From: owner-ecto-digest To: ecto-digest@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto-digest V2 #157 Reply-To: ecto@nsmx.rutgers.edu Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, 16 July 1995 Volume 02 : Number 157 The Ecto digest is now being generated automatically. Please send problems and questions to: ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Mitchell A. Pravatiner" Date: Thu, 13 Jul 95 17:54:01 EDT Subject: Beth Perry WRT Albert's query: Beth is still at the National Zoo, where the sad state of the email system has kept her from being as active in the ecto world (and cyberspace more generally) as she'd like. I have remarked to her on a few occasions that her bosses at the Smithsonian (which includes the National Zoo) have apparently failed to realize that that 1946 model ENIAC I from the museum collection apparently doesn't connect well to the net :-). Mitch ------------------------------ From: ItsyBitsyS@aol.com Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 20:01:42 -0400 Subject: In support of VH1 Now, if you read this, don't yell at me. I just want to say a few words of support for VH1. Now I usually don't watch VH1 for the same reason I don't listen to commercial radio. I don't like mainstream commercial music, but I have recently gotten in the habit of flipping to VH1 during commercials late at night and the past couple of nights they've shown the new Jewel video (damn now I have to buy the CD), a video by a woman name Joan Osborne (anybody got any info?), and occasionally a Sarah M. video. I figure next they'll be showing the video Happy's shooting for "Collective Heart", well mabye not. Anyway, even if you can't watch one more Melissa Etheridge video, and you find every VJ incredibly annoying, you still might want to check it out, but please folks I'm not liable for your disappointments, any station that caters to 30 year old yuppies is gonna be a little evil. till next time Shelly ------------------------------ From: WAYNEPALMER@delphi.com Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 21:12:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Free WXPN Concert this Weekend ------------------------------ From: THE OLIVE-LOAF VIGILANTE Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 22:06:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: various sarah news Hi! Hey, if any of you Sarah McLachlan fans are interested, some of her road crew have set up an info-only mailing list to which they are posting a sort of diary of this current Acoustic Tour with the Chieftains. The first batch of posts came today, and it's pretty interesting stuff! You can send replies to the PC the posts are coming from, but not to the list as a whole -- I just sent them a Food Guide To New Haven, which I hope they'll use and enjoy. :) To subscribe, send a "subscribe sarah-tour " message to listserv@mindlink.bc.ca. And according to Nettwerk, Sarah's appearance on Good Morning America tomorrow will be around 8:30 AM EST, so set your VCRs accordingly. I have a ton of replies to do but no time, alas... if any of you are planning to attend the Sarah show in New Haven tomorrow (Friday) night and would like to meet up, look for someone wearing an ecto shirt hanging out by the Nettwerk table during the opening act. :) +==========================================================================+ |Meredith Tarr meth@delphi.com| |Boonton, NJ USA finger info at: mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu| +==========================================================================+ |"We now return you to your regular time. Please take all of your belong- | | ings in order to avoid a paradox." -- Uncle Bob | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ From: doylem@iia.org (Michael Doyle) Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 23:47:20 -0400 Subject: Don't try this at home Hey all! I'm using a new mail program here and hoping this all comes out properly... I said: >BTW, to anyone who went, how was the 7/9 [Innocence Mission] show? And woj replied: >'twas good. didn't meredith post a review? Yeah. I posted my message only to immediately download the preemptive reply to my query. One of the reasons I've switched mail programs... In other news... Since early June I've been engaged in the epic quest of playing my entire CD collection from A to W (I have no CDs starting with X, Y or Z). Has anyone else ever done this? Since Happy is now spinning it my disc player right now ("Collective Heart" actually ;) ), I thought I'd share my sometimes contradictory, often predictable observations on the journey. 1: For the most part, the journey sucks. I should have expected as much. Nobody said albums had to represent a clean, pleasing continuum across the alphabet, even when it represents the tastes of only one person. I've listened to every disc and every track regardless of my mood or my preferences. This can be wretched, too -- the leg through Nirvana, Michael Nyman, Offspring and Pearl Jam would have been unbearable had it not been cut with Sinead. I've often focused merely on getting through the current set of albums and on to something new -- which is contrary to the idea behind the quest. 2: And yet listening to every track on every disc was kind of like winning a new collection of music. I'm an incorrigable random play fiend. When I buy a new album, I listen to the one or two songs for which I bought it and then I put it in my changer to be shuffled with 5 other discs for a week or two. Only then do I listen to the album edge to edge. Once I've done this, I return to random play, but I delete the tracks I don't like. This project has given me a chance to re-evaluate all the tracks (for better or worse). 3: There are a lot of old friends in my CD collection, living and departed. Some discs that I had played to death couldn't be revived -- I paused lovingly at their graves: Cocteau Twins _Heaven or Las Vegas_, Peter Gabriel _Passion_. Others exploded from dormancy, blasting their sounds straight to the back of my brain: House of Love (self-titled, butterfly cover), Courage of Lassie _Sing or Die_, David Bowie _Ziggy Stardust_, all Cowboy Junkies. Lots of old memories are embedded in the collection, too. 4: Recommendation to anyone who would undertake such an odyssey: Listen to your entire CD collection, but don't do it alphabetically. Order the discs however you think they'll sound best and then stick to that order. That should provide both challenge and better listening. I know you were all dying to hear this :> Tschuss, Mike Michael Doyle doylem@iia.org ================ "Technology is great until it stops working" - - John Celentano ------------------------------ From: jeffy@wam.umd.edu Date: Thu, 13 Jul 95 23:47:15 -0400 Subject: Re: Beth Perry Beth who? >WRT Albert's query: Beth is still at the National Zoo, where the sad >state of the email system has kept her from being as active in the ecto >world (and cyberspace more generally) as she'd like. Apparently the phones don't work either. And there are gates so the humans can't get out and walk the two blocks to where their friends can often be found. At least, that's been my experience. Jeff ------------------------------ From: awphili@xs4all.nl Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 09:02:29 Subject: Re: Susan Agulark and Jann Arden Neile Graham wrote: > Probably misspelled Susan Agulark's name. I have heard her first two > discs, and while she has a lovely rich voice, her music is way too > mainstream pop for my tastes. It's Aglukark (think "Karklins"). :) Maybe the Susan from _This Child_ is not the Susan you know. This music is very lush, with awesome drum rithms in some songs. It's hardly more mainstream pop than "Hold Me" from _Building the Colossus_. I think she might have changed in the same way that Loreena McKennitt changed when she wrote _Parallel Dreams_. That one can hardly be compared to her earlier works. Albert ------------------------------ From: Michael Matthews Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 03:30:02 -0400 Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ********** Mitch Pravatiner (Mitch.Pravatiner@launchpad.unc.edu) ********** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Mitch Pravatiner Mon July 14 1952 Cancer John Zimmer Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Dan Stark July 16 Cancer Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer Vlad Sat July 18 1970 Warning: severe tire damage Jani Pinola Thu July 20 1972 Jonquil David Koehler Mon July 25 1966 Leo Tom Johnson Mon July 25 1966 Leo Alvin Brattli Sun July 27 1969 Lefthanded Christy Eger Smith Thu July 27 1944 Horse Crossing Rob Woiccak (woj) Sun July 28 1968 children at play John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Steve Lusky Tue July 29 1952 Bike! Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Chuck Smith Wed July 30 1958 Reboot Yves Denneulin Fri July 30 1971 Lion-Heart Joel Kenyon Wed July 31 1963 Leo Eli Brandt August 05 Leo Martin Bridges Sat August 08 1970 BigGuy Happy Rhodes Mon August 09 1965 HolyGhost - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ From: Richard Holmes Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 08:11:18 -0700 Subject: Re: sTuff Meredith answers... >>I just got Laura Love's "Helvetica Bold" (and you've gotta love this >>cd, as well as the liner notes' definitions of "Helvetica" and >>"Bold"!)... > >I don't like this one as much as _Pangaea_ -- I've listened to both in >succession, and the songs on _Pangaea_ are more consistently good than >the ones on _Helvetica Bold_. I don't think it was a good idea to do >so >many covers, especially when her own songwriting is so strong. But it >is >still a good album, and well worth the purchase. > >>I bought this release immediately when I realized I already stood a >>good chance of being thwarted from my goal of obtaining everything >>this woman's ever done, when my order of "Z Therapy" to >>cdconnection.com was returned as "not available". :-( > >Eeep -- that's not good! :( > I agree that I like Laura's own songs better than her covers. The good news on availability is that her booking agent says she still takes mail order on all her titles, and the money goes to her own recording company, Octaroon (PO Box 30853, Seattle, WA 98103, (206) 545-7375). >>And yet another recent acquisition, just because I saw it and >>remembered hearing her on the radio, is Brenda Kahn's "Epiphany in >>Brooklyn", on Columbia Record / Sony Entertainment's >>(trademarked!?!?!) "Chaos" label (what would Eris think?!)... > >Not much, evidently, since Sony dropped her from the label just before >her >new album, _Destination Anywhere_ was to be released. She is >currently >without a deal, and stuck with having to repay Sony a *lot* of money. > This is very sad. I didn't know this :( I was referring primarily to the fact that a company had the nerve to trademark "Chaos" (which seems paradoxical), rather to any particular distribution channel Brenda Kahn has... >>Does anyone else know what else she's done (I saw the one with a >>woman >>swallowing a goldfish on it, but haven't gotten it yet). > >That would be _Goldfish Don't Talk Back_, which I liked a lot better >than >_Epiphany In Brooklyn_ -- it's rawer, the epitome of the "anti-folk" >move- >ment in which Brenda Kahn is often listed as a major force. We have a >copy of _Destination Anywhere_, and it's a completely new direction >for >her -- she's got a band, and it sounds more like Liz Phair than >anything >else. Great stuff, but a lot different from where she's been before. Personally, I think I'd end up listening to _Epiphany In Brooklyn_ more often than any of the Liz Phair albums. I'll definitely have to get _Goldfish Don't Talk Back_ -- its not even listed in cdconnection's database, so I'll have to track it down elseways... - -Richard (BlueFire on #ecto) ------------------------------ From: Jeffrey Hanson Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 10:11:51 -0700 Subject: Jewel & Peter Murphy Well, got to see Jewel open for Peter Murphy here in her adopted hometown of San Diego. And, as much as I hate to say it, I'd have to sayit was one of my least favorite Jewel performances. Not so much for Jewel herself, but for the venue and for the audience. The main problem was that Jewel began at 8:00--the show's slotted starting time. Unfortunately, the venue was only half-full, so throughout her set, ushers were seating people, people were talking, etc. Also, Jewel opened with Pieces of You, and did her now-typical Cranberries imitation, which was funny, got some positive response from the crowd, but totally ruined the mood of the song. Pieces of You wasn't meant to be a funny song, and I think the song really loses its effectiveness when hammed up. I saw Jewel perform this song a year ago May Day at a local music fest, and the memory of that performance still sends chills up my spine. The audience loved it--very sombre, haunting, and very "stop and make you think". Also, I think the schmaltzy, humorous songs just don't go over as well in a big venue. The best songs of the night were the Swedish song and Angel Standing By. When she hit those high clear notes, the audience was breathless, amazed by the purity of her voice. When she sang "Who Wikll Save Your Souls", the guy sitting next to me had just arrived, and kept telling his girlfriend "She's not even singing--she's lip-synching." I guess he couldnt believe someone could sound that good live. Plus her face was mostly in shadow due to the poor lighting, so it was hard to see her lips. But I still felt like strangling him and calling him names and his audacity to even suggest such a thing :). She sang one song with Steve Poltz, and, although I usually really enjoy them singing together, this was the worst song I've heard them do. I don't remember the title, but it was some quiet little song about being afraid of ghosts and things that go bump in the night. About half way through the song, someone fell into the orchestra pit, and the whole audience burst out laughing. Kind of ruined the mood, but the song wasn't that great anyway. She also sang "Here When Gone" and "Who Will Save Your Souls" and "Race Car Driver". The set definitely wasn't long enough. She ended with Chime Bells Ring, and this was probably the best yodeling I've heard her do. The audience was incredulous but very appreciative. It's kind of odd, because although Jewel was home, and throughout her sets people were yelling "Hi Jewel", "Welcome home", "We missed you" and "where you going after the show Jewel" (to which she responded "Sleep?"), most of the audience was fairly unfamiliar with her--being mostly vampire-clad young goths, which in itself, I found kind of funny, as Peter Murphy is hardly the goth poster-boy he used to be. Peter's set was actually quite enjoyable, though at times I found it hard to take him seriously. He still is pretty cool, but at times, it just seemed funny that this guy could attract such devotion. Especially now where he looks like a prime candidate for the aerosol-hair advertised on the infomercials. Plus his characteristic, jerky, bend-at-the-waist movements made me think that he, Iggy Pop, Johnny Lydon and Siouxsie should get together and do a Post-Punk Aerobics video, to help keep aging punks in shape. Peter's set was fairly short, and focused mainly on the album with a few old favorites thrown in (nothing from the Bauhaus days however--at least I don't think there was, there were a couple of songs I was unfamiliar with, but I didn't recognize them as Bauhaus material, and there is one solo Murphy album I don't own). The light show for Murphy was pretty good, though rather blinding in spots. And he was more personable than I expected, coming out with a Hello, Shalom, Peace, and wishing the lighting person Happy Birthday at the end. There were a few technical problems, and he stopped one song about twenty seconds into it, so they could "get it right". Despite a few technical problems, the show went smoothly but ended fairly early, with Peter saying they had to leave so they could get to Salt Lake City for tomorrow's show. Jeff Hanson ------------------------------ From: mklprc@teleport.com (Michael Pearce) Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 13:50:12 -0700 Subject: Re:EctoTrip'95 brage@sphere.home.id.dtu.dk (Jens P. Brage) writes, >A while ago I mentioned that I was thinking about touring the USA for >my holiday this Summer - well, it's finally settled: This week a >friend of mine, Per, and I bought our tickets (the third guy, who was >involved in the planning, decided to back out for financial reasons). > >Though we can perhaps still make a few changes, the itinerary is >pretty much fixed by now. Here are the major fixpoints: > > 24th Aug - 25th Aug: San Francisco > 28th Aug - 30th Aug: Seattle Sure. Stop by Portland on the way to Seattle. We have a Portland group who love to meet traveling Ectophiles. /^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\ | Please don't add "*@aol.com" to your twit filter. Thank you. | | mklprc@aol.com | "Give them a light and they'll | | mklprc@teleport.com | follow it anywhere!" | | http://www.teleport.com/~mklprc/ | -- Firesign Theater | - ------------------------------>((^o0o^))<--------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: "Mitchell A. Pravatiner" Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 17:44:38 EDT Subject: Another one bites the dust A year ago today, on my 42nd birthday, I posted an essay to these pages noting that Douglas Adams' _Hitchhiker_ trilogy had posited 42 as the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything, and that the new Chicago ward map had redistricted most of downtown into the 42nd Ward; so that it clearly was a number with a pedigree, an age with substance. Since then, I have found out that Jackie Robinson was number 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and that the state of Washington--within which the Happy Gift and Birthday Project tapes actually arrive on Earth in their final form--was 42nd in order of admission to the Union, further bolstering my earlier conclusions. As of today, like it or lump it, none of that applies to me anymore. The only thing I can think of about being 43 is that it was the age John F. Kennedy was when he was elected President, only to be blown away when he was 46. Last night I recalled a comment by Tom Lehrer on his _That Was The Year That Was_ album: "When Mozart was my age he'd been dead for two years." It then occurred to me that when Kurt Cobain is my age, he'll have been dead for 16. Go figure. :-) For all that, the sun rose in the east this morning, and while I still can't remember when I last looked on birthdays as unambiguous benchmarks of growth and development, I have apparently survived so far. The only hitch has come through an unusual chain reaction of events: I was awake last night to catch the last night of Beth Nissen's guest coanchoring stint on _World News Now_ which caused me to wake up too late to catch Sarah McLachlan on _Good Morning America_. I then had the best thought I've had in this year-of-age to date: If _All Things Considered_ can do original pieces on singer-songwriters, why can't _World News Now_ rerun the ones from _Good Morning America_? :-) Anyway, thanks for the sundry birthday greetings emailed to me. Be seeing some of you at Chip's on Sunday. Looking ofrward to hearing your HBP selections. Mitch ------------------------------ From: Richard Holmes Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 17:13:52 -0700 Subject: Re: Morissette (fwd) A forwarded review of Alanis Morrisette said (among other things): >I think Alanis's lyrics are strong and interesting. I love _Ironic_ >and _Not the Doctor_, the latter, again, being a statement for >independence and strength. _Perfect_ is a wonderful commentary on what >we expect from others, but particularly what parents want from their >children but don't expect from themselves. I must agree that after hearing the negative reports of it being drivel and such (primarily on alt.music.alternative.female), I was pleasantly surprised when my copy arrived! only had a listen once, but I thought the lyric content was in general quite deeper than I'd have thought given the song given the most airplay (which I love for its emphaticness, and cleverness, rather than some esoteric notion of "deepness"). Some of the local dj's have been characterizing her music as "psycho music", which I think misses the point... this reaction she has in "You Oughta Know" is simply a natural result of the situation, and the sooner people (both male and female, dumper and dumpee) accept this, the better - be responsible, empathetic, and true to yourself! (this has been a BlueFire Rant(tm)... feel free to interpret as you see fit, but don't assume I think I know what you think I'm talking about.... sheesh) - -Richard (BlueFire on #ecto) ------------------------------ From: THE OLIVE-LOAF VIGILANTE Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 19:12:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Sarah and the Chieftains ***SPOILER WARNING*** Hi! If you're going to see Sarah McLachlan with the Chieftains and don't want to hear about the show beforehand, hit "d" now. :) Last night they kicked off The Acoustic Tour in New Haven, and it was great. There were a few little phoqueups (some of the lighting cues were a bit abrupt and both Sarah and Ash flubbed lines in a couple places :), but in general it was a wonderful show, and everybody was having a great time. Ron Sexsmith opened -- we missed him completely, on purpose. After a brief intermission Sarah came onstage and sat at her electric piano to do the version of "Possession" that's hidden at the end of FTE. Then Ash, Brian and Dave joined her onstage (Brian played guitar and Dave bass at first!) for an hour- long set of stripped down versions of everything from the Freedom Sessions plus "The Path of Thorns (terms)". The set list: Possession Plenty Path of Thorns Ice Ice Cream Elsewhere Mary Full of Grace (sometimes Fall From Grace, but she was feeling positive :) Hold On Good Enough (encore) The new arrangements worked very well -- Ash provided backing vocals, and my friend Shura was stunned afterwards when I told her that no, those weren't tapes of Camille! :) The new song (Sarah hasn't decided whether or not it's going to be Fall From Grace or Full of Grace) has evolved quite a bit from the first performance in March, and I think with more instrumentation it's going to be a good one. Sarah's voice was a little bit rough around the edges, but for the most part in fine form. And for the first time in a while we were close enough to the stage that we could actually see her face as she sang, which was a plus. :) After standing ovations and another brief intermission the Chieftains took the stage for an hour of wonderfully fun music, including a medley of tunes from _The Long Black Veil_ (interspersed with "Satisfaction" before the song the Stones helped out on). Carlos Nunez, Galician piper extraordinaire joined them for a few songs, and Sarah came out at the end for "The Foggy Dew", the song she sang with them on House of Blues. The final song was a total Celtic jam, during which the amazing Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac came onstage and Sarah stayed out for a little bit of vocal interplay in the middle. It was incredible. I really wish Sarah had done more with the Chieftains, but according to Cathy from Nettwerk she doesn't know any more songs yet (though Cathy implied that Sarah may know more by the end of the tour), and she was really tired last night anyway. The strangest bits of the evening were when the random dancers (also seen on the House of Blues thingie) came out at random intervals which even seemed to surprise the band. Turns out they're from Long Island, which made it even more surreal. Dunno if they're in it for the duration of the tour. If this tour is coming to your area and there are still tickets available, GO. I mean come on, it's Sarah!!! And the Chieftains are great too. :) Hrmph. According to the Weather Channel radar it's raining here now, but I don't see anything, and the heat index is still 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Pardon me whilst I go melt, and wait for Monday when I get to see the show again. :> +==========================================================================+ |Meredith Tarr meth@delphi.com| |Boonton, NJ USA finger info at: mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu| +==========================================================================+ |"We now return you to your regular time. Please take all of your belong- | | ings in order to avoid a paradox." -- Uncle Bob | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ From: Michael Matthews Date: Sun, 16 Jul 1995 03:30:01 -0400 Subject: Today's your birthday, friends... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ******************* John Zimmer (tiefe@agora.rdrop.com) ******************* ***************** Dan Stark (dstark@freenet.niagara.com) ****************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John Zimmer Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Dan Stark July 16 Cancer Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer Vlad Sat July 18 1970 Warning: severe tire damage Jani Pinola Thu July 20 1972 Jonquil David Koehler Mon July 25 1966 Leo Tom Johnson Mon July 25 1966 Leo Alvin Brattli Sun July 27 1969 Lefthanded Christy Eger Smith Thu July 27 1944 Horse Crossing Rob Woiccak (woj) Sun July 28 1968 children at play John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Steve Lusky Tue July 29 1952 Bike! Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Chuck Smith Wed July 30 1958 Reboot Yves Denneulin Fri July 30 1971 Lion-Heart Joel Kenyon Wed July 31 1963 Leo Eli Brandt August 05 Leo Martin Bridges Sat August 08 1970 BigGuy Happy Rhodes Mon August 09 1965 HolyGhost - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V2 #157 ************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu