From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #449 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, December 4 2003 Volume 12 : Number 449 Today's Subjects: ----------------- re: grading [Miles Goosens ] Re: Most pertinent dog song of all ["Jon Lewis" ] Re: grading ["Jon Lewis" ] Bass/guitar gig bags [Ken Weingold ] re: poll [Capuchin ] Re: "I walked into the house of miraculous recovery..." [Capuchin ] re: poll [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: Bass/guitar gig bags [Ken Weingold ] Betcha five dollars he's a good prawn, too ["Rex.Broome" ] Grant Morrison, etc. ["Natalie Jacobs" ] Re: "I walked into the house of miraculous recovery..." [Eb ] re: poll [Jeff Dwarf ] reap [Eb ] Re: Betcha five dollars he's a good prawn, too [Miles Goosens Subject: re: grading At 03:58 AM 12/4/2003 -0800, Jeff Dwarf wrote: > Michael R Godwin wrote: > >> And my favourite, the "Element of Light" LP, only >> has _half_ the tracks that are on the CD. Listening >> to all those alternative versions could >> easily put people off. > >Well, bonus tracks -- providede they are clearly >identified as such -- should only really be counted to >the extent they add anything, whether it's just a >great overlooked song or something more archaeological >in nature. I'd go even more strongly pro-vinyl on this and argue that bonus tracks shouldn't be counted at all, though I do like the suggestion that they at least shouldn't be held against the album. Time for my biannual expression of surprise that anyone thinks bonus tracks should count? Guess so. But speaking of EoL, its original CD bonus tracks are among my very favorite Hitchcock songs, period: * The Black Crow Knows (kids, written well before those skinny Robinson brothers were ever heard from) * The Crawling * The Leopard * Tell Me About Your Drugs The first three are first-rate, and though I initially thought of the latter as a fun throwaway, it's spent as much time stuck in my head as the others. IMO the Rhino edition's bonus bonus tracks add nothing. But neither my love of the original four "bonus" songs nor my indifference toward the newer additions factored into my EoL grade. how long do you got it baby, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 11:56:10 -0500 From: "Jon Lewis" Subject: Re: Most pertinent dog song of all George Crumb composed a set of pieces for guitar and percussion called Mundis Canis five or six years ago. Each piece is a "sketch" of one of the dogs he's owned. It's on one of Bridge Records' George Crumb Edition CD's. And one of the variations in Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations is a portrait of his bulldog... can't remember which one at the moment. In other threads... ...my first taste of RH was Fegmania, right after it came out. I was 15, and I was a goner right away. And I would give up Underwater Moonlight before A Can Of Bees, though not happily. But then I'd give up Wading Through A Ventilator last of all the Softs oeuvre. For me the thing the Soft Boys have which isn't found in Robyn's solo stuff is violent, twitchy misanthropy, and Bees and Ventilator are the places where that's really in flower. UM could almost be a RH record. Not that that's a bad thing at all; the earlier ones just bring something more uniquely Soft Boys to the table. I rate JfS and Bram both as B- albums. Each has several stunning songs but too much filler. However, I think if you indulge in a little revisionism and put the 5 best off Sophia with the 5 best off Bram, you have one of the best Robyn albums of all time. While the filler on those two is particularly obnoxious, the good songs are EXTREMELY good. And to Luxor I give an A. It's not only a great record, it's a new KIND of record for Robyn. It reveals a soundworld we haven't heard before from him, and works in a new way. The lyrics aren't the point on this one, nor the composition. The whole record's all about the sound of his voice and guitar and the feel of the performance itself. I find it a very intense record on a very direct, visceral level. But I do hate Ant Corridor. Can't wait 'til Saturday. At the Halloween Bottom Line show, Robyn was more in the zone than I've ever seen for one of his acoustic gigs. It feels like this Saturday will be a really special one. This time I'm going to both sets-- I learned my lesson. Jon Lewis ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:06:49 -0500 From: "Jon Lewis" Subject: Re: grading Miles said: > > But speaking of EoL, its original CD bonus tracks are among my very favorite Hitchcock songs, period: > Yes!!! EoL has the strongest bonus tracks of all, and all four became huge favorites of mine. Also agree that the Rhino edition didn't add anything valuable track-wise to any of the discs, just great booklet notes, but I would make an exception for the alternate Raymond Chandler's. Love that surreal wind-band interlude. Jon Lewis ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:18:18 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Bass/guitar gig bags I know there are a lot of musicians on the list. I need a new gig bag for a Fender Jazz Bass (lefty, FWIW). I hate mine. The shoulder straps are thin and not padded, so very uncomfortable. And the pocket on it doesn't hold much since it's flush with the bag, and the opening for it is on top of the pocket if the bass is on its side. So here are my criteria: 1. Padded shoulder straps - I'm bony so it really makes a difference b. Decent sized pocket to hold things like cord, tuner, strings, etc., with the zipper opening on top of the pocket when the bass is standing up. III. Some nylon variant; no leather or pleather. D. Relatively inexpensive. A friend of mine is a manager of a Sam Ash and told me that he thought this one was really cool, but I think it's overkill for me: . Thanks. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 09:34:28 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: re: poll On Wed, 3 Dec 2003, Eb wrote: > Not quite sure I understand the grading system, though...92% is a B+? > Tough curve! It's kind of crazy, if you ask me. First, to me, A+ is perfection. I can't imagine giving an A+ to a score of 98%. If you regularly give out more than one A+ per exam, you're doing something wrong. If you're going to curve based on a particular class' performance (which is a really good idea because flaws in the exam or the teaching methods could cause everyone to do particularly poorly or well as a group), then it seems to me that one score would be set as "perfect" (more accurately -- the best that could be attained) and you would scale down from there. And if THIS scale is meant to apply to a curve, then you're putting really tight tolerances on your students. All tolled, you're probably measuring the wrong things. A real examination is going to ask the student to show deep understanding of the course material. As most subjects are too deep for any single person to fully master (much less in a single semester) and as each student finds his or her own interest and ability in only a fraction of each subject's breadth, the student will only be able to demonstrate shallow knowledge in the breadth and deep knowledge in few narrow subsections. In order to make sure the students are not simply getting screwed by the exam (the exam just doesn't ask the bits they know well and does ask the bits they happen to not know as well), an exam must ask for deep understanding across the full breadth of the course material. Incomplete answers are expected for all questions and comprehensive answers for at least some. Depending on the course material, this would mean, to me, a typical high grade of 65-70% of possible points. If we assume that half credit for a single question is given for basic knowledge without deep understanding (a correct, partial answer), then 50% would be minimum passing or D- because everybody should have basic understanding of all the course material or full competence in half making up for total failure in the other half. So if we say that there are eleven evenly spaced divisions between 50 and 72% (our "perfect" score -- chosen for ease of calculation), then you change by half a grade every 3% of the total points possible. Interpolating a curve that sets the 72% actually achieved as the new 100% possible gives you this: A+ - 100% A - (100-95.7%] A- - (95.7-91.4%] B+ - (91.4-87.1%] B - (87.1-82.8%] B- - (82.8-78.5%] C+ - (78.5-74.2%] C - (74.2-69.9%] C- - (69.9-65.6%] D+ - (65.6-61.3%] D - (61.3-57.0%] D- - (57.0-52.7%] F - <52.7% Of course, these numbers would shift down a bit if the top wasn't quite at 72%... high scores of 65 are much more common on this type of test. Note that a score of 75 would imply that the student has understanding to a fully competent depth on fully half of the course's scope of material. Depending on the size of the class, you might want to throw out the top score or two and set your A+ on the second or third highest score. I don't know if there's a more scientific way of discerning when that's appropriate. I always just figured the instructor (or proctor or whatever) would know when one student is way out of scale with expectations. I have no idea how this relates to making rock and/or roll records, though. Of course, the scale on that web page comes from an english teacher and english teachers are notorious for having dumb grading systems. Actual conversation overheard in my high school (after hours -- I was the only student in the room and I was always treated as though I was not a regular student in my school days) between an english teacher Marge and a physics teacher Clem: Marge: Clem, I'm wondering if you can help me with grading system here on my computer. I can't do math. I have the manual here if you think it would help. Clem: I'd really like to help you, Marge, but I can't read. I miss Clem. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 09:36:26 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: "I walked into the house of miraculous recovery..." On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Jason R. Thornton wrote: > OK, next animal. How many songs about trilobites have there been? I only know two: Robyn Hitchcock and The Visiting Kids. If anyone knows how to get that Visiting Kids album, let me know. "Trilobites! They are antique things, they lived in tiny cracks..." J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 13:44:08 -0500 From: Subject: Re: Bass/guitar gig bags [demime could not interpret encoding binary - treating as plain text] Ken, Is it a nice J bass or a piece of shit? If it's a nice instrument I can only recommend buying a case. If it isn't you should buy a better instrument and get a hard case for it. I think a gig bag should only be used to carry a 100 dollar jackson, a 400 dollar martin or anything in between. Carry your dope in a bag but put your instrument in a case. Greg On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:18 , Ken Weingold bofh@unix.vi> sent: >I know there are a lot of musicians on the list. I need a new gig >bag for a Fender Jazz Bass (lefty, FWIW). I hate mine. The shoulder >straps are thin and not padded, so very uncomfortable. And the pocket >on it doesn't hold much since it's flush with the bag, and the opening >for it is on top of the pocket if the bass is on its side. So here >are my criteria: > >1. Padded shoulder straps - I'm bony so it really makes a difference > >b. Decent sized pocket to hold things like cord, tuner, strings, etc., >with the zipper opening on top of the pocket when the bass is standing >up. > >III. Some nylon variant; no leather or pleather. > >D. Relatively inexpensive. > > >A friend of mine is a manager of a Sam Ash and told me that he thought >this one was really cool, but I think it's overkill for me: >http://ibanez.com/accessories/spec.asp\?m=36>. > >Thanks. > > >-Ken > - ---- Msg sent via WebMail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:07:57 -0600 (CST) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: re: poll On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Capuchin wrote: > more than one A+ per exam, you're doing something wrong. If you're going > to curve based on a particular class' performance (which is a really good > idea because flaws in the exam or the teaching methods could cause > everyone to do particularly poorly or well as a group) No: the same performance should receive the same grade regardless of who else is taking the exam. Curves make sense only globally (i.e., if an adequate sample size is taking the same test: one classroom is not adequate). [blah-blah-blah deleted] > Of course, the scale on that web page comes from an english teacher and > english teachers are notorious for having dumb grading systems. That's because one can't grade writing - or rock'n'roll - objectively, since (cliche) there are no single or absolutely correct answers. Grading is not wholly subjective, however: standards evolve with experience. That's why actual English teachers (like me) spend lots of time checking w/other English teachers (such procedures are often formalized, in fact) so that we're grading as accurately as possible amongst ourselves. Really, I fail to see the point of grading non-objective things: I only give grades because I have to. I'd much rather work with the writer to help them (a) know what sorts of things their writing should achieve, in whatever context they're writing in, and (b) achieve that goal to the best of their abilities. How they stack up against other writers with similar goals is completely irrelevant to me (but not to the university). What does "B+" re a CD tell you that a hundred well-written words can't do better? - --Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::I play the guitar. Sometimes I play the fool:: __John Lennon__ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 13:20:07 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Bass/guitar gig bags I can appreciate your comments, Gary, but it simply doesn't apply to me. Lugging your guitar around NYC from your apartment to the subway to wherever simply doesn't work with a hard shell case. You need to adapt to your culture, so to speak. For when I go away, I don't have a suitcase. I have a hiking backpack. Holds what a suitcase would, but much much better for running around the city. - -Ken On Thu, Dec 4, 2003, gshell@metronet.com wrote: > [demime could not interpret encoding binary - treating as plain text] > Ken, > > Is it a nice J bass or a piece of shit? If it's a nice instrument I can only > recommend buying a case. If it isn't you should buy a better instrument and get a > hard case for it. I think a gig bag should only be used to carry a 100 dollar > jackson, a 400 dollar martin or anything in between. Carry your dope in a bag but > put your instrument in a case. > > Greg > > > On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:18 , Ken Weingold bofh@unix.vi> sent: > > >I know there are a lot of musicians on the list. I need a new gig > >bag for a Fender Jazz Bass (lefty, FWIW). I hate mine. The shoulder > >straps are thin and not padded, so very uncomfortable. And the pocket > >on it doesn't hold much since it's flush with the bag, and the opening > >for it is on top of the pocket if the bass is on its side. So here > >are my criteria: > > > >1. Padded shoulder straps - I'm bony so it really makes a difference > > > >b. Decent sized pocket to hold things like cord, tuner, strings, etc., > >with the zipper opening on top of the pocket when the bass is standing > >up. > > > >III. Some nylon variant; no leather or pleather. > > > >D. Relatively inexpensive. > > > > > >A friend of mine is a manager of a Sam Ash and told me that he thought > >this one was really cool, but I think it's overkill for me: > >http://ibanez.com/accessories/spec.asp\?m=36>. > > > >Thanks. > > > > > >-Ken > > > > > > ---- Msg sent via WebMail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 10:22:22 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Betcha five dollars he's a good prawn, too Me 'n' Nat and a prawn named Blue: >>>>Hey, neat, Natalie bought two records I already have. >>What's the other one you own? I'm betting it's Television. You must be psychic. I have Adventure as the reissued CD, the original CD, and on a lovely near mint LP... red vinyl. >>I realized I hadn't finished listening to the Scud Mountain Boys record >>when I wrote about it before... I finally came to the conclusion that the >>alt-country stuff is kind of by-the-numbers and the rest of it isn't nearly >>up to the level of the Pernice Bros. That was my feeling, too (the by-the-numbers bit) and encourages me towards checking out the Pernices a bit more. Miles, please don't hate me for occasionally going to the lush stuff. Must confess I didn't catch the misspelling of "maestrobashawn"... I saw that it had the "u" in there and took it on faith that all the letters were in the right place. But I have been King Typo myself for the past few weeks, so that might be involved. ____ I'm pretty happy with my Eb-grading-grade of B+/A-. Happier still he didn't grade us as human beings, writers, conversationalists, personal grooming/aesthetics, or god forbid, fuckability. _____ James: >>little more seriously, as regards the self-released Robyn discs, I own no >>credit card, and he has never visited New Zealand. I'd love to own his >>self-released albums, but the opportunity does not exist. Dude. Announcing: James Aid. Who's with me... it would cost us, like, 50 cents apiece to buy these bad boys and send 'em to NZ, right? _____ MRG: >>And what was that Neil Innes one which included >>the line "You bring your love to me like a poodle in a suitcase"? >>'Mr Apollo' includes the line "wrestle poodles and win". Oh god... here comes another Fish Karma song: "Poodlecide". ____ Jason T: >>I've never jacked off in England. Oh, you simply must! Okay, me neither. Wait, would you count *being* jacked off by someone else? 'Cuz that happened, and it was nice. - -Rex, a foul, vile obscene person indeed. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 11:03:01 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: re: poll On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Capuchin wrote: > > more than one A+ per exam, you're doing something wrong. If you're going > > to curve based on a particular class' performance (which is a really good > > idea because flaws in the exam or the teaching methods could cause > > everyone to do particularly poorly or well as a group) > > No: the same performance should receive the same grade regardless of who > else is taking the exam. But the exam itself could be easier or harder than it should have been. The instructor or exam preparer could be in error and the curve corrects that. Same performance DOES receive the same grade PER CLASS... but the circumstances of each class vary due to distractions, straying from curriculum for special discussion, etc. > Curves make sense only globally (i.e., if an adequate sample size is > taking the same test: one classroom is not adequate). It's not a curve in the classical sense, though -- it's a shift. We're not drawing out the distribution and marking C at the top of the bell and so on out in each direction. We're just redefining what is possible to fit what is realistic in the circumstance. You're right, a curve requires a large sample to take into account what is "normal". We're not redefining normal based on distribution, we're redefining "perfect" based on the real situation. > Really, I fail to see the point of grading non-objective things: I only > give grades because I have to. Yeah, it's a fairly pointless thing. And it's not just english and rock'n'roll that have this problem. Anything that isn't straight-up trade school (accounting, medicine, etc.) is going to require more interpretation on the part of the instructor than a point system really allows. I've told the story many times of a high level mathematics course in which I spent hours answering a single question on the exam only to get it back covered in red marks (including on note in the margin simply declaring "NO! NO! NO!" underlined three times) and a small green note at the bottom that read: "I understand now that you misread the problem and while I asked you to prove [X -- omitted for the sake of anecdote], you were attempting to prove [Y] which is much more subtle and difficult (and it's false, by the way). Your attempted solution shows a deep understanding of the course material and a nuanced facility with the related skills. I give you full credit." I kept that paper to this day. It's the second highest compliment I ever received formally as an academic. > I'd much rather work with the writer to help them (a) know what sorts of > things their writing should achieve, in whatever context they're writing > in, and (b) achieve that goal to the best of their abilities. How they > stack up against other writers with similar goals is completely > irrelevant to me (but not to the university). This is why Thomas Jefferson had no grades or diplomas at his University of Virginia. You came and studied until you and the instructors agreed you were done. That's really the right way to go. > What does "B+" re a CD tell you that a hundred well-written words can't > do better? It tells me that the reviewer expects everyone to think the same way he does. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 11:18:15 -0800 From: "Natalie Jacobs" Subject: Grant Morrison, etc. >It does suck, everytime they 'improve' it it gets more hideous than the >previous setup. Yeah, tell me about it. I should probably switch to my Earthlink account, but I suspect that the method for forwarding mail from my Hotmail account is so ridiculously convoluted that it might not be worth the trouble. Does anyone know how to do that? > >Horribly underrates Can of Bees and the Invisibles. Likes Queen Elvis > >more than A Globe of Frogs. Has never bought a self-released > >Hitchcock disc. > >I do not underrate the invisibles! Not as good as Love and Rockets, but >pretty close, and good as graphic novels go. Speaking of ridiculously convoluted, I lost track of the Invisibles about 2/3 of the way through the run when I finally admitted to myself that I had no fucking idea of what was going on in it. Although Doom Patrol isn't as ambitious, at least it makes more sense... and it's got Mr. Nobody and the Brotherhood of Dada (best super-villains ever!). "Are we not proof that the universe is a drooling idiot with no fashion sense?" I had a horrible dream last night that Matt Groening had died. Someone please assure me that this isn't true. n. _________________________________________________________________ Our best dial-up offer is back. Get MSN Dial-up Internet Service for 6 months @ $9.95/month now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:24:35 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: "I walked into the house of miraculous recovery..." >Jeme: > > OK, next animal. How many songs about trilobites have there been? > >I only know two: Robyn Hitchcock and The Visiting Kids. > >If anyone knows how to get that Visiting Kids album, let me know. > >"Trilobites! They are antique things, they lived in tiny cracks..." I don't know if it was the Visiting Kids or not (maybe!), but I remember hearing some various-artists compilation awhile back -- very obscure artists. And my favorite track on the whole album was some heretofore unknown group doing a song called "Trilobite." Seems like I remember a female singer, and the chorus word "Trilobite" having a gimmicky repeating-echo effect on it? All Music Guide lists trilobite songs by luminaries including Mastodon, the Torquays, the Trouble with Larry, the Vampire Rodents, AWOL One, Hal Rammel and Steve Roach (OK, I've *heard* of him...). >Can someone prove to me conclusively that Veins Of The Queen isn't REALLY >about the black struggle in professional sports prior to Jackie Robinson? That's a most feasible explanation, actually. Jackie = Jack = jacking off = mastrubation, which is Robyn's prime obsession. - ------------- Oh dear, the African bank-account scammers are going global. Today, I got spam from someone in "Peru." Jesus...look at all the Warren Zevon/George Harrison/June Carter Cash nods in the new Grammy nominations. Talk about the sympathy vote coming through. And...TOM WAITS for Best Rock Vocal??? For a Ramones cover, no less?? Unusually credible nominations for Best Album, though...all five artists are basically "legit." And *both* Clintons are nominated...heh. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:41:31 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: re: poll Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > What does "B+" re a CD tell you that a hundred > well-written words can't do better? Whether or not you want to bother reading the 100 well-written words. Not that reading 100 words takes that much time, but still. ===== "Senator John McCain recently compared the situation in Iraq to the Vietnam era -- to which President Bush replied, 'What does Iraq have in common with drinking beer in Texas?'" -- Craig Kilborn "I don't think the Bush administration lied to us about Iraq. I think it's worse than that. I think they fooled themselves. I think they were conned by Ahmad Chalabi. I think they indulged in wishful thinking to a point of near criminality. I think they decided anyone who didn't agree with them was an enemy, anti-American, disloyal. In other words, I think they're criminally stupid." -- Molly Ivins __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:51:11 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: re: poll Jeff Dwarf wrote: > Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > > What does "B+" re a CD tell you that a hundred > > well-written words can't do better? > > Whether or not you want to bother reading the 100 > well-written words. Not that reading 100 words takes > that much time, but still. With the caveat that you know enough about the critic in question's taste to judge whether that grade would be reasonable assessment (even if you don't always agree, of course). ===== "Senator John McCain recently compared the situation in Iraq to the Vietnam era -- to which President Bush replied, 'What does Iraq have in common with drinking beer in Texas?'" -- Craig Kilborn "I don't think the Bush administration lied to us about Iraq. I think it's worse than that. I think they fooled themselves. I think they were conned by Ahmad Chalabi. I think they indulged in wishful thinking to a point of near criminality. I think they decided anyone who didn't agree with them was an enemy, anti-American, disloyal. In other words, I think they're criminally stupid." -- Molly Ivins __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 12:52:30 -0800 From: Eb Subject: reap LONDON (AP) -- David Hemmings, the British actor who attained international stardom as the existential fashion photographer in the 1966 film "Blow Up," has died at age 62, his agent said Thursday. Hemmings, who also forged a successful career behind the camera directing for cinema and TV, died of a heart attack Wednesday while filming a movie role in Romania, said agent Liz Nelson. Paramedics on the film set of "Samantha's Child" were unable to revive him, Nelson said. "He had just finished his final shots of the day and was going back to his dressing room," she said. "He had only recently returned to acting. He opted for a number of years to work on his own projects, directing and producing." Born Nov. 18, 1941 in Guildford, England, Hemmings began his career as a singer, with nightclub appearances in his early 20s, before moving onto the stage and gradually into films. His early British movie roles usually saw him cast as misunderstood youths and belligerent "Teddy Boys," leading to his role in Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow Up." His boyish good looks were also put to use in science-fiction romp "Barbarella" and the film version of the stage musical "Camelot." He also played Cassius in Ridley Scott's epic "Gladiator" and Mr. Schermerhorn in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York." His most recent appearance was in the 2003 Sean Connery movie "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 14:49:51 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Betcha five dollars he's a good prawn, too At 10:22 AM 12/4/2003 -0800, Rex.Broome wrote: >Miles, please don't hate me for >occasionally going to the lush stuff. It's OK with me if you drink, Rex. I know, that was really about Joe Pernice, and I really can't comment about either the Scud Mountain Boys or the Pernice Brothers, since I have yet to hear either. And I actually like Stew, though I don't know how he compares to Pernice, he's clearly an exception, and I haven't heard his new one. FWIW, earlier today I was thinking about how what I might have identified in the mid-'80s as the "wussy" side of my collection (Aztec Camera, Felt, Prefab Sprout, the Blue Nile) sound like Motorhead compared to a lot of the "lush" stuff I've heard over the last ten years. >But I have been King Typo myself for the past few >weeks, so that might be involved. After reading that, "King Horse" got stuck in my brain. Still there, actually. >I'm pretty happy with my Eb-grading-grade of B+/A-. I was so happy with my B+ that I felt like an A! >>>little more seriously, as regards the self-released Robyn discs, I own no >>>credit card, and he has never visited New Zealand. I'd love to own his >>>self-released albums, but the opportunity does not exist. > >Dude. Announcing: James Aid. Who's with me... it would cost us, like, 50 >cents apiece to buy these bad boys and send 'em to NZ, right? I was already thinking that one of us U.S./U.K. folks could buy them for James, and he could pay that generous person back, which might be a little cleaner of a solution than someone gathering dough from a bunch of places, but whatever gets the discs there, I'm for. later, Miles ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #449 ********************************