Band FACEBOOK pages, & other sites, Official & otherwise

[Hermesacat]

Many people here will know about these sites already, but for those who don't:

Mazzy Star has their own official FB page, here:
https://www.facebook.com/MazzyStarOfficial/?fref=ts

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions have their own official FB page, here:
https://www.facebook.com/HopeSandovalWa ... ?ref=br_tf

The most active of the two above sites currently is the Warm Inventions one as Hope has a new
Warm Inventions album out. Welcome, unexpected things can appear on these FB sites, e.g. on Nov. 4, 2016, the band posted a short video of a Warm Inventions live rehearsal session. Hope's own "voice" seems apparent in some of the messages accompanying some FB posts. For instance, there are some humourous cat-themed messages which sound very much as if they were penned by cat-person Hope! She's also been known to very occasionally sign her name to FB posts.

This is in contrast to Hope's own "official website," http://www.hopesandoval.com/home.shtml , where Hope, as far as I know, has never posted any comment personally there herself. The webmaster there, a guy named Colin, has sometimes been a bit slow about keeping up with Hope's career. As a current example, over the past two weeks, 8 or 9 new interviews with Hope & Colm have appeared at various websites and have been posted here at mazzystar.free.fr. I checked hopsesandoval.com today, and the "What's New" section there has but one new interview posted, and it's not one of the best ones, either. Same thing happened re. Mazzy Star's 2013 interviews. The hopesandoval,com webmaster completely missed two-thirds of them, including the best 2013 interviews! On looking back through the site's "What's New" section entries from this year, it looks like all Hope's singles and collabs of this year got covered, which is good. But the bands' official FB sites seem more reliable sites to go to for keeping current with news on band activities. hopesandoval.com has an excellent photo gallery, especially of shots of HS&TWI on stage.

Also, there's a very popular Mazzy Star/Hope FB fan Group, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6071129794/
It currently has 2,700+ members. It's a closed group, which means you need to ask to join. I think this is mainly to screen out suspected spammers, and they apparently will reject people who appear to be too inactive on FB, e.g. people not already belonging to other groups, etc. It's a popular and very active site (the opposite of mazzystar.free.fr, which, in contrast is rather sleepy). Lots of people love FB these days, apparently. Mazzy Star's drummer, Keith Mitchell, is a member, and has made some occasional helpful posts and comments there. There are a few other apparent band "insiders" or relatives there too, one of Hope's cousins, for instance, and a member named "Bad Roison" (Irish for "Red Boat") who sometimes offers what appears to be inside info or new info such as Colm's apparent, but low-key involvement in creating videos for both bands.

But "sleepy" mazzystar.free.fr still has a huge advantage over the FB fan group in some ways, imo, and remains a very valuable site. The FB Group has no organization to its content whatsoever. It consists of one long series of random posts to scroll through. Specialized informative resource threads that exist at mazzystar.free such as the Bootlegs List, the various interviews archives threads, or band history thread, couldn't exist on the jumbled, chaotic FB site.

Also, there are some official youtube channels, such as Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions' one, here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUUv9h ... Q/featured
Check out their "playlists" there.

And Mazzy Star's official youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MazzyStarVEVO
where a number of their official videos of recent years are posted.

And this seems to be an official yt Channel where some official videos of both Mazzy Star and HS&TWI have been posted, including one for HS&TWI's 2016 single, "Isn't It True." https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHpAu ... A_Ggn1I2RQ

Plus, there's reason to suspect this video for Mazzy Star's "In the Kingdom" was made by Colm O'Cosoig under a pseudonym: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrLIcnl1LfI

There are a couple of tumblr fan sites, mostly consisting of photo and GIF uploads submitted by multiple tumblr members. I think both these sites are operated by the same person. He's a good guy. I occasionally submit stuff there when I come across a new photo or video clip to share.
http://fuckyeahmazzystar.tumblr.com
http://fuckyeahhopesandoval.tumblr.com

-All of the above named sites are useful and valuable in different ways.

[KoalaCub9]

Good job. There seems to be some animosity toward Collin. Maybe he fell asleep at the wheel (and drove the tractor into the barn) one too many times in the past. But can you blame a guy for trying (or not)? Do you happen to be Virgo? Im not terribly big into Astrology but I know they can be very organized. I, myself, can only spend so much time on organization in any given a) day, b) week, or c) month.

Anyway, I think it's time for a new user name. This one is kind of a bore, and I hate bears!

Fondly,
KC

[Hermesacat]

Okay, I've since edited my original post above so it's more "glass half full" re. hopesandoval.com after viewing all the "What's New" section posts from this year and seeing the site did manage to keep up with major news re. Hope's singles and collabs this year, so that's good. Maybe things are looking up there. The site's still derelict re. interviews though. There's an excellent photo gallery at hopesandoval.com.

[MikeRMD]

Hi all,

Some history here for KoalaCub regarding hopesandoval.com. You may have found Hermesacat to be unduly harsh on Colin regarding the lack or timeliness of information there. I happen to agree with the criticism but others may not. I had a far more serious issue with the site and it's administration though. During the 2009 tour there were buttons for entering a set list and review beside each concert but this was strangely missing for the Vancouver show. My opinion was and is that this was because the show here went poorly as Hope walked off in a huff for a long period of time, the set list was much reduced as a result, and Colm gave the audience shit attitude. I had written a long post about this on the old Blvd and also read later about Colin doing damage control out there in the cyber world as some people were saying that they would not purchase tickets due to reports of Hope and Colm's behaviour. I never signed up for the forum at the hopesandoval.com site because the Blvd was far more neutral or objective in allowing our subjective opinions. The Blvd's much missed Anders might not have liked what some of us had to write but let it be (I posited once that the lack of direct input from him was because he wished to see where things went in an organic way and he replied that I had that correct). In the case of Colin his job was to please Hope Sandoval.

Mike

[Hermesacat]

Hey Mike: When researching old Hope interviews on line a few years ago, I came across a 2009 one in the Georgia Straight (for those who don't know, it's the entertainment weekly for Vancouver, BC, & has nothing to do with the State of Georgia). In the comments section was your comment with your complaints about the Vancouver show, similar to what you posted at the M.S. Blvd. site. It's still there to read, though not obvious. One has to click on "Join Discussion" and then click on "Read Old Comments" to make your comment appear.
http://www.straight.com/article-257527/ ... ush-things

We know now Hope & Mazzy concerts can be hit or miss, and Hope can get riled and leave stages over sound problems,& even more occasionally (& perhaps not since the 1990s) due entirely to inattentive, rude, loud audiences. It's luck of the draw. I was lucky the 2013 Seattle Mazzy Star show I saw (the one time I ever saw Hope sing live) was one with Hope in a good mood despite sound problems with David's guitar amp. Hope appreciated the audience was very attentive and quiet during songs and adhered to the no flash cameras rule. Hope even chatted and joked with the audience while some sound problems were fixed. Rare for her. I don't recall hearing of a single 2013 show where she stormed off stage in a huff, although she did voice various complaints on stage about flash cameras, a noisy air circulation fan, etc. Maybe she's mellowing with age-??

[KoalaCub9]

If he was doing Hope's bidding then I guess he was only doing what he was told/paid to do. Sounds reasonable if one's job is web designer. If he was doing it for free, then that kind of excuses him from the lack of timeliness in making changes, though one would think it would not go totally dead and become neglected, which I guess is the argument being made here.

I wrote Colin some years ago but never heard back. Of course, it was probably about trying to get in touch with Hope like every other warm body passing through these parts.

In closing, I am reminded of this scene from Kung fu:

Lee-You: You are the only helper I have ever had. How long have you been with me now?
Young KCC: I cannot remember.
Lee-You: You are not paid. The work is hard. Why do you continue?
Young KCC: I have not learned what Master Po wishes me to learn.
Lee-You: AH. That Master Po. To play such a cruel game on a good boy. Hey, go swim in the river. I will not tell.
Young KCC: I am here to learn.
Lee-You: Ahhh. Will it ever be done?
Young KCC: You do not know?
Lee-You: I grow old. Everyday weariness takes a little a more of me. Would you finish my work?
Po: Will you, Grasshopper? If needed, would you finish Lee-You’s work?
Young KCC: I hesitate, Master. For it is Lee-You’s work. And only he knows its purpose.
Po: Ahhhhh. Then you no longer think him confused?
Young KCC: No Master. I now see the great clarity that instructs his efforts.
Po: Clarity?! When he treasures what is worthless?
Young KCC: Each piece of porcelain finds a new value in Lee-You’s work (building a statue).
Po: You have begun to learn.
Young KCC: But, this is not the great knowledge of which you spoke?
Po: Take heart. From the accomplishment of Lee-You, the work of many years. One small piece. Now another, and another, and another.

(Lee-You dies)

[MikeRMD]

Hey Hermesacat,

That wasn't my comment on the Georgia Straight article, although I can see why you might think it was me. Certainly anyone at the show here in Vancouver would have had a similar reaction. There are some small errors in that comment. Colm was the only band member to say 'technical difficulties' and the band did 3 songs after the long 'sulk'; Trouble, Bluebird, and For The Rest Of Your Life. As they left Colm said into a mic 'technical difficulties' which led us in the audience to think that they would be coming back out once the problem was rectified so we stood around until an audience member at the front asked a tech what was up and was told that the show was over (like 7.5 songs instead of the ~12 that most cities got). Once the word got around there was some light booing but I think most people figured it wasn't worth it and left. One guy outside the show said he had never been so bummed out over a show except for a Townes Van Zandt one and mentioned that Townes was in the late stages of drinking himself to death at the time. Someone who posted on the old Blvd as 'madzub' and on here as 'madub' wrote that he had a smoke with the band and was told that one of the members of Dirt Blue Gene was denied access to Canada so that had Hope et al in a bad mood and that there had been some kind of feedback in the band's ear monitors at times but as I posted on the old Blvd it still doesn't justify Hope and Colm's dismissive and contemptuous attitude toward the audience. I'm glad to read that things appear to be better in that regard and certainly the Seattle show you saw and recorded was a good one. It's odd that I missed the article in the Georgia Straight where you found that comment you thought was by me as I recall around the time of the concert and album release that there had been nothing in the local press about it, especially given that the album was being released on Vancouver-based Nettwerk Records.

Cheers,
Mike

[Hermesacat]

Mike: It was the commenter's user name starting with "Mi," that made me think it derived from the name "Mike" & that it was your comment. Thanks for correcting and filling in details of your recollections of the show. The comment left at straight.com provoked a fair number of thumbs votes from readers: 31 Up, and 25 Down, which means a lot of people disagreed with the negative comment - but maybe those were votes from Hope fans who weren't at the show.

-As for Colin at hopesandoval.com not replying to emailed inquiries, that's been my experience too. Except when I offered lyrics corrections once on what appeared glaring inaccuracies (I think on one of Hope's collabs songs) on the site, he replied, "thanks," but I don't think he made any corrections. I had more interaction with him in the forum at Mazzy Star Boulevard 'cause he would show up there sometimes and make comments, and I recall having some kind of discussion with him there on some topic or other I've forgotten by now.

..To Kung Fu movies & Bruce Lee, I've always said, "fooey!" - and still do to this day.

[KoalaCub9]

On the topic of Kung Fu (Bruce Lee never actually ended up in the show): As you can see, the young KCC proved to be the wise and curious one in this scene. But it was the master's role to step aside and guide. The master can not make the disciple curious. He can not force him to seek the answers to life's questions any more than he could keep a handful of air trapped within his fist forever. When KCC was able to meditate on this truth he cast himself into the future mentally and was able to see taking the pebble from the the Master's Hand. In that precise moment the disciple became the master, and yet each were both. And then he walked the land with only a grain of rice, like two strangers departing into dust.

[Hermesacat]

Oh, it's David Carradine's show. Sounds like a step up from Bruce Lee, at least. But I never watched. Think I'll quote John Prine here, QUOTE: "BLOW UP YOUR TV."