From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #181 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Saturday, July 3 2004 Volume 04 : Number 181 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Re: RSS Help needed ["Joseph M. Mallon" ] RE: [loud-fans] Roundup of review swap review reviews [Aaron Mandel Subject: [loud-fans] Re: RSS Help needed On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Joseph M. Mallon wrote: > Sue's gotten a request to turn her lineups page into an RSS feed, and I > know almost nothing about RSS. Does anyone have a few minutes to aswer > some questions for me? Thanks to all who offered help. By dint of effort & websearching, I was able to get the feeds to work. They'll probably go live next week. Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 11:44:09 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Roundup of review swap review reviews On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, Aaron Mandel wrote: > That said, if you believe there is any danger you might like Stephin > Merritt, you may want to hear either the Distant Plastic Trees/Wayward Bus > twofer (Motown-meets-4AD sound, Susan Anway on vocals) or Holiday > (synth-pop colored by, though not built around, 'experimental' noises). > > As I guess I already alluded to, it's not so much that his mixture of > sincerity and irony has changed over time as that it's now framed in a way > that makes it less clear what's going on. hmmm. my opinion, which is mine, which i call my opinion, is that brontosauruses are narrow at the ... wait, no, that's not it. i think there's much more sincerity and less irony in merritt's work than is widely believed, but i think that merritt feels the need to take (some at times drastic) steps to conceal the sincerity in his work. it's possible that i'm projecting, of course. i think he's doing much less of that now than he used to, and _69 love songs_ (volume 1 will do) is what i'd suggest as an entree for anyone who thinks they're in danger of liking it. it has the considerable advantage that it doesn't exclusively feature merritt's own vocals, and it's much less stilted than the earlier synth-dominated records. the current tour also gets my highest recommendation ... it left me feeling that i'd probably prefer a good live recording to almost any of their albums. the pathetic caverns: a zine - opinionated and eclectic reviews a studio - specializing in indie/rock/mobile/live/demo recording http://www.pathetic-caverns.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 11:14:15 -0500 From: "Fortissimo" Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Roundup of review swap review reviews On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 11:44:09 -0400 (EDT), "dmw" said: > On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, Aaron Mandel wrote: > i think there's much more sincerity and less irony in merritt's > work than is widely believed, but i think that merritt feels the > need to take (some at times drastic) steps to conceal the > sincerity in his work. it's possible that i'm projecting, of > course. I'm not sure that he was "concealing" the sincerity so much as that irony is, for him, one mode of sincerity. That sounds paradoxical, but I really don't think it is. > i think he's doing much less of that now than he used to, and _69 > love songs_ (volume 1 will do) is what i'd suggest as an entree > for anyone who thinks they're in danger of liking it. it has the > considerable advantage that it doesn't exclusively feature > merritt's own vocals, and it's much less stilted than the earlier > synth-dominated records. It has the considerable disadvantage of featuring singers who are more annoying than Merritt, however... Me, I like Merritt's singing, except when he goes to the extreme lower end of his voice for effect. But when he's merely singing "normally" (for him), I actually prefer his approach to those of most the other singers he's worked with. But if I recall, we were responding to someone who didn't like his voice? Ah well... - ------------------------------- ...Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ :: Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree :: what they are made of, where they come from, or how often :: they should appear. :: --Lemony Snicket ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 10:54:21 -0600 From: "Roger Winston" Subject: [loud-fans] lost another one... Stellllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Latre. --Rog - -- Distance, Redefined: http://www.reignoffrogs.com/flasshe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 12:56:04 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Roundup of review swap review reviews On Fri, 2 Jul 2004, Fortissimo wrote: > It has the considerable disadvantage of featuring singers who are more > annoying than Merritt, however... Yeah, I find LD and Claudia seriously aggravating (as singers! not as human beings). Shirley and Dudley are listenable enough that I can see how some songs work better with them singing than if Stephin took them, but in the abstract neither one's a patch on him. If someone wanted to hear Stephin's songwriting without his voice, the first 6ths album would be better value for money than the eight guest-vocal songs on a given volume of 69LS. I do wish the guy would make an album worthy of either the amount of attention he's getting now, or of his fans' feelings toward the high points of his early albums. "i" ain't it; the last Future Bible Heroes album is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay not it... a ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 09:56:37 -0700 (PDT) From: zoom@muppetlabs.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: RSS Help needed > Thanks to all who offered help. By dint of effort & websearching, I was > able to get the feeds to work. They'll probably go live next week. Anyone care to explain what RSS feeds are, anyway, and why they've become all the rage over the last year? Guess nobody did notice that escribe went blooey, Andy "The Godfather" actor Brando dies at 80 By Bob Thomas July 2, 2004 | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Marlon Brando, who revolutionized American acting with his Method performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront" and went on to create the iconic character of Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather," has died. He was 80. Brando died at an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital Thursday, attorney David J. Seeley said Friday. The cause of death was being withheld, Seeley said, noting the actor "was a very private man." Brando, whose unpredictable behavior made him equally fascinating off the screen, was acclaimed the greatest actor of his generation, a two-time winner of the Academy Award who influenced some of the best actors of the generation that followed, among them Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson. He was the unforgettable embodiment of the brutish Stanley Kowalski of "A Streetcar Named Desire," the mixed up Terry Malloy of "On the Waterfront" (which won him his first Oscar) and the wily Corleone of "The Godfather." But his private life may best be defined by a line from "The Wild One," in which Brando, playing a motorcycle gang leader, is asked what he's rebelling against. "Whattaya got?" was his famous reply. His image was a studio's nightmare. Millions of words were written about his weight, his many romances and three marriages, his tireless -- and, for some, tiresome -- support of the American Indian and other causes, his battles with film producers and directors, his refuge on a Tahitian isle. His most famous act of rebellion was his refusal in 1973 to accept the best actor Oscar for "The Godfather." Instead, he sent a woman who called herself Sasheen Littlefeather to read a diatribe about Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans. It was roundly booed. Brando's private life turned tragic years later with his son's conviction for killing the boyfriend of his half sister, Cheyenne Brando, in 1990. Five years later, Cheyenne committed suicide, still depressed over the killing. Still, the undying spotlight never made him conform. "I am myself," he once declared, "and if I have to hit my head against a brick wall to remain true to myself, I will do it." Nothing could diminish his reputation as an actor of startling power and invention. Starting with Kowalski in the stage version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and a startling series of screen portrayals, Brando changed the nature of American acting. Schooled at the Actors Studio in New York, he created a naturalism that was sometimes derided for its mumbling, grungy attitudes. But audiences were electrified, and a new generation of actors adopted his style. Marlon Brando Jr. came from the American heartland, born in Omaha, Neb., on April 3, 1924. He was a distant, conservative man of French, English and Irish stock; the original family name was Brandeau. His mother, the former Dorothy Pennebaker, was small, willowy, compassionate and filled with creative energy. Her ambitions often were unrealized, and she underwent periods of problem drinking. She had given birth to two daughters, Frances and Jocelyn, before Marlon was born. He grew up a pudgy, mischievous boy who was called Bud to distinguish him from his father. Jocelyn was charged with getting Bud to kindergarten, a difficult task. She solved it by leading him on a leash. Young Marlon first became exposed to the theater through his mother, who became a leader and occasional actress in the Omaha Community Playhouse. When a leading man dropped out of a play, she pleaded with a young neighbor just home from college to take the role. Henry Fonda reluctantly agreed. Mrs. Brando also encouraged another young Omaha native, Dorothy McGuire. The lives of Dorothy Brando and her children were upset when the father was transferred to Evanston, Ill., when Bud was 6. The family later moved to Santa Ana, Calif., and finally to Libertyville, Ill. Bud was constantly being reprimanded for misbehavior at school, infuriating his father. The boy also displayed a talent for playacting, both in elaborate pranks and in plays and recitations. He proved a skilled pantomimist, especially in his depiction of the death of John Dillinger. His exasperated father sent the boy to military school in an effort to instill discipline. He was expelled. Unable to join the war because of 4-F status, Brando at 19 moved to New York and stayed with his sister Frances, an art student. Jocelyn Brando studied acting with Stella Adler, and Marlon decided to join her. It changed his life. After a week with the young man, Adler declared: "Within a year, Marlon Brando will be the best young actor in the American theater." It took longer. He appeared in such plays as "I Remember Mama," "A Flag is Born" (a Jewish pageant with Paul Muni) and "Truckline Cafe." The latter was directed by Elia Kazan, who would remember him for "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1947. The Tennessee Williams made Brando famous, and his first signs of discomfort emerged. The press made much of his motorcycle, leather jackets and T-shirts, his bongo drum playing. He hated the clamor of fans and suffered through interviews. The image of Stanley seemed to have fallen on Brando, and he once protested to an interviewer: "Kowalski was always right, and never afraid. He never wondered, he never doubted. His ego was very secure. And he had the kind of brutal aggressiveness that I hate. I'm afraid of it. I detest the character." Brando suffered through the tedium of his two-year contract with "Streetcar," and he never appeared in another play. For his first film he declined several big studio offers and joined independent Stanley Kramer for "The Men" in 1950. To research the story of paraplegic war veterans, he spent a month in a Veterans Administration hospital. His impact on screen acting was demonstrated by Academy nominations as best actor in four successive years: as Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951); as the Mexican revolutionary in "Viva Zapata!" (1952); as Marc Anthony in "Julius Caesar" (1953); and as Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront" (1954). The latter brought his first Oscar. Although he remained in Hollywood, he refused to be part of it. "Hollywood is ruled by fear and love of money," he told a reporter. "But it can't rule me because I'm not afraid of anything and I don't love money." His films after "Waterfront" failed to challenge his unique talent. Most were commercial enterprises: "Desiree," "Guys and Dolls," "The Teahouse of the August Moon," "Sayonara," "The Young Lions." He tried directing himself in a Western, "One-eyed Jacks," going wildly over budget. A remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" in 1962, with Brando as Fletcher Christian, seemed to bolster his reputation as a difficult star. He was blamed for a change in directors and a runaway budget though he disclaimed responsibility for either. The "Bounty" experience affected Brando's life in a profound way: he fell in love with Tahiti and its people. Tahitian beauty Tarita who appeared in the film became his third wife and mother of two of his children. He bought an island, Tetiaroa, which he intended to make part environmental laboratory and part resort. Although he remained a leading star, Brando's career waned in the '60s with a series of failures. He was impressive, however, in several movies, among them the comedy "Bedtime Story" and the John Huston drama "Reflections in a Golden Eye." His box office power seemed finished until Francis Coppola chose him to play Mafia leader Don Corleone in "The Godfather" in 1972. The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success and Brando's jowly, raspy-voiced Don became one of the screen's most unforgettable characters. "I don't think the film is about the Mafia at all," Brando told Newsweek. "I think it is about the corporate mind. In a way, the Mafia is the best example of capitalists we have." The actor followed with "Last Tango in Paris." One of his greatest performances was overshadowed by an uproar over the erotic nature of the Bernardo Bertolucci film. In his memoir, "Songs My Mother Taught Me," Brando wrote of being emotionally drained by "Last Tango," an improvised film which included several autobiographical speeches. Most of his later films were undistinguished. One hundred pounds heavier, he hired himself out at huge salaries for such commercial enterprises as "Superman" and "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery." He was more effective as the insane army officer in Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and parodying his "Godfather" role in the hit comedy "The Freshman." His crusades for civil rights, the American Indian and other causes kept him in the public eye throughout his career. So did his romances and marriages. He married actress Anna Kashfi in 1957, believing her to be East Indian. She was revealed to be Irish, and they separated a year later. In 1960 he married a Mexican actress, Movita, who had appeared in the first "Mutiny on the Bounty." They were divorced after he met Tarita. All three wives were pregnant when he married them. He had nine children. In May 1990, Brando's first son, Christian, shot and killed Dag Drollet, 26, the Tahitian lover of Christian's half sister Cheyenne, at the family's hilltop home above Beverly Hills. Christian, 31, claimed the shooting was accidental. After a heavily publicized trial, Christian was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and use of a gun. He was sentenced to 10 years. Before the sentencing, Marlon Brando delivered an hour of rambling testimony in which he said he and his ex-wife had failed Christian. He commented softly to members of the Drollet family: "I'm sorry. ... If I could trade places with Dag, I would. I'm prepared for the consequences." Afterward, Drollet's father said he thought Marlon Brando was acting and his son was "getting away with murder." The tragedy was compounded in 1995, when Cheyenne, said to still be depressed over Drollet's death, committed suicide. She was 25. Details about funeral plans weren't disclosed and Seeley said arrangements would be private. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 11:21:27 -0700 (PDT) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: RSS Help needed On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 zoom@muppetlabs.com wrote: > Anyone care to explain what RSS feeds are, anyway, and why they've > become all the rage over the last year? Really Simple Syndication - a format for sharing headlines from news sites, blog conent, and anything else that changes often. Someone who wants to share content publishes an RSS feed that contains headlines and a bit of information for each headline, and a link to the story/blog entry. A program called an aggregator collects feeds from various websites and provides it in an easily browsable form. It allows easy browsing of headlines, quick blog-entry summaries, and other bits of info. For a picture of an aggregator, go here: http://ranchero.com/images/nnw/hpss/mainWindow103.jpg. The War Against Silence also provides an RSS feed. Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 12:14:18 -0700 From: Elizabeth Brion Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Roundup of review swap review reviews On Wednesday, June 30, 2004, at 11:04 AM, Rex.Broome wrote: > > I need to dig into his stuff, too. I like his Monkees songs a lot* > ("What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round" makes me wish Stephen Stills had > passed the audition for that TV show, leaving Nesmith free to be in > Buffalo Springfield and subseqently Crosby Nesmith Nash and Young), > and my dad speaks fondly of a few Nesmith solo songs I've never heard. > It seems to me that all the Nesmith compilations I've ever seen are > less than career-spanning, though... any recommendations? Since I didn't see any other responses to this, I'll give it a shot; I'm working on being a Nesmith completist, but I'm not finished yet, so this is just based on as much material as I've been able to amass. Trivia: Nesmith did not write "What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round," and reportedly does not even like it. Which is odd, because it sounds an awful lot like something he would have written. Maybe that's the problem. You're correct in that the compilations available are not career-spanning, but there's not really much chance that one will come out that is, so going with what's out there: The first one I bought was "Listen To The Band," which is an excellent collection from his first six or so albums. The same track listing is available on a CD called "Silver Moon." The compilation just made me go out and buy all the albums it was taken from immediately, so in my case it would've been smarter to start out with the twofer release of his first two albums, "Magnetic South/Loose Salute" - but if you're not confident you'll have the same consumer spazz-out, go with the compilation. Plus that'll get you "Some of Shelly's Blues," which always makes my Top Five Favorite Songs Ever list, so that'll give you some much-needed insight into me. :-P The later titles I've picked up are sort of Brazilian/cowboy in nature; a friend described them as "like Jimmy Buffett, but good," which as much as it frightens me is tough to argue with. The most readily available release from that era is "Tropical Campfires," which I really like. I've also picked up "From A Radio Engine to a Photon Wing," which is one of the titles you can only get at Nesmith's site (http://www.videoranch.com); really good record, but the sound is Really Not Great, which has made me a tad cautious about picking up the other titles reissued by the site. I mean, I'll do it eventually, but it puts them a little farther down the shopping list than they might be otherwise. That site will also make you a custom CD, which is cool, but you'd need to know which songs you wanted. Or I guess you could just pick totally random stuff - that could be interesting. I hope that helps a bit! Elizabeth, who is willing to admit loving Stephin Merritt without qualification or disclaimers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 17:43:33 -0400 From: "Stefaan Hurts" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] lost another one... On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 10:54:21 -0600, "Roger Winston" said: > Stellllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Glad you like Belgian beer, Rog. :) Toodlepip, - -Stef ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2004 19:43:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Gil Ray Subject: [loud-fans] Fe Fi FAUX fum..the keyboard part Came up with a pretty good keyboard part for "This Is The Space Age", yesterday. It's a relatively traditional Hammond B3 sound I got from the Yamaha DX7. My Boss Chorus supplied a decent FAUX leslie sound and I'm happy with it, and the part. There is some Game Theory trivia here: The DX7 was Shelley's, I bought it from her for cheap about 5 or 6 years ago. It's the same one that shows up on some of the records, and the cool thing is, is that it has got a bunch of her customized sounds still in it! She was really in her happy element when it came to creating unusual sounds, and I'm glad some of those are preserved. Back to the song....As mentioned before, I do not want to make traditional sounding songs. So far on this one, it's REALLY traditional, in a bluesy-rock kind of way. It looks like I'm gonna have ONE track to kick it into coolness. Hopefully. Looking forward to the challenge! Gil __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #181 *******************************