THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR

The Ben Folds Five Digest

Issue #724 - December 27, 1997



Magical Armchair Digest  Saturday, December 27 1997  Volume 01 : Number 724



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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:

    Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #722
    bad idea
    Re: My own Popularity Thread
    article
    AOL actually
    Live @10spot.com.....only can bring good and its just a rumor!
    "there's spring of '96" bootleg...
    "6am, day after christmas..."
    Why can't we enjoy BFF here too ???
    where goeth the 30 seconds? 
    Short and sweet
    The woes of popularity
    I just want to say....

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 21:01:47 -0500
From: john_oc@juno.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #722

Hi.  I'll keep this quick, just another bootleg request.

I have boots to trade.

I am looking for good to great quality(I do have a MD player) live
versions of the following songs...Last Polka, Evaporated, Cigarette,
Alice Childress, Where's Summer B?, Uncle Walter, Eddie Walker, Bad Idea,
Emaline, Boxing, Video, Video Killed the Radio Star and any other BSide
you may have.

Frank, I know you have some MD shows, if you have any of these a reply
would be greatly appreciated.  I am going to have a special on the radio
on Ben Folds, and I am looking to get anything I can.  Any interviews you
may have would be appreciated as well.  Thanks for any help in advance!

Peace out!

John Boyer
Assistant Music Director
Research Director
WOBN FM Westerville, Ohio

Richard here.  Richard there.  Richard quoting Shakespeare back and forth
and back again, to be or not to be the man.  --Tom Barman, dEUS

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 97 21:19:18 -0500
From: Dan Goodspeed <goodsd@rpi.edu>
Subject: bad idea

hi peoples,
  Caroline just sent me naked baby photos.  pretty cool.  I'll have the 
review online in a week or two.  Any way, a while ago someone posted the 
chords to "Bad Idea."  I thought I saved them, but i guess i didn't.  now 
that i've got it on cd i'd like to play along and i'm too lazy to spend 
the 15 minutes learning the chords.  :-)

  so like, if you've got them could send me a copy?  thanks.



| dan goodspeed   (518) 399-9822    | "The last place that I want to be,
| goodsd@rpi.edu pianoman76@aol.com |  is sat upon his christmas tree,
|   http://www.rpi.edu/~goodsd      |  Or playing these games of catch
| BUM: www.rpi.edu/~goodsd/bum.html |  as catch can."          -EC

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 21:24:41 -0500
From: john_oc@juno.com
Subject: Re: My own Popularity Thread

X:0P-

I agree with you whole heartedly.  Thank you for expanding on my thread. 
I meant to say most of the things that you said, but I had already
written a freaking dissertation.  Thanks.  I do love Indie music as well,
but I don't think that it is a place for non-ignorant people to go.  I
have tried to get my sister to listen to Indie for forever, they do enjoy
BFF, but the simple fact is that they LIKE top 40.  Granted they don't
like the Spice Girls and Hanson, but they do like No Doubt, Celine Dion,
Elton John, etc.  Now there is no problem with this as long as they don't
like them for the wrong reason.  And they don't, they like it because
they like the music.  I have to respect that.  After exposing someone to
Indie and letting them make a conscious choice to stick with Top 40, I
can't call them ignorant.  As long as they listen to what they like.  I
think the problem lies in liking music for the image, rather than for the
music.  Like a certain image, hell, pretend to be someone you're not, but
don't use a band, an artist to get there.  That problem is just as
serious in the Indie scene as it is in the mainstream.  I see lots of
people in downtown Columbus, that I would percieve to be using the indie
scene to look cool.  It happens in every style of music.

Oh well.  Continue the thread.  I think it is an interesting subject,
although it does stray from BFF a bit, it does have a bearing on our
feelings on Brick as a single.  Hell it is better than people humming
Spice Girls and No Doubt any day.  

CD Recommendation...The Pastels - Illumination(Up Records)  This is a
great album by a scottish band and is their 7th full lenght I believe.
They have as much experience in pop music than just about anyone.  They
play a brand of LoFi pop that is a mix of Pavement and the Sundays.  I
absolutely love them.  Two singers, a guy and a girl and their harmonies
are great.  Buy it today!

John Boyer
Assistant Music Director
Research Director
WOBN FM Westerville, Ohio

Richard here.  Richard there.  Richard quoting Shakespeare back and forth
and back again, to be or not to be the man.  --Tom Barman, dEUS

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 22:05:18 EST
From: Crissy3180 <Crissy3180@aol.com>
Subject: article

Hello all and happy holidays.  I finally got the BF5 cd today, but I taped a
copy of Jared's months ago because I had no dinero to buy my own.  So I guess
I'm not a "true" fan, but I liked them long before they started playing
"Brick" on the radio.  Which brings me to another point...I hate how radio
stations ruin songs by playing them over and over and over again...it's like
taking away they're individuality, you know?  I agree with how you say most
people have no taste in music (just look at No Doubt's success), they just
like what the radio plays, but I don't think that their ignorance about music
makes them any worse of a character...some of these articles in the past have
given the impression that the general public should be looked down upon for
their ignorance...I just don't think that's right.  By the way, I am from
Dallas and wouldn't miss that show for the world...
~Chrissy

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 22:41:35 -0800
From: gabsey@juno.com (Gabrielle Marie It's gonna change soon so i shouldn't it!!!) 
Subject: AOL actually

ok...hey all. I have a question, i have AOL and i was wondering to all
the people whom have AOL can guide me on a little BF5 things. I am pretty
much new to all of this and i am very confused. Thank you
Gabrielle Caron.............(tehe)
              Vanity..still my favorite sin!!!-Al Pacino

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 01:36:45 EST
From: Phishrman1 <Phishrman1@aol.com>
Subject: Live @10spot.com.....only can bring good and its just a rumor!

To All y'all armchairites who THINK that the NY show is gonna be on the 10
spot thing.....its just a rumor......and stop saying how bad it would be...it
would be in actuality very good....cause now I could my very own
professionally recorded BFF concert on video for free....whats better than
that?!?!?

~jared
http://members.aol.com/phishrman1/BenFolds5.html

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 02:36:32 EST
From: Brian34295 <Brian34295@aol.com>
Subject: "there's spring of '96" bootleg...

hey,

i've run across a "there's spring of '96" CD bootleg of ben folds five.  it
has a japanese show from 02/26/96.  can anyone give me any information on the
two following things?:

1)  is the CD good?  (sound quality, number of songs)...

2)  can someone convert 3,500 yen to dollars, or direct me to a website where
i can figure it out myself?

thanks...any information would be very helpful.  peace....

- ----------
Q: How is a drum solo like a sneeze?
A: You can tell it's coming, but you can't do anything about it.....

Brian34295@aol.com
dead to the world

http://www.insidepitch.com
http://members.aol.com/brian34295/index.html
****.SEARCHING FOR HUM BOOTLEGS.****

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 01:25:30 -0800
From: brad crum <bcrum1@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: "6am, day after christmas..."

Ok, we've been talking about this, and some of you have actually been 
foolhardy enough to say you'd join me.  The hour is nigh, nightowls, so 
you might as well just stay up late playing with your new xmas toys 
until the first light of dawn -- then, at exactly 6am (yeah, that'z your 
time, don't bother me with time zones, please!!!)  you must make some
public demonstration (nothing too obscene, please) of your devotion to 
the band.  No fair to do it behind closed doors.  Let your light shine, 
so the world will know. Ben Rules!  Yell it if you think you can avoid 
prosecution--if that's not feasible, then just wave a banner, light a 
torch (!) throw your helmet hat, whatever.  

I only hope this hasn't reached you too late.  But, of course, there's 
always next year -- and this love is here to stay.

(Hey! "Folds does Porter" now that's a cover album made in heaven!
For all we know, ben is old Cole reincarnated.)

Have a great new year armchairians. I don't know 'bout you, but it makes 
me feel good to know that there are more of us every day. 

"person" ? in armchair 723 said it very wisely--pardon if i paraphrase, 
I can't find it right now:  NObody can take the 5 away from you.
Unless something really radical happens, the "MTV crowd" will move on to 
the next big thing someday, and Ben and the boys will be ours again 
anyway.Before then, I hope they make tons of  money so they can record 
for years to come.

yours,  brad

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 14:35:21 +0100
From: dakoolguy@hol.fr
Subject: Why can't we enjoy BFF here too ???


Hi everybody...
i am not new at the armchair but this is the first "article" i send...
What i wanted to say here is that i am so upset ... OK, i explain what =
the problem is :
So, i am french (no no, this is not the problem : )   ) and i love the 2 =
BFF albums. So, as a "real fan", i wanted to know much more about them =
and i decided i should find some more stuffs about them like maxi-cds, =
cd-singles and b-sides.... And guess what ? Impossible to find that in =
France .... in fact, it's not a big surprise for me since i had a lot of =
problems to find their 2 albums (even the Virgin Megastore in my city, =
which is not a small store, only had 2  WAEA and 1 Eponymous album). I =
asked the guy at the Virgin Megastore how i could find the b-sides and =
stuffs. Answer: they have to import them and the price of the imported =
cd-single is around 80 francs, thats about $13.5 !!!! So, i think i am =
going to forget about that, at least until i earn a lot of money with =
the lottery : ). I hope i will find Naked Baby Photos when it is =
released, it's my only way of earing some new songs from BFF...

Anyway, BFF are the best, and they will always be !!!!!   BYE !!

    Guillaume, one of the only ( the only??) french BFF fan ; )

    PS: hey, if you american people are bored of listening to Brick on =
the radio every 5 minutes, i've got THE solution: emigrate in France, =
nobody knows them !   ; )  but bring your cds with you cause it's gonna =
be hard to find them here ; )


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 09:32:28 -0500
From: stuart@optics.rochester.edu (Howie Stuart)
Subject: where goeth the 30 seconds? 

For those of y'all who checked out that Wall of Sound article
someone just posted, how about that - the band cut-out 30 seconds
from "Brick" on Letterman!  Now lets have a show of hands: how many
of you noticed?  Not me. And I don't recall anyone posting anything
about this. As Ben said:  "I got it down to a science today; 
if I trim evenly throughout the song it still has the same flow."
If none of us manaical fanatics even noticed, he must be right :-)
The way I figure it, I was probably too shocked by how neatly they
were dressed to notice any other details.  I'll have to go back
and watch my tape of it again to see if I can pick up on what was
cut.

Howie

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 11:19:40 EST
From: KarenB80 <KarenB80@aol.com>
Subject: Short and sweet

Okay, all I want to know about are tickets for the St. Louis show.  When and
where do they go onsale?  Ticketmaster doesn't seem to have this show listed
yet, and I'm confused!  If you know anything, please reply directly to me.
Thanks!

Karen

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 12:03:31 EST
From: Grover918 <Grover918@aol.com>
Subject: The woes of popularity

Hola mis amigos de armchair magica,

So, I'm going to put myself out on a limb here so I can make a point.  I am a
big Jewel fan.  I've had a similar experience with Jewel and BFF, in that I
knew of them and liked them long before they were popular.
This can be emotionally distressing in more than one way.  First, it's rather
upsetting to hear a 13 year old, prepubescent mallrat singing (in the
psuedosinging tone-deaf kind of way that only such a person can muster) a song
you had previously thought of as moving and/or passionate (ie, Brick & Foolish
Games).  This, although disturbing, is not the worst of it.  The tough part
comes when the issue of new music is brought to our attention.  Those of us
who have followed a band for some time are prone to know the unreleased songs
of said band.  Well, as bands become popular, record labels have these silly
ideas that they shouldn't release anything they might compete with what
they've already released.  When bands are unpopular, record labels tend not to
care as much, since nobody's really buying stuff anyway.
Now here's the point.  Ohmygosh, there actually is one.  HOW DO YOU DO IT?
I'm only about two steps away from a padded cell as it is, and this may just
push me over the edge.  I need some guidance to get me through until Jan 14th
(that's the right date, right?)

Licking the stamps on his postcards from the edge,
Andy

PS- so as to not start another age thread, I was being blindly prejudice and
making a complete generalization with the 13 yr old thing... If I've offended
anyone of that social circle, please understand that my intent was some
sarcastic form of humor and not an attack.  Peachy.

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 12:52:24 -0500 (EST)
From: Eric Patton <shirak@umich.edu>
Subject: I just want to say....

	I LOVE YOU GUYS AND GALS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, now that I've got that
bit of holiday cheer off my chest, I can go back to being my old surly,
nasty, crotchety self again. ;) Quick question. Who's planning on hitting
the BFF show at Clutch Cargo's on the 16th of February? (Which happens to
be 11 days after my 20th birthday, but that's of small consequence. ;> ) I
just want to know so I know who's going to be there when I completely make
a fool out of myself this time. (Hi Kara! ;> ) Anyway, e-mail me if you're
going. Laters!

ERIC
_______________________________________________________________________________
	"I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little death
that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to
pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the
inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
				-Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
_______________________________________________________________________________

------------------------------

End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #724
**************************************


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