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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 18:15:24 -0400
From: "Caleb T. Deupree" <cdeupree@erinet.com>
Subject: Re: Reid/Sharp/Torn
At 01:15 PM 7/14/99 +0200, J.T. de Boer wrote:
>
>yesterday evening I went to Leer (Germany) to see this trio
>perform. Although I liked the concert as a whole (especially due to
>the beat-oriented parts, since it's incrdedibly hot over here. It
>keeps your mind off of all the 'sweatiness'), I have the feeling the
>music lacks ideas. It just isn't exciting enough. Does anyone of you
>have the same feeling about them? I don't have the cd, so this is
>purely about the live-performance.
I picked up the cd a few months ago, excited at the prospects, but the cd
is not very exciting either. I thought the 'beat-oriented parts' were the
worst, very dull and unimaginative. It seemed like someone turned on a
drum machine to a very simple pattern, and at some point they just turned
it off. End of piece. The atmospherics were better, but somehow I didn't
feel this represented the best work of either Sharp or Torn (I was
previously unfamiliar with Reid).
- --
Caleb Deupree
cdeupree@erinet.com
It is pretty obvious that the debasement of the human mind caused by a
constant flow of fraudulent advertising is no trivial thing. There is more
than one way to conquer a country.
- -- Raymond Chandler
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 19:52:20 -0400
From: Lang Thompson <wlt4@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Option
At 01:48 PM 7/13/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Whatever happened to the wonderful publication Option? Did it slide into
I had reviews in every issue but five (I think) but still never got in on
the gossip. The story last summer was that publisher Scott Becker wanted
to go on a sabbatical of sorts to rethink the magazine's purpose and simply
take a break from little over a decade of independent publishing; the plan
was that the mag would re-start at the beginning of 1999. As you've
noticed it didn't and as far as I know none of the writers have been
contacted so it's probably dead. (& at least a couple of people told me
last year that there really wasn't any intention of restarting the
magazine, that was just a story to keep people who owed Option money from
thinking they wouldn't have to pay; this of course is just a RUMOR for
anybody reading this and thinking of libel suits.) At one time I would
have thought this was a horrible turn of events but over the past two (or
more) years Option had become increasingly unfocused and almost irrelevant;
I'm not talking about the common--and I think misguided--complaints that
there wasn't enough improv or world music or punk or folk, or that the
cover was somebody casual buyers might actually have heard about instead
of, say, Keiji Haino. Part of this was just the indie "scene" of the
mid-80s becoming the new mainstream (or at least "a" mainstream) and
probably some of us just getting older as well. The reviews which used to
cover quite a bit of ground and whatever else at least sounded passionate,
like the work of people who actually cared about the music even if not
necessarily that specific record, became increasingly haphazard and mostly
dull (even I'll admit far too many of my own, though I'd like to blame
being assigned bland, personality-free albums). Surely most of you don't
care about any of this but I would still like for Option to return even if
it's as some kind of quasi-Interview fashion mag like it at times made
stabs towards (the short-lived spinoff UHF, if I remember right). There's
always somebody who might find a way to genuinely interesting music even in
a lukewarm, image-conscious magazine if it's even done half-right. Years
and years ago I read something that had a dismissive comment about being
able to clear rooms with a Derek Bailey record. It was quite some time
before I actually found one (the ECM Music Impro Company which I didn't
like then and still don't) but that chance remark pointed me towards music
I didn't even imagine existed and in some way changed my life.
LT
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Lang Thompson
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/wlt4
Full Alert Film Review (formerly World Cinema Reivew)
http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/fafr.htm
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 20:23:06 EDT
From: JonAbbey2@aol.com
Subject: Re: Option
In a message dated 7/14/99 7:52:23 PM, wlt4@mindspring.com writes:
<< The reviews which used to
cover quite a bit of ground and whatever else at least sounded passionate,
like the work of people who actually cared about the music even if not
necessarily that specific record, became increasingly haphazard and mostly
dull (even I'll admit far too many of my own, though I'd like to blame
being assigned bland, personality-free albums). >>
yeah, Option was really informative and had some nice writing to boot for a
while. I bought a lot of good records after reading their mini-reviews in the
back.
from a subscriber's perspective, it seemed as if the problems later on
stemmed more from the editors than the writers; many times they ran reviews
of interesting and/or cutting-edge records, but too often, the person didn't
know the first thing about the artist, and so we were treated to three random
impressionistic sentences, shedding zero light on how good the record was.
not to name any names, but Paul Semel especially comes to mind as someone who
had no interest in and/or knowledge of the records he was being assigned,
when there were writers like Lang and a couple of others who would have been
a much better fit. but most of the writers deserved their share of blame also
for the decline in quality.
Jon
www.erstwhilerecords.com
NP: Luc Ferrari-Interrupteur (Blue Chopsticks)
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 22:33:47 -0400
From: David Beardsley <xouoxno@virtulink.com>
Subject: [Fwd: Cooler in the Shade '99]
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Folks might be interested in this.
If yes then enjoy else never mind.
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* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* xouoxno@virtulink.com
*
* J u x t a p o s i t i o n E z i n e
* M E L A v i r t u a l d r e a m house monitor
*
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm
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Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 21:37:38 EDT
Subject: Cooler in the Shade '99
To: weidenaa@email.njin.net
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Folks: Here's a reminder a few days early, but this gives you time to write=20
it down, arrange for babysitters, tailgate parties, whatever. Hope you're al=
