From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V15 #24 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, January 27 2006 Volume 15 : Number 024 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Is this something new? [Eb ] Re: Colin Meloy/Laura Veirs live webcast [wojizzle forizzle ] Fripp sort-of reviews RH [Dolph Chaney ] RE: Robyn in Today's Guardian ["Bachman, Michael" ] RE: Robyn in Today's Guardian ["Bachman, Michael" ] robyn and the minus 3 on bbc 6music [wojizzle forizzle ] reap [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Fripp sort-of reviews RH ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Robyn in Today's Guardian ["Stewart C. Russell" ] best of the worst ["michael wells" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:45:45 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Is this something new? Saw this on an online Dylan forum...supposedly taken from a magazine called "Word," as part of a piece called "Ten of Bob Dylan's Myths Exploded"? THE MYTH: HE CAN'T SING Dylan created a new way for the human voice to behave, says Robyn Hitchcock, and we're still dealing with the consequences Oh what a pyramid is Bob Dylan, and what mice are we that squeak around him, interpreting his crumbs. Saying that Dylan can't sing is like saying that crabs can't swim; technically not, perhaps, but they get around just fine. I've been listening to Bob Dylan for 40 years, man and boy, and to me he defines singing. It's true that he cannot sing like Art Garfunkel, David Crosby or Carl Wilson. Or like Alicia Keyes. Or even like his old homies Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris. But this is one of many reasons that he is a pyramid. All the above singers are harmonizers; overlay one of their voices on another, and they become a choir. They can multi-track themselves into a kind of Stained-glass beauty. Bob Dylan's only known venture into multi-tracking is a version of Paul Simon's The Boxer, where he duets with himself about the "New York witty cinders", and never have two voices sounded less like one (until Peter Blegvad's Static In The Attic, anyway). I however, when others harmonise with Dylan (it doesn't happen much the other way around), the problem lies with his phrasing more than his pitching. He doesn't sing out of tune, but he sings the words like a bucking bronco, throwing the other vocalist off the back of the song. Baez herself complains of this in the Scorscese film.But when people say Dylan can't sing, they are probably referring to the very attitude in his voice, rather than pitching or phrasing issues. He's not singing, they argue - and I picture them as people without dandruff- he's talking, or haranguing. It's true that his singing comprises talking and haranguing, both. However, his words are always draped over a skeleton of melody. Especially in the early days, when Dylan was still trying to reach people rather than the other way around, you can hear him hit the hypnotic drone on songs like It's Alright Ma and dates Of Eden that will still take you to places that other folk-singers can't reach. Enough with the defense. Dylan has timing to die for. from Talkin' New York (1961)... "A lot of people don't have too much food on their table... but they got a lot of forks... and knives... and then they gotta cut something" ...to Pledging My Time (1966).., "Well the room is so stuffy... I can hardly breathe... everybody's GONE but me and you... and I can't be the last to leave" (This was the period when Dylan sang emphasizing EVERY WORD in the sentence. He was UNDERLINING himself No wonder he got so TIRED) In the end, it's not something that can be argued. Either you like Dylan's voice or you don't. But what makes him so compelling to those of us he compels is that he discovered a voice that no one had before. He came up with a new way of singing, which has influenced so many from Lennon to Lou Reed to me. Like a baby crying, he's hard to ignore. You don't put Dylan on in the background to make the parry swing; either you give him your full attention, or like a crying baby, the sound he makes is maddening. But he keeps you company You put on a Dylan record and, by God, you know someone else is there with you. It is a corrosive voice, restless, inconsolable, eating through the excuses that humanity feeds itself on its way to endless sleep. Do not go gently into that great good night, Bob. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 23:24:59 -0500 From: wojizzle forizzle Subject: Re: Colin Meloy/Laura Veirs live webcast one time at band camp, Roberta Cowan said: >Also occasionally, if the artist gives permission, the shows are available >afterwards to download in MP3 format. There's always a streamable archive. of couse, streamable archives can always be wrangled to our will. ;) woj ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:35:14 -0800 From: "Hurricane Jesus" Subject: My name is "Eb", and my butt smells like the zoo just to play devil's advocate: the colts *were* able to move the ball at times. and, foster was out against chicago, too; but the panthers still carved up their top-ranked defense. meanwhile, the seahawks were able to, like, quadruple-team smith and *still* get pressure on the quarterback... haven't been much of a seahawks fan myself since pete gross kicked the bucket and jacob green retired, but have gotta admit that it is all pretty cool/surreal (though i'd trade it all in a heartbeat for the huskies to get back to *any* bowl game). anyhow, here's the message the chef left on my machine at, judging by the time, about the middle of the 3rd quarter: "C'mon, bitch-ass! We are going to superball! Eddie, we are going to superball. We *are* going to superball. Superball!" bayard's been allowed board access in the past. but maybe that's just 'cause he's, you know, bayard (and shit). but it seems like there are one or two board tapes in circulation from each tour. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 06:41:19 EST From: HwyCDRrev@aol.com Subject: robyn on bob in WORD THE MYTH: HE CAN'T SING Dylan created a new way for the human voice to behave says Robyn Hitchcock and we're still dealing with the consequences OH WHAT a pyramid is Bob Dylan, and what mice arc we that squeak around him, interpreting his crumbs. Saying that Dylan can't sing is like saying that crabs can't swim; technically not, perhaps, but they get around justt fine. I've been listening to Bob Dylan for 40 years, man and boy, and to me he defines singing. It's true that he cannot sing __ like Art Garfunkel, David Crosby or Carl Wilson. Or like Alicia Keyes. Or even like his old homics Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris. But this is one of many reasons that he is a pyramid. All the above singers are harmonizers; overlay one of their voices on another, and they become a choir. They can multi-track themselves into a kind of Stained-glass beauty. Bob Dylan's only known venture into multi-tracking is a version of Paul Simon's The Boxer, where he duets with himself about the "New York witty cinders", and never have two voices sounded less like one (until Peter Blegvad's Static In The Attic, anyway). I however, when others harmonise with Dylan (it doesn't happen much the other way around), the problem lies with his phrasing more than his pitching. He doesn't sing out of tune, but he sings the words like a bucking bronco, throwing the other vocalist off the back of the song. Baez herself complains of this in the Scorscese film. But when people say Dylan can't sing, they are probably referring to the very attitude in his voice, rather than pitching or phrasing issues. He's not singing, they argue - and I picture them as people without dandruff- he's talking, or haranguing. It's true that his singing comprises talking and haranguing, both. However, his words are always draped over a skeleton of melody. Especially in the early days, when Dylan was still trying to reach people rather than the other way around, you can hear him hit the hypnotic drone on songs like It's Alright Ma and dates Of Eden that will still take you to places that other folk-singers can't reach. Enough with the defense. Dylan has timing to die for. from Talkin' New York (1961)... "A lot of people don't have too much food on their table... but they got a lot of forks... and knives... and then they gotta cut something" ...to Pledging My Time (1966).., "Well the room is so stuffy... I can hardly breathe... everybody's GONE but me and you... and I can't be the last to leave" (This was the period when Dylan sang emphasizing EVERY WORD in the sentence. He was UNDERLINING himself No wonder he got so TIRED) In the end, it's not something that can be argued. Either you like Dylan's voice or you don't. But what makes him so compelling to those of us he compels is that he discovered a voice that no one had before. He came up with a new way of singing, which has influenced so many from Lennon to Lou Reed to me. Like a baby crying, he's hard to ignore. You don't put Dylan on in the background to make the parry swing; either you give him your full attention, or like a crying baby, the sound he makes is maddening. But he keeps you company You put on a Dylan record and, by God, you know someone else is there with you. It is a corrosive voice, restless, inconsolable, eating through the excuses that humanity feeds itself on its way to endless sleep. Do not go gently into that great good night, Bob ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 14:27:49 +0000 (GMT) From: Tulloch Subject: Robyn in Today's Guardian There's a very nice piece in the Guardian's We're Jammin' series in today's paper featuring Robyn and the Minus 3. There's also an mp3 of "Ole Tarantula" with the Guardian's Pascal Wyse on trombone. Here's the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/jamming/story/0,,1695328,00.html (if that does'nt work, go to the Guardian homepage and do a search for "Robyn Hitchcock") 'You know, the good guys always live near water," says Robyn Hitchcock, talking about America, his favourite place of work. "Everyone within 50 miles of lakes and oceans seems to vote Democrat; the rest are doomed cattle who vote Republican. My audience is pretty much 100% Democrat." Robyn's current band is American too, and the singer-songwriter is flattered that they have travelled over to our "freezing, dark, damp air for not an enormous amount of money to play a bunch of clubs". Smiling behind shades, they seem happy to accommodate a random trombone, too, but that could just be the jetlag. "It's pretty unusual," says Robyn. "Imagine if you had to jam with all rock journalists. What would Charles Shaar Murray be like?" What a nice bunch of people, I say to the woman who runs the studio. It then becomes clear, to her gobsmacked amusement, that I have no idea I am playing with Bill Rieflin, Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck - that's REM, just about. Robyn wasn't exaggerating when he said he had made a few American friends. Back with the band, I try to construct a nonchalant remark that reveals I (now) know who they are, without giving away the fact that I didn't 30 seconds ago. "Things are so polarised in the US," says Robyn. "It's a bit more of a community. Over here, I don't know. You've got some lovely people who come along and listen to music and you've got some very weird ones. True music fans are always a bit weird anyway." Robyn's wit - apart from shackling him to Syd Barrett comparisons over the years - divides people. Some find him self-consciously nuts; for others his surreal visions get right inside life's loopy realities. "The humour is just something that people have had problems with over the years. Right back in the new wave days people thought I was ideologically unsound and that I was just taking the piss. I can actually pinpoint one of the incidents, from the Soft Boys. We had one bit in 5/4 time, which never went down very well with the new wave police because prog was officially out. Then we had a bit that was very simple, darr der darr, darr der darr ... And we nodded our heads like Status Quo, 'cause it was a bit of boogie. The cognoscenti from the music press thought, OK, they're trying to take the piss out of Status Quo, they are obviously wise guys with nothing new of their own. They're from Cambridge anyway, fuck 'em. Next!" The band have a stack of tunes to get through before the first gig of the 2006 tour. Sometimes they sound like they are trying to put together a flat-pack chest of drawers. "Pete, the verse thing has got some D in it. You know that drop-down thing the second time? It's got that D with errm ... no, C, with a ... I don't know why it is 11 beats at the end. I probably ran out of breath." Robyn listens to the trombone: "It reminds me of the air bass that Beefheart used to have. Bruce Fowler used to play trombone through effects." Bill lights up behind his kit: "Ahhh, one of the mighty Fowlers," he says, and rehearsal derails into a chat about The Magic Band. Robyn tries to sum up his reputation: "I don't know how I'm perceived at all, actually." I'm sure he does; it's more that, having survived the music business this long, he is not too bothered any more. "It's always an advantage to be a foreigner in some ways - at least before they start rounding people up. It's a generalisation, but they say we tend to have class and the US tends to have race. Just as in the 1960s rock went middle class - that's [rock manager] Peter Jenner's term for it - so in the 1970s it went faux working class. The industry was still run by middle-class people - and the journalists were 90% middle class. But there was an attempt to make the whole thing seem like it was from the terraces. We weren't: we were palpably middle class. We could barely put down our cucumber sandwiches long enough to dash off a few riffs." Robyn writes, draws - and even played a villain in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate, directed by Jonathan Demme, another friend and fan. But aged 10 he heard Bob Dylan and knew he would be a musician, whatever the hardships. "You've got to be bloody-minded and stay bloody-minded. It's a paradox: you have to have a lot of self-belief but at the same time you can't expect life to kiss you on the nose every morning. It's really pretty brutal. "Dylan was like a golden comet for the first five years of his career and then, although people kept treating him like a god, he was in a wretched state. A man in deep unhappiness wandering around the world, wailing. I thought, God, that's the man I envied, that's the man I wanted to be! Jesus! I'd rather be Robyn Hitchcock." - --------------------------------- Win a BlackBerry device from O2 with Yahoo!. Enter now. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:56:16 -0600 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: Fripp sort-of reviews RH In his online diary yesterday, Robert Fripp talks about going with his business partner David Singleton to see the RH + M3 show at the Scala -- Fripp has collaborated with Bill Rieflin on several projects. - -- Dolph ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:27:24 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Robyn in Today's Guardian >Subject: Robyn in Today's Guardian >There's a very nice piece in the Guardian's We're Jammin' series in today's paper featuring Robyn and the >Minus 3. There's also an mp3 of "Ole Tarantula" with the Guardian's Pascal Wyse on trombone. Here's the >link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/jamming/story/0,,1695328,00.html (if that does'nt work, go to the Guardian homepage and do a search for "Robyn Hitchcock") >'You know, the good guys always live near water," says Robyn Hitchcock, talking about America, his >>favourite place of work. "Everyone within 50 miles of lakes and oceans seems to vote Democrat; the rest are >doomed cattle who vote Republican. My audience is pretty much 100% Democrat." I'll check in living with less than 50 miles from Lake St. Clair, the smallest lake in the Great Lakes chain. Although it's not officially a Great Lake. Michael B. MP Moose - High Ball Me ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:32:35 EST From: HSatterfld@aol.com Subject: Re: Audities 2005 Top 20 Poll Final Results Is Garbage not power pop? I liked Bleed Like Me better than any of the 1.5 albums on this list that I've heard. (I'll make it through that Paul McCartney CD eventually, it's just very mellow.) Hollie ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:52:48 -0800 From: Spotted Eagle Ray Subject: Re: My name is "Eb", and my butt smells like the zoo On 1/26/06, Hurricane Jesus wrote: > > > bayard's been allowed board access in the past. but maybe that's just > 'cause he's, you know, bayard (and shit). but it seems like there are one > > or two board tapes in circulation from each tour. I think a lot of us have remarked that Robyn's warmed towards fans in general recently. Which is cool, and may account for a loosening of board tape policies. And I really need to check my wallet and see if I can somehow make the LA show. A full band, and a flexible one at that. A Bill Rieflin entry on the REM site indicates that Robyn and the M5 have done at least some recording. Dolph: Fripp has collaborated with Bill Rieflin on several projects. And again in a nugget found on the REM site, so, now, Peter Buck! I think it was Jeff Norman who once jokingly, presciently referred to "Buckertronics", a hypothetical Pete solo project "now with 50% more amp vibrato" (or words to that effect). Well done, sir. nb. I don't normally spend that much time at the REM website but I noticed that Rieflin is doing diary entries from the Hitchcock/M5 tour, so I looked at a few of those. Honest, I still haven't forgiven REM for AROUND THE SUN. - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:04:59 -0800 From: Spotted Eagle Ray Subject: Re: Robyn in Today's Guardian On 1/27/06, Bachman, Michael > wrote: > >'You know, the good guys always live near water," says Robyn Hitchcock, > talking about America, his >>favourite place of work. "Everyone within 50 > miles of lakes and oceans seems to vote Democrat; the rest are >doomed > cattle who vote Republican. My audience is pretty much 100% Democrat." > > I'll check in living with less than 50 miles from Lake St. Clair, the > smallest lake in the > Great Lakes chain. Although it's not officially a Great Lake. Robyn's point seems to be largely borne out by the feggy frappr map (although not that many of us have signed on): http://www.frappr.com/globeoffrogs Note, however, that the "blue" and "red" pegs do not indicate Dems and Reps, but males and females respectively... - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:41:29 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: My name is "Eb", and my butt smells like the zoo On 1/27/06, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > And again in a nugget found on the REM site, so, now, Peter Buck! I think > it was Jeff Norman who once jokingly, presciently referred to > "Buckertronics", a hypothetical Pete solo project "now with 50% more amp > vibrato" (or words to that effect). Well done, sir. I've been spewing words all over the web for more than a decade, so inevitably (along with the equally inevitable decay of brain cells) I don't remember everything I've ever said. Still, I don't remember saying that. Might have been one of the other Jeff Normans out there. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:34:35 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Robyn in Today's Guardian On 1/27/06, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > Robyn's point seems to be largely borne out by the feggy frappr map > (although not that many of us have signed on): > > http://www.frappr.com/globeoffrogs > > Note, however, that the "blue" and "red" pegs do not indicate Dems and Reps, > but males and females respectively... Of course, most *people* live near water... Also: what's up with this Frappr thing that it doesn't like either of my e-mail addresses? It claims they're "not valid"...Well, that's news to me! - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:35:45 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Robyn in Today's Guardian On 1/27/06, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > >Robyn's point seems to be largely borne out by the feggy frappr map > >(although not that many of us have signed on): > > >http://www.frappr.com/globeoffrogs > > >Note, however, that the "blue" and "red" pegs do not indicate Dems and Reps, > >but males and females respectively... Jeff came back with: >Of course, most *people* live near water... >Also: what's up with this Frappr thing that it doesn't like either of >my e-mail addresses? It claims they're "not valid"...Well, that's news >to me! Frappr didn't like mine either! Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:43:32 -0800 From: Spotted Eagle Ray Subject: Re: Robyn in Today's Guardian Jeffrey N: > Also: what's up with this Frappr thing that it doesn't like either of > my e-mail addresses? It claims they're "not valid"...Well, that's news > to me! Weird. Now, the Buckertronics thing is driving me crazy. I found a reference by ME to it on the Feg archives, but that was already a reference back to a thread which maybe I just imagined, and it coulda been on loud-fans, but I remember it clearly: someone asserted that "Mike Mills is the true and only talent in REM" and someone else, I thought Jeffrey, burst that bubble by pointing out the utter lack of solo projects by anyone in the band (citing imagined Mike Mills piano suites and, yes, Buckertronics). But I can't find nothin' on the radio. - -Rx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:17:28 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: Fripp sort-of reviews RH Dolph Chaney wrote: > In his online diary yesterday, Robert Fripp talks about going with > his business partner David Singleton to see the RH + M3 show at the > Scala -- artist=&show=&member=3&entry=2859> I like this entry more: http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=1544 Reap: Grandaddy :( http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-01/27.shtml Eb ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:05:49 -0500 From: wojizzle forizzle Subject: robyn and the minus 3 on bbc 6music looks like robyn and the minus 3 will be on stuart maconie's freak zone on sunday, january 29th at 1700 BST. 6music is available on dab digital radio, digital tv and online. details can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/help/listen.shtml. woj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:14:10 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: reap Janette Carter, last surviving member of The Carter Family "A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer." -- Mitch Hedberg . Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 21:24:29 -0500 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Fripp sort-of reviews RH Eb wrote: > > Reap: Grandaddy :( Shit. Another band I'll never see live. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 21:27:01 -0500 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Robyn in Today's Guardian Bachman, Michael wrote: > > I'll check in living with less than 50 miles from Lake St. Clair, the smallest lake in the > Great Lakes chain. Although it's not officially a Great Lake. Great lake? It's a smashing lake! Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:42:34 -0800 From: "michael wells" Subject: best of the worst SE pointed out that The Beast http://www.buffalobeast.com/91/50.htm has their annual "Worst People" list up, which is good reading if just for the sentences being doled out. I did note that between Tom Delay at #5 and Bush Jr. at #3, was - oddly enough - me. Text follows. Michael "guess I beat out Ann Coulter" Wells n.p. Greg Brown 'Mose Allison Played Here' (worst people of 2005) 4. You Charges: Silently enabling and contributing to the irreversible destruction of your planet. Absolving yourself of your responsibility to do anything about it that your immediate neighbors don't. Assuming that it's normal behavior to spend several hours each day totally inert and staring into a cathode ray tube. Substituting antidepressants for physical motion. Caring more about the personal relationships of people you will never meet than your own. Shrugging your shoulders at the knowledge that your government is populated by criminal liars intent on fooling you into impoverished, helpless submission. Cheering this process on. Exhibit A: You don't even know who your congressman is. Sentence: Deathbed realization that your entire life was an unending series of stupid mistakes and wasted opportunities, a priceless gift of potential extravagantly squandered, for which you deserve nothing but scorn or, at best, indifference, and a cold, meaningless demise. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V15 #24 *******************************