THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #172 - January 7, 1997
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR, Issue #172
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Topics for Today:
Ben's Brother's Band
Counting Crows song
Re: Newsgroup and a question.
Ben Folds Played Cupid:The Semantics
Attention West Palm Beach!
Ben Folds Five mailing list
Re: my piano keys are HUGE
Majoosha?
RE: THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR, Issue #171
When?
BFF Sheet Music
==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 18:24:10 -0500
From: NBoski@aol.com
Subject: Ben's Brother's Band
Ben's brother Chuck is in a band from Greensboro called Bus Stop. They are
no doubt one of the finest bands that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, it is
true that they are disbanding. I'm not sure where they are playing on New
Year's Eve, but if you call (800)598-8101, you can find out all the info you
need to know about Bus Stop's final show.
==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 18:31:14 -0500
From: J6780@aol.com
Subject: Counting Crows song
My friend likes the Counting Crows, and one of the lyrics on the new album
goes " Got nowhere but home to go, Got Ben Folds on the radio ."
Just thought that was interesting..
Jess
==============================================================================
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 19:25:39 -0600
From: etc <holyboy@minn.net>
Subject: Re: Newsgroup and a question.
> > Hello all, this if my first post to the MA. I was just wondering if the
> > idea of making a Ben Folds Five news group has ever been discussed?
>
> Well, I love this mailing list heaps... It's small, it's full of good
> stuff to read and I must say it's the BEST!!! So, in my mind, there's no
> real point in changing!!! And them newsgroup thingos are a pain to use I
> think... I'd rather have this baby delivered to my door every couple of
> days... And some people only have email access and that's it... so... yah.
> I'm against that newsgroup thing. :)
> From: THE YANKEE <mcdonpj3@wfu.edu>
> As long as Frank is willing to serve up the armchair in beautiful
> bit-size packages, I'd prefer to stick with the list.
As far as I know, (and I'm no internet whiz) it's not as if we have to
choose between the two. I think for someone who's a minor fan, a
newsgroup would be better. For bands I'm not as interested in, I'll
browse the subjects of the newsgroup every couple days, but would never
subscribe to a mailing list, since I don't like having my mailbox
bombarded. I think Frank does a great job, and wouldn't want the list
mirrored to the newsgroup, but what's the harm in having a newsgroup,
its just a little more exposure for ben and the armchair and would
invite comments from some fans not interested in a mailing list.
As for the question.. I live in St. Paul MN, and was surprised to see
just how much information was on the Web and at the volume of this
mailing list, for how popular I conceived bff to be. What I'm asking is,
just how big is bff outside of my little town? Just curious. Maybe bff
just attracts rabid fans.. I don't know…
btw I'm a pretty new member, so I'll introduce myself I guess. Name's
eric, live in st paul, MN, used to play piano (hence the attraction to
bff) and when I pretend to be a rock star in my apartment, the
soundtrack has been ben folds five almost exclusively for a year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Trondson-Clinger Holyboy Road Home Page
holyboy@minn.net http://www1.minn.net/~holyboy/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 23:08:00 +0900
From: Azusa Motohashi <EZC00110@niftyserve.or.jp>
Subject: Ben Folds Played Cupid:The Semantics
[A happy new year!!!Frank I hope you have wondweful days in this year ,too.
By the way, I sent the following (I changed some of parts) on 21st or 22nd De
c. once. But The Armchair hadn't. So I send it one more time.If you have somet
hing special idea why you couldn't pick up it,please let me know.
I think I just mistook to write your address :-) Azusa
]
On 21st Dec,The Semantics's debut album,"POWERBILL" was released. The band h
as
relation to Ben Folds .
The member are
Will Owsley:vo.g.b.k.
Millard Powers:vo.b.g.k.
Zak Starkey :d Produced By Peter Asher
Millard is from N.C..And He was a member of "Majosha"(Yes,Ben was ,too).
Ben and Millard first met at North Carolina Univ.'s dormitory. Some years
later, Millard came to Nashville where Ben lived, and Ben introduced Will
to Millard ,"You and Will can make great songs!".The good quality of
guitar pop songs!
Zak Starkey is ,you know, Ringo Starr's son!!!(Will said that they asked
Ben to play drum at first,)
What sound do you imagine?
Ben ,Pop song ,Ringo(Of course,not HE),Peter Asher... these words can help
you.And the musicains they love are
Beatles,Todd Rundgren, XTC,Crowded House,Neil Young,Elvis Costello,Squeeze,
Kiss and Paul McCartney(The Knight) and Wings"JET" etc....
Ben named "Powerbill" ,mixed Will's nickname and Millard's family name.
This CD is one of the popest album in 1996 . You love Ben Folds Five music,
you have to check this!!! But there is a problem. Big problem:
I heard this great CD is released only here(Japan).And there is no plan
to sell any other country .So I can help you to get the CD,if you want it.
( Of course,Volunteer) E-mail me!
In the end ,our "Platinum disc" Ben Folds Five infomation.
The new album will be released on 5th Feb.in Japan with bonus track"Song
For The Dumped(Japanese Version)",And First single is normal "Song For The
Dumped" with the cover song "Champagne Supernova"(Original is OASIS.I love
this song.).
Azusa Motohashi EZC00110@niftyserve.or.jp
[Not coincidentally, one of Ben's earlier bands was called Jody's
Power Bill. -fjm]
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 13:21:52 -0800
From: Rose Conger <zerocool@magg.net>
Subject: Attention West Palm Beach!
On Sunday December 29th I was in CompUsa looking for some software when
low and behold I spotted a fellow BF5 fan! And you know anyone who has
heard of and listens to BF5 has got to be cool! : ) He was wearing the
infamous blue t-shirt with the stick piano and the i was never cool in
school... slogan. Anyhoo if your that guy and your out there reading
this
I just wanted to say hi again and commend your music tastes.
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 16:07:30 -0500
From: SAMISAMI@aol.com
Subject: Ben Folds Five mailing list
I just found BF5, and I've not stopped listening to the cd! I absolutley
love it. It is my new favorite! I would really appreciate it if I could join
the "Magical Armchair" mailing list. I've also been getting my friends into
the BF5 craze... they love it as much as I do, and we want to know if BF5
will ever come to South Florida, or are we stuck in Ft.Lauderdale with no
hope of BF5?
Thank you,
Samantha Rassner
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 19:39:26 -0500
From: Landohappy@aol.com
Subject: Re: my piano keys are HUGE
"all I can say is, you don't invalidate an
idea just because it doesn't work 100% of the time. "
It's strange that I would wait for something non-BFF- related to contribute
to the list. I have to respond to Michael Bluejay's comment (restated above):
Thank you. I'm very glad you wrote it because I needed to hear it. The
underlying American philosophy is so overblown; People get so stuck on the
systematic rationalizing of every darned thing around, and it doesn't always
work. It's easy to fall into that "if it doesn't always work, it's wrong"
trap, and I'm glad our good friend Michael could bring us back, and resolve
the situation for us. Just for the record, I'm Pro-custom-piano-keys. I think
it sounds like a great idea. I mean, I've got some puny hands, and my little
pinky can't always handle more than an octave. What could be better is a
folding piano that fits in a brief case, so you could take it anywhere, but I
really don't see that as a possibility. Sigh.
But perhaps better than a folding piano, is this wonderful Frank fellow who
puts the whole darned Armchair together, with his highly perceptive wood
glue. Too bad none of these Tampa folk like BFF- I could really impress them
with how much I know about the band, thanks to Frank and his dedication to
us, lowly fans without connections.
natalie edwards (I'm crazy, but I get the job done)
==============================================================================
Date: Wed, 01 Jan 1997 02:20:53 -0500 (EST)
From: kumquat <angjc@BIOMED.MED.YALE.EDU>
Subject: Majoosha?
I'm not sure how it's spelled? I'm getting confused....
my best friend had a Majosha (?) T-shirt throughout
college....
I didn't know Ben was in the band? What's their sound like?
Is it similar to BFF? Who were the others in that band
I know they are from some where around NC in the mtns
perhaps?
Inquiring minds want to know....
~jinky
\\|//
( o o )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~oOOo ( ) oOOo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Jinky Ang
angjc@biomed.med.yale.edu 367 Cedar Street, Box Z
jcan@acpub.duke.edu New Haven, CT 06510
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
==============================================================================
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 14:28:23 -0500 (EST)
From: KEITH MCMILLAN <MCMILLANKR@HIRAM.EDU>
Subject: RE: THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR, Issue #171
Hey BFF'ers
I saw "Uncle Walter" on Mtv on Christmas eve at 2:00 p.m., it was on M2
preview...it was pretty sweet...love that armchair!!
It was really strange because I was watching it with my brother
and he said "Oh, they released Uncle Walter.." I had only played the CD
for him once, so i thought it was strange that he knew the song...here
he owns the CD and loves it...and i had no clue...small world.
A few questions...
1) Wouldn't it be great if they had a knock-down ballad on their next
album?
2) Does anyone else think Long December by the Counting Crows sounds very
BFFish?
3) Wouldn't it be great if Ben and Adam Duritz wrote some songs together?
4) WOuldn't it be great if BFF opens for Counting Crows next tour?
Later folks
Keith
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 00:28:25 -0800
From: Michele <mmenuck@umich.edu>
Subject: When?
I must know...
For the US tour, where and when are the Five coming to:
Ohio?
Illinois?
Indiana?
and...
Will they ever come back to Michigan?
Are they coming to Canada any time soon?
Thanks.
Michele Menuck
[The US tour starts March 31 and runs thru early May. Dates will be
posted here and on the web page when they are released. -fjm]
==============================================================================
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 12:20:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Jason Martin <UN036034@wvnvaxa.wvnet.edu>
Subject: BFF Sheet Music
A few months ago there was some discussion about a collection of BFF
sheet music to be published. Does anyone have any updates on this?
Jason
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