THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #864 - March 6, 1998
Magical Armchair Digest Friday, March 6 1998 Volume 01 : Number 864
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
I have a chat room everyone can meet at!
BFF & Burt Bacharach
Brick Plagarised from CAT STEVENS?!?!?!
Ben's Personal Life
Western Australians
Question for the Out-of-U.S.Aers
Re: Upsetting Situation
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 20:41:57 -0500
From: "John Felten" <Sammy7@gte.net>
Subject: I have a chat room everyone can meet at!
After long hours of looking for a chat room, I finally found one! Well, if
everyone wants to meet there tell me! I will tell you guys in a little
while, tell me if you guys want to meet eachother there! Okay? BYE!
- -Daria
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 21:24:56 -0400
From: Adam Tyner <ctyner@CLEMSON.EDU>
Subject: BFF & Burt Bacharach
Hey all! Here's another article on BFF from Allstarmag.com:
<<
In a break with their recent tradition of playing the radio hit "Brick" on
every television show in America, Ben Folds Five will perform an as- yet-
undecided Burt Bacharach song on an upcoming TNT network tribute to the
famed pop composer. Set to tape April 8 (and scheduled to air later in the
year), the special will also feature Dionne Warwick and Elvis Costello,
among others.
Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee says that, for the band, Costello's
participation was one of the main inducements to doing the show. "I never
in my life thought I'd meet Elvis Costello," he says. "We've all decided
that we'd like to go to a cookout with Elvis. We'd all just kind of stare
at him and freak him out. It would freak us out just to be around him."
As for "Brick," which the band has, in the last two months, performed on
Late Night with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, VH1's Crossroads and,
in one memorable two-day period, both The Tonight Show and The Keenan Ivory
Wayans Show, Jessee wouldn't mind never having to perform the song on
television again. "I don't know if [the audience] minds, but at some point,
you have to be a tastemaker yourself and realize that people don't want to
hear the same song over and over," he says. "At some point, it gets kind of
sick, you know?"
>>
A nifty bit of info. :-)
- -Adam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 98 18:52 PST
From: bmrosen@pixar.com (Brian Rosen)
Subject: Brick Plagarised from CAT STEVENS?!?!?!
>Dear whoever you are,
> I was watching MTV when suddenly I heard within the moving melody
>of Ben Fold Fives "Brick" when I realized that it sounded a whole lot
>like Cat Stevens, "Where do the Children Play" from his Tea and The
>Tillerman album. <rant and rave deleted>
Well...I just listened to the Cat Stevens song in questions and I have
determined that YES! They BOTH repeat the SAME TWO CHORDS over and over again!
In fact...they even have similar stepwise figurations in the accompaniment!
The horror!
At this point I'd like to mention the fact that if this was the
criteria for plagarism, anyone who's ever written a 12 bar blues song would be
guilty. The truth is, there is nothing other than an utterly superficial
similarity between "Brick" and "Where do the Children Play". The melodies are
unrelated. Their respective choruses go in completely different directions.
The only similarity is the rocking two measure accompanyment. And even those
measures have quite a different rhythmic structure.
So, to the boob who originally complained about this (who, as far as I
know, doesn't even subscribe to the list), you're completely way off base. I'd
say there is no chance that this was a conscious instance of plagarism, it is
almost certainly merely coincedence, and not a particularly interesting one
either. (Hey Mark Piper, you can forward this to that guy if you'd like :)
Wow...that's a pretty confrontational email, no?
- --
____________________________________________________________________________
| Brian Rosen | "That's the law around here, you gots to wear your|
| Pixar | sunglasses. So you can feel cool. |
| bmrosen@pixar.com | _DIG_?" |
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 19:49:55 PST
From: "Ed Grocery" <comeonlady@hotmail.com>
Subject: Ben's Personal Life
I know, I know...I can't believe the whole divorce thing either. I
mean, why didn't we find out about it sooner? I mean, we should be the
first people to find out about these personal matters. I of course,
being the huge fan that I am, have followed the whole Kate and Ben thing
from the beginning and have their first date and kiss documented in my
journal. But I am missing one important piece of information: does
anyone know the exact date and time when Ben lost all rights to privacy
or the exact date and time that supposed "fans" started being so damn
nosey?
Give it up you guys...yes, this is a list for the fans, but PLEASE. I
think it should focus on their music not their personal and private
lives.
...and people wonder why the band doesn't read this thing anymore...
Geeezzz!
And for further BF5 content: Rumors of them going to Europe??? Anyone
know anything?
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 13:27:59 +0800
From: "DesByrne" <DesByrne@bigpond.com>
Subject: Western Australians
Hello to all, Just a quick note so as to not take up to much space. I am
interested to learn how many WA people are on the armchair. I figure that
by knowing who was around it would make life a hell of a lot easier to
trade music, vids etc. Post me on DesByrne@bigpond.com with what you got
and what you need. I would be interested to learn that other REAL fans
exist in WA. Thanx for your time.
It's billiousness as usual in my corner of the kitchen - the Whitlams
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 00:56:38 PST
From: "Karl Brown" <karl_brown@hotmail.com>
Subject: Question for the Out-of-U.S.Aers
<Do you sing BFF with an American accent, even if you aren't from
America??>
Yes. I also sing with An American accent along to BFF, not on purpose.
You just get into it and forget about it. Trying to match your voice and
shit. I missed the tour of Australia, as I am a pretty new fan, but they
are coming back, and there will be heaps of up going to the Perth
Concert. Ben rocks!
A few ideas for sitting exams that you know you'll fail.....
7) Show up completely drunk. (Completely drunk
means at some piont during the exam, you should
start crying for mommy.)
OR......
8) Comment on how sexy the teacher is looking on this day
(Really gets a reaction from the 65 year old spinsters...)
OR........(My favourite)
9) Get the exam. About 20 mins into it, throw your papers
down violently, scream out "FUCK THIS!!!", and walk out
triumphently!!!!!!
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 01:04:55 PST
From: "Karl Brown" <karl_brown@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Upsetting Situation
Good point about the whole "Brick" thing. Everyone cracks a fat over it,
same as every other single that is released by a band......but remeber,
the single doesn't make the band, and maybe people listening to the
single will want to find out more, and get into BFF more. That is how I
got into it. So instead or saying piss off, you suck....or ignoring them
altogether, maybe we should say, "Yeah, it's pretty cool, but here's
some other stuff that's even better.
JUST a thought.
Mail me if you want to get a hold of some stuff from Australia,
collectables and stuff like that, or whatever. Tours posters, Australian
Singles...shit like that.
______________________________________________________
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------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #864
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