From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V7 #225 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 Friday, November 1 2002 Volume 07 : Number 225 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: grand theft auto [Jon Drukman ] Alloy: Soft Boys ["Bill Krzysko" ] RE: Alloy: grand theft auto ["Robin Thurlow" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:37:59 -0800 From: Jon Drukman Subject: Alloy: grand theft auto i forgot to mention that in addition to "hyperactive", this game also features "mr magic's wand" - and the radio station that it appears on is hosted by Mr Magic himself! - -jsd- just spent several more hours playing... :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 06:43:19 -0600 From: "Bill Krzysko" Subject: Alloy: Soft Boys Review from my local paper.... Soft Boys return with old, odd, new By Kevin McKeough Special to the Tribune October 30, 2002 There were lewd ad-libs about pumpkins, a song about a man with a light-bulb head, gleaming guitar hooks, soaring harmonies and Studio 54 rhythms, plus renditions of songs by Syd Barrett and the Byrds. It was, in other words, a routine evening for the Soft Boys, as the punk-era cult-heroes-turned-double-aught-indie-pop act performed at Double Door Monday. Routine is not a word usually associated with the English band, given their idiosyncratic music and unlikely career path. Having made little impact during their first incarnation in the late '70s, the Soft Boys broke up, only to see their 1980 swan song, "Underwater Moonlight," become a classic in indie rock circles. After reuniting last year for an enthusiastically received first-ever tour of the United States, the Soft Boys--songwriter/lead singer/guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, guitarist Kimberley Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor--now are fashioning a second act. The band recently released "Nextdoorland," their first record of new songs in 20 years, and drew on it in equal measure with their early material during the show. The constant in Hitchcock's music from the first incarnation of the Soft Boys through his solo career to the present has been its foundation in the "three B's"-- Barrett, the Beatles and the Byrds. Those influences were evident in both old songs ("Queen of Eyes") and new ones ("La Cherite") as he alternated liquid psychedelic guitar lines with chiming folk-rock arpeggios. Rew's mop-top haircut and bouncy enthusiasm gave him a puppy dog appearance, and his biting, barking power chords and terse solos added toughness to Hitchcock's flights of fancy. Seligman and Windsor also kept even the artiest songs anchored. Even so, the music from "Nextdoorland" suggested an uneven Hitchcock solo album, with the songs sometimes getting channeled through his quirks and obsessions. The strongest new songs were the most straightforward, as Rew's opening salvo kicked off the surging, shimmering "Unprotected Love" and the lilt of "Mr. Kennedy" built to a finale that found Hitchcock and Rew wrapping their serpentine guitar lines around each other in an extended jam. In these moments, the Soft Boys' new music rose to the standard they set with the songs from "Underwater Moonlight." The siren wail of Hitchcock's guitar and ascending three-part harmony made the anti-war broadside "I Wanna Destroy You" as thrilling as ever and, as the rhythm section played an ominous groove, Rew's silvery single notes crawled up the spine of "Insanely Jealous." In these songs, the Soft Boys recaptured the brashness, anger and uncertainty of youth and, in the best of their new music, they showed they now can express mature emotions with equal artistry. Copyright C 2002, Chicago Tribune ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 09:13:17 -0500 From: "Robin Thurlow" Subject: RE: Alloy: grand theft auto I can never play these games in any coordinated way.. but I love watching other people play. There should be parlours for people like me.. sitting in the background smoking my hookah, watching skilled people playing Grand Theft Auto.. Tomb Raider... Silent Hill... Speaking of all sorts of fun, what's everyone doing for Halloween (if anything)? ~robin http://www.tierracaliente.com/hookahm.shtml ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V7 #225 ***************************