From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #92 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, March 27 2001 Volume 10 : Number 092 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Underwater MOOnlight [Tom Clark ] RE: Underwater MOOnlight ["Bachman, Michael" ] cave at the piano! ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] Re: good breeding in a man [Ken Weingold ] Re: cave at the piano! [Ken Weingold ] RE: cave at the piano! ["Cynthia Peterson" ] God is a concept by which we measure our vanity ["In Praise Of Limestone"] RE: Underwater MOOnlight [Eb ] Re: Underwater MOOnlight ["ross taylor" ] Re: good breeding in a man [Tom Clark ] Re: God is a concept by which we measure our vanity [Capuchin ] RE: cave at the piano! [Aaron ] RE: cave at the piano! [Eb ] RE: cave at the piano! [Eclipse ] Re: and you know where they burn books people are next [Terrence Marks ] [Quailmaniax!] Rock-n-Feg Toilet, Part 1 [The Great Quail Subject: Re: Underwater MOOnlight on 3/26/01 8:52 PM, Russ Reynolds at rcreation@earthlink.net wrote: > Speaking of Donovan, I'd love to hear the Soft Boys do "Atlantis". Or maybe > I wouldn't. Perhaps that's one of those ideas that looks better on paper. Speaking again of Donovan, I saw "Don't Look Back" the other night for the first time and one thing that made it so funny was all the Donovan references. Bob lands in London in '65 and everybody starts asking him about Donovan, even though he's never heard of him. Then towards the end of the film Donovan shows up for a hotel room party and Bob is just totally condescending to him. Donovan sings a cute folksy ditty, people smile, then Bob picks up the guitar and smugly belts out "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Funny stuff. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:11:43 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Underwater MOOnlight Speaking of Bob Dylan, a artist that he did like was the French folk singer Francoise Hardy. She started out in the early 60's and is still performing today. Some of you might remember the movie Grand Prix staring James Garner that came out in 1967. Francoise played the girlfriend part of the second Ferrari driver, Nino. Bob would go see her perform when he toured Europe. She has a beautful singing voice, and sings mostly in French. I can't understand hardly a word, but it sounds great to me. Then again, I have been buying some French New Wave movies from the late 50's and early 60's on DVD the last month or so as well. I might be turning into a Francophile. Michael - -----Original Message----- From: Tom Clark [mailto:tclark@reardensteel.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 3:40 PM To: Eleven Dollar Sandwich Subject: Re: Underwater MOOnlight on 3/26/01 8:52 PM, Russ Reynolds at rcreation@earthlink.net wrote: > Speaking of Donovan, I'd love to hear the Soft Boys do "Atlantis". Or maybe > I wouldn't. Perhaps that's one of those ideas that looks better on paper. Speaking again of Donovan, I saw "Don't Look Back" the other night for the first time and one thing that made it so funny was all the Donovan references. Bob lands in London in '65 and everybody starts asking him about Donovan, even though he's never heard of him. Then towards the end of the film Donovan shows up for a hotel room party and Bob is just totally condescending to him. Donovan sings a cute folksy ditty, people smile, then Bob picks up the guitar and smugly belts out "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Funny stuff. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:16:49 -0500 From: recount chocula Subject: Re: good breeding in a man when we last left our heroes, MPys2626@aol.com exclaimed: >Irving Plaza was always my fave club in NYC...oh well. maybe it was different in the old days, but i've never liked the place. too corporate (wake up eb) rawk club for me. their modus operandi seems to be herd 'em in, booze 'em up, herd 'em out. bleah. compare and contrast with the paradise where we hung around for about a hour, chatting with each other and various soft boys. >Any other notable celebs in the crowd? we were standing right next to jon spurney (former member of deni bonet's band). woj ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:34:11 -0800 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: cave at the piano! >From: Eb [Nick Cave concert] >Simply put, this was just thoroughly engaging music. You made my day with this news. I'm going to see him tonight at the Palace of Fine Arts. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen dot com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:50:48 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: good breeding in a man On Tue, Mar 27, 2001, recount chocula wrote: > when we last left our heroes, MPys2626@aol.com exclaimed: > > >Irving Plaza was always my fave club in NYC...oh well. > > maybe it was different in the old days, but i've never liked the place. too > corporate (wake up eb) rawk club for me. their modus operandi seems to be > herd 'em in, booze 'em up, herd 'em out. bleah. compare and contrast with > the paradise where we hung around for about a hour, chatting with each > other and various soft boys. That sucks, but I would say that the Paradise is more of an exception for clubs. Most I have been to they are eager to get the people out after the show. Maybe one reason is that they want to clean up so they can get out of there. Just playing the devil's advocate. But in the case of some Boston clubs, at least, I know that they have dancing later on and have to get everyone out to set up for that. Sucks from your position, granted. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:52:35 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: cave at the piano! On Tue, Mar 27, 2001, Andrew D. Simchik wrote: > >From: Eb > > [Nick Cave concert] > >Simply put, this was just thoroughly engaging music. > > You made my day with this news. I'm going to see him tonight at the Palace > of Fine Arts. Beautiful. I am going Sat. in NY. Can't wait. Nick is always entrancing, whatever band he plays with. I've seen him with The Bad Seeds and Die Haut. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:55:37 -0800 From: "Cynthia Peterson" Subject: RE: cave at the piano! And since we're all fessing up, I'm going to see Nick Cave on Thursday at the Paramount in Seattle. Can't wait! And Drew's note reminded me: the friend I'm going with has one extra ticket. Are there any fegs, or friends thereof, who might be interested? I think the total ticket price is something like $32...and I'd love it to go to someone who's really going to enjoy the hell out of the show. Cynthia - -----Original Message----- You made my day with this news. I'm going to see him tonight at the Palace of Fine Arts. Drew ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 21:57:50 -0000 From: "In Praise Of Limestone" Subject: God is a concept by which we measure our vanity Now, for all my grousing Im pretty much a peacable sort cause...lifes short and theres enough suffering in the world already. Why add to it? In fact, why not alleviate it if youve got a chance? Which pretty much describes my ethics(or lack of them.) Situations may vary, emotions mess up the basic idea--but thats the idea. And arguments often come down to "Im right" "No Im right", ego-display and more stuff that, if not suffering, certianly aint joy. So Drew, Im not exactly putting on a boxing glove here, more a pink balloon sorta thingee... You may be right. I am falliable, but... this -is- what I think... and it is an unsystematic argument at best. Andrew said: >Any Christians who do not decry this sort of behavior as anathema >might as >well be tossing pointy hats into the flames along with those >cracker-ass >morons. Frankly I dont decry it or extoll it. I think that people trying to stop ideas they dont like by burning material objects are not very high up on the Darwin scale ... let alone showing the sort of spiritual development one would like to imagine religion can(thou certianly often dosnt) provide. But do I know fore sure that they are wrong and I am right? Not completely. God hasnt told me recently exactly what he thinks. In fact, maybe its just me, but I rarely get explicit directions. I may get an insight, I may get some detachment, I may get some empathy, I may even get the joke ... but I dont get directives. I find denouncing(not that I dont do it;-)(especially when pissed off) others wrongs a whole lot easier than practicing what I perceive as the goods possible in me. Or as I tell my 13-year olds Sunday School class "Take the log out of your own eye before trying to wrestle the branch out of your neigbhors." But also--"dont be party to something you think is wrong, and try to right a wrong if you can." Two seemingly contradictory goods, but thats what we humans do--we learn to balance these difficult unsystematic things. If I knew these people I would try to encourage them to find other ways to channel their energy. That often works better. And if they were literally harming, physically, psychologically or emotionally, others--I wouldnt denounce, Id try to stop it. The kids who want/need this stuff will find it. No silly book-burning or silly parents will ultimately stop them. Kay, from a household of Harry Potter fans. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 14:05:13 -0700 From: Eb Subject: RE: Underwater MOOnlight Somebody: >Support was provided by the >Young Fresh Fellows (who I only knew through a 1992ish Frontier release >called "It's Low Beat Time") It's a shame there's not a decent Fellows website, anymore...the www.yff.com site seems to be permanently dead. YFF are a lot more unknown than they oughta be. And don't get me started on their old labelmates Thin White Rope.... >Speaking of Bob Dylan, a artist that he did like was the French >folk singer Francoise Hardy. She started out in the early 60's >and is still performing today. Some of you might remember the movie >Grand Prix staring James Garner that came out in 1967. Francoise >played the girlfriend part of the second Ferrari driver, Nino. Bob >would go see her perform when he toured Europe. Uh oh...do I feel a tangential Claudine Longet thread coming on? Stefan: >Sorry for the long post... I think it's generally agreed that subscribers who saw the Soft Boys in 1977 are allowed free reign. ;) Oh, one footnote about the Nick Cave show: I've had it confirmed that the drummer and violinist *were* from the Dirty Three. Also, the bassist was apparently Susan Stenger, which is interesting to those few of us who remember Band of Susans (http://www.monotremata.com/bos/). Eb, still not sure whether he's seeing Thompson/Correia tonight or not ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 17:09:04 -0500 From: "ross taylor" Subject: Re: Underwater MOOnlight >with UM playing on the discman, and I sang a >verse of Underwater Moonlight >to some cows as I rode by them. They stared >at me but otherwise didn't >react. Conclusion: Cows don't give a crap >about the Soft Boys. Anybody >else try this? How 'bout with other animals? >- -rUss I once sang Jonathan Richman's "Hi Dear" to some deer I met in a residential section of New Jersey. They moved their ears around some but kept snarfing the bushes. I guess NJ deer are tough & think JoJo's a wimp. Ross Taylor "the magic power of bleakness" Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 15:12:12 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: good breeding in a man on 3/27/01 1:50 PM, Ken Weingold at hazmat@hellrot.org wrote: > compare and contrast with >> the paradise where we hung around for about a hour, chatting with each >> other and various soft boys. > > That sucks, but I would say that the Paradise is more of an exception > for clubs. I just wanted to say that I first saw Robyn & The Egyptians at The Paradise in 1988. The GoF tour w/ Peter Buck. Carry on, - -tc Also seen at the Paradise in those heady days: Camper van Beethoven, Butthole Surfers, They Might Be Giants, The Kids In The Hall, uh, ... lots of beer, ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 15:40:17 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: God is a concept by which we measure our vanity On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, In Praise Of Limestone wrote: > And if they were literally harming, physically, psychologically or > emotionally, others--I wouldnt denounce, Id try to stop it. Well, then get out there and try and stop it. Burning CDs and video tapes is EXTREMELY damaging, physically. I can't believe, in this day and age, people would do such a fucking stupid, careless, unthinking, destructive thing. Fucking arrogance and short-sightedness. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 15:15:28 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Underwater MOOnlight on 3/27/01 1:11 PM, Bachman, Michael at Michael.Bachman@fanucrobotics.com wrote: > Speaking of Bob Dylan, a artist that he did like was the French > folk singer Francoise Hardy. She started out in the early 60's > and is still performing today. Some of you might remember the movie > Grand Prix staring James Garner that came out in 1967. Francoise > played the girlfriend part of the second Ferrari driver, Nino. Bob > would go see her perform when he toured Europe. > > She has a beautful singing voice, and sings mostly in French. > I can't understand hardly a word, but it sounds great to me. Is she more entrancing than Claudine Longet? Can she shoot a gun like Claudine Longet? Has she ever mud wrestled with Claudine Longet? - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 17:34:18 -0600 From: Aaron Subject: RE: cave at the piano! At 03:55 PM 3/27/2001, Cynthia Peterson wrote: >And since we're all fessing up, I'm going to see Nick Cave on Thursday >at the Paramount in Seattle. Can't wait! And Drew's note reminded me: >the friend I'm going with has one extra ticket. Are there any fegs, or >friends thereof, who might be interested? I think the total ticket price >is something like $32...and I'd love it to go to someone who's really >going to enjoy the hell out of the show. > >Cynthia > >-----Original Message----- >You made my day with this news. I'm going to see him tonight at the >Palace >of Fine Arts. > >Drew Just have to throw in my two cents' worth on this thread. I saw Nick last Friday and Saturday night in Chicago, and those two shows rank up there with the best shows I have *ever* seen. Absolutely amazing. You won't be disappointed. Aaron * Aaron mailto:aaron@hollowstreets.net http://aaron.hollowstreets.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 15:47:32 -0700 From: Eb Subject: RE: cave at the piano! >Cynthia Peterson >Drew >Aaron All right! Nice to see some Cave believers emerging from the woodwork. :) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 14:59:57 -0800 (PST) From: Eclipse Subject: RE: cave at the piano! i would LOVE to go .. but i'm in SF. disappointed that she didn't get NC tickets for last night or tonight, Eclipse - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Eclipse | eclipse@best.com If this is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Cynthia Peterson wrote: > And since we're all fessing up, I'm going to see Nick Cave on Thursday > at the Paramount in Seattle. Can't wait! And Drew's note reminded me: > the friend I'm going with has one extra ticket. Are there any fegs, or > friends thereof, who might be interested? I think the total ticket price > is something like $32...and I'd love it to go to someone who's really > going to enjoy the hell out of the show. > > Cynthia > > -----Original Message----- > You made my day with this news. I'm going to see him tonight at the > Palace > of Fine Arts. > > Drew ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 19:23:03 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence Marks Subject: Re: and you know where they burn books people are next http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/story_10538.asp Terrence Marks Unlike Minerva (a comic strip) http://www.unlikeminerva.com The Nice (an organization for comic strips) http://nice.purrsia.com normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 21:08:32 -0600 From: steve Subject: Re: and you know where they burn books people are next On Tuesday, March 27, 2001, at 01:26 PM, Andrew D. Simchik wrote: > There are plenty of Harry Potter books.... Yeah, if they burned on copy of the last one that means there are 7,899,999 copies left to go, and that was for sales through December of last year. - - Steve __________ Is this thing on? Sent via OS X Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:36:25 EST From: DDerosa5@aol.com Subject: SBs song by KR? in the PCP interview, Mr. Roo says "As it happened, the three of us in the Soft Boys did eventually wind up recording a couple of my songs, a thing called "Stomping All Over the World" which came out on a single. " I'm interested in hearing this--who has it? is there an MP3 somewhere? dave ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 22:34:56 -0500 From: recount chocula Subject: ADMIN: smoe.org downtime Thursday per the attached now, smoe.org will be out o'commission on thursday, march 31st, starting around 5 AM ET (the machines are being moved to a new location). there will be no mail service during this outage. look for the mail to start flowing again thursday evening. woj >Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:10:21 -0500 >From: Jeff Wasilko >Subject: ADMIN: smoe.org downtime for move (Thursday) > >Hi: > >This move is scheduled to happen this Thursday 3/29, and will likely take >most of the day. I'm anticipating that the move will take from >5AM until 6PM. > >During the outage, there will be no mail service. All mail sent >to smoe.org (or the other domains we handle) will be held >elsewhere until smoe.org comes back online. > >I will have a 'read-only' web server up and running so that the >web sites are availble to the outside world during the move. You >won't be able to upload any content to the 'read-only' server on >Thursday, but your pages will be available to rest of the world > >If you have any questions, please let me know! > >-jeff ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 23:08:00 -0800 From: The Great Quail Subject: [Quailmaniax!] Rock-n-Feg Toilet, Part 1 Well, as I sit down to write this, Eddie's red Metro is probably crossing the Verrazano Narrows bridge, with Carissa and Bayard hopefully intact. And I am left behind, my head is whirling from being swept up in Crazy Eddie's Rock-n-Feg Toilet Caravan. Yes, though I was expecting just to be a way-station, a point on the curve of Eddie's transcontinental musical trajectory, I allowed myself to be swept off to Boston for an additional night of being 109ed by Doktor Messerschmidt and his Soft Boys. Since I know Bayard and Eddie have been posting set lists and basic comments, I will just provide a short travelogue of my experiences, with some general impressions of Irving Plaza, Boston, and Eddie's rapidly decaying mental state. It started last Friday when the Caravan, already four shows under their belt, wheeled into Brooklyn, possessing precious few tickets for the Maxwell's show, but lit from within by the Glow of the Certainty that They Would Get In. Eddie, Chris Gross, Ross Overbury, and Bayard were accompanied by Carissa, who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. Thoughtfully she brought me a present -- a portrait of a quail, composed entirely out of different-colored strips of sticky plastic. It was a suitable offering, and the Quail Gods were pleased, whispering to me that she would not be sacrificed that evening, but could sleep in peace on our orange Futon. Alas, I was forced to sacrifice Ross, who no longer appears in this chronicle alive. Scary Mary joined us for some drinks, cheese, photographs and conversation, after which the Pilgrims decided to head out into the land of Tony Soprano. Foolishly, LJ and I opted to remain at home, not caring to venture into the Jersey wastelands without a ticket to the infamously remote and cramped Maxwell's Lounge. In fact, along with Chris and Scary Mary, we lazed about and watched "Gladiator," never for a moment suspecting it would soon be crowned Best Picture. (I will NOT rant about the Oscars this year.) (But go Tan Dun, alright yeah!) Our parrot Loki, sated on so much fresh blood drawn from so many new people to bite, slumbered in the remains of Ross' rib-cage, and we retired to bed at 12:30. Well, at 2:30 am Eddie, Bayard, Carissa and a newly-ensnared Woj stumbled back -- all having seen the show, and raving about its general quality. Apparently, Matthew Seligman had placed them on the Guest List, enabling them to see the Soft Boys playing "Each of Her Silver Wands," which set up an unfulfilled expectation resonating in my head all weekend. (I never heard "Astronime Domine," either, alas.) With the bitter taste of regret in my mouth like sour cherry flavored NyQuil, I returned to my slumber for a night of dreams about glorious crabs, sweet prawns, and the occasional tiger roaring out of the floor as a reminder of my misspent evening. After a breakfast of pancakes, coffee, and chocolate milk, we set out into the City the next afternoon, joined by Semi-Feg Judy. (You may know Judy from previous tours such as "The Rock Armada Visits Philly" and "Robyn and Grant Tell Judy and LJ to be Quiet at Joe's Pub.") On our social calendar was an avant-garde art show in Chelsea. Trippy indeed, but also filled with such oddities as fake cow-carcasses revolving on metal beams, a giant Volkswagon Beetle made out of rubber, and a whole room lit by flickering bee-lights. Oh, and a ten-minute long video art installation of a farmer drilling through the ground with a huge auger. Though Eddie seemed unnaturally entranced by this last work, and had to be dragged away, the show was unremarkable, and may have damaged Woj, who began proclaiming "I hate art" to random passersby. Gathering the group together, we moved through the cold windy streets to El Rey Sol, a hip Mexican restaurant capable of sitting a group of twelve. There we were joined by Demi-Fegs Lara and Jeannie, my Proto-Feg friend Richard Behrens, and Bayard's Un-Feg friends Matthew the Cook and his lovely wife. (The thief and her lover were nowhere to be seen.) After sixty-seven or so pitchers filled with surprisingly potent margaritas, it suddenly seemed sensible to steal the small wooden portrait of Jesus that decorated a shelf near us. "Sensible" I say, only because LJ kept placing it in front of various drunken Fegs and suggesting that they steal it, and we all know LJ only does sensible things. Of course it ended up in Eddie's pants, which may very well earn us all a few weeks in purgatory, especially if the Catholics turn out to be right all along. Oddly, Eddie might have been the only Feg not to have copiously imbibed from the margarita trough, but he did begin his day with non-Vegan pancakes, so all that pure butter may have gone to his head. So with Wooden Jesus in tow, we abandoned El Rey Sol and made the increasingly cold trek to Irving Plaza. There we met Tom Clark's friends John and Carla, whom I mention only to further annoy Tom Clark. Well, as I've said, I'm not going to go into set lists or anything; but speaking personally, the Irving Plaza show was great, except for the bouncers and their predilection for pure,unadulterated evil. (I should have been clued in when I saw a ring of thirteen beefy men in yellow jackets chanting around a pentagram a few hours before the show.) Arriving early, we staked out an area by the front of the stage, below the place Kimberley would play. As a pre-show warm-up, Irving Plaza played their usual array of Eighties videos on a screen, where I was amazed to discover that the fucking Pogues had, at some time, made "Fiesta" into a video without telling me. Though it was also nice to see those lads from Ultravox at it again.... Having never seen the Young Fresh Fellows, I didn't know what to expect, and I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised. In fact, I found myself liking them more than I have *ever* liked a previously unknown-to-me opening act. Scott McCoy, the lead singer-songwriter fellow, was charismatic and cheerful, and Kurt Bloch, the lead guitarist, looked, talked, and acted like Bobcat Goldthwaite's younger brother. I thought he was going to spontaneously fall apart in a flurry of nervous laughter and broken strings. Tad the Drummer was also very impressive, rigging his set with rubber tubing and bronze turtle-shells, even playing some sort of flexible antennae-cymbal thingie with a football helmet. The bassist seemed to be the only one who could possible keep a day job, and looked like Drew Carey as drawn by Bob Fingerman. In fact, I think I saw Buddy Bradley saluting the band with a bottle of Ballantine. But anyway, I really liked them, and I picked up their CD, which I am listening to at this very moment. While I can't say I like the more laid-back and offhand feel of the CD better than the bright metallic crunching groovy joyous machine I saw live, it's still worth it, and the Minus Five stuff is great. I hear music like this and I like America, you know? The Soft Boys came on after an intermission timed just long enough to allow a trio of drunken assholes with VIP stickers to shove their way into our loving knot of Fegs, where they proceeded to be loud and obnoxious for the rest of the evening, even starting an altercation with Bayard and Carissa. (One trailer-park looking blonde with a fake tan, dressed in black leather pants and five pounds of make-up; a rude brunette who insisted on shoving everyone out of her way, and her blow-dried Frat-boy boyfriend.) But though I mentally dedicated the song "I Wanna Destroy You" to them, even they couldn't ruin an amazing set. Oh, and speaking of potential downers -- at one point I became aware of some sort of scuffle going on ahead of me -- a bouncer roughing up and taking down a concertgoer. And though my mind initially resisted the information my eyes were bringing into focus, I finally had to admit to myself that, yes, it was Bayard they were roughhousing, our sweet lovable Bayard! Apparently when Bayard told them that he was allowed to tape the show, they didn't believe him. When Bayard attempted to use reason, Mr. Bouncer decided that it would be fun to drag this insolent bootlegger away..... But luckily for us, Bayard was returned a few songs later, with only his pride, dignity, and belief in a world of friendly bouncers permanently damaged. Anyway, about the Soft Boys -- Wheeee! What a wonderful show! I have to confess, a few early songs seemed a bit sluggish, but soon the they slipped into a groove and just exploded into an intense swirl that carried them through the entire evening. I am sure I am not alone when I say that it's more than a thrill -- it's fucking unbelievable to hear the Soft Boys! I never thought I would hear some of these songs played, let alone played with such a level of enthusiasm -- it was like they had been written recently, not twenty years ago. Robyn was so enthusiastic, and everything sounded so fresh. And the new songs are pretty good, too, especially "Mr. Kennedy," "Zzub Zzub Zzub Ha ha" and "Chris Gross Take that Gerbil Out of Your Mouth." Of course, as a huge Egyptians fan, it was a real treat to see Morris again, and Kimberley Rew was even more manic than on the Rock Armada tour. I know there's been a lot of discussion on the List about Kimberley and his unusual looks; as I have said a few times, I think he looks like a Muppet, a giant Muppet escaped from Doctor Tooth's Electric Mayhem. And yes, he still looks surprised at how many sounds he can force from his guitar. Another great thing about Kimberley is that he keeps Robyn on his toes -- I love Robyn's guitar playing, but I have never seen him quite this good. It was a joy to see them together -- Kimberley's playing is almost like a challenge, it seems to drive Robyn on to greater and greater heights. My favorite moments were the sheer pleasure of watching/hearing Robyn and Kimberley were trading riffs or just grooving together, especially on "Pervert," "Insanely Jealous," and "Mr. Kennedy." Robyn's spidery, fluttering fingers don't look like they can keep up with Kimberley's effortless blur, but they never seemed to miss a beat. Oh, and at the end of the night, Kimberley stole -- blatantly STOLE -- the wooden Jesus that LJ had placed for safekeeping on the stage. I think he might have considered it an offering. Judy was going to go backstage and get it back, but she's afraid of Muppets. I liked Matthew Seligman, but I had to say that overall I prefer Andy Metcalfe for some of the music -- the tight, bubbling grooves that Andy and Morris perfected as the Egyptians would have really added some punch to "Leppo and the Jooves," "Kingdom of Love," and "Only the Stones Remain," I think. But having said that, I have to add that I was more impressed with Seligman in Boston, so maybe it's just a matter of getting used to him. He certainly has the chops, really doing some nice things with "Human Music." So anyway, it was a great show. "Pervert" was perhaps the highlight for me -- they have changed the song a bit, and it now loops around in an even more tightly sinister way, and Robyn and Kimberley's interlocking guitar parts were fantastic. Not to mention that Robyn seems to sing it with more, er, *conviction* now that he's getting older. I suppose I have always heard the song as more theatrical/sarcastic; but there was something about the delivery that really struck me, especially the ending -- it seems so pathetic, the last lyric making the pervert "character" almost sympathetic. "Leppo" was also a highlight, and "Only the Stones" just blew me away -- Robyn really has it down, and he seems excited to be singing it again with a full band. Again, an increased level of maturity really brings a new shine to the songs, which also shows how good they were to begin with, I suppose. "Only the Stones Remain" remains one of the most gleeful celebrations of nihilism I can imagine, and Robyn delivered it with the perfect amount of sardonic good cheer. (Forgive me for sounding like a half-assed rock critic! This was just so exciting for me.) As already reported, the YFF came on for "Give it to the Softboys," followed by a jam session for "Queen of Eyes." Yaaaay! (MMMMMucky the pig, by the way.) The next day we all hung around recuperating, playing Frogger and eating pizza. In a total break with his Vegan ways, Eddie actually ate the raw remains of Ross Overbury, following it up by swallowing several living goldfish and confessing to me that he thought Ralph Nader "dressed funny." That evening we walked to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where spoiling for a fight, we searched awhile in vain for Norman Mailer. After we returned home, a few of us headed over to Scary Mary's for khau khalash and crab juice. Still glowing from the concert, I allowed myself to be persuaded into thinking that maybe a day off and a trip to Boston would be a good idea, and mentioned that I would think about it overnight. We finished our evening by watching the Oscars and commenting that Bob Dylan is looking increasingly more like Vincent Price. Alas, I missed Bjork, who will one day realize that she loves me as much as I love her. On Monday morning we discovered that Eddie's car had been towed by the New York Police, which prompted a little adventure of its own. Eddie got to see the impounding facilities at the Brooklyn Naval Yards, where he was privileged enough to stand on the "T" and wait for "redemption." I have to say, Mr. Tews took it with grace and style, roundly thanking all the staff involved for their participation in his experience. As soon as we got back with the car, Bayard struck me on the head, and Woj and Eddie shuffled my unconscious body into the Geo Metro. The next thing I knew, I woke up on I-95 North, with Eddie gnawing on my ear. No trace of Chris, LJ, Judy, Carissa, Mary, Lara, Jeannie, John, Richard, Carla, Matthew the Cook and his wife, Loki, or the wooden Jesus. I was alone with three insane men, all hypnotized by Eddie to construct a giant auger and drill through the earth to hunt for CHUDs. And we had to be in Boston by 7pm, where we were actually going to meet Ken "My real name is Ostrander" Kenster. And it was, of all the damnedest things, snowing.... To be continued after coffee, - --Quail ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #92 *******************************