From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V2 #54 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Wednesday, July 12 2000 Volume 02 : Number 054 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: Mention [Andrew Metz ] OV: Re: Mention ["Jen Woyan" ] RE: OV: Mention [Leah Schenkenberg ] OV: Re: Mention ["Susan & C. Reid Gardner" ] OV: Re: Re: Mention ["Kristy McDonald" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:20:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Andrew Metz Subject: OV: Mention Today, as I was supposed to be working, I found myself crawling through back issues of Cosmik Debris (e-zine). Several hours and countless brain cells later, I ran across THIS little piece o'tarnished silver... If you dig it, there's always plenty more junk to waste time with on www.cosmik.com (including a eulogy for the late great Cub Koda). Check it out... DEL AMITRI: Regular Guys, Irregular Jobs By Jeff Apter Onstage in a muggy midtown New York nightclub, Del Amitri mainman Justin Currie, with his close-skulled crop and leather duds, could be mistaken for Bono. But whereas Bono maintains an ice-cool distance, Currie is a man of the people. At one point, fielding a request from a yelling fan, he confesses "I'm only pandering to you, 'cause I can't hear a thing you're saying," as he, hirsute stringman Iain Harvie and their current band-for-hire plied their trademark good-guy grins, pop smarts and animated riffing. The Dels' set is punctuated by a brief unplugged sidetrack that somehow ends in a "New York New York" singalong (which wasn't going to harm their public image in the city that never sleeps). A few days on, when I catch up with a chatty, straight-talking Currie in a Chapel Hill hotel room, he explains his "give-'em-what-they-want" strategy. "I'm not very big on this artistic integrity thing; when I go and see a band I want to hear songs I know. We try and do the same. I also try to do a geographically appropriate song at every gig. We'd done 'New York, New York' and 'Streets of Philadelphia,' but in Boston we ran out of ideas. Maybe we should have done the theme from Cheers." And Currie would be right at home in the bar where everybody knows your name, if our conversation, and Del Amitri's fifth long-player, is any indication. "Some Other Sucker's Parade" is a typical hand-on-the-heart affair, earnest and tuneful and pretension-free, swinging from the sweet mid-period Beatles vibe of "Mother Nature's Writing" and "Make It Always Be Too Late" to the cantankerous putdown of "High Times" and the southern rock stomp of "Funny Way To Win." With Breeders' producer Mark Freegard at the controls, the album was recorded in a blinding flash (eight weeks start to finish) in Lincolnshire, England. "We just came off the road, wrote a bunch of songs, went into the studio and recorded them as quickly as we could," Currie explains, simply. As their principal tunesmith, Currie adds a playful, self-deprecating twist to tracks such as "Lucky Guy" and "What I Think She Sees," as he wonders aloud why "the one girl I want / she wants that one bit of geography I lack." He advises me, though, not to confuse the singer with the song. "I'm pretty happy, actually. You know, I've always warned people against making judgments about writer's personalities from their songs," he points out. "I've encountered people who write the most negative lyrics and they're the sweetest people. I've been in relationships with women where they've heard my songs before they meet me and I found that really intimidating." So while he might play down the autobiographical content of his songs, relationships are a recurring theme on Sucker's Parade, as Currie ponders life at the uncool end of the bar. And with "Not Where It's At" - where the drollness of Squeeze meets the Byrds' classic jangle - Currie had a master plan. "I wanted to write a song that would be like an anthem for Del Amitri, for people who weren't cool but were pretty intelligent. Yet I ended up writing a tongue-in-cheek love song." Currie agrees that his frankness belies the standard perception of a pop star. "I think it comes from being fundamentally honest, which I guess has a lot to do with my upbringing in Scotland. In the great show business scheme of things you're supposed to lie about yourself, but there's no benefit in that; I refuse to." "But you certainly wouldn't be a singer in a band if you didn't want to be famous in some way," a typically straightforward Currie adds. "Yet I like to see myself more as a regular guy with an irregular job." Above and beyond ego and showbiz and public perceptions, however, Justin Currie is a pop fan. I asked him to conduct a tour of his album collection, stopping at the key letters. He quickly warmed to the task. "'B' is big - Captain Beefheart, Bolan, Beatles, 'Surf's Up' - the only Beach Boys' album I like. 'D' for Dr Feelgood and Dylan, 'P' for Public Image and a couple of Police albums. 'R' for the Ramones." "I also have a section for records that I have never gotten around to taking back, or haven't heard since I was about 13. I have an album by someone called Annette Peacock. I still have absolutely no idea who she is or why I bought it," he added, with a mystified chuckle. (C) Jeff Apter 1997 And here's a Napster mention to get the conversation flowing (or should that be mud slinging) again (forgive me, Darren, couldn't resist): http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/07/11/ -Andrew Metz RESURGAM "In desperate times you know everybody's part But it's your own lines you're likely to forget 'Til what you were meets what you've now become Grins and says, 'Hey, haven't we met?'" -Vigilantes of Love, "Resplendent" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:05:01 -0500 From: "Jen Woyan" Subject: OV: Re: Mention Thanks Andrew - glad you're back to posting! Given this list's constant conjecture on Mr. Currie's emotional/mental state over the years vis-a-vis the message of his lyrics, I find his quote, "I'm pretty happy, actually. You know, I've always warned people against making judgments about writer's personalities from their songs," he points out. "I've encountered people who write the most negative lyrics and they're the sweetest people. I've been in relationships with women where they've heard my songs before they meet me and I found that really intimidating." pretty interesting...but then again, the poor boy could just be in a massive state of denial...oh well... Have a happy... Cheers, Jen in Chicago Quote of the week.... 'Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take up ranks with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, for they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory or defeat.' - Theodore Roosevelt - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Metz" To: Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 11:20 AM Subject: OV: Mention > Today, as I was supposed to be working, I found myself crawling through > back issues of Cosmik Debris (e-zine). Several hours and countless brain > cells later, I ran across THIS little piece o'tarnished silver... > > If you dig it, there's always plenty more junk to waste time with on > www.cosmik.com (including a eulogy for the late great Cub Koda). Check it > out... > > DEL AMITRI: Regular Guys, Irregular Jobs > By Jeff Apter > > Onstage in a muggy midtown New York nightclub, Del Amitri mainman Justin > Currie, with his close-skulled crop and leather duds, could be mistaken > for Bono. But whereas Bono maintains an ice-cool distance, Currie is a man > of the people. At one point, fielding a request from a yelling fan, he > confesses "I'm only pandering to you, 'cause I can't hear a thing you're > saying," as he, hirsute stringman Iain Harvie and their current > band-for-hire plied their trademark good-guy grins, pop smarts and > animated riffing. The Dels' set is punctuated by a brief unplugged > sidetrack that somehow ends in a "New York New York" singalong (which > wasn't going to harm their public image in the city that never sleeps). > > A few days on, when I catch up with a chatty, straight-talking Currie in a > Chapel Hill hotel room, he explains his "give-'em-what-they-want" strategy. > "I'm not very big on this artistic integrity thing; when I go and see a > band I want to hear songs I know. We try and do the same. I also try to do > a geographically appropriate song at every gig. We'd done 'New York, New > York' and 'Streets of Philadelphia,' but in Boston we ran out of ideas. > Maybe we should have done the theme from Cheers." > > And Currie would be right at home in the bar where everybody knows your > name, if our conversation, and Del Amitri's fifth long-player, is any > indication. "Some Other Sucker's Parade" is a typical hand-on-the-heart > affair, earnest and tuneful and pretension-free, swinging from the sweet > mid-period Beatles vibe of "Mother Nature's Writing" and "Make It Always > Be Too Late" to the cantankerous putdown of "High Times" and the southern > rock stomp of "Funny Way To Win." With Breeders' producer Mark Freegard at > the controls, the album was recorded in a blinding flash (eight weeks > start to finish) in Lincolnshire, England. "We just came off the road, > wrote a bunch of songs, went into the studio and recorded them as quickly > as we could," Currie explains, simply. As their principal tunesmith, > Currie adds a playful, self-deprecating twist to tracks such as "Lucky > Guy" and "What I Think She Sees," as he wonders aloud why "the one girl I > want / she wants that one bit of geography I lack." He advises me, though, > not to confuse the singer with the song. > > "I'm pretty happy, actually. You know, I've always warned people against > making judgments about writer's personalities from their songs," he points > out. "I've encountered people who write the most negative lyrics and > they're the sweetest people. I've been in relationships with women where > they've heard my songs before they meet me and I found that really > intimidating." > > So while he might play down the autobiographical content of his songs, > relationships are a recurring theme on Sucker's Parade, as Currie ponders > life at the uncool end of the bar. And with "Not Where It's At" - where > the drollness of Squeeze meets the Byrds' classic jangle - Currie had a > master plan. "I wanted to write a song that would be like an anthem for > Del Amitri, for people who weren't cool but were pretty intelligent. Yet I > ended up writing a tongue-in-cheek love song." > > Currie agrees that his frankness belies the standard perception of a pop > star. "I think it comes from being fundamentally honest, which I guess has > a lot to do with my upbringing in Scotland. In the great show business > scheme of things you're supposed to lie about yourself, but there's no > benefit in that; I refuse to." > > "But you certainly wouldn't be a singer in a band if you didn't want to be > famous in some way," a typically straightforward Currie adds. "Yet I like > to see myself more as a regular guy with an irregular job." > > Above and beyond ego and showbiz and public perceptions, however, Justin > Currie is a pop fan. I asked him to conduct a tour of his album > collection, stopping at the key letters. He quickly warmed to the > task. "'B' is big - Captain Beefheart, Bolan, Beatles, 'Surf's Up' - the > only Beach Boys' album I like. 'D' for Dr Feelgood and Dylan, 'P' for > Public Image and a couple of Police albums. 'R' for the Ramones." > > "I also have a section for records that I have never gotten around to > taking back, or haven't heard since I was about 13. I have an album by > someone called Annette Peacock. I still have absolutely no idea who she is > or why I bought it," he added, with a mystified chuckle. > > (C) Jeff Apter 1997 > > And here's a Napster mention to get the conversation flowing (or > should that be mud slinging) again (forgive me, Darren, couldn't resist): > > http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/07/11/ > > -Andrew Metz > RESURGAM > > "In desperate times you know everybody's part > But it's your own lines you're likely to forget > 'Til what you were meets what you've now become > Grins and says, 'Hey, haven't we met?'" > > -Vigilantes of Love, "Resplendent" > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:31:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Leah Schenkenberg Subject: RE: OV: Mention Oh man, the more I read conversations with my favorite beautiful musician, the more I like him (not like it takes much). NWIA as the anthem of Del Amitri..spending "life at the uncool end of the bar" ... "for people who weren't cool but were pretty intelligent. " I'm still smiling from that. Leah One day you wake up, and all the pain you've given out gets returned. But I'm not sorry now; I've paid for what I've learned... And you're gone. ~ del amitri ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 15:21:29 -0400 From: "Susan & C. Reid Gardner" Subject: OV: Re: Mention Jen Woyan wrote: > Thanks Andrew - glad you're back to posting! > > Given this list's constant conjecture on Mr. Currie's emotional/mental state > over the years vis-a-vis the message of his lyrics, I find his quote, > "I'm pretty happy, actually. You know, I've always warned people against > making judgments about writer's personalities from their songs," he points > out. "I've encountered people who write the most negative lyrics and they're > the sweetest people. I've been in relationships with women where they've > heard my songs before they meet me and I found that really intimidating." > > pretty interesting...but then again, the poor boy could just be in a massive > state of denial...oh well... Does that make him The King of Denial?? TTFN Susan "I don't have my finger on the pulse of my generation I've just got my hand on my heart; I know no better location..." -Justin Currie, 'Not Where It's At' Visit my web page: Southern Images Studio http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Study/8279 Buckle your seat belt and check out the Best Kept Secret! www.skillet.org Here's my Inspiration... http://www.ccci.org/whoisjesus/interactive-journey/index.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 20:07:40 -0700 From: "Kristy McDonald" Subject: OV: Re: Re: Mention "Given this list's constant conjecture on Mr. Currie's emotional/mental state over the years vis-a-vis the message of his lyrics, I find his quote, " I've been in relationships with women where they've heard my songs before they meet me and I found that really intimidating." pretty interesting...but then again, the poor boy could just be in a massive state of denial...oh well... Does that make him The King of Denial??" *****NO! IT MAKES HIM THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE!***** Kristy in Canada ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V2 #54 *********************************