From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V2 #223 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Monday, August 28 2000 Volume 02 : Number 223 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [RS] Richard in Southern Ontario [patrick t power ] [RS] Wisteria [SMOKEY596@aol.com] Re: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V2 #221 [SMOKEY596@aol.com] Re: [RS] wisteria [Rongrittz@aol.com] Re: [RS] Writing & musing [Rongrittz@aol.com] Re: [RS] Relating [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Richard Shindell (believe it or not) [Gf212121@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 20:30:14 -0700 From: patrick t power Subject: Re: [RS] Richard in Southern Ontario Barry promoted: <> Oh, yeah?? Well, he's going to be at the Ten Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday, September 22!! Come say hello to the dweeb emceeing the show. <> Dave and Tracy will be at the Fiddle on Friday, October 27!! I can't wait!! And just for good measure, check out http://www.tenpoundfiddle.org for who has been tentatively booked for March 16, 2001! Pat ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:00:18 EDT From: SMOKEY596@aol.com Subject: [RS] Wisteria "I'm tempted to ring the bell, maybe they'd ask me in..." I did. And they did. :-) I grew up in an 1800s house in historic Madison, Indiana, just a few blocks up from the Ohio River. Once all of us kids were off to college, my parents sold the house and bought a ranch house in a subdivision. Ick, although when I was a kid, that was the "cool" place to live. Now I know better. I'd give anything if they still owned that big, old house. I can remember so many odd details about it to this day...the way certain parts of it felt to the touch...carpet from each room, the hard wood floors, the old heating registers, even the wallpaper. I can still hear the sound the back door made when it closed, the creak of the front stairs, the sound of the telephone ringing back when telephones really did ring, not beep! I can see every inch of space in that house in my mind's eye. One day, a few years ago, one of my sisters and I and two of her boys were driving in the old neighborhood. We pulled up in front of the house and just sat in the car looking at it, wondering what changes they had made inside. So then we got really brave and went to the front door. Even as I type this, I can feel and hear the old iron gate as we passed through it. We rang the bell, and a nice lady answered. We introduced ourselves, and she recognized our names and, I'm sure, immediately knew what we wanted. She invited us in without us having to ask. :-) So many things had been changed, and yet so much was the same. They had tried to "authenticate" the house by adding a lot of foo fooey antiques and such, but underneath it all I could see "my" house. We didn't want to impose *too* much since we were unexpected company and all, so we didn't go upstairs. I wish we had. I wish we had been able to spend the day there just feeling old ghosts. On our way out, I went to the edge of the iron fence, down at the base, brushed away the leaves and grass, and sure enough, there it was in the cement..."Kathy '76". :-) Everyone was pretty jealous when we got back "home". :-) The sad thing is, my two nephews who went into the house with us couldn't remember ever having been there. Of course, they had been, but their only memories of that house come from old photos now. feeling very wisteriful now... :-) SMOKEY Embrace what you have in common, celebrate what sets you apart It takes more than the color that you find on a palate to turn humanity into an art... -Ellis Paul ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:06:08 EDT From: SMOKEY596@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V2 #221 >>>How does one respond to this? As far as computers go, I often feel like I know where to put the quarter and how to move the joystick and that is it. Thank you for any help you can give me.<<< Whatever you did, Tom, it looks like you did it right. Now send the quarters to me. :-) SMOKEY Embrace what you have in common, celebrate what sets you apart It takes more than the color that you find on a palate to turn humanity into an art... -Ellis Paul ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:26:49 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] wisteria Sharon blasphemed: << dars music and lyrics are soo layered that after 3 months i still find new things in each song.. it still in my player long after SNP faded.... >> I'm still finding new nuances (newances?) in "Transit" months after SNP's release . . . RG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:27:03 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Writing & musing From Norman: >>> I just read an interview with Dar in which she says "I learned early on that the battle I have to do now is to keep that sense of intrigue alive. Sometimes I worry that I'm getting good at writing a Dar Williams song." <<< >> Methinks she sometimes wants to be another mystery. ;-) Which interview is this from? << Last week's NJ Bergen Record, in the Preview Section prior to the Bottom Line gigs. Great article with some terrific quotes. It would be a tad long to transcribe (and probably not be appropriate for the Richard list anyway), but I'd be happy to snailmail (or fax) a copy to anyone who wants one. Contact me off-list if anyone's interested. RG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:28:01 EDT From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Relating >> A question for the Rons. As a late 40's male I can understand that you might not relate to the songs on TGW as well as some of Dar's earlier material, and I can understand that you might relate to many of Richard's songs better. But since when is relating to the lyrics an important element in appreciating and enjoying music? Think of the other music/bands/songwriters you enjoy. Do you need to relate to their lyrics to really enjoy them? Is a desire to learn to play and sing a song any measure of its quality or of your appreciation and enjoyment of it? Is it possible that we are holding Dar and Richard to different/higher standards for some reason? << Valid questions, but we've got a mighty interesting can o' worms being opened here. Ironically, for the most part, I *don't* relate, per se, to most of Richard's songs -- I've never driven a truck, been a fugitive, a man on death row, a serial rapist, an INS interrogator, Jesus' girlfriend (well, just that *one* time, but I don't like to talk about it), a Civil War widow, a Gulf War vet, etc. But I appreciate the characters and am fascinated by the stories, because I *understand* the characters and the stories . . . I can listen to them over and over the same way I can re-read a compelling book or see a favorite movie again and again. At no point do I scratch my head and wonder "What the HELL is Richard talking about?" And I'm sorry, but the fact that I *do* listen to a song like, oh, "Playing to the Firmament" and wonder exactly what Dar's trying to tell me *does* make me appreciate it just a little bit less. Like I said, it wasn't that way with Early Dar. I listen to "The Babysitter's Here" and wistfully recall that I *had* a hippie babysitter (her name was Cherri Smith and she was cuuuuute), and that I saw the movie in which "a spaceship is riding through somebody's brain," (Fantastic Voyage) in the theaters when it first came out. Or I listen to "The Great Unknown" and recall with crystal clarity that I lived near an Air Force Base during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that we used to run out in the street to see the Minuteman ICBM's being tested . . . and the next day would practice Air Raid drills in school. Or I listen to "The Blessings" and think of all the late night phone calls I've gotten from a desperate friend. Or "February" or "If I Wrote You" or "When I Was a Boy" or . . . well, you get the point. Doesn't seem to me to be much of a stretch to say that Stuff That Hits Home is just a tad more enjoyable than Stuff That Doesn't. >> Is a desire to learn to play and sing a song any measure of its quality or of your appreciation and enjoyment of it? << This is just personal, but for me, absolutely. As a musician who does not write his own stuff, I'm completely at the mercy of "what's out there" to provide fodder for my repertoire. And to RonD's point, I can't see myself ever performing "Yoko Ono" or "Playing to the Firmament," partially because I don't get them -- and I'm unable to sing a song with conviction if I don't know what I'm singing about. It's not a measure of their quality, to be sure, but again, it certainly *does* help me enjoy it. Look, we all like music for different reasons. Some of us are lyric types, some are music types, some of us are in it for the intellectual stimulation, some of us want ear candy. Some of us are looking for stuff we can strum. And although I'm not holding Richard and Dar to different standards, his songs *do* meet my standards more than hers do. But that's just me. RG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:24:50 EDT From: Gf212121@aol.com Subject: [RS] Richard Shindell (believe it or not) Hey you guys, Ron G. wrote, in response to Sharon's blasphemy: << And although I'm not holding Richard and Dar to different standards, his songs *do* meet my standards more than hers do. But that's just me. >> No, my friend, it's not just you. And it's not just me, either. Why, if two people a day...(oops. sorry) Is there a spitting contest on? And me without my galoshes. I thought this folk stuff was about being inclusionary, rather than exclusionary. Besides, the Backstreet Boys are WAY cooler than NSync. But not as cool as Dave and Tracy. So there. Gene F. (who still hasn't gotten over Kevin and Brian getting engaged) ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V2 #223 ***********************************