Hello, y'all

[James B Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>]

Ha!  Did you ever really think I'd leave you?  Actually, the pain of
receiving this everyday was a little too much on my poor psyche - I
mean if you think I'm bad when I FLAME you should see me in the 
morning when I have to read some of this JUNK.  My opinion only ...

Due to the wonders of FTP, I can abscond with the latest from l-hounds
and spend my lunch hour every couple weeks sorting through this mess.
Using "page" to do this is cool because if you set your search pattern
for Subject you can usually eliminate the fluff (sorry, my opinion again)
and also the two posters from England which I can hardly stomach don't
even have Subject lines.  Sorry, no offense to M. and H. but I'm not
as interested in "collecting Kate memorabilia" as yourselves.  No offense
meant and I hope none taken.  I'm sure YOU don't like reading MY non-
Kate junk but you don't have FTP so there.

Gosh, this is nice being nice, don't you think?  

BOOKS:
I've been reading a bunch of rock bios lately:  Actually this disturbing
new hof-trend started whilst consuming the latest Mother Jones in my
local library wherein I found out that Jimmy Swaggart is first cousin
with Jerry Lee Lewis and that GREAT BALLS OF FIRE was recommended as the
best rock bio ever.  So, I found the bio section in our Dewey damaged
library and scarfed up bios on Madonna and Prince as well as the Jerry
Lee Lewis bio.  The MADONNA bio takes about 35-40 minutes to read but
is really an interesting story about a extremely DRIVEN person who actually
does afterall have some stake in her claim on stardom - mainly her professional
modern dance background and her grounding in MOTOWN from an early age.  Why
she is now singing slow ballads is beyond me.  The most telling parts of
this book is direct quotes from a guy named Bill RosenBlatt who finalized
the Ciconne's contract to SIRE.  It's a sad commentary on music in the 20th
century when you have people like this guy involved so intensely.  To him,
music and business are as synonomous as manure and horseshit.  An interesting
book for Madonna haters and lovers as well.  But definitely library intensive
(i.e. don't waste your hard-earned cash on it).  The PRINCE bio is laughable.
No attempt is made to actually attack/explain/glorify the Purple One's ideas
on love and dreams and sex and SEX AND SEX AND SEX.  This is VERY tame unlike
the Jerry Lee Lewis "uncensored" bio.  So far, this reads almost like good
fiction but must be taken as such since I can see no way for the writer to
make the assumptions on what is going on in people's minds.  But he does
anyway and his guess is probably more educated than mine will ever be.
There are just too many writers in the rock field who can't write but this
guy (forget his name) sure can.  The stuff on SUN records is a must for 
anyone interested in independent record companies. Also, the trivia (i.e.
the strange people that cross Jerry's path like Wink Martindale and Swaggart
and of course, his main competition Elvis) make this the most interesting
read I've had in a long time.  More at a later date.

On The BIG SKY:

I thought this song was yet another Kate attempt to "do" America -
The video description seems to support this, yes?  No?

Re:  The DK's legal problems.

There's a page description of the bust in the latest Maximum Rock and
Roll for anyone interested.  It's written by Jello's live-in writer
friend who had her stuff rifled through and torn apart.  Apparently,
the police may face illegal search and seizure charges for confiscating
the MORDAM files who merely share an office/warehouse with Alternative
Tentacles.  Vee shall see....

At the very least, it'll give Jello something to write about (jail that is).