From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #286 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, July 25 2003 Volume 12 : Number 286 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Reissue, repackage, re... sorry, my Morrisey lyrics are rusty... ["Rex.Br] Swap mix received [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: make a daft noise/Gen X [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: stereo TV/Logan's Run [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] gobble gobble! [Eb ] Re: Making Mum Mad ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Making Mum Mad [Tom Clark ] Re: Making Mum Mad [Ken Weingold ] Re: Making Mum Mad ["Maximilian Lang" ] Now that's taking it a bit too far... [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Viva feg! ["Brian Huddell" ] Re: stereo TV [Michael R Godwin ] Re: Making Mum Mad ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Simple OSX question (0% Robyn) [Carrie Galbraith ] Re: Simple OSX question (0% Robyn) [gshell@metronet.com] Matrix Ping Pong [Steve Talkowski ] Re: Matrix Ping Pong ["Jonathan Fetter" ] Re: Matrix Ping Pong [Steve Talkowski ] Hey, guess what? ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: Hey, guess what? [Tom Clark ] Re: Matrix Ping Pong [steve ] [ebmaniax] Last night... [Eb ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:41:36 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Reissue, repackage, re... sorry, my Morrisey lyrics are rusty... Jeff-mothaFFin'-rey: >>Me, the height of the Cold War is largely history, the sixties >>happened when I was a child, and AIDS hit at what otherwise would >>have been the peak of sexual experimentation for people my age. That >>adds up to a completely different life experience (obviously, there're >>many more factors). This just goes to prove your point about whutta crock it all is. My wife's way closer to your age than mine and she views *me* as the one who got frozen out by AIDS. I guess at this point one could trot out the old theory that women mature sexually earlier than men. Or you could say something besmirching my wife's virtue. But that wouldn't be too nice, would it? My wife's oldest brother has a son going into college. My wife and I have a seven-month old, this despite the fact that neither of them had kids ridiculously early or late in life. What the hell kinda generation is that? _____ Larry: >>I've heard stories, though unconfirmed, that no one knows the >>whereabouts of the orginal IRS masters are after their >>dissolution. I heard this in reference to the dB's recording on IRS. >>Mitch Easter has been talking with somone in Itlay for sometime >>about a box set that would likley include a lot of unreleased stuff. Interesting. That tallies with the no-frills nature of CCM's reissue of the IRS Verlaine LP, too. Weird that they're going gung-ho on so much IRS stuff with no access to the masters. What're they using, one wonders? I don't have the Let's Active reissues myself (yet) but I'd be interested to know what they were made from. Reissues are really quite odd these days. I find it hard to believe that masters for the Go-Go's or Fine Young Cannibals records are AWOL, though. The Go-Go's at least have had a recent anthology which I'd thought was billed as having a lot of remastered stuff. I'll have to check my copy... ____ Many thanks to Marc for his inside scoop on the Soft Boys bass switcharoo. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:38:10 -0500 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Swap mix received Jon Gabriel, whose mixes I've always liked, recently sent me a CD which is either untitled or titled after the Russian phrase on its cover, "Vsye Dlya Muzyki" (which I guess means something like "everyone for music"). Here's a track listing with some brief comments (I've asterisked songs I was familiar with): Starflyer 59 "Underneath": They've moved pretty far from their early sh*eg*ze days - but they're still a fine band. *Thingy "Mayday": Rob Crow's in more bands than some bands have records. This is the jumpy, spastic one. *Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks "Dark Wave": Jon comments that half the tracks on _Pig Lib_ are kind of conventional, and that this isn't really one of them. I like 'em all the same, and this one too. John Mayer "Kid A": Yes, that John Mayer; and yes, that "Kid A" (redone as a moody acoustic-guitar number). Mum (add a, uh, northeasterly accent over the 'u' - I can never remember the right names) "Green Grass of Tunnel": Unlike Mazzy Star (who titled a record _Among My Swan_), these folks are not native English speakers. Nice, cinematic but subtle arranging. Azure Ray "The New Year": nicely follows the last track in mood and style. Autour de Lucie "Chanson Sans Issue (Ne Vois-Tu Pas)": They're French. On a completely unrelated note, I just read (in Dan Savage's column) that noted idiot Michael Savage is actually named Michael Weiner. Whether that's pronounced "whiner" or "wiener" (that might explain the "sausage" obsession), it's just too appropriate... Paolo Conte "Via Con Me": This is one of those songs that seems to take pop, jazz, and god knows what else and put it in a blender. Half in English, half in Italian, and continuing this disc's international tour. The Polyphonic Spree "Hanging Around the Day": This is the guy who used to be in Tripping Daisy, right? I seem to recall they're from Oklahoma: now if the Starlight Mints get compared to the Flaming Lips just because they're from Oklahoma, even though they sound nothing like the Lips, how come these guys don't? Or maybe they do. The Danielson Famile "We Don't Say Shut Up": Boy are they asking for it with that title, and this singer's voice. But ultimately they're pretty undeniable in their enthusiasm, and the songs are cleverly put together. Kinky "Corn Man": A Mexican band with accordion and a DJ. I know - that might sound appealing - but I'm not quite sure it is yet. *Interpol "Obstacle 1": There's no reason for you not to have this record already. *Pinback "Chaos Engine": This is the more deliberate Rob Crow band, a collaboration with The Other Zach Smith (ex-Three Mile Pilot). Hey, I've got an idea: that Zach Smith should get together with the Tennessee Scott Miller - - now that'd *really* confuse people! The Walkmen "We've Been Had": Ex-Jonathan Fire*Eater, a band that kept getting raved about so much that I ignored them. Then I heard a song or two recently, and I'm thinking I really should have checked them out. The Walkmen don't sound that much like what I've heard of JFE (two tracks so far), but they're good. The Shins "When I Goose-Step": Is this a b-side or sumpin'? _Oh Inverted World_ has two or three songs that are so good that I keep forgetting that the rest of the album's pretty damned good too. Matt Pond PA "Fairlee": I think the band's really named after an early Game Theory record ("Pointless Accounts") but what do I know. Anyway, orch-pop w/o the twee factor - hell, even Miles might like this. Grape Storms "For Myself": Jon describes this as a "perfect pop song." I won't argue - very nice. One of a couple of mp3.com discoveries on this mix. *Oranger "Eggtooth": Another neo-psych band, on Spiral Stairs' (Scott Kannberg, ex-Pavement, current(?) Preston School of Industry) label Amazing Grease (chortle). Psych is a genre that, like power-pop, is fairly easy to do in a mediocre manner, but harder, downright mysteriously so, to do compellingly. Oranger isn't quite up there with Mercury Rev at their peak, but they're pretty damned fine. Lali Puna "Rapariga Da Banheira": That's Portuguese, but they're German, and Jon's from Arizona, and a band from England claims they're a major influence on their album _Kid A_. Yeah, I can hear that. Slovak Girl "East German View of You": They're not Slovak, I don't think they're girls, and they're not East German, but they're from Texas. Another mp3.com find for Jon, and for me (there's more at mp3.com and at their own site, linked therefrom). *Feed "Debaser": From the Japanese (I think) Pixies tribute that someone was talking about last year (it's at eMusic). Your instructions: Listen to the Pixies song once. Live in isolation chamber for three months. Then, be let into recording studio, while headphones play five or six records at once. While they're playing, record cover of once-heard Pixies track. The Danielson Famile "Who Are Parents": I think Jad Fair covered this Shaggs track too. However, instead of weirdo fringe acts covering weirdo fringe acts, I think someone should force Celine Dion's next album to be entirely covers of the Shaggs, Jandek, etc. Remember when Devo did their muzak album? Problem was, it wasn't muzak-y enough. What I'd like to see happen: take an actual Muzak arranger from the sixties (I have an album of muzak songs circa 1966 that's quite a gas: yes, it features photos of guys in white labcoats.) Play him a couple of Residents songs, preferably pre-1982 ones. Inform him that as an anthropological project, he is to utilize Muzak principles in arranging these songs. The rhythmic and harmonic oddities are, he'll be told, normal-sounding to folks in the culture under study, so he shouldn't try to make them regular. I'd like to hear that - esp. if someone could actually acquire a real orchestra to play it. Anyway, thanks, Jon, for another excellent mix. - --Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: we make everything you need, and you need everything we make ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:08:34 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: make a daft noise/Gen X >> ah I missed out by a few months. But I'm too young to be a baby boomer. I'm >> just one of those inbetweenies, that everyone likes to forget. > >now, was that on the first or second album? didn't realise there were two. It's the same one as "A man's best friend is his duck", "Good ol' Country Music", the wonderful "Rasta shanty", and, of course, "Funky Gibbon" >It seems like "Gen X" has been used as a descriptor for nearly anyone >younger than Boomers, except the very youngest people around today. I'm not >so sure, despite those commonalities among people of the same age alluded to >above, that "generations" really have any significant meaning at all. well, they'd make sense if everyone was born in a few years then there was a gap. Sort of like 20 times more people born in 1946-55 than 56-65, then another wave born 66-75 and so on. The baby boom did exist after WWII, but it was less extreme than that. Another reason that it doesn't work can be seen looking at geenealogy. One one side of my partner's ancestry, average generation length was about 20 years. On the other, it was over 30. Things get out of step very quickly. So this "Generation Xers are children of baby boomers" thing is a festering heap of dung too. James ("A duck is strong - even when wet") 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, 25 Jul 2003 11:29:44 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: stereo TV/Logan's Run >The Holographic Sound thing reminds me of how, when I was fairly young, >there was a story about how someone had rigged up 3-D TV images that would >play on any regular set. I remember an example being broadcast that I >couldn't tell whether it really looked 3-D or I was just tricking myself >into believing it did. I assume it didn't work too well since I haven't >heard about it since. Largely you were fooling yourself - or more to the point, your brain was fooling you. By setting up an expectation of three-dimensional vision, you were tricked into thinking it was there. There are only two easy ways for stereoscopic images to occur on a standard television set: the tried and true "coloured stereopsis" way of using coloured goggles, with two differently coloured images overlapped in such a way as to mimic the binocular disparity between the two eyes of a three-dimensional scene; and the "cyclopean perception" method using two side-by-side images each covering half the screen, which can be overlapped by crossing the eyes, much as is used in "magic eye" books, to create the same effect. Both have distinct disadvantages. The former requires silly looking goggles, and is far less effective in colour than in monochrome. The latter really needs the viewer to sit directly in front of the screen at a set distance, requires extreme concentration to keep the effect constant, and can probably do long-term damage to your visual system. ah, memories of M.Sc. work... - --- >- -Rex, who was once a Sandman at a Logan's Run-themed 30th birthday party, >and yes, the guest of honor *did* Run before midnight... heh. My school soccer jersey was black with a single thick light blue hoop. We became nicknamed "The runners" while the TV series had its, um, run. ISTR one of the teachers became nicknamed Rem, too. 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: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:00:50 -0700 From: Eb Subject: gobble gobble! 24/07/2003 11:16 - (SA) J Lo film a 'total disaster' Los Angeles - Film critics in the US have apparently branded a new movie starring J Lo and fiance Ben Affleck a "total disaster". They said Gigli is destined to be a box office flop after it left reviewers sniggering at the "laughable dialogue and ludicrous plot". In the film, J Lo plays a lesbian assassin who is seduced by hitman Affleck. The couple fell for each in real life while filming the movie, but on screen, their sexual chemistry is said to be seriously lacking, reports The Sun. One critic reportedly says: "Affleck is just totally miscast and J Lo is just awful." In one scene Lopez, 33, tries to seduce Affleck, 30, by laying on a bed and telling him: "It's turkey time!" When he asks: "What?", she replies: "Come on, gobble, gobble". Another reviewer said: "It was possibly the worst line ever said in a movie." The film has already undergone extensive reshooting after early previews showed audiences found the ending unbelievable. According to The Sun, gay rights groups are incensed that J Lo's character starts off as a lesbian but goes straight - thanks to Affleck. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:46:10 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad Tom Clark wrote: > > "I don't want this kind of filth in my house!!" yeah, but did your mum write an embarrassingly church-lady letter to Zappa's record label in complaint? Mine did for The Goodies. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 18:49:30 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad on 7/24/03 6:46 PM, Stewart C. Russell at scruss@sympatico.ca wrote: > Tom Clark wrote: >> >> "I don't want this kind of filth in my house!!" > > yeah, but did your mum write an embarrassingly church-lady letter to > Zappa's record label in complaint? Mine did for The Goodies. > Ooooh, ouch. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:54:09 -0400 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad On Thu, Jul 24, 2003, Stewart C. Russell wrote: > Tom Clark wrote: > > > >"I don't want this kind of filth in my house!!" > > yeah, but did your mum write an embarrassingly church-lady letter to > Zappa's record label in complaint? Mine did for The Goodies. Wow, you guys had strict parents. At 3 I was sitting in front of the stereo in the living room with big headphones on listening to Kiss records my older cousin gave me. Parasite, and the rest of the Hotter Than Hell record pretty much, absolutely rocked my little world. I bet my parents thought it was cute. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 22:31:31 -0400 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad >From: "Stewart C. Russell" >To: fegmaniax@smoe.org >Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad >Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:46:10 -0400 >Tom Clark wrote: >>"I don't want this kind of filth in my house!!" >yeah, but did your mum write an embarrassingly church-lady letter to >Zappa's record label in complaint? Mine did for The Goodies. Wow, I used to watch SNL and then recount it blow by blow to my mother....in 1977...I was 8. Max _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 23:45:33 -0500 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Now that's taking it a bit too far... About a year or so ago, when Bob Dylan wasn't in the best of health, he appeared at some awards ceremony or other looking very much as if he was knock, knock, knockin' - oh, you know. Some impolite comedian made a crack about "Bob Dylan's coroner released him especially for the occasion." Well, apparently Zimmy's coroner is planning yet another ghoulish event: see the poster at . (Man, if there's a reap on Bob within the next few days, I'll feel *really* weird...) ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::you can't imagine how hard it is to mail-order fifty red Maglites ::when you're a duck with no numeric street address :: --glenn mcdonald ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 00:09:05 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad On Thursday, July 24, 2003, at 08:46 PM, Stewart C. Russell wrote: > yeah, but did your mum write an embarrassingly church-lady letter to > Zappa's record label in complaint? Mine did for The Goodies. The Goodies? They always seemed rather innocuous to me. Maybe it was - > Now get ready to do the Funky Gibbon! > Drop one arm down by your knees, let the other arm reach up to the > trees. > Now let your wrists go limp like a bent baboon > And get ready to sing this Gibbon's tune (ooo ooo ooo, Funky Gibbon). - - Steve __________ God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them. - George Bush, as related to Harretz by Mahmoud Abbas ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 00:39:29 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: Viva feg! Marc, great bit of insider reporting. Thanks! Rex, I'm glad you decided not to end it all. Why, I remember this one time I had tickets for a concert I'd been really really looking forward to, and I didn't notice until it was too late that the show was actually ... oh, wait a minute, that was you. Never mind, but I'm sure I've done some really stupid shit, too. Eb, you jabbed Jeme for a message that contained, to my memory, perhaps his sweetest moment in list history. Besides, he did refer to his hypothetical scalper as a "total shithead". +brian (coincidentally reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to my kid) in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 12:01:07 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: stereo TV On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, James Dignan wrote: > There are only two easy ways for stereoscopic images to occur on a standard > television set: the tried and true "coloured stereopsis" way of using > coloured goggles, with two differently coloured images overlapped in such a > way as to mimic the binocular disparity between the two eyes of a > three-dimensional scene; and the "cyclopean perception" method using two > side-by-side images each covering half the screen, which can be overlapped > by crossing the eyes, much as is used in "magic eye" books, to create the > same effect. In the old black and white days on Blue Peter, they ran some experimental 3D transmissions which worked on the basis of an image-splitting viewer (which you had to make from old toilet rolls, handbag mirrors, cereal packets etc as per usual), through which you viewed two side by side images on the TV. The object of the viewer was to shift your eyes about 12" apart instead of 3". It definitely worked, but I remember being quite annoyed because it took hours to make the viewer, and then they only transmitted a few very short clips. The most impressive item was a trombone slide in a jazz band. From your description, this sounds like a variant of method 2 which avoids the Clarence problem. - - Mike Godwin PS Went to see Bruce Kent last night, and he described how he tried to avoid paying the percentage of tax which pays for nuclear weapons. Apparently the tax people sent the bailiffs round and seized two silver-plated candlesticks as payment. The candlesticks were then auctioned off and bought by CND, who gave them back to Bruce... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 08:17:32 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Making Mum Mad Maximilian Lang wrote: > > Wow, I used to watch SNL and then recount it blow by blow to my > mother....in 1977...I was 8. My mum would sit just out of view of the TV, and tisk at the risque bits of any show we were watching. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 15:39:27 +0200 From: Carrie Galbraith Subject: Simple OSX question (0% Robyn) All you mac folks out there: I am pretty OSX savvy now ( a bit of a steeper curve than I thought but I'd been using the classic environment since '84) but I have one problem that is consistent and would like to find a solution if possible. Here at the Scuola I log in to the server with my laptop every day. When I connect to the server, all is well. But the minute my computer goes on screensaver/sleep mode, I lose my connection to the server. Now we are putting OSX on all the computers here at the school and I have had this same thing happen on the iMacs we have for students. I am sure there is some simple workaround/pref/etc. that I don't know. If you have an insight, please email me off list so we don't start one of those long, tedious tech threads that piss everyone off. Thanks! - - c ************************************** "Questions are a burden for others. Answers are a prison for oneself." ************************************** C. Galbraith / Ketone Press meketone@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 08:13:26 -0500 (CDT) From: gshell@metronet.com Subject: Re: Simple OSX question (0% Robyn) On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, Carrie Galbraith wrote: > If you have an insight, please email me off list so we don't start one > of those long, tedious tech threads that piss everyone off. i thought those were the ones that didn't piss anyone off? gSs np. caribou - the pixies ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:35:57 -0400 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Matrix Ping Pong Now THIS is pretty freaking cool: http://www.apbm26.dsl.pipex.com/kin10.wmv (Windows Media Player is needed to view) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 14:02:40 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jonathan Fetter" Subject: Re: Matrix Ping Pong Used to watch this show in Taiwan. I don't know why it hasn't made it to the US in some form already, seeing as Iron Chef and that dubbed contest show on TNN have already blazed a trail for more Japanese competition shows. We now return to our regular program, Jon On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:35:57 -0400, Steve Talkowski wrote : > Now THIS is pretty freaking cool: > > http://www.apbm26.dsl.pipex.com/kin10.wmv > > (Windows Media Player is needed to view) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 14:28:51 -0400 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Re: Matrix Ping Pong On Friday, July 25, 2003, at 02:02 PM, Jonathan Fetter wrote: > Used to watch this show in Taiwan. A co-worker found this link with past performances. Simply incredible stuff: http://www.ntv.co.jp/kasoh/past_movie/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 12:01:07 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Hey, guess what? Yo, I get to see Neil Young after all. How about that? I'd totally forgotten that there was a third show tonight, and my wife's coworker came up with an extra ticket when his wife begged off going tonight. So I'm back in business. Although now I'm slightly nervous. I read a review of the first show, and the "Greendale" song cycle/concept album thing makes me uneasy. Robert Hilburn creamed his jeans over that part of the show, but, as the song says, what does Robert Hilburn know about rock and roll? Anyhow, either way, it's a Crazy Horse set, and there'll be an hour of standard-issue Crazy Horse songs afterwards (I know, that's what, five tunes?) so all should end well. - -Rex "back to dropping the change on the parking and t-shirts, but what the fuck, I get my summer concert back" Broome ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:59:10 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Hey, guess what? on 7/25/03 12:01 PM, Rex.Broome at Rex.Broome@preferredmedia.com wrote: > Yo, I get to see Neil Young after all. How about that? > Although now I'm slightly nervous. I read a review of the first show, and > the "Greendale" song cycle/concept album thing makes me uneasy. Robert > Hilburn creamed his jeans over that part of the show, but, as the song says, > what does Robert Hilburn know about rock and roll? Anyhow, either way, > it's a Crazy Horse set, and there'll be an hour of standard-issue Crazy > Horse songs afterwards (I know, that's what, five tunes?) so all should end > well. > Brad Kava of the San Jose Mercury News also creamed about the Greendale set, but as the saying goes, what does Brad Kava know about Robert Hilburn? When I heard Neil would be doing this I decided not to get tickets, despite the fact I've never seen a Crazy Horse show. I've seen Neil do his Transformer thing, solo, with his Blue Notes, and at countless Sharks games, but never with Crazy Horse. Maybe next time. Nonetheless, I'm glad you're getting to go - sounds like a well deserved, and needed, outing. Plus Lucinda! - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 16:22:44 -0500 From: steve Subject: Re: Matrix Ping Pong On Friday, July 25, 2003, at 12:35 PM, Steve Talkowski wrote: > Now THIS is pretty freaking cool: > > http://www.apbm26.dsl.pipex.com/kin10.wmv > > (Windows Media Player is needed to view) Neat, but not as much fun as people dressed up as Dracula, the Wolfman, and various Japanese movie monsters trying to run uphill through an obstacle course while guys in jumpsuits try to take them down with giant rubberfoam boulders and, if they get to close to the top, flying tackles. Now that's entertainment! - - Steve - ---------- The Himalayan marmot is one of the highest living mammals in the world. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 16:40:31 -0700 From: Eb Subject: [ebmaniax] Last night... I saw a fine show at Spaceland.... The unlikely opener was *Barry Andrews*, seated amidst three or four keyboards and doing a solo, semi-ambient thing. It was a little depressing, seeing a guy with big-time Shriekback, XTC and Robert Fripp credentials stuck playing a small club to an empty dance floor and perhaps 25 people watching him from the periphery. He didn't seem phased, however. There were a few vocal tunes, including one Shriekback track as the finale (I can't recall the title...no, it wasn't "Nemesis"), but most of the set found him just improvising over simple, pre-programmed grooves. Well, at least he can *play* -- such a huge number of alt-rock keyboardists look like they're fresh from a "Keyboard as a Second Language" class. He was selling three self-released CDs afterwards (no jewel cases, just cardboard sleeves), and a couple of fans looked ecstatic to trade "Hey, I first saw you back in..." stories with him. Andrews seemed friendly and approachable. However, I was there to see the Long Winters (http://thelongwinters.com), a Seattle pop band who deserves more acclaim than it has. I "blindly" saw them once before at Spaceland, opening for Ken Stringfellow and then serving as his backing band. A rare case of a *concert* turning me onto an unknown artist. The Long Winters have two albums on the l'il Barsuk label (The Worst You Can Do Is Harm and the recent When I Pretend to Fall) and they're both quite good. I'm still making up my mind about which one I prefer -- I'm a little skeptical about the new album's shift toward a more typical Elephant Sixy, dig-our-frilly-arrangements style. One of the things I liked about the debut was how squarely it put the emphasis on pure, strong songwriting. It barely even seemed like an "alternative" record. The new album panders to my ork-pop weaknesses a little more, so it triggers some guilty-pleasure winces. But, never mind. I really haven't digested it well enough to have a final opinion yet. Despite the strings 'n' things on the new album (including cameos by the usual suspects Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Jon Auer and co-producer Stringfellow), the onstage band was a typical guitar/bass/keyboard/drums combo. The bassist and drummer were essentially "extras," but there was loads of personality and interplay between singer/guitarist John Roderick and keyboardist Sean Nelson. They were quite funny between songs, almost to the point of seeming casual and unprofessional. The epitome was a break between songs when Roderick's *cellphone* rang, and he pulled it out to inform "Megan" that, sorry, he was onstage right now and would she like to say anything to the crowd? Other bits included goofing on Pearl Jam, the "autistic" crowd at the previous San Francisco gig, that Metallica hoax about suing over E/F chords (which I think they believed) and various self-deprecating comments about their own material and appearance (Roderick's thick glasses, Nelson's frizzy hair). The front three also switched instruments for one song, which they deemed "experimental." Except it sounded just as solid as any other tune. The Long Winters' songs aren't all that complex, but they have a neat knack for skewing their melodic phrases across the bars to make fairly ordinary chords seem more interesting. There's usually a sense of the melody "lagging" a little behind the chord changes, which adds some extra intrigue and tension. And unlike some of their peers, they can rock when they're so inclined. Roderick (looking like a cross between Jason Falkner and the theoretical younger brother of my friend Dan in Ohio...except that I've met Dan's younger brother and he doesn't look much like Dan) has a flawed, conversational voice which nicely serves the spirit of the songs, while Nelson's backup vocals were actually stronger than Roderick's on a purely technical level. This was especially evident when he sang lead on a closing, disarmingly square version of the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (which frustrated me to death, because the group -- especially the bassist -- simplified the song's harmonics and took out all those neat, non-tonic bass notes which give the melody its resonant sparkle). Nelson's vocal talents became more understandable, when I found out that he used to be the singer for Harvey Danger, one of those flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonders from the height of the alt-rock boom. Ah well. I always got them confused with Marcy's Playground, myself. The house eventually had a pretty decent-sized crowd, considering the Long Winters' thin popularity level. Still, I don't believe *anyone* from the local pop-dork scene was there, which again made me groan about that scene's reactionary insistence that "pop" *must* be defined by overt, obsequious allusions to the same well-worn Hall of Fame influences. Phooey. They be should all over the Long Winters, damn it. There's even a Posies connection for them to suckle on. After the show, I hung around for 15-20 minutes. I talked briefly with the band and got them to deface my CD, and again tried to get up the nerve to approach that pretty blonde gal who had been alone in my vicinity all night. Failed splendidly. Blah. Eb ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #286 ********************************