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 #134 ecto, Number 134 Tuesday, 28 January 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Suspended In Ecto-the Novel ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 28 Jan 92 05:03 CST From: vickie@chinet.chi.il.us (Vickie Ann Mapes) Subject: Suspended In Ecto-the Novel Vickie here. This is all about the Ecto SiG. I feel compelled to write it all out and get it out of my system, breathing a sigh of relief right into Ecto. Feel the breeze? Hey guess what? I finished up the Ecto SiG and I'm so relieved! What a long strange taping it's been! From a simple idea from last September to reality at last, but it didn't turn out anything like I thought it would. I kept doing it over and over, in different ways, both on paper and on tape. I kept throwing away ideas I'd had and when piecing things together to build up the finished version, found that nearly all of my original ideas were out the window. If I'd gone ahead and made this show within a week of the Poll results, you would have had it by now, but in a completely different form. It tended to mutate, and in the end, after all my fussing and worrying that it *has* to be the best thing since ice cream, after all my procrastination and waiting and wondering if I was ever going to actually *do* it, in the end, it put itself together. Once I buckled down late Friday night and actually started mapping out on paper the finished version and making a serious "dress rehearsal" run-through onto audio tape, I was ready to lay down the show onto video tape. The thing was, it was *so* very different than I expected that before I made the finished version I tried to think of ways to get it back closer to the way it was originally planned. It was useless. I couldn't change it, no matter how hard I tried. And you probably have no idea what I'm talking about :-) but you will, soon. Dubbing will commence immediately. I'm not going to send any out yet, so don't look for this in the next week, it will be closer to 2 weeks or so. Hmmm, should I tell you about this before you get it? I think I will, because I really need to write it down. I don't know why, I just do, so consider the following a ***SPOILER*** for the Ecto SiG and if you don't want to read it, *SAVE* this letter and *STOP* reading *NOW*. Spoilers ahead...... Really big ones..... No kidding......... Last chance.......... Very last chance.... Anatomy of Suspended in Ecto Ecto SiG-Version 1 I had originally planned to just play the songs in the list posted by Angelos of Ectophile's favorite Happy songs, based on a Poll he conducted. Admittedly only 7 people participated, which isn't a consensus but this wasn't a formal scientific study and my Ecto SiG wasn't intended to say "these are *all* Ectophiles' favorite songs" but rather to just play the bunch of good songs that showed up on the list. Here are the songs. Beside each title I had notes which I've deleted, notes to remind me of things I wanted to say. For instance, beside Off From Out I wrote "the song that got me hooked," next to Possessed I wrote "To Efi from Angelos" and things like that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Song List --------- Oh the Drears..................Rhodes Vol. I Warpaint.......................Warpaint Would that I could.............Ecto Possessed......................Rhodes Vol. I Til the Dawn Breaks............Rearmament To live in your world..........Warpaint If love is a game, I win.......Ecto Feed the Fire..................Warpaint Off from out from under me.....Ecto Noone here.....................Rhodes Vol. II Poetic Justice.................Ecto I am a legend..................Rearmament Don't want to hear it..........Ecto In hiding......................Warpaint Come Here......................Rhodes Vol. II Under and over the brink.......Rhodes Vol. II This was just going to be a warm and fuzzy gathering of songs, and I intended to play all of these in order. If I'd made the show right away this is what you would have heard. I timed these songs and found that they would barely fit on a 90, and, with the idea of adding a couple of other songs (from the Bartlett/Rhodes demos) I decided to go ahead and ask for a 100 minute tape to make sure I had enough time. I figured I'd be doing a lot of talking and wanted plenty of room for my ramblings. I still love this idea and would still like to do this type of show. But... Ecto SiG-Version 2 I decided it was silly to only play a couple of the Bartlett/Rhodes songs. I have 5 of them and I realized that the reason it hadn't occurred to me to play them all was because I had my mind set on playing *all* of the above songs and knowing that, even if I kept my talking to a minimum, I still probably wouldn't have enough time for all the B/R songs unless I cut something out. My subconcious said "Cut something out? Inconceivable!" and wouldn't let me consider the idea. Then I came to my senses. Why keep off songs that are not available anywhere in favor of songs that are readily available? Hey, play *all* the B/R songs, or none at all. Simple, except that, once I timed it and confirmed my suspicions that not everything would fit, I had to decide which songs had to go. Blaaaah! It was *not* a decision that I wanted to make. Far from being mentally able to cut songs, there were a bunch that I wanted to *add* that were not on the Poll list. I desperately wanted to play "Words Weren't Made For Cowards" because it's my favorite WP song, and because someone else requested it. Other Ectophiles requested songs not on the list too, and they were all fantastic suggestions, songs that I would have wanted to play too, such as "Friend You'll Be" and "For We Believe" and others truly wonderful. This was the hardest time of all. What to add? What to cut? No one ever saw all the hair on the floor as I pulled it out in frustration. "To Live in Your World" and "If Love is a Game, I Win" were the first to go. :-( "Under and Over the Brink" and "I am a Legend" were on the "cut if absolutely necessary" list. Then, I decided to take my 1989 KKFI radio phone interview and pull out bits and pieces that I thought people would be interested in hearing. I transferred the entire interview onto reel-to-reel, editing slightly to cut out the songs played and the public service announcements. From that I picked out a rough version of things I'd consider using and put those bits onto audio tape, in the order they aired, but not in the order I'd be using for the finished version. The next step would be to decide exactly the bits I wanted used, where they were to go and put them onto yet another cassette as a final "User" copy, that I could just stop and start and not have to fast-forward or re-wind during the actual show taping. I kept putting off doing this because, if cutting out songs was hard, it wasn't anything compared to cutting out Happy's talking. I already figured that there would be large chunks I wouldn't use because she talks about songs not on either the original Poll list or on my "Other songs to play" list. I'll come back to this... Bye bye "Under..." & "Legend..." :-( "Come Here" and "In Hiding" gets put on the "cut if..." list. Procrastination participating, that next step was delayed because I got a "brilliant" idea and went off into a tangent. Listening to the interview, and thinking that this project was, after all, a "Happy Suspended in Gaffa" I came up with a plan to put a "little something" together that chronicled the history of Happy'n'me'n'Suspended in Gaffa. I thought it would be fun and that people would get a kick out of it. I went through all my old shows and put onto audio tape SiG bits, from the very first time I played Happy on the show (saying "I don't know who this Happy Rhodes is. If anyone out there has heard of Happy and you know anything at all about her, give me a call") and the very next week, when I went to the studio an hour after I had talked to her for the first time on the phone ("blah blah background...how do I know all this about Happy Rhodes when last week I didn't know anything at all? Well, I'm so happy because right before I came here tonight I spent about 20 minutes talking to Happy and she's just the nicest person!") and nearly every week thereafter whenever I'd play a Happy song and talked about the song & Happy as I was back-announcing, to long talking bits from my marathon 6-hour "last" live Suspended in Gaffa, where I played Friend You'll Be and then dedicated it to all my listeners who have supported Happy and supported me, and then, later, spending the entire last hour of the show playing Happy songs and after that, coming on to say my "final"* goodbyes and thank yous to my Kansas City listeners live on the air. Those who were still around at 6:00am, that is :-) So by the time I get to that show I have filled up a couple of 90 minute cassettes with raw talking, with much editing of non-Happy stuff to be done, and I still had many, many hours to go through, because I didn't stop talking about or playing Happy once I moved to Chicago. I decided that, if I wanted to keep my sanity, I'd better stop there, so I didn't use anything from my Chicago shows, or the Kansas City shows I taped and mailed down. That was a bit of a bite, because Warpaint was released after I moved to Chicago and I didn't use any "HAPPY'S GOT A NEW ALBUM!!!!" spewings. Oh well darn. I almost changed my mind and kept going, but by that time I was so sick of scouring playlists to find out when I played Happy, fast-forwarding and re-winding the video tapes (almost all my Suspended in Gaffas are on videotape, I'd set the timer before I went to the studio) to get to the pertinent parts, and dubbing onto audio tape, that I was ready to call it quits anyway. It was already frustrating knowing that I was missing some things here and there. Such as not being able to find specific shows (a very important show is still missing and I have no idea where it is. I played a long Happy set for a Love-Hound, Andrew from Reno, Nevada, who was visiting Kansas City and came to the studio with me that night), not being able to use favorite bits because the reception was bad or the timer was set wrong and I missed taping the show altogether, knowing that I'd often made Happy references at times other than when I'd just played a song, but having no idea where all those bits were unless I listened to each and every single show in its entirety. Still, I had *more* than enough material to work with. Whew! Ok, so I'm sitting there with this blank expression on my face, staring zombie-like at these 90 minute tapes, not really having the slightest idea what I'm going to do with them, just knowing that I was in for an awful lot of editing. I say to myself "Vickie, you better get your ass in gear" and go back to staring at them. A few weeks later, I got my ass in gear and listened to the tapes very intently, making notes of what I said and approx. where it was on the tape, so I could find specific bits when/if I needed them. I made a rough, semi-final version on a third cassette and on yet a 4th (thanks for supplying the tapes Barry, you sweetheart you!) I put together "tidbits" which are going to be hard to explain. There are certain things I always tended to say whenever talking about Happy. For instance, I used to always spell her last name. When hearing "Rhodes" on the radio, people would tend to think I was saying "Happy Roads" which certainly sounds like a psyudonym. I got kidded all the time by certain listeners because I never played "Happy Rhodes" I always played "Happy Rhodes R-H-O-D-E-S" so I found all the bits where I spelled her name out and put them together. Another: I would always say "she's from Albany, New York" and, during the interview Happy kids me about my Midwestern accent and I bring up the fact that Albany is pronounced "All-bany" like "Fall-many" yet I always seemed to pronounce it as "Al-bany" like "PAL-bany" (something she had brought up in a private conversation) so I found all the bits where I had said "Albany" in its various pronunciations and put them together. Also, I would always say something like "that was from her album, tape... that comes from her album, which isn't an album at all, it's a tape... that's on the album, cassette actually...." and always make sure the listeners knew that she didn't have any vinyl LPs, only cassettes. I found all the various ways I said that, and put them together. I put all the songs titles together ("you just heard... Would That I Could..." "I Have a Heart" "I'm Going Back" "Off From Out From Under Me" "For We Believe" & on & on & on) and did the same thing with the album titles. On a 5th tape I edited all those bits into a fast-moving collage and then went back to my semi-final version and figured where I could tighten and trim. On a 6th tape I finally put together a "Happy SiG History" that included everything I wanted. Fine, except that it was 22 minutes long! Chris thought I was absolutely insane and convinced me to try to make it shorter. I did that on a 7th tape, but all my editing did was to make the thing 17 minutes long. This is "Vickie"(tm) you know!! :-) Self-editing is not a strong point (as aptly evidenced by this article, which isn't anywhere near finished!) so I just couldn't get it any shorter. He said "give it to me and I'll make it 3 minutes" and I recoiled in horror. No way! Too much good stuff had already been edited out. I wouldn't hear of it. Hmm, thought processes were muddled, but it finally dawned on me that if I were to include a 17 minute "extra" then I'd have to cut out a whole hell of a lot more songs. Then it struck me suddenly, in all that editing and fiddling and fussing, I hadn't put *one* *word* in about the interview I did with Happy!! To my thick-as-tar brain, I was already doing something with the interview. It was filed away in another SiG section of my mind and I didn't even think of it when putting the HSH together. Seriously, it never crossed my mind that I was forgetting something very important in the History. Piffle-Pooh! The thought of doing any more cutting, pasting and editing on this thing gave me a Grand Canyon-sized headache. All those tapes got put on a shelf for a few weeks. Then I decided to really try and take on Chris's suggestion and get this HSH down to a song length. I had in mind to play it while a song was playing in the background. The song was easy to pick, only one would do. "For We Believe" was it, because it's kind of an unofficial theme song of mine. "For we believe in what we do..." and it fits the Happy/SiG/me thing perfectly. Once I got on that tangent I had to decide if I wanted to try to fit in some of the interview. I decided against it, mainly out of laziness, being unwilling to try to "fit" it in anywhere. I was going to have a hard enough time getting the HSH down to FWB length, adding stuff at the last minute was crazy. I timed FWB and then set to editing. Oh my god! I tried, I tried, I really, really tried, and I just could *not* get it any shorter than 7 minutes, which sounded stupid as it continued on after FWB ended. Forget it! I was so totally disgusted with myself for even starting this whole Happy SiG History madness that I completely gave up on the whole mess and put all the tapes up on the shelf where they sit to this day, gathering dust. Barry, one of these days you'll get the SiG shows that were supposed to go on those 90 minute cassettes, but right now I don't want to see them, touch them, or, I should say, erase them :-). You never know... So don't ask me why I told you the whole story of something that didn't even make it onto the final Ecto SiG, but now you know anyway....:-) "I suffered to bring you this thing you'll never hear" "Thanks a lot for sharing Vickie" :-) Ecto SiG-Version 2 1/2 After having thrown away this unworkable HSH idea, I tried to figure out what I was really going to do. By the time the WXPN World Cafe thing came up, I had a fairly workable (but still very vague) idea of how the tape was going to be. I had decided that I would cut out even more songs and add in songs that Happy talks about in the interview. At least one, and I wasn't sure which one (or two) or where it would appear in the show. You see, in the interview, Happy talks about "Given In," "To the Funnyfarm," "Noone Here," and "Ecto" (the song) and only one of those, Noone Here, was on Angelos' original list. I figured that you all would prefer to hear Happy talk and if she was talking about a song, it sure would be nice if that song were played, Poll be darned. So my very rough sketch was to play interview bits concerned with Noone Here and To the Funnyfarm, since Happy was nice enough to put them one right after the other on Vol. II. Well, yes, then I came to my senses again. Hey, play them all, the nice folks out there want to hear Happy *talk* and this is an interview they'll never ever ever hear anywhere else. Zip went the strings of my heart and a few more songs from the Poll list. :-( Farewell sweet Poetic Justice, goodbye my lovely In Hiding, go away Come Here. Booooo Hooooo... Ecto SiG-Version 3 Then I find out about the WXPN interview & live songs. The sound of syanpses mis-firing is heard 'round the world via Ecto..."say, why don't I put that on the Ecto SiG since everyone wants to hear it?" "Well hell, why not?" "Ok, sure, I'll just wait around for quite a few weeks until the thing is done, airs, a copy of it is sent to Kevin and Kevin sends me a copy. Sounds good" :-) :-/ Behind the scenes: What *ELSE* could I possibly cut out? What am I going to do with the XPN interview? Where to put it? Should I leave it intact or separate the songs from the interview? If I separate the songs, what about the interview itself, should I put it on the tape at all? 1) Don't Want to Hear It (slash!) Off From Out...(slash!) Major BOO HOOs! 2) Separate it, put the songs in the "body" of the SiG, end the show early and leave enough room to stick the interview at the very end of the tape, totally separate from the Suspended in Gaffa section. 3) Hey, Happy talks about "Given In" in the KKFI interview, that's a perfect kill-two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity. 4) Replace the Poll's WP "Feed the Fire" with the 'XPN FTF. Perfect! 5) Yay! Things are looking way up! I get to play "Words Weren't....." anyway (even though I do like the studio version best) 6) Plant the idea that if anyone wants the whole World Cafe interview as it originally aired, they can get it from Jessica (now Doug) or cut and paste it together themselves. To make a long story shorter: Wait for tape from Kevin, wait wait wait...HGP gets serious...long story there deleted...wait wait wait...HGP busy work...wait wait wait...Yay, here's the interview in the mail...HGP...HGP...HGP..."Say Vickie, where's that there Ecto SiG?"..."huh?"...HGP...HGP..."Say Vickie, have you ever thought about the legal ramifications?"..."huh?"....HGP....HGP..."*WHAT* *LEGAL* ramifications?????"....HGP..."I'll think about it tomorra"...HGP... ...HGP...HGP in the mail!!...."Legal ramifications?"....many colorful scenarios involving powerful NPR lawyers vs. unemployed receptionists deleted..."Hmmmm"...."So what, it's not for profit, I'll do it anyway"... ....she says.... ....which brings us to the other night, Friday I believe it was... "Vickie," I say to myself, "it's now or never. Get busy." First order of business, get the interview cleaned up, edited down and onto a final User tape. (I thought I already did that. No? Damn!) Gets sidetracked reading News & e-mail... 3 hours later... Sits down with pencil and paper, in front of computer screen on which resides my months-old, highly out-of-date SiG notes. Oooops, can't do anything until I get that User tape finished and timed. Take inventory of equipment & HTR tapes. One single record cassette deck, heads mis-aligned, will FF, re-wind, records but sounds worse than My First Sony in playback. Regular play sound? Makes Radio Shack sound like Nak Top'o'Lines. One double record cassette deck, head on one slightly mis-adjusted. That one will play and record and sound good...sometimes. Never know when it will make tape sound worse than single deck. One reel-to-reel, many one hour r-to-r tapes, nothing usable for a 100 minute show without breaking it up onto 3 tapes. Forget it. Two VCRs, one with spotty audio record (used for the first version of the HGP, it made the show sound like it was recorded undewater) and the other pretty reliable in months ending with "ary." Good deal. CD player that hates In Hiding, won't play it at all. Mixer deck, hooked up to record from mixer directly onto videotape. Microphone Timer/Stopwatch Rum and Coke Herbal tonic (for medicinal purposes only) 1 copy of User tape with interview bits, ooops, still have to do that... Fast-forward...re-wind...cut...cut...cut....dub...dub...dub... 2 hours later... 2 copies of Vol. I, cue one to Drears, the other to Possessed 2 copies of Vol. II, cue one to Noone, the other to Funnyfarm. 1 copy of Rearmament, cue to Dawn...wait...I want to play Friend immediately after, have to stop videotape and fast forward (thoughts of doing the show entirely "live" fading fast) unless I record Friend onto another tape and have that cued up. Yeah, No, Yeah, No....no. 1 copy of Ecto, cue to Ecto...wait...I want to play Would Could, have to stop the videotape, turn Ecto over and rewind to WtIC ("grumble grumble why didn't I think to get my extra copies of Ecto and Rearm back from Charley? What time is it? Uh, he's in bed. I could wait till tomorrow. NO! Now or never! grumble grumble" 1 copy of B/R tape, cue to 1st song 1 copy of 'XPN interview, cue to beginning Sits down with pencil and paper, in front of computer screen on which resides my months-old, highly out-of-date SiG notes. Stares at screen for awhile, stares at blank page for awhile. Starts scribbling. Goes to "Gaffa Central" (as Jorn puts it) and makes a trial tape onto single deck cassette, sans talking, to check time. 110 minutes later... Pooh, it won't work...grumble grumble...only enough room for one Ecto song on A-side, no room for live "Words" or "FTF" on the B-side. Was I going to put the 'XPN interview at the end? Hahahahahahahaha..... Back to drawing board (computer screen) I go. The live songs will only fit if I cut out at least 2 B/R songs. No way! Stare at screen for long period of time...take medicinal break...to fit 'XPN interview I'd need to cut another B/R song. Nooooo! Wait, I could cut some of the KKFI interview bits.....Pffffht that! This is *my* show, not David Dye's...cut out my Happy interview to include his? No way! Fact: If I want all the B/R songs, then there's only enough room for maybe one of the 2 'XPN Warpaint songs. Interview's right out...gone. Fact: Anything from 'XPN not included on the Ecto SiG will be wanted by Ectophiles anyway. If I only play the live "Given In" and the live "Feed the Fire" then people will still want to hear live "Words..." & interview itself. Through the thickening fog I realize that if I'm not going to get all the WXPN-bits on the SiG, then I may as well not use anything from it at all. Sharp intake of breath, noooo, I can't do that! I said it would be on there and I made all these nice Ectophiles wait months for this, a big part of the waiting due to the WXPN interview & live songs. "Legal ramifications" begins to look like a great excuse. What to do? What to do? Take medicinal break.... Decide to work out A-side to get mind off B-side dilemma. Let's see... 3 songs from VI (Drears, Given, Possessed) and 1 song from Ecto (Ecto). 2 songs each from VII & Rearm (sort of)...want at least one more Ecto song...what to cut?...Given In is set because Happy talks about it in the interview...cut Drears or Possessed? Can't cut Possessed because Angelos dedicated it to his friend Efi...Can't cut Drears because it's my all-time favorite Happy song *AND* it was voted the #1 song in the Poll....(that Angelos originated...the perfect irony...)... Take medicinal break.... Sorry Angelos...Possessed (slash)...A-side almost taken care of... Go back to B-side....headache worsens as thoughts of telling Ectophiles there wasn't room for the 'XPN interview or songs bounce around brain... Take medicinal break.... Sit at computer and read all the nice letters and posts resulting from my "fraidy-cat" post. They love me? They'll forgive me! A huge weight is lifted from my shoulders... WXPN Interview & live songs (slash!) Events speed up...tick...tick...tick...scribble...scribble...scribble... Go to Gaffa Central and cue everything back up....check weird side of double-deck. Uh oh, it's screwing up, won't play any of the HR cassettes, will play the Interview User tape. Can't fade from Drears to (now VI version) Given or from Noone to Funnyfarm. Will have to just let cassettes play and not worry about blank space between songs. Deck screwing up takes out of my hands final decision on putting Friend and Would Could on another tape and fading. I'll just have to stop videotape and re-cue. Nearly ready...go back to computer screen and write names of all the Ectophiles on paper (need a darn printer!) and practise saying names... Realize I have to keep my talking to an absolute minimum but that I should write down the intro (bad ad-libber here) scribble...scribble... Go back to Gaffa Central, make sure everything's in sight and ready. Cue up "Suspended in Gaffa" in CD player. Make sure videotape is cued to end of HGP, fast-forward a bit to make sure (wouldn't want to cut off 10,000 Maniacs!) set speed to EP, make sure all correct buttons are pushed on the AVC-50 (Amplifier), make sure all sliders are off (except CD player) on mixer board. One last visual check of everything...hit record-pause on VCR, hit record-pause on single cassette (not making usable copy but will let me keep an eye on visibly recording 100 minute tape. If, at about 50 minutes, the tape stops before the song playing or my talking is finished, I know I'd have to go back a fiddle-figure the timing a bit more)...zero all counters....take deep breath....hit play on VCR & Single deck.... count to 5, hit pause on CD player...Suspended in Gaffa starts...wait for first chorus to end, fade down music, fade up microphone..."Hi everyone, welcome to Suspended In Gaffgaffaaecto shit!" I can't even say the name of my own damn show! Stop and re-cue everything...try again...fade down... fade up..."Hi! Welcome to Suspended in Gaffa"......dead air....realizes that the sheet of paper with intro is over by the computer...Stop and re-cue everything. Try again...nope, the intro doesn't sound right, it sounds way too "read"...wonder if bare outline and cue words would be ok. Stop and re-cue everything. Sounds pretty good the 4th time, decide not to stop and check it this time and let everything run. The show is recorded live until the end of Dawn Breaks. Pause videotape and fast-forward to FYB. Start again.....ak! When I sat down to write this all out, the Friend You'll Be adventure was the first thing I started writing. Here it is: I talked all over the song "Friend You'll Be" and I hope I'm forgiven :-) but it had to be done, it was the perfect opportunity to say what I wanted to say. Besides back-announcing what I'd already played, and mentioning a few dedications (not all that I wanted to, but I was trying to keep an eye on the time) I also read off the names of all the Ectophiles currently on the members list. I re-recorded FYB over and over again, because I kept missing the timing. See, I wanted to finish speaking before the song ended, and then leave a few second gap before the start of the next song, so that anyone who wanted to could re-record FYB over the version that's there and have the song without my talking all over it. I kept messing up the names (calling Henry Kilmer "Harry" and Mark Carroll "Michael" were 2 major mind-hiccups) and time after time I found myself still speaking when the song ended. No good. Before I started I was only worried about the length of the song, I didn't imagine that a bit of ad- libbing and reading a list of names would be longer than the song but it was. I kept cutting out things to say, keeping the very bare minimum that needed to be said before reading the list of names. I redid it a couple of times just because I knew I sounded "rushed" and reading the names as fast as possible meant that I'd slurred quite a few names. The final version isn't as good as I'd like, mainly because it's just hard to be totally natural when reading a list of names, but rest assured that it was more natural than any of the other times I did it. I wanted to put details after all of the names ("Jeff-with-the-long-black-hair Burka" "Courtney from Wales" "Alan from Zimbabwe-Boston-Montreal way") but I just didn't have enough time for everything I wanted to say. I do throw in a few of those but not nearly all the ones I had in mind. The final version still sounds a bit stilted to my ears, I almost re-did it, but after about 10 tries I got it all within the length of the song and didn't mess anyone's name up too dramatically, so, like Mitch putting together his HGP message, I decided to leave well enough alone and keep it. Any stiltedness saying anyone's name isn't personal, believe me. It's funny, after reading the names I pause slightly, completely suprised that it seemed to work and the song wasn't over yet (!wowcool!) Brief translation interlude: hwz ("he was") Zr'all ("these are all") Zziz ("this is") Sr-i ("sorry I") The dead air after FYB is there, partly because I wanted to leave a space (taking the erase head into consideration) for people to drop in the "real" FYB (do it after you've gotten the CD) but also because I had to stop the videotape to take out the Rearmament cassette and put in the Ecto cassette. It worked perfectly. Since I lent out my second copy of Ecto, I also had to stop the videotape after the song "Ecto" to turn the tape over, rewind to and get cued up "Would That I Could" and there's a bit of static between those two songs that I couldn't help. I actually had quite a bit of time (2+ minutes) after Would That I Could and I wondered if Ode might fit, but no. I timed it and there wasn't enough room. Amazing! Unbelieveable! Side A of the Ecto SiG was done. Just to make sure that everything sounded ok, I listened to the side over again. I wasn't very happy with my intro, but the only way to change it would be to re- record the entire thing from the beginning. I decided against it, mainly because I couldn't bear the thought of having to re-do FYB. I thought of putting FYB onto audio cassette before erasing it, so I could use that same version and not have to talk again. Nah.....my standards aren't low, but they aren't pristine-perfect either. If baubles and um-er-ums lend character to the show, then this show has a bit of character :-) Side A is done! Take medicinal break.... After about 5 false starts, Side B starts recording and, because I don't have to fast-forward or re-wind cassettes to get to songs like I did with Rearm and Ecto, I'm determined that the B side will be recorded live. I get all the way through the Bartlett/Rhodes demos and... ...at this point I realize that if I don't go to sleep in the extremely near future I will probably fall over on the mixer board and start snoring. My adrenaline rush at getting Side A done has played itself out and I can't even make it to the end of the tape. Live? Not this time. Ni-night. Later that same day... I walk over to Gaffa Central and turn all the equipment on one by one. I push the "On" button of the double deck and turn away to turn on the VCRs & Amplifier. I turn back and notice that the red Record light is on for one of the cassette decks. ?huh? The deck went into automatic record mode....how'd that happen?....strange...hmmm....what's in there I wonder...WhaWhaWHAT'S IN THERE?????....Jam the stop button in a panic... open door...pull out(ohmyohmyohmyOHMYGOD!!!) the WXPN tape...what? How'd that get in there?....God may know, I don't. I thought sure it was the Bartlett/Rhodes tape and at first I was so euphoric about it not being B/R that I really didn't care that the 'XPN tape got recorded on. I did check to see what got Caspered and found that I'd (like a good little DJ) had had it cued up to the very beginning of "Feed the Fire" WAAAAAA! Boo Hoo! I called Doug Burks in a panic and left a message on his answering machine that, please sir, send me a copy of the World Cafe show, ASAP. Then I called Kevin and he promised me a copy of the songs without the interview, and from their master tape too, so I was all happy again. We figured out that the "timer" feature on the cassette deck was on. Kevin said it had happened to him too. It must have come that way from the factory because I've never used the timer. This is just the first time I've had a recordable tape in the deck, or else it would have happened before now. Tip reminder: *always* break out the tabs on cassettes you don't want recorded on. Strange, I must have been *really* tired, because I sure don't remember putting the 'XPN tape in the deck before going to bed. Oh well, I called Doug back and he had just walked in. He hadn't even listened to my message. I explained what happened and then we had a great conversation about the weather and Ecto and lots of other stuff. Time to finish up this project... I pick up where I left off, immediately after the B/R songs. The VCR doesn't have the most precise editing features. It backspaces when put into play-record-pause and I work with it to get it as close to the end of the B/R songs as possible, without cutting off the end of the song (that happened on a couple of HGP songs.) The slight static there really couldn't be helped, it's a hazard of recording directly onto videotape. I could (maybe should) have gone back to the beginning of the B side and started over again, but I decided no. I have nothing written down to say, so I'm flirting with ad-lib danger, but nothing seems to go terribly wrong with my talking bits. Well, except for two things that I won't mention, but you'll hear. After the second, I had my hand halfway to the Stop button on the VCR before I decide "oh what the heck" and leave it in. They're there for posterity. As the tape show is nearing the end, I check the time on the single deck cassette and suddenly realiz that the WP song I'd intended to play (Warpaint) won't fit! I grab the CD case to see the song timings (thank you Happy for putting them on the back of the CD) and have to decide quickly between In Hiding and Waking Up, the 2 shortest songs on the album. Uh oh, this CD player never lets In Hiding finish, the song always ends up skipping all over the place. I could use IH from the cassette, but it's not cued up. I have to play WU. Need to cue it up...hurry..hurry...accidentally press stop on the CD player instead of pause. AKKKK! Only a few seconds before the end of what's playing...Press play on CD player and bring fader up. Waking Up starts at exactly the right time. Perfect! Keeping an uneasy eye on the time, I decide that if I want to say a goodbye to everyone, I'll have to talk during Waking Up. I hate that. I wait until the song is almost over and fade it down to say my "love yous" and the song ends. I quickly zero the tapes and let them run on, curious about how much time I actually have left. I end up having a whole 1 minute .16 seconds before the end of the tape, hardly even exciting. :-) I listen to the entire tape, sure I'll find something truly major that will need to be re-recorded. Nope, it's fine. Suspended in Ecto is done! Look around for confetti, can't find any. Settle for picking the cats up and dancing around the room with them. They think I'm crazy. Take traditonal herbal tonic medicinal celebration break... Dub...dub...dub...dub...dub...dub...Dub...dub...dub... I listen to each copy as it is dubbed and check it again after, I don't trust that cassette deck. The more I listen to the show, the more I like it very much. I'm so pleased that I'm not even turning my talking down, which I usually do. I'm a happy kid. There you have it.... Here, for those who couldn't quite keep track of what all ended up on the tape, is a list (though it probably shouldn't be printed out as a cassette insert until you actually receive the tape..this list is not complete :-) ) Side A Suspended In Gaffa-intro talking (interview-KKFI) Oh the Drears...................Rhodes Vol. I Given In........................Rhodes Vol. I (interview-KKFI) Noone here......................Rhodes Vol. II To the Funnyfarm................Rhodes Vol. II (interview-KKFI) Til the Dawn Breaks.............Rearmament Friend You'll Be................Rearmament Talk during FYB Ecto............................Ecto (interview-KKFI) Would That I Could..............Ecto Side B Talk (interview-KKFI) Be Careful What You Say (a Happy-written song)....Bartlett/Rhodes demo In Between The Lines..............................Bartlett/Rhodes demo Common Ground.....................................Bartlett/Rhodes demo Point and Pull....................................Bartlett/Rhodes demo Love's Sabotage...................................Bartlett/Rhodes demo Talk (interview-KKFI) Talk Waking Up.........................................Warpaint Talk during WU What a long, strange tape trip it's been. I hope you like it. Vickie vickie@chinet.chi.il.us _________ |_ _ | _ Fuzzy Blue Wonderland "We're waking up |__|_ ||_| "There is a road straight yes it's good" to my heart" ======================================================================== To join ecto, please send electronic mail to the following address: ecto-request@athos.rutgers.edu To have your thoughts included in the next issue, send mail to: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu To subscribe to "Ecto", the printed fanzine, send $8 to: Ecto PO Box 11291 New Brunswick, NJ 08906 Ecto is issued 8 times/year, and will include photos and as much material from non-net members as we can get! Donations above the subscription cost are welcomed - all money goes to bringing you better issues! Your "humble pseudo-moderator" -- jessica (jessica@athos.rutgers.edu)