From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #158 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, May 15 2002 Volume 11 : Number 158 Today's Subjects: ----------------- The Jesus of Cool [glen uber ] Take a bath ["Sloe Rose" ] Re: I listened to the trees listening to me ["Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." ] you bought the sofa I had wanted for years ["Natalie Jane" ] heart to heart [drew ] Re: you bought the sofa I had wanted for years [steve ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #157 ["Brian Hoare" ] Re: grace by concatenation [gSs ] Re: grace by concatenation ["Jonathan Fetter" ] Blogs ["Sloe Rose" ] Re: grace by concatenation [Jeff Dwarf ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 12:50:57 -0700 From: glen uber Subject: The Jesus of Cool Okay, following is a list of a few of my guilty pleasures. It's includes only stuff I own or have owned but would own again. Tin Pan Alley music Classic country music (Hank, Merle, Willie, Waylon, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, etc.) 70s funk (P-Funk, Bloodstone, EW&F, Brothers Johnson, The Gap Band, Ohio Players) "Stranger on the Shore" by Mr. Acker Bilk 10cc/Godley & Creme Michael Franks (_The Art of Tea_ album) Pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac ABC Falco Enya The Allman Brothers Boz Scaggs Chicago (any album with Terry Kath except VIII) Deee-Lite Frankie Goes To Hollywood Janis Ian The Monkees George Michael's _Listen Without Prejudice_ album The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (the Dirt Band period excluded) Huey Lewis & the News Jamiroquai Jimmy Buffet Joe Walsh John Prine Duran Duran Kraftwerk New Riders of the Purple Sage Queen Ray Stevens Roger Miller Stereolab J. Geils Band The Troggs Irish Rovers Thunderclap Newman Tom T. Hall Van Halen Wang Chung War ZZ Top Was (Not Was) The Scorpions The Kentucky Headhunters Pirates of the Mississppi - -- Cheers! - -g- "Youth is a marvelous thing. What a shame to waste it on children." - --George Bernard Shaw glen uber =+= blint (at) mac dot com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 20:59:24 +0000 From: "Sloe Rose" Subject: Take a bath Nat: >Lest anyone think I like the Loud Family (heaven forfend), "He do the >police in different voices" is a line from Dickens - "Our Mutual Friend," I think. Exactly. And to fill in further, the reason its a well-known bit from Dickens is because TS Eliot used it as a working title for "The Wasteland." >And lest anyone think I like "Rushmore," I actually haven't seen it. Opphhs. Who was it then who wanted a TV station that ran "Rushmore" 24 hours a day? - ------------------- Schell: >i thought nick was a girl, initially? ;-P You've also reminded me I left out Hall & Oates from my guilty pleasures list. My college roomate and I wore out the grooves on "Abandoned Luncheonettte." And add Tom Petty on too. In my uncool corner of the world Rundgren, Wilco, Emmylou Harris, Leo Kottke and Townes Van Zandt(who wrote a lovely lullabye to his daughter, Katie, which I still treasure) have an only partialy diminished amount of cool factor. - --------------- I like Jeffrey's question about what makes bad schlock truely bad. I think for me it has something to do with predicatbility. No music is utterly bad but schlock for me is stuff that dosn't add -anything- lyrically or melodicaly to my experience of the world. Thats not the full answer but it may be a start. For clarity's sake, lets use Celine Dion as our touchstone(pumice) for bathos. Ill make the assumption we all find her profoundly grating? - ------------------- Kay, "I'm afraid of librarians -- they have whips and high heels." Andrei Codrescu _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 13:59:31 -0700 (PDT) From: "Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: I listened to the trees listening to me > From: JH3 > > Ferris T. wrote: > > > Bite your tongue! There's not a lick of compression > > on #1! > > Maybe Gene just meant that it didn't have a lot of highs and > lows in it? Well, all computer-generated digital music sounds compressed to me, and listening to it on a free application with crappy headphones only makes it worse. I honestly don't care very much for MP3s. I can tell if music is MP3'ed from a mile away. And even though I own quite a few CDRs with music that originated as MP3, I don't hold them to the same standards that I do RedBook or HDCD seedies. I just don't think MP3 is as good. But then, I am a person who's obsessed with perfect sound reproduction, so take this all with a grain of salt. I say this because a clean LP played on my Magnepans with my tube amps doesn't sound compressed or congested (unless the mastering engineer futzed with the sound or it's a bad pressing) -- it often has what Steve Hoffman calls the "breath of life." I've yet to hear the "breath of life" in an MP3. Mmm, analog. Now, I'm not knocking digital. I've heard truly engaging CD transports/DACs, and albums which have been recorded/edited solely on hard disk, but that's a different ballgame than MP3s. LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 14:07:58 -0700 (PDT) From: "Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: pop irony & revisionism > From: > > Doesn't seem fair to pick on the Carpenters, to me...they can't defend > themselves, and Karen Carpenter could really sing. I find it disarming > that she originally was just the drummer for the band and wasn't particularly > interested in singing, and yes, I watched that _Behind the Music_ episode > in its entirety, more than once, I'm hopeless. Oh cool, it's time for my Annual Carpenters Rant! Me, I love 'em. Well, their early albums, at least. Pure pop masterpieces -- perfectly crafted, recorded, and arranged. Strings, harmonies, and the roar of polyester. I have that _Behind the Music_ episode on tape, in addition to the made-for-tv movie, and a collection of Carpenters videos, too. I even read the biography about them that came out years ago. And yes, Karen initially wanted only to play drums. But I've read recording engineers rave about how much of a natural she was: perfect pitch, knew how to work the microphone, nailed it on the first take, the whole bit. . LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 14:14:35 -0700 From: "victorian squid" Subject: Re: The Jesus of Cool On Tue, 14 May 2002 12:50:57 glen uber wrote: >70s funk (P-Funk, Bloodstone, EW&F, Brothers Johnson, The >Gap Band, Ohio Players) >War >John Prine >Kraftwerk Apparently I'm way out of touch. I didn't even know these were unhip. susan, staring glumly at her hush puppies and skulking off to the dorky kids corner P.S. Doug and I saw John Prine live at the Oregon Zoo last summer and he is a -great- live performer. Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 14:50:56 -0700 From: "Natalie Jane" Subject: you bought the sofa I had wanted for years > > Lest anyone think I like the Loud Family (heaven forfend) > > >Is it Scott Miller's uncanny resemblance to Spike Spiegel? Who is Spike Spiegel? No, it's like this: I totally didn't get the Olivia Tremor Control at first, then I played "Dusk at Cubist Castle" ten times and realized, "Hey, this is brilliant!" Likewise, I totally didn't get the Loud Family at first, then I played "Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things" ten times and realized, "Hey, this is mediocre!" I like Lance Loud, though. The Mumps rule! >Weird shit I love that I got turned on to by the dread RS: >Judee Sill(the female Nick Drake( better dodge and run fast !now!) Oh yeah - she was some ex-prostitute who found God, right? Or am I confusing her with someone else? I seem to recall that Andy Partridge totally digs her. On the other hand, Andy Partridge totally digs Yazbek (astonishingly irritating clever-clever "quirky" guy inexplicably beloved by Chalkhillians). I suspect Andy's hair loss has allowed dangerous UV rays to destroy portions of his cerebral cortex. (This also explains "Wounded Horse.") bored at work, gnat "please don't tell me to try another Loud Family album" the gnatster _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 17:20:49 -0500 (CDT) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: you bought the sofa I had wanted for years On Tue, 14 May 2002, Natalie Jane wrote: > Who is Spike Spiegel? I don't know either. > >Judee Sill(the female Nick Drake( better dodge and run fast !now!) > > Oh yeah - she was some ex-prostitute who found God, right? I think that's right... > totally digs her. On the other hand, Andy Partridge totally digs Yazbek > (astonishingly irritating clever-clever "quirky" guy inexplicably beloved by > Chalkhillians). I suspect Andy's hair loss has allowed dangerous UV rays to > destroy portions of his cerebral cortex. (This also explains "Wounded > Horse.") I've found that a band's being recomended by musicians I like has only a hit-or-miss likelihood of the band being one I actually like. Remember all those lame bands Thurston Moore foisted on DGC (back when *his* band was any good)? Thought not... > gnat "please don't tell me to try another Loud Family album" the gnatster This being this list and not that other one, the handful of us on both lists will not gang up on you and force you to recant. No, we have subtler methods of persuasion...mwah-hah-ha-ha!!! - --Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::American people like their politics like Pez - small, sweet, and ::coming out of a funny plastic head. __Dennis Miller__ np: Preoccupied Pipers _The Crispy Taste of Hell_ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 13:29:25 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Carpenters on 5/13/02 9:13 PM, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey at jenor@csd.uwm.edu wrote: > Carpenters? Harder one for me...I think Karen Carpenter as martyr has a > lot to do with it. Assume she really wanted to be a drummer, and the > riot-grrrls will be out in force supporting her. However: "Superstar" (is > that the title? "Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby?") is a > seriously warped, freaky song - go and listen to Sonic Youth's cover if > you don't believe me. I really never want to hear the Carpenters again, but I love my copy of "If I Were A Carpenter", which contains the above mentioned Sonic Youth cover. Shonen Knife's version of "Top Of The World" just slays me. It's out of print now, but you can find it on gemm.com. Game 7 on Wednesday, - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 18:27:24 -0700 From: drew Subject: heart to heart > From: "Michael Wells" >> god, I love the pre-Brigade Heart in all their uncool >> manifestations. > > You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din; I draw the line at "Bebe le > Strange." Well, I exaggerated; I actually only know a few of their albums overall, and my favorites are, of course, Dreamboat Annie, Heart, and Bad Animals. You know, the ultra-poppy ones. And speaking of ultra-poppy, I don't know, maybe Abba and testosterone just don't mix. I mean, Erasure is just Abba mixed with Motown, and I don't see people mentioning Erasure in the same breath with Kiss. Shonen Knife are Japanese Abba with guitars. I mean, come on. Is it the oppressive 70s vibe? The disco? The weird phonetic English? Ahhh, push the button, Frank! Drew ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 02:07:44 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: you bought the sofa I had wanted for years On Tuesday, May 14, 2002, at 04:50 PM, Natalie Jane wrote: >> > Lest anyone think I like the Loud Family (heaven forfend) >> >> Is it Scott Miller's uncanny resemblance to Spike Spiegel? > > Who is Spike Spiegel? Cowboy Bebop. http://rfblues.aaanime.net/Characters/spike.htm But he's not as cool as Ed. http://rfblues.aaanime.net/Characters/ed.htm > No, it's like this: I totally didn't get the Olivia Tremor Control at > first, then I played "Dusk at Cubist Castle" ten times and realized, > "Hey, this is brilliant!" Likewise, I totally didn't get the Loud > Family at first, then I played "Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things" > ten times and realized, "Hey, this is mediocre!" There's no accounting for some things, like preferring Robyn solo. If 10 times didn't do it then it's probably genetic. - - Steve __________ A New York Times investigation into overseas ballots that helped George W. Bush win the presidency found that Florida election officials, facing intense GOP pressure to accept military votes, counted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 00:34:51 -0700 From: Eclipse Subject: re; Flying >I think we -all- have a weakness for the 2nd-rate pop stuff that was around >when we first fell in love with music. Its an age thing. Between the age of >6 and 12 you realized that there was this other miraculous kingdom called >music. You imprint on whatever is around at the time like a duck to a >scientist. Its your mother and you follow it till you realize that, unlike >mom, you can fly. i can think of no better way to explain my fascination with, and overwhelming fondness for, two completely "uncool" and unrelated bands: The Monkees and Alphaville. yes, i too grew up in the 80's :) Eclipse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eclipse eclipse@tuliphead.com Kindness towards all things is the true religion. - Buddha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 08:14:33 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V11 #157 Marshall: >I think it's the desperate need to throw something, >anything, into the maw of nostalgia, whether or not anyone really wants it, >which explains the stunt of the Scooby-Doo film that's coming up this >summer. Who really, geniunely asked for that? WB have been producing feature length animated Scooby Doos for the past few years. These vids are good fun. The gang are a little older and are now facing witches, zombies, aliens that are "real" as well as locals in rubber masks. Witches Ghost and Zombie Island are the two best. My youngest daughter is a serious fan of both these new adventures and the classic early series - not so keen on the scrappy doo and similar stuff in the middle period. We didn't ask for the live action version though. >I think we -all- have a weakness for the 2nd-rate pop stuff that was around >when we first fell in love with music. Its an age thing. Between the age of >6 and 12 you realized that there was this other miraculous kingdom called >music. I don't know. The only stuff I remember from watching TOTP in my early days is Shawaddy Waddy and I don't get too excited when I hear them these days. My real "this is music" awakening occured in the late 70's (78/79) when at the age of 12 or so I was given a C90 with Parallel Lines on one side and Tonic for the Troops on the other. Around this time I bought my first vinyl single, Paranoid by the Dickies (still have,still love). This is when I first found music that excited me, the earlier pop stuff I don't remember and after this I only really listened out for music I liked, drifting into the Damned, SLF, Clash &c the rest just sort of floated past. I honestly can't tell you what the big hits of 1980 were but I do remember going to see SLF on my fourteenth birthday. Much of the music I was into then I still enjoy. Ok, so I flirted with Toyah but I can see know that was a mistake. brian np John Williams / Bach Cello Suites _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 11:16:07 -0500 (CDT) From: gSs Subject: Re: grace by concatenation On Mon, 13 May 2002, Natalie Jane wrote: > God, don't ask me. I consider both the bands and the latter-day reverence > accorded them to be signs of the Apocalypse. ooh, some excitement? but the tribulation thingie comes first right? and then is it the 1000 year deal next then the battle and then the apocalypse? and that rapture thing is in there somewhere right? what the hell is the order of disaster? someone fill us in and then maybe we can organize fantasy diety death teams and start making bets. when a god and it's army of angels come down for battle will these be a pay-per-view events or does that depend on his level? are the angels gonna fight with swords and pikes, fists, spit, guns or just bad intentions? and what is god's part? will it be way off on some hill like a general or do you think it has balls, figuratively? maybe we can make it an annual event like sturgis or some really really big chili cook-off. gSs ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 13:02:56 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jonathan Fetter" Subject: Re: grace by concatenation > ooh, some excitement? but the tribulation thingie comes first right? and > then is it the 1000 year deal next then the battle and then the apocalypse? > and that rapture thing is in there somewhere right? what the hell is the > order of disaster? someone fill us in and then maybe we can organize > fantasy diety death teams and start making bets. when a god and it's army > of angels come down for battle will these be a pay-per-view events or does > that depend on his level? are the angels gonna fight with swords and > pikes, fists, spit, guns or just bad intentions? and what is god's part? > will it be way off on some hill like a general or do you think it has > balls, figuratively? maybe we can make it an annual event like sturgis or > some really really big chili cook-off. > > gSs Whenever I get into a discussion with a zealous biblical literalist about the final conflict, I usually inform them that a) I would rather fight for Hell, because I'm sure they will have neater uniforms and way-cooler weapons, and b)I will be sure to wave to them from the other side when the two armies line up. I guess Hell will probably have better music than Heaven too ("'The Sound of Music,' over and over for all eternity..."). Hellbound and happy, Jon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 17:49:23 +0000 From: "Sloe Rose" Subject: Blogs Ive decided I want to put a reading journal online. Im reading a collection of Coleridge's writings on Shakespeare right now and like taking notes--interesting quotes, words, some of my reactions. At a few studious times in my life Ive kept reading journals and always found it worthwhile. I figure instead of lugging around one more heavy thing in my purse, I should do this online. Some site I could just throw stuff into, access when I wanted, and maybe occaisionally give a link to. Needless to say, I would want this site to be free. Any suggestions, ye all-knowing techie godettes? Kay "I'm afraid of librarians -- they have whips and high heels." Andrei Codrescu _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 13:19:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: grace by concatenation Jonathan Fetter wrote: > I guess Hell will probably have better music than Heaven too ("'The > Sound of Music,' over and over for all eternity..."). "And everyone's trying to keep Satan at bay But how can he lead us to ruins When we all know he has the best tunes?" -- "Warning: Parental Advisory", John Wesley Harding & Steve Wynn ===== "This week, the White House says President Bush meant no disrespect when he referred to the Pakistani people as 'Pakis.' But just to be on the safe side, White House staffers have cancelled his trip to Nigeria" -- Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt . LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V11 #158 ********************************