THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #474 - September 12, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Friday, September 12 1997 Volume 01 : Number 474
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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PERSONAL ATTACKS
Let's keep the personal attacks and barbs out of the Armchair. If you
have something to say to someone, send it via private e-mail. All are
welcome to discuss Ben Folds Five here and no question is a dumb question
if you don't know the answer. Of course, it would be appreciated if you'd
do a little research of your own first. Most of the commonly-asked
questions are answered in various resources found on the web, and I
usually recommend http://oeonline.com/bff/ as a good starting point. There
are links to lots of people's BFF pages, including some good FAQs.
TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
Raving About Dumped/Brick
Since you asked. . .
Aaron Dawson's Brick/SFTD Post
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #472
PBS
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #472
thanks
BFF incident
Chicago TV
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:01:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Patrick J McDonough <mcdonpj@wfu.edu>
Subject: Raving About Dumped/Brick
> Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 23:28:29 -0500
> From: Aaron Dawson <hawk_i@tfs.net>
> Subject: Dumped vs. Brick
> I would like to voice a few peaceful opinions.
If you really meant this, you may want to reread your posts once before
contributing.
> James...HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK THAT SONG FOR THE DUMPED IS BETTER
> THAN BRICK!?! I truly do not understand this.
It's called taste. If you disagree, please take the time to demand "HOW
COULD YOU POSSIBLY LIKE ANOTHER BAND MORE THAN BFF?" of anyone you meet
who falls in that category.
> off their musical capabilities? If anyone is going to try and say that
> "Song for the Dumped", however great it may be (and yes even I like it),
> is more musical than "Brick" is just plain full of crap.
Okay, here I will be analytical. I am a musician, in fact, a
pianist, who can play a good deal of Ben's stuff. I will tell you hands
down, "Dumped" is a far more musically intricate piece than "Brick." Now,
if you want to talk about the craft of SONGWRITING, which is much
different from musicianship, I would argue that Brick displays greater
songwriting talents. But musically speaking, "Dumped" incorporates
elements of punk, rock, a bit of metal, and yes, ragtime and jazz. That
middle section before Robert's throbbing bass break is HARD to play.
"Dumped" displays Ben's mastery of a handful of styles at the keys, while
"Brick" is built around one motif. (That's not to say that it isn't a
strong motif or that it's not elegant, but it is simple, and easy to play-
it doesn't take a lot of musicianship to pull off) Before you think I
slight the music, neither does Pachelbel's Canon.
Really, this isn't even an apples and oranges comparison. It's
more like trying to compare apples to a staple gun. Where do you start?
Different techniques in writing and performing, different goals- let the
songs be and support the boys' work.
As for the Brick video, how rare is it that you have a song that
would get to tell such a story in a video? Let's hope it's done well.
Patrick from Winston-Salem
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:14:34 -0600
From: "Erik C. Lyons" <EPA8820@epa.state.il.us>
Subject: Since you asked. . .
Re: A band similar to BFF. . .and the *cheesiness* of playing BFF covers.
Just 2 comments.
1.) They say imitation is the greatest compliment, so play some covers and
write some songs of your own. . .ONLY, be tasteful and don't screw it up.
2.) BFF. . ."often imitated, never duplicated"
Long live 'Mickey,' Rocky's BEST trainer. . .We'll miss ya Burgess. . .
- -E.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 07:59:38 -0700
From: "Kamp, Marcus S" <Marcus.Kamp@PSS.Boeing.com>
Subject: Aaron Dawson's Brick/SFTD Post
Aaron justifies BFF's choice of Brick as the next single by stating
(correctly) that it's more musical than SFTD. However, let's keep in
mind that musicality has absolutely nothing to do w/the choice of a
single. Otherwise, Sugar Ray + Hanson would never have been allowed to
assault us w/their meaningless drivel! Don't forget, Milli Vanilli
released (+ sold) loads of singles w/out having a shred of musical
ability. Brick would make a better single (IT'S NOTHING LIKE THE
FRESHMAN!!!), partially because every other word of SFTD would have to
be beeped on the radio:-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:07:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: SweetyX1@aol.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #472
In reference to what is in Smutbag's changer:
Bjork is great, I love your taste.
That's all, sorry to bother!!
Love & Candy Apples,
Deidre
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:23:22 -0400
From: santonan@student.umass.edu
Subject: PBS
Those bastards at PBS! You know I give them money, you would think they
could at least provide me with some accurate information. :) Sure, I got
my hopes up because the boys were mentioned in the September schedule I
got in the mail and now they're not even gonna be on?! I'm crushed..oh
well, perhaps I'll just tape Saturday's session anyways and see what
happens.
Sarah :)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:41:55 -0400
From: James Campbell <campbell@virl.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #472
> From: Aaron Dawson <hawk_i@tfs.net>
> James...HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK THAT SONG FOR THE DUMPED IS BETTER
> THAN BRICK!?! I truly do not understand this.
I didn't say that.
> Now pardon my fit, I do agree that new listeners might take to
> Dumped before Brick.
Ah! This is what I did say..8^) And, this is why 'Dumped' should
be a single. I think the song (though not as good as Brick) has
a much better chance of being a hit, and getting more airplay than
Brick. What AD could resist adding it?
> However, now that the masses know who Ben and the Boys are, shouldn't they show
> off their musical capabilities?
I think your underestimating the 'masses'.....I'm a huge XTC fan and
the 'masses' haven't seemed to care too much about their musical
capabilities.
I mean, Green Day is getting tons of airplay right now.....that too
speaks volumes on the 'masses'....;^)
> P.S. James, I just want to let you know that I am not attacking you.
'All is fair..'
Cheers,
- -- James
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 14:18:43 PDT
From: "onion sprout" <onionsprout@hotmail.com>
Subject: thanks
hello, hello, hello
i just wanted to say thanks to whoever recommended the "Belle and
Sebastion" CD. i love it. it's great. and i recommend it also.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 14:59:12 -0700 (MST)
From: Stacy L Flatt <stacyf@U.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: BFF incident
Hey gang!
A funny little thing happened to me today... See, I live here in Tucson,
AZ (student at the UA) and we get these monsoons... where it will be
really beautiful and sunny, and then a half hour later the skys open up
(when there wasn't a cloud in sight before) and all the rain will come
pooring down and flood the streets, etc... ok. So, durring the nice part
of the day, the best radio station in the world, 92.1 KFMA Tucson's New
Rock was here at the U, so I'm all chatting with them, telling them about
the Lounge-a-polooza, Brick single, yadda, yadda (I am the station's first
official groupie. Hah!) Gave em my phone number in case they ever got
any promotional BFF stuff theyd give to it me (they offered! They even
know me by name. I'm telling you, this is the best station in the world.
=-) Ok, so, then one class later, the monsoon starts.. I am on my way to
Anthropology.. riding my bike in the pooring rain. I am on a bike path
when I see this guy on the sidewalk wearing none other than a navy blue
BFF shirt!!! I simply *had* to talk to him.. so I try to stop.
Unfortionaltly, bike breaks don't work too well on a flooded street.. so I
put my foot down and attemped to stop.. the hwole time Mr Navy BFF shirt
is walking the opposite way! I ended up giving myself a little scrape
doing this. Anyway, I ran my bike down, finally caught up to him and
asked him about the shirt. He got it from the U radiostation, so he
couldn't help me out. Anyway, he was really nice, and if he is on the ML,
I hope you don't think I'm really wacked or anything! =-) I wanted to
join the radiostation and do some stuff for it, but I don't know when the
meetings are. Now I have more insentive, huh.. I might get a BFF tshirt!
=-)
Stacy
ps any other UofArizona, Tucson, or Arizona Armchairians? Please write
me! =-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 16:41:00 -0500
From: "Johnson, Erik K." <ekjohnson@wtc.com>
Subject: Chicago TV
So, I went to a record show Sunday to see what I could find.
I'm figuring none of these guys are even gonna know who Ben Folds is,
let alone have anything from the band. They are all collecting Beatles stuff
and live Jimi Hendrix cds. I'm looking thru the tables and I come across a
guy
selling videos of live shows. I'm looking thru his collection, and what do I
see?
A Ben Folds Five tape! I couldn't believe it. I had him throw it in.
It was a little grainy. I talked to him about it, and he told me it was
taped from a
Cable Access Show in Chicago. It was a BFF show at the Metro in Chicago,
and was taped straight from the tv. He wanted $25 for it! I love the band,
but this guy is dubbing tapes and making $25 a pop. What's up with that?
So, I figured I would come to you guys to see if one of you might have a copy
of this show you may be willing to trade? The show looked good,
other than being a little fuzzy. Help me if you can.
Also ... If you are into BFF articles, the Sept 1997 issue of Mix magazine
contains an article/interview with the band. They talk about how it was
a mistake to record the album in the house. If you are into technical
recording stuff, check it out.
-Erik
ekjohnson@west.com
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #474
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