From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #255 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, June 25 2001 Volume 10 : Number 255 Today's Subjects: ----------------- by coincidence ["Stewart C. Russell" ] LA Times news [Eb ] Re: Barnaby Tull [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] jailbait [Jill Brand ] Re: Zeppelin [Eb ] Re: our fearless leader [bayard ] plastic onomastics band ["jbranscombe@compuserve.com" ] Re: Nuggets II (another long post) [Michael R Godwin ] we can see you [GSS ] Re: plastic onomastics band [Michael R Godwin ] morning diversion [Bret Bolton ] cale / for DC record collector fegs [Melissa Higuchi ] Re: cale / for DC record collector fegs [John Barrington Jones ] Re: morning diversion [Christopher Gross ] catching up [Jill Brand ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 18:54:21 +0100 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: by coincidence ...it happens to be several fegs' birthdays today -- including me. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 15:53:15 -0700 From: Eb Subject: LA Times news [Interesting that they're talking about cutting back on book sales, since my closest outlet recently re-opened in a new location down the street, mostly to add a floor of books/magazines...] Tower Records Faces Bankruptcy as Credit Tightens Retail: Downgrading of debt ratings might lead to filing, but company downplays the chances. By JEFF LEEDS, Times Staff Writer Tower Records, one of the nation's oldest music retail chains, may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot restructure weakening finances in the coming months, according to the nation's top bond-rating agency. Despite moves to reduce operating costs and restructure debt, Tower "may have difficulty demonstrating improvements during the current weak environment for music product," wrote Marie Menendez, an analyst at New York-based Moody's Investors Service Inc., in a report issued Wednesday. Officials at the West Sacramento-based chain, which has 174 stores in the U.S. and about a dozen other countries, said they had "no present intention" of filing for bankruptcy. Michael Solomon, Tower's president and chief executive, said the chain "continues to hold its own and we are encouraged by a more promising album release schedule starting in June, which we anticipate will favorably impact sales." The 41-year-old Tower is being squeezed by a decline in album sales and a protracted price war with discount houses that is driving down profit margins. This year, the company launched a restructuring that will result in the firing of an estimated 250 of its roughly 7,000 employees and closed 10 stores in its fiscal quarter ended April 30. Music merchants say sales are down 5% to 10% for the first six months of the year, following disappointing showings by releases from such big-name acts as Ricky Martin, Aerosmith and Depeche Mode. Retailers also note that music fans are spending money on other forms of entertainment such as video games. According to research firm SoundScan, which provides computerized sales data for the record industry, album sales at chain stores are down about 3.6% from a year ago. Record chains such as Tower also blame their tepid sales on cutthroat competition from discount houses such as Best Buy, which purchase CDs from manufacturers for about $10.80 and often sell them for less than $10 to lure customers in to buy other products such as electronic equipment. Online discounters such as Amazon.com also are threatening traditional chains' market share, though Tower itself has a well-regarded Web store. Tower has tried to compete by offering a diverse array of products such as books and toys in many of its stores. But the company's restructuring means that Tower is largely exiting the book business. Tower said last week it had closed all but one of its stand-alone bookstores and liquidated most of its book inventory. Tower also is retrenching its international operation, which has about 70 stores in 10 countries, negotiating to sell its operations in Argentina, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In a regulatory filing, Tower said it also would close or sell its operations in Canada. Michael Solomon's father, Russell, started selling records out of his family's drugstore and opened the first Tower Records in 1960 in Sacramento. The maverick chain was the first to usher in the compact disc a decade ago. In a regulatory filing, Tower said that it recently received a one-year extension to its credit line, but that the amount of money it could borrow also was reduced, to $225 million from $275 million. Although that's enough to meet the company's current obligations, the credit line will shrink further in the coming months, Menendez noted. She downgraded by a notch her rating on the company's ability to repay $110 million in senior notes to Ca, or highly speculative, from Caa3, or poor. Tower officials said they are seeking additional financing. In the most recent quarterly report, Tower said losses for the three months ended April 30 ballooned to $34.4 million from a $4.3-million deficit in the same year-earlier period. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 11:02:42 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Barnaby Tull >Two demographics that apparently do not intersect: Jethro Tull Fans and >Barnaby Jones Fans. Perhaps this had already been researched when the >producers decided to pass off "Wind Up" (from the Aqualung album) as an >original song in the following episode: > >Anyway, I find it interesting that there appears to be absolutely no mention >of this on any Jethro Tull site that I can find, nor any mention of Tull or >"Wind Up" on any Buddy Ebsen/Barnaby Jones site. I seem to be the only >person on the planet who has heard the album AND seen the show. Am I alone >or are there others out there? sounds like the sort of question to ask on the St Cleve Chronicle list (if it's still going - anyone know? I haven't been a member of it for about four years now). I take it Barnaby Jones is some kind of TV series? James np - Oasis! Definitely Maybe. I may be the only person on the planet who can see a similarity between "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and the SBs' "Kingdom of Love" - especially the "You gotta make it happen" bit (listen to the bass line...) 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: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 21:53:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: jailbait I've been buried with end-of-school kid stuff, but am emerging to say that it is my birthday AND that on this birthday I got to see Travis do an in-store and then I talked to Fran H. (truly edible but I'm old enough to be his mother) about Wim Wenders for a minute or two. Not bad for a 46-year-old bag. No dissing, Drew. Travis is my guilty pleasure and I plan to be very pleased for the next few days. Kay, I had 105 and the flu when the Mets won the series in '69, and right after they won, I fell asleep (it was an afternoon game - remember those?). When I woke up, I thought I had dreamt the whole thing. Led Zeppelin and the Who? No brainer. The Who hands down. I can't stand listening to Robert Plant whine. LZ lacks irony. I still love early Who the best (I'm not big on bombastic Who); the Who Sell Out is terrific. I've talked someone into seeing Robyn in Edinburgh. My good deed for the day. Jill ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 19:13:59 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Zeppelin >Whereas with Zep I don't think self-consciousness or self-awareness was >ever a big >part of what they were about. >LZ lacks irony Well, the band's later days have some of those qualities. Start with "D'yer Maker" and "The Crunge," and there are further examples on Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through the Out Door, where there's more in the way of genre pastiches ("Hot Dog," etc.).... Eb, too lazy to skim those albums to find the specific examples PS However, I'll take the Who over Zeppelin anyway, mostly because the Who's lyrics are so superb and Zeppelin's...aren't. Still, it's hard to compare those bands, because the Who's catalog is much larger and more uneven than Zeppelin's...I mean, Zeppelin never did anything as good as Who's Next, but Zeppelin also never did anything as bad as Face Dances or It's Hard... http://home.earthlink.net/~elbroome/np.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 21:10:27 -0700 (PDT) From: bayard Subject: Re: our fearless leader > > http://www.bitmine.net/~bayard/miscellaneous/bush_europe_dsm129.jpg > > > > Jeme, your response? > > First, why the hell are you asking me? soory... i thought i had remembered you'd sworn an oath to reply to every "bogus news story" posted to the list. or something. not trying to start another boobs thread, =b "aka lara croft" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 05:35:59 -0400 From: "jbranscombe@compuserve.com" Subject: plastic onomastics band Doing some catching up... Kay seemed to think I was performing in the US. I'm afraid I'm at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Nr Newbury, Berks, England, UK, European Community...Not the Watermill, Long Island of Robert 'Collaborator with Tom Waits on Black Rider' Wilson fame. The onomastics I mentioned in relation to Wilde and Robyn's work is the 'science' of proper nouns. The Jimmy Page Page.... A friend of mine, Cliff Aungier, had very direct experience of young master James's propensities. His first album was 'produced' by Page in 1965 at the behest of Decca. Cliff and his partner went in to lay down their collection of mainly folk-blues covers. Jimmy did jack-shit but when the album came out they discovered that all the mainstays of their live set had become 'Trad arr. James' (Page's composing credit of the time). He thus snaffled all the arranger's royalties. Alan Price did the same on The Animals' House Of The Rising Sun, much to Burdon's chagrin. The version of Whole Lotta Love which saw service as the Top Of The Pops theme was by CCS - an agglomeration of worthy session players led by venerable Brit bluesman Alexis Korner. Led Zep rather passed me by. I was into The Scaffold when the New Yardbirds metamorphosed and The Soft Boys by the time they expired ;-) Talking of the SBs. Yes, I would imagine that the July 20th gig is at the 3 Kings. I'll check. It's one day before my run ends so I won't be able to go, drat! There was an informal outing earlier this month on June 7th, election day on the South Bank which I wasn't able to attend either. There was also an end of tour party in the 3 Kings at which the boys, aided by Mike Mills and Scott McCaughey, attempted some toons. I made some notes on the set-list but I can't find it at the moment. I do remember a quite brilliant version of Chinese Bones.... Got the new album by The Clean (Matador label-mates to the greatest band ever... ). Called Getaway, it's a bit of a grower, not entirely sure it's a classic however... Another album I like a lot at the moment is Sea Shanties For Space Ships by a band called Snowpony, who have a couple of ex-members of Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine in their line-up. Certain echoes of those two outfits are apparent with a bit of trip-hop and techno rock'n'roll thrown in, all topped off by some interesting melodies sung in a dead pan Laurie Anderson meets Kirsty MacColl styleee. Right, I'm off to go Wilde In The Country again... jmbc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 03:12:55 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: plastic onomastics band >Got the new album by The Clean (Matador label-mates to the greatest band >ever... ). Called Getaway Um...it's actually on Merge, not Matador. Instead, the Clean is label-mates to great bands like Portastatic, Superchunk, the 3Ds, the Ladybug Transistor and Lambchop. Oh, and Neutral Dairy Farm or whatever they're called. - --- I recently received an emailed list of local concert announcements, with four want ads tacked at the bottom. Here were two of them: Dreamy/poppy band signed to New England label needs bass/drums for upcoming recording & tour; 6th CD out in July; we like simple, steady, melodic playing; have rehearsal/recording studio; New Order, MBV, [*] Robyn Hitchcock, Spacemen 3. email Peacoat@aol.com Girls & boys- 22yo. singer needs young players to boldly go where syd barrett, os mutantes, vu & nico, pixies, [*] soft boys, kinks, & love all have gone before... email: xad@hotmail.com Interesting to see some ongoing evidence of Hitchcock's influence. ;) Eb np: Young Fresh Fellows/Because We Hate You ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 12:56:46 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Nuggets II (another long post) Kay writes: > There was a band called "Blossom Toes." Thats so lovely. Yes, Brian Godding and Jim Cregan on twin lead guitars and vocals, Brian Belshaw (of 'Nice one Cyril' fame) on bass, Kevin Westlake / Poli Palmer / Barry Reeves on drums. Their second album 'If only for a moment' is super-wizzo-sonic. > Im sure theres a very very "special" circle in hell just a-waiting for the Pagester(and this said by someone who dosn't even believe in hell)! Well, he always wanted to meet Aleister Crowley! Eb: > When you kept writing "No," did you mean "No, this song stinks" or > "No, I haven't heard of this group"? The latter Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats MRG: This is just a nothing top 10 record. > Boy...you've really been spewing a lot of blasphemies, lately. ;) No, come on, this record is just much too fast and much too yip yip yip-ish. Harry Vanda, that was the name of the singer. And who have I slagged off apart from the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Woody Allen and Peter Sellers? :) The only track I've ever heard by the Guess Who is 'American Woman', and I didn't like it. Pictures Of Matchstick Men - The Status Quo > Now, come on, you call "Friday on My Mind" a nothing top-10 record, and > then rave about *this* shallow, gimmicky ditty? Yup, I love that trebly guitar riff. Also partly to do with the fact that I'd just learned to play 'Hey Joe' when it came out, and I was delighted to find that the chords were almost identical. Along with Neil Diamond's 'Cherry Cherry' and 'Wild Thing' I could play 4 songs! (Then I got to Pretty Flamingo, but that was more challenging, as it didn't consist of one sequence played over and over again). MRG: I hadn't realised that Zep nicked 'Dazed and Confused' from someone else... > Really? I thought that was common knowledge, especially for someone of > your experiences. ;) Sorrry! I can do Cream, Hendrix and Mountain, but not Zeppelin. Incidentally, local Zeppelin expert Andy Tanner says that at one stage, LPs were being distributed with song credits to Page and Plant on the sleeve, but the correct attributions for each song on the record itself. And he confirmed that 'You shook me' was one of the tracks in dispute. Ben asks: > Why is it cool for the Rolling Stones to make sexist music but not Led > Zeppelin? Good question, already answered better by Susan and Jill. I think it's something to do with the fact that 'Under my thumb' is a better tune, less obviously delivered, than 'D'yer Make Her(?)' But I can see why 'Some Girls' might not go down well with certain audiences. James: > The La De Das were New Zealand's answer to the Rolling Stones, back in > the days when that involved having a guitar, long hair, and a loud > voice and little else. Having said that, this track is a goody and a > couple of their others weren't too bad, and they had five singles in > the NZ charts between 1967 and 1969. 'Fraid I don't know much about NZ music. I did see Split Enz in those funny costumes once, though. Thanks to Roberta and Terry for Kaleidoscope info. - - Mike Godwin PS 'Defecting Grey' is the Pretty Things song which begins "Sitting alone on a bench with you". Lots of their stuff is good - Can't stand the pain, She wrote me a letter, Big boss man, Honey I need etc etc (See, I don't slag off everybody :) ) PPS Just reeling from watching the original b/w "Attack of the 50 foot woman". Wot special effects eh? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 07:39:17 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: we can see you Effort to repeal medical privacy rule fails as House refuses to vote on HJR 38 Dear Friends: Here's a brief update on our campaign to stop the new HHS medical privacy regulation. Despite more than 61,000 e-mail lobbying messages, 13 co-sponsors, and a last-minute flurry of phone calls to Capitol Hill, privacy advocates have fallen short in an effort to derail the federal government's so-called medical privacy regulation. On June 15, a 60-day window for Congress to "veto" the regulation slammed shut, with no action taken on HJR 38, a bill filed by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) that would have repealed the new regulation. As a result, the Health & Human Services regulation, which will force doctors to turn their patients' confidential medical records over to the government, has officially gone into effect. The regulation was drafted by the Clinton administration and was quietly implemented in April, 2001, by President George W. Bush, despite the growing public outcry against it. During the week of June 11, privacy advocates mounted a last-ditch effort to repeal the regulation by flooding their congressional representatives with thousands of phone calls demanding a vote on HJR 38. But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL, refused to bring the measure to a vote, ending any chance of killing the HHS regulation. Capitol Hill sources said the House schedule was "very light" the week of June 15, and "a vote could easily have been scheduled. Hastert just didn't want to." "Privacy advocates made a tremendous effort," said Libertarian Party National Director Steve Dasbach, "but we've lost what we always knew would be an uphill fight. The problem was that Democrats supported the regulation because it was Bill Clinton's baby, and Republicans supported the regulation because George W. Bush endorsed it. It was classic Washington DC bipartisanship: The politicians won, and the American public -- and privacy -- lost." Since the DefendYourPrivacy.com campaign was launched in mid-April, 61,999 people signed a petition opposing the regulation and 13 Congressional co-sponsors signed on in support of HJR 38. But that wasn't enough to tip the balance against a measure supported by the leadership of both parties. What happens now? Is there any way protect medical privacy in the future? It's possible that a member of Congress could write legislation to repeal the regulation, but such a bill would be unlikely to pass, for several reasons. First, it would have to go through the full committee process, unlike HJR 38, which would have immediately become law if the House and Senate approved it by June 15. That process would give politicians plenty of opportunity to amend it or water it down. Second, the bill would have to get through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is now chaired by Ted Kennedy, one of the biggest supporters of the HHS regulation. Third, even if such a bill got through both houses of Congress, there's no reason to think that President Bush would sign it. After all, he's the one who ordered his HHS Secretary, Tommy Thompson, to implement the rule in the first place. So the bad news is that Americans are stuck with this regulation for the foreseeable future. But that does *not* mean that we will sit idly by when the government attempts other privacy violations. These HHS rules are a setback for privacy, but allowing similar rules to be imposed in the future would be a disaster. We will not surrender in the fight for privacy simply because we have lost one battle. Our supporters have successfully fought other government privacy invasions in the past -- such as the FDIC's Know Your Customer bank spying law and legislation that would have outlawed certain websites -- and we will do so again. So please stay posted, and let's keep up the fight for privacy. Again, thank you for helping us fight the HHS regulation! Sincerely, Steve Dasbach National Director Libertarian Party To make a contribution to help us continue to operate this site, please visit http://www.lp.org/action/contribute.html#privacy For a free information packet about the Libertarian Party, which sponsors the DefendYourPrivacy.com, visit http://www.lp.org/action/info.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 14:45:02 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: plastic onomastics band On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, jbranscombe@compuserve.com wrote: > The version of Whole Lotta Love which saw service as the Top Of The Pops > theme was by CCS - an agglomeration of worthy session players led by > venerable Brit bluesman Alexis Korner. Hasn't this been replaced by a more hip-hoppy version during the past 5(?) years? > Led Zep rather passed me by. I was into The Scaffold when the New Yardbirds > metamorphosed and The Soft Boys by the time they expired ;-) You must be a Grimms fan then - what a show! Did you see Neil Innes appear briefly in an insurance commercial recently? How are the mighty fallen ... - - Mike Godwin n.p. Tap turns on the water ... PS Now, who were they? I was Neil Innes, M was Roger McGough, M was Mike McGear, R was Andy Roberts, G was John Gorman, but who was S? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 09:53:56 -0500 (CDT) From: Bret Bolton Subject: morning diversion I'm probaby the last person in the world to see this (I usualy am on these sorts of things) But if not, this link if worth seeing. http://www.hoopee.com/goods2/Oswald.jpg dig it. - -b ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 15:02:52 -0000 From: Melissa Higuchi Subject: cale / for DC record collector fegs dear fegs, many thanks for the cale recommendations. i'll check those out and will also try to end my complete ignorance of Eno. for any obsessive DC record collector fegs... titled 'Vinyl' , that will be shown at the National Gallery of Art/East Building on Saturday, July 21. It's the second half of a double feature, with the whole event starting at 2pm. The following is from the National Gallery web-site .... - ------------------------- 'Vinyl' Why collect records when you don't even have time to listen to them? Exploring a longstanding addiction to vinyl discs, award-winning independent filmmaker Alan Zweig sets out on a decidedly strange and telling journey to the center of record collecting mania, as he looks for answers to his own obsessive hoarding mel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 08:14:54 -0700 (PDT) From: John Barrington Jones Subject: Re: cale / for DC record collector fegs Melissa and Fegs- I wholeheartedly recommend "Vinyl". I got to see it this past March here in Portland, and it was excellent. If you have the opportunity, go go go see it. =jbj= On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, Melissa Higuchi wrote: > dear fegs, > many thanks for the cale recommendations. i'll check those out and will also > try to end my complete ignorance of Eno. > > for any obsessive DC record collector fegs... > titled 'Vinyl' , that will be shown at the National Gallery of Art/East > Building on Saturday, July 21. It's the second half of a double > feature, with the whole event starting at 2pm. > > The following is from the National Gallery web-site .... > ------------------------- > 'Vinyl' > Why collect records when you don't even have time to listen to them? > Exploring a longstanding addiction to vinyl discs, award-winning > independent filmmaker Alan Zweig sets out on a decidedly strange and > telling journey to the center of record collecting mania, as he looks > for answers to his own obsessive hoarding > > mel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 09:42:26 -0700 (PDT) From: bayard Subject: Re: morning diversion On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, Bret Bolton wrote: > http://www.hoopee.com/goods2/Oswald.jpg > > dig it. hey, is that christopher gross in the back, on the far left? what instrument are you playing there, chris? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 13:08:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: morning diversion On Mon, 25 Jun 2001, bayard wrote: > > http://www.hoopee.com/goods2/Oswald.jpg > > > > dig it. > > hey, is that christopher gross in the back, on the far left? what > instrument are you playing there, chris? No, no, I'm not in the band -- I'm a music journalist. My favorite part is the Dead Kennedys graffiti in the background. - --Chris, who doesn't really look like the guy in the picture. Much. ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 15:13:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: catching up While catching up on posts, I read Mike Godwin's play by play of the latest Nuggets release. I was SOOOOO pleased to find another Pretty Things fan. I *do* love Walking Through My Dreams and think it's a great choice. In November 1999, the Boston Rock Opera staged the Pretty Things' SF Sorrow and did a wonderful job. They even gave it a plot which I never would have figured out on my own. As for the Move, Fire Brigade gets everyone's toes tapping, but I, too, am a big fan of Cherry Blossom Clinic and Useless Information. And how about Wild Tiger Woman (and my closet favorite - Curly)? Jill, showing her age ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #255 ********************************