From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #208 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, May 22 2001 Volume 10 : Number 208 Today's Subjects: ----------------- "percy" on uk tv this Fri ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: 2000+ [Michael R Godwin ] Re: goo goo ga zzzzzz... [Miles Goosens ] enough to make a Rufus-weenie swoon..! [HAL ] Re: I'd like to stay here and be normal...but then it's just so overrated [Tom Clark ] robynhitchcock.com update [/dev/woj ] Re: robynhitchcock.com update ["brian nupp" ] Re: Wingspan ["victorian squid" ] Re: Wingspan ["Jason R. Thornton" ] Re: Wingspan [HAL ] '01 ["Motherfucking Asshole" ] Re: Rufus news [Eb ] Re: **se**serious **fi**films [Stephen Mahoney ] ebay listing [/dev/woj ] Re: Wingspan ["victorian squid" ] Weekend [Mike Swedene ] RE: Weekend ["Brian Huddell" ] RE: Weekend [Mike Swedene ] RE: Weekend ["Brian Huddell" ] Totally No Robyn [steve ] [Ebmaniax] Badly Drawn-Out Boy? [Eb ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 10:06:56 +0100 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: "percy" on uk tv this Fri on pretty late; I shall send details when I can find 'em. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 22:50:28 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: 2000+ >OK, what if we never agree on a "nickname" for the decade we're in >now, nor the one after? what then? wha? I thought everyone was calling them the naughties! Don't you yanks ever catch on to anything??? ;) >Our discussion reminds me of Rolling Stone's list of the best albums of the >1980s. #1 was The Clash's _London Calling_, released in November >1979. Grrrrrrr. I think that was the moment that my then 17-year-old >brain finally severed all ties with that magazine, after a torrid two-year >relationship. agreed. Then again, how many people heard it in the US (which is IIRC, where Rolling Stone is based) before 1980? And how influential was it that year (yeh, I know, that means - best album of 1997 = Rubber Soul ;) also agreed that the decades, when named thus, start with -0 years, but decades when used to divide up a century into equal parts should start with - -1 years (e.g., "The sixties" = 1960-69; the seventh decade of the 20th century = 1961-1970). Anyway, the sixties was Nov 9, 1961- Sept 18, 1970, just as the following decade ended on Dec 8, 1980. Musically, the fifties ended on 2 February 1959. 1959-1961 were a sort of musical limbo, populated only by evil spirits like Paul Anka ;) erk. Three smileys in one post. I'd better stop now James np - The Chills "Secret Box - rarities 1980-2000" - yes, still. It's got lotsagoodstuff! 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: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:28:25 -0000 From: "noe shalev" Subject: help hi all someone wes quoting hitler regarding arm control or gun control. I need that quote, but couldn't find it. whoever finds it plz mail it (inprivate) thanx NOE ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:42:37 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: 2000+ On Mon, 21 May 2001, James Dignan wrote: > Anyway, the sixties was Nov 9, 1961- Sept 18, 1970, These are the dates of the Beatles, are they? I watched that Wings prog over the weekend. Paul had selected a really tough interviewer to give him a hard time, viz. his own daughter. I count myself as a McCartney fan (mainly on the basis of his first LP) but the guy has a positively Stalinist approach to rewriting history. He talked quite a lot about Denny Seiwell but hardly mentioned Denny Laine, who stuck with Wings - and made a major contribution - long after Seiwell had jumped ship (Laine was the only non-McCartney involved with Band on the Run IIRC). Unexplained personnel alterations included a Spinal Tap frequency of drummer changes. And he still seemed to be claiming that at the time of the first dope bust in Scotland he had no idea what cannabis plants looked like (he did admit that he had been incredibly silly about the Japan bust, but he could hardly avoid confessing that). He mentioned that the BBC banned 'High High High', but not that they banned 'Give Ireland back to the Irish'. And so on. I saw Wings a couple of times, once with McCullough and once with, er, McCullough and they were a classy live act. But the numbers which stuck in my mind were that skiffly version of 'I've just seen a face' and his knockout vocal on 'Long Tall Sally'. Looking forward to hearing 'Let me roll it' by the Soft Boys. - - Mike Godwin PS And how many Wings members have subsequently dropped dead? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 10:32:17 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: goo goo ga zzzzzz... At 03:27 PM 5/18/2001 -0700, Eb wrote: >Hal: > slogging around the US shed circuit > sandwiched > (with *both* bands getting better reviews than Oasis!) > > >It's hard for me to take your anti-Oasis comments seriously, because >they're always limited to the familiar perspective of a miffed Beatles >disciple crying "Heresy!" I've observed this prejudice too many times (in >both you and others) to worry about it anymore. My own complaint about Oasis isn't that they're overly derivative of the Beatles and the Stones; it's that they've become overly derivative of themselves. Each succeeding album after the second seemed more formulaic and generic, a ripoff of their own once entertaining ripoffs... Personally, the first time I heard "Supersonic," I was thrilled -- the Sex Pistols' sneer and attitude with some Stones swagger and some Beatles melody. I think once they became super-duper-stars with BE HERE NOW, they got super-lazy. Writing new songs would require an effort that might take time away from drugs and groupies... But even at their best, Oasis was never better than Blur. :-) later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 11:12:39 -0600 From: HAL Subject: enough to make a Rufus-weenie swoon..! LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Th 5/24: Rob Schneider, David Justice, ***Rufus Wainwright*** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 10:26:49 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: I'd like to stay here and be normal...but then it's just so overrated on 5/20/01 4:22 AM, Jill Brand at jlbrand@bu.edu wrote: > John wrote: > > "Also, BLUR, who are JUST SOOOO MUCH BETTER than Oasis..." > > I was waiting for someone to say this. I never got what it was about > Oasis that anyone liked. Blur, on the other hand (well, not so much > recently), can keep me singing in the shower for ours. > Funny we should be talking about Blur. I finally got around to catching an episode of "Later with Jools Holland" on BBCA yesterday and they were the feature act. I guess I had always just lumped them into the "whiny Britpop" category with Oasis and Travis and James and ........, but I actually thought they were quite good! Perhaps even worth investing in. la la la, - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:20:25 -0400 From: "brian nupp" Subject: Camera Club: Matthew Seligman... I just received a copy of Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club "English Garden." I'm a bit of a Buggles fan so I heard this was a good album to get since Woolley was involved a little with the Buggles. I had no idea that Matthew Seligman was the bass player for the entire album! And Rod Johnson, the drummer for Groovy Decay, is also the drummer on "English Garden." Not to mention Thomas Dolby on keys! So this is what Matthew Seligman was doing right before UM. I'm curious to hear it. Very curious to hear their versions of "Clean Clean" and "Video Killed the Radio Star," which predate the Buggles versions. Nuppy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:19:46 -0400 From: /dev/woj Subject: robynhitchcock.com update robynhitchcock.com has been updated. the highlights: Robyn will be a special guest at Club Senseless at The Hundred Club on Oxford Street in London on June 21st. He'll also be kicking off the Edinburgh Festival, playing Aug 3, 4, and 5 at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, Scotland. Autumn 2001 will see the release of a Robyn Hitchcock & Grant Lee Phillips concert video, ELIXIRS & REMEDIES. woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:56:24 -0400 From: "brian nupp" Subject: Re: robynhitchcock.com update >From: /dev/woj Autumn 2001 will see the release of a Robyn Hitchcock & >Grant Lee > Phillips concert video, ELIXIRS & REMEDIES. Video, DVD, both, or dunno? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:33:44 -0700 From: "victorian squid" Subject: Re: Wingspan On Mon, 21 May 2001 15:42:37 Michael R Godwin wrote: >quite a lot about Denny Seiwell but hardly mentioned Denny Laine, who >stuck with Wings - and made a major contribution - long after Seiwell had >jumped ship (Laine was the only non-McCartney involved with Band on the >Run IIRC). I recall more mention of Denny Laine, but you're right, it was buried in the mix to the point that Doug turned to me and asked "but I thought Denny Laine was on 'Band on The Run'?". If you didn't know you could be forgiven for deducing from this program that it was the Paul and Linda show. > Unexplained personnel alterations included a Spinal Tap >frequency of drummer changes. Yes. And -nothing- to explain this. Actually I don't think he ever explained why everyone but Laine dropped out before "Band on The Run" either. He just sort of said "oh, they left, bastards". Huh? By far the strangest omission (to me) was "Red Rose Speedway". I don't recall seeing anything about it at all. That's an entire album he conveniently skimmed. Why? It's less embarassing than some stuff he didn't skip. >And he still seemed to be claiming that at the time of the first dope bust in Scotland >he had no idea what cannabis plants looked like I read this slightly differently. I had the distinct impression that yes, that was the defense they had used, but the non-squares were supposed to know better, nudge wink. loveonya, susan Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:53:33 -0700 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Re: Wingspan At 02:33 PM 5/21/01 -0700, victorian squid wrote: >By far the strangest omission (to me) was "Red Rose Speedway". I don't >recall seeing anything about it at all. That's an entire album he >conveniently skimmed. Why? It's >less embarassing than some stuff he didn't skip. I do distinctly remember seeing the album cover flashed on-screen at one point in the program, but I don't really recall much discussion of it either. I could be forgetting, though. - --Jason "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 16:32:15 -0600 From: HAL Subject: Re: Wingspan susan: > By far the strangest omission (to me) was "Red Rose Speedway". I don't recall seeing anything about it at all. That's an entire album he conveniently skimmed. Why? It's > less embarassing than some stuff he didn't skip. The film did feature "My Love" and also had some footage of an early incarnation of Wings doing "The Mess", both from Red Rose Speedway. /hal ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:41:55 -0700 From: "Motherfucking Asshole" Subject: '01 have uploaded a bunch of articles from the recent reunion tour to . if anybody has either the liner notes to the MOONLIGHT reissue or the sonic book interview (or both) in electronic form, please let me know. by the way, fox has renewed Family Guy for next season!! guess i'll need to buy an antenna, now. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:48:41 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Rufus news The intrepid Hal moved on to his latest trolling gambit: >LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC >Th 5/24: Rob Schneider, David Justice, ***Rufus Wainwright*** For those who don't know, it's also worth noting that Wainwright has non-LP tracks on both the "Moulin Rouge" *and* "Shrek" soundtracks. Neither are original compositions -- they're nice, but not particularly essential. And it probably wasn't a wise move to try Cohen's "Hallelujah," when Jeff Buckley's *breathtaking* version is still relatively fresh in memory. Since the timing isn't quite right for RW's still-unreleased album, I suspect he will sing one of the above songs on the show. Especially since both films are being so mega-promoted. Re "Wingspan": Yes, I also rolled my eyes at how McCartney never owned up to firing anyone from Wings -- it was always like they just "left," because they were creatively frustrated. Awww, poor deserted Paul. Badly Drawn Boy, tonight! Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 16:25:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: Re: **se**serious **fi**films > i can be even more succint about my problem with burton -- he can't write > (his most successful film, _ed wood_ is one where he had the least > script/story inovlvement) and he either can't cast, or bows to studio > pressure (winona "mugging!" ryder) to cast "hot properties" to the > detriment of his films. he's a great visual stylist, but i don't see why > i can't have good acting and a well written film to go *with* the stunning > visuals (like, say, _city of lost children_. or most of gilliam's stuff.) hmmmm, I always like johnny depp(edward scssorhands, ed wood), even if the film is somewhat unwatchable like say fear and loathing(gilliam) city of lost children and delicatessen are excellent films, but two films arent enough for me to make a final decision on jeuent and caro who havent done anything since, city , at least not as a duo. who really wants to see a great directoor do something with alien????? which I guess is why redoing planet of the apes is such a waste for tim burton why reinvent something that was mediocre to begin with, why are they also redoing rollerball??? it was very bad to begin with - there is nothing to add!!!!! mahoney( still waiting for the next police academy by jean luc-goddard) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 20:38:47 -0400 From: /dev/woj Subject: ebay listing forwarded by request...paging dr. partridge... >Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 08:15:52 -0500 >From: "Jason Koffman" >To: woj@smoe.org >Subject: Excellent Robyn items on ebay > >Hello again. I've dug quite deep into my collection this time 'round. >I'm selling 11 rare magazines with Robyn as the cover story or within, a >rare concert poster with uncut ticket sheet and a photo, PLUS a huge lot >with too many rare items to tell here. These and all of my other auctions >are listed here: > >http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&u serid=jkoffman&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=0 > >The poster lot is here: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1432584280 > >The HUGE mega-rare lot is here: > >http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1432584283 > >The RH magazines can be found by any ebay search or on my auction page. > >Please let the feggers know about these auctions. Thanks in advance! > >-Jason Koffman ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 17:47:39 -0700 From: "victorian squid" Subject: Re: Wingspan On Mon, 21 May 2001 16:32:15 HAL wrote: >The film did feature "My Love" Now that you mention it I do remember this. We were treated to the startling revelation that it was inspired by Linda. I know -I- was sure surprised to find that out. I thought it was about Henry Kissinger. >incarnation of Wings doing "The Mess", both from Red Rose Speedway. This I don't remember. I must have been getting tea or something. It couldn't have been that long tho. loveonya, susan Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 19:19:37 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Swedene Subject: Weekend Go away for one silly weekend and all these emails and threads happen. Oasis V Blur: If you don't like them (either of them) then skip ahead. Both can cohabitate in a cd collection. If you like Oasis, cool. If not, I believe I read here "Bugger off." If you want to get into them may I suggest "(What's The Story) Morning Glory" or "Deifinitely Maybe," the rest.... well you have to "grow" into it. As far as BLUR goes.... My strongest recomendations come in the form of "BLUR" (Their first album), "PARKLIFE" (Brilliant album, IMHO) and if you want to their greatest hits album, it is a nice mix for someone not all that familiar with them. NEW ALBUMS: Just got Weezer. I am NOT or was not a big Weezer fan since their first album. This new one is great. I highly recomend it. It is only 40 minutes long, so you won;t waste THAT much of your life listening to it if you hate it. Also picked up the new REM, haven't listened to it yet, Weezer owns the car for now. MOVIES: SHREK, is a RIOT!!! GREAT movie! Lots of jokes for kids and MANY more for adults. Very funny. That's all I can babble about now.... Herbie (reading over 250 emails from the list) np - Frank Sinatra "From The Vault - Archives 2201" Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 21:46:15 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: Weekend > As far as BLUR goes.... My strongest > recomendations come in the form of "BLUR" (Their first > album) First album is actually "Leisure" and I can't second that recommendation. The follow up, "Modern Life Is Rubbish" really shows the first glimpses of the perfect encyclopedic britpop they master on "Parklife", and all but exhaust on "The Great Escape". "Blur" is the fifth album, with that "woo hoo" song all the kids dug. +brian ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 20:01:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Swedene Subject: RE: Weekend I Meant Leisure... I think it is a strong album. Who cares about the britpop sound, or any sound.... when there is a GOOD album, it is a good album. If it is part of a movement or helps develop one then it can be respected or hated more so on those merits later. Herbie - --- Brian Huddell wrote: > > As far as BLUR goes.... My strongest > > recomendations come in the form of "BLUR" (Their > first > > album) > > First album is actually "Leisure" and I can't second > that recommendation. > The follow up, "Modern Life Is Rubbish" really shows > the first glimpses of > the perfect encyclopedic britpop they master on > "Parklife", and all but > exhaust on "The Great Escape". > > "Blur" is the fifth album, with that "woo hoo" song > all the kids dug. > > +brian Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 22:29:00 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: Weekend Me: > > First album is actually "Leisure" and I can't second > > that recommendation. > > The follow up, "Modern Life Is Rubbish" really shows > > the first glimpses of > > the perfect encyclopedic britpop they master on > > "Parklife", and all but > > exhaust on "The Great Escape". Herbie: > I Meant Leisure... I think it is a strong album. Who > cares about the britpop sound, or any sound.... when > there is a GOOD album, it is a good album. Interesting. So you are suggesting that it is possible for music to have merit even if it does not belong to one of The Three Genres: Britpop, Prog, or Klezmer? I shall have to ponder this. I don't like Leisure because I find the songs to be bad. It's an opinion thang. I went on to make my recs based on what I happen to consider the band's strength, the style of pop they mastered on Parklife, regardless of what the press wanted to call it. A lot of people know Parklife, and I was warning them, correctly I think, that they will not find more of the same on Leisure. That doesn't mean some of them won't like it, opinions being what they are. +b ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 23:17:16 -0500 From: steve Subject: Totally No Robyn Link from that stupid BuzzFlash site - http://www.bakerinstitute.org/Research/F-Policy/energy/energytf.htm - - Steve ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 03:34:45 -0700 From: Eb Subject: [Ebmaniax] Badly Drawn-Out Boy? Wow. That was one of the strangest concerts I've ever seen. But in a good way...I think. I knew something was up from the beginning, because there was no opening act scheduled. Very unusual. I also read a U.K. review on the Web awhile back, which led me to believe Badly Drawn Boy shows could be peculiar and unpredictable. OK, fine with me. This was the second of two Badly Drawn Boy shows in L.A. It was also the last date of the tour, something I didn't previously realize. The setting was the El Rey Theater -- I believe my last trip there was for Nelly Furtado. A nice place. The first show sold out weeks and weeks ago. I'm not sure about this second night, but there certainly wasn't much floor space to move. At 9:02 pm, the show officially launched with a piped-in preamble: the original "Rocky" theme. As it was ending, the band members (five, in all) shuffled onstage. Another snatch of program music started, which I didn't recognize. Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) started wailing along with isolated lines of the melody, before finally starting a "real" song. The first tune (I believe it was "Once Around the Block") began with a lonnnnng instrumental vamp, so Gough didn't actually *sing* until almost 10 minutes after the show began. This was typical of the show's sense of pacing. Or lack thereof. Early on, Gough talked about this being the last night of the tour, and made it clear this was a night to hang loose and experiment. He talked about just relaxing and letting the show go where it would go, and that's exactly what he did. I'm fairly sure this was the longest performance I've ever seen. The group's set didn't end until *12:17 am*. No doubt, the three-plus hour length is partially an emulation of Gough's well-known musical hero (Brooooce), but the show was so long that over half the audience had left by the time he finished! And this wasn't because the music was *bad* -- simply because, well, it was a "school night." At least four times, he said the next song would be the last one. About six times, the song's trajectory *felt* like it would be the last one. But, no. On he went. And on. And on. And on. There was nothing like a formal encore -- half the show felt like an encore. Gough seemed to conceptualize the show as having three separate phases, but the structure wasn't exactly obvious to the naked ear. I'm still not entirely won over by Gough's songwriting. I had the same complaint in person which I had with the album: His melodies almost always seem half-written. He writes one purty chord sequence and melody line, and figures the music is done. Then he just adds rambling lyrics over that one sequence, without ever modulating into another musical theme. It's very frustrating to me. But it almost feels inappropriate to judge the show on these strict terms. This was...something else. Some fundamental elements. The players: a guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, bassist and Gough. Gough mostly played guitar, but he also had three tiers of keyboards to his right. As the night wore on, he played the keyboards more and more. I really liked the drummer's style -- he was rock-solid in the pocket, and there was a certain physicality to his grandly swinging arms which was a lot of fun to watch. He had far more charisma than any of the other backing musicians. There were five or six little lamps around the stage, which eventually turned out to be significant features of the lighting. The lamps were set on the keyboards and amps, and there were also two internally lit plastic items on the drum kit: a silver star and a large bathtub-style *duck*. The main lamp, perched on Gough's keyboard rack, had two bunches of fake grapes hanging from the harp. Off and on, these lamps became primary light sources. An interesting touch. Of course, Gough was wearing his trademark, knit skull cap. I found this irritating at times, because one of my pet concert peeves is musicians wearing opaque sunglasses (no eye contact instantly saps 50% of the musician's power to communicate for me), and Gough often pulled down his cap so low that his eyes were covered. A defensive manuever, I think. Beyond the rambling, stream-of-consciousness pacing of the setlist, the most remarkable thing about the show was how Gough presented such a vividly human, three-dimensional personality onstage. Right from the start, he was establishing a connection with the audience. He shook hands with fans and *spit* some guitar picks into the crowd, before he even began singing. In another clever manuever, he gazed at himself awhile in a small hand mirror. Afterwards, he used the mirror to reflect a stage light into the audience. He'd adjust the mirror to illuminate a single face, and then call/sing out for that person's name. He must have done this 12-15 times, amidst the first 20 feet of fans -- I barely missed being singled out. I thought that was brilliant. Another time, he used his keyboard lamp as an "energy meter" - -- he implored the crowd to light up the lamp with their energy. As the crowd clapped while Gough made conjuring magician gestures, the lamp glowed brighter along with the noise. Then Gough would judge this endeavor useless, collapse and the lamp would go dark again. Finally, on the fourth try, the lamp stayed lit. Wow, we did it! ;) He was just full of intriguing ways to get the fans involved. At another point, his stagehands launched about a *dozen* good-sized balloons into the audience. Ordinarily, I find this old move kinda stale and distracting, but with *that* many balloons in the air at once, it did add a certain carnivalesque ambience. At another point, Gough implored the crowd to part, and create an aisle up the center of the dance floor. He then announced that anyone who wanted to heckle him should proceed up the aisle and give it a try. No one really did, of course, though Gough started needling some girl near the stage and she briefly stepped into the void to needle back. Then a minute later, Gough mumbled something like "You can close it back up again...you didn't think I was really going to walk down there, did you? Too dangerous." He left us off our guard and disarmed, yet again. I dug it. His emotional openness was also striking. He sang one song while dreamily gazing at a small snapshot, which we couldn't see. Later, it turned out to be a picture of his infant child. He then passed the photo *into the crowd*, and said we could pass it around for a song or two, as long as he eventually got it back. Wow. And sure enough, around it went for three or four songs. Bonding! A couple of times, he also said something to the effect of this being his last tour, as if fatherhood was more important and stardom was too demanding. It was hard to know how serious he was, and I think even *he* was confused about this. It felt like a real quandary for him, presented as performance art onstage. One song (apparently, the end of the show's "second phase") went into a *very* long, minimal riff a la the Doors, and Gough started a lengthy, half-improvised vocal vamp with a central motif of how he's unfortunately "changing into someone else" from the effects of the tour. I didn't get tired of this segment at all, even though it must have run for over 10 minutes. It was naked, unguarded, fascinating stuff. He did a remarkable job of presenting himself as a thinking, sensitive person whom the audience felt like they were "getting to know." And yet at the same time, he could be a "rock star" when he wanted. He made some cutting, competitive comments about Bono. He'd hold his guitar aloft. He grandly introduced the band...twice. I guess it's that Springsteen germ? I don't think he has resolved his attitude toward touring at all, and that's what made his performance so intriguing. Mmm...and on the show went. I know there are three Badly Drawn Boy EPs which preceded the album (and hopefully, Beggars Banquet will Betaband-ize those EPs into a compilation someday), but heaven knows how he managed to play three hours of material with only one album in stores. He actually played one song a second time near the end, but otherwise, the trick wasn't easy to fathom. It wasn't like he relied much on cover songs. He played an opening stanza of some Springsteen song ("Jungleland," maybe?) midway through, adding how Springsteen is the greatest songwriter ever and how Gough wouldn't be here without him, but that was it for covers until the last 20 minutes or so, when he played a weird, impromptu solo medley on the keyboard. He started with Springsteen's "Thunder Road," saying it was his favorite song of all time, but that's ironic since he got the chords *horribly* wrong once he got past the first six lines or so. Oww. That tune petered out, and he proceeded into a few others. I think I'm forgetting one or two, but the next one was *Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"*. Yikes! Now, that takes balls. He also played an instrumental snatch of a Smiths tune called (?) "Oscillate Wildly" (I'm hardly a Smiths expert), and...well, dang it, I told you I forgot one or two of them. Something else cheesy from the '70s, probably. He didn't quite know how to play these songs -- he'd just go with them for a minute or two, until he hit an insurmountable impasse. And then skip to another. Heh. And then back the show would lurch into more polished material. It was just *such* a strange ambience. It defied almost every convention of a traditional concert. There were so many weird little details in this marathon, I feel like I'm forgetting some good ones. But that's life. Did I *like* the show? Errrr...yes. Maybe moreso as a "happening" or "experience" than as a musical concert. But I won't forget this performance for awhile -- that's for sure. And he's definitely someone I would go see, anytime he's in town. *If* he's in town again? Eb ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #208 ********************************