Errors-To: owner-ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu From: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@athos.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@athos.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #168 ecto, Number 168 Thursday, 20 February 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Blue Man Group (no Happy content)<---no kidding!) Fluff'n'Such Duffers assorted ramblings ectomechanics ======================================================================== From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: Blue Man Group (no Happy content)<---no kidding!) Date: Wed, 19 Feb 92 4:18:31 CST Vickie here. A while back, woj posted that he'd gone to see something called Blue Man Group. I've never seen them, but a friend of mine has, and, when I mentioned woj's post, reminded me that she had an article about them. She dug it up and I typed it in. I was just going to send this to woj, but thought it might provide some demented amusement for other ectophiles too. Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the sanity of Blue Man Group, the reviewer, or woj, for spending money to see this thing :-) (or that of my friend, for that matter...she sez, "You had to be there") ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- High Performance magazine, Summer 1991 BLUE MAN GROUP _Tubes_ Performed at The Club at La Mama in New York City January 3-February 9, 1991 With a nod to Oscar Schlemmer, a tip o' the hat to Buster Keaton and a rude salute to the Kipper kids, Blue Man Group (Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink; plus musicians Larry Heinemann, Ian Pai, and a 15-person tech tribe) led its audience on a cheerfully robotic romp through postmodern art history. _Tubes_ was a mordant send-up of recent art and art market excesses, but you didn't have to know and love (or loathe) Jenny Holzer's diode prosody, for example, to find Blue Man's supra-titled, fish-fixed- to-canvas trumped l'oeil art encounter hilarious. La Mama's modest cabaret space was crowded with tables and festooned with dangling industrial tubes and huge rolls of paper toweling. Those who chose tables in front were provided with clear plastic body sheaths, suggesting things to come. The stage was crammed with drums, props, table and chairs, more tubes, three screens hanging upstage and a marimba-like 'tube-a-phone' in three parts that Blue Man called "the PVC instrument." The show was paced, and propelled, by drumming. It opened with each Blue Man silhouetted behind an upstage screen, conversing in rapid-fire, rhythmic snaredrum bursts. Soon, however, one Man was sitting out, having a swig, a smoke, a snack. Suddenly, they emerged--bald, blue and manly in simple black costumes--to confront the aforementioned funny still-life, their thoughts streaming electronically over their heads. One pontificated, one ruminated, one got bored; they concluded with a flurry of declarations ("I want to curate the fish," "I want to confront the fish," "I want to filet the fish"). And it's on to the next antic task. Blue Man took turns, competed, cooperated and challenged each other. They strode amongst the audience, one Blue Man spitting paint pellets onto canvas, where they bursted and dripped, another slinging cheese pellets into the mouth of the third. The tosser accelerated until the catcher's mouth held more than humanly possible, whereupon he proudly formed an handsome white cheese turd (price: $4,000) on a plate while the 'painter' signed his canvas. Pleased, they all bow. There was a film illustrating principles of fractal math. A fatuous female V.O., discoursing on the intertwining of pattern and chaos, suddenly confessed to loving the sound of her own voice. They hammered on tympani and three clouds of red, yellow and blue paint sprayed into the air. They went back into the audience to invite/select a female guest/victim to dinner. One Blue Man escort gravely stroked her hair, respectfully acknowledging her diffenece. (Dinner, a fulminating Twinkie feast, redefined forever the concept of conspicuous consumption.) They crunched dry cereal amplified to the pitch of auto parts. They paddled a lovely Doppler cycle on the PVC tubes, which lit up in glorious Necco-wafer colors. Day-glo slime oozed from their mouths. And that's not all, folks; it was less than half. Blue Man marched through its manic world with a dignified uncertainty that made the oozing, gushing, splashing, squishing consequence of its ritual mischief all the more irresistible. As a result, _Tubes_ was a rapt and enthusiastic celebration of chaotic processes--body, politic, creative. Watching, we recognized our innards made manifest and delight in simple primal motions--wiggle, swivel, spurt and slide--we knew to be true within and without. Tubes, after all, are what keep us going. Blue Man's wary unity and messy community reminded us of the unmeshed edges within our own psyches, and of the elusive brotherhood we seek. --Lynn Swanson (Lynn Swanson is a performance artist, maskmaker and writer working in Los Angeles and New York.) ======================================================================== From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: Fluff'n'Such Date: Wed, 19 Feb 92 5:35:11 CST Vickie here. Klaus asked about Tori Amos's first album. Don't break your neck trying to find it, Klaus, it sucks pretty large lemons. A couple of songs are somewhat decent, but on the whole, it's worth about $1 on the open market. Yuck! (IMHO, of course :-) The second album has not really grown on me very much. Fies on the reviewers who call her "the American Kate Bush" (that title belongs to Happy anyway) and just goes to show, as others have pointed out, that reviewers at a loss will grab at anything. Don't misunderstand, I *like* many of the songs and I very much appreciate Court sending it to me. I will certainly play a few songs on my show, it's just that it's not a brilliant album, nor is it very original, nor is it all that innovative. It's nice, not great. I'd recommend it, but look for a sale. Re: Heidi Berry I *like* many of the songs and I will certainly play a few songs on my show, it's just that it's not a brilliant album, nor is it very original, nor is it all that innovative. It's nice, not great. I'd recommend it, but look for a sale. :-) Addition...it's supposed to be released in America, so *don't* buy the import if you live here. Er, Steve Fagg...: > *** "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown". *** Yes, but what does it *mean*? What's "duffers"? Speaking of subtitles, Klaus sent us a German dubbed copy of Twin Peaks, an episode from the first season. It's hilarious! (<--look! I learned how to spell it!) because I'm so used to all the characters and to hear different voices come out of their mouths is quite strange! Technically, they did a *wonderful* job, and they even tried to get actors with approx the same voice types, but still...I cringe while I'm laughing at it. I really hate dubbing. I heard that in France, they not only re-dubbed the voices, they re-dubbed the *music* too! That's even more of a sin. Imagine some French tart singing Julee Cruise's songs! Gives me shivers. btw, Klaus, did you get to catch up on Twin Peaks? The series has ended in Germany, so I was wondering what you thought of it all. >From what I hear, the film will be released in Europe *months* before release in America. :-( Boo hoo! It looks like we lost Steve Veeneman, Dan Segel (Tom, what happened?) and Gail Wauford, besides Michele Young. Bye-bye :-(. Steve VanDevender, you're now Steve V again :-) Mitch writes: > Despite having posted nothing on or for Valentine's Day, it doesn't > mean I don't love you :-). Mitch, I love you too, but could you maybe please (pretty please w/ sugar on top) shorten the length (not the content) of your sentences? Otherwise, this is what I get in all of your posts: ----------------- As I was reading my ecto incoming today, I was listening to Christine Lavi n's _Beau Woes_ album, on which the last track on Side 1 is "Ballad of a Ball- game," in which she recounts being sort of the Eddie the Eagle of pickup soft- ball. At the end of yesterday's show, _Fresh Air_ on NPR announced that later in the week they would interview Nancy Lieberman on her experiences playing pro basketball. Apparently they're not doing it today. With this, _mirabile dictu _, I finally exhause my store of sports-related items. On to more sedentary pursuits. ----------------- I know it's not your problem, but it doesn't hurt to ask, eh? I save all your posts into a separate file and I usually spend 5 minutes just fixing it before saving it. btw, Christine's _Beau Woes_ is my very favorite album by her. Hmm, not only has gaffa calmed down, it's disappeared entirely! The mailing list is still working. Jessica's Kate-Server is a pretty nifty thing, if we can get more people to use it. So far, all of my conversations have been with Happy fans. Angelos and I spent a couple of hours last night talking (uh, typing) and it was mostly about Happy. It's almost real-time (give or take a few seconds) and I like it a lot! Jessica, tell more about it so we can get more people hooked up to it. Well sheesh, I guess I made myself look pretty darn silly by saying: > FU_BLU_MA_LI?? I don't know either. I'm trying to work out anagrams. Just in case anyone's worried about my perception abilities, I knew when I first saw this that it stood for Fuzzy Blue Mailing List. I really was trying to work out anagrams to see what else it could be, but I did, honestly, really, know what it was. Philly is still pretty fuzzy, we probably won't know for sure if we're going until the week before. It doesn't look hopeful though :-(. I told Angelos that I was going even if I had to hitchhike. It's not out of the question, I used to do it a lot. I haven't for about 12 years and I'm getting paranoid in my old age. From what I hear, the police crack down on hitchhikers now more than they used to. I've never been arrested and it would be awful to have it happen on my way to a Happy concert. Pooh! We'll see how it goes. I have a bunch of Ecto SiGs waiting to be mailed. Beth, dnb-e and Bob Brown, yours are done and will be sent off shortly. The biggest delayer is getting checks cashed. Our bank is far, far away and involves a train trip and a bus transfer. I have a few checks (some from back in January) to be cashed and I just need to get up the get-go to make the long trip. Stephen Thomas, your tapes are on their way to you. Thanks for including the IRCs, I was able to go directly to the Post Office with them. Terry Partis, I still haven't gotten your tapes, I think they must have gotten lost in the mail. You and Stephen Thomas work in the same building, and both of your original packages never made it here. How strange. I've noticed the audio quality of the HGP getting decidedly grainier, I will make a backup video-tape dub, but I'd suggest to those who still want a copy of the HGP get tapes to me ASAP, before it disintegrates. I feel so sorry for the EUN atheletes who have to accept their Olympic medals and not have a flag or anthem to look at/listen to. Vickie ======================================================================== From: Steve Fagg Subject: Duffers Date: Wed, 19 Feb 92 13:17:53 BST Vickie wrote: > Er, Steve Fagg...: > > > *** "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown". *** > > Yes, but what does it *mean*? What's "duffers"? > Now, a true evangelical zealot would insist that you read the book to find out. As I said in a previous post I think it would be well worth anyone's reading it in any case. Fortunately, however, evangelical zealotry is not my long suit so here is an explanation: First the easy bit, "Duffer". This is an old fashioned colloquialism for a fool, or as the Oxford dictionary has it an "inefficient or stupid person". OK, so now we've got the English lesson over with, what (in context) is it all about? Actually I've been slightly kind in adding some punctuation, the original read: BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN. This was because it was supposedly (the whole text of) a telgram. This telegram was sent by the Father of the group of children who became known as the Swallows (who was away at sea) in response to a request that they be permitted to go sailing on the lake during their summer holiday. What it *means* therefore is: "Yes". -- Regards Steve Fagg ( S.L.Fagg@bnr.co.uk +44-279-429531 Ext 2437 ESN-742-2437) BNR Europe Ltd., London Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 9NA, UK *** "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown". *** ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: assorted ramblings Date: Wed, 19 Feb 92 13:05:15 EST Hi, It dawned to me that I haven't posted anything for quite a while, so I decided to go through some stuff that has been accumulating. Re: Purchases: My most recent purchase was the Single Gun theory CD. It is quite enjoyable, and quite danceable. Nice beats, nice samples, and nice vocals. Another GREAT, yet gloomy CD is Lou Reed's 'Magic and Loss'. At first I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics, but now I realize it's BETTER than 'New York'. Re: Blue man group: TIME had a feature article on them, and MTV had a spot on them. The concept sounds interesting, and I must say that from what I saw, they make interesting sounds with popcorn. :) It sounds more interesting than a Belgian troupe I saw in Greece, who were marching across the stage waving flags for 1 hour, with the occasional somersault thrown in for variety...They were doing this to Bowie music, so that made up for the silliness. Re: Albany and Philly. I can't wait! The more I listen to the tapes the more I am under the impression that there is some backwards masking on them that works on your subconscious and makes you want more. I wonder if that's what 'Boom didi wanna hi' is all about! :) And on a closing note FU-BLU-MA-LI: malibu-ful (of water). It was a Happy prophecy all along!! :-) Angelos ------------------------- Be wary of the moment When you run out of tears Be strong, no matter what Hold on to your own fears ------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 19 Feb 92 19:05:28 EST From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu Subject: ectomechanics i hate cars. 'nuff said. ectophiles will be amused to know that another list that i am on (one devoted to the topic of vampires) has developed a list of personal statistics simi- lar to the one that ecto spawned a few months ago. in fact, there are many parallels between that list and gaffa/ecto/warmroom (off-topic flaming, rude vs. non-rudes debates and their attendant censorhips tag-a-longs, etc). it seems that group dynamics are something that can be believed in, if you use the evidence provided by these two mailing lists. i've already spouted about the current robyn hitchcock tour. but i'll just reiterate that this is one of the best shows that the egyptians have done since the mid-80s. the band is very tight musically and features some of the best musicianship i've heard from them. lots of new and unreleased old songs are sprinkled into the show. combined with robyn's between-song banter, it's a sure entertainer. go if you can. jetzt, meine gedanken sind gebraten. danke. no drugs involved. delerium is fun. blah blah blah. did i mention that i hate cars? woj ======================================================================== 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@athos.rutgers.edu)