THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #886 - March 15, 1998
Magical Armchair Digest Sunday, March 15 1998 Volume 01 : Number 886
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #879
Madonna, Sean, And Me
bf5 a capella
fanny packs, standardized tests and the "B"phenomenon (dun dun dun)
A friendly request
burt bacharach/bff thing
Selling out.
short comment on not selling out
More Brick stuff in the papers
BFF
[none]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 05:57:03 -0500
From: Jessica Sledge <talulaq@necrotech.com>
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #879
<<Hi,
>Would it be possible that the lyrics seen in the www.lyrics.ch website were
>the ones from the Truth About Cats and Dogs soundtrack? I think the entire
>song sounds different than the version that appears on NBP.
>:) Vicki >>
yup, that is super correct... those lyrics are from the truth about cats and
dogs... and the version on NBP is also the same version on the 1 angry dwarf
and kate singles.
toodles, jessica
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 09:40:14 EST
From: Rocket no8 <Rocketno8@aol.com>
Subject: Madonna, Sean, And Me
<< "When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. Unless life doesn't give
you any sugar. In which case, you're kinda screwed...." >>
lol, good quote, good post. i also thoroughly enjoyed Abe Froman's posts.
~~~~~
i don't know *who* is speaking on WAEA's extra track, but here's what i do
know:there are parts of "Potty Mouth:A Video Portrait" that show the band
performing at a London club in late 96. at one point in the live footage, you
see a guy with long hair standing on the stage in front of the band holding
one of the microphones and shouting "Ben Folds Is A F#%kin' @$$hole!!" and the
band and the audience laugh. i don't know who he was, but i do know where and
when it was recorded.(methinks he's a roadie or sumpin)
~~~~~~~~
>> acknowledgement of mix tapes as a
>quality in a person
>thank you. i make a kick ass mix tape myself.>>
right on! a while back i made a fabulous 90min BF5 mix tape with lots of non-
album stuff and all of their(in my opinion)best songs.
~~~~~~~~
about the "bitch" thing:radio might censor it, but i know MTV wouldn't,
because the week WAEA came out, on the "Week In Rock" during the rundown of
new releases, they showed the album cover and played a short clip of SFTD
w/out censoring "bitch"
~~~~~~~
<<(Robert used the string bass) >>
heehee, he always uses a bass with *strings*, doncha think? it's an *upright*
bass.
~~~~~~~
here's something to look forward to:since they're gonna be working on new
songs during their break from touring, we might get to hear some new songs
next time they tour in may! and i'm definitely not gonna procrastinate and let
the nerby shows sell out like last time! i'm gonna get to my 3rd BF5 show if
it kills me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the only way i'll decree that they've sold out is if they get someone other
than Caleb Southern to produce their next album.
- -al
"this looks pretty humble, but all this recording equipment is actually worth
about two million dollars"-ben
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 10:50:06 -0500
From: Rebecca.Cole@mail.trincoll.edu (Rebecca Cole)
Subject: bf5 a capella
I am awestruck.
I saw the After Dark a capella concert here at Trinity College last night,
and the visiting group, the Williams E-flats, did an a capella version of
"Steven's Last Night In Town!" I was amazed. I'm in an a capella group
myself, and I had always dreamed of doing some BF5, but I never thought it
could be done. "Steven's" actually worked. Blew my mind! They basically
simplified the piano part and had lots of percussion and bass, and made
klezmatic-y noises. Amazing.
Just wanted to share that with y'all, cause I thought you'd want to know.
that's right I'm not from texas,
rebby
***
rcole@mail.trincoll.edu
"And miles to go before I sleep."
-Robert Frost
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 10:47:34 -0500
From: ashleybell1@juno.com (Ashley J Granata)
Subject: fanny packs, standardized tests and the "B"phenomenon (dun dun dun)
statement:
>Am I the only one who thinks that Darren is saying "CEC" after Alan
Wolmark? I think it's "CEC".Not "See the CD's." Maybe.<
hey, lately my English teacher has been giving us those scantron tests
(you know, make sure you have 2 sharpened #2 pencils and be sure to fill
in the bubbles all the way, those kind) Anyway, whenever i'm taking
them and the answers for two consecutive questions are E and C, I start
singing fanny packs. I'm sure its just some kind of brain trouble. Hope
it doesn't happen on the SATs.
and hey for the past few days I been wanting to add something to the B
band list. So here they are and they're some of my favorites.
Brooke, Jonatha (its a girl, and she rocks the house)
Brickell, Edie (another girl, and she rocks the house too)
to all who have proofreading the armchair lately, sorry about the
sentence structure and lack of gerund and participial phrases. I hope
all my nouns aren't in agreement and my words aren't spelled right
because now you will have something to do on your lonesome Friday nights.
Please send me the edited copy of my post because I really care about my
placement of commas. ooh, that was mean. sorry.
**********ashley***********************
****************check out the reflections in my eyes*****************
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 10:18:38 -0600
From: "Johnson, Sarah Ann" <sarah.a.johnson@vanderbilt.edu>
Subject: A friendly request
Hey everybody. I'm not on the list anymore, so I am way out of the
loop, but I was hoping somebody could update me on tour dates. I am
having a really hard time finding them. E-mail me privately
(sarah.a.johnson@vanderbilt.edu). Thanks Fivers!
Sarah
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
Johnson, Sarah Ann
Vanderbilt University
Email: sarah.a.johnson@Vanderbilt.Edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 13:15:55 EST
From: TarintinoQ <TarintinoQ@aol.com>
Subject: burt bacharach/bff thing
bff is gonna be on a burt bacharach tribute
on tnt sometime in april so check it out
mcgregor
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 13:49:57 -0500
From: Sean Kiely <seank@cybernex.net>
Subject: Selling out.
okay, here comes another message about selling out, but I think it needs
to be said. Ben Folds Five are a brilliant set of musicians. They write
great songs, and they give great performances. By putting their songs on
soundtracks and TV shows, they are getting themselves known and making
their music available to the masses. That's what is important, isn't it,
the music? Sure people might hear Brick and get one impression of the
band, but out of every 5 people that buy WAEA there's gonna be 1 that
gets their music, and likes it for what it is, not for the radio airplay
it gets. I think that one person who gets to listen to some great music
they wouldn't have otherwise listened to is worth the four lame
Brickheads. Lighten up. You don't deserve a trophy for liking the band
any longer than anyone else.
Sean
htttp://www2.cybernex.net/~jekiely
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 16:58:51 -0500
From: obscuredsp@juno.com (lawson t bennett)
Subject: short comment on not selling out
>>If you can't see that they've sold out, then you're blind or stupid.
If by some chance bff was to sell out, we really wouldn't be able to tell
until they released another album, hello- wait until THEN to judge- and
besides, i doubt bands even sell out as much as people think- its
probably really daunting to put out a follow up album; if it sounds the
same, people bitch and call you a sellout, or site a lack of creativity-
if you fuck the rules, you risk being known as a one hit wonder who has
to find a job as a garbage man after blowing all your money on crack.
for most bands you say have sold out, you probably just didn't like their
new music for one of those last 2 reasons (bff could always fuck the
rules and put out a drum&bass album, and then where would you piano
junkies (like myself) stand?
dont get me wrong, i love drum and bass :c)
lawson bennett ----obscuredsp@juno.com
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS BEN FOLDS FIVE TORIAMOS
PJ HARVEY MManson NIN Bjork Drum&Bass
two of us, that's dangerous
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 16:28:11 EST
From: JoanneQ <JoanneQ@aol.com>
Subject: More Brick stuff in the papers
I'm going to assume there's not a lot of Philadelphia-area parents inhabiting
the Armchair, so I’m transcribing in full an editorial I found reading this
month’s Parents Express newspaper... It’s a tad lengthy, but worth the effort
. -Joanne Q
- ------------------------------------------------------
Home Front Journal
By Ilene Raymond
My 12 year old son has a song stuck in his head. It’s driving him nuts. It’s a
fly he can’t whack, a scratch he can’t itch. He hums it everywhere, all the
time. Since I first heard it, I’ve hummed the song, too. But because I am 43,
with a job and a husband and another child, I’m not quite as consumed as he.
The song is “Brick” by Ben Folds Five. If you don’t know it, all you have to
do is turn on one of the FM alternative music stations that have played the
song repeatedly over the past few weeks. What initially snared my son and me
is the catchy hook of the song which cryptically runs, She's a brick and I’m
drowning slowly...
But the song is more than catchy. It has a deep story to tell And as my son
and I listen together - in the car on the way to basketball practice or
problem solving or Sunday school - we ponder the song’s message. Intent as
Talmudic scholars, we lean toward the speakers in hunched silence until the
last note fades. Then we dig in. Who or what is drowning the narrator slowly?
Is his girlfriend dying of cancer? AIDS? Is it the tale of failed romance?
Suicide? Runaways? Unable to settle on a satisfying interpretation, we punch
the radio buttons in frustration until we once more settle into that addictive
melody.
As I drive, I listen to my sons’ theories, but part of me is far away, with a
girl of 13, as she makes he way to school, “Stairway to Heaven” lodged in her
mind. Or “Maggie”s Farm.” Or “Sweet Jane”. I recall the maddening pleasure of
having a foreign pop melody trapped in your brain. A string of notes that led
you away from childhood rhymes toward the secretive seductions of adolescence,
where guitar riffs and drum solos made your personal angst something worth
fighting for.
After two weeks of Sasha’s addiction, I took him to the the mall, where the
Ben Folds CD was - understandably - sold out. My son tortured himself by
listening to “Brick” on the headphones at the Wall, then again at Borders,
where the CD was also a sellout. Agreeing that he couldn’t wait for the
stores to restock, I let him return home to charge it over the Internet.
Finally, after five long days, it arrives. Sasha greets it with a whoop of
joy and immediately rushes to his room, where he stuffs the CD into his boom
box, and kick shuts the door. Through the walls his little brother and I heard
faint piano chords, the the muffled chorus now more familiar to me that my
mothers’ maiden name - She’s a brick and I’m drowning slowly.
“Sasha!” Noah cries, indignant at being excluded. He rattles the doorknob.
“Let us in!’
I take Noah’s hand, I suspect that at this early stage teenhood, a knock on
the door might gain us admittance. But Sasha’s obsession had earned him the
right to savor the first song that spoke to him, alone.
Thought we gave it our best effort, Sasha and I never did decode the song’s
message. Not until I read the New York Times review of the album did we learn
the song involved a young man’s ambivalence e about his girlfriend’s abortion
- a surprise to us both.
With apologies to the songwriters, however, by that time the narrative no
longer mattered. What counted was how my son’s response to the song had
vicariously shipped me back to my seventh grade self. And how, for a few
weeks, the song had given my son and I the rare chance to be joined by the
sway of melody and the search for meaning.
Long live rock and roll.
“my mom’s cool, she got me out of twin falls, idaho…”
- --------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 14:24:40 PST
From: "Jessica Franca" <tennis_rocks@hotmail.com>
Subject: BFF
Hi everyone,
I just joined this magical armchair. I love all of Ben Folds Five's
songs! They are so awesome. If anyone loves BFF email me, k?
Does anyone know if and when BFF would be touring in Florida?
Jessica
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 15:08:24 PST
From: "Sarah Michelson" <s_michelson@hotmail.com>
Subject: [none]
auth 39c62c6d subscribe armchair s_michelson@hotmail.com
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------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #886
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