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 #1045 ecto, Number 1045 Tuesday, 15 March 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Concert: Kristin Hersh in Frankfurt News From the Front Re: ecto #1043 Hey Bday Re: most marketable songs Re: Concert: Kristin Hersh in Frankfurt Happy Birthdays A conversion story... Re: Spinanes and more NIN gaffa dead again? Re: Spinanes Today's your birthday friends.... ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 00:24:00 +0100 From: uli@zoodle.robin.de (Ulrich Grepel) Subject: Concert: Kristin Hersh in Frankfurt Hi, I just come back from a wonderful concert that took place in Frankfurt's Nachtleben. Today (March 14, 1994) Kristin Hersh played there. I'd say if you have the chance to see her, do so. Ilka: You should have come... Vickie: I wondered what'd be the one question I could ask that would interest you most, and then I remembered that you said you gave her 2 Happy CDs. So I asked her if she had listened to them. At first she had trouble to remind them, but after describing what it did sound like [me: "a woman singing, and accompanied by guitar and synth", I was never good at that] she seemed to remember and said that she gave one of them to Warner, because it would better to have it there (she didn't say which one), and that she always listens to the stuff she is given. me: Yay, I've got another autograph ;-) Concert: The Nachtleben in Frankfurt is a very small venue which holds about 200 people. It was sold out. I was there quite early and so got a front row seat (seats are something very unusual in the Nachtleben. The girl behind the bar that also belongs to the Nachtleben said to someone on the phone 'no, no seats, just standing' and wondered why he complained. She later was quite surprised to hear that they really had seats... Anyhow: besides a very limited presale (limited by the Nachtleben, not neccessarily by interest) you could only get tickets at the venue itself as soon as it opened which was at 8 pm. I was there a bit before 6 pm and went away again shopping a bit. Well, when I came back (7 pm) I was still almost the only one there. I began to worry (unneccessarily) that the concert would be more or less empty, but at 7:40 a queue began to form. Since I paid attention I was in the 'top 10' of that queue and so got one of the first tickets and was one of the first going in. What does that mean? FRONT ROW! ;-)... Well, sitting there at 8 pm wasn't all. At 8:50 a guy called Vic Chesnutt (according to himself "an American asshole from Georgia") was pushed on stage (he was sitting in a wheelchair). He played guitar and sang. Well, it wasn't really bad, but it wasn't really good either. I'd say tolerable. He played 7 songs which lasted till 9:30. Finally at 9:55 Kristin Hersh and someone else (she didn't introduce him) came onto the stage, Kristin with her acoustic guitar, the other guy with his cello. Since I am not very experienced in Kristin's music (read: I only have one CD single, didn't find the album) I was clueless with respect to the track listing, but I was able to persuade the girl who snapped the sheet of paper from the stage to let me just copy the neccessary information: - Sundrops - Houdini [greetings from someone else we know...] - Charms - Hips ---------- - TEETM - Sparky - Gazebo - Koo Koo - Red Shoes [didn't we already have that?] ---------- - The Key - Velvet Days - Close Your Eyes - Yr Gost [their spelling...] ========== - Cotton - Amazin .......... - Boddey The first four songs we had the cellist with us, the next five Kristin was alone, the next four (HEY! I forgot to write one down - there certainly was a fifth song in that part on the list I wanted to copy) we had the pleasure of the cellist again. In the two-part encore we had Kristin alone again. I have only one single complain: the whole concert itself lasted only 70-75 minutes, but that's not really important. To balance that out, the audience was really amazingly wonderful: Totally quiet during the songs and big, big applause after each of them. Between the songs Kristin did tune her guitar quite a lot (said she would need about 7 guitars on that set) and she used that time to tell some stories or to talk with the audience. After 2 or 3 songs someone shouted (and was right) that the guitar was a bit loud. Kristin pointed to the girl at the sound board and said he should complain with her. Then she asked "How can a guitar be too loud? - You pookey guy!" whereupon he answered "I want to understand you!" - "Oh, then you poetry guy..." Another story went around her young son who doesn't like her music and found out that he just had to hide the picks (in the guitar itself) so that Kristin couldn't play. She answered by playing a song with her fingers... The guy who got his autograph before me was asked one excited question: "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?!??" (he had a digipack with four or so color prints. Klaus: Is that the one you have?) Is Happy searching for a big distribution deal? (like one Warner could provide.) Or has she completely pulled back these efforts? If so, you (Vickie) should put little notes into the CD boxes that the CDs are for the people THEMSELVES, and especially NOT for their record company. Bye, Uli P.S.: That continues my series of concerts I could be found next to the stage: Peter Gabriel (~3 m), Suzanne Vega (<0 m), BOBO in white wooden houses (~2 m), Kristin Hersh (<0 m), Tori Amos (hopefully ~0 m). P.P.S.: Anyone having tickets for the Tori Amos concert in Frankfurt (April 12, Alte Oper, Mozartsaal) should be aware that they moved the concert to the (much) bigger Grossen Saal. P.P.P.S.: I HOPE that they converted seat numbers in a useful way. IIIILLLKAAAAA!!! -- Ossi zum Wessi: Wir sind ein Volk! - Wessi zum Ossi: Wir auch! ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 22:17:53 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Lovejoy Subject: News From the Front Hi folks, Quite a discussion going on Marc's letter. FWIW, I told Susanne about it, and she told me to send him her phone number, which I did. She seemed to understand exactly what he was talking about, and he may be able to help Happy in some way that might further her career without any chance of artistic compromise. Ultimately, Happy will be who she is... Still no finished translations have arrived to the home office here. Of course, I didn't want Finnish translations; just Russian and German. Paul Antonov asked about the Journey: Is it The Journey Of Life or a Literal Journey (Literal is the official answer!). There is a difference in the Russian for the two concepts. The quote, again, is: "Godspeed Our Journey and Bless Our Goodness". Oddly, there have as yet been no replies from the German Ecto camp. Perhaps my original message to Dirk was waylaid by an errant gateway. Everyone is welcome to submit Russian or German translations. Mike Bravo has indeed sent a Russian translation. I've sent back a query with respect to idiomatic usage and pronounciation. This is a facinating assignment for me; and I'm glad the worldwide ecto army is rising to the challenge. Thanks to all of you for not just being fans, but actually being a rescource to which Happy can turn when she needs help. This is amazing. Thanks again, and see you down the line! Bob the grateful ======================================================================== From: genes5@aol.com Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 23:15:37 EST Subject: Re: ecto #1043 Unsubscribe Gene Shay Sorry---can't take all the time to weed though additional e-mail. Best to Happy, Gene Shay WXPN WHYY Phila. ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 2:39:39 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Hey Bday HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Randy Smith and Tod Flak!! Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 3:01:40 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Re: most marketable songs Nice thread! Philip writes: > I feel Happy should have lots of recognition, Bingo! Starting with the Internet (hint hint for those who get News, and don't forget to send me copies of threads. I save this stuff for "posterity" you know) > *possibly* through a big > label who will not ask her to compromise a single thing. Bingo! As Happy herself has said: "I took a little back road to fame/ I'm still traveling now but I'm free of shame" and "Now as I go into battle, I am armed for the fight" and "I wait in partial pause, and choose to use my sight" and "With these tiny little arms, see all that I can do/ Keep your eyes on me if you want to see some mountains move" It'll work out however it'll work out, and we'll see it as it happens. It's been fun, it is fun, and it'll be fun... Vickie vickie@pilot.njin.net "She sees faces in her home/ wonders why they don't leave her alone" HTR INTERVIEWER: "Who's gonna play you in your life story? Cast it now" ----> TORI AMOS: "Tonya Harding!" ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 3:21:21 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Re: Concert: Kristin Hersh in Frankfurt Uli writes: > Vickie: I wondered what'd be the one question I could ask that would interest > you most, and then I remembered that you said you gave her 2 Happy CDs. So > I asked her if she had listened to them. At first she had trouble to remind > them, but after describing what it did sound like [me: "a woman singing, > and accompanied by guitar and synth", I was never good at that] she seemed > to remember and said that she gave one of them to Warner, because it would > better to have it there (she didn't say which one), and that she always > listens to the stuff she is given. Great! Thanks for remembering that Uli. If I'd told you, you could have said "that weird woman in Chicago who gave you all those tapes and CDs" because I gave her copies of Suspended In Gaffa (now defunct, Chip & Valerie) that featured songs by Throwing Muses & Mary Margaret O'Hara. Kristin and Tanya were the ones who told me about Mary Margaret ("you should check her out") after a Muses concert a few years ago (deja voodoo, I've told this story recently). Anyway, I thanked Kristin when I gave her the tapes. > Or has she completely pulled back these efforts? If so, you (Vickie) > should put little notes into the CD boxes that the CDs are for the > people THEMSELVES, and especially NOT for their record company. Once I give CDs away, they're at the "mercy" of whoever I gave them to. The one thing I try to stress is that if the person doesn't like Happy, would they please pass the CD along to someone who might enjoy it/them? I wouldn't tell anyone who they can/can't give them to. Besides, if a CDs gets to someone within a record company, even if it doesn't "lead" to anything, there's no harm in spreading the name (and hopefully, the music) around. There are pure music fans who work for record companies, evidence mostly to the contrary :-) Vickie vickie@pilot.njin.net "She sees faces in her home/ wonders why they don't leave her alone" HTR INTERVIEWER: "Who's gonna play you in your life story? Cast it now" ----> TORI AMOS: "Tonya Harding!" (no Tonya flames, please. I just thought it was a cute answer. ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 11:10:03 MEZ From: Dirk Kastens Subject: Happy Birthdays Happy Birthdays to Randall K. Smith and Tod Flak Have a nice day! P.S.: Does anybody have the new Rupert Hine CD The Deep End? I highly recommend it. It contains 14 songs (72 mins) that Rupert Hine collected during the last five years. It's a more quiet and melancholic album. Some of the songs are collaborations with Underworld. The guitars are played by Jamie West-Oram (The Fixx) and Steve Farris (Mr Mister). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ || \\\\\ || ///// | dkastens@dosuni1.rz.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE || ))))) IRK || ((((( ASTENS | "Music's the way, the only way I know" || ///// || \\\\\ | Happy Rhodes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 08:05:41 -0400 (EDT) From: DAVE Subject: A conversion story... Jeff w has been so kind as to send me a Happy sampler; lacking the sophistication of a major metropolitan area, Knoxville has always sadly been a Happy-free zone, although, to it's credit, we've never had a serial killer either, but I digress. Badly. And Jeff, apologies; I still haven't gotten to the post office, but I WILL go tomorrow, Laurie should be in your abode by the weekend... I actually hesitated to listen to the thing. I've been on ecto for a couple of months, and so had seen much discussion of Happy, but feared that the notices she had received here could not help but overstate her talent. I finally slipped the tape in in the car, so that I could turn it up loud (the baby sleeping at home)...the first song is "Feed the fire", and it's pleasant enough, starts with a "Mama" (Genesis) kind of synthsized rhythm-and-noise loop, and then the voice, sort of an Annie Lennox with a hint of Joan Armatrding, low registered, slightly stilted, detached. And then the chorus, and I am literally floored. Particularly in contrast to verse, this voice is pure, open, and as emotionally as anything I have heard in recent months, even years. ^^^^^^^^^^^^->(insert 'satisfying'). I won't dwell on this. I would only pour out a plethora of gushy platitudes that would be old news for fans, and unbelievable for the uninitiated. Suffice to say that I pulled the car off of the road so that I could focus more fully on the music, and was actually laughing out loud in disbelief. How could this woman be a virtual unknown? 'Back to the trees...';beautiful. This should be the first song that every first timer hears first. Followed by a beautiful acoustic song that quickly proves to be the SAME song, that quickly answers a question I had asked myself during the first one, that being 'How can she do this in concert?' Well, apparently, she only has to do this, solo acoustic numbers, this one sounding very different from the source, but equally enjoyable, and suddenly she dips deeply into her ample range (4-4&1/2 octaves?...can anyone confirm this?) and sings 'I still remember the dream there'...WHAT is THAT? I actuallyhave to turn the tape off to determine the song that this came from, and while I won't ruin the surprise for those who have yet to hear it, this song is a snippet from a radio staple of one of my alltime favorite bands, and I was thrown because I'm used to hearing it sung about three octaves higher... So with two versions of the same song, Happy has amazed me with her technical ability, her knack for communicating heartfelt emotion, and her good taste in influences. "Wretched gone awry" comes on, and it is completely different from anything else I have heard, like a precise little choral group full of Nancy Griffiths, all singing counterpoint to one another, the aural equivalent to a flock of flittering sparrows. And of course, again, it is achingly beautiful... I just keep listening to the five songs from Warpaint over and over, half afraid to go on to another album, and half unwilling to give up this one. I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT, HALLELUJAH, now quick, someone tell me how to connect to CDC before I go look at my credit card balance again and lose heart... One final note; I would be interested in seeing what Happy and Kate could come up with if they were able (or forced) to exchange recording budgets for one album...think about it. Proud to be Happy... dave ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 08:45:25 -0700 From: "Alex Gibbs" Subject: Re: Spinanes and more NIN Ethan_Straffin@next.com (Ethan Straffin): ->Alex says: ->> _The Spinanes_ were given a profile treatment and a second video was ->> shown by them: "Sunday" (?). I liked the song they showed previously ->> better, but this is a first impression too. However, I am still ->> interested in them and think they have ectopotential. -> ->Do tell! (I knew I should have watched 120 Minutes last night.) I'll be ->seeing the Spinanes opening for Liz Phair on Friday night, and I know ->absolutely nothing about them. The Spinanes, according to 120 Minutes and themselves being interviewed there, are a duo from Portland, Oregon. They got together 3 years ago and put out an album sometime last year called _Manos_ (Sub Pop Records) that has supposedly done well in college charts. [No, not _Manos, the Hands of Fate_, for you MST3k fans. Hahah! However, is Manos a word in another language?] Rebecca Gates does vocals and electric guitar while Scott Plouf plays drums. In the interview they sounded as if they were pretty non-traditional about instrument playing and song writing, expanding their range to compensate for being a duo. They certainly do a good job of that on the songs but live may be rather different. Her voice is pretty deep as female voices go. So a comparison to someone for reference? Well, the best I can come up with is something between Liz Phair and Bettie Serveert, but I've only heard two songs and don't know Liz Phair that well. They've had two videos on 120Min. The first was "Noel, Jonah & me", which I liked, and which was shown a while back. The second one was "Sunday", shown this last Sunday, which was decent. (Hmm, I didn't realize until now how religious those titles sound but I really didn't notice that from the music or lyrics of the second one. I notice the music first, lyrics and titles second, in general, with exceptions of couse.) I may not have taped the first video so I can't listen to it again. So Ethan, let us know what you think! ->Speaking of concerts, Lisa and I saw Nine Inch Nails at their "surprise" gig Cool! ->shithead broke into my car and stole my very-much-uninsured stereo, but we Uncool! ->that managed to pull off a much better sound mix), or as Trent's hired help ->learn to work together musically, which I'm assuming is the main reason for ->these surprise previews. That's what he said on Monday night's Alternative Nation, which had he and the band being interviewed before one of the "surprise" shows (I forget which place). Tuesday's Alternative Nation will have more interview and footage from the same show. The interview of Trent was pretty interesting. Also, they played the new video and "Head Like a Hole". I bet tonight they will play the "Down In It" video, the lyrics of which I deeply identified with during a rough time in my life. ->But in the end, most of the musical merit that might have been here was ->buried under a wall of noise. Trent once again opened the show with ... ->stage at all costs.) Nor did Trent's stage persona help much; as usual he ->seemed mostly interested in looking scary and throwing equipment around, and That's how the new video seems to me. He throws three or four mikes around, although he doesn't try to look all that scary. The song really hasn't appealed to me. Does anyone know if the video version and the album version are different, as I suspect they are? If so, how? It seems gaffa is dead again, this time in all formats. /-\ |_ |= >< arg@kilimanjaro.opt-sci.arizona.edu (MST=GMT-7) MST3k 42 KT "The quality of TV is not strained, it dropeth as the gentle ratings dropeth to a very tiny percentage share, and, lo, tis gone. Of course Shakespeare would have loved your rating system; 12th Night would have been lucky to have lasted one." - Max Headrom, last Max Headroom TV episode ======================================================================== From: David Koehler Subject: gaffa dead again? Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 09:15:17 -0800 (PST) Sorry for the non-Happy content, but I have not received rec.music.gaffa in about a week and was wondering if anyone else was in the same boat. If there is new timely and important Kate info would someone be so kind as to send it to me or post to this list. Thanks :) - Dave K ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 09:17:34 PST From: Neal Copperman Subject: Re: Spinanes I saw a short blurb on the Spinanes that said the fell somewhere between the heavy emotionalism of Polly Jean Harvey and the tough personal confessions of Liz Phair, or something like that. THey open for Liz Phair in LA, but here in San Diego we are luck to have ..... Somebody's Daughter. (my ticket and the guy that sold it to me both think that Liz Phar will be playing.) Vickie - I wanted to share a little anecdote with you. When Jeff Hanson and I were driving back from Orange COunty to get Tori tix, Jeff was playing one of your Femme Music COllection tapes. We're cruising along, and Sien, O! by Mouth Music comes on. I said, if this had been played before we went to a record store, I would definitely buy it. Which resulted in our pulling off and looking for a record store I had seen in Encinitas, that turned out to stock Happy regularly! So, I got Mouth Music and we wiped out the Happy (and lots more). A month later, they had restocked a bunch, and Jeff went back and bought most of them again. I'll do it next month, we'll both have full collections, and the store will probably order a hundred discs to meet the demand! Neal ======================================================================== From: klaus@inphobos.wupper.de Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 06:40:22 Subject: Today's your birthday friends.... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *************** ***HAPPY******* ***HAPPY******* ********BIRTHDAY*** ********BIRTHDAY*** ******************* ******************* *** Randall K. Smith ** ****** Tod Flak ******* *********************** *********************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randall K. Smith Sat March 15 1969 Pisces Tod Flak Tue March 15 1966 Pisces Alan Sodoma Thu March 18 1965 LuckyLurker Barry Wong Thu March 19 1970 Merlin Graham Dombkins Fri March 19 1965 Pisces Ian Young Wed March 19 1969 Falling Rocks Jeff Wasilko Wed March 19 1969 Pisces Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Marc Power Sun March 30 1958 The Project Jennifer Albert Wed March 30 1966 Aries (w/Cancer rising!:) Warpaint Mon April 1 1991 Brilliant! Shorty Tue April 1 1980 happy cat Michael E. Bravo Mon April 5 1971 Dandelion Wine David Dixon Tue April 7 1970 Aries Klaus Kluge Sun April 10 1960 Unicorn Steve VanDevender Sun April 10 1966 Racer Art Liestman Fri April 10 1953 Repeat Michael Bowman Wed April 11 1962 Aries T-Bone Wed April 15 1992 happy cat -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _____ Klaus Kluge * klaus@inphobos.wupper.de * I'll be here, I'll be (in) Ecto! ======================================================================== 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)