From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V6 #185 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 Wednesday, July 18 2001 Volume 06 : Number 185 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Good news and bad news ["Chris & Beena Cracknell" ] Re: Alloy: Danger! [Robin Thurlow ] Alloy: Re: Alloy on stage ["Ian Gifford" ] Alloy: 80's pop [Jon Drukman ] Alloy: interview [Barbara Cohen ] Alloy: mistaken identity! ["Thomas Dolby Robertson" ] Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! ["Robin Thurlow" ] Alloy: Alloy Live At LaLuna ["Chris & Beena Cracknell" ] Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! [Merujo ] Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! [Merujo ] Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! ["Keith Stansell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 02:54:02 -0400 From: "Chris & Beena Cracknell" Subject: Alloy: Good news and bad news Well I've got some good news and some bad news. Good News: Just got back from my show with Ian at LaLuna and it went REALLY well. In addition to a couple of other covers and a whack of originals we did covers of two of Thomas's songs (although only one was actually written by Thomas). It all rocked. It was fun, fun fun. I love that seat-of-the-pants kind of live performance stuff where you haven't rehearsed or even heard the songs the other guy is going to play. Bad News: I grabbed a tape that was only a C-30 so even with both sides recorded we're missing a hell of a lot of the show. Bummer! Also, the audio quality of the recording is much less than CD quality. We're talking really Lo-Fi. I'll see what I can do to fix it up. It seems my wee tape recorder, while fine for playing tapes and recording memos and class lectures absolutely sucks at recording live gigs. Oh well. It'll give you a neat listen to what went on during the show. Other bad news is the tape was already short enough and a lot of it was taken up by the world's worst MC who introduced the living hell out of us. As a result even fewer songs were recorded. Next time I will be more careful when I take a tape to record a live show. And I'll make sure to use an external mic on the tape so I don't pic up it's own body noise. Son of a bitch! Oh well. It was still a lot of fun. Anyways I'll try to work as much magic as I can on the recordings and make up some MP3s of our show to make available to you all. Unfortunately I don't exactly have anywhere to host the MP3s so I'm open to offers and suggestions. Crackers (eye eye eye eeeeeeyeeeee from hell!!!!!!) CrAB - http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html The Official Bira Bira Webpage - http://birabira.chaosmagic.com Ghastly's Ghastly Comic - http://ghastly.keenspace.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:44:36 +0300 From: jonathan.chiddick@nokia.com Subject: Alloy: Danger! Hi Robin and all, > I'm so scared of those. I've seen some horrific injuries to > people's hands, feet, limbs, faces and heads (when the blade hits a knot and > kicks back for instance) I know... Believe me I am doing a lot of research before I ever start that baby up. There is a large element of danger if you don't play by the rules and I am learning them as fast and as well as I can before I do anything. Accidents are generally caused by people taking shortcuts or not following the rules and I am not intending to become one of those statistics! > Are you taking a tree down? be careful...! We are building another cottage next summer for our expanding family and also visitors so we need 30 or more larger spruce and birch trees to provide timber for building it. I felled 3 with an axe when I was there a week or so ago and it was exhausting work; hence the purchase. The trouble with doing it the old way is that you get tired quickly which causes the coordination to go awry and a misguided sharp axe-head flying towards your leg is a very unwelcome thought as well! Believe me, I am quickly developing an extremely healthy respect for this! "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK!" Hehe Jon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:33:10 +0100 From: "p.latham2" Subject: Re: Alloy: Rare Dolby songs I think the majority of the rarer tunes , yet to be released on cd , have been mentioned - I do wonder however if Thomas has any sorts of rights to also include his very early tunes by the Fallout Club , I recently got hold of Pedestrian Walkway which is written by Thomas but sung by Trevor Herion , and I think its brilliant . Ive yet to obtain the Falling Years/ Beat Boys single , but if Thomas could include them and Wonderlust/Desert Song I think this would please a lot of us Alloy members - these tunes being very difficult to obtain.--- oh and I dont think Googooplexus has been mentioned yet, or the 12" of 'The Devil is an Englishman' or is that on the Gothic cd, cant remember. Ive recently been tracking down a copy of the Kevin Armstrong LP , How the West Was Won - id hoped this may contain a version of Samson & Delilah but unfortunately not -- pity. Oh and one final thing ---- 'I got an email from Bruce Woolley the other day --- it made my year -- he was just replying to my enquries into his latest venture -- the Radio Science Orchestra -- look up their web site if you havent already -- and read all about Theremin , the instrument they use. Paul - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 4:15 AM Subject: Alloy: Rare Dolby songs > > It was recently mentioned that there exists a cache of rare Dolby songs that > were never released on cd or anywhere else. I just wanted to say that when > Napster was in full swing I managed to download Dont Turn Away, > Leipzig/Therapy Growth, (sequened together), and Puppet Theatre ( buying this > from ebay - hyperactive single cd from Britain). I dont recognize the other > ones that were mentioned ( heard Wreck of Fairchild - excellent track like > the way it leads into Airwaves at the end). What else is out there and what > are the chances of a rare tracks lp or new material or a cd audio release of > Live Wireless? Let's all create a list of what was never released on cd and > petition TMDR to release this archive material before it is lost. Any > thoughts? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:28:37 -0400 From: Robin Thurlow Subject: Re: Alloy: Danger! jonathan.chiddick@nokia.com wrote: > > Accidents are generally caused by people taking shortcuts or not following > the rules and I am not intending to become one of those statistics! I'm glad to hear it :) !! Most woodworking accidents I know of happened when the person became complacent about the tools, having had no harm come to them yet over a period of time. With chainsaws, since you're moving *it* around, you need to have a heightened sense of exactly where every part of your body is, in relation to the saw - at all times. Apart from the kickbacks, the most injuries occur when someone is cutting downward through a tree and cuts into his/her own foot or leg with the saw, because they weren't aware of where they were. Have you ever seen someone practicing using a sword or stick for fighting? Maybe you should stand on your lawn & practice similar moves with the chainsaw so you know how to stay out of the way of the weapon's business end. But start with the chainsaw *off* or your neighbors will stare! > We are building another cottage next summer for our expanding family and > also visitors so we need 30 or more larger spruce and birch trees to provide > timber for building it. I felled 3 with an axe when I was there a week or so > ago and it was exhausting work; hence the purchase. The trouble with doing > it the old way is that you get tired quickly which causes the coordination > to go awry and a misguided sharp axe-head flying towards your leg is a very > unwelcome thought as well! The cottage sounds really nice. Axes.... very tiring! My dad taught me how to split logs when I was a teenager. Having gone without the experience of doing this for my entire childhood I had absolutely no endurance & it soon became impossible to maintain my aim. It's the same way for me with bowling actually.. three or four perfect frames, and the rest all gutters :) xxx Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:45:54 -0400 From: "Ian Gifford" Subject: Alloy: Re: Alloy on stage Hi all, Tis true. I was (still am) in Hamilton yet again and this will mark Crackers' and my fourth meeting. We have a blast each time we meet and have vowed to do it again as we have proven a strong connection through music. Last night we did end up going to this beautiful bar called "LaLuna". The open stage started slow and typically with a young performer who broke ALL of the performance rules like apologizing for a song or a mistake or something and other un-neccessary acts of self deprecation. When Crackers and I got together earlier in the evening, we ran through a dozen songs or so very quickly and entertained his sweet daughter and neighbors till about ten. When we started our set together we opened with nuvogue. I love Crackers' version of this and put only what I call a "Boom-chuck" guitar rhythm behind it with some cool little harmonies on the "AY AY AY AY". It turned out that the sound people had given me a guitar pickup that wasn't working so they had to rush like mad to get me a mic. Next we played a gypsy style progression where I make up words on the spot based on names of cities and whatever rhymes I can come up with in an instant. I had people shout out names of cities and some joker called out "Constantinople" man... that was a doozy... but I sorta got it to work... an example of the words I sing is.... I once new a girl from [city] muskoka who was a big 'toke-a' and a bit of a 'coke-a' I liked to give her a 'poke-a' so I made that little girl mine. The audience recieved it well although it is a nonsense song. Crackers and I also played a spiritual tune that I taught to him. I hadn't realized that he had not been able to hear the "Feverpitch" tracks and told him about the version of "I'm on my way". I taught him that song and he pulled out a Fife and played on that. WOW!! what a blast. LAter on since there were more patrons than performers Crackers and I each got up to do another short set. I did a quick solo set and he did a 5 song set with me accompanying. It turns out that we have a good bond on stage and I really hope that we can do it again. THANK YOU ALLOY!! I am very glad that Alloy is around so that I can talk to you all but moreso that I can meet some of you. I am very glad to have met Crackers as he is a very funny and interesting character. Thank you THomas for inspiring this fine community. Ian From: "Chris & Beena Cracknell" Hey gang. Ian Gifford was in town this weekend and actually dropped by one of my shows to check me out live with my friend Steve Didemus. Lot's o' fun and beer to be had. Since he's in town for a wee while (he has a girlfriend here, y'know) we're going to hit the stage tonight at LaLuna and do a couple of songs together. Hmmmm... maybe I should do Nuvogue. Haven't played that one live in some time. If I can find my wee tape recorder I'll bring it along and record us to share with you fine alloy folk. Crackers (Now if only I could get over this damn cold from hell!!!) CrAB - http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html The Official Bira Bira Webpage - http://birabira.chaosmagic.com Ghastly's Ghastly Comic - http://ghastly.keenspace.com _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:00:24 -0700 From: Jon Drukman Subject: Alloy: 80's pop i am guessing that if you are reading this list that you, like me, are a big fan of 80's synthpop. i was possessed by the spirit of my favorite synthbands last week and recorded this track. http://spoo.pretension.com/anotherday.mp3 enjoy - -jsd- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 13:14:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Barbara Cohen Subject: Alloy: interview Thanks again jon! I love the long interview sessions. I get a couple minutes to myself and the computer and grin for a while :) _____________________________________________________________ Dr. Barbara Cohen, lunatic bcohen@utk.edu Dept. of Geological Sciences http://web.utk.edu/~bcohen/ University of Tennessee phone (865) 974-6024 Knoxville, TN 37996 fax (865) 974-6022 All that glitters is not gold, but at least it contains free electrons. _____________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 00:23:24 -0700 From: "Thomas Dolby Robertson" Subject: Alloy: mistaken identity! Hi folks, Re-reading Jon's latest interview installment, and the question about being stopped for speeding in Louisiana (or not), I was reminded of one time I WAS actually stopped and reprimanded for driving too fast. I was driving through the Suffolk countryside in my Daimler. We both pulled over, he strolled up to my window, looked in, and then his eyes bugged out and he did a complete double-take. "Gor blimey!" he said. "Wait a minute.... don't tell me..... ah, now I got it........... you're HOWARD JONES!!" True :) TMDR ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:04:17 -0400 From: "Robin Thurlow" Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! Thomas wrote: > I was driving through > the Suffolk countryside in my Daimler. We both pulled over, he strolled up > to my window, looked in, and then his eyes bugged out and he did a complete > double-take. "Gor blimey!" he said. "Wait a minute.... don't tell me..... > ah, now I got it........... you're HOWARD JONES!!" LOL! :) This should *definitely* be tacked onto the interview as an addendum once it's compiled. To be honest, I've never really looked at Howard Jones. Is there actually any resemblance, apart from both of them having music videos out and probably being given similar publicity at roughly the same time? It seems Thomas has had a good many adventures in his Daimler..! I think the TMDR action figures will have to come with a Daimler as standard issue. With a tiny "Howard Jones" driver's license of course... oh I have to stop thinking now before I get too far distracted! xxx Robin T who's supposed to be sewing journals for the sidewalk sale looming on the horizon... not sitting here fantasizing about the ultimate TMDR action figure gift set! :) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:48:45 -0400 From: "Chris & Beena Cracknell" Subject: Alloy: Alloy Live At LaLuna Well gang, I did what I could to salvage the poor recording of my jam with Ian. It's listenable, it'll give you a sketch of what the show went like. But it's far from doing justice to the sound system in the bar or Ian's talent. Here's what we've got. Nuvogue: (2.2meg) Ian and I doing a cover of the Thomas Dolby song that I covered on the first Project B-Day. Sailor Moon Theme: (0.6meg) Mostly me goofing around to fill up dead air while they try to fix Ian's pick-up and mic his guitar. Hungary Song: (2.9meg) An Ian original with improv lyrics from audience suggestion. Lot's of fun watching him try to come up with a rhyme for Constantinople. Istanbul (was Constantinople): (1.0meg) A "They Might Be Giants" cover inspired by the suggestion of Constantinople in the previous song. I'm On My Way: (2.5meg) from that Thomas Dolby soundtrack thing I missed out on this year due to a combination of illness and technical difficulties (pout). I'm playing fife on this one instead of accordion. It came out really cool if I do say so myself. The Legend Of Bill: (1.8meg) Crackers original, story about a friend of mine offered a job directing prono movies. They Guy's Always Wrong: (2.3meg) Crackers original. Self explanitory I think. Fine Whines About Women: (1.5meg) Crackers original. Another piss 'n moan Bullet Through My Head: (1.8meg) Crackers original. Song I wrote for my grandad who is a big country western fan. Drunk Uncle Charlie (partial recording): (1.5meg) Crackers original. Song about that one relative that shows up at every family reunion and gets really really drunk and really really bitter. Nice audience sing along. Unfortunately a who set of Ian originals were not recorded because the tape ran out. We would have had a lot more songs recorded if it wasn't for Drunk Long Winded MC Woman who just wouldn't shut the fuck up. C'mon, we don't need an introduction that lasts longer than our set. Thanks to her the coolest parts of Drunk Uncle Charlie (when the audience really got into singing the chorus) ended up not getting recorded and only the opening chord of Ian's set of originals got recorded. The other problem was the tape recorder was way too close to a table of noisey drunks. This really sucked for the recording of "I'm On My Way" which was otherwise really fricken cool. Anyways there's all the files. They're all encoded as MP3s and ready to go as soon as I figure out a way to share them with everyone. Anyone got any ideas? Crackers (Too much like fun from hell!!!!!) CrAB - http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html The Official Bira Bira Webpage - http://birabira.chaosmagic.com Ghastly's Ghastly Comic - http://ghastly.keenspace.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:10:37 -0400 From: "Chris & Beena Cracknell" Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Dolby Robertson" >"Gor blimey!" he said. "Wait a minute.... don't tell me..... > ah, now I got it........... you're HOWARD JONES!!" Well at least Howard Jones is cute. I had someone come up to me once and say "Oh my god! You're VINCE CLARK!!" Vince Clark!?! VINCE CLARK!?!? How the bloody hell can anyone confuse me for Vince "The Doctor Slapped My Mother" Clark? Sheeeesh! That hurt! I mean I'm no pretty boy like you are Thomas, but I'd like to think I'm not Vince Clark ugly. Vince Clark my fuzzy white ass! Crackers (Looks nothing like Vince Clark from hell!!) CrAB - http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html The Official Bira Bira Webpage - http://birabira.chaosmagic.com Ghastly's Ghastly Comic - http://ghastly.keenspace.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:15:20 -0400 From: Merujo Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! Thomas Dolby Robertson wrote: > ... "Gor blimey!" he said. "Wait a minute.... don't tell me..... > ah, now I got it........... you're HOWARD JONES!!" > That's hilarious! And, Mr. Dolby, this begs the question - what did you tell him, and did you get off without getting a ticket or paying a fine? I thought about Our Fearless Leader over the weekend, as I was speeding along the edge of the Everglades (the Everglades in Florida, ahem), coming home from Key West. I have never seen so many squashed armadillos, turtles, and baby alligators in my life! (Okay, actually, I'd never seen squashed armadillos, turtles, and alligators before, period.) Cheers, Melissa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:29:52 -0400 From: Merujo Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! Chris & Beena Cracknell wrote: > Vince Clark!?! VINCE CLARK!?!? How the bloody hell can anyone confuse me for > Vince "The Doctor Slapped My Mother" Clark? Sheeeesh! That hurt! I mean I'm > no pretty boy like you are Thomas, but I'd like to think I'm not Vince Clark > ugly. > Hey, Crackers - it could be worse! When I was in Beverly Hills about 7 years ago, wandering around on Rodeo Drive, a group of Japanese businessmen wanted their picture taken with me because they thought I was Roseanne. Not only was this during one of Roseanne's creepier, haggier phases, she's about 15 years older than me!!!! YIKES! Roseanne. Sheesh. - - Melissa, wishing I'd stolen that "CROCODILE CROSSING NEXT 7 MILES" road sign I saw in Key Largo... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 23:36:01 -0400 From: Merujo Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! Chris & Beena Cracknell wrote: > Crackers > (Looks nothing like Vince Clark from hell!!) > On the Erasure "Cowboy" tour, Vince came out at one point dressed in a HUGE green seguarro cactus costume - he shuffled like Morticia Addams and could barely move. Only a portion of his face was exposed, as well as his hands, so he could play this steel guitar. Vince looked better as a cactus than he does as, well... Vince. But the acoustic version of "Blue Savannah Song" was heavenly (and Andy Bell's voice was angelic.) Cheers, Melissa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:35:50 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! Back in Louisiana we consider armadillos nature's speed bumps. Someone once said I looked like Al from Home Improvements. Then after I started shaving my head, someone said I looked like the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Merujo" To: Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 9:15 PM Subject: Re: Alloy: mistaken identity! > > Thomas Dolby Robertson wrote: > > > ... "Gor blimey!" he said. "Wait a minute.... don't tell me..... > > ah, now I got it........... you're HOWARD JONES!!" > > > > That's hilarious! > > And, Mr. Dolby, this begs the question - what did you tell him, and did you get > off without getting a ticket or paying a fine? > > I thought about Our Fearless Leader over the weekend, as I was speeding along > the edge of the Everglades (the Everglades in Florida, ahem), coming home from > Key West. I have never seen so many squashed armadillos, turtles, and baby > alligators in my life! (Okay, actually, I'd never seen squashed armadillos, > turtles, and alligators before, period.) > > Cheers, > > Melissa ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V6 #185 ***************************