THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #542 - October 18, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Saturday, October 18 1997 Volume 01 : Number 542
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
Rage Vid
my, maybe 10 cents
Re: Eddie Walker
L.A. info
Re: Bass players
re:tongue firmly in cheek
Lounge-a-paloza
WUPX
telephone/Steven
Re: Brick Airplay
Atlanta!!!!
Chicago show - hotel info
la show @ el rey theater
BF5 AOL forum from April
Overnight successes
Japanese import of 1st album - want it?
MMB
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Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 20:23:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Znice@aol.com
Subject: Rage Vid
thanks to everyone regarding the Austrailian/American non compatability
advice for the RAGE video (wow that's a mouthful huh?) anyway, with the help
of our aussie friend sarah, i am trying to sort out a converted version on
vhs for all us fans in the states. i will let everyone know when and if I
receive it. As for "rocky" is that a bf5 song that i have somehow missed?
One more question, on the cd for "all the happy people"(Kate B-side), it
credits Robert as playing the piano and Ben on the bass. wouldn't it be great
to see that at a live show??(has anyone?) thats all for today... eric
Does anyone know how old the boys are???
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 20:42:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: BlueJellow@aol.com
Subject: my, maybe 10 cents
In a message dated 97-10-16 11:12:01 EDT, you write:
<< From: Jessica237@aol.com >>
Jess wrote about how people kept asking her to make BFF tapes and stuff. All
my friends listen to BFF. It's really popular at my school. I go to a small
school. I have a class of about 80 students (sophmores 50, juniors 60, and
seniors about 40 kids) and each grade has MANY fans. All the freshes love
BFF and think it's KICKASS. i make tapes all the time for people. I am happy
to create new fans. BFF is going to be huge, and I would like to be able to
say I was a hardcore fan before their HUGE break. I'm not saying that they
aren't a big band, but they aren't BIG BIG. You know what I mean.
Oh yeah, someone said they used BFF to get through french. I do the same
thing. For two years I had an incredibly boring teacher and I couldn't do
anything because I was so uninterested. But good news. This year I got the
best teacher. I look forward to French. I have two class clowns and we have
such a fun time. We sing BFF all the time. Our french videos are totally
retarded 80's cheesy things which are sooo much fun to make fun of, and the
backround music is so funny! During my homework, I listen to WEAEA on a
walkman. I recommed doing this because you can catch all the stuff on the
walkman that you miss on the stereo like crickets in Cigarrette (I think it's
that song) and i swear in one song the telephone rings in the backround. they
ignore it and keep on playing. It's kick ass!!
My new favorite song is Evaporated. Close your eyes and focus on the lyrics.
they speak for themselves. it's a beautiful song.
I love Stephen's last night in town. I don't like Stephen himself. He "lost
points" with me when he said he couldn't love a woman with cellulite. How
rude. I'm sure he'd think differently if he had some on his thighs. Some of
the skinniest women have it. What a retarded statement.
Thanks for reading,
Lucy
"I poured my heart out, it evaporated....see?"
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 21:05:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Blades6345@aol.com
Subject: Re: Eddie Walker
Eddie Walker plays drums in Snuzz and Bus Stop (two NC bands that Chuck Folds
plays bass in). Also, there is a song called "Eddie Walker, This is Your
Life" and if you haven't heard it you're really missing out. It's GREAT!! I
LOVE that song! But anyway i guess that's who Eddie Walker is. If you haven't
heard it, i know a place where you can download the mp3 for it, but please
email me privately.
BFF alive,
Emily
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 18:07:34 PDT
From: "Courtney Knopf" <vegasbaby@hotmail.com>
Subject: L.A. info
So i got the skinny on the Nov. 30th show at the El Rey. Tixx go on sale
on saturday and will be $13.50 (w/o service charge--let's not start up
the Ticketmaster bashing again, please).
So that's that. Thanx to Andy who suggested looking in the L.A. Times
Calendar Weekend.
Perhaps we could have a pre-show shindig at my place. if anyone's
interested, email me.
~Courtney
The Sultraness of Swing
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 20:34:07 -0500 (CDT)
From: allison <cuyjet@owlnet.rice.edu>
Subject: Re: Bass players
john boyer wrote:
> Here is a little list I found in a guitar mag...
>
> Bass Players in popular music
> 1. Les Claypool(perfect score on technique)-Primus
> 2. Flea(perfect score on jam factor)-RHCP, Jane's Addiction(NEW)
> 3. Robert Sledge(7's and 8's in every category)-Ben Folds Five
> 4. Mark Sandman(7's and 8's in every category)-Morphine
> 5. Brad Wood(More 7's than 8's)-Medeski, Martin, Wood
i believe that's _chris_ wood.
- ---------
stuart wrote:
> and shirts... does anyone know if there will be any type of new
> merchandise on the tour, shirts, stickers whatever....
hmm... does this mean you're going to be asking me to buy something for
you at the austin show, stu? you better be bringing me back some cool
chilean shit. ;)
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
allison
cuyjet@owlnet.rice.edu
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cuyjet
come on and dig me, 'cause i'm the fly pygmy
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 21:57:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: F2G2@aol.com
Subject: re:tongue firmly in cheek
i heard that eddie had ben kicked out of pj for drug usage and overall poor
disposition and ben was suposed to replace him as lead vocalist.
"one, two, three, four, 5 against one
5-5........."
hence the name change of ben folds 5 to the goat swogglers, an all bass and
drums (you'll note i did not say drum-n-bass, tho that's a thought) band.
opening for komeda. smile......................
mak
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 14:25:26 +1000
From: Sarah <titania@cybergal.com>
Subject: Lounge-a-paloza
Peter asked:
>
>So, how is the rest of the CD? Obviously BF5 is good on it, but is there
anyone
>else on it that makes it worth listening to?
>
After listening to the Lounge-a-paloza cd a couple of times I would say
yeah there is definitely other stuff on it that makes it worth listening
to. You need to open your mind to it, and accept each track as being a
different interpretation of a song, rather than a straight cover. But Steve
& Eydie's 'Black Hole Sun' is beautiful, and the Fun Lovin' Criminals "I'm
not in Love' is great. Just to name a couple. I bought this cd because of
BFF, and didn't have any expectations about the rest of it and was
pleasantly surprised :} It is a gem :} Hope that answers your question :}
Sarah
In Memory everything happens to music.
- - The Third Man, Orson Wells
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 23:19:01 -0400
From: Joe Schweiss <jschweiss@sirus.com>
Subject: WUPX
Last weekend I guest hosted a radio show at Northern Michigan University
and was pleased to find both the Lounge-a-palooza and WaEA. We played
She Don't Use Jelly but when I looked at WaEA I was horrified to see how
many tracks were listed as not suitable for airplay. Songs like Brick
and Evaporated couldn't be played because of the extra stuff at the ends
of each. The weird things was that Selfless wasn't crossed off and
neither was Steven's (and I know they aren't kicking a sheet) but I
didn't want to get my friend in trouble for playing them, so I picked
Kate. However this was marred when the Morphine track I picked said
motherfu**er and we had to cut into Kate a little early.
Anyway, the talk has seemingly always been about Brick and hardly anyone
talks about Evaporated. Does this song depress the hell out of anyone
but me? That and the slight creaking noises coming from Ben's stool
during Boxing always do me in (listen closely and you'll hear it).
Tah all,
Joe
"I'm real sorry you're mom blew up, Ricky"
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 00:08:32 +0000
From: SeanGambrel <gambrels@pilot.msu.edu>
Subject: telephone/Steven
that's no telephone, my friend...
Sean
"Take my advice, it's nice to be nice..."
Wally Pleasant
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 21:43:25 -0700
From: Janet <LemonDrp@pacbell.net>
Subject: Re: Brick Airplay
As far as I know the only time I've heard "Brick" other than my cd
player is from Muzak when I used to work at "Juice It Up!".
I also figured that I have a snowball's chance of getting a bff songbook
or understanding transcriptions, so I decided to see if I can play any
songs by ear and now I can play "Brick" and pretty well I might say.
Try it sometime. Now all I need is a bass and drums.
I think we can stop picking on Pluvius now.
See you Angelinos at the El Rey.
Take care.
Janet.
- -Why don't we pitch it to the Franklin gosh-darn Mint?-
- --
Serenity Now!! --> http://members.tripod.com/~peachfish/sparkie.htm
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 00:47:27 -0400
From: Burton Posey <bposey@mindspring.com>
Subject: Atlanta!!!!
I just saw BFF in Atl. tonight. It was just.... incredible. I've seen them
before, but never at their own gig. I was a little bit dissapointed that
they didn't really play one song that wasn't on the the 2 big CDs. I really
had everything though. Beware, the opening band just might suck. Their name
is something like Venus FlyTrap Girls(all guys). They kinda looked like and
sounded worse than the 80's band the Stray Cats. I suggest coming in late.
Later.
Burton
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 01:54:56 EDT
From: sandishortcake@juno.com
Subject: Chicago show - hotel info
I just got an e-mail from Doug and he asked me to post this info:
>The closest hotel to the Vic Theater is called 'City Suites'
>it's just around the corner on Belmont. The phone # is 773-404-3400. The
>rate is $99 I think. Nice place. Can you post that info to the Chair for
>me? I guess anybody who's going to Chicago might be interested in
>knowing. The next closest place is a Days Inn on Diversey.
- -Sandi
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 02:14:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: GoochyBird@aol.com
Subject: la show @ el rey theater
ok--so I called today and got the info--tickets go on sale at noon on
Saturday October 18, price $13.50 (plus any ticketmaster type fees). Hope
this helps!!
Heather
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 97 01:27:39 -0500
From: Michael Bluejay <bluejay@pobox.com>
Subject: BF5 AOL forum from April
Back in late April (or maybe it was early May), the boys participated in
an online forum on America Online. They even answered two of my
questions. (Well, as much as they ever answer anything directly...) I
saved my transcript, and I'll post it here in a week or two. But if you
want to see it right away, here's the catch: I wrote a notepad program
for the Mac called ScatterBrains, and if you download this software, then
you'll see that I used the BF5 transcript as some of the sample data.
See what Ben said when asked point-blank what "Brick" is about! This is
my way of encouraging people to try out my new program. :-)
You can download the software from my web address below. If you don't
have a Mac, or for some other reason you can't download the software,
then you'll just have to wait until I get around to posting the whole
transcript.
In the meantime, I can't hold out on you all completely, so here's a
sample of the transcript:
- - - - - - - - - - -
Question: Yeah...i was wondering....is there a bassist in yer band...if
not..how do you compensate for the lack of one with piano and guitar?
RS BF5: Darren: My feet stink, so does your question.
Question: How did you get discovered?
RS BF5: Ben: We were playing a skating rink and a disc jockey was
broadcasting from the rink and we were supposed to be playing country
music but we played one of our originals, the song got requested a lot
and became a hit. "That'll Be the Day" was the song.
- - - - - - - - - - -
- -- Michael Bluejay (Austin, TX)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://pobox.com/bluejay | Home of AUSTIN MUSIC, KING CHEESE,
| BIKING IN AUSTIN, VEGETARIAN pages, & more
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 00:30:45 -0600
From: times@bordercity.com (Lloydminster Times)
Subject: Overnight successes
I think when people talk about overnight successes, such as the Bosstones,
often they just mean that the bands popularity just explodes, with a hit
single like "the Impression That I Get." Like if one of BFF's singles
suddenly caused the band to rocket to the top of charts everywhere next
week, I would consider that an overnight success. It's not meant to slight
a band or suggest they haven't paid their dues, many bands work long and
hard for their overnight success. Unfortunately, overnight successes also
tend to be overnight flops. Like the Bosstones steadily build a fan base (I
was introduced to them a couple years ago by a ska-lovin' roommate), but
they have a popular single and boom! So no one knew them in my world, then
a buddy listened to them, and then we both listened to them and boom! Their
song is huge and featured in a lame movie starring Billy Crystal and Robin
Williams. But if they don't have another single to hold the interest of the
increasingly shorter-attention-spanned public, they'll lose this popularity
and fall back on their core audience (the core audience will remain about
the same size, because lasting fans attracted by the single will be
balanced by pretentious wankers who ditch the band as soon as they become
too popular, too mainstream) and continue to build on that, happy as clams
with more money in their pocket (despite annoying people whining about
bands who sell out, they are working for a living. People bitch about
athlete salaries all the time but at least no one complains that Michael
Jordan sold out).
Everyone thinks their own musical taste is exquisite. We think we're
smarter than everyone else who doesn't listen to Ben Folds Five (well, we
are), but we'd gripe if everybody was listening to them that other people
only did it because they're trendy. Then we'd complain after everybody else
stopped listening to them when they were no longer trendy.
Daniel
Lloydminster
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 23:43:50 PDT
From: "Petra Starke" <naturalselection@hotmail.com>
Subject: Japanese import of 1st album - want it?
While browsing through the BF5 section of my local cool record store, i
found a Japanese version of the first BF5 album. It has an extra track
called 'Tom and mary'. It costs $35 Australian, and I know it has been
in the store for several months now (but could go at any minute, knowing
my luck). I am happy to buy it for anyone who wants it but cannot get it
where they are. As long as they are willing to pay me for the cd and
postage (I am a poor student, sorry!)
I don't know how collectible this cd is or whether it's in hot demand,
but if you want it, I will buy it for the first person to email me (god,
how am I gonna work that one out...I'll try anyway).
cheers, Petra
"Who sucked out the feeling?" - Superdrag
______________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 03:36:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Shiry@aol.com
Subject: MMB
Just in response to the person who was talking about the Mighty Mighty
Bosstones show they went to.... I saw them in Chicago on Saturday and it was
exactly the same here. The crowd was awesome for Bim Skala Bim except for a
few obnoxious people holding beer who would refuse to move and gave those of
us who were skanking weird faces. Then, when the Bosstones came on, a huge
surge of people came down from the seats to the standing area and so it was
very very crowded which I guess I kind of expected considering their
popularity now, but anyway, everyone started moshing like crazy and it was
quite hard to breathe or move, or anything. I personally hate moshing so
that's why it was bad too. Besides all the moshers, there were tons of big,
beefy guys there holding beer and cigarettes with their shirts off. I didn't
really appreciate that either. After a few songs, my friend and I decided it
just wasn't worth the pain to be standing down there, not really able to
enjoy the show, so we went upstairs. When they started singing that song
that's become popular, everyone suddenly leaped out of their seats as if that
was the only thing they had paid $20 to hear, and in my friend's words, the
entire audience looked orgasmic. That was interesting to watch. Anyway, I
thought the show was pretty good but I still kinda wish they hadn't gained so
much popularity. Oh well... Having to do with Ben Folds Five.. they're coming
here on the 30th and I might not be able to go!!!!!! Ahh!!!! I would have to
shoot myself... :/
DK
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #542
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