// This long digest includes major traffic from noon or so of
// Friday, November 6, though 10:00 PM Sunday, November 8.
// Some discussion about possible future projects by Nanci (mostly
// concerning symphonic performances), the renewal of the FOITM 
// web page, and a couple of in-depth discussions of how a song means. 
// 
// Enjoy... [BP]

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Some guidelinesSubject: RE: NN: Re: [moonpie] Cry Cry Cry
   From: "DeYoung, Andy G." (agdeyoun@utmb.edu>

I've been giving Cry, Cry, Cry more continuous spins that any CD I've
bought this year; its fantastic...and to think that Lucy Kapalansy was
up at the Mucky Duck last night and I was out of town; dang, I hate it
when that happens.

Andy  

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: NN dream Cover
   From: "Aquarian Resourses" (Aquarian@1acc.com>

I totally agree with the person who said they
would want nanci to do a cover of Peggie-O,
also known as Fennario which was done very
nicely on many occassions by the Grateful
Dead.
My dream nanci  cover is her doing a version
of Neil Young's "Long May You Run". And
I'd love to hear neil do "Deadwood South
Dakota.


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: I say 10 months
   From: Scaryxxx@aol.com

Who wants to bet: We all heard the no more records quote this year from
Nanci(I believe that was about the time of no more world tours) I believe
she's much to young to know what she'll want  for ever. So I say we'll hear
plans with in 10 months.
       An entertainer  entertains  and I don't think sitting around writing
for other s would ever do Nanci on a long term or forever basis. So the new
alblum out by dec.99 or it's Bill's fault. Ready and willing in pa 

Gary

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re: NN: I say 10 months
   From: "R. H. Mitchell" (o41@erols.com>

Scaryxxx@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Who wants to bet: We all heard the no more records quote this year from
> Nanci(I believe that was about the time of no more world tours) I believe
> she's much to young to know what she'll want  for ever. So I say we'll hear
> plans with in 10 months.

A couple months back I posted news I got from inside the BMO that Nanci 
plans on remaking a lot of her earlier stuff with a symphony orchestra. 
'Course, she could have changed her mind by now.  It ain't my idea of a 
goodtime nohow.

Mitchell


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re: NN: I say 10 months
   From: Halesbop@aol.com

In a message dated 11/6/98 7:30:08 PM Pacific Standard Time, o41@erols.com
writes:

> A couple months back I posted news I got from inside the BMO that Nanci 
>  plans on remaking a lot of her earlier stuff with a symphony orchestra. 
>  'Course, she could have changed her mind by now.

   Nanci appears to be very much intent on the symphony idea. When she was in
Ann Arbor she told me that the only performing plans she has for '99 are with
symphony. (I was trying, unsuccessfully, to get her to confirm the rumor she'd
be doing a benefit concert up here.) So, I guess we'd better get ready for
some real "culture". I kinda liked the Boston Pops thing, so this could be
cool.

Steve

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Classical Nanci
   From: RonHennesy@aol.com

I'm excited by Nanci's planned ventures in classical music. The only specific
I've heard is a Nashville Ballet project, apparently based on a medley of her
already written and recorded songs.

Personally, I'd be more interested in seeing a classical project of NEW music:
perhaps an oratorio as with Paul McCartney; or a musical or opera as with
Roger Miller in his "Big River."

Given Nanci's stupendous talents as a musician and storyteller, I think
creating an original classical dramatic work with music and words would be an
exciting challenge to her.  Maybe she could collaborate with an experienced
writer like fellow Texan Larry McMurtry, who I know she admires!  Or she could
go the way of Wagner, Mussorgsky, and Prokofiev, and write both music and
libretto.

Best wishes to Nanci and all her fans!

Ron Hennessy

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re: NN: Classical Nanci
   From: LDay67@aol.com

Ron writes:
(( I'm excited by Nanci's planned ventures in classical music. The only
specific
 I've heard is a Nashville Ballet project, apparently based on a medley of her
 already written and recorded songs.
  >>

The Nashville Ballet project that you mentioned is _This Heart_, a ballet
based on Nanci Griffith's music.  The Nashville Ballet has produced it for the
past three years now, and if you're curious about it, search Shelly Brisbin's
digests using the word "ballet," and you can read some NanciNetters'
descriptions of it.  I made a trip to Nashville last February to see the
ballet, and it was well worth the trip.  Shelly's pages are at 
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/archives/arc.html.

I don't mean to fan the flames (or flame the fans!), but has anyone seen the
remix project mentioned in any press releases or music magazines?  It seems
like the NanciNet finds things out about Nanci Griffith through other means;
why are we suddenly so privileged to know about this inside scoop?


Lisa "stuck out in a blizzard in summer clothes" Day

n.p. Cry Cry Cry  (highly recommended)

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re:NN: Classical Nanci
   From: NanciMixer@aol.com

>I don't mean to fan the flames (or flame the fans!), but has anyone seen the
>remix project mentioned in any press releases or music magazines?  It seems
>like the NanciNet finds things out about Nanci Griffith through other means;
>why are we suddenly so privileged to know about this inside scoop?

Lisa Day asks why the mainstream press has not mentioned the remix project. 
The record company will send out press releases when a final street release
date is set in stone. NanciNetters hear about it early because I've been
working on the project for some time now.

Roy (anxious for a street date) Rede


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Tis the season?
   From: Halesbop@aol.com

Now that we've all smashed our jack-o-lanterns, thoughts are drifting toward
the holiday gift-giving (and receiving) season. Wasn't it about his time last
year that everyone's "best of" (or favorite) cds for the year started getting
submitted to the list and compliled? I know most of the cds Santa brought me
last year were ones I'd read about on people's Top Ten of 97 lists here on NN.
And I must say y'all have impeccable taste. 

Should we be thinking of doing this again for 98? Pugsley, was it you who
kept track of all the balloting last time? 

Steve

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re: NN: my first "official" posting
   From: susan bond (su.b@sk.sympatico.ca>

jo wrote:

>           Oh what I'd give just to see her in a small hole-in-the-wall
>Texas club, with a few (hundred!) friends kicking it up and having a grand
>old time.

Wouldn't that be something! I'd even pay fifty bucks to see her here at a
big venue. We just had Bob Dylan come to Saskatoon, but even though he's
legendary, I didn't fork out those big bucks. For Nanci, I would.
:-)

susan


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: nanci remix project
   From: AlunSmith@aol.com

I finally got round to listening to the remixes and fail to understand all the
vitriol that has been heaped upon them. To me they fall in the interesting
rather than good category and I would be interested in hearing the actual
album (although I doubt I would want to buy it). At least they commit the
cardinal sin of such projects, messing about with the original voice. Nanci's
voice comes over loud and true, and whilst they may not be to my taste, it
will bring her music to new ears.

Todd Barratt brought up Tammy Wynette and her appearance on the "Justified and
Ancient of Mu Mu" by the KLF and I seem to remember an interview with her at
the time in which she said she didn't understand what the record was all about
but anything that brought her music to a new audience was all right with her.
I imagine that Nanci would echo those sentiments.

Alun

PS Did anyone in the UK tape the interview on the Mike Harding show, there was
a power cut in my village so I missed it!

PPS Emmylou Harris was in fine voice and gave an interesting interview on the
Johnny Walker show this afternoon.


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: surfacing in this warfare
   From: "jenny.frog" (jenny.frog@virgin.net>

i'll guarantee to anybody here that i am the youngest member on the
list. i love nanci's music for what it is. it's different to what most
people my age have in their personal stereos, but what the hell. it
speaks so much and so directly to me. i've played nanci to my friends
when they ask what i'm singing, some like it, others hate it, most
people don't get it. some do and they are the closest of my friends. i
will be different.
luv jenny you can expect something put a bit more.......clearly when i'm
properly awake or at least find some coffee

// Strong guarantee, but you might be wrong, especially since you don't
// tell us your age :^) [BP]

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: RE: Subject: NN: Michael's Song
   From: Pat Horwath (pat@coe.berkeley.edu>

From: hr ziegler (henryruth@yahoo.com>

>I don't know if anyone has commented on this yet but here is what I
>know of Michael. His name is Michael (Mike) Williams and he is a
>songwriter. (snip> [BP]
>Mike said he did not agree with Nanci's vision of him in her
>song. He said that Nanci thought he was covering up a "darker side" 
>because he acted happy all of the time. He said that Nanci tended to
>be depressed and she could not understand how he could stay in an
>upbeat mood. 

Susan,
Thanks for sharing the story about Michael's Song.  I still enjoy listening
to that whole early Nanci album/CD.  The words and music to Michael's Song
for me transmit a sense of loneliness or melancholy.  Your story about
Michael helps put this in order.  Of course this is open to debate but any
story song about another includes the essence of the songwriter and I feel
after hanging out with Nanci all these years that the Chorus line is
perhaps more revealing about her.  

CHORUS

"I used to hide out in his pretty smile
And hope it would shine me through the morrow
Until I learned the way it feels to be the man
Who sings the world a smile without a soul to share his sorrow."

While a song is just a song to some, art or the craft of the lyric/poem is
the expression of the artist as much as it is a description of the what
they see, feel and know within themselves.  They see something out there,
bring it inside and filter it through their experience to express it
outside again in words for us to enjoy or find irratating.  My opinion
anyway.  I am not usually prone to analysis but the story is making me
think about connections.   The chorus tells me about Nanci and the fact
that Michael felt Nanci felt he was covering up his dark side and all the
while Michael felt Nanci was depressed.  

So what I will throw out here is that perhaps our heroine was getting or
was in touch with her dark side (loneliness, loss, depression, lost self,
whatever you want to project here.)  The song even says it in the last two
lines but was it Michael or Nanci who was singing "the world a smile
without a soul to share his/her sorrow?"  When I first heard Nanci sing
this song, I was impressed by the depth and feeling of that line.  I knew
then I wanted to follow this songwriter.

Jump to the Flyer tour and Nanci now telling us that at age 40 she is
finally "happy!"  The CD ends with "This Heart."   And in OVOR I she
chooses "Across the Great Divide" by Kate Wolf to start off which I don't
feel was just a selection by accident or simple choice.  "I've been walking
in my sleep, counting troubles, instead of counting sheep, where the time
went, I can't say, I just turned around, and they've gone away...where the
river changes directions across the Great Divide."  Well, I for one would
love to read Nanci's autobiography.  But maybe its already there in her
lyrics/music?  Is there method to this madness or am I just dreaming?

I unfortunately have to leave my online connection without trying to bring
closure to this post.  But I want to put out my suggestion for a Nanci
Cover.  I'd love to hear Jami Sieber who plays cello for many folks but you
can catch her lately with Ferron on tour.  I'd love to hear Jami play
Michael's Song as well as several other pieces of Nanci's music.  

Pat

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: song meanings [was RE: Subject: NN: Michael's Song]
   From: susan bond (su.b@sk.sympatico.ca>

Hello Pat, and everyone...

I think this must be the bane - or the delight - of every songwriter's
existence, this argument over where meaning comes from. Bane, if it is yet
another aspect of the curious public probing into the private life and mind
of the writer; delight if the writer enjoys the sense of mystery she
creates.

I'll try my best to give at least this songwriter's perspective on this.
I've been interviewed about, and have sat on panels discussing songwriting
and "the creative process" and the most common questions, I found, revolve
around where the ideas come from. These questions take many forms:
- Which came first, the words or the music?  [the all-time favourite question!]
- Do you write from personal experience? Or, How much of You is in your songs?
- When/how/why/where do you write songs?
- Do you write songs daily?
- Do you write songs about the people you meet?

and the dreaded question:
- What does [insert song name] mean?

I know that I'm always happy to share my ideas about writing and where
ideas come from, because writing is all about perceiving and in that sense,
the reader and the writer become one through their interaction. Discussion
of the meaning of something is a good thing and can be very enlightening;
as with so many things, it's the spirit of thing that carries it off or
makes it grind to a halt. When I first began writing, I was skeptical of
what I called confessional writing, because I sometimes felt like a bit of
a voyeur reading the lyrics of even someone as well-known and loved as Joni
Mitchell. I told myself, I'll never do that. Lo and behold, when I started
writing songs seriously about 10 years ago, it was the "personal" ones that
spoke the most to people, and I wondered why this was. Of course, it has
everything to do with resonance, and when you bring yourself to another's
piece of art, you bring your own interpretation and filters to it. Am I
saying that there are no absolutes? No, not quite. But one of the reasons I
refer to that last question as "dreaded" is that if a writer were to "tell"
her public exactly what she meant when she wrote something, then she would
be robbing that person of the opportunity to perceive from their own
perspective meanings that she might have only hinted at, or triggered. Such
is the goal of the writer, I think: to truly inspire. Doesn't mean *my*
idea is a good one; just that it makes you think, and THAT is good. If you
think someone is depressed, or happy, it doesn't really matter nearly as
much as how they put how it feels to be really depressed or really happy.
If it makes you nod your head and smile and say, Yeah! it's really like
that!... then I would say the writer has done her job.

When I write from personal experience, which is most of the time, I'm happy
to share what I delve deeply for. But I like to assume that there will be a
safe zone around that; that the listener will not want to know the visceral
details, or the mundane details, or the petty details of what actually
happened, because part of the beauty of taking a raw emotion and turning it
into poetry or song or a story is that you are creating a new thing; it's a
bit like bringing a new kid into the world... and you don't go showing off
the dirty diapers!

It's true that when you write from the personal, as Nanci does, that people
will wonder about and want to read into the lyrics for some glimmer of
understanding into the person of the writer. And they're sure to find it,
too, because Nanci's perception is so clear, we can't help but recognize
the truths. Some songwriters "let it all hang out". They'll tell you point
blank about their boyfriend/girlfriend/parents/
job/dog/car/sex hang-ups etc. I think those that want you to know, let you
know. Those who want the buffer will build it into their artwork.

Depression? I've lived with it, from time to time. It can be a great
motivator. It takes a lot of energy to be depressed and to fight
depression, and some of the greatest minds in history have suffered from it
(Churchill, Kafka, and countless other novelists and poets....). The
difference is that these successful people were able to find a way to
harness the energy that would otherwise take them down and turn it instead
into great art or action. Depressed people are not to be pitied, I don't
believe, but respected for their sensitivity and compassion which can feel
like a burden when they care too much, which is often the case.

I guess my point in all of this is to say, yes, there is always something
to read between the lines in another writer's songs. But know that 50% of
what is there is what you, the listener/reader, bring to it. That is the
writer's gift to you.   :-)

with much respect to all of you,
Susan

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: Re: song meanings [was RE: Subject: NN: Michael's Song]
   From: "R. H. Mitchell" (o41@erols.com>

I'm not a songwriter, or even a songwriter's son--a mere novelist--but 
what Susan Bonds says make sense to me.  I'd just like to add that when 
you're creating anything, it's bound to wind up in some way 
autobiographical, but that doesn't mean that you know it's 
autobiographical yourself.  

Anything done from the heart reveals the heart.

Reid Mitchell

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Re: song meanings (long post)
   From: Poetmuse@aol.com

In a message dated 11/7/98 8:50:28 PM MST, su.b@sk.sympatico.ca writes:

(( Depressed people are not to be pitied, I don't
 believe, but respected for their sensitivity and compassion which can feel
 like a burden when they care too much, which is often the case. >>

What a great post, Susan. As a "poet"/writer I identified with a lot of it.
And what a great quote above. In reflecting back on my own life I know that
the times when I've been the lowest, most depressed it's been because I *have*
cared too much, whether it's been about a person (usually the case) or about
some abstract "thing". 
One of the interesting things about Nanci's work, to me, is that while yes,
some of her songs are sad- she speaks of lost love, not enough love, broken
hearts, et al with too much common place and yet she never makes you feel as
if it's hopeless. Like I mentioned in another post, Nanci makes the darkeness
roll away BY singing about it. Perhaps bringing a little peace to my heart.
There's great power in thinking you're not alone, even when the person you're
connecting with is singing a song- which may or may not even be a real story.
But the *emotion* is real- and that is what is true, and what people respond
to. 
I write a lot of poems. Some of them true, some of them not. But I've often
been asked if I've lived a sad life just by the nature of what most of them
deal with. My answer to this is usually to say that sad things come more
naturally to me to write about. I have yet to conquer the "happy" poem..this
may be easier in song, then in poetry, I don't know. There is something that
almost cheapens the happiness to me though, when you try to express it
(instead of feeling it) too much- it just comes out strained to me. But then
again, this could be because I suffer from what the Eskimo's do... too many
words to describe "ice" instead of heat. Just like Nanci is fond of using the
"winter" as a resting place for her sadness- traveling through the winter in
her summer clothes can cause one to feel left out and out of place. 
Nanci is a strong writer- starting with poetry when she was a little one, if I
remember correctly from the OVOR video, and so she is probably apt to play
with the metaphor, and given to lyrical flourish. Embellishiment, so to speak.
Which doesn't make her work any less enjoyable to me. I heard Nanci say once
that the voice that truly carries you is the voice you call your own. And as
you noted Susan, the "personal" ones do speak the most to people. I've noticed
the same with my work. It's the ones I want to pull back and keep to myself,
because they show too much to the world, that recieve the most comments from
people. And maybe that's because like you said, people respond to honesty
whether it's something they identify with completely or not. I don't know if
Nanci does this or not- but sometimes there can be just *one* line that is too
close to home for me and that makes it seem to real- makes it seem
autobiographical. She called Flyer her album for writing about her life and
her own self. But look at all the different emotions and situations on that
album as a whole- which ones are fiction and which ones are true? Maybe it's
the combo of both that works for me. And I guess creativity is taking the
grain of truth and making it fiction and vice versa. I'm just glad Nanci
invited us along for the ride. 
:)

Anyone still with me? ::::checking list pulse:::: ah! yes, there you are, my
nanci net.
thanks for always listening to me - even when I ramble.

Christina " may our open hearts find rest" Myers

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Moments of Grace
   From: Poetmuse@aol.com

Happy Saturday to all my fellow Nanci-netters. I've been listening to our Miss
Nanci for almost 24 hours here, non stop, and I am struck by how often a
certain song or line or musical "note" (such as the "ping" in Love at the Five
and Dime) can just send me back to other times and moments in my life. There's
the time I cried when driving home from a friends house, listening to "If
wishes were changes"- knowing that I was in love with someone who didn't love
me back. The there's the time I laughed out loud to hear myself laugh, while
listening to "Anything But Me" for the first time... feeling like Nanci had
stepped into my shoes and read my journal and decided to write a song about
it. 
Or the time I sat alone in the dark listening to "Goodnight's To A Mother's
Dream" over and over again, struck by the poignancy and poetic loveliness that
song has within it. Remembering the story she told when she performed it live
on the Flyer tour, which I was fortunate enough to see. Feeling very much like
a heart never taken, myself- and loving Nanci for not making me feel quite so
bad about it. 
Or when I first finally "got it"...when I finally connected to Nanci, mentally
and emotionally, on a rainy saturday college day, stuck in a dorm room,
listening to Other Voices, Other rooms, realizing how many things that existed
in this world that I knew nothing about- so many voices I'd never heard.
Realizing Nanci had opened a door for me that will never close- I'll never
stop listening for the voice seldom heard, even if it is my own.
And finally & just recently- the time I was driving across the Continental
Divide, listening to a live version of Kate Wolf's exquisite "Across the Great
Divide"- driving back from a dear friend whom I loved and yet who I also knew
(again) didn't love me the same way- feeling it all come full circle- feeling
that it's always just me here inside that matters and loving Nanci for making
the darkness... "roll away." Always and forever.

Christina "sipping her winter's wine a bit early this year" Myers


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: FOITM and Telluride 1998 Photos (Lots of Nanci)
   From: Bill Peete (billpeet@cruzio.com>

Hi Folks,

Just a quick post to let everyone know I'm reviving the "Friends Out In The
Madness" page that our fine friend, Marty Welch, put together back in 1996.
Marty's recent schedule has disallowed the time, he felt necessary, to
maintain it properly. So naturally, when the opportunity to relieve him came
up, well I couldn't resist! 

For the newer folks that may not be familiar with it... it's a web-based
version of the Nanci-Net Directory that Anna and Terry Henderson put
together in printed form back in 1996. Quite a fine publication I might add!

The directory contains names, e-mails, web-page URLs, and / or pictures of
some of the finest people you may ever wish to ever know all your life. 

Check it out at the new location:

http://www.cruzio.com/~billpeet/Foitm/fom.html

Note: A few of the links on the page are outdated so if anyone can provide
updated info, I'd be glad to incorporate it.

Also. if anyone would like to be added to the directory, you may e-mail your
vital information to 

billpeet@cruzio.com

If you don't have a picture in 'file form', you may snail mail them to

	Bill Peete
	3010 Grnite Creek Road
	Scotts Valley, CA 95066

and I'll scan and return them to you with no return charge! Is that a deal?

I've also put up Norm Watson's pictures from Telluride 1998 for your
enjoyment at 

	http://www.cruzio.com/~billpeet/Tellu98/Tellu98.htm

Thank You Kindly,

Bill "Wearin' my brand new (way cool!)Nanci Griffith jean jacket" Peete

// hey, this is very neat. The original FOITM page was nearly three
// years ago...thanks, Bill!  [BP]

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Friends Out in the Madness Page
   From: Poetmuse@aol.com

Bravo! to Bill Peete for taking on the Friends out in the Madness web site!!!
I can't wait till we get it updated! I think it's a great idea and a neat way
for us to see who we're talking to. :) If anyone cares, I was Bill's guinea
pig this afternoon when he added my picture and info....hope you work out
those kinks and make it more efficient- glad I offered myself up for the
chopping board, Bill! :) It looks cool. Who's next? :)

Christina " I feel famous all of a sudden" Myers

_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: originals
   From: GORDON1717@aol.com

Hi everyone, 
sorry that it's taken so long to reply to the questions about the originals
tape, I have been on sojourn in Missouri. (Any NN'ers in Owensville MO?  If so
I need to talk to you!)
I have several people interested in doing a tape of original songs inspired by
Nanci.  If you would like to be a part of this get in touch with me at the
above address (Don't send it to the NN address please.... keep the airwaves
free so others may breathe) and we can start to get this thing on the road.  
To refresh memories........ we are proposing a tape of songs written by NN'ers
that we would (if only our wildest dreams could come true) have Nanci record
on her next (never to be released ) album.  Remember, only original songs on
this tape!!!  
let's get creative guys.................... Gordon


_________________________________________________________________

Subject: NN: Arnold McCuller
   From: MMcLean7@aol.com

"Miller, Dianne" (Dianne.Miller@mail.house.gov> wrote:
>Fans of sitcom TV will also recognize Arnold's voice from the theme song for
"Mad About You."

Actually, the theme song for "Mad About You" is sung by Andrew Gold ('70s hits
"Lonely Boy" and "Thank You For Being A Friend"). An alternate version of the
theme was recorded by Anita Baker two years ago.

Mickey McLean
Greensboro, NC


_________________________________________________________________
Questions about NanciNet?  Send e-mail to bpage@scctel.com