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 #318 ecto, Number 318 Monday, 24 August 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Pamela Golden Vaya con Dios Odd lots Two things... Martin! Friends heading your way... miscellaneous pieces Boston room Pamela Golden joins the apostles isbn ISBN CD's This'n that Rainbirds ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 13:17:42 -0700 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: Pamela Golden Vickie, I'll be looking forward to your opinion of _Happens All the Time_ because Pamela is from Seattle, used to be in a local group named the Visible Targets during the early 80's, and is one of the nicest people in our local scene. This is her first recorded work in years. I'm please to see her CD is being so widely distributed. Cool. First local gal, Amy Denio is discovered by ecto, and now Ms. Golden. I love this list. BTW, i sent you a couple 7" examples of some local bands, the Patti Smith-inspired group of women rockers called Common Language, and Courtney Love (no relation to the queen of Hole) who are a man and woman producing low-keyed music ... especially like the song _Disappearing Lessons_ on the back of that single. Cheers, Mp ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 23:21:38 MET From: brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk (Jens P. Brage) Subject: Vaya con Dios Hi! As I was listening to Rainbirds' "Call Me Easy[...]" today, it struck me that nobody has mentioned Vaya con Dios on ecto! I've just scanned the archives to make sure and there's not a single mention. It this because: 1) Everybody knows VcD, no need to mention the obvious. 2) Nobody has heard of VcD (unlikely!?). 3) Nobody wants to have anything to do with VcD (absurd! ;-)). Certainly, the European Ectophiles should know Vaya con Dios, so that rules out 2) and I doubt 3)! Anyways, just in case it actually is 2), here a brief description: Vaya con Dios is a Dutch or Belgian group which plays "etnic"*) music, i.e., rather than playing a single style, they play music inspired by lots of different "etnic"/national music. For instance, the first self-titled CD contains music inspired by French, Spanish, Negro Spirituals and American(:-)) music as well as other genres. The female lead singer has a voice which is strongly reminiscent of Rainbirds' Katharina Franck's voice, and the instrumentation also has similarities. I can recommend the music, both for quite, intensive listening, as well as for parties (VcD plays many good dance songs). *) I dislike the label "etnic" music as it somehow implies that "We've got the right/normal music, but then there's this 'etnic', strange music". It smacks of euro-centrism (or american-centrism, depending on your origin). Jens P. Brage | Michael - help me write a letter to you know who brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk | I will sign it "Lucifer regrets..." /\ | Can't forget his final words were \SphereSoft | "Ain't no comeback gonna come your way" ======================================================================== Date: 21 August 1992 13:50:50 CDT From: Subject: Odd lots Meredith said: >.. who was just featured yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered. Has anyone >in Albany (or Brooklyn, for that matter) considered trying to get Happy a >similar spotlight on NPR? Both ATC and Morning Edition have HUGE listening audiences nationwide, and they do many such profiles of little-known musicians. It would be the ideal forum for some serious Happyvangelization- has anyone out >there previously written to Suzanne White about this? Should I? I have, but so should she, along with anyone else who's so inclined. BTW: Uncharacteristically, I wasn't listening to the part of _ME_ with the Lucinda Williams feature. Was anything interesting said? The implication of recent statements in these pages is that the Rainbirds al- bums are available in the US, at least on CD. Does anyone know if they're out on tape? I've never seen them that way, or indeed in CD format on store shelves. Mitch ======================================================================== Subject: Two things... Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 00:15:57 -0400 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu a) A few weeks ago, I happened to play a tape of Sarah McLachlan's cover of "Gloomy Sunday" for a friend of mine who has rather Ecto-y taste in music. Last weekend he reported to me that he'd heard that Sinead O'Connor is going to include a cover of "Gloomy Sunday" on her next album, due out this fall. As I know a lot of you saw Sarah tour, I imagine many of you have heard the song I'm referring to. b) Wheee! It looks like there's at least a reasonably good chance I'll get to see Tori here on 9/13! The aforementioned friend is going to buy 2 tickets and then worry about finding someone to see her with. I get first dibs. Now where am I gonna get the money in time? And how am I gonna manage to meet her after the show? Such things to worry about! c) (ObHappy) I was playing "Warpaint" in the car the other day whilst a bunch of us were driving home from a brief visit to Cape May, NJ. The oft-mentioned friend looked up during "Waking Up" and said, "Who is this?" I told him, and he replied, "She _does_ sound a lot like Annie Lennox". I'd mentioned this to him earlier in describing some of Happy's music. Personally, I still don't see any sort of similarity, but what do I know? Jeff |Jeffrey C. Burka | "Show what you are / Be strong, be true | | | Time for you to / Be who you are." | |jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu | --Happy Rhodes | ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 22:27:51 EDT From: Vickie Mapes Subject: Martin! Friends heading your way... This is *so* amazing! I just got off the phone with Angel Weaver and she and Mike are moving to PERTH, AUSTRALIA!! Yes, this is the same Mike Weaver who wrote _Mercedes Nights_ and _My Father Immortal_ (plus others) and whose next book might sport a cover drawn by Happy Rhodes! (Still no word about that though) My very good friends for years and years and years, they are *huge* Happy fans and Kate fans and Jane fans and Dead Can Dance fans *and* Tori fans! Plus Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, Loreena McKennitt, Eberhard Weber and gee, so many more. We met Mike in 1983 through the Kate Bush fanzine _Breakthrough_. At the time, he was in the Air Force and stationed outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It's about a 5-hour drive from Kansas City, where we lived then, so he and John Reimers (the friend who originally sent me the tape with Happy's music on it and who now works for Tori's manager in Los Angeles) used to drive to KC and spend weekends just listing to music and watching movies on the big screen. The 4 of us, along with 2 other friends, drove to Winnepeg, Canada for the Kate fan convention Bush-Con '84. One of the most wonderful parts of the trip was on the way back. We had 2 cars, and I was driving one. We drove from Manitoba to Kansas City without any stops, except for gas. Mike stayed awake with me and we listened to lots of music, especially Kate, and we talked and talked and talked about every subject under the sun, it seemed. (Or moon, because it was the middle of the night) It was just one of those times where you know you've made a friend for life. (And I felt exactly the same way with Doug Burks, traveling from Albany to Philly) After Mike got out of the Army he moved back to his hometown of Danville, Virginia, got a job as a computer programmer and met and married Angel. Angel and I loved each other from the first time we talked on the phone. We were best friends via the telephone for *years* before we finally met in person in Philadelphia at Happy's concert! They moved to the Washington, DC area a couple of years ago when Mike quit his job in Danville and took a temporary contract to program for (eeek!) IBM. That contract is over, so Mike's been looking for another job. When I talked to Angel and she said that they were moving to Australia she was *very* worried. She said "It's *so* far away and we won't know anybody!" and then I asked her where in Australia. When she said "Perth" I started hooping and yaying and laughing and she must have thought I was crazy, until I told her "don't worry, you have a built-in friend there already" and I told her about you Martin. It's an awfully presumptious thing to say, and Martin, I don't want you to feel obligated to them, but I do hope that you can get together and show them around Perth. I know you'll make them feel welcome. You certainly have enough in common to talk about :-). They will only be in Perth for 6 months, unless the contract is extended. They have no idea where they'll go from there (I want them to live in Chicago!) so when the time comes I might be writing a similar post to another Ectophile in whatever city they go to. It really is so amazing. Out of all the cities in the world, out of all the cities in Australia, they go to Perth! They won't be moving for another month or 2, but I'll give more details when the time comes. I doubt everybody on the list is interested in this, but it's so funny that I had to share it with the list. For Kate fans, here's an interesting story about Mike. He used to write a lot for Breakthrough before it went kaput, and Mike tried to get an interview with Peter Reich, who wrote _A Book of Dreams_ (which, for non- Kate fans, her song "Cloudbusting" is based on.) Mike contacted Peter's agent (apparently Peter just writes gardening articles now) and they became friends during all the back and forth of negotiations. Peter finally nixed the interview, but by that time his agent had found out that Mike had already written a book that had been turned down by various publishers. She asked Mike to send her a copy of it and she *loved* it! She worked hard for Mike and got him a book contract with Avon Books. _Mercedes Nights_ was published! Since then he's had 4 other books published, _My Father Immortal_, which is also Science Fiction, and a Fantasy trilogy about a Norse woman who is cursed as a child "...destined to become a feirce warrior...and fated to be transformed into something far more awesome: a were-creature as white as the moon that awakened her lust to kill, as powerful as the earth that fed her many hungers." ! I'm not into fantasy at all, but I actually liked Mike's trilogy, as horrific as it sounds. Anyway, the books are _Wolf-Dreams_, _Nightreaver_ and _Bloodfang_. I don't know the title of the book that's in the waiting line to be published. The editor has not given the final yay or nay for Happy to do the cover, but I wish he'd make up his mind. By the time he decides, and if he says yes, Happy might be involved with the album or tour so deeply that she just won't be able to do it. I really think the chance has already been missed. This whole past year Happy would have had plenty of time to do it. From now on her time will be limited. The point of that whole story is: See what wonderful things happen because of the love of music? Kate especially seems to have a knack of changing people's lives for the better. Before I finish this, a bit of Happy news. I still have not been able to contact them, but Angel, who is a friend of Happys, got a call from her recently and Happy told her that she quit smoking! Since Happy and Kevin both smoked like a forest fire, that's amazing news indeed! I forgot to ask if Kevin quit too. Vickie ======================================================================== Date: 23-AUG-1992 23:03:20.58 From: Valerie Nozick Subject: miscellaneous pieces well, i'm back from katemas and have been tinkering around atlanta for a week, so i suppose it's time to come out from hiding... first of all, i've received one of the rolls of film of katemas, and i got some fun shots of the band (for those of you who didn't hear them, shame on you!) i'll post more details whence i receive the other 2 rolls. btw, if you *ever* run into an R. Stevens photo processing machine, do NOT use them if you want your pictures. i gave them one of the rolls, since i had a free processing coupon aftert they f*cked up an earlier roll, and they managed to screw up again. this time the pics came out, but they had to hand deliver them to me. (heh heh...i love battling poorly run companies) *this is all my opinion* lessee...i just came from Oxford Books here in town, a huge bookstore with a video section (they have a great silent film collection, and TSW, KLaHO & TWS all for rent), but most importantly, they have a great cafe with free acoustic bands every Sun.-Tues. Anyhow, i saw Melanie Hammet play there tonight, and she was _fantastic_. Music similar to indigo girls/lots of folksy stuff you hear at times. i got her cd and can't wait to play it. rumour: tori is going to play u of georgia in athens sometime around sept. 21. according to a friend there, she's been negotiating with the school to play the first week of classes, supposedly in a venue that holds about 1000 people. she hasn't signed the contract, yet, though. will let people know as soon as i hear definite about this. hmm...i might even get to see her this time! (two times i've had tickets, and two times i've missed her...is three the charm or the curse?) vickie, i'm extremely jealous about the b-day card. any hints as to what it said? for those of you in the know, are tickets still available for the wxpn benefit? or does anyone have an extra ticket just in case i end up in the vicinity? congrats to greg & jess on the possibility of a live show...and to greg on his new job. happy b-day to all those that i've missed. heck, make that a happy week after birthday. no reason why you shouldn't go on celebrating one week afterwards! picked up a copy of paul young's greatest hits used yesterday, never knew that he did a cover of don't dream it's over. never really wanted to know, in fact. but it's nice to go back to the 80s every so often. assuming we're not talking politics, that is... jess, thanks for the pete wilson offering. as a former californian, i found it hysterical and right on target. frightening how cnn is bragging about how a whole fire was fought on ious. i just hope bush isn't listening. hey...i just noticed on the melanie hammet cd these words under the all rights reserved bit: (please encourage friends to buy their own. it does make a difference, no kidding.) kinda cool, eh? so let's all pat ourselves on the backs. heck, pat the back of the ectophile next to you, or dust their computer. :-) "hey now, don't dream it's over..." -- paul young??? ack! of course, this goes to prove that his career is really finn-ished. :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valerie Nozick "shit, it's hot here!" vnozick@eagle.wesleyan.edu --Sarah McLachlan (while in Atlanta) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================================================================== Date: 23-AUG-1992 23:21:22.69 From: Valerie Nozick Subject: Boston room okay, this has been really bothering me. i spoke to somebody at katemas in boston about housing in boston for a friend who's moving there, and now i have absolutely no idea who it was. so if you have a room for rent in boston, or know of one, or are just looking to be helpful, please contact me about it. a very close friend of mine is needing a place to live for next year. he's an mit grad student (working in the ai lab) who went to harvard before. he's extremely responsible, friendly, and just a great guy with a fantastic personality. and hey, i'll eventually even come up and visit, and hence meet you. (hmm...maybe i should take that part out -- it might be a deterrent.) :-) he needs a place in the next few weeks, so please contact me as soon as possible. i think he wants to spend $350 - $400/mo., although anything that's near a student's budget would be fine. send me e-mail, and i'll relay the info to him and put you two in touch with one another. he's currently in maryland, so he doesn't have net access right now, although soon he will. Once again: contact me (valerie nozick) at vnozick@eagle.wesleyan.edu 2212 oakawana rd. atlanta, ga 30345 if you know about a room for rent in boston/cambridge/anything nearby for a 22 year old male grad student. ==> valerie ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 23:32:43 EDT From: Vickie Mapes Subject: Pamela Golden joins the apostles For newer Ectophiles who don't know me, I should explain that, even though I'm an unrepentant heathen :-) I use a Biblical analogy to give an idea where my favorite artists fit into my psyche. Kate Bush is God Jane Siberry is Jesus Happy Rhodes is The Holy Ghost (Lest you get worried, I don't *really* believe that, ok? It's *just* an analogy, nothing more. I'm weird, but I'm not *that* weird!) That list is set in stone, forever and ever, amen. The next group of artists I call the Apostles, just because I don't know what else to call them. This list would include Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Victoria Williams, Dead Can Dance, The Cocteau Twins, The Innocence Mission and others that I'll think of as soon as I hit Control D. Well, Pamela Golden is now an apostle. (I'm sure these people would find it so weird that they're put into categories like this, but it sure beats the "Dresser Drawers" analogy I used to use!) She is *wonderful*! I love this album and I've listened to it over a dozen times now. If you trust my taste (and if you forgive my ghastly error concerning Tori-chalk it up to brain-damage and a bit of jealousy because of Happy) then you will probably like this album. There isn't a song I dislike, though there are a couple of tiny things within a couple of songs I don't like, but that's nitpicking, because there are *whole* songs by Kate and Happy I don't like. A couple of songs use electronics in a way that I wish had been different. "Moment of Time" for instance, uses a cheezy drum machine sound that I dispise. I *love* the song, which makes me even more pissed off at the drum machine. (d*e*spise, right) Obviously, that was one of the songs that Jerry Marotta didn't work on. Maybe I'm just too critical of electronic sounds, I don't know. "Break This Chain" uses the word "baby" too much and is probably the song I like the least, though I do like it. Bits and pieces here and there that are so miniscule that they're not even worth mentioning bother me, but again, I can find things to criticize about all the people I like, so it's all silly anyway. I shouldn't have been worried, because the songs "Eerie Song," "Ballet Dream," and "Lisa of the Wind" are my favorites. How to describe the music? Ugh, this is the part I hate, because I'm really bad at it, and I can't seem to do it without bringing in other artists as a guideline. I would put her in a vague category somewhere in-between well-crafted pop and ethereal. It's the same "category" I would put Sarah McLachlan in, though I'm not comparing her to Sarah at all. Ok, "Ethereal Pop" is one of my most-frequently used phrases (to myself, anyway) and that's where she goes. That's as far as I'll go to describe her music. If Georgie-baby can say it, I can too: Trust Me! Michael, you say that this is her first recorded work in years. What has she been doing? And does she have any records from way back that are still available? I assume you have this album...is her style now very different from what she used to do? Since this is her first "major" album, I'm really looking forward to what she does in the future. I don't expect this album will cause anyone to put away their Kate, Happy, Tori albums, but I do hope people enjoy it as much as I do. To support an artist like this, who has such a wonderful future ahead of her, is to support interesting, (oops) intelligent female artists who may or may not ever get the true recognition they deserve. But Ectophiles know that already! :-) PAMELA GOLDEN _Happens All the Time_ MPCD 7001 ISBN # 1-877828-30-0 (whtever that is. What is it? Does anyone know?) Miramar Recordings 200 Second Avenue West Seattle, Washington 98119 For the USA: 1-800-245-6472 It's the only number listed. I haven't called the number, because I didn't listen to the album until the weekend began. If someone does call it, please find out waht the cost is and postage. Thanks! Vickie ======================================================================== Date: 23-AUG-1992 23:43:10.97 From: Valerie Nozick Subject: isbn ISBN -- i think that's a catalog number for books, and i suppose recorded materials, too. International S? Book Number? does that make sense? well, i'll leave it to mitch, the trivia expert, to enlighten us. vickie's post brings up an interesting question...how do you describe certain artist's music? paula abdul may not make interesting music, but she's easy to classify. but what the hell does happy do? or kate? or jane or tori or several others? so many of the artists we all share are part of the experimental end of music, that they haven't invented a term for it yet. i usually describe artists such as kdlang as being where country, folk and rock meet (almost as if there was a map of the world with geographicx areas defined, and there was a three corner area). but kate certainly doesn't fit this description. anyone got any good ideas? or any suggestions for a name? i normally don't like labelling artists, but it's so hard to introduce a happy to a friend without being able to describe the music, unless you have a copy of warpain in your front pocket (the ecto alternative to pocket protectors). and alternative doesn't work for me...that's a label applied to the cure and depeche mode, so it doesn't quite fit with happy, imho. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valerie Nozick "shit, it's hot here!" vnozick@eagle.wesleyan.edu --Sarah McLachlan (while in Atlanta) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 01:25:48 EDT From: justin@crim.ca (Justin Bur) Subject: ISBN I'm in Alan's new apartment in Montreal (whee!) with his cute laptop (whee!) 386 (blech). Alan (whee!) and Liz (whee!) are here too. An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. (Valerie: ISBNs are my department, not Mitch's!) They were created in Britain in 1967 as SBNs, and became international in 1969. (Four parts: group (0, 1 = English-language); publisher; book number; check digit (modulo 11, with X = 10).) I have never seen a sound recording with an ISBN before, except for things like talking books which are sold in bookstores... it's very odd that Pamela Golden's CD has one! justin ======================================================================== From: Tim Cook Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 08:25:13 BST Subject: CD's I sent off my order to AG a couple of weeks ago for 3 CD's. After only two weeks I got a nice big package all the way from NY containing 4 CD's (I'd sent too much money so Kevin had included an extra CD, needless to say the 'bonus' CD is my favourite at the moment). I've been playing the CD's constantly over the last week. Sometimes Happy really does sound like Kate Bush and at other times she's got a style all her own. I can't wait to get home and play them really loud on the stereo (and of course introduce the neighbours to Happys' music!). tim ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 13:18:13 MEZ From: Dirk Kastens Subject: This'n that Hi, FTPed Happy's promo GIF and stared at it a very long time - nice! :) Translated the GIF into PostScript format and printed it out on our Laser Printer. Now I can take it home and view whenever I want! :-) Welcome back, Greg! Hope, you enjoy your new job, despite of the long commute. (my way to work is two minutes - by foot :-) And best wishes for your band. Ronald Hill asks: > Does anyone know anything about Shakespear's Sister? I saw there > video and it looked pretty horrid and stupid (forgive me if anyone likes > them) and I just wanted to know what the deal is! I recently saw a concert of S'sS on TV and found them horrid and stupid, too. Their music doesn't to anything to me. And I was disappointed because I read some outstanding reviews and critiques before. Greetings. Dirk ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1992 09:09:58 -0500 From: kennel@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Chris Kennel) Subject: Rainbirds The CD by the Rainbirds that some people are unable to find, is it "Say I'm Easy...?" I can't find any other Rainbirds CDs, but I just bought that one a few weeks ago for $6 at a used record store. Now if I could only find the others.... --christine KENNEL ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is a README file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me (or leave in the incoming directory, just let me know) things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)