From: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org (headline-girl-digest) To: headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Subject: headline-girl-digest V2 #49 Reply-To: headline-girl@smoe.org Sender: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk headline-girl-digest Saturday, March 6 1999 Volume 02 : Number 049 Today's Subjects: ----------------- My last thoughts on the merger thing [Steve I ] darn... [Steve I ] my final merger thought [Songbird22@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 18:17:43 -0500 From: Steve I Subject: My last thoughts on the merger thing Jessa wrote: >okay, so i've heard both sides, yadda >yadda. but the core subscribers, the ones >who post on a regular basis, seem to be >against it. and i have to say that their >opinions hold the most weight. so i have >to say, no merger. but thanks for the idea. thanks for giving it a chance, Jessa! Greensleeves typed: >And though I did not mean to paint you in an unflattering light, you must >surely see how your suggestion could have been seen as insulting by some of >the parties involved? The fact that Greensleeves is defending the honour of Jessa and Jessica is really cool. It just goes to show what a sense of community has developed within each list. If I wasn't clear before, I'd like to make myself clear now. I *love* Wisdom Bus. I *love* Headline Girl. I think Jessa is terrific. I think Jessica is terrific. I think all the people belonging to each list are terrific. My main, overriding reason for making the suggestion to unify the lists was to introduce the great people who are only on Wisdom Bus to the great people who are only on Headline Girl. NONE of my reasons had anything to do with my thinking that either list was invalid. I feel quite certain that the same can be said for everyone who supported merging the lists. I'm sure that none of them thought that either of the lists was invalid, or that either Jessa or Jessica was doing a bad job. At the same time, I completely understand why people opposed the idea. As I said, both Wisdom Bus and Headline Girl have developed into strong communities with a unique sense of identity. In fact, I think this discussion has crystallized that point. The fear that a merger of the lists could threaten those identities and communities is a very reasonable one. I just wanted to point those things out so that there is no residual resentment because of the discussion, the last thing I wanted to do was drive a wedge between the pro and con camps on the list. Thanks for entertaining the suggestion, everyone. You guys all rock! Emm fans rule. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 19:09:13 -0500 From: Steve I Subject: darn... I can't believe I missed WB's centennial digest with my 'end of the merger talk-celebrating the lists' post. Oh well. Anyway I suppose I should post about Emm's show last night in her hometown Toronto. Were any of you there? I didn't see anyone there I knew except for Gian. Emm put on a terrific show as usual. In the early days Emm would have her good days and her bad days (although the good days greatly outnumbered the bad), but lately every time I've seen her she's been consistently great. Furthermore, all the touring she's been doing over the last year has made her voice noticeably stronger. Emm was already amazing the first time I saw her, and she's still getting better... watch out, world! I'm not one for keeping set lists but she did great versions of Phone Call 45, Wisdom Bus, Crazy Train (went over big with the Cochrane crowd), This Mad (a capella) and Summerlong, with Tom's band. Unfortunately the show was marred by a scary drunk rocker chick in her 30's. (You know, the type with big platinum hair and still living in the early 80's). She was making a spectacle of herself before the show, lurching around in skewed drunken circles in the middle of the floor, and bending down, swinging her big hair in a huge arc so she could make a big production of brushing it, then swinging back up, and swinging down again... this all in the middle of a huge crowded hall. I think she hit on Gian somewhere along the way, didn't she, Gian? :-) Anyway, it was during "This Mad" when it happened. As Emm sang "No I've never been this mad", a peculiar wailing, warbling, almost alien sound emanated from the middle of the crowd... "Noooo.... Noooo.... Nooooo....", and sure enough, it was scary drunk rocker chick, wailing her blues away, evidently inspired by Emm's song. At that point people began muttering to themselves, and the effect of Emm's song was largely lost, which was a shame since it was her a cappella version of This Mad. However, Emm plowed on and impressed a lot of people with a really strong performance, and when she was done, the crowd exploded with applause. (Not sure where scary rocker chick was at that point, possibly making an offering to the porcelain god). It was my friend's first time seeing Emm and I believe she was suitably impressed. Tom made Emm do double duty as his opening act and as a fifth band member, playing keyboards and contributing backing vocals. He's always been really supportive of his opening acts, and I really respect him for that. He even said at one point that this was his best tour ever, and that Emm was a big reason for that. What a great guy. Anyway we stuck around a bit for the after show party but we ended up having to leave before it began, so we didn't have an opportunity to chat with Emm or meet Tom. Oh well, c'est la vie! Oh, by the way folks, everyone wish Gian a happy birthday today!!! Steve ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 23:25:23 EST From: Songbird22@aol.com Subject: my final merger thought well, I planned on writing this about 10 hours ago, but I was at work without e-mail and didn't get home from nyc until now, which is when i read steve's reply to Jessa, et al, about not wanting to merge. I'm still going to add my thoughts, not that they will do any good now, but whatever... Before HG was originally started, I actually did email jessa to let her know about the smoe space and see if i could help them switch from AOL to smoe, etc. A couple people I knew complained that they'd "never join an AOL list" and this seemed unfair as they are big mailing list people and love Emm, so I thought I'd check with smoe and see if they'd even host an Emm list. Unfortunately the email I sent was never received (and I will say that I have the *Crappiest* university e-mail system and that at least 40% of my e-mails are never sent or retrived, I have no idea why, but it happens with my AOL mail too now)--anyway, I took advantage of the smoe space and set HG up because I did not hear back. Smoe has many advantages--being that it is fully automatic, runs either a loose or digest version mailing list, archieves mail automatically, you can do a "who" and see who is on the list, etc., etc. Later in the summer approached Jessa about merging and she didn't want to, which is understandable and totally fine. HG gained about 100+ subscribers, though, and I think that had I not taken advantage of a smoe list for Emm, someone else definitely *would have*. There are a lot of female-fronted band/solo artist lists run through smoe and it's kind of a community thing... It's also very well done (by smoe) and easy to use for everyone involved. Looking back, I would have let someone else take all of this on, though, as things like this "merger" business and a lot of flack that I've taken... and I know if I shut HG down today, someone else would run an Emm list through smoe. I do plan on turning it over to someone else in the future because my music and life are beginning to take off, and I have opportunities, etc., waiting for me and am trying to let go of some duties I have and be on the 'net a lot less... I am on several other lists, and i LOVE the sort of community that they have, the way you can discuss and learn about cool music with people all over the place, and meet up with people at concerts (or have people come to your _own_ concerts ;), etc. I think that Emm Gryner attracts some of the nicest, most supportive people I've ever met before... merging the lists, in my opinion, was an attempt at bringing all of these people together and forming an even stronger online fan base. Now, people can be members of both lists, which is fine, even though the duplicate posts appear to annoy some ;), and lots of other artists have more than one (or 2 or 3) mailing list, but this seemed like a good opportunity to take advantage of. I didn't keep track of all the "yes" and "no" responses, but there seemed to be a mix and there seemed to be a lot of good reasons for and against it... Since WB wants to remain on AOL, there isn't really anything more I can say to convince anyone of anything, so... at least we had this discussion and some people expressed their points-of-view... I personally don't think there should be any sort of "clique" or "what list is better" mentality about this, because this is the _internet_... Anyway... not that this does any good now, but I wish everyone on WB and HG the best, and I hope to interact more with Emm fans, regardless of which 'list" you're on, more in the future... speaking of this: [small promo] If you're in or around the Toronto area, don't miss the concert on March 27th at the freetimes cafe featuring rebecca timmons, rayanne, and myself... it begins at 9 pm and we'll rotate artists until 1 am (i think). There will also be a very special guest (I'm sorry to say that it is _not_ Emm, but she is just as good :) also!! So if you can make it out that would be wonderful, and tell your friends and all that... the last one was a big success and this one should be too! :) I'm sure steve, james, or I will post more about it as the date approaches. Take care all, Jessica http://adam.nettfriends.com/Jess ------------------------------ End of headline-girl-digest V2 #49 **********************************