From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V18 #122 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, June 25 2010 Volume 18 : Number 122 Today's Subjects: ----------------- The Smiths, etc. [Michael Sweeney ] Re: The Smiths, Benny and me ["Stewart C. Russell" ] I was Benny, but I was already 28 years old [Jill Brand ] corrigendum [Jill Brand ] is it the Viagra generation? [Jill Brand ] Re: is it the Viagra generation? [Jeff Margrave ] Desmond and Molly Jones [Jeremy Osner ] Re: Desmond and Molly Jones [kevin studyvin ] Stewart's four tracks [Jeremy Osner ] Re: Stewart's four tracks [Jeremy Osner ] Re: Desmond and Molly Jones [2fs ] ot: boston hotels ["mike hooker" ] So am I the only one who prefers "Hatful Of Hollow"? [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: So am I the only one who prefers "Hatful Of Hollow"? [lep ] Fwd: Whit Stillman - site update [michaeljbachman@comcast.net] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:36:27 +0000 From: Michael Sweeney Subject: The Smiths, etc. ...I have the record in LP form (back from its original release era)...but no turntable lately...and haven't likely spun it in nearly 20 annums. And - damnit! - my Rhapsody subscription service DOES NOT include the debut rekkid among their limited Smiths content. (Other notable holes in their content: No Beatles, limited Fabs solo (only recent Macca, not much GH, early JL only), no Zeppelin, and - most strangely, but...I guess Prof. Fripp has a full contigent of lawyers on constant call - no King Crimson from ANY era...) ...But, anyway, after Stewart's admirably excellent integrated memory / review, what more is there to say? Great job, and quite worthy of "outside" publication. AND...what we need more of in the reviewing out here - just harder to nail who can hit such perfectly balanced stories and interpretation for each particular choice (I, of course, have dibs on "Tusk," probably "Quadrophenia," and would LUV to do it for "London Calling")... Anyway...I spent the other day scribbling 1,000, 1,250 words on "Berlin" and the gloriously cleansing, redemptive power of The Most Depressing Record of All-Time (for my e-mail newsletter issue tomorrow), so...eh, who knows where my mood / mind would be anyway? Once again, Mr. Russell, very well done; carry on, all... MLS (PS - fill-in radio show tonight: 6 - 7 PM Chicago time; whpk.org...) _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL :en-US:WM_HMP:042010_2 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:03:31 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: The Smiths, Benny and me gawrsh, thanks all. Last I heard, Benny was producing children's programmes. Morrissey's whereabouts are currently unknown. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:15:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: I was Benny, but I was already 28 years old I loved reading Stewart's amble through his childhood and teen years. I was a PATHETIC Morrissey addict when I first discovered the Smiths. My Smiths phase was pretty much concurrent with my first Robyn phase; only the latter artist was appreciated by Thomas, my husband and the most patient person I've ever met (anyone else would have abandoned me years ago, I'm sure). Thomas cannot stand Morrissey's whining. I realize that a 29-year-old, married, fully employed female did not fit into the usual Morrissey demographic of 1984, but he hit a nerve really hard. I want to make this very, very clear. NOBODY IN THE U.S. KNEW WHO THE FUCK THE SMITHS WERE WHEN THEY ACTUALLY EXISTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll tone it down a bit. They had their following, but it was not huge. By a long shot. When you read about the icon that Morrissey was or is, well, he wasn't iconic stateside until much later. I wonder how many Smiths fans have ever seen the Smiths. I saw them 4 times, and consider myself very lucky. I mourned their break-up like a child in a divorce. Then I got pregnant and forgot about all music except for Raffi and Peter, Paul, and Mommy for years. But back to the beginning in our apartment on Tappan Street in Brookline, MA, on a dreary fall afternoon. I was listening to WMBR, MIT's stellar radio station, which was one of the only places that you could hear new and interesting bands (WZBC at Boston College and the emerging WFNX, a commercial station, were the other two possible sources). All of a sudden, there came a warbly, echoing sound with a Bo Diddley beat, and then this eerie baritone, just heaving his guts out, "I am human and I need to be loved, just like everyone else does." I had missed the song introduction, couldn't get through to the station, and had to leave, still not knowing what it was that was going to overturn my life. I religiously listened to MBR when, a few days later, they played the song again. The DJ told me it was a song by the Smiths, a new band, and that they had an album. Assuming that the song that I had heard was on the album, I rushed out and bought The Smiths. But the song was nowhere to be found on the album. I recognized both This Charming Man and What Difference Does It Make (known as WDDIM in the right circles), as I had clearly heard them before, but I was totally frustrated because my phantom song, which really sounded nothing like anything else I had ever heard, wasn't on the record. However, I slowly became addicted to this album, lacking as it was in what was later to become the Smiths' anthem. Reel Around the Fountain was so seductive, with all of its syrupy (but in a good way) guitar and piano dribblings (quite different in feel from the rawer version on Hatful of Hollow). Lines like "you can pin and mount me like a butterfly" and "I dreamt about you last night, and I fell out of bed twice" just left me drooling. And so it began. I'd say that the only song on the album that doesn't do anything for me is Pretty Girls Make Graves. I don't hate it, but it isn't stellar. Unlike Stewart, I find Suffer Little Children beautiful and haunting. It is a song about the Moors murders that took place in the mid-60s. It sounds like a lullaby, but it is a reflection on the murders, often in the voice of one of the dead children. Colin Meloy, we know your sources. I think it is one of Johnny Marr's most beautiful melodies. "Oh, find me ... find me, nothing more We are on a sullen misty moor We may be dead and we may be gone But we will be, we will be, we will be, right by your side Until the day you die This is no easy ride We will haunt you when you laugh Yes, you could say we're a team You might sleep You might sleep You might sleep BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM ! Oh, you might sleep BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM ! You might sleep BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM !" For me, the album greats are Reel Around the Fountain, Miserable Lie, Still Ill, What Difference Does It Make, and Suffer Little Children. Oh yeah, the How Soon Is Now saga continued for a while. I called the station and they told me that it was on a single with William, It Was Really Nothing. I called Newbury Comics and they said they had it. I picked it up without looking at it. When I got home, I saw that the flip side was Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (how ironic)...because I had bought the 7", and HSIN was on the 12"....which no one had. I don't think I had a vinyl copy of it until early 1985, months after I had heard the song for the first time. I once canceled 10 nights worth of reservations at various B&Bs in Nova Scotia because the Smiths were coming. I bought a wall-sized Smiths poster from England that I never hung up. In August 1985, I taught class, took the bus from Boston to NYC, saw the Smiths, got on the midnight bus, returned to BU, brushed my teeth, and taught class again. I realize that Rex might never talk to me again. I promise that I will never write this much in the future...unless the album is Preservation Act II by the Kinks. Jill, who is, indeed, 55-years-old today, and who isn't beyond pulling the same kinds of stunts that she pulled when she slept outside the Fillmore to buy Who tickets in 1970 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:18:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: corrigendum I was already 29 and not 28 at the beginning of my Smiths obsession, just in case anyone was doing the math (please tell me that you all had something better to do). Jill ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:17:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: is it the Viagra generation? Isner 70 Mahut 68 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:14:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Margrave Subject: Re: is it the Viagra generation? Jill Brand wrote: > Isner 70 > Mahut 68 My inner 13 year old is ashamed of those two losers for not having a 69 in the final score. "I love how (coffee) makes me feel. It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain!" -- Kenneth Parcell ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:59:22 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Desmond and Molly Jones (apropos of little) Is it just me, or do all the rest of you also want the line that rhymes with "Happy ever after in the market place" to be, "leave it til tomorrow to unpack my face"? J ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:08:14 -0700 From: kevin studyvin Subject: Re: Desmond and Molly Jones On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 5:59 PM, Jeremy Osner wrote: > (apropos of little) Is it just me, or do all the rest of you also want > the line that rhymes with "Happy ever after in the market place" to > be, "leave it til tomorrow to unpack my face"? > > J > Well, when you put it like that - yes. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:14:19 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Stewart's four tracks I must say I like Reel Around the Fountain a whole lot... acting on Stewart's review of the record, am right now listening to "This Charming Man", to be followed by "Still Ill," "Hand in Glove" (which I think was my favorite track on the initial listen) and "WDDIMIODOTWTF" after that. Charming Man is a really nice sound... and I find that Still Ill is taking me in a totally different direction (counter to the notion that Smiths songs are all the same song I guess). Thanks for recommending this record to (and am I remembering correctly) Kevin. Ask me why and I'll fly. J ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:31:34 -0400 From: Jeremy Osner Subject: Re: Stewart's four tracks The moaning and giggling in "Suffer Little Children" is positively pornographic... J On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 9:14 PM, Jeremy Osner wrote: > I must say I like Reel Around the Fountain a whole lot... acting on > Stewart's review of the record, am right now listening to "This > Charming Man", to be followed by "Still Ill," "Hand in Glove" (which I > think was my favorite track on the initial listen) and "WDDIMIODOTWTF" > after that. Charming Man is a really nice sound... and I find that > Still Ill is taking me in a totally different direction (counter to > the notion that Smiths songs are all the same song I guess). Thanks > for recommending this record to (and am I remembering correctly) > Kevin. Ask me why and I'll fly. > > J ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:11:11 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Desmond and Molly Jones On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 7:59 PM, Jeremy Osner wrote: > (apropos of little) Is it just me, or do all the rest of you also want > the line that rhymes with "Happy ever after in the market place" to > be, "leave it til tomorrow to unpack my face"? > > Honey disconnect the phone! - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.wordpress.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:51:09 -0400 From: "mike hooker" Subject: ot: boston hotels my wife and daughter will be spending 2 days shuffling between lowell and boston, so i guess some place to stay in between might be good? something moderately priced, in a nice area. any ideas? thanks ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:11:29 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: So am I the only one who prefers "Hatful Of Hollow"? Just asking ... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:20:34 -0400 From: lep Subject: Re: So am I the only one who prefers "Hatful Of Hollow"? Sebastian says: > Just asking ... i'm with you, sebastian. but i'm fairly sure that it's just as likely as not because i've been listening to "hatful of hollow" for ~15 years, and "the smiths" for ~0.013 years. i probably once read that the recordings were different, but it didn't stick. "hatful of hollow" (UK import, $20, which was, you know, a lot of money back then) was on the display at repo records (back when it made its home in my fair suburban town). i have some vague memory of "the smiths" being out of print at the time. at any rate, i basically didn't hear "the smiths" until this past week. i first listened to the smiths, reluctantly, because i was shocked that some album i'd never even listened to was voted #1 something or other (greatest albums of the last 20 years or somesuch) by the highest of sources: the readers of SPIN magazine (back when it only *kind of* sucked...) the reluctance was that for a number of years, i had been put off by smiths fans** because i was too old to bother with thinking i was cool (not to be confused with being too old to know i was cool.) so this #1 SPIN-says album was "the queen is dead", and by the time "cemetry gates" played, i had no fight left. i still love that song to death -- there's not much i love more than a cemetery on a sunny day. it was practically a theme song (then again, it could be easily argued that close to all smiths songs are practically theme songs.) at any rate, i'll post my thoughts on the album after listening to it a few times and letting the songs regroove in my head. i've enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the album, especially the more personal stories. ** stewart and jill - i rest assured that you were too cool for The Smiths' Affect. "Why ponder life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?" as ever, lauren - -- "people with opinions just go around bothering one another." -- the buddha ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:46:25 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: So am I the only one who prefers "Hatful Of Hollow"? On 10-06-25 05:20 , lep wrote: > > ** stewart and jill - i rest assured that you were too cool for The > Smiths' Affect. Actually, I remember thinking at the time that they were too cool for me. I was only just getting out of my prog phase at the time, and was deeply conflicted about my musicality. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:25:17 -0400 From: lep Subject: reap David Markson, writer, 82, on 4 June 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Markson http://nplusonemag.com/david-markson xo lauren P.S. I am late hearing of his death. He was the author of one of favourite novels, _Wittgenstein's Mistress_. He also wrote a study of _Under the Volcano_ which I keep meaning to read (I haven't read _Under the Volcano_ -- I'm just one of those asses who prefers reading studies of things to actual things.) - -- "people with opinions just go around bothering one another." -- the buddha ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:49:19 +0000 (UTC) From: michaeljbachman@comcast.net Subject: Fwd: Whit Stillman - site update - ----- "Whit Stillman" wrote: > From: "Whit Stillman" > To: michaeljbachman@comcast.net > Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 9:20:27 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Whit Stillman - site update > > > Whit Stillman - site update > bDamselsb may feature Stillman regulars Posted: 22 Jun 2010 01:45 PM PDT > Jefferson Root pointed us to his write-up of a brief conversation he had with Whit Stillman at the LA Film Festival. Stillman said Damsels in Distress , currently casting, would be shot bmore Metropolitan styleb (presumably, simpler and lower budget than the later films). He also said some of his regular actors might appear: According to Stillman, Damsels blooks like itbs really happeningb. Hebs currently casting the film in LA, with additional casting to be done in New York. Stillman said that they already have bsome of the moneyb and that they hope to start shooting in New York in September or October. Fans of his earlier work will likely not be disappointed to hear him claim that Damsels will be shot bmore Metropolitan style.b Theybre early on in the casting process, so he wasnbt able to reveal many details, but he did allow that some of the regulars from his previous films would likely be involved, though he said bunfortunately there arenbt that many male roles.b Read the interview for more, including news that Criterion is trying to secure the DVD rights to Barcelona . You are subscribed to email updates from Whit Stillman > To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now . Email delivery powered by Google Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V18 #122 ********************************