YTSEJAM Digest 1791
Today's Topics:
1) Mike Bahr's THOUGHTS, 2/3
by durnik <durnik@goodnet.com>
2) Mike Bahr's THOUGHTS, 3/3
by durnik <durnik@goodnet.com>
3)
by
4) Autoreply Message
by svjohnson@amoco.com
5) Shadow Gallery first album
by akyuz@ltp.dmx.epfl.ch
6) DT taking time between albums
by akyuz@ltp.dmx.epfl.ch
7) Altura
by part@dutccia.tudelft.nl (Gerralt Partiman)
8) DT on Letterman
by Monty Newberry <mjnewb@mo.net>
9) Spock's Beard
by Monty Newberry <mjnewb@mo.net>
10) Nice to be back again, but......
by te95mne@student.hgs.se (MIKA NUMMINEN)
11) Nice to be back again, but......
by te95mne@student.hgs.se (MIKA NUMMINEN)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 04:49:46 -0700 (MST)
From: durnik <durnik@goodnet.com>
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Mike Bahr's THOUGHTS, 2/3
Message-ID: <199609011149.EAA04753@goodguy.goodnet.com>
THOUGHTS
part 2 of several
by Mikey Bahr
OK, still with me? Awesome!! Now it's time to get to the meat of
the matter.
We have a problem. Or I should say, we all have problems. The main
problem, at the root of all this, is that we are all trying to live our
lives true to our own visions, solid in our own integrity, genuine to our
own honour, loyal to our friends, and steadfast in our beliefs. And while
we're trying to do this, the entire world is tearing that away. Every
single interaction a person has during a day can either strengthen or
weaken their resolve, and 9 out of 10 are attempting to weaken it. Therein
lies the fundamental problem:
Our lives are blowing past us, and we're missing out.
As Mike Portnoy wrote in ACOS "Seize the day, and don't you cry.
Now it's time to say goodbye. Even though I'll be gone, I will live on."
ACOS is easily Dream Theater's finest hour, and I am convinced more of
that every time I listen through the catalogue. To write something that
can have a profound insight on life itself is a rare gift. I've attempted
it many years without success, and Mike Portnoy succeeded with ACOS.
Let's look at the here and now, the very most superficial level of
our own community: the Ytsejam list, and by extension, the internet.
Are we united? Fuck yes. Anyone remember Jeremy Haynes? Yes, I
thought you did. Like any microcosm of society, we look after our own.
When we meet people wearing DT shirts, we talk to them... often we find a
friend. When we are threatened, even in the most unsubstantial way (such
as by Mindcrimer) we unite to quash this common threat. As a microcosm of
society, our lives, on a certain level, all become linked. Our spirit
becomes linked, to borrow from Magic: the Gathering terminology. We each
have a vested interest in certain common things and the general health and
prosperity of each other and of those "precious things".
Most basically, as a subsociety, we do not want to see our "way of
life" go away. We do not want to be forgotten. In those poetic words, "We
will not go gently into that goodnight." And there are too many folks that
would just as soon we DID.
How many of you have dealt with someone that wouldn't respect a
commitment or an obligation? How many of you have seen the true colors of
someone you thought was a "friend", until trouble came up? I'd say we've
all been in those positions, and even in some instances were the cause of
the problem. It is in those fleeting interactions that a little of our
resolve withers away. It is when we allow our own integrity to be
compromised that we cease to live, at least in some aspect. One star in
our own personal night sky twinkles its last. And it's because the world
itself is driven by greed and hate (and it's naive of us to think it
isn't) that we must band together that much more tightly.
Moving beyond the net into our personal lives, this interaction is
more profound. How many of you had reservations about ordering that first
Mike Bahr disc? If it was "Subconscious", you had NO REASSURANCE that it
was going to be worth it. The only things I had done to that point were
the Neil Peart Solo Montage and Rush Video Compilation. And yet it worked
out, didn't it? My commitment was met well and true. Good thing, too. If I
had been a "Jeremy Haynes", you'd have all lynched me. Rightfully so. But
never ONCE during all that uncertain time, was I ever directly spat upon;
directly accused of being a scam; directly addressed as a ripoff artist, a
person with NO integrity, basically a rapist with a different sexual
preference (money). That all changed this year.
With the release of Critical Mass, I was smacked in the face with
a wall of paranoia the likes of which I'd never known. It was at that time
that I realized how tightly-knit a group we truly are. I mean, think about
it. You log off and go about your day, and you could live without the Jam,
right? Of course. But it does affect you, on a deeper and deeper level
each time. And every time the Jammers gather, there is an epiphany (sp?)
of that effect. It becomes stronger, magnified manifold. And as I looked
that wall of paranoia in the face and wondered why it bothered me, it hit
me.
It was because of all of you.
In my project undertakings, suspicions amongst my new customers
should have been old hat to me. They should have been par for the course.
They should have rolled right off my back. But they didn't, because... YOU
TRUSTED ME. On a very fundamental level, we all established the link of
integrity. On a very specific level, we all became loyal to the causes of
each other. I never once met with suspicion here because I was a _part_ of
this subsociety, a ta'veren thread in the web that is woven by the Wheel
of Time, to borrow some imagery from Jordan. You all knew who I was. You
knew what I did. Newbies were brought up to speed on it, and were newbies
no longer. To have met suspicion here would have been the sort of jarring
shock to me that one feels when a family member murders another. It simply
didn't happen. So in a way, all of you established that loyalty, that
tightness, and through it we were all able to live that much better, that
much stronger.
Look at your own life now. Think about the four or five people you
interact with the most. If you can say you're "generally happy" with your
life, then those four or five people have earned your trust and will back
you up through thick and thin. They are _worth_ your efforts to keep;
worth your time to nurture the relationship, as it were. They are the one
of ten people who do NOT try to tear away at your resolve.
To those Jammers who are perhaps a little new to this, don't
worry. It may not make a lot of sense now, but save this post. Believe me,
you're a part of it. You're welcomed to all this, to be sure, but this
band, and the people that follow it, can definitively shape your own life,
if you let them in. And I think it's a shaping for the better. Many may
agree. In a year, when I post "thoughts" again, if my words are worthy of
the events that did transpire, they should really hit home.
So I followed that paranoia thread, and realized that in subtle
ways, my relationship to the other followers of DT, the fans we
affectionately refer to as "Us Jammers", has really affected my life. And
definitely for the better. And I am not alone in this. I'm marrying
Melissa, as you all know from Thoughts part 1. Both of us are hardcore
Jammers (she reads with me). It was when I introduced her to the depth of
the music in Awake and then ACOS that she left behind her pop idol discs,
took a serious listen to mine, and then our love grew and developed. I
currently spend the amount of time I would on a full-time job, developing
and creating masters and doing shipping for compact discs, all thanks to
the Jammers. In the first 20 years of my _life_, I traveled by air to
distant places TWICE. As of October, I'll have done it twice as many times
in the last 2 years, all because of... well.. the Jam. I have been able to
persist as bassist with Scoobaca because of the time permitted by my
work... which happened because of, you guessed it, all of you. It goes on
and on, each bone connected to the bone before it. And that's not all.
The problem is before us: we strive to maintain our own principle
in the face of everyone and everything that would try to tear it down or
apart. And since the solution and the unity that focuses our lives can be
found in our music, the methods by which we solve our problems and
maintain our integrity can be similarly found. Which is the subject matter
upon which I'll open Thoughts 3.
TO BE CONTINUED.
- Mike Bahr - durnik@goodnet.com - NOTE THE EMAIL CHANGE
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 04:50:09 -0700 (MST)
From: durnik <durnik@goodnet.com>
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Mike Bahr's THOUGHTS, 3/3
Message-ID: <199609011150.EAA04772@goodguy.goodnet.com>
THOUGHTS
part 3 of... well, 3 I guess.
by Mikey Bahr
Whoa. Well, was part 2 heavy or what? I told you all it would be
serious; don't say you weren't warned. OK, let's take a look at what's
happened so far. I hope I didn't just freak you out and make you skip all
the rest in shock and fear.
* I have, I hope, demonstrated the existence and solidity of the
subsociety that is the fans of DT, the fans who have their own purpose.
* I have demonstrated that the things we do OUTSIDE of this can be shaped
and influenced by the things we've done INSIDE this subsociety.
* Now, the idea is for me to finish the train of thought; to present the
appropriate information, to close the circle. Let's see if I can do this
right or not.
The fact is, our own time is running out. Seize the day, indeed.
And with each other we ARE seizing this day. We're turning it into
something greater than it could have been. And it's only when a person
looks back at what HAS happened that one realizes just what has taken
place.
I want you now to take a few minutes to look at the past year of
your life. For a moment, push out the negatives; they aren't important. I
want you to think about what you'd tell yourself if you traveled back in
time ONE YEAR. What would you have not yet done? If you're like me, you
can think of a lot, not the least of which is that you'd hand yourself a
copy of the new Rush album so you can have enjoyed it all this time up
until now. :) Truly, now that we have the virtual connection on the Jam
that lets us all interact virtually in real time, even though we are
scattered across the planet, the pace of life is quickening. There isn't
enough time anymore to do the things we needed to do, and looking at the
things we DID do, we seem to come up with an enormous list!!
How do we cope with this? How can we, with our own steadfast
resolve, resist both the pressures of the current world that attempt to
wear us down, AND resist the persistence of time that takes away our
opportunities to resist as constantly as a grinding millstone? I think the
best way to live life is to REALIZE that you're living it!!
I'm gonna repeat that because it seems... vaguely important. :)
The best way to live life is to REALIZE that you're living it.
Every single day from now on in, I want you all to look at the sky
when you go outside (for whatever reason you do... school, work, etc).
Look at the surrounding terrain. Watch, listen. See what people do. This
is not to say you shouldn't do what you need to... but the very doing of
your daily routine is enhanced, magnified, frozen in time by the essence
of the experience when you step back in your mind's eye and take a
photograph. Our time is not very long on this Earth in this realm, and
every single nuance of it can be beauty if we take it that way. And this
means we must continue with our dedication to music!!
Indeed, we can go through life experiencing it to its fullest just
by acknowledging that the experience is taking place, and those that have
expressed this best are the bards, the lyricists, the chroniclers of tale
and emotion. Yes, the musicians.
I've already stated that ACOS is IMHO, DT's finest moment. Now,
for your perusal below, I present the Five Essential Non-DT Songs. Five
essential for WHAT, you may ask? Essential because they simply ARE.
Essential because they have done the best job so far of capturing as much
of life's crystalline essence in a sphere of thought, and presenting it to
us in a form we can, if we're lucky, understand.
5. Steve Vai "For The Love Of God" - from "Passion And Warfare"
Number five is the instrumental, because this is about as high as
a song NOT supported by lyrics can be. This is simply the best (rock)
instrumental ever written. There is so much emotion, experience,
sincerity, and anxiety contained within the twists and turns of the song,
that listening even to a masterpiece like YYZ seems trivial and narrow.
------------------------------
4. Van Halen "Dreams" - from "5150"
This is the closest to "pop" that you'll ever hear me get where it
concerns a song of this significance. This song is the embodiment of the
hope we all harbour, and our own chances we take at glory.
"Reach for the sky... baby just spread your wings...
We'll get higher and higher, straight up we'll climb
We'll get higher and higher, leave it all behind"
Though one can take this as a metaphor for the ascent into heaven,
it's better seen at much closer to face value: here in our own life, we
can only reach our full potential by rising above the pettiness and
bullshit the world throws at itself every day, and staying true to
ourselves. Of course, the simplest explanation is usually the truth.
"So baby dry your eyes, save all the tears you've cried,
Oh that's what dreams are made of...
We belong in a world that must be strong
Oh that's what dreams are made of...
And in the end, on dreams we will depend
Cause that's what love is made of..."
Read those words carefully. They're talking about US! The Jammers!
They didn't mean it at the time it was written, of course, but look at how
unbelievably clear the message is. We must rise when we're beaten down. We
must support each other through whatever happens. And it can only happen
if we believe we can make it so.
3. King's X "Life Going By" - from "Ear Candy"
This is the most recent masterpiece to be written, IMHO. Almost
every single lyric in this song raises the same imagery as I've been
trying to convey throughout "thoughts", and that I've seen throughout my
life, and I'll bet I'm not alone. Besides being beautifully performed,
this song is profound and deep, and well worth the rating. I'm going to
list out most of the lyrics here, because I know not all of you will have
the album. It's WORTH GETTING. KX is especially qualified to write a song
like this because of their own person journey and how rough it's been.
I've seen a wind-torn sky.
And I've felt the river cry.
And I've seen the old ones have their say.
I've known the constitution.
And I've seen the revolution.
And I've seen the birds all fly away.
I've climbed in the back and I've hung from the rack
And I've died more than once on the way
And I've sat there in awe and I've seen myself fall
And I've felt the full light of the day...
Oh..... my life going by...
I've read confusing fiction.
And lived a contradiction.
And I've wondered where on earth I've been.
I've known a love forever.
A truth I couldn't sever.
A chord that flows as free as the wind.
I've stood on the mountain and drank from the fountain
And poured it all out on the floor...
Turned my back to the glory and walked the tenth story
And come back to knock on your door...
Oh, my life going by... my life going on... my life going by.
Simply incredible. I cannot accept that this sort of insight will
be lost to the sands of time. King's X have touched the essence of life in
this, and it cannot be forgotten.
2. Tori Amos "Yes Anastasia" - from "Under The Pink"
Yep, you knew she'd make an appearance here, didn't you. And
indeed she has. This is Tori's magnum opus, and so it is that it has its
own impact on the life of the listener.
This song is one of the few that can have a physical effect on a
listener. I don't know of another song that's made my blood pound in my
veins and beads of sweat break out on my forehead because of the pure
intensity of the performance. Naturally, you'll need to listen to it alone
and without distractions. I recommend doing it in your vehicle while
driving at night down sparsely-traveled roads.
Tori weaves a story, a drama, an EXPERIENCE so alive with this
song that I scarce believe I'm not actively living it when I listen. She
draws us in slowly, with outer details, almost like the narration in a war
movie when they tell us how the war had gone on up to that point and then
bring us into the middle of the action. She manages to paint this picture
so subtly that you don't even realize it's being painted until it's
DONE... such is the mastery of lyrics in this song.
"Show me the things I've been missing...
Show me the ways I've forgot to be speaking...
Show me the way to get back to the garden...
Show me the ways to get around the get-around
Show me the ways to button up the buttons
That have forgotten they're buttons.
[this is metaphor here, think on it a moment.]
Girls... girls...what have we done??
What have we done to ourselves??"
Tori follows up this somber yet dreamy section with a piano
section that builds and builds and makes the soul reach right for the sky
in an explosion of experience... before returning to the pensive, careful,
exquisite arrangement of the pieces yet again...
"thought I'd been through this in 1919...
Counting the tears of ten thousand men
and gathered them all, but my feet are slipping...
There's something we left on the windowsill,
something we left... yes...."
Another piano section builds up as the dramatic tension is
unleashed full force...
"We'll see how brave you are...
We'll see how fast you'll be running...
We'll see how brave you are...
Yes, Anastasia."
And it's suddenly subdued completely. Blam. Just like that.
There's a release of tension, an audible exhale. And just as steadily, the
piano builds us back up to the moment of pensive arrangement...
"Thought she deserved no less than she'd give
Well, happy birthday, her blood's on my hand
Kind of a shame cause I did like that dress.
It's funny the things that you find in the rain
The things that you find yea...
To another release of joy, of tension, a flood of images playing
across the mindscape in a flurry of experience:
"In the mall and in the date mines,
In the knot still in her hair
On the bus I'm on my way down, all the girls seem to be there..."
The experience is metaphorical, to be sure, but the descent into
terror continues...
"We'll see how brave you are...."
This chorus is repeated, except this time it's on a spiral of
negative emotion, crescendoing line by line until Tori belts out about the
most powerful, emotive note I've ever heard. You'll know it when you hear
it. There's no way someone like her with her high-octave voice should be
able to unleash that sort of performance, but she does. And at the end of
the note, your own mind begins to race through her words as she goes. And
then... it's over. The life is done, the time is gone. And the soul is
gently beckoned to its rest at the end. "Come along now, little darling...
come along now with me... we'll see how brave you [were]..."
This song is an experience all its own, but it must happen to you
personally in your own way. I heard it no less than twenty times before it
finally hit like it was intended to. Amazing.
1. Rush "Time Stand Still" - from "Hold Your Fire"
Wow. I'm actually runing out of room here... 4k more and this
sucker won't even post. Not like I need it. This entire song is a
masterpiece, every verse integral, but it's all summed up right at the
end, in what I feel is the most important verse you'll ever hear.
"Summer's going fast, nights growing colder...
Children growing up, old friend growing older.
Freeze this moment a little bit longer;
Make each sensation a little bit stronger.
Experience slips away
Experience slips away
The innocence slips away...
Thank you all for reading.
- Mike Bahr - durnik@goodnet.com - NOTE THE EMAIL CHANGE
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 96 02:42:40 -0500
From: svjohnson@amoco.com
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Autoreply Message
Message-ID: <199609020742.AA16540@interlock.amoco.com>
I will be on vacation until Monday, September 9. On the 9th =
and 10th I will be on official business. If it is urgent, =
please contact Neil Geary at (312) 856-5373. I will be =
returning calls/messages on Wednesday, September 11.
Steve
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 09:47:24 +0200
From: akyuz@ltp.dmx.epfl.ch
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Shadow Gallery first album
Message-ID: <v03007800ae5040abeb9b@[128.178.99.94]>
>Hello,
> I was just wondering, how many of you have had the chance to hear
>Shadow Gallery's 1st album? (It's self titled). I just got it about a
>week ago (after ordering it 4 and a half months ago and shelling out
>$32.00!), and I've got just one thing to say: I would have paid twice
>twice that!:)
> These guys are truly incredible. I saw on their web page that a
>tour was planned for next year, does anyone have any info on this? (Hey
>maybe they'll be with DT! Wouldn't that be nice?)
I listened to SG. IMO, it's to Carved what WDADU was to IAW: a shot at it.
Except that WDADU is ok and SG isn't worth it, because again, SG is no
match to DT.
Cheers,
........................................................................
D A V E K I N G
vox & bass MT-20
"holding on is easier than letting go" (fw)
"I was told there'll be no one to call on when I feel alone and afraid" (dt)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 09:55:38 +0200
From: akyuz@ltp.dmx.epfl.ch
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: DT taking time between albums
Message-ID: <v03007801ae50423e4a6e@[128.178.99.94]>
>> I think that bands like DT should not take this long between albums.
>> People forget about them and then their popularity diminishes. They
>> haven't toured for quite awhile, no new album for quite awhile either. If
>> it wasn't for this list, how many of us would still wonder about DT on a
>> daily basis?
I think DT was planning to be produced by Kevin Gilbert, no? He passed
away, so that pretty much delyed things for most probably around 6 months.
And at least DT doesn't makes us wait 5 years to produce shit like
Metallica. So we should consider ourselves :-)) happy. Finally, DT fans are
real faithful (for the moment) as long as DT remains so and doesn't sell
out.
The jam is here to attest.
........................................................................
D A V E K I N G
vox & bass MT-20
"holding on is easier than letting go" (fw)
"I was told there'll be no one to call on when I feel alone and afraid" (dt)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 10:22:24 +0200
From: part@dutccia.tudelft.nl (Gerralt Partiman)
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Altura
Message-ID: <9608310822.AA01107@dutccia.tudelft.nl>
Anyone check out that new Altura CD ('Mercy') on the Magna Carta label (Pete Morticelly rules!!!).
Don't know much about this band but they make a damn' good piece of music.
The line up is like DT's, which means 1 drummer, 1 bassist, 1 guitarist, 1 singer and 1 keyboardplayer.
Support progressive music and listen to/buy the CD in a record shop near you.
Heard of Moonspell? Portugese gothic/black/metal band. Some awesome compositions on their latest album "Irreligious". They have a homepage of which I don't know the URL, but Infoseek might find it for you.
See ya!
###############################
# #
# Gerralt Partiman #
# part@dutccia.tudelft.nl #
# #
###############################
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 03:27:45 -0600
From: Monty Newberry <mjnewb@mo.net>
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: DT on Letterman
Message-ID: <322AA891.36F3@mo.net>
Hey, I just remembered, Letterman's had Megadeth on something like
three times, so why couldn't DT do it?
Dale R. Newberry
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 03:40:23 -0600
From: Monty Newberry <mjnewb@mo.net>
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Spock's Beard
Message-ID: <322AAB87.4729@mo.net>
>Actually I don't recall any Vulcan ever having a beard.
Maybe they mean to refer to the well-known child psychologist Dr. Spock
(don't know whether or not he had a beard). Remember, though, the Trek
episode when they went into an alternate dimension or something, and the
crew as evil. The evil Spock had a gotee, if I'm not mistaken :)>.
Dale R. Newberry
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 11:13:21 +0200
From: te95mne@student.hgs.se (MIKA NUMMINEN)
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Nice to be back again, but......
Message-ID: <199609020914.LAA27977@adeptus.student.hgs.se>
Hi fellow jammers!
It certainly feels good to be back again among the intelligent prople on
the web again.... *grin* (Ok, got that over and done with...) So, here are a
few things that I wanted to mention....
1) All of you guys who haven't signed up for the "Prog tape swap", do
it now! I was in the first (?) swap was not disappointed, I got turned on to
alot of good music that i hadn't heard of earlier (ie: Cairo, Anacrusis
etc..)......
2) I know there must be a lot of places to talk live to other jammers,
anyone wan't to enlighten a fellow jammer where to meet other people???
Perhaps on powwow????
3) Is there a FAQ with all the rumours and shit that I know I have
missed while being on holiday, anyone????
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
"Fuck!"
Quentin Tarantino, From dusk till dawn
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Mika Numminen
email: te95mne@student.hgs.se
homepage: http://www.hgs.se/~te95mne
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 11:13:21 +0200
From: te95mne@student.hgs.se (MIKA NUMMINEN)
To: ytsejam@ax.com
Subject: Nice to be back again, but......
Message-ID: <199609020914.LAA27979@adeptus.student.hgs.se>
Hi fellow jammers!
It certainly feels good to be back again among the intelligent prople on
the web again.... *grin* (Ok, got that over and done with...) So, here are a
few things that I wanted to mention....
1) All of you guys who haven't signed up for the "Prog tape swap", do
it now! I was in the first (?) swap was not disappointed, I got turned on to
alot of good music that i hadn't heard of earlier (ie: Cairo, Anacrusis
etc..)......
2) I know there must be a lot of places to talk live to other jammers,
anyone wan't to enlighten a fellow jammer where to meet other people???
Perhaps on powwow????
3) Is there a FAQ with all the rumours and shit that I know I have
missed while being on holiday, anyone????
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
"Fuck!"
Quentin Tarantino, From dusk till dawn
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Mika Numminen
email: te95mne@student.hgs.se
homepage: http://www.hgs.se/~te95mne
------------------------------
End of YTSEJAM Digest 1791
**************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Apr 01 2004 - 17:58:44 EST