From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #457 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 Wednesday, December 12 2001 Volume 03 : Number 457 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] coffee, but token sparrows point content [jim colbert ] [RS] songwriter relics [jim colbert ] Re: [RS] songwriter relics [Rongrittz@aol.com] Re: [RS] Nasal, revisited. Longish for no apparent reason. ["Kristen Mysh] [RS] Whew! better than the beanie cap... [Derek Fong Subject: [RS] coffee, but token sparrows point content > > Well Jim, if it's a coffee connoisseur you are, then you MUST know > > Gevalia, which any coffee lover knows is the ONLY coffee. > > their favorite/daily/hourly blend or at least acknowledged that it is > equal to the best coffee they have ever had. of course, this is > circumstantial evidence because these are friends i've introduced the > coffee to> Have not tried but would love to. Anyway, Gevalia is indeed good... but Bill Clark here @ the Cheese Shop in crappy little State College, PA, imports his own beans from around the world, hand picks the ones he wants, roasts them himself- which always makes me think of sparrows point as I'm walking down to the store early in the morning through these huge billows of fragrant coffee steam coming out of the vent... "a shroud of steam surrounded me..." He then sells his fresh roasts and blends to a smattering of gourmet shops around the country. It is vunderbar. I have never done an A-B comparison but I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. (BTW, Gevalia decaf is the only decaf I can stand to drink.) Empire Coffee & Tea co. in Hoboken and nyc also have some nice roasts, their house blend is rather nice when it's freshground. And here's a neat coffee tidbit someone told me- did ya know some of the more exotic beans that taste strongest, actually have less caffeine in them? Short version of the tale, the caffeine is in the plant as a protection against insects, and the higher up on the mountain the coffee is grown the less that protection is needed, apparently. Go figger. jim who is now really lusting over the coffee he didn't get this am cause of dropping his truck off for service. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 08:42:53 EST From: OzWoman321@aol.com Subject: [RS] World Before Columbus (Suzanne Vega) Madtownmira@aol.com chimes in: > Hello! > > After a long stint on the Dar-list, I took a break from listing for a year > or so. I've long been an admirer of Richard Shindell, and I've really > rekindled that interest lately. So here I am, hoping to add my 2 cents > where I can... or at the very least lurk and learn. > > I recognize a few of you, mostly my wonderful friend Susan... whom I think > of much more than I write to. Sorry about that, Susan! > > At any rate, I look forward to getting to know more about the list, the > music, and the people here that are influenced by it. So far, it feels > nice and comfy here. :) Hey, Michelle - Allow me to be the first to publicly welcome you to the Richard-list! - it's always good to hear from you... :-) It's natural for friends to fall in and out of touch, but it's warmly reassuring that the three people (Michelle included) who responded to my Suzanne Vega Dar-list question... almost *four* years ago... are all, to varying degrees, still very much in my life (the power of the Internet indeed!). I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's "comfy" here... but, to paraphrase a bit, "man, they really make you think... yeah, they make you think"... :-) Susan "And they gave me sticks and rocks and stars and all that I could hold, I had the blessings, a moment of peace even when the night ends..." ~ Dar Williams ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 08:54:27 -0500 From: Donna Myers Subject: [RS] Courier Did anyone find the one 'dropped-in' line on the album? I've been listening to this cd constantly and haven't found it yet. I'll probably get kicked off this list for admitting it...but my current repeat is "Willin". It has always been a favorite song of mine and was thrilled that Richard included it(especially with Lucy). I have a thing for covers! Donna ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 09:15:43 -0500 From: jim colbert Subject: [RS] songwriter relics > Tom noted: > > You're right, of course. We post WWII babies tend to forget that there are > any songwriters pre-1950s. But in that case, add Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, > George & Ira Gershwin, Rogers & Hart, Rogers & Hammerstein, et al et al et al > to the list. And one from a wee bit earlier: Stephen Foster. And wasn't Richard even playing "hard times come again no more" at a few of his more recent concerts? Which makes me remember, I don't know a lot about Mr. Foster- in fact, most of my knowledge comes from somebody's fast folk song and a statue in Pittsburgh. Anyone ever read any good bios about him I might check out? (Actual books, I mean.) The late Jim ringer and Mary McCaslin used to do a nice little tune about when the good old days come back that sequed into Hard times. i liked Jim ringer a lot- don't know if anyone's familiar with him? A bit maudlin at times, but I think he pulled it off cause he was sincere, especially on the less-produced folkier stuff. BTW, if you're ever glancing through a songbook or something, try to find false rhymes by the writers Tom noted. And good luck! jim somewhere near.. panic when he thinks about getting his shopping done. Maybe EVERYONE will just get the courier! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 09:25:21 EST From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] songwriter relics >> And wasn't Richard even playing "hard times come again no more" at a few of his more recent concerts? << Yeah, I recall him doing it at Hightstown. There's also a cool version of the song by James Taylor on the "Appalachian Journey" CD with Mark O'Connor and Yo-Yo Ma. RG ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 08:30:29 -0600 From: "Kristen Myshrall" Subject: Re: [RS] Nasal, revisited. Longish for no apparent reason. Hmmmm....sounds good to me :) >>>>>Does this mean we all need to listen to him singing with an ear pressed to his chest? <<<<<<< As for the nasalness....i like it....his voice has always been one of those amazing voices that gives me chills (of the good kind) ...i think it just makes him sound "not like everyone else" which is part of what I love about him. He has one of those sexy voices that resonates through you and what you're calling nasal to me is just individualism :) Kristen www.angelfire.com/folk/lucykaplansky .Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 09:42:39 -0800 (PST) From: Derek Fong Subject: [RS] Whew! better than the beanie cap... well, i don't know how Priority mail could have taken 8 days, but it did...fortunately, it was not a let down. (Smokey- those sugar bombs helped =) ). i got my copies of Courier and the Sonora Sessions yesterday. and in spite of spending most of the evening fixing my fiancee's car (minor stuff, but time consuming), i finally settled down in my audio room to give it a listen along with the Sonora Sessions EP. These are my first reactions (i plan to do my usual post of a detailed "audiophile review" sometime later) are: - - Richard is in good form on most tracks and i liked Lucy on many of the backing vocals. i do find there were certain tracks were i felt "more there" (ie at the concert) than others. i need to go back and compare which venue each song was recorded in. perhaps the mixing was different since there were different sources...or Richard was more "on" for a particular show... - - i agree that the EP may have some of the best material of the entire 2 CD set. Wisteria is fabulous (i'm biased since its one of my favorite tunes) - - i liked the Springsteen cover...i was surprised i liked it so much. - - Reunion Hill was a nice touch to add...could i tell it wasn't "truly live"? i think so, but of course, knowing before biases my senses. - - Courier was a great way to start the album. - - i like Memory of You as a song, but i'm not sure this version added anything new to my already recorded studio versions. ditto for Fleur de lis. BTW, someone asked earlier: i like both MOY *and* By Now...i think the latter is one of Richard's most amazing songs (no matter how sinister it is...) - - Next Best Western smokes the studio version...this feels much more intimate...still not up to the "solo" richard versions, i've heard, but this is an improvement. Kenworth is also an improvement over the studio version. - -overall, i love richard with just plain guitar...i know that was not the intention of this album but i still hope some day we'll see an album of just Richard and guitar with now accompanying band. - preliminary thoughts on the recording quality: - very good. not a superlative audiophile recording, but definitely high quality and significant a cut above Dar's Out there live on many counts. - it reproduces the live concert feel in many ways, but a certain kind of concert feel--one where you're sitting a few rows back and hearing the effect of the concert being miked and set over a PA system. Richard's voice sounds "processed" in this way much like one would encounter in a typical Richard concert of the past few years. on the other hand, i've had the distinct pleasure of seeing/hearing Richard "up close and personal" on several occasions including one very memorable concert years back at Club Passim where i sat 2 feet from the stage in front of Richard. - soundstaging is decent...great depth, but it could have used some more lateral extent (which on my system is amazing at times)...is this a channel separation issue? Ok, that's enough for now, i'll bore you guys with a detailed audiophile review [ie sonic merits of the disc] when i have more time to listen carefully. - -Derek ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #457 ***********************************