From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #352 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Saturday, November 2 2002 Volume 11 : Number 352 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: dvd question ["Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" ] i can't stop myself, it's a new religion [drew ] first Nextdoor thoughts [Miles Goosens ] Transylvanian Armadillos etc. ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: Setlist: Soft Boys on KEXP 10-31-02 ["ross taylor" ] Softs review Chicago Tribune ["Michael Wells" ] Skulls ["Maximilian Lang" ] Re: Skulls [Tom Clark ] Fwd: [RobynHitchcockClub] Soft Boys 10-31-02 Crocodile Seattle setlist [d] Flaming Lips on Conan [Tom Clark ] Halloween [Jill Brand ] Re: Halloween [Mike Swedene ] Nuns on the Run ["Enriched Macaroni Product" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 11:35:02 -0800 From: "Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" Subject: Re: dvd question Do a Google search on "DVD ripper" and you'll find lots. If you are on Mac, see my recent email about "Audio Hijack". At 9:38 AM -0800 11/1/02, Jason R. Thornton spake thus: >Since I know fuck-all about DVDs, I was wondering, is there any easy way to >capture the audio from a DVD - namely the free one that came with the new >Ben Folds live album - and convert it to MP3? > > > >--Jason > > "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." > - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 15:00:26 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: re: Jury Doodie >>>dems and reps are the only ones I have ever heard regulary >>>complain about civic duty, specifically jury duty. it is a requirement for >>>which you should be grateful. > >You've actually ascertained the party affiliation of everyone you've ever >heard complaining about jury duty? I would bet at least some of the >complainers, if not most, are unregistered, or nonvoters. Lots of those >around. Civic duty is just that: duty. "i won't register because then i'll have to go in for jury duty." i have heard that used as a justification for not registering to vote. not only are people do disinclined to take part in the democratic process (such as it is); but they have to come up with this lemon of an excuse. people complain about their jobs and work; but god forbid they take some time off to sit around and read or whatever. the half dozen times that i've had jury duty i have not been called to serve; and it has left a big empty space inside. there's nothing i'd like more than to get involved a juicy case where i get to weigh the evidence and make my reasonable doubts known. what's more telling is that people don't want to be bothered with it. why should this be such a chore? perhaps because it's not as convenient as yelling at the television? or maybe it's because there are so many irresponsible lawsuits out there? wait, responsiblity? can it be that freedom from responsiblity is what so many people want, when it is in fact responsibility that is required to guarantee that freedom? ken "it's not just the size of a walnut" the kenster ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 12:00:03 -0800 From: drew Subject: i can't stop myself, it's a new religion >From: gSs > >On Wed, 30 Oct 2002, drew wrote: > > Unpleasant things, like your tendency to preach and mine to carp, are > > not always good. > >yeah i know. i probably could have been an evangelist if it wasn't for all >that "mr. god" said this and "mr. god" said that stuff. as long as we >could have a naked choir and provide counseling on the virtues of nubility >to the nubile and,,, ok never mind that part. No, those are pleasant things. I may have voted for a Republican once upon a time, but I can't recall doing so. If I were ever presented with one who seemed superior to the Democratic candidate I'd give them my vote. I sometimes vote for third-party candidates largely to encourage third parties. Disclosure over. >From: "Rex.Broome" > >Shit, our tastes diverge again. I like brocolli. I can stand it if it's drenched with peanut sauce or concealed within a stir-fry. >From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) > >Perhaps it's all part of the trend to knock the ends off of all long words >(hell, is ten letters too much for an attention span?): "The champs were >held at the swim meet which was part of the sports fest. Entry for the comp >also included an invite to the barbie held between the pool and the skate >rink." I like that, myself. Long words are nice but there's something very satisfying about being able to use short chewy Anglo-Saxon words. I suspect that dropping largely unnecessary suffixes is a move in this direction. I really hate songs that rely on words ending in "-ation" to rhyme. You'd think that strategy would allow for more flexibility but no, you still get the same old rhymes. The Pet Shop Boys tend to abuse "-ation," as I recall. I have to admit I haven't felt compelled to put on Nextdoorland since the last time I tried it on headphones. I did listen to the WFMU mp3s, which didn't help. The show tomorrow should be fun, and I may be bringing a number of friends to the in-store, but I'm sorry, folks, I'm still really unenthusiastic about these new songs. I've been getting into the new Tori Amos album, though. The bad news first: it's awfully samey (18 songs with more or less the same feel, tempo, and arrangements), and the songs aren't all that hooky so far. The good news is that the music sounds extremely relaxed (mellow?) and beautiful and unaffected -- if you're inclined to view Tori as flaky, self-indulgent, melodramatic, and highly strung, you won't find those flaws on this album. I haven't scrutinized the lyrics yet, but in my ears they again sidestep her usual flaw of affected weirdness; the phrasing, at least, sounds natural and conversational. All sorts of evil and overblown things are happening with the disc's marketing -- a bonus if you buy two (!!) copies, limited editions with toys and a DVD (?), and a map showing a travel line for each song in the liner notes (and the lyrics are fucking unreadable) -- but the music itself is so far pretty promising, a breath of fresh air after Strange Little Girls. Drew, who wrote a "Girlfriend in a Coma" parody on the way to work this morning (obFeg: it was called "Nazi in a Wheelchair") ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 14:05:06 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: first Nextdoor thoughts While this post really needs an extensive preface about what Robyn has meant to me at different times in my life, waiting to write that preface would be just another excuse to procrastinate. So here goes. Believe it or not, I hadn't had time to give NEXTDOORLAND a listen until this week. But this week it's been in the car, and its 40-minute length means I hear the whole thing at least once a day, since my commute is 20 minutes each way. So far, I like it. It's distinctly Soft Boys rather than Robyn in a way I hadn't expected, especially since before this record (and judging from some NDL reactions on this list) I pretty much always thought of the Soft Boys and Robyn as being the same. But the guitar sound (even in its toned-down, subtler NDL incarnation), the words and subjects Robyn chooses, the intonation of Robyn's voice, they're all somehow Soft Boys 22 years later rather than a progression from the last few Robyn albums. It's like there was this Soft Boys Robyn all the time, existing in this other dimension, growing and developing all the while we've been listening to Solo Robyn, but now there's been some sort of celestial fol-de-rol and they've been swapped out. I wonder how the Solo Robyn's new album is being received on the parallel universe "underwatermaniax" list? I was also worried that I'd find the record too sedate (again, judging from some list reactions). That hasn't been the case. It's certainly more mature and measured than the Soft Boys' earlier repertoire, but it still has that propulsive, potentially sinister, buzzing current of electricity, making even the softest passages hum with a barely contained energy. Its songs don't blend into some endless torpor (see the last two R.E.M. albums), but have distinct identities, dynamic passages, and a thousand things great and small that hook your attention. In a way, this is almost the Soft Boys' version of PERSPEX ISLAND. And I like PERSPEX ISLAND a lot, so that's no damning with faint praise, no siree. I may explore more of this in greater detail later, but since there's at least an equal chance that I might not, I wanted to get these ideas out there, even as fragmented and suggestive (as opposed to complete! not as in "Japanese Captain!") as they may be. Or you could just say that I like NEXTDOORLAND a lot. buzz buzz buzz, buzz buzz (in the eardrum?), Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 12:35:27 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Transylvanian Armadillos etc. Kay: >>So ATM needs machine to anchor it into existance. Well, I almost alway say this, but I wonder if there's a regional component to it. I never saw an ATM before moving to Los Angeles, where it was introduced to me as an ATM, and I've always called it an ATM, and I don't think I frequently hear "machine" appended to it. "Cash machine", yes, but not "ATM machine". I'll listen closer. Folks around here do say "PIN number", though. >>instead of doing something important like seeing the SBs or trying >>to crash Rex's ghostship party Not too late-- it's actually on Saturday. Anyone around LA is welcome... should be a good time and we'll be "world-premiering" the "videos" for "Luminous Rose", "The Ghost Ship" and "Victorian Squid", along with many other songs suggested by feglisters, projected on a big ol' replica sail. Plus drinks. My costume: Captain Nemo, in keeping with the theme, although I also wore the costume to a more traditional Halloween party last night. Ended up sitting on a couch with Nancy Drew, both of us bitching about how nobody seems to get lit-based costumes, even ones based on what you tend to think of as "iconic" characters. My friends went as the White Stripes and it were hilarious, it were. __________________________ woj: >>gonna go see phillip glass do the live score to dracula - - whee!) So, I gotta ask you the same thing I ask everyone who sees this film with an audience: how did the crowd react to the shot of the *armadillo* lurking in Drac's castle? - -Rex "I wonder if there's a regional component to it" Broome ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 15:46:00 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: i can't stop myself, it's a new religion >>> Unpleasant things, like your tendency to preach and mine to carp, are >>> not always good. >> >>yeah i know. i probably could have been an evangelist if it wasn't for all >>that "mr. god" said this and "mr. god" said that stuff. as long as we >>could have a naked choir and provide counseling on the virtues of nubility >>to the nubile and,,, ok never mind that part. > >No, those are pleasant things. > >I may have voted for a Republican once upon a time, but I can't >recall doing so. If I were ever presented with one who seemed >superior to the Democratic candidate I'd give them my vote. I >sometimes vote for third-party candidates largely to encourage >third parties. Disclosure over. i actually voted in the 2000 republican primary. as an independant, i was able to change my registration to republican, go in and vote for mccain, and come out and re-register as an independant. mccain did win massachusetts. fat lot of good that did. since then, due to the showing for nader, the greens have become an official state party. and ken said that it was good. this subject heading spoke to me; because i've been feeling that way for the past few months. rather than look to an authority figure or religion to explain things to me; i've been looking inward. i believe that we all have an inner voice that comes directly from god. we all know what's right; but we all have freedom of choice. we have the choice of acting through love or fear. we have the choice of accepting or denying the consequences of our own actions. i like to think that i can teach an older person or learn from a child. the trick is to be open and honest with yourself. i'm currently reading a couple of books that really speak to this: "the gospel according to jesus: a new translation and guide to his essential teachings for believers and unbelievers" by stephen mitchell. it attempts to remove the extraneous bits that he believes have been inserted by various evangelists and dogmatics for their own reasons. so many of the things that i was taught from the bible as a youngster seemed contradictory to me; and now i know why. "conversations with god: an uncommon dialogue" by neale donald walsch. this guy sat down and wrote out questions to god in his frustration and found the answers coming to him through his own pen! sure, it sounds weird; but the answers to his questions seem so obvious and wise that the fact that they are heretical doesn't matter in the slightest. these are truly pleasant things. ken "searching for the undeniable truth that a man is just a fool" the kenster ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 09:59:59 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Travel in Europe/welcome >On Thu, 31 Oct 2002, gSs wrote: >> here's a question for you europeans or world travelers. what are the >> advantages and disadvantages of visiting Europe in January, generally, >> besides the snow? few tourists, lower prices, big hats, it might be worth >> it. > >We don't get much snow in southern England nowadays (that really is asking >for it!) but Scotland and parts of northern England still get snowed on. >However, January is damp, cold, frosty, misty, windy, damp again and >therefore not much recommended. The really major snowy Januaries were, I >think, 1947 and 1962. You would definitely benefit from off-season peace >and quiet - the whole country is hung over for a week or two after >Christmas - and you should be able to get cheap flights and hotels. one major disadvantage though is daylight hours. Much of Europe is further north than the US, and in winter daylight hours can be short, especially if you're planning to go to Scotland, Russia, or Scandinavia. Not a hassle for indoor sights (museums and the like), but I pain if the main purpose of your visit is to see the buildings and landscape. For example, dusk in Glasgow's about 4pm in January. Then again, the twilights are very long, so you can go for a seriously lengthy roam in the gloaming. Oh, and welcome to the feg family, Perry. It can be a bit like the Addams family at times, but that doesn't make it any the less entertaining. (personally I see woj as Gomez, Kay as Morticia, The Great Quail and lj as Pugsley and Wednesday, Greg as Lurch and Eb as Fester, but YMMV). James 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: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 16:13:23 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: WFMU & KEXP > wfmu mp3s http://www.smoe.org/woj/sb-wfmu.html > kexp mp3s are now at http://smoe.org/woj/sb-kexp.html all hail the mighty woj! i am really enjoying the songs i didn't hear and the opportunity to listen to them over and over. 'ster ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 16:13:36 -0500 From: "ross taylor" Subject: Re: Setlist: Soft Boys on KEXP 10-31-02 woj-- >i was just doing the same thing and uploading them to the fegsite. i'm >going out shortly (gonna go see phillip glass do the live score to dracula >- - whee!) I saw that a couple of years ago at Wolftrap. There was a big moon we could see thru the side of the open air theater. Beautiful spooking! I've seen a good many performances of/or involving Glass music, but that was the only time I've seen him. So, anyway, more thanks for all your postings! Ross Taylor Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 17:37:30 -0500 From: dances with virgos Subject: billboard reviews the soft boys live The Soft Boys / Oct. 26, 2002 / New York (Bowery Ballroom) The Soft Boys have always been a band out of time. In their late '70s and early '80s heyday, they were neither raw enough for punk or gimmicky enough for new wave. Their jangly, neo-psychedelic guitar-pop, pristine harmonies, and sardonic, Cambridge-bred lyricism owed more to a mid-'60s Beatles and Byrds tradition that was decidedly out of fashion in the age of anarchy. The band's 1980 masterpiece "Underwater Moonlight" influenced an entire generation of alternative guitar bands -- from R.E.M. to Yo La Tengo to the Flaming Lips. But dismal sales and poor label support forced the group to disband soon after the record's release. Frontman Robyn Hitchcock went on to a successful, if cultish, solo career, joined by drummer Morris Windsor in his backup band, the Egyptians. Bassist Mathew Seligman became an in-demand session player and then a lawyer, while guitarist Kimberley Rew founded and scored several pop hits with Katrina And The Waves. Flash forward to 2001. After nearly two decades on the shelves of rock history, the Soft Boys -- now fully grown and slightly less tender men -- decided to reform and embark on an international tour in support of the reissued version of "Moonlight." Spurred on by the kudos these shows received, the band became far more than just another nostalgia act when it went back into the studio to record "Nextdoorland," its first album of new material in 22 years. Sounding contemporary, yet preserving the band's classic sound, the album proved to be worth the extended wait. Its choice cuts, as well as the band's beloved classics, pleased the adoring crowd earlier this week at New York's Bowery Ballroom to no end. With Hitchcock in his trademark polka dot shirt, Rew in vivid paisley, and Seligman and Windsor in classic pinstripes, the band retained its colorful, hippie-mod style, albeit with more than a touch of gray mixed in. Even the aroma of Woodstock was in the air, a fact that didn't escape Hitchcock's sense of irony. "Where Mr. Bloomberg makes it impossible for you to smoke cigarettes in these places anymore, you'll be able to smoke weed still. 'Cause that's already illegal, so it can't be anymore illegal." The observation sparked a typically surrealist Hitchcock rant on intoxicant-fueled illusions, which was the perfect introduction to the vivid musical imagery of the "Moonlight" classics that followed. "Kingdom of Love" retained all of its quirky, Beatles-esque guitar work and spine-tingling harmonies. The already keyed-up audience soon roared when it heard the familiar strains of the Byrds-inspired "The Queen of Eyes." After the oldies warm-up, the band began to showcase songs from the new album, as well as selections from its limited edition "Side Three" EP (Editions PAF!). "This is pretty much what Jerry Garcia would be doing if he were still alive and there were two of him," said Hitchcock in his introduction to "Mr. Kennedy." With a moody, bluesy instrumental break that featured Rew and Hitchcock's extended guitar dueling, the song actually evoked the Doors' "L.A. Woman" more than any of the Dead's trippy ditties. As on the album, the jam segued seamlessly into the bouncy, Bo Diddley beat of "Unprotected Love," then into the stream-of-consciousness wordplay of "My Mind Is Connected to Your Dreams." The time-themed "Pulse of My Heart," overflowed with hooks and harmonies, and featured more reverb-laden, Television-style guitar interplay between Hitchcock and the nimble-fingered Rew. Hitchcock's solo career was represented by the offbeat gem "The Man with the Lightbulb Head" and a sublime rendition of Pete Seeger's "The Bells of Rhymney," the '65 Byrds hit he covered 20 years later on "Fegmania." And the charmingly eccentric, if long-winded, between- and mid-song monologues that have become a staple of his live performances -- and were heavily showcased in Jonathan Demme's concert film "Storefront Hitchcock" -- were offered up in generous amounts. Some were his typically wry and whimsical observations and predictions, such as his pronouncement that time will start to run backward in 2012. "This is an actual fact," he insisted. "It's all on the London Underground timetables." But recent events have toned down his irreverence. In the politically-themed "Strings," Hitchcock chanted such lines as "Evil is the new enemy/Evil is the new bad" and "I wish that I was just paranoid," over Seligman's throbbing bass and Windsor's martial drumming, which made the song sound even more ominous. And when introducing the band's most famous and often covered song, Hitchcock offered this disclaimer: "At this point we could play 'I Wanna Destroy You,' but out of respect to the people who were killed in the Twin Towers, and the people who were killed in Afghanistan subsequently, and the people who are going to be killed in Iraq, and the people who are going to be sent to Iraq to kill and be killed, we don't want to destroy anybody. There's been enough." The band then launched into the familiar, chiming chords and still stinging, if metaphoric, lyrics of the artfully anarchic anthem. A vibrant version of "Underwater Moonlight" -- replete with a Hitchcock reenactment of the actual boating accident that inspired the song -- closed the main set. Encores included an intense version of "Insanely Jealous," a raucous rendition of the Stones-y "Rock & Roll Toilet," and a heartfelt cover of Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again." Hitchcock ended the enthralling, nearly two-hour show by telling everyone to set their clocks back two hours, just to be "more interesting." Purposely out of sync? He's still a Soft Boy, after all. - -- Cheryl Spielman, New York ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 16:49:19 -0600 From: "Michael Wells" Subject: Softs review Chicago Tribune Of course, they could have changed the headline since the show was at Double Door. Hmm, do you think part of this was pre-written? Michael "it was the second best show of the year" Wells ========== http://metromix.com/top/1,1419,M-Metromix-Home-X!ArticleDetail-19019,00.html Rock review, Soft Boys at Metro By Kevin McKeough There were lewd ad-libs about pumpkins, a song about a man with a light-bulb head, gleaming guitar hooks, soaring harmonies and Studio 54 rhythms, plus renditions of songs by Syd Barrett and the Byrds. It was, in other words, a routine evening for the Soft Boys, as the punk-era cult-heroes-turned-double-aught-indie-pop act performed at Double Door Monday. Routine is not a word usually associated with the English band, given their idiosyncratic music and unlikely career path. Having made little impact during their first incarnation in the late '70s, the Soft Boys broke up, only to see their 1980 swan song, "Underwater Moonlight," become a classic in indie rock circles. After reuniting last year for an enthusiastically received first-ever tour of the United States, the Soft Boys-songwriter/lead singer/guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor-now are fashioning a second act. The band recently released "Nextdoorland," their first record of new songs in 20 years, and drew on it in equal measure with their early material during the show. The constant in Hitchcock's music from the first incarnation of the Soft Boys through his solo career to the present has been its foundation in the "three B's"- Barrett, the Beatles and the Byrds. Those influences were evident in both old songs ("Queen of Eyes") and new ones ("La Cherite") as he alternated liquid psychedelic guitar lines with chiming folk-rock arpeggios. Rew's mop-top haircut and bouncy enthusiasm gave him a puppy dog appearance, and his biting, barking power chords and terse solos added toughness to Hitchcock's flights of fancy. Seligman and Windsor also kept even the artiest songs anchored. Even so, the music from "Nextdoorland" suggested an uneven Hitchcock solo album, with the songs sometimes getting channeled through his quirks and obsessions. The strongest new songs were the most straightforward, as Rew's opening salvo kicked off the surging, shimmering "Unprotected Love" and the lilt of "Mr. Kennedy" built to a finale that found Hitchcock and Rew wrapping their serpentine guitar lines around each other in an extended jam. In these moments, the Soft Boys' new music rose to the standard they set with the songs from "Underwater Moonlight." The siren wail of Hitchcock's guitar and ascending three-part harmony made the anti-war broadside "I Wanna Destroy You" as thrilling as ever and, as the rhythm section played an ominous groove, Rew's silvery single notes crawled up the spine of "Insanely Jealous." In these songs, the Soft Boys recaptured the brashness, anger and uncertainty of youth and, in the best of their new music, they showed they now can express mature emotions with equal artistry. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 17:59:53 -0500 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Skulls What kind of Skulls are used in the Nextdoorland sculpture? Thanks, Max _________________________________________________________________ Unlimited Internet access for only $21.95/month. Try MSN! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/2monthsfree.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 15:04:42 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Skulls on 11/1/02 2:59 PM, Maximilian Lang at maximlang@hotmail.com wrote: > What kind of Skulls are used in the Nextdoorland sculpture? Why, Badgers of course! http://www.axisartists.org.uk/all/ref5749.htm - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 18:57:47 -0500 From: dances with virgos Subject: Fwd: [RobynHitchcockClub] Soft Boys 10-31-02 Crocodile Seattle setlist no fegs go? what what what?!? >To: RobynHitchcockClub@yahoogroups.com >From: gilde >Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 22:03:00 -0000 > >Soft Boys >10/31/02 >Crocodile Cafe >Seattle, WA > >Kingdom Of Love >Queen Of Eyes >Unprotected Love >My Mind Is Connected To Your Dreams >Disconnection Of The Ruling Class >Insanely Jealous >Hear My Brane >The Man With The Lightbulb Head >Chinese Bones >Strings >Sudden Town >Mr. Kennedy >Underwater Moonlight > >1st Encore: >(I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp >Rock 'n' Roll Toilet >Sleeping With Your Devil Mask >I Wanna' Destroy You > >2nd Encore: >Memphis Blues >Chapter 24 >Om ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 16:06:02 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Flaming Lips on Conan Last night's rerun is on Comedy Central right now. Their performance was pretty entertaining. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 20:07:00 -0500 (EST) From: Jill Brand Subject: Halloween Kay wrote: "What are, or rather, by the time most of you read this, what were most of you dressed as?" I was dressed as an overworked mother with a full-time job who needed a haircut and didn't get to see the Soft Boys last week. Any more questions? Jill, who just spoke to her friend Miriam about the Seattle show (thanks, Eddie, for taking care of her) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 20:33:51 -0800 (PST) From: Mike Swedene Subject: Re: Halloween I went as Martha Stewart in prison garb. Since my employer might *also* be going to prison, I had to pick and choose carefully. Herbie np-> "Two Of Us" Beatles - --- Jill Brand wrote: > Kay wrote: "What are, or rather, by the time most of > you read this, > what were most of you dressed as?" > > I was dressed as an overworked mother with a > full-time job who needed a > haircut and didn't get to see the Soft Boys last > week. Any more questions? > > Jill, who just spoke to her friend Miriam about the > Seattle show (thanks, > Eddie, for taking care of her) ===== - --------------------------------------------- View my Websight & CDR Trade page at: http://midy.topcities.com/ _____________________________________________ HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 02 Nov 2002 00:37:31 -0800 From: "Enriched Macaroni Product" Subject: Nuns on the Run all right, i just had a peek through the most recently archived digest, and didn't see anybody having written about last night's show. first, however: huh. cynthia was asking a similar question last night. i find it odd, considering that i know fuck-all about *anything* to do with computers, yet i've been doing this sort of thing for ages. the audio mixer that i use has a record function, so it's very easy to record anything that plays through your soundcard -- including real audio and whatnot. you can also use CDwave or Total Recorder to do the same thing (or you can use Musicmatch to record directly to MP3). granted, you're not "ripping" the audio, but it is easy, and the sound quality is great. also a good way to get around copy-protected CDs: just play them on your component CD player, line it into your computer, and record the audio. anyhow, so i showed up right during soundcheck, with not a feg in sight (save bradley, but i didn't learn 'til later that he is a feg). in time, jet-setter jim davies showed up with jeme and vivien in tow. simone arrived shortly after, while the chairperson of the seattle feg council, cynthia, sauntered in fashionably later. jim and i chatted with matthew and then morris for a while, about the last days of the egyptians, as well as other things. he says there's a new Gliders rekkid on the horizon. interesting tidbit: roger jackson owns a huge house, and throws a massive garden party every year, at which morris and andy (and i think matthew) played this year. jeme told a long and funny story (natch), this time about the portland mayoral history. eventually the seating bowl was opened, and we assumed our customary perch hugging the stage. at this point, jill's friend miriam (who appears to be an even rabider kinks fan than mrs. brand) introduced herself. i had told her to look for especially dorky-looking characters, and i was the very first person she asked after. so the opening act, the chris and tad show, were chris ballew from the Presidents, and tad from the Fellows. they came out in NASA space-outfits, and performed a well-choreographed lighting of the candles on chris' keyboard, using these weird pincer devices -- as the Chariots Of Fire theme played. they then performed songs and told stories about life in space -- very funny yet very rocking (but different in that chris was now playing guitar rather than the keyboard). mid-show, they stripped off their space outfits to reveal matching cowboy duds, and the rest of the show was songs and stories about life as a cowboy. again, very funny yet very rocking. later, some fegs opined that there had been too many space-life songs, and some that there had been too few. during the closing number, chris left the stage and let tad take a drum solo. tad didn't have the swinging cymbal we all fell in love with last tour, but he did have a small snare that he spun 'round throughout the show, and even disengaged and dropped at one point. during the solo, chris worked his way through the crowd, and then climbed back onto the stage, whereon tad left to let chris perform the blowout finale, in which he came perilously close to setting his cowboy hat afire with the aforementioned candles. incredibly enjoyable set. the soft boys finally came out, later than scheduled (to the dismay of cynthia and myself, as it put us in danger of missing the last boat to the island). robyn was wearing a tall witch-hat, embroidered with many silver crabs -- very cool! he took it off after about three songs, and seated it atop an onstage jack-o-lantern, where it rested for the duration of the evening's "entertainments". matthew put on crazy helmet for one song -- evoked something out of an "insects invade the mother earth" movie (to me, anyways). matthew and the sound-tech dude chose their favourite audience "ghoul" about midway through the show, and she was awarded a prize. at one point during the show, i felt a hand brush my ass (inadvertently or not, i may never know). praying that it might be soupy sales, i turned around to instead find jim sangster. we chatted a bit between songs, and he tried to get matthew's attention (we were standing right in front of him), but matthew seemed not to recognise him. between songs, sangster kept telling anybody who would listen that matthew is his favourite bassist. he disappeared after a bit, and between the main set and the encore, as i was explaining to miriam who the celebrity no-longer-in-our-midst had been, kurt bloch strode up wearing an angel-of-death type costume (or perhaps a middle ages knight?), and grasping a massive halberd (made of cardboard, tin foil, and a broom handle, i guess). as the encore began, i borrowed the weapon, and started making chopping motions at the stage. matthew seemed kinda frightened at first, but i don't think any of the other bandmembers noticed. kurt told me not to kill everybody just yet, so i gave his blade back to him. after the show, cynthia and myself made a too-quick getaway, and strode briskly yet calmly to the ferry terminal, arriving with about ten minutes to spare. as for the band's performance. i've seen robyn live 45 times or so, and heard a couple hundred more shows on tape, and last night's show is on the very, very short list of the finest of them all. morris had warned us beforehand that the band is much better now than last year. but i hadn't, in my wildest dreams, expected *this*. to be honest, i don't own and haven't heard NEXTDOORLAND yet, and i really didn't think the band was going to be all that hot this time. i even briefly considered skipping the show altogether -- VERY glad i didn't. the kind of funny thing is, though, that it really wasn't a perfect set. they played Chinese Bones specially for halloween, and, having only practised it during the soundcheck, it really didn't work very well. i thought that Devil Mask sounded much better during the KEXP session. Kingdom Of Love and Queen Of Eyes, while good, seemed more obligatory than spirited. Stuck Inside Of Mobile is too long to cover, and Chapter 24 doesn't work, in my opinion, as an all-out rocker. (for covers, i'd rather have heard something like Head Held High or, say, a shortened version of Sister Ray (i actually did yell out for Black Angel's Death Song, 'cause of halloween, but that'd work too); and maybe something like Yer Blues.) the guitar duel in Mr. Kennedy, which was really the climax of the last tour's set, now seems superfluous in the context of the band's general pyrotechnics (though i still like the song). but, my god, when they hit their stride -- Insanely Jealous, Hear My Brane, Lightbulb Head, Strings, Om, Anglepoise Lamp, Sudden Town, I Wanna Destroy You -- they were just mind-bendingly good. unbelievably good. impossibly good. holy motherfuckingly good. the absolute highlight of the set, for me, was Underwater Moonlight. you know, they played the first fews bars or whatever to kind of get ready. or whatever the reason is -- but the point is that it was clear that Underwater Moonlight was coming. robyn and kimberley engaged in conversation for a while, with robyn seeming to explain what he wanted to do, and kimberley not seeming to quite get it, and gesturing and so forth. the mid-song monologue was to do with a sea voyage gone horribly hopelessly wrong, and during this kimberley was just shredding his guitar to pieces, delivering, basically the screams of the dying. meanwhile, the band were so loud and ferocious that robyn had to scream the conclusion at the top of his lungs, and could still barely be heard. when it was all said-and-done, there was nothing you could say, but, "holy motherfuck, did i just witness what i think i just witnessed?" i'll post a setlist in a few days if nobody else has by then. i haven't listened to it yet, but i suspect the tape will have turned out pretty good. my fucking battery bad luck continued, so Stuck Inside Of Mobile is partially missing. i think my mic may have been partially dislodged during The Man With The Lightbulb Head. there's some pre-song banter missing from Om, as i'd stopped the tape to leave, but then decided i did have time to listen to one last song. it's probably all to the best: a show this good probably shouldn't have a perfect recording, somehow. at any rate, i don't really have the time to engage in trading like the old days. i'll make a CD-set of the KEXP performance, the soundcheck, the chris and tad show, and the gig itself; and send a copy to bayard who can then tree it up if he feels it's merited. by the way, there were no "jam session" shenanigans. just the four soft boys, rocking like a magicus. hear me now, san francisco and l.a. fegs not yet decided upon whether to attend: DO NOT MISS THIS TOUR. bradley and miriam: great to meet you. jeme, vivien, jim, simone, cynthia: a pleasure, as always, and as always the time was too short. carole, vince, john barrington jones, michael wolfe, natalie jane jacobs, paul montagne, susan and doug, kenneth, michael keefe: where the fuck were you?? it's late, and i'm fuck-ass tired, so i'm not scanning for typos and grammar before i send this shit. but hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. _________________________________________________________________ Surf the Web without missing calls! 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