THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
The Ben Folds Five Digest
Issue #836 - February 22, 1998
Magical Armchair Digest Sunday, February 22 1998 Volume 01 : Number 836
THE MAGICAL ARMCHAIR
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TOPICS IN THIS DIGEST:
ummm, yeah, I got a question
current tour
clutch cargo show
Sneakers
anyone tape the hammerstein show?
i'm insane
NYC Review and Setlist
bff age?
BFF at Hammerstein
Hammerstein
Just stuff
New York City...New York City
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #835
Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #835
BF5 channel on EFnet
Uncle Walter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 20:17:34 -0500
From: Cindy Smith <whittyp@SURRY.NET>
Subject: ummm, yeah, I got a question
Hiya fellow fivers,
I got a question...does anybody know what the track listing for S/t (+bonus
Track) JAPAN? I want to buy it...it's $30 and I want to know whats on it.
If anybody knows please mail me.
Whitney
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 21:05:41 EST
From: luckyday6@juno.com (Jason A Masi)
Subject: current tour
well i was wondering when the last concert on this current tour is going
to be over and if they are goin to start a new tour in the spring at all.
thanks
thanks
- -Fiver
"Your uncle Walter is going on and on" - Ben Folds
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 22:26:00 EST
From: Shnib10@aol.com
Subject: clutch cargo show
hey everyone,
monday saw our boyz at clutch cargo,i thoguht it was a great show, aside from
all the pushing, i mean what as up with that? i mean i was being pushed from
every direction, i guess everyone was just really ...happy? loss of better
words, so anyways the reason i'm posting this is because i wonder if anyone
tape the show, if ya did or might be able to lead me to someone who did just
email me at Shnib10@aol.com, thank you so much, love ya all
check ya later,
Sarah
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 22:33:10 -0600
From: joe <jmcnulty@ou.edu>
Subject: Sneakers
Hey,
I'm Joe. I've been a BFF fan for a coupla years now but I'm kind of a
technophobe so I just recently subscribed to the armchair. I've been
reading the issues for a few days and it seems like most of you are from
up North or at least East of the Mississippi (Myself in culturally
desolate Oklahoma, which I might add is somewhere the 5 have never
stopped, even though the Flaming Lips are here and Jelly is their
fricking song!!! I've had to travel over two hundred miles on all
occasions to see BFF!!!! But no Bitterness!!!!). Are there any Armchair
people here in the South? I know for a long time I felt like the only
Oklahoman to like the 5, that is until they played "Battle" on our
"totally alternative" Angst-ridden teenage testosterone-driven radio
station that has since converted to Easy Listening. And now don't we all
feel a bit disillusioned by the success of Brick?
Anyway, I saw the 5 a year ago in San Antonio at a place called
Sneakers, which is a date not on any tour list I've seen on the net.
Any reasons? It was a heavy metal club, I think Loverboy or Foreigner
or something like that was on the bill for the next week. Ben said he
took a picture of the marquee for its irony. We talked to Ben for a
good while, Kate came out too, Robert and Darren were in kind of a hurry
to get to the bus. My driving companion, Nancy, got a ticket on the way
down(8 hrs!!) so Ben put her on the guest list for the Dallas show(how's
that for Southern charm?) Also a guy we met down there asked Ben to
sign his driver's license. He wrote "My father worked for the God damned
DMV." Was any body else at this show? You could really tell who was
there for the band and who was there for the drink specials. Also
anyone at the most recent Austin or Dallas show? Does anyone else feel
like the band is getting more polished and less spontaneous? It might
just be that Dallas crowds suck and are unresponsive.
Joe
ps sorry for being so long winded.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 01:12:51 -0500
From: jen chen <pickle@bellatlantic.net>
Subject: anyone tape the hammerstein show?
i miss the bff show yet another year... my friends decided to throw me a
surprise birthday party the night of the show. i'd much rather see bff,
but oh well...i'll try again next time. but if anyone taped the show,
let me know because i really want to hear it...
don't tell me bff played philosophy.... i'll seriously sh*t a pickle if
they played it and i didn't hear it!
hope you all had fun!
jen chen
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 02:02:52 EST
From: Couscouz@aol.com
Subject: i'm insane
i just got home from the hammerstein ballroom show and all i have to say
is....im insane. first of all, let me just say that i had the worst seats
possible-last row in the mezzanine level. i was so far that i could barely
hear what was going on down below. but thats not important. let me tell you
why im insane. after the show was over i waited out front for the band to come
out, as did many other adoring fans. i waited and waited, but alas, no one
came. after an hour some security guard came out and said something that i
couldnt hear and everybody else left. only half an hour later guess who walks
out? none other than ben folds himself!! thats right. i didnt know what to do.
after careful consideration i realized that the best thing to do would be to
jump out of my car and stand there staring at him as he got into a chauffer
driven jaguar with some woman. this wasnt the best idea i ever had. so i
thought up a new one. i jumped back into my car and sped off after him. this
of course made it completely obvious that i was a psycho stalker and that i
was following him. he went around the block to the back where all these people
were waiting for the band to come out but he only stopped for a second and
then kept going without anyone realizing who it was. after a couple blocks i
figured it was a lost cause but he was going in the direction of my house
anyway so it was kinda a coincidence from then on. finally he stopped and got
out. you wanna know where he was going? the bellmont lounge. it was some
private party and apparently someone forgot to put my name on their list. oh
well, at least i managed a quick glimpse of darren as i drove away.
i wonder what the concert was actually like for the people who could see and
hear what was going on.
-michelle
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 03:33:38 -0500
From: "Leigh R. Nelson" <thirteen@eden.rutgers.edu>
Subject: NYC Review and Setlist
Well, I went to the NYC show tonight to kick off my 4-date Ben Folds Five
tour. It wasn't a bad start, but the sheer size of the Hammerstein Ballroom
was a bit intimidating. The sound quality was worse than what I've heard
before, and the crowd was just way too big. The show itself, though, was
pretty darn good. The set lasted about 10 minutes shy of two hours, and
included covers of "Your Cheatin' Heart" (with Robbie Fulks on vocals) and
"What's My Name?" by Snoop Dogg...well, parts of it, anyway. Another great
part was the adlibbed (?) "The Bitch Song," going out by popular request.
It had vocals ("B-I-T-C-H") and all; lasted four minutes or so, more than
the usual mess-around stuff. Beyond that though, there wasn't much to make
this a very different show than any other. Ben only spoke for a total of a
minute or so for the whole show, mostly about "Fair." Rob and Darren said
much less.
Still, I was thrilled to hear "Uncle Walter" and "Eddie Walker." And even
though I couldn't find any of my Armchair buddies (Where's Sarah A.?) it was
still a good trip. I'll post more tales of my own "BFF tour" as the dates
come. Look out Philadelphia!
Setlist: Theme from Dr. Pyser, Battle.., Philosophy, The Bitch Song,
Selfless.., Missing the War, Last Polka, Steven's.., Fair, Brick, Kate, Song
for the Dumped, Eddie Walker, Your Cheatin' Heart, Jackson Cannery, Smoke,
One Angry Dwarf, Underground // Boxing, Uncle Walter, (What's My Name?)
** Leigh **
P.S. My suggestion to the band (if anyone from BFF camp reads this): How
about doing Emaline with Robbie Fulks on guitar? I'm sure he could handle
it...how often is it that you've got a good acoustic guitarist on the road
with you? Think about it...!
==============================================================
13 Leigh R. Nelson
thirteen@eden.rutgers.edu aol: thirteen2k
http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~thirteen
"Were you born and raised in New Jersey? Did you like the taste of Crystal
Pepsi?"
==============================================================
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 14:06:06 +0200
From: Shai Ben-David <shayeyal@netvision.net.il>
Subject: bff age?
Can someone post the band members ages?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 11:44:50 EST
From: FM3Red5@aol.com
Subject: BFF at Hammerstein
Wow,
what a show...it was great...the crowd was great...well most of 'em...these
two old people in front of me were like "this is the only song i know" when
brick came on...i was so mad...they should have a "true fan" section at
shows...before "song for the dumped" they played the beginning of "ants
marching" by dave matthews band...that was a highlight...and at the end they
were just "rockin'" and the house lights came on...but that didn't stop
them...it was awesome!!!!...i was just mad that they didn't play "emaline" and
"summer B"...but other than that...the show KICKED ASS!!!!!!...
Frank
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 12:15:28 -0500
From: santonan@student.umass.edu
Subject: Hammerstein
Well, I know someone here already posted a pretty good review of the
Hammerstein show, so I'll leave that alone. In case anyone from the band
reads this posting or their "people" :), I would just like to say THANK
YOU!! My almost four hour drive was rewarded handsomely. Does anyone know
who the blond haired roadie is? He's the coolest shit, he gave me Ben's
piano seat, and I just thought that rocked. Now I can sit where Ben
sat...that's not too obsessive. I think Doug was telling the few of us
that stuck around that WAEA went gold, so congrats are in order. Oh
yes...HiGeary...Ben did leave, but Robert and Darren stuck around and I
got to chat for a minute with them. I did miss Ben though...oh well,
another show. In any event, I had a great time as usual. Ciao peoples!
Sarah :)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 17:23:19 -0000
From: paul.leung@virgin.net (paul.leung@virgin.net)
Subject: Just stuff
Hey everybody, just like to say how nice the armchair is nowadays, with a load of really great concert reviews. Just thought I'd like to share with you a Ben Folds Five experience-I was mucking around on the piano during a recording session I was doing fo
r a jazz band, and the pianist /guitarist comes up and says, is that Ben Folds Five? I was playing the solo to Jackson Cannery at the time, and I was like, wow! We discussed how to play Kate an' all, but it just goes to show that there are fans out there.
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to request was if there were any bands that played their own songs out there. Y'see, I'm putting this Cd together of unsigned bands together-it's mostly London stuff, and there's a really wide range of music on there. So, i
f you'd like to contribute to this cd, then if you could send me a tape of your stuff ( I can also deal with Minidiscs, Dat and cds, of course) I'd be really grateful. You'd get maybe nothing in return ( ok, maybe a London bootleg if I really feel guilty)
except most of North London hearing your music. Which is nice.
On a similar but different note, wouldn't it be great if we could put together some covers of Ben Folds Five's songs in different styles? If there are people out there interested, my e-mail address is at the top.
Anthony
P.S. did you know that they play Battle of Who Could Care Less at Pizza Hut?
P.p.s-like that comment about subjecting the band to objects (i.e. bricks) mentioned in their own songs-tres drole!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 17:50:19 GMT
From: Jordan Erenrich <erenrich@mail.geocities.com>
Subject: New York City...New York City
It was really a great show in NYC. (This only other show I've ever gone to
was a Matthew Sweet show, so I probably can't tell a good show from a bad
show, but I really enjoyed it)
I got in line around 5:45, and doors opened a little after 7:00. Robbie
Fulks was warming up when we got in. (I think they let us in early because
it was chilly and drizzling outside). Anyway I got all the way up front
which was pretty cool and I started talking to people around me and asking
them if they were on the internet mailing list and by coincidence, the
first person I asked was Sandi with the plastic pants.
I think the set list was pretty much the same as the other shows. A nice
surprise was when Robbie Fulks did a few seconds of the "BA BA BA...BA BA
BA..."'s from Fair. When I heard it, I quickly got out my recorder and got
it. I'm gonna make it mp3, though I have no idea how. (Could someone tell
me how to do it?) I'm also gonna try and make some mp3's from other songs.
I'm gonna do a bulk email, but if someone has a site I could post them on,
I'm sure your fellow 'chairites would appreciated it.
More On the Taping Department: It was pretty easy to get the recorder and
mic in. The big dude at the front door only gave me a perfunctory pat down.
(In other words, it was unneccesary for me to put the 'corder near my
genitalia where I knew the big dude would not pat me!)
So, I was recording the show and I saw one or two other mics that were
being held up and the big dudes behind the barrier did not seem to care
that much. I then held my mic up pretty high for about the next two songs,
before the security guy told me to hold it where it couldn't be seen. I
figured he was pretty cool, but then during Missing the War (one of my
favorite songs) he came over and demanded my batteries. I gave them to him,
but little did he know that I had another pair. I wound up missing about a
minute from Missing.
If anyone wants a dub, I'll give it too them. I want to trade for anything
BFF, but I'll settle for a tape, mailer, and return postage. email me.
After the Show Dept: I was waiting around in the lobby for the band when I
saw this tall guy wearing a hat who I thought was Robbie Fulks. I shook his
hand and said, "Hey, aren't you Mr. Robbie Fulks" and he said, "No, I'm
just some tall hick."
So, I waited for another hour out front, when I saw the bouncer who took
away my batteries. (He gave them back). He was actually a pretty nice guy
when he wasn't working. He asked why I waiting out front, and I said, "To
meet the band" and he said "You should go around back and wait."
After ten minutes out back, this roadie says that the label snuck Ben out
the front. He was going to some place near Irving Plaza where he was gonna
get some gold record or something. I was gonna go, but it would have meant
missing the last train to NJ and spending the night in the city.
I talked to some roadie who was pretty cool and said he reads the 'chair. I
forgot to ask him if I could get like an internship or something over the
summer. (Could I?)
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jordan Erenrich erenrich@geocities.com
My psychiatrist told me I'm going crazy. I told him "If you don't mind
I'd like a second opinion". He said "Alright... you're ugly too!"
- -- Rodney Dangerfield
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 12:51:34 EST
From: BlueJellow@aol.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #835
In a message dated 98-02-20 21:13:37 EST, you write:
<<
Anyway, one of the guests was Mike Myers. Before he went on, the band
played "One Angry Dwarf". Mike got sooooo excited and started to run
around the room hooting and hollering about him and his wife's favorite
band Ben Folds Five, and how incredible it was that they were playing that
song before he came on.
>>
Lately, the CBS orchestra has been cutting out to comercials with verses from
Battle of Who could Care less. They do it A LOT! I'm suprised this is the
first time someone has mentioned it.
BTW, Mike Myers is one of my favorite actors. He's fabulous.
Lucy
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 12:53:17 EST
From: BlueJellow@aol.com
Subject: Re: Magical Armchair Digest V1 #835
In a message dated 98-02-20 21:13:37 EST, you write:
<< They also did this for Weezer's "The Sweater Song", and Ben lipsynced
part of REM's "Man on the Moon" as well...
>>
Is Ben a big Andy Kaufman fan? I sure am!
LUcy
"Sorry, I don't understand hick because I'm not from Memphis Tennessee"
Andy Kaufman
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 20:07:22 +0200
From: Shai Ben-David <shayeyal@netvision.net.il>
Subject: BF5 channel on EFnet
Hi.
I just found the BFF channel on IRC and I think it would be fun to make
some kind of weekly get together where listmembers can chat about the
band and stuff. We have something like this going on over at the
Counting Crows list.
Anyone interested in this idea email me personally.
Peace,
Shai
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 13:53:39 -0500
From: "W. Davic Varner, Jr., M.D." <wdvjr@mindspring.com>
Subject: Uncle Walter
Hey all BFF fans-
I was looking at the Magical Armchair and, assuming that the "magical
armchair" that you were talking about was Uncle Walter's, I thought I'd
send you this info. "Uncle Walter" is my English teacher in Cols, GA and
his real name is Jim. He's good friends with Ben and the band kept begging
him to be in one of their videos and he finally gave in. He's really an
extremely funny, cute little man and very entertaining. Just thought I'd
let you guys know! -MLV
------------------------------
End of Magical Armchair Digest V1 #836
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