Magical Armchair Digest Tuesday, January 20 1998 Volume 01 : Number 769 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. PLEASE KEEP YOUR POSTS SHORT Now that many list members are back with us, the volume of posts will be increasing. This makes it important to stay on topic and keep your posts concise. Avoid the tendency to ramble, as this increases the amount of text readers have to wade through. If you want to ramble on, take it to IRC or the newsgroup. Also remember to be very selective in your quoting of others' messages. Don't quote an entire post just to add one or two lines. And be especially careful not to quote the whole digest!! ARMCHAIR FAQ To help you be a better citizen of the Armchair, Mark Piper has compiled a list of Frequently-Asked Questions just for subscribers to the Magical Armchair. Please check it out at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/5430/listguide.html There is also a link at the Magical Archive homepage, http://oeonline.com/bff/list/ TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST: Transcript of BF5 interview TIRED but HAPPY Q) why dont lobsters share? my cd player is pretty shitty.. And I trust it like my STRAP... Questions about Eddie Walker and other comments take my money please Dana Carvey, reading the FAQ is GOOD dreamtime stuff Band.. aust. release date need a real audio fix! BFF Fanzine & where to buy CDs in Sweden WAEA commercial on MTV Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #766 nyc show/echoing the call for civility/bad idea ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 98 21:22:15 -0600 From: Michael Bluejay <bluejay@pobox.com> Subject: Transcript of BF5 interview Some months ago, I promised to post the transcript of BF5's live interview that happened on America Online. I got busy and haven't got around to it until now -- sorry. Anyway, it's kind of lengthy, so I'm not posting it here, but I just posted it to my web page (address below). Here's a sample: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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? Darren: My feet stink, so does your question.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- Michael Bluejay (Austin, TX) * ICQ #3749849 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://pobox.com/bluejay | Home of AUSTIN MUSIC, KING CHEESE, | BIKING IN AUSTIN, VEGETARIAN pages, & more ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 01:36:37 -0500 (EST) From: "Carolyn G." <carolynG@divmkt.tiac.net> Subject: TIRED but HAPPY I just wanted to tell you how much I love ya'll out there. Whenever I get the Armchair I have soooo much fun reading it and I'm in a great mood the rest of the day!!!!!!!!!! Ben Folds Five...SIGH!!!!!!!!!!! They make me so happy. THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING THE AWESOME BEN FOLDS FIVE FREAKS THAT YOU ARE as ~Elisabeth would say: "I am full of love for humantiy right now!" I LOVE BOSTON!!!!!!!!!! *CAROLYN* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 02:09:39 -0500 From: Vito Biliti <goatman1@geocities.com> Subject: Q) why dont lobsters share? okay so maybe that wasnt my last post... um, ATTENTION ALL WEB PAGE MAKING PEOPLE! i am asking very nicely from the bottom of my heart if you all will add a link to the BFF chat room on my site. im hoping this will boost the popularity of the room, and also your site. its at: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/7544/bf5chat.html thank you, vito PS: email me if you do what i ask, s'il vous plait A) Because they're shellfish! BBB EEEE N N FFFF OO L DD SS FFFF I V V EEEE B B E NN N F O O L D D S F I V V E BBB EEE N N N FFF O O L D D S FFF I V V EEE B B E N NN F O O L D D S F I V V E BBB EEEE N N F goATman1@geOCitiES.com F I V EEEE - ----- http://www.Geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/7544/bf5.html ----- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 08:36:22 -0500 From: jaedonely@juno.com (A A DONELY) Subject: my cd player is pretty shitty.. It doesn't play ANY of my cds excepting my BFF ones on Caroline, and the Catherine Wheel. Its maybe two or three years old..but its really tempermental and shitty! I wish it would play Ok Computer or Portishead...Im lucky it plays NBP cos my parents would be severly offended by the language..but Im scared to take nbp out of the cd player cos Im afraid it will never play again! Anyone have the same problem? My cd players a sony w/ two speakers that be attached and unattched...I dunno. ~Elisabeth ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:26:13 -0500 (EST) From: Patrick J McDonough <mcdonpj@wfu.edu> Subject: And I trust it like my STRAP... Is that what Ben is singing in Philosophy on NBP? I am currently listening to the CD, and will post some track notes soon. For those of y'all who care: 1. Listen to the verse of "Running on Faith" by Clapton, particularly the 24 nights version. 2. Listen to "Satan is My Master" off of NBP. 3. Laugh hysterically. money talks, but lately it's been screaming in my ear... \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\ Patrick J. McDonough Email: mcdonpj@NOSPAMwfu.edu\\ \\ WFU Admissions Counselor Phone: (336)758-4929 \\ \\Wake Forest University '97 \\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 18:23:05 GMT From: Jordan Erenrich <erenrich@mail.geocities.com> Subject: Questions about Eddie Walker and other comments Does anyone know anything about Eddie Walker? Who is he? Didn't he play in a band with Ben? I don't get the line about Mary Joe, "But the whole thing shook her up, how that picked you up and you kept falling." One more question: Who is the girl up front and why is Eddie wearing a smock? I've gathered that the song is about a bunch of friends who go to visit their old friend Eddie who moved away, but I'm usually wrong. BTW, I really really love Eddie Walker. (I mean the song of course) Also, I was just wondering, is it me or does BFF kick ass? I'm not sure if its been mentioned here, but I think NBP is a lot like REM's "Dead Letter Office." Whoever wrote the foreward for "Dead..." said something about how the album was like a junk shop where you just might find one or two keepers. I gotta go...I think I here my phone ringing. :) - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jordan Erenrich erenrich@geocities.com A girl phoned me the other day and said .... Come on over, there's nobody home. I went over. Nobody was home. - -- Rodney Dangerfield ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:35:30 EST From: GrnEgNham <GrnEgNham@aol.com> Subject: take my money please Hey all. Please impart your infinite wisdom on me. I'm searching through the BFF cdnow import singles and the japanese import of brick pops up. The price is steep $21.49 or something like that but it does have 5 songs on it. Brick (obvisouly), MItchell Lane, Kate (ska), Smoke live and Fair (disco). Seeing as I am without means to get an MP3 player or real audio (my dilapidated computer only allows wavs and midi), I have not heard these yet. My questions are: Are the versions good? Is the $21.49 price tag worth it for 5 songs? Does anyone have wav versions of those? Can I find a cheaper price on the net? If they're really good, then I'll pay for it. I'm taking the money I would've used for a concert ticket if they had come to CLEVELAND and spending it on something I hope will be as worthwhile. Also, I've been reading the sad stories of misplaced t-shirts and wrong t- shirts (although a Lemonhead one would be cool). They sell 3 on cdnow if anyone wants to take a gamble with them. I think the prices are comparable too. Ok. Someone or anyone or everyone please answer my questions. E-mail privately or post here. Emily :-) grnegnham@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 15:12:57 PST From: "Courtney Knopf" <vegasbaby@hotmail.com> Subject: Dana Carvey, reading the FAQ is GOOD >NBP rocks me right down to a nub! One question, though... does >Ultimate Sacrifice remind anyone else of Dana Carvey's "what I really >want to be is a musician" act that was on the Comedy Channel last >year? Especially the part where he's playing the keyboard and singing >"She was chopping broccoli" over and over? Anyway, both are >hysterical. YES! That's exactly what I thought of when I heard it! Damn that Dana Carvey cracks me up. Choppin' Broccoli was a pillar of my youth. Okay for all you who think you hear a phone ringing in Steven's, you're right. We, as a collective armchair have been over this MANY times. I may sound snappish, but please, if you're new to the list, read the FAQ. The link to it is in EVERY issue of the Armchair that goes out. So check it out. It'll be your new best friend. ~Courtney The Sultraness of Swing "Nice talk, sugar mouth." ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 17:42:25 -0700 From: "Will Canzoneri" <canzo@eudoramail.com> Subject: dreamtime I just had the weirdest BFF dream- and I have to tell someone, and I'm sure there's someone out there who's interested. OK. Background info: I'm in high school (been a fan for 2 years now), and I met them in October and miraculously hung out with them for a good 45 minutes (not too many people wanted to at that point). For some reason, we were having school at the mall (where I never go). But as I was riding up the escalator to the second level to my homeroom, guess who came riding- and performing- up the escalator behind me? Ben Folds Five, playing "Tom & Mary," up the escalator. It was really wack. And they had all their gear- the baby grand, the bass, and the full drum set (no amps tho), riding up the escalator. For some reason, when they got to the top, they got stuck (hmm...) cos the piano was too wide, and, Robert handed me his bass to hold while he picked up the piano to the other side of the escalator. So then they mysteriously kept moving to the middle of the second level and continued playing. Then they disappeared. This was their "morning performance." So later in the day, they performed for the whole school on the first floor in the middle of the mall. I stood on the second floor, overlooking them all in clear view. I think they were playing "Emaline" (the live version from the Where's Summer B? single w/o guitar). All of a sudden, in the middle of the song, this oriental kid sitting behind Ben pointed at me and yelled out "Ben wants to talk to you!" Then some other girl jumped up and said "Yeah!" They kept playing. Then, during his piano solo, Ben looked at me and said "He's lying. I don't know where the hell he got that idea. I don't want to talk to you. He's 100% lying." (I've never heard that expression). I played it cool and said something like "Yeah, that's what I thought. He lies a lot," although I was obviously hurt. After the show, sure enough, Ben didn't talk to me, but Darren talked about drumming with me, and Robert walked and talked around the mall with me until he "had to go home." Then (the weirdest part), at the end, Darren was sitting on the edge of this swimming pool in the mall with some old woman who had dropped a self-help tape that belonged to Darren in the pool, and she wouldn't get it. So he told me to get it. When I dove in and couldn't find it, Darren got pissed off and stormed out. I hope you all enjoyed my BFF dream/nightmare. - --- Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 18:39:52 -0700 From: "Will Canzoneri" <canzo@eudoramail.com> Subject: stuff a) I saw that Fear of Pop blurb in AP too, and it seems to me that it might be coming out sometime soon. PLEASE- info! b) Yes, Emaline does have that Billy Joel's "Famous Last Words"-vibe to it. c) I've seen no mention of the fine review CMJ gave NBP. EW asked the right question but gave the wrong answer. CMJ gave the right answer: "It may seem premature for a band with just two albums to release an odds-and-ends collection, and much of "Naked" is duplicative and far from essential." EW said the same thing, right? Keep reading... "Ben Folds scraps are beter than many bands' main main courses." I couldn't agree more. Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:00:36 -0500 From: Randy Locklair <randy@ny.amarex.com> Subject: Band.. Hi everyone.. I was wondering if any pianist+vocalist+drummer's would be interested in joining me in a bff cover project.. i'd play bass.. i'm in the NYC area.. email me if yr interested! - -Randy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 19:33:51 PST From: "kim t" <kimsasha@hotmail.com> Subject: aust. release date after asking many record stores about the release date of NBP in Australia, no one seems to know anything about it. although i did manange to to obtain an US import copy for a couple of dollars extra. so if anyone is interested it is possible to obtain the CD from Waterfront records in Sydney. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:44:56 -0500 From: "John Maynard" <mayns@netcom.ca> Subject: need a real audio fix! Has anyone got the real audio of the boys playing "She don't use jelly" posted? Do you know where I can find it? If so, please e-mail me with the address. Thanks! - -john maynard ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:50:31 +1000 From: Ko <s342981@student.uq.edu.au> Subject: BFF Fanzine & where to buy CDs in Sweden Hi everyone! I've never really had anything of importance to post on the armchair until now.... I have a friend in England who wants to start up a Ben Folds Five Fanzine but doesn't have a clue where to start. I told him about The Magical Armchair and he asked if I could post his address up, so if anyone has any contributions, can you please mail it to him? His name and addy: Mark Thomas 3 Sabre Close Borrows Bridge Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 6JY, ENGLAND Also, I got a friend in Sweden hooked on BFF and she hasn't had any success in finding any of their albums anywhere. So if there are any Swedes on this list who can help, can you please e-mail me personally about this? Or if you have any queries about Mark's fanzine. Thanks a lot! Christine :o) \,`/ / _).. `_ ( __ -\ '`. ( \>_-_, _||_ ~-/ CHRISTINE KO - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/2615 - -*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,*~'`^`'~* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 23:43:07 -0500 (EST) From: 13 <thirteen@eden.rutgers.edu> Subject: WAEA commercial on MTV Well, MTV suprised me once again with an advertisement quite unlike any I have ever seen. (I hope this isn't old news or I'll look like quite the fool!) I was watching MTV and I see the words "Been a while since you've had a crush...?" on the screen, followed by a clip of the Brick video. I wonder what the heck's up when next pops up "...on an album?" It was a commercial for Whatever and Ever Amen! It was just clips from the Brick video saying WAEA "features the hit single Brick...look for BFF on tour in February." Still it was a great ad. And now, I have THREE albums to have a crush on, hah! Who needs women when you've got Robert, Darren, and Ben anyway? Not I... Later days... Leigh 13 thirteen@eden.rutgers.edu www.eden.rutgers.edu/~thirteen aol: thirteen2k ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 00:33:26 -0500 From: john_oc@juno.com Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #766 Magical Armchair Digest Tuesday, January 2 2001 Volume 01 : Number 766 2001? What the hell? Oh well. I must say, Belle and Sebastian is the best album I have heard in a long time. Don't worry, I am not behind, I started the discussion of this band the first time it came up. Indie-Folk brilliance. If anyone has the Sessions at West 54th DVD with Smoke on it, could you email me and tell me if Belle and Sebastian are on it? Sorry to waste anyone's time. John. "As for me, I could leave the world with nothing but today in my eyes." --Truman Capote ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 01:07:13 -0500 From: Rebecca.Cole@mail.cc.trincoll.edu (Rebecca Cole) Subject: nyc show/echoing the call for civility/bad idea Got my tickets to the New York show! But I have a question for anyone who has been to the Hammerstein before, or has heard about it: is it general admission? My ticket-purchasing friend says it looked like there were seat numbers...I'm going to be really upset if I have an assigned seat at a Ben Folds Five show. I am all for cracking down on the 'I know the band and they said...' and the musical elitism ('I can't believe you couldn't tell that chinkpak piano wasn't the one Ben used in the recording of Whatever! You could totally tell when he played that E in the third bar! And you call yourself a Ben Folds Five fan!') going on here. Come on, y'all, we're all here because we LOVE BEN FOLDS FIVE. No need to be mean to people with taste as excellent as yours. Oh, and one final thing--I have been asking for almost a YEAR if anyone knew the definitive lyrics to the first verse of "Bad Idea." There have been two not-entirely-convincing theories posted...any other ideas for that "sweets-go-round"-sounding line or the "king doug"-sounding one? This has been driving me crazy since I bought the Kate single in Glasgow last spring! New York City! Uh-huh, New York City! - -Rebby *** "I can't imagine it in better terms than naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work...and I'm starting to think it could happen to me like it did to you." -Liz Phair ------------------------------ End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #769 ************************************** 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/