From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V17 #112 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Sunday, April 12 2009 Volume 17 : Number 112 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Fork In The Road [Rex ] iTunes Audiobooks Question [Jeff Dwarf ] Venus 3 @ Cat's Cradle [Larry Tucker ] Re: One of those "Holy Crap!" moments [James Dignan ] Re: One of those "Holy Crap!" moments [2fs ] Re: More music more music more music [kevin studyvin ] Re: iTunes Audiobooks Question ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Philly and New York Robyn shows [Great Quail ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:41:30 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Fork In The Road On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 5:51 PM, wrote: > the last 2 tours (especially) have been AMAZING > > the prices are reasonable for someone of Neil caliber > > i think you'll regret it if you don't go > > i like the new CD too > Okay. I admit I'm nervous as hell about this one. At least I can take solace in the fact that when I abbreviate the title, it'll make me think "Eat Y'self" every time, which will be like my own little private ha ha. I probably won't be truly happy til he lets the horse out the barn again. And then I promise not to complain even if the album only has six songs and four of them use the same backing track and the last one is 20-minute live-to-cassette version of "Woolie Boolie" played at the wrong speed inside a working slaughterhouse. Swear. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:24:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: iTunes Audiobooks Question Does anyone know if you can, after buying audiobooks on iTunes and/or Audible.com, convert the files to MP3? "I love how (coffee) makes me feel. It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain!" -- Kenneth Parcell ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:17:56 -0400 From: Larry Tucker Subject: Venus 3 @ Cat's Cradle You can now find this past Wednesday's show in the Live Music Archive . Larry ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:26:28 +1200 From: James Dignan Subject: Re: One of those "Holy Crap!" moments >...my first thought was, "1982?! how is that even fucking *possible*?!" >but then, alas, my second thought was, "after all, i guess that's only a >few decades after blacks gained full voting rights." (*that*, by the way, >is possibly my all-time "holy crap!" moment.) Very similar to one I had the other day. Apparently, Australian Aborigines were not counted in the national census until 1967, gained the vote in 1962, and only two have ever been elected to parliament (by way of comparison, Maori Sir James Carroll, a.k.a. Timi Kara, became a NZ cabinet minister in 1899 and was briefly acting Prime Minister in 1911). James - -- 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: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:28:38 +1200 From: James Dignan Subject: More music more music more music Probably a bit out there for much of this list, but I've just been listening to some pretty imressive stuff from a band called Mastodon (album, "Crack the Skye"). Sounds a lot like what heavy metal would've been if people had followed King Crimson's lead rather than Deep Purple's - a prog Metallica, anyone? James - -- 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: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:39:31 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: One of those "Holy Crap!" moments On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 5:26 PM, James Dignan wrote: > ...my first thought was, "1982?! how is that even fucking *possible*?!" >> but then, alas, my second thought was, "after all, i guess that's only a >> few decades after blacks gained full voting rights." (*that*, by the way, >> is possibly my all-time "holy crap!" moment.) >> > > Very similar to one I had the other day. Apparently, Australian Aborigines > were not counted in the national census until 1967, gained the vote in 1962, > and only two have ever been elected to parliament (by way of comparison, > Maori Sir James Carroll, a.k.a. Timi Kara, became a NZ cabinet minister in > 1899 and was briefly acting Prime Minister in 1911). Have Maori consistently been elected since? There's an anomaly in US history (whose specifics I'm too busy to look up at the moment) in that after the Civil War, the era of Reconstruction saw several black elected officials...but after that, it was 75-100 years until any others were elected. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.wordpress.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:58:36 -0700 From: kevin studyvin Subject: Re: More music more music more music Now those guys sound like fun. And they're coming to town in a week or so, it seems, only Neumo's is sold out. I liked the Raputin Jr. t-shirt (great name for a band, if Mascis didn't sue) and somebody saying the magic words "not a lot of compression." On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 3:28 PM, James Dignan wrote: > Probably a bit out there for much of this list, but I've just been > listening to some pretty imressive stuff from a band called Mastodon (album, > "Crack the Skye"). Sounds a lot like what heavy metal would've been if > people had followed King Crimson's lead rather than Deep Purple's - a prog > Metallica, anyone? > > James > -- > 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: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:06:55 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: iTunes Audiobooks Question On Apr 11, 2009, at 9:24 AM, Jeff Dwarf wrote: > Does anyone know if you can, after buying audiobooks on iTunes and/ > or Audible.com, convert the files to MP3? I've never tried this, so it may fail at any point due to DRM issues: Select the book in iTunes Choose File>New Playlist From Selection Select the playlist and click "Burn Disc" at the bottom right of the window. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:30:10 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: iTunes Audiobooks Question I think the DRM will get you. Cory Doctorow had a rant about this a while back, and had to resort to using Audio Hijack to re-encode in real time. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:55:56 -0400 From: Great Quail Subject: Philly and New York Robyn shows I drove down to Philly on Friday night to catch the Robyn show at Johnny Brenda's, then returned to New York for the Irving Plaza show. ***Philadelphia, Johnny Brenda's Tavern It was a fantastic performance, but the venue was a bit unusual; this, combined with the almost comically ill-matched opening act gave the evening a not-unappealingly surreal vibe. First, the venue. Johnny Brenda's Tavern was smaller than I expected. The stage is on the second floor of a three-storey building; the first floor being a typical Pennsylvania watering hole, stocked with graffiti-covered wooden pews and decorated in Early Yuengling Colonial. After going upstairs and passing through the venue bar, you arrive at a small, square room, one-quarter of which is taken up by the stage in the southwest corner. Despite its small size, the room occupies both second and third floors, so the ceiling is pleasingly high. A narrow third-floor balcony overlooks the stage, accessible from a staircase near the bar. This balcony has its own little bar as well, giving patrons no excuse to slack off their intake of Rolling Rock. Even though the tavern part of Johnny Brenda's looks pretty ramshackle, the stage itself is surprisingly well-appointed. The two walls adjoining the stage are hung with 20-foot tall beaded curtains and decorated with cherubs. The ceiling features a pretty good array of lights, disco balls, and projectors; and at several points during the show, computer-enhanced real-time video of the band was projected onto the beaded curtains. Quite psychedelic... Which pretty much describes the show. Taking the stage shortly before 11 pm, Robyn and the Venus 3 played a tight, energized set that drew heavily on crunchy, psych-drenched power pop. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour, or the fact that the cramped stage forced the band into close physical proximity -- but they rocked, and rocked hard, filling the small space with glittering shards of musical chrome. Robyn seemed happy, as did Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey (who, let's face it, always seems happy). Even Bill Rieflin cracked an occasional smile. There was a minimum of chatter, but a great selection of songs. The tour standards were played, with notable variations including "Airscape," "Flesh No. 1 (Beatle Dennis)," "Brenda's Iron Sledge," "Creeped Out," "She Doesn't Exist," "Hurry the Sky," and "Elizabeth Jade." The encore opened up with a cover of the Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling," which perfectly captured the night -- the ghost of the Beatles was evident all evening, hovering in the small cavern-like space and urging Robyn to increasingly more creative deployment of his effect pedals. I really think the Venus 3 have gelled into a fantastic band. True, I was impressed with them last tour as well -- I was happy that they sounded like a cohesive group, rather than a collection of all-star back-up musicans. But I did have some reservations. I felt that Bill Rieflin was still struggling to find a voice that made sense in Robyn's language, and that Peter Buck was a bit too afraid to sound like REM, so was holding himself on a tight creative leash. But this Venus 3 sounds integrated and focused, possessing the spontaneity, passion, and musical telepathy of all great bands. I think this is evident in the new album as well. To my ears, "Ole Tarantula" sounds like a great Robyn Hitchcock album made with a top-notch band; but "Goodnight Oslo" sounds like a "Venus 4" album; it's more balanced, more cohesive, and more democratic. First of all, I suppose I've made my peace with Scott McCaughey -- I like him, and I love his background vocals and harmonies, but I think he's a slightly above-average bassist. Not bad, but certainly not remarkable. He has a broad, sometimes sloppy sound that works best with the Venus 3 songs, grounding their electricity rather than charging them along. I suppose I'll never stop carrying the torch for Andy Metcalfe, who managed to give those Egyptian songs a tightly-articulated spine as well as propel them along in a bubbling, cheerful frenzy. I do, however, value Scott's sense of humor and Dylanesque stage presence. On record and on stage, Peter Buck is finally Peter Buck. I had a blast watching him in Philly. Switching between a beautiful Epiphone Riviera 12-string and a shiny black Rickenbacker 360, with his long hair, beaked nose, and endearingly awkward stage presence, he looked like a founding father who made his way from Independence Hall to Johnny Brenda's via Highway 61. While Robyn took most of the leads on a (new?) Airline Twin Tone, Buck and his 12-string seemed happy to cast a shimmering net of chiming chords around Robyn's psychedelic excursions. But when it was time for some "mossy evil," Buck delivered with the Rickenbacker -- "Creeped Out" never sounded so heavy, dark, and sinister; and "Kingdom of Love" was served is a series of tight crunches that brought an "I can't do this in REM!" smile to Peter's lips. But the unexpected hero of my night was Bill Rieflin. Not being a Ministry fan, I was never really impressed by Rieflin -- not because I thought he was an inadequate drummer, but because I thought his style wasn't well-suited to Robyn's music. But Friday night in Philly, well -- wow. Rieflin's found his groove, knowing when to "math-up" a fill and when to fall back to a Ringo-esque simplicity; brilliantly working the cymbals into a mesh of staccato brightness; building tension from a brushed whisper into a cascade of industrial thunder. I cannot stress how impressed I was -- Rieflin brought new power and depth to songs like "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and "Madonna of the Wasps." And on the new songs? Rieflin's drumming is what pushed me into a greater appreciation of "Up to Our Nex" and "Saturday Groovers," let alone standout tracks like "I'm Falling" and "What You Is." Overall, just a fantastic show, one of those magical evenings where everything comes together. Afterwards, Robyn and Peter came out to sign autographs, and seemed happy and chatty. I had a few words with Peter Buck about his Epiphone 12-string, and he seemed genuinely pleased to talk about his new purchase. (Apparently, he considers it to have an amazing sound for such a relatively inexpensive guitar, and owns three.) To summarize: I've seen Robyn about 35 times or so, and the Philly show was one of the most tight, powerful, sheer rock-and-roll performances I've seen, ranking up there with the latter Soft Boys reunion shows. Oh -- but I have to say a few things about the opening act! Oh dear. A singer/songwriter named Jennifer O'Connor, armed with an acoustic guitar and an outfit scrounged from the "Don't-Give-a-Fuck-Anymore" bin, she sang a dozen or so mediocre songs, each one more depressing than the last. She seemed uncomfortable but not actually nervous -- it was a strange combination, as if she were unfazed by opening for Robyn, but still slightly vexed she had to actually, you know, go out and sing for strangers, and maybe, you know, *prove* herself. She was deadly serious; displayed no detectable sense of humor, wit, or joy; and all her songs seemed to revolve around the basic theme of, "He broke my heart for no discernable reason except that he's a jerk, and now I'm driving my Saturn coup on the deserted highway over the mountain and toward the stars, where maybe I can find myself and heal my bruised heart, oh God, he was such a jerk, and I don't need to love anyone, no wait, yes I do." Some of her lyrics were downright clunky -- as in poetry scribbled on Trapper-Keeper clunky -- and her two best songs "borrowed" riffs from other artists. As some guy in the restroom said, perhaps callously but truthfully, to his friend, "How'd you like to be dating that one?" ***New York, Fillmore East at Irving Plaza The New York Show was at Irving Plaza, a considerably bigger venue than Johnny Brenda's. The crowd was large but not sold-out, the show was earlier, and the band seemed looser. Robyn opened with "I've Got the Hots" on acoustic guitar, and began his encore with an acoustic "Queen Elvis." The set list was appreciably different from Philly, with "Television," "The Lizard," and "The Underneath" being notable alternates. My favorite by far was "The Lizard," which I've never heard live. It sounded even more sinister than usual -- I think it might have scared Peter Buck a little. Robyn was a lot chattier on Saturday night. He told more stories, went off on more tangents, and gave nearly every song a surprisingly coherent introduction. The band played well, but it was a different kind of show than the previous night -- less intense, but more varied, with a broader range of songs and moods. During "Television" and "Queen Elvis," Rieflin came to the front of the stage and played a shaky-thing and small tambourine-thing, and I swear to God he smiled three times. You would think after putting up with Al Jourgensen for so long he'd actually welcome Robyn's surreal monologues, but who knows? Maybe it was his stint in The Swans than killed him a little bit inside.... Two great nights, two great shows, and I feel pretty lucky to have been to both. I do pity you folks who have to sit through Jennifer O'Connor in Boston, though... My advice is to bring along a small token of personal happiness and clutch it through her entire set. That, or drink whiskey -- lots of whiskey. Oh, by the way -- I hadn't seen this mentioned here yet, perhaps I missed it, but it seems Robyn and the Venus 3 are opening for, as Robyn said -- "our nephews and nieces, The Decemberists" -- on the "Hazards of Love" tour! - --Quail ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V17 #112 ********************************