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Subj: Alex Beam's Column
Date: 95-08-21 18:50:50 EDT
From: EricS10332@aol.com
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

Hi Everyone,

I asked Gordon, who initially posted the bit on Suzanne, for more info on the article. He graciously typed up the entire piece, which I forward to you. Thanks, Gordon! Incidentally, the author's email address appears at the bottom of his article should any of you wish to contact him.

On the positive front, the website got another national plug... Welcome, Bob T. and all other new 'lurkers'!

Eric

By Alex Beam

We in the glamorous media business have mixed feelings about the men, women and, yes, children who write in to express their views. On the one hand, it is always pleasant to discover tangible evidence of readership behind the putative circulation statistics. On the other hand, we can't help wondering: 1. Why do they bother? 2. Gee, I wish I had that kind of time on my hands.

Ironically, it is the people who don't have much time on their hands who often prove to be graphomaniacs. For example, look what Judge Lance Ito does in his spare time: He scrawled a note to Entertainment Weekly saying he was ``delighted to see Helen Mirren is getting the recognition her talents command.'' Thank you for sharing, Lance.

When not finger-wagging from the bench like Larry King, Ito has also found time to scribble a note to Money magazine, quibbling over a factoid, and has even written a groveling missive to my friend Jeff Danziger, the Christian Science Monitor cartoonist. The judge tried to wheedle the original artwork for a cartoon that caught his fancy. Danziger, easily flattered, complied.

And what about Suzanne Vega? Here's someone with a demanding concert schedule and a knife-edged keyboard that she brandishes quite freely. To Spin magazine: ``I was never a (expletive) waitress, you guys. You should check before you make a headline out of it.''

If you check the ``Correspondence'' file at the Suzanne Vega web site (www.vega.net/vega/) you will see that the scribbling songbird is anything but a virtual presence. ``I caught the measles earlier this year and thought of posting this news to get sympathy,'' she recently wrote. ``One day I will write an autobiography. I promise,'' she informed her webmates.

On a more elevated plane, it is hard to avoid the writings of Alfred Kahn, the man famous for deregulating the airline industry under Jimmy Carter. Kahn, a professor emeritus of political economy at Cornell, just can't stop professing - February 1995 letter to The New York Times: ``How to Keep PBS''; July 1994 letter to The Wall Street Journal: ``Let's Play Fair with Utility Rates''; March 1994 WSJ: ``A Way Out of the Baby Bells Dilemma''; and many, many more.

``Did you get the one I wrote in 1943?'' Kahn asked when I phoned to comment on his prodigious epistolary output. He believes that serial correspondents display a ``mixture of eccentricity and exhibitionism.'' Kahn frequents the letters pages partly because ``it's good practice for writing'' and partly from ``pure vanity.'' And he correctly points out that his output falls far short of the acknowledged record holder, one Louis Jay Herman of New York. He has written more than 800 letters to The New York Times in the past eight years. And that was mostly before e-mail.

Alex Beam, a columnist for The Boston Globe, receives e-mail at beam@globe.com.

Subj: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Date: 95-08-21 17:29:40 EDT
From: rwalters@lafayette.unocal.com (Rob Walters)
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

Hello all,

It's been rather quiet here lately, but this one should provoke some reaction! (Thanks, Gordon Zaft for posting the excerpt). Here's mine:

>And what about Suzanne Vega? Here's someone with a demanding concert
>schedule and a knife-edged keyboard that she brandishes quite freely. To
[Spin magazine quote deleted]

And Mr. Beam's point being what??? Yes, so she chose to correct a story that was inaccurate. Yes, she has occasionally been out-spoken about her opinions on certain other matters as well. (I also don't see how this has anything to do with her 'demanding concert schedule'). In fairness, I'd like some more info. on what the rest of this article was about. It always helps to put things in context.

>(www.vega.net/vega/) you will see that the scribbling songbird is anything
>but a virtual presence. ``I caught the measles earlier this year and
>thought of posting this news to get sympathy,'' she recently wrote. ``One
>day I will write an autobiography. I promise,'' she informed her webmates.

Again, the point being??? I gather from Zaft's post that this wasn't meant in a complimentary manner. Most of Suzanne's posts to this list are greatly informative, thoughtful, and even humorous. It seems greatly unfair to take her remark about getting the measles *out of context*. Casual readers of Mr. Beam's column will probably get the wrong impression about Suzanne.

Here's the *entire* 'measles' quote: "Anyhow--I think of you with affection (the readers of this list). I caught the measles earlier this year and for a moment thought of posting this news to get sympathy, but resisted the urge. (I am all better and do not need the sympathy now, so don't send it! :) " Kind of puts a different "spin" on things, now doesn't it? :)

I'm not going to get *too* bent out of shape about this - I'm sure it's not the first time Suzanne's been quoted out of context. Nevertheless, again not knowing anything else about the article in which it appeared, it's kind of distressing. I, for one, hope that Suzanne will continue to speak out, and to post to this list! We *enjoy* reading her thoughts from her "knife-edged keyboard" as much as we enjoy her music (and anyhow, the music's why we're all here in the first place!) :)

"I've brandished before, and I'll brandish again!!" - suggested SV motto! :)

"These words are too solid, they don't move fast enough" - SV

-Rob --> who has never before been called a 'webmate'!
rwalters@lafayette.unocal.com

Subject: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Subj: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Date: 95-08-21 17:41:35 EDT
From: tibbs@tiac.net (Bob Thibodeau)
To: undertow@serv1.law.emory.edu (undertow)

At 11:08 AM 8/21/95 -0700, Gordon Zaft wrote:
>
> Suzanne got mentioned (not positively) in Alex Beam's syndicated
>column, which appeared today in the Arizona Daily Star and other newspapers.
>

Hi everybody.

I'm new here and wanted to quickly introduce myself. I saw AB's column in the Boston Globe, and that's how I found you all. I live and work in Cambridge, MA, and now I'm going to lurk for a while ;)

Take care,
Bob
_________________________________________________________________________
Bob Thibodeau http://www.tiac.net/users/tibbs/index.html
"Although you are not Shariputra, you should rise and dance!"
-Nichiren Daishonin

Subject: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Subj: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Date: 95-08-21 18:10:17 EDT
From: Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se (Hugo Westerlund ipm)
To: undertow@law.emory.edu (Undertow)

Well, this may be a bit off the main subject of this list -- but I'd like to hear your theories about heckling. What's so funny about disturbing a concert with idiotic comments (very popular especially in England)? It must be a hell of a kick, since people actually pay to do it.

To be honest, I can understand some of the low motives a person might have to do this -- you get noticed, make sure that other people don't have a better time than yourself, and you may even express some kind of perverse love for the artist this way. But I'd like to think that columnists are above this sort of thing. But obviously they aren't. I once wrote an angry reply to some idiotic things they wrote about Suzanne in Melody Maker (UK). It got published -- but in a crippled form, and with yet another idiotic comment from the editor.

It's creepy to think that they're even evesdropping here. But don't keep quiet for that, Suzanne or anybody else. Let the free word flow free and drench the idiocy of the hecklers.

Written in an angry mood -- sorry!

Later,
/Hugo

Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se

Subj: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column
Date: 95-08-22 06:15:13 EDT
From: rcxsj@unicorn.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk (Sharon Jennings)
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

>Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 21:47:58 +0500
>To: Hugo Westerlund ipm
>From: rcxsj@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (Sharon Jennings)
>Subject: Re: SV in Alex Beam's column

>Hi Hugo,

>Yes I know that the UK press give Suzanne a hard time but, who don't they
>give a hard time? It's really interesting to see how their attitude has
>changed. Around 1995-1990 they sang (no pun intended) Suzanne's praises.
>Now they either ignore her or tear her to pieces. The Melody Maker article
>is an excellent example of this. It's sad but that's the way it goes.
>
>Not all English people heckle either. Suzanne seems to enjoy tackling the
>problem and on the many occassions that I've seen her play she's always
>managed to turn the situation around and make the heckler look stupid. But
>I do have to agree with you Hugo, the problem does seem to be worst here
>in England.
>
>It's been quiet around here recently..... Wendy where are you?
>
>Take care all
>Sharon
>
"I can't imagine having separate careers. My greatest fear is that it'll end."
Emily Saliers
"My greatest fear is that Emily has a fear that it'll end."
Amy Ray

Subj: Re: New! On the Website, or: "Beam" me up Scottie
Date: 95-08-23 00:07:12 EDT
From: pmurf@ix.netcom.com (Paul Murphy)
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

Hey all,

Have read with interest, and some amusement, the threads on Alex Beam and his "news" on Suzanne and her post to us here at Undertow. I use the word "amused" because the article was nothing more than gossip and was really not worth taking seriously. Sure, it may have "seemed" to be derogatory and/or a slap at both Suzanne and us, *BUT* look at it in the proper context and it is nothing more than a trifle. In fact, I think it says less about Suzanne than it says about Mr. Beam and his putative "journalistic" talents.

Therfore, I was shocked and suprised to see the following message from Eric concerning the original post in question....:

>------------
>Also, in response to the letters I'm getting about the Correspondence section
>-
>- Yes, Suzanne's post mentioning 'measles' (cited by the Beam column) IS
>gone. Sorry if you went there searching for it...
>------------
>

....and I'm very curious as to what has happened. I hope that this is not a rash reaction to the brouhaha described above, as I would rather have seen it a)ignored or b)dealt with head on, rather than in this fashion. I think it would be only fair that those of us who subscribe to this list be told what *did* happen and why. Then, hopefully, we can put this one to bed and talk again about things that *really* matter.

BTW, Eric, thanks again to you and Hugo for all the efforts on the web site.

And, thanks all for the vent, the air feels good....!

Paul

Subj: Re: New! On the Website, or: "Beam" me up Scottie
Date: 95-08-23 00:38:05 EDT
From: EricS10332@aol.com
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

In a message dated 95-08-23 00:07:12 EDT, you write:

>....and I'm very curious as to what has happened. I hope that this
>is not a rash reaction to the brouhaha described above, as I would
>rather have seen it a)ignored or b)dealt with head on, rather than in
>this fashion. I think it would be only fair that those of us who
>subscribe to this list be told what *did* happen and why. Then,
>hopefully, we can put this one to bed and talk again about things that
>*really* matter.

Hey Paul and Everyone -

I guess I was naive to think that pulling the messages would go unnoticed. The Beam article obviously drew some attention to the site and I've gotten a bunch of mail asking me what happened to the excerpts the column cited.

So, in response to that, I acknowledged that they were pulled. Now, of course I'm getting messages like Paul's asking 'why?'.

I was asked by Suzanne through her management to remove the 'measles' message and the one following it which discussed a greatest hits/retrospective album. I complied. That's "what *did* happen and why."

I'm sure I could write more than a few paragraphs on how I feel about this, but suffice it to say that I'm not happy that this Beam fellow would not only use snippets of Suzanne's correspondence to negatively portray her, but even less pleased that Suzanne would allow Mr. Beam to influence what appears on the website.

Time to talk about things that *really* matter...I hope!

Eric

Subject: Re: New! On the Website, or: "Beam" me up Scottie
Subj: That Beam Bonehead
Date: 95-08-23 03:02:08 EDT
From: bobking@well.com (Robert P. King)
To:undertow@serv1.law.emory.edu

Speaking as someone in approximately the same occupation as Alex Beam, all I can say is -- what a fucking ass.

Not for any slight against Suzanne -- if anything, he seems like a fan. I mean, that knife-keyboard remark sounds like fairly Vegan imagery to me. And why else would he be cruising the home page? And why would any columnist be randomly selecting Suzanne as newsprint-fodder three years after her last album and quite a few years since she's had a big hit? To your average attention-span-less scanner of pop culture, she surely would have faded off the radar screen by now (unless, of course, you happen to be a clueless Newsweek editor with a peasant blouse fetish).

No, what's truly pathetic is that this is ALL HE HAD TO WRITE ABOUT. Imagine that! Of course, that's a perennial hazard for columnists, who have to try to appear to be bright and informative and wise and witty and perceptive and knowing as many as three or five days a week, when you and I probably know lots of people who've been around for many years and haven't managed the task even once. But this one rings all the bells on the Lame-O-Meter. I'm sure hope nobody left this column lying around in the Boston Globe cafeteria, because the stink would keep people from eating there for months.

The sure sign that any columnist has lost it, or is shamelessly coasting, is when he/she/it/tango (sorry, Laurie Anderson reference) turns transcriber and resorts to using other people's words to fill space. That's what happens when Ann Landers spends her column answering readers' pleas like "Please rerun that letter from the dead 17-year-old who died in a car accident and wishes he weren't dead" or "I'd really love to see that poem about gonorrhea again! My old one grew moldy on the fridge." Dave Barry's been relying on the device much too much lately, which is why we keep reading those letters from readers about the North Fork Wombat Liver Ultimate Frisbee Toss in Gutmunch, N.D. It's a great way to let other people do your work for you.

So what does Mr. Beam do? He just finds a bunch of "celebrities" (though that Kahn guy is pretty far down the food chain) who've written letters to the editor, reprints excerpts and makes snippy comments in between. It's maybe mildly amusing that Judge Ito has become such a frequent letter writer (and also raises even more questions about how much the OJ trial has gone to his head). But good Lord, how many years ago did Suzanne write to Spin? Was Bill Clinton even old enough to vote back then?

No matter. Column's done, in, edited, and Alex Beam is free to go enjoy the rest of his day without having unduly exerted himself beyond performing a few Nexis searches. Seems to me he might have had an early date with another Beam -- Jim.

Good pay if you can get it.

Anyway, I can sort of understand the reaction from Suzanne's management. We all know how guarded she is about her personal life (and understandably so), and she's been extremely kind in gracing us with her presence and comments here. But I can see how she might feel differently about having certain remarks of hers posted permanently on a homepage that's open to anyone cruising the web, especially once her words start being used against her in the press.

It's also possible that she had told us some stuff about her future projects that maybe A&M didn't know yet.

All I can say is, I hope this won't cause her to drop out of participation here. I would still like to think that we're a closeknit family of Vega fanatics who would never think of turning on each other in print.

Except, of course, for that big article I'm writing about Wendy!

-- The formerly elusive Bob King

P.S. I really love the Spin letter and hope it gets even more press. It's hilarious and contradicts all those stereotypes about Suzanne being constantly cold and aloof and serious, though it does seem to confirm that she's a New Yorker.

Maybe instead of Love Hotel, the next album should be called I Was Never a Fucking Waitress!

Subj: re: Beam again
Date: 95-08-23 12:18:53 EDT
From: Jeremy513@aol.com
To: undertow@serv1.law.emory.edu

[-- hmm.. I sent this note as soon as the Beam column got posted, but somehow it never went through.. so I'll try again... was the address changed?]

Well after seeing the entire column, I still don't get the point. Unless it was this: "I, Alex Beam, am a professional; anyone else who tries to write is an amateur and should not only be discouraged but publicly humiliated." Sheesh. Makes me sorta embarrassed to be a journalist myself. Actually, much of what I read in newspapers and magazines makes me sort of embarrassed to be a journalist, but that's another story. Shame on him especially for that horribly out of context measles quote.

Where, I wonder, does someone go to learn how to be so full of oneself?

Jeremy

Subject: re: Beam again
Subj: Bean Head or excuse me I mean Beam
Date: 95-08-23 19:00:01 EDT
From: Wendyyyyyy@aol.com
To: Undertow@law.emory.edu

Personally, He's board with nothing better to do than look around the web sites for juicy bits of gossip--like the measels thing. How many posts of Suzanne's have not addressed specific questions raised about her music--so what if every now and then she shares a bit of personal info. He's board and now I'm board with him

Lets talk about something else. Hmmmm

Any suggestions? Something occured to me while at the concert about one of the songs, and like a BEAN or BEAM Head, I didn't write it down to share. If it comes back to me, I'll post!

Wendy!

Subject: Bean Head or excuse me I mean Beam
Subj: Re: New! On the Website, or: "Beam" me up Scottie
Date: 95-08-23 19:00:01 EDT
From: Wendyyyyyy@aol.com
To: Undertow@law.emory.edu

Paul,

Here! Here! I agree!

Wendy!

Subj: Re: That Beam Bonehead
Date: 95-08-23 23:14:53 EDT
From: EricS10332@aol.com
To: undertow@law.emory.edu

In a message dated 95-08-23 03:02:08 EDT, you write:

>
>Anyway, I can sort of understand the reaction from Suzanne's management.
>We all know how guarded she is about her personal life (and
>understandably so), and she's been extremely kind in gracing us with her
>presence and comments here.
>

FWIW, management was the messenger. It wasn't their reaction. Suzanne's notes *were* informative and harmless and enjoyed by website visitors and Undertow subscribers. Beam's column succeeded in causing the content of the website to be altered. So much for the "small voices" and "David and Goliath" stuff.

>It's also possible that she had told us some stuff about her future
>projects that maybe A&M didn't know yet.

If that were the case, the 'measles' note would have stayed up. I doubt that this is the issue as the column was the catalyst.

Later,
Eric

Dear Webmates;
(are we spiders? ducks perhaps?) -- (or "Gang", as I prefer it):

A lot has happened in a month. I hear that we have been acknowledged by AOL as one of their more "attractive" sites -- That's very cool, and Eric S should take a bow for that -- I have to thank him personally for taking the time to set up the page to begin with, and for maintaining it so well.

I wanted to say hi to Hugo and to welcome him publicly as the new editor of the page.

I have to say that it is ironic to me that the page has received 370,000 "hits" in 6 months, when I am not able to access it yet myself -- I am working on that and hope to be able to see it myself soon from my own equipment. I have only seen it once, and I was not aware that everything I posted to Undertow was being filed in the Correspondence Section.

So I was very surprised by what Alex Beam said in his column -- how did he know? Did he subscribe to this list of 300 people? No, he found it on the board. So I asked my management to ask Eric to remove 2 posts that I thought could be harmful if taken the wrong way, including the "Measles" one.

It was like thinking you were playing to an intimate club of 300 (this newsgroup called Undertow) and suddenly realizing that every whisper was being broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people (on the WWW page), some of whom may not be interested but who are just cruising through for material (that letter to Spin is at least seven years old.)

On reading it again, it really isn't that bad, and it is affectionate, and it was taken out of context, for Christ's sake, so perhaps Hugo or Jeremy at AGF could do me the favor of reinstating that particular one. I am just going to be more careful with what I say, as self-mockery in print is dangerous, especially when inane editors of Melody Maker may be lurking somewhere waiting for more cheap shots. But then why blame the British, when we have our own American Alex Beam! (he is, right?)

When I have access to the page myself, I can give more input as to what should or shouldn't be posted (not everything has to be). Yes, Hugo, please post this one!!

Quick updates regarding some questions you guys were peltering Eric with:

1. I don't know what happened to the VH1 special regarding the Police. It has been postponed, is what they told me. Maybe they shot it without me, maybe it has been cancelled.

2. "Fighting w Boys" -- unedited version -- I have to see what the legal situation is with that. I have to wait at least 90 days from July before reprinting it anywhere.

3. Amnesty Int'l forward -- I will have that for the page next week when I am back in NY.

By the way -- my comments on the Steven Talkhouse gigs are: I thought Thursday's audience was great! It was lively and excited -- Friday's was good, too, but more subdued, more jaded? I was tired also from the night before. I thought I was going to meet you, Wendy -- I thought you were the woman at the soundcheck Friday. But you came Thursday. I should have known.

Enough for now.

Thanks again,
yours truly,
Suzanne Vega

Up to Suzanne Vega Home Page

VegaNet@aol.com and
Hugo G. Westerlund <Hugo.Westerlund@ipm.ki.se>