From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #167 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, May 6 2003 Volume 12 : Number 167 Today's Subjects: ----------------- =?iso-8859-1?Q?VH1=92s?= Behind the Website [Laura Ogar ] Re: Oh, we love comic book movies, there's no higher form of art, la la la... ["Stewart C. Russell" ] The Great Stone Face [Jill Brand ] Re: The Great Stone Face [Eb ] assimiliation has its upsides (50% RH) ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: X2 [Sebastian Hagedorn ] um... [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: and then there's always... [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: and then there's always... ["Stewart C. Russell" ] billboard catches up [noam tchotchke ] Re: um... [Ken Weingold ] Why make the water turn black? ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Re: Why make the water turn black? [Tom Clark ] Re: um... [gshell@metronet.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 19:13:01 -0400 From: Laura Ogar Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?VH1=92s?= Behind the Website Hello all, I'm the Soft Boys webperson. I've been lurking for ages (being wary of lists, too aware of my disgraceful tendency to piss people off) but talk of the "Matthew S debacle" has rustled me out of my comfy fur-lined nest in the underbrush. I share Aidan's sense of irony about Matthew's day job; Matthew is (ahem) rather excitable and (cough) very disorganized, and dealing with him can require great stamina as well as a natural flair for playing therapist. It's true he seriously mishandled the website project, including paying Tracy and dealing with other bills. But, there are other aspects to the situation. Here's part of the view from my end: I was originally part of a possible website team with Tracy and Theo. I dropped out, then Theo was fired, leaving Tracy running underwatermoonlight.com with Matthew. In the thick of the tour, Tracy stopped putting up the tour diaries, wouldn't respond to Matthew's e-mails, and was unreachable by phone, leaving a very frantic Matthew to call me from the west coast begging me to step in and take over the diaries, which I did. Tracy surfaced again, and then the website team was supposedly her, Matthew and myself. I say "supposedly" because Tracy continued to be uncommunicative and, shall we say, not exactly a team player. If she felt exhausted and ill-used, I would have thought she might have welcomed someone else taking over some of the work, but she ignored my e-mails and did work herself rather than clue me in. The few e-mails I did get from her were increasingly terse and condescending; I had the uneasy suspicion that after a couple of requests from me for clarification on some points - her "communications" were heavy on programming jargon and airily pompous administratese, and I am neither a programmer nor a professional administrator - she had perhaps decided I was simply too dim to bother with. The main task at hand was the storefront, which should have opened during or soon after the tour, but didn't. Instead of instituting a simpler e-commerce plan, Tracy - who appeared from the beginning to be the type who, when a gallon of milk was needed, would inevitably begin by writing a prospectus on buying dairy cows - opened a merchant account and then, according to Matthew, hired a lawyer to make her an "agent" of the Soft Boys, a "solution" Matthew was not about to agree to. So she quit, leaving Matthew to pay her lawyer's very hefty fees and effectively dumping the website on me. When I later needed her to send the now-quite-expensively unsold merchandise to me, I learned that when she quit she had blocked my e-mail address, knowing full well I was unfamiliar with aspects of the administration of the site and might be expected to have a question or two. Matthew and I had our fights but always managed to work things out, and we've remained friendly. As for Mr. H., I had a little tiff with him at the beginning of thesoftboys.com when I felt he wasn't sufficiently interested in or appreciative of the work I was doing, something I believe was due to his 1) longstanding habitual insularity and 2) total cluelessness about the Internet (or indeed anything computer-related). We had words, we made up, he's been friendly and helpful since. I got no complaints. So anyhoo, that's my 47 cents' worth. Laura (crawling back into the weedy undergrowth) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 17:01:26 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Oh, we love comic book movies, there's no higher form of art, la la la... Me then someone I mistook for Eb and then Eb: >Me then Eb: >>>>>I think it has more to do with the fact that >>>>> Robyn was dead set against a second guitarist, so the >>>>> bass parts naturally evolved to take on >>>>> some lead-guitar-like elements... > > >>So why was Peter Buck there? :) >>This twasn't me. Ooooppps, sorry. >>>We actually buzzed at his door >>>and Eddie came out and opened the gate for us. >>Well, come on...more details! ;) Well, he let us in (me, wife, nephew), we found the Beanie Baby, thanked him and left. He was nice and he had no teeth. There was a small party going on with probably some bandmates involved. A day earlier my brother-in-law the Cajun fiddler had run into Eddie at the supermarket and had a little musician-to-musician chat with him-- the Van Halens had heard us doing a casual jam on the balcony the previous night and thought it was cool. That was about it. This was aboutt the time when the Van Halen Mk. III record was about to be released... my wife's mom's friend owns the house next door to the VH Compound and we used to stay there on weekends a few times a year. Right down the cliffside were two houses once owned by the Sheen Bros (Charlie & Emilio). The houses were mirror images of each other. Saw Emilio and Paula Abdul on the beach back in the day, and Valeri Bertinelli a bunch of times. Woo hoo! ___ Quail: >>I have been listening the bejeezus out of two CDs lately -- The White >>Stripes' "Elephant," and Steven Malkmus' "Pig Lib." >>I mean, Holy Cow! I was never a big fan of either, bit I listen to both CDs >>at least once a day for the last month. White Stripes... I'll eventually pick up that record when loads of people sell it back. I've always liked them but the hype has reached epic proportions. Malkmus: a bit of a struggle. Parts I really like, but the indie-prog fusion, to me, sounds a lot like-- and I mean a HELL of a lot like-- the final Helium album, which was rather precious and twee. Pig Lib is less so, but that Helium record is the only other thing like this I've ever heard, so it colors the experience mightily. It's like, getting the whole band to play the riff in prog-style unison sound weird when you're still going for willfully lo-fi tones. It's tilting at something new and great, but not there just yet. I like most of the tunes, but overall I feel like if SM's going to indulge his guitar hero tendencies (and I think he should, it's great!) he's better off the way he plays that more traditional "Cowgirl in the Sand"-style jam late in the album--can 't remember the title but it rocks my world. In fact I have the overall impression that this is supposed to be "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" to the self-titled "Steve Malmus"'s, umm, self-titled "Neil Young"-- from the "jams instead of pop-tunes" format down to listing the backing band on the spine this time around. Jury's still out, but I can't see it become a full classic in my book. But you know what is? The Lucinda Williams record. Absolutely addictive. Her voice is flat-out erotic, man, and the writing is... scary. ______ X-2: I'll be glad to see Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler (eventually and on DVD, prolly), but I'm totally cofused by the cast of characters in these movies when played against my vague, jumbled memory of the comic... seems like three whole different generations of X-Men jumbled together. And I guess Kitty Pryde is still relegated to cameo territory. I liked me some Kitty when I was a kid, and got bored of Rogue quickly, so if I had my 'druthers... still, there's always Famke Jannsen. Too bad she doesn't get to be funny, which is her forte... and don't even tell me she does do anything funny, 'cuz no way. I'd lay money that the "best comic book movie" is something not thought of as such (that is, not an obvious superhero opus)... something like Ghost World, although probably not Ghost World per se. Oh, well. - -Rex "and it sure as hell wasn't Judge Dredd, either" Broome ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 12:22:16 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: your daily dose of kiwiana >And James, there was a preview for the movie "Whalerider" which is about a >young girl in a Maori tribe. The more I see of New Zealand, the more I >agree with Chris G - the next feg get-together needs to be at Jame's place. not a bad movie. Written by NZ's best-known Maori writer and largely featuring a cast of relative unknowns, even by our standards. They pretty much roped in anyone who could act from one particular iwi (tribe - Ngati Porou, ISTR) to take part in the the movie There's hope that it will creep up unsuspectingly on overseas audiences to the extent that inuit one did (Ataarnaaransuat, or something? Dammit, I can never remember Inuit words.). >>>Gibbard played guitar, sang, >>>played the maracas and tambourine, and several times switched from guitar >>>to drums in mid-song, which I've never seen anyone do before. > >Saw Tim Finn do this a few times on the Finn Bros. tour. He wasn't >brilliant on the drums but he got the job done and it was fun to see him do >it. Those guys did a lot of mid-song instrument switches. Looked like fun. this also happened memorably during late Split Enz tours. During the song "Working up an appetite" both Neil and Tim would drop instruments and rush to drums of various descriptions, and Eddie rayner would swivel round to the synth drums, so you'd have bass and five people on different sorts of percussion. Amazing yet weird sound. 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: Tue, 6 May 2003 12:22:27 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: rockface reap >You're sure, huh? Haven't they been holding that thing onto the >cliffside with epoxy and wire for like 50 years now? I read somewhere >that the first anchors to help restrain it were placed in the early >teens of last century, as it was already on the move. Seems a little >silly to suggest that a 5 lb flagpole would dislodge 350+ tons of rock, >but that's just me. If it was that weak, then planting a flagpole on it was even more stupid. The (non-)silliness of the suggestion is akin to saying "the bridge is close to collapse - one more person walking across it won't bring it down". >Given the country's current shape, I would have to say: how appropriate that >some patriotic/nationalistic fervor has led to the destruction of some >states cherished landmark that people figured would be around for all time. >what's next? What's next is what's happened in the UK, to my favourite piece of prehistoric art, no less: . At least it's temporary, but man... >The Old Man was only a natural rock formation after all. It's not even a >living entity let alone a constitutional document guaranteeing the >(natural,)inalienable rights of the people. If it had been a tree or a >person, I could see getting misty over it. But sadness over a rock face on >the side of a mountain? People need to get some perspective!!! yeah, you're right in that it was only a rock face. But it's also an important memory for many people. It means something to them. And let's face it, that's the main reason reaps are reported here. When there was the slather of Mr Rogers reaps a while back, was it because anyone here actually knew him personally? Or was it the sadness of losing someone who was important to our memories? Someone that we'd get sad thinking "wasn't there anymore"? I'd say that 5% of our sadness at reaps of famous people is because a human life has ended - 95% is loss of something intrinsic to our memories. That's also largely the reason people get sad over losing natural rock formations and the like. 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: Mon, 5 May 2003 17:24:31 -0700 From: "Marc Holden" Subject: News Flash Yep, 57 minutes ago sounds about right. I guess that would put the Luxor release back to about mid-August at that rate ;^) Later, Marc http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=769&ncid=768&e=7&u=/nm/20030 505/music_nm/music_softboys_dc Soft Boys Splinter Again 57 minutes ago Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo! By John D. Luerssen NEW YORK (Billboard) - Soft Boys co-founder Robyn Hitchcock (news) has departed from the seminal alt-pop outfit for a second time. The group, which reunited for the 2002 Matador studio album "Nextdoorland," first parted ways after 1980's influential "Underwater Moonlight" (Armageddon). "The pressure of being in the band and managing it got too much for me, and the bulk of the reunion project was complete anyway," Hitchcock said in a statement. "Anyway, I didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to do the summer dates we'd been offered." The Soft Boys initially regrouped in March 2001 for a month-long tour of North America in support of Matador's expanded reissue of "Underwater Moonlight." The group's original members -- guitarist/vocalist Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberly Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and drummer Morris Windsor -- then went on to craft "Nextdoorland," its first album in 20 years. Hitchcock has plans to release "Luxor," a collection of unplugged material, later this year, but further details have yet to surface. The artist has two solo acoustic gigs on tap May 8-9 in Paris. Reuters/Billboard [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name of my16.gif] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 20:32:23 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Oh, we love comic book movies, there's no higher form of art, la la la... Rex.Broome wrote: > > -Rex "and it sure as hell wasn't Judge Dredd, either" Broome jings, I'd forgotten about that stinker. I can't believe he took his helmet off. And it made the price of Land-Rover 1 Tonners go up, just as I was about to buy one, grr ... Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 12:35:32 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: and then there's always... 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, 05 May 2003 20:56:33 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: feghitch! Congratulations to one of Toronto's few fegs, Caroline Smith, who just got married. I think the usual feg greetings are in order ... no, Tom, not *that* greeting, thank you. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 21:44:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: The Great Stone Face Well, I *did* get all choked up about the Old Man when I heard the news yesterday. I remember reading the Hawthorne story about it and then seeing it in person when I was a kid. And it became a yearly stop on our New Hampshire hiking vacations with the kids (the hikes got longer as the kids got older). They have a GREAT ice cream parlor at the visitor center, too. Yeah it's always been there, and now it's gone. Someone wrote: Given the country's current shape, I would have to say: how appropriate that some patriotic/nationalistic fervor has led to the destruction of some states cherished landmark that people figured would be around for all time. Hmmmm Bill of rights? state laws? social security? what's next? Actually, this was one of my first thought. I thought, "OK, Dubyah, if you are looking for one of your signs from God, start with this one. This one and the fucking economy and the carnage and chaos in Iraq, land of no weapons of mass destruction or Al-Qaeda cells." So how do I order Luxor anyway. Jill ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 19:04:21 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: The Great Stone Face >Well, I *did* get all choked up about the Old Man when I heard the news >yesterday. I must admit that I had never heard of this phenomenon until last week. Oh well, I'm sure that none of the East coasters have heard of, well, whatever natural tourist attraction we have out here. (Did you know we have a *beach*? Or how about the intersection of Hollywood and La Brea?) >So how do I order Luxor anyway. I suspect you can buy it over-the-counter in any pharmacy. Eb, who *hates* that he still has never seen "Sherlock Jr." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 21:57:15 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: assimiliation has its upsides (50% RH) Storefront Hitchcock, new, for US$10 -- and you can even order it for Mother's Day. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 00:30:08 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: X2 Sebastian writes, >> Kurt Wagner -- my favorite character from the comics -- was >> dead-on. Sehr Gut! > > I guess I can't really appreciate this particular cliche. I know that all > the other characters are cliched as well, but ... OK, I admit, I'm having problem understanding how a midnight-blue colored circus freak who looks like a demon, teleports through clouds of sulfurous blue smoke, is devoutly religious and yet oddly mischievous, and carves angelic symbols into his flesh every time he commits a mortal sin is a "clichi." Heck, I don't even think his parents were killed by evil mutants. - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 09:01:35 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: X2 - --On Dienstag, 6. Mai 2003 0:30 Uhr -0400 The Great Quail wrote: >> I guess I can't really appreciate this particular cliche. I know that all >> the other characters are cliched as well, but ... > > OK, I admit, I'm having problem understanding how a midnight-blue colored > circus freak who looks like a demon, teleports through clouds of sulfurous > blue smoke, is devoutly religious and yet oddly mischievous, and carves > angelic symbols into his flesh every time he commits a mortal sin is a > "clichi." > > Heck, I don't even think his parents were killed by evil mutants. OK, I admit that my feeling was based entirely on the film. I used to read X-Men as a kid, but AFAICT Nightcrawler wasn't around back then. The cliche I was referring to is the "German" image I was extrapolating Nightcrawler's creator(s) to have. You know, deep, Faustian or rather Mephistophelean (but definitely influenced by Faust). I may be way off here, but when he began to speak German, my friend and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Most people here will watch the film in the German dubbed version, and I don't know how it's going to come across there. And I suppose it's better than a Lederhosen and Sauerkraut cliche or whatever, but nonetheless to *us* it felt like a cliche. I'm not dissing the film for it, just thought I'd mention it. - -- Sebastian Hagedorn PGP key ID: 0x4D105B45 Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 19:49:25 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: um... 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: Tue, 06 May 2003 10:21:53 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: and then there's always... - --On Dienstag, 6. Mai 2003 12:35 Uhr +1200 James Dignan wrote: > Aren't hedgehogs the cutest animals? Fortunately we have lots of them ... there's even a couple in the vicinity of my parents' house that come visiting during mild summer nights. - -- Sebastian Hagedorn PGP key ID: 0x4D105B45 Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 12:08:55 +0100 From: "Matt Sewell" Subject: Re: Spectre? Yes, it's basically Respect, though with snippets of interview pertaining to each track in between the original tracks. Then at the end there's a different mix of When I Was Dead and a version of Radio Storm with completely different lyrics... Cheers Matt >From: "Timothy Reed" >I was surfing through allmusic.com - one of my favorite things to do >when I should be doing something else - and I came across an entry for >an RH album called 'Spectre.' It's listed as a boot and looks like it >contains some version of Respect. I should probably know this already, >but... Has anyone heard of this - or heard it? > >Tim > >np Phillip Roebuck 'One Man Band' - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message your friends in real time - and for free. Get MSN Messenger today! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 07:10:58 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: and then there's always... Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: > > Aren't hedgehogs the cutest animals? They're nice, yes, but None Shall Sleep if a pair decides to get jiggy with it in your backyard. It's so comically loud. I think groundhogs or chipmunks have the edge on cuteness, myself. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 12:20:36 +0000 From: "Ghost Surfer" Subject: re:PV: has it gone away yet? >From: Jim Davies < >I bought a copy of PV once, I think, on Brockenhurst Station. > >It was shit. Hence my question about Aiden's survival. I wasn't concerned about his existence, merely surprised. - ----------------************************************************------------ "There are times when i can't think about the future, when all my days seem so dark and life seems cruel" - Mojave 3 & "Make a moment last forever, gaze across the ocean to the sun" - Unknown !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 08:57:37 -0400 From: noam tchotchke Subject: billboard catches up Entertainment - Reuters Soft Boys Splinter Again Mon May 5, 7:17 PM ET By John D. Luerssen NEW YORK (Billboard) - Soft Boys co-founder Robyn Hitchcock (news) has departed from the seminal alt-pop outfit for a second time. The group, which reunited for the 2002 Matador studio album "Nextdoorland," first parted ways after 1980's influential "Underwater Moonlight" (Armageddon). "The pressure of being in the band and managing it got too much for me, and the bulk of the reunion project was complete anyway," Hitchcock said in a statement. "Anyway, I didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to do the summer dates we'd been offered." The Soft Boys initially regrouped in March 2001 for a month-long tour of North America in support of Matador's expanded reissue of "Underwater Moonlight." The group's original members -- guitarist/vocalist Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberly Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman, and drummer Morris Windsor -- then went on to craft "Nextdoorland," its first album in 20 years. Hitchcock has plans to release "Luxor," a collection of unplugged material, later this year, but further details have yet to surface. The artist has two solo acoustic gigs on tap May 8-9 in Paris. Reuters/Billboard ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 09:00:49 -0400 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: um... On Tue, May 6, 2003, James Dignan wrote: > Besides every other thing you could think of about this, who's going to touch that keyboard? - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 09:01:09 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Why make the water turn black? Yesterday, the song "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" by the Mothers of Invention popped into my head, and it occurred to me: what in the hell are Ronnie and Kenny doing? Why are they making the water turn black, or waiting for the fire to turn green? I seem to recall reading that it means they were freebasing, but that sounds farfetched. Any of you Zappaphiles have a good theory? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 21:57:15 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: assimiliation has its upsides (50% RH) Storefront Hitchcock, new, for US$10 -- and you can even order it for Mother's Day. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 15:43:26 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Why make the water turn black? On Tue, 6 May 2003, Gene Hopstetter, Jr. wrote: > Yesterday, the song "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" by the Mothers of > Invention popped into my head, and it occurred to me: what in the hell > are Ronnie and Kenny doing? Why are they making the water turn black, > or waiting for the fire to turn green? > > I seem to recall reading that it means they were freebasing, but that > sounds farfetched. Any of you Zappaphiles have a good theory? I don't actually recommend that you read this, but here it is anyway: - - Mike Godwin n.p. Those wacky Finnish girls Varttna ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 11:16:49 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: X2 Sebastian writes, > OK, I admit that my feeling was based entirely on the film. I used to read > X-Men as a kid, but AFAICT Nightcrawler wasn't around back then. The cliche > I was referring to is the "German" image I was extrapolating Nightcrawler's > creator(s) to have. You know, deep, Faustian or rather Mephistophelean (but > definitely influenced by Faust). Well, to continue my respectful disagreement.... Kurt Wagner made no Satanic bargains, he's not power hungry, nor is he particularly avaricious. He just was born looking like a blue demon. (If I recall the comic correctly.) I know I am not German, so maybe I am culturally blind to any stereotyping here, but I don't see Nightcrawler as a stereotypical character. He's really not Faustian at all, just a...religious circus freak.... - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 08:56:14 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Why make the water turn black? on 5/6/03 7:01 AM, Gene Hopstetter, Jr. at gene@hopstetter.com wrote: > Yesterday, the song "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" by the Mothers of > Invention popped into my head, and it occurred to me: what in the hell > are Ronnie and Kenny doing? Why are they making the water turn black, > or waiting for the fire to turn green? > > I seem to recall reading that it means they were freebasing, but that > sounds farfetched. Any of you Zappaphiles have a good theory? I had always thought the "Ronnie" might have been Gov. Ronald Reagan and the song had something to do with pollution. But I was (pleasantly?) surprised to learn in Frank's bio that it was about his boyhood neighbors who used to save their feces in mason jars they stored in the garage. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 11:08:22 -0500 (CDT) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: um... On Tue, 6 May 2003, James Dignan wrote: > so who actually stays in one of those things long enough to do anything but drop, evacuate, clean and button? i have yet to visit a johnny on spot, at which i've wanted to sit for awhile and read. the things you see when you look into those reservoirs can be quite frightening. when i was young i used to think there was a pervert inside each one. and if that didn't get me, some sorta long ribbon worm thingy could crawl up my ass while i was sitting there and then eat me later. gSs ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #167 ********************************