From: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org (small-repairs-digest) To: small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Subject: small-repairs-digest V2 #184 Reply-To: 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, August 14 1998 Volume 02 : Number 184 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [s-r] [NSC] Patty Griffin the pizza girl [BigHAIR844@aol.com] Re: [s-r] [NSC] Patty Griffin the pizza girl [Kat McLeod From the suicidal adolescent in "Tony," through an emotionally abused housewife in "Change," to the isolated, ivory-towered heiress in "Christina," Griffin's coolly detached character studies could only have coalesced in silence, in the ability to pay close attention to the conversations of others. The youngest of seven kids, Griffin says she learned how to keep mum from an early age. And she stayed hushed right up to the splintering of her marriage in '92, when the diminutive --but megaphoned-voiced -- redhead began venting her frustration throughout song. The psychology of this transformation never ceases to awe her. "One of the reasons I do music is because I'm shy. And if you're shy, you don't talk much, and if you don't talk much, you're kind of inarticulate, you can't really express yourself well in a conversation. So a lot of the inability to listen, I think, is the fear of not being heard. And because of the way our society is set up and running now, there's not a lot of compassion out there for individuals, and people are in desperate need of talking and expressing themselves." Which tramples precious attentiveness under foot, she believes. "I don't know how many times I've sat in a group of adults --all grown people-- where they're constantly interrupting each other and never letting each other finish, just a constant battle. I get stressed out just *thinking* about it." But 34-year-old Griffin -- like many an ex- food server-- knows the power of assertiveness. While her Living With Ghosts debut was soft-sung tentative, Flaming Red cranks up the guitar amps to put some jangly juice behind such visceral metaphors as "Dog comes howling up behind you, sinks his teeth in your leg/ Tells you how now things are going to be a little different/ And he takes you down a peg." And it's like this, explains Griffin, who terms her compositions "musical farts": "I don't set out to learn certain things --I just have a process going on inside myself, and I follow those thoughts until the songs just pop out and articulate things for me. Then I can learn things for my songs." Slinging the pizza also taught Griffin two more priceless lessons: One, the value of hard work ("I can really keep at my career now, because when you're waitressing, you can end up on your feet for 10 to 12 intense hours"). And two, when a customer has finally pushed their luck too far, the sheer joy of food-tampering revenge. Griffin cackles with raspy glee at the thought. "I've sent quite a few doggie bags home with some nasty extra things in 'em.! And I, uh, did some other things during my waitress years that I'm, uh, not too proud of. But you know what?" She suddenly brightens. "I was just thinking the other day about how glad I am that I took that job, because I really, *really* learned a lot." ========================= Makes you think twice about complaining about your food, yes? "Musical farts"? I'm dyin laffn. :) ~jean aka bH, victim of a severe hair reduction, who, with her new hair disposition, can now start a rock group called the Spike Girls. Where'd all this gray come from? Quick note to John Gregg: I've no chance at winning the Something About Mary Big Hair Contest now... but thanx for telling me about it! :) Lindsey & Anna-- Thanks for the Xena story from a while back. :) Thanks to everyone who emailed me about my pepsi bottle caps. Alas... still no luck. Jenn? I'm counting on ya! ;) Neil? I owe you email -- haven't forgotten. Austinites, get your neil finn tix! Now Playing in a lovely 5-CD Shuffle: Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians - Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily The Story - the ANGEL in the HOUSE Van Morrison - Moondance - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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, 14 Aug 1998 09:29:29 +1000 From: Kat McLeod Subject: Re: [s-r] [NSC] Patty Griffin the pizza girl BigHAIR844@aol.com wrote: > DISCLAIMER: > No dolphins were injured in the creation of this document. I see.... *somebody's* been watching too much Xena havent they? ;) ok, ok... correction - how about "many episodes in rapid succession of" Xena, since we ALL know there's no such thing as too much... hehheh... Kat... who is now recovering nicely (kinda) back home down under from her mission to the usa to personally harass as many small-repairers and their kin as possible, and who also still can't believe she booked her flight out of telluride the day of MCC's show... if you're gonna be stoopid, at least take as many people as you can with you, i always say (heheh... oh sara? still talking to us?) ;) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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, 13 Aug 1998 18:04:17 -0700 (PDT) From: petersns@whidbey.com (Petersons family) Subject: Re: [s-r] [NSC] Patty Griffin the pizza girl > >Thanks to everyone who emailed me about my pepsi bottle caps. Alas... still >no luck. Jenn? I'm counting on ya! ;) Hey... which bottle cap do you need? Lindsey's little brother is collecting them, and I think he has "there". (He thinks he's going to win the trip to L.A.) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 V2 #184 *********************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------