From: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org (jewel-digest) To: jewel-digest@smoe.org Subject: jewel-digest V8 #387 Reply-To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jewel-digest Thursday, September 4 2003 Volume 08 : Number 387 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe from this digest, send an email to * jewel-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY the word * unsubscribe in the BODY of the email * . * For the latest news on what Jewel is up to, go to * the OFFICIAL Jewel web site at http://www.jeweljk.com * and click on "calendar" * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: jewel-digest V8 #___ gives fellow list readers * no clue as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [EDA] What did we pay for? & other thoughts [HaRt Angel Subject: Re: [EDA] What did we pay for? & other thoughts Halo Angels, "What did we pay for?" I found myself asking that same question. The whole unedited thing sounded spiffy whenever they first announced it, and whenever I first joined, but after going through the whole site..it's like...is this really worth 40 bucks?! It is kinda spiffy but I kinda don't think its worth 40$. I still haven't received my photo yet, and it seems like only a handful of people got good seats from the presale. I remember last time (tour) they had the presale, we were complaining about how bad the seats were..it seems like it's worse this time around. AND it seems like now we will all have not so good seats unless we pay a couple hundred dollars. AND Too bad for the ones who joined unedited huh? Yup. I wonder why we didn't hear anything from JK after her Mom & MrBB left. I was kinda expecting an e-mail from her saying 'this that or thee other' or something. Was anyone else? Not that she is obligated to say anything to us or anything..I'm just sayin. Anyhoo ---Rob said:-- "... When they start alienating the hard-core fools like me & Dave, who have been spending countless dollars of our OWN money, and not our Mommy's and Daddy's..." To that I say..just because "we" spend our Mommy's and Daddy's money doesn't make us any less of a "hard-core fool" than you or Dave! Haaa! Whatever that means. :-P {\Angel HuGs/} ~HaRt Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 22:41:53 -0700 From: Kimi Subject: Re: [EDA] What did we pay for? & other thoughts I agree. Although the Rope Tour thing and Unedited aren't the worst things I've ever heard of, this is all piling up to something I don't particularly care for. Makes me want to put on some headphones and listen to some good 'ole POY & Spirit while remembering the days of an awesome Jewel website and EDAs who felt connected to their inspiration. Stephen hart0jeweleda@yahoo.com wrote: >Halo Angels, > > "What did we pay for?" I found myself asking that same question. The whole unedited thing sounded spiffy whenever they first announced it, and whenever I first joined, but after going through the whole site..it's like...is this really worth 40 bucks?! It is kinda spiffy but I kinda don't think its worth 40$. I still haven't received my photo yet, and it seems like only a handful of people got good seats from the presale. I remember last time (tour) they had the presale, we were complaining about how bad the seats were..it seems like it's worse this time around. AND it seems like now we will all have not so good seats unless we pay a couple hundred dollars. AND Too bad for the ones who joined unedited huh? Yup. I wonder why we didn't hear anything from JK after her Mom & MrBB left. I was kinda expecting an e-mail from her saying 'this that or thee other' or something. Was anyone else? Not that she is obligated to say anything to us or anything..I'm just ! > sayin. > Anyhoo > > ---Rob said:-- "... When they start alienating the hard-core fools like me & Dave, who have been spending countless dollars of our OWN money, and not our Mommy's and Daddy's..." To that I say..just because "we" spend our Mommy's and Daddy's money doesn't make us any less of a "hard-core fool" than you or Dave! Haaa! Whatever that means. :-P > >{\Angel HuGs/} > >~HaRt >Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 23:10:49 -0700 From: "Allison Crowe Band Management" Subject: Re: [EDA] Steve Poltz & YWMFM (NJC - well, not exactly.) I'm pretty sure that everything Steve Poltz says is 100 percent true! hehehe; he's a funny guy ~ glad to hear he's got a new album out; here's hoping he makes it to Canada for some shows! cheers, Adrian The gale force of gospel and rock at its most visceral; http://www.allisoncrowe.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 07:10:50 +0000 (GMT) From: Ray Wong Subject: Re: [EDA] Steve Poltz & YWMFM (NJC - well, not exactly.) Ian Jones wrote: > Mtn. Winery show in 2000 if he was joking when he said something along the > lines of "I change the lyric "I break the yolk and make a smiley face, I kind > of like it in my brand new place" to "I break the yolks with my g-dd-mn fork, > I can't believe she's taking me to court." > > True, or Poltz humor? True in what sense? Yes, he sings the song differently than her. Usually I think it's "I can't believe that you're takin' me to court," but close enough. Are any of the songs literally 100% true stories from their lives? no. Ray Wong PO BOX 6163 negativl at best.com, negativl at rayw.com Hayward, CA 94540-6163 Member #11537, Deborah Gibson International Fan Club Co-Founder and Charter Member, Sutton Foster International Fan Club ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 08:55:42 +0200 From: "Michiel" Subject: [EDA] Yeah the gap between Jewel and the fans Hey fans, I admit that the new management is as cold as eyes. They are not the best interacting people with the fans. I felt isolated, we get so now and then an update and it is not written with passion but with distance. I hope that Jewel will visit Europe for shows also later this year or early next year. I feel that we are not connected with jewel by her fans. They are not cool in communications, and they have decided to knock off some life lines that i don't like! I feel that jewel needs to write personal messages again to us. The old unedited webcontent was way more cooler than her new website. i feel that jewel is disconnected from the fans. She might be more populair, but as i predicted the communications will be less and less... the new management may earn for jewel extra bucks, but it doesnt really feel nice to her old hardcore fans.. if even some americans fans who never have been negative such as rob and dave and the others are not talking positive about jewel's management, than some serious shit is happening.. we as eda's don't have a connection to the new management.. is there a taskforce from the eda fans going to strike back to get in touch with the new jewel management? bye michiel http://www.jewelkilcher.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 22:46:59 -0700 From: Paul Schreiber Subject: Re: [EDA] Steve Poltz & YWMFM (NJC - well, not exactly.) Ian wrote: > I've always wondered since seeing Steve Poltz open for Jewel at the > Saratoga > Mtn. Winery show in 2000 if he was joking when he said something along > the > lines of "I change the lyric "I break the yolk and make a smiley face, > I kind > of like it in my brand new place" to "I break the yolks with my > g-dd-mn fork, > I can't believe she's taking me to court." > > True, or Poltz humor? True. He sometimes sings "I break the yolks with my goddamn fork / I can't believe she's taking me to court." > (Also, has Chinese Vacation been released?) No. He says September 23. 2003. Really this year. I even have a poster for it. > Also: Any other San Francisco area EDAs think Poltz would be great > at the > Freight and Salvage in Berkeley? Haven't been there. But he was at the Starry Plough last month. And the Sweetwater in Mill Valley. And thee parkside in San Francisco. All of the shows were great. Paul shad 96c / uw cs 2001 / mac activist / fumbler / eda / headliner / navy-souper fan of / sophie b. / steve poltz / habs / bills / 49ers / ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 23:03:00 -0700 From: Paul Schreiber Subject: [EDA] Boston Globe: Pop stars showing some skin to help heat up CD sales http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/music/sep03/166601.asp?format=print Pop stars showing some skin to help heat up CD sales By VANESSA E. JONES Boston Globe September 3, 2003 It's a case of the Incredible Shrinking Clothes. A bevy of once-demure pop princesses is invading pop culture in extreme states of undress to promote their CDs. And no, it's not because miniskirts and short shorts are in style this season. Earnest, folkie Jewel trades her jeans and T-shirts for leg-baring dresses and bra tops in the video for her up-tempo tune "Intuition." Beyonce bounces through her "Crazy in Love" video wearing bottom-hugging shorts and a lacy teddy. Ashanti glances from the cover of the July issue of The Source in a bikini shot that introduces readers to her flat abs and firm thighs. Hello! These forays into flesh are a familiar rite of passage for teen singers eager to show - to take liberties with the words of Britney Spears - that they're not girls but women. Spears did it by pledging: "I'm a Slave 4 U." Christina Aguilera simply got "Dirrty." Along the way, they bombarded viewers with confusing images of sexual independence that defined "women" as people who dress in clothes as skimpy as possible. Now it's being tried by singers who used to cover up a little more. "Most of this explicitness is driven by the music industry," says Tricia Rose, a professor of American studies at the University of California-Santa Cruz, "(which) is trying to figure out a way to keep consumers, particularly young male consumers." The industry's solution? "There's no doubt that you get . . . a whole lot more attention, a whole lot more media value, and a whole lot more ratings the less clothes (a woman) has on," Rose says. Too little? Too much? These days, even the most talented female singer with the body and the willingness to expose it must find a middle ground between the salaciousness that sells and innocence. After all, they have to compete with the body-baring hoochie mamas who populate many hip-hop videos. The women who show the most in this battle of the flesh can boost record sales and become major stars. But if they reveal too much, it can scream "desperate" to savvy teens or send raunchy messages an artist may not intend. So what compels these ladies to take it off? The artists themselves aren't talking; several singers were contacted for this story, and all declined to be interviewed. Ask Misa Hylton-Brim, the hip-hop stylist who creates publicity-generating looks for P. Diddy, Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige, and she suggests it's a matter of "if you've got it, flaunt it." "These women are young and famous and successful and beautiful," says Hylton-Brim, a fashion editor at The Source who styled the Ashanti cover. "They're working out hard, they're watching what they eat, they're changing their lifestyles for their careers." When Ashanti Douglas, 22, seduced the public with her songs of urban romance last year, she was a sweet innocent whose idea of racy was flashing a bit of tummy. But she arrived at The Source photo shoot to promote her sophomore CD, "Chapter II," ready to expose some skin. The singer had been working out with a trainer for months, says Hylton-Brim. Good thing, since the stylist and The Source's editor in chief, Kim Osorio, wanted a cover image that showed "a more sexy, grown-up side to her," Hylton-Brim says. Ashanti's stint as a pinup left guys howling with approval, but it had the opposite effect on her female fans. Peeling for popularity To Kendy John, 18, a vocalist from Roslindale who will soon start her freshman year at the Berklee College of Music, the bikini shot showed "some lack of confidence. Like, 'OK, I've got to show some skin because that's what sells.' " Holly Poleet, 15, of Roslindale also sees the cover as a calculating way to generate sales. "It's, like, 'Oh, she can't sing, but she got a nice body,' " says Poleet. "The men are obviously going to buy the CD, just because she's beautiful." Sales and popularity are a frequent outcome of this skin game if it's played correctly. Jewel's eye-popping "Intuition" video smartly parodies the fleshy excesses of hip-hop videos by showing the singer being hosed down by muscular firefighters and strutting through scenes in a sequined minidress. The 29-year-old rode the joke to the top of MTV's video countdown show. "She was nowhere near 'TRL,' " says Jorge Ramon, fashion director at Teen People, referring to MTV's "Total Request Live" show. "Now she's all over (it)." Mya now treads the same path to boost sales of her third CD, "Moodring," which is stuffed with R&B songs detailing the 23-year-old's sexual high jinks. She introduced her adult persona in the video "My Love Is Like . . . Wo" by stripping off a conservative white suit to reveal exclamation-producing abs and long legs. It's almost enough to make you forget her teen image as the girl next door who roller-skated through videos built around pop beats. Now she's on the cover of the September/October issue of King magazine - the African-American version of lad mags FHM and Maxim - striking soft-core porn poses in sheer short shorts that leave no curve unseen. 'We can be sexy' Ramon has major problems with the over-the-top sexuality touted in King and The Source: "That is objectifying women, saying, 'Look at me. I've got no clothes on. Buy this magazine.' " But when sexy is done right, he considers it a 21st-century form of feminism for singers battling a double standard that allows men to exhibit their bodies but considers the women who do it sluts. "A lot of these girls are reclaiming that and saying, 'You know what? We can be sexy, we can be pretty, we can be feminine.' " Monica, 22, gets kudos for making that point tastefully. She grew up in the public eye, hitting the scene as a 15-year-old crooner with an adult-size voice. She's clearly matured on the cover of her latest CD, "After the Storm," exposing taut legs and a bit of cleavage. It's a sophisticated sexiness that works for many of her fans. "I have absolutely no problem with the way she's dressed," says Alyssa Arzola, 16, of the South End. "She has dressed her age when she was 16, dressed her age when she was 17. Now she's in her 20s, and she's dressing her age." Beyonce, who turns 22 this month, makes a less successful transformation in Arzola's eyes. Beyonce was the least-clothed member of Destiny's Child, and now her bottoms are shorter and her bra tops smaller as she promotes her first solo CD. Rose says, "For Beyonce, it's a little bit shocking that someone of her musical talent would on her first album have to raise the stakes. As if she wasn't already sexy. As if she wasn't already scantily clad. The idea that you have to get as nude as possible to sustain a viewership is a losing game. There's really nowhere to go with that but naked, and then what?" Baring desperation Some artists do take the game nearly to its conclusion. Aguilera appeared nude with a strategically placed guitar on the cover of Rolling Stone last year to publicize her sophomore CD, "Stripped." Liz Phair strikes a similar pose on the cover of her self-titled new CD in a bold attempt to capture mainstream ears four albums into her indie music career. Spears currently battles for relevancy by posing topless on the cover of September's British Elle magazine. But the more skin pop stars flash, the more teens sense desperation. Take Mariah Carey's nude dip into her bathtub on a segment of MTV's celebrity homes show "Cribs" and her ever-sultrier video appearances. "It's just, like, 'Could you put on some clothes?' " Arzola says. There are those who won't or can't go to those extremes. Think Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige. Branch and Lavigne are the anti-Britneys determined not to follow Spears' breast-baring path. With her six-pack and sculpted legs, Blige can pull off the racier styles, and she's done so in the past. Now she balances her look, pairing short shorts with long sleeved tops in the first video for her new CD, "Love & Life." There will be no publicity shots in bikinis. "She's not comfortable that way, and she's not going to do that," says Blige stylist Hylton-Brim. Will a public raised on provocative images allow singers to backtrack? Take the case of Jennifer Lopez, whose recent "I'm Glad" video, a mini version of the 1983 film "Flashdance," is a blatant homage to the body Lopez. In her latest visual confection, "Baby, I Love You," a soft-focus camera concentrates on her glowing face, with only glimpses of her body clad in loose pants and a modest T-shirt. The video received a thumbs-down from "Jose of the Bronx" when it premiered last week on BET's video countdown show "106 & Park." His complaint? "She didn't show no body." [sidebar] Undress Code Jewel Jewel went from jeans and T-shirts to slit skirts and bra tops. Mya Mya bears watching as she promotes her third CD, "Moodring." Ashanti Ashanti turned pinup for a magazine cover featuring her in a bikini. Beyonce Beyonce wore a little bit more with Destiny's Child. [/sidebar] ------------------------------ End of jewel-digest V8 #387 ***************************