Errors-To: owner-ecto@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 #338 ecto, Number 338 Tuesday, 29 September 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Responses to stimuli tales from the wild side US+US+US+US+US Warpaint spotted in Baltimore tori in houston Re: Chicago stoff Re: US+US+US+US+US Crisis in Ren and Stimpy? Good deal on PG album for Chicago ectophiles some new releases Celtic Suggestions... ======================================================================== Date: 25 September 1992 13:46:57 CDT From: Subject: Responses to stimuli I can well empathize with Neile's warpaint stripes, since my cat's baby teeth and claws find my skin a favorite surface for sharpening. Anybody know if 1) his permanent teeth will scratch any less severely, 2) he'll grow out of this after he gets older, and/or 3) his craving to inflict multiple puncture marks will abate once he's fixed at some future date? I support Neile's proposal for Canadian and Celtic samplers. Somewhere within my jumble, I have one or more Ferron tapes, and several by Martha and the Muffins (but not _Metro Music_, which I consider their definitive album, but which I've never been able to find in this country since it was out on vinyl in the late 1970's. Also, the other day "The Midnight Special" played a song by a Canadian folksinger whose name I wrote down, but which I seem not to have with me right now. By way of clarification: M+M is technically a different act, a duo which Martha Johnson formed after the earlier band broke up. They got a lot of airplay for their song "Black Stations, White Stations" (as I think it was called), and then dropped out of sight themselves. In response to Vickie's query: Ulysses is spelled Ulysses (as in the man from Grant's Tomb), rather than the way she spelled it. I would implore Jorn not to do anything to her over this :-), as it's a easy mistake to make. I can remember going to see the movie version at the Art Institute one time, only to have them announce that their distributor had messed up and sent them another film of the same name (albeit still spelled correctly), a film version of Homer's _Odyssey_ starring Kirk Douglas. About 14 months later, they finally managed to get the right film, and I was surprised to find out how G-rated Molly's soliloquy was by the standards of this time and place. I tend to agree with Angelos that Happy's cover album should wait until she's rich and famous. Now I have my own pie-in-the-sky proposal, a revival of one I made a long time ago: a _festschrift_ album in the _Two Rooms_ tradition, with other artists covering Happy's songs. The only conclusion I've come to as to who could sing what is that Barry White could do "Ecto." Anyone got any other ideas? As Vickie mentioned, yesterday's _Tribune_ had a long piece about Peter Gabriel and his new album, along with a review of the latter which gave it three stars. It also had a review of Sinead O'Connor's album, which gave it 1.5 stars, just as Angelos said is typical. I forget the exact words, but the review said, in effect, that the record was too maudlin. Has motherhood eviscerated her form- erly hard edge? Go figure. Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 22:53:44 CST From: kiri Subject: tales from the wild side Hi folx, since i've been so silent thought I would pop on and say a few words. I'm battling a sinus cold gone awry - i.e. turned into a nasty sinus infection so am a bit out of it at present. Last weekend I visited catteasaurus, Courtney, and managed to find Loreena's The Visit in a used disc store for a mere $8. Courtney says hi to all, she has been too busy with school and her new daughter catte Lady Amber Ishtar Lady of Shallot or Lady for short...or is it Lady Silver Slug now, i'm just not sure :) to get on the list. However, she does keep everyone in her thoughts. We were going to call Vickie last saturday to talk to everyone, but got busy and lost track of time. If anyone wants to reach her her email address is dallas@utkvx.utk.edu or dallas@utkvx3 (bitnet). Her snail add. is 1300 Bridge St. Apt. 4 Knoxville, Tennessee 37916. Court is trying to get UTK's alt radio station to play Happy. I'm working on a friend who does a show at TnTech's station to play Happy as well so eastern Tn may be the next Happy mecca. I was sorry to hear that the Philly show went so poorly. It's really a shame after both previous performances went so well. I guess that's big business at action. :( Life in MS is just wondy. It's nice and cool here finally. It actually felt like Potsdam the other day when it got down to 50 something at night :) Otherwise the Campus Conservatives are wreaking havoc trying to dissemble the campus gay support group, while preserving the freedom of America - true hypocrisy at work there...the campus is at arms over that...and believe me a lot of us are fuming. I guess that goes along with the southern ignorance that is so prevalent. Other than all that I'm just a busy beaver, with no time to spare :) mucking around in the ponds of northern mississippi.... kiri Ah ya personal to Valerie! We, courtney and several friends of ours are descending (definitely) on Atlanta next weekend (Oct.2-4) for a big city sprawl spree. We are staying at some hotel - will get details within next few days.... IF you're around we would love to meet ya say fri. night late or sat sometime...or even sunday for that matter :) I can give you a call (?) later this week when I know exactly what's going on, and where we are staying etc. etc. Hope we can get together. ta! ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 09:25:24 MEZ From: Dirk Kastens Subject: US+US+US+US+US Hi, I spent a very gabrielized weekend with the brand-new US. I listened to it five or six times and here are my impressions. CAUTION: Those of you who want to have a surprise shouldn't read further! I bought US on Friday afternoon and took it to a friend where we both listened to it for the first time. We were very excited after six years (or three, if you count Passion as an official PG studio album). But to our surprise the excitement disappeared from song to song and a kind of disappointment grew up. We expected something very new and innovative, but what we heard sounded quite familiar. And we found that there is no musical concept behind the album (except for the lyrics). It's a stylistic mixture of all his albums from PG1 to Passion with only a few new influences (the rave-like rhythms like in DitD, for example). But after the first disillusionment I listend to the album several times (head-phones recommended) and each time I liked it better. Now I can say that it's great. It's partly inapproachable but one can get addicted to it. Here comes a brief description of the songs: Come talk to me - a copy of Biko, with bagpipes :-( Love to be loved - the highlight of US (IMHO), very melodic 8-) Blood of Eden - the successor of Don't give up, with the difference that Sinead only does the backing vocals in the chorus (reminds me to Paul Simon). Another highlight 8-) Steam - the soul/funk version of Quiet steam, a copy of Big time :-| Only us - very inapproachable, like The family and the fishing net :-) Washing of the water - a gospel-like piano ballad, could be from PG1 :-) Digging in the dirt - no comment :-) Fourteen black paintings - similar to We do what we're told :-) Kiss that frog - maybe the rockiest song he ever did, with distorted guitar and organ and harmonica :-| Secret world - a floating song with a U2-like guitar :-) Dirk (now waiting for the new Kate Bush and Happy Rhodes albums) Has anybody heard the new Judie Tzuke album Wonderland? It's great! :) -------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 08:36:19 EDT From: pi@ruth.ece.jhu.edu (Pablo A. Iglesias) Subject: Warpaint spotted in Baltimore Not sure this is newsworthy, but I was Happy :-) to see Warpaint in a CD store here is Baltimore this past weekend. Pablo ======================================================================== From: Dick Locke Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 08:58:06 -0500 Subject: tori in houston My wife and I saw Tori at the Tower Theater in Houston this past Saturday. Great Show! I'll describe a bit about the show and then get into my personal feelings about it later... If Anil reads carefully, he can probably derive some stuff to ask Tori about! The Tower Theater has an elevated stage and kind of a staircased set of aisles, (running parallel to the stage) each aisle having tables and chairs on either side with space to walk in the middle. We were probably 5 aisles back, perhaps 50 feet from Tori, exactly at her eye height. Excellent seats, and we only arrived about an hour before the show was scheduled to start. They were selling some tickets at the door; I don't know if it ever "sold out". They sold drinks, which was cool, though mixed drinks were $4.50 a pop. They made more on selling us drinks than on selling us the tickets ;-) The theatre was quite small, and I doubt it could hold more than 7 or 8 hundred people; a nice venue! Some local guy was the warm-up act. He was OK; some sort of Elvis Costello wanna-be. He had a good voice and if there is ever a market for Elvis (Costello) impersonators this guy could make a good living. Tori came on around 9:25, and was greeted quite enthusiastically by the audience. She seemed to start into either "Song for Eric" or else just some stuff to test the sound. She stopped right away and said "So, are we going to fix this? Is that on? Ian? Ian are you there? Ian's my sound man!" There was some sort of distortion in the left PA, and I'm not sure the right PA was even on... Tori asked for someone in the audience to suggest a favorite Christmas carol to test the sound as Ian fiddled, and Tori proceeded to sing the first verse or so! (I don't know the title of the carol, sorry) I must say that the Tori version of the song was great! She sang some of it in the upper register (sounding quite unconventional), and then stopped to explain she had to do that to test out the sound. The audience loved it. Maybe Anil can suggest she do a CD of Xmas songs in his interview! She started out with Leather, Crucify, and Silent All These Years if memory serves, and she seemed to play everything I've been hearing about on the mailing list except Angie was omitted. The last two songs in the encore were "Song for Eric" and "China", and my memory isn't good enough for the middle of the show! The show lasted until around 11:00. I don't know how to describe my reaction to Tori's performance except to say I was deeply moved. Several songs brought tears to my eyes (and my wife reports the same.) I had been concerned that perhaps the by now famous Tori-isms might somehow be obtrusive, but I found quite the reverse to be true. Tori communicates not only with her voice and piano, but also with her facial expressions, hand movements, and body language. Her behind doesn't spend much time plopped onto the piano bench supporting her weight, because frequently she supports herself more with her feet as she works up and down the keyboard. (It looks hard on the knees to me!) Her facial expressions are very expressive and help communicate the song to the audience. You would certainly loose a lot of you had to see her from the back of a big venue. I think one aspect of the show really differs from the standard "pop" performance, and that's the use of a wide dynamic range. "Dynamic range" refers to the difference between the loudest and softest sounds. Most pop shows/albums show very little dynamic range (and a lot of radio stations purposefully compress the hell out of their signal to make it subjectively "loud"), but Tori uses it extensively on her albums and much more so in the show. (To be fair, I guess the album producer or engineer have a fair amount of influence on the dynamic range of a recording.) I'm sure it's her classical influence, as dynamic contrasts are intrinsic to classical music. The volume of her performance was constantly varying; never a monotone. She virtually whispers some parts while barely striking the keys -- there were a number of times during the show when the air-conditioning was audible. Other times she'd pound the keyboard and let loose with all she had (and good old Ian at the mixing board would let her go!) Little Earthquakes is a great example of a song with great contrasts, it starts soft, gets big and dramatic and loud, and then finishes gently. Winter is also similar; very soft until "His hair is grey..." (I'm getting goosebumps as I think about it!) Anyway, I think this is one of the things that really sets Tori apart as an artist, and I think it's clearly her classical training showing itself. She was great, I hope to see her again! By the way, the audience was very enthusiastic and polite. No Ohio State type of pary crowd here! -Dick Locke p.s. What does Tori's voice really sound like? We don't really know, do we? I now know what her voice sounds like through her mic. and the PA with 200msec (or whatever it was) echo. There were some times during the show when I thought the echo was clearly being overdone (i.e., mixed too loud, I guess). Does Tori really need the echo to sound good, or is it just a given in music today that the artist's voice by itself is inadequate? What does Tori think? (Anil: hint, hint!) ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 09:12:02 CDT From: Chip Subject: Re: Chicago stoff >The latest glitch in the infrastructure happened when a section of the Mich- >igan Avenue bridge, which has been under repair for over a year, suffered a >failure of the raising and lowering mechanism, causing it to abruptly go to >a vertical position from which it cannot be easily righted. The cause of >all this has yet to be pinned down. Miraculously, no one was killed and Well, Klaus told me a secret in confidence, but I feel I can share it with Ecto. You see, when he and Claudia were in Chicago, we walked over the bridge in question. Klaus was intrigued by the bridge and thought the method of repair was interesting, so when I wasn't looking he took a little piece of the metal from the bridge as a souvenir of their visit to Chicago. Oops. Sorry, Klaus, your secret is out. But we won't tell! Now if you try to take a piece of the Leaning Tower, it might be more than a broken toe, ok?! ======================================================================= Chip Lueck (Jeff)) | "The moving walkway is now ending. email: chip-l@nwu.edu | Please look down." phone: 708-491-5912 | ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: Re: US+US+US+US+US Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 13:43:03 EDT Hi, Dirk is lucky enough to have US in his hands before the U.S. can get it, and writes: >But after the first disillusionment I listend to the album several times >(head-phones recommended) and each time I liked it better. Now I can say >that it's great. Having heard most of the PG special on the radio, and wearing out my tape of it during the weekend, I know what 7 songs on it sound like, and must say: IT'S *GREAT*!! IMHO, it is much better than 'So', but not as catchy. It is darker than 'Security' but not as innovative. It is poppier than 'Passion' but not as moody. >Come talk to me - a copy of Biko, with bagpipes :-( Oh, come on. This song is *amazing*. Love the bagpipes and the choir, and sinead's vocals. it's nothing like Biko, IMHO. >Love to be loved - the highlight of US (IMHO), very melodic 8-) Agreed, a very nice song. >Blood of Eden - the successor of Don't give up, with the difference that > Sinead only does the backing vocals in the chorus > (reminds me to Paul Simon). Another highlight 8-) This I remember from the movie Until the end of the world. And what I remember had 'WOW' written all over it. :) >Steam - the soul/funk version of Quiet steam, a copy of Big time :-| I like this better than Quiet Steam. >Only us - very inapproachable, like The family and the fishing net :-) no comment, haven't heard it... >Washing of the water - a gospel-like piano ballad, could be from PG1 :-) ditto >Digging in the dirt - no comment :-) This song I really love. I *finally* saw the video last night on 120 minutes, and can't say that I see it as a Big time ripoff. The imagery is full of pain and the agony on his face during the car scenes is amazing. I didn't find it to be too disgusting... >Fourteen black paintings - similar to We do what we're told :-) haven't heard it yet >Kiss that frog - maybe the rockiest song he ever did, with distorted > guitar and organ and harmonica :-| Cool groove. >Secret world - a floating song with a U2-like guitar :-) even though I have it on tape, I don't remember it too much. More on Wednesday, after I've listened to the CD about a dozen of times :) Angelos 'Atmospherics after dark, noise and voices from the past Across the dial from Moscow to Cologne Interference in the night, thousand miles on either side Stations fading into the unknown...' ======================================================================== Date: 28 September 1992 12:58:15 CDT From: Subject: Crisis in Ren and Stimpy? Today's _Sun-Times_ carried a squib to the effect that Nickelodeon, disaffected with the delays in delivery of the next 13 episodes of Ren and Stimpy, may bounce John Kricfalusi from his position with the show, while keeping the show itself. This seems a bit implausible to me, since as I understand it, JK has his own, independent production company which supplies the show to Nick. Can anyone get the information ungarbled? Mitch ======================================================================== From: rjk1@cec1.wustl.edu (Bob Kollmeyer) Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 13:41:37 CDT Subject: Re: Responses to stimuli > I can well empathize with Neile's warpaint stripes, since my cat's baby teeth > and claws find my skin a favorite surface for sharpening. Anybody know if Ahh, to have those days back again, when kittys' claws and fangs were sharp, but their paws and jaws were too weak to do any real damage. > 1) his permanent teeth will scratch any less severely, 2) he'll grow out of His permanent teeth will probably become duller, somewhat. If I remember correctly, their teeth are *mighty* sharp as kittens. But he will also develop jaw muscles so instead of very sharp teeth pricking your skin, it will be pointy teeth puncturing your skin 8) 8) 8) 8). Seriously though, much of what you are experiencing he will probably grow out of. With a little training, I am told, kitty can learn not to use his claws around you when playing like this. I remember seeing a show in which zoo- keepers were playing with their big cats (playing == running around and letting a 750 lb tiger catch you by the shoulders from behind). They explained that the first word all of their cats learned was no. The main context in which they learned this word was playtime if the claws came out. Apparently just a firm no and a light tap on the paws to direct their attention trained them well enough that this zookeeper wasn't at all fearful when playing with them. Dunno. Heard it too late to train my kitties. They are far to stubborn now 8). Besides, I'm sure eventually he will find the curtains or furniture far more entertaining than your arm. 8) 8) Much of what you are experiencing is undoubtedly play and were there another kitten around it would probably be getting much of the abuse that you are getting (that, or you'd be getting twice as many scratches) > this after he gets older, and/or 3) his craving to inflict multiple puncture > marks will abate once he's fixed at some future date? That could be. Or he might figure out what you have done to him and kill you in your sleep 8) bob ======================================================================== Date: 28 September 1992 14:06:20 CDT From: Subject: Good deal on PG album for Chicago ectophiles Rose Records on Broadway near Belmont will be selling the new Peter Gabriel album for $9.99 CD, $6.99 tape only from 7 AM to 2 PM tomorrow, the 29th. Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 23:20:42 EDT From: woj Subject: some new releases picked up a few cds today that some of you folks might be interested in hearing about... bel canto - _shimmering, warm & bright_ as others have mentioned, this is finally available domestically in the unitd states. after one listen, i'm fairly pleased with it. it follows the synthesizer vein that _birds of passage_ established, but there is more emphasis placed on creating a rhythmic sound. i would hesitate to call it "dancy", as etheriel is still the operative word in describing their sound, but there are some specific sounds that i usually associate with dance music rather than the blissed-out stuff that bel canto produces. end result: an extension of the sound of the last album with a resurgance of strong rhythms that were more apparent on _white out conditions_. i rather like it. one thumb up. robin holcomb - _rockabye_ the second album from this downtown new york city composer features much of the same band as the debut (husband wayne horowitz, doug weiselman, bill frisell) as well as a few new faces (marty erlich, and guest appearances by peter holsapple and peter ostroushko). in a sentence, _rockabye_ is poetry delivered in holcomb's deadpan, but delicate, singsong with music ranging from country to nyc-jazz lite. it has its moments and for those, it is worth it...but there are some bits that i could do without (like the toned-down pseudo-noise chaos interlude in i-forgot-which-tune). holcomb's voice is not for everybody either. i know that i like the album, but not as much as i liked the last one (and certainly not as much as i like seeing her live). one thumb up with reservations. cowboy junkies - _live_ i don't recall seeing any mention of this four song live ep, but i saw it and grabbed it anyways. features "this street, that man, this life", "if you were the woman and i were the man", "hot burrito no. 1" and (you guessed it) "sweet jane". the recording is crystaline, the performance is quite good...and this rendition of "sweet jane" is very likely the most rocking the junkies have ever been to date. if you wished that margo and michael timmins took some speed before the next time that you gave them a chance, this might be it (though i should add that speed would not affect their music like it might affect, say, the sex pistols). one thumb up for the music, one thumb down cos it's too damn short. woj ======================================================================== Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 00:55:46 PDT From: spotter@darwin.bio.uci.edu (Steve Potter) Subject: Celtic Suggestions... Being an avid fan of Fiona Ritchie's Thistle and Shamrock show (on KUSC in LA, but on APR stations all over), I have heard many beautiful\ female celtic voices, some of which seem to have been completely overlooked by yous. They tend to be on the more traditional side, may be why. Here goes: 1. Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, formerly of the Bothy Band, which any folk musician from Ireland will tell you was instrumental :) in getting this genre revived. 2. Gene Redpath--Scottish, but I think in america now. Many many wonderful story-songs, sung in a rich,somewhat husky voice. 3. Christine Primrose- Mostly, if not entirely, in Scots gaelic, but gosh, her voice melts me. 4. Cilla Fisher--another pretty gaelic voice, but often in english too. 5. Alison Kinaird-- Sings and plays beautiful harp music. 6. Clannad--Lead singer (maybe the sister of the Altan Mairead?) of this Irish group creates great mood and feeling. Some trad, some more progressive songs, all with lots of reverb. If anyone out there likes celtic music and doesnt have a Green Linnet catalog, it is time to get one. Many more fems abound in thier pages. Green Linnet Records, Inc. 43 Beaver Brook Road Danbury, CT 06810 As for Kate, Vickie, I would request "Jig of Life" or possibly "Night of the Swallows", but I love uilleann pipes. Steve Potter (Thanks for helping me discover HR, yous!) UC Irvine, Psychobiology dept. Irvine, CA 92717 spotter@darwin.bio.uci.edu ======================================================================== 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)