From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V17 #85 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, March 26 2009 Volume 17 : Number 085 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: An honest letter [Christopher Gross ] Re: Viv, honest letters, etc. [Great Quail ] Re: Fear of Music [James Dignan ] Re: np: fire engines on the street beneath my office window ["Nectar At A] Re: Fear of Music [Rex ] The best way to experience "The Wall" [David Witzany ] RE: An honest letter ["Brian Huddell" ] Re: Fear of Music ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: np: fire engines on the street beneath my office window [Christopher ] Quail, Quail [Jill Brand ] Kings of England (and Queen Anne) [Jeremy Osner ] Re: Quail, Quail [Christopher Gross ] Re: Decemberists new CD [Steve Schiavo ] Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) [Michael S] Re: Fear of Music [2fs ] Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) [2fs ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:38:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: An honest letter On Thu, 26 Mar 2009, vivien lyon wrote: > Now, Quail, don't pretend you don't love to cause controversy here. Or at > least joyfully fan its flames, and willfully insult and counter-insult and > keep stirring shit up and make ridiculous accusations against people. Jeme > was the recipient of your irrational ire (for pointing out that America's > foreign policy _might_ have had something to do with 9/11), as was I (for > supporting Nader way back when). Oh, I hardly think you're giving an accurate description of either situation. That's about as fair as saying "Quail was the recipient of Jeme's irrational ire for daring to suggest that America had the right to dfend itself." Of course anyone who cares can re-read the archives and judge for themselves. (Hey, it's ... theoretically not impossible that such a person exists.) And yes, I was deeply involved myself, so I'm not objective either. Anyway, if you want to defend Rex, or to suggest some way that the two of them could get along, that would make sense. But stepping in -- after Rex himself explicitly refused to continue the fight -- to tell off the Quail doesn't help anyone. Talk about fanning the flames of controversy! The sad fact is that Quail and Rex have proven they simply can't get along, and they're either going to have to start completely ignoring each other or one of them will have to leave. The rest of us, certainly including me, should probably just shut up and leave them to figure it out for themselves. I'll sign off with "sincerely" too, Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:12:51 -0400 From: Great Quail Subject: Re: Viv, honest letters, etc. Ahhh.... There's nothing quite like an unexpected guest digging up an axe to grind it anew on someone else's whetstone. > Now, Quail, don't pretend you don't love to cause controversy here. I love some controversy. But argument is not always controversy. Sometimes its just bullying. >Or at > least joyfully fan its flames, and willfully insult and counter-insult and > keep stirring shit up and make ridiculous accusations against people. Jeme was > the recipient of your irrational ire (for pointing out that America's foreign > policy _might_ have had something to do with 9/11), Well, first of all, there was a lot of things said here after 911, and I for one regret some of the things I said, and I have said as much. It was a very difficult time for everyone, New Yorkers perhaps most especially, and emotions ran high. I now mine did, and I feel shame over some of the postings I made; though I'm not sure some other people feel that sense of shame over theirs. Now, to address your point, as I recall, Jeme began to suggest that America more or less deserved the attacks, well, sometime right after the second tower fell. Now, I am no political naif; and I certainly realize that we were all entitled to some serious discussions -- hell, seems the country is only getting around to it lately. But I can tell you this, it lacks a certain amount of human empathy to start down that track when your New York friends have yet to wash the cinders and stink from their bodies. In fact, I'd stay about half the NYC Fegs left the List shortly after 911 -- partly because it seemed such an inhospitable place, thanks in part to Jeme. There are some things to admire about Capuchin, but far too often he valued making a political point more than he valued making a human connection first. > as was I (for supporting > Nader way back when). I see! So you remain an unrepentant, unreconstructed Naderite? Well, what do you want me to say? I saw through his egotistical bullshit back in 00, and if you *still* contend that a Gore presidency would have been indistinguishable from a Bush presidency, or that Nader was not one of many factors contributing to a Gore loss, well, I invite you to take it up with the Flat Earth Society folks over at the next table. > And you were an ardent supporter of the list's most > notorious shit-stirrer, who shall remain nameless at this time. Now you have upset me. Eb was indeed a shit-stirrer, and at times he infuriated me. Perhaps you recall, he would often point his musical ire in my direction. But he was a great music fan, had a lot of interesting things to say on the subject, and was a good writer. And more to the point, Eb is my friend. So if you are all ready to start in on accusing people because of the actions of their friends, well -- fuck you, Viv, Eb is my buddy and I stand by him. Sure he was wrong some times, and did some objectionable things, but it was shame the way he was driven off the list by a damn, dirty lie. And also -- you were Capuchin's girlfriend, for the love of God, you really want to bring up "associating with a shit-stirrer" as a charge? Is the beam in your eye so oblique in your vision? > There are still "fellow fegs" on this list who remember your antics; the list > hasn't developed collective amnesia. So I would just like to say that your > outraged innocence reads a little rich at the moment. I am outraged, I think Rex gets away with a lot of shit. But frankly, I don't really care what you think, Viv -- I mean, it's not like you de-cloak to really add much to the overall conversation about music and culture, do you? > If you were less focused > on protecting your image of yourself as a beneficent arbiter of good taste and > good intentions, people would be less inclined to a) poke fun at you and b) > take issue with you. Now as I've said before, I have the best musical taste on this List, so of course I have to be protective! All it takes is for another Feg to make a critical discovery; maybe Highland Scots Free Jazz, or an unknown acetate by John Cale's long-forgotten junior high school garage band, and I'm out of a job. I don't give a rat's ass if people poke (good-natured) fun at me, I poke more fun at me than anyone on this List (except for Eb). But take issue? There are a lot of things to take issue over. One, if Rex thinks I like the Decemberists because they are Vitally Important, that's worth discussing on a related music list, no? I mean, without me getting shouted down or accused of being a troll merely because I want Rex to back up his statements? I'd love to say it's good to have you back, Viv, but I see you've also defriended me on Facebook, so I'll just end the post here. - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:24:48 +1300 From: James Dignan Subject: Re: Fear of Music > > But Superstar blows chunks, and Sir Andrew's an annoying hack > > >Right on the second point - but not on the first. JSC (the original album) >is simply a fine, double-disc prog-rock concept album - a bit on the >overwrought side, even for prog, but nowhere near so top-pop Broadway >crapola as most of the rest of his hacky career. Really. I'm with Jefff on this one. JCS is good - mainly because His Grace the Webber* had the far more down-to-earth Tim Rice workign alongside him. Everything after the split blows - but JCS and JATATCD are both worthwhile. James *I use a large rubber-headed mallet as part of the tools I use when stretching canvases for painting, which I always refer to as "The Webber". This originates from a tv commercial many years ago for a musical, proclaiming it as "Andrew Lloyd-Webber's stunning 'Cats'", to which the follow-up line must surely be "...with a rubber mallet." PS - sigh. Shoulda guessed someone would beat me to the baked beans line. - -- James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:26:25 -0700 From: "Nectar At Any Cost!" Subject: Re: np: fire engines on the street beneath my office window i am so fucking close to busting a gasket over the goddam sirens. is it just me, or did both their frequency and their volume massively increase about eleven months ago? it would be *very* easy to convince me that it's some sort of government psy-operation: trying to drive us all bonkers-gone-loco, so's not to notice the ongoing erosion of first-world privilege. even if that's what's going on, i don't think it'll work. as long as there's NFL football, and cheap junk-food, i don't think the natives'll get too restless. but as soon as those go away, no amount of sleight-of-hand will keep the castle gates out of harm's way. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:37:37 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Fear of Music On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 4:24 PM, James Dignan wrote: > This originates from a tv commercial many years ago for a musical, >> proclaiming it as "Andrew Lloyd-Webber's stunning 'Cats'", to which the >> follow-up line must surely be "...with a rubber mallet." > > Excellent. Reminds me of Exhibit A in the Museum of Why Putting the Auteur's Name In the Title Isn't Always a Great Idea*: the film "Stephen King's Thinner" (follow-up line, "Thank God, he was really packing the pounds on there for a while.") I actually handled a rubber-headed mallet last week. Got paid for it, even. - -Rex *sorry, dibs on this title go to Scott Miller. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:34:49 -0500 (CDT) From: David Witzany Subject: The best way to experience "The Wall" You should watch it with the sound off and play "Dark Side of the Moon". - ------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:32:09 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) I just lov[ed] Alan Parker's movie of "The Wall", maybe more than I ever liked the record by itself. (I think I watched the movie more times than I listened to the complete albums.) Haven't seen it in a long time so I can't guarantee I would still like it; but I don't see any reason I wouldn't. J Dave. David Witzany ...one of nature's witzany@uiuc.edu bounds checkers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:54:43 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Re: The best way to experience "The Wall" Wait, I thought that was what you were supposed to do with "The Wizard of Oz"? If we do not say all words, however absurd, we will never say the essential words. -- Josi Saramago http://www.readin.com/blog/ On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 7:34 PM, David Witzany wrote: > You should watch it with the sound off and play "Dark Side of the Moon". > > ------------------------------------ > Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:32:09 -0400 > From: Jeremy Osner > Subject: Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) > > I just lov[ed] Alan Parker's movie of "The Wall", maybe more than I ever liked the record by itself. (I think I watched the movie more times than I listened to the complete albums.) Haven't seen it in a long time so I can't guarantee I would still like it; but I don't see any reason I wouldn't. > > J > > Dave. > > David Witzany ...one of nature's > witzany@uiuc.edu bounds checkers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:04:28 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: The best way to experience "The Wall" On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Jeremy Osner wrote: > Wait, I thought that was what you were supposed to do with "The Wizard of > Oz"? > No, what you do is, you start "Dark Side of the Moon" at the same time as "Wizard of Oz". Then you turn the volume on the record player off completely, and you disconnect the picture tube on the TV so that only the sound plays. When your mom comes in to aks you what the hell you're doing, you tell her you're listening to "The Wall", and hold up a copy of "Zen Arcade". - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:06:23 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: An honest letter Chris says: > Anyway, if you want to defend Rex, or to suggest some way that the two of > them could get along, that would make sense. But stepping in -- after Rex > himself explicitly refused to continue the fight -- to tell off the Quail > doesn't help anyone. buddhism 101: "explicitly refus[ing] to continue the fight" is sometimes remarkably similar to continuing the fight. if you don't want to fight, don't fight. saying you don't want to fight doesn't make it true. and it might even make it false. xo - -- "people with opinions just go around bothering one another." -- the buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:28:41 -0500 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: An honest letter > But what upsets me is that on top of this, I now have Brian telling me > I'm "shitting" on the List. Oh, he's polite enough to pretend it's a > reaction to me and Rex, but of course, but *I* am the one who is the target of the > post, *I* am the one who is "shitting" on the List. > > It's this simple lack of fairness that upsets me the most. It upsets me > that people here are free to gore whatever cows I may hold sacred, and it's > all in good fun, whatever -- but if I fire back, I get the Rex contingency > in an uproar, and I am made out to be the bad guy. Couple things. I'm certainly not part of any Rex contingent, that's hilarious. Second, them cows ain't sacred. You act as if your musical tastes are a point of honor that must be avenged if insulted. Rex says a bunch of dismissive and reductive and just plain dumb (but funny) crap about people's tastes and how they came by them. You respond with a comment about *Rex*, the guy. And we all know that never goes anywhere fun. I still can't see why this person that you "cannot stand" seems to have so much power over you. And the word "bully" literally made me laugh out loud. NOT because I think he's too nice or whatever to be a bully. It's because he doesn't fucking EXIST! Not to you and me anyway, not in any way that can cause us actual distress. (sorry Rex, I'm sure you have loved ones and whatnot who consider you to be thoroughly real) Did you happen to notice that he was dissing my tastes and their origins, too? (and right when I was about to post a detailed essay about how the influence of _SF Sorrow_ on _Tommy_ tends to be overstated, discuss). You know how much I felt Rex's misguided knock on my precious? Not even a tickle. I can see how my message was unfair. But you really are in kind of a weird position. As long as Rex doesn't call you out personally, doesn't talk about what kind of person *you* are, and ask *you* to defend yourself, you seem doomed to respond in such a way that makes you come off worse than he does. To me, anyway. I haven't checked in with the rest of the Rexbots. So yeah, not fair. Maybe Rex is getting away with something. You want to account for it by saying that Rex has somehow corralled or even bullied a bunch of fegs into his camp. You have no reason to believe me, but all I can tell you is that I haven't seen the camp, haven't been invited there, and would not join if asked. So I'm offering another possible explanation. Rex talks shit about music, who likes what and why. Then, occasionally, when it gets to be too much for you, you talk shit about Rex. Those things feel different to me. I'm sure if I went back through the archives I would find all kinds of exceptions to this, but I don't care enough. I'm just telling you how I perceive it, and I will not argue with you if you want to show how I'm wrong. > But this whole "shitting on the > list" thing is complete bullshit, no matter who many fake smileys Brian > wants to include. How DARE you! Naw, the only smiley in there was sincere, the bit about my opinions being better than yours. You suck at reading my mind, man. +brian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:30:07 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Fear of Music James Dignan wrote: > > Ten points and half an hour with an over-friendly sasquatch to Kevin for > managing to coherently and logically mention Wittgenstein and Crumb in > the same paragraph. After reading Crumb's Handbook, I will never look at Harry & The Hendersons in the same light. Not that I ever looked at it in any light, really. Stewart (wondering of whom Simon Quinlank is reminiscent) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:36:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: np: fire engines on the street beneath my office window On Thu, 26 Mar 2009, Nectar At Any Cost! wrote: > i am so fucking close to busting a gasket over the goddam sirens. is it > just me, or did both their frequency and their volume massively increase > about eleven months ago? Dunno about eleven months ago, but I think the past few years have seen a lot more cities institute a policy of sending a fire truck along whenever an ambulance is called. That would explain both an increased number of sirens and an increase in volume, since fire truck sirens are louder than ambulance sirens. Plus they have those air horns. (My theory is that they send a fire truck along with every ambulance because nowadays many people are too heavy for a couple of paramedics to lift by themselves. This theory probably bespeaks a certain cruel streak in me.) - --Chris np: blissful silence ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:49:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: Quail, Quail Quail, don't you think you are being slightly contradictory when, in one post, you ask that people tolerate the fact that others might have different tastes and then two posts later (in digest form) you write: "I know that it's difficult for you aging punks and failed garage rockers to wrap your minds around the fact that rock and roll can actually be *more* than three chords and the truth..."? The rest of your diatribe contained as much if not more venomous sarcasm. What? Because I don't like these last two Decemberists albums, I am, all of a sudden, an aging rocker who couldn't date a football player (I went to hippy high school in the stone age; we didn't have a football team)? Talk about juvenile argumentation. Go back to your first point, the one about people simply having different tastes in music. I don't enjoy not liking the Decemberists' new stuff. I fucking flew out to Portland to see Colin and Robyn perform on the same stage. Don't imply that people who don't like HOL or The Wall are somehow less musically sophisticated than those who like 17 minute songs. You had a lot more credibility before that bitchy whine. I'm going to regret sending this, but I've got pneumonia, so I'm entitled to a little anger. Jill, looking for an old Archies album ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:12:29 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Kings of England (and Queen Anne) A little tom-foolery to distract us all from the venomous bolts whizzing past: http://beatonna.livejournal.com/89983.html J If we do not say all words, however absurd, we will never say the essential words. -- Josi Saramago http://www.readin.com/blog/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:11:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: Quail, Quail On Thu, 26 Mar 2009, Jill Brand wrote: > Quail, don't you think you are being slightly contradictory when, in one > post, you ask that people tolerate the fact that others might have different > tastes and then two posts later (in digest form) you write: > > "I know that it's difficult for you aging punks and failed garage rockers to > wrap your minds around the fact that rock and roll can actually be *more* > than three chords and the truth..."? Jill, Jill.... Of *course* he was being contradictory. He was writing a parody of the attitude he complained about earlier! Sigh. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't even be getting into this. Most of you know that I'm friends with Quail IRL, so I'm obviously all biased and stuff. But still, it stuns me how many people apparently didn't get the parody in this particular post. Was the parody really so hard to spot? It's not like I was only able to spot it because I'm so sharp; I go through most of life half-asleep..... - --Chris "must have severe moose anxiety, he listens to so much Sabbath and Bach" the Christer ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:24:14 -0500 From: Steve Schiavo Subject: Re: Decemberists new CD On Mar 26, 2009, at 3:32 PM, Jeremy Osner wrote: > The first several times I heard the term "concept album" as a lad, it > was always as part of a statement to the effect that "Pink Floyd > invented the concept album with their seminal Dark Side of the Moon". > So I think of Dark Side and The Wall and Animals (briefly my favorite > Floyd record, to my lasting embarrassment) when I hear the term. I > don't really know what it means. I can't see how "Blonde on Blonde" > and "Bringin it All Back Home" would not be considered concept albums > but again, I don't really know what it means. Pink Floyd loses out by several years, evidently, even if you only consider rock albums. Thinking it would have been good if Colin had just been William. Robyn could have been the Rake. There's a couple of other male voices, I think (the CD is on the way). - - Steve __________ I can't resist an anime that includes a small, cute, violence prone girl with a scythe. - John ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:25:15 +0000 From: Michael Sweeney Subject: Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) 2fs wrote: >I think the first Psychedelic Furs album is a concept about stupidity, uselessness, and blue cars. ...I am quite fond of that first P. Furs rekkid (as is my now-11-yr-old niece, who I converted to i via a cassette tape and long car rides when she was about 6)...and, once, out of bored curiosity way bacj when, I actually tallied the variations of "stupid" and "useless" snarled throughout it. I don't have said tally (hey, the album is nearly 29 years old now...sigh and sheesh), but I recall it A) Not including a direct reference in every song (which surprised me) and B) Perhaps being a total count (even counting "stupid stupid stupid" repeats) of a surprisingly low number -- I wanna say less than 20... ...Well, that seemed low to me then, anyway...Still love that album, though... Michael "My niece Cory's fave song on it was 'Wedding Song;' as for me, I could hear 'Sister Rurope' every day for the rest of my life and still not get tired of it..." Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail. is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_70faster_032009 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:32:48 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Fear of Music On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 4:24 PM, Great Quail wrote: > Kevin writes, > > > But dude, I'm a big TFTO fan. Still have the original vinyl from 1973. > Saw > > them play it live in Long Beach (where thy had some prop troubles, AND > got > > streaked by a naked couple which caused Anderson to laugh so hard he > dropped > > his mike) > > I would have loved to see that. Did Rick Wakeman avert his eyes by throwing > his silver cape over his head? Avert? He may do so now, being an Anglican deacon or whatever he is...but back then he seemed the most *human* of the bunch, despite the bizarre sartorial decisions (but hey, it was the early '70s). I mean, any guy who'll quaff beer and a curry during someone else's lengthy solo is alright by me (even if that story is a bit urban-legend-y). As to the Quail/Rex wars: Guys, I like you both, although with both of you there are things I don't like (and I've told each of you, offlist, what I think they are - and at least one of you has told me, strongly and reasonably, what about me it is you don't like), so for the sake of the rest of us, can you just agree that each of you is the piss in one another's punchbowl, and just refuse to engage? For whatever reason, you two are wired so differently your every word is misread by the other in some bizarre circuitry of misprision - but as that's unlikely ever to change, and as there's no particular point in either of you proselytizing for one another's religion and the other one's utterly demoniacal nature, just kinda don't. And I wouldn't want this prog-rock discussion to die without the chance for me to be accused of being utterly self-indulgent (how non-prog can one get, to not be accused of self-indulgence?), and so I must point out this link: < http://spanghew.wordpress.com/2004/11/19/minus-the-kingdom-minus-the-power/>. Read and weep, for the majesty of our loss, sadly unlamented. Gotta go - I have a cape-fitting in half an hour. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.wordpress.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:39:51 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Decemberists new CD review from Odds & Sods (for Who fans) On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Michael Sweeney wrote: > 2fs wrote: > > >I think the first Psychedelic Furs album is a concept about stupidity, > uselessness, and blue cars. > > > ...I am quite fond of that first P. Furs rekkid (as is my now-11-yr-old > niece, who I converted to i via a cassette tape and long car rides when she > was about 6)...and, once, out of bored curiosity way bacj when, I actually > tallied the variations of "stupid" and "useless" snarled throughout it. I > don't have said tally (hey, the album is nearly 29 years old now...sigh and > sheesh), but I recall it A) Not including a direct reference in every song > (which surprised me) and B) Perhaps being a total count (even counting > "stupid stupid stupid" repeats) of a surprisingly low number -- I wanna say > less than 20... > Should it not have been clear, I love that album, love the early Furs generally (the first three albums are unbeatable), but yeah. Probably not a concept album. Not very prog either. There are more than three chords on it, though - but that's probably by accident. Some of those chords in "Susan's Strange" frinstance. Then again, listen to "President Gas" - someone had the Beefheart School of Guitar School book there...what *are* those chords? - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.wordpress.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:44:05 +0000 From: Michael Sweeney Subject: Re: Fear of Music Jeff wrote: >> It's all right if you admit that you have a soft spot for >>those giant crazy hats the bad Jews wore in "Jesus Christ Superstar." > > >> But Superstar blows chunks, and Sir Andrew's an annoying hack >Right on the second point - but not on the first. JSC (the original album) >is simply a fine, double-disc prog-rock concept album - a bit on the> >overwrought side, even for prog, but nowhere near so top-pop Broadway >crapola as most of the rest of his hacky career. Really. > >Or maybe it's just my childhood, come back to bite my sense of taste in the >ass. ...I'm with Jeff on this one, both in my JCS appreciation AND its ties -- perhaps beyond mere elements of taste -- to portions of my youth. No, no -- not some sorta progressive church playing it to try and sop in the kids and the hippies...But, actually, in 1978, my south suburban (not exactly the most progressively area of Chicagoland) high school actually put on JCS as our spring musical. (As a soph, I had small parts as one of the apostles AND the guy -- besides "the Maid at the Well" -- who gets to accuse Peter of hanging 'round with the Christ-er and set up his 3 denials...) We had a great time doing it -- and I still recall the stately, upstanding African-American choir / show director briefly semi-banishing me from hanging near the stereo that was brought into rehearsals (to practice the full score from the records before we had the orchestra with us) after I brought in the Rutles then-new record to share it with my pals in the cast... Also -- still seems a bit daring for there and then, but...good times, though. The performances came off quite well... Michael "Let's see what I can recall...Mi, mi, mi, mi - ahem: 'And I saw you too / He looked just like you!'" Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail.. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/LearnMore/personalize.aspx?ocid=TXT_MSGTX_ WL_HM_express_032009#colortheme ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V17 #85 *******************************