Errors-To: ecto-owner@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 #952 ecto, Number 952 Wednesday, 5 January 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Equipoise Melissa Ferrick--I'm 'blurred' Essentials The Piano (spoilers) Followups to alt.fan.meg-griffin :-) A pretext to come back :-) Re: I liked it so much, I bought the possum happy 1994 and Fem 2 Fem Tuva or Bust BTW I'm new, have you heard? Re: Play lists? ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 12:43:13 PST From: Ken Adey - 296-5021 - LMO2/N11 04-Jan-1994 1540 Subject: Equipoise Hello! I received 'Equipoise' for Christmas. No album since Kate Bush's 'The Dreaming' has made me this 'uncomfortable'. So far my favorite tracks are 'Cohabitants' and 'Mother Sea'. Brilliant. Now I gotta find the money to get the rest of her CDs. Ken.... ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 15:51:24 -0500 From: Headley Grange Subject: Melissa Ferrick--I'm 'blurred' I finally bought Melissa Ferrick's "Massive Blur" and have to say that it is one of the best albums I've ever heard. She sings with incredible emotion and passion. I agree with others that there is a tinge of Melissa Etheridge in her style but I also hear some Sinead O'Connor in her voice. My favorite songs are HONEST EYES, BLUE SKY NIGHT, HAPPY SONG, WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE, MASSIVE BLUR, and FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE. In an interview, Ferrick says "'Massive Blur' is about the emotional sacrifices we make in order to exist--these 'blurs' can stop your life from moving forward, and the longer you wait to accept them, the sooner your dreams die." She also performs "Happy Song" which is a tongue-in-cheek response to those who claimed that she didn't _have_ any happy songs (the music may be upbeat but she surely isn't singing happy lyrics...). The album includes a solid band including Glenn Phillips from Toad The Wet Sprocket. HG ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 12:59:29 -0800 (PST) From: Neile Graham Subject: Essentials Count me as another person who really enjoyed the Cranberries. I heard about them before they took off (a shared interest in them wound up in a wonderful correspondence and subsequent exchanges and meetings with Art Liestman) and bought the disc. I played it a lot for quite a while. Delores Riordan's voice is wonderful and I love the way she pushes it. I do agree, though, that some of the songs are less than wonderful, particularly after the 1000th listen--if I don't hear "Linger" again for a while I'll be a happier person. Cranberries wouldn't be on my best 10 of 1993 (if I ever got around to doing one) but would certainly be on the best 20, which isn't too shabby considering the wonderful year we've had musically. As for whether Margot Smith is essential for ectophiles or not, well, that's a hard call for me. The disc continues to grow on me, and what is essential or not is hard to define. My only true, bottom line essentials are Happy, Jane, Gabriel Yacoub, and Sandy Denny. Next tier would be Kate, Tori, Dalbello, PJ Harvey, Loreena McKennitt, Ingrid Karklins, Sara Craig, Sarah, Moon Seven Times, June Tabor, Steeleye Span. For me I would say that _Sleeping with the Lion_ is as essential for me as Sarah or Moon Seven Times--which is pretty essential indeed. In other news: JANE SIBERRY IS COMING!! She'll be here doing her not a concert concert thing in early February. And in January Mae Moore, ani difranco and Crash Test Dummies are all coming to play at a place that's about a mile from our house. And then Sarah McLachlan is coming to a bigger theatre (the same one she did her _Solace_ concert in) a few weeks later. Enough music to help *me* through the dark of the year. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all and Happy Hogmanay. --Neile neile@u.washington.edu ======================================================================== From: "Greg O'Rear" Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 16:15:28 EST5EDT Subject: The Piano (spoilers) As far as the ending goes, I thought it went something like this: Holly Hunter's character thinks: "Well, there goes the piano. Hey, look, my foot is in the middle of the coil of rope, which is playing out rather quickly. If I don't move my foot soon, I'll be swept into the ocean. Then I'll drown. Hey, that might not be so bad. What do I have to live for? I wonder if I can think of a good reason to pull my foot out...." SNAG! "I guess not." Then as she descends, she doesn't struggle. It seems to be what she wanted. While she is being pulled down, she reflects. Finally, she decides to choose life, and struggles free. Remember, water is frequently used as a metaphor for the unconscious. Her fighting to the surface may be a reflection of her decision to love Keitel's character, to return to her daughter, to find a reason to speak, etc. She ends up saying yes to her life, with all its pain, and its promise. For me, the clincher that it was a good movie was when the older couple behind me pronounced, "Well, that was just *terrible*!" :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greg O'Rear E-mail: orear@ise.ufl.edu Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Phone: (904) 392-3389 University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida FAX: (904) 392-3537 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 15:32:45 CST From: Subject: Followups to alt.fan.meg-griffin :-) Peter Ustinov, in the movie _Romanoff and Juliet_, observed that the essence of diplomacy was to always leave something behind, because it gives you a pretext to come back. This bit of business came to mind in connection with Anthony's comment yesterday about having been thwarted, by the crush of other business, in contributing a selection or two to the HGP. All those who were in that predicament are hereby exhorted to be of good cheer: Next summer's HBP, not to mention the HGP for the '94 holiday season, are still _tabulae rasae_ at this writing :-). They will be replete with the potential for you to send in the music you weren't able to lay on us this time around; plus, inasmuch as we didn't use any of the filler material, they who sent it will be able to send it all over again. Think of the possibilities :-). Back on earth :-) : New year's eve, I was confronted with the choice of browsing in a Pier 1 Imports, or the Osco Drug next door, while waiting for a take-away pizza to cook. I chose the latter, on the theory that I was more likely to find some- thing with immediate practical value. Today's discussions have convinced me anew of the fallibility of my decision making; while I did, in fact, find the first bottle of oily-formula Flex shampoo I've encountered in years, I cannot, for the life of me, recall any of the background music--assuming that there was any, which is not a sure bet. What is a sure bet is that the next time I partonize the same pizza joint, all time-killing will take place in the Pier 1, notwithstanding that I may not buy anything practical. Spellbinding background music is its own reward, especially when it's free :-). WRT Philip's attempt to call me on the assertion that _New Grooves_ informed my 1988-edition musical tastes: While I couldn't possibly absorb everything that the online Oxford dictionary lists under "inform," the meanings given included to give form to the mind, and to shape or influence. Looks like my word choice was on the money after all :-). In connection with which, BTW, thanks to Paul for pointing out to me that some of the early Game Theory albums are out on CD on another label. Anthony reminisces on his close encounter with the possum: >[...] And if you've never heard >one go "PCHAAAAAAAAHHHHH", well, let me just say it makes the evil galactic >emperor in "Return Of The Jedi" sound like Kermit The Frog by comparison. :) Or at least makes Diamanda Galas sound like Victoria Williams by comparison :-) . (Will the agreement between IBM and Apple to develop compatible software alleviate the need to market parallel PCHAAAAAAAAHHHHH and MacHAAAAAAAAHHHHH releases? :-) ) Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 16:31:08 CST From: Subject: A pretext to come back :-) Headley says: >[Melissa Ferrick] also performs "Happy Song" which is a tongue-in-cheek >response to those who claimed that she didn't _have_ any happy songs (the >music may be upbeat but she surely isn't singing happy lyrics...). We'll have to see how it stacks up to Charlotte Rae's "Merry Minuet." For all that, it'll never dethrone Flanders and Swann's "A Happy Song" in my personal pantheon :-). Neile wishes: >HAPPY NEW YEAR to all and Happy Hogmanay. An obscure Western holiday, or what? Will we need to consider adding a Happy Hogmanay Project to the existing array? :-) Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 14:32:52 -0800 (PST) From: Emily Breed Subject: Re: I liked it so much, I bought the possum Anthony PCHAAAAAHHHHs: > Eventually (after about 2 hours of possum-chasing) we got it out by cornering > it, forming a posse around it, and going "PCHAAAAAAAAHHHHH" right back at it > while herding it out the door. Oh, dear. I really shouldn't read things like this at work. When I laugh out loud, my co-workers *know* I'm not processing purchase orders. This reminds me of the possum that I found in my basement when I was packing to move this summer. Eventually it scurried through a hole into the landlord's half of the basement - so I put a brick in front of the hole, and wished it good health and lots of babies. :-) ObMusic: Dave and I are going to see Chuck Brodsky tomorrow night. He's a he, not a she, but he's great. Maybe I'll put his song "Gonna Talk to My Lawyer" on the HGP in my contribution next time. -- Emily "Gonna talk to my lawyer / Y'know I might have whiplash / Might have trauma / Let's not talk petty cash / Got a witness / Put a hand on the bible / Jury, jury, hallelujah / You might be liable." ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 16:51:58 CST From: kiri Subject: happy 1994 and Fem 2 Fem hey folx, been in limbo for the past two weeks. I had an extremely hectic yule at home. I'm sorry i missed the ectophilic gathering on the 26th, but stuff came up at home and I just could not get away :( :( Spent a very sluggish new year in alabama - it was a good rest! i received the sugarcubes album Stick Around for Joy on New years... pretty good stuff. I still like the first album the best, but this is good stuff too. saw an interesting interview the other night on a show called Real Personals. It was with two members of a band called Fem 2 Fem. Their music is not bad, if you're into techo-disco type stuff. I don't know what the rest of the album is like considering they only played two songs. The cool thing was when the interviewer asked who they were most influenced by they both, without hesitation, splurted out Kate Bush, and one of them said Sarah McLachlan, but definitely Kate. The band is stirring up a bit of controversy over their mtv banned video. Too homoerotic for the mainstream - although the bits I saw are no worse than scenes from Basic Instinct. Does anyone know anything more about this band? Are they decent? back to the grind kiri ======================================================================== From: brianb@netcom.com (Brian Bloom) Subject: Re: happy 1994 and Fem 2 Fem Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 15:24:41 -0800 (PST) Kiri carolled: > saw an interesting interview the other night on a show called Real > Personals. It was with two members of a band called Fem 2 Fem. Their > music is not bad, if you're into techo-disco type stuff. I don't > know what the rest of the album is like considering they only played > two songs. The cool thing was when the interviewer asked who they were > most influenced by they both, without hesitation, splurted out Kate > Bush, and one of them said Sarah McLachlan, but definitely Kate. The > band is stirring up a bit of controversy over their mtv banned video. > Too homoerotic for the mainstream - although the bits I saw are no > worse than scenes from Basic Instinct. Does anyone know anything more > about this band? Are they decent? The Edge (Dallas' "alternative" station) made a big deal about Fem 2 Fem. They were live on the air several times doing interviews etc. The band members seemed cool, but their music seemed kinda generic to me. Like the only thing they really stood out for was that they were lesbians, something the Edge made incessant references to. Mileage may vary.. br!an -- __ ____ __ ____ __ __ (__==__) /\ \ / \_\ / /\ / \ \ / |\ / /\ (oo) ( moo.) / \_\ / /\ |_| / / /| /\ \ \ / ||/ / / /-------\/ -' / /\ | |\ \/ /_/_ / / / \ \/ \ \ / |/ / / / | U.T.|| / \/ |_| \ __ \_\ /_/ / \ /\ \_\ / /| / / * ||----|| / /\ ./_/ \ \ \/_/_\_\/ \ \ \/_// / | / / ^^ ^^ \ \/ |_| \ \_\ /_/\ \ \_\ /_/ /|_/ / Br!an Bloom \__/_/ \/_/ \_\/ \/_/ \_\/ \_\/ brianb@netcom.com .. but music hides me so well, ..and reveals me.. oh well - HR ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 16:23:14 PST From: dixon@physics.berkeley.edu (David Dixon) Subject: Tuva or Bust Ian wonders: >What *is* Tuva, anyway? Tuva, or Tannu Tuva, is a country in Outer Mongolia which was "adopted" by the Soviets back in the fifties. I don't know if it's independent now, or if it's part of the Russian Republic. Other fun facts about Tuva: - Tuva is the home of "throat singing", used extensively by David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir (a Hearts of Space mainstay), where the mouth and nose produce different tones-- it's really quite remarkable to hear. - Its capital is Kyzyl - Tuva attracted the fascination of physicist Richard Feynman during hte later part of his life. He tried in vain for years to travel there, writing letters, learning Tuvan, even getting a license plate (TUVA). He eventually did get a letter from the Soviet government okaying his tour of Tuva... two weeks after he died in 1989. The whole story is written up in the book "Tuva or Bust!", written by, I think, Feynman's friend Ralph Leighton. D^2 ======================================================================== From: "Bradley N. Hutchinson" Subject: BTW Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 19:50:15 EST Nice to meet you all. Brad -- bhutchin@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu Albert Einstein nailed Space/Time but the wild thing had him stumped Al baby two and two make five and a quarter that's why people fall in love--thomas dolby ======================================================================== From: "Bradley N. Hutchinson" Subject: I'm new, have you heard? Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 19:48:50 EST Not have you heard that I'm new but. . .Have you folks heard Disappear Fear? I think they're a better version of the Cranberrys. (Now, I've only heard the Cranberrys on the radio and they may be better than what I've heard). I take it that Ecto might be a good second Happy CD? I've got Rhodsongs. Wow, I've just spent two hours reading ecto digests! My Siamese even decided to leave her post by the computor! Gotta go and grade some tests. Brad -- bhutchin@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 20:29:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Re: Play lists? Hi! I was wondering when this subject would come up... :} I have a pile of playlists from November and December that I really really want to post someday, but until I get a computer of my own that's not going to be an option. I have to do all my mail reading and writing on-line now, and it takes a while to type in a playlist and I want to have it on a system where I can get at it (and where it can disappear in a crash like all the others did :P). So fear not, I'll bombard you all with playlists again someday soon. Maybe by the time the millenium is out I'll have a new machine. Meredith meth@delphi.com ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 20:37:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Re: I liked it so much, I bought the possum Hi! Anthony, that possum story was hysterical. Good thing I wasn't attempting to ingest any liquids (or surreptitiously sneak a peek at e-mail) at the time! As for your comment that you feel the Cranberries have their best work ahead of them, I'm reserving judgement on that until I hear some more albums. When I saw them last fall they did some new material, none of which was discernible from their previously released stuff in any way, shape or form. That's what I mean when I say that I like their song. They only really have one, and will probably always have one, but they do enough interesting versions of it that I don't mind, and that one song of theirs is pretty damned good! (The same goes for The Sundays and The Innocence Mission, though IM have two songs, and I really don't like the second one.) I've been thinking about what opinion I might have about Margot Smith, and have come to the conlcusion that at the moment I really don't have one. I like the album well enough, and it is starting to grow on me, but nothing jumps out me as Spectacular. (Unlike woj, I don't feel that I'm in a position to say whether it belongs in an ectophile's collection or not, nor will I ever be...) I think I'll go read Anthony's possum story again. :) Meredith meth@delphi.com ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 20:40:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Re: Melissa Ferrick--I'm 'blurred' Hi! Now I really have to find this album and listen to it. I got a promo CD from the radio station with four songs of hers on it, and I thought it rather sucked the big one... but then again, only one of those songs is from the album, I think. I shall dutifully check it out and report back, Sir. Meredith meth@delphi.com ======================================================================== 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)