12-Nov-91 16:27:31-GMT,23943;000000000001 Received: from athos.rutgers.edu by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA20566; Tue, 12 Nov 91 11:14:23 EST Received: by athos.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA21970; Tue, 12 Nov 91 11:14:19 EST Date: Tue, 12 Nov 91 11:14:19 EST Message-Id: <9111121614.AA21970@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 #35 ecto, Number 35 Tuesday, 12 November 1991 Today's Topics: *-----------------* tying up loose threads... Just so you know . . . my intro post reply to everyone ======================================================================== Just a quick note from me - WOW the list has been busy lately! I'm sending out 3 digests this morning, and there wasn't anything to be sent out when i left work last night at 3am! --jessica ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 12 Nov 91 02:10:19 EST From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu Subject: tying up loose threads... just a couple stray thoughts crossing my mind... greg: yeah, maybe i had it backwards, but the initial thought about a ecto being a "halfway house" sent me into fits... madonna: i finally bought the "live to tell" 12" last over the weekend. so i guess i will toss my hand in the air as a selective madonna fan. i consider most of her music fun mind-candy, but she somes through with an occasional gem - whether it is the eerieness of "live to tell" or the social commentary of "papa don't preach". she's an easy target, which is why she gets nailed so often by the music snobs. i don't think that i respect her as an artist, but i can listen to her work and even sometimes like it...incidentially, the best application of madonna i *ever* heard was back in hgh school. a deejay on the local college radio station played a monlogue by lydia lunch which began with the phrase "dear whores". underneath the words, the dj played the instrumental of "live to tell". the effect was chilling... michy: nope. :) wfuv? really? wow. gonna have to see if i can pick that up out here. i'm not sure that i can though...isn't that fordham's station? i can never remember all those college stations...sigh... kiri: i'll be up at potsdam this coming weekend and should be doing a show on saturday night. is there a warpaint in the studio? vickie: i did get through _the gunslinger_ and thought that it was okay. i just didn't get enthralled by it like other friends of mine who told me to read it did. i will not debate the idea being interesting though. i'll also look for the collection that you recommended - and put it on the mile-high stack of books that i'm going to read "real soon now". :) think that i will go to sleep now... +w ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 12 Nov 91 00:22:48 PST From: stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) Subject: Just so you know . . . I have never read any Stephen King except for bits of one of the Gunslinger novels that was laying around a friend's place. Looked really atmospheric but never caught my attention, either. I have always referred to Madonna as the Anti-Kate. Ah, the early 80s. I have never had wide musical tastes; my first musical interest was The Fixx, whom I still like, although their last album was really bland. I learned to like Rush rather than go mad because my brother played them all the time, and I still like _Grace Under Pressure_ more than their other albums. The latest one sounds intriguing to me as well; I am about the only person I know who admits to liking New Rush and doesn't like the pre-_Moving Pictures_ stuff as much. My brother also had the taste to like Thomas Dolby, a like that I could share more happily from the start. He, however, tends not to absorb any of my tastes, although I am plotting to lend him my spare CD of _The Dreaming_ which I suspect would appeal to him more than any of Kate's other work. There was an early 80s party in my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, and it was definitely a nostalgia trip. I had to admit to myself that Duran Duran were consummate pop artists even though they went too PC (Popular Culture) for me to ever really feel any deep respect for them. Too bad I largely ignore that period in my life because it was unbearably boring to me. Darn, Oregon just isn't close to any of those stations that are playing the Happy interview. We do have an APR station in town (don't ask me which one; I can't remember). There's also a small student/community-run station in town that says "Hear them here" with light gray printing of a lot of artist names including Kate Bush in its ads. Hmm, a very good Happy-mania prospect. No nifty Happy news in my life, but I did make my find of the decade when I was notified by my brother that there was this very expensive little box with the name "Kate Bush" on it at one of the nicer local record stores. I went in to check on it, expecting a Japanese box set, but *my god* it was the UK pressing, something I'd never thought I'd see in a store around here. Needless to say, I promptly swapped $165 (also a reasonable retail price, from what I have gathered) for it. If it hadn't been the UK set I would have been more reluctant. Now I have to get a CD player. I will ignore Cynthia Rosas . . . I will ignore Cynthia Rosas . . . but oh, how I love watching her get _her_ panties wadded up . . . ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 11 Nov 91 08:38:00 EDT From: @cdp.igc.org:S.A..Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.Fidonet.Org (S.A. Ezust) Subject: my intro post Date: Mon Nov 11 08:38:20 1991 GMT+2 This is my intro message, slightly modified from its original form which I wrote on October 21st, but I am not sure if it ever made it to the list, so I slightly updated it and I am resending it now. Apologies if you are reading most of this for the second time!! When I have some more time, I will start quoting and responding to a number of the messages I received today in Digest form (I got digests 21-26 all in one glob!! wow!). ---------------------------Cut here------------------------------ October 21, 1991 Greetings, All. I just finished reading about 100k worth of digests from last week and I really like this group - it has such a friendly atmosphere! Lets hope it stays that way. I am getting so tired of the consolidated discussion on nm-list that I may even un-subscribe to it... Anyway, my name's Alan Ezust. I don't know many of the people who have been posting over the past week, so I will give you all a proper introduction. I was born in Boston on November 21, 1969 and grew up in Cambridge, MA until I was 17, at which point I went to McGill to study computer science. It was while I was living in Montreal that two very significant things happened to me. 1] I discovered the "net" 2] I developed my music tastes It is very easy to do #2 in montreal, as CD rental stores are legal. I would rent anything that looked interesting, tape it and then decide if I wanted to buy it. In addition, I was a DJ at CKUT, Radio McGill in Montreal, where I had a chance to give exposure of all my favorite groups to the masses. Over the past 3 years, I've been on the following musical mailing lists nm-list (to which I am still subscribing, at the moment) dominion (sisters of mercy) 4ad-l other-voices (cure) And I am co-moderator of another list known as cloud-zero, which is devoted entirely to the legendary pink dots and edward ka-spel spin-offs. I was also a reader of love-hounds for a while, but every time I posted a message there, I found out a week later that I posted something so obvious or so inane that I felt quite embarassed about it (even though they seemed like sensible posts in the beginning). While I do like Kate Bush (I have everything she's ever done), I do not consider myself a love-hound; just a minor fan who would love to see her perform live some time. After I graduated from McGill, I was happily unemployed for a few months, but I ran out of money and decided I had better get a job, so here I am, in the University of Zimbabwe. My job title is Software Engineer, but basically I am a hacker-on-duty, de-virusing computers, helping folks install their software, and occasionally writing papers which get distributed around campus with useful technical bits. Someday they might have some programming for me to do, but until then, I'm happy vegging out in front of my CRT reading and writing e-mail. While I am here in Africa, my only source of music information is via music mailing lists. Until I go back to Boston/Montreal in January, My only source of new music is tapes via snail mail. (Anyone who wants to do miscellaneous tape trades with me is heartily encouraged!). Woj sent me a tape of Warpaint, and like the rest of you, I've been listening to it OVER AND OVER and I can't imagine ever getting tired of it. I especially enjoy listening to Words Weren't Made for Cowards (it sends shivers down my spine) and Phobos, but I love the entire LP. I concur with whoever it was that said that some of these songs are in a totally objective sense "perfect". When I get back to North America, I wanna buy the CD (I didn't bring my CD player or any of my discs with me when I came here). I've already made copies of my tape for two friends here in Zimbabwe, so perhaps Happy'll get a following here too. Anyway, my all-time favorite groups are: Legendary Pink Dots Bel Canto Dead Can Dance Clan of Xymox (pre-T.O.S.) Sisters of Mercy (pre-Vision Thing) Skinny Puppy (pre-CF&M) I also have a huge collection of C'est La Mort and 4AD bands, so I consider myself a fan of most of those groups. Living in Canada, I couldn't avoid being exposed to Jane Siberry and Sarah McLachlan, and I also went through phases where I was listening to Hex and Virginia Astley. So now for my questions: Also, what is this about a Sarah McLachlan LP? Why was it scrapped? What's going on? There is a woman named Lily AK, who did a bit of singing for Legendary Pink Dots. Her voice is definitely Gaffa-material (or in this case, ecto-materal). Anyone hear of her? Apparently she did a project with Youth (of killing joke) but I've never heard it. Could someone tell me a little about Mary Margaret O'Hara? I've heard a lot about her, and I may have even heard a song of her's, and I recall liking [what I thought was] her music, but that's all I know. Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.fidonet.org University of Zimbabwe, Harare Engineering CAL Project -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "My time's too short to waste on things you say without your brain." - HR ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 11 Nov 91 15:42:00 EDT From: @cdp.igc.org:S.A..Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.Fidonet.Org (S.A. Ezust) Subject: reply to everyone Date: Mon Nov 11 15:42:12 1991 GMT+2 This message is turning out to be pretty long, so I hope you'll bear with me.... Also, some of it is in response to almost-1-month old posts... But it isn't rambling. Probability is at least 99% that at least SOMETHING in this message is relevant to YOU (yes, that's right - you!). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stuff about Cambridge, MA: Someone from Boston mentioned that there is an HMV *AND* a Tower records in Harvard Square now? When did this happen? Jeez. I've only been away for 6 months and all of a sudden this happens. Which one is where CWT used to be? Where is the other one? Hmmm. I sure hope this doesn't damage Newbury's business (although the boston store seems to be doing ok with the other tower right next door to them, so maybe this will do ok too)... Surprising though, as the recession (when I left) was so bad that all the stores in the new Shopping Centre in Lechmere were desperate for customers, and the prices were so low it was frightening! Does that mean the recession is really over now? -------------------------------------------------------------------- I noticed someone else shares my birthday.... Kevin Bartlett. Is this guy a member of the list, or a member of Happy's band? Someone please enlighten me; I only see snippets of references to the guy in the recent digests. --------------------------------------------------------------------- katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) sez: >I agree with the recommendations for Area. I have all their albums but >my favorite one is still _The Perfect Dream_. None of the others, as much >as I like them, even come close to being as good as that one. I never liked BPAP, and the one that came after that one was incredibly disappointing. I did think Radio Caroline came awfully close to the quality of Perfect Dream though. >Beautiful Pea Green Boat has a much harder edge, so I'd be wary calling them >"ethereal" though they have some etherealish songs. They only have one >album so far. Don't know what they're up to. They are in the same sort of >category I'd put Lush into. I never saw many similarities between BPGB and Lush, but another group I listen to which sounds a heck of a lot like BPGB is called Invisible Limits. Their enter album "A Conscious State" sounds like the song "POWERHOUSE" on Still Life. >Hex is in a category of Beautiful Pea Green Boat-type groups (ethereal >with a hard edge) and my favorite album is their first, self-titled. >Their second album (_Vast Halos_) is good, but not as ethereal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ woj@remus.rutgers.edu (woj) sez: about hex: >nothing to add here except to take the liner noted to the first one with >a grain of salt - steve and donette take acid and start blathering about >magick and the history ofg the universe. oh - agreed about the first being >better, but i find that i can't listen to them very often. it seems stilted >somehow, forced. I really liked the song "In the Net" but the rest of the album definitely needed some more 'flow' to it... I think forced and strained are good words describing them. >as a side note, i've been corresponding with henry frayne for a while (he >is their guitarist) and he sent me a picture of lynn and some of the comic >books that she has done. she's pretty warped from the looks of them... Comic Books? Please tell me more.. Is she an artist or something? >Julee Cruise >you know, i like her, but i dunno if i've ever really gotten into her like >other artists. sometimes, there seems to be something missing with her >music and i can't out my finger on it. I think the lyrics to the songs are insipid, and the tunes are incredibly simple and repetative and I can't stand listening to the stuff at all. I know it's harsh, but maybe this has something to do with the fact that my first exposure to them was as the opening band for Dead Can Dance, and all I could think about was "when the hell is DCD going on stage, fah chrissake?" >we keep forgetting bel canto! (duh). two records: _white out conditions_ >and _birds of passage_. vickie likes the first one better and i like the >second one better. we'll let you decide... :) How could we forget that group? Also Anelli-Marian Drecker has a side project with a guy called Matsui on Crammed Discs called Songs of Joy... It's not quite as good as Bel Canto, but it features one of the world's most beautiful voices, so that's why I like it. But chalk me down for Birds of Passage as my favorite; White Out has 6 songs that I really like, while BOP has 11. Purely objective rating, no? > Subject: Terra Incognita > Date: Fri, 11 Oct 91 09:43:51 N > From: Klaus Kluge > > > drive. Happy said the tour would start in December and the interviewer > > asked if she would be coming to Philly. Oh yeah... When will she hit Boston? Will it be in January, by any chance? If so, I might be able to make it!!! > Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1991 08:13:14 -0500 > From: Brian Bloom > Subject: Re: In trouble again :-) > > That new Dead Can Dance CD is *great* I fell asleep last night to its > soothing strains... Could you please e-mail me a track listing of that CD? Also, what is in the CD booklet? ======================================================================== > > Date: Fri, 01 Nov 91 15:53:40 CDT > From: "Chip Lueck (Jeff)" > Subject: Happy GIFS on alt.binaries.pictures > > So all those without FTP access but do have Usenet alt. groups, look > in alt.binaries.pictures for the Happy Gifs tomorrow or Sunday. What about those of us who don't have ftp or usenet? Any e-mail possibilities? ======================================================================== > > Date: Fri, 1 Nov 91 14:38:22 GMT > From: Stephen Thomas > Subject: Thoughts > > 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. Well, that song really got my attention. I am not TOO crazy about it, as a piece of music (since i am never in the mood to hear it right after I hear "Phobos") but the lyrics are quite fascinating. I never thought about re-incarnation as one of her images until you mentioned it in your message, and immediately I started to think about Wrong Century, as opposed to the other songs you mentioned, such as Terra Incognita. I didn't pick up on the disassociation part of the thing. It was interesting that she changed sexes in the course of this "transportation" to the wrong century though... Why is it lousy to be a woman in the century she's singing about? Also, is it about "this century" or a possible future century which she's worried about? Questions, questions... > 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. That's heavy stuff! Does anyone have a biography of Happy on textfile? Could he/she please e-mail it to me? All I know about her is what I'm reading on this list right now... > ======================================================================== From: jeffy@lewhoosh.umd.edu >So how many other Stephen King fans are there on Ecto? Here's one... I haven't read anything that was published in the last calendar year, as I can't find any bookstores here that carry his stuff, but I really enjoy King; not because of his Horror (although some of it is really incredible) but his story telling ability and his wonderful character sketches. What is unique about King is that he can make any character believable, and you are actually inside the brain of each and every one of them. My favorite books are: Dead Zone, The Stand, It, and The Shining. Of course, there are always the occasional 'gross-out' books that he does which I am never that crazy about (cujo, misery and Pet Semmetary come to mind), but I still consider myself a 'fan'... I've only read the "Dark Tower" and haven't managed to get my paws on a copy of the sequel. >From what I've been reading, it's just as well, I guess, as it seems to be quite a cliff-hanger. Primarily I am a SF-reader. My favorite SF books of all-time are: Jack L. Chalker: Chronicles of Nathan Brazil Raymond Feist : The Magician series Theodore Sturgeon: More than Human, Dreaming Jewels Marion Zimmer Bradley: Just about anything ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: jessica@cs.rutgers.edu Subject: Happy stuff :) >Well, most of you know that Happy will be touring soon, and was needing >a backup singer. I do sing (a bit), so I decided to try out. >I went to greg's, and we made a tape of just my voice. I did >these songs: (in this order :) >To France (Mike Oldfield) >Wuthering Heights (KB) >Under and Over the Brink (Happy) >Moving (KB) >Saxophone Song (verse 1) (KB) >Don't Want to Hear It (Happy) >Kashka from Baghdad (KB) >I sent the tape two weeks ago.. and yesterday Happy called me. >She says they've chosen another girl (kelly something, i tihnk..) >but that she loved my voice (!!!!) and that they didn't think >there's anything kelly can do that I can't, but that she has better >control. (which makes a lot of sense and does not come unexpected :) So how can I get one of these tapes??? I really wanna hear it! I don't know many people who would DARE to sing kate bush songs, and much less be proud of the results... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Caoineag Subject: Madonna//Sarah McLachlan >Just got back from Montreal again...and am planning on making another >trip up there in a couple of weeks because Sarah McLachlan is going >to be in concert on Nov. 24 and if there are still tickets there is >NO way I am going to miss it! If anyone else is going to the concert >or was thinking about going please tell me! ooooo I am so jealous.. I am getting major home-sickness now. Not only did I miss the chance to see Sarah during her Touch tour, but I keep watching the movie "Jesus of Montreal" so I don't forget what that beautiful city looks like!! I can't wait to go back in January. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >From gb10@gte.com: >i'm fortunate enough to have a tape of the distressingly hard to find >"Solace", the new album from Sarah McLachlan -- i agree with others >who have posted that this is a very very good album. sigh... I am really missing the boat! Someone please tell me the story about why this is so hard to find!! I think I'll shut up now. Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.fidonet.org University of Zimbabwe, Harare Engineering CAL Project --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "My time's too short to waste on things you say without your brain." -HR ======================================================================== 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)