From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #107 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, April 4 2001 Volume 10 : Number 107 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Files Uploaded ["Maximilian Lang" ] Re: T-shirt lust/request [Bayard ] ...oh yeah now i'm awake... [Dolph Chaney ] Re: cows n' stuff ["Russ Reynolds" ] Family Circus indeed! ["Seth Frisby" ] Re: 20th Century Eb [Ben ] Re: cows n' stuff [Eb ] I often dream of... (uh-oh - nothing there this time) [grutness@surf4nix.] line breaks suck ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] Re: Rabid Town [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: line breaks suck [Jeff Dwarf ] Possible announcement, I guess. [Capuchin ] listen.com interview [recount chocula ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V10 #106 [DDerosa5@aol.com] oh, i see [tlr3@email.unc.edu (tom)] help! [tlr3@email.unc.edu (tom)] 3/14/78 soft boys concert review [recount chocula ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 23:29:07 -0400 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Files Uploaded Hey all, I have uploaded some samples of my recordings to the FTP. Please, if you have recordings let us hear them!!! To paraphrase CSI "There is always an upgrade" and I always want to hear it! Lets share our tapes!!! Max P.S. Oh yeah, they are as follows: Philly - Only The Stones Remain NYC - Old Pervert Hoboken - I Wanna Destroy You ENJOY! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 23:46:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Bayard Subject: Re: T-shirt lust/request On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Michael R. Runion wrote: > Damn!...is it too late? Tom, if you see this, indeed please snag me a > shirt...XL...something cool and subtle. the Baby-T! Get him the Baby-T! OK, now the real reason for the post: they should do black snake diamond rock! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 22:57:15 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: ...oh yeah now i'm awake... woj nudged me awake so I'd talk about the Chicago show more, and now that I've got the real set list from Eddie "Twose" (as Matthew spells it) to guide me, it'll be easier to call it. pre-show -- I arrived off the train from work a bit before 7. one alley past the Metro, in the Gingerman pub, I met Aaron Lowe & Mike Wells The New Guy. (Here's a public apology to Mike -- sorry if you felt a bit left out in the conversation. Aaron and I went to the University of Houston together and hadn't seen each other in person for years.) Aaron brought two Matts (one of them is one Matthew too many for you, on a health kick...) with him. Soon we noted the queue outside, and I got antsy to find Doc, the Davids Librik and Witzany (con Mrs.), Eddie & Carissa, for I was the Bearer O' Tix for most of that group, so I took leave -- but not before hearing of Aaron's Matthew-toaster experience! In any even, I did spot the aforementioned gaggle in line and supplied them with tickets. Carissa brought a present -- a mermaid painting, a Nee-Toe scarf, and beautiful homemade soap! The zealous Metro staff almost confiscated it upon entry to the club (I suppose more recording devices smell of cinnamon these days?). (Well, one of them did tell me I looked like the Unabomber in my coat. Something tells me they didn't mean it as a compliment, though. Huh.) Eventually we did all make it inside, including my Becca, who showed up from work just in time for John Wesley Harding & the Radical Gentlemen. I was completely stoked about this double-bill, especially since _The Confessions of St. Ace_ is really the first studio album in Wes's career to DELIVER on his songs -- no more trying to re-create certain late 80's Declan MacManus albums in a laboratory environment, and yet something more than the admittedly charming Wes solo-acoustic experience. This was the Wes I wanted to see live, and I got 'im -- he was having a great time, and they rocked it like a burly pig. Even if all the stories and song order were repeats from the previous shows, it was more than fun enough to see once (especially when Wes talked about being from Cambridge like the Soft Boys and Doc called him on it -- he's really from Hastings! It seemed to wake Wes up a bit. yay Doc!). A geezer DJ from WXRT-FM was summarily booed as he pretended to have championed the Soft Boys in their heyday. Ha ha bloody ha. Damn radio. Following this, as Verbow's _White Out_ played over the loudspeaker (I have worn out two copies of Verbow's _Chronicles_ but hadn't heard this one -- less aggro but pretty cool), the pre-Soft Boys anticipation started building. Requests via balloons were made -- "I Got the Hots," "The Book Of Love," "Sandra's Having Her Brain Out," and "You'll Have To Go Sideways." As he came out, Matthew was greeted with the balloons, and before they launched into the latter, he made sure to place its balloon nearest to Morris's kit. Our clump's position: nearest to Matthew, with Morris's head totally obscured by his crash cymbal, 1st to 3rd layer from the barrier. Robyn and Kimberley were furthest away but the best lit of the group from our vantage (the better to giggle at you with, my dear Kimberley...) 3/30/01, Metro, Chicago You'll Have To Go Sideways - I was a bit uneasy before the show about the prospect of this as an opener, thinking it wouldn't bring much energy to the proceedings. boy, am I dumb. the build was tremendous as Kimberley slowly brought in his E-bow work -- they sounded totally up to date, and the piece worked far better than it does on record. Queen Of Eyes - it seemed a bit slow, but otherwise faboooo. I'd seen the Rock Armada do it, but since this provided my first in-person experience of Morris's high harmony, it hardly seemed old-hat. He's A Reptile - reaction from the forty-somethings behind me was particularly strong to this, as they sang along impeccably like it was "Hey Jude" or something. yay! also fun on this was Kimberley's expression as he sang "he's a reptile" each time, smiling as if to say "haha yes, he sure is a reptile all right!" it's the little things, y'know... Old Pervert - Robyn's flouncy old-pervert dance is *definitely* being added to my repertoire. My Mind Is Connected To Your Dreams - any song prominently featuring the word "zzub" gets my vote. not my favorite of the new ones, but good enough. The Bells Of Rhymney - I've never been crazy about the Byrds, and I won't pretend that this was particularly thrilling for me. a palate cleanser, as Wayne & Garth might put it... Kingdom Of Love - ...and the audience must have agreed, because the transition from polite reception to rapture at the opening riff of this was fittingly dramatic. I Wanna Destroy You - again dedicated to George W. Bush, alluding that the US political climate has now come around to where it was when this song was released (the cusp of Reaganembolism) (my term for it, not RH's) Evil Guy - I love _Queen Elvis_ and had no idea that this was an outtake from it until Mr. Librik pointed it out. I like this song Very So Much and hope that its age won't preclude it from a spot on the SB's album should it happen. Only The Stones Remain - not *quite* as much gesticulation as on _Gotta Let This Hen Out!_, but twas maaaaarvely. (lyric watch -- "ovulated") Underwater Moonlight - thought RH was going to break his low E's tuning key during the extended middle (the "beergut" of the song, as it were), but a rousing addition it was. Sudden Town - pretty good new song, but the lyric doesn't feel finished. Insanely Jealous - well done, but definitely a dissatisfying end to the first set -- dissatisfying as a song choice, not a performance. Human Music - I was very happy about this, because I had really wanted to hear it sung with Robyn's mature voice rather than the developing, overly sneery delivery on A Can Of Bees. (I say this as a delirious Can Of Bees fan -- that's usually the SB's record I put on when I think of them.) Astronomy Domine - wheeeeeeeeeeee! to add to my previous message on this, I would point out that Morris provided the excellent descending falsetto "ooooooooooooooooooooooo" between verses, sounding like Graham Chapman playing kazoo. Train 'round The Bend - guitar geek content: Kimberley's right-hand attack is so strong that he plays this riff with alternating up and down strums but sounds like he's doing it all with down strokes. Mr. Kennedy - THIS is my favorite of the new songs. not just because Sebadoh appears in the lyrics, either. I had decided it was my favorite *before* the extended guitar intertwinings began, but after? WOW! it was so much fun watching Kimberley pretend to be Robyn's delay pedal, then goading him phrase by phrase. Robyn's responses met the challenge. Later I told Doc: "y'know, I've been thinking about how much I want to go see Television in concert this year. and I think I just did." Rock And/Or Roll Toilet - yay! the two best songs on _Invisible Hits_, my least favorite SB's record! were you reading my MIND, fellas??!?!? The Pulse Of My Heart - I liked this new one, too, and its calmness was quite a fine setup for... Face Of Death - RRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!! I love this as a closer (as on _Gotta_) because it is such a very early song, such a distillation of primordial RH without all the craft and wisdom that has grown into his work over the years. and I always think it's neat when they stop suddenly and go "MIRROR!!!" Post-show, as DL reported, was mainly spent slemmiched* into the pantyhose-egg environs of the coatcheck/merch area. Eddie Tews bought me a shirt because he rocks! and because I retrieved him some baaaaaadges. then, off we went to Goose Island for gab and hooch (and sodey pop for us lightweights). I am jealous of gNat for having seen GbV on this tour... but at least I got to see the Soft Boys before her. neener neener. 8-) snootch to the nootch dolph * slemmiched = sandwiched + lemming -- new word of mine, do you like it? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 21:51:09 -0700 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Re: cows n' stuff > But, I am still not convinced that there are any black people here, but I > will keep looking. > > gss Check the Trailblazers. I'm pretty sure some of those guys are black. > There are HEAPS of tape traders here... you've just been unlucky in your > trawling. Perhaps you didn't use the secret handshake. I remember the milkman's secret handshake from Laugh-In or something [one person has fingers interlinked, palms out, thumbs pointing down; other person tugs alternately on thumbs, as if "milking" them] would probably be apropos to any cow list...is that what we are now? BTW, does anyone remember "Cows" by the Suburbs? One of the best bovine rockers you'll find anywhere. > Myself, I usually had a hard time understanding why folks thought *Gary > Larsen* was funny. "Hey, here's an idea -- I'll make this cartoon about an > animal saying something a human would normally say! Oh, here's an even > *better* idea -- I'll do the same damn thing another 4,000 times! Woo!" Eb, you'd make a great Phillie's fan (would probably boo a cancer cure). Anyone own a copy of "Floats" by the Credibility Gap? Pull it off the shelf and listen for the droll critic who pans a float in the Rose Parade. That's our Eb. >> And as usual, she puts up a >> balloon asking for "I've got the Hots for you" and as usual we don't play >> it - we rehearsed it once before the tour but we never got to the end. >> This time the balloon has a big please on it too. Sorry." Well, it doesn't really *have* an ending. But come ON! I mean, what's the problem with it? He's done it solo a bunch of times and at least once with the Egyptians. They've got FOUR DAYS to get it down for the Fillmore crowd. Baking land under creamy skies. Come on, how hard can that be? - -rUss, pleased that there are box scores in the sports pages again. np: More Songs About Buildings And Food. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 01:44:23 -0400 From: "Seth Frisby" Subject: Family Circus indeed! ..yes I am now a repeat poster..wowee I would love to second the idea of some saint putting up mp3's for the Boston show. As myself and my laptop would have trouble otherwise. Also a big thank you to the Mr.Tucker (i'm feeling official) for sending out those lovely cdr's of the Baltimore show, I counted it and the Boston show as part of my birthday presents from the uni-verse. As far as comic strips go the only one that continuously frightens me and makes me worry for house-wives and the children they raise is Family Circus..how many times have we all been made to feel that we're in Sunday School by that strip? I mean c'mon every month they have to allude to good ol' dead grampa sitting pretty on a fluffy cloud..and worse..such as one line memorized by myself due to horror, the little girl(whatever her name is) is sitting upside down on some grass with a rainbow above and says "if you look at a rainbow upside down you can see God smiling!" which of course made me groan in the wrong way.. I did think that the crowd at Boston was pretty relaxed and attentive, there were a few hipsters and their drinks I steered clear of though. I did get a few looks sitting on the bar to Kimberley's left, but that's probably my fault for looking like Jesus in a girl's scout t-shirt..and being tipsy and I will also second Vermont as being a nice place..but not now...the snow..the snow..the mud..I went for a drive today and ended up in New Hampshire by accident..cabin fever... Seth Frisby (which comes up Frisky in all spell-checks) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 01:49:44 -0400 From: Ben Subject: Re: 20th Century Eb > I just wanna say here that I'm really enjoying that one automobile > commercial which uses Bolan's "20th Century Boy" as background. God DAMN, > that's a kick-ass song! Why don't I have a copy? I don't even know which > album it's on, offhand. Bolan's post-Slider catalog is such a crass, > disorganized mess.... Not anymore... a few years ago the label Edsel re-released all of Bolan's post Electric Warrior albums, with outstanding sound and bonus tracks. And the bonus tracks are generally quite good, coming from the many non-album singles (remember them?) that T-Rex issued. "20th Century Boy" will be found most easily as a bonus track on the "Tanx" reissue. You should be able to find it and all the others at Amazon or CD-Now. Also, Edsel has issued about 50 CD's worth of demos, outtakes, and just about anything they could get their hands on. I wouldn't recommend any of them to anyone but a Bolan freak, except for "Messing With The Mystic", sort of a "best of" outtakes collection. It will make you wonder why Bolan didn't put some of these songs on his later albums, instead of the mediocre and downright bad material he often chose. Oh and thanks for pointing me to the Flying Nun site! ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 23:15:00 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: cows n' stuff >> Myself, I usually had a hard time understanding why folks thought *Gary >> Larsen* was funny. "Hey, here's an idea -- I'll make this cartoon about an >> animal saying something a human would normally say! Oh, here's an even >> *better* idea -- I'll do the same damn thing another 4,000 times! Woo!" > >Eb, you'd make a great Phillie's fan (would probably boo a cancer cure). Well, I never considered The Far Side as unassailable as a cancer cure, but if you say so.... Four-legged animals walking upright like people...hee hee hee, Gary FUNNY! And when he has one of them hold a *martini*...oh man, you gotta wipe me off the floor! ;) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 18:32:05 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: I often dream of... (uh-oh - nothing there this time) Eb flowed: >The timing works, but I doubt the two are connected. However, as for Eno's >reference to "the modern lovers" on Here Come the Warm Jets...much more >likely. Trainspottin', flagwavin' Dignan probably has the definitive word >on the subject.... sigh. No - I was about to ask the same question. As for trainspotting, I also wonder whether A Certain Ratio got their name from another line in the same song (The true wheel). James ("Hmmm. A4 Pacific no 60017 - that'll be the 'Silver Fox'!") 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, 3 Apr 2001 23:49:39 -0700 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: line breaks suck Sorry about my line breaks. I need to fix that problem again. >From: Ken Ostrander > >funny. since the show last week, i've been listening to a lot of their first >album. it's more raucous and challenging than _um_. i think that's the >point. with its more straightforward sound and less...uh...shall we >say...misogynistic tone, _um_ appeals to a larger audience. Of course -- there's no doubt in my mind that _UM_ is the more palatable of the two. "Raucous and challenging" is how I thought of _ACOB_ until recently, when I started to hear how all the different instrumental parts bounced around each other and found myself wanting to listen to "Skool Dinner Blues" over and over and over again. Yum. As for the misogynistic tone, well, _obviously_ Robyn is speaking through his aardvark protagonist, the "Old Pervert" of _Underwater Moonlight_. :) :) :) >From: Eb > >I just wanna say here that I'm really enjoying that one automobile >commercial which uses Bolan's "20th Century Boy" as background. God DAMN, >that's a kick-ass song! Why don't I have a copy? I don't even know which >album it's on, offhand. Bolan's post-Slider catalog is such a crass, >disorganized mess.... "20th Century Boy" is somehow totally invulnerable to overexposure (unlike, as previously discussed, that Katrina and the Waves song). This is the second commercial I've seen it on (the first was a hot little indieboy listening to it as he strolled the school halls in some stupid MTV commercial), and then there was the so-so Placebo version (you'd think Brian Molko of all people would know how to be T.Rex-coy) from _Velvet Goldmine_. It still thrills me every time I hear it. I have it on a T. Rex "A-Sides" compilation, which is full of all sorts of excellent glam throwaway fun. >Eb, who has the same birthday as Bolan, y'know I share mine with Mahalia Jackson and, I'm afraid, Pat Sajak. Not the year, though, obviously. By the way, I really have no burning (sorry) desire to hear "I Got the Hots." "Listening to the Higsons" would turn me to jelly, though. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen.com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 23:59:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Rabid Town GSS wrote: > Oregon is a terrarium and there are no black people in the entire > state. what about Rasheed Wallace? or Scottie Pippin? or various members of the UoOregon and OregonSt basketball and football teams? ===== "I am so sorry that (Treasury Secretary Paul) O'Neill is upset by people who refer to the corporate aristocracy in this country as "robber barons." That _is_ rude, isn't it? Personally, I prefer to call them greedy bastards." --Molly Ivins Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 01:59:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: line breaks suck "Andrew D. Simchik" wrote: > >Eb, who has the same birthday as Bolan, y'know > > I share mine with Mahalia Jackson and, I'm afraid, Pat Sajak. > Not the year, though, obviously. at least it's not ricky (oops, Rick) schroeder, although that does mean also having Al Green's. and Thomas Jefferson, though he doesn't get to parties much anymore. and yes, that's why my father picked out my name..... ===== "I am so sorry that (Treasury Secretary Paul) O'Neill is upset by people who refer to the corporate aristocracy in this country as "robber barons." That _is_ rude, isn't it? Personally, I prefer to call them greedy bastards." --Molly Ivins Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 04:06:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Possible announcement, I guess. On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, Seth Frisby wrote: > I would love to second the idea of some saint putting up mp3's for the > Boston show. As myself and my laptop would have trouble otherwise. I set up an OpenNap server. I'm not sure what the next steps are. I'd like to limit it to folks on this list, but that means adding you one at a time, really. I could do that, though. Let me know if you're interested in an Elite position so you can admin users and stuff... and we can figure out how to make that happen. Hell, it's better than Someone's poor server getting nailed when they put up MP3s of a single show. Download 'em and put 'em in your share lists... ease the load all around. So, who's interested? J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 09:57:25 -0400 From: recount chocula Subject: listen.com interview Listen Picks: The Soft Boys Hit The Road For Anniversary Tour Give It To The Soft Boys -- Again! By Linda R., a Listen.com Staff Writer When the Soft Boysgot together in 1976, they had it all: headstrong pop songs, a wickedly English sense of humor, a charismatic frontman, and a strong desire to turn the music world upside down. The only thing they didn't have was an audience. And although their recorded output comprises only two albums and a few EPs (with another handful of recorded works released posthumously), the Cambridge, England quartet inspired a thousand other bands, possessing that certain something that continues to attract new fans some 25 years later. Yes, you read correctly. 2001 is the Soft Boys' twenty-fifth anniversary, and to mark the occasion, enigmatic singer Robyn Hitchcock and his cast of characters - drummer Morris Windsor, guitarist Kimberly Rew and bassist Matthew Seligman - will tour America for the very first time. To celebrate, Matador Records will reissue the band's seminal album Underwater Moonlight with even more bonus tracks and a new title: Underwater Moonlight And How It Got There. Hitchcock spoke with Listen.com about the upcoming tour, and a whole lot more. Listen.com:The first and most obvious question is: why the reunion tour? Robyn Hitchcock:Well, Kimberly and I have been working/playing together a lot recently. Morris always plays when we have a party at the house, and Matthew is ready to pick up the bass again after nine years in the legal trade. And as it happened, Underwater Moonlight was out of print again and Matador was interested in releasing it with some bonus tracks - it gets longer every time. We auditioned ourselves ourselves last July and found that we could still play together. So we booked the U.S. tour we never played back in 1981. The Soft Boys missed Reagan, but we're back in time for Bush II. LR:Have there been any Van Halen-like incidents during rehearsals? RH:Not yet. But one of the main reasons we split up was because there didn't seem to be a future for us. We couldn't flourish in the musical climate of the early '80s. We've also moved on a bit: Kim's been in a Top-20 group (Katrina and the Waves) and I've become a cult figure, so we've realized our personal ambitions. We appreciate each other now. LR:How does it feel playing together in 2001 as opposed to the first time around? RH:The feel is very different when we plug in. It's less spiky and more good-natured. LR:Why do you think the Soft Boys have not only endured over the years, but shine more brightly now than they did back in the late '70s/early '80s? RH:We were and are a really great band -- the missing link between the Beatles and Oasis. Liam Gallagher ripped off my eyebrows. Sounds painful. Back then was when I first started writing good songs. I've never written anything better than "Insanely Jealous." LR:Wow! That's quite a statement. But aren't you a little nervous? I mean, wouldn't it be better to pull a James Dean or Marilyn Monroe and let the legend die young and pretty? RH:Although it's sweet of you to mention us in the same breath as Monroe and James Dean, you're dead right. We got where we are today be being defunct. Everybody loves you when you're off the map. You can only play the reunion card once. After that, you're back on Earth with the rest of the mortals. But we're really good! The rehearsals have been great. LR:Your music has influenced bands such as R.E.M., the dB's, the Replacements and countless others. You paint, you write stories. You're seen as a bit of a Renaissance man. How do you see yourself? RH:I see myself as a young person encased in layer after layer of time. I'm probably as grown-up as I'll ever be. Music is the heart of it all - nothing beats playing and singing. It makes sense of a crooked world. Writing and painting are secondary muscles I flex from time to time - who knows when they'll have to earn my living? LR:I hear you're writing a novel. RH:I've been working on this novel intermittently for the past seven years. It was a short story that ignored the red light and became a novel. It's fiction, though it's essentially quite autobiographical - first novels are inclined to be that way, they say. The idea is that, by the end of the book, the beginning couldn't have happened, so it's obviously very hard to finish properly. LR:And you've started a label. Will the label be just for your work, or will you be signing artists to release? RH:Actually, the label Editions PAF! is for my own projects. A Star for Bram(PAF 1) is the outtakes from my last Warner Bros. album, Jewels for Sophia. There will be forthcoming PAF! discs soon of live archive recordings. Check the Museum of Me at robynhitchcock.com. It's great to be a website. LR:The amount of comedian friends you have is amazing. When can we expect to see you on Whose Line Is It Anyway? And can you get us Tony Slattery's phone number? RH:Sadly, I don't have access to Tony Slattery's number, but if I ever meet him I will give him yours. In the U.S. my peers are musicians - in the U.K. they're comedians. Grant Lee Phillips, however, is both. We like to think of ourselves as Metropolitan Entertainers (tm). To say that Robyn Hitchcock, Metropolitan Entertainer (tm) has led a charmed life isn't much of a stretch. After all, how many artists can you name that have found success with two different bands -- the Soft Boys and the Egyptians - while also maintaining a thriving solo career? If you can't see Hitchcock on tour with the Soft Boys this spring, don't fret. Rumor has it that one or two of the shows are being recorded for a live album. And you can always check out his websites at robynhitchcock.com or Fegmania. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:00:34 EDT From: DDerosa5@aol.com Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V10 #106 eb enthused: > I just wanna say here that I'm really enjoying that one automobile > commercial which uses Bolan's "20th Century Boy" as background. God DAMN, > It's great when Bolan does it, and even better on the cover I have of the Replacements doing it, though it's so loud it would shred the TV speakers in the commercial... dave ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:09:21 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) From: tlr3@email.unc.edu (tom) Subject: oh, i see so it is .com, and the password is jooves? seems to work now. tom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:07:10 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) From: tlr3@email.unc.edu (tom) Subject: help! bayard said re:soft boys shows ftp server: "information for downloading as follows: hellrot.suddenindustries.org login: fegmaniax pw: leppo" i can find this as a .com, but not as a .org, and then the password doesn't work. has anyone gotten this to work? can anyone help? sorry for bothering the whole list. . .. and apologies if this has been addressed already (i'm on the digest). thanks, tom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 11:27:03 -0400 From: recount chocula Subject: 3/14/78 soft boys concert review [many thanks to john irvine for this review of the fourth soft boys shows ever, which appeared in the 3 june 1978 edition of "sounds". woj] I was rummaging through my SB memorabilia in light of all the glowing press they're getting these days and came across a show review of their 4th gig ever at the Hope 3/14/78. I didn't see it in the archives. Feel free to post this wherever you like. John Irvine A Touch Of Class Soft Boys/Astronauts THE HOPE still has some of the atmosphere of its '77 heyday about it: no-one looks uptight about being cramped together in this damn cellar, craning your neck to glimpse the band and being deafened by the bounce-back off the walls, instead they joke and catcall happily between nosediving another pint, all contributing to a very real happiness feel you totally miss at larger venues. Not much anarchy though, or the Astronauts would have been gobbed off stage. They play funky rhythms somewhere between early Tull and Pentangle, sport a vocalist that looks like one of the Wurzels and sings well but grind on and on about terribly sociological stuff about the end of the world, travellers, gypsies, you know - the whole eco-illogical bit. A bit to the right of Steve Hillage (honestly). Everyone looked a litle mystified, the guy in front of me mouthed off about relics of the Sixties and they didn't get a single request for an encore. The Soft Boys are a touch of class: introducing themselves in deviant fahion as "Larry and the Bicycles" and calling their music "dance music" (quip on "Saturday Night Fever"?) they jerked everyone into motion with something of the Force about them, all red light and hum. The first few numbers included their anthem 'Soft Boys' were lifted straightout of early Clapton, 'Disraeli Gears', slow bass rundowns from from Andy Metcalfe and clicking lead from Kimberley Rew. They demonstrated how to overcome feedback probs. of the type that had hazed up tbe support act, just play gently, clearly, and in good time. Main efforts are directed at the evocation of mood, growling lyrics over deep driving rhythms, but they break over fresher ground than that: Presley's "Mystery Train" was rendered with chugging backbeat and choruses like steam whistles, a superb example of what can be achieved by imaginative arrangements of a simple rhythm element. Vocalist Robyn Hitchcock, psycho stareout of the audience, growls through, "Sandra's having her brain out . . . having her heart out . . .his soul dry cleaned." Keep that one in the set forever, it'll become a classic. As though that's not sufficient we are fed a seafood trilogy, "Where are the Prawns?", "Return of the Sacred Crab", etc. and are rolled off our feet by the single "I Want to be an Anglepoise Lamp" (What?). But the goofiness doesn't get anywhere near the music, Joh Cale's "Heartbreak Hotel" is driven line after line with punch and a spirit of theatrical malevolence. Just as it was all getting a bit too slick they fooled us with an encore of the Allman Brothers' country ditty, 'Bananas', even including those daft guitar solos. This is jellyrock, hard to grasp because it's over-gooey and soft, a waste of time trying to pin down. These boys rip off everything in sight and exude un air of uncaring supercool: mite too clever for yours truly but everyone looked happy. They'll probably go down well in the current state of the art. PAUL CHAUTAUQUA Sounds: June 3, 1978 The same issue contains a 1/2 page ad by Radar Records for the "Anglepoise Lamp" single, and a list of "The First Tour" dates: May 31 - Sheffield Limit Club June 2 - Middlesborough Rock Garden June 5 - Edinburgh Tiffany's June 7 - Newport Stowaway's Club June 8 - Leeds Roots June 9 - Manchester Rafters June 15 - Plymouth Metro June 17 - Portsmouth Polytechnic June 18 - London Marquee ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #107 ********************************