🚀 go-pugleaf

Love-Hounds Digest			Issue L5

Topics:

 * Hello, y'all (from Hofboyy)
 * Big Country, Stray Cats and Anglophobia...
 * Smithereens
 * I have returned (from Sue)
 * Fanzine (Sue's starting a fanzine)
 * An Interesting Message I Received on my Answering Machine...

[][][][][][][][][][]

Date:     Thu, 26 Jun 86 11:37:47 EDT
From: James B Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  Hello, y'all

Ha!  Did you ever really think I'd leave you?  Actually, the pain of
receiving this everyday was a little too much on my poor psyche - I
mean if you think I'm bad when I FLAME you should see me in the 
morning when I have to read some of this JUNK.  My opinion only ...

Due to the wonders of FTP, I can abscond with the latest from l-hounds
and spend my lunch hour every couple weeks sorting through this mess.
Using "page" to do this is cool because if you set your search pattern
for Subject you can usually eliminate the fluff (sorry, my opinion again)
and also the two posters from England which I can hardly stomach don't
even have Subject lines.  Sorry, no offense to M. and H. but I'm not
as interested in "collecting Kate memorabilia" as yourselves.  No offense
meant and I hope none taken.  I'm sure YOU don't like reading MY non-
Kate junk but you don't have FTP so there.

Gosh, this is nice being nice, don't you think?  

BOOKS:
I've been reading a bunch of rock bios lately:  Actually this disturbing
new hof-trend started whilst consuming the latest Mother Jones in my
local library wherein I found out that Jimmy Swaggart is first cousin
with Jerry Lee Lewis and that GREAT BALLS OF FIRE was recommended as the
best rock bio ever.  So, I found the bio section in our Dewey damaged
library and scarfed up bios on Madonna and Prince as well as the Jerry
Lee Lewis bio.  The MADONNA bio takes about 35-40 minutes to read but
is really an interesting story about a extremely DRIVEN person who actually
does afterall have some stake in her claim on stardom - mainly her professional
modern dance background and her grounding in MOTOWN from an early age.  Why
she is now singing slow ballads is beyond me.  The most telling parts of
this book is direct quotes from a guy named Bill RosenBlatt who finalized
the Ciconne's contract to SIRE.  It's a sad commentary on music in the 20th
century when you have people like this guy involved so intensely.  To him,
music and business are as synonomous as manure and horseshit.  An interesting
book for Madonna haters and lovers as well.  But definitely library intensive
(i.e. don't waste your hard-earned cash on it).  The PRINCE bio is laughable.
No attempt is made to actually attack/explain/glorify the Purple One's ideas
on love and dreams and sex and SEX AND SEX AND SEX.  This is VERY tame unlike
the Jerry Lee Lewis "uncensored" bio.  So far, this reads almost like good
fiction but must be taken as such since I can see no way for the writer to
make the assumptions on what is going on in people's minds.  But he does
anyway and his guess is probably more educated than mine will ever be.
There are just too many writers in the rock field who can't write but this
guy (forget his name) sure can.  The stuff on SUN records is a must for 
anyone interested in independent record companies. Also, the trivia (i.e.
the strange people that cross Jerry's path like Wink Martindale and Swaggart
and of course, his main competition Elvis) make this the most interesting
read I've had in a long time.  More at a later date.

On The BIG SKY:

I thought this song was yet another Kate attempt to "do" America -
The video description seems to support this, yes?  No?

Re:  The DK's legal problems.

There's a page description of the bust in the latest Maximum Rock and
Roll for anyone interested.  It's written by Jello's live-in writer
friend who had her stuff rifled through and torn apart.  Apparently,
the police may face illegal search and seizure charges for confiscating
the MORDAM files who merely share an office/warehouse with Alternative
Tentacles.  Vee shall see....

At the very least, it'll give Jello something to write about (jail that is).


>From Alfke:
> Christ.  How old is the guy anyway?  (S'okay, he can't see this.)

Christ is about 2000 years give or take a score or two.  And he can see
this - he is omniscient, ominipotent  and has an inside line with God
(but don't worry about the last part, God is too busy listening to
 Japanese hardcore and other "way-trendy music").

More on the BIG SKY:
	"It's also suggesting the coming of the next flood how perhaps
	 the 'fools on the hills' will be the wise ones."

Well, Europeans have always considered us Yanks fools... but the only
people on the hill in D.C. is the Russian Embassy....

And now for the pasta Ray Zitstance:  From Gtaylor (tape entrepeneur):

>>We can't agree whether or not rock is a fad. 

>That'll be a problem all right. Why not talk about the fact that the
>concept of a fad presupposes a whole culturally elitist apparatus
>that nearly all of us love to manipulate at the drop of the hat.

"the concept of a fad presupposes a whole culturally elitist appartus"...
hmmm .... let me mull THAT one over - well, yeah, "elitist" but the
funny thing is that the Elite are quickly washed away by the neo-Elite
(or perhaps the Retro-Elite?) - the half life of fads varies with the
intensity of the FEELING or COMMITMENT or IDEALS involved, perhaps...
how does that sound?  Rock is a fad and will survive only on vinyl isn't
exactly what I meant to say - afterall my name isn't Nostradamus so I
can't divine these things - let's say it SEEMS like a fad and what's the
beeeeg deeeeeeal, Senor?  Let loose - enjoy it while it lasts.  IT's
life afterall - why bum over a terminal about it?

>>We can't justify putting down
>>"commercial" music and hence cannot give good reasons why people
>>should listen to progressive music instead of top 40 

>I suspect that it's because you've not asked Wicinski and 
>Hofmann about it, and they've had their hands full thinking
>about other stuff. Ditto Krajewski and Ingogly. I'm merely the
>sort of aging and ineffectual boffin who's read enough Frogspeak
>to go about answering that question by asking another one: What
>are we attempting to justify when we "put the stuff down". Or
>perhaps "who" is better than "what." It gives away the answer 
>somewhat, though. If there's one thing that Hofmann has a real
>handle on, it's the notion that the labels and the stances are
>being co-opted and we're just sitting there like chumps the whole
>time. Perhaps the Hof does go in for the critical equivalent of
>"cut and burn" agriculture, but he's got the right idea at heart:
>we're looking for something besides the single crop starvation
>plans that put sugar in the tea of the Big Boys. How about a little
>subsistence ag of our own (as Candide put it...cultivate our own
>gardens)?

The first part of the paragraph I agree with - I'd like to offer
substinence over the next part if you'll permit me:

Well, this seems to be where I'm arriving, I guess - why not, like
a good friend of mine invest yourself in music if you are concerned
about it's continuation outside of business concerns?  I'm still not
sure what is important about reaching the masses except to distract
them while you sneak away with their pocketbook It seems that art has
made a roundabout way of commenting on our society and it's sad and
I'd like to change that (and what's wrong with that?) If you can get one
bastard to sit down and listen to your music and say, gosh, I like
that or gosh, I HATE that WANK (quoting directly from God).  If you
can change or influence one person into some sort of action, the
music has succeeded.  It's always nice though to enrich many people
and obtain various reactions.  (also you yourself are part of this
loop - f'rinstance:  Greg's self-disparagment of his recordings leads
him to the (n+1) level as well as Junior the drummer saying, I'll take
the hard road over the easy road anyday...).  So cultivate our own
gardens, if it means buying the seed or spreading the crop in some
way or even (as Greg says) "cut and burn" (within legal means) which
is a whole opening genre in itself (see the Ciccone Youth and various
industrial bands for more on THAT).

Sid Vicious was really an idealist for all his nihilist pose and perhaps
that's what Kate meant:  one of sid's most cogent quotes was when he
said "in a couple of years, there will be no need for punks" since we
will have arrived at an ideal state DUE to the punks.  How wrong he
was and maybe he saw that before he took his life?

>>(at least without using 
>>quasi-moral arguments "Madonna promotes pathological materialistic values"
>>or vague quasi-elitist statements "Residents are more challenging music
>>because they deconstruct pop :-)"). 

>Here's where I think I'll draw the flames. I don't think you'll have
>any choice BUT to make value-based arguments. If you're deft and lucky,
>you'll be charged with elitism perhaps or dismissed as someone who
>thinks too much. If you're lousy, you'll pretend to make value-neutral
>pronouncements that will succeed only in making you look like a buffoon
>or a bigot-whether you're a Baptist, a Skin, a Trotskyite, or just another
>fan. At the bottom of all this, the question for me is not "What is Art?"
>but "What is GOOD Art?" How is Art good? A nice place to begin is to
>stifle the urge to capitalize the word, perhaps.

Hsut asks later on here "how can we make people listen to ''our'' music" 
and I think this IS a flaw that people bring to bear.  Don't try and get
people to do anything.  It will probably make them
more hostile towards you and yours ANYWAY.  Rather, make it available:
strewn issues of fanzines, OP on coffeetables, assorted tapes in my
bathroom beatbox (and a ripped off radio antenna), or inviting friends
over and slipping in a wrecord or two that you think they might be enriched
by hearing - don't tell them the name or anything until and if they actually
perk up and say .... "Wow" or somthing.  

>>We can't argue against trendiness
>>because if rock is a fad, then we're all guilty of trendiness. 

>This dilemma is a part of what my mother called "Good Trouble." It
>is the kind of semi-insoluble dilemma from which one emerges as
>either an escapist or as a better person. I prefer personally to 
>locate myself solidly in my own time, be suspicious of my urge
>to make all other times look like mine (thanks to old Heidegger,
>but may I never have to read him again!), and puzzle out whether
>there is, after all, something of an "essential core of being"
>(We call it "soul", Aretha and I) in either the net of Greg-In-The
>Present, or any of those other objects out there. Those nasty and
>shifty PostModernists have bandied about the notion that art functions
>as a "system of self-knowledge". Perhaps that's what I am suggesting.

I can dig it.  Self-determination can be rough and rocky and NEVER
(it seems) actually attainable.  So while we leave the others behind
with Freud and Jung we can speed about in our Maslow-tuned auto finding
enjoyment and enrichment at every (other) turn....

			"eh? - maybe not"
					- Karen Weiss
>(If you can't answer those questions, then why are you subscribing to LH?!)

hmmmm....but I'm not subscribing - so there!

> Swans "Time Is Money (Bastard)"

WANT! WANT! WANT!
> allyn
... and I KNOW where you live, fool!

>From :  M.....
> And by what obscure
> biological process is masculinity connected with the choice
> of a synthetic over an acoustic bagpipes effect?

I don't know - afterall those acoustic gag, er, bagpipers wear skirts and
all.  Mebbe youse been in England too long, hugh  (jest, only a jest).

>Question of the day: How do you justify philosophically to a person
>with mainstream tastes that he should listen to different musics?

See above.... for my humble opinion!

> a must buy! -> BEDLAM's version of the Lost in SPace THeme!

>  g'nite!
>  Fidelis

UURRRRRRRCCCCCK.....SCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEECCCCCHHHH.....bomph.  HUH?  This is
the Fidelis I thought I left behind all those years ago?  Yeah, this song/
version should be on their latest album on Buy Our Records  - it also
appears in  live form and ltd edition 45 7" with A.O.D. on the other
side.  I think I put this on that tape I made Taylor so he could eat
beans and drink wine  - although the next song on the 45 is about
the most offensive song I've ever heard.


					Well, that's all - see you next month
				
and as always send all death threats/hate mail/ used condoms to:

							J.H.

[][][][][][][][][][]

Date:     Thu, 26 Jun 86 14:10:33 EDT
From: James B Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject:  Big Country, Stray Cats and Anglophobia...

This comes from Dave Marsh's Fortunate Son book but actually is remarks by
Big Country and exerpts from a follow-up letter by Brian Setzer:

Stuart Adamson:  "Americans have never produced a thing worth calling art
	 	  themselves.  They've borrowed everything from Europe in-
		  cluding punk rock."

Brian Setzer:  "Oh, right, Angus McPresley.  Sorry!  Who invented the blues 
		and jazz, and country and western?...they've never had anyone
		to compare to Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Robert Johnson,
		Elvis Presley or Hank Williams"

Marsh goes on to say, "the Brits have developed a pop culture that knows
		       it's place and never insists on equal rights with
		       Serious Art. (notice the capitalization, Greg).  No
		       one shouts about heavy metal, because its listeners -
		       not its practitioners - are so uncouth they're 
		       beneath the pundits' gave"


Thood for Fought, J.H.

[][][][][][][][][][]

From: allynh@calder.berkeley.edu (Allyn Hardyck)
Subject: Smithereens
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 86 13:13:23 PDT

>I recently had a mad obsession with the single,
>"Blood and Roses" by the Smithereens, and went trapesing into my 
>neighborhood record store to find it.  But alas, they did not have the
>single, and the album wasn't out yet.

Jesus Christ.  I can't believe Enigma is taking so long to release
this...  My friend from EMI (which has apparently set up a
distribution agreement w/ Enigma with an option to sign if they're
interested in anybody in particular) loaned me an advance cassette of
_Especially For You_ (their album) AT LEAST a month and a half ago.
And it's good, and it would sell...  (haven't returned it yet either.
Oops.)

[][][][][][][][][][]

From: think!caip!unirot!fidelis
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 86 16:09:47 edt
Subject: Smithereens
Organization: Public Access Un*x, Piscataway NJ (The Soup Kitchen)

The Smithereen's album was released two or more years ago, and was not that
impressive.  I cannot believe it is getting so much hype nowadays.
I guess it has something to do with me hearing it all so many times before
on Rutgers U. and Princeton radio...aren't they all from Jersey?  The guitarist
owns a video rental place in New Brunswick...  Tho' I must admit, I was never
impressed by their material.

Is the ART OF NOISE worth seeing in concert? Or do they just turn on a tape
deck while we watch???

                                          Fidelis Orozco
                                          caip!unirot!fidelis


[][][][][][][][][][]

Return-Path: <umcp-cs!jhunix!jhunix!rsx_zisc>
Date:     Thu, 26 Jun 86 13:23:57 EDT
From: cloudbuster <umcp-cs!jhunix!rsx_zisc@seismo.CSS.GOV>
Subject:  i have returned

Thanx to the last three weeks of this voluminous digest, I am over disk
quota now and am waiting for the slow moving JHU accounting office to
straighten it out.  Therefore, I'm posting from another account.  But
be assured, it's still the same old ins_aset@jhunix!

I guess the following article is old news by now, but I feel compelled
to respond anyhoo:

Wicinski writes:

> here a story from the paper written by susie's friend and partner
> in oppressing the independent records JD Constantslime:

Tim Wicinski and Jim Hoffman sure do looove insulting JD, and I'm 
getting sick of defending him, but I shall continue to do so when
need be.  Maybe they hate him so because he makes a good living 
writing about music and they can just wank off on the net and in
love-hounds.  Or he doesn't write enough about skate punk hardcore.
In any case, timbo, I just checked a recent article in Musician
magazine, specifically JD's Rock Short Takes column.  Out of 14
reviews, 7 were of indie label records.  And Musician may be a
pretty mainstream mag, but face it, you can't pay the rent by
writing only for Maximum Rock and Roll and Sound Choice.  As for
my own tastes, anyone who has been regularly reading my contributions
knows that I am hardly what you would call a champion of the major
labels.  More stats, you ask?  Let's rummage through the last 10
LPs I bought and check the labels: Alpha, Rough Trade, MCA, Rough
Trade, el/Cherry Red, Mercury, Cartel, Palladium, Tandan and Wax
Trax.  I only see 2 major labels there.  Now, please shut up about
things you obviously know nothing about.

> (tim quotes a description by JD from the Washington Post about how
formularised British dance music is, which I happen to disagree with)

> I mean this guy is even on your wimpy, non-amerricanistic side
> when it comes to music, mainlu because most american bands and
> labels are smart enough to realize that all these slimey writers
> want are freebies.  I know a few american labels which do not
> cater to this kind of back-scratching ideology (Dischord stands
> number 1 on the list).

Now let me see if I can understand what you're saying.

1. JD likes all things wimpy and "non-amerricanistic."
2. *American* labels know that the only thing slimey writers (including
JD, presumably) want are free records.
3. Non-American labels don't recognize this, and send out no freebies.

Then, if JD is such a slimeball writer, why wouldn't he spurn those
wimpy Brits who don't give him his free records?  For the record, JD
does happen to prefer American music, from Husker Du to the dreaded
Boss, and I don't see how you could reach the conclusion that he
*prefers* British music from that defamatory description.  I'm glad
you weren't on my high school's debating team.

As for sending out free records to critics, what the hell's wrong
with that?  All the critics I know buy tons of records and review them
as well, but say that critic A has never heard of band B or seen their
record in the shops.  Band B's label send critic A their latest LP.
Critic A loves it and writes a glowing review.  It happens, you know.

> Morning Glories/Pussy Galore   dc space, two weeks ago
> didn't see you hear sue, what happened, dc space not akin to giving
> out free tickets?

Ooh, how cutting.  I've seen the Morning Glories, and found them not
to my liking, I'm afraid.  And I have no car (amazing, I thought these
rockcrits were chauffered down to the shows by the labels) so I could
not have gone anyway.  S'there.

And now, on to more pleasant topics.  Doug writes:

> Revolting Cocks also contains Richard 23 (of Front 242, whoever
> they are)

Front 242 are a great Belgian synthidance band.  If you want to know
more, do buy their Politics of Pressure EP on Wax Trax.  A small
investment, but great music, including the infamous "Funkhadafi."
Or check if your radio station has any of their records, which are
released domestically, by the way.  The "No Comment" LP is a good one
too.

While on vacation, I picked up an LP by a guy named Zaine Griff because
it had those magic words "Kate Bush courtesy EMI Records" on the back.
The LP's about 4 years old.  It's pretty good, very much like Ultravox
in their Vienna period, but I have no idea who Zaine is.  Not even the
trusty Trouser Press guy lists him.  Kate duets on the song "Flowers,"
a tribute to Jean Genet...

(whoops!  Read "guide" for "guy"
 up there.)

I still have lots of love-hounds to wade through, and reply to if
need be.  In the meantime, remember these words: ZODIAC MINDWARP AND
THE LOVE REACTION.  

-Sue

[][][][][][][][][][]

Return-Path: <umcp-cs!jhunix!jhunix!ins_aset>
Date:     Thu, 26 Jun 86 13:48:28 EDT
From: Susanne E Trowbridge <umcp-cs!jhunix!ins_aset@seismo.CSS.GOV>
Subject:  Fanzine

I am going to start a fanzine.  I'm bored, that's why.  If you would
like to contribute to it, reviews, interviews, or opinion, please send
'em this way, along with a non-computer address so that I can send you
a free copy of the 'zine when it comes out.  The content will focus on
"new wave" music, whatever that is.  I am frustrated with the music
press, so I decided to start my own.  Cool, huh?

This is going to be a non-profit enterprise, by the way, unless I can
figure out another way to do it.  So send everything here!  Otherwise
the entire thing will be written by me, and that's not what you call
variety, is it?

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Sue Trowbridge

"I've been to Paris/Nobody seemed to like me there
 I got infectious/Did not know what clothes to wear" -Anna Domino

arpa  : ins_aset%jhunix.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
uucp  : ...{ihnp4!whuxcc | seismo!umcp-cs | allegra!hopkins} jhunix!ins_aset
(or)  : ...decvax!decuac!aplvax!aplcen!jhunix!ins_aset

[][][][][][][][][][]

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 86 21:06:54 edt
From: Joe Turner <cutter%umass-boston.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA>
Subject: An Interesting Message I Received on my Answering Machine...

The following is from a friend who bought HoL at my insistence (on CD,
of course)...

[sounds of KB music - "Hounds of Love"] Joe? This is Peter. Kate Bush is
God --- well, is a Goddess. Let me rephrase that: Kate Bush is a Goddess.
She's got one hell of a voice, she's incredibly good-looking, she's a great
writer, she can --- she's, she's great, she's incredible. I want to meet this
woman. I want to get to know her. I want to bear her child. Thank you for
pointing me in the right direction. I want to decorate my room with Kate
Bush posters. That is all. Call me when you get in.

I think we can chalk up another KB fan out there in the wild...

VIS A VIS _The Dreaming_ vs. _Hounds of Love_:

Get your baseball bat ready, Douglas.  When I listen to TD, I hear a lot of
odd rhythms, weird sounds, and a hell of a lot of depression and anxiety.
This isn't bad - it's a perspective that most artists don't like to deal with
(unless you're Ian Curtis or the like). When I listen to HoL, I hear a more
optimistic tone. Because of its visceral attack on my senses, I find it hard
to listen to TD sometimes - literally, it hurts too much. I find listening to
HoL a much more enjoyable experience - not because the music is easier to
listen to. The musical ideas in HoL are just as valid as those in TD, but
presented in a different style. Neither album is BETTER, they're just
DIFFERENT.

People talk of TD's "importance". If it was so important, why is it that it
never got mentioned? Why is it that I only heard about it through this digest?
If it was such a musical phenomena, like (for example) The Beatles' _Sgt. Pep-
per's Lonely Hearts Club Band_ was in 1967, why does most music sound the
same? [Dontcha just LOVE these sweeping generalisations? I do...!] The point
is, however "important" an album you all think it is, the rest of the world
thinks otherwise. NOTE THAT I'M PLAYING DEVIL'S ADVOCATE HERE. If you shoot
me down in flames, I'll probably agree with you. But the point is valid: If
it is a landmark album, why has no-one used it as a basemark? Or have I
missed things.


				Save your parity bits for big cash prizes!
						Joe

----------------------------------------------------------
PAPER: Joe Turner, 329 Ward Street, Newton Centre MA 02159
SOUND: (617)/965-8058
CSNET: cutter@umass-boston.csnet
ARPA : umb!cutter@csnet-relay.arpa
UUCP : {decvax,ima,linus,sri-unix}!cca!ringwld!cutter
----------------------------------------------------------


[][][][][][][][][][]

End of Love-Hounds Digest