//  Last call for T-shirts and videos.  Plus a couple of Blue Roses
//  comments and an intro.   - MF

From: Shawn Kimbro (kimbro@planetc.com)                           
Subject: NanciNet T-Shirts                                           

Hi Folks,

It's a New Year's tradition to "clean house" and start things off fresh
and shiny.  In keeping with that I'd like to wrap up the NanciNet
T-shirt project. I've only had a trickling of orders over the past few
months and I need to print in bulk so I'm offering the shirts for sale
one more time before I close the project.  Here's the details:

Shirts are available in sizes small through 3X.  Here's the pricing
information in US dollars:

Adult sizes Small through XL   $18.00
Adult sizes 2X and 3X  $21.00
US Shipping and packaging $3.00
Canada, Great Britain, Ireland shipping $7.00
All other countries e-mail me for shipping prices

Payment must be made by US Check or International Money Order.
Sorry, credit card orders cannot be accepted at this time. Please
include size requests with your payment. Once you've put your check in
the mail please e-mail me with the order info (including the size) you
want. Make your check payable to me, please don't forget the shipping
fee, and send it to:

Shawn Kimbro
4076 Priscilla Street     =20
Morristown, TN  37814

I'll take orders for two weeks before the final printing of the shirts.
The deadline is January 19, 1998. I won't accept any checks postmarked
after that date. Please don't e-mail me your order until you have mailed
the check.  Further details can be found at
http://world.std.com/~ferg/nnshirt.html including a simulation of Mike
Cogliandro's great design. =20

This is the last time I'll offer these shirts for sale.  Those of you
with orders pending will be the first to receive shirts.  I have several
uncashed checks awaiting this final printing.  I'll look forward to
hearing from those of you who want a NanciNet t-shirt.  Best wishes to
everyone for a great '98 and a very happy El Ni=F1o to one and all.

Warm Regards,=20
-Shawn

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From: Bob Ivers (bivers@htp.net)                                  
Subject: Nancinet video compilation deadline                         

Just a quick post to those who requested the information on the Nancinet
video compilation, got sidetracked by the holidays, and haven't gotten
around to sending for them yet.  I'll process any orders I receive that are
postmarked by 1/31/98 so, if you are interested in obtaining the tapes,
don't wait too long!  Bob Ivers

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From: REBeffa (REBeffa@aol.com)                                   
Subject: Re: Blue Roses and Susan's top 15                           

> At 05:12 AM 12/31/97 -0800, Bill Peete wrote:
>  >Hmmm... well I guess we will at least find out which one was number 15
when
>  >you have to remove one to make room for Nanci's album "Blue Roses From The
>  >Moons". Susan, you are usually much more reliable than that! How did you
>  >forget that?
>
and Susan replied:
>  I thought long and hard about it.  I love the songs live but I just don't
>  listen to the record often - there's something about the production which
>  really turns me off.   The Folks Festival and the SF Warfield show were
>  revelations to me because from the record, I really wasn't sure about
>  anything.  So that's why it's not there.  I have the ETown tape (thanks
>  Denise) and I listen to that a bunch (even "Battlefield" Deb) but I don't
>  listen to the record like I do the others on my list.
>
>  susan

I have to agree with Susan here. When I made my top ten list some weeks ago, I
think I noted that it was the live performances (esp Battlefield) that let
Blue Roses make my top ten. The latest album really is my least favorite Nanci
-  and I just don't listen to it or get the urge to listen to it all that
often. There is lots of good music out there. Lots of good Nanci music out
there. But Blue Roses just didn't come through as an album for me. Sure, there
are good songs. But I enjoyed them more live where they could be infected with
Nanci's enthusiasm than on the disc. Maybe it was the production. I dunno. So
Susan, you are not alone on this one.

Ron Beffa
http://members.aol.com/clackclack/rebeffa1.htm

 
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From: Steve Wilhelm (SteveW@impacttech.com)                       
Subject: Happy New albums                                            

Hi there folks,

I don't have a top 10 to post, but
I thought I'd mention a couple of albums
I recently bought. The first one is
from "Mr. Patrick Alger"... True love and other stories
It's sort of an anthology.  Nanci sings backup on a couple of tracks.
At first, I thought it wasn't very good because
his singing is nowhere close to Nanci's.
The contrast is clear on Goin' Gone.
Nanci puts so much into it, whereas he
seems less affected by it.
But, there are so many other good songs
this doesn't seem to matter.
Best of all, This album doesn't seem to get old.
Probably because it's short on flashy stuff.

At the same time, I bought Tom Russel's The Long Way Around.
This one came highly recomended here on the list.
I guess since I bought the two albums at the same time
I'm inclined to compare them. Anyway, Tom Russel's is very good,
but to me, some of the songs get old with their flashiness.

Also, maybe I read it here, I heard there is
an new Anthology of Ramblin' Jack Elliot out.
Is there anyone here who can give their opinion.

Until next time,
Steve Wilhelm

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From: James_Troiano@umit.maine.edu (James Troiano)                
Subject: Nanci Griffith                                              

        I am relatively new to the Nancinet., but not to Nanci's music, which
I have loved for more than ten years. I don't think that anyone
recently mentioned  Carolyn Hester as one of Nanci's major influences.
I was reminded of it as I listened to the marvelous 1980  Nanci Concert
tape in which she refers to Carolyn and sings about her. I recently
purchased an album by Carloyn Hester called "From These Hills," a 1996
release ( Road Goes on Forever, 033). The CD was ordered by my local
record store.  On the wonderful album there is a song entitled "Nanci's
Song" in which Carolyn recalls a very young Nanci's concerns about the
start of her career. Carolyn sees it as a "mentoring song" to our hero.
It is a moving experience for a Nanci fan.

        By the way, I could not complete a list of my ten favorite albums
because although there a few artists I enjoy ( I mentioned them in a
previous letter);  no one compares to Nanci. I cannnot listen to the
radio since I cannot bear listen to much of what is on.  The only
problem with being a Nanci fan is that her music is so much  better
than anything else,  I am highly critical of other artists. I do think
that Blue Roses from the Moon is a masterpiece and  that her poetic
lyrics, magical voice and the instrumentation by the Blue Moon
Orchestra and the Crickets add to this remarkable musical achievement.
I also find that as I listen to Nanci's older albums, I find new
meanings in her poetry. To revisit her work is like reading a great
work of literature, one finds new shades of meaning each time. Her
greatness is best summarized by TIme Magazine when it reviewed my
personal favorite, Flyer, "She  may be one of America's greatest poets
and is certainly one of America's songwriters."

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From: Brimpls (Brimpls@aol.com)                                   
Subject: Stereo Review list                                      

Hi All,

I hate to be the bearer of negative news, and most likely this doesn't even
bother us since we know better, but... I just read in the AOL News area Stereo
Review Magazine's List of Best and Worst CD's of the Year.  You guessed it:
"Blue Roses from the Moons" is on the list, but it's on the Worst of the Year
list, right along with Spice Girls.  I haven't seen the magazine itself,
apparently it's the February '98 issue.  Wonder if a reviewer wrote about the
CD, or if it just appears on the list with no critique?  Has anyone seen this?
Do we care?

I was a music reviewer ever so briefly when I was 21 years old and living in
Grand Forks, North Dakota with my journalist boyfriend.  The newspaper there
had reviewers for movies, dance, and art, but none for music, so I volunteered
my services and was quite thrilled that they even paid me to do it.  But I
never felt too great about writing negative things, though if you are
realistic, you have to write some negative things.  Once I wrote something
unflattering about a midwestern rock group who opened for the Little River
Band, and sure enough, I got a phone call at home from some friend of the
group, lambasting me for daring to criticize them.

Another time, I went to a violin recital at the University, intending to write
a review of the recital which was being given by an elderly violinist who was
a faculty member there.  But the performance was so bad that there really was
nothing I could write, and I phoned the editor that night begging him to let
me skip that review entirely.  I just couldn't come up with anything
meaningful to say that wouldn't be hurtful, and the violinist was about to
retire after years of teaching in that community.  It just didn't seem
important for me to write a review in that situation.

All in all, being a music reviewer was not the most rewarding experience,
except that I got free tickets to hear Ray Charles (and what an easy review
that was) and I got a kiss backstage from Harry Chapin (way back in '78, he
was donating the proceeds from his concerts to the World Hunger Organization,
before it was trendy to do so).

Hope everyone is doing well in the New Year so far.  Bet Nanci is relaxing!

I'd be interested to know if anyone on this list is or has been a music
reviewer, and also if anyone has seen this Stereo Review issue.

Sabrina in Minneapolis

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Questions about NanciNet?  Send e-mail to ferg@world.std.com