From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #302 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 Sunday, November 7 2004 Volume 04 : Number 302 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service [Cyndy Patrick Subject: [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service I don't know what is stranger: this story, or the fact that it's one of the New York Times web edition's lead stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/06/arts/music/06post.html?hp&ex=1099803600&en=0a32b02395a9539b&ei=5094&partner=homepage ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 10:51:30 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service On Sat, 6 Nov 2004, Cyndy Patrick wrote: > I don't know what is stranger: this story, or the fact that it's one of > the New York Times web edition's lead stories: When I first heard about this, I was wondering just how much the USPS wanted from the band-- will they actually have them doing ads? And will they sell the album from their website for very long when nobody buys it? (Actually, wait, I guess if they DO run ads with the band, they'll sell copies from the website. Interesting.) Anyway, I had guessed that they were more interested in making sure they had the band on a legal leash just in case their next album was offensive somehow. And I guess if there was ever a real case for trademark dilution, this might fix it. What's funny is that the only reason this compromise was acceptable to the USPS is, esssentially, the same reason that the name of a banal government institution was a good, if unusual, name for the band in the first place-- they're kind of low-key and warm. Now maybe they'll make another album already. Geez! Gibbard having had to make a Death Cab album in the meantime is no excuse on account of that album's badness. a ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 12:56:17 EST From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] '60s Brit pop culture Check out this page. Should be of interest if you like The Avengers, original Minis, The Kinks, that sort of thing. - --Mark S. > http://home.clara.net/digger/sixties/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 13:14:45 -0500 From: Cardinal007 Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service On Saturday, November 6, 2004, at 08:52 AM, Cyndy Patrick wrote: > I don't know what is stranger: this story, or the fact that it's one of > the New York Times web edition's lead stories: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/06/arts/music/ > 06post.html?hp&ex=1099803600&en=0a32b02395a9539b&ei=5094&partner=homepa > ge > > I litigated a Postal Service case in the Supreme Court last term [USPS v. Flamingo Industries] in which the commercial activities of the Postal Service were central to the case. As a decision was rendered in June, I can now reveal that, in closed-door meetings at the Solicitor General's office, I learned that in 1994, the Postal Service considered changing its name to "The Beatles" until Paul nixed the idea. The idea had Yoko's full backing ... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 13:33:22 EST From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] '60s pop site again If you're interested in internet history then this site again may be for you. The site was designed in 1998, and is charming in its antiquity. You haven't lived until you've heard the Midi Jukebox version of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." Sounds like a Devo demo, circa 1981. - --Mark S. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 14:30:04 EST From: AWeiss4338@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service In a message dated 11/6/2004 10:05:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, cyndyp@earthlink.net writes: I don't know what is stranger: this story, or the fact that it's one of the New York Times web edition's lead stories: It's also on the front page of the print edition of The Times as well. Good article, if rather quirky. Andrea ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:39:10 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Postal Service vs. Postal Service On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 08:52:38 -0500, Cyndy Patrick wrote: > I don't know what is stranger: this story, or the fact that it's one of > the New York Times web edition's lead stories: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/06/arts/music/06post.html?hp&ex=1099803600&en=0a32b02395a9539b&ei=5094&partner=homepage I just hate the fact that DCFC are described - twice - as "emo." God I hate that word. - -- ++Jeff++ The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 14:57:08 -0800 (PST) From: zoom@muppetlabs.com Subject: [loud-fans] When Google fails (Yahoo too)... ...I turn here. Okay, I *thought* the band was the Long Winters, and the song had "Houston" somewhere in the title. The song definitely ends with the phrase "the crew compartent's breaking up" repeated about twenty times. Man, that gets you a flying start on the day when the clock radio clicks on and you've already been up most of the night with an anxiety attack. Anyway, the Long Winters seem to have no song with "Houston" in the title, and searches on the phrase above turn up nothing. Any ideas? And yet my favorite "You Really Got Me" just might be Oingo Boingo's... Andy Has Been seems to be getting really good reviews all around. Yes. We're actually stunned by it. It's fair to say that your first album, The Transformed Man, was...I guess we could say, misunderstood over the years. Were you nervous, given that earlier experience, that people wouldn't "get" this album as well? The Transformed Man -- good, bad or indifferent -- didn't work because the cuts were too long. The literature and the song attached to the literature made for six-minute cuts, and I wasn't conscious of the necessity of keeping it closer to three minutes. So nobody ever played the six-minute cut, so the listening audience didn't get a sense of what it was I was trying to do. People didn't really get the full picture of what the album was about. Exactly. Unless they played the album in its entirety, and once they did that, a lot of people -- like Ben Folds -- said it had an important influence on them. So I was aware that I had to be careful in that regardand also we were aware that the people who scoffed at The Transformed Man might be pre-conditioned [to do that] to Has Been. So we had to be very careful, especially for the first number. Which is "Common People," a cover of a Pulp song. Exactly. And I thought it was a brilliant choice on Ben's part -- it was his choice and my reluctance in the beginning, until I heard it in its completion and realized that it was a great choice. It had a story for me to act, if you will; it had a rhythmic progression; and then putting Joe Jackson in it was inspired, and made it musical as well -- it wasn't just spoken word. So that first number, "Common People," introduces the album, and once people accepted it -- and even better, as you know it's gotten really popular -- it gave [them] an opening into the album. You first worked with Ben Folds on his solo album Fear of Pop. How did that collaboration come about? He wrote me a letter saying he'd like to work with me, based on his listening to The Transformed Man. And I didn't know who he was. I had to show the letter to one of my children, who knew him, knew his work, and went on about it. And I, who was tempted to treat the letter as a fan letter and have somebody else answer it, paid serious attention to it. And [so I] got ahold of him, and said, "yes, I'd like to work with you, too." By this point you had listened to his albums with Ben Folds Five and you were impressed with them? Yes. His musical taste and his abilities -- he went from esoteric music that really requires some musical knowledge or modern musical tastes to appreciate, to ballads and discernible rhythm and melody and words. So I was very impressed. And then he sent me a sort of half-written song called "White Oleander," [which was] intriguing. So I showed up at the studio. And he has a very meticulous way of directing. And here I have this stranger directing me, and I'm not quite sure of his talentI was a little apprehensive about it all. But slowly I began to get a feeling for the song, which I began to realize was [from the point of view] of a misogynist. He didn't see that when he wrote it. So you brought an interpretation to it that he really didnt foresee. Exactly. So once that wonderful experience between the two of us took place we both wanted to do something else. And then, this most unusual of occurrences transpired, [with] the Foos brothers, who owned Rhino Records. And Rhino Records had done all those Golden Throat albums on which they poke fun at actors trying to sing... Prominently featuring yourself and Leonard Nimoy among others. You got it. So now into my office march the Foos brothers, who say, "we've sold Rhino Records, we've started a new label called Shout! Factory, and we'd like you to do a record." At that precise moment, the phone rings -- while they're in my office -- the phone rings, and it's Ben. And he's saying, "I'm coming to LA, would you do 'White Oleander' with me onstage?" And the Foos brothers came, by the way, to that [show] and that made them even more enthusiastic. So I said to them, "Would you accept Ben Folds as a producer?" They jumped out of their seats. I said to Ben, "Would you produce this for me?" He said absolutely. And in that one moment, the shape of the record took place. That's fantastic. It was fantastic. I knew they were asking for an album that maybe they could poke fun at, that didn't have anything to do with art. And I say to Ben, "What am I gonna do?" And he says, "Tell the truth." And I thought, wow, that's unique. And he hands them what became Has Been. They [the Foos brothers] flipped out. Wasn't at all what they were expecting? Not at all. But they were pleased with the results? Oh my gosh, they've gone crazy about it. It seems to me like the big difference between The Transformed Man and your work on Has Been is that there is still a humorous element to some of the album, but it's much more self-aware this time. Is that fair to say? I think so, yes. I had no idea of humor and self-deprecation those many years ago, so I took a very serious approach on The Transformed Man, whereas I saw the value of alternating emotions and aspects of life in this album. And it seems like the humorous elements actually make the more serious and more dramatic moments on the album that much more effective. Well, that was my feeling. What about some of the guest musicians on the album -- and there's a lot of great ones. Were any of them people you were familiar with? No, not at all. They were entirely Ben's invention, friends of Ben's. And that included all the studio musicians who turned out to be extraordinary musicians in their own right. Even Lemon Jelly was a choice by Ben, a group that he had heard and admired, and I've come to admire them. You've been really having a career resurgence these days -- a hit TV drama [Boston Legal], an Emmy, a reality show on Spike TV that's about to come out. With all of this going on, are you going to have time to go on tour in support of Has Been? Only in LA because of [Boston Legal]. I don't know when I could put enough days together to do any other kind of tour. Will fans have to wait long until your third album? I think that's up to the Foos brothers. If they would like us to do another one, I certainly would love the challenge. It was 36 years between albums this last time. I don't think I have enough left for another 36. Even after these years, do you still have fans show up to your public appearances in Spock ears? Sure. [They] probably had a permanent operation. [laughs] What you're asking is, are there die-hard Star Trek fans? Yes, there are. A lot of people out there still watch Star Trek and like me for it. And this latest series is having an effect. It's all good. - --William Shatner, interviewer unnamed, from http://ubl.artistdirect.com/music/artist/interview/0,,491994,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 19:04:40 -0500 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] When Google fails (Yahoo too)... zoom@muppetlabs.com wrote: >--William Shatner, interviewer unnamed, from >http://ubl.artistdirect.com/music/artist/interview/0,,491994,00.html > > > > Well, that explains that! While in San Diego, I was flipping channels late night in the hotel room and ran across William Shatner and Joe Jackson doing a song together and went, "What the....?" Jen ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 00:54:05 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] When Google fails (Yahoo too)... On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 zoom@muppetlabs.com wrote: > Okay, I *thought* the band was the Long Winters, and the song had > "Houston" somewhere in the title. The song definitely ends with the > phrase "the crew compartent's breaking up" repeated about twenty times. I read this post and I was like, "Sure, it's called-- damn, what's the Long Winters song about Houston?" Couldn't think of it. Pulled out both Long Winters CDs and read through the lyric sheets: no Houston and no crew compartment, unless I missed it. Mysterious. a ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #302 *******************************