From: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org (The Rockford Files) To: rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Subject: The Rockford Files V1 #118 Reply-To: rockford-files@smoe.org Sender: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk The Rockford Files Saturday, May 9 1998 Volume 01 : Number 118 Today's Filings: ----------------- My top 10 What a night... Ten Albums.. from the FL: FL is busy this Saturday editing boo boos (not Yogi reference) from the FL: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 09 May 1998 03:30:32 +0000 From: "Stephen E. Chamraz" Subject: My top 10 Okay... I've been lurking a little too long. My top 10 albums: (in some sort of order) 1) Bruce Hornsby - Harbor Lights: The only CD I would need if trapped on a desert island. It runs the gamut from blues to a Grateful Dead jam and back again with an all-star cast of guest mucisians and vocalists. EVERYONE shoule own this album. 2) BFF - BFF: It's the boys in a raw and unfiltered way. I will never forget the first time I heard the opening chords to "Alice Childress" in a record shop in Santa Monica, CA... and this album transports me back to that place and time every time I listen to it. 3) Genesis - Selling England by the Pound: It is the quintessential 1970s art rock album. The lyrics are intricate and have a cleverness that can't be found today. The guitar work by Steve Hackett is phenomonal. 4) Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes: It's from before she wierded out and became some teeny-bopper chick magnet. Excellent storytelling without the acid-trip inspired lyrics of her later works. 5) Shawn Colvin - Cover Girl: Her interpretations of songs from Dylan to Sting are right on target... I actually like some of her renditions better than the originals! 6) Jonatha Brooke - 10 cent wings: Check this one out. She is one of the best of the new songer/songwriter set... better than your precious Dar and Ani. Unlike those two, this chick has no axe to grind. She just writes good songs. 7) Dave Matthews Band - Before these Crowded Streets: This made the top 10 soley based on the 'Band's decision to depart so far from the poppy-alternative drivel their last two albums were made of. It took major balls to make an album like this, and it's about fucking time someone did it. 8) James Taylor - Live: His best songs, his best backup vocals, his best band. More than 30 classic American stories sung over two CDs. Amazing. 9) Van Morisson - Moondance: It's all about freedom and finding one's self. Really! Listen again... 10) I want to put down an Elvis Costello album here 'cuz I am getting so into him. But because I am still not that acquainted with his collective works, I'll just put his name here in this spot and will fill in the blank at later date. Questions, comments, great thoughts? _______________________ Steve Chamraz www.execpc.com/~chamraz chamraz@execpc.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 11:32:01 EDT From: Lennonita Subject: What a night... ...where do I begin? Last night's show was unbefuckinlievable. So amazingly good. Since I have neither the time nor the energy I will simply spew out a collection of random details. The Venue (The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel): perfect for the Five. Small but not too small. Gorgeous decor. The nicest place I've ever been to a concert at. Filled to capacity. The Crowd: Slightly inebriated and chain-smoking fiends. Minimum amount of teenybrickers. Actually sang along to songs off of s/t and basically shut up for the slow songs (Brick, Alice Childress, Evaporated [which made me almost cry...more on that later]). Overall a very knowledgeable crowd, which made me happy. Funniest crowd member: the guy a few people over to my right (I was right next to the stage...I rested my arms on it) who thrust the Beavis and Butthead devil sign with both hands towards the band on the downbeat of EVERY song. He had a pyramid of used beer cans in front of him. Funny guy. Most annoying crowd moment: people trying to mosh to Dr. Pyser. That ended quickly. The Show: amazing, as always. I got a set list, which reads as follows: Pyser Take This Job and Shove it (one of many spontaneous Elvis parodies) Battle Selfless Philosophy Polka Alice Kate (they did not play this) Steven Fair Brick Dumped Air (did not play...I was disappointed) Julianne Missing (did not play this...again, disappointed) Dwarf This does not even remotely resemble what they played. Everything up to Dumped is right. then they went immediately into "We can be happy..." with no "I was never cool, etc." intro to Underground. Then they played Dwarf (if I remember this correctly). For encore, they played Evaporated. I have big personal meaning with that song, so that was so intense for me. The After-show: got a set list, hung around, and because my boyfriend IS Ferris Bueller I've learned a few tricks from him so I got to go upstairs to a little balcony area where the band came out and signed autographs, etc...so fucking cool! I met the band! It was awesome. They're all very cool. I talked with Ben the most. They're so down to earth. Oh, yeah, and I met Emily and Sandi! That was awesome! So weird to see that people from this have actual faces... Okay. Prom prepping calls. Meg ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 May 1998 08:58:42 PDT From: "Starre Smith" Subject: Ten Albums.. You guys all like some pretty cool stuff... esp. My Bloody Valentine, Starflyer 59, and Tortoise.. :) They're all cool.. Here's my list.. 10)The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-Orange 9)Tortoise-TNT*** :) 8)Dead Kennedys-Plastic Surgery Disasters 7)BFF-S/T 6)Stabbing Westward-Ungod 5)KMFDM-XTORT 4)Atari Teenage Riot-Burn,Berlin,Burn 3)Joy Division-Substance 2)Alice in Chains-Dirt 1)The Cult-Sonic Temple Thats my list.... Hope everyone watches Ben's mom on Sunday on MTV.. She looks pretty cool! :) Stella ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 14:18:28 EDT From: Eriklyons1 Subject: from the FL: "you also must send mail to the RF from the address which you receive the rockford files...thanks...." <> <> Hi all It's too bad that the K-Rock Dysfunctional Family Picnic is at Jones Beach this year. Last year it was at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium and that was a lot of fun. But I will be there, regardless. Top tens? Oh, man... I can only give you my top ten this week Belewprints / Adrian Belew Space Groove / ProjeKct Two Tock / Yazbek Nonsuch / XTC The Gates of Paradise / Robert Fripp Entertainment! / Gang of Four Midnight Without You / Chris Botti s/t / Brudord Levin Upper Extremeties Thrak / King Crimson Heaven Up Here / Echo and the Bunnymen That's all. Over and out. CV ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 14:42:37 EDT From: Eriklyons1 Subject: FL is busy this Saturday editing boo boos (not Yogi reference) <> <> Well, all, this is me in KC, enjoying the froo-its of homelife. Prom stories. Hmmm... Well, this is a pretty good one. My junior year (three years ago), I went to prom with my friend Jon, and out to dinner with Kellie (Hey there!) and our friend Adam. We go to Yia-Yia's Eurobistro for dinner, and we're all looking really *fine*. Well, I look over at Jon around the middle of the meal and realize he's eaten two appetizers, a salad, pasta, and a big huge fat entree. I'm starting to warn of digestion problems, as he's looking a little green, but continues to, politely, shovel it in. Right about the time we're all noticing this, a middle-aged woman comes up to the table with a napkin on her arm and offers us to buy us drinks. I'm wondering if we got the salmonilla-laced food or what, when Jon says, "Mom! What are YOU doing here??" Apparently, spying. So we got free espresso beverages. No complaints. The woman's a saint. But then Jon excuses himself to the bathroom. Later I find out he puked. So not only did it rain like a bastard that evening (If any of you sing that damn Grease song, it's off withyer heads!), but my date's mom showed up and he puked. How cool is that? Anyway, there's my not-too-entertaining prom story. Trade it with your friends. Best albums of all time? I'm afraid my decision would be skewed by youth and naivete, but I can name 10 bands and their albums that I like a lot: Ben Folds Five - WAEA, S/T Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine, Great Divide The Bogmen - Life Begins at 40 Million, Closed Captioned Radio Bad Religion - The Grey Race Tripping Daisy - i am an ELASTIC FIRECRACKER The Cure - The Head on the Door, Pornography Depeche Mode - Violator, Some Great Reward Radiohead - The Bends Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom, Irrisistible Bliss Duran Duran - Decade U2 - Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree Anyway, I'm still exhausted from a really crazy and wonderful last week at school. Me voy a cama. BTW, to those of you that I was going to possibly see in St Louis on Memorial weekend, it may not work out after all, as my dying uncle wants to have a family reunion/campout... We'll see. I keep de fingers crossed. Behave or... not. Carrie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 14:42:34 EDT From: Eriklyons1 Subject: from the FL: "remember, you gotta send mail to the RF in plain mail format...no HTML.." <>> <> <> I've been lurking/enjoying this little support group (okok) for a while, = but now I've got a knit poncho story that just can't wait! First time = I've ever said that, I think. Back in 1987, Michael Jackson was "bad", Ernest had not yet gone to camp = and was still busy peddling his wares, Rodenberry was busy developing a = new Star Trek series that would *gasp* not include any of the old crew, = Baby Jessica got taught a hard lesson in "Abandoned Wells: To play in = and/or around or not to play in and/or around", Swazy was "Dirty = Dancing" his way into our hearts while Iran-Contra was breaking them all = over again, America's love affair with crack was just emerging, the = boomers had their weekly retreat on "Thirty-Something", and I was a = blossoming junior at John Marshall H.S. OK that intro blows any story I had to tell but oh well.=20 1987: We were busy preparing for a year-end choir concert one spring = night when, during the last verse of "I will fly like an eagle", someone = suddenly burst in to inform us that a torrential downpour complete with = flash-flood warning was headed our way. Now, there is nothing like a crisis to cause testosterone to surge = through a young man's loin, causing him to abruptly aspire to some = ambiguous but certainly heroic act! Actually, I never really got this on = a personal level. I don't think I had as much testosterone as the other = boys (hey, this isn't easy, you know). Besides, the generally inverse = proportion of intelligence to testosterone meant that the one who was = willing usually couldn't figure out what a good "heroic act" would be. = The result was usually a series of awkward, random gestures followed by = the subject either beating someone up or just making strange bodily = noises. There was one girl in choir who owned a convertible VW Bug. I knew first = hand that she had parked that vehicle with the top down in a lot that = was quite a hike from where we were. With the rain coming down hard, the = testosterone flowing, the heroic deed for once in his life glaringly = obvious, it was Greg who knew exactly the heroic thing to do. We must = brave those elements and save that girl's interior!=20 Glances flew betwixt the men of acapella, and before anyone could say = "Dukakis?! He doesn't stand a chance in hell!", a group had descended = from the risers and was moving towards the door. And I, the slightly = smaller but scrappy and world-weary runt, instinctively knew my duty, or = at least the cool thing to do--I must run with the pack! We bolted through the foyer only to discover that the rain looked to be = too much. None of us planned for this, we had no umbrellas! (In Texas, = we say UMbrella, with the accent on the UM: UMbrella. How do you say it = at your house?) What DID we have? A box full of old and random costumes. I rifled through the box in search of anything to keep me dry. I found = it. A KNIT PONCHO would make ME the hero! I threw it over my head and = immediately noticed there was no hood. No matter, there JUST WASN'T = TIME. I donned the garment and rushed into the night receiving the full = brunt of nature and her fierce elemental onslaught. Sheets of rain stung = my cheeks and eyes as I ran and ran. Frigid water raced around my calves = as the ever-deepening water made each successive step colder, slower. = Water had splashed up my thighs and I noticed that the poncho was too = short to protect my waist which was now also drenched. It was all I = could do to stand against the wind. But there was no time to worry about my own discomfort, I had to reach = that Bug before water could seep into the dash and corrode those = precious Bug circuits! When I finally reached the car, I was only relieved that it and I had = not been swept away. Handling the top was difficult as I had not taken = time to find the armholes in the poncho. As I struggled to secure the = latches, a gust of wind caught the poncho and blew it violently over my = head. Desperately holding the upturned poncho about my neck, trying with = all my might not to let it blow away, I could see nothing, my world was = black. Standing immobile with one hand on the roof-latch, one clutching = the flapping=20 garment, there I stood, fearful but proud against the elements, one = giant, inverted UMbrella! Gathering all my strength, I gave the latch a final shove and it was = secure. I wrestled the poncho back down. The mission was accomplished, = but the driving winds and rain had not let up. The journey home lie = ahead, just across a flash-flooded lot. I pressed on in spite of the = fact that intense, ear-splitting thunder was now punctuating the droning = horror of the rain-soaked gale. One well-placed lightning bolt, and I = and every living creature in the rushing 14 inch tide would be = barbecued. It was then that I felt it: the heat, the surge, the very = test of manhood, the will to go on--no not just to go on--to go on in = GREATNESS! My step picked up as I began to see the vague, ambiguous = outline of a great and heroic act. But I had already committed the = heroic act! Something else, then? Nooooo, I can't make it out! But still = these hormones raging! I farted. I emerged from the storm wearing my poncho, gasping for air, but safe. = Not swept away, not electrocuted, but tall, at peace, somehow older. I = emerged, to the sounds of cheering compadres in the foyer, "Fair = Phyllis" from the auditorium. It was a hero's welcome. The show stopped = when I entered the auditorium that night. I basked in the silence as all = eyes turned to my position back there at the highest point in the house, = just inside the foyer exit. For the first time in my life, the center of = this universe was me. Just me. Soaked, but larger than I ever imagined I = could be. Me and my poncho. My short poncho. My poncho with no hood. My = poncho with no armholes...My poncho...My poncho..with = a...poodle...on...it... I'm not sure who it was, but it only took one snicker. Before you could = say "What do you MEAN they discontinued the 'Chipwich'?!", a cacophonic = barrage of laughter rang through that hall and down on me at a level as = physically deafening as it was emotionally. Had I the savvy or the = memory, I would have surely heard those immortal words "They're all = gonna laugh at you!". But, alas, I was shocked into a blank reality, = devoid of Carrie, devoid of myself. Just a sad shell of a boy, drenched. = And sticking to my slight frame was a giant Tuck's Pad of a POODLE SKIRT = that Jenny Guglioni's mom had made for her to wear in West Side Story = two years earlier. No one really cared about the Bug, no one really = cared about the act. And I don't even think anyone had the acute fashion = sense to understand the fashionable functionality I was going for. But = they all knew that skirt, and everyone had a good laugh. Me, too. I was born to run. Anyway that's my story. And speaking of pre-cable days...Be glad that = you didn't grow up in San Antonio. We had the three networks + PBS, and = only ONE UHF. And that badboy was KWEX, todos en Espanol! It almost = wasn't worth staying home from school. There's almost nothing sadder = than a young boy trying to keep himself occupied with Spanish-language = soap operas. I did enjoy the commercials, though... Wow, this has been most therapeutic! Hope you skipped it if not = interested. But that's why God, uh, I mean Bill Gates invented the = scrollbar. Oh. Yeah. Um. I find the wistful rendering of Ben's text in Evaporated = most enjoyable, and second only to that of Boxing and possibly Song For = the Dumped. How's that? Waiting in line to kiss Anne's @ss (love those posts), justin ------------------------------ End of The Rockford Files V1 #118 *********************************