From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V14 #293 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, December 19 2005 Volume 14 : Number 293 Today's Subjects: ----------------- paging James "Father Christmas" Dignan... ["michael wells" ] Re: Fuck the Smithereens, and fuck *Enigma* [Tulloch ] Re: 2005-03-28 on live music archive [HSatterfld@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 21:27:10 -0800 From: "michael wells" Subject: paging James "Father Christmas" Dignan... "Santas go on rampage in New Zealand" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10511277/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 02:13:33 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Fuck the Smithereens, and fuck *Enigma* So, I was going through some older albums, looking for stuff to get rid of. Already decided to dump albums by Bandit Queen, Amnesia and Phranc. Boy, revisiting those Phranc albums was so agonizing that I can't imagine why I ever kept them in the first place. But, alas, twenty or twenty-five other dubious albums squeaked by and avoided the purge. As part of this "housecleaning" campaign, I pulled out my old cassette of the Smithereens' first album. Another borderline album which I'm recurrently tempted to dump. It's sort of an old-school cassette, on the defunct Enigma label. The edges of the tape chassis are rough-textured instead of smooth, as if to make it "easy to grip." It's also one of those tapes where you hear weird "phone tone"-type beeps at the beginning of a side. (Remember those?). Also, the center window which shows how far the tape is advanced isn't "hard" -- it's just like a piece of soft film which bends when you poke it with a fingernail. A cheapie cassette, I guess. The fidelity isn't too good, either. I haven't played it more than a few times, but I can't recall it ever being problematic before. My tape deck has two transports, so you can tape-to-tape record things. I put the tape in the left player, and started it. About half of the first track sounded good, so I tried to fast-forward the tape a bit to a new song. But nothing happened. Uh oh. It just "grinded." I punched various buttons to no avail, and worried that the tape had snagged. Finally I turned off the tape deck, and found that the heads retracted and let the tape be ejected. The tape seemed to have no damage at all. As if maybe the problem is the shape of the tape "shell"...not anything to do with the tape inside or the tape spools? It was hard to judge whether the problem was the tape deck or the tape, because I use the tape deck so seldom nowadays. So...I tried moving the tape to the other (right) side. This is the side which allows recording. Well, this was apparently a big mistake. The tape would not play AND could not be ejected. I don't think I ever heard any music at all, using that side. I tried and tried, but could not get Eject to function. I even snapped off the door of the mechanism, and still couldn't extract the tape. Then I thought I'd try a *different* tape in the left side, to make sure the satanic Smithereens tape was the culprit. Another big mistake. Against all odds, I now have tapes stuck in BOTH sides of my tape deck. It's like that goddamn Smithereens tape wrecks whatever tape mechanism it enters??!?!?! I now have the tape deck pulled out of my stereo center, and have removed the main lid which encases most of the deck's chassis. BUT...there's no way to get to the problem. All kinds of thick electronics behind the tape transports. It looks like I'd have to do some major disassembly to access the tapes. Un-fucking-believable. I can't believe one lousy tape has possibly destroyed my entire tape deck. Now it's 2:00am, and I'm so *agitated* over this that I'm never going to get to sleep. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Is there *any* way I can fix this myself? Repairs on such things end up costing as much as the original item, half the time.... To make matters worse, the second stuck tape is a homemade tape which has Beefheart's "Doc at the Radar Station" on one side...and that album is not too easy to find. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 11:16:24 +0000 (GMT) From: Tulloch Subject: Re: Fuck the Smithereens, and fuck *Enigma* Eb wrote: Is there *any* way I can fix this myself? Repairs on such things end up costing as much as the original item, half the time.... To make matters worse, the second stuck tape is a homemade tape which has Beefheart's "Doc at the Radar Station" on one side...and that album is not too easy to find. I'm afraid I don't have any answers on the tape deck but if it's any consolation "Doc At The Radar Station" is widely available on CD, at least here in the UK - Amazon UK have it in their New and Used option from #4.50 (roughly $10). I've had cassettes lock up and refuse to play but I've never had one that wouldn't eject - sounds like a serious bummer and only confirms my opinion that cassetes are one technolgy that has had its day and should go the way of 8 tracks (unlike vinyl which I still hold dear). Maybe a prayer to the Goddess of Technology might help? - --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:22:52 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Fuck the Smithereens, and fuck *Enigma* On 12/18/05, Eb wrote: > It's sort of an old-school cassette, on the defunct Enigma label. The > edges of the tape chassis are rough-textured instead of smooth, as if > to make it "easy to grip." It's also one of those tapes where you > hear weird "phone tone"-type beeps at the beginning of a side. > (Remember those?). Also, the center window which shows how far the > tape is advanced isn't "hard" -- it's just like a piece of soft film > which bends when you poke it with a fingernail. A cheapie cassette, I > guess. The fidelity isn't too good, either. I haven't played it more > than a few times, but I can't recall it ever being problematic before. > Against all odds, I now have tapes stuck in BOTH sides of my tape > deck. It's like that goddamn Smithereens tape wrecks whatever tape > mechanism it enters??!?!?! Can't help you on that question - but I am so glad I never bought many prerecorded cassettes - a worse and more cheaply made medium doesn't exist (probably including 8-track tapes). Even with a very moderate quality tape deck and turntable, a home-made cassette sounded miles better. I can't believe the industry charged the same price for those puppies as for LPs. > To make matters worse, the second stuck tape is a homemade tape which > has Beefheart's "Doc at the Radar Station" on one side...and that > album is not too easy to find. I haven't looked for it for a while, but I do have a CD copy. If you end up needing it ripped and burned, I can do that. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:47:51 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Hrm (that update you were breathlessly waiting for) Well, I figured out how to get the two tapes ejected -- it involved "manually" ejecting them by sorta tugging on a plastic latch inside the tape deck's body. So, at least that problem is solved. BUT...something is definitely messed up. In both transports. The doors don't gently "slide" shut now -- you have to push on them and "snap" them into place. And once they're in, they can only be re- opened via the above "manual ejection" technique. And the play/fast- forward/rewind mechanisms aren't working right either. In both transports. I guess it's seeming less like the Smithereens tape was the culprit now. But...BOTH sides? This is so weird. I'm not sure when I bought this deck, but the operating manual is dated 1995. So it's 10 years old at the *most*. I'd guess less than that. And I barely use it! It's quite possible that during the entire time I've owned this deck, I have used it to tape exactly *one* complete album (Einsturzende Neubauten's "2 x 4," after borrowing the CD from a friend). Phooey phooey phooey. Usually Christmas involves *getting* something, rather than having something taken away. Then again, there is a precedent: Christmas Eve three years ago was the delightful night when my dad had his leukemia diagnosed. Joy to the world. The black pit of Eb ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 15:52:00 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Update #3 I *think* I may have fixed the tape deck. Though I'm not quite sure how. Seemed to be some problems with belt alignment and this little piece staying up when it was supposed to go back down when the transport is empty...? Crossing my fingers, knock on wood, etc. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:23:50 EST From: HSatterfld@aol.com Subject: Re: 2005-03-28 on live music archive <> It is great to have these on archive.org where I can stream them at work. Vibrating is wonderful, I have not heard it done in this style before. (Probably I just don't get out much.) It is always good to hear Flavour of Night. Mind Games is just peculiar though. Thanks, Woj! ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V14 #293 ********************************