2-Nov-91 22:18:00-GMT,18596;000000000001 Received: from athos.rutgers.edu by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA20334; Sat, 2 Nov 91 17:11:53 EST Received: by athos.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA08073; Sat, 2 Nov 91 17:11:50 EST Date: Sat, 2 Nov 91 17:11:50 EST Message-Id: <9111022211.AA08073@athos.rutgers.edu> 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 Subject: ecto #21 ecto, Number 21 Saturday, 2 November 1991 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Happy GIFS on alt.binaries.pictures Thoughts Happy and sf--more thoughts Thanks Doug! Snail-mail letter from a SIG listener (no Happy content) ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 01 Nov 91 15:53:40 CDT From: "Chip Lueck (Jeff)" Subject: Happy GIFS on alt.binaries.pictures Vishal (and other interested ectophiles): I will put some other Happy GIFS on alt.binaries.pictures sometime this weekend. The only ones I have are the ones FTP'd from cs.rutgers.edu. I assume Jessica scanned them from the cassette covers (if so, thanks Jessica.) I'm assuming that you don't have FTP access and that is why you want them posted there. Harry- thanks for the offer to post, but I can do it. So all those without FTP access but do have Usenet alt. groups, look in alt.binaries.pictures for the Happy Gifs tomorrow or Sunday. Have a good weekend all. Chip Lueck chip-l@nwu.edu Northwestern University OR (708) 467-1897 Work Phone jlueck@nuacvm.bitnet ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 1 Nov 91 14:38:22 GMT From: Stephen Thomas Subject: Thoughts Hi all. Vickie, I would like to know a little more about Happy's worldview, if that is not prying too much - belief systems tend to be very personal things, I've found. I personally have not read a great deal of philosophy (I tried reading Gurdjieff once, but laid it aside because it was making my eyes hurt :-), but certain things I've been studying over the past couple of years or so have started an interest in philosophical/esoteric thought, which I hope to look at more closely when I have more time on my hands. In the meantime, I hold certain vague ideas - a loose worldview, if you like - and I found aspects of Happy's work ringing loud bells in my mind. I've yet to have an in-depth listen to Ecto (solely due to the fact that haven't made a copy of it yet - I don't want to wear out the original). However, here is what strikes me about Warpaint. (IMHO's abound below. Some of the ideas I'm still somewhat wary of...) It comes as no surprise to me that Happy accepts reincarnation, but then you have to ask, why reincarnation? Supposedly, the spirit, or soul, is undergoing a process of continuous evolution. Each time we incarnate, we do so in order to put ourselves into a situation that will enable us experience things and learn lessons that we feel we need in order to continue that evolutionary process. By "we", I mean what some call our "Higher Self", rather than the here and now person reading this article. Apparently, that person is a function of the incarnation and does not survive death. Drat. Never mind. Anyway, for me, it is this idea that "All Things" is talking about. It seems to be a conversation among souls between incarnations, discussing what they did whilst "here", and what they are going to do next. There is a sad aspect to the song, because one of the souls describes how the experiences were painful ("I dreamt I was an animal in a human world/Now when I hear big sounds, I cry like a little girl"). Another concept possible relates why we forget previous incarnations. Birth is very traumatic, apparently causing us to forget things gone before. Possibly, but I'm skeptical. Assuming reincarnation, if we wish to learn a specific set of lessons, it may be best if we are fresh, as it were, without the baggage of previous experience confusing the issue this time around. There will be time afterwards to put everything in perspective. Also, it may well be that we don't forget totally. Why do we have aptitudes for things? Could it be we are remembering previous training? Maybe. I don't know, but it's a nice idea. However, Happy seems to be talking about this concept of experience cluttering when she says "Talking about connections, from here to there/All things exist at once, seems too much to bear". It's my belief that "Terra Incognita" and "All Things" should be taken as a pair. When a soul starts out on its journey it is in a state of innocence. Divine Innocence, perhaps. There is this huge wide universe in which we can do whatever we choose to do, experience anything we wish to. As we progress, we learn and grow, and yet the ultimate goal, perhaps, is to return to that state of innocence from which we came. (Yes, I know I'm talking out my ear at the moment. These ideas are less formed in my mind, at the moment...) "Terra Incognita" talks to me of a newborn soul, just itching to start out on that huge adventure of life and experience. I didn't think that "Wrong Century" was about reincarnation, although that may be being used as a conceptual device in the song. Rather it's seems to be about the confusion, alienation and shock caused by disassociation. However, I think it may be talking about these things at a cultural level, perhaps using the Native American experience to comment about modern life. This idea would make it something of an odd one out on the album, however, because the others work on such a personal level. Hmm. I'm getting close to 4000 characters here, so I'd better start wrapping up. Vickie, you have commented in the past that Happy had a rough time growing up, and that her work provided a way of keeping in balance. Her work seems to be talking about a belief system that was developed to understand bad experiences. Happy seems to me to be a fundamentally gentle person who has experienced things that have shaken and deeply offended that gentleness. She has coped with this by developing a driving need to *understand* what is going on around her, not just on a day-to-day level, but in terms of a grand plan. This is what "Murder" seems to be about. I think that's about it. I could probably say more, but I need to do some thinking beforehand. I may have missed the point totally with the songs, but then, each person probably find what they need to hear in a song. I found this with Kate. Once you knew what a song was about, it stopped being a song and started being an experience. Would it possible to find out what Happy thinks of these ideas (says Stephen, feeling like he's just jumped off a bridge... :-)? Not quite a Vickie, maybe, but getting there :-). Keep yourselves well, Stephen ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 2 Nov 91 01:58:02 PST From: stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) Subject: Happy and sf--more thoughts I'm glad you mentioned Gene Wolfe, Doug--he is one of my most favorite authors, and his "Book of the New Sun" (the collective title for the series _The Shadow of the Torturer_, _The Claw of the Conciliator_, _The Sword of the Lictor_, _The Citadel of the Autarch_, and _The Urth of the New Sun_) is my all-time favorite SF work (3 complete reads and counting). If any of you have not read these books, they carry my highest recommendation. Since I finally woke up and read them in the spring of 1990, I have read through the entire series three times over. If Happy hasn't read them, I should work out a deal where I send her the books and she sends me another Warpaint CD :-). If Happy were to write songs inspired by "The Book of the New Sun", like something about Severian and Thecla, I would *** MAJOR HERESY WARNING *** *** DO NOT EXPOSE TO REC.MUSIC.GAFFA *** elevate her to the godhood above Kate Bush. (Hmm, perhaps we should send the books to Kate too and see if they inspire her.) I won't even try to describe the plot and characters; the plot is too long and complicated and if I try to describe Severian I make him sound like a sicko instead of a nice guy in a nasty profession. Hmmm, my autobackup script is getting ready to shut down the Grey Lady. Have to write more later. ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 2 Nov 91 00:02 CST From: vickie@chinet.chi.il.us (Vickie Ann Mapes) Subject: Thanks Doug! I just got on-line to post and captured the latest Ecto. I won't read it all until I get off line, but I was able to scan as I was capturing. Doug, you post looks to be fascinating reading, I'll be doing that in just a few minutes. I won't be able to post again until Sunday evening (Chris is taking the puter away to do some free-lance work) so I'll see you all then. Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 2 Nov 91 00:08 CST From: vickie@chinet.chi.il.us (Vickie Ann Mapes) Subject: Snail-mail letter from a SIG listener (no Happy content) Vickie here. The following is a letter I received from of my Kansas City show listeners. It might be considered in bad taste to share a personal letter with other people, but I'm taking that risk, just because I was so touched by it. You see, Michael is in the Leavenworth Federal Prison (about 40 miles north of KC) and, in the 3 1/2 years I've been doing SIG, this is only the second letter I've received from a jail. Actually, it's only the 6th or 7th letter I've ever gotten at all from a listener. It doesn't have anything to do with Happy, but it does have something to do with Ecto, in a way. He writes about a song I played, that was on a tape lent to me by Chip Lueck. I didn't get the name of the woman who sang the song, and when I put together this show it was very late in the evening. Much too late to call Chip for details. I decided to "fake" it when back-announcing, but got caught :-), as you'll see. I've often thought that SIG would have a lot of listeners from the prisons. There are 4 major ones in the Leavenworth area; the Federal Pen, the Kansas State Pen for Men, the Kansas State Pen for Women and the Displinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, not to mention the various county and city jails. Yet, as I said, this is only the second letter I've gotten from a jail. The other was a fella who was in the State Pen for selling LSD. He was released before I moved up to Chicago. He called me to tell me how much SIG meant to him while he was incarcerated. It was a wonderful and very touching phone call. This letter is too. I wanted to share it with people who are on the same compassonate wavelength as me. I added a couple of comments within [ ] brackets. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Dear "Miss Vickie" This letter has been a long time in coming, since I've been a avid listener for 2 years or so and have never expressed my appreciation or admiration for you and your show. Your show tonight has offered that window of opportunity, since you have something of a Gaelic scholar for a fan in me. You played an Irish woman, whose name, or the name of the song, you couldn't discern. The reason I say you didn't have her name, but rather-most likely-the name of the album, is that I doubt if her name is "precious song" or "treasure song." "Stor" (pronounced "store...I shopped at") meaning "precious" or "treasure" and "Amhran" (pronounced "Ah-rawn" - accent on the first syllable) ("mh" flanked by an "a", "o", or "u" is usually a weak "w" sound; in front of that "r" it would come out something like the English "wrapper." Flanked by "i" or "e" it would acquire a "v" sound, Miss "Mhicie" :-) ) Translation? "Amhran" = "song" [Included here a Gaelic spelling of Stor Amhran, which my keyboard can't handle :-)...it looks great!] Which brings me to the conundrum of the ages, and something I've wanted to ask you for a long time. Just what-or where- is "Gafa" anyway? Back to Irish Gaelic for a moment, "Gafa" means captive or captivity. Suspended in Captivity? Nah! Any light you could shed on that would be most appreciated. Well, as I said before, I'm a big fan and listen faithfully every week. I have to admit something of an infatuation with your radio persona, having been in prison for a little over 5 years, just the sound of a female voice captivates me. (Don't worry, I'm not the John Hinckley type. I'm an ex-marijuana smuggler, though I'm doing Time for counterfeiting 4.8 million in twenties, and later, a failed helicopter escape. Colorful? Yes. Psychotic? Hardly.) And of course, your taste in music is wonderful. Now, speaking of music, I have a "wish list" - call them requests - but of course you don't have to play them if you don't want to. Some of them might be a bit too obscure even for _your_ collection. But whatever you can do, I will be thrilled to death with. (1) That Kate Bush/Peter Gabriel joint effort "Don't Give Up." Now, I know you played a live bootleg version a few months ago, but I have to tell you, and meaning no offense, but the sound quality was positively dreadful. [I had played a boot of Kate joining Peter on stage in London] Please play the album version if you have it. I must tell you the meaning of that song for me. I first heard it back in 1987, when I first started this bit. I was at U.S.P Atlanta. I'd just had a visit from my ex-girlfriend, at which time she had pledged her "undying love and affection," telling me "don't give up" blah-blah-blah. I heard that song the same evening following that visit. I cried. A month or two later she stopped coming to visit, stopped answering my letters, changed her phone number...well, you get the idea. I cried again. Anyway, the song is _quite_ beautiful and I recon I might cry again if I hear it again. (Don't say that on your show, please. You never know which of these mugs might be listening.) (2) Last winter you played some song that I thought was very fine, but as I was sick with a fever, I wasn't as attentive as I should have been when you back-announced the artist. I want to say that it was the "Cocteau Twins" but I'm just not sure. I do recall that the voices were very ethereal, and there were several instances where they did an octave jump, down an octave and then back up again. Not a lot to go on, is it? Example: [Here he draws the notes he's thinking of, but I can't read music :-( ] (*) ------_-----(*)--|----(*)-------------------------------------------------- | ( ) | | | (*) (*). |-----|/-----|----|----|--- |------|--------(*)---(*)--------(*)------------ | /| |++++ | | | | | | |---/-|-----------------++++|------|--------|-----|----------|-------------- | | /| \ \| | \ | |--||-|--|-------------------------------------------\---------------------- | \_|_/ \ / |-----|------------------------------------------------\-|--/--------------- | _/ | / --------------------------------------------------------|------------------ (*) ^ Just a guess ^ ^ Trademark riff ^ [The (*)'s are intended to be whole notes. That period on the fourth note is intended to be a dotted note. Everything else should be clear if you squint your eyes :-) Chris did this, he gets the credit! or blame :-)] (3) A Scottish band called "Aon Brach" (pronounced een brach, gutteral ch, means "single malt" as in the whiskey.) The song is called "Hapless Caledonia" and if this song doesn't give you goosebumps and a lump in your throat, you're probably catatonic. (4) My celly says to ask you to play Marianne Faithful's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" or "Working Class Hero." (5) Enya Ni Bhraonain (pron. "brennan") - song "Na Laetha Gael M'oige" (pron. "nuh lay-uh gayuhl muh oygyuh") from the _Watermark_ album. Well, I guess I could go on and on, but I fear I've been overly presump- tuous already. Thanks again for your wonderful show. I will be "Suspended in Suspense" until I find out what "Gafa" means. Take care and dress warmly, I'm very familiar with the Chicago winters. Sincerely, Michael Carroll |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| How utterly, wonderfully, wonderful! It's such a thrill to hear from a listener at all, but especially someone like Michael. I'm going to try and figure out what song he was talking about in (2) but it won't be easy ("ethereal" is my middle name! :-) ) Does anyone know about (3)? If not, where would be a good place to find out about this band? Soc.culture.celtic? Rec.music.folk? I'll have to tell him what the spelling of "gaffa" is, but the meaning? Ay yi yi! :-) Please don't judge me too harshly for this breach of someone's privacy, I'd never post this in rec.music.gaffa or anywhere else. Ecto is small and intimate, and I wanted to share this with you all. Vickie ps, Ok, now you know my secret, that I'm known as "Miss Vickie" on the air. A couple of friends, who also had a show on KKFI, started it shortly after I went on the air, and I haven't been able to shake it off. I never refer to myself that way, but everyone else does. Pooh! :-) ======================================================================== 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)