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 #194 ecto, Number 194 Thursday, 26 March 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Bilboard review ectobabble ectomoomoo Tori Amos review from the Sunday NewYork Times Pictures The Willie Nelson Connection Buzz article ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: Bilboard review Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 16:22:40 EST >On this unique and thoroughly satisfying debut, Rhodes sounds like a cross >between Laura Nyro and an African poetess. Debut? DEBUT? :-) If only they knew about the magical 1st4... Angelos ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 17:03:15 EST From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu Subject: ectobabble golden@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Stephen "Jokey" Golden) sez: >The one thing >about Martha that disturbed me was that she reminded of me a >bad keyboard player at some Bar Mitzvah's I went to when I was younger. >I mean, her music was right on target. However, she was always >using her left hand and sort of over dramatizing the music with >her right (by waving it, making a fist, etc.) yeah. well, all i could think of when watching her do this was a hollywood hanger saying "hullo! bub bye!". her hair color didn't help either. but at least she can play decently... xenox!inphobos!klaus@horga.ruhr.de sez: >The bad news are, that the tapes with the Albany show from Woj didn't >make it to Chip's mailbox in time. :( argh! i sent them out priority mail, which is supposed to take, at most, two days. i mailed them on friday, which means that they should have made it to chip on monday before he left for the airport. grrr. Martin Dougiamas axes: >Sure thing, Woj... my money will be on the way. Is it OK if I send money >for tapes rather than physical tapes? a few others have asked me this, so i might as well post it. if you want me to buy tapes for you, send $6 (for the tapes - i'll buy maxell xlii for you unless you ask otherwise) plus whatever your postage is. $3-$4 for airmail overseas and whatever i said before ($2? $1.50?) for surface mail to the united states. please send american dollars. thanks. (steve fagg: i wasn't thinking when i estimated your cost before - please use the above costs, not those that i quoted in the letter i just sent you). >It'd be fantastic if Woj and Greg could get together and pick the best >cuts from each of their recordings and make a proper compilation, sort of a >"The Living Best of Happy Rhodes - VOLUME 1" album. :) :| could be arranged. what you think greg? the only thing is that we used such different equipment that the recordings are rather different sounding. mine is probably flatter than his and perhaps a bit more foggy (hey, what can i say? he's got nicer mics than i have :) woj (size 10) ======================================================================== From: kIrI Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1992 18:14:06 EST Subject: ectomoomoo Just picked up photos from the concerts...they turned out wonderfully!!! There are a couple concert shots that I am going to have blown up... many are dark and will have to be cropped...but they came out for the most part and Im overjoyed. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the Ecto Mobile side of the van....but Happy Dies did come out rather well. I did get a couple of pics of Happy that are definite classics.. why didn't I take any when we were in PT...Crap! aww well... is anyone starting a Happy photo album?? I did get a pic of most Ectophiles esp. in Albany. Im missing pics of Bob Brown and crowd, and only seemed to get a shot of Jeffs long black hair :) eergh... we should've gotten together for a group shot...aww well just too excited I guess. kIrI -- "When pain no longer rips Kirstin Ann Hargie (kIrI) you might see me hargieka@craft.camp.clarkson.edu like a flickering flame iamecto@chinet.chi.il.us waving to you "Experience the other side" thru the crack in the wall" L.L. hApPy RhOdEs ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 15:18:37 -0800 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: Tori Amos review from the Sunday NewYork Times Tori Amos: 'Little Earthquakes' (Atlantic 82358; CD and cassette) Tori Amos's music lies somewhere between Kate Bush's ornate art-rock and Sinead O'Connor's highly strung angst-pop. Although her arrangements are elaborate and slightly melodramatic, the music's emotional center resides in her piano playing and edgy, intimate vocals. Autobiographical songs like "Crucify," "Me and a Gun" and "Silent All Those Years" deal with childhood trauma, religious guilt, destructive relationships and the struggle for autonomy. The music's glossy patina is repeatedly cracked by the force of what sounds like a long-supressed rage. Listening to Ms. Amos's soul-baring is sometimes like being a reluctant spectator at a self-realization therapy session. But overall "Little Earthquakes" scores high on the emotional seismograph. Sumptuous and unsettling, this is an impressive debut. -- Simon Reynolds, NY Times -------------- "A friend is someone who leaves you with your freedom intact." -Anon. ======================================================================== Date: 25 Mar 92 20:25:57 EST From: Bob Brown <74756.1557@compuserve.com> Subject: Pictures kIrI sez>> Is anybody making a Happy photo album? We should do something to share pictures. I got my pictures back and there are a few good ones. I experimented with 1600 ASA film and some are a little grainy, but then again some are pretty good. Got some nice ones of Happy playing guitar. Also a nice one of Ray and Kelly; as well as Kevin, Martha, and Mark. I only had my camera active during the show so I don't have any Ectophile pix, and I'd really like some. Like you Kiri, I shoulda took pictures at PT's...I was kinda self-conscious about being obnoxious with the camera. (except during the show when I kept pushing Jeffs head to the side to get pictures :-). Thanks for letting me hassle you Jeff..I only got the back of your head once!! Perhaps what we should do is individually we should pick the best of what each of us has, and get a duplicate set made. Then, take everybodys duplicate set, send them all to someone (I'll volunteer). I'll indentify on the back by code who it belongs to and start a round robin mailing with a form that you can fill out indicating which pix you'd like copies of. Once the photos have been through the round robin, we'll each get the proper number of dupes made and fill everybodys orders. Hmmm...sounds a bit complicated, but I think it could work. The key to it is that once the round robin starts it has to keep moving quickly. If somebody sits on it for a couple of days it could take many weeks to get around. Another option is let each individual photographer decide which are their best shots. Announce what it will cost for dupes and take orders. I'm sure there are other options.... Any other ideas? Bob Brown - The Radio Boy 74756,1557@compuserve.com ======================================================================== Date: 25-MAR-1992 23:00:19.75 From: MTARR@eagle.wesleyan.edu Subject: The Willie Nelson Connection Hi! Doug, your trip report is wonderful. I'm actually bothering to save everyone's comments on the events of last week to disk, so I can have it in one place and prove to myself and others that it really happened. WELCOME BACK VICKIE!!! Glad to see you arrived safely and that your computer is once again alive. And with a hard drive, no less- oooo. :) HAPPY 21st VALERIE!!! (Even though you won't get this until you have time to go through the ecto archives and catch up on what you've been missing.) How did Willie Nelson come into the conversation in Albany? Somebody mentioned something about fame and fortune and something was said about FarmAid, can't recall why. Then Happy said "Can't you see me up there with Willie Nelson?" or something to that effect. Then I, with the infinite wisdom I seem to have been possessed by that evening, said, "But I like your hair better." :P I'm finally back to the stage where I can listen to Happy's albums again. Since Sunday the shows have been running through my mind on auto-replay nonstop, and I haven't needed to listen to any of the music myself. It's a lot different anyway, and I can't wait to have copies of the tapes to pop in whenever I want to groove to "Poetic Justice" and "The Perfect Irony" and "Murder" et al. Until now all I've needed to do has been to close my eyes and I'm there, which is partuicularly useful when I'm sitting in class. :) I should thank Happy for giving me something interesting to watch while I'm spacing out. +----------------------------------------------+ | Meredith A. Tarr | | +++ | | "Oh let me fly, give me something to show | | for my miserable life..." -Kate Bush | | +++ | | mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu | +----------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 23:16:44 -0500 From: gb10@gte.com (Gregory Bossert) Subject: Re: Pictures Bob Brown broadcasts: > We should do something to share pictures. > [...] > Any other ideas? don't forget about the ectozine! we are going to try for full color for the special concert issue... and this is something that H&K can use -- they still hope to distribute the 'zine with orders... we already have lots of great stories, and more are yet to come i am sure... but the more photos, the better!!!! send copies of your best shots, of Happy, the band, or those wacky fans, to: Ecto PO Box 11291 New Brunswick, NJ 08906 footah! -greg -- gb10@gte.com -- "i want to feel you in the dark, babe" -- HR ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 26 Mar 92 07:55:33 MST From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks) Subject: Buzz article Greetings, Here is the article from _Buzz_ the free alternative music scene magazine in Albany NY, dated March 1992. Happy's name is on the cover. The article itself covers a page and a half, including the _Warpaint_ picture, with the caption "HAPPY RHODES to play QE2 - Weds., March 18". ----- HAPPY TO PUT ON WARPAINT >From Albany to the world by Dina Williams Many Albany bands play the bars, release something on a local label and eventually break up, fade from sight or get so entrenched in their niche that they never move beyond 'the scene.' Not singer/composer Happy Rhodes. Several years before the Albany crowd began embracing her work she developed an international following. Happy's ethereally high notes have been compared to Kate Bush's throughout her nearly 10 year long career. Her voice has an incredible four-octave range and travels the scales with amazing speed. Like Kate, Happy listens to her own rare muse and doesn't plan to bow to fashion trends or corporate pressures. Happy's name may not be as familiar as those of higher profile local bands, but she's garnered a group of admirers from around the world, partly through her connection to Kate's network of fans. Members of Kate Bush's fan club communicate through an electronic bulletin board, called a BBS, that they access with computers and modems. It was on Kate's BBS that a Kansas City DJ, Vickie Mapes, started a buzz about Happy two years ago. Rhodes soon received orders for her four cassettes of electronic/ vocal compositions, which she and partner Kevin Bartlett had released on his homegrown label, Aural Gratification.. Eventually, she says, fan club members complained that there was too much talk of Happy on the BBS. So Happy's fans organized their own club -- called Ecto, after her fourth album -- with a BBS and fanzine. Organized in 1991, the club now has more than 70 subscribers. Luck may also play a part in her success. Happy, 26, says she's gotten a lot of cross-country radio airplay with a minimum of marketing effort. Kevin promotes her work, somewhat, with radio execs and record stores. The word has spread to New Adult Comtemporary (NAC) stations and public radio. "Feed the Fire", a song on her latest CD _Warpaint_ was Philadelphia's most requested song in 1991. _Warpaint_'s thought provoking songs have reached ears as far away as Alaska, Hawaii, Europe and Africa and because the grassroots approach operates outside the mainstream, Happy likes the way it works. "It's much slower but your integrity stays intact," she says. "We're still looking to major labels for pressing and distribution but it will take a while before we get any offers. (Record companies) want to see how much money we make on our own." They're doing very well so far. Happy's and Kevin's approach allows them to be two of an elite few: Albany musicians who make their living at their art, not at a desk. Nearly 6,000 copies of the _Warpaint_ CD are in the hands of listeners, radio stations, retailers, regional distributors, etc. In addition to his more than 10 solo releases, Kevin supplements their income by composing music for commercials. His work includes an MTV Top 20 Countdown theme, a VH-1 ID, projects for _Sesame Street_ and lots of local and national radio advertisements for firms such as Key Bank, Stuyvesant Plaza and Jiffy Lube. On _Warpaint_, Happy sings with a humanistic view of a society that she finds lacks humanism. It works because her songs are not didactic or necessarily politically correct; they're both introspective and extrospective, presenting her own opinions and not _de rigeur_ liberal dogma. It wasn't always that way. "My first four albums make me cringe because they focus so much on my innards," she says. "With _Warpaint_, I was a lot more in tune with the things I want to help change, because everything around me influences me. "My main problem is that the human race doesn't see life as life, it sees life as humans. Other life is judged by its intelligence, and the only way you can figure out its intelligence is to compare it to your own. To me that's arrogant and unfair." _Warpaint_ is incredibly perceptive and thought provoking, yet, Happy says, "Anybody can look at the world and see injustice. I want to make people think; I don't want to push people away by preaching at them. It's really easy to cross that line." _Warpaint_ succeeds because she never steps over that boundary, not even when discussing the emotional issue of animal abuse, as she does in the song "Murder." _Warpaint_ is a multi-faceted work, arranged with many layers of sound. Happy, who's been writing songs since age 11, got into orchestrated music with bands like Genesis, Yes, Queen, and Peter Gabriel. She began playing open mike nights at clubs like Caffe Lena and (the former) 288 in the early 80's. She couldn't get the orchestrated sound she wanted from her acoustic guitar, so she got a keyboard and began to compose for electronic instruments. Happy and Kevin have collaborated on various projects since 1985, but they never produced an album together until _Warpaint_. Kevin listened to Happy's ideas and offered helpful suggestions for possible arrangements. The two worked together as Bartlett-Rhodes for a time, but the creative process proved to be problematic. "The music that we did was not solely representative of either one of us, it was a glob somewhere in the gray area," she says. She finds writing with another person to be nearly impossible because, "I've never had anybody else. When you go through life being alone musically and in every other way, you become very independent, and it's hard to incorporate someone else's creativity into your own." She says that Kevin, on the other hand, likes creating with others and has worked in several bands. With a full repertoire of material by age 16, Happy began recording at age 18 at Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer with engineer Pat Tessitore. He also engineered _Warpaint_. Those early sessions were later released on _Rhodes I_ and _Rhodes II_, _Rearmanment_ and _Ecto_. Happy will work with a live band for the first time during a Northeast tour beginning early this year. Appropriately, she's booked a date at an 800 seat theater in Philadelphia; she also plans to warm up with some local shows. The entourage will consist of local Ray Jung on bass, Martha Waterman on keyboards and vocals, Mark Foster on drums and percussion, Kevin on guitars and keyboards, and Kelly Bird on backing vocals. Happy says she likes the one-on-one contact she gets with her fans during live shows, and working with a band should be easier than when she and Kevin carried the entire show by themselves. Besides, she says, "Singing with a tape loop is boring." The local market is finally waking up to _Warpaint_. Happy believes the orchestration makes her music more accessible than before, and the CD format makes it easier for DJs to play. (Happy and Kevin plan to someday reissue her first four works on CD.) And now, she says, she has a certain amount of longevity in the area. Gee, it only took 10 years.... Contacts: ECTO, PO Box 11291, New Brunswick, NJ 08906 Aural Gratification, PO Box 8658 Academy Sta., Albany. NY 12208 ----- Gee, isn't it nice to see Gaffa and Ecto's dirty laundry in public? :) Vickie and I identified a number of minor errors in the article, but it's quite a nice one for Happy. By the way, any mis-spellings are from the article. Doug Burks _O_ dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu |< She really is!! ======================================================================== 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)