THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #673 - December 4, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Thursday, December 4 1997 Volume 01 : Number 673
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Mailing List
TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THIS MAILING LIST
Send an e-mail message to armchair-request@maillist.il.fontys.nl with
the word 'unsubscribe' (without the quotes) in the message body. Please DO
NOT POST UNSUBSCRIBE REQUESTS TO THE LIST ITSELF! If you are having
trouble, send mail to owner-armchair@maillist.il.fontys.nl and I
will try to help you. To change your address, first unsub yourself from
your old address, then subscribe using your new account.
TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
GET THE CONNECTED!!!
Silly Ben...
B-sides
Article/review in the LA Times
going away.... ICQ chat room...
El Rey setlist
BFF on SNL?
Austin Show -- Worst Concert Experience Ever
chumba-butt-wamba and ronald mcdonald's musical tastes
L.A. Live Online show
ConnecteD WEAEA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 00:25:09 -0500
From: Carrie Shanafelt
Subject: GET THE CONNECTED!!!
Wowwie! If you haven't already, go to
right now and get the Plug-Ins and stuff so you can see all the kickass
stuff it does!! Besides the hilarious "Not-So True Confessions" ("We were
going through that monk phase...") and the neato sing-along dealy,
nothing's better than playing Pong with the head of your favorite of the
Five... reminding me of hours and hours of wasted childhood, hopefully not
to turn into hours and hours of wasted young adulthood. (The peanut
gallery is instructed to remain silent, Marcus) So if you can, do it!!! :D
Carrie
"Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump where it
cannot tempt you." -- a spokesperson from the Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital
"So that's how a dead 255 lb man with no pants on, with a truck on top of
him and a stick up his ass came to be" -- Commissioner Appleton.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 00:34:10 -0500
From: Carrie Shanafelt
Subject: Silly Ben...
Ya know, I first heard this a long time ago, but it's just now hitting me
how interesting this is... On th KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show from
1997 (which you can listen to in RealAudio at
), Ben is the guest DJ for the day, and he
plays a bunch of old Majosha stuff. Ben doesn't sing on any of it, but he
plays just about everything. Anyway, he comments on the show that he
didn't think of himself as a singer, so he would get other people to do the
singing. The people who sing on the tracks he played are really not good!
Really... not... good. Ben has a gorgeous voice! I mean, I come from a
more classical vocal training, and no, he doesn't use perfect vowels, etc.,
but his voice was the first thing that attracted me to the band. How sad
that he didn't think he was any good!!
Another interesting story. (OK, I think it's kinda funny... stop me if
you've heard this one...) My friend Julie and I (hey Jules!) fell madly in
love with BFF in the late summer of '95 and each got the CD, and like most
people, didn't read the liner notes before listening to it over and over.
Julie and I had this deal... see, she was gonna do the guy singing lead
("He has such a cute voice!") and I was gonna do the guy playing the piano
("Imagine them hands, honey..."). Oh, the day when Julie pointed out to me
that *Ben Folds* was a person, and he did both. And, like the two adorably
16-year-old girlies that we were, the noise that followed was something
terribly akin to, "EEEEEEEEEE!!!" :D
But just to inform all of you that have checked out the ConnecteD WAEA,
when Darren says he's saving himself to lose his virginity with someone
really special, I have in from a confirmed source that he is referring to
me, Carrie DeAnne Shanafelt. Ya know that repeated orgasmic screaming he
does in "Fanny Packs"? Uh huh. You know it, baby. All out of pure
pent-up desire for yours truly.
By the way if you missed the LA Live concert from El Rey, check it out in
their archives! It was... *sigh* completely
kickass.... A really great show, even by BFF standards.
*whew* What a long post! Thanks for bearing with my verbosity.
Pretend you're the daughter of Elvis, and you're married to the King of Pop.
Carrie
"Men are jerks. Women are psychotic." -- 'Kilgore Trout'
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every
minute?" -- Thornton Wilder
"Make love while you can; it's good for you." -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 22:15:51 -0800
From: Angela
Subject: B-sides
I just saw the show at the Fillmore over the weekend, which was
spectacular. I thought it would be worth checking out what's available
beyond their two albums. Does anyone have any favorite B-sides that they'd
recommend? Thanks.
- --angela
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 22:48:24 -0800
From: Janet
Subject: Article/review in the LA Times
Hey,
I found a review of the Caprice show in Monday's Calendar section. I
posted it at http://members.tripod.com/~peachfish/bffmedia.htm
so it wouldn't take up a lot of bandwidth.
I also forgot to ask if anyone else saw Ben bopping about during
Travis's performance at the El Rey. He was on the side with the glasses
and everything :)
Take care.
Janet.
- --
Serenity Now!! --> http://members.tripod.com/~peachfish/sparkie.htm
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 18:36:20 +1100
From: DEREK SCOTT
Subject: going away.... ICQ chat room...
hi all
I'm unsubscribing so goodbye for 2 months. Anyone who is on the BF5 ICQ CHAT ROOM ( such that it is) I still haven't heard from anyone who wants to take it over for the 2 months while I'm away, so from Friday Dec 5th, it will not opreate (unless someone mails me quick smart!)
Ta~ta!
Claire
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 00:53:00 -0700
From: plpalmer@ix.netcom.com
Subject: El Rey setlist
Theme From Doctor Pyser / Battle Of Who Could Care Less / Philosophy /
Selfless, Cold, And Composed / Missing The War / Steven's Last Night In
Town / Fair / Brick / Kate / Jackson Cannery / B Side / One Angry Dwarf
And 200 Solemn Faces / Julianne / Smoke / Underground / Boxing / She
Don't Use Jelly / Song For The Dumped
I got a good tape of this and am interested in DAT trades only.
Peter
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 11:31:48 -0500
From: Kenneth McKenna - SSG
Subject: BFF on SNL?
Greetings!
I'm not stating this to start false rumors but, with the increasing
popularity of "Brick", might an appearance on "Saturday Night Live" be
in BFF's future? Just a thought. It would certainly be confirmation
of their increasing popularity, and would probably take them to
greater heights.
Along the lines of the BFF-Oasis popularity timeline, I think another
artist whose career path might parallel BFF is Melissa Etheridge. I
saw her in a tiny bar in Buffalo not long after her first disc came
out. I didn't know much about her at the time, but I was blown away
by her performance, so much so that I still consider it to be one of
the best concerts I've seen. Anyway, her first album didn't do all
that much, her second disc sold better than the first and increased
her following, but it wasn't until her 4th disc that she really took
off. Hopefully BFF will be more enduring than Melissa, because she
has sort of disappeared in the last couple years. Maybe the fact that
she keeps putting the same album out would have something to do with
her declining popularity.
Regards,
Ken McKenna
"Books are crooks, they steal your time!"- Pat Duffey
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 11:11:46 -0600
From: "Chris M."
Subject: Austin Show -- Worst Concert Experience Ever
This is my first message to the list, so hello all.
Like the rest of you I am a huge, huge, huge BFF fan. I saw them in concert
in Austin last spring at Liberty Lunch, which was a *great* show (one of the
best shows I have ever been to in my life) in spite of the fact that Liberty
Lunch is pretty much a pit. So I was excited beyond words when I got
tickets for the Nov. 22 show in Austin at La Zona Rosa, which is a much
nicer facility. Well I am very sad to report that it turned out to be the
worst concert going experience I have ever had. (I've read the last few
weeks' worth of Armchairs and haven't seen any report about this, so I hope
I'm not bringing up something that has already been discussed.)
The first problem was that, for some reason, there were no speakers carrying
vocals aimed at the front of the stage. I don't know anything about setting
up sound for a concert, so I have no idea what the deal was exactly, but the
piano, bass, and drums were all loud and all sounded good, but you couldn't
hear the vocals at all. The sound guys obviously picked up on this, because
after about the third song you could easily tell that they turned up the
sound on the vocals, but they were still only coming from the side speaker
stacks and were not very loud at all.
This was a major contributing factor to the second problem I had with the
show, which was that a sizeable portion of the crowd sang along with almost
every song at the top of their lungs, for the most part drowning out the
band's vocals. I found this incredibly annoying, and it pretty much
single-handedly ruined the show for me. Not that I didn't feel a little bit
old-fogeyish (at the ripe old age of 28) for thinking that at the time.
Most of the crowd (I'm talking at least 85% if not more) were under 21. I
don't know if that had anything to do with it. This was the first show I've
ever been to where more than maybe 30% of the crowd were minors, so I've
never been so far above the median age before (which was a little unsettling
:-). So I was thinking that, on the one hand, if the music moves people to
sing, what Scrooge am I to say they shouldn't if that's what makes the show
fun for them? On the other hand, I paid good money to hear Ben Folds sing,
not them, and so I should get to hear him. There's a reason he's on stage
and they're not. I tend to sing along under my breath without thinking
about it when I'm at shows, but I would never just belt it out along with
the band because, well, unless it's a sing-along, that's just plain rude.
The third and final issue that ruined the show for me, and this is by far
the most bizarre and unprecedented aspect of all this, is that people in the
crowd around my girlfriend and I kept bouncing into us. I'm not talking
about moshing, I'm just talking about kind of bouncing around along with the
music and bumping into everyone around them, hard enough to cause other
people to stagger. I looked around and clearly there were other people up
front who were as annoyed as we were, but we were in the vast minority.
This I don't get at all. I've been going to concerts -- major arena shows
and small club shows -- since I was about 15 years old. I cut my
concert-going teeth on Iron Maiden and Judas Priest at the Corpus Christi
Colessuem, back when the floor was general admission so I know what the
crowd at the front of the stage is like, and I've never, ever, been around
people who had such a complete lack of respect for the people around them.
I'm not talking about the jostling and elbowing that happens at the front of
the stage, that's life, I'm talking about honestly bouncing *into* other
people. There's no excuse or justification for this behavior, and I am
still stunned that such a large group of people would act that way.
As a result, in spite of the fact that BFF was *great*, this was the worst
concert-going experience of my life. I was worried that maybe I had just
somehow become lame in my old age, but in speaking to other people locally
(most not personal acquaintances of mine) they felt the same way and have
said "Man, I'm glad to hear that! I thought it was just me!" But then
everyone I've talked to about it has been older than 21. Which isn't to rag
on "the kids," I'm just reporting the facts as I experienced them. The
other BFF show I went to wasn't like that at all, so I know it's not a
BFF-related phenomenon.
I'm sorry if this message is a little long, but I really wanted to get that
off my chest and share it with other BFF fans. What do you guys think? Has
anyone else had a similar experience? Agree? Think I'm just overreacting?
I'm curious to hear.
Peace, and may the Folds be with you.
- --Chris M.
Austin, TX
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 12:58:36 -0500 (EST)
From: Tidal Wave
Subject: chumba-butt-wamba and ronald mcdonald's musical tastes
On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Magical Armchair Digest wrote:
> Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 09:36:44 -0500
> From: "Lance E. Johnson"
> Subject: Bess and "Brick" (tongue-in-cheek)
>
> Hi, all!
>
> I saw the post that Bess left about MTV cutting off "Brick". I saw them do
> it as well and only figured that if it were a Soundgarden or Chumbawamba
> video, we would have seen the whole thing.
Thats a low blow if you ask me, being a big Soundgarden fan and
all. Soundgarden worked their collective ass off to achieve the
popularity they eventually gained at the end of their career, and their
sound did change, but let me just point out that a friend who is really
into punk stated that he used to know a band called Chumbawumba which was
really straight-ahead ANARCHO PUNK ROCK. If youve heard their latest
single Tubthumping or whatever it is...well...I dont think I have to say
anymore :) (I questioned whether it was in fact the same band, but my
friend pointed out - how many bands are called Chumbawamba, and both bands
have a similar-sounding female singer in common.)
Being that this is neither a Chumbawamba (thank god) or a
Soundgarden list (I unsubscribed), I also would like to bring up the topic
of Brick being cut off on MTV. Is this a regular occurrence or did it
only happen once? Because I see that thing - editing errors - happen
quite a bit on mtv. Why, back in the day when I would be sitting there
watching Headbangers Ball good ol Riki Rachtman would introduce a new
Corrosion of Conformity video, only to have a Megadeth video in fact be
bestowed upon us, and I, a big COC fan, would get upset and yell at the
TV. (Not that theres anythign wrong with Megadeth either.) But before I
get REALLY off topic, I also saw sombody mention hearing Brick at
Friendly's. I dunno if any of you really read my blitherings or not :),
but I made a similar post a few weeks back about hearing Brick at
McDonald's. Now you tell me - where would you rather hear Ben Folds Five?
Friendly's, or McDonald's? (OF course, if you happen to be working @
McDonald's you'd prolly choose the latter, but Friendly's has a little bit
more class.)
Oh, and I prefer PENIS A! to PENIS, EH? :)
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, 2 Dec 1997 23:05:01 -0500
From: "Leigh R. Nelson"
Subject: L.A. Live Online show
(In advance, sorry if this sounds really technical.) For anyone who
complained about the transmission quality of the LA Live show, listen up. I
originally went to the computer labs at my college to watch the show,
figuring the direct Internet connection would alleviate any problems due to
a slow connection. However, the labs were choked (being a Sunday night
after a break) with kids writing papers, so I decided to be nice and not
take up a workstation for two hours to watch the show. I headed home and
watched it on my brothers Pentium Pro-200 with 64MB of RAM. He's only got a
28.8 connection, but with his computer the audio was seamless and the video
came through at about 4 frames per second. Really I was not unhappy with
the performance. As for the size of the video, RealPlayer lets you watch
the video in 2X or full screen size too. I tried full screen and it crashed
the computer. So I went to 2X size, and on a 21" monitor running 640x480
resolution I had a nice picture, although a bit grainy. True it wasn't as
good as a television performance and couldn't touch a live show. But I did
get to see an LA show (how often will that come up?) and I got to see
Emaline live! So I'm really thankful. A year ago we would have had
nothing at all like this. At least now there's something else besides
(ugh!) MTV.
Leigh 13
**************************************************
13 Leigh R. Nelson
thirteen@eden.rutgers.edu
http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~thirteen
"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know some day you'll be a
sun in somebody else's sky, but why can't it be in mine?" - E.V.
"Go ahead and laugh all you want, I got my philosophy." - B.F.
**************************************************
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 12:37:59
From: "Hannah Kuhlmann"
Subject: ConnecteD WEAEA
And I quote:
(from armchair #659:)
>WHO KNEW what extras lurked in the heart of "Whatever"!? It takes a bit
>of busy work to get this thing to work, but it's pretty cool.
Cool is right! The regular old Audio CD WEAEA turns into a kick ass (well,
relatively kick ass) CD-ROM/website experience type of thing with just a
little work. I finally got all the plug-ins straight on my computer, and it
was way worth it. (In case you don't have # 659. . .) The plug-ins needed
are:
1)CD Pro extra from (click "trouble
shooting" to get to it. . .)
2)CD Link from
3)Shockwave from
There are instructions all over the place on these sites (especially the
ConnecteD site) so it really isn't too hard.
My favorite part is the (not so) true confessions -- Ben treats the listener
to some of those fabulous piano stylings, Robert talks about the band Styx
and smashing his bass, and Darren declares his sexual inexperience. AND,
make sure you try all the Pong heads -- they make cute faces.
PS thanks for all the Belle and Sebastian tips, everybody!
- ---------------------------------------
hannah kuhlmann - kuhl0025@tc.umn.edu
a bad ass mother GI Joe,
for your little minds to blow
- -BEN FOLDS
- ---------------------------------------
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #673
**************************************
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR - The Ben Folds Five Mailing List
Submit articles to: armchair@maillist.il.fontys.nl
Send administrative requests to: armchair-request@maillist.il.fontys.nl
WWW homepage: http://oeonline.com/bff
List archive: http://oeonline.com/bff/list/