From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V15 #266 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, November 9 2006 Volume 15 : Number 266 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: another reap ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: another reap [2fs ] Re: another reap [Benjamin Lukoff ] Re: another reap [2fs ] Re: another reap [Christopher Gross ] Re: Craise Finton Kirk, see him go, on his way ["Gene Hopstetter Jr." ] Re: another reap [Benjamin Lukoff ] RE: another reap ["Brian Huddell" ] AP declares it [Eb ] Re: another reap [2fs ] Re: another reap [FSThomas ] RE: another reap ["Brian Huddell" ] My name is "Eb", and when I grow up I want to be a Mohel ["Stacked Crooke] Chicago setlist 11-9 ["michael wells" ] re: another reap ["ken ostrander" ] Re: another reap [FSThomas ] NEW on DIME: softboys20021026- AUD MD (Robyn Hitchcock) [wojbearpig ] Tick tock [The Great Quail ] Re: another reap ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] RE: another reap ["Brian Huddell" ] Chicago review 11-9 ["Michael Wells" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 16:46:13 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: another reap > >On Nov 8, 2006, at 11:42 AM, Steve Schiavo wrote: > >>> Looks like Daddy Bush is rounding up the old hands to try and make >>> Junior not look like the worst President in U.S. history. > >> Dude, that ship sailed a *long* time ago. Ferris wrote: >Grasp of his native tongue aside, he is presiding over record low unemployment, a record setting stock market, a screaming economy, and record high tax receipts. But then those things *always* make for bad Presidents. I'll counter that with record trade deficits, erosion of the middle class, no raise in the minimum wage, flattened real wages for most everyone else, and heavy losses of US manufacturing. The national debt also went up an additional 3.5 trillion dollars under Bush. Those things certainly reflect a President that is out of touch with the majority of the country. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 16:12:59 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: another reap On 11/8/06, Bachman, Michael wrote: > > > >On Nov 8, 2006, at 11:42 AM, Steve Schiavo wrote: > > > >>> Looks like Daddy Bush is rounding up the old hands to try and make > >>> Junior not look like the worst President in U.S. history. > > > >> Dude, that ship sailed a *long* time ago. > > Ferris wrote: > >Grasp of his native tongue aside, he is presiding over record low > unemployment, a record setting stock market, a screaming economy, and > record high tax receipts. But then those things *always* make for bad > Presidents. > > I'll counter that with record trade deficits, erosion of the middle > class, no raise in > the minimum wage, flattened real wages for most everyone else, and heavy > losses of US manufacturing. The national debt also went up an additional > 3.5 trillion dollars under > Bush. Those things certainly reflect a President that is out of touch > with the majority > of the country. Oh what the hell, might as well jump in: not to mention the lowest regard for the US in the rest of the world, possibly ever. And boldly trying to legitimate torture, domestic wire-tapping, and gutting habeas corpus. After that, talking about the stock market comes perilously close to praising timely trains. (heh-heh.) - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 14:29:39 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: another reap On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, Spotted Eagle Ray wrote: > On 11/8/06, FSThomas wrote: > > > > > > Grasp of his native tongue aside, he is presiding over record low > > unemployment, a record-setting stock market, a screaming economy, and > > record high tax receipts. > > Did anyone ever claim Bush wasn't kind to the rich? (Rhetorical points for > listing unemployment first, but it doesn't really do much to polish the turd > that is this presidency.) Low unemployment, a booming market, and tons of money in the federal coffers are good for the rich, the middle-class, and the poor. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 16:42:22 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: another reap On 11/8/06, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > > Low unemployment, a booming market, and tons of money in the federal > coffers are good for the rich, the middle-class, and the poor. Those ungrateful bastards! Why I bet those poor folks are not buying stocks out of spite! Also: work hard, be honest, and you can ride a white picket-fenced railroad straight to Washington DC and the Presidency. Virtue is its own reward, a stitch in time saves nine, and all's well that ends well. If the economy's so wonderful, why is New Orleans still an enormous third-world toilet more than a year later? - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 17:56:17 -0500 (EST) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: another reap On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > > Grasp of his native tongue aside, he is presiding over record low > > > unemployment, a record-setting stock market, a screaming economy, and > > > record high tax receipts. > > > > Did anyone ever claim Bush wasn't kind to the rich? (Rhetorical points for > > listing unemployment first, but it doesn't really do much to polish the turd > > that is this presidency.) > > Low unemployment, a booming market, and tons of money in the federal > coffers are good for the rich, the middle-class, and the poor. About those "record high tax receipts," the uptick in receipts over the past year may have reduced the budget deficit somewhat, but not enough to change the essentially disastrous national debt situation. If someone increased his salary by a thousand dollars a year, but at the same time added ten thousand dollars a year to his credit card debt, would you say that he "has tons of money in his coffers"? 'Cause that's about the situation the federal government is in right now. I would agree the economy is screaming, though. At least, most people who aren't in the richest 1% have plenty to scream about! - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 16:13:19 -0600 From: "Gene Hopstetter Jr." Subject: Re: Craise Finton Kirk, see him go, on his way On Nov 8, 2006, at 3:46 PM, fegmaniax-digest wrote: > Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 16:14:13 -0500 > From: FSThomas > Subject: Re: another reap > > np: Bee Gees older then me: Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts "Craise Finton Kirk, see him go, on his way. Oh, they don't know, where he is -- Very very nice, very very nice." I love that gorram album. Glad I'm not the only one. "Red Chair, Fadeaway" is my fave cut: wacky tempo and overripe Mellotron. I've got a clean copy of the mono Deram LP. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 15:29:56 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: [none] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGNs7QMeV7E "I believe in the marketplace of ideas even if the other guy doesn't have any." -- Keith Olbermann "If you ain't got the yolk, you can't emulsify the Hollandaise" -- Dan Rather . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored Link For just $24.99/mo., Vonage offers unlimited local and long- distance calling. Sign up now. http://www.vonage.com/startsavingnow/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 16:57:15 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: another reap On Wed, 8 Nov 2006, 2fs wrote: > On 11/8/06, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > > > Low unemployment, a booming market, and tons of money in the federal > > coffers are good for the rich, the middle-class, and the poor. > > Those ungrateful bastards! Why I bet those poor folks are not buying stocks > out of spite! Yeah, whatever. The fact is low unemployment is better for the poor than high unemployment! It's true the stock market doesn't affect the poor so much, but you better believe it affects the middle class--where do you think their IRAs and 401(k)s are invested? > Also: work hard, be honest, and you can ride a white picket-fenced railroad > straight to Washington DC and the Presidency. Virtue is its own reward, a > stitch in time saves nine, and all's well that ends well. I'm not defending the Republicans by any means--I voted an almost straight Democratic ticket this time around--but stop knocking what IS going right... > If the economy's so wonderful, why is New Orleans still an enormous > third-world toilet more than a year later? Because those in power don't really care about its fate, that's why. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 19:09:06 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: another reap > > If the economy's so wonderful, why is New Orleans still an enormous > > third-world toilet more than a year later? > > Because those in power don't really care about its fate, that's why. Yes, that, but also my aim has been a little erratic recently. It's hell getting old. +brian (no way I'm sitting down) in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 18:25:01 -0800 From: Eb Subject: AP declares it http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/election.main/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 20:33:58 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: another reap On 11/8/06, FSThomas wrote: > > Eb wrote: > > > Yes, Nancy Pelosi is making calls right now to get you laid off. > > I'm more awaiting the down-turn in the economy that comes hand-in-hand > with higher taxes, but whatever. Well, let's see: here's a handy chart. You will note that from post-WWII to 1964, the top rate was in the 80-90 percent range. The American economy suffered madly during that era, as we know. Here are some stats, drawn from an article entitled "Party Economics" from _Left Business Observer_ 109 (11/04). In terms of growth, Democratic presidential administrations since WWII average about 5% annual growth; Republicans about 2.5%. In terms of employment growth, teh Democratic average is 3% per annum, compared to about 1.5% for Republicans. The largest hourly-wage annual growth rates occurred under Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Kennedy/LBJ; the weakest under Carter, Nixon/Ford, and Bush I (a bit of a wash there). In terms of stocks, measuring the annual real change in the S&P 500, the Democrats average about 5%, the Republicans about 2%. I will quote the author (Doug Henwood) here: "Though the GOP has a reputation as the party of fiscal probity, and the Democrats as the party of fiscal excess, the record doesn't match the cliche." Measuring "the change in federal surplus or deficit as a percentage of GDP from the beginning to the end of a presidential term," the Democrats average +1.3%, the Republicans - 1.4%. Aside from FDR/Truman (who kinda had a large war to account for), the largest deficit-riders were the Bush boys senior and junior (Bush I: ~-2%, Bush II: ~-5%). A few other measures, less definite in their meaning: Inequality tends to increase in Republican administrations (a growth in the Gini index < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_index> of 1% annually) and decrease ever so slightly in Democratic ones (about one-third of a percentage point). And as for the FOXian claims that left-liberal policies decrease personal responsibility and lead to a less stable society? Well, the incarceration rates have grown on average 4% under Republican administrations and only about 1% on average under Democratic ones. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:31:16 -0500 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: another reap 2fs wrote: > If the economy's so wonderful, why is New Orleans still an enormous > third-world toilet more than a year later? Because it was *almost* a third world toilet before? The areas that generate revenue are back and doing as best they can. The other areas? The other residents? Like ticks, they moved to a dry spot on the dog. Ask Houston how they're doing with their influx of refugees. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020500884.html http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2006-01-04ng.html http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/2005/12/new_orleans_cri.html http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2006/02/did-katrina-evacuees-bring-more-crime.html http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,223319,00.html - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 23:17:18 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: another reap > The areas that generate revenue are back and doing as best they can. > The other areas? The other residents? Like ticks, they moved to a dry > spot on the dog. Ask Houston how they're doing with their influx of > refugees. I've deleted a few attempts to engage you on this point, but I'm just not up to it. Maybe someone else has the stomach. I'm restraining myself here but I will say that personally, just from my perspective, you've now hit the tipping point between thoughtful conservative guy and monster. You had a universe of metaphors from which to choose, and you settled on a parasitic insect to represent the huge variety of desperate stories that constitute the Katrina refugees. I'm just one guy, but for me your credibility just became shit. Not that I give a fuck about the state of your soul, but it would definitely benefit from a few face to face conversations with actual poor people, in particular the working homeowners who used to live in the Lower 9. +brian in New Orleans ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:15:09 -0800 From: "Stacked Crooked" Subject: My name is "Eb", and when I grow up I want to be a Mohel i watched it in its entirety, and was surprised at the paucity of grammatical gaffes. now, *self-contradictory* statements, that's another matter. i did find myself thinking that it may be possible that he actually believes his lies (in which case, the untruths wouldn't strictly speaking be lies, i suppose...). if by "record low" you mean "lowest since 2000". my advice: get out while you can. see for heaps of anecdotal evidence that the housing market is in deep shit -- and for pretty convincing analysis suggesting that the economy at large is in for same. would you surmise, given yesterday's results, that rather a minority of americans are feeling as sanguine about their economic status? if so, are you saying that you don't give a fuck about them, so long as you get yours? that they're all lazy niggers anyway, and so don't deserve a seat at the table? or just that the "liberal media" has pulled the wool over their eyes? again, you seem to be suggesting that the voting public has just willingly down-graded its economic prospects. why do you think that it would do so? more importantly, the de-facto tax to be incurred as a result of the mega-billions in deficit spending on national and "homeland" "security": so long as it doesn't affect you, let them eat fuck? not that the democrats will do a damned thing to seriously address the most ominous development awaiting our economic future -- namely ecological catastrophe -- but at least they're... at least they're, uhm... at least, uh... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 00:35:55 -0800 From: "michael wells" Subject: Chicago setlist 11-9 Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Metro, Chicago 9:15 - 11:00 pm Adventure Rocket Ship Sally Was a Legend Ole! Tarantula Queen of Eyes New York Doll If You Were a Priest Somewhere Apart W Sucks Chinese Bones Television Jewels for Sophia Creeped Out Authority Box Madonna of the Wasps Viva! Sea-Tac .Briggs Driving Aloud (Radio Storm) (e) Eight Miles High A seriously RAWK show! I'll throw some proper comments together after Detroit, but this is what I always hoped Robyn could sound like with a band.all that's with all due respect to the Soft Boys, but this was a different animal. Michael Ps. show was being taped for XRT, so there hopefully there'll be a nice matrix available sooner rather than later. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2006 01:41:54 -0500 From: "ken ostrander" Subject: re: another reap > > Grasp of his native tongue aside, he is presiding over record low > > unemployment, a record-setting stock market, a screaming economy, and > > record high tax receipts.<<<<<<< funny thing about unemployment, they stop counting you as part of the labor force if you stop looking for work or are unable to work or are in prison or a mental institution or the armed forces. it's wild how consistantly there's a bull market during wars (or whatever the attorney general wants to call them - just thank our lucky stars that we have rogue states on which to focus our bloated pentagon budget). the stock market does not reflect what is going on with the finances of the bulk of americans. it's gambling for rich folks. and those "record high tax receipts" are corporate tax receipts. with record profits, come record taxes. is it productivity and innovation or is it price gouging and outsourcing? you want to measure the economy? measure how much it costs for food and shelter against how much people are making. i wonder if unemployment goes down even more when someone has to work two or three jobs? it's a little myopic to focus on these things when we have lowered standards across the board. first and foremost, the world is a lot less safe. we have a brand new nuclear arms race and our (latest) preemptive military excursion drawing the ire of the world and an increasing number of americans and nudging the united states from oligarchy/plutocracy to holy corporate empire. we've always been an expansionist nation; but until recently, we at least pretended to care about appearances. bush is so convinced that he's right, he cannot hear any debate or criticism. and then there's the orwellian double-speak that has eroded the last glimmers of faith in government. the skies are not clear as the children left behind in the exhaust could tell you if they weren't choking on it. and who could forget the global environmental catastrophe which has been literally ignored by this administration? this has certainly been an historic day with the democrats taking control of congress; but i am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to take charge. there are a lot of criminal charges that need to be brought before any credibility can be salvaged. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get today's hot entertainment gossip ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2006 07:54:17 -0500 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: another reap Brian Huddell wrote: > I'm restraining myself here > but I will say that personally, just from my perspective, you've now hit the > tipping point between thoughtful conservative guy and monster. You had a > universe of metaphors from which to choose, and you settled on a parasitic > insect to represent the huge variety of desperate stories that constitute > the Katrina refugees. I'm just one guy, but for me your credibility just > became shit. So Houston's spike in crime has nothing to do with having been on the receiving end of displaced peoples from New Orleans? Even possibly? Career criminals and career entitlement users are both parasitic in their own rights. Katrina resulted in the single largest population re-distribution in US history after, what, the Dust Bowl? Wherever the down-trodden went, crime rose. Where they left, New Orleans, the crime rate has dropped. Run the numbers, read up on it, and you, too, can revel in shitty credibility. Just because you're poor doesn't necessitate you turn to crime. It doesn't predicate that you'll rape, kill, pillage, and burn. Houston, being the good guys here, took in 150k people and Houston, you have a problem. For their generosity in a time of need, what did they get? ...a nearly 17.5% bump in homicides in '06 over the same time in 2005. ...21% of Houston's 232 homicides through July 25 involved an evacuee as either a suspect or a victim.... ...the sheriff's department reported a 41% increase in felony arrests in November from the year before. ...Katrina evacuees arrested in the Houston have cost the county's criminal justice system more than $18 million. Not to mention abuses on a lower scale: Louis Vuitton handbags and trips to strip clubs being paid for with FEMA & Red Cross debit cards. And as to why a good section of the city still looks like a war zone: the former residents either aren't going back or have yet to. If The State wanted to start leveling properties -- to clean the entire city of damaged, abandoned properties -- to make way for re-development and the landowner can't be found, what then? Maybe the property owner doesn't want redevelopment. Maybe they want to rebuild but haven't the money. Maybe they have no intention of returning and would sell the plot for what they could get for it. One problem: you can't easily contact the resident because they aren't exactly being kept track of. They might not have cell phones (or, if they did, there's no saying they gave the gov't the right number), they may have moved two or three times since their benefits ran out, and they probably won't file taxes (arguably the easiest way to track someone down). They've may have quite a bit on their minds just getting through the day, the week, the month without worrying how their old 2-2 in a devastated part of New Orleans is doing and whether the city wants to tear it down. It's a logistical nightmare and one that will stall clean up and redevelopment. The burden of reconstruction doesn't fall on the Federal Government, though. Disaster Relief doesn't equate to New Homes For Everyone. - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 10:35:05 -0500 From: wojbearpig Subject: NEW on DIME: softboys20021026- AUD MD (Robyn Hitchcock) http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=120451&hit=1 - ----- Forwarded message from DIME ----- A new torrent has been uploaded to DIME. Torrent: 120451 Title: softboys20021026- AUD MD (Robyn Hitchcock) Size: 615.08 MB Category: Rock Uploaded by: jeoyramone Description - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Soft Boys October 26th, 2002 Bowery Ballroom New York City, NY disc 1 01 Hear My Brane 02 Banter 03 Kingdom of Love 04 Queen of Eyes 05 Mr. Kennedy 06 Unprotected Love 07 My Mind Is Connected to Your Dreams 08 Babble 09 The Man With The Lightbulb Head 10 Chatter 11 The Bells of Rhymney 12 Pulse of My Heart 13 Strings 14 I Wanna Destroy You 15 Underwater Moonlight disc 2 1 Narcissus 2 Rock'n'Roll Toliet 3 Insanely Jealous 4 I Wanna Be An Anglepoise Lamp 5 Blah Blah Blah 6 Chapter 24 (Pink Floyd) 7 Disconnection of the Ruling Class 8 Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (Dylan) taped by jeoyramone Source: Core Sound Binaural > MZ-R50 (line in, SP stereo) Transfer: MDS-JE530 > optical >Roland UA30 > Sound Studio >Toast - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 09:40:50 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: another reap On 11/9/06, FSThomas wrote: > > Brian Huddell wrote: > > > I'm restraining myself here > > but I will say that personally, just from my perspective, you've now hit > the > > tipping point between thoughtful conservative guy and monster. You had > a > > universe of metaphors from which to choose, and you settled on a > parasitic > > insect to represent the huge variety of desperate stories that > constitute > > the Katrina refugees. I'm just one guy, but for me your credibility > just > > became shit. > > So Houston's spike in crime has nothing to do with having been on the > receiving end of displaced peoples from New Orleans? Even possibly? > Career criminals and career entitlement users are both parasitic in > their own rights. As are the Hilton sisters. Just because you're poor doesn't necessitate you turn to crime. No, it doesn't "necessitate" it - but for street and property crimes, there has always been a strong correlation. And that's because, duh, Dick Cheney doesn't need to rob a liquor store. > ...Katrina evacuees arrested in the Houston have cost the county's > criminal justice system more than $18 million. You're right: they should have just shot them on sight. Saved lots of money that way. Not to mention abuses on a lower scale: Louis Vuitton handbags and trips > to strip clubs being paid for with FEMA & Red Cross debit cards. It's a damned good thing no wealthy people ever abuse earmarked funds, corporate credit cards, etc. And as to why a good section of the city still looks like a war zone: > the former residents either aren't going back or have yet to. > I was thinking more about rotted bloating corpses in the street. And the rest of your paragraph reveals the paucity of your thinking: after an emergency, you clean up, you mitigate the public health problems, you ensure public safety. You don't wait around for the system of developers, landlords, investors to decide where money can be made. Not that we had to wait for that - dreams of NawlinsLand USA were dancing in the heads of developers within hours of the devastation. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:11:16 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: Tick tock Brian writes, > You had a > universe of metaphors from which to choose, and you settled on a parasitic > insect to represent the huge variety of desperate stories that constitute > the Katrina refugees. Hey now. Ticks are arachnids, not insects. Let's not lump these foul critters into the same class as honey bees and ladybugs. - --The Great "science guy" Quail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 08:27:04 -0800 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: another reap On 11/8/06, FSThomas wrote: > > The areas that generate revenue are back and doing as best they can. > The other areas? The other residents? Like ticks, they moved to a dry > spot on the dog. Dude. Lame. Ixnay on the igotrybay. You're this far from giving rapists a pass because "she was asking for it." Sorry you had to see that, Brian. - -SER ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 07:52:03 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: another reap > So Houston's spike in crime has nothing to do with having been on the > receiving end of displaced peoples from New Orleans? Even possibly? > Career criminals and career entitlement users are both parasitic in > their own rights. I wasn't clear. Of course the Katrina refugees include criminals and parasites. It would be stupid to argue otherwise. It's the broadness of your brush that is obscene. You wrote: > The areas that generate revenue are back and doing as best they can. > The other areas? The other residents? Like ticks, they moved to a dry > spot on the dog. Ask Houston how they're doing with their influx of > refugees. I count two categories here. You left out a third, which happens to constitute the vast majority of residents of the Lower 9: working homeowners whose neighborhoods no longer exist. I meant it when I said I'm not interested in engaging you on this, so you can have the last word on why those people, who weren't criminals before and aren't now, have only reaped what they've sown. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 10:31:55 -0600 From: "Michael Wells" Subject: Chicago review 11-9 Slight correction to the setlist - they played Vibrating after Chinese Bones! Adventure Rocket Ship Sally Was a Legend Ole! Tarantula Queen of Eyes New York Doll If You Were a Priest Somewhere Apart W Sucks Chinese Bones Vibrating Television Jewels for Sophia Creeped Out Authority Box Madonna of the Wasps Viva! Sea-Tac .Briggs Driving Aloud (Radio Storm) (e) Eight Miles High Got to Metro about 8:15, or 45 minutes after doors - and the opener was only partway through his rather monotone set. Very light crowd early, so they seemed to start late which meant RH, et al didn't go on until 9:15. I'd guess maybe 500 tops by then - much less than I had been expecting. Crowd the usual mix of hardcore fans, loner fanboys, scattered local musicians, a few scenesters, the odd drunk. IOW, a regular night at Metro. A little surprised that even on the 'small venue' tour they were doing some of their own work - on this night Scott checking and tuning the guitars, Bill tearing down his own drums, etc. Somehow thought there would be a roadie involved, but then again I didn't see Peter or Robyn doing much ;) I wonder if the fact that XRT was taping the whole show had an effect, as they all came on clear-eyed, peppy and spot-on from the get-go. Purple shirt with large red and white flowers, hair swept more over to one side than usual, looking in good health and happy. Maybe it's because Michele is in the house. Show passes without a lot of talking - aside from an even longer 'Briggs' intro than usual - but as expected there were plenty of quick political asides to introduce the songs ('dedicated to Donald Rumsfeld...and whatever it was that killed him'). It was one of those 80/20 shows - 80% of material they had clearly practiced and fucking NAILED or came close. With Peter playing *very* complimentary guitar parts, Scott staying on straight-eight bass and Bill doing foot-and-tom work all night, there was a fullness to the sound spectrum and rock punch that I don't think I've ever heard Robyn sing in front of. The Softs are incredible in their own right, but it's different - with them the sound is a little thinner and edgier, more time changes, much more inventive bass. This was a punchy, straight-ahead, loud rock show, and the change was welcome by almost everyone (Carissa was a little taken aback, I think) The first four - 'Rocket' through 'Queen of Eyes' were spectacular. Nice, rich sound from Peter - boy is he good at filling in the spaces - and drum work from Bill. Clearly going to be a different type of show. 'NY Doll' is decent but then a run of songs where a little something is off in each one. Little hiccups that show this is still kind of a loose collective winging it through some of the material ('...Priest' has to be stopped and re-started, for example). The exception is 'Somewhere Apart' which is fantastic: "I'm going to burn your bongos tonight." Robyn is clearly enjoying himself, dancing (? hopping around) and sweating under the lights. It doesn't really look like any Robyn I've seen recently. After that a nearly transcendent 'Television with the /best/ vocals, then 'a funky, hard 'Jewels' that kicks in a run of three darker songs; 'Creeped Out' and 'Authority Box' become absolutely massive live. A spot-on 'Madonna,' Briggs was OK, then a hammers-down 'Driving Aloud.' A nice encore with the Byrds cover, Peter and Robyn intertwining lines into a psychedelic jam that finally runs out of steam around 11. Finally bought a hard copy of OT (only had the iTunes version before), and managed to get all four to sign it. Peter spent a surprising amount of time at the merch table - not really chatting, but agreeably signing CD's and stubs. Scott and Robyn came up later and spent a few minutes signing before disappearing back downstairs. On the whole rather more than I expected on the night, given a midweek show. Michael ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V15 #266 ********************************