From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #100 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Tuesday, April 25 2000 Volume 05 : Number 100 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Ian's Dog and Bunny fiasco (an OT Easter Thang) ["Ian Gifford" ] Re: Alloy: Joe's Cows (digital vs analog) ["Kathleen T. Presser" ] Re: Alloy: Beth speaks! [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Alloy Reunion ["Keith Stansell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 03:00:03 EDT From: "Ian Gifford" Subject: Alloy: Ian's Dog and Bunny fiasco (an OT Easter Thang) Hi All. I just came from My Radio show, where I had an incredibly silly night. I was playing only tunes with bizarre titles and found some gems "Born with A Boner","oh Golly Oh Goo Oh Gee(I'm in Love)" and "The Revolution and Sweet Gypsy Nose". The funniest part was that someone called 20 minutes before the shows end and requested Phil Ochs for his dog named Patches. A Dog who supposedly ate 4 pounds of chocolate and was rather ill but felt better when he heard Phil Ochs' music. I had to bite my cheeks while announcing it, but found Phil Ochs on vinyl. SHortly before I went back on air I stepped outside, while I was there, I saw a rather large Rabbit Dart in Front of me and stop. It turned and faced me and put it's paws to it's face and sit there stationary for 3 minutes. So in my ever giddy-over cafeinated Radio voice, I rambled on about a giant easter bunny that tries to get dogs all spun by feeding them 4 pounds of chocolate. I hope that "Patches" felt better after all that! I hope y'all had a great Easter, Ian Ian Gifford Singer/Songwriter, Radio show host. Monday Mornings 12am till 2am (est) http://www.chrw.fm.net mailto:igifford@hotmail.com "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song" Louis Armstrong, 1901-1971 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 10:23:23 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Attn...De-lurking in progress... \Birthday Boy Warren G writes: > I just had my 39th birthday (thursday, April 13th, which, it > turns out, is also official Tap Dance Day. Uh, okay....) Happy Birthday, my friend! Sorry I'm so late in honoring your anniversary, but I've been away from home for about three weeks! > But I ramble... shut up.> My question is, is there a place (besides here, I > know!) where one can find explanations, stories, etc. about > Thomas' songs? As you say, "besides here". And what about Alloy? Who other than ourselves could be better equipped to discern such matters (besides Thomas, of course? May I suggest that you post a title you're curious about and let the group discuss possible interpretations until we (perhaps) arrive at a concensus. We could do this as a "song of the week" (or fortnight, or moon, etc.) and build that very database which you seek! Absolutely no offense intended, but we could do with a bit of Dolbynalia around here. Short of the PRNews [thanks, Robin :-)], there hasn't been nearly enough on-topic discussion to suit me recently... ;-( So, what's first item up for bid (on the Price Is Right?) Which song piques your curiosity most, Warren? Hyperactively yours, /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 10:37:15 MDT From: "teresa adams" Subject: Alloy: Alloy Reunion I know I missed the alloy reunion and jam session. Quote-"I was getting my hair and nails done". /\/\iles said it's not an excuse. /\/\iles you have to admit I did look hot. Thanks once again for the invite and a most awesomest evening. (JAMac I know my grammar is hideous..lol) I had a wonderful time at the concert (Calfornia Guitar Trio and Tony Levin)WOW! Spectacular show indeed. /\/\iles you made the night all the more better. Beth it was a pleasure to finally meet you. JAMac said that benefits come from being an Alloy member. I certainly have to agree. To sum up the night, JAMac must be famous because he is the only one I know who can walk up to the front door & say he's with the band and get and All Access pass no questions asked. After the concert JAMac, Keith and I went to Denny's and /\/\iles somehow wondered over to our table at 1am. -Weird- So I deduced that this coinsidence was because I missed the earlier reunion. Thus making up for my not showing because I'm stuck on myself. Hey one day I will be a movie star. To make this Thomas related, JAMac gave me his extra TMDR t-shirt that /\/\iles created. Now we can be twins. Yeah! Okay___ well,I guess I'm very excited to be a part of Alloy. CSMac - -iMMersE your soUL in LOVE - RadioHead ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 09:36:53 -0700 From: "Kathleen T. Presser" Subject: Re: Alloy: Joe's Cows (digital vs analog) CDs are okay, but records play music a little for fully. A richer sound can be had by a record. The trick is, is to havd digital music be as rich as analog music. I personally prefer a cassette tape over a CD. A cassette player (in my opinion) is a little easier to upkeep. I'm not interested in constantly upgrading my electronics. The only problem with cassette tapes is you can't always get to a song in the middle of the tape as easily as you can on a CD. There's my two cents. Kate;-) RThurF@aol.com wrote: > I read an interview with Joe Strummer for an American entertainment mag > several months ago, in which he talked about something that alarmed him. > I've been wondering what everyone here might think of this, since many of you > are working in the music industry (and the rest of us are avid listeners :) > > A journalist friend had told Joe about some farmers who'd been playing > classical music for their cows off a cassette system, which was getting them > a 20 per cent higher milk yield. Eight years ago, the farmers changed their > music system to CD machines thinking it would be more convenient - but when > they did that, the cows' milk production dropped to the same level as that of > cows who heard no music at all. It took the farmers almost two years to > figure out it wasn't anything in the cows' food or water, and that it was the > change to CDs that did it. > > Joe is not a fan of digital anyway, to put it mildly... but this has made his > opinion of it even lower than ever, in fact he feels civilization may > actually be doomed because of this and other things like it. He thinks the > change to digital delivery systems for music is causing something vital to be > left out of the music itself, by virtue of the fact that digital will not > recognize sounds below a certain volume, and this will subliminally affect > all of us in an adverse way. Obviously it's a matter of the 'white noise' > being missing from the cd version of the music that made the cows drop in > milk production. All mammals find white noise incredibly comforting. It was > probably never the actual music they were listening to at all that was > causing the cows to produce more... but there are a lot of subtleties to > music that could be lost to the new technology (though other subtleties can > be brought into it, when placed in the hands of an artist!) The whole thing > has had me wondering. Every time the topic of digital vs analog comes up I > think of the cows. > > So, if I may ask all of you here, what do you think of all of this? Do you > find listening to live music or record/tapes more comforting or satisfying > than listening to CDs, or is it the other way around for you? Is digital > music simply a completely new medium for musicians, with its own 'soul', just > as analog has? The whole thing reminds me of the debate in the 80's about > synthesizer music being stereotyped as 'soulless', when in fact it's simply > another creative medium to work within - very soulful indeed when in the > right hands. There is a knee-jerk reaction to anything that's new, > especially when it involves computers... except, then I keep remembering the > cows.... have I been dwelling on this a little too much lately? :) > > Robin T > > "Everything in Britain is switching over to digital television. They're not > even going to broadcast analog television after the year 2006. We're so done > for over there!" > -Joe Strummer, interview, > Steppin' Out magazine December 1999 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 14:10:35 -0400 From: Robin Thurlow Subject: Alloy: Dolby song index discussion! Miles proposes a series of discussions about our ideas of each Dolby song's meaning, and invites people to start with a particular song. Perhaps we should start at the beginning, which would be.... hmmmm...! isn't it Lene Lovich's "New Toy"(?) Would people also care to discuss Thomas' soundtrack music/film scores (which would be our interpretation of HIS interpretation of the director's concept of the film... heeheee :) Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 12:22:50 -0700 From: "Kathleen T. Presser" Subject: Re: Alloy: Dolby song index discussion! The only thing I have to say about New Toy is that in the Wireless video that features Lene Lovitch and Dolby performing this song, Lene wears a very odd costume! Good song though. It's so very materialistic and makes no apologies for being so. My type of song!, You know like, totally awesome! Kate;-) Robin Thurlow wrote: > Miles proposes a series of discussions about our ideas of each Dolby > song's meaning, and invites people to start with a particular song. > Perhaps we should start at the beginning, which would be.... hmmmm...! > isn't it Lene Lovich's "New Toy"(?) > > Would people also care to discuss Thomas' soundtrack music/film scores > (which would be our interpretation of HIS interpretation of the > director's concept of the film... heeheee :) > > Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:16:13 -0400 From: "Beth Meyer" Subject: Alloy: Beth speaks! Hi, folks; Well, I guess it's about time for my once-every-three-months message (gee, funny how having small children can affect how much time you spend on the computer...:-)) First of all, upon reading Teresa's message, I realized that the Colorado Alloy contingent went and got together without mentioning it to the rest of the list. Which is probably a good thing all in all, as it seemed to take about 80 e-mail messages (and several phone calls!) to settle upon a time and place to meet ;-) But get together we did, last Saturday, along with /\/\iles, whose visit to Boulder along with the California Guitar Trio and Tony Levin occasioned the event. And who generously hosted our attendance at the concert that night (thanks again!). Of course, we were saddened to miss having Teresa with us in the afternoon, but she did dazzle us with her radiance at the concert. Re: Baby pics -- My, Elaine, what a little sweetie Anna is! In her latest pics, her little red-haired mane looks like an even cuter version of Mike Kapitan's from the "Aliens Ate My Buick" tour. (Like how I worked in the Dolby content there?) And Elizabeth is looking so ... *mature*. My goodness! Re: "New Toy." I don't know if I'd say that *materialism* is what the song sort of celebrates, I think it may be a bit more warped than that. I always heard it as the singer referring to whatever new man has stumbled into her life as the "new toy" of the moment. But then, even though I've liked the song even before I knew who Thomas Dolby was, I've never listened all that closely. Re: digital vs. analog vs. cows. Beth the scientist is quick to agree with Doug that there are loads of confounds in the cow anecdote that could have caused the observed effect. Beth the mommy notes that either tape, LP or CD sounds better than the Playskool toy "CD player", which plays little electronic snippets of children's songs, sometimes totally spontaneously. (Nothing like reading on the couch in a quiet house, with the baby asleep upstairs, and suddenly hearing a few bars of an electronic "La Cucaracha" coming out of the toy basket...) OK, I'll be quiet again now. Cheers, - -Beth Beth Meyer bethmeyer@mindspring.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 00:51:29 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Beth speaks! In a message dated 4/25/00 12:18:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time, bethmeyer@mindspring.com writes: :: Re: digital vs. analog vs. cows. Beth the scientist is quick to agree with Doug that there are loads of confounds in the cow anecdote that could have caused the observed effect. :: I wish you and Doug could have told poor Joe Strummer that. He was so freaked!!! Robin T :) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 23:01:14 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Alloy Reunion Teresa's message may have been a bit confusing to some. I'll fill you in on what she was talking about. About a week ago, Erik Habbinga (lurker specialist) informed all the known Colorado Alloy members (also known as the Colorado Alloy Contingent) that Alloy's very own Stephen /\/\iles Tilson was traveling in the California Guitar Trio's tour bus and would be in Brekenridge on Friday night and Boulder Saturday. After many emails passed around, we finally worked out a plan for everyone to get together. I drove up to Brekenridge on Friday night and met up with Stephen. I had never heard of the California Guitar Trio, nor Tony Levin (who was playing with them) but after hearing them, I bought a CD of their work. Stephen came back with me and crashed at my place in Denver. My cats Wednesday and Pugsley decided not to be social. The next day I had a previous lunch scheduled, so Alloy's Dennis Alexander came by my house and picked Stephen up. They traveled to Dr. Beth Meyer's home to meet up with Beth, her daughter Melina and husband Mark. Eric Habbinga also met up there and I came a bit later. Pizza and Boddington's Ale were served as well as some scrumptious chocolate chip cookies made by Mark. Melina smiled for the camera. We conferenced in Mary (Europa) Brown. We then conferenced in Teresa Addams who was not able to make it to Beth's because of an extensive hair braiding session (they looked great). Eric brought his guitar and Dennis brought his guitar and Irish penny wistles. With just a little instruction, Stephen was able to teach Erik how to play The Flat Earth. We made some quick print outs of the lyrics and came up with an arangement that used Dennis' wistle and we managed to do a couple of takes of the song on tape. The whole thing was caught on video and audio. Perhaps we'll let you all see it some day - perhaps. The last Dolby related thing we did was watch Live Wireless before heading to Boulder to see the Colorado Guitar Trio with Tony Levin. Terisa and Erik's friends met up with us at the theater. The show was increadible and you could tell the band was really pleased with the show and the audiance reaction. Thanks again to Stephen for getting us all on the guest list. Of course, Dennis didn't need it apparently. He walked up to the door and said he was with the band. Next thing you know, Dennis was taken to the manager's office at the theater and given an "artist all areas" pass without ever giving his name. Guess he just looks like a musician or something. Beth, Mark and Erik and his friends left shortly after the show, but Teresa, Dennis and myself stayed to meet the band, and to watch a live internet chat with the band. After the chat, the three of us said our goodbys to Stephen and went to Denny's on the other side of town for a late night breakfast. Who should walk in but Stephen also looking for a late night breakfast. We all enjoyed our breakfast and some laughs before saying our goodbys again. As I told Dennis that night, whenever there is a meeting of Alloy people, a good time is had by all. Hey Thomas, if you ever come to Denver, be sure to let us know so we can treat you to dinner. You are sure to enjoy the evening. Related Links: California Guitar Trio : http://www.cgtrio.com Tony Levin: http://www.papabear.com Archive of Boulder Webcast: http://wsredir.stl1.dbn.net/wsrerun/locator.pl?51549849041&rm&start='0:64:30 ' Photos of the Boulder show with a shot of Stephen: http://www.cgtrio.com/roadcam/2000/rc042200.htm - ----- Original Message ----- From: "teresa adams" > > I know I missed the alloy reunion and jam session.... ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #100 ***************************