From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #15 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, January 15 1998 Volume 04 : Number 015 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [matthewm (Mike Matthews)] quick notes [Steve Ito ] Garmarna & Hedningarna [Marion Kippers ] Another indie CD shop in Chicago ["Mitchell A. Pravatiner" ] McKinley [Michael Pearce ] Where Donnette Thayer? [Michael Pearce ] Re: quick notes [meredith ] Emily Bezar (was Re: Lunar Landing) [Sue Trowbridge ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 03:00:20 -0500 From: matthewm (Mike Matthews) Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ************** Troy J. Shadbolt (tjshadb@ecto.ca.sandia.gov) ************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Troy J. Shadbolt Thu January 14 1971 Capricorn Chris Sampson Wed January 15 1964 Void where prohibited Dennis G Parslow Fri January 17 1964 ...of the Saint Ross Alford Thu January 17 1957 Positive Nancy Whitney Mon January 19 1959 slippery when wet Sarah Noelle Pratt Ferguson Tue January 20 1970 Seanympf-Aquarius Terry Partis Sun January 22 1933 Rocker Sarah McLachlan Sun January 28 1968 Aquarius Ilka Heber Mon February 01 1965 Mermaid Bob Lovejoy Sun February 02 1947 Aquarius Diane Burke Sat February 02 1963 slow children Timothy S. Devine Tue February 03 1970 Aquarius Stephen Thomas Fri February 04 1966 Aquarius Doug Burks Tue February 14 1956 Blank - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 06:53:34 -0500 From: Steve Ito Subject: quick notes Hi folks, couple of quick notes Apologies if this is old news, but while browsing today I noticed that the Nields are featured at a RealAudio site. The site is http://www.soundclick.com and the Nields are featured in the Pop and Folk sections. The idea is that you pick a genre, say pop, and you have a list of artists to choose from (nobody *really* popular). You can then download or stream a RealAudio file of an entire song (the Nields' song is "Taxi Girl"). After you do that you vote on which songs you like, and the most liked songs get bumped up in the list, presumably where more people are likely to try them out. It's a cool site, I found some pretty good music there. Plus you can help give the Nields some exposure. Re: Victoria Williams, I had convinced myself that the reason I liked her was her songwriting, then along comes that Christmas CD (the name of which I forget) where she does my absolute most favourite rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" ever. Go figure. Steve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Steve Ito | Check out Toronto artists Sarah Slean & Emm Gryner Toronto, Canada | at NORTHERN SOUNDS: http://members.xoom.com/northern ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 17:17:51 +0100 (W. Europe Standard Time) From: Marion Kippers Subject: Garmarna & Hedningarna Hi, Neile wrote about Garmarna: > I prefer them to Hedningarna, though I like the latter band, too. We saw Hedningarna at the same Dranouter Folk Festival as Garmarna, and I like Garmarna better as well. Maybe 'meaner' would be a word to describe Hedningarna compared to Garmarna. More devilish. :-) And I still think it's funny that seeing the two singers in Hedningarna I kept thinking of the two ABBA girls, one blond and one brown-haired... :-) Neile also said about Garmarna "The singer has a powerful, clear voice." I forgot to put that as one of the reasons why I like _Guds speleman_ (that happens always, just like rankings are often only valid for the moment I write something... oh well). Anyway, I studied Swedish for a couple of years a long time ago, and I really like Emma's clear pronunciation of that language - I can really hear what she's singing, even without reading the lyrics. Though the translations in the booklet also help. :-) Just some ramblings when I should be working. Best wishes, Marion - ---------------------- n.p. Tara MacLean - Silence (again) :-) current tape in my new walkman: Dar Williams - The end of the summer / Velvet Belly - The landing n.r. Dave Duncan - De vierde magister (still) Marion Kippers Marion.Kippers@wkap.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 17:55:13 -0600 (CST) From: "Mitchell A. Pravatiner" Subject: Another indie CD shop in Chicago Sound Booth, at 1151 W. Webster, (773)528-5156, seems to be a good place to get the kind of music we like, though they don;t seem to have any of Happy's stuff, a situation that needs rectification. Mitch ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 16:30:53 GMT From: Philip Sainty Subject: 1995 Victoria Williams article Hullo all, I chanced across an old (February 1995) copy of Real Groove (local free music magazine) last night which included an article/interview with Victoria Williams written by Nick Bollinger, and what with her new album just being released I thought there might be interest in reading it. If not, just pretend otherwise, as I'm not a very fast typist :) Apologies in advance for any typos... - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "Tell 'em I'm aces, I'm doing really good and I have no intentions of letting any kinda big word that the doctor talks about get me down," says Victoria Williams sounding like she stepped straight out of a Tennessee Williams play with her rustic, Louisiana drawl. She's answering a concerned inquiry about her current state of health. A couple of years back the singular songwriter and singer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; to make matters worse, she had no insurance and faced a devestating medical bill. Ironically, there was an upside to the tragedy: a bunch of admirers that happened to include Lou Reed, Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum, Michelle Shocked and Lucinda Williams (no relation), pooled resources to record _Sweet Relief: a Benefit for Victoria Williams_, not only raising money but also the public profile of an artist who had long dwelled in cultish obscurity. Suddenly Williams, who was without a contract and whose only previous albums -- _Happy Come Home_ and _Swing the Statue_ -- had been deleted, not only had a much-needed capital injection but was signed to record again. Her health holding, she has now produced _Loose_ -- a collection of fourteen strong originals plus a couple of covers, which takes a rambling journey from backwoods duets like When We Sing Together through the almost Neil Young-style rockers like Crazy Mary (which Pearl Jam previewed on _Sweet Relief_) to majestically orchestrated showpieces like Polish These Shoes, with its arrangement by the legendary Van Dyke Parks. Williams' songs, with their warm humour, colourful characters and vivid sense of place, are slices of the world she grew up in. "North Louisiana [she pronounces it _Loose_-iana, so her album title becomes an abbreviation of her home state] -- it's kinda like Texas. It's right below Arkansas, so you've got hills 'an big tall pine trees an' black water lakes with cypress growing in them with moss hanging down in it. And the clay, the dirt around there is red... there's quite a fertile valley where the red river runs through. Of course now it's all completely different. They've put all these big interstates through there and now there's all these big gambling centres floating on steamboats right off of the city... "That's why I didn't go home to shoot the video for Crazy Mary. I did that over in Georgia, 'cause I had to go somewhere where it's still old 'an slow. It's kinda like you got a storyboard already written into the song. Usually you don't go literal in these videos but I decided to... because it's a story." But if Williams' songs derive from the places and people she has known, their inception is a mysterious process. "I think that they've bin there all along. I just start singing something... last week we were on the way to the desert and we got stuck in a _terrible_ traffic jam -- if you've never heard of Los Angeles traffic, it gets really bad -- so I started writing songs an' I wrote about five songs and Mark [Olsen, her husband and singer with the Jayhawks] said 'I've never heard those before, they were great' an' I said, 'Well, I was just makin' 'em up', an' he said, 'Oh no! I wish I'd had a tape player'. So there they go, out into the ether. But I figure, you know how sometimes you'll be thinkin' something and then you'll read it -- somebody else has written it down? So then you think, well it's just out there, and maybe little bits of it will drift here 'n' there..." A feature of her writing is an incredible sense of optimism and hope - -- all the more extraordinary when one knows the odds Williams is personally battling against. How does she feel, then, about the amount of anger and dissatisfaction vented in songs by people who are often wealthy and, seemingly, healthy? "I can understand the need to express that. But, I have to tell you, for my health I can't sit here and listen to really negative stuff a lot. I went out last night and listened to this friend of mine's roommate play because I told her I would, and I felt I wanted to just go up an' hug her an' tell her 'It's gonna be alright!', 'cause she was just so complaining about everything in her life. Every song was about how nothing ever works out. I felt so bad for her! But then after a while I started getting a headache and started realising I can't listen to this stuff much -- it's not healthy. I never noticed it as much as now because of this thing with my nerves being a little frazzled. A little bit of anything affects me strongly and it's that way even, I guess, with music. I've written songs before when I'm down and I listen to 'em later on and think, 'Do I really want to do this song? It actually makes me kinda down to sing this and really it doesn't serve any purpose.' I want things to be more edifying. This life is not that long, you know what I mean?" - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -Philip pp. "7=49", The Moon Seven Times np. "Shaming of the Sun", Indigo Girls nr. "A Walk in the Woods", Bill Bryson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 20:21:45 -0800 From: Michael Pearce Subject: McKinley Three years ago, or so, I introduced Ectovians to a wonderful local artist, McKinley, and her self-released CD. I also did a page for her, now somewhat covered in cobwebs. By mid-1997 she had pretty much given up trying to make it in music and accepted a new day job in mechanical engineering. Then, just days later, she finally got the break she needed. Samson Records, the new label started by Michael Shrieve, signed her and spent two months last fall recording and producing her new CD. Today was the release party at Portland's independent music store, Music Millenium. Good album, and finally some money behind her. Couldn't happen to a nicer artist. (I know, Cy, you're next!) Sampson will have their own web page soon, and since she is their first artist, it will feature her prominently. Meanwhile, you can order the record "Big Top Shop Talk" on Samson GC0128. Apparently Samson is owned by a larger company called Gold Circle Entertainment. Meanwhile, I guess I need to update my own McKinley web page. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 20:40:22 -0800 From: Michael Pearce Subject: Where Donnette Thayer? On an ecto-recommendation, I have tried to locate Chaos and Wonder by Donnette Thayer, but she is not on any list distributed. What country is she from/available in? Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 23:45:10 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: quick notes Hi! Steve Ito reported: >Apologies if this is old news, but while browsing today I noticed that the >Nields are featured at a RealAudio site. The site is >http://www.soundclick.com and the Nields are featured in the Pop and Folk >sections. Cool! Thanks for the tip! As a downside on the Nields front, word has gone out today that Guardian, their record label has "suspended operations", and the entire staff has been laid off. The exact details aren't clear yet, but it does appear that The Nields have been dropped from the umbrella EMI roster entirely. I *knew* they were going to end up getting screwed. Sigh. :P +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | |***TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: trajectory-request@smoe.org***| +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22:17:49 -0800 (PST) From: Sue Trowbridge Subject: Emily Bezar (was Re: Lunar Landing) On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Chris Sampson wrote: > Neither ambient nor pop, it may only oddly (or only occasionally) fit > your day, but there's no predicting that. I've sat and *worked* to > Grandmother's Tea Leaves (with tears streaming), but that was a strange > day. But it does not work as sonic wallpaper, either... it's too > demanding for that... Still, it's engaging in its way and quirky in some > others and baroquely festooned in still others. > > I love it, by the way, and anxiously await her third CD... No word on > that, yet. Count me in as another huge Emily Bezar fan. I had never heard a note of her music before seeing her perform live about a year ago, and just instantly fell in love with the gorgeous sound. The interplay between Emily and the fabulously talented members of her band is a joy to experience! I think Chris did a very good job of describing her music, something I have never felt myself completely able to do :) Anyway, here's a little Emily update. Her son, Noah, was born on Dec. 3. She quit her day job as a graphic designer/desktop publisher and is taking a hiatus from live performing, which is definitely too bad from my perspective, since I'd gotten used to seeing her play (in San Francisco or Berkeley) every month or so! Some of the new songs she's come up with are incredible, and I long to hear them again. At this point she is hoping to release her next CD in January '99. She doesn't have a label, so each recording represents an enormous investment of time, money and resources for Emily. I am glad that there are so many others here who appreciate her unique vision. - --Sue Trowbridge trow@slip.net np: Elliott Smith, either/or nr: Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #15 *************************