THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #556 - October 23, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Thursday, October 23 1997 Volume 01 : Number 556
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
Meaning of Brick Debate
Raleigh show and the band's boredom
Summer B and Brick
The meaning of Brick
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #552
Speaking of phones, or Ben Folds at my prom
Mitchell Lane
Salt lake City
steven's last night in town
Mailing List Questions
PEOPLE
AAArrrrgh
Kate tabs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 09:39:42 -0400
From: "Shaw, Jeff"
Subject: Meaning of Brick Debate
Hello BFF fans. I'm new to the list and I'm sure this has
been discussed before but I thought I would add my 2 cents to the
meaning of brick debate.
When I first listened to the lyrics of brick I initially
thought that it was about abortion and the more I listen to the lyrics
that is the only thing I can think of that completely fits the story.
When the song start he is singing about going to her apt. and
her parents are out so the won't find out what they are going out to do.
Then later he sings about an apointment she has and he paces around the
parking lot nervously then mentions that "It's not me you're dying for."
He continues that "As weeks went by it showed that she was not fine"
meaning that there could have been complications with the abortion.
Then they both broke down because they're tired of lying (conscience or
guilt?) The song ends while driving back to her apt. and they are both
alone meaning either that something has come between them or there was a
third person (fetus) that was previously there that is no longer with
them.
So that's my theory on the song. If anyone else has any
thoughts I'd love to hear them.
----Jeff
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 97 10:40:51 EDT
From: "Jason Kilts"
Subject: Raleigh show and the band's boredom
| (Jason Karam) wrote:
| That's the same thought my friends and I had when we saw
| the Venus Flytrap
| Girls - that their drummer was the same guy from Shark
| Quest! Did you hear
| me yell that question at him after their set? I was
| standing about 5 feet
| away from the stage in front of Ben. Where where you?
I was up against the stage more over toward Robert. My wife and I stood by
Ben last time, so we decided to switch it up this time. And no, I didn't hear
you? Did he say he was from SharkQuest?
| The two BFF shows I have seen are that one at the Cat's
| Cradle and the one
| the other night at the Ritz. I disagree with you guys
| about the show,
| though. I had a great time, but our favorite trio just
| didn't seem like they
| were into it. They always open with "Missing the War."
I didn't mean that the band was more animated, so I'm sorry if that's the
impression that I gave everyone. I meant that they SOUNDED great. Maybe the
speakers were set just right, maybe I was just in the right place
acoustically, maybe they just hit everything right.... I don't know, but I
thought the music quality was just really high.
As for their showmanship, I thought maybe it was toned down just a bit from
their last Cradle show, but I thought they brought it through at just the
right times. And every band should write themselves a song with a music-less
multi-band member singing intro, that they can play with and change at will
like BFF does with Underground. Darren cracked me up.
Oh, I can't wait 'til the 18th gets here...
Jason Kilts
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 15:22:05 +0100
From: David.J.Holloway@student.shu.ac.uk (David J. Holloway)
Subject: Summer B and Brick
Hey all, whatsup?
Answers to a few questions asked on t'armchair recently. I asked Dahling Darren who Summer B was
when I interviewed him and he told me that she was a friend of the band and that she drew the piano
logo from the first album...
Thats one. For KEL and the oft-repeated-never-solved Brick debate, who knows but if you wanna hear
plenty of ideas check out the Forum page on Ben and his Folding Five which is at
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/lot/5009 .
You can also read the whole Darren interview there so its well worth the click. Whats that? I'm
using the armchair for blatent plugs for my web page? Yes, what do you expect from a child of the
eighties.
Tush and fiddle, later dudes.
Dave
"Never been in love with no-one? Sign up, join the programme..." - PWEI, Karmadrome
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 11:29:42 -0400
From: JMARINO@MARY.FORDHAM.EDU
Subject: The meaning of Brick
Hey, I'm new to the Magical Armchair. I'm Jen from New York City. This is
really going to settle the Brick arguement, but when I first listened to the
song carefully I thought it was about a guy bringing his girlfriend to get an
abortion. You know, "Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte, they're not home
to find us out." If she had cancer, there would be nothing to find out, I think
her parents would know. Anyway, I've pointed this out to some of my friends and
they agree. No matter what it's about it's one of the most beautiful songs I've
ever heard. Does anyone know if the Supper Club show is sold out?? I want to
go, but ticketmaster told me it was sold out and then whoever responds to BFF
e-mails told me it wasn't. Do any BFF fans live in New York, because I don't
know any. What will you be doing at 6 am the day after Christmas? ;-)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 12:16:00 -0400
From: Jessica Brandt
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #552
This is a reply to Brad's big, loud post about Alice Childress:
>BY THE WAY, SOMEBODY ASKED IN THE LAST ARMCHAIR IF ALICE CHILDRESS (AMONG
OTHERS) IS A
>REAL PERSON. YES, SHE IS A SOUTHERN AUTHOR OF MY GENERATION WHO SEEMS TO
HAVE A SPECIAL
>APPEAL FOR CERTAIN SOUTHERN GENERATION X-ERS. (SHE WAS DISCUSSED AT LENGTH
BY LI'L KIM
>IN A RECENT ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW.
>
>BEN'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS ALICE CHILDRESS WAS INTERESTING AND AMBIVALENT. I
SENSE THAT,
>WHILE HE GOT ON HER FOR HER NAIVE "OPTIMISM", THERE WAS SOMETHING IN HER
OUTLOOK THAT
>HE ULTIMATELY NEEDED. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO HE CALLED WHEN HE GOT BEATEN UP
- -- BECAUSE,
>DESPITE HIS TOUGH POSE, HE TOO NEEDED SOMEONE TO TELL HIM THAT EVERYTHING
WAS GOING TO
>BE ALL RIGHT. (PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF YOU HAVE HEARD THIS EXPLICATION FOR
THE THOUSANDTH
>TIME...IT'S NEW TO ME.)
Well, I read somewhere that the Alice in question is not the author Alice
Childress. I read she is a lady in a mental institution (or something like
that) whom Anna Goodman knew. I read it on some web page interview. Am i
correct?
**************************************************
* My fish's name is Eric. He is an halibut. *
* o O O *
* ____ o o *
* |\/ o\ Oo *
* |/\____/ (Eric Praline) *
**************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 12:27:15 -0400
From: Jessica Brandt
Subject: Speaking of phones, or Ben Folds at my prom
Since everyone else has a little ol' Ben Folds story that they
painstakingly type out and everyone just scrolls over it, I'd like to share
mine.
Last spring i had my senior prom and afterwards we had - well - Afterprom.
One of the attractions of this event was that you could win tickets, which
were then put into a raffle for big prizes. the more tix you had, the more
chances you had to win a cool prize.
Anyway, there was a DJ and by the end of the night everyone was exausted so
he tried to give away all the remaining tickets by doing a sort of "Name
that Tune" thing. So I guessed one song pretty fast (Madness, "Our House")
then walked away and came back for the FINAL song. about 20 of us were
standing there, all poised and ready to jump on whatever song was gonna be
next.
(THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD)
The DJ put on the CD. He didn't have it cued right. the first chord of the
song played. "UNDERGROUNDBENFOLDSFIVE!" i yelled, as the DJ was saying
"whoops, i don't want to start there"....then he turned around, asked me
what i said, and was TOTALLY amazed that i got the song ont he first chord.
he had meant to start it on the "radio" beginning. I won 400 tickets and a
sweet-ass phone.
This is my story, a very true story, about how knowing all about Ben Folds
Five can get you places. Or at least, a cool phone with 20 programmable
numbers, speakerphone, and a hold feature.
If anyone would like any more details on this story, feel free to mail me.
I know, I know. it was sooo exciting.
toodles.
Jess
**************************************************
* My fish's name is Eric. He is an halibut. *
* o O O *
* ____ o o *
* |\/ o\ Oo *
* |/\____/ (Eric Praline) *
**************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 15:10:50 -0400
From: Carrie Shanafelt
Subject: Mitchell Lane
For those of you who have heard the song "Mitchell Lane", what do you think
about it? At first listen, I didn't like it a whole lot. Then I realized
it was because it depressed me. Usually BF5 songs, even when they're sad,
are cathartic and purge a lot of anger/frustration for me, especially songs
like "Evaporated", but "Mitchell Lane" just makes me sad, kinda like that
Lou Reed song "Perfect Day". They're both kind of slow, not necessarily
sad-sounding songs unless you listen to the lyrics... Now that I've
realized that, though, I listen to "Mitchell Lane" quite often. Strange...
Whatever, just rambling... Carrie
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 13:21:56 MST7MDT
From: "Colin Lewis"
Subject: Salt lake City
I might never see Ben Folds Five in my home town Salt lake city. The
last two times they came: one was a 21+ club, the other was the Horde
Tour that I had to miss thanks to work and an unappealing $45 ticket
price.
Once again, the band is headed to Salt lake on 11-26 and they're
playing in a 21+ club. For the love of humanity, i just want to see
them once before I leave on my mission.
-colin =w=
colin@theaquabats
http://theaquabats.com
http://aquacadets.wipd.com
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:10:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: JCannery@aol.com
Subject: steven's last night in town
<>
In the demo version of Steven's Last Night in Town, you actually hear someone
talking, and I think it might be Steven. The man sounds like he has a
British accent, and he says something about "the loan's looking a little
shabby...maybe we can discuss that later..." and then something about a
chimney (?) It's kind of hard to hear.
Also, I don't know how many of you have Hearts (the card game) on your
computer, but what I do with that is under options you can choose the names
of the computer "people" you play with. So i play cards with ben, robert,
and darren on my computer. (sometimes satan too) It's quite fun.
lindsay
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 17:29:05 -0400
From: Bart Smith
Subject: Mailing List Questions
Can anyone tell me if the Magical Armchair is only sent out in digest
form? If not, what do I need to do in order to just get messages sent
directly to me?
========================================================================
Bart Smith Bart_Smith@bigfoot.com
page me with ICQ at http://wwp.mirabilis.com/3529601
"Could I have been.....anyone other than me?"
- DJM
========================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 17:36:37 -0600
From: "Erik C. Lyons"
Subject: PEOPLE
I have finally begun work on the BFF People Page. I came up with an idea
and will be putting up some more people tomorrow. Check it out and if you
like I will add ya! Just navigate throught the menu to "Let's Meet Some
Fans" link. . .
- -Erik
HomePage For The Dumped
http://members.tripod.com/~elyons/ben_menu.htm
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 23:47:28 +0100
From: paul.leung@virgin.net (paul.leung@virgin.net)
Subject: AAArrrrgh
Hey there people,
It's gonna take me a while to get back up to par with my legendary
posts, so sorry about this one.
To the guy that asked about Brick-which one were you, 1, 2 or 3?
To everybody:- I CAN'T COPE! THERE'S TOO MANY!!! THERE USED TO BE A TIME
WHEN I WOULD MISS THE ARMCHAIR WHEN I LOGGED ON AND THERE WEREN'T ANY,
BUT NOW!!! MY GOD, I CAN'T UNSUB-I'D MISS OUT ON SOMETHING!
Anthony. ( stilll happy [only really really old guys with long memories
will remember why] )
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 19:00:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Smarshal1@aol.com
Subject: Kate tabs
I am in need of the bass tablature to Kate. Im sure someone has it. Also,
if anyone out there has transcribed the piano part for guitar (in other words
guitar tabs to KAte), I really need those also. But, If you have the piano
tablature, I need that to. Anything Kate, send it my way. Thanx, josh turner
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #556
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