ftp.xmission.com/2014.06.ftp.xmission.com.tar/ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/zorn-list/archive/v02.n700

Internet Message Format | 1999-07-05 | 21KB

From: [e-mail] (Zorn List Digest)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Zorn List Digest V2 #700
Reply-To: zorn-list
Sender: [e-mail]
Errors-To: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk


Zorn List Digest         Tuesday, July 6 1999         Volume 02 : Number 700



In this issue:
-
       Ponga
       Partch, reviewing
       Re: some downtowners go pop
       administrative question
       Llizards
       Record Advice/ Friedlander
       Re: Llizards
       Llizards
       Reviewing/collecting (longish)
       Re: Email Legislation
       Re: Email Legislation
       RE: Email Legislation

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

Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 20:39:26 -0700
From: pjm <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ponga

I wholeheartedly third the recommendation of Ponga's CD! I was about 6 feet
away from Dave Palmer at the Bellingham show (where "Bookin" was recorded)
and it was phenomenal. Most of the time i spent looking around trying to
figure out WHERE these crazy sounds were coming from. Bobby Previte's
drumming is the highlight of the disc and the live show for me. He seems to
be having so much fun!
    Re the recent photog discussion: At the Ponga gig isaw there was an
obnoxious college kid with a MONSTER flash blasting the band through out
the first set. It was a really bright room and he didn't need to be
blinding the band and crowd every 3o seconds. Previte waved him away good
naturedly after about 12 shots and mouthed "Thats enough" but the shitheel
ducked behind a pillar and kept shooting. It was really distracting to me
and obviously to the band.

                    A few cents

                        pjm


- -

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

Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 21:29:47 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Martin Wisckol)
Subject: Partch, reviewing

[e-mail] (Zorn List Digest) writes:
> The maverick American composer Harry Partch, for
>> example, divided the octave into 43 steps, and built his own
>instruments to
>> play his music.

Perhaps I'm splitting hairs, but it would be more accurate to say that
Partch STOPPED at 43 tones per octave. Many of the instruments have
fewer pitches per octave. The increase in the number came from Partch's
inclusion of higher harmonic offspring in the octave. With Partch's
approach, you could add pitches to the octave indefinitely.

Regarding CD reviewing, I agree with a most of what Ken said. One
reason I haven't spent more of my journalistic career in music is
because I don't want to write about many of the pop stars du jour, or
even pop jazz stars. But not having to make a living writing about
music -- being able to write for smaller publications (and recently, an
e-zine) for little money (often just for CDs or for the credibility to
hustle CDs) means I can write what I want to write about. I don't think
I'm misleading anybody. There's so much good music out there that I
rarely find it necessary to write about the other. (One exception not
too long ago was Sonny Rollins' latest, which did little for me -- but
I did enjoy having the opportunity to talk about my favorite Newk
albums and what made them special.) I feel good writing about what I
write about because I feel it deserves more exposure, and -- like most
zornlisters -- enjoy talking about music and musicians that enrich my
life.

Martin

np: Roscoe Mitchell "Sound" (on the "how do you afford thread," I see
from the price tag that I picked this up for $6.99 used in Miami.
Incredible, the gems yu can find now and then.)

- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 00:32:47 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: some downtowners go pop

Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 17:28:15 -0500 (CDT)
From: Tom Benton <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: some downtowners go pop

Though I'm still curious about the whole Holly Palmer/downtown connection.
Her first (and only I think) record has Frisell, Jamie Saft, and Andrew
D'Angelo - to further confuse things, she actually sang a Billie Holiday
tune on Human Feel's most recent album and, if I recall an old Tonic
schedule correctly, has sung in one of Cuong Vu's bands as well.  Let's
see if the freshly resurrected from obscurity Steve "Sagacious" Smith can
unravel this one...

**Though I don't know Holly all that well, I know that she met up with many
of these cats (the Human Feel guys, in particular) while studying in Boston.
Believe it or not (judging from the poppy little turd which was her first
release, which I heard some of) she actually had fairly heavy avant
leanings....she did some great stuff with this Balkan/Yugoslav group Sveti
Sava when I first moved here around 6 years ago that was pretty sick.  Quite
a talented lass, actually...I was disapointed when I heard the stuff she
released...but, what was it that someone said..."you gotta pay the bills?"  I
actually find my day job liberating in this regard...

Jonathan LaMaster
Sublingual Records
http://www.sublingual.com
NEW RELEASE: Saturnalia String Trio
  with Daniel Carter (limited edition 7" Vinyl)

- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 09:25:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brent Burton <[e-mail]>
Subject: administrative question

hey mike rizzi,

could you email me off list?

thanks,
brent

- -

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

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 99 10:30:26 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Llizards

It's been said that:

> > where should one start with John Lurie/Lounge Lizards?

> The first album, self-titled.

I must digress. While the first record is certainly ballsy and fun, it's little
more than that. Arto, as was so often happening to him back then, seems used for
novelty and to little effect (that may be a factor of his approach at the time,
however, as opposed to his brilliant run of four records in the last 2 yrs or
so). And interestingly, it doesn't really hint at the composer/arranger Lurie
would become. Studio recordings got steadily better, peaking with Voice of
Chunk, which is definitely my recommedation for a 1st purchase (although I've
heard it's out of print, and that Lurie will be rereleasing it on his Strange &
Beautiful). Queen of all Ears is also quite nice, and Jane Scarpantoni is a very
strong addition. But there's nothing quite like the fun and cohesiveness the
band seemed to have for Chunk. The band has gone through several total
reworkings, and the current version, I think, is weaker than the group that
recorded Queen. Scarpantoni, Calvin Weston, Michael Blake, Steve Berenstein
remain, and of course brother Evan, but the loss of guitarist Dave Tronzo was a
setback. To me, that band has always been about strong guitars, and Doug
Wieselman -- an excellent clarinetist -- doesn't fill the Tronzo/Ribot/Arto
chair.




- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 99 13:25:58 -0300
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Record Advice/ Friedlander

>second is "The Watchman" on Tzadik. Recently, his group Topaz came out
>with a recording on Siam records.

Topaz is a nice cd worth checking out. Friedlander is superb as always
though I prefer his work with the Masada String Trio.
You can also check him out in Douglas' Convergence, one of my top ten
now.

H

- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 12:11:45 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Mooneyham)
Subject: Re: Llizards

>Studio recordings got steadily better, peaking with Voice of
>Chunk, which is definitely my recommedation for a 1st purchase (although I've
>heard it's out of print, and that Lurie will be rereleasing it on his Strange &
>Beautiful).

_VoC_ has been re-released - I can even find it in the crummy chain stores
here in Oklahoma...

Jon M.



- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 99 15:00:20 -0300
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Llizards

Kurt wrote:

>would become. Studio recordings got steadily better, peaking with Voice
>of Chunk, which is definitely my recommendation for a 1st purchase=20

Seconded; but I suppose there's not a Lounge Lizards weak recording; so
you=B4d start with any of them.
On the other hand their Monk's "Well we needn't" version and Harlem
Nocturne on their self titled album worths the cd.

>(although I've heard it's out of print, and that Lurie will be
>rereleasing it on his Strange & Beatiful)

As fas as I know it was already released on his Strange & Beautiful
Music with better sound quality.

>Queen of all Ears is also quite nice, and Jane Scarpatoni is a very
>strong addition

Seconded. Even she's awesome in the last Ben Neill's Goldbug.
By the way, and speaking of Lizards, which is the best live L.L.
recording?

H


>the band has gone through


- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 14:25:51 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Reviewing/collecting (longish)

I've been reviewing recordings and gigs, and writing features and related
articles on music, for about 7 years for a handful of publications, but most
consistently for the Chicago Tribune (up until January, under a pen name of
David Duckman) and a magazine called Bluegrass Unlimited. This is a very
part-time thing, and bears little relation to my day job (psychologist and
mediator, director of the court's divorce mediation department). For the
first 4 or 5 years of Trib work, my editor was a guy who had strong acoustic
music sympathies, and since nobody else in the Chicago area was writing about
bluegrass, and it was one of the areas (with classical and jazz) that I
started out writing about, I got pigeon holed somewhat as the "bluegrass
guy," though when Howard Reich (the Trib's staff jazz critic) would go on
vacation, I'd get to cover the Jazz Showcase or some other things.
   And because nobody else on the paper had much of a clue about bluegrass, I
was virtually my own assignment editor when it came to picking what discs I
would review. And believe me, if you think jazz labels are happy to send
promos, just tell a bluegrass label that their stuff might end up getting
reviewed in a major metropolitan paper. . .
   Though I review less now because the Trib has seriously curtailed the
space allotted to record reviews, even when I was reviewing 60 or 70 CDs a
year, more than half were bluegrass, and I was receiving probably 600 promo
CDs a year, and probably 400 were bluegrass.
   And with that many to choose from, my unspoken policy has always been to
write about those that I like, and I see no good reason to change this
philosophy. If I have 5 CDs in front of me, and space for 2 reviews, and 2
CDs are good, one is so-so, and two stink, I'd much rather give my (and
readers') attention to the good ones, and ignore the lousy ones. The
exception would be if somebody truly prominent (and in bluegrass, especially
in the Chicago area and in a mass market publication, there aren't many
people who would be considered 'prominent') put out a sub-par CD.
   It is a different story completely when someone else assigns you CDs to
review, and the magazine work I do has given my "opportunities" to write
negative reviews, as have disappointing concerts. Also, for a very short
time, I reviewed 'contemporary/smooth jazz' CDs for the Trib, apparently
because nobody else there wanted to and they asked if I would. I posted a
message over at RMB asking if anyone knew if there were pockets of good
players doing decent stuff in that vein, at least to make the job more
palatable since I don't by nature get off on slamming people in print (even
those people), and also, I don't enjoy listening to music I don't enjoy.
Funny thing was, most of the handful of reponses I got to my question were
that I shouldn't review this stuff at all if I couldn't be more open-minded
to the genre--a valid point, which would have been more valid if any of the
staff critics wanted to do it. So as it stands, for the most part I have not
bothered reviewing it, and the stuff is still basically ignored by the paper.
   As for collecting, I dump many more of the CDs than I keep, but I'd be
lying if I said that my collection doesn't have a fair share of stuff that
has come my way for free (at least the CDs--my LP collection happened
pre-reviewing, so all of those 9000 slabs of vinyl were paid for). As for how
I afford it, I've rarely spent a cent of spare change on anything else, and
over the years, I (like most collectors) develop a routine of knowing how to
get what you want cheaply, between cut-outs, used, trade, record clubs,
sales, burglary (only kidding on that last one), etc., and sure, over the
last half-dozen years (coincidently coinciding with having kids and much less
spare change), reviewing has helped. I'm 40, btw, if it matters.

Dave Royko

- -

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

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 13:45:17 CDT
From: samuel yrui <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Email Legislation

um... thought i'd send this to people. it scares me.
                        -samuel yrui



>Here's another bit about the Email Legislation...
>
>Dear Internet Subscriber:
>
>Please read the following carefully if you intend to
>stay online and continue using email: The last few
>months have revealed an alarming trend in the
>Government of the United States attempting to quietly
>push through legislation that will affect your use of
>the Internet. Under proposed legislation the U.S.
>Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users
>out of "alternate postage fees". Bill 602P will permit
>the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on
>every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
>Providers at source. The consumer would then be
>billed in turn by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer
>Richard Stepp is
>working without pay to prevent this legislation from
>becoming law. The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that
>lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is
>costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You
>may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is
>nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen
>received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the
>cost to the typical individual would be an additional
>50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above
>and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that
>this would be money paid directly to the U.S. Postal
>Service for a service they do not even provide. The
>whole point of the Internet is democracy and
>non-interference. If the federal government is
>permitted to tamper with our
>liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows
>where it will end. You are already paying an
>exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic
>efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a
>letter to be
>delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal
>Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark
>the end of the "free" Internet in the United States.
>One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a
>"twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all
>Internet service" above and beyond the government's
>proposed email charges. Note that most of the major
>newspapers have ignored the story, the only exception
>being the Washingtonian which called the idea of email
>surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come"
>March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch your
>freedoms erode away!
>
>Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell
>your friends and relatives to write to their
>congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
>
>Kate Turner
>Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.
>


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

- -

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

Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 12:11:49 -0700
From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Email Legislation

On Tue, 06 Jul 1999 13:45:17 CDT  samuel yrui wrote:
>
> um... thought i'd send this to people. it scares me.

But what is better than a little bit of thrill to spice up our boring and
over-secure life?

    Patrice.

PS: BTW, the supposed "Email Legislation" looks like a total joke,
destined to freak out those who like to be freaked out.

- -

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

Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 12:17:59 -0700
From: "Dave Egan" <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: Email Legislation

This is a hoax.  Check out what they have to say about this at
http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/emailtax.html

- - Dave

- -----Original Message-----
From: [e-mail]
[mailto:[e-mail]]On Behalf Of samuel yrui
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 11:45 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Email Legislation


um... thought i'd send this to people. it scares me.
                        -samuel yrui



>Here's another bit about the Email Legislation...
>
>Dear Internet Subscriber:
>
>Please read the following carefully if you intend to
>stay online and continue using email: The last few
>months have revealed an alarming trend in the
>Government of the United States attempting to quietly
>push through legislation that will affect your use of
>the Internet. Under proposed legislation the U.S.
>Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users
>out of "alternate postage fees". Bill 602P will permit
>the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on
>every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
>Providers at source. The consumer would then be
>billed in turn by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer
>Richard Stepp is
>working without pay to prevent this legislation from
>becoming law. The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that
>lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is
>costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You
>may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is
>nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen
>received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the
>cost to the typical individual would be an additional
>50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above
>and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that
>this would be money paid directly to the U.S. Postal
>Service for a service they do not even provide. The
>whole point of the Internet is democracy and
>non-interference. If the federal government is
>permitted to tamper with our
>liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows
>where it will end. You are already paying an
>exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic
>efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a
>letter to be
>delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal
>Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark
>the end of the "free" Internet in the United States.
>One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a
>"twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all
>Internet service" above and beyond the government's
>proposed email charges. Note that most of the major
>newspapers have ignored the story, the only exception
>being the Washingtonian which called the idea of email
>surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come"
>March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch your
>freedoms erode away!
>
>Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell
>your friends and relatives to write to their
>congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
>
>Kate Turner
>Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.
>


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

- -


- -

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

End of Zorn List Digest V2 #700
*******************************


 To unsubscribe from zorn-list-digest, send an email to
       "[e-mail]"
 with
       "unsubscribe zorn-list-digest"
 in the body of the message.

 For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
 "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.

 A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to
 subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "zorn-list-digest"
 in the commands above with "zorn-list".

 Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from ftp.xmission.com, in
 pub/lists/zorn-list/archive.  These are organized by date.

 Problems? Email the list owner at [e-mail]