THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR

The Ben Folds Five Digest

Issue #641 - November 22, 1997



Magical Armchair Digest  Saturday, November 22 1997  Volume 01 : Number 641



                          THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:

    Re: Bye 
    RE: Your post to The Magical Armchair
    Gershwin etc. 
    MTV
    boy, do I feel silly! 
    Top 10 @ 10
    [none]
    garden city justin, sighting!
    C'mon be reasonable
    Brick in DC
    Assholes and thier humor-free pranks 
    Re: Red Hot Juicy Rumours...
    We need to stop with this GAY thing! 
    Song For The Dumped 
    question about one line in brick 
    The wanna-be-cousin

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 06:06:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Shu2Stef@aol.com
Subject: Re: Bye 

Well that does it!!  The idiots have taken over the Armchair.  I can bear NO
MORE!!  Those of you who have been around as long as I have know what I mean.
 Bye.

Stefanie Schumacher

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 07:45:09 -0500
From: "Faix, Andrew" 
Subject: RE: Your post to The Magical Armchair

Oh, wait!  Yes I did!  I'm sorry!  Now I know what you're talking about.
I accidentally hit "Armchair" when I was forwarding that to my
co-workers.  I'm so sorry.  Definitely won't happen again.

And it wasn't even a good joke at that.

Sorry again.
- -Andrew


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Frank Maynard [SMTP:maynard@mail.oeonline.com]
> Sent:	Friday, November 21, 1997 7:01 AM
> To:	Faix, Andrew
> Subject:	Your post to The Magical Armchair
> 
> Your post (the magic mirror joke) was off-topic and should not have
> been 
> posted to the Armchair. Please don't do it again.
> 
> -maynard@oeonline.com-|-http://oeonline.com/~maynard/-----------------
> ------
> Frank Maynard         | I'm a Spartan fan. Just shoot me
> Novi, Michigan USA    | 
> >>>>>>Moderator: The Magical Armchair, the Ben Folds Five Mailing
> List<<<<<<
> 

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:46:09 -0500
From: stuart@optics.rochester.edu (Howie Stuart)
Subject: Gershwin etc. 

I find this discussion over the issue of whether Rhapsdody in Blue
is "classical" or not a little ironic occurring on the BFF list.
The thing I've always liked about Gershwin is that he defies any
attempt to label him with a particular genre.  I don't know what
his own feelings about the issue were, but it is quite obvious from
listening to his music that he was influenced by a whole range of
things from European classical traditions to Jazz to American 
popular music of the 19th and early 20th century.  And you can try
applying all of those labels to his music - what usually happens
is that the label never seems to encompass everything that makes
the music so enticing.

In many ways, BFF are the same way.  On countless occasions people
have asked me questions about BFF like:  "Are they one of those
'alternative' bands?", "Is it 'punk' music, or is it 'pop' music,
or what?", "They're sort of a jazz-pop band, right?"  I never know
how to respond to questions like this, other than just tell them
to listen to the music.  Personally, I dislike labels, and I dislike
commercial radio because it lives by labelling, and I dislike the
whole music industry for trying to put a label on everything.  When
people ask me what kind of music I listen to, I would like to say
"good music", but somehow that sounds a little too snotty.

Anyway, it seems to me that BFF is a band that defies labelling.  
Thus we have the current situation of "punk rock for sissies" 
being played on easy-listening stations, as well as on some 
so-called "alternative" stations.  So really, the band has quite
alot in common with Gershwin.

Howie

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:01:55 -0500
From: Kenneth McKenna - SSG 
Subject: MTV

Just to quickly address the MTV "12 Angry Dwarves" show (or whatever 
it is called), anyone watching MTV with the faint hope of finding 
intelligent life is living in a fantasy world.  MTV ceased being a 
serious enterprise years ago, and exists simply as a testament to the 
increasing stupidity that thrives in certain pockets of this nation.

As for Ben being gay, what he does on his watch is probably his own 
business.  If, however, he started writing songs about the joys of gay 
sex, well, I might have a problem with that.  Hopefully that day will 
never come.  I've been a fan of Joe Jackson for many years, and I 
think the same debate has been raging for years about him, as well, 
but it hasn't stopped him from making great music (Elton John is 
another story, however!).  And speaking of JJ, I think I'll quote The 
Man at the end of my e-mail!

Regards,
Ken McKenna

"You hear guns in the night and you hope they're not for you, because 
a dog eats a dog and he eats his master, too"- Wild, Wild West by Joe 
Jackson

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:19:06 -0500
From: ljd128@psu.edu (theo b (len))
Subject: boy, do I feel silly! 

thanks to everyone who commented on HOWARD. now i feel pretty young, and
silly.  now i know how all those new people on the sunny day real estate
list used to feel when they got beraded for asking questions that were
asked 500 times alreaDy. it's just that it's one of my fav songs, and i had
to know.  but isn't that what mailing lists are for?
sorry to clog yr mailboxes...

ps - am i the only one who gets no armchairs for a week, and then gets
about 10 all at once?

                  len damico      jumpingcow@psu.edu

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 07:42:12 -0800
From: "Kamp, Marcus S" 
Subject: Top 10 @ 10

1st of all, Erik Lyons-Howard Hesseman?  What in Sam Hell are you
talkin' about, man?  What does boxing (the sport or the song) have to do
w/Johnny Fever?  I think the Muhammed Ali/Howard Cosell explanation is a
wee bit more connected.  In one of their last interviews together,
towards the end of Muhammed's career, he repeated the line, "boxing's
been good to me, Howard" often-a sign of his brain damage?
Anyway, now for my true post-last night I was setting my alarm + turned
on the radio just in time to hear Brick!  I was excited because I hadn't
heard it on the radio yet-NPR simply doesn't play it enough:-)!  Then I
realized that this was part of the Top 10 @ 10 on Seattle's KNDD, 107.3,
The End.  Brick was # 9.  Pretty f'in' cool! 

MSK

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 08:20:25 PST 
From: "Andrew Lewis" 
Subject: [none]

 sudscribe lewi78@hotmail.com

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:40:21 -0600 (CST)
From: SCHUTTE 
Subject: garden city justin, sighting!

Garden City Justin!

send me your email address!  i lost it!  i have some, uh, things i want to
ask you about!  

and for some bf5 content, i saw darren and robert walking around the main
street in lawrence yesterday.  rock on.

emily
eschutte@eagle.cc.ukans.edu

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 12:38:07 -0500 (EST)
From: marc s kaplan 
Subject: C'mon be reasonable

All you people who always say you are going to unscubscribe because of the
posts of some of the stupid people on this list, I truely am sorry to hear
that... But--

If you want to stay do so, and if you want to leave don't threaten us, by
saying "if this keeps up I am going to leave".  Don't judge the list by
the select few idoits on it, for there will always be those type of people
on any kind of list.  

If you have to leave, we will all miss you but please don't hold the
respectable people accountible for the actions of select few.

"Pushed you cause I loved you guys" -bff

			-/\/\arc
  

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 13:17:35 -0500 (EST)
From: "Christina M. Scarmeas" <15SCARMEAS@cua.edu>
Subject: Brick in DC

I heard Brick too on HFS. I think this is a trend...lets  hope that it 
doesn't get too overplayed:)
Tina













*******************************************************************************
Christina M. Scarmeas
Catholic University
Washington, DC

"I'm crazy, but I get the job done"
	Ben Folds Five

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 13:22:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Brad654@aol.com
Subject: Assholes and thier humor-free pranks 

In a message dated 97-11-21 04:49:18 EST, you write:

> From: Jim Masterson 
> Subject: For Armchair Members ONLY
>
> When I got backstage, Ben was lighting up a crack pipe! YEAH! I KNEW Ben
> did crack because where else does those songs come from? Anyways, he
> passed the pipe around and got to smoke CRACK WITH BEN FOLDS!
> 
> From: Todd Flanagan 
> Subject: The whole gay issue
> 
> 
> Guys, Ben is gay, or at least experimented. I know this because, well,
> I've been with him. It was a couple of years ago, before they started

Frank! Block these guys from submitting!!!!!

Brad
 reaching mainstream popularity. I figured I could let the Armchair know
 because we're all fans of BF5. Ben doesn't particularly hide the fact
 (I've seen him with guys at a couple shows), but it's pretty low-key and
 he doesn't like it publicized.
 
 Why tell the group? Because we're the big fans, and I know the secret is
 safe with us.
  >>

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 15:52:09 -0000
From: David.J.Holloway@student.shu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Red Hot Juicy Rumours...

Annie - Go girl, tell it like it really is!

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 15:38:24 -0500 (EST)
From: Phishrman1@aol.com
Subject: We need to stop with this GAY thing! 

BEN FOLDS IS NOT GAY!!!!!!!  He is a happily married man.  Ive spoken to him
and his wife, kate, on numerous occaisions where they openly shared their
feelings for eachother.  Besides DOES IT REALLY MATTER?  This armchair is
turning into one of those tabloid magazines.....it really must stop.

~jared
http://members.aol.com/phishrman1/BenFolds5.html

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 15:48:08 -0500 (EST)
From: KNULPREK@aol.com
Subject: Song For The Dumped 

In a message dated 97-11-21 00:31:37 EST, you write:

<< Fuck
 you, I want my money back, ''<-''. And then what does he say? >>

It's "Give me my money back. Give me my money back, you bitch"

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 16:58:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Jessica237@aol.com
Subject: question about one line in brick 

well, it finally happened...my mom is OBSESSED with ben folds five! which i
find to be the funniest thing ever, especially considering that she's been
hearing me play them around the house for ages and it took her until now to
catch on. which is because she loves the song 'brick'. they play it a lot on
my local real good radio station and my mom heard it when she was in the car
with me the other day. then, she borrowed the cd..i may never see it again
(don't worry--i have the japanese version, too).
why am i telling you this? well, she brought up a super good point...what
does the line mean when ben sings "and sell some shit i got" what is he
selling? where is he selling it to? i mean, i know it's very pointless and
trivial, but my mom and i were arguing over it in the car yesterday and i was
just wondering what some other people thought...so please give me your
opinions! thanks!  --jess

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

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 97 18:40:11 -0000
From: Charles D Folds <4rachuck@concentric.net>
Subject: The wanna-be-cousin

So Chuck and Ben's cousin Mary was listening to a college station the 
other night.  The DJ is a big fan of both the brother's music.  So in 
between playing their music and singing their praises he happens to 
mention that he is Chuck and Ben's cousin.  This came as a big suprise to 
Mary since she knew this guy and was positive they were not related. So  
to make him feel stupid she called the station and asked him how they 
were related.  To make this boring story short--Chuck and Ben's aunt used 
to be married to this kid's dad.  But this kid has never met the Folds 
boys and is in no possible way related.  He just thought people would 
think he was cool if he was their cousin.

- --Rachel Folds

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

End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #641
**************************************


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