THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR

The Ben Folds Five Digest

Issue #354 - June 13, 1997



Magical Armchair Digest     Friday, June 13 1997     Volume 01 : Number 354



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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:

    Toronto question and Edge thing 
    another dream! 
    Ben's Jeff Buckley Comment
    again
    L.A. shows... 
    Conan Shmonan - Wot no NBC?
    hello and live tapes
    satanic
    cd in a wrong case / soundtrack to life 
    Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #336 
    Brick 
    Goddarn-no .......Goshdarn-yes 
    Re: Jenny McCarthy Show 
    Re: Conan performance, etc. 
    TEN 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 10:37:29 -0400
From: stuart@optics.rochester.edu (Howie Stuart)
Subject: Toronto question and Edge thing 

I have a question for anyone who was at the Toronto show (no,
I'm not looking for a tape :-).  There was a moment when Ben
was standing out in the middle of the stage, singing (I forget 
which song), and there was a roadie next to him fixing something.
I couldn't see what the roadie was doing (my view was blocked)
but when the roadie was done and had walked backstage, it 
appeared that Ben then intentionally knocked over the thing that
the roadie had just fixed.  Is this what happened?

Regarding previous comments about the mega-conglomerating and
corporatizing of commercial radio, all I can say is this:
stay left-of-the-dial and support your local college and public
radio stations (financially, spiritually, or however you wish).
Commercial radio will always put profits ahead of music in the
long run.  You may find an occasional commercial station that 
is willing to be adventurous, but take my word, it never lasts.

And, back to the Toronto show: it was great!  


Howie

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 10:47:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: PhairTwo@aol.com
Subject: another dream! 

wow! last night i had another dream (are you keeping track michael, this
makes two). this dream only had ben in it though. i was at some sort of
casual concert in a hotel lobby with this old guy who played the guitar and
some other guy and then ben joined in. after the set was over, ben sat in
front of us by himself. he turned around and said, okay and started signing
autographs. he signed mine first and i talked to him about how i've listened
to bff for about 1.5 yrs and i was on the armchair and he kind of ignored me
or brushed me off, which i thought was weird because everyone on here talks
about how nice he is. then he went on to sign autographs for my family, which
i thought was unfair since all they do is complain about how much bff i play
on my stereo. anyway, then i lost track of what happened for a while, but
from what i remember, i had followed ben out to a van to help him carry some
equipment and we started talking again. for some reason, i thought he had
graduated from my rival high school, raytown south (i graduated from
raytown). so i was talking to him about how that talk show guy mancow
graduated from south too (he really did). then ben started telling me about
how south was so much better than raytown because he, mancow, and geoge
castanza graduated from there. after that, i don't remember what happened. so
i guess that's my dream. 

on another note, i saw bff on conan and i thought they could have been a
little more crazy. they were very conservative. and i watched jenny mccarthy
last night, and some african singer was on there, not my boys! anyway, this
post is quite long enough i think. anyone going to horde at sandstone (in
kansas), please e-mail me so we can decide how (or if we want to) find each
other.

- -bess

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 97 10:41:19 EDT
From: Chris McCormick <U410001@VM.SC.EDU>
Subject: Ben's Jeff Buckley Comment

Good stuff for Ben to call the Edge on their tasteless exploitation of Jeff
 Buckley's early end.  (And his dad died at 28 in an accident...)  Sometimes
 I just get really depressed that someone so talented can be robbed of the
 the chance to create for years to come.  I know this is not exactly BFF
 content, but if I were to send in a top ten, Buckley would be right up near
 the top of it, and ANYONE who hasn't heard his album _Grace_ should go out
 and buy it NOW.

   Thanks for listening, Chris

 PS- Now that they've restored "Rhapsody in Blue" to its original [longer]
   length, does that mean that the end of "Philosophy" will be longer, too?
   Heh.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 12:14:39 -0400
From: "Michael Beam" <hardhead@underworld.net>
Subject: again

Well hello--

Since so many people are introducing new BFF web pages I'll re-introduce ours (lots of work has been done)--http://www.underworld.net/bff, we still have more news, links, an info section, discography and more multimedia (which there isn't much around) to go but I think the site's lookin' pretty good and has quite a bit of content.  Please leave a message on the bulletin board or mail or somethin ;p

I think after a few more days/week we should have the base done...

The Conan apperance was pretty good...well they weren't as good as they were at bogarts but they did pretty well :).  We'll have that up on our site in realaudio soon :) O and BTW I got a promotional copy of One Angry Dwarf (It's only got the album version and the shitless version (edited)).  It's got a real cool cover with all the boys dressed up like nerds.  I'd love to see the Kate album and BFF on Jenny tonight.

Later on,
Michael J. Beam
hardhead@underworld.net
administrator for the underworld networking systems 

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 97 09:40:27 PST
From: "Hilary Griffin" <hilary_griffin@studio.disney.com>
Subject: L.A. shows... 

     New to the list -- I live in L.A.,  but I have trouble keeping up with 
     live shows - I would be forever grateful to anyone who could let me 
     know when Ben is playing in the So. California area (I would even 
     drive to Santa Barbara or San Diego...)
     
     I saw BFF at the Paradise Theatre in Boston on 5/27/97 (is that the 
     same "Paradise Theatre" of Styx fame?? Oh god, I'm dating myself!). It 
     wasn't their best show, as they had just flown in from Japan (I had a 
     bad feeling when Ben made the caveat about suffering from jet lag...), 
     but the energy generated by their audience was infectious, and carried 
     them through (my friend John called me a dork when I yelled 
     "NOTHING!!!" through cupped hands to Ben's query in Jackson Cannery. 
     Someone defend me, PLEASE.) Even suffering from jet lag, their 
     harmonies were so tight and brilliant. 

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 15:47:23 +0100
From: Chris Platts <chris@the-shack.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Conan Shmonan - Wot no NBC?

Hi, digesters.

First time post!.  Yeah.  
The news that BFF were on Conan isn't too welcome.  
Y'see, over here in the UK, we only get to see shows
like that on Cable... and just a couple'a weeks ago,
NYNEX, decided to stop broadcasting NBC. Shit.  
So, I missed out on one of these rare BFF telly 
performances.  But I *did* see 'em on TFI Friday
playin' Kate..... loved it. 

~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~		
Chris						"Everyday she wears the same thing	
    	                                       	            I think she smokes
pot
mail:  chris@the-shack.demon.co.uk		She's everything I want
www:  http://www.the-shack.demon.co.uk	She's everything I'm not"
~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~-_-~		-- "Kate"  Ben Folds Five

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 10:12:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lila Tene <lolly@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: hello and live tapes

  This message is in MIME format.  The first part should be readable text,
  while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.
  Send mail to mime@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info.

- --0-1900379090-861368059=:13257
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-ID: <Pine.PTX.3.95.970612094936.16288G@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>


hi,

I'd like to briefly introduce myself and then proceed to grovel
for live tape trades.

My name is Lila and I've been a fan for 8 months or so now. 
Shortly after I first heard their music Ben Folds Five quickly 
and violently climbed up the pecking order of musical artists 
that I love, and now they've settled at a comfortable number 2.
I've seen them live twice (sort of), once opening for the Counting
Crows in Berkeley (where I was lucky enough to meet the guys), and
once in a club in Providence RI about two weeks ago. Which brings 
me to my present predicament:

I really really really want Ben Folds Five live material!

but I don't have any to trade, except for the B-side material,
but most of you probably already have that. I have lots of stuff by 
other artists, including Tori Amos (LOTS of stuff), Sarah McLachlan, 
Jewel, Sting, They Might Be Giants, Dave Matthews Band, REM, and more. 
I'd also be happy to do the 2-for-1 trade thing, or the i-pay-for-
tape-and-postage type deal.

if anyone thinks they might want to trade with me please e-mail me!

thanks,

Lila 



- --0-1900379090-861368059=:13257--

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:00:05 -0600
From: "Erik C. Lyons" <EPA8820@epa.state.il.us>
Subject: satanic

On conan, Ben says:

Girl, it's been a long time since You've been a round

or something like that. . .the end is kinda mumbled

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 03:47:43 +0900
From: chiori-t@ppp.fastnet.or.jp
Subject: cd in a wrong case / soundtrack to life 

dave-o-tron 5000 wrote:
>the new KATE single, which SAYS on the front
>"include's 'bad idea', and some other song" but in fact has Kate, Michiline
>Drive (my new fave), and ben and the boys screwing around to Elvis' "all
>shook up" (they don't know the words.)

It happened to my new Kate singles too. They were in wrong cases.
Your single must have orange-colored jacket. There's another single with
a blue jacket which includes "Bad Idea" and "For All The Pretty People".

I'm afraid to write this (coz everyone else would say 'don't piss me off')
but your new fave song is "Mitchell Lane" composed by Darren and sung by Ben on CD.
(which was first played in public probably in Tokyo, where Darren did the vocal)

Anthony wrote:
>(snip)an album, or a soundtrack to life
>Angry Dwarf-bullying in school	
>Fair i'm not too sure about but it really starts with(snip)
I'm impressed how true it is! I definitely agree with this! (it may not be kind
of thing which to be agreed or disagreed....)

Just my $.02.
chiori =)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 15:42:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: JoanneQ@aol.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #336 

Brothers in Armchairs. That's cute!

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:06:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: HAPPYKEN@aol.com
Subject: Brick 

I think it's about a guy who gives his girlfriend AIDS, but I'm not sure...
the pregnancy thing might work too.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:26:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Phishrman1@aol.com
Subject: Goddarn-no .......Goshdarn-yes 

Whoever said that ben said goddarn is mistaken....He really said goshdarn
which made all the better!!!!!


- -jared

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 17:19:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Julsco1@aol.com
Subject: Re: Jenny McCarthy Show 

Hi ya all,

I was just wondering when BFF will be on the Jenny show on MTV?  Everyone
said it was going to be last night and they were not on.  I think someone
named Erukah Badyu or something like that was.

Also,  did anyone tape Conan on Tuesday night.  I thought it was for
Wednesday night and had my VCR said it instead got SEven Mary Three.  Can
anyone help me out?

Lastly, I am in need of live BFF tapes.  I have a few to trade on the way.  I
could supply blanks and postage or I have alot of God Street Wine, Grateful
Dead, and Jerry Garcia Band.  Also, some Medeski Martin and Wood and Bruce
Hornsby.  If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
S.J.

email me at julsco1@aol.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 17:43:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: DEMesserly@aol.com
Subject: Re: Conan performance, etc. 

>I saw them on Conan last night and while I was psyched to see them, I
>was a bit disappointed in their lack of enthusiasm ... but alas Ben had to 
tone down his 
>"Franklin fuckin' Mint" to
>"Franklin gosh darn mint".

This may sound ridiculous, but I could have sworn he said Franklin 
"Gottschalk" Mint (Gottschalk, as in 19th century composer of music for 
the piano).  OK, now that I think of it, that's really silly  ...

Otherwise, I was also a bit disappointed (perhaps just because their 
performance at First Ave last week was so phenomenally energetic that the 
TV appearance was a bit slow by comparison), but I like BFF no less for 
it.  And what a SHIRT Ben was wearing!  Wooo!

BTW, I've been curious about one thing.  Can anyone shed some light on 
this:  I'm trying to figure out which harmony parts Darren & Robert sing 
... do they stick to a Robert = high parts and Darren = low parts or vice 
versa? (Sorry if this topic's already been discussed, but I am still 
relatively new to the MA.)  Am I crazy in thinking they switched parts 
for the Conan show?  I don't know; their harmonies just sounded 
'different' to me.

One last thing:  how much crossover is there among the Magical Armchair 
Mailing list, the Ben Folds Five Message Board on AOL and 
alt.music.ben-folds-five (<- does anyone post there?)?  This list seems 
by far like the best format for discussion, but I don't always have time 
to check all 3 places, and I dont like to miss out on any news.

DM

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 18:11:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Folds5@aol.com
Subject: TEN 

So, I'm weak, I'm a follower, I have to be part of the crowd, I refuse to
have a mind of my own ! Dammit !

In no particular order:

Sarah McLachlan       Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Pincushion                Maggot
Bob Marley                Legend
Ben Folds Five           Ben Folds Five
10,000 Maniacs          In My Tribe   
Led Zeppelin               Led Zeppelin
Ben Folds Five           Whatever...
S.O.D.                       Speak English or Die
Misfits                        Legacy of Brutality
Depeche Mode           Violator

------------------------------

End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #354
**************************************


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