THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR

The Ben Folds Five Digest

Issue #694 - December 10, 1997



Magical Armchair Digest  Wednesday, December 10 1997  Volume 01 : Number 694



                          THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:

    prom! 
    prom night. . .
    ben in playboy? 
    unsubscribe 
    out with the sidewalk.
    ALTMAN BenFoldsAreaGame 
    Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #685
    sexy stuffs
    Re: RUGRATS!!!
    Covering BF5, and Romance
    Re: Dorian Black should be kicked off this list
    Ben and Kate
    Fresh air
    Can you take...
    ...almost forgot!
    chuck thanks you/majosha

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

Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 23:39:34 -0500
From: Rebecca.Cole@mail.trincoll.edu (Rebecca Cole)
Subject: prom! 

I would take Darren Jessee to the prom but only on the condition that he
wear that shirt with the tan diamond-print on it and drive us to the prom
in the car in the brick video. I think he's the only one in the band who
might possibly be taller than I am (though I've heard rumors he's pretty
short, too), plus he's SO DREAMY! (I am not 13, by the way...but what if I
were? wanna make somethin' of it?)

What Ben Folds Five song would you want as your prom theme? I'll go with
Video. That would be uplifting...heh heh. "Whatever all of us had then in
common grew up and left home..." Get used to disappointment and rejection,
kids...!

uhhhh...goddamn!,
Rebby


***
"I was never good at hide & seek because I'd always make enough noise so my
friends would be sure to find me. I don't have anyone to play those games
with any more, but now & then I make enough noise just in case someone is
still looking & hasn't found me yet."
                                                -Brian Andreas

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

Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 22:45:15 
From: "hannah Kuhlmann" <kuhl0025@tc.umn.edu>
Subject: prom night. . .

Alright!  Now here is a fun thread!  

Let's assume for a minute that my prom didn't happen a couple of years 
ago.  Let's assume it's gonna happen next weekend.  In that case, I'm taking 
Darren.  That's it. (I don't care how much Ben begs and pleads with me. . 
*:D) I have no concrete reasons for this, except for ONE THING:  The face 
that Darren makes when he starts Underground.  (Specifically on Sessions at 
West 54th)  I swear it must be his secret weapon!  Plus, I just have this 
weird hunch that he would pick out a kick-ass corsage for me.  AND if I went 
to prom with a member of BFF, they'd probably play Underground in honor of 
him  (this is a fantasy, remember?)  instead of NIN's "closer" which they 
DID play at my real prom.  How the heck do you dance to NIN in a formal and 
heels?!?

By the way, for those of y'all who are thinking right now, "what an 
immature, ridiculous post/thread,"  Please build a bridge and GET OVER IT!  
Skip my post, ignore me, write to your congressman and complain, I don't 
care.  Better yet, write an amusing Haiku or something, and post it here.  
At least then we can all smile at your comment, instead of getting pissed 
off.  POSITIVITY is COOL.  Let's all make an effort to add it to the 
armchair, so we don't see any more of those chilling "(no subject) 
unsubscribe" posts.  Those HURT. 
- ---------------------------------------
hannah kuhlmann - kuhl0025@tc.umn.edu
check out the reflections in my eyes
- -BEN FOLDS
- ---------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 23:47:34 -0500
From: Rebecca.Cole@mail.trincoll.edu (Rebecca Cole)
Subject: ben in playboy? 

Is he the centerfold?

I really need to figure out how to get my hands on this magazine without
buying it. I will not give Hugh Hefner my money, nor will I be seen in
public requesting a copy of it...ugh!

my love runs cold, my memory has just been sold,
rebby


***
"I was never good at hide & seek because I'd always make enough noise so my
friends would be sure to find me. I don't have anyone to play those games
with any more, but now & then I make enough noise just in case someone is
still looking & hasn't found me yet."
                                                -Brian Andreas

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

Date: Tue,  9 Dec 1997 00:01:46, -0500
From: MZEH25B@prodigy.com (JAMES E OWSLEY)
Subject: unsubscribe 

this letter has been submitted for the purpose of no longer wanting 
to recieve this literature.
       i guess amature writing isn't always good

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 00:25:12 EST
From: Brer L <BrerL@aol.com>
Subject: out with the sidewalk.

18

could everyone now please put their ages at the beginnings of their posts, so
we can decide which ones to read based solely on age? for instance, i put "18"
at the top, because i am 18. THIS should help us all to stick together, by
dividing us among chronological boundries. solidarity, my fellow nerds.*
	
*anyone on an internet mailing list is a nerd. yes, even if you don't "post."
and regardless of age.
thanks.
b.
all i want, c'mon...

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

Date: Tue, 09 Dec 1997 00:26:26 -0500
From: Ryan W Swindells <rswindells@clemson.campus.mci.net>
Subject: ALTMAN BenFoldsAreaGame 

I am the "town crier", free shots if you step out of the box.  Damn lights
and AAA people.  Dumb phone, it just fell to pieces.

                SCHNU OUT

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 00:44:11 EST
From: F2G 2 <F2G2@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #685

FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE, just call each other goat swogglers and get it over
with.

this redundancy is driving me nuts.  nuts, i tell you.
matthew

"you've been pushing me like a sore tooth."

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 01:48:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Tidal Wave <el266071@hvcc.edu>
Subject: sexy stuffs

	my fav bff line in any song:

	"remember when we were 15 and robbie made that stupid face all
day" from, of course, mitchell lane.

	bff prom thingy:

	if i was male i'd put robert in a dress and brign him. :)
actually, i never went to the prom, i kinda wish i did to see what all the
hype was about, but i hated 90% of the people i went to school with (i was
NEVER cool in school) altho i did ask my band teacher to the prom ;0
heheeh that keviner...anyways, i would prolly bring ben..i dunno, he just
seems like a fun date to me.  seriously...he seems like he'd be concerned
with havin fun and stuffs rather than whether you like your eggs poached
or scrambled or somthing in the morning....and i have absolutely no clue
how to get my point acrost so i'll shut up ;)

	my two bits on the age thingies and concert etiquette:

	i have been the annoying sing-at-the-top-of-yer-lungs kinda
fan..at my very first concert (soundgarden) i was SCREAMING along to
"slaves and bulldozers".  then i heard, or thought i heard, sombody yell
"SHUT UP!" and then i got the drift and i "SHUT UP!" :)  singing is kew as
long as youre not screaming.  i totally agree with the "we paid to hear
ben, NOT you" school.  nowadays if i go to a show i sing very, very
quietly ;)  now looking back i cant believe i was so stupid to be
screaming along in front of the rest of the poor audience who wanted to
hear chris.  ugh.  but in any event i dont think bff shows should have any
sort of age restriction.  not that it would keep me from going to shows:
im 19 and even if i wasn't of age i'd find a way in, dammit ;)  i mean,
just because there's a rather annoying screaming 13 year old right behind
you singing tonedeafly "CAN'T YOU SEEEEE IT'S NOT ME YOURE DYING
FORRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE-EEEEEE!!!!!" :)  i mean, if ben folds five
suddenly decided to make all their shows 18+ or whatever, they're gonna be
penalizing a lot more mature underage fans, i bet, than they are
penalizing fans that are gonna come to the shows and be a real pain in the
ass, singing really loud and screaming "GEE, I WONDER IF BEN LIKES HIS
EGGS SCRAMBLED OR POACHED?!" during "boxing" or somthign.  thats just
what i think, anyways...and sombody brought up an excellent point of
people going to shows that ARE older and being annoying, i.e. drinking,
singing off-key, what have you.  you see, smoking greatly annoys me,
whether the person next to me is lighting up a marlboro, a joint, or a
pork chop.  i just cant stand the smell and i hate coming home and having
the stink in my clothes.  and sombody whos 18 or over is a lot more
likely to smoke than sombody who's 13 and wants to fuck the life outta
ben.  i also have some pretty bad asthma, thanks to me mom smoking when
she had me, and if i had it my way people would only be able to smoke in
their houses under a blanket..:)  but i dunno, i dont want to get into a
whole debate, and really, smokers arent doing THAT much harm, so...who
cares.  i dunno.  and imho, those young-uns who want to test their
mattress springs with ben folds are the same way.  im just VERY long
winded and i dont have a clue how to get my point across yet
again..so.."SHUT UP!"


And now, some things to ponder:
	
	"It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
	"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
	"You ask a glass of water."

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 02:12:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Aaron Dickey <kieran@interport.net>
Subject: Re: RUGRATS!!!

> Date: Sun, 07 Dec 1997 23:51:49 EST 
> From: mike.lange@juno.com
> 
> I just needed to declare once and for all that Rugrats on Nickelodeon is
> the GREATEST show on television.  Thank you, and goodnight.
> "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do!" - Tommy Pickles

Reptar Bar, Reptar Bar, the candy bar supreme!
The candy bar that turns your tongue greeeeen! - Angelica Pickles

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 97 01:32:56 -0600
From: Michael Bluejay <bluejay@pobox.com>
Subject: Covering BF5, and Romance

I've avoided posting for the last couple of months since the Armchair has 
grown so large and I didn't want to add to the mess, but in reading some 
old Armchairs, I came across this and had to respond:

Lachesis@webtv.net wrote:

>okay, we've all thought about what songs and bands we'd like to hear the
>boys cover.
>BUT, what about the other way around?  what bands would you like to see
>cover a bff song?  and which song would it be?

I'd like to see Prince cover One Angry Dwarf.  Because he would just pout 
SO WELL when he squealed, "Sed ya cudn't stand my face!"

In other news, here's a BF5-inspired romance story.  A couple of months 
ago, I was tooling around on a piano in a coffeeshop, and got in a 
conversation with a woman who came up to talk who also plays piano.  I 
explained that what I was playing was Ben Folds Five (she'd never heard 
of them), and demonstrated what I liked about the music.  We wound up 
going back to her place where she has a much nicer piano, and for our 
first "date", we went to the student union at the university where they 
have a really nice grand we could play on.  I loaned her my BF5 CD's, and 
our next date was the BF5 concert here, where she was really impressed 
that Ben recognized/remembered me from earlier shows and said, "Oh, hi 
Michael!" after the show.  To top it off, her name is Rachel, which is 
also the name of Chuck Folds' wife, and also the name of one of their 
cousins, so she gets bonus points there.  Finally, Rachel recently 
confided in me that a few weeks before we first met at that coffeeshop, 
she had seen me playing "Underground" at that same coffeeshop (which was 
the first time she had heard it, since she'd never heard of BF5), and was 
attracted to me right off the bat.  So, the moral of the story is, BF5 
can make you hot and desirable.

- -- Michael Bluejay (Austin, TX)

P.S. Before anyone asks me for sheet music, I play by ear, sorry.


 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  http://pobox.com/bluejay  | Home of AUSTIN MUSIC, KING CHEESE, 
                            |  BIKING IN AUSTIN, VEGETARIAN pages, & more
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 08:28:31 EST
From: BSCHACK <BSCHACK@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Dorian Black should be kicked off this list

Dorian Black (or whoever sent that love chain letter) - 

That was the rudest thing you could do to a list like this.  Don't do it
again.  If it was up to me, you'd be off this list forever (and ever, amen).
This isn't an outlet for your boredom or superstitions.  There is a topic here
so stay on it or stay off.

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 08:40:44 EST
From: BSCHACK <BSCHACK@aol.com>
Subject: Ben and Kate

I hate to be a gossiper, but I'm curious:  Why was the issue of Ben and Kate's
divorce barely touched upon in this list?  I would've expected more
conversation about it.  If it's because people think its an unfounded rumor,
let me tell you for absolute sure that it is true, and that they are divorced
(or are in the process of getting divorced).  Apparently, Kate wanted a quiet
homelife, and Ben couldn't give up what he'd been working for his whole life,
so it just didn't work.  

On a more positive note:  The Georgetown, DC show was taped by a mobile
digital recording studio.  We're talking serious, serious recording here.
Hopefully a live album to come soon!!!!

Last, but not least, does anyone have any info on Ben's solo project which he
recently recorded?  I know it was recorded, but not much else about it.

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 09:10:07 EST
From: NJDRUMMER <NJDRUMMER@aol.com>
Subject: Fresh air

Hey Y'all!!

I kind of liked the discussion about teenagers, old fogies, drunks, drug
addicts etc. we've been having recently.  It really gave me some insight into
the way some of you think.  I had a few surprises!  I heard from some really
cool teenagers.  I also heard from some pretty cranky "adults" (and i do use
that term loosely).  I don't want to grow up just yet, i'd like to stay young
for a while (yeah I know I'm enetring my mid-life crisis...let me enjoy it,
will ya?).  All the young people i've seen at BFF shows have been pretty nice
to me and none of them commented on somebody's dad being around and i thank
them for that.  I think it really says alot about this band and their
fantastic music that such diverse groups can enjoy them together.  So with
that, this is the last you'll hear from me on the subject.

I really like the "what BFF song is you" thing.  It's gonna have to kind of be
"what BFF ALBUM is you" for me.  Much of WEAEA is me i guess with the
exception of "Brick" (we didn't abort my dogs puppies).  From "All's Fair"
to "Selfless" to "missing the war" to "evaporated" it's got me all over it.
It's too hard to choose just one.  They all seem to fit for different reasons.
But I can choose one line.  It the one that follows after my signature.  Kind
of not the way Ben ment it but it means something to me after my heart attack
last year.  


Steve

"I got this pain in my heart, that's all"

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 10:16:52 -0500 (EST)
From: marc s kaplan <mkap@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: Can you take...

You Write:
>Steve, you should calm down. Pretty sad that you have to spend the time
>to write down a list of rules for BFF show goers...
>What the hell is your problem? No singing along to songs, isn't that what
>EVERYONE does at a concert for their favorite band?! Touching, YOU ARE IN
>A CROWD-HELLO!!!

Hey friend:
The rules by steve were a joke as satire on the recent content of the
armchair.  The rules were not intended as real rules...In otherwords it
was a JOKE!

			-/\/\arc

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 10:37:04 EST
From: NJDRUMMER <NJDRUMMER@aol.com>
Subject: ...almost forgot!

Ooops!  I almost forgot to tell you all, i love that prom thing too.  My pick
is Darren!!!  Were both drummers (he's much better).  I could learn a lot from
him....and he's so darn cute!!!!!  ;-)

Steve

"I got this pain in my heart, that's all"

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

Date: Tue, 9 Dec 97 11:00:59 -0000
From: Charles D Folds <4rachuck@concentric.net>
Subject: chuck thanks you/majosha

Hello-
Just wanted to thank those for the kind words about my bands!
I also want to clarify something, Bus Stop is still very much together.  
We play pretty regularly(private stuff only) and have just released and 
album in Japan(if you are in Japan, please pick one up!). We've got a 
pretty good publisher and he has placed our music in tv shows like 
Melrose Place, Baywatch, Brooklyn South, Homicide, Nick Freno, some 
disney channel stuff, a few independent films and some dennis rodman 
video. Yeah, i know some of this stuff is kinda cheesy, but you take what 
you can get.
If you are interested in checking out our music, just e-mail me.
Just so this isn't a totally non-bf5, I thought i would mention that ben 
plays piano and some fender rhodes on a couple of bus stop cds and the 
snuzz cd.
Also- for those of you who have the majosha album, I just dug up the 
insert they used to put in with the tapes and it tells who plays what 
instrument on the songs. Might interest someone, let me know.
(Hey Rich Challen, long time no see-get in touch, I lost your #)
(Elizabeth- let me know what the format of that video tape is and i can 
see if I know someone who can convert it, good to see you guys again btw!)
take care
chuck folds

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

End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #694
**************************************


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