From: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org (small-repairs-digest) To: small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Subject: small-repairs-digest V1 #81 Reply-To: $SENDER,small-repairs@smoe.org Sender: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk small-repairs-digest Friday, September 5 1997 Volume 01 : Number 081 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [s-r] Diana Princess of Wales - a personal view - NSC [Jim Fulton Subject: [s-r] Diana Princess of Wales - a personal view - NSC I wanted to share this with some friends rather than queue for hours to = sign the book of remembrance at St. James' Palace. My wife, Sue, organized a charity luncheon at the Cutler's Hall in = Sheffield with Diana Princess of Wales as principal guest. I met the = Princess, albeit only briefly and I was knocked out by the whole aura of = her person. For the first time in my life, I was at a loss for words and = she just laughed about it. Sue spent two hours with the Princess during a private lunch then = escorting her through the Green Room introducing her to the other = guests. It is amazing how the awful events of Sunday night have been felt around = the world and reading the letters on Shawn's page made me want to say = something to someone. We sat and listened to Shawn and Dar Williams last night and even dusted = off a few Joni Mitchell and Alan Stivel records from the 70's. I don't know any music lyrics which fit the mood of the moment, but I = would like to share this poem which I learned some time ago which I say = it to myself when I think of someone who is no longer on this Earth. Jim. Do not stand at my Grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle Autumn rain. When you awaken in the Morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my Grave and cry, I am not there, I did not Die. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 23:48:50 +1000 From: Neill Griffin Subject: [s-r] Shawn article in Rhythm's magazine Heyho, the following article appeared in the Australian music magazine Rhythms (Sep 97) and was penned by Jeff Jenkins. S H A W N C O L V I N It's February 21, 1990 and American singer-song- writer Shawn Colvin is sitting in a hotel room in Melbourne and crying. She's watching the 32nd annual Grammy Awards on television. Bonnie Raitt's career resurgence is beginning as she wins Album of the Year (for Nick Of Time) and three other awards. For Colvin, then 32, it gives her new hope, that, yes, this industry can recognise women over the age of 30. The very next year, Colvin was accepting a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording for her debut album, Steady On. But it's taken another six years and three albums for her talents to be recognised on the mainstream charts. But her first hit on the American Hot 100 is a biggie. Sunny Came Home, the second sin- gle from her latest album, A Few Small Repairs, debuted on the US charts at number eight after the airplay charts officially listed it as the most played song on American radio. After years of struggle, Shewn Colvin - who had been pegged as an "acoustic-folkie" - was a crossover smash. "You know life isn't too different," Shewn says. "It's fun and exciting to watch the charts, but we're still just touring a lot. But you know what, it's fun to play the song and get a big reaction. It's a rock star thing. "And all this jargon they use is pretty funny. 'Crossover'. Why you're doing well or why you're not doing well. It's a science to a lot of people, it has to do with demographics. But the interesting thing is that when a song starts to do well, all the radio formats start to like it. It's what you suspected all along - a good song is a good song." A couple of years after Tracy Chapman, a few years before Alanis Morissette, Shewn Colvin never quite fitted. She first got some attention by singing backing vocals on Suzanne Vega's breakthrough hit, Luka, in 1987. That helped her land a record deal with Columbia. She hooked up with guitarist, producer and co- writer John Leventhal for 1989's Steady On. They became a couple, but split before her second album, 1992's Fat City. In 1993. after doing many shows with Richard Thompson, Colvin married Thompson's tour manager Simon Tassano. The following year she issued an album of covers called Cover Girl. It looked like a bad move and a severe case of writer's block. But Colvin defends the album: "I didn't look at it as a professional move. Personally, it was just what I needed to do. It took the pressure off me writing and recording. I'm not a prolific writer. It sounds cliched, but I don't think I could have made this new record without having done that record." A Few Small Repairs (a line taken from Sunny Came Home) is an appropriate title because it came after Colvin, who is based in Austin, Texas, made some changes to her personal life and to her sound. Reunited with songwriting partner John Leventhal, the sound is a bit more pop and a bit less folk. And much of the album was inspired by her marriage breakup, in particular the stinging first single, Get Out Of This House. "Go jump in the lake, go ride up the hill/Get out of this house/It's a house of your making, it's a house of ill will/Get out of this house". No prizes for guessing what this song's about. "In the past, I've been very fair," Shewn says. "Fairness is important to me. But with this record I thought, 'fuck everybody, I'm not gonna be fair!' It's an over-the-top, pissed off song. It was fun. And women like it. It's a 'throw the bum out! song." The album features Colvin's most personal piece, If I Were Brave. In it, she wonders if she's just "a clown to entertain the happy couples". And she confronts the choice between having a career or children with "would I be saved if I were brave and had a baby?" "That song's a bare bones kind of deal. I think that sort of thing can work every once in a while, but I must admit I included it on the album with some trepidation. When you're that open, you fear that some people will think it's too much. But hopefully I'm not thinking of the audience too much when I'm trying to capture something. And, of course, I'm emotionally invested in the songs. I consider that to be part of my job. A Few Small Repairs also includes a track that Colvin wrote with Neil Finn. What I Get Paid For. It was a strange collaboration. Colvin is not even sure if Finn has heard the finished product. "I've only met him once, It the Q Awards in London. But I'm a huge Crowded House fan, and my manager put out the word that I'd love to work with him. He sent a tape with two or three unfinished things. And I finished that song (which was produced by Malcolm Burn). I faxed Neil, telling him what I'd done to the song, but I didn't hear from him. I assume he's heard the song, I'm not sure. It was a real honour for me to do a song with him." After more than seven years, Shawn is returning to Australia at the end of September. And this time around, she'll do a couple of gigs as well as the other promotional duties. Last time, she fell in love with the local slang. She remembers laughing when the record company rep said the car park was "chockas". And when she talks to Rhythms, there's once thing she wants to know: 'Do you still say 'dag'... 'Who's the dag?' Do you still say that?" Translation: Chockas = full (pron: chockers) dag = ask Alana :) np: Club Hoy - Thursday's Fortune - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 18:09:04 -0300 From: "MIKE SAMPSON" Subject: Re: [s-r] Shawn article in Rhythm's magazine Thanks Neil Always great to hear about Shawn from a downunder point of few. If I Were Brave is my personal favorite Shawn song. Really hits home on several fronts. Anyway thanks again and have a great day! Mike - -----Original Message----- From: Neill Griffin To: small-repairs@smoe.org Date: September 4, 1997 5:53 PM Subject: [s-r] Shawn article in Rhythm's magazine >Heyho, > the following article appeared in the Australian music magazine >Rhythms (Sep 97) and was penned by Jeff Jenkins. > > S H A W N C O L V I N > >It's February 21, 1990 and American singer-song- >writer Shawn Colvin is sitting in a hotel room in >Melbourne and crying. She's watching the 32nd >annual Grammy Awards on television. Bonnie Raitt's >career resurgence is beginning as she wins Album of the >Year (for Nick Of Time) and three other awards. For >Colvin, then 32, it gives her new hope, that, yes, this >industry can recognise women over the age of 30. > >The very next year, Colvin was accepting a Grammy for Best >Contemporary Folk Recording for her debut album, Steady On. But >it's taken another six years and three albums for her talents to be >recognised on the mainstream charts. But her first hit on the >American Hot 100 is a biggie. Sunny Came Home, the second sin- >gle from her latest album, A Few Small Repairs, debuted on the US >charts at number eight after the airplay charts officially listed it as >the most played song on American radio. After years of struggle, >Shewn Colvin - who had been pegged as an "acoustic-folkie" - was >a crossover smash. > >"You know life isn't too different," Shewn says. "It's fun and >exciting to watch the charts, but we're still just touring a lot. But >you know what, it's fun to play the song and get a big reaction. It's >a rock star thing. > >"And all this jargon they use is pretty funny. 'Crossover'. Why >you're doing well or why you're not doing well. It's a science to a >lot of people, it has to do with demographics. But the interesting >thing is that when a song starts to do well, all the radio formats >start to like it. It's what you suspected all along - a good song is a >good song." > >A couple of years after Tracy Chapman, a few years before >Alanis Morissette, Shewn Colvin never quite fitted. She first got >some attention by singing backing vocals on Suzanne Vega's >breakthrough hit, Luka, in 1987. That helped her land a record deal >with Columbia. She hooked up with guitarist, producer and co- >writer John Leventhal for 1989's Steady On. They became a couple, >but split before her second album, 1992's Fat City. In 1993. >after doing many shows with Richard Thompson, Colvin married >Thompson's tour manager Simon Tassano. The following year she >issued an album of covers called Cover Girl. It looked like a bad >move and a severe case of writer's block. But Colvin defends the >album: "I didn't look at it as a professional move. Personally, it >was just what I needed to do. It took the pressure off me writing >and recording. I'm not a prolific writer. It sounds cliched, but I >don't think I could have made this new record without having done >that record." > >A Few Small Repairs (a line taken from Sunny Came Home) is >an appropriate title because it came after Colvin, who is based in >Austin, Texas, made some changes to her personal life and to her >sound. Reunited with songwriting partner John Leventhal, the >sound is a bit more pop and a bit less folk. And much of the album >was inspired by her marriage breakup, in particular the stinging > >first single, Get Out Of This House. "Go jump in the lake, go ride >up the hill/Get out of this house/It's a house of your making, it's a >house of ill will/Get out of this house". No prizes for guessing >what this song's about. "In the past, I've been very fair," Shewn >says. "Fairness is important to me. But with this record I thought, >'fuck everybody, I'm not gonna be fair!' It's an over-the-top, pissed >off song. It was fun. And women like it. It's a 'throw the bum out! >song." > >The album features Colvin's most personal piece, If I Were >Brave. In it, she wonders if she's just "a clown to entertain the >happy couples". And she confronts the choice between having a >career or children with "would I be saved if I were brave and had a >baby?" > >"That song's a bare bones kind of deal. I think that sort of thing >can work every once in a while, but I must admit I included it on >the album with some trepidation. When you're that open, you fear >that some people will think it's too much. But hopefully I'm not >thinking of the audience too much when I'm trying to capture >something. And, of course, I'm emotionally invested in the songs. I >consider that to be part of my job. > >A Few Small Repairs also includes a track that Colvin wrote >with Neil Finn. What I Get Paid For. It was a strange collaboration. >Colvin is not even sure if Finn has heard the finished product. "I've >only met him once, It the Q Awards in London. But I'm a huge >Crowded House fan, and my manager put out the word that I'd love >to work with him. He sent a tape with two or three unfinished >things. And I finished that song (which was produced by Malcolm >Burn). I faxed Neil, telling him what I'd done to the song, but I >didn't hear from him. I assume he's heard the song, I'm not sure. It >was a real honour for me to do a song with him." > >After more than seven years, Shawn is returning to Australia at >the end of September. And this time around, she'll do a couple of >gigs as well as the other promotional duties. Last time, she fell in >love with the local slang. She remembers laughing when the record >company rep said the car park was "chockas". And when she talks >to Rhythms, there's once thing she wants to know: 'Do you still say >'dag'... 'Who's the dag?' Do you still say that?" > > > >Translation: Chockas = full (pron: chockers) > dag = ask Alana :) > >np: Club Hoy - Thursday's Fortune > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub >scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. >tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not >directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line >------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 00:30:49 -0500 (CDT) From: selisman@midway.uchicago.edu (Samuel Eric Lisman) Subject: [s-r] Tape Trade? Casey said it was okay to discuss it as long as any actual arrangments were done privately, of course, so...I'm looking to trade for "rare," "hard-to-find," and (to avoid euphemisms) slightly illegal Shawn tapes. Mini-discs are also good. I'm looking for live work, unreleased studio, or anything else for that matter. Let me know...privately. Thanks Casey. Sam "But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever." -- Edmund Burke "The Gods of the hills are not the Gods of the valleys." -- Ethan Allen - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 00:25:55 -0500 (CDT) From: selisman@midway.uchicago.edu (Samuel Eric Lisman) Subject: [s-r] Sister Wendy! I don't know if anyone posted this yet (my computer went down -- did you know that some SOB programed something into the Mac so that when a certain crash occurs it plays funeral music when you try to re-boot?) but Shawn's hero, Sister Wendy is schedualed for PBS this Sunday. Check your local listings, as it were. For those who have no idea what I'm talking (writing) about, you obviously missed the Small Repairs tour, where one of Shawn's stories was about Sister Wendy and the pubic hair. Sam "But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever." -- Edmund Burke "The Gods of the hills are not the Gods of the valleys." -- Ethan Allen - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ End of small-repairs-digest V1 #81 ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs-digest' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http ://www.tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line ------------------------------------------------------------------------