From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V4 #93 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, March 18 2002 Volume 04 : Number 093 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] SOTW Reunion Hill [jim colbert ] Re: [RS] RS vs Britney Spears [John Alvord ] [RS] woe is me ["Jessica Boyer" ] [RS] Re: You got me [LBECKLAW@aol.com] Re: [RS] woe is me [John Alvord ] [RS] brittany and richard [jim colbert ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:32:52 -0500 From: jim colbert Subject: [RS] SOTW Reunion Hill Ah, reunion hill. (smiles. stares to the horizon. begins to expound a bit..) I think this is, plain and simple, to my ears one of richard's finest pieces of work. Right up front, I gotta say I have loved every live version of this I have heard more than the studio version; my absolute favorite being the abandoned one recorded at the Emelin which was achingly slow. Such a beautiful, but relatively simple guitar intro (even it does't sound like rs or rg when i try it!) And I don't care for the joannie version of it, but that's a whole different discussion- her arrangement just doesn't move me like the richard version does. I've always kind of pictured reunion hill to be in maybe the mountains of north carolina, or maybe southernmost west virgina...definately "skyline drive" type country to me. I love the wistfulness, the reflection, longing and regret for the narrator's spouse, long-since gone off to battle. I have sometimes wondered, too, if the army that troops across her land was the same side her husband fought on. I never really thought of this for a long time, but then I thought, perhaps she just saw in those beaten and bloodied men, not an army, but men just like her husband regardless of whether their uniforms were blue or gray. My well is deep, my water pure... I see her simple love, untainted by time. She might remarry, but this was her true love, her lost love. The kind she never recovers from, to steal a phrase. She dreams a dream she will not share...perhaps because she has remarried (although I doubt it) or just because life is hard and there's precious little time to be spending on idle thought of days gone by when the winter's coming on, the wood needs chopping and there's still a few crops to be taken in... she replays those days often in her mind, but may not feel completely comfortable with such self-indulgence. The image of the hawk, soaring above is breathtaking to me...and it offers her hope, and comfort and familiarity, in it's daily routine. And to me it is still an anti-war song in the sense that it illuminates, through the abstract- as opposed to say, an Eric Bogle (and he's a helluva songwriter, don't get me wrong) song which might be very literal, direct and first person. Richard chooses not to beat us over the head with the declaration that war is bad...he puts it on a human level, and shows us a portion of sorrow and loss one person has suffered as a result of a war. And one other thing- good idea if you offer up the lyrics to a SOTW offering/suggestion. So here we have it: Must've been in late September When last I climbed Reunion Hill I fell asleep on Indian Boulder And dreamed a dream I will not tell I came home as the sun went down One eye trained upon the ground Even now I find their things Glasses coins and golden rings It's ten years since that ragged army Limped across these fields of mine I gave them bread, I gave them brandy Most of all, I gave them time My well is deep, the water pure My streams are fed by mountain lakes I cleaned the brow of many a soldier Dousing for my husband's face And I won't forget our sad farewell And how I ran to climb that hill Just to watch im walk across the valley And disappear into the trees Alone there in a sea of blue He circles every afternoon A single hawk in God's great sky Looking down with God's own eye He soars above reunion hill I pray he spiral higher still As if from such an altitude He might just keep my love in view Must've been in late September When last I climbed Reun(ion Hill I fell asleep on Indian Boulder And dreamed a dream I will not tell jim sc/bellefonte pa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 10:48:00 -0800 From: John Alvord Subject: Re: [RS] RS vs Britney Spears What is is. BS has certain attributes which appeal to a mass public. In 10 years who will remember. Modonna sold 15 million of some records now she sells 1-2million. so it goes. With RS, people that have heard Fishing will never forget it or him. The situation is the direct result of the mass market, which always votes for T&A and the Christians and the Lions. Try to alter that and you wind up with the dictatorship of the proletariat insisting that only certain art is correct... Or a king who will be overthrown eventually. john On Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:21:01 -0500, "Andrew Bonime" wrote: >Good points. To clarify, my question was not about quality, or about >relative merit. It was simply about recognition as is evidenced by sales, >concert bookings, and general interest in the press. There is something to >be said for the isolated artist whose talent transcends popularity. We all >know stories of artists who died penniless until one day the word caught up >with their talent. What I am asking here is simply whether anyone feels a >frustration that we have this gem of a talent that only we seem to know >about (granted the "We" is no small thing, but compared to the popularity of >the aforementioned BS, it is miniscule). What I want to know is whether this >frustration exists or are we all pretty happy with the way things are. > >Best, >Andy > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Scribbling Woman" >To: >Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 1:08 PM >Subject: Re: [RS] RS vs Britney Spears > > >> Since my "nickname" here makes reference to an issue similar in theme*, >I'll jump in here. >> I wonder if your question equates fame with success. I would argue that >fame is a goal and if it is the goal of both, than BS (um, that's Britney >Spears) would appear to have achieved a higher level of "success." >> I understand that there is "business" in the music business, and that a >certain level of record sales is important, but in terms of "music," RS et. >al are far more successful to me at this stage of the game. Perhaps I'd >have thunk differently about twenty years ago. >> >> *In the mid-1800's, Nathaniel Hawthorne couldn't sell his work, and in a >letter to his publisher, complained about the "damned mob of scribbling >women" who were enjoying great monetary success with their domestic fiction. >> >> >> Andrew Bonime wrote: Maybe this will get the group >talking: >> >> I was wondering how the group feels about the relative level of RS fame >vs. >> say that of Britney Spears. I'm not being crude here, I have two possible >> points of view: >> >> 1) We are happy that at RS' level of fame, we can fairly easily get >tickets >> and we can see him perform in relatively intimate settings. He can writer >and >> record under circumstances conducive to his art without the machine of a >major >> touring and recording commitments. but, >> 2) What do we think of a world that responds to acts like Britney Spears >on >> such a monumental level that knows little if anything about RS (or his >> talented associates like Lucy and Dar)? I sometimes wonder. >> >> BTW, this is not in any way a comment on RS' management. It is rather a >> comment on the music business and public taste. >> >> What does the group think? >> >> Andy >> ======================= >> Andrew Bonime >> andrew@bonime.com >> www.bonime.com >> www.cloudshine.com >> www.chudfacts.com >> Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:49:37 -0600 From: "Jessica Boyer" Subject: [RS] woe is me why, o why does richard never come to nashville??? we are lonely for his music and sadly deprived. is there a reason? does he bear a grudge against us in the music city?? i also noticed lucy kaplansky never tours here either. maybe it's a conspiracy.... jhesi ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:55:46 EST From: LBECKLAW@aol.com Subject: [RS] Re: You got me In a message dated 3/18/2002 1:21:52 PM Eastern Standard Time, owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org writes: > Look at the picture below and tell me what if anything is wrong. It > > > took me a few minutes to figure it out. > > > > Howie, I give up. What is wrong (besides the fact that to a mom of 2 preschool kids, it looks hauntingly neat and tidy, I mean).... Laura ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 10:59:07 -0800 From: John Alvord Subject: Re: [RS] woe is me On Mon, 18 Mar 2002 12:49:37 -0600, "Jessica Boyer" wrote: >why, o why does richard never come to nashville??? we are lonely for his >music and sadly deprived. > >is there a reason? does he bear a grudge against us in the music city?? i also >noticed lucy kaplansky never tours here either. maybe it's a conspiracy.... > >jhesi Lucy was at the Bluebird Cafe about two years ago... john ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:59:29 -0500 From: jim colbert Subject: [RS] brittany and richard The way I think many of us here see it, being a commercial success has absolutely nothing to do with artistic merit. Who was it that once said no one ever went broke underestimating the tastes of the American people? Ogilvy, perhaps? I see Brittany, plain and simple, as product. Not music, but product. It frightens me that she has made 38 million dollars this year. But hell, if it wasn't her it would be a different flavor of the month, y'know? It's ephemeral, but that doesn't mean it isn't lucrative while it lasts. The fact that richard is not endorsing Pepsi during the super bowl does not necessarily mean he's pining away in a lonely writer's garret, having to choose between a new set of elixirs or a few crusts of bread to give him strength for the concert at the doss house that night, though! After all, he is making a living doing something he appears to love and is incredibly good at. We should all be so fortunate! I am sure he would like to make more money- wouldn't most of us- and get his work out to a wider audience- and that's also likely true for most of the artists/songwriters/playwrights/creative denizens etc. on the list. Don't misunderstand, I wish only the best for richard and wholeheartedly support getting his music to a wider audience, translating into a better financial base, ensuring future releases, etc. I in no means want him to be a secret- and I'd like to think I've helped a little bit; I own at least one copy of everything, regularly give his music as gifts, and see him live every chance I get- and remember, i"ve never seen him without a three hour drive connected to the show. To me, the man certainly deserves to be well-rewarded for the music he creates. But I bet he would rather maintain his creative integrity than just plain sell out for the sake of moving more product alone, cause I'm sure he's talented and intelligent enough that he could be playing more mainstream stuff if it was entirely about money and the bottom line. Of course, artistic integrity doesn't make for much of a poster on a seven year old's wall, y'know? Anyway, that's my take on things. jpc sc/bellefonte pa and chuckling as he pictures rs baring his midriff and doing a dance remix of mary magdalene... ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V4 #93 **********************************