From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V15 #242 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, October 13 2006 Volume 15 : Number 242 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Ed Harcourt solo, Thekla Social Club [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] Re: deja vu thoth ["J. Christ" ] Re: We built this city on... BOMP BOMP BOMP! BOMP BOMP BOMP!... ["Gene Ho] Robyn in Tokyo [Tony Blackman ] Re: We built this city on...AAAAAGH! ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] shriek ["Melissa Higuchi" ] Review of Ole! Tarantula ["Charlotte Tupman" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:32:44 +0100 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: Re: Ed Harcourt solo, Thekla Social Club Just a brief note about the Ed Harcourt show at the Thekla last night. Brilliant encores (Loneliness and Apple of My Eye), excellent start (Spider has got eight legs), slightly disappointing middle. Unfortunately there was an oaf in the audience who kept shouting very loudly when he recognised the first few chords of each number (theres always one, isnt there  but WHY?). At one stage Ed got so cheesed off that he waved a guitar at the bloke and said If you know all the songs, why dont you come up here and sing them?. The idiot replied Ive paid fourteen pounds to see you sing the songs. And even on 'Loneliness' at the end, where Ed specifically asked the women in the audience to sing the title after each line, the oaf bellowed out Loneliness after every line too. Ed gave a weary smile and kept going. Plus points: Non-stop changing of instruments from acoustic guitar to electric guitar to electric piano to percussion to harmonium. Great songs and good songs, with loads of surprise chords (although there was one place in the middle where I started to work out the way he wrote some of the piano numbers). The sparkle skull on the harmonium (see Groovy DK, Dr John, etc etc).On the whole, no dud songs at all. Most Robynesque and Dodgsonesque song - 'Trap Door'. Minus points: Too many numbers where he built up percussion and riff loops before going into the songs  of course on one of the percussion loops, where he was trying to set up a baion (if thats what I mean  the beat from Rag Doll and all those Spector hits anyway), the oaf kept shouting out things in the middle. Im trying to set up a loop here, and if you keep shouting, you will be on the loop. Brief silence from idiot until the next number Ed also apologised for the electric piano: I suppose it would have been too difficult for them to get an upright down into the lower deck* (did I mention that the Thekla is a boat which is permanently moored near the Arnolfini?). Much of the gig took place in near total darkness, as Ed kept switching off the standard lamp which was the only stage lighting (apart from a row of illuminated plastic roses round the mic stand). I spoke to a few members of the audience and to the sound engineer Dave, who said that Ed would be happy to talk after the show, but I had to catch my last bus back to Bath. One bloke turned out to be a big Ivor Cutler fan, and he had been going to Ed Harcourt shows for six years. A woman who was also on the bus back to Bath reckoned that he was better at the Fleece 3 years ago. So, MRG is late jumping on the Harcourt bandwagon! - - Mike Godwin n.p. Rain  Ed Harcourt * Well, no, if youre running a newly relaunched venue, I would have thought it was an essential item of furniture. PS Quoting fegmaniax-digest : > Subject: Re: We built this city on...AAAAAGH! > Eb wrote: >> Someone hear said he was friends with the band or something...? > Ohmigod, I can't believe I made that goof. And it's 'numskull' not 'numbskull' [Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, 1972 edn. p904, just before the columns headed 'nystagmus' 'obeah' and 'objurgate' --"Love those WURRDS" - Don 'up one eyed broom star(?) was an obeah man' Vliet]. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:38:41 -0500 From: "J. Christ" Subject: Re: deja vu thoth On 10/12/06, Eb wrote: > > > > CHRIST. Yes? J. Christ Behavioral Consultant ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:43:30 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter Jr." Subject: Re: We built this city on... BOMP BOMP BOMP! BOMP BOMP BOMP!... > From: Eb > Subject: Re: We built this city on...AAAAAGH! > > Wiseblood's "Death Rape 2000" for a day would make almost anyone > take a life. ;) Then I'm surely guilty of murder. During my college radio days I would do long sets based on repetition (program two CD players to repeat random snippets of songs, play lots of Severed Heads, play intentionally scratched/damaged LPs), and would frequently play this cut in its entirety. Simultaneously. Funny, the phones never lit up when I played it, either. I guess it was because either 1) people expected it of me, or 2) they had already offed themselves. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:10:02 +0000 From: Tony Blackman Subject: Robyn in Tokyo As I'm on the digest these days I don't know if this has already been mentioned. My apologies if it has.... Just found these.... Photos from Robyn in Tokyo Boat trip round the bay. Bob Dylan summit Oct 9th. Gig on October 8th. Gig on October 7th. Acoustic Gig on October 6th. Pt. 1 Pt. 2 OK. Anyone going to the Paris duo with Morris? The venue's somehwere I've always had a hankering to visit.... Tony. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:33:44 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: We built this city on...AAAAAGH! On 10/11/06, Jeff Dwarf wrote: > > 2fs wrote: > > Jeff Dwarf wrote: > > > Tom Clark wrote: > > > > http://tinyurl.com/kz8xh > > > > > > > > If there is one song that could make me kill, > > > > this is it. > > > > > > I couldn't stand listening to a song I loved for > > > 24 hours straight.... > > > > > > Not even John Cage's 4'33"? > > Who said I loved "4'33""? Aren't we all in fact arguably listening to that one 24 hours a day anyway? - -SER ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:47:49 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: don't expect not to be scratched On 10/11/06, ken ostrander wrote: > > > the idea that there's a whole generation of kids who don't know about > albums or that the cover art might not translate into the larger format > is very strange. I think it'll be a long time before the concept is really lost, because any old (or period piece) movies, cartoons, etc. that kids are going to see still depict dropping the needle on the wax (and hip-hop DJ's still use the things, too). Same way my brother and I could imitate movie stars from bygone eras: we say Bugs Bunny imitate Peter Lorre or Bogart, and ran with it. Kids today also understand what rotary phones are, and stuff like that... it'll take a long time for that stuff to leave the zeitgeist. Look at how something as modern as YouTube drags the most anitquated footage into the light of day for all to see... gawd, when i was in college i used to use a > typewriter. do they even make those any more? They must... but I do wonder where all of the really outmoded devices of the world go... mimeograph machines, overhead projectors, those kinds of things... is there anything constructive that can be done with that stuff? > it takes a lot of restraint these days to > leave it alone and let the music speak for itself. i wonder if some > lo-fi stalwarts stick with that sound because it's just what they're used > to working with. Probably more than they'd admit in some cases, but also because it produces a sound that's similar to ones they loved when other people made them. > the car seems to be the best place to > really listen, though if you're riding with anyone, then conversation is > a distraction. I haven't had music in my car for many many years. I couldn't get the stereo fixed for a while, and now I tend to just think the car will konk out as soon as I bother to do so (it's pretty old). All of my listening is ad hoc. I do a lot at work, where I have an ancient 20 gig iPod attached to an ancient-er boombox. Since the iPod only holds somewhat less than 10% of my record collection, I refresh it with a random crop of music every week and listen to that, unless I have a new record or two I want to listen to intently, and then I spin those. - -SER ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 10:13:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: RE: We built this city on...AAAAAGH! On Wed, 11 Oct 2006, Marc Alberts wrote: > Tom Clark wrote: >> http://tinyurl.com/kz8xh >> >> If there is one song that could make me kill, this is it. > > I'm not sure what would be worse--every song the same horrible song, or > alternating that song with one or two or three good songs (make it > random so you can't steel yourself) and having to listen to that unholy > milange for 24 hours. I'm thinking that the latter would hurt more. The worst thing would be to just alternate between "We Built This City" and your favorite song. You'd end up hating your favoriate and appreciating the Starship. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:48:23 -0000 (GMT) From: "Melissa Higuchi" Subject: shriek Just wanted to mention that Robyn is on the quote page at the beginning of Jeff VanderMeer's Shriek. Something about ghosts having pictures of you. It looks pretty good and will almost certainly involve mushrooms and squid but i haven't started it yet. There's even a movie based on it with a Church soundtrack. just got the bbc and the ole tarantula. am enjoying briggs very much. hope he makes it to SF since i can't do the Ottobar anymore melissa ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:55:15 +0100 From: "Charlotte Tupman" Subject: Review of Ole! Tarantula It's not in a major publication, but saw this web review and thought it might be of interest. Charlotte - ------ http://www.epinions.com/content_264231947908 Robyn Hitchcock, Faithful as a Mummy, Rocks Me Like a Pharaoh on Ole! Tarantula Oct 11 '06 Author's Product Rating Product Rating: 5.0 Pros A rocking, most accessible set of songs, empowered by a celebration of happy powerlessness Cons It's too easy to question the necessity of a new Robyn Hitchcock record. The Bottom Line In which the author celebrates Robyn Hitchcock because he can. Full Review As Robyn Hitchcock creeps (like a mackerel, perhaps, or a vein) into the fourth decade of his recording career, it occurs to me that he's gone about it all wrong. By remaining steadfast in his vision, generally well-adjusted, personally amiable, and regularly productive, he has, in effect, significantly - perhaps even fatally - undermined his reputation as one of the great eccentric visionaries of British post-punk. Unlike his hero Syd Barrett, who left us with only a tiny enigmatic legacy of recordings to ponder and obsess over, not to mention the kind of brilliantly tragi-poetic life-story that any self-respecting teenage art-geek would envy and aspire to, Hitchcock has remained consistently present for the last 30 years - and his still largely un-anthologized body of work, while enigmatic in the extreme, full of riddles and codes for which the decoder rings have either been lost or never existed in the first place, is massive and, to newcomers, probably impenetrably intimidating. Syd Barrett's reclusiveness was an enticement for outsider teenagers like myself to find him out. But whether you're looking for it or not - and these days, few people are - there's always a new Robyn Hitchcock record sitting in the bins waiting to be picked up. (Right now, that would be his album with the recently minted Venus 3 called Ole! Tarantula.) He's never given his audience a chance to miss him; instead, he seems to have given us ample reason to take him for granted. Moreover, where Syd Barrett's story gives the weirdness of his music a whiff of distraught mysticism; Robyn Hitchcock's lyrical quirks and vocal plainness would often seem to place him in the realm of the novelty act. This is, in fact, how I first came to know and love him. Having spent the full preceding decade in the dark green, mossy underbrush of pop obscurity, beginning with his work with the legendary Soft Boys (whose records, upon initial release, sold in the triple-digits), Hitchcock signed a major label record deal and seemed poised to take full advantage of college radio's newfound sense of humor and affection for deadpan irony. The release of his 1988 breakthrough album Globe of Frogs coincided significantly with the emergence of bands like They Might Be Giants and Too Much Joy. The first Robyn Hitchcock song I ever heard was a ditty called "Balloon Man" (from Globe of Frogs) that's both as silly as it sounds, and yet utterly irresistible in the way that Sesame Street songs are. At a harmlessly chipper tempo, over a cartoonishly bouncing bass-line, Hitchcock sings with a winking bemusement that borders, at times, on breathlessness: I was walking up 6th Avenue when Balloon Man came right up to me He was round and fat and spherical with the biggest grin I've ever seen He bounced on up towards me but before we could be introduced He blew up very suddenly, I guess his name was probably Bruce And thus, Hitchcock became one of those people I loved to quote in high school - an eminently reference-able (and almost totally unknown) artist whose strategic quirkiness I could co-opt as my own in order to bolster my own status as self-anointed weirdo messiah of the Class of '91. Admittedly, my appreciation of his music at the time was as passionate as it was shallow and opportunistic. I relished the weirdness of his words without worrying about what he might be trying to say with them; and if I was at all interested in his earlier work, it was only for the comical promise inherent in song titles like "Uncorrected Personality Traits" and "Tell Me About Your Drugs". Two years after Globe of Frogs, Robyn Hitchcock released the emphatically solo, acoustic album Eye - a sprawling and intimate collection of songs that seem alternately prayerful and playful, personal and political, straightforward and elusive. I had no idea was "Linctus House" was when I first heard Hitchcock's song of that title, and that remains one of the most frustrating things about the song (even Google can't help me with this!), because the song's verses are the most direct, conversational, and intimate (and still funny) things Hitchcock has ever written - a story of that sad, insidious apathy (bordering on hostility) that grows over a once-sweet romance like a choking vine. Eye may not have been my first hint that Robyn Hitchcock was more than a fountain of weirdness - his 1989 single "One Long Pair of Eyes" was an oddly moving epic that remains one of my favorite songs, like, ever - but it had roughly the same impact as someone (probably someone I'd often made fun of) grabbing me by the shoulders, looking me straight in the eye and demanding that I see him as a person. The songs of Globe of Frogs seem smug by comparison. - - - - - - All this to say that Hitchcock's newest album, the aforementioned Ole! Tarantula, recorded with the aforementioned Venus 3 - an alterna-rock supergroup of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey (both veterans of Hitchcock's records), and Bill Rieflin (of Ministry, for God's sake) on drums - marks a most unlikely, but utterly worthy starting point for the Hitchcock-curious who don't know where to begin; and a magnificent sort of homecoming for the wanderin' attentions of the Hitchcock faithful. It is, in fact, very likely the strongest and most accessible (not to mention the hardest-rocking) record he's released in 20 years - a perfect distillation of the very essence of Robyn Hitchcock. Grabbing us immediately with the booming bass-riff and power-pop hooks of "Adventure Rocket Ship", Hitchcock delivers his mission statement while remaining true to his reputation as the master of the sphinx-like simile - as faithful as a mummy, you rock me like a pharaoh. The song bursts forth in an eruption of newborn earth-creature joy, even as it's undermined by images of spacemen's skeletons and other death-ish things. "Underground Sun" follows with Byrdsy folk-rock harmonies; and "Museum of Sex" (which engages another Hitchcock trademark - the architecturalization of carnal knowledge - see also: "Linctus House") furthers the psychedelic vibe with a slithery rhythm and some "Silly Love Song" saxophone, courtesy of Colin Izod - a British TV producer. "Belltown Ramble" is a pleasantly aimless stroll around town, accompanied by an ambling guitar strum and brightly plunked-on-the-piano quarter notes - it's an internal monologue that wanders, as such monologues often do, into the company of a 14th Century Uzbeki warlord and a rotating elephant. The similarly sprawling, and even more melodic "(A Man's Got To Know His Limitations) Briggs" is a philosophical drive around San Francisco. Listening to "Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)", co-written with XTC's Andy Partridge, we imagine Robyn bouncing (like Peter Wolf) down the busy mid-day streets, blowing kisses and throwing daisies to all he meets because the girl he loves loves him. Meanwhile, "The Authority Box" is a darker, lustier affair which climaxes in a command to "fuck me, baby, on the trolley bus!" Through all of this, we get the feeling that Robyn Hitchcock, while maybe concerned with big stuff like the meaning of life (et cetera), has stopped searching for it; and is rather relishing both the random pleasures and the random heartbreaks to be found in the day-to-day living of life in the looming shadow of its inevitable end - like people living in houses immediately downstream of the Hoover Dam or something. And the album ends in its own observance of Hitchcock's own personal Hoover Dam in the form of "N.Y. Doll", a song whose pleading melody Hitchcock sings with pained affection, whose lyrics - the first person narrative of a dead rock star who was forgotten in life and celebrated in death - point towards something approaching a personal statement of faith. And thus, what might have been just a collection of especially good songs with goofy lyrics and a terrific band (something along the lines of Globe of Frogs, really) becomes something bigger and more powerful - even as it seems to acknowledge and even celebrate its smallness and powerlessness. A title like Ole! Tarantula may seem to have no real literal meaning, but then, when it's being delivered over Bob Dylan style harmonica in a triumphant singalong campfire chorus, it doesn't need one. It can choose not to worry so much about looking for answers to the inscrutable. It can be a celebration of the celebration itself. - - - - - - BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW: "Ole! Tarantula" by Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Yep Roc Records Released 10/3/06 Produced by Kurt Bloch 41 min. SONGS: Adventure Rocket Ship - Underground Sun - Museum of Sex - Belltown Ramble - Ole! Tarantula - (A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs - Red Locust Frenzy - 'Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram) - The Authority Box - N.Y. Doll Recommended: Yes ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V15 #242 ********************************