From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #194 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, May 11 2001 Volume 10 : Number 194 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Some Christians Can Turn Buddhist, Study Suggests [steve ] RE: Holy voting felons, Batman! [Motherfucking Asshole ] RE: Holy death penalty advocates with holes in their heads, Batman [GSS <] We found ourselves thinking violent thoughts of Emailia ["Lilac Doorway" ] Re: binky the doormat? ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Re: Reunion of the Snake ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Chinese diamond roll python ["Lilac Doorway" ] guilty pleasures (was 80s music) ["ross taylor" ] Re: reap [Stephen Mahoney ] RE: Some Christians Can Turn [Aaron Mandel ] dot dot dot [dmw ] The Ashcroftian Mythos ["Mike wells" ] embarrassing '80's confessions [Carole Reichstein ] [comics] Women For CEREBUS! [HAL ] Re: Some Christians Can Turn Buddhist, Study Suggests [steve ] Cuccurullo Anthology ["Mike wells" ] to be finnish would be a relief ["Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: Re: Some Christians Can Turn Buddhist, Study Suggests On Friday, May 11, 2001, at 01:26 AM, Jeff Dwarf wrote: > pseudo-christian sociopaths Funny you should mention that: http://www.tompaine.com/history/2001/04/27/index.html - - Steve __________ The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policymakers to protect the American way of life, the American way of life is a blessed one. - - Ari Fleischer, when asked if Americans should use less energy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 00:12:27 -0700 From: Motherfucking Asshole Subject: Re: 80s music wow. it had never occurred to me that it would be possible to spell that. cool. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 00:16:02 -0700 From: Motherfucking Asshole Subject: RE: Holy voting felons, Batman! this sort of behaviour is pretty much standard operating procedure for the u.s. vis a vis the un. perhaps most notably, the gulf war vote was bought in much this manner. At Thursday, 10 May 2001, you wrote: >Who said that American politicians don't believe in buying votes? > >>``Actions have consequences. Our U.N. friends have an option -- if >> they would like to get the payment, they will vote the United States back >> on the commission,'' said Rep. Tom Lantos (news - bio - voting record) >> of California, the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations >> Committee and co-sponsor of the proposal with the committee's >> chairman, Republican Rep. Henry Hyde (news - bio - voting record) of >> Illinois. > >from http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010510/ts/un_usa_congress_dc_3. html > >Embarrassing. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 00:18:02 -0700 From: Motherfucking Asshole Subject: Re: Some Christians Can Turn Buddhist, Study Suggests >The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it >should be the goal of policymakers to protect the American way of life, >the American way of life is a blessed one. > >- Ari Fleischer, when asked if Americans should use less energy > now see, this the kind of thing what i had in mind when i said that a bush presidency, besides being the "lesser of two evils", would also be probably the most entertaining since carter's. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 08:10:01 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: RE: Some Christians Can Turn Aaron Mandel wrote: > i greatly dislike the idea of basing gay rights initiatives on the idea > that people just can't help themselves; Are you saying that they can because sexual preference is based on a decision that the individual makes, like religious values or beliefs? gSs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 08:27:15 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: RE: Holy death penalty advocates with holes in their heads, Batman This is just one more reason in my opinion why we should not put people to death, not the main reason, just another on the long list. Fuck the state. from - ------------------------------------------------------- Asked on what grounds a stay could be justified after McVeigh admitted he planted and detonated the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in 1995, Burr said, "What if Stephen Jones is right and he is protecting others?" The reference was to McVeigh's lead trial attorney, later fired, who contended his client was part of a larger conspiracy. Jones said Thursday that he feels "vindicated" by the government's admission. "I said from the beginning they were withholding evidence, and they were." He also said that that he's been told the documents contain over 200 interviews and he suspects they are about what witnesses said about a second suspect the FBI called John Doe #2. "If this should turn out to be about John Doe #2, I think it is far from clear that the Oklahoma City bombing case has reached a conclusion in federal court," Jones said. The FBI later concluded McVeigh acted largely alone, because of a hot apple pie he bought at a McDonald's in Junction City, Kansas, minutes before renting the bomb truck. A security camera caught McVeigh on film arriving alone, eating by himself and then leaving alone. - -------------------------------------------------------- fucking hilarious ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:45:59 -0000 From: "Lilac Doorway" Subject: We found ourselves thinking violent thoughts of Emailia >From: Tom Clark Subject: Peter Buck Hates Me The change probobly came when he heard about your porn collection. Now--you don't have a Website, do ya?;-) Jason Youve set a new humor standard on feg with that Ken Burns thing. I was laughing so hard a patron asked me if I was alright. James- I also love "The Only Living Boy in NY" but have never known what it was "about." Thanks for enlightenment. Funny, when I think about it, my favorite Simon songs are the ones which are abit enigmatic. Or work for anyone whose ever been stuck on the NJ Turnpike(loved how it was used in "Almost Famous" .) Also always loved "Peace like a River." >PS - Dewey ref. 023 = "Librarians" Where is my rubber sword to fall upon? Yes well, once youve ploughed your way thru the world's most boring grad work--its amazing how you forget everything which might rekindle the memory of that horror known as "Library Science.";-) >and it's perfectly possible to train left-handers to write with their > >right >hand, too. Causes only mild psychological scarring, so it's fine to >do it, >and being right-handed means they're "normal" then. Right? Sigh. Mild ... did you say mild! Have you seen my spelling(rhetorical)? >I tell ya, if you're going to rig >your elections in the US, you should at least be a bit more subtle >about >it. People are only subtle when they need to be. Scary Mary: This Fegfembot says you rock. Hmmm-now, where to put the crab... (and how -did- you get Morris into that pose;-) Nuppp said of them: >Those would be great CD cover art for a live disc! Yes indeedy--but I want the bright green Robyn pants added. And Vivs oh so useful suggestion: >little pairs of fairy wings. Oh, and a leather hood. I will however amend that to a "shiny" leather hood. Per:>Some Gays Can Turn Straight, Study Suggests I can understand why someone whould choose to enlarge their sexuality but not why they would choose to shrink it. In short--adding to the menu-cool. Crossing out items on the menu--huh? Frankly, I always thought one of the great things bout sexuality was you didnt have to "try." BTW,I was born abidexterous but went to this French pre-school where they hit your left hand everytime you used it. Needless to say. Im now basically hetro,oophs, no, I mean right-handed;-) Oh--since people are talking about the quaility of voices. To beat my favorate dogfoood... Whats always gotten me is a certain induvidual intelligence in the phrasing. Robyn will sing a lyric with a certain intonation that is very much Robyn(even thou yes in some ways the Sid likeness is uncanny.) Same for Bawb, Amy Mann, John Lennon, etc . Thats what draws me in. There is loads of music I like but it dosnt draw me in. Loads of voices I recognize as good, enjoy--but they dont make something in my head click on--something which makes the person --authentic, real, soulful,original, just plain matter? Dont know what word Im looking for. But a voice that -makes- you listen the way you'd listen to a friend in the same room telling you something important. Miles> >I think the '70s have lasted longer this >time than they did the first time around. Oh god yes, and all the worse bits of the 70s too. It is now a style law that 20 years after the fact we recycle a decade. I hate it. At least the decades are new the first time around. Have an element of suprise. So lets speed up the cycle. Onward to the 80s, then the 90s real fast. That way we may end up in our own time and have to deal with the creative posibilitties of the present. Egad, what a concept. Jill on Billy Idol, U2 and the Police-- Not grumpy dear--accurate. Saw the Blake show at the Met in NY this week(also the Vermeer which is also wonderful. Neither had lines, you could walk right in. But the Jackie O exhibit had lines 4 galleries long. We're such fucking Philistines.) Anyway, was so moved by the power and the pathos of the Blake I went into this atrium thing with a fountain in the center to recover. Noticed people had flipped coins into the fountain. Didnt have any coins but wanted to leave some offering to the god of the place. The attendents hadnt let me check my CD player, so I opened it and frisbeed the disc inside into the fountain. It went in with a gratifying slurp and sunk to the bottom, from where it reflected all sorts of colors and lights upwards. And the disc--A CDR of the SBs DC show. Kay, who will never again wear shorts, a tank top and no gloves when weeding an area she now knows(oh do I know)is crammed with poisen ivy. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:12:49 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: binky the doormat? >From: "Andrew D. Simchik" >Subject: binky the doormat? OK, I'm replying to the *subject* of this post, not the post itself. It caught my eye, that's all. I, personally, am a big fan of Binky the Doormat, and his arch-nemesis, Shakes the Clown and Clown Judy. Nobody's DVD collection is complete without Shakes the Clown. Didja know that the actor who played Binky is also the voice behind Squarebob Spongepants? Wow! Wow, this is starting to sound an awful lot like one of those stories Robyn Hitchcock puts in his liner notes. "Squarebob Spongepants and Professor Binky in the Haunted Clown Laboratory." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:17:20 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: Reunion of the Snake >From: "Jason R. Thornton" >Subject: Reunion of the Snake > >For those who admire early Duran Duran: My favorite Duran Duran fact: guitarist Warren Cuccurullo waxes his chest. I wonder if the band tours with a Professional Chest Waxer. Forget being Jon Bon Jovi's pool cleaner, it'd be much cooler to be Simon LeBon's chest waxer. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 15:25:04 -0000 From: "Lilac Doorway" Subject: Chinese diamond roll python Always fun to make fun of models: http://www.smh.com.au/news/0105/08/html/snapshot1.html _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 11:35:02 -0400 From: "ross taylor" Subject: guilty pleasures (was 80s music) a "me too" history of my taste, after Chris Gross: For me a major factor was that in the 60s of my childhood you got *every* kind of music all together on the AM, the only radio available. Yardbirds next to Nancy Sinatra, Jefferson Airplane next to Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Musical variety shows were also popular then, such as "The Entertainers" or the Carol Burnett Show. Or of course Ed Sullivan w/ the Rolling Stones next to some lady playing "Lady of Spain" on the spoons. IMO this gave birth to tons of albums that were sort of variety shows, like The Who Sell Out or The White Album, or just about anything by the Beatles. At any rate I came online in 1968, my first concert Procol Harum opening for The Chambers Brothers & the Young Rascals. Procol got booed 'cause they were too weird (this was University of Virginia) & that made me alternative for life. But I was kind of into "sophisticated" (Taj Mahal, Incredible String Band, John Mayall, Tom Rapp) too early--in Junior High I was already thinking Steppenwolf was too pop. Hell, back then people were saying the Byrds were too pop, unhip. By the early 70s (college) my friends were into jazz, classical or strict roots (i.e. turning into musicologists). My first year I decided I'd "grow up" & only listen to jazz & classical, started selling off my pop records. BAD MISTAKE. I took an opera course that exposed my to "Bluebeard's Castle" by Bela Bartok & forever rocked my world, but it also subjected me to "Norma" by Bellini. To this day my least favorite music is Bel Canto Opera. "If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise." --Wm. Blake So, retaining Bartok & Coltrane & an open mind I went back to pop, but I hated 70s pop, so I went back to the 60s I'd missed, i.e. "old," corny stuff--Chocolate Watchband, Standells, Music Machine -> punk. From then on I've kept a healthy acceptance of my guilty pleasures. There's stuff I respect, stuff I enjoy and stuff I both. Singing "Norma" has gotta be hard to do, but folks who try to make their voice sound as pure as an instrument are alien to what I've been liking since a child. On the other hand if possibly tons of young women like some style, it takes on a certain interest. I use this to explain listening to at least one whole Rick Astley song (tho I was also in an airplane in heavy turbulence, afraid I'd die & wanting something to distract me). Another thing is if you defy your demographic & keep loving new pop into old age, you start picking up the guilty pleasures of younger people. In the early 80s I hated ACDC. By the late 80s I was in a band w/ some guys who'd grown up w "Dirty Deeds" & learned that it could be fun. Ross Taylor "I love rock 'n' roll so put another dime in the jukebox baby" Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:11:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: Re: reap I only feel sorry for those few athletes who were really trying to make a decent living playing their sport otherwise I could care less! so how bout those blazers!!!!!!!baahhhhhhh,ughhhh!!! On Thu, 10 May 2001, Capuchin wrote: > On Thu, 10 May 2001, Eb wrote: > > The XFL. > > This is so pathetic. > > I mean, it says their total after tax losses on the thing is $35M. That's > paltry chicken feed to someone like Vince McMahon and NBC. They have DEEP > pockets. > > They could have stuck this out for five years and made something of > it... five years at $35M per is only $175M... Even if they paid that out > all at once, it wouldn't amount to more than a fifth of their annual > operating budget... and that's if WWFE DIDN'T have NBC as a partner. > > J. > -- > _______________________________________________ > > Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin > Gallons by which daily U.S. oil consumption would drop if SUVs average fuel efficiency increased by 3 mpg : 49,000,000 Source: Sierra Club (Washington) Gallons per day that the proposed drilling of Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is projected to yield : 42,000,000 Source: The White House Stephen Mahoney Multnomah County Library at Rockwood branch clerk stephenm@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us 503-988-5396 fax 503-988-5178 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 12:46:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: RE: Some Christians Can Turn On Fri, 11 May 2001, GSS wrote: > Are you saying that they can because sexual preference is based on a > decision that the individual makes, like religious values or beliefs? no, i think that sexual preference is largely innate. i just don't think that's why it's wrong to discriminate. i mean, you could make a lot of spurious arguments -- for example, "homosexuality does not decrease interstate commerce". that may be true, but it's no way to build a case for gay rights. a ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:44:56 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: dot dot dot oh, y'all went and had a hidden track conversation without me? pathetic-caverns hosted a large database of hidden tracks, before i lost a bunch of stuff in an unfortunate crash. unfortunately the submit script seems to be broken and the new firewall here won't let me go fix it. tomorrow. fix it tomorrow. am i the only one here who remembers how culture club were elitist hipster cult darlings for about a month before the hit the mainstream? i first heard of culture club when i walked into my local elitist hipster cult record store and they had a big display of, i guess it was "kissing to be clever" before the record's u.s. release. i'm uncomfortable with the notion that something as complicated and intrinsically messy as human sexuality is supposed to be reducible to a two-position switch. on the cult: first, they were a pretty good live band, and the lighting designer for their, uh, 85? tour should have won some sort of award -- most creative lighting i've ever seen at a sub-stadium show level. second, they were a cake-and-eat-it-too proposition -- at a time when to admit you still had an ac-dc record was the height of uncoolth, they offered much of ac-dc's kick with a veneer of new wave acceptability. that second major label record --- uh, _electric?_ was a great sound track for playing video games to. woj never much liked the indigo girls, which doesn't shock me, since woj has pretty good taste. i was recently talking to a friend of mine about seeing the indigo girls as an opening act -- he thinks they were opening for the replacements which doesn't sound plausible to me. could it have been suzanne vega? anyway, we had pretty much the same reaction (and so did my girlfriend) -- it seemed okay at first, but after ten or fifteen minutes it quickly became agonizing. i was enough of an r.e.m. head at that point that i bought the album because stipe sang on one tune, but i could never stand to listen to it. i think that was the beginning of the end of my r.e.m. completism. - -- d. np swearing at motorists _fear of low flying clouds_ = i do what i am told. i am not opinionated. i accept without | dmw@ = questioning. i do not make a fuss. i am a good consumer. |radix.net = pathetic-caverns.com * fecklessbeast.com * shoddyworkmanship.net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:14:40 -0500 From: "Mike wells" Subject: The Ashcroftian Mythos Who said dear old Mr. Ashcroft had no sense of irony? http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010511/ts/mcveigh_fbi.html ... Ashcroft said he was instructing the inspector general of the Justice Department to conduct ``a careful study'' into what when wrong. ``We are going beyond the requirements of the law,'' he said. ``Our system of justice requires basic fairness, evenhandedness and dispassionate evaluation of the evidence and the facts,'' Ashcroft said. ``It is my responsibility as attorney general to promote and protect the integrity of our system of justice.'' ... doh! Michael "a hand in the bush is better than two in your hair" or something like that ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 12:07:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Carole Reichstein Subject: embarrassing '80's confessions What is the most embarrassing '80's album that you still own? Me? In 7th grade, I bought the Taco album "Putting on the Ritz." No, not just the single. The ALBUM. It's actually kind of a funny looking cover...there's this Taco guy, wearing makeup like a Nick Rhodes wannabe and looking like a butler in a suit and white gloves. He's in some art gallery and some punks are socializing in a corner, holding glasses of Chardonnay. I wonder who those people were, and how in the world did they get on a Taco album cover?? I just looked this up on Amazon. Whaddya know, they're selling this album as an import. The cover is different, though--just a picture of Taco with really big hair, looking like George Michael. I'd look up my original album on Ebay to see what it's selling for, but I'm at work, and should be doing more productive things. Duran Duran and Culture Club: oh boy! When Karen and I were 13 and 14, we went through this phase of trying to be "as different from each other as we possibly could." It's a twin thing. All twins must go through this. Also, we were in junior high, the most terrible 2 years of your life where you have to find some sort of "identity" to latch onto so you don't end up killing yourself. In 1983, at Walker Middle School in Salem, Oregon, you could be a headbanger, a new waver, a punk, preppy, or popular. Or, if you didn't quite fit into these categories, you could become wild about a band so THAT could be your "identity." Karen took to Culture Club. I became a Durannie. Karen and I shared a room. Did you ever see that Brady Bunch episode where Greg and Peter (or was it Peter and Bobby?) split their room with duct tape? That's what WE did, only the demarcation line was Duran posters on my side of the room, and Culture Club posters on Karen's side of the room. We had posters up to the ceiling and down to the floor...we got a lot of our material from "Star Hits" magazine, which I loved for its cleverness (unlike "BOP!" magazine, which was "so" 7th grade). We called our room "The Battle of the British Bands." Our friends would come into our room and gawk. It was the same way with our school lockers--papered inside and out. I put my most swoony pictures of Simon Le Bon on the inside door (hey, he USED to be attractive way back when, you know, unlike now), and short little boys would always run up and scrawl "FAG!" on Simon's face, which bore little erase marks like pop star stigmatas. I'd shriek, hit them, and erase diligently, secretly pleased that I had found something that I was passionate about, something that I could latch onto. I still have all my Duran buttons, and a few 1982 posters of Simon and John Taylor, both sporting red lipstick. Ah, my friends, those were the days. Rarely do I get so excited like that now. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend Boy George's "Take it Like a Man" autobiography. It's utterly brilliant and hilarious. I also quite like David Lee Roth's "Crazy from the Heat" memoir, even though I hated van Halen at the time. Okay, enough confessions. Time to work! Carole ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:15:46 -0600 From: HAL Subject: Re: Reunion of the Snake Gene Hopstetter, Jr. wrote: > My favorite Duran Duran fact: guitarist Warren Cuccurullo waxes his > chest. I wonder if the band tours with a Professional Chest Waxer. My favorite Warren Cuccurullo fact: It's a treat watching him kiss Frank Zappa's ass back when he was a mere fanboy during a backstage scene in FZ's under-seen film project "Baby Snakes". To Warren's credit, he chides FZ's NYC Hallowe'en night fans, who came to see Frank "go cra-a-a-zy or something! They don't realize that THERE ARE NOTES INVOLVED!" Frank gets a laugh out of this and then makes Warren sing "Baby Snakes", which he reluctantly starts to do just as director Frank segues to some amazing claymation sequences set to the song. Vootie! /hal ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:50:45 -0600 From: HAL Subject: [comics] Women For CEREBUS! A female POV on Sim and his controversial Creation: http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=10 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 15:08:31 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: Some Christians Can Turn Buddhist, Study Suggests >> The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it >> should be the goal of policymakers to protect the American way of life, >> the American way of life is a blessed one. >> >> - Ari Fleischer, when asked if Americans should use less energy On Friday, May 11, 2001, at 02:18 AM, Motherfucking Asshole wrote: > now see, this the kind of thing what i had in mind when i said that > a bush presidency, besides being the "lesser of two evils", would > also be probably the most entertaining since carter's. Half right, as usual. ;) - - Steve __________ No previous administration has tried to sell its economic plans on such false pretenses. And this from a man who ran for president on a promise to restore honor and integrity to our nation's public life. - Paul Krugman, on Bush, from his book Fuzzy Math. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 13:59:06 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Reunion of the Snake I can't remember the details now, but I once saw some nasty stuff about Warren Cucurullo on one of those "rockstar groupies dish dirt on their famous conquests"-type sites. Might've been related to "water sports," or something along those lines. Eb http://home.earthlink.net/~elbroome/np.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 16:10:12 -0500 From: "Mike wells" Subject: Cuccurullo Anthology Pining for the good 'ol days... Father Riley: They're learning to blow All the Catholic Boys! Mary: Warren Cuccurullo... Father Riley: Catholic Boys! Mary: Kinda young, kinda WOW! Michael "is Packard Goose" the best song on Joe's Garage, or isn't it? YOU MAKE THE CALL" All them rock 'n roll writers is the worst kind of sleaze Selling punk like some new kind of English disease Is that the wave of the future? Aw, spare me please! (thanks to http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/Joe_s_Garage/ who allieviated me from typing it) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 14:13:29 -0700 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: to be finnish would be a relief >From: "Jason R. Thornton" > >http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ws/20010507/en/duran_duran_trio_out_reunion_in__1.html Oh, Christ. Pass! >From: Ken Ostrander > >well...i wasn't saying that the eighties were ugly; but that milli vanilli >encapsulated what was ugly about the decade. the whole idea of prepackaged >music with the glossy lipsynching prettyboys seems to go hand in hand with the >excesses of wallstreet and the arms race. Read what you're writing. "Prepackaged music"? "Glossy lipsynching prettyboys"? What is that but a perfect description of Backstreet, N'S'Y'N'C, Westlife, Boyzone, et al.? Isn't that disturbing? Especially when it coincides _again_ with a Republican administration seemingly bent on throwing money into space? >by the way, being ahead of their time isn't necessarily a good thing. Oh, hell no, of course not. What I was saying was that your characterization seemed to apply just as much to the state of pop music now. >ian curtis I couldn't listen to Joy Division for the longest time because of Ian Curtis's voice (and I still don't like "Love Will Tear Us Apart"). I've gradually warmed to it. Bernard Sumner's voice still pisses me off, though. It's unlistenable, just annoyingly shitty on early New Order, and bland as hell later on. Its whiny strangled quality probably "makes" a lot of my favorite New Order songs, but I wish it didn't. >we keep talking about the lousy eighties; but don't seem to be coming up with >the real stinkers: tiffany, new kids on the block, the jets, gino vanelli, >cliff richard, rod stewart... Oh, Christ, and don't forget Richard fucking Marx. There were worse 80s artists for sure, but he was the real thorn in my side during his 15 minutes of fame. Ugh. Blandorama. >i never got into the big hair metal thing either. >i must say that i don't really go in for this listing off of bands we love to >hate thing. i'd rather dwell on the good stuff... We don't seem to be able to agree on what "the good stuff" was, which is the problem. :) >From: Jill Brand [the Smiths] >God, I wish they'd gotten the >recognition they deserved when they were actually a band, not when >Morrissey was dragging the "I'm so depressed that I could behead my >gladiolus" schtick to a Las Vegas level. Um, okay. I don't really get why Morrissey is the poster child for musical depression. Compared to Ian Curtis, for one, he's a barrel of laughs. He's pretty funny in general, actually. And I think his post-Smiths stuff is pretty fucking good (a lot of it, anyway) and deserved the attention it got. His image these days doesn't have much to do with gladioli or Vegas, though he did have the quiff until recently. On the other hand...don't get me wrong, Marr's a legend, his Smiths songs were incredible, I love the Smiths, okay. But what has Marr done post-Smiths that's even come close to measuring up? _Mind Bomb_, maybe? What am I overlooking? I realize that by temperament I am inclined to favor Moz and to forgive him his excesses and indulgences. But this characterization of _Your Arsenal_ as Vegas depression shtick is the sort of thing I expect to hear (and do, frequently) from people who never listened to it. >From: "victorian squid" >other words) were a different tribe. If you told me that at 30 I'd be >loving Cameo Mmmmm, Cameo. >Anyone else who went through the rediscovery process also notice that some >things really actually were as bad as you thought? Bananarama really -is- >annoying. And Berlin? I don't -think- so. Bananarama are annoying, yes. So of course I liked them, and I still like my favorite songs of "theirs" -- "Cruel Summer" and their "Venus" cover especially, but also "I Heard a Rumour" (bought at the same time as Squeeze's "Hourglass" and !!!! Swing Out Sister's "Breakout"!), "Love in the First [?] Degree," and even "Robert De Niro's Waiting." Even the greatest hits disc, though, is hard to tolerate in its entirety. From: "victorian squid" >It was just me and it was because Drew said something about Duran's >"greatest" >being the apotheosis of trashy glam (not exact wording but 's what he meant I >think). No, it's not what I meant. I just meant it's an awesome compilation, pretty much all you need by Duran Duran, though _Rio_ is worth having, and I'll always have a nostalgic fondness for the Arcadia album. I wouldn't proclaim anything the apotheosis of trashy glam at this point in my education, considering there's so much '70s glam I have yet to explore (New York Dolls, for example! can you believe my ignorance?). >The thing is, I think part of what Drew really liked about the Durans is >that they >have no shame. ABC was camp on purpose so they wouldn't hit the same kind of >sweet spot that say, the "Girls on Film" video does. This, however, is, yes, exactly what I meant. Drew, a successful participant in "ex-straight" therapy - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen dot com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #194 ********************************