From: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org (alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest) To: ammf-digest@smoe.org Subject: alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V3 #990 Reply-To: ammf@fruvous.com Sender: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ammf-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest Friday, December 3 1999 Volume 03 : Number 990 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Collingswoodin' . . . Hey there puddin' . . . ["Anna!" ] Re: Village Voice blur on Fruvous [sittin'onthecouch@home.com (The Toolma] [FAQ] alt.music.moxy-fruvous Frequently Asked Questions list (1/4) [Chad ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 07:27:01 GMT From: "Anna!" Subject: Re: Collingswoodin' . . . Hey there puddin' . . . Lizzie wrote: > And I have to say that the funniest part, IMHO, was during > MBLABOA...Dave sang "who needs a shave?" but the other guys had been > prepared for "who needs a grave?" and Murray had even made the "grave" > motion with his arms. So when that's not what came out of Dave's mouth, > the other guys looked confused and one of them said "o*kay*!" My mom > just thought I was laughing at the song, and thought I had lost it... Okay, I must have been on crack at this show - but this is *my* twisted interpretation of the above event... (Which goes to prove that I need serious, serious help...) They *all* said "shave" but the motion that Murray made was less of a "I'm pointing at a grave" motion, and more of a "I'm pointing at my crotch" motion. Then they all laughed. Imagine, if you will, how utterly confused I was! (though I found it damn funny, too!) Of course, that wasn't in fact what happened. I just can't seem to percieve reality like the rest of the world. I suspect it's because of the trauma I faced as a result of sitting in the aisle (props to the Scottish Rite folks for not making me move to my otherwise crappy seat) during a show where the guys actually *needed* the aisle. All I remember is cowering into Val's safely seated leg and praying not to get kneed in the head. I emerged unscathed, and glad that I didn't contribute to one of the boys tripping and flying into the dunce capped front section ;) It really was a splendid show, and it convinced me *not* to wait until the end of the month to see another show but to haul myself up to the Albany-ish area on Saturday. Where the hell did I come from all of a sudden? I'm getting all up on the NG again, yo. :) - -anna- "you and i move at the speed of light... and with our smiles, we outshine the sun." -kent ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 13:28:42 GMT From: vika@attglobal.net (Vika Zafrin) Subject: Re: Fruheads unite and..Calm DOWN (fwd) Spake Lynne : > Is this the welcome a new person gets? You better learn the rules >or you won't survive. All this advise that some people are giving makes >me ill. I don't think most (most!) people have been quite as harsh as you've perceived, Lynne. Yeah, Fruvous shows are *different* from most shows you'd (one'd) go to, where screaming teenage girls (yes!! I'm generalizing!!! Think "the Beatles" and get over it, please.) cry and throw their bras at the performers. This has (allegedly) happened at BNL shows, for example. This wouldn't happen at a Fruvous show. Nor would the thrashing and moshing that nowadays (well, okay, as of a couple of years ago) happens at They Might Be Giants shows. There's a certain.... standard that's kinda been worked out over the years. You don't mosh or throw bras (or batteries) at a Frushow. Will one survive if he/she goes to a show not knowing the etiquette? Of course. But they will get a number of weird looks, and yeah, maybe a slap on the wrist (I'm again thinking of the battery person) if they do something that's out of line. > Another quote " New fans do not have as clear of a view of show >etiquette as those more seasoned fans, thus they act in ways which they >will later learn is inappropriate." I can't even handle this one... how >dare someone? (No, it wasn't me who said that.) Easily. Go to a few non-Fru (and also non-folk, generally) shows. So many people lack common courtesy, it's not even funny. It might be acceptable at other bands' shows, but it certainly isn't at Fruvous shows. And they're not alone, either. Would you go to (say) a classical music show and start whistling or humming in the middle of a piece? Or go to a sit-down Iron Horse show and all of a sudden decide to start moshing? Fruvous is not a "bar band," although they may appear that way, I guess. Gotta run. I'm late. - -v - ---------------- Vika Zafrin ---------------- vika@attglobal.net ---------------- http://www.brown.edu/Research/Decameron "Only in love is reality that which elsewhere is simulated: only in love [do] you find one similar to yourself, a you in another, a being that understands you and responds to you, a thought [which is] an echo of your thoughts." - Francesco De Sanctis ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 18:32:59 GMT From: vika@attglobal.net (Vika Zafrin) Subject: Re: Village Voice blur on Fruvous Spake ScarletB23@aol.com: >Anyone as disappointed in this write up as I am. *ahem* Why, yes. And this is what I wrote to them: (Please forgive the lack of formatting. Their form didn't allow it.) In your paper, you published the following advert alerting people to a concert happening in NYC: - ------------------------------- Moxy Fruvous Canadian-content dweebs who've made it big above the border with an unplugged buskerism specializing in tunelessly opportunistic comedy protests mixing in calypso and rap, Fruvous are more or less a Dead Milkmen-Kennedys version of the Kingston Trio. They probably know the Barenaked Ladies personally. With Tory Cassis and Sean Altman on Wednesday and Near on Thursday.(Eddy) Wed 12/1 7:30pm, Thu 12/2 8pm Westbeth Theatre Center 151 Bank, Manhattan 212-691-2272 - -------------------------- You know, I really don't give a crap if you don't like a band. Freedom of speech is a Good Thing. But did you guys actually do ANY research before you printed this? For one, Moxy Fruvous have made it big "below the border" as well. In fact, they tour more in the U.S. than they do in Canada, something their Canadian fans have been complaining about for a while. And they do tour a lot, selling out venues all across the country (I refer you to their website for their current tour schedule). Tunelessly?? I'm sorry, but that's a matter of musical objectivity, and whatever else you can accuse Moxy Fruvous of, it's not tunelessness (unless you're talking about the banjo). Opportunistic comedy - would you please elaborate? Or is this another one of your accusatory mindlessness not actually based in fact? These "Canadian content dweebs" also happen to have songs about the Michigan Militia and Rush Limbaugh. Did you know that before you printed your obviously not thought-out remarks? God, I used to be SO into your paper when I lived in NYC (1990-1 and 94-5). The quality of your paper has really gone downhill, if you arbitrarily attack musicians without any ground for your statements. I'd like to point you to http://www.fruvous.com for more information about the band. Do take a look at the media reviews they've had, read some lyrics. Then we'll talk. - -Vika Zafrin, a fan of Moxy Fruvous Bitchy, I know. But SO satisfying. - -v, can I actually be late to two different places in one day, independently of each other?? Run like the wind!! - -------- Vika Zafrin -------- vika@attglobal.net -------- http://www.brown.edu/Research/Decameron "You never know where you're going 'til you know where you've been." -Will Smith's dad ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 02:41:42 GMT From: McCown Subject: Re: Collingswoodin' . . . Hey there puddin' . . . > So it was the day before my birthday (my birthday being today) Oh dear! I would've said happy birthday yesterday had I figured it out, but I will say it now! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I'm just going to add a couple of thoughts if that's okay, but Kate did such a good job and reminded me of all of these things I had forgotten. > It was a beautiful room, and they had a backdrop down straight out > of "Into the Woods." Surprisingly, there were no comments in that > vein. Except Murray's making a little "visit" to one of the trees during the first encore :) > Murray was next and said that he played bass in the band, and so > anything on guitar for him was like "an away game." I beg to differ > . . . his solo on Pisco is quite awesome, I think :). Anyway, he > said that he plays guitar in a style he likes to call "ambitious." > And then got a note from the low-E string and started "Bittersweet," > accompanying himself. When he got to the solo, he kind of stumbled > through it, but sounded fine. "This is the ambitious part," he > said. It was a beauty nonetheless. Oh, it was so wonderful!!! After the show I embarassed myself so much by telling Murray that the solo was "adorable"--as soon as I realised what I'd said, I wanted to die and said "Oh *God* that was the wrong thing to say!" and he assured me that it was a fitting thing to say, but I still wanted to die. Because that song made my night. It was so nice to see it done just Murray in front of a silent, appreciative audience...it was just amazing. And I thought I could talk to them now without regretting every word that came out of my mouth... > Jian came out to some hoots and hollars, mostly 'cause he was > wearing a black tank top. He introduced himself "Hi. I'm Jian. I > boycott Starbucks." Then he told a fairly long story about how a > friend had picked him up the night before and suggested they go to > Starbucks. Jian refused, so they ended up drinking shit coffee at a > diner. And he said, "what's the moral of this story? I don't know. Maybe don't go for coffee with me." >He mentioned Route 73 and got some cheers. Which prompted him to say "Who cheers for a f*cking *highway*?!" And I have to say that the funniest part, IMHO, was during MBLABOA...Dave sang "who needs a shave?" but the other guys had been prepared for "who needs a grave?" and Murray had even made the "grave" motion with his arms. So when that's not what came out of Dave's mouth, the other guys looked confused and one of them said "o*kay*!" My mom just thought I was laughing at the song, and thought I had lost it... I just had a really great time last night. I'm so glad everybody I thought I was going to see there made it. Hugs to Lisa, Valerie, Anna, Joni, Leah, Steph, Shannon, chad, Lori, Lawrence, Kate...if I missed you, I'm really sorry, but I think that's everyone. This was my last Frushow of '99 (not that there won't be plenty more in '00!) and I had an awesome time! love Lizzie ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 17:44:51 GMT From: sittin'onthecouch@home.com (The Toolman) Subject: Re: Village Voice blur on Fruvous On Wed, 01 Dec 1999 16:45:38 GMT, ScarletB23@aol.com pondered for a while, and then wrote: >I was reading the new Village Voice this morning and thought I share their >Voice Choices blur on tonight show. > >"MOXY FRUVOUS Canadian content dweeds who've made it big above > the border with an unplugged buskerism specializing in tunelessly opportunistic >comedy protests mixing calypso and rap, Fruvous are more or less a >Dead Milkmen-Kennedys version of the Kingston Trio. so, what's wrong with the Kingston Trio? >They probably know the Barenaked Ladies personally. Well, since these are the only two Canadian bands out there, I guess they get together for muffins on Sunday mornings.. >Dweebs! What an insult. Actually, I'm a dweeb myself...and mighty proud of it. Also, a nerd, dork and geek. I really was on the AV squad in High School, hung out with the 'Reject Squad'(1) in school, and still work in communications. We did dweeby things like..schoolwork, listening to each other's problems, helping strangers, hitch-hiking, playing acoustic guitars in parks all night, sleeping on top of the car waiting for the Englishtown Dead concert, used a Ouija board, played Buck-Buck (or Johnny-on-the-Pony), used my feet or my Schwinn instead of a car, went to NYC (for the music stores in mid-town, for the Planetarium uptown, for the bistros downtown, and for the deals on Canal Street), was never big into sports (except Hockey, for the past 10 years or so..), etc. Dweebs unite! Stand up for Dweeb Awareness! >Only big above the border! In the US, they shrink back to the size of Pez dispensers (Toby will be SOOOO happy!) >I guess >Fruvous music is just ahove the writer's intelligence level. in The Voice, that's not too far a stretch... >Anyone as disappointed in this write up as I am. I stopped reading it in the early 80's, because it seemed that, if you didn't agree with what was written, you were automatically written off as 'out of it'. Before that time, it was a well-rounded information pack with a nice balance of news and opinion, but to keep up with Rolling Stone and the National Enquirer, they needed to make it as 'controversial' as possible. I believe that the next logical step for the Voice is a combination of Oprah diets and Elvis sightings. (just my .02) >Peace, >Anita (thinking of boycotting the Voice) Peace right back atcha, Anita..have a flower, courtesy of The Dweebs! >"Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of >places if you look at it right."-The Grateful Dead > Nice quote! Tim (the Dweeb-man!) "The wheel is turning and it won't slow down, you can't let go and you can't hold on, you can't go back and you can't stand still, if the thunder don't get you then the lightning will." -Jerry Garcia (1) Reject Squad = hippies, nerds, social outcasts who are neither jocks or bashers, aren't more into their cars or their parties or their beer than they are into their relationships with their friends, would gladly take someone else's troubles and make them their own. Anyone is welcome to join us..just leave your preconceptions at the door, please. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 10:26:13 -0500 From: Chad Maloney Subject: [FAQ] alt.music.moxy-fruvous Frequently Asked Questions list (1/4) [Begin part 1/4] Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Questions, suggestions, and submissions to: ammf-faq@fruvous.com FAQ last updated: 29-NOV-1999 Question marked by a '*' denote content changes in this version of the FAQ. Questions marked by the '*' have been modified significantly enough to make it known, so that people familiar with the previous FAQ need only browse the '*' marks to get updated information. Questions in this FAQ: Section: FAQ Facts 1) What is the alt.music.moxy-fruvous FAQ? 2) Why do some people call it the Fruvous FAQ? 3) Who maintains the FAQ? 4) How can I make suggestions/corrections to the FAQ? 5) Where can I get the FAQ? Section: Fruvous Internet Resources 1) Is there an official web page? 2) Is there an IRC Channel? 3) Is there a newsgroup? 4) What is ammf@fruvous.com? 5) I'm getting a lot of bounce messages from ammf@fruvous.com. What should I do? 6) My server's newsfeed is horrible. What can I do? 7) How do I unsubscribe from the Mail<-->News gateway? 8) I don't want to unsubscribe, but I'm going away for a week. Can I ask the Mail<-->News gateway to not send me mail for a bit? 9) alt.music.moxy-fruvous is too high traffic, but I still want to read it. Is there anything I can do? 10) Is there an archive of alt.music.moxy-fruvous? 11) What is alt.fan.moxy.fruvous? 12) What is the "newsgroup pin"? 13) Do the band members read the newsgroup? 14) Are there any major fan web pages? 15) What happened to Josh Cragun's and Bill Bowen's web pages? 16) What's an umlaut? How do I make one? 17)* I don't seem to be getting any posts from the Mail<-->News Gateway. What should I do? 18)* I'm sending email through the Mail<-->News Gateway, but people who use news to read the group don't see it. Why? Section: Basic Moxy Fruvous Information 1) Who is Moxy Fruvous? 2) What does "Moxy Fruvous" mean? 3) What is a Fruhead? How can I become a Fruhead? 4) What is the "Fruhead Card"? 5) What is the "Frumiles Card"? 6) My Frumiles Card expires at the "end of the millennium." Is that December 31st, 1999, or 2000? 7) Where is the band currently touring? 8) Why has the band toured more in the United States than in Canada lately? 9) Why does the band frequently play at restricted venues that don't allow underage people in? 10)* There seems to be frequent mention of taping at Fruvous shows and trading of these tapes. What's the band's policy on that? 11) Is there any connection between Moxy Fruvous and the soft drink Moxie? 12) I ordered my merchandise four weeks ago from Fruvous and I haven't received it yet. What gives? 13) What's the best thing I can do to help support the band? 14) What's the story behind "The Troc"? What happened? Section: Mike, Murray, Jian, and Dave 1) On stage, who is who? 2) Why is Jian's name written as Jean in liner notes and older articles? 3) How do you pronounce Jian Ghomeshi? 4) Is Dave gay? bisexual? How about Murray? Jian? Mike? Section: The Albums 1) What albums does Moxy Fruvous have out? 2) Why aren't all the albums in stores? Where are they available? 3) What if I can't get any of the albums at stores? 4) Does the band ever put out singles? 5)* Does the band ever make videos? 6) Is there any connection between _You Will Go to the Moon_ and the children's book of the same name? 7) What is the Indie Cassette I keep hearing about? 8) Where can I get the Indie Cassette? Section: Songs and Lyrics 1) Where can I get a copy of "Green Eggs and Ham"? 2) Where can I find the lyrics to "Johnny Saucep'n," "Your New Boyfriend," etc? 3) Where can I get translations of the French songs? 4) Where can I find tabulature for Fruvous songs? 5) Where can I find vocal sheet music for Fruvous songs? 6) Where can I find sound files of Fruvous songs? 7) Which band member wrote which songs? Do they collaborate? 8) What's the song that they perform with the refrain, "Hey little bird, fly away home"? 9) Is it a female voice or Mike's voice during the intro to the studio version of "Green Eggs and Ham"? 10) Who says "Swing it" on the studio version of "Gotta Get a Message to You"? 11) Is the "Lowest Highest Point" really in Delaware? Section: Fruvous Characters 1) Who is Larry Boniface Clebdon? Who is Barry? 2) Who is Lazlo? 3) What's a Laika? 4) Who is Dusty Fosterbourd? 5) Who is Grandpa Fruvous? 6) Who is Lou? 7) Who is Marion Fruvous? Section: Fruvous-Related Links and Information 1)* What other bands might a fan of Fruvous be interested in? Credits Appendices: Appendix A - An explanation of why age restricted venues exist and bands play at them * Appendix B - alt.music.moxy-fruvous newsgroup definitions and etiquette suggestions Appendix C - common acronyms seen in alt.music.moxy-fruvous Section: FAQ Facts 1) What is the alt.music.moxy-fruvous FAQ? The alt.music.moxy-fruvous FAQ (a.m.m-f FAQ, or just the FAQ from here on out) is a frequently asked questions list that is a resource for newcomers and old timers of the internet NNTP newsgroup alt.music.moxy-fruvous. It is intended to answer many of the commonly recurring questions that are posed to the newsgroup so that the members there are not continually answering the same questions. Note that the a.m.m-f FAQ is not gospel. It is fan maintained. Sources are cited where they are known and every attempt has been made to give information in as neutral a way as possible. But the maintainer is only human (and at this time at least, a quite opinionated human at that), and at times some inkling of their opinions may seep in. Feel free to complain if you disagree. 2) Why do some people call it the Fruvous FAQ? The a.m.m-f FAQ does contain some good general Fruvous information that does not relate directly to the newsgroup. Any fan may find the information here useful, even if they do not have the time or desire to read the newsgroup. Also, "Fruvous FAQ" is much easier to say and type than "alt.music.moxy-fruvous FAQ" or "a.m.m-f FAQ." 3) Who maintains the FAQ? The original maintainer of the FAQ was Colleen Campbell. She researched, wrote up, and maintained the FAQ from its birth until August of 1999. Her work on the FAQ is very much appreciated, and the Fruvous community owes her a debt for her hard work. The second and current maintainer of the FAQ is Chad Maloney. Chad has been a Fruvous fan since July 1997 and posts frequently (if not very frequently) to a.m.m-f. He can be reached at Chad@fruvous.com and gladly accepts any and all email. 4) How can I make suggestions/corrections to the FAQ? Your input to this FAQ is very valuable. If there's something you disagree with, that you want said in a different way, or that you want added to or removed from the FAQ, please email the current FAQ maintainer. They should happily talk with you about your addition and give you feedback on the request. The email address ammf-faq@fruvous.com is setup for the current FAQ maintainer. Please do NOT post your FAQ input to a.m.m-f. The FAQ maintainer needs to keep a record of all requests so that they are processed accordingly. Due to problems with newsfeeds, every post to a.m.m-f may not make it to the maintainer. Please DO email the FAQ maintainer at ammf-faq@fruvous.com. 5) Where can I get the FAQ? The a.m.m-f FAQ is available in a couple of different ways. It is posted monthly to the newsgroup alt.music.moxy-fruvous. It is also available on the web at http://www.fruvous.com/news/faq.html. You can also request the FAQ from the ammf-faq autoresponder. To do this, simply send an email to ammf-faq-request@fruvous.com and the FAQ, split into sizeable chunks, will automatically be emailed to you. Finally, you can request that the FAQ be emailed to you by emailing ammf-faq@fruvous.com and requesting the latest version of the FAQ. The FAQ maintainer will forward you the FAQ when they get the email. Section: Fruvous Internet Resources 1) Is there an official web page? Yes, there is. http://www.fruvous.com (Fruvous Dot Com or FDC) is the official Moxy Fruvous web page and an amazing resource for Moxy Fruvous fans. The site is one of the best band websites around and contains an up-to-date tour itinerary, song lyrics, articles, guitar tab, and show reviews. Reviews posted to alt.music.moxy-fruvous usually make their way onto the site or they can be emailed to webmaster@fruvous.com. The site is maintained by Chris O'Malley and any questions about it should be sent to him at webmaster@fruvous.com. Moxy Fruvous Corp also has registered the domain moxyfruvous.com for future use. 2) Is there an IRC Channel? Yes, there is probably more than one. The one that many a.m.m-f denizens frequent is #MoxyFruvous on the Undernet. More information about that channel is available on FDC at http://www.fruvous.com/irc.html. You can probably find Moxy Fruvous channels on EFNet and DALnet as well under various names. 3) Is there a newsgroup? Yes, there is. alt.music.moxy-fruvous (for which this FAQ is written) is the Usenet group for discussion of Moxy Fruvous. For a simple etiquette guide to alt.music.moxy-fruvous, see Appendix B of this FAQ. To access the newsgroup using NNTP, choose your favorite newsreader (like TIN, Netscape Messenger, Outlook, etc) and look in the alt.music hierarchy for moxy-fruvous. You also need a news provider. If you are in school, you may have to request that alt.music.moxy-fruvous be added to your school's news server. You can also use a free NNTP service like Deja.com to read the newsgroup or there are several great news service providers that are available for relatively little money. NewsGuy, for example, works extremely well for some people ( http://www.newsguy.com ) and is very inexpensive. AOL has their own newsserver and the newsgroup is available there. To get to it, go the keyword "newsgroups", then "add newsgroup." Search the alt.music hierarchy for alt.music.moxy-fruvous and then subscribe. Note that NNTP and the graph of newsservers is not wholly reliable. Sometimes posts may be lost or come in out of order. Deja.com is usually very complete, as is NewsGuy. See question #6 for some alternatives to using a bad newsserver. 4) What is ammf@fruvous.com? ammf@fruvous.com is the email address of the Mail<-->News Gateway. Sending email to ammf@fruvous.com will post the contents of the email to the newsgroup with the subject provided. This is how the Mail--->News half of the gateway works, so that when you reply to a message sent by the gateway, it goes to the newsgroup. The Mail<-->News gateway provides a way to receive the contents of the alt.music.moxy-fruvous newsgroup without using an NNTP newsreader. Instead, once you subscribe, each posting to the newsgroup is emailed to you directly. Note that there is still an NNTP server behind the Mail<-->News gateway, so there may be posts out of order or left out, like when using another NNTP server. The contents of the list are also available in digest form. See question #9 for more information. For more information about the Mail<-->News Gateway, see http://www.fruvous.com/other.html 5) I'm getting a lot of bounce messages from ammf@fruvous.com. What should I do? If you aren't subscribed to the Mail<-->News gateway, something is really wrong. If you are subscribed to the Mail<-->News Gateway, then probably someone else is having mail problems and is bouncing mail to the list. Please send an email to owner-ammf@fruvous.com regarding the problem and they will work it out. Forward the bounce there and they will fix the problem as promptly as possible. 6) My server's newsfeed is horrible. What can I do? You have a couple of choices. You could pay for a better NNTP service from a company like NewsGuy ( http://www.newsguy.com ). If you have patience, you can use a free NNTP service that has a good newsfeed like Deja.com. The interface to Deja is a little awkward, but it does work. The web site http://www.fruhead.com has a web interface into a.m.m-f available as well. Finally, you can subscribe to the Mail<-->News gateway which is already hooked up to a good newsfeed. To subscribe to the Mail<-->Gateway (which will email you everything posted to alt.music.moxy-fruvous and allow you to email ammf@fruvous.com to post to the newsgroup), see http://www.fruvous.com/other.html. It has information on the Mail<-->News Gateway. Note that the web interface on FHDC uses the Mail<-->News Gateway for its newsfeed. 7) How do I unsubscribe from the Mail<-->News gateway? To unsubscribe from the Mail<-->News gateway, you need to unsubscribe from the mailing list ammf@fruvous.com. If you are unsubscribing from the address that is subscribed to the list, you simply need to send an email to ammf-request@fruvous.com with the single word "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. Otherwise, you're request will need to be authorized manually. You can email owner-ammf@fruvous.com for help with that process. If you are subscribed to the digest version, send your email to ammf-digest-request@fruvous.com following the instructions above. Please don't include your .sig in messages to the ammf-request address as it may mess up the automatic processor. See http://www.fruvous.com/other.html for more Mail<-->News gateway information. 8) I don't want to unsubscribe, but I'm going away for a week. Can I ask the Mail<-->News gateway to not send me mail for a bit? Nope. Sorry. The mailing list software behind the Mail<-->News gateway is Majordomo, which doesn't allow you to remain subscribed, while temporarily shutting off distribution of mailing list messages to your email address. To do this, you'll have to unsubscribe then resubscribe when you return. 9) alt.music.moxy-fruvous is too high traffic, but I still want to read it. Is there anything I can do? The best thing to do is to subscribe to the Mail<-->News gateway in digest form. In digest form, you will receive one large email containing a number of posts to the newsgroup instead of each one individually. You can then read the one message, instead of individually reading the 40 messages contained in it. To do this, email ammf-request@fruvous.com with the message body containing "subscribe ammf-digest". 10) Is there an archive of alt.music.moxy-fruvous? There are two easily available archives of the newsgroup. The first is provided by the Mail<-->News gateway, which archives all digests it sends. They are available for download at http://www.smoe.org/lists/ammf but you can't search or easily navigate through the digests. Deja.com archives a great portion of Usenet for your use. It provides robust searching of newsgroup articles back to 1996. 11) What is alt.fan.moxy.fruvous? alt.fan.moxy.fruvous is the old Moxy Fruvous newsgroup. People now use alt.music.moxy-fruvous for discussion of the band Moxy Fruvous. The newsgroup in the alt.fan hierarchy is no longer used because it was not petitioned properly in alt.config before the "add group" message was given to NNTP servers. Because of this, the alt.fan group is not available in many places. The alt.music group was (eventually) properly setup and should be available on a wider range of servers. An attempt was made to remove the alt.fan group from Usenet, but this isn't really feasible because NNTP servers aren't organized at all. Most posts to alt.fan.moxy.fruvous get immediate replies from kind fans referring them to alt.music.moxy-fruvous. 12) What is the "newsgroup pin"? alt.music.moxy-fruvous is a pretty cohesive fan group and many of us have developed a taste for meeting up with each other at Fruvous shows. To identify each other, the newsgroup came up with the a.m.m-f pin, originally distributed by Vicky Brasseur to those who sent her an SASE. There are a limited number of fans still using these old buttons, but Vicky is no longer distributing them. If you are at a show, look for Fruheads wearing a 2" white pin with black lettering, "alt.music.moxy-fruvous" on the top, "have modem - will travel" on the bottom, with the "Barry" creature (from the back of _The B Album_) in the center in full color. An image of the a.m.m-f pin (or ng pin) is available on FDC at http://www.fruvous.com/miscpics/frupin.gif The newsgroup pin seems to be in less use than it was during '97. Many of the newsgroup regulars became very familiar with each other in that period and identification pins became rather extraneous. There are a lot of new a.m.m-f'ers out there, though, and it would probably help us all meet each other if we kept the pin in common use. In August of 1999, Chad Maloney ( Chad@fruvous.com ) had a new batch of the old buttons reprinted. He has information on how to get an ng pin available. See http://www.fruhead.com/users/Chad/ammf-pin.html for more information about getting a button. 13) Do the band members read the newsgroup? Jian has admitted in front of fans that he does skim the newsgroup occasionally. It's also been said that Murray and Mike have seen the newsgroup before. Even though members of the band occasionally see the newsgroup, the newsgroup is not for communication with the band members. Many, many people read the newsgroup to discuss Moxy Fruvous, and the last thing they want is people posting personal messages to Murray, for example. There are much better ways to communicate personally with the band than to use the public newsgroup. Please remember that the newsgroup is a public forum and what you write may be seen by any number of people, including band members. 14) Are there any major fan web pages? FDC has a links page for many fan pages in its "Moxy Online" section available at http://www.fruvous.com/other.html. Also, http://www.fruhead.com (or FHDC for you acronym buffs) has a "Fruhead Links" section with Fruvous-related links on it. FHDC itself is a fan web page and resource for Fruheads kept up by Josh Woodward. 15) What happened to Josh Cragun's and Bill Bowen's web pages? Bill Bowen's, known also as the "Fruvous Supplement," lost web space quite a while ago. He has since allowed Chris O'Malley to include his web page on FDC. Josh Cragun's, which was originally the "official" Fruvous homepage but hadn't been updated in over a year, disappeared over a year ago. The "jcragun" account was removed from the server, possibly because Josh is no longer at school. Chris has, however, moved some of the articles, lyrics, and other tidbits from those pages to FDC with the permission of their previous owners. 16) What's an umlaut? How do I make one? An umlaut is the technical name for the two dots that are above the "u" in Moxy Fruvous in all the band's printed materials. In other languages, things like umlauts modify the pronounciation of a specific letter. For example, the u-umlaut in German sounds like a ue, and is sometimes written that way in electronic media where no umlaut is available. How to make an umlaut on your computer depends on the computer you use and the character set it is configured for. On most Windows PCs, the ascii code 129 is used for the lowercase u-umlaut. To make it, hold down the ALT-key and, using the numeric keypad on the far right of your keyboard, type 129 then release the ALT-key. The result should be a lowercase u-umlaut that will be visible for people using Windows. But, for some people using a different character set usually on UNIX, what you just made will show up as junk. It is this character set difference that keeps this FAQ from using umlauts for Fruvous and that causes many people to not use them in IRC or on the newsgroup. Not everyone sees it as an umlaut. Normally, when someone sees a word that is Fr^vous for example, they realize what it says, but it's usually best to stick to Fruvous without the umlaut if you want it to look decent on all computers. 17)* I don't seem to be getting any posts from the Mail<-->News Gateway. What should I do? Don't panic. a.m.m-f gets a lot of traffic and you probably notice when something is awry with some part of the Mail<-->News Gateway. There are a couple steps in the process that could be the problem and any diagnosis you can do on your own will benefit both you and others. The first thing to check is your email account. Do you have an email quota that you are violating because of too much mail? If you are in violation of your quota, your ISP may be automatically bouncing new messages addressed to you back to the sender. Are you getting other email alright? If so, there's probably nothing wrong with your mail account. Your ISP can probably help you figure out if you are having problems with your email service. The Mail<-->News Gateway works by taking mail from an NNTP newsserver it uses and forwarding it to a majordomo mailing list. There are a couple places where this whole process can be gummed up. The newsserver the Mail<-->Gateway uses may be having problems, there could be space problems on the machine that manages the majordomo list, or any of myriad of other problems. The proper thing to do when you've determined the problem isn't your email is to send an email to owner-ammf@fruvous.com and explain your problems. They will help you as soon as they can. Please don't send "I'm not getting any posts" messages to the newsgroup. The correct and direct way to get the problem fixed is to alert owner-ammf@fruvous.com of the problem. 18)* I'm sending email through the Mail<-->News Gateway, but it people who use news to read the group don't see it. Why? To send posts to the newsgroup through the Mail<-->News Gateway, you have to send email to ammf@fruvous.com. This is the correct address and the only address that will post your message to the newsgroup. The Mail<-->News Gateway is currently housed by smoe.org and ammf@smoe.org is a valid email address, but is NOT the address of the Mail<-->News Gateway. Mail sent to this address will be distributed only to those people who subscribe to the gateway. People who use NNTP news services or Deja won't see the post. The solution is to use ammf@fruvous.com, which will automatically submit a NNTP news post for you that will then be distributed to Deja and other NNTP news service providers, including the Mail<-->News Gateway itself. [End part 1/4] ------------------------------ End of alt.music.moxy-fruvous digest V3 #990 ********************************************