From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #153 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, June 20 2000 Volume 05 : Number 153 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: Song Of The Week changes [lulfstedt@amadeus.net] Re: Alloy: Song Of The Week changes [Robin Thurlow ] Alloy: Bowie mixes with Beatnik live @ June 19th show [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: Song of the Week: Urges [RThurF@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:53:58 +0100 From: lulfstedt@amadeus.net Subject: Re: Alloy: Song Of The Week changes Robin, Stephen, A big yes please to the lyrics interpretation! I didn't think it was something so interesting at first - until I started to read people's interpretations & think about all those things that spring to mind whilst listening to the songs - so more of the same please! Lissu ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 13:43:57 -0400 From: Robin Thurlow Subject: Re: Alloy: Song Of The Week changes Thanks for your input Lissu :) !! I agree, the interpretations that have been written so far have been very inspiring. If anyone would like to re-read the previous interpretations posts, I'll be happy to re-post them. I've been thinking that it may very well make it more interesting to select Thomas' songs from here and there, rather than just going chronologically. Also, though I'll suggest songs to keep things going, I'd like everyone to feel free to bring up their own favorite songs too - the ones which have held the most meaning for you over the years - and tell us your feelings on them. I'll simply keep a file for each song and tuck the interpretations away in the appropriate one. Going in random order is more in the spirit of Thomas' concept of the FES as having a 'Menu du Jour', in any case (should it work out that the interpretations can be used on his page!) and it might keep our imaginations flowing a little better to work it this way, I think. I'd still like to cover 'Urges' today, though, since this is one of the very first of Thomas' songs which made an impact on me as a teenager. Would people like the lyrics posted for each of the songs? I'll do it tonight for 'Urges', but if anyone would rather I didn't (for email space/access time reasons) I don't have to keep posting them. Yet another very warm welcome to Alloy's newest members - your input is of great value to us so please don't be shy :) I'll be back with 'urges' tonight but feel free to start on this (or any other song) without me~! Robin T lulfstedt@amadeus.net wrote: > Robin, Stephen, > > A big yes please to the lyrics interpretation! > I didn't think it was something so interesting at first - until I started to > read people's interpretations & think about all those things that spring to mind > whilst listening to the songs - so more of the same please! > > Lissu ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:51:32 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: fellow fan requesting help! Dear everyone, I've just received the following letter from one of Thomas' fans in Denmark who is asking for help locating Golden Age of Video. I've just written back to encourage him to keep checking at eBay (it often turns up there!) and ask at his local music or video store for their suggestions on finding rare titles. If anyone else here has more suggestions for good places to look for GAOW, or perhaps even has a spare copy they wish to sell, please write to him directly at charlie3_de@yahoo.de Thanks for your help everyone! Robin T :: Dear Sirs, I would be grateful if you could help me to find a videotape with the best videos from Thomas Dolby. I tryed to find them at amazon.com and ebay.com but wasn't able to locate them at these places. I don't know where I could get my favorite videos and wanted to know if you could help me. Yours Jörg Schorn :: ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 17:09:01 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Beatnik BTW, if you haven't been to Beatnik lately, you should definitely go over and have a look (http://www.beatnik.com). I've just spent a very pleasant twenty minutes there playing with all the sounds & images. The Drinking Java effect is my favorite..! heheeeheee Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 17:17:04 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Beatnik Damn that Beatnik has stickiness - I just spent at least 15 minutes re-mixing Moby's Natural Blues - It has a keyboard interface so it is easy to quickly change the settings at once. Lots of fun. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 3:09 PM Subject: Alloy: Beatnik > > BTW, if you haven't been to Beatnik lately, you should definitely go over and > have a look (http://www.beatnik.com). I've just spent a very pleasant twenty > minutes there playing with all the sounds & images. The Drinking Java effect > is my favorite..! > > heheeeheee > Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 22:54:11 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Bowie mixes with Beatnik live @ June 19th show Incredible news!! Robin T UltraStar's BowieNet Hosts 'David Bowie Live' Featuring Beatnik Musical First as Bowie Re-Mixes Song with Live Audience Using Beatnik Technology NEW YORK, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- UltraStar's BowieNet, the rock legend David Bowie's official online community, hosts a private David Bowie concert on June 19th featuring Beatnik, Inc. and its music technology. The concert will mark an interactive music first as Mr. Bowie collaborates creatively with a fan from the audience to re-mix his hit song "Pretty Things" live onstage using Beatnik's technology. "BowieNet is committed to providing online Bowie fans cutting edge technology for experiencing the artist and his music in the ultimate interactive community," explained Bob Goodale, President and Chief Strategy Officer of UltraStar, David Bowie's pioneering entertainment Internet company. "Beatnik helps us to meet this goal by enabling BowieNet members to actually re-mix their favorite Bowie songs, both online and now in concert, using the Mixman eMix(TM) technology." "We are honored that David has chosen to showcase Beatnik's audio technology and Mixman eMix(TM) software on the BowieNet site," said Thomas Dolby Robertson, Founder and Chief Beatnik. "This is the first time a music legend of David's stature has involved fans directly in his live performance using interactive technology -- a true artist and fan collaboration." Intel Corporation, providing the solutions used to run many of the World's top entertainment Web destinations like BowieNet and Beatnik, will supply computers and connectivity for fans at the concert to use Beatnik's Mixman eMix(TM) technology. "David Bowie Live" features world-renowned musician, performer, artist and songwriter, David Bowie, in yet another music and Internet first, with the first-ever concert performance exclusively for members of BowieNet. The show will include Bowie performing many of the great classic songs from throughout his career. The members-only concert will be held at New York's "Roseland Ballroom," Monday, June 19. In addition to the special set list, those in attendance will receive a free gift, drawings, door prizes and other special merchandise, along with a chance to see Bowie and his band perform a red-hot, blistering warm-up to his British Glastonbury Festival appearance. About UltraStar UltraStar is David Bowie's pioneering entertainment Internet Company that builds and manages exclusive, subscription-based online communities for major entertainment, sports and other affinity properties. The company specializes in developing web-based content, community and commerce sites, and in offering niche-targeted subscriptions and ISPs. Its current roster of projects includes BowieNet, HansonNet, YankeesXtreme, and ClevelandBrowns.com. Throughout 2000, UltraStar will announce additional entertainment, music, and sports-related subscription services to be launched during the year. About Beatnik, Inc. Beatnik brings interactive music and sound to the Web through its combination of technology, content and services. Beatnik's solution includes a line of applications, production music, sound content and the Mixman software product line, enabling the integration of interactive audio content into the Web experience. Beatnik develops, markets and sells its interactive audio solution to a community of creative professionals, potential licensees of its technology and consumers enabling them to build and interact with music and sound over the Web, on computers and other digital devices. Mixman Technologies, Inc. became a subsidiary of Beatnik in December 1999. Incorporated in 1996, Beatnik was founded by musician and composer Thomas Dolby Robertson. About Intel Corporation Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom. :: ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 00:03:34 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Song of the Week: Urges I've tried writing out the lyrics but it is so space consuming for the list... I really think I'll skip that part & go straight to discussion if nobody minds. Of course, I'll happily put the lyrics up if anyone wants to see them. I'm assuming that anyone commenting on this song will already be familiar with the lyrics though. Anyway, this song does mean a lot to me personally. I actually first heard "Urges" at around age fifteen & what struck me about it right away was that it ultimately put sexuality into a normal light, when other songs and entertainment either were constantly glamorizing/demonizing it. The song begins by going through descriptions of people posing around clubs in leatherette, with light effects, smoke & mirrors, imagining themselves to be film stars. The refrain describes sexual feelings which everybody has, and everybody knows everybody else is having, and which they're acting out about, but aren't supposed to ever mention in conversation or even really admit to oneself. But at the end of the song, the fakery and the posing is broken away from with the lines: 'Girl this time it's a new sensation, it's never been this way before I look at you and I feel half human' To me as a teenage kid, this very last verse struck me with such simplicity and honesty, that feeling sexually attracted to another person is a genuine aspect of human existence, and that real sexuality is perfectly human and normal. That it typically is taught to be otherwise, and when it is, it leads to absurdities of behavior like that seen at the average dance club. I loved his use of his feeling 'half human' as indicating that he was closer to his true human/sexual self with this person. Most of the time people use the term 'human' as being distinguished away from 'animalistic' things such as sex... but here he seemed to be drawing the sense of humanity and sexuality together to form a sane completion. I also loved the line: 'In the footlight, the ape in motion spins circles all across the floor' Absolutely wonderful visuals there; putting into perspective what's really going on. Despite all the glamor we may put on in our various socialising, human beings still do interact in basic, animal ways. The ape spinning circles across the floor is just your average clubgoer trying to show him/herself off as good mating material. I just found it very refreshing & liberating to hear such things pointed out so clearly, especially as a young teenager. I think it's really important to hear from someone you admire that at least *something* about you is okay, particularly at that age, because you feel so berzerk on a daily basis & it often feels as if you're not doing anything right! It also helped me to be a lot more philosophical about such things as glamor and appearances when I'd find myself in various social situations in those days, providing me with a different sort of remote viewpoint (and a humorous one at that! :) which I think might have really helped me to feel less awkward as well as less likely to be drawn in. That sums up some of my basic thoughts about 'Urges' - a song I still love. Has anyone else felt this song has impacted them? If so please share it with us! Robin T ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #153 ***************************