THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #358 - June 16, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Monday, June 16 1997 Volume 01 : Number 358
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
help
Lord Satan and the WBCN River Rave
Ben Folds Five @ First Ave June 4th, REViewed...
last polka
BFF Address?
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
RE: Armchairites Prepair Yourselves!!!
sister song?
BFF on conan
Re: reply to armchairs beware
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
Magical Armchair Digest V1 #343
#BFF
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #350
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 18:06:03 PDT
From: "Russell Dauberman" <one_angry_dwarf@hotmail.com>
Subject: help
Hello!
I've changed e-mail addresses and like a moron forgot to write down how
to subscribe to the armchair!
Would some kind soul write me and let me know how to sign my new address
back up?
Thanks, and I promise I will not put a top ten on the list!!!
mailto:one_angry_dwarf@hotmail.com
Russell
- ---------------------------------------------------------
Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
- ---------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 21:44:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: FineExampl@aol.com
Subject: Lord Satan and the WBCN River Rave
i just went to the mother of all music festivals in this hemisphere!! the
WBCN River Rave was such a blast let me tell you!!! i am a NJ guy and flew
in for the gig!! i hada blast!!! i got to see the Bosstones and Matthew
Sweet and one of my other all time faves the Gigolo Aunts!!
i geuss it has nothing to do with Ben other than the fact that while in
Massachusets i picked up the two Kate CD singles! i don't care what any of
you say! they are spectacular picks for Bsides!! what do you want, perfect
song?? they didnt make the full release cuz they weren't perfect!! i for
one appreciate that!!
ok, just to tick off Maynard i am gonna finally add my own top ten! just
kidding Maynard, i love ya guy!!
1. Dramarama - Cinema Verite...and the whole catalog actually
2. Ben Folds Five - S/T
3. Gigolo Aunts - Flippin' Out...and all the EPs
4. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
5. The Dambuilders - Encendedor
6. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Devil's Night Out...and the rest
7. King Chango - >..cc
8. Ben Folds Five - Whatever And Ever Amen
9. The Dambuilders - Ruby Red
10. Jellyfish - Bellybutton and Spilt Milk
ok, so sue me!
oh yeah, a friend of mine just gave me a middle C tshirt with "to John, from
Ben" written on it!!! i'll never wear it!!
always,
JOhnny VEGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 20:47:46 -0500
From: holmstd@ssu.southwest.msus.edu (Madness can be groovy...)
Subject: Ben Folds Five @ First Ave June 4th, REViewed...
Ben Folds Five came to the First Avenue mainroom on June 4th to throngs of
fans, young and old, freely discussing the band and taking the posters for
souvenirs.
The setlist I ripped off the Piano monitor says this, and I'll fill in the
part where it changed...
missing
kate
battle
polka
selfless
brick
steven
smoke
pretty people
philosophy
"down since day one" / Root Down rap xcerpt???
pyser
emaline
fair
uncle
comments about the demise of REV 105...SEE BELOW for URL of sample!
dwarf
underground
___________
jelly
dumped
Containing more energy, if you can imagine that, than the show everyone's
got on tape from the Entry more than a year ago...this one let the boys cut
loose and really experiment.
Missing The War was a very somber way to make an entrance, wringing all the
emotive seventies-vox from it, the boys kissed the crowd, a relaxed way of
thanking us all for coming, if you will.
Kate drew the shrieks from the youngsters. The place started bouncing, and
the song came by faster live, if that seems possible. Battle was more
vocally alive, he spiced it up a bit by playing with the dynamics.
Last Polka found many of the youngsters who bounced to Kate with their
mouths hanging open. Couldn't help but gloat when i saw that. With all
the quiet-then-loud that this song does so well, it made the transition to
the Ave's stage flawlessly. Pounding the keyboard with the bench and his
elbow, Ben's attack on the piano is the stuff dreams are made of.
Selfless, Cold, and Composed, found Ben more emotional than Brick did, and
for Steven's Last Night In Town, we got to see him standing at the mic for
the first half, playing that funky little wind-driven half-accordian
keyboard. A Klezmer or whatever...it was nice to see him playing it and
the piano at the SAME TIME.
Smoke found him actually strumming the keys with the microphone and his
hand while playing with the other and singing at the same time. As a
student who never could make the piano his appendage, I watched in awe.
Pretty People seemed like another instrumental barrage, and it let the boys
stretch out and fuck shit up.
Philosophy took the energy higher yet, but then a small dab of chaos
occurred. (This might not be the exact moment when it happened, but I
remember WHAT better than WHEN...) The boys went nuts. Ben stood on the
piano with the rap "i've got some things to say about your mother that you
might not like..." and more. Robert pulled the plug from his bass and
tapped it on the strings for a bassy feedback buzz-solo, and ben and the
boys chanted a lyric "been down since day ONE", as the place was full of
hip-hop style bouncing partygoers.
Following was Dr. Pyser, a slick Tv-Theme type of thing, loungey and
schmoov. He introduced "a song left off our first album because it had a
guitar in it" and played Emaline to my shouts of "Tom and Mary"...
Fair was rather routine, and Uncle Walter again got a little more musically
daring, and Ben then had some things to say...you can hear it here...
http://squish.radparker.com/radio/bf5.qt
or for those who can't, i have downloaded it and here's most of what he said...
"It's really good to be back here in MPLS, honestly one of our favorite
places to play because it was one of the first places we could come and
play...
We're lamenting the demise of your radio station, REV 105, it's too bad.
Which radio station is it...with the guy this morning insulting one of the
greatest singers of all time-Bob Dylan-?
93.7? Do they play us? Well I hope they don't play us!"
(((FYI, 93.7 Edge is part of a conglomerate headed by Disney who own and
operate most of the youth-oriented stations in the area. A wonderful
community station called REV105 was brutally sold to them and the staff
were kicked off the air in mid-shift one day by the Edge-ites. REV was one
of the first stations in the country to air BF5, Soul Coughing, Squirrel
Nut Zippers, Semisonic, Golden Smog, Son Volt, and many others...)))
They went into One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solumn Faces then, rather pointed
with the previous dialogue, and slammed the shit out of it...ben beat the
piano within an inch of any life it had, and his hands were again ablur
with the pace of the song.
They closed with Underground, original lyrical intro, albeit drawn out with
Robert smoking and much added emphasis here and there.
The encore was comprised of She Don't Use Jelly, a swingy loungey cover of
the flaming lips cut, which ben said will be on a comp this summer called
"Loungeapalooza" or something.
They ended with Song For The Dumped, proving that even a soundtrack cut
released a year before the album can be one of it's strongest cuts. The
energy given in the performance was fittingly grounded and everyone felt
like they got what they had came for.
I ambled forth and nabbed the setlist and ben's waterbottle for my brother,
and i fervently await the boys on HORDE this summer.
- -dAv, hol (Isis Soothsinger on ISCABBS)--=--Some Of Wot I Diggeth:
SoulCoughing Jellyfish BenFolds5 O(+> ToriAmos Beck SmashingPumpkins
SquirrelNutZippers Judybats HarryConnickJr Extreme Semisonic Ween
Weezer TMBG IndigoGirls BrendaKahn * SpiderRobinson PeterDavid
RobertAntonWilson RichardBach RobertAHeinlein TSEliot MarxBrothers
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 22:07:51 -0400
From: Evan Chakroff <chakroff@ee.net>
Subject: last polka
> Anyway, most of my favorite songs come from the first CD. Everyone's
>favorite song (well.. it seems the media's favorite song) Battle of Who
>Could Care Less is the sister song to The Last Polka. I actually prefer
>the Last Polka because it DOES have more emotion in it. And lets just not
>forget Philosophy and Best Imitation.. they don't get any better than that.
no, it was Missing The War... not BoWCCL
For my two cents, I think Whate3ver is much more emotional than the s/t...
it is more musical... but I still love the first one.
- -ec
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:19:57 -0400
From: David Della Bitta <ddel4695@uriacc.uri.edu>
Subject: BFF Address?
Howdy! :)
At the end of the Jenny Mcarthy show they said that the album is best heard
at their house, so why not stop by.
Well.. I was thinking.. I'm driving right by Chapell Hill on my way to
Atlanta (from Rhode Island).. so.. anyone have their address? I realize
that they probably wont' be there (since they're on tour and such) but I
would also just love to see the place and perhaps leave a note.
Don't need directions.. just the address will do. :)
*cross fingers*
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:30:09 -0400
From: David Della Bitta <ddel4695@uriacc.uri.edu>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
>
>> Anybody else seen them in multiple states?
>
>Vermont and Missouri for me... and looking to add more to the list...
>
Rhode Island and Penn. Trying to add NY to that list but I don't know if I
can get someone to go down with me to keep me awake driving on the way
back. :)
Dave Della Bitta
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:46:04 -0400
From: David Della Bitta <ddel4695@uriacc.uri.edu>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
>Why is it that no one has posted to alt.usic.ben-folds-five yet?
>
>Megs :~)
I tried to find this group on my newsserver, but it didn't exist.
Does it really exist, or are you just fooling around with our niave minds. :)
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:50:55 EDT
From: jelly_the_bean@juno.com (Jessica J Woletz)
Subject: RE: Armchairites Prepair Yourselves!!!
> Here is my second thought: I picked up BFF self-titled today, and I was
> kind of dissapointed, I feel that most of the songs on the album don't
have
> the feeling, or melody of Whatever, however I like the album because I
feel
> it is in the same ballpark as Whatever. Anyone else feel the same??
> (P.S I love the song Alice Childress)
I know that everyone's been responding to this saying that the first
album IS good and has feeling too and everything, but I guess I can see
what you are saying. Not that I feel that way NOW....I love the first
album more than the second one now. It's just that when I FIRST got the
first album after having the second, I liked the second one more. I
think you just have to listen to it enough times and it will grow on you.
I think that all cd's grow on you from when you first hear them. I have
a feeling that in a little while you will think the first cd IS better
than the second, like everyone else! : ) That's just my opinion, I don't
know if it made any sense!
Jessie
Email me at: Jelly_the_Bean@juno.com OR bnl_bff_tmbg_fan@rocketmail.com
OR woletz@prodigy.net
you're such a beautiful freak / i bet you are flying inside
- -beautiful freak
sometimes it feels like i'm made of eggshell / and it feels like i'm
gonna crack
- -guest list
~~~~~~~~~~eels~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:00:35 -0500 (CDT)
From: William Christopher Kane <kanew1@mies.wustl.edu>
Subject: sister song?
> Everyone's favorite song (well.. it seems the media's favorite song)
> Battle of Who Could Care Less is the sister song to The Last Polka.
i swear i remember reading somewhere that MISSING THE WAR was the sister
song to THE LAST POLKA...
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 23:59:25 -0500 (CDT)
From: William Christopher Kane <kanew1@mies.wustl.edu>
Subject: BFF on conan
ok, so a bunch of you have posted about your favorite parts of the conan
performance:
...so you think rockford files is cool, BABY...
...why don't we pitch it to the franklin GOSH DARN mint...
the satanic voices... (ok, maybe not a favorite part, but an interesting
one)
did anyone else get a kick out of the look ben gave the camera right as he
said "CURE"? (you know, from "you're all dressed up like the cure...") i
sure did, i'll tell you what...
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 01:22:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: SteveJG22@aol.com
Subject: Re: reply to armchairs beware
In a message dated 97-06-14 09:54:16 EDT, you write:
<<
Here is my second thought: I picked up BFF self-titled today, and I was
kind of dissapointed, I feel that most of the songs on the album don't have
the feeling, or melody of Whatever, however I like the album because I feel
it is in the same ballpark as Whatever. Anyone else feel the same??
(P.S I love the song Alice Childress >>
Funny you should say this because iwas not that into WEAEA the first time i
listened to it , but i fell in love with the self titled right away . give it
some time and listen for the personell stories and relate them to your own
life.
Well it is but 10days to the smmer stage show see you all there.
steve
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 97 12:00:30 -0500
From: "Scott A. Schneider" <echo@msn.globaldialog.com>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #357
> Anyway, most of my favorite songs come from the first CD. Everyone's
>favorite song (well.. it seems the media's favorite song) Battle of Who
>Could Care Less is the sister song to The Last Polka. I actually prefer
>the Last Polka because it DOES have more emotion in it. And lets just not
>forget Philosophy and Best Imitation.. they don't get any better than that.
Actually... I believe Missing the War was stated as the "sister song" to
The Last Polka.
scott
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 17:59:19, -0500
From: NPPD80C@prodigy.com (MR KEVIN FEINSTEIN)
Subject: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #343
Thank you so much for your newsletter, but I think it's time to
cancel my membership.
Thank you,
Kevin Feinstein
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 18:09:07 -0400
From: "Michael Beam" <hardhead@underworld.net>
Subject: #BFF
Hey guys--
I've gotten a couple e-mails since I've gone about IRC so here are the final details of our meeting:
irc.underworld.net (or irc.wserv.com)
#bff
7:30pm (- whenever...ill be there a while)
hope to see you there :). o btw our page (http://www.underworld.net/bff) is getting bigger, I soon hope to have an mp3 and real audio copy for each song (plus all live copies i can get my hands on)....I found a real cool mp3 player winamp...their webpage is webamp.lh.net check it out :) o and any live bootleg tapes or mp3s you guys could send to me I'll put up on the web page...I have unlimited space so :) later.
- ---
Michael J. Beam
hardhead@underworld.net
administrator for the underworld networking systems
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 18:27:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: SteveJG22@aol.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #350
In a message dated 97-06-15 14:45:05 EDT, you write:
<< Subject: studio 54 taping or whatever it was called...
so like, that studio 54 thing is going to air on PBS in new york, right?
anyone know if it's going to be aired elsewhere as well, or is like,
limited to new york?
maybe it's something we have to check with our local PBS stations or
something? someone help me out here... >>
i was there and the guy after the show said it will be on sat night july 5th
at 11pm
on your local pbs station, make sure not to miss, missing the war sounds
awesome live as does last polka and stevens last night.
hope this info helped out
peace,
steve
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #358
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