From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #343 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, November 28 2000 Volume 09 : Number 343 Today's Subjects: ----------------- know-nothing day ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] Re: steal something day [Viv Lyon ] Re: lennon tributes [dmw ] Re: lennon tributes ["JH3" ] Re: lennon tributes [hbrandt ] Re: lennon tributes [dmw ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Eb ] miles goosens please e-mail me [Asshole Motherfucker ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Eb ] Lennon song ["Irish Airman" ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Tom Clark ] from the horse's mouth [Asshole Motherfucker ] just checking... [Eleanore Adams ] oh happy day! [Viv Lyon ] Why Banana Republic (and parent co. GAP) suck [Viv Lyon ] Robyn & Boothby Graffoe / ex ML guitar [Yahoo! Clubs: Robyn Hitchcock] [d] Hitchcock to be published? ["Russ Reynolds" ] grant lee hitchcock on spin.com [drop the holupki ] Re: Lennon song ["Russ Reynolds" ] Re:Lennon Tributes ["Russ Reynolds" ] Re:Lennon Tributes [Viv Lyon ] RE: Lennon Tributes ["Brian Huddell" ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Capuchin ] reap [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] RE: happy buy nothing day! ["Brian Huddell" ] RE: Lennon Tributes [Jeff Dwarf ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 11:38:48 -0800 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: know-nothing day >From: Viv Lyon >On the other side of town, the police were harrassing people demonstrating >in front of Lloyd Mall (anyone who's read The Lathe of Heaven should >recognize that as the scene of reality's collapse, and Friday was no >different). If you were wearing a button that said anything about Buy >Nothing Day, you were not allowed to go into the Mall. Not even to pee. My >friend was ticketed for trespassing and told she was not welcome in Lloyd >Mall for a year- just for wearing a button. Jesus Christ! I guess I fucked up. I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the day after Thanksgiving with my sister. I bought another Audubon Society guide (whales, fish, and other North American sea creatures), a stuffed "flapjack octopus," a rubber cuttlefish, some mint chocolates, some jawbreakers, a 20 oz. Mountain Dew, lunch (overpriced burgers), dinner (underpriced Thai food), and a pair of octopus socks for Margaret. Oh, and I rented The Graduate, Swingers, Alien Resurrection (the game), Unreal Tournament, and The Omen. The Omen was a really fun movie. And that flapjack octopus is mighty cute, though I can't figure out why it seems to have ears and a little nose. >The Radical Cheerleaders were the most successful and entertaining portion >of the day's festivites. A representative cheer: > >Holiday shoppers- do your duty! >Homemade gifts have much more beauty! >Holiday shoppers- do your duty! >Shove those credit cards up your booty! >Just say no! >Just say no! I really hate cheerleaders and protest chants. I hate hearing them and I hate delivering them. I think they're annoying and I think they create distance. I like the idea of starting civilized, adult conversation a lot more. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen.com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 11:57:21 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Re: steal something day On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Andrew D. Simchik wrote: > I guess I fucked up. I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the day after > Thanksgiving with my sister. I bought another Audubon Society guide (whales, > fish, and other North American sea creatures), a stuffed "flapjack octopus," > a rubber cuttlefish, some mint chocolates, some jawbreakers, a 20 oz. > Mountain Dew, lunch (overpriced burgers), dinner (underpriced Thai food), > and a pair of octopus socks for Margaret. At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite (too late), I would have to say that octopus socks should be bought when the opportunity arises, Buy Nothing Day or no. > I really hate cheerleaders and protest chants. I hate hearing them and > I hate delivering them. I think they're annoying and I think they create > distance. I like the idea of starting civilized, adult conversation a lot > more. The crowd (emphatically _not_ composed of like-minded demostrators) loved them. Like I said, it helped that they were one and all adorable little ragamuffins, entirely lacking either pretention or indignance. On the other hand, I agree with your assessment of protest chants. Most of the time they can't be understood, and those that can be deciphered are almost always so simplistic as to convey no information (except that some people are upset about something). Clever banners and people who are willing to engage in thoughtful conversation with interested passersby are more effective than chants. Here's one that I like, however: Hey hey! Ho ho! This sad old chant Has got to go! Vivien ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:11:27 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: Re: lennon tributes On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, JH3 wrote: > >the chameleons, oh, jeez, i think it's titled "here today?" ...i hope i've > >got that right, i can't find either of my copies. i fell in love with the > >_peel sessions_ version, but i think it's on _script of the bridge_ too. > > "As High As You Can Go" is the title, and it does mention Lennon, but it > isn't much of a *tribute*, really. It just sort of mentions him as one of > several people who "clawed their way to the stars"... (It also mentions no, actually it *was* "here today" i meant. it's sung from the perspective of john lennon in the seconds after he's been shot; it's plaintive and eerie. "there's blood on my shirt," he observes, matter of factly, and he can't see where ono has got to: "where is my wife?" he asks, several times. - -- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:35:43 -0600 From: "JH3" Subject: Re: lennon tributes dmw writes: >no, actually it *was* "here today" i meant. it's sung from the >perspective of john lennon in the seconds after he's been shot; it's >plaintive and eerie. "there's blood on my shirt," he observes, matter of >factly, and he can't see where ono has got to: "where is my wife?" he >asks, several times. Wow, I've been a huge Chameleons fan for 20 years and I had *no idea* that's what the song was about! (Assuming all this isn't just speculation on your part, of course... though I have to admit, it does make sense.) I guess this is what happens when you think less about lyrics than the average fan-person. So yeah, if you're going to include "Killer's Eyes," then you'd definitely have to include "Here Today" too... And what with that and "Johnny the Moondog is Dead," you'd actually have a Beatles tribute disc that *I myself* would want to listen to! Mea culpa and My Tulpa! JH3 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:06:46 -0700 From: hbrandt Subject: Re: lennon tributes > > >the chameleons, oh, jeez, i think it's titled "here today?" > it's sung from the > perspective of john lennon in the seconds after he's been shot; it's > plaintive and eerie. "there's blood on my shirt," he observes Has anyone mentioned Paul McCartney's "Here Today" (from the Tug of War album)? It's not related to the Chameleons song (except in title and JL tribute theme). /hal ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 18:22:30 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: Re: lennon tributes On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, JH3 wrote: > Wow, I've been a huge Chameleons fan for 20 years and I had *no > idea* that's what the song was about! (Assuming all this isn't just > speculation on your part, of course... though I have to admit, it does > make sense.) I guess this is what happens when you think less about > lyrics than the average fan-person. i got the notion from the liner notes to the aforesaid peel sessions disc, so it's not purely my speculation. i can't recall at the moment a specific lyrical detail that clinches it, htough. - - 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 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:03:29 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! >Many people reacted very positively to what we had to say, and several >people said (not sarcastically) "I hadn't thought of it that way," or >"I haven't seen it that way before." Believe it or not, demonstrators >don't necessarily go out with the sole purpose of alienating people. OK, but I think you'd have done better if you just passed out flyers which said "DON'T BUY STUFF. Because, like, the money goes to CORPORATIONS, and, like, CORPORATIONS are all wicked and evil and stuff." Maybe you could've all worn baseball caps too, to add a certain Michael Moore-esque air of authority. You know...if you targeted pre-determined chains or manufacturers, and conveyed specific evidence to potential customers about those companies' corruption/exploitation, etc., then maybe the protest might've been worth a damn. But an overall "Don't buy anything!" message is just silly grandstanding. Come on...what is your ultimate objective here, beyond seeking photo ops? A return to a medieval, agrarian society? Craftsmen and guilds? The Industrial Revolution happened quite a few years ago -- maybe it's about time you accepted that it's here to stay. Meanwhile, I stuck it to THE MAN yesterday by going to the local, monthly record swap for the first time in awhile. I bought three secondhand records for $14 (Richard & Linda Thompson's Hokey Pokey, the "Once Upon a Time in the West" soundtrack and Dinosaur's very hard-to-find debut LP), and all my money went to private, individual sellers. I didn't even pay tax. Take that, Big Five!!!! Incidentally, the record swap's autograph guest was a decidedly grizzled Sean Bonniwell, once the leader of the Music Machine ("Talk Talk"). Heh. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:05:48 -0800 From: Asshole Motherfucker Subject: miles goosens please e-mail me something i wanna send you. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:17:03 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Eb wrote: > You know...if you targeted pre-determined chains or manufacturers, and > conveyed specific evidence to potential customers about those companies' > corruption/exploitation, etc., then maybe the protest might've been worth a > damn. Well then, it's lucky that that is exactly what we did do. We stood in front of Banana Republic and handed out flyers that specifically laid out what business practices they engage in that we find reprehensible. But an overall "Don't buy anything!" message is just silly > grandstanding. Come on...what is your ultimate objective here, beyond > seeking photo ops? A return to a medieval, agrarian society? Craftsmen and > guilds? The Industrial Revolution happened quite a few years ago -- maybe > it's about time you accepted that it's here to stay. I don't even know where to begin here. I probably shouldn't- you don't want to listen to me and I'm sure the rest of the list can make up their own minds whether total corporate dominance of the public sphere is "here to stay." Vivien ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:35:43 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! >Well then, it's lucky that that is exactly what we did do. We stood in >front of Banana Republic and handed out flyers that specifically laid out >what business practices they engage in that we find reprehensible. All right, then that's OK. You didn't give this impression in your initial "BUY NOTHING" account. (And I assume your objections went deeper than complaining about the chain's name.) >I don't even know where to begin here. I probably shouldn't- you don't >want to listen to me and I'm sure the rest of the list can make up their >own minds whether total corporate dominance of the public sphere is "here >to stay." Mmm...what? As I've said before, my mind tends to tune out as soon as I see the buzzword "corporate" used for cheap scare value. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 19:46:55 -0500 From: "Irish Airman" Subject: Lennon song Johnny Strikes Up The Band? Zevon. Uncle John's Band? The Dead Not explicit tributes, but thats how they read to me(regardless of authorial intent.) K And Id also include Robyn's Somewhere Apart, thou technically its more hommage than tribute. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:02:02 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! on 11/27/00 4:17 PM, Viv Lyon at vivlyon@bitmine.net wrote: > We stood in > front of Banana Republic and handed out flyers that specifically laid out > what business practices they engage in that we find reprehensible. Could you summarize those reprehensible practices for the curious among us? Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:23:58 -0800 From: Asshole Motherfucker Subject: from the horse's mouth There are times when I can feel it settling on me like a pair of John Lennon glasses. And I can either exaggerate it, or fight against it. Or I can try and find my own way of doing something rather than settling for a Lennonism. Which I've done in the past a few times: there's a song called "Executioner" on Eye which is quite Lennon- y. But it seemed appropriate to leave it that way rather than change it. "Somewhere Apart" is very like that song called "Remember" on the Plastic Ono Band record. We then put delay on it, so we made it sound even more like John Lennon. But actually, if you listen to the lyrics, it's really nothing like the other song. But that was an example of deliberately making it into a tribute, if you like. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:30:37 -0800 From: Eleanore Adams Subject: just checking... I have not gotten a single letter on the newsgroup for days now..... Making sure the server is up..... eleanore ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 18:19:59 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: oh happy day! On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Eb wrote: > All right, then that's OK. You didn't give this impression in your initial > "BUY NOTHING" account. (And I assume your objections went deeper than > complaining about the chain's name.) Wow, the benefit of the doubt. I don't think you've ever given that to me before. > Mmm...what? As I've said before, my mind tends to tune out as soon as I see > the buzzword "corporate" used for cheap scare value. I wonder if you even know what you're saying sometimes. I didn't use the word "corporate" as a scare tactic- I used the phrase "total corporate dominance." What I mean by that, and what most people mean who use that or similar phrases, is that I think gigantic multinational corporations have too much influence over our government (through massive campaign contributions and lobbying), over our consumer choices (by driving out of business smaller companies), over our environment (by refusing to implement technologies that would reduce or eliminate toxic pollution), and over our minds (by constantly usurping what once were public domains with their privately funded messages (such as advertising in public schools). Hope that helps. Vivien ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 18:41:39 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Why Banana Republic (and parent co. GAP) suck On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Tom Clark wrote: > on 11/27/00 4:17 PM, Viv Lyon at vivlyon@bitmine.net wrote: > > > We stood in > > front of Banana Republic and handed out flyers that specifically laid out > > what business practices they engage in that we find reprehensible. > > Could you summarize those reprehensible practices for the curious among us? > > Thanks. Well, here is part of the text of the flyer that was distributed: Also, the Fisher family, which owns The GAP, Inc., has done some other extremely nasty and un-cool things, to wit: http://www.elksoft.com/gwa Logging the most of the last remaining redwoods in this country is not a good PR move. That is, if the media took any notice of such things. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 22:18:01 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: beat the beatles http://news.excite.com/news/r/001127/09/entertainment-britain-bowie-dc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 23:49:57 -0500 From: drop the holupki Subject: Robyn & Boothby Graffoe / ex ML guitar [Yahoo! Clubs: Robyn Hitchcock] >Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 19:45:04 -0500 (EST) >From: jenrundall >Subject: Robyn & Boothby Graffoe / ex ML guitar [Yahoo! Clubs: Robyn Hitchcock] > >Robyn appeared (albeit briefly!) in a BBC Radio 4 comedy programme >hosted by Boothby Graffoe, recorded today. He said a few lines, lost his >place in the script ;) and sang "Uncorrected Personality Traits". Very >amusing!! Listen out for it airing in Jan/Feb 2001. > >Oh and a piece of trivia for you. Andrew Claridge, the guitarist on >"Devil's Radio" on Mossy Liquor (the only RH cd I DON'T have!!), who >then moved onto NZ band Garageland is currently playing with The Mutton >Birds, a brilliant NZ/UK band [they play Shepherds Bush Empire, London >this saturday 2nd Dec]. He's a class guitar player -worth catching. > >(ref. http://www.fegmania.org/archives/fegmaniax/1996/v-4-135 - use >"Find" and the keyword "claridge") > >--------------------------------------------- >DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE BY EMAIL! >--------------------------------------------- >You have chosen to receive messages from "Robyn Hitchcock" by email. > >Return to "Robyn Hitchcock": >http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/robynhitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 21:00:10 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Hitchcock to be published? This just in...Greg Kihn (two-hit wonder, Disc Jockey, novelist) is working on assembling a collection of short stories by musicians. Recently he pitched the idea to a receptive Graham Parker and when Greg asked Graham if he knew of any other musicians who might be interested in contributing Graham gave him Robyn Hitchcock's phone number. Greg told me he contacted Robyn over the weekend, said he had a nice conversation with him and that Hitchcock agreed to contribute as well. The book is supposed to be out in the fall of 2001. - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 00:10:31 -0500 From: drop the holupki Subject: grant lee hitchcock on spin.com no sign of this video clip on the spin site yet. >From: Elizabeth Parmenter >To: "'woj@smoe.org'" >Subject: Robyn >Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:31:35 -0800 > >Hey, > >I just wanted to let you know that this month ( or it may be in >January-its in the January issue of Spin magazine) there is an >exclusive video performance of Robyn and Grant Lee Phillips. Its >on Spin.com. > >Elizabeth ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 21:08:53 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Re: Lennon song > Johnny Strikes Up The Band? Zevon. > Uncle John's Band? The Dead > Not explicit tributes, but thats how they read to me(regardless of authorial > intent.) Sorry...I meant post mortem tributes. Interesting connections, though. It never occurred to me that either of those two songs could be refering to Lennon. I think the Dead tune is a less likely nod than the Zevon tune, which coincidentally I just ordered from second spin yesterday. I'll give it a closer listen when it arrives. - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 21:26:26 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Re:Lennon Tributes > julian lennon: too late for goodbyes (at least, i always assumed it > was) I kinda doubt it but I'll give it another listen... > Tom Paxton - Crazy John Thanks! > Loudon Wainwright III - Not John Thanks! > Martin Newell's "Johnny the Moondog is Dead" ? Sounds like it from the title...The Beatles were once known as Johnny and the Moondogs. I'll check it out. > christine lavin's "the dakota" on _future fossils_, which is the christine > lavin you'd want if you only wanted one of her albums. thanks! > what is about "killer's eyes" that ties it specifically to lennon? i > missed that part somehow. Very little, actually, but I read somewhere that it was inspired by the shooting. There are some lines in there about achieving fame through killing, etc. I think I'll leave it off the tribute list, though, as it's about the killer, not the victim. Much like... > "Famous Man" by John Wesley Harding for the sake of > being over-complete, even though it's more a meditation on the murder > from the pov of mdc than a straight tribute. >>the chameleons, oh, jeez, i think it's titled "here today?" ... > "As High As You Can Go" is the title, and it does mention Lennon, but it > isn't much of a *tribute*, really. It just sort of mentions him as one of > several people who "clawed their way to the stars"... (It also mentions > Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Greta Garbo in the same vein.) That might work. "Ballrooms of Mars" would not (I mention this purely as a pre-emptive strike). Keep 'em coming! -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 21:49:15 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Re:Lennon Tributes On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Russ Reynolds wrote: > > julian lennon: too late for goodbyes (at least, i always assumed it > > was) > > I kinda doubt it but I'll give it another listen... Dude! Have you seen the video? It seems pretty unmistakable to me. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 23:43:09 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: Lennon Tributes Not posthumous, but John Lennon's "God" is arguably the definitive celebration of John Lennon, the man and his art. What do I win? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 23:27:32 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! On Mon, 27 Nov 2000, Tom Clark wrote: > Could you summarize those reprehensible practices for the curious > among us? Just thought I'd throw in my few cents on this matter (since it's a few days past and I don't feel so bad about slinging cash around). I really appreciated Viv's extended description of "total corporate dominance" and would like to speak to what Buy Nothing Day means to me. Every year, a few days before Thanksgiving, we're subjected to television "news" talking about how retail's been sluggish AGAIN and they're all hoping the Christmas season will pull them out of their slump. As if it's our fucking DUTY to make sure we overconsume and pull those flagging multibillionaires out of their dreary octuple digit profits and into the realm of respectability. We went to the movies the other day and one of those on-screen slide ads came up... this one a kind of meta-ad telling folks to buy ad space in the theater... that said "without advertising, a terrible thing happens... NOTHING." I'm afraid I had to call bullshit on that. Without advertising, people buy what they need. People make those buying decisions based on the appropriate cost/durability ratio for their income and compare similar products on their ability to meet the given need and provide added value... without advertising. What we have now is consumption for the sake of consumption. You buy gifts for people because... you're supposed to buy gifts for people. And it's already become a sort of joke how you get things you don't need and have to take it all back the week after Christmas. So stop doing it. Buy things for people who need them and won't get them for themselves... to show that you know about their needs and pay attention to them. But better, just spend time with the people you care about (instead of avoiding them so you can sneak in a few hours shopping for them... and really yourself, too) and give them something that shows a bit more care than mass produced crap from a chain store. And, as always, remember that a little bit of every dollar you spend at a chain store goes straight to the top and stays there. The rich get richer because they can't possibly spend as fast as they earn. The money concentrates at the top and doesn't ever come back down. And if it's anything larger than a regional chain, that money goes straight out of your community for good. And I know, Eb, that your talk about the record swap was tongue-in-cheek and all but it's absolutely correct in every respect. Believe you me that the RIAA would love to stop used record sales and tried very hard to stop used CD sales many years back. The intellectual property organizations (most egregiously the MPAA) really do fail to understand the word "publish". We all understand that, say, Napster isn't going to take down new music recordings. There's going to be a market for what's popular no matter how else it can be gained. What Napster threatens (and I use the word Napster loosely to mean the technology which was first the web and now OpenNap and its ilk) is the ongoing market for compilations and revivals of one-hit wonders and their single songs of glory. You don't have to buy "Rehashes of the Summer of 74" to get the two songs you care to hear... you just pull 'em off Napster or ask your buddy to burn a CD. And that's an enormous amount of record company profits. Anyway, I'm way off topic. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:27:00 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: reap Sir Malcolm Bradbury James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 02:57:53 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: happy buy nothing day! > Without advertising, people buy what they need. People make those buying > decisions based on the appropriate cost/durability ratio for their income > and compare similar products on their ability to meet the given need and > provide added value... without advertising. I agree with the general sentiment behind Buy Nothing Day. But I'm really troubled by the suggestion that consumers are helpless zombies in the face of advertising. It strikes me as identical to the argument that people are driven to criminal behavior by the images they see in movies, and the words they hear in pop songs. > So stop doing it. Buy things for people who need them and won't get them > for themselves... to show that you know about their needs and pay > attention to them. But better, just spend time with the people you care > about (instead of avoiding them so you can sneak in a few hours shopping > for them... and really yourself, too) and give them something that shows a > bit more care than mass produced crap from a chain store. This is extremely paternalistic, and fucking insulting. Stay out of other people's relationships, please. Do you really want to go around suggesting better ways for people to express love to their families, their friends? Relationships are complicated, LOVE is complicated, and your blanket pronouncements have no place there. My holiday gifts this year happen to be hand-made CDs of my music with artwork by my friends, so maybe I pass your test. But my mom is going to get great pleasure picking out Thomas The Tank Engine(R) toys for my son, equal to the pleasure she gets from baking him cookies or sending him hand-written letters and drawings, because she knows the corporate toys will make him smile. Maybe gifts of love between people you don't know are not the best target for your snobbery. > And, as always, remember that a little bit of every dollar you spend at a > chain store goes straight to the top and stays there. The rich get richer > because they can't possibly spend as fast as they earn. The money > concentrates at the top and doesn't ever come back down. And if it's > anything larger than a regional chain, that money goes straight out of > your community for good. This is a useful reminder, and I appreciate it. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 01:58:16 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: RE: Lennon Tributes Brian Huddell wrote: > Not posthumous, but John Lennon's "God" is arguably the definitive > celebration of John Lennon, the man and his art. maybe. for that matter, there's always U2's "God PArt II," although that's more of a threat towards Albert Goldman than tribute to Lennon. > What do I win? a free year of fegmaniax!!!! soon, coming with Retsin! ===== "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalists, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands." -- Oscar Wilde Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #343 *******************************