barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.EDU (Jorn Barger) (06/08/91)
[This is a phone-dictation, off the top off Vickie's head, after I summarized some of the recent discussion for her. She's been worrying that the Happy-traffic was getting kind of overwhelming, and wanted to jump right in with this conciliatory offer.] Vickie here: I understand your problem with Happy taking up so much space in gaffa. If I weren't familiar with an artist, I'd probably be upset, too, if they were taking up so much space in a Kate Bush forum. However, Happy is truly, truly special. In our lifetimes, she's the closest we'll ever come to having an American "Kate Bush". The fact that she's a Kate Bush fan herself makes it even more appropriate that she be talked about here, by other Kate Bush fans. I will make this offer for you three only: email to Jorn your home addresses, and I will send you free of charge a sampling of Happy's music, so you can at least get a feeling for what we're talking about. If after you've heard Happy's music, you still feel the same way, then so be it. Happy is very very special to me, and seeing a Happy "backlash" hurts as much as it would to see an anti-Kate backlash. So it's important to me that you at least hear what she sounds like before this goes any further.
jondr@sco.COM (Jon Drukman) (06/13/91)
First off, I want to know how my name got thrown into this kettle. I think I've been admirably restrained in public, so the only way Vickie can know of my feelings is through the distribution of email. Unless some articles haven't made it to our site (which is quite possible given the state of things around here lately...) Someone has been passing notes, class, and I want the perpetrator to email me sharpish and fess up. Don't worry, I'm more amused than angry. Vickie evangelized: >I understand your problem with Happy taking up so much space in gaffa. If >I weren't familiar with an artist, I'd probably be upset, too, if they were >taking up so much space in a Kate Bush forum. However, Happy is truly, >truly special. In our lifetimes, she's the closest we'll ever come to >having an American "Kate Bush". I'm not upset, I'm not even mildly annoyed. In the USENET community, we've all got the same rights; the right to post whatever we want, and the right to not read whatever bothers us. As soon as I see the words "happy" and "rhodes" in close proximity, my brain just goes into neutral (no kind words from those who think that it never gets out of that blessed state, thank you). I question the kind of logic that makes us DESIRE an American "Kate Bush" but if you wish to set her up as that, go for it. Just don't expect me to jump on your bandwagon. >The fact that she's a Kate Bush fan herself makes it even more appropriate >that she be talked about here, by other Kate Bush fans. I will make this >offer for you three only: email to Jorn your home addresses, and I will >send you free of charge a sampling of Happy's music, so you can at least >get a feeling for what we're talking about. I don't see how the fact that she's a Kate Bush fan makes her any more or less appropriate to the discussion, actually. In the latest issue of the XTC fan rag, Dave Gregory talks about how he'd really love to go on tour with Kate Bush as her guitar player, and isn't it a pity that she doesn't tour any more. Does that make XTC more appropriate for discussion? I don't think so. In the old days, mod.music.gaffa (as it used to be known) was a stomping ground for all kinds of music fans, with Kate merely occupying a major slice of the postings. Now everybody and their brother has mailing list capabilities, so the factions have splintered off. We've seen The Sugarcubes, Jane Siberry and Sinead O'Connor come and go onto their own lists. I personally think the volume of Happy postings lately warrants the creation of a Happy mailing list, but if the Great Unwashed persists in perpetuating these postings, I'll exercise my inalienable right to wield the blessed KILL file and the holy `n' key. >If after you've heard Happy's music, you still feel the same way, then so >be it. Happy is very very special to me, and seeing a Happy "backlash" >hurts as much as it would to see an anti-Kate backlash. So it's important >to me that you at least hear what she sounds like before this goes any >further. Fine, fine. Mail away, I promise to listen with an open mind. Don't forget to provide ordering info when you send it, so I can review it for X MAG issue 7. -- Jon Drukman (edited for television) uunet!sco!jondr jondr@sco.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Always note the sequencer - this will never let us down.
nrc@cbema.att.COM (Neal R Caldwell, Ii) (06/13/91)
In article <9106071715.AA14997@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu>, barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.EDU (Jorn Barger) writes: > > Vickie here: > I understand your problem with Happy taking up so much space in gaffa. If > I weren't familiar with an artist, I'd probably be upset, too, if they were > taking up so much space in a Kate Bush forum. However, Happy is truly, > truly special. In our lifetimes, she's the closest we'll ever come to > having an American "Kate Bush". This is a quite a statement considering that we are equipped with neither clairvoyance nor omniscience. I would suggest that an adverb is in order here. > The fact that she's a Kate Bush fan herself makes it even more appropriate > that she be talked about here, by other Kate Bush fans. I will make this > offer for you three only: email to Jorn your home addresses, and I will > send you free of charge a sampling of Happy's music, so you can at least > get a feeling for what we're talking about. This is a kind offer but, unfortunately, it misses the point. First of all, none of my complaints really has anything to do with whether I like the artist in question. I would feel the same way if posts about one of my favorite artists were disrupting the group. Second, it's now obvious that those of us who spoke up first were by no means the only ones who felt this way so making special offers to those who spoke first seems hardly fair. I appreciate the offer but you would do better for Happy and everyone here in Columbus to send a copy of the CD to Kelly Gates at: WWCD (101.1 FM) 1721 S. High St. Columbus, OH 43207 > If after you've heard Happy's music, you still feel the same way, then so > be it. Happy is very very special to me, and seeing a Happy "backlash" > hurts as much as it would to see an anti-Kate backlash. So it's important > to me that you at least hear what she sounds like before this goes any > further. You misunderstand. This "backlash" is in no way directed at Happy. This is simply a group of people expressing their views about what is and is not appropriate material for this group. Yes, some discussion of other artists is welcome here. But this is not rec.music.misc and as long as it isn't there will always be things that are and are not appropriate to this group. As long as that line exists _everyone_ has a right to express there opinion on where that line lies in terms of both subject matter and volume. I still think the key to this whole issue is _discussion_. I never had any objection to the discussion of Happy's music on this group when it wasn't being disruptive. Unfortunately, discussion was for the most part replaced by a flood of "I got Happy," "Send Happy to this station," "This station now has Happy," "Happy lyrics," "Happy interviews" and four month old Happy reposts. Folks, none of that qualifies as discussion and the connection to Kate at that point becomes incredibly tenuous. I'll repeat this once more since many of you choose to ignore it and pretend that I'm trying to "run Happy out of the newsgroup". I don't mind a _reasonable_ amount of Happy _discussion_. Discussion is appropriate. Endless streams of data of interest only to those who are already Happy Rhodes fans or are bent on become one belong in a mailing list. "Don't drive too slowly." Richard Caldwell AT&T Network Systems att!cbnews!nrc nrc@cbnews.att.com
stevev@greylady.uoregon.EDU (Steve VanDevender) (06/13/91)
I hope that I wasn't responsible for getting Jon Drukman's name thrown into a debate he hasn't been involved in when I borrowed one of his quote lines, namely "Nobody knows why Foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:", and then put right underneath "Thank you, Jon Drukman". I was acknowledging that I had borrowed that line from Jon, but it appears to have been misconstrued as part of quotes from one of Vishal Markandy's messages that I was trying not to flame but which I toasted lightly anyway. Not that either you or I care much, but sorry, Jon. Steve VanDevender stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu "Bipedalism--an unrecognized disease affecting over 99% of the population. Symptoms include lack of traffic sense, slow rate of travel, and the classic, easily recognized behavior known as walking."