Re: Old 97's clip
Now here's a Rhett quote tailor-made for Mr. Purcell: "The world always has more room for three-chord songs where the chorus gets repeated a lot," *grin* Summing up the style perfectly, I'd say. Me, I dig it, but I recall a conversation with Dave where he went off on exactly this tendency of the 97s'... Tom
Re: Hot Club Of Cowtown
On Mon, 26 Apr 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: New England Schedule: April 26 - 28 (Mon-Wed) Rodeo Bar10 PM (NYC) April 29 (Thurs) Johnny D's 9 PM (Boston) Kat in CT (Home is where you hang your @) So who's going to the Johnny D's show? Anyone want to meet up for supper and get a table? Tom
Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street
On Tue, 20 Apr 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Some of Wilco's new pop songs are OK, but overall I wasn't impressed by the new stuff. I can't see myself humming any of them in the shower, which is my simplest criterion for a good, catchy pop tune. Agreed. With the exceptions of "ELT" and "nothingsevergonnastandinmyway(again)", most of the new material had some trouble getting off the ground. I like the new album a lot, but my impression was that the band had to try *way* too hard to get the songs working on stage. Most of the renditions of the new songs were pretty close to the album versions, double keyboard parts and all (courtesy of Leroy, whose last name I didn't catch). My gut feeling is that trying to replicate the extremely studio-massaged nature of the newer songs on stage might not be the greatest idea. Those people who have seen or heard Tweedy's acoustic performances of "Via Chicago" and "She's A Jar" know how affecting those songs can be when they're stripped down and allowed to breathe a bit. I think the new material could benefit a lot from the same approach, perhaps even going so far as to eliminate the extra instrumentalist. To be fair, I'm sure the band is still learning their way around staging the new songs; even more to the point, I'm sure they're experimenting a bit with these shows, trying to shake out their material for the summer tours. There were also some sound problems at Pearl St., at least near the front; for the first four or five songs (all _Summer Teeth_ tracks), the keyboards and Jeff's voice were *far* too loud in the mix, to the point that a blast of organ from Bennett would drown out just about everything else. Most of the mixing problems were gone by the end of the evening, but as most of the _ST_ songs were near the front of the set, we might not have heard them at their best. Maybe Tweedy's getting road burnout, but for most of the evening, he looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere but onstage. I know life on tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer should at least try to look like they're having a good time? He did look pretty tired. I'm willing to write that off as a by-product of the strange zigzags the East Coast swing is taking, which necessitate a lot more road time than might otherwise be necessary. He finally broke out of his funk when he got pissed off at a couple of drunks in the front row. They wanted him to speed up "New Madrid", so he deliberately slowed it down to spite them. The rest of the audience got a kick out of it, and it was the most engaged I'd seen Tweedy all evening. I'm glad he said something to them; they'd been pretty obnoxious throughout the show. (From what I could tell, they'd driven down from Ottowa and presumably are following the band for a few shows at least.) Jumped up on stage to dance during "Hesitating Beauty", tried to put a hat on Jeff's head while he was playing (which he did *not* appreciate), pestered Jay to smoke more, threw t-shirts up on the stage...I'm glad they enjoy the band, but there's a fine line between being a fan and being a nuisance. Did anyone see why the security guy dove at one of them from across the stage during the encore? I think he was confiscating recording gear, but there were a couple of people in the way and I couldn't clearly see what was going on. Tweedy actually stopped the song completely: "You know, I don't care how fucking far you drove to see us. You don't give the band directions." Amen. Overall, it was a rough-edged but satisfying show; I'm looking forward to their Friday show at Boston's Avalon to see whether the new songs are improved by Avalon's generally excellent sound and lighting. Tom Stoodley
Re: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s
How about: Charlie Chesterman _Studebakersfield_ Sugar _Copper Blue_ Tom
Re: weird Muzak experiences - IRS
Geff wrote: I think we should take a P2 poll - find out a.) who's paying this year; and b.) who got or is getting a refund. People in Category b.) can buy the drinks tonight. Paid. Paid big time. Much deep hurting. Was in denial 'til I finally mailed the check yesterday. (Who knew that a sleepy little town like Andover could contain such evil? Well, evil other than Phillips Andover...) Somone buy me a ginger ale, eh? Tom
Re: Stephen Bruton's new one
On Thu, 8 Apr 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What makes you want to see someone live? Well, a line like this does it for moi! "when your gal ain't just a dish, she's a whole set of china,that's love" -- That's Love/nothing but the truth Granted, I was a fan already, but lines like "He was a fussy little kid/when it came to footwear" and any number of other odd lyrics on the new Gourds disc have me itching to see them again. Tom
Re: This time, there's a REAL Net Virus warning...
On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Don Yates wrote: Well, sure -- there ARE real computer viruses. Still, you can't get 'em (and that goes for this Melissa virus) by opening plain ol' email. You can only get 'em by opening attached files (like the Word file attachment that's spreading the Melissa virus). In other words, NEVER open an attached file (unless it's from a source you trust), and you'll never have to worry about gettin' computer viruses by using email.--don Ah, but that's the beauty of this particular virus - once it's in place, it propagates itself to people known to the owner of the computer it's infected. (The information I've seen so far suggests that it raids the address books of email programs, but it's possible that it uses other methods.) Thus, one has to be a little more careful than usual. If I saw a message from a coworker with an attachment claiming to be a document I requested, I might get infected- if: - I wasn't healthily paranoid about viruses and attachments; - I didn't scan downloaded attachments before opening them with their utility; - I didn't use a Macintosh. (Bwahahahahahaha! Not to start a platform war here, but I'm very happy that the vast majority of the world's bitter, alienated coders with a chip on their shoulder use Intel iron...) I think 'healthily paranoid' should be the watchword. Don't open documents directly out of your email program- save them to your disk and scan them first, using a frequently-updated virus utility. Proud proponent of seatbelts, condoms, firewalls, and virus scanners, Tom
Re: Cigar Store Indians
On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Tar Hut Records wrote: Rebecca Katic wrote: Has anyone ever seen this band perform? What did you think? Go. Seconded. I saw them a couple of years back at the Roxy in Boston, and they ripped the place up. Damn good stuff. Tom
RE: Fragile Jewel Cases
On Fri, 12 Mar 1999, Hill, Christopher J wrote: I don't think it's your imagination. Ryko's eye-catching green tinged cases break the most often for me, personally. That 'mats _All for Nothing_ clear 2cd case? Busted, by the fourth play. Ryko cases are the *worst*. I don't own a single Ryko case that's intact, and I've probably got dozens of Ryko discs. Most of them were broken from the day I brought them home Tom
Re: Recordable CD Players
On Fri, 5 Mar 1999, Brad Bechtel wrote: If you own a Mac, I'd recommend getting a copy of Adaptec Toast (version 3.5.6 is the most current). Heartily seconded. I picked up a La Cie 4x write/8x read CD-R unit for my Mac last week, and Toast (along with the Audio Extractor) is *really* easy to use. I've already done a full set of system backups, as well as burned a custom audio CD or two. All of them were easy and fast, with no problems at all. Making an audio CD, in fact, took less than an hour- you capture each individual track to your hard drive (which takes about 30 seconds per track, because computer CD/DVD drives read at a much higher speed than the audio CD standard) and then write the CD once all the tracks are captured and put in the proper order. Nothing to it. CD-R drives aren't super cheap (mine was under $300 with a 10-pack of discs), but I'm thoroughly impressed with mine, and the backup capability alone is worth the price. Tom
Re: Tweedy quote/alt.country
AMEN! Well said, Todd. Way to go... (I'm quoting Todd's message after this because it deserves to be read...) Tom ...who's heard a lot of cool music thanks to various P2ers but still can't get into country all that much. *grin* On Mon, 8 Mar 1999, Todd Larson wrote: In one respect, I'd add, Postcard 2 works as a sort of backlash receptacle for many people who are shit-sick of hearing about UT, Wilco, etc. Frankly, I'm shit -sick of hearing that my appreciation for UT, Wilco, etc. is just some youthful infatuation that I'll get over when I grow up and realize that alt.country was around before 1990. I can call my parents when I need to be patronized. I'm shit-sick of the implication that rabid fans of UT, Wilco, etc. lack "perspective" on the history of country-rock and its periodic resurgences (as if that really is necessary), that their love of these bands is faulty if not broadened by an understanding of country-music history (and alternative-country history). I'm shit-sick of the way reaction against the media-hype surrounding these bands slides so effortlessly into nasty backlash against the bands themselves. While I'm at it, I'm also shit-sick of the suggestion that these bands' popularity was purely a media creation, and that they had no merit on their own beyond the myopic adulation of the music press. And I'm shit-sick of people blaming these bands for the lack of attention paid to earlier alt.country performers. Uncle Tupelo causing other acts to be "'disappeared' from rock/country history" (to use Cheryl's phrase)? Please. Todd (Joined Postcard in 1994 as an Uncle Tupelo fan. Knew pretty much nothing else about country music or alt.country music. Spent the last five years trying to learn. Spends all money buying CD's recommended by Don Y. and Jon W. Still thinks Uncle Tupelo is among the best two or three bands ever. Someday may grow up and know better.)
Re: Covers and a defense of irony (long)
On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, lance davis wrote: Irony--for me anyway--is sort of like marijuana. You might wanna dip into the bag every now and then, but a lifestyle based on it is silly and boring. This, my friends, is the quote of the decade. And it's part of a great post as well- way to go, man... Tom np: my heart, beating rather loudly in my eardrums as the Surge *really* begins to kick in...
Re: The Eradication Game (Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)
I can't settle on one, but if I had to choose three bands to eradicate, I'd take KISS, the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones. Aim high, says I... Tom (cool! I can post again! damn merger screwed up my subscription...)
