From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #439 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, December 28 2007 Volume 16 : Number 439 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Pitchfuck [Steve Schiavo ] Re: 50 Greatest Moments in Rock [Michael Sweeney ] Re: Pitchfuck [HwyCDRrev@aol.com] Re: 50 Greatest Moments in Rock [HwyCDRrev@aol.com] Re: Pitchfuck [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: Pitchfuck ["Miles Goosens" ] Capt Sensible on his 3rd album with Robyn ["Bri N" ] Jewels for... [Michael Sweeney ] Re: Jewels for... [2fs ] RE: Reap ["michael wells" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:40:57 -0600 From: Steve Schiavo Subject: Re: Pitchfuck On Dec 26, 2007, at 10:49 PM, Stacked Crooked wrote: > n.b., neither josh ritter nor the new pornos made their top 50, which > should've given me a clue, i suppose, that either *their* taste is > ass, or > *my* taste is ass. (well, it goes without saying that *my* taste > is ass, > but, you know what i mean...) The NPs are not getting much mention. On the Audities top 20 lists so far they've made the top spot once, but that's the only time I remember seeing them. I guess they are no longer in favor. - - Steve __________ I can't resist an anime that includes a small, cute, violence prone girl with a scythe. - John ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:02:32 +0000 From: Michael Sweeney Subject: Re: 50 Greatest Moments in Rock HwyCDRrev@aol.com wrote: >i actually heard at least one -if not 2 - covers of WONDERFUL XMASTIME this season! and of course covers of HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) < >i now hear macca's song at least as often as lennon's (i think)< >In a message dated 12/26/2007 1:04:28 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com writes: >>Now, don't get me started -- I can go all day quoting that bad boy...why,just earlier today, my GF made some aside referring to Heather Mills (afterSirius played the risible "Wonderful Christmastime" for the too-many-th timethis season), and, for some ungodly mean reason, I instantly thought of her(Heather; not my GF) as Heather "Leggy Mountbatten" Mills...<< ...Man, _that's_ somewhat depressing (for different reasons -- why cover the Lennon song, since the original is relevant, historic, etc.?; and why cover the Macca song, since it is teh ass?). As is this: At the Xmas gathering, I was just discussing that fact about "Happy Xmas"...and then my idiot brother-in-law equivalent (my longtime GF's sister's man) (44 years old; washed out of Navy Seals 20 yrs ago; C&W guy, music-wise; and, oh, did I mention he's a complete idiot?) chimes in that he does not know the song and did not know that John Lennon wrote a Christmas song. I patiently try to give hm the particulars -- the billboards, the "War is over" message -- and he answers, "Ah, since the war was still going on, he probably meant that ironically." Well, thanks, Dr. Hawking! ...And, not long after that, when the Monkees were mentioned, and I -- trying to be hyperbole-mindedly comical -- said something like, "What kind of world is it where 2 of the Beatles are dead, yet all of the Monkees still walk the earth?" ('cept, of course, all due props to Mike, i.e., The Actually Talented One) And the idiot brother-in-law equivalent answers, "Well, I suppose taking more drugs had something to do with it." I could only apoplectically spit out something about "What the fuck did drugs have to do with 5 bullets to the abdomen at close range?!?" (So, lung cancer got a pass, too...) ...Example #23,876 of Why I Hate People...(even during the holiday season)... Michael "Luckily, my GF feels the same about him, and would never insist I be nice to him for no reason" Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_122007 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:26:14 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Pitchfuck On 12/27/07, Steve Schiavo wrote: > > On Dec 26, 2007, at 10:49 PM, Stacked Crooked wrote: > > > n.b., neither josh ritter nor the new pornos made their top 50, which > > should've given me a clue, i suppose, that either *their* taste is > > ass, or > > *my* taste is ass. (well, it goes without saying that *my* taste > > is ass, > > but, you know what i mean...) > > The NPs are not getting much mention. On the Audities top 20 lists > so far they've made the top spot once, but that's the only time I > remember seeing them. I guess they are no longer in favor. For what it's worth, they'll be on mine. Apparently you just can't put out four excellent albums in a row - one of them has to suck. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 10:43:36 EST From: HwyCDRrev@aol.com Subject: Re: Pitchfuck In a message dated 12/27/2007 10:34:58 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jeffreyw2fs.j@gmail.com writes: Apparently you just can't put out four excellent albums in a row - one of them has to suck. i think that used to be the rule at the NME etc in the 1980s ... music was a fashion - and nothing was so sacred that there was an automatic rave review of great album/single by a great band . . however - i think they DID get caught up in the Oasis hoopla for Be Here Now . . .(although i may be mixing up magazines here) giving it a positive review - afraid to go against the nationalistic pride of Manchester's own . . .not to mention their biggest selling cover boys but one of my favorite descriptions of Robyn from the NME (i think) was (this must be early to mid-80s) that he looked like all four Beatles :-D **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:20:05 EST From: HwyCDRrev@aol.com Subject: Re: 50 Greatest Moments in Rock unfortunately - i think the macca song sounds more "contemporary" in an "American Idol" sort of way . . . In a message dated 12/27/2007 10:07:07 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com writes: ...Man, _that's_ somewhat depressing (for different reasons -- why cover the Lennon song, since the original is relevant, historic, etc.?; and why cover the Macca song, since it is teh ass?). As is this: **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:36:51 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: Re: Pitchfuck Steve Schiavo wrote: > The NPs are not getting much mention. On the Audities top 20 lists > so far they've made the top spot once, but that's the only time I > remember seeing them. I guess they are no longer in favor. Challengers is more of a marinater than the first three, so there are probably still a lot of people who don't know how much they love it yet. It might end up showing up more often on "BEST OF THE 00s" lists than on "BEST OF 07"s. Or at least, more than other albums from this year do. "I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirize George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporize them." -- Tom Lehrer "The eyes are the groin of the head." -- Dwight Schrute . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:28:55 -0600 From: "Miles Goosens" Subject: Re: Pitchfuck On Dec 27, 2007 9:26 AM, 2fs wrote: > On 12/27/07, Steve Schiavo wrote: > > The NPs are not getting much mention. On the Audities top 20 lists > > so far they've made the top spot once, but that's the only time I > > remember seeing them. I guess they are no longer in favor. > > > For what it's worth, they'll be on mine. > > Apparently you just can't put out four excellent albums in a row - one of > them has to suck. This was formerly known as Richard Thompson Syndrome ("another album of fantastic songs and playing... ho hum"). This year, it could be renamed either for the New Pornos or for Ted Leo. LIVING WITH THE LIVING is in my book the most accomplished and masterful Ted Leo yet, but it sure has drawn a weirdly mixed response. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:23:22 -0800 From: "Bri N" Subject: Capt Sensible on his 3rd album with Robyn Damn! there was to be a 3rd album with Captain Sensible, Tony Mansfield and Robyn? Probably lost in the A&M archives forever! Read here: http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/Captain%20Sensible.htm PT: How did the link up with Robyn Hitchcock, who appears as lyricist and occasional backing singer on the first two albums, come about? CS: Somebody did me a tape of a Chocolate Watch Band album and filled it up with a couple of Soft Boys tracks. I immediately thought they were brilliant, and they were British!! How wonderful, where had they been hiding? I really got into them heavily. I went to see them down at the ICA and I met Robyn in the bar beforehand, told him I'd learned a couple of their songs so he invited me to get up and sing with them. So, I jumped up on stage with them and started singing 'Sandra's Having Her Brain Out'. Unfortunately nobody had mentioned to the bouncers that I'd been invited up, so they grabbed me. It was snowing outside and they slung me out, slamming the doors after me. As I lay there in the snow the door opened again and I thought "Ah, Robyn's come to save me!" Instead, my red beret came sailing out and landed in the snow next to me and the doors slammed shut again leaving me no choice but to go home. Anyway, Robyn and I became mates and when I needed lyrics I thought "nobody's better than Robyn" - although even today he won't tell me what the lyrics are about. I remember recording 'Brenda' on the first album and while I was singing "two little eyes, staring up and down" and all that stuff Robyn would be sitting behind the mixing desk just shrieking with laughter. "What's funny about these words?" I'd ask. "I just can't believe you're singing them, Captain!" he'd say. But he would never give a straight answer, he just used to fib to me all the time. I had far less control over the second album because Mansfield was becoming a bit of a megalomaniac. He tended to swamp the record with his sequencers. He totally nelegated my guitar, the computers took his brain over until he worked his way up his own arse. We did a third album, I sunk every penny from "Happy Talk" into it and in the end I junked the lot. It just wasn't my album any more - it was well produced, but shit, without a spark of inspiration. Mansfield was such a dictatorial figure by this time that he would suggest that Robyn's lyrics were substandard and tell him to go away and do them again and tell me to change a tune or something, so we'd rehash the tracks and he'd still turn them down. In the end Robyn had had enough and left, the money was all used up and I was totally demoralised by the whiole thing. Eventually I plucked up the courage to sack Mansfield, which was quite a big thing because I had all the hits with him. But, I'd finally had enough and told him to fuck off. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:17:06 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: Pitchfuck On Thu, 27 Dec 2007, Steve Schiavo wrote: > On Dec 26, 2007, at 10:49 PM, Stacked Crooked wrote: > > > n.b., neither josh ritter nor the new pornos made their top 50, which > > should've given me a clue, i suppose, that either *their* taste is > > ass, or > > *my* taste is ass. (well, it goes without saying that *my* taste > > is ass, > > but, you know what i mean...) > > The NPs are not getting much mention. On the Audities top 20 lists > so far they've made the top spot once, but that's the only time I > remember seeing them. I guess they are no longer in favor. I honestly don't think Challengers was anywhere near as good as Twin Cinema... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:40:22 +0000 From: Michael Sweeney Subject: Jewels for... So..."Sophia" is named the top girl baby name for 2007 -- http://tinyurl.com/ytbpj8 Maybe all those closet Robyn/"Jewels for Sophia" fans all had baby girls the same year (heck, even I (re)named a cat Sophia this year) -- but most of the the rest of that list? What precious po-mo-yuppie-puppy nightmare have I stumbled into? Top 10 Girl Names Sophia Isabella Emma Madison Ava Addison Hailey Emily Kaitlyn Olivia Now, the article blames (er, credits) the popularity of #6 NOT to Wrigley Field (located on Addison St.) fans (or even to those who may remember a pre-bald Bruce Willis as "David Addison" on "Moonlighting"), but to "Grey's Anatomy" watchers, and that show's "Addison Montgomery-Shepherd" character. Whatever. (Not seeing any baby "Cylon"s or "Buffy"s out there -- c'mon "BSG" and "BTVS" fans!) It just seems to me that, once past the "classy"-sounding top three (and with the possible exceptions of #s 8 and 10), this sounds more like a list of made-up porn-star first names. "Coming [har-har] soon, Madison James, Ava Avalon, and Addison Wrigley in 'Dirty Duty Nurses' -- first, they'll help new dads name their baby girls, and THEN they'll provide some hot lovin' -- dirty nurse style!" Maybe I'm just bitter because "Michael" is no longer anywhere in the boy Top Ten: Top 10 Boy Names Aiden Ethan Jacob Jayden Caleb Noah Jackson Jack Logan Matthew ...But, actually...Nah: Fewer Michaels in the future is fine with me; the number of them on this list alone could choke a yak. (And there goes my "Fans of Robyn Hitchcock output circa 1999/2000 spitting out kids" theory, since "Bram" (or even "Nick," "Drake," "Judas," or "Jesus") is nowhere to be found on the list.) But..."Aiden"? WTF is that? And "Caleb"/"Noah"? Whither "Obadiah" or "Ezekiel"? Or Logan? (the airport? or Chris Noth on "Law and Order"? and, if the latter, then why not "Mr. Big" as a first name?) And (near-sputtering, Andy-Rooney-on-a-meth-bender-talking-about-Britney-and-Paris-style) "Jayden"?!?!?!? Now, they're just fuckin' making things up... Why, I remember having multiple grade-school classmates named "John." And "Lisa." "Mary." "David." "Teresa." "Bill," for chrissakes... Now, this is my future -- entering my "golden" years being served coff-a-hol by "Cathabella" or "Johnssen"; being helped out with my groceries to my flying car by "Avaley" and "Jacobah" (wait, wasn't that the planet Yoda went to hide on?); getting tech support for my brain-implanted nano-puter-pod by "Emmalyn" or "Jackden" (OK, maybe that'll be more likely to be from "Wu" and "Rajiv")... I guess this is what I get for not reproducing...for not -- even if I'd named my pretend kids something modern, yet semi-sensible like "Dylan" or "Marley" - -- being around playgrounds- and classrooms-full of Madisons, Addisons, and, er, Jackisons. And to think -- first for the Senate and now for President, I supported a candidate with a "weird" first name, and wondered if he could be elected without resorting to some more palatable nickname like "Barry." Turns out, I probably shouldn't have worried. It's a brave new world of names out there -- and I never saw it coming... Michael "I know -- I need to have a blog...but since I don't have one, you guys get to be bothered by this sort of stuff..." Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_122007 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:38:48 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Jewels for... On 12/28/07, Michael Sweeney wrote: > > So..."Sophia" is named the top girl baby name for 2007 -- > http://tinyurl.com/ytbpj8 > > Maybe all those closet Robyn/"Jewels for Sophia" fans all had baby girls > the > same year (heck, even I (re)named a cat Sophia this year) -- but most of > the > the rest of that list? What precious po-mo-yuppie-puppy nightmare have I > stumbled into? Gaaah. Apparently births to uneducated teen mothers who do nothing but watch TV have become the most common type... I think the problem is, a lot of young parents don't really think in terms of their children's entire lives - a name might be cute now for a toddler, but how plausible is it as the name of an attorney thirty years from now? Ah well - I must be getting old - along with all those folks who'll desperately trying to get rid of their Fall Out Boy neck tattoos as they turn fifty. No future! > > Anatomy" watchers, and that show's "Addison Montgomery-Shepherd" > character. > Whatever. (Not seeing any baby "Cylon"s or "Buffy"s out there -- c'mon > "BSG" > and "BTVS" fans!) Actually, if you go to this amusing site < http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html> and enter in names like "Willow" and "Xander," you'll see that in fact, it's pretty likely that Buffy fans have made a dent in the popularity of those names. I know of two youngsters named Willow (and yes, both were named after the character), as well as one kid named "Fox" who was born right in the middle of X-Files' popularity...amusingly, his father denies that that's the source of the name. > > "Jayden"?!?!?!? Now, they're just fuckin' making things up... Isn't that one of Britney's kids (speaking of made-up names - or made-up spellings, anyway)? Gawd - why do I know that? > (OK, maybe that'll be more likely to be from "Wu" and > "Rajiv")... It strikes me that this is a suspiciously Anglo list...given the numbers of Latino and Asian folks, you'd think some name from one of those heritages would have gotten up there. Maybe in the next group... For what it's worth, the list of my nieces' and nephews' names, in chronological order, beginning with the one who's 19 now: Mary (as a preteen she was "Mary Rose" but reverted to Mary about five years ago) David Finley Lillian Kyra Max Reid Devin Care to guess which are siblings (they're in groups of two)? That Mary and David are sibs is unsurprising...see if you can figure out the rest (M and D are also my wife's sister's kids - the rest are my sibs' kids). If we'd decided to have kids, no idea what we would have named them. Never had that discussion. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 08:33:53 -0800 From: "michael wells" Subject: RE: Reap MJB > Oscar was a jazz pianist pioneer, no doubt about it. Bugger, they're dropping like flies now. It may be apocryphal, but I read an interview a while back - it was with a guitarist, can't remember which one - who when asked what it was like to play with Oscar replied "Hard. We'd get this line going, and soon as we had it figured out Oscar would start removing it (harmonically). We'd catch up, and he would keep taking it further out." I've got his stuff boxed away. Must get around to digging it out. Michael ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #439 ********************************