Errors-To: owner-ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #530 ecto, Number 530 Saturday, 17 April 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* radio radio Aaaak! oh no! not again! the last couple of days.... it's 2:35 am; does this make me a computer geek? Re: the last couple of days.... (NO HAPPY CONTENT) Boston Concert Info Funny Americans Ectophiles Guide Replies to something-or-other A Dream of Midsummer Hi! My discovery ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 15 Apr 93 16:04:49 -0700 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: radio radio Angelos wonders whether DJs on commercial radio stations actually play music that is unfamiliar to them ... Why, of course they do. The trend in commercial radio is to reduce the role of the 'radio personality' to the level of an automaton adhering to a pre-defined playlist. When a song ends, the computer maintained by the music director is consulted for the next selection. There isn't a whole lot of personal taste involved, so familiarity with the music is not that important to the job. Remember that the next time you call a commercial station, expecting them to play your request ... On another front, i tried my damnedest to see Neil Gaiman when he recently came to town. After waiting 90 minutes for an autograph, i gave up. So, it sure wasn't me who gave him the Happy tape! I heartily second the SANDMAN recommendations. I have started reading comics again. Before i leave, i want to welcome all the new ectophiles to the list! Cheers, Mp ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 15 Apr 93 20:23:58 EDT From: WretchAwry Subject: Aaaak! Oh great, I get on, post to gaffa (wrt his Ectophobia) and now my telnet connection's shutting down. Be back later, I hope. Ingrid karklins is coming to Chicago!! Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 01:45:03 EDT From: mojzes@monet.rutgers.edu (brni) Subject: oh no! not again! michael b. "danger lurking everywhere but you know we've got to dare evil men with evil schemes they can't destroy all our dreams" whaddaya mean star blazers is "an almost cool show, but not quite"? star blazers is WAY cool :^> brni mojzes@monet.vill.edu ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 02:34:50 EDT From: mojzes@monet.rutgers.edu (brni) Subject: the last couple of days.... hi, y'all, the last couple days have been real busy, even too busy for me to have publically announced what a nice guy bob lovejoy is. bob is a very nice guy. bob, thanks for the tapes (bob got me the wysp and wmmr interviews, and some demo that is REALLY good, although there is one guitar solo on it that sounds almost like it was taped off my _trespass_ lp). the music on the wmmr tape is really really good (it was obviously prerecorded, and then they mixed it into the interview -- happy at one point uses the past tense about playing the songs that they are supposedly playing live *grin*). the best thing (imho) about the wysp tape were the fumbles, both on happy's and on ed's parts. these things are often more telling of one's personality than more structured presentations. so after work (and meeting bob), and school, i went to my SO's place for dinner, and got a call from mike there, asking if i want to go to see the Legendary Pink Dots. well, that altered plans a bit, and i learned that it takes a minimum of 1 hour to develop 2 tanks of film when you are rushing. concert review: the legendary pink dots reminded me of ecstacy. no, not XTC, but of the drug, ecstacy ( i don't know what the official latin is for it), which i took once and have craved it and feared it ever since. it is really a wonderful feeling drug, but i could tell by how i felt that it had done a lot of damage to both body and brain. but anyway, the dots reminded me of that: beauty found in the oddest places (when i was on X i remember thinking "i never realized how *beautiful* melted chewing gum on pavement is"), while the world pulses with a sort of very *unusual* groove that your body has tapped into somehow. mike and i hung around after the show, enduring the gawdawful techno-industrial-dance shit to meet edward ka-spel ( the leader of the dots). you know its too loud when the band says "its really rather loud here. perhaps we should find someplace quieter." a couple things stand out as particularly enthralling: 1) the bass player we very cool and used some techniques i'd never seen before (which i'l have to try) like forming a chord w/ his left hand and hitting the back of the head of the bass with his right hand to get all the strings vibrating, 2) the horn player had this wonderful horn synthesizer thing that was amazing (i want one), 3) the horn player (again) somehow managed to play both a bari-sax and an alto sax *at the same time*!!!, 4) the guitarist knew when not to play, a characteristic common to many, all too many guitarists. so i bought my 1st lpd's cd, and that's been on my cd player since (and the happy tapes that i got from bob have been in my car stereo, so don't panic). so i got home, 2am, april 15th, and started figuring out my taxes. oi. it seems so stupid to have to waste a check for $1.81 to the state of pennsylvania. tonite i saw laurie anderson. if this is the only performance you see this year, see it. it was better than her last two tours. she had 14 tv's, 2 long screens, a BIG screen, and a cube and a sphere (both screens), and she used film, slides, and video, as well as lasers, etc. it was a BIG production, and very stunning. she played keyboards, violin-synth and body-synth. the body synth is a new thing that actually reads the electrical impulses used to contract the muscles that you connect it to, then converts the impulses to midi signals and sends them off to a computer somewhere (this is different from the body drums she made before). she had three other musicians with her, on bass, multi-percussion, and accordian. they were all excellent, of course. it was really interesting to hear an upright bass being played through some serious effects. anyway, i was really blown away by the anderson show, and highly recommend it. friday and saturday shows are sold out, but they have apparantly added a sunday matinee show (3pm), for anyone in the philadelphia area that still wants to go, but hasn't. the post-concert event at chaucer's was, uh, interesting. i think that i'm not quite used to having my ass grabbed by strange women (her name is mary, i found out later--nice hair, very soft neck...) ah well, it is late. i have so much more to write, that i've been meaning to write for weeks now, but haven't had the time. more soon. rilly. take care of yourselves brni (mojzes@monet.vill.edu) <> ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 02:46:42 EDT From: mojzes@monet.rutgers.edu (brni) Subject: it's 2:35 am; does this make me a computer geek? hi again. images from the laurie anderson show: on the screens are images flashing, repeating, images from tv, from the war, the video game war of perfectly clean surgical strikes, of the bomb targetting a building, flying out, the building exploding, of the sky over baghdad lit up like the fourth of july. and she's talking about the victory parade. she's talking about the parade, the tanks, the flags, the cheering. it was exhilarating. there was a feeling of euphoria. and at the very end came the vietnam vets, dressed in rags, tattered, torn, broken. like ghosts. like the forgotten past, tagging along. like ghosts. do we drag our ghosts behind us, forever? or do we just -- forget them? when i saw the tanks rolling down jfk boulevard in philadelphia, the first thing i thought of was prague. the people cheered, waved flags. i thought of prague. "Did you ever really love me?" "Only when we were dancing." brni ======================================================================== From: depeche@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (S. A. Ezust) Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 09:38:11 EDT Subject: Re: the last couple of days.... (NO HAPPY CONTENT) Warning: Below is only Legendary Pink Dots content. Skip now if you hate them. Sorry, but when someone gets me started, I just run with it! :-) [In message "the last couple of days...." on Apr 16, brni writes:] | | concert review: the legendary pink dots reminded me of ecstacy. no, | not XTC, but of the drug, ecstacy ( i don't know what the official | latin is for it), which i took once and have craved it and feared it | ever since. it is really a wonderful feeling drug, but i could tell | by how i felt that it had done a lot of damage to both body and brain. | but anyway, the dots reminded me of that: beauty found in the oddest | places (when i was on X i remember thinking "i never realized how | *beautiful* melted chewing gum on pavement is"), while the world pulses | with a sort of very *unusual* groove that your body has tapped into | somehow. That's beautiful... I hope that I can experience the same thing when I see them, even though I've never been on X... I've been a big fan of the LPDs since 1988, but I've managed to miss their live shows every year since then, due to circumstances beyond my control. I am quite looking forward to the Montreal show... | 4) the guitarist knew when not to play, a characteristic common to many, | all too many guitarists. I am glad you were impressed by the sax player. He is a reatively new addition to the band, however. (well, they've been around since 1981) I saw a video of their live show from 1989 and the *SAX* player didn't know when not to play (come to think of it, there was no guitar player then either), and he was always drowning out the other instruments. Did you observe that he's still doing that now? [although perhaps you didn't know what other instruments were supposed to be played, as you didn't hear the music before]. Just curious - was there a violinist on the stage? Which disc did you get? Anyway, the LPDs are a bunch of serious musicians. I personally own over 15 CDs by the group, plus an additional 6 CDs by their spinoffs, and about 6 tapes of stuff that never made it onto CD. Every year, there are at least two new releases by the group or the group's leader or a collaboration between LPDs and some other group, and I *always* look forward to hearing them. I also run the LPDs mailing list and FTP archives, so for those of you who want more info, come join us!! cloud-zero-request@cs.mcgill.ca -- | Alan Ezust depeche@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |------------- McGill University School of Computer Science ----------------| ======================================================================== Subject: Boston Concert Info Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 11:48:23 EDT From: Angelos Kyrlidis Another week, where the dilemma "thesis or music?" will arise is coming up. Unfortunately, I will only be able to attend two of the upcoming concerts but in any case let me warn Boston and vicinity Ectophiles about the upcoming shows: April 17 Kristin Hersh Nightstage (blizzard make-up show) April 20 Betti Serveert Middle East April 21 Sun Ra Middle East (going to see this one) April 22 Zap Mama Nightstage April 23 TMBG and Tribe MIT April 24 Einstuerzende Axis (got tix for this one) Neubauten and Miranda Sex Garden Oh, and scalpers are advertising about Peter Gabriel for June 19. Keep your eyes open for this one, and PLEASE post tour dates if and when you get them. Angelos ' Battered taxis in the marketplace, narrow streets, little alleyways I was restless, kind of breathless, still trapped in the past' -TR ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 12:22:47 EDT From: Laura Clifford Subject: Funny Americans Bob: > Speaking of funny, Americans can indeed be funny. Groucho, Harpo, >Chico - yes? Larry, Moe, Curly? - well... Stan, Ollie? There have >to be a few funny Americans! What about some living people like Robin Williams and Steve Martin - at least I think they're pretty funny.... Laura ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1993 15:02:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Ectophiles Guide Subject: Ectophiles Guide Just a reminder that we would like to have all entries for "B" artists/ groups by Tuesday, April 20. "B" artists covered so far: Joan Baez, Bel Canto, Belly, Marie Bergman, Bettie Seervert, blackgirls and The Breeders. We would like to also include Banderas, Beautiful Pea Green Boat, Heidi Berry, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Betty, Betty Boo, Big Hat, Iva Bittova, Blake Babies, Asha Boshle, Maire Brennan, Agnes Buen Garnas, Kate Bush--and anyone else whose band or name starts with B that you think ectophiles might be interested in. Please share your opinions on these artists with other ectophiles! If you don't want to fill in the guide form, please just send comments. Many thanks to those who have already sent messages. We look forward to hearing from the rest of you! --Neile neile@u.washington.edu Ectophiles Guide: ethelred@u.washington.edu ======================================================================== Date: 16 Apr 1993 20:16:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Replies to something-or-other Hi! Yngve states: }I got to get that interview...........:) Never fear... I'll be sending a tape to Doug next week. (Hear that, Doug? Incoming! :) Also, I'll be bringing a tape to the Ecto-gathering at Jeffy's next weekend, so all we deviant menaces to Traditional Family Values (tm) can listen to it together. :) }I hope Happy & Co think about Norway too. Here at the }northernmost university in the world I do get very good }response. Well, they're getting closer... at least Spain is a bit closer to you than America! Personal to Mitch: THANKS for the tip... I'm sending in my order tomorrow! :) +===============================================================+ |Meredith Tarr meth@delphi.com| +===============================================================+ | The painted stage, it comes alive at night | | When all the world is dead | | And I become the sole audience, and they linger in my head... | | *Happy Rhodes* | +===============================================================+ ======================================================================== Date: 16 Apr 1993 20:21:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: A Dream of Midsummer Hi! Drewcifer sez: }Sorry. I'm still wondering whose shit lists still have my name }on them. :) `Sokay. My shit lists, unlike credit reports, get a new slate every week or so. ;) }To make it clear just how good Neil is: that World Fantasy Award }was for best *short story*. It was an issue about _A_ Midsummer }_Night's_Dream_, which, I'm told, was sublime. If you haven't read it, it can be found in the trade paperback compilation THE DREAM COUNTRY, which collects issues 17, 18 and 19 of SANDMAN. Incidentally, that's the only SANDMAN Happy has read, and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was her favorite. It's interesting that the tape Neil got has _Ecto_ on it- I pointed out "Would That I Could" to him, but dammit, he still hasn't listened to it yet! +===============================================================+ |Meredith Tarr meth@delphi.com| +===============================================================+ | The painted stage, it comes alive at night | | When all the world is dead | | And I become the sole audience, and they linger in my head... | | *Happy Rhodes* | +===============================================================+ ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 17 Apr 93 3:01:06 EDT From: WretchAwry Subject: Hi! My normal telnet connection is down and I'm using an expensive toll connection, so I can only stay a minute. Thanks for the recommendations for _Was_. I bought it tonight! I also saw the Neil Jordan book that Ron recommended (thanks!) but we had also picked up _The Whole Internet_ to add to our collection (I'd highly recommend this to anyone new or slightly new to the net. We've been on the net for a few years, and it still looks fascinating.) Welcome to Don, and to all the other new Ectophiles out there (hi Andrea!) There are about 165 Ectophiles now! Chris and I saw _Benny and Joon_ tonight. It's tiny, and sweet. Maybe a little too cute. Well, not really, it's just that the subject of mental illness was played for cute, and not explained at all. I don't have time to say more, sorry. Went to F.A.O Swartz too. It's right across the street from the theater we went to. It's the first time I've ever been in one and it's definitely a fun wonderland! Expensive too...we saw German teddy bears and stuffed animals that ranged in price from $60.00 to $500.00! They had others, like a big lion, far up out of reach. It was probably over $1000.00. Yow! I bought a holographic bookmark and a holographic postcard. $1.00 each. Hey, I love all the Happy .sig lines I'm seeing! Has anybody heard of the band Praise? AnthonyK, I've been listening to Ashley Maher exclusively for the past couple of days. It's really *really* good! I'm trying to learn the songs. I'll talk more about it when I do. I like both albums equally, but maybe _Pomegranite_ just a bit better. I've gotten a flurry of Happy info inquiries in the past few days. It's wonderful! Still in Alaska, but thawing out gradually. Coming around 'e gonna give you a *HUG*! Vickie ======================================================================== From: depeche@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (S. A. Ezust) Date: Sat, 17 Apr 93 11:44:44 EDT Subject: My discovery I know some of you out there have old 45s which you are either a) embarassed about or b) tired of It's one of those nasty secrets all of us music-addicts share. Well, I just rediscovered many of mine over the past couple of months. I was inspired by the fact that I liked Coil's version of Soft-Cell's Tainted Love better than the original. The original version is too fast. It all started with my 12" of Thomas Dolby's "Dissidents: The Search For Truth". I picked this one up at a used record shop, even though I wasn't so wild about the actual song Dissidents, just 'cause I was in a "Thomas Dolby Completion mode" and had to have everything he's ever put out. Dissidents, IMHO, is just too fast! It always sounds "rushed" to me. I decided I'd listen to the 12" at 33RPM istead of 45RPM, and all of a sudden, it was like a door opened to a room I never saw before. It sounds much better that way!! There are so many interesting sounds which you just don't notice at the normal speed anyway. Now, when I hear it at the normal speed, it *really* sounds fast, and I can't listen to it that way anymore. I went thru my other 45s to see if I could find any more songs which sound better at slow speed. My Sisters of Mercy records didn't sound too good, alas, since Andrew Eldritch already sings so low that when it's played at 33 it is *obviously* the wrong speed. But I then dusted off my old 45 of Robert Palmer's "I didn't mean to turn you on", and once again, I found a hit! This song is wonderfully demented when it's played at 33! So here is some advice to all ectophiles - try playing your 45s at 33 and see if you like them again!! -- | Alan Ezust depeche@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |------------- McGill University School of Computer Science ----------------| ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)