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Subject: shindell-list-digest V2 #233
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shindell-list-digest    Wednesday, August 30 2000    Volume 02 : Number 233



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  [RS] more on sing me back home  ["Norman A. Johnson" <njohnson@ent.umass.e]
  [RS] Hidden Track                                        [Gf212121@aol.com]
  Re: [RS] RS list                       [patrick t power <ptpower@juno.com>]
  [RS] girls with guitars                                  [Sdgold60@aol.com]
  [none]                                  [Lee Wessman <lwessman@amcity.com>]
  [RS] back to Wisteria & OED  ["Norman A. Johnson" <njohnson@ent.umass.edu>]
  [RS] manly or tweaky                                     [Sdgold60@aol.com]
  Re: [RS] back to Wisteria & OED        [patrick t power <ptpower@juno.com>]
  [RS] 70's singer-songwriters     ["David E. Briggs" <dbriggs@mediaone.net>]
  [RS] Re: Schtuff                    [Vanessa Wills <vcwills@Princeton.EDU>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 20:32:12 -0400
From: "Norman A. Johnson" <njohnson@ent.umass.edu>
Subject: [RS] more on sing me back home

Richard's version starts with:

The warden led the prisoner
Down the hallway to his doom
And I stood up to see
Like all the rest

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 20:49:38 EDT
From: Gf212121@aol.com
Subject: [RS] Hidden Track

Hey you guys,

Tom interrupted the imbroglio (not Natalie) with:

<< Can someone tell what is the hidden track at the end of Reunion Hill? And 
am I the only one who is annoyed by hidden tracks? Are singers ashamed of the 
song that they don't want to acknowledge it in the album credits? >>

The track is 'Sing Me Back Home,' written by Merle Haggard. I am not totally 
down on hidden tracks, but since I often listen to multiple discs on 
'shuffle' in a 5-disc changer, I an bugged by the minute or so they usually 
insert before the hidden track begins. 

Great hidden tracks - an acoustic piano version of 'Possession' on Sarah 
McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and 'The Girl in the Corner' on Lyle 
Lovett's The Road To Ensenada.

By the way, this has to be the longest we've gone without mentioning Dave and 
Tracy in weeks. Thanks, Dar.

Also, Dave Briggs brought up Jim Croce, who I really liked (and still do). 
His 50th Anniversary CD contains all of his recorded material, with a brief 
story at the end. It's been over 25 years since he died, and I think he's 
been forgotten a bit too much. I only see a flicker of Croce in Richard, but 
the tradition of character songs is strong.

Another thing geriatrics like me may have noticed...In the 70's people like 
Richard, Dar, Lucy, Gorka, and the Nields probably would have had real hit 
records. I mean, Croce, John Denver, Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens, and Gordon 
Lightfoot were all over the Top-10 from around 1970 until the disco 
infestation. Even country stars like Freddy Fender, Charlie Rich, and C.W. 
(Convoy) McCall had big hits. It's amazing to look at the 'charts' page of 
Rolling Stone when they feature a week from the early 70's, back when the 
Top-40 was actually the forty most popular records in the country, from Grand 
Funk to Andy Williams, Lynn Anderson to the Jackson 5.

Sorry Britney, I couldn't help myself.

Gene F. (who, if the Weird Al thing takes off, also wants 'The Next Les 
Nessman.')

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 20:52:06 -0700
From: patrick t power <ptpower@juno.com>
Subject: Re: [RS] RS list

Sally wrote:

<<It ain't the shindell-versus-williams-list@smoe.org>>

Geez, you ain't kidding . . . you should see the cheesecake-throwing
flamewar going on over there!!!

Pat

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 21:00:29 EDT
From: Sdgold60@aol.com
Subject: [RS] girls with guitars

i think that i am really hearing some of you talk of
the "lesser capabilties" for women who may not play 
guitar at a level that some of you expect and therefore
there is an inferiority-
then there is patty larkin, janis ian and bonnie raitt
but most women making music do not need to play guitar
at that level to produce "competent music"


i think we need to examine yardsticks by which we judge

hey i noticed that richard has donned a suit jacket the last two
outings. aka gorka...

i also think that richard was lost at newport sandwiched between
natalie mcmaster on the fiddle. dar mary chapin and natalie merchant

and finally why is that jess klein., and dave and tracey and richard
are all coming to the bottom line... standing room only i gather
and thatat is cheesecakes my dears....

the rambling thoughts for sharonG 
before i take another 3 month hiatis

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 17:55:35 -0700
From: Lee Wessman <lwessman@amcity.com>
Subject: [none]

Sez John: "I'm not interested in dinner or Dar as a date."

Great. Now you're saying she's not worth dating? Is that it? Huh? 
Whadya got against dating Dar? Huh?

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 21:44:39 -0400
From: "Norman A. Johnson" <njohnson@ent.umass.edu>
Subject: [RS] back to Wisteria & OED

A few days ago Sally remarked on Wisteria our SOTW,

>>I don't know if this is intentional (probably not), but "Wisteria" reminds 
me of the word "wistful", as in wistful remembrance. >>

I was cleaning up some old e-mail and noticed an e-mail from tigerboy on 25
April,

He writes:

>> I just heard the Richard interview on WFUV. Very nice, as expected. He
was interviewed by John Platt, who hosts their Sunday Morning show >>

and

>>They played "Wisteria" live. John Platt said he thought the
song had a very "wistful" sound... which led Richard to wonder if
"wisteria" and "wistful" are somehow related as words... which
led to a brief discussion of the Oxford English Dictionary... and the
fact that Richard used to enjoy perusing it back in his student days. >>

That Richard would enjoy persuing the OED does not surprise me in the least.

Norman

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:08:42 EDT
From: Sdgold60@aol.com
Subject: [RS] manly or tweaky

does it both you guys when i describe my latest pix of richard
as either manly looking or tweaky...

sharon
back to the NEW LORETTA LYNN cd
and over to the lucy list

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:12:14 -0700
From: patrick t power <ptpower@juno.com>
Subject: Re: [RS] back to Wisteria & OED

Norman quoted Tigerboy:

<<They played "Wisteria" live. John Platt said he thought the song had a
very "wistful" sound... which led Richard to wonder if "wisteria" and
"wistful" are somehow related as words... which led to a brief discussion
of the Oxford English Dictionary... and the fact that Richard used to
enjoy perusing it back in his student days. >>

I happened to look that up myself the other day . . .

[New Latin Wisteria, genus name, after Caspar Wistar (1761-1818),
American physician.]

Pat

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 21:36:56 -0500
From: "David E. Briggs" <dbriggs@mediaone.net>
Subject: [RS] 70's singer-songwriters

Gene wrote:

> In the 70's people like
> Richard, Dar, Lucy, Gorka, and the Nields probably would have had real hit
> records. I mean, Croce, John Denver, Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens, and Gordon
> Lightfoot were all over the Top-10 from around 1970 until the disco
> infestation.
>

This is absolutely true!  There was so much diversity in music in the
1970's - before disco.  I think of that sometimes when I hear talk of
small folk artists "selling out" or becoming "too commercial."  If
Richard or Dar or Gorka had been recording alongside the great
singer-songwriters of the 70's they would just be perceived as popular,
not "selling out."

Dave

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:54:14 -0400
From: Vanessa Wills <vcwills@Princeton.EDU>
Subject: [RS] Re: Schtuff

This place has sure gotten all fired up, lately. Figured I'd get in on the
action.

*I have a decided lack of "Wisteria" moments.
Few things could induce me to want to go back to the apartments of my youth. I
mean, to be sure, it wasn't like, tenement housing or anything. Some were really
nice. The last apartment building we lived in was one of the best in Philly, with
acres of fields and forest in and around it to play in. But they were still
cookie-cutter, white-walled, four-sided, and boring as hell. Add to that the fact
that I was one weird little kid, almost always depressed and spending lots of
time huddled in corners crying, and you'll see why "going back" has never
appealed to me, and probably never will. I really can't remember one good thing
about being a little kid.

*Norman said that tigerboy said:
<<They played "Wisteria" live. John Platt said he thought the song had a very
"wistful" sound... which led Richard to wonder if "wisteria" and "wistful" are
somehow related as words... which led to a brief discussion of the Oxford English
Dictionary... and the fact that Richard used to enjoy perusing it back in his
student days.>>

Oh, good--my roommate and I aren't the only freaks who do that! It really is
countless hours of fun. :-)

*Richard v. Dar
In Richard's defense, I ran into many women at Falcon Ridge who thought he was
plenty cute. There was one really nice lady on the blanket next to mine, who said
that he "really looks like a man," making special note of his big arms and strong
hands. She went on to say it's not so much that he's good-looking in a
conventional way, as that there is really something strong and masculine about
him that she found appealing. Like those arms. After his set, in fact, when I ran
back up from my appropriated spot in the front row, we compared notes about what
we thought. I was going on about how great the music was. She said, "I had my
binoculars, and he really looked good." (To be fair, we did also have a long and
interesting discussion about several of his songs, and how magical his way of
getting inside his characters' heads is).
I also ran into some cute teenage girls who cheered in unison, "We *love*
Richard!" To their credit, I think they were really into the music, but something
about their eyes told me they didn't mind his looks, either. And even my mom, who
really can't stand most of Richard's music or any of that other "hillbilly junk"
I listen to, had to admit that Mr. Shindell, in the picture I have of Richard and
Dar on my laptop's desktop does look mighty good, even though she does poke fun
at his arms. (Smokey, I laughed so hard when I read your "plumber" e-mail!).

*Elwestrand
Yes, you get your own subheading. You are so cool for stepping right out there
and saying exactly what you mean, and not apologizing for how you feel. We don't
always see eye to eye on our opinions, but I definitely agree with your way of
not taking any guff. :-) Oh, and God bless you for misspelling "Britney Spears".
(You typed, "Brittany") I think that was the most positively refreshing sentence
I have seen in years.

*Patty Larkin and Janis Ian (a rant inspired by SharonG's post)
Ahh, the Naivete of Vanessa. You could write a book. I'd never even heard of
Patty Larkin or Janis Ian until Falcon Ridge this year, but wow, was I blown
away! Janis Ian is a freaking monster on the guitar, and Patty Larkin with her
neat, low tuning on "Beg to Differ", and that neat, throbbing, bottomy sound. My
God, they are amazing.

*The word "cute."
I was reading a quote from the Dar Williams songbook, and she was talking about
how she hated being called "quirky" because she found it "somewhat cute-ifying."
She said when someone tries to cute-ify you, they are attempting to take some
measure of power, strength, integrity, whatever, away from you. She said that she
did not feel particularly vulnerable to that, so really people could try to
cute-ify all they want, but she would not be cute-ified. Anyone have that
songbook and that quote?

OK, that's it for now.

Peace, Love, and Mischief,
Vanessa

------------------------------

End of shindell-list-digest V2 #233
***********************************