Errors-To: owner-ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: owner-ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #1177 ecto, Number 1177 Monday, 11 July 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Random thoughts Milla concert review (& Happy too!) Re: The Roches Shawn Colvin -- WOW! Re: Positive boofda Re: Happy CDs in Sweden A whinge and a moan! Re: Basia new music good used cd place ======================================================================== From: iago@merle.acns.nwu.edu Subject: Random thoughts Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 18:54:34 CDT It suddently occurred to me that I haven't graced ecto with my presence (just kidding...) in awhile, so here ae a few random thoughts: I traveled to Taos, NM yesterday to see the Taos powwow, and was stunned. It is the most beautiful area I have ever seen. I wonder if this is the part of New Mexico where Tori got so much inspiration, because I know that if I had any musical talent, I would have written the best music of my career there. It was incredibly peaceful. The pueblo was not particularly grandiose, but it was thought-provoking. The buildings are 1000 years old, and the traditions are probably older. To see them having to cater to tourists is sad. I overheard one tourist saying 'I am so glad you are carrying on the heritage. I am part Taos, but I've never done anything about it." Argh. Don't belittle them. It's not something to treat in a condescending way. It just _is_. 1000 years worth of being, it is not just something to be 'carried on'. It is who they are, dammit. Does any of that make sense? It was just infuriating to see how respectful their culture is, and to compare it to american/european culture. As I take care to recycle aluminum cans, they recycle _everything_, out of respect for the land. The other day I was interviewing several Acoma Indians for an article about firefighting, and asking them why they enjoyed it. One of them said, it was a way to care for Mother Earth. Respect and love are ingrained in their culture, and it upsets me that they are pinned to reservations and operating casinos and letting people gawk at their homes in order to survive. Phew. I had to get that out of my system. ObHappy: I have found her albums for sale, all the way in the middle of Albuquerque (aka nowhere)! So, Happy, please release your album this summer. And I even heard Loreena McKennit on the radio (albeit out of Santa Fe). Needless to say, I called up the deejay immediately and congratulated him on his musical taste. I again repeat my appeal: are there any New Mexicans out there in ectoland? And does anyone know if there's going to be a Katemas in either SoCal, Texas or Arizona (or Colo for that matter)? ==> valerie ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 00:23:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael K Curry Subject: Milla concert review (& Happy too!) Hi all! Here it is at last... the story of my trip to see Milla this past Thursday in Woodstock. I'm posting this to both rft and ecto, but the ecto version has more to say about my meeting Happy before the show. :) This is probably going to end up being rather long, and I know that I'm still not going to be able to convey just how great my whole Milla concert experience was! I drove about 3 1/2 hours to get to Woodstock, and when I got there I drove by the venue once without even seeing it. :) The location for the concert was the Tinker Street Cafe, and I'll try to describe it a little so you can get a better idea of what it was like. The Tinker Street Cafe takes up the lower floor of a small building on Main St., and it's below street level so you have to walk down a few stairs from the sidewalk to get to the porch area. The porch area held about 15 small tables, and inside there were 9 more tables and a bar. Yes... this place was *very* small! I would say that maybe 80 people could fit inside, either sitting or standing. The small stage was over at one end of the room, and there were 3 small tables set up in front of it. The other tables were pushed together in pairs along the front wall, which also had large windows that looked onto the porch. There was no air conditioning, just the open windows and door (and a few ceiling fans). Personally I liked the place... but I was rather surprised that Milla wasn't playing somewhere a bit larger. When I got there at 8:30 (the show was supposed to start at 9:30) the tables outside were crowded with people enjoying the warm night air, and there were a few people inside. I was surprised to see that two of the three small tables right in front of the stage were empty! Amazed at my luck at sat at the center table. I had a beer and looked around, and slowly the place began to fill. Things were still empty enough that no one had reached the stage of asking to share my table (I went alone), and it was then that Happy Rhodes and Kevin walked in. It occured to me then that I could offer the other two seats at my table to them. They went back outside and sat down, and I went out not long after (trusting that my beer and 2 cd booklets (The Divine Comedy and Equipoise) would be enough to hold my spot). As I walked up to their table Happy back was to me, and when I said "Excuse me, aren't you Happy Rhodes" she turned around with a startled expression on her face and said warily "Yes, I am. Why?" I smiled and responded, "Oh, Vickie said I might see you here tonight." At this point she smiled, and when I said, "I'm an ectophile," her smile got even wider. She asked me my name and I told her, then she asked me if I was from around there. I said no, and that I had driven three hours to see Milla. Then I said, "I have a table up front, and I'd be honored if you and Kevin would join me." "You have a table up front?" she asked excitedly, and then was silent for a moment. "I think we're cool here. Thanks for the offer," she said. :( I was a little bummed, but I told her that it had been nice to meet her and then I went back to my table inside. A few minutes later Kevin came in to remind the waitress about his order, and before he went back outside he came over to me and said, "Thanks again for the offer." That was damn nice of him, and actually did make me feel better. :) I guess I can understand why Happy didn't take me up on my offer, and getting to meet her was great! :) As the place continued to fill I finally ended up sharing my table... with a friend of one of the band members. When Chris asked if I would mind her sitting at my table I said "No problem", and it was only later that I learned Chris was in Milla's band. :) Anyway, Milla came in the front door and made her way back to the dressing room. The amazing thing is that most people didn't notice! This was both a good and a bad thing, as I will explain later. At about 10:00 the band and Milla got up on stage, and Milla sat on the floor while a local radio DJ announced her. Let me make it clear right now that this stage was *small*, and there was barely enough room for everyone. By this point the room was pretty much filled, and Milla said hi and launched into "Ruby Lane." Her band consisted of one guy playing an acoustic guitar (he sat on a chair during the performance), another playing an electric bass guitar, a third playing a... a... I don't know what it was! :) His instrument was sort of like a violin, with an oddly shaped body, too many strings, and rows of wooden keys that came out of one side. He played this instrument with a bow in his right hand, while his left manipulated the keys. When someone asked him later what he called it he said, "I call it a fiddle." :) The final band member was Chris, who played the mandolin, melodica (with a hose to extend the mouthpiece), and keyboard (which was only used as a piano). Chris was the main backing vocalist, and the fiddle player helped on a few songs as well. Milla wore black Converse sneakers, loose black jeans, and a black t-shirt with the poster for the B-movie "Marijuana Girl" on the front. :) Her hair was just held back from her face by a few bobby-pins. She didn't look like a model or an actress, she just looked like a normal person! :) Here's a list of the songs she played... but it's not a "set" list because they aren't in the order she played them. :) The Alien Song (for those who listen) Gentleman Who Fell It's Your Life Charlie Ruby Lane Bang Your Head Clock You Did It All Before In A Glade Strange Behaviour (new!) Precious Time (new!) Miles Away (new!) Falling (new!) Close To You (new!) [Please note that the titles of the new songs are just working titles.] The show was *great*! The band was good, and Milla's voice was in good shape (though it broke once or twice). She's a very dynamic performer and really puts a lot into her show. I was right in front of her and she just blew me away! :) The new songs were great, and I hope at least some of them make it onto her next album. She played the guitar on a couple of them, and managed to break a string. Oh, if you go to see them request "The Blue Goat". It's a Swedish folk song that some of the band learned, and you'll probably get a laugh even if they don't play it (they didn't play it for us). :) One problem that arose was that it soon became obvious that there were a lot of people there who weren't Milla fans, and were instead just locals out for a good time. Remember when I said that there was a bad reason for people not recognizing her when she walked through? There was a core of people up near the stage who had obviously come to see Milla, but there were plenty of people who were just drinking and talking. Milla was clearly annoyed by their behavior, but her attempts at hints to be quiet were mostly ignored. For example, when she introduced The Alien Song she emphasized the subtitle "For those who listen." After the show she told someone that she hadn't seen a "good" crowd yet this tour, and in my opinion that's because of the venues she's performing in. Milla performed for about 1.5 hours, and after she was done I stuck around hoping to get a chance to talk to her. At first I didn't even notice that she had come outside and was talking to people... she just sort of blended in with the crowd, many of who had stayed. She talked to a few people who approached her, and even had her palm read. :) I walked up to her and said hi, and told her that her I thought the show had been great, and she thanked me. While she signed the back of my cd booklet (To Mike: Thank you _so_ much! You're very sweet. Enjoy! Love Milla [then she drew a little smiley face]) I mentioned that I had driven more than three hours to get to the concert, and explained that I would have liked to have seen her in Providence but that I was going to see Sarah that day. She didn't ask "Sarah who?" :) She mentioned that she had opened for Sarah in Boston, and seemed surprised when I told her that Sarah had only done four songs there (since that was how many Milla did as well if I remember Meredith's comments). It's really too bad that Happy and Kevin left before the show ended, because I'm sure Milla would have liked to meet them. Then she told me that she was going to play a short set over at a coffeehouse across the street (because her younger fans hadn't been able to get into the bar to see her) and asked if I was going to go. I of course said yes. :) She talked to a few more people, and then her and the band went over to the coffeehouse, and performed a short set for about 25 people. :) The band played the guitar, bass, "fiddle", and melodica. She did three songs, a new untitled one, Charlie, and You Did It All Before. It was a great set, the crowd was perfect. :) By the time all of this was over it was a little after 1:00AM, and since I was facing a 3.5 hour drive I headed home. It was *easily* the greatest concert experience I've ever had! Mike *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* | Michael Curry / mcurry@world.std.com / CIS: 70372,3563 | | | | "You see you always find my faults faster than you find | | your own." - Tori Amos | | "How can I be telling you my thoughts my love, when even | | I don't know what I'm thinking?" - Milla | |+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++| | Reaching-From-Nowhere -- The Milla Mailing List | | reaching-from-nowhere-request@world.std.com | *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 21:40:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Emily Breed Subject: Re: The Roches On Fri, 8 Jul 1994, Dennis G Parslow wrote: > Sam leaves out their "Greatest Hit", "Hammomd Song", one of the more > beautiful tunes in the last hundred years. Absolutely. Now I'm racking my brain trying to remember who it was that did a cover of "Hammond Song". There was a male singer, and it was the Colourfield or someone with a similar sound... Dang. Who *was* that? Does this sound familiar to anyone out there? -- Emily (back from a weekend with the grandparents without killing a single relative! :-) ) ======================================================================== Subject: Shawn Colvin -- WOW! Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 01:11:05 -0400 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu Just got back from seeing Shawn Colvin at Wolf Trap Farm Park. A *way* cool show. The opening act was The subdudes, a rock/blues/something-or-other band out of New Orleans with a definite cajun feel. They were a lot of fun, and played for about an hour. They also joined Shawn for a couple of songs. Shawn came on at just past 9:00, just her and a 6-string. She opened with a Crowded House song ("Four Seasons in One Day" would be my guess for a title). That was followed by "Polaroids" which had a bit of a medley at the end. She kept playing the guitar riff (announcing "This is the best riff in the world") and sang itty bitty snatches from all sorts of songs, from the Beatles to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (imagine hearing the "Polaroids" riff with the words "give it away give it away give it away now" being sung over 'em). All in all, maybe 8 or 10 songs were briefly represented. When she finally ended, she told us, "'Freebird' doesn't work. I've tried it. I really wanted it to work. But it doesn't." The rest of the evening was filled with a fine selection of songs from both _Fat City_ and _Steady On_. _Steady On_ was somewhat undrepresented for the bulk of the show, with just "Steady On" and "Shotgun Down the Avalanche," but Shawn made up for it during the encore with a threefer-- "Gonna Be Another Long Night," "Fallen Angel," and "Diamond in the Rough." Folks planning to see her, take note: she took requests, at least theoretically, for those latter two encore songs. Folks were shouting stuff out, and she said, "I'll play the first couple I heard mentioned." I don't know if I'll remember all the _Fat City_ tracks without the album in front of me, but she did play "Another Round of Blues", "Kill the Messenger", the song about Orion whose title I can't recall, and come to think of it, I can't think of the other titles now. But I think she played most of the album. Shawn also played a couple of songs from her upcoming (August!) album of covers. A Steve Earle song, a Greg (?) Brown song (which I think may have already appeared elsewhere; I was unclear as to whether it would be on the new one), and the final song of the evening was the Police's "Every Little Thing." During those first two songs mentioned, we had quite a treat...Shawn brought out local artist and special guest Mary Chapin Carpenter to sing with her! Their two voices blend beautifully, and it was really amazing. As she did the first time I saw her, way back when, Shawn told lots of funny stories, and was incredibly outgoing and personable. She has an incredible on-stage personna. Folks should be warned about her hair, though. It's....changed a bit. She done went out and got her hair lightened *and* added a huge head full of dreadlock extensions, which she had pulled back into a massive pony tail sort of thing. It was mindboggling, and frankly I didn't recognize her when she walked on stage. She had a fun story to go along with that one too. All in all, an incredible evening. She's a great performer, and a great writer, and I strongly suggest that anyone who has the opportunity go see her. Jeff (who saw Pink Floyd last night and loved that show too, though they aren't comparable in any way whatsoever) |Jeffrey C. Burka | "Everything is still with a fear of never coming out | |Suffering Bad Grammar| Never following through / Never ever finishing | |jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu | What we wanted to do." -- Melissa Ferrick | ======================================================================== From: snpf@ugcs.caltech.edu (The Duchess Of York) Subject: Re: Positive boofda Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 22:54:36 -0800 (PDT) Know what? Ecto is Awesome! Best of luck to Mitch. I'm going to post the 'story' of my job, because some expressed interest. Ignore if I sent it to you already or you don't want to read it. Ok, here is the scoop. I sent my resume on the net to some random people who had advertised in the jobs.offered newsgroup around here. I think I sent out five copies. I also had some leads from friends. I thought that this one lead with parcplace would probably be the one that followed through, but one day a company called me, and asked if they could interview me tomorrow. I went to the interview, mailing Mike Matthews that morning to find out what the company did (so that I would have some idea). Because he knows these kinds of things. :) So I went to the interview, and the interviewer was basically selling the company to me, and he didn't really grill me or anything. This was good, because sometimes interviews are notfun experiences, and I almost didn't want to go.... He pointed at my resume and said, "This makes me really happy." Then, after talking for about an hour, he showed me to his manager's office. We shook hands and he said that he thought he had met me outside. I'd ridden my bike, and was parking it, and a guy passed by and almost ran into my back tire. Walking. This was my manager to be. I said hi to him, as he did to me, and he put a sorry in, also. So, yes, we had met outside. :) The manager told me that last friday he had organized a 'blow off stress day' where he bought everyone bubbles, and they had bubble blowing contests. This was cool! So, a couple days later, after they called for my references and said they would be getting back to me really soon, they called and made an offer, for only $1,000 per year less than I asked for!! Wow. In the meantime, I'd had a phone interview with parcplace which went badly--I was still asleep when she called. I had another one with someone else from parcplace on thursday (the day he made the offer). I'd told the manager of Insignia that I had an interview the next day, so he gave me until the end of the next day to let him know. I had visions of price wars....but it was not to be. :-) I interviewed with pp again, and it was a wonderful interview. I told her I had an offer, she talked to her manager to see what she could do. She was very nice. Since there were no guarantees... PP couldn't get me in for a face to face until Tuesday the next week. And they wouldn't know if I was 'the one' until Wednesday at the earliest. They were willing to try pretty hard, but I decided that I wanted to go with Insignia. The bad thing was I hesitated on the phone...it was a hard decision, and it gave me a headache. But I finally said yes. Then, for a day or two, I thought perhaps I'd misheard the manager's offer, that, No, there is no way I'll be paid this much (It is more than I was being paid, but about $11,000/year). So I was almost dreading the offer letter. It came on Saturday, and it was true! So, I'm happy, and I start on Wednesday. *hugs* to you all, and thank you for warmth and support! -seanympf ======================================================================== From: Anders.Hallberg@eua.ericsson.se (Anders Hallberg) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:10:00 +0200 Subject: Re: Happy CDs in Sweden I'm back from vacation and answering an ancient digest: Tommy Enqvist writes: >Hi, >here's a question for all of you, I sure hope somebody will answer it... >I first heard of Happy Rhodes on alt.music.enya and being a curious person >I decided to go to the biggest CD store in Stockholm for a listen. Try Pet Sounds, Sk}negatan, i have ordered all my Happy CDs (which is all of them) there except Warpaint (which I bought in LA). They actually know who she is now. I have paid about 150-160 kr for them. I could tape the CDs for you while you are waiting (phone 716 45 18). Picking up some threads from the mid-june digests: "Wrong Century" is one of my favourite Happy songs. I always put it on my sampler tapes (Hi Vickie:). It took me about 3 seconds to love "Wretches". I got the impression that it was the lyrics that set Vickie off. Since English isn't my native language it always takes me a few listens before I start listening to the words and it is very easy for me *not* to listen to them (I just put the brain in "swedish mode"). I guess this is hard to do when english is your native language. I think the "Past the Mission" singles are actually worth the price (the first singles from UTP that are IMHO) due to the live songs. I found my copy of part one (the one with "Flying Dutchman" (YES!)) in Milan, Italy. Milla's "The Divine Comedy" (an ecto-recommendation, thanks everyone) has been in my CD player for months. It gets better all the time. I recommend listening to "Bang your head" and then "Flying Dutchman" a couple of times when you feel that people don't appreciate you. Wading through mail... -- \aha ======================================================================== From: Tim Cook Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 14:39:31 BST Subject: A whinge and a moan! Something has been bugging me for a while and I've got to get it out of my system! Last December I did a CD swap with someone. To cut a long story short I never got my CD in return. The excuse was that they didn't have much money etc etc. I'd sort of given up on the CD until I saw a posting (quite recently) by the same person quite excited about the CDs they'd just bought! I just feel a teensy-weensy bit ripped off that someone can't honour their CD swap due to having no money but is quite happy to buy CDs for themselves :-( tim ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:48:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Sam Warren Subject: Re: Basia >>And what Dennis fails to mention is that Basia used to be with a band and >>I'm ripping my hair out trying to remember the name of the band. My >>step-mother has at least one tape by said band. >Matt Bianco, I believe? Hard to find here in the States. Right you are, Dennis! The following information is from a bio printed in the _Time and Tide_ sheet music folio: She started in a band called "Alibabki," (babki is Polish for "young girls") which was meant to be a take on Ali Baba. She formed a combo called Perfect, which performed pop-disco and traditional Polish numbers. Next she joined Bronze, a jazz-funk outfit with Danny White, Warne Livesey (who's since gone on to produce The The and Julian Cope) and Andy and Peter Ross (who later became Immaculate Fools). When Bronze broke up, Danny White put together Matt Bianco. Basia appeared on their debut LP, _Whose Side Are You On?_ as a backing vocalist. Danny later produced a demo of six songs with Basia. ======================================================================== From: watcher@the-matrix.com Subject: new music Date: 07 Oct 94 23:47:10 After a drought in music purchases which lasted about two months (caused by a combination of a lack of money, lack of stores with good prices and variety, and, surprisingly, an excess of willpower), I have new music to which to listen again! First, I found on sale a copy of an EP by Miranda Sex Garden called 'Irises'. Now, I had never heard anything by this particular group. I had heard of them on Gaffa one time, that's all. While browsing and wanting at a local store though, I saw the EP and wondered about it. I checked the Muse, one of those information kiosks they have in stores these days. What I read interested me, so after some deliberating (especially involving "should I, when I still haven't found a job for the summer"), I splurged. Upon a first few listens, I must say it is very interesting, and will most definitely put their other CDs on my shopping list. They seem to me to cross Anonymous 4 with Ingrid Karklins, if that can be believed. At a different store, I found my other two purchases. I won't talk about one, it being part 2 of Tori's 'Past the Mission' single set, with songs I would say are probably familiar to most of us. The other CD I got at this store was another one on sale: Mazzy Star's 'So Tonight That I Might See'. I have put this one on near continuous spin. While there is not so much variety on this CD as there is on many of my favorite CDs, this might be considered on of its strengths. It has a constant atmosphere along its length. I tend to think of this atmosphere as between the Cowboy Junkies 'Sweet Jane' and the Doors 'The End', with some songs more than others. For instance, the first song, 'Fade Into You' seems more in tune with the former, while the last song, the title track, seems to feel more like the latter. Still, while I like to be trapped in such an environment, it can almost be stifling. I might have been fun, for instance, if the lead singer broke out of her trance even once along the ride. Too, I wish it contained a lyric sheet. It is all too easy to get lost in the environment, forgetting that there may be something interesting going on in the words. An odd note about my purchases: Both the EP and the CD contains tracks entitled Blue Light. The Tori purchase is the single holdout. Maybe she'll include such a song as a b-side later. 8^> John Higdon (glad to be back on the fuzzy blue light list) ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 08:56:45 -0500 (CDT) From: Cheri Villines Subject: good used cd place If any of you live near Lawrence, KS, be sure to check out The Love Garden on Mass. street. It's a great place to buy used tapes and cds, most of the cds are about $8.00. I didn't look at the tapes, so I don't know the prices on those. The cd collection was good, lots of cool stuff to choose from. I was in Lawrence visiting a friend and came away with Texas, Lush, and The Verve, all very good. I only just got a cd player a couple of weeks ago, so the prices of new cds just kills me every time I go looking. Also I noticed that Tori will be in KC on July 19 and Sarah on the July 21. I was happy to hear about Sarah, since I thought that she had already been to KC. I hope I can go, although it will be tough since I don't get paid again until the end of the month, and I've already taken one trip this month. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :) cheri ps. for any of you who might be into body art, there is a new piercing salon in KC called Extremus and the piercer there, Micky, is very good. He has a wonderful bedside manner and is very professional. He also trained with Mad Jack in Chicago, which is a good thing, for those of you who don't know. :) ======================================================================== 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)