Gary Numan Digest Sun, 28 Dec 97 Volume 1 : Issue 394 Today's Topics: cleo Hey everyone... missed journal!?!? Praying to the aliens - unfinished RAMADHAN SPAM some details as requested ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 04:00:13 EST From: SomaCrow Subject: cleo To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi all, I think Cleopatra is also a cool label for Gary; I would have supported Nothing, but Cleo's fine by me. :) The accessibility is a very good thing. I hope Cleopatra will promote Gary well, though. They seem to like to focus on Switchblade Symphony and such and give less limelight to smaller acts, but dammit, Gary's a big name (at least in my twisted perception). I will try to be optimistic, and all who know me know I'm no gloom-doom sayer. :-) As to reaching a younger audience, I think that's great and I really hope it works. I can't speak for the other teenaged Numan fans I know, but I have to admit that I would sulk a bit. :-) Not so special anymore... or is that just a euphemism for "alienated"? ;-) O yes.... I can see it now... a new generation of young things, painting their eyes and clutching Numan CDs, not records, with them everywhere... wait... [insert cheap crack about goth kids already wearing plentiful eye makeup here] I can't wait for the Nu millenium. ;-) Hell, just today (okay, yesterday technically... merry Christmas everyone! [though it will have been four days ago by the time you read this])... just today I sent a soundclip to a Mansonite, younger than me, who was interested in hearing the original "DITP." Granted, the clip was "Noise Noise," but perhaps that's a better (harder) thing to wean a kid like that on. Thank you to the World Wide Webb for having zillions of downloadable sound files for the general good. :-) I ramble; I love a captive audience. ::bows:: In miscellaneous whatever, I don't know if this was mentioned before, but I found Exile at Reckless Records in San Francisco. Damned if I remember what street it's on, unfortunately. So that means that Numanoids all over the Bay Area, if they don't already have a copy, should be able to find Exile at Rasputin, Reckless, and Streetlight, and probably all over Berkeley. :-) Or I just hold a house party for y'all and we git down to my copy. :-) Love and red-and-green napalm and oh my god Bjork's new album is incredible buy it you consumer-minded upright citizens, Riana "Inspirations have I none, just to touch the flaming dove" - Ziggy Stardust -RAMBLE ENDS- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Dec 1997 13:40:23 +0000 From: "b. koski" Subject: Hey everyone... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hey there everyone... I guess I'm the NUbie (sorry, had to) this week. My name is Brad and I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I'm a sophomore in high school who just recently got into Gary Numan, and I only own "Replicas" due to the fact that it's impossible to find any Gary Numan around here and I'm kinda money-less so ordering CDs online is a pain.. When it comes to music I listen to a broad scope of artists, including (but not limited to) the Dead Milkmen, Pink Floyd, Pavement, Weezer, the Toadies, Devo and --A LOT-- more. I joined the mailing list for one major reason -- It's really hard for me to find info on Gary's newer stuff due to my age and the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully this list helps fill the void I have when it comes to Numan's work! :) Brad b. koski -- http://www.izzy.net/~bkoski -- aim/aol: bkoski7 icq: 3332492 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 23:04:23 -0600 From: mark a hubbard Subject: missed journal!?!? To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I got Diegest #393 today, but the last I recieved was #391. Did #392 not get sent out? If it was, my service provider must have not carried it through. If it is out there, would someone please send it to me!!? Thanks, Sincerely, Mark A Hubbard ------------------------------ Date: 26 Dec 97 21:49:00 +0000 From: "Wooldridge, Simon" Subject: Praying to the aliens - unfinished To: "'Numan list'" One of the presents I received this year was Praying To The Aliens - Garys autobiography. Most chuffed I was too. I have now been reading it on and off for the last 2 days and thought I`d like to say how good it is. Most autobiographies seem to depict their `writers` as near-saints, not Gary. He seems quite happy to tell it like it was, and even insult himself into the process. I`ve already lost track of the amount of times he`s called himself a wanker for doing something he thought was cool at the time (sleeping with his ex-bandmates girlfriends was one I recall). I`m now reading the Warriors era stuff and how Gary got into Aerobatics. I know he didn`t actually write the finished version, but I`m most impressed with his recollection of things and it also brought back some memories of things I`d noticed in the music press and tabloid press at the time, and also finally cleared up the 7.4 mystery that has always bugged me in 'Are Friends Electric?' Si Wooldridge Senior Systems Equipment Engineer Lucent Technologies swooldri@lucent.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 23:40:24 +0000 From: "M.Tressler" Subject: RAMADHAN SPAM To: numan@cs.uwp.edu "I'd be more than happy to do appropriate investigations and make complaints to appropriate people." why would someone waste their time complaining about ONE spam? Ignore it, for crying out loud. There are worse problems in the world. MT ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 23:22:04 +0300 From: "Peter Enright" Subject: some details as requested To: Greetings fellow Numanoids, We are a very select breed. We hear what others can't, we feel as others cannot, and we experience something very special; Numan's unique brand of music. I first tuned into Numan in the Sydney summer of 1979. At the time I was evolving as a young man and searching for something new to identify with, some elusive experience that would feed my new hunger. Something new to replace my fading obsessions with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and Elton John. Numan became that new experience. I kept hearing this new song on the radio, at parties and discos. It was something totally different - a new sound. A new anthem for the new decade almost upon me. "Are "Friends" Electric?" was stuck in an endless loop inside my head. I read an article about Numan and his Tubeway Army in a Sunday newspaper and I was struck by the stark alienated image that they had printed; Numan on the cover of the "Replicas" album. I had to have it. I traded in a stack of old vinyl albums and bought it with the money. In May 1980 I saw him live in Sydney and it had a profound effect upon me - I was completely hooked - I couldn't get enough. The concert was such an enjoyable experience, a wall of sound and spinning lights. A feast for the senses. I'll never forget the guitar slides at the end of "Replicas" and the pounding bass of "Metal"! An intense relationship I was involved in at the time crumbled and Numan's lyrics attained a new relevance for me. Like all fans I bought every album as it was released, but in Australia that meant being forced to wait a long time for imports to arrive, very frustrating. Quite a few of my friends were also into his music, but I was most obsessed. I was working at a TV post-production company as an editor, and as we dubbed a lot of overseas music videos for the local record companies, I soon built up my own private collection of Numan videos - I even re-edited some and created my own versions with more Numanesque special effects. I recall spending long hours through the night in my own time on the computer editing system re-syncing all the live footage from the Teletour to the new crisp stereo sound of the Living Ornaments double album. It was a fantastic period for gigs in Sydney - between 1980 and 82 my pals and I saw Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, DEVO, Ultravox, Duran Duran, The Human League, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Grace Jones, Icehouse and Mi-Sex just to name a few. In 1988 I became bored with Sydney, and made the move to London's TV production industry and I saw Gary live again on his New Anger tour - I think I went 3 nights in a row - great! Not long after I caught Jean Michel Jarre's Dockland gig - another brilliant show. I've met him several times and even filmed him at an airshow for a breakfast TV show - I always found him friendly and very down to Earth. I managed to see every one of Numan's shows from then on but missed out the one in '93 when I was back Down Under for a year. It's always fun to take friends who were adamant they were not into his music along to his gigs and watch them be blown away by the experience, often converting them into new fans. My own personal word about music critics, particularly in reference to the recent "Exile" reviews. I know the way some, or most, of these so-called experts work; they write several reviews quickly for a tight deadline. They make up their minds before they listen as to what kind of review they are going to give, and it's much easier to slag someone off than to listen carefully for underlying positive elements of their work. After all bad press sells more. Just because a track isn't your cup of tea doesn't mean it's crap, it's all subjective. More often than not they quickly spin through the tracks listening for a few seconds and on that fleeting sampling they base their opinions. Do they bother to dim the lights, sit down with a glass of Cognac and experience the music? No. How can they? They are not even on Numan's wavelength. Anyone who takes the time to really submerge themselves in Exile or any of Numan's work cannot help but be touched by the creative brilliance behind that haunting sound and those deep surreal lyrics. And still he goes from strength to strength ... Peter Enright Moscow Dec. 1997 ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************