Errors-To: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Reply-To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Sender: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Precedence: bulk From: owner-tmbg-digest@tmbg.org To: tmbg-digest@tmbg.org Subject: tmbg-list Digest #28-14 tmbg-list Digest, Volume 28, Number 14 Tuesday, 18 April 2000 Today's Topics: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Re: TMBG: TMBG Reference on Futurama Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Re: TMBG: TMBG Reference on Futurama Re[2]: Re:TMBG: non tmbg-a friend in need(not me) TMBG: DC show's Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy TMBG: Binghamton Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy TMBG: New Idea to Push TMBG's Music TMBG: SenSurround Vs. SenSurround Re: TMBG: New Idea to Push TMBG's Music TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Re: TMBG: Flanburgh in Playboy Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy TMBG: RIP: Edward Gorey (fwd) Administrivia: If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing send mail to tmbg-digest-request@tmbg.org for instructions on how to be automatically removed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors. --------------------------------------------------------------------- tmbg-list is digested with Digest 3.5b (John Relph ). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <003001bfa84e$6adc4840$23cdfe3f@oemcomputer> From: "PAT ACQUISTO" Subject: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 04:22:12 -0500 Organization: Prodigy Internet To bring a little information to the list, Flans is in the new April 2000 issue of Playboy. No, he's not half naked and dressed like a woman, but he lists, in his opinion, the five greatest songs of all time. From what I remember he said, somewhere over the rainbow, good vibrations by the beach boys, roadrunner by jonathan richman "it's the reason I'm in a band", some otis redding song and some bob dylan song. He also gave short descriptions for why he picked each song. It's on page 155, I believe and I don't own the article so I can't post it. Sorry. nick ------------------------------ From: rhilton@bitc.org.uk Message-Id: Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 10:31:10 +0100 Subject: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Well exactly who would admit to owning the article! Richard >>> "PATACQUISTO@prodigy.net" 17/April/2000 10:07am >>> To bring a little information to the list, Flans is in the new April 2000 issue of Playboy. No, he's not half naked and dressed like a woman, but he lists, in his opinion, the five greatest songs of all time. From what I remember he said, somewhere over the rainbow, good vibrations by the beach boys, roadrunner by jonathan richman "it's the reason I'm in a band", some otis redding song and some bob dylan song. He also gave short descriptions for why he picked each song. It's on page 155, I believe and I don't own the article so I can't post it. Sorry. nick ------------------------------ From: GhostKrabb@webtv.net (Dexter Flansburgh) Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 02:32:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Message-ID: <13857-38FADA30-9109@storefull-247.iap.bryant.webtv.net> "Well exactly who would admit to owning the article!" I see nothing wrong with it. Playboy isn't smutty or anything. It's a tastefully done display of a beatiful thing... the human body. Of course, I don't own the article... :) Dexter Flansburgh http://community.webtv.net/GhostKrabb http://www.hello.to/Bootlegs (my tape trade page) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 05:54:30 -0500 (CDT) From: "Peter L. Vachuska" Subject: Re: TMBG: TMBG Reference on Futurama Message-ID: On Mon, 17 Apr 2000, Nathan Mulac DeHoff wrote: > Ian: > >Those of you who watched Futurama tonight, did you notice the squid > >wrestling with the whale a la Apollo 18? Weird, right after we were > >talking > >about TMBG an Futurama... > > I didn't see tonight's episode, but I doubt that it's really a TMBG > reference, since They didn't invent that image. In fact, considering all > the science-fiction stuff in Futurama, it might well be a reference to > Arthur Clarke's _Childhood's End_. > -- I don't know how popular that image is. What is the reference to _Childhood's End_? According to Linnell, Flans found it in an old SF magazine (FATE) from the 50's. This doesn't preclude the possibility that the image may be popular in other places. Nor does it mean the story is necessarily true. Here is the story from an interview with Rumpus Magazine - October, 1992: R: So you got both of these graphics from NASA (Pointing to the spaceship and the sea-scape on the cover) JL: No, just the spaceship. The other one comes from a book cover. It's one of those little 50s pulp magazine things that John found in a bookstore. R: (pointing to the whale-squid skirmish) Have you ever seen this happen? JL: No, if you're talking about a hoax, I think that's a hoax right there. I think there's some sort of implication in that picture that the squid might win the fight against the whale, but I think what happens is that the whale eats the squid. * ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cover of Apollo 18 lp The image of the whale and squid on the cover shows up in natural history exhibits as a big battle among sea creatures. Our cover was taken from Fate Magazine, a pulp science fiction magazine from the '50s. * ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -PeterV ------------------------------ From: tmbgirl@juno.com Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 07:42:20 -0400 Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy -Reply Message-ID: <20000417.074223.-303359.1.TMBgirl@juno.com> > Well exactly who would admit to owning the article! > Richard hey - he was reading the articles! take it easy, JOrdaN http://www.geocities.com/tmbgirl.geo/ http://www.radiofreecash.com/home.asp?ref=TMBgirl ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20000417125307.20269.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Nathan Mulac DeHoff" Subject: Re: TMBG: TMBG Reference on Futurama Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 12:53:07 GMT Peter: >I don't know how popular that image is. What is the reference to >_Childhood's End_? In that book, someone stows away to another planet in a display made of a whale fighting a squid. >According to Linnell, Flans found it in an old SF >magazine (FATE) from the 50's. I'm not sure when _Childhood's End_ was published, but the cover might have been a reference to it. Or maybe not. >R: (pointing to the whale-squid skirmish) Have you ever seen this happen? > >JL: No, if you're talking about a hoax, I think that's a hoax right there. >I think there's some sort of implication in that picture that the squid >might win the fight against the whale, but I think what happens is that >the whale eats the squid. I think that's what Clarke said, too. -- Eat your broccoli, Nathan DinnerBell@tmbg.org http://www.geocities.com/fablesto/ ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ From: karinh@sterl.com Message-Id: <0004179559.AA955980259@smtplink.sterl.com> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 10:04:11 -0400 Subject: Re[2]: Re:TMBG: non tmbg-a friend in need(not me) As the person who started this whole mess by re:ing the first message (which I actually thought was kinda funny, in a lame sorta way), I propose that we all email our sincere apologies to dear ol' Jerrie. I think it's the least we could do. Maybe we could offer her all our copies of the Happy99 attachment as a peace offering?? Now I'll get off this entirely, since it is the most non-TMBG subject I've ever seen here, easily outstripping even the whole vegetarians/carnivores topic for sheer non-TMBG irrelevance. Shutting up now - - - Karin H ** FREE THE EXPO 67 ** ____________________Reply Separator____________________ Subject: Re: Re:TMBG: non tmbg-a friend in need(not me) Author: "Jose" Date: 04/15/00 12:30 AM Hmmm... I feel pretty bad now. I would apologize, but that would be silly as she never would have got my first message either if she isn't on our list. Oh well - no harm done I guess. I understand where she is coming from on this one - anybody ever receive a newsletter/spam from some company/porn palace claiming that they signed up to receive it? This has happened to me more than numerous times. Jose Christina Rockwell wrote in message <4.3.0.20000414165557.00a68c20@mmc.marymt.edu>... >she didnt subscribe to this list... if you look at the original email there >were a couple of lists and a bunch on single email addresses...my guess is >the person who sent out the mail just sent it to everyone in the address >book...and as people were hitting reply all....jerrie was getting all the >list mail related to this subject... >> > >>Jerrie F Daly <"jerrie_f_daly"@uhc.com> wrote in message >><862568BF.006AA701.00@uhcnh003.uhc.com>... >> >PLEASE take me out of this list. This is my work address and not the >> >appropriate place for this junk to be delivered. Actually I won't >>appreciate it >> >at my home either. I don't know who you people are and I don't care. Just >>stop >> >the crap. >> >Thank you. >> > ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20000417142751.23908.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Kristin ." Subject: TMBG: DC show's Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 10:27:51 EDT Did anyone record the DC shows this weekend? Thanks!! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: 17 Apr 2000 08:34:29 -0800 Message-ID: <-1256162029ggr@wlg.com> From: Bongo Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy >Flans is in the new April 2000 issue of Playboy. Appearing in an interview for Playboy is not necessarily an endorsement of the magazine. If you REALLY want to be embarrassed getting something for it's TMBG content, buy the soundtrack to Power Rangers movie. -B O N G O ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20000417162253.92268.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Ian The Bold" Subject: TMBG: Binghamton Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 12:22:53 EDT Does anyone know if the Velcro Horns will be in Binghamton? Awake but still in bed, Ian ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 12:23:16 -0400 From: "Jose" Message-ID: <8dfdor$1agc$1@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy While we're on the subject, anyone else prefer the version of SenSurround on the MMPR soundtrack? Not only do I prefer the John's little "Bah - da - ba -dop" part to the out of place sounding instrumental, but even the music itself sounds better on the MMPR soundtrack. I should be embarrassed about buying the soundtrack? ;-) Jose Bongo wrote in message <-1256162029ggr@wlg.com>... >>Flans is in the new April 2000 issue of Playboy. > > Appearing in an interview for Playboy is not necessarily an endorsement of the magazine. > > If you REALLY want to be embarrassed getting something for it's TMBG content, buy the soundtrack to Power Rangers movie. > > >-B O N G O > > ------------------------------ Date: 17 Apr 2000 09:35:21 -0800 Message-ID: <-1256158377ggr@wlg.com> From: Bongo Subject: TMBG: New Idea to Push TMBG's Music TMBG have presented music to the world on vinyl, tape, CD, MP3, dial-a-song, movie soundtracks,TV shows and in their very frequent live shows. Last year their official newsletter referred to them as "Kings of All Media" But there's one outlet that other bands have exploited that TMBG hasn't: video game music. Wait don't laugh yet. Until recently, most video games used what sounded like generic techno music. Now the technology has advanced so that actual songs can play during the game. A lot of songs are being licensed for use in games. In most cases it's punk-type bands in extreme sports-type games but I think there'll be more variety in the future. Soul Coughing doesn't seem like a band that would have tunes in a video game but "Super Bon Bon" appears in "Gran Turismo 2", one of the best selling Playstation games of all time. Another atypical music choice in "Gran Turismo 2" is The Cardigans "My Favorite Game". Sonic Adventure has some breezy, poppy song in it too. (Don't know the band.) So I think any type of music could find its way into a game. An advantage to this is that it forces the game player to listen to the song until it gets burned into their brain. (I never thought Rob Zombie made my kind of music but "Sled Storm" had me singing "Dragula" for weeks.) Also the age range of the average video gamer is about the same as many TMBG fans so it seems like a good scheme. -B O N G O ------------------------------ Date: 17 Apr 2000 09:43:08 -0800 Message-ID: <-1256157910ggr@wlg.com> From: Bongo Subject: TMBG: SenSurround Vs. SenSurround On Tuesday, June 6, 1939, Jose wrote: >While we're on the subject, anyone else prefer the version of SenSurround on >the MMPR soundtrack? I prefer the MMPR version but if I had heard the other one first, I wonder if I would prefer it instead. I'm positive though that I prefer the original James K Polk. -B O N G O (Obnoxiously quadruple-spaced since 1996) ------------------------------ From: MikeTheGiant@aol.com Message-ID: <76.3062671.262ca06b@aol.com> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 13:14:19 EDT Subject: Re: TMBG: New Idea to Push TMBG's Music Actually, Bongo, you have a very good point...I bought the Goldfinger album "Hang-ups" due to repedetly hearing the song while playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. It turned out to be a wise buy. Maybe TMBG would gain some publicity that way, who knows. Mike "The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin ------------------------------ From: MikeTheGiant@aol.com Message-ID: <76.30a0194.262cbff6@aol.com> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 15:28:54 EDT Subject: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files If anyone out there in internet land can help me find some FREE mp3 files to download, I'd be ever so greatful. Not just TMBG, but techno, ska, punk files are good. Any help would be great. Mike "The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 15:51:14 -0400 From: "Jose" Message-ID: <8dfpv8$1h3k$1@ussenterprise.ufp.org> Organization: They Might Be Giants, Unofficially http://www.tmbg.org Subject: Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Mike, While you should, of course, buy all TMBG albums I could recommend some software for finding rarities and a wide range of music. If you are interested, drop me a note and I'll e-mail you the installer, as I've heard the new version doesn't work. The installer is only 100 Kb. Drop me a note. Jose MikeTheGiant@aol.com wrote in message <76.30a0194.262cbff6@aol.com>... >If anyone out there in internet land can help me find some FREE mp3 files to >download, I'd be ever so greatful. Not just TMBG, but techno, ska, punk >files are good. Any help would be great. > >Mike > >"The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, >someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there >on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 16:01:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Kevin Keeler Subject: Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Message-ID: YOU ARE GOING TO HELL Serious now. Take the time you waste begging for free music and get a fucking job. Wow.. first post to this list in damn near a year, I'm sure.. and it took some slimy asshole like this to drag me out. To summariza: YOU...fucking..slimy...asshole. Hmmm.. my summary makes me sound a bit harsh. I do hope it won't cause my point to not be taken. Love is free. Music is not* --kevin * actually, there are more exceptions to this rule than otherwise. Again., I hope my flagrant lying doesn't cause anyone to miss a decent point. Did I say I don't own any mp3's I didnt pay for? I certainly did not. Don't even bother. On Mon, 17 Apr 2000 MikeTheGiant@aol.com wrote: > If anyone out there in internet land can help me find some FREE mp3 files to > download, I'd be ever so greatful. Not just TMBG, but techno, ska, punk > files are good. Any help would be great. > > Mike > > "The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, > someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there > on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 16:06:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Kevin Keeler Subject: Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Message-ID: Aww.. shit. for clarity's sake: I really don't want to start some values debate or anything. Do what you will, but harm none and all that. Just making my opinion known. To a point I won't look down on you. Posting to this list like M. Mike did is a leap beyond that point. There are more interesting debates to have than this. Carry on. --kevin (again) who, by the way, thinks State Songs is *at least* in a tie for my favorite TMBG/TMBG-related album. On Mon, 17 Apr 2000, Kevin Keeler wrote: > YOU ARE GOING TO HELL > > Serious now. Take the time you waste begging for free music and get a > fucking job. > > Wow.. first post to this list in damn near a year, I'm sure.. and it took > some slimy asshole like this to drag me out. > > To summariza: YOU...fucking..slimy...asshole. > > Hmmm.. my summary makes me sound a bit harsh. I do hope it won't cause my > point to not be taken. Love is free. Music is not* > > > > --kevin > > > * actually, there are more exceptions to this rule than otherwise. Again., > I hope my flagrant lying doesn't cause anyone to miss a decent point. > > Did I say I don't own any mp3's I didnt pay for? I certainly did > not. Don't even bother. > > On Mon, 17 Apr 2000 MikeTheGiant@aol.com wrote: > > > If anyone out there in internet land can help me find some FREE mp3 files to > > download, I'd be ever so greatful. Not just TMBG, but techno, ska, punk > > files are good. Any help would be great. > > > > Mike > > > > "The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, > > someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there > > on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin > > > ------------------------------ Message-ID: <002c01bfa8a9$9831c080$f1176520@cannon10> From: "Erich Cannon" Subject: Re: TMBG/NON-TMBG: MP3 files Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 13:14:52 -0700 It's a little late to get vintictive on mp3 trading-- just the other day big wigs of the music industry finally admitted that there is nothing they can do about-- its spread so much and its huge. The easiest way to get mp3z is napster. www.napster.com just d/l the program, login, search and download simple as that. Erich >YOU ARE GOING TO HELL > >Serious now. Take the time you waste begging for free music and get a >fucking job. > >Wow.. first post to this list in damn near a year, I'm sure.. and it took >some slimy asshole like this to drag me out. > >To summariza: YOU...fucking..slimy...asshole. > >Hmmm.. my summary makes me sound a bit harsh. I do hope it won't cause my >point to not be taken. Love is free. Music is not* > > > > --kevin > > >* actually, there are more exceptions to this rule than otherwise. Again., >I hope my flagrant lying doesn't cause anyone to miss a decent point. > >Did I say I don't own any mp3's I didnt pay for? I certainly did >not. Don't even bother. > >On Mon, 17 Apr 2000 MikeTheGiant@aol.com wrote: > >> If anyone out there in internet land can help me find some FREE mp3 files to >> download, I'd be ever so greatful. Not just TMBG, but techno, ska, punk >> files are good. Any help would be great. >> >> Mike >> >> "The very existance of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, >> someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there >> on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.' " - George Carlin >> > > ------------------------------ Message-ID: <000c01bfa8b2$29e9daa0$a1956420@cannon10> From: "Erich Cannon" Subject: Re: TMBG: Flanburgh in Playboy Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 14:16:11 -0700 FINALLY!!! AN EXCUSE TO BUY AN ISSUE OF PLAYBOY AND SAY YES!! YES!! IM READING IT FOR THE ARTICLES!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! ------------------------------ From: CallMeDoctorWorm@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 17:47:10 EDT Subject: Re: TMBG: Flansburgh in Playboy About buying the Powers Rangers soundtrack to get SenSurround, Jose writes: << I should be embarrassed about buying the soundtrack? ;-) >> No, I should be embarrassed because I damaged my first copy and I'll have to buy it again. I guess it was okay for me to buy it the first time (I was like 9), but the second time, maybe I'll have my eight-year-old sister buy it for me. Or I'll just tell the people at the counter that it's a present. The reason I'm concerned is that the guy who works there goes to my school. Isn't that funny. 14-year-old people (such as myself) send little people to buy things that they would be too embarrassed to buy themselves. But we have to send people older than ourselves to get Playboy out of the bookstores. Which reminds me, getting back to the original subject, if any of you could send me that issue, I'd be really (heh heh) grateful. Thanks you. "Bah ba ba ba ba ba ba bah. Doo doo doo doo doo doo!" Sing along! Dr. Rick Worm Chief of Surgical Staff The Worm Clinic Shaker Heights, Ohio ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 18:32:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Squid Explosion Subject: TMBG: RIP: Edward Gorey (fwd) Message-ID: This is damn sad. -----------"Hammer down, rabbit ears." -They Might Be Giants----------- Robin Connell *elegia@cgicafe.com* DJ Elegia "I wonder if anyone ever mentioned it to him, quietly, between scenes, as a friend. I mean we all assume that he wanted his pants that high, but maybe it was a problem. Maybe poor Dick had creeping pants." -Paul Chaplin ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 09:57:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross To: Squidmaniax! Subject: RIP: Edward Gorey This one really saddens me. From the New York Times: Edward Gorey, Artist and Author Who Turned the Macabre Into a Career, Dies at 75 By MEL GUSSOW Edward Gorey, the artist and author who was a grand master of the comic macabre and delighted generations of readers with his spidery drawings and stories of hapless children, swooning maidens, throbblefooted specters, threatening topiary and weird, mysterious events on eerie Victorian landscapes, died on Saturday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass. He was 75 and lived in Yarmouth Port, Mass. He had suffered a heart attack on Wednesday, said Elizabeth Morton, a cousin. Edmund Wilson, the first of many critics to extol Mr. Gorey's work, described his world as "poisonous and poetic." It was that and much more: witty, woeful, devious and delirious to the point of obsession. He was one of the most aptly named figures in American art and literature. In creating a large body of small work, he made an indelible imprint on noir fiction and on the psyche of his admirers. Mr. Gorey, who wrote more than 100 books and illustrated more than 60 by other authors (from Edward Lear to Samuel Beckett), also had a career in the theater, with revues based on his stories and as a scenic designer. "Dracula," in the Gorey version, was a Broadway hit in 1977. In person Mr. Gorey was as instantly identifiable as his work. Toweringly tall, he had a white beard and frothy hair, an earring in each lobe and rings on most of his fingers. When he lived in New York, he often wore a raccoon coat, although later in life he became sheepish about wearing fur. He looked foreboding, like a buccaneer between piracies or a figure out of one of his books, and his self-portrait lurks on the fringe of many of his stories. But in contrast to the work, the man was genial and gentle, and sometimes childish in his language, peppering his conversation with words like "jeepers" and "zingy." "There was this false idea that he was a brooding, melancholic man," said Andreas Brown, a friend of Mr. Gorey's and the owner of the Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan. "He was not a recluse. He was jovial and effervescent, and he loved to laugh." The books could be bizarre in the extreme. His alphabet books chronicle the mishaps of unfortunates deceived by fate. "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" begins with "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs" (a ghostly child plummeting headlong to her doom) and ends with "Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin." The stories of peril are frightful, but with a strong sense of mockery. Though sometimes mistakenly categorized as an author of children's books, Mr. Gorey appealed to all ages, at least everyone with a taste for the fanciful. Only a few of his books, including "The Wuggly Ump" and "The Bug Book," were intended specifically for young readers. In both his art and his writing Mr. Gorey was inimitable. Developing crosshatched line-drawing into an art form, he used pen and ink to create a world of barren moors, abandoned railway stations and storm-struck formal gardens. A stroller in one of those gardens could suddenly be brained by a piece of falling masonry, as in the Gorey animated film that for years has acted as a prelude to the "Mystery" series on public television. In Goreyland the moon is a skull, and no sun shines. A tiny green face peers through the curtained window of a black motor car. Frightful beasts are perched on a crag, and upstairs in the listing attic. Death is by drowning, dismemberment or being dropped by the Devil into a flaming pit. The Beastly Baby is a bulbous blob carried away by an eagle and exploding in midair. Mr. Gorey could be sportive as well as horrific, as in "The Broken Spoke," which, in his words, "combines, with breathtaking cleverness, two objects of consuming interest: postcards and bicycles." Although sometimes confused with the cartoonist Charles Addams, with whom he shared an interest in the ghoulish, Mr. Gorey generally told cautionary tales that offered moral instruction along with tearful laughter. As an artist he was close to Daumier and, with his aura of surrealism, to Magritte, as in "The Betrayed Confidence," a series of pernicious postcards, closing with wordless pictures: a dangling rope, an empty frying pan, an unmarked grave. As an author he bore the mark of S. J. Perelman, inventing an atlas that found room for place names like Nether Postlude, Backwater Hall in Mortshire (between West Elbow and Penetralia) and the Cycle Cemetery near Dingy Cruet, Blots. He also played word games with his name, anagrammatizing it in infinite ways, as Edward Gorey became Ogdred Weary, Dogear Wryde and D. Awdrey-Gore. A passionate lover of the ballet, Mr. Gorey for years ritualistically attended all performances of dances by George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet. Often he dreamed up stories about ballets and operas and occasionally designed sets, costumes and drop curtains. For many years he lived in a cluttered apartment in Manhattan, and at the end of the ballet season he would leave for his home on Cape Cod. After Balanchine's death in 1983, stripped of his primary cultural outlet, Mr. Gorey began thinking seriously about leaving New York permanently. In 1986 he moved to Cape Cod, first to Barnstable, and then to Yarmouth Port, eventually living alone in a 200-year-old house that may or may not have been haunted. In 1994 he mentioned to a visitor the strange disappearance of all the finials from his lamps along with his collection of tiny teddy bears. The house was in disarray, with esoteric objects (a toilet with a tabletop) and with no sign of Mr. Gorey's work. There was, however, a definitive Gorey touch: poison ivy creeped inside through cracks in the wall. A speed reader of writers from Agatha Christie to Jane Austen, he packed his home with books, many of them Victorian, and tempered his scholarliness with subcultural pursuits, watching soap operas and checking out horror movies from a nearby video stores. A covey of cats shared his life and, in Gorey fashion, had free run of the furniture. The number varied from five to six. If a stray showed up at his door, he would immediately welcome it in. (After his death a friend moved into the house to take care of the cats.) Mr. Gorey remembered the time that the cats were on a couch and suddenly "everyone turned," eyes opening wide, as if someone, or something, unseen had entered the room. Although the Gorey-like figure in his stories seemed icily removed, the real Mr. Gorey was a friendly neighbor on Cape Cod, holding court daily at Jack's Outback, a cafeteria-style coffee shop. He would take his personal mug from a rack reserved for regulars and join in the local gossip. He was close to his cousins, some of whom lived nearby, but there are no immediate survivors. In 1994 he was told he had prostate cancer and diabetes, and he met his illnesses with his customary cheerful demeanor. "Why haven't I burst into total screaming hysterics?" he asked, and added, "I'm not entirely enamored of the idea of living forever." Edward St. John Gorey, known to his friends as Ted, was born in Chicago on Feb. 25, 1925, the son of a Hearst journalist. "I like to think of myself as a pale, pathetic, solitary child," he said. "But it was not true." He taught himself to read at 3 1/2, and by 5, he had read "Dracula" and "Alice in Wonderland," two books that were to have a profound effect on his life. The protagonists, one evil incarnate (but he can't help it), the other all innocence and curiosity (she gets what she deserves), were to haunt his dreams and dominate his art. By 8, he had graduated to reading Victor Hugo. He taught himself to draw and subsequently took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago. Drafted into the Army at 18, he sat out the Second World War as a company clerk and in 1946 entered Harvard, where he majored in French literature and roomed with the poet Frank O'Hara. He and O'Hara joined the Poets Theater in Cambridge, Mr. Gorey as a designer, director and playwright. After graduation he remained in Boston, illustrating book jackets. Then he went to New York and worked in the art department at Doubleday, staying late in the office to create his own books. "I didn't envision a career in anything," he said, unless, perhaps, it was running a bookstore. Unable to find a publisher, he invented his own imprint, Fantod Press, and sold his books directly to stores. His first book, "The Unstrung Harp," was published in 1953. "The Doubtful Guest" (1958) quickly became a Gorey classic. In it a strange, hook-nosed creature, wearing a long scarf and tennis shoes, shows up uninvited at a dreary mansion and soon becomes a permanent member of the family, peering up flues in the fireplace, tearing up books and sleepwalking through the house. And after 17 years he showed "no intention of going away." "The West Wing" (1963) is one of Mr. Gorey's wordless masterworks. It is the house that is the central character, with its dark passageways, doors leading to other doors, a carpet that looks like a turbulent sea and shadows floating in space. A turning point in Mr. Gorey's career was his meeting with Andreas Brown. When Mr. Brown bought the Gotham Book Mart, it became the central clearing house for Mr. Gorey, presenting exhibitions of his work in the store's gallery and eventually turning him into an international celebrity. The Gotham sold great quantities of his books and also collectibles: greeting cards, T-shirts (one reads, "So many books, so little time"), calendars and stuffed toys. With the publication of his first anthology, "Amphigorey" (in 1972), followed by two sequels, his audience widened. Mr. Gorey worked slowly and precisely and because of his amiability often overcommitted himself to projects. Suddenly he would be struck with an idea, and that would draw him to his studio. In Yarmouth Port he worked in a cubicle about the size of a Gorey book. Pinned above his drawing table were postcards of paintings by Goya and Matisse (his favorite artist) and of an Indian sculpture of a tiger devouring a missionary. He said he was inspired by "practically anything visual or verbal" and always tried to keep himself open to new experiences and new images. When he saw the French silent movie "L'Enfant de Paris," he was so excited that he began making notes in the dark, and then went home and wrote "The Hapless Child." "The Willowdale Handcar" and other cliffhangers derive from movies by D. W. Griffith. The moors murder case in England led to "The Loathsome Couple." For "The Raging Tide: or, The Black Doll's Imbroglio," he drew an impish inkblot named Figbash (inspired by Max Ernst), and then years later produced a Figbash alphabet book. In his books, he acted as his own scenic and costume designer and typographer. He believed in hand lettering, even drawing the Library of Congress number in his books. In addition to "Dracula," Mr. Gorey's work has been the subject of many theatrical revues, including "Gorey Stories," "Amphigorey" and "Tinned Lettuce." In recent years a series of revues were done on Cape Cod for limited audiences, with the author supervising as director. One friend regularly supplied him with dreams. Mr. Gorey always insisted that he never used his own, which were "grandiose architectural dreams" and occasionally horror movies. Late in life he was troubled by insomnia, awake in the dark of night thinking Gorey thoughts. Last year he published a new Christmas story, "The Headless Bust," subtitled "A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium." In a variation on a previous book, "The Haunted Tea-Cosy," Edmund Gravel (the Recluse of Lower Spigot) and the Bahumbug (a pear-shaped insect with six limbs) embarked on a disaster-prone journey through the village of Godly Wot. After phantasmal adventures, the author concludes: They saw it was about to come: The end of the millennium, So find themselves perforce to be Into another century. Once when he was asked why he wrote so much about murder and other forms of violence, Mr. Gorey answered: "Well, I don't know. I guess I'm interested in real life." ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ End of tmbg-list Digest #28-14 ******************************