From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #355 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, October 1 2007 Volume 16 : Number 355 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Patti Smith on BOC [kevin ] Re: Guest star vocals [kevin ] dime geniuses - remind me [Jill Brand ] Re: dime geniuses - remind me [lep ] Re: Guest star vocals [lep ] Reap [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: Guest star vocals [Rex ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [Capuchin ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [Capuchin ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [Rex ] Re: Guest star vocals [2fs ] Re: Guest star vocals [Rex ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [Benjamin Lukoff ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [Rex ] New Radiohead album - pay what you think it's worth [Rob ] Re: Guest star vocals [Steve Schiavo ] Re: Guest star vocals ["Stacked Crooked" ] Re: Guest star vocals [lep ] moonlighting [lep ] Re: Guest star vocals [lep ] Re: Attention all you steampunk types [kevin Subject: Re: Patti Smith on BOC >>And they definitely did have an album called 'Fire of Unknown >>Origin'. I didn't know that Patti Smith had written a pome called >>that, however. Yuh-huh, which also featured as a b-side to the 7" of "So You Wanna Be a Rock&Roll Star." Which McGuinn dropped some left-handed compliments about at the time. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 10:31:27 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: Guest star vocals >p.j. harvey with thom yorke - "the mess we're in" from "stories >(songs?) from the city (sea?), songs (stories?) from the sea (city?)" > >although maybe neither are duets or guest vocals as thom yorke's voice >is more in the category of some sort of exotic instrument. Whatever ya wanna call it that PJH record is the shit. (Umm, that's an affirmative.) (No reference to recent discussion intended.) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:18:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: dime geniuses - remind me I somehow lost/deleted/ate the post that told me that dime doesn't use/accept the latest version of bit torrent and told me other options. With the Decemberists and of Montreal about to hit the road, I'd like to be able to download again, so if anyone (woj?) would care to send me that info again, I'd be much obliged. Jill ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:50:07 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: dime geniuses - remind me Jill says: > I somehow lost/deleted/ate the post that told me that dime doesn't > use/accept the latest version of bit torrent and told me other options. > With the Decemberists and of Montreal about to hit the road, I'd like to > be able to download again, so if anyone (woj?) would care to send me that > info again, I'd be much obliged. this was where some of the discussion took place: http://www.fegmania.org/archives/fegmaniax/v16.n290 (i actually found something in the archives. that was a thrill.) as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:47:00 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: Guest star vocals kevin says: > Whatever ya wanna call it that PJH record is the shit. agreed. it's my favourite record of hers, by a very far margin (which might mean i'm not really a p.j. harvey fan, it being a patti smith record as they say.) as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:41:30 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Reap The Mets' season. There's a lot of anger directed towards Tom Glavine on the blogs, but I feel pity for him. Come on, one of the best pitchers in what might have been the last game of his career and then this?? How can you not feel sorry for him? It's not like he did this on purpose ... On the upside, Germany has won the Women's soccer world cup for the second time in a row! That it was against Brazil, whose men's tem I hate with a passion, only makes it sweeter. The victory was very much deserved. How can you argue against a team that hasn't allowed a single goal in the entire tournament? - -- Sebastian Hagedorn Am alten Stellwerk 22, 50733 Kvln, Germany http://www.uni-koeln.de/~a0620/ "Being just contaminates the void" - Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:07:57 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Guest star vocals On 9/30/07, lep wrote: > > > it looks promising (then again, mention ms. apple to me, and it will, > > > by default, "look promising.") > > > > Interesting... she irritated me from Day One, and has only grated... > > erm, harder? more abrasively?... over time. > > i just listened ms. apple doing the vocals for aforementioned version > "i want you" and was so blown away that i can only suspect that you're > pulling my leg. God, no. Can't stand her. I don't think I'm the only one, either. She rankled at first for being shoved down our throats as some kind of manufactured child prodigy with the kind of showboaty voice I just don't like and some songs that seemed awfully slight. Next thing I heard she was some kind of damaged, persecuted genius complaining because the label wouldn't release her pretentiously-titled albums. In between I never heard anything by her that didn't bug me in one way or another. (I'm particularly allergic to bids for credibility by artists we never would have heard of had they not been pounded into our consciousness by playing the commercial pop game to the hilt, but she probably lost me for good by doing an unlistenably barbituated version of "Across the Universe" at about half the original speed as well, perhps on the "I Am Sam" soundtrack? I think that was her. God, it were painful.) (But that's just my opinion, and whatever gets you throught the night is all right with me.) > Whatever ya wanna call it that PJH record is the shit. It is indeed, and I don't like Thom Yorke, either. I think he didn't bug me on that record because that year it was impossible to buy a record that didn't have him doing a guest shot on it. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:21:38 -0500 (CDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, Rex wrote: > Nice. Maybe someday I'll get that teak laptop after all. And they sell > every other kind of dorky skin for cellphones... why can't I have one of > those in wood as well? I have a Samsung SPH-A960 which I bought entirely for its steampunk sensibility. In fact, I lost it on the fourth of July and after trying to use one of these things shaped more like a sports car than a telephone, I had to buy another A960 on eBay last week. A little paint stripper and the Sprint logo comes right off the front panel -- just one advantage of a metal skin. The asymmetrically placed analog LCD clock is divine. J. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:17:21 -0500 (CDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, kevin wrote: > I was just looking at a site I like to check out occasionally & thought > maybe somebody in the feg kingdom might enjoy the following: > > http://www.datamancer.net/projects/engine/engine.htm I've been meaning to build something like that for years. I actually had this old bakelite television in my closet for a project that never came together to make a 1950s iMac. Actually, it's probably still in that closet back in Portland if anyone wants it. After looking online, it looks like I'm going to have to have all my IBM Type-M keyboards shipped from home. Apparently, they're getting quite rare and expensive. I thought I could just pick a couple up here. No such luck. J. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:53:41 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On 9/30/07, Capuchin wrote: > A little paint stripper and the Sprint logo comes right off the front > panel -- just one advantage of a metal skin. This reminds me... I need the license plate frames on my car to not have the dealer's name on them, but do I just go frameless, or try to actually think of something un-awful that can appear on a license plate frame, or just try to score a blank one? The things you've never seriously considered before... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:55:30 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Guest star vocals On 9/30/07, Rex wrote: > > On 9/30/07, lep wrote: > > > > Interesting... she irritated me from Day One, and has only grated... > > > erm, harder? more abrasively?... over time. > > > > i just listened ms. apple doing the vocals for aforementioned version > > "i want you" and was so blown away that i can only suspect that you're > > pulling my leg. > > God, no. Can't stand her. I don't think I'm the only one, either. > She rankled at first for being shoved down our throats as some kind of > manufactured child prodigy with the kind of showboaty voice I just > don't like and some songs that seemed awfully slight. Next thing I > heard she was some kind of damaged, persecuted genius complaining > because the label wouldn't release her pretentiously-titled albums. Actually, the label had no trouble with the pretentiously-titled album (that would be _When the Pawn +90_) but with the run-of-the-mill titled _Extraordinary Machine_. Anyway: I kinda felt the way you did at first - but I sorta came around. I don't think her vocals are all that showboaty - at least not given the serious showboatery in most pop hits, though it's not as if she's Stephin Merritt either. And I like a lot of her songs, actually. What bugged me is her personality: all those little snits, alternating between egomaniacal and needy, etc. But if I liked music solely on personality, there's a lot of stuff I like that I'd have to toss out...and a lot of horrible stuff I'd need to buy. > > It is indeed, and I don't like Thom Yorke, either. I think he didn't > bug me on that record because that year it was impossible to buy a > record that didn't have him doing a guest shot on it. Wasn't there a year or two in the early '90s when, by law, all tribute albums had to have a Sonic Youth track on them? - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:40:54 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Guest star vocals On 9/30/07, 2fs wrote: > Anyway: I kinda felt the way you did at first - but I sorta came around. I > don't think her vocals are all that showboaty - at least not given the > serious showboatery in most pop hits, though it's not as if she's Stephin > Merritt either. Maybe it was the mood I was in for that decade, but all I remenber is "her voice-- so soulful! Old beyond her years! And her songwriting-- so soulful! Old beyond her years!". It was a recipe for Turnoff Stew, especially when her big breakthrough song was such a mediocrity... that song was an instant change-the-station trigger, just like that awful Jewel thing about who will save your soul and the whole bit. (The funny thing is that the stations that played those songs were also playing, like, Portishead and Sebadoh at the same time, but nobody recalls that as well as they do... erm. Marcy Playground). Ah, well, you know, it's my strong opinion that the '90's were the worst decade evar for music, except for all the other ones. > And I like a lot of her songs, actually. What bugged me is > her personality: all those little snits, alternating between egomaniacal and > needy, etc. That's the clincher for me, since I always find her songs either pedestrian or pedantic. She was kind of the female Billy Corgan to me... totally pandering, and then being pissy about not being taken seriously. It should be clear by now that "artistic maturity" and "being on drugs" are not one and the same thing, but I guess when you're raised in a superstar bubble, you miss out on some things. > Wasn't there a year or two in the early '90s when, by law, all tribute > albums had to have a Sonic Youth track on them? Sure was. Actually, for years I had trouble distinguishing between Flaming Lips and Giant Sand, as they both appeared on every tribute album I owned and I hadn't heard any of their actual songs. (Those years ended a long time ago, but I still think about it every now and again, when tracks from those tributes get spit out of the randomizer.) - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:35:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On Sun, 30 Sep 2007, Rex wrote: > On 9/30/07, Capuchin wrote: > > > A little paint stripper and the Sprint logo comes right off the front > > panel -- just one advantage of a metal skin. > > This reminds me... I need the license plate frames on my car to not > have the dealer's name on them, but do I just go frameless, or try to > actually think of something un-awful that can appear on a license > plate frame, or just try to score a blank one? The things you've > never seriously considered before... You don't really *need* a frame--I'd say go frameless before actually spending money on a blank one. But there are tons of frames out there, including custom ones. Just Google... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:44:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Guest star vocals Rex wrote: > God, no. Can't stand [Fiona Apple]. I don't think I'm the only > one, either. She rankled at first for being shoved down our > throats as some kind of manufactured child prodigy with the kind > of showboaty voice I just don't like and some songs that seemed > awfully slight. Not to mention the borderline kiddie porn videos. She always seemed to me like some A&R guys concoction of how to make another Tori Amos, but make this one functionally retarded yet thoroughly convinced that her own shit smells like flowers. I don't really like Tori either, but I can respect her talents, and for all her pretentiousness at times, she knows her shit smells like shit. > Next thing I > heard she was some kind of damaged, persecuted genius complaining > because the label wouldn't release her pretentiously-titled albums. > In between I never heard anything by her that didn't bug me in one > way or another. > > (I'm particularly allergic to bids for credibility by artists we > never would have heard of had they not been pounded into our > consciousness by playing the commercial pop game to the hilt, but > she probably lost me for good by doing an unlistenably barbituated > version of "Across the Universe" at about half the original speed > as well, perhps on the "I Am Sam" soundtrack? "Pleasantville." I think that was her. God, it were > painful.) > > (But that's just my opinion, and whatever gets you throught the > night > is all right with me.) > > > Whatever ya wanna call it that PJH record is the shit. > > It is indeed, and I don't like Thom Yorke, either. I think he > didn't > bug me on that record because that year it was impossible to buy a > record that didn't have him doing a guest shot on it. > > -Rex > "Children have always enjoyed my movies. They are just not allowed to watch many of them." -- John Waters . ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 00:08:48 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On 9/30/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > You don't really *need* a frame--I'd say go frameless before actually > spending money on a blank one. But there are tons of frames out there, > including custom ones. Just Google... Yeah, my ancient Corolla had proudly frameless plates, but on this car, especially in front, it just don't look right. I'm just curious if there is really aything that could go on one of those frames that wouldn't be just totally lame in one way or another. I guess it's like the tattoo thing... what could possibly be the one thing you'd put there, given space limitations and the desire to not look like a tool counterbalanced by liking one's tires to remain unslashed, etc. Now mulling... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 09:58:18 +0100 From: Rob Subject: New Radiohead album - pay what you think it's worth The next Radiohead album 'In Rainbows' is available to pre-order now at www.inrainbows.com. For the download only version, you're invited to pay what you think it's worth. But how do you decide what you think it's worth without hearing it? In theory it appears you can put in zero, although I haven't tried that. In fact, I decided to go the rather expensive discbox route with actual cds & vinyl. I live in hope that I decide it is worth the money. Oh, and OK Computer is 10 years old now. Rob ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:18:39 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: New Radiohead album - pay what you think it's worth On 10/1/07, Rob wrote: > > The next Radiohead album 'In Rainbows' is available to pre-order now at > www.inrainbows.com. For the download only version, you're invited to pay > what you think it's worth. > > But how do you decide what you think it's worth without hearing it? In > theory it appears you can put in zero, although I haven't tried that. In > fact, I decided to go the rather expensive discbox route with actual cds & > vinyl. I live in hope that I decide it is worth the money. It appears to be my "Rex you ignorant slut" week, in terms of disagreeing with his tastes (and usually, they align pretty well) but, I like Radiohead, and I'm kinda torn. I could pay some nominal but fair amount for the downloads (how much? No idea...taking into account they're already rich rock stars, but respecting their decision to self-release only *and* not set a rate...and wanting to support a viable precedent for non-rich non-stars) - but then I wouldn't have the physical media, and I tend to like their packaging, plus I wouldn't have the second disc's worth of songs (which are sure to show up on filesharing services within five minutes of availability anyway...if they're not already there). On the other hand, the "discbox" (two CDs, double-disc vinyl for redundancy and outmoded-media fetishists, I think some videos and artwork blah-blah) is *forty British pounds*, which is probably eighty bucks or so. (Apparently it's 40 pounds everywhere, so I'm not gettting import-dinged) So: do I get the bargain-basement new Radiohead for next to nothing, or do I get the whole shmoo for way too much? Since I'm an idiot, the answer isn't as obvious as it is to non-Radiohead fans or those are like, hey, if I can download it for a buck why not. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:12:37 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types On 10/1/07, Rex wrote: > > I'm just curious > if there is really aything that could go on one of those frames that > wouldn't be just totally lame in one way or another. > Re lameness YMMV - but I have a Firesign Theatre Ralph Spoilsport Motors license frame. It's not lame to me. (Which phrasing reminds me to wonder whether Not Lame Records has a license frame...) - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 08:47:54 -0500 From: Steve Schiavo Subject: Re: Guest star vocals On Sep 30, 2007, at 11:55 PM, 2fs wrote: > Anyway: I kinda felt the way you did at first - but I sorta came > around. I > don't think her vocals are all that showboaty - at least not given the > serious showboatery in most pop hits, though it's not as if she's > Stephin > Merritt either. And I like a lot of her songs, actually. What > bugged me is > her personality: all those little snits, alternating between > egomaniacal and > needy, etc. But if I liked music solely on personality, there's a > lot of > stuff I like that I'd have to toss out...and a lot of horrible > stuff I'd > need to buy. She's pals with Jon Brion, which is enough to at least get her a listen. Having said that, I own but have not listened to her first two albums. I also have the official Extraordinary Machine, but I don't think it's nearly as good as the Brion version. I guess it's sorta like Jeff Lynne getting eternal slack for Do Ya. - - Steve ___________ Not since the medieval church baptized, as it were, Aristotle as some sort of early  very early  church father has there been an intellectual hijacking as audacious as the attempt to present Americas principal founders as devout Christians. Such an attempt is now in high gear among people who argue that the founders were kindred spirits with todays evangelicals, and that they founded a Christian nation. - George F. Will ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:59:12 -0700 From: "Stacked Crooked" Subject: Re: Guest star vocals DVD Audio Extractor's trial version allows (or at least, did at a time in the not-too-distant past) full functionality during the trial period. also, you could just download VLC, or some other DVD-viewing software, and watch it straight from your computer's vidscreen. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 12:05:58 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: Guest star vocals Steve says: > She's pals with Jon Brion, which is enough to at least get her a > listen. Having said that, I own but have not listened to her first > two albums. I also have the official Extraordinary Machine, but I > don't think it's nearly as good as the Brion version. i like the brion version as well. and if you have a chance, you should, at the least, give the second album a try. it's one of my favourite albums (i was recently wondering what i should have booted off that top 12 list i made in order to make room for one of ms. apple's albums.) plus, the video for "paper bag" is so damn good (directed, i believe, by her then-beau, paul thomas anderson) that it pretty much wiped out all my weird feelings about the "criminal" video. as far as her personality: teenager with too much attention paid to her says dumb things to the press. what else is new? actually, i don't think it takes much "informed guessing" to see she's multi-listed in the DSM. and as fond as i am of her "go with yourself!" mtv (?) speech, it *has* been awhile since she did anything as (charmingly, IMO) ridiculous. as ever, lauren p.s. and, if jon brion's opinion counts, ec's should as well. he did a gorgeous version of "i know" (without ms. apple) during that 2006 atlantic city performance. - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 12:12:15 -0400 From: lep Subject: moonlighting hi feglist, i was talking to my sister last night and she told she got some NEA brochure in the mail that described some sort of new Reading is Good! program, and aimee mann is one of the panelists: http://www.neabigread.org/index.php from the FAQs at http://www.neabigread.org/faq.php: << 3. How do you select the books? For the program's pilot phase, we studied the programs and reading lists of successful "city reads" programs around the country. Focusing on American literary classics, we selected books that would appeal to diverse audiences. We now have a Readers Circlea distinguished group of writers, scholars, librarians, critics, artists, and publishing professionalswho help us to select the next books for American communities to share. The members of our Readers Circle are: * Wendell Berry, poet and novelist * Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress * Matthew Bruccoli, scholar and professor * James Lee Burke, author * Lan Samantha Chang, author and professor * Maureen Corrigan, author and book critic * Anne Fadiman, author and essayist * Pico Iyer, journalist and novelist * Mitchell Kaplan, former American Booksellers Association President * Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate (2004-2006) * Jim Lehrer, journalist and author * Aimee Mann, musician * Lorrie Moore, author * Azar Nafisi, author and professor * Michael Dirda, book critic * Marilyn Nelson, Connecticut state poet laureate * Kathleen Norris, author * P.J. O'Rourke, essayist and humorist * Nancy Pearl, author and librarian * Richard Rodriguez, author * Kevin Starr, historian and former California state librarian >> (btw, sadly, i don't know that i agree that p.j. o'rourke is still a humorist.) as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 12:24:03 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: Guest star vocals i say: > plus, the video for "paper bag" is so damn good > (directed, i believe, by her then-beau, paul thomas anderson) that it > pretty much wiped out all my weird feelings about the "criminal" > video. for "enquiring minds": youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kkg1IkGJ0Y better quality (but with some embedded video player that might not work everywhere): http://musicbox.sonybmg.com/video-player/fiona_apple/paper_bag xo - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 10:27:30 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: Attention all you steampunk types >Re lameness YMMV - but I have a Firesign Theatre Ralph Spoilsport Motors >license frame. It's not lame to me. From the City of Emphysema? ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #355 ********************************