to just make people have this thought and it will just kill them, it will release some kind of poison into the system. So maybe conversely there's a thought that's salvation, a thought that would enlighten you, if you like, and free you from the cycle of mortality and birth. amuZnet: That kind of puts a spin on the notion of quiet time... RH: Yeah, but I don't know what quiet time does. amuZnet: How do you handle recurring images in your writing? RH: If you find that you've compared someone to an ant for the fifth time, maybe it's time to find a different metaphor. You have to let the brain come up with its own stuff and then you're entitled to censor or control it. You can present it any way you want. It depends how much you think your power of association is true, honest, and the most valleyed function of your creative mind. Boy that sounds dry, doesn't it? amuZnet: No, not at all. RH: In other words if you think that what you come up with first is the real thing, then you should never censor what you do, you should just say it. Not when you talk to people in real life, but as a writer. But if you find that you keep coming up with the same images over and over then you might need to broaden it. Maybe you need to get an encyclopedia and look at some old engravings of steam engines, or the cellular division of the frog, or nineteenth century weaving apparatus, and you'll find some other stuff. amuZnet: But if you've written ten songs about one person, should you stop when you think you feel you're going to hit eleven? RH: I think if you're really going to write ten songs about a person, then writing an eleventh wouldn't be that much harder to write an eleventh because they've obviously bitten you pretty hard and the teeth marks are in still you in some way, and you can write any number of songs. Although a song may be mostly inspired by a particular person, there's usually something else in there which is why I feel that the song wants to happen anyway, and it just finds that person to hang, or wrap itself around. The song becomes a cloak around a particular person, and then that particular person disappears and you're left with the outline, and that's the song. amuZnet: I love the song "I Feel Beautiful" because the message is so simple and pure. The narrator describes love as being the thing that makes him feel handsome and imbued with a kind of sudden beauty. It's a very romantic notion. RH: I think I have always been romantic underneath it all, but romantic always seemed unrealistic, so my tolerance for reality was very low and I probably couldn't celebrate or mourn what was going on in the real outside world, so I would be writing songs to people who had either never existed or were long gone. I'm always trying to make this stuff more emotional. The most important thing about music is the overwhelming emotional effect it has on people. That's why I went to music. amuZnet: So when time destroys us does it also destroy itself? RH: I think you've got to assume that linear time will stop, and once you are outside of life you might even be back where you were before you were born. You have pure soul, which is independence of matter. One thing's for sure is we couldn't possibly survive heaven because it would be so incredibly dull--there would be no threat. I don't know if you could stand basking in the joy for all eternity banging a tambourine. Our whole idea of heaven and hell is that they both seem to be timeless and there seems to be a big assumption that there will not be any linear time, which is why it's so important you position yourself properly because it's almost as if you'd be frozen in an eternal tableau. Whether it's a hellish or a beatific tableau either it would be unbearable. amuZnet: But looking at literature isn't hell always more interesting? RH: Hell is always more interesting and most of the things depicted in hell are not far off from what could be in heaven. In the same way most of the pleasures in life are so close to being obscene. The line between obscenity and beauty is very thin. In fifty years time a beautiful person will look obscene, a beautiful fruit is going to go rotten, sex acts that are sublime to adults would be disgusting to children. What turns you on is probably what would turn you off a few years earlier or a few years later, which is why people push it too far when they're looking for release. amuZnet: In "No, I Don't Remember Guildford," you say "No, I don't remember Jenner Road/Even though we lived there." What does this album suggest about memories; do they vanish? RH: Memories replenish themselves. The more you remember something the more areas of your brain are occupied, so you don't just remember something, but you remember remembering it--it recedes itself. Time inevitably will frame things and make things seem more important. Especially the ones in heavy rotation; they're given a drama all of their own. amuZnet: Throughout your career you've explored the idea of death and in "Mexican God," the lead off track for the new album, you make the assertion that "time will destroy you." You've made no secret about your fascination on the topic, but at this point in your life how do you now feel about death? RH: It's still scheduled. I don't think death is any less relevant than it always has been. It just depends where you look at it from. It's quite possible that everything that has died looks back on life as some kind of primitive aberration, like being in elementary school; that what we've been doing as incarnate beings is primitive, old fashioned, and crude, and the advanced soul is dead. This plays into the idea that the afterlife is something far better than what we have here. The other side of it is that we have no knowledge when we're alive of what is happening afterwards, all we know is this. We have all eternity in which not to exist. The time we are here is a brief flare of the match. Our existence is such a glimpse or a flash and that's what makes it all the more precious whether what comes is better, or what has been before was better; it makes this all the more miraculous that this is happening at all. Life is a form of magic, and human beings are all crippled magicians who haven't learned how to control their wands yet. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 01:40:36 +0100 From: "Gary Sedgwick" Subject: Oxford > "alternative" music does seem to be dying a death, not just in the upper > echelons of the music industry, but also at a local level. > Here in Oxford, UK, venues are closing at a rate of knots - from between 5 > and 10 venues where new and unsigned bands could play a few years ago to > about 2 at present. Which ones? I'd be very interested to hear, as it was only a few years back when I was playing quite a few of them in my band (instead of worrying about getting a decent degree!). I visit Oxford fairly regularly now, but don't often get the chance to get to any gigs. I've heard the Dolly doesn't do live bands any more, which is a shame as it was a really decent venue (one of our best gigs was headlining in a packed Dolly), and possibly the Firkin that used to be the Jericho Tavern? It is a real shame, as Oxford is crying out for some decent mid-size venues. The Zodiac, and even the Point, are booked up for many months ahead by established well-known bands, and so new bands end up doing the circuit of smaller pubs (or college bars) which just don't pay anything, and more often than not end up costing the band an arm and a leg. And you say there are only 2 of those left?! Even more depressing is the fact that smaller local venues are also closing down here in London. I know the argument from pub landlords is that music just doesn't bring in the money to warrant getting a band licence (note for non-UK fegs - here in the UK, pubs automatically have a licence for duos, but have to pay extra for bands of 3 or more, which also gives them the right to stay open later). Quiz nights and karaoke are much better bets. You might have thought ex band member Tony Blair would have done something about it by now... Gary PS And the situtation must be *really* grim when Oasis becomes an Eb-endorsed act! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 18:28:49 -0700 From: Eb Subject: re: Eb-endorsed >Gary wrote something or other about grim times... Hey, I think Definitely Maybe, Morning Glory and The Masterplan are fine records. They're not exactly deep, but they've got a great sound and the melodies are very strong. The first two Oasis albums were vastly overrated in certain circles, but they're still good. And I continue to rank Oasis as the #1 active act I haven't seen perform yet. Anyway, you've gotta respect a band who could lure LJ to their hotel rooms with just a snap of their fingers. Coincidentally, I read something today which said the new Oasis album has sold only 200,000 copies in the States. Whew, talk about comeuppance. General news: I'm seeing a special *Spinal Tap* concert tomorrow night! It's apparently related to the new DVD release of the film. Eb np: "Music by Ry Cooder" and "The Powerpuff Girls" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 19:39:08 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: amuZnet interview on 9/4/00 2:00 PM, the real dick cheney at woj@smoe.org wrote: > RH: Memories replenish themselves. The more you remember something the more > areas of your brain are occupied, so you don't just remember something, but > you remember remembering it--it recedes itself. Mr. Language Person spots a transcription error; I think it should read: "...you remember remembering it--it re-seeds itself." Thank You, - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 21:13:57 -0700 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Who's your favorite Partridge? If I had to rank 'em, I think this would be the order. 1. Andy 2. Lori 3. Danny 4. John 5. Shirley 6. Keith 7. Tracy 8. Chris #2 9. Chris #1 So I guess I bought a bottle of wine from my eighth favorite Partridge at a winery in Healdsburg yesterday. Never woulda knowd it was him if I hadn't just seen him on VH1 bragging about his exploits with my 7th favorite Partridge. - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 09:14:50 BST From: "matt sewell" Subject: Re: Oxford I wrote: > > > "alternative" music does seem to be dying a death, not just in the upper > > echelons of the music industry, but also at a local level. > > Here in Oxford, UK, venues are closing at a rate of knots - from between >5 > > and 10 venues where new and unsigned bands could play a few years ago to > > about 2 at present. Gary Sedgewick replied: > >Which ones? I'd be very interested to hear, as it was only a few years >back >when I was playing quite a few of them in my band (instead of worrying >about >getting a decent degree!). I visit Oxford fairly regularly now, but don't >often get the chance to get to any gigs. I've heard the Dolly doesn't do >live bands any more, which is a shame as it was a really decent venue (one >of our best gigs was headlining in a packed Dolly), and possibly the Firkin >that used to be the Jericho Tavern? Yes, there's nothing at the Dolly now - it's a trendy clublike place - the Jericho Tavern is now an It's A Scream pub and not planning anything musical (although when they did reopen it for music it was met with total indifference, people having gotten out of the habit of travelling to Jericho (where I live now!) to see live music... > >It is a real shame, as Oxford is crying out for some decent mid-size >venues. >The Zodiac, and even the Point, are booked up for many months ahead by >established well-known bands, and so new bands end up doing the circuit of >smaller pubs (or college bars) which just don't pay anything, and more >often >than not end up costing the band an arm and a leg. And you say there are >only 2 of those left?! Yup, the Point is set to close in the next 6 months, transforming itself into a student friendly club nightspot... ugh.... The Elm Tree, best place for nurture of small bands, has stopped doing music, with the landlord, Cowley Road fixture for 25+ years, Joe Ryan evicted with 24 hours notice... Increasingly there's nowhere to play, but this perhaps reflects the shift away from rock'n'roll into I dunno, whatever the kids are into these days (wasn't like this when I was a lad etc and policemen aren't they looking etc etc)... So which band were you in, Gary? And whenabouts was this? Looking for a rock'n'roll enclave to hide in... Matt _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 13:42:44 -0400 From: "Elizabeth Setler" Subject: Re: Since the list is moribund (1% Oliver content) - ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Eb > I've never heard anything disturbing and/or dissonant from Mann, >nothing which would sound out of place on commercial radio. She has a very >bland, ordinary voice which immediately makes my attention wander. I find >her pretty generic and conservative, for the most part. Lucky for her she >has such striking looks. And heeeeere comes Elizabeth to protest.... ;) Clearly, Eb, you haven't heard her early, unreleased post-'til Tuesday work. It was a song cycle largely about wombats with improvisational backing tracks by seven members of Sun Ra's Arkestra, and her vocal stylings were the most arresting I've heard since Yma Sumac. Oh, wait, that was someone else. Elizabeth (who wouldn't particularly call Mann alternative either, but hates to let Eb down) ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #248 *******************************