THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #728 - December 30, 1997
Magical Armchair Digest Tuesday, December 30 1997 Volume 01 : Number 728
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
umm...something!
chicago show.....
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
Sell Out
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
shameless plug!
Kathy Griffin must die
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 23:22:32 -0800
From: gabsey@juno.com (Gabrielle Marie I forgot my last name...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH)
Subject: umm...something!
hey peeps,
i was wondering if anyone could send me a link for a good web site to got
a totally biography for those three beloved guys..can you please send
then to KateWanaBe@aol.com...thanks for any help
Gab
Mom said someday I would have a badass mother G.I. joe!!-Ben Folds Five
I WANNA BE KATE!!-Ben folds Five
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 00:32:25 -0500
From: aplauri@juno.com (Philip J. L.)
Subject: chicago show.....
anyone have ticket info on the chicago- riviera theatre???? i could
really use any info asap......
thanks-philip
"who's got the looks, who's got the brains. . . who's got everything???"
- -BEN FOLDS
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 00:35:03 EST
From: F2G 2 <F2G2@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
jeff buckley!!!!!
(good reference.)
matthew
whose personal favorite is ......."my kingdom for your kiss upon my
shoulder......" AND i use it on my girlfriend whenever i can. smile.........
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 00:39:35 EST
From: Emmaline20 <Emmaline20@aol.com>
Subject: Sell Out
I was perusing the latest armchair and read a post about someone worrying that
the boys will become sell outs...and I would just like to comment. First of
all..a band becoming popular does not mean that they sell out. Bands have no
control over how much popularity they will amass. Secondly..to sell out would
mean that all of a sudden BFF would start playing ska or whatever the current
music-style of the month is. I think they have a bit too much integrity to do
that. They play music because they enjoy it. While I'm here...is anyone going
to the NYC show? If so...do you have any information on it? I'm trying to go,
and I need to get some train schedules and what not before I go back to
school. Email me if you've got information at emmaline20@aol.com. Danke
schoen!
Sarah :)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 02:41:16 EST
From: KNULPREK <KNULPREK@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
In a message dated 97-12-28 20:58:16 EST, Yardbirdzz writes:
<< hi. names nastassja.
hi natassja. name's jason.
i havent written on here for a couple of months, so
here i go:
personally im pissed about the airplay of ben---
Well, yea.. it happens, it sucks..
<<i love ben to death, and it
hurts to think that they may turn into sellouts,
WHOA THERE!! Sellouts? No no. You've, as have a large majority of America,
completly misused the word Sellout. Sellout? Ben Folds Five? No. You're
completly wrong. Let's go over what a "sellout" is:
Sellout Definition: Bands get together usually/hopefully for the purpose of
having fun and making music, which is something musicians seem to love to do.
Sometimes they become popular. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes when they
don't, they completly change their format to try and fit into what's popular
at the time, so that they too will be popular. This is a Sellout. (For more
information, please see Boys2Men before and after Motownphilly)
Not Sellout Definition: A band struggles to stay a band and somehow put food
on the table at the same time. They play local places, and pick up a local
following. Maybe they even nail a small-time label contract and quietly get
distributed nationally. No air play, but they can go anywhere from NY to LA
and find their album in at least one record store in every major metropolitan
area. They pick up a small fan base around the nation, and these fans become
very devoted to this band. They tour, they like their fans, and their fans
like them. Then they hit it big, and move on to a larger label that can handle
the nations thirst for this "new" band. They get money, and are able to trade
in the ol' tour van for a bus. They try to play smaller places, but the record
company has decided that for the large amount of fans they've now aquired,
they have to leave their old ways of small-time gigs and move onto larger
venues. The band can play it's occasional small gig, and each time is met with
ticket sellouts (completly differet usage of the word) within 10 seconds, not
to mention an overcrowded club and the occasionally unfortunate trampling of
their fans. They still try to associate themselves with their fans, but find
it quite hard when there are 14,000 screaming kids rushing towards them like a
chaotic herd of retarted antelope, and unfortunatly must leave behind their
usual ways of relating to the fans on a personal basis. They set up a fan club
to keep in touch, still read their mail, occasionally write, and even
sometimes drop in on an e-mail digest to say hi. This is not a sellout.
So there you have it. When a band becomes popular, it doesn't automatically
make them a sellout. If that's what you belive, then you must also be under
the assumption that the band controls the minds of all music-loving America,
which i'm sure even you can recognize as impossible. Of course, if the band
turns into raving assholes after becoming big, then sure, call them sellouts
if you feel the desire. But Ben Folds Five? Green Day? No ma'am. Don't you
dare call either band sellouts. Popularity isn't controlled by the band, and
the only way it would would be for the band to change their style of music
into something awful that nobody would listen to anyway. And then nobody would
like them. And they'd probably just be called sellouts again.
<<grrrrr......i hate posers!!!!!!!!!!! >>
wait.. are you talking about people who go out and buy $50 socks that say
Tommy Hilfiger on it, or people who like a band because they recognize talent?
Hard to tell the difference sometimes, isn't it? No. Well actually, i'm a bit
wrong in that, because it is true that radio and MTV are basically feeding
america what they decide to be good to sell, and so that's partly the medium's
fault. But it's also the public's fault for buying into it. As much as America
likes to belive, we're pretty low on individuality. People wear the same types
of things (eg: brands of clothing), talk the same, listen to the same music,
act the same, ect. ect.. of course, this is a whole other topic, but i do
recognize this, and so yea, posers is sometimes a correct term. But in
relating to BFF.. what the hell are you talking about?
-jason-
http://members.aol.com/knulprek/home.html
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 04:10:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Dan Mauer <dmauer@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #727
Natassja wrote:
>personally im pissed about the airplay of ben---i love ben to death, and it
>hurts to think that they may turn into sellouts, and all ill have to remember
>of my beloveds are 2 albums. i dont mean to be selfish and say that only a
>select few can listen to ben folds five, im just saying that i dont want bff
>to turn into another green day. i dont want bff to become part of this damn
>paradigm.
>grrrrr......i hate posers!!!!!!!!!!!
OK... got a couple problems with this post.
I REALLY don't want to start the "what is a sellout" discussion, but
I just gotta ask: what on EARTH makes you say they "may turn into
sellouts"?!? Now, based on the closing remark there, it sounds like
your problem is with the idiots who suddenly love the band for no
reason other than it's on the radio and stuff on the radio is trendy.
I agree with you completely. But what I don't understand is why
you think that simply because there are airheads listening to the
music, the boys suddenly are transformed into sellouts. As long as
BFF continue to stay true to their music, and keep on putting out
quality material, and don't start PLAYING DIRECTLY TO said airheads,
then any popularity they gain is 100% legit. Now as to them becoming
another green day? I don't think that one's too possible. If the
general radio public didn't embrace the past 5 singles, as they very
obviously did not, I've got a strong feeling that brick is gonna be
a bit of a fluke. The recording industry predicted that "Brick" was
going to be the next "The Freshmen"... and I think that's exactly
what it'll be. And if it follows that pattern, then the song will
be played to DEATH (which I, also, hate -- but that's the fault
of corporate radio, not the band or the fans) and then will slowly
fade away. I rarely hear The Verve Pipe on the radio anymore,
ever since people got tired of the Big Single... "Villains", their
next emphasis track, which was more like their other material,
didn't really catch on... and BFF has had far more singles released
that haven't caught on in the past, so... (GEEZ, I'm rambling.)
Anyways, the long and short of it -- Don't EVER give up on the boys.
No matter how popular they may be, the music is still what matters.
They're my favorite band in the world and I'd NEVER give them up
just because everyone knows who they are and idiots sing along to
the 3 radio singles and get all the words wrong and then pop in a
Spice Girls tape. And while they do have one hit single, BFF is
far short of becoming "the next big thing"... I think they're far
too sophisticated to really catch on as a long-term staple of
American Radio.
So stop worrying.
And "Brick" is still just as damn great of a song as it was on March
3, 1997, when we old-school fans were all hearing it for the first time.
Peace,
Love,
Gonzo.
- -dan.
==================================================================
D a n M a u e r - d m a u e r @ e a r t h l i n k . n e t
---===<<<O>>>===---
"I like sex!" - Jefferson's Brother in "Fast Times..."
==================================================================
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 97 10:23:30 -0000
From: Charles D Folds <4rachuck@concentric.net>
Subject: shameless plug!
Hello-
Non-bf5 stuff so I'll make it short.
For those of you in the area, Snuzz will be playing at the Blind Tiger in
Greensboro on Fri Jan 2nd and at the Brewery in Raleigh on thurs Jan 15th.
The band consists of Eddie Walker, Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell, and Chuck Folds.
Hope you can make it.
take care
chuck
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 15:55:53 -0800
From: jycpark@sprynet.com
Subject: Kathy Griffin must die
This is my first post to the group, and it's too bad it has to be on a rather
non-positive note. Imagine my bewilderment as I turn on MTV and Suddenly Susan
star Kathy Griffin is going on this incoherent diatribe about one of the few
bright notes in music this year. "I don't get this song. Is he gonna dump her or
not?" were among her perceptive comments about "Brick". She ended by saying "Go
play your piano in a puddle, you freak." It doesn't surprise me that she and
Carson Daly, perhaps the only VJ reaching Jenny McCarthy levels of vapidity and
utter incompetence, were able to bond. In any event, her career isn't exactly
headed upwards. It's just unfortunate that out of the wealth of bands she could
have chosen to attack, it had to BFF. I guess Hanson and the Spice Girls are too
easy a target.
Jiwoo
P.S. I'm looking to trade for boots and any BFF posters.
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #728
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