THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR

The Ben Folds Five Digest

Issue #710 - December 15, 1997



Magical Armchair Digest   Monday, December 15 1997   Volume 01 : Number 710



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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:

    BFF Boot
    SNL (we'll breathe life back into the show, yet!)
    Comments on Kate - be a man! ; )
    TRIVIA
    eheh
    SNL
    Okay, so I'm NOT funny....
    S/T mystery
    counting crows song?

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 09:59:54 EST
From: LindaNikon <LindaNikon@aol.com>
Subject: BFF Boot

In a message dated 97-12-14 08:26:22 EST, you write:

<< Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 11:52:37 EST 
 From: luckyday6@juno.com (Jason A Masi)
 Subject: bootlegs
 
 Lots of people have been asking me what's on my Boston bootleg so here
 are all the songs:
 
 Ben Folds Five 11/04/97 Boston, MA "The Roxy"
 
 Missing the War
 Battle of Who Could Careless
 Philosophy
 Selfless, Cold, & Composed
 Dr. Physer
 Last Polka
 Steven's Last Night in Town
 Fair Brick 
 Jackson Cannery
 One Angry Dwarf
 Best Imitiation of Myself
 Smoke
 Julianne
 Underground
 She Doesn't Use Jelly
 Song for the Dumped
 
 Ben Folds Five July 18, 1997 Phoenix, AZ (45 min)
 One Angry Dwarf
 Fair
 Smoke
 Kate
 Dr. Pyser
 Philosophy
 Tom and Mary
 Emaline
 Bad Idea (demo)
 For all the pretty people
 
 Ben Folds Five  January 26, 1996 Pontiac, MI (45 min)
 Best Imitation Of Myself
 Jackson Cannery
 Last Polka
 Alice Childress
 Where's Summer B?
 One Angry Dwarf
 Uncle Walter
 Steven's Last Night in Town
 Julianne
 Free Bird
 Bad Idea
 
 Ben Folds Five 4/28/97 Irving Plaza NY
 
 Missing the War
 Philosophy
 Emaline
 The Last Polka
 Selfless, Cold, and Composed
 Kata
 Alice Childress
 Brick
 Steven's Last Night in Town
 Ultimate Sacridave (cut)
 White Mans Rap (cut)
 Jackson Cannery
 One Angry Dwarf
 Satan is my Master
 Freebied
 Fair
 Dr. Pyser
 Battle of Who Could Carelss
 Best Imittation of Myself
 She Doesn't Use Jelly
 Song for the Dumped
 Underground
 E: SmokeJulianne (cut)
 
 The Boston and the New York show are the best. If you have any other BFF
 stuff to trade make sure you e-mail me.
 thanks
 Jason >>

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 10:24:14 EST
From: Grover918 <Grover918@aol.com>
Subject: SNL (we'll breathe life back into the show, yet!)

So Ginger asked us all:
<<which recurring SNL characters would you like to see them in a skit with
(the
musical acts get into them occasionally!)?>>
SO I say make the little catholic girl (I know.. not a TRUE SNL fan b/c I
can't remember her name.. but I thinks there are worse things to be without
than a working knowledge of the show) a BF5 groupie!  I dunno, she won
backstage passes and then the hilarity ensues!  HA HA HA, I can hardly stop
laughing just thinking about it... <whew> Anyway, thanks to everybody that's
responded to the really hungry for information guy... I appreciate it!
You guys are great.. I don't care what the Hanson list says about you!

- -Andy "a b**ch really did steal my black Tee shirt" Kahl

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 11:17:04 EST
From: LindaNikon <LindaNikon@aol.com>
Subject: Comments on Kate - be a man! ; )

This is two comments copied and pasted.... sorry if it's confusing....

"6) Is "Kate" any less of a head-over-heels love song now that the song's
 >namesake is divorced from the song's writer?
 
 This is interesting. I thought Ben was parodying all those love songs.
 ("When all words fail she speaks, her mix tape's a masterpiece...", not
 really that complimentary- a big mouth and no talent.)"

I take this as two separate comments and completely complimentary. "When all
words fail, she speaks" - this is a woman who has something to say and isn't
afraid to say it, even when the words are hard. "Her mix tapes a masterpiece"
- - as a person who makes masterpiece mix tapes... ; ) .... I think this is a
really cool way of saying, "She's got great taste in music." 

As for the namesake being divorced from the song's writer... I don't think
it's embarrassing. It doesn't distract from what "Kate" is... a great crush
song. I love it. I love the fact that the song is about someone who seems
vaguely quirky and Ben liked that. He liked the quirkiness. "Everyday she
wears the same thing, I think she smokes pot" is so endearing. It just follows
right along with why I love Ben Folds Five - they seem like real people who
appeal to those of us who took the more "Underground" route through our early
lives. Ben was totally digging a girl that walked to her own beat, and that's
what he LIKED about her. 

And hey, this is real life. In real life things don't always work out. That
doesn't affect the fact that Ben dug this slightly askew person. 
 
">8) Lastly, the best piece of advice I could give: Never name your songs
 >after women. Or, if you must, never play the song for the woman in
 >question. Just because.
 
 Listen to this man!! It is embarrasing and a definite problem to name a
 song after a girl. I never do it (the name would be Kate too!). I change
 names and dates. Just like made-for-tv movies.... "

I totally disagree. Utterly. I have a ex-boyfriend who wrote a few songs
to/about me and it really ticked me off that he never wanted to use my name or
in one case, had a female singer perform a song that discussed the way he felt
helpless when my father died. It really pissed me off. Look, changing the name
to protect your own ego in the event things don't work out is a really kind of
cowardly thing to do, in my opinion. If you're too wishy washy or scared of an
ego bruising to change my name, don't write a song about me. It totally
destroys the sentiment, you know? "I wrote a song about you, but I'm not
telling anyone it's about you." 

And having BFF's song be about real people and naming those real people
("Julianne", "Where's Summer B.", etc) is one of my favorite things about
them. Welcome to a band that is writing about real things instead of pathetic
sentiment that the general populous just might like. The latter is just sooooo
passe and boring.

Linda

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 13:07:44 EST 
From: luckyday6@juno.com (Jason A Masi)
Subject: TRIVIA

Hey Fivers,
I got a little trivia question for you fivers. If anyone knows where Ben
Folds Five filmed there video "Kate". please e-mail it to me ASAP

thanks a lot
Jason

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 13:49:01 -0500 (EST)
From: marc s kaplan <mkap@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: eheh

Pete wrote:
>Hey Marc, you've gotten to be a pretty popular guy on the armchair.  Go
>you!


Thats funny--But goddamit I still can't write poetry :)

			-/\/\arc

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 13:47:10 -0500 (EST)
From: marc s kaplan <mkap@wam.umd.edu>
Subject: SNL

BFF on SNL dec 20 for thoes of you who aleady don't know.

- -Pushed ya cause I loved you guys -bff

			-/\/\arc

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 16:43:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Eric Patton <shirak@umich.edu>
Subject: Okay, so I'm NOT funny....

	Gee, a contest to see who the funniest Helmet Head is, and I'm
getting beaten like a red-headed stepchild on Tuesday. Great way to boost
my ego. Not that it really needs it, I mean, it's starting to outgrow it's
wharehouse in Manhattan. ;) Anyway, as for my two cents on the matter, I'd
have to vote for Anne too, simply because she's the greatest. Next to me
of course. ;) Laters all!

ERIC
_______________________________________________________________________________
	"I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little death
that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to
pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the
inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
				-Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
_______________________________________________________________________________

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 16:45:41 EST
From: GrnEgNham <GrnEgNham@aol.com>
Subject: S/T mystery

I'm trying to find cds I want for Christmas and Chaka Khan (Hannukkah, I'm
both!) so I visited CDNOW and searched under Ben Folds Five.  There's a $29.99
import album called S/T.  What the heck is that?  I'm sure it's very simple,
but my brain is fried.  Oh, I also searched Majosha and Bus Stop.  They had
the later but not the former, what up with that?  Ok, armchairs, with all your
ubiquitous wisdom, hook me up!

  Still desperately wanting to know when they're coming to Cleveland,
   Emily :-)

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

Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 17:41:29 -0500 (EST)
From: bagley sarah r <srbagl@mail.wm.edu>
Subject: counting crows song?

Could anybody tell me the name of the counting crows song where Adam
Duritz says something like "got Ben Folds on my radio."  I have read a
bunch of stuff where it is alluded to but I would like to hear the song.
Is it any good?
Thanks 
Sarah

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

End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #710
**************************************


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