From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V5 #172 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Saturday, September 7 2002 Volume 05 : Number 172 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Bounced message [owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:12:41 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: "steve kisko" Subject: the slick divide I've been enjoying the "Nashville" discussion lately and, just so you all know, dp got it right (as she always does) when she explained the meaning lying deep, deep beneath the "sexual" surface of "the slick divide". "Nashville" is literally a dissection of the mixed feelings Liz had about herself and her own half-baked (as she saw it) first studio experience. "They don't know what they like so much about it" and "they just go for any shiny bauble" are clear references to the awestruck critics who championed Exile in Guyville in late 1993. The "you" in "nobody sparkles like you" is Liz herself, not some guy. In fact, the song is not about a romantic relationship at all, no matter how many times Liz repeats "I won't decorate my love." (I admit I still can't get my head around that line.) "Naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work" refers to, respectively, the emotionally unguarded, unprepared (amateurish?), just-getting-started (and-I-promise-my-second-album-will-sound-better) way in which she presented herself on Guyville. She's saying that if she were reviewing her own album, she would have written something along the lines of "there's potential here, but this girl's got a long way to go." Crazier words were never implied, but this is honestly what she thought. It's amazing that, after all these years, during which Liz went on record naming "Nashville" as one of two songs on Whip-smart in which she allowed herself to write about "what it felt like to be the next big thing [in the alternative rock world]", the implications of this song are still apparently out-of-reach for so many fans. Before you come back at me with the inevitable "Hey, it's art -- it's open to all sorts of interpretations and yours is no better than mine" line, I'd just like to point out that a song about newfound (and un-asked-for) fame is a lot more interesting -- especially when it's so eloquently executed -- than a song about somebody's vague feelings of "love". Moreover, most people who are serious about their own writing (especially when they choose to write about *something in particular*) will tell you that the "open to interpretation" concept is, like, bullshit. Offensive, even. Liz Phair always knew exactly what she was writing about, and in this case, so does "dp". - -sk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:13:54 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: Ginz Subject: Re: support-system-digest V5 #166 The new album is probably a good idea since it might encourage you to go see them live. I have The Hot Rock, which was played in its entirety before Liz's set at Crowbar back in 1999. Liz fans seem to like this one. Ginz > Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 15:47:46 -0700 (PDT) > From: Amber > Subject: not liz -- sleater-kinney > > If I were to buy one Sleater-Kinney album, which > would > you guys recommend? I have the All Over Me > soundtrack > with I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone on it. I love that > song. I was just wondering if there are big > differences of styles between their albums and which > album would be best for someone new to the band. I > know this isn't Liz related, but since everyone here > seems to share some of the same musical tastes I > thought this would be a great place to get advice. > (Especially since I haven't found any stores that > sell > any of their albums or anyone who's even heard of > them > around here!) > > Thanks, > *amber* ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:15:04 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: "Melany Helinski" Subject: Re: support-system-digest V5 #166 all hands on the bad one is my favorite sleater-kinney album thus far, though i haven't had one beat long enough. i love them. they're called sleater-kinney b/c, i believe, it's a street in washington state. something like that ... - --melany (long time lister--back in the guyville days, rare poster) ********************************************************** sometimes i see myself fine, sometimes i need a witness. ~dar williams ********************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:18:24 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: Ginz Subject: Re: support-system-digest V5 #152 Derek wrote: > I wish Liz would just get it over with, release an > album called _The Beach in Southern California is > Great (When You're Rich)_ with Sheryl Crow and Pete > Yorn doing guest vocals, and maybe Dave Matthews > playing guitar on the first single. That would just > let us all quit hoping that there's a glimmer left > of the quirky girl who made the best album of the > '90s. Man, that was ouch-ey! I have to agree, though I don't think it will happen quite that way. That new Sheryl Crow tune, "Steve McQueen" kind of makes me ill. If anyone else is in the room, I'll change the station out of embarressment. Can you say, Hollywood? Sheryl, why'd you ever leave Las Vegas? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:22:17 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: "shimmer shimmer like a trent should" Subject: Another SK article (no liz) From http://www.neumu.net/datastream/2002/2002-00086/2002-00086_datastream.sh tml Sleater-Kinney Imagine A Better World Born out of a post-Sept. 11 worldview, the upcoming Sleater-Kinney album, One Beat, due out Aug. 20 on Kill Rock Stars, holds out hope for humankind, challenging us to change both our thinking and our actions. (Check out Neumu's previous story, "Late Summer Release For Sleater-Kinney's One Beat.") "What if our lives were totally different? What if we could invent something brand new?" singer/guitarist/songwriter Corin Tucker asked as she discussed the album's title track at a Portland coffee shop, sharing a table with her two bandmates, vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss. "We could be on the brink of our world going a vastly different direction," Tucker continued. "Especially because of what happened with Sept. 11 and the ways the old machinery of the government clicked into place: 'Get those bombs ready, get your cars gassed out.' All of that old-time thinking was ready to go, ready to be in place." "Could I turn this place all upside down/ Shake you and your fossils out?" Tucker sings on "One Beat." The words flutter, tremble then fall from her mouth with fierce passion and urgency. "If I'm to run the future/ You've got to let the Old World go/ Could you invent a world for me?/ I need to hear a symphony." In the coffee shop she explained, "That song is, from the point of view of the invention, saying, 'I am the new possibility. I am the new generation and you would be so lucky if you would open your mind to me.'" Acknowledging such problems as the United States' oil-driven economy and its connection to the U.S. presence in the Middle East, Tucker is nonetheless hopeful that a new age will dawn. "Problems that we're faced with today are in some part because of that traditional thinking," Tucker said. "What if we could let go of this old way of living (and) put our energy into that instead of gearing up the military just like we've always done? And instead we used our thinkers and our scientists to help create a different mode of society?" Throughout their eight years together, Sleater-Kinney have been known for the thoughtful, often political, discourse within their noisy yet melodic punk-influenced rock. But the impassioned songs rumbling and shaking through One Beat might make it the most engaging of all Sleater-Kinney albums. "The idea of One Beat is the idea of holding onto that one thing we might have in common, which is hoping that things will get better and that we can do our part to try and make it better," Tucker said. "Why can't I get along with you?" Tucker wails, as if she's fallen to her knees in desperation on "Far Away," a song that refers to Sept. 11. "Turn on the TV/ Watch the world explode in flames/ And don't leave the house/ Don't breathe the air today." The 12-song album - produced by John Goodmanson at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Ore., this past March - balances the serious subjects of many of the songs with fun, catchy melodies and dance-y, occasionally funky rhythms. "['Step Aside'] was the last song we wrote for the album," Tucker said, "and it was a really collaborative process saying, 'We need a really fun song, a dance song.' We worked on it all together and then the lyrics came about in the studio. We all helped with the lyrics; Janet wrote some of the lyrics." "Two lines," Weiss said, laughing. Joking about last-minute studio prepping as they sat around the coffee shop's red, '50s-diner-style, chrome-legged table, Brownstein called Weiss "Dr. Lyric," deepened her voice to an ultra-serious tone like an ER doctor going into surgery and said, "I'm going in for five minutes, can you be here?" Getting serious, Brownstein described the thinking behind "Step Aside," which includes such lines as "These times are troubled/ These times are rough/ There's more to come/ But you can't give up/ Why don't you shake a tail for peace and love/ Move it up one time FOR LOVE/ JANET CARRIE CAN YOU HEAR IT/ Knife through the heart of our exploitation/ LADIES ONE TIME CAN YOU FEEL IT/ Disassemble our discrimination...." "In terms of the songs [on One Beat] that have to do with contemporary or current issues, it was the other end of the spectrum," Brownstein said. "It was much more of a call to arms or uplifting song. I've always thought those songs were funny; the ones that are about something serious but then they make it into a dance song - 'C'mon people, get happy! You're sad so shake your ass!'" "Like dancing in the streets - free your mind and your ass will follow," Weiss added. "Funkadelic was the master of that, writing these really sociopolitical songs as, like, shake your ass! Let's go crazy!" With vehement, lusty sounds set against poetic lyricism, Sleater-Kinney have been critics' favorites since the release of their second album, Call the Doctor, which included the underground "hit" "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone." The group has been on the cover of Punk Planet while being named "America's Best Rock Band" by Time magazine in 2001. Renowned rock critic Greil Marcus has championed them in such publications as Interview, Esquire and the New York Times. Moving from jagged, thrashing tunes to an increasingly polished and fuller, albeit still punk, music, the band has evolved while maintaining a unique sound that's instantly recognizable as Sleater-Kinney. Tucker's and Brownstein's guitars clash and mingle like noise and pop, Tucker's idiosyncratic wails quiver, hiccup and carry with soul. Weiss keeps the songs grounded with her masterful rock drumming. Founded in Olympia, Wash., in 1994, Sleater-Kinney have developed both as record makers and live performers. They've worked to keep things fresh. "I think it's natural to want to progress from one album to the next," Brownstein said. "When we started writing this album, we felt like, this is our sixth album, there's no reason to do anything similar to what we've already done. "We had no expectations, nothing hanging over us," she continued. "So, with each specific song, we challenged ourselves and spent a lot of time editing and sculpting the songs. There's no major motivation except just the internal sense of wanting to grow. "We used to rely heavily on the intuitive process, and that works and continues to work, but we realized our first idea wasn't always the best," Brownstein said. "So, we did a lot of rethinking on each song, going back and changing our parts if they didn't work the first time." Certainly One Beat's most touching, emotional song is the blues-inspired, stripped-down closing track "Sympathy." It was partially inspired by the birth of Tucker's son, who was nine weeks premature. "That song evolved as this really bluesy number," Tucker said. "When we wrote the music for it, it was a very different thing - I'm stuck outside myself and singing in this really bluesy, gutsy way. "When I started singing, it really connected on a personal level for me," she continued. "It's about spirituality and about being thankful for the things that are most important for you. It stems from my experience having my son, having it not be an easy thing at all - it was definitely a difficult time. But just being so thankful that he's a healthy guy and that my family is strong and together.... I think it's easy to take that for granted. It's something that all of a sudden there was a moment for me when I pictured losing the thing that is most important to me, and that was a very scary, scary thing." "I'm so sorry for those who didn't make it/ For the mommies who were left with a heartbreaker," Tucker sings, like an old '30s blues singer about to break down. "... Thanks for the love, for the joy, for the smile on his face." - Jenny Tatone [Friday, July, 12 2002] ___ "there was me, that is tony, and my droog, that is trent. and we sat in the korova kylie-bar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. the korova kylie-bar sold kylie-plus, kylie-plus-vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. this is what would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ULTRA-KYLIE... " - --Tony Cusumano inspired by Anthony Burgess ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 04:23:55 -0400 From: owner-support-system@smoe.org (by way of Jase ) Subject: Bounced message From: Lndsy@aol.com Subject: searching hello everyone. i've been searching all over for a boot from the lilith fair 99 in portland, oregon. if you have it or know where i can find it please let me know... thanks! lindsay ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 10:25:41 -0400 From: Catherine Roper Subject: Nashville > Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2002 15:32:03 -0400 > From: Catherine Roper > Subject: nashville >> >But I can't imagine it in better terms > >Than naked, half awake, about to shave and go to work ... >> i love this line. i can't put into exactly what this line means >to me, i've been trying but i keep deleting what i type. i guess >it just describes so vividly when you know it's real. you love >that person even in those moments when they are stripped naked of >everything - vulnerable. that is who they are and nothing more. >and you love them just that way. __________ >Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 07:01:37 -0400 >From: "Jennifer Sayler" >Subject: Re: support-system-digest V5 #170 >personally, i always took this line much more literally. Like >that moment after you wake up in the morning, when you are half >awake, and about to get up and leave. Its like a small mundane >piece of life that you are sharing with someone. That's the >"better terms" that Liz is talking about, imho. >Jenny ____________ Hi Jenny- I couldn't agree with you more. Like I said, I was having a hard time putting it into words but yes I do think she is talking about the actual event of waking up in the morning with a loved one. I guess what I was trying to say is that what could be more sobering in a relationship than that groggy, unclean, disoriented time in the morning. I'm not going to keep writing b/c I am not very articulate and I have a difficult time trying to explain myself but I just wanted to let you know that I agree with you completely.....I do think she literally means the waking up in the morning and getting for work, etc... Katie P.S. I just wanted to say that Jennifer Luu on this list ROCKS!!! Last night on her radio show she dedicated "Nashville" to me and it totally made my day. THANKS Jennifer! :D ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V5 #172 ************************************