From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V5 #77 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, March 3 1999 Volume 05 : Number 077 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: ecto-digest V5 #76 ["Elina Sorva" ] I'm baaack!! ["Marcel Rijs" ] Re: I'm baaack!! [Dirk Kastens ] jane deprivation is a sad thing ["Larry J. Hernandez" ] Re: eh and bee shoppin' ["Joseph S. Zitt" ] RE: Elysian Fields [Andrew Fries ] Help Save Red Rocks (NIGC) [Sherlyn Koo ] PBS Stuff [kerry white ] male vocalists ["Laurel Krahn" ] Re: Guitarists [cos@wbrs.org (Ofer Inbar)] Re: Guitarists [meredith ] Folk Alliance, take one [neal copperman ] Folk Alliance 2: Longer reviews [neal copperman ] Folk Alliance 3: the very good [neal copperman ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 02:12:03 PST From: "Elina Sorva" Subject: Re: ecto-digest V5 #76 Hi Bill, I discovered Queen through my brother Juha...he seems to have introduced most of the bands I like to me! It's actually one of these stories.....to put it short: I only exposed to classical music when I was a kid, and it was Queen that opened up the doors for me to a whole different world of music...I'm still very much "tied" by my classical background, but at least I've opened up for new influences...(there has been some interesting discussion about the role of musical theory, which I've enjoyed very much...though in a way it touched a sore point in me, too...) For a certain period of my life, it was Queen and Queen only for me (YOU know......), but after a while I started to get into really different types of music...my most recent source of enthusiasm are the many excellent folk-music based groups(mostly from Sweden and Finland), such as Hedningarna, Garmarna, Gjallarhorn, Värttinä...but I digress. I might not be the fanatic fan I used to be a few years ago, but I still greatly appreciate Queen as a wonderfully talented and very professional pop group...no, this is _not_ the reason I'm a fan...what keeps me hooked, quite simply, is Freddie's voice. My personal favourites of Queen records are Queen I & II, and some others from the 70s, but I listen to ANYTHING by Freddie and it's heaven! I better not go deeper into that................... Generally speaking, one of my endless sources of inspiration and wonder is the human voice and all its applications.....very often the voice of the lead singer and the way (s)he uses it also determines to a large extent whether I'm going to like a certain band or not.....This may explain a little why I enjoy the likes of Freddie, Björk, Susan McKeown (a great big THANK YOU to ecto for this, I'm quite thrilled by Bushes and Briars!!!), Caveman Shoestore (Amy Delio, was it?), Kate Bush, Happy Rhodes and Erykah Badu to name but a few.....for an opposite example, it also accounts for why I _don't_ listen to Toni Childs much, even if I think her album The Woman's Boat is brilliant in many ways. I also love choral/singing ensemble music (especially acappella) and textured harmonies on pop songs (another reason for my love of Queen). By the way, does anyone know what the members of Caveman Shoestore are up to at the moment? Is there someone here who's especially into CS? I don't remember seeing much talk about them while I've been on the list (though I could have missed it, as I don't always have the time to keep up with all that's going on...). I have Master Cylinder and Flux, and I love both, though I prefer Flux...the main part of it anyway...some parts towards the end I must admit are beyond me...! I never seem to be able to stick to the point...I wasn't going to talk about all this...but one thing leads to another, and so on...but I've noticed this happens to other people on the list, too, so I indulge...:) That's all for now, and thanks Bill for asking me the kind of question I always enjoy answering...:D Elina >From: Bill Mazur >Elina, > >How was it that you were introduced to Queen? > >Bill ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 13:50:13 +0100 From: "Marcel Rijs" Subject: I'm baaack!! Hi all, It's been two years, no less, but I'm finally back on ecto. I don't know if anyone remembers me, but I'm Marcel, living in the Netherlands and have been a Happy Rhodes afficionado since 1994. (This month it's exactly 5 years since I first listened to RhodeSongs in an Amsterdam record store!) My taste verges on the commercial rather than the alternative, but I have an interest in female singers like Happy, KaTe, Tori, Sarah and Heather Nova (although "Siren" was Very Disappointing Indeed) so I think that justifies my presence here.... I hope to get a few new ideas and since I now have Internet acces via cable instead of the phone I hope to surf a little more, looking for soundfiles & such. So where can I find Ecto Radio? Groeten, Marcel Rijs ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 15:21:51 +0100 From: Dirk Kastens Subject: Re: I'm baaack!! At 13:50 02.03.99 +0100, Marcel Rijs wrote: >Hi all, > >It's been two years, no less, but I'm finally back on ecto. I don't know if anyone remembers me, Hi Marcel, and welcome back :-) Dirk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 06:39:25 -0800 From: "Larry J. Hernandez" Subject: jane deprivation is a sad thing Bill, who'll I'll be meeting tonight, wrote: >>hmmm... I've never listened to Jane Siberry. And, comparison-wise >>(quoting from The Guide), I am not much into Laurie Anderson or Tori >>Amos (no hard feelings), Hey, no hard feelings here. In fact, that's nice to know! Well, then again, I do like Laurie... :) Tori, well, as momma tried to teach me, if you don't have anythign nice to say... >>So, would I really be insane to pass these up? Neile, who I can't wait to meet, replied: >In a word: yes. In two words, yes yes! OH yes! Well, make that four words... >>Give me something to go >>by here... :) >Now that's the hard part. She's not really like Laurie Anderson or Tori >Amos of Harriet Wheeler. [...] She's more like Jesus. > Few people are >like her, though I have heard bits and pieces of her sound in other >people's music. [...] >My advice is to go to Cellophane Square (you're in Bellingham, right?) and >see what they have there of hers and give it a listen. The only disc there is _child_, which I wouldn't recommend as a place to start. Unless you had to, of course... >Then of course, buy all those discs. Don't worry for the man, 'philes, I'll edeukate him. Bill, I have all her CDs, and will bring over a few tonight that you can borrow. Lessee, _Jane Siberry_ would be a nice place to start. I have an extra copy of that, so I won't miss it. :) I love _BBYB_, but my sis, who is becoming a Janeophile, insisted on borrowing it-again. _NBH_ and _Maria_, my fave, should round out a nice overview. >PS: Larry H., if you're reading this: I'll call back when I get a >life... ;) Your life will be complete once you hear Jane. :-) Larry (alundra@cio.net) np: Linda McCartney, _Wide Prairie_ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 09:07:04 -0600 (CST) From: "Joseph S. Zitt" Subject: Re: eh and bee shoppin' On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Jeffrey Burka wrote: > For instance: every now and then, the issue of whether _Bound By the > Beauty_ is "country." comes up. I only hear one country song on > there ("Something About Trains"), though perhaps some other tracks > have some country tinge to them. Other people hear the album > and think it just *screams* country. Well, the title track screamed country at me, but by the time I got to "Hockey", I knew I was in a different... uh... country. BTW, another place that many may have unwittingly heard Jane is "It Won't Rain All the Time", which plays over the end titles of the original "The Crow" and is on its soundtrack. It's pretty exemplary of Jane at about of time of "When I Was a Boy". I first grabbed "Bound by the Beauty" when I saw it in a used bin after hearing about her on either ecto or r.m.g. (If memory serves, it was the first place where I first found Happy's "Warpaint" for 99 cents -- but I've bought several other copies of that since then...) Her "Child" is one of the few Christmas albums that I can listen to without wanting to throw things... - - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \|| |/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \| ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 11:37:51 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: RE: Elysian Fields In a message "RE: Elysian Fields" on 01/Mar/1999 10:53:38 Foghorn J Fornorn says: > This was probably the only unknown band disc that I ever bought based on a > description in a record club catalog. And I wasn't disappointed. To tell the truth "Bleed Your Cedar" was the only unknown band disc I ever bought simply because I promptly fell in love with the woman on the cover :) Luckily, the music didn't disappoint. I was very glad to find them mentioned on Ecto because I just the other day I was playing that disc and thinking it's been awfully long time since their last release but I didn't hit the Web looking for updates because I'd hate to find out they broke up last year or something... BTW, whatever possessed them to ever record with Albini in the first place?!? I don't hate the man as such, but I do think that he'd be about the second-last man on the planet I'd want to produce this music! (for me the absolute rock-bottom would be Felix Todd, The Butcher Of Heather Nova's Talent) - ------------------------------------------------------ The world is divided into good people and bad people. The good ones sleep better, while the bad ones enjoy the waking hours much more. - ------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 09:01:26 +1100 From: Sherlyn Koo Subject: Help Save Red Rocks (NIGC) Hey folks, This comes from the Widespread Panic list via the Indigo Girls list and might be of interest to some here... - -sherlyn >-----Original Message----- >From: SPREADNET -- The Widespread Panic Mailing List >[mailto:SPREADNET@netspace.org] On Behalf Of R.SCOTT CROUSHORE >Sent: Monday, March 01, 1999 4:28 PM >To: SPREADNET@netspace.org >Subject: Help Save Red Rocks - - - Sorry no WSP . > > >Sorry for the no WSP content but , > >The wonderful city of Denver has decided that Red Rocks Ampitheater >is not being thoroughly "exploited" and therefore they are attempting to >remove the trees and vegatation along the sides of the seating to make way >for corporate box seating and also to allow advertising to be displayed on >ship rock(the beautiful monolith behind the stage). > >Now anyone who hasnt lived in a cave for the last 20 years KNOWS that it is >Red Rocks "Unexploited" nature that makes it so beautiful and a truly >amazing place to see a show. > >The Landmark Preservation Committee will be reviewing the proposed >design changes for Red Rocks Tuesday March 2, 1:00, at 200 W. 14th Room >203. This is an awkward time for working people, but please pass this >on to as many caring Denver locals as possible so we can have a presence >at the meeting. This phase of the meeting is especially for public >comment. > >If you can not attend, pleas be sure to make your views known through >phone calls and e-mail to your state and local representatives (city >council, state and national senators and representatives and of course >the mayor.) > >Link to City's web page for access to city council people. >http://www.denvergov.org/elected_official.asp > >Mayor's Office > 1437 Bannock Street, ST 350 > Denver, CO 80202 > (303)640-2721 > mayorden@ci.denver.co.us > >Governor Bill Owens >136 State Capitol >Denver, CO 80203 >(303) 866-2471 fax (303) 866-2003 > >Lieutenant Governor Joe Rogers >State Capitol, Room 130 >Denver, CO 80203 >(303) 866-2087 > >COLORADO STATE REPRESENTATIVES >Colorado House of Representatives >State Capitol Denver, CO 80203 >Phone: (303) 866-2904 (800) 811-7647 >Fax: (303) 866-2291 > > >Again , Sorry for the no WSP - - - and the short notice on the meeting > >BUT WE HAVE TO SAVE THE ROCKS !!!! > >Thanks > >Scott ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 21:11:45 -0600 (CST) From: kerry white Subject: PBS Stuff Hi, I just noticed on the PBS taping schedule: David Crosby and CPR, and Squirrel Nut Zippers Live. I assume that these are for this Pledge time in March. CYLL! KrW They said it couldn't be done but sometimes that doesn't work either! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 21:19:35 -0600 From: "Laurel Krahn" Subject: male vocalists Hey all, I've been gone from ecto for ages and only lurking skimming a bit in recent months. Can't help but speak up about some of my favorite songwriters/performers who happen to be male. Even though I've been an ectophile for ages, I find I'm one that probably has more favorite artists who are male than female. Some of my favorites, in no particular order: Peter Gabriel - An ecto guy if there ever was one, who's influenced many ecto artists. I like his stuff, though there hasn't been enough of it of late. Richard Thompson - songwriting and guitar playing ghod. I adore his voice, too. Solo or with Linda Thompson or Fairport Convention or anyone else, RT rocks. Lyle Lovett - He writes great songs, he's got a great band. Country, blues, folk, jazz, rock . . . it's all there. I like his voice, too, darnit. Richard Shindell - I see plenty of folks have already mentioned him, which always gives me a thrill 'cuz I remember urging people to see him way back when. And telling them to be sure to catch his sets when he opened for Dar early on. His voice melts me, his guitar playing is superb, and he's a songwriting genius. I never thought I'd say it, but I think he's one relative newcomer that I'd elevate up to Richard Thompson level. http://www.richardshindell.com/ John Wesley Harding - A unique voice in "gangsta folk" er, or something. Writes brilliant songs, incredibly dynamic performer. Rock, folk, whatever. Maybe he really is the bastard son of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. His latest album is beautiful (just came out Feb 23) on "trad arr jones" he performs songs written or arranged by Nic Jones. http://www.wesweb.net/ Steve Goodman - Gone, but not forgotten. One of my all-time favorite songwriters. I've been listening to the anthology "No Big Surprise" a lot lately... two discs of studio stuff, outtakes, and live versions of classics. I like his voice, too, natch. http://www.hepcat.com/goodman/good.html Other guys who've made me swoon (er, I mean, buy their records and listen to them a lot): Peter Himmelman, Peter Blegvad, Bob Mould, the Jayhawks (love those harmonies), and probably plenty of others I'm forgetting just now. Laurel Krahn (laurel@windowseat.org) http://www.windowseat.org/ Munch: "How could anybody be too old for '101 Dalmations'? It's universal; it's like Homer: a great journey of the heart disguised as an adventure story." Brodie: "With dogs." (from TV's Homicide: Life on the Street) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 23:11:13 -0500 (EST) From: cos@wbrs.org (Ofer Inbar) Subject: Re: Guitarists When the topic of bass comes up, the first person I always think of is Victor Wooten. I think I just read this entire thread and didn't see him mentioned even once. Did that really happen? The first time I saw Victor Wooten live was the first time I saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones live, as he's the bass player in the Flecktones. He did a bass solo in the middle of one of the songs and got a spontaneous standing ovation that literally lasted several minutes, before they could continue the piece they were playing. And then later in the same show, it happened again. In addition to playing in the Flecktones, he also does shows with a band of his own, and has recorded an album on Compass Records. Speaking of Compass Records, Alison Brown plays guitar. She's primarily known as a banjo player, and she primarily *is* a banjo player, but she does guitar too. And she invented the nylon-string banjo in order to get a banjo with the warm sound of a jazz guitar. Although I haven't heard her display as much technical skill on guitar as some other people who have been mentioned in this thread, she clearly does know how to get exactly what she wants out of a guitar, and her real genius is in tune writing. Her tunes, both on the banjo and the guitar, can take me a way to a trance and skillfully play with my mood and manipulate it. So these are my two deities of the bass and the guitar. Other people that come to mind when I think of great guitarists and bassists, who have already been mentioned in this thread, are: Leo Kottke (guitar) Michael Manring (bass) Ani Difranco (guitar) Laura Love (bass) People who I haven't seen mentioned here yet: Deb Pasternak A singer/songwriter from Boston who does folk, rock, & bluesy stuff. Her sound is rather unusual, I'm not sure how to describe it, but I have been known to describe other guitarists as being "a little like Deb Pasternak" for lack of a better way to say it. Very emotion-laden, strong, and usually rythmic. Paco de Lucia From Spain. Master of flamenco. Enthralling. Enrique Coria From ... Brazil? Argentina? I forget. He plays in the David Grisman Quintet now, based out of California. He's introduced a lot of Latino flavor to their music. Very innovative, blends many styles. Ali Farka Toure From Timbucktu, Mali. His style has been called "African Blues", but really it's just his. He made up the genre and he's the only one who plays it. Sensuous, flowing, with hints of the blues and a strong dose of Malian and various other West African tribal styles. He speaks through his guitar with this music, as if it were a talking drum, but more eloquent. Russ Barenberg I'm not surprised not to have seen his name here, as it's not my impression that ecto is filled with bluegrass fans. He's one of the greats of bluegrass guitar, and also does some "new acoustic" stuff. Dan Crary Another one of the greats of bluegrass guitar, and "new acoustic". Edgar Meyer Russ Barenberg's counterpart, on the acoustic bass. Jerry Douglas Best known as the master of the dobro, and as one of the founders of the new acoustic movement. Like Alison Brown, he isn't primarily a guitar player, but when he does play it, he does it exceedingly well, and he's an important and influential innovator. One of my favorite instrumental albums ever is something called "Skip, Hop & Wobble". Jerry Douglas on dobro, Russ Barenberg on guitar, and Edgar Meyer on upright bass, playing compositions by the three of them, jointly and separately. It's filed under "Douglas, Barenberg, Meyer" usually. -- Cos (Ofer Inbar) -- cos@leftbank.com cos@cs.brandeis.edu -- The Left Bank Operation -- lbo@leftbank.com http://www.leftbank.com/ "Aren't you ever *not* on-line?" -- Caitlin Xantha Hazen "Cos, the Infomation Superhighway Rolodex." -- Vika & ceecee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 23:17:33 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: Guitarists Hi! Ofer fonted: >When the topic of bass comes up, the first person I always think of is >Victor Wooten. I think I just read this entire thread and didn't see >him mentioned even once. Did that really happen? Nope - I listed him as Supreme God Of The Bass (though not in so many words :) in my post on the subject last week. :) Fear not ... +==========================================================================+ | 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: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 22:36:20 -0700 From: neal copperman Subject: Folk Alliance, take one Ok, I'm sure you guys have figured out by now that I was able to see a ton of music thanks to the wonderful people at Folk Alliance, plus I got to meet ectophile Carolyn Andre while I was at it. Now I'm looking back over the days (and nights), and trying to figure out what's worth reporting on. Believe me, you certainly don't want a play by play! From Thursday to Sunday, I figure I saw about 29 hours of music and 39 musicians (some of them multiple times). Tips for deleting: I have this idea that I will make multiple posts that look sorta like this: a list of the people I saw with terse comments, broken up into categories of how much I enjoyed them; more detailed reviews of the people I think would be of interest here; and a few hopefully amusing anecdotes. Keep in mind that many of these performances took place in convention rooms and even sometimes in people's hotel rooms. The latter typically didn't have any mics or electronics. Also, music was happening on multiple stages from 10:45 (at night) to 3 in the morning, and often interesting stuff continued after that. So if I say an artist was boring and seemed really tired, well, there's a good chance that they were really tired and not performing at their peak. Also, if someone wasn't working for me, I would just leave. At it's peak, there were at least 20 different showcases at one time, and there was little point sitting through a set that wasn't doing anything for me when there was undoubtedly something I'd enjoy better elsewhere. I realize that it's not necessarily a fair way to judge performers, but it's what I have to work with. I'd highly highly highly recommend Folk Alliance to everyone who can go. While it's cost is fairly modest for a week long conference if you pay far enough in advance, everything that I attended were open showcases and public concerts. So, there's a huge amount of music that can be seen for free or a modest expense. Next year's Folk Alliance is in Cleveland, and the year after that, Vancouver. To make breaking people in categories easier, I decided I'd rank them by how far I'd be willing to go to see them again. This seemed a more sincere measure of appreciation and actually was easier to do than an excllent to poor list. Excellent/Taos (3 hours away): Laura Love Band (3 showcases, all stupendous) Vasen (Swedish instrumental group, featuring nickelharpa) Frifot (Swedish trad/jazz/experimental, with Lena Willemark and Alle Moller) Molly O'Brien (powerful multi-styled song interpreter.) Cordelia's Dad (Strange folk punk traditional american hybrid) The Mollys (Celtic-Chicana) Sloan Wainwright Very Good/Santa Fe (1 hour away): - --------------------------------- Jan Krist The Paperboys (very fun Canadian band. Reminded me of early Poi Dog Pondering) Trina Hamlin (unamplified in a hotel room) Jeff Lang (Australian, followed Trina) Pete & Maura Kennedy (from Virginia) Whirligig (Irish fusion band from NYC, with Lisa Moscatielo) Denise Franke (with Nena Gerber on violin) X'sko (Balkan music, I'm thrilled to find they are from Albuquerque) JPP (Finnish traditional, 4 fiddles, 1 standup bass, 1 harmonium) Beth Amstel Casey Neill Harmonia (music from Hungary, Romania, Unkraine, ...) Good/ Albuquerque (that's where I live): - ---------------------------------------- Joules Graves (from Seattle, "infectious rhythms with activist sentiment". Accompanies herself on djembe, which was a great combo.) Eddie From Ohio (from DC area) Anna Wolfe (from Albuquerque) Mare Winningham (from the movies) Colem Sands (from Australia) Mike Dowling (guitarist) Lisa Alexander (from Albuquerque) Bjorn Olmoff & ??? (Swedish fiddling national treasures) Chuy Martinez & Victor ?? (local traditional New Mexican) Susan Warner Antonia Apadacas (from New Mexico, 75 year old hellion on accordian and guitar) Mediocre (I'd skip them if they were in town): - --------------------------------------------- Chris Buhalis (Michigan) Chuck Pyle (Cowboy guy) Rose Palnenzanie (I only saw one song) Lynn Miles Jennifer Kimball (maybe - listed but not announced and I couldn't be sure) Bob Malone (singing - bleh, piano - inspired) Vanida Gale (from June Rich. Strongly disappointed from the 1 song I saw) Bad (People I'd go late to avoid): - ----------------------------------- Robin Greenstein (NYC) Jenny Byrd (from Taos, boy could you tell) np: Mother - Susan McKeown, Cathie Ryan, Robin Spielberg nr: Beloved - Toni Morrison ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 23:13:40 -0700 From: neal copperman Subject: Folk Alliance 2: Longer reviews One of the focuses of this years Folk Alliance was Sweden/Scandinavia, which resulted in some of the most amazing showcases of the conference. Carolyn and I noted that it was dangerous to be a singer/songwriter at FA, since there were hundreds of them and someone who might sound pretty good in your neighborhood coffeehouse paled in the face of so much competition. The Scandinavian groups were all top notch though, and consistantly received the only standing ovations I saw that the showcases, as well as during their concert appearances. They seemed the deserved darlings of the week (plus, they gave out free vodka at the Swedish Showcase). Vasen headed up the Swedish contingent. A four-piece consisting of a fiddler, a nickelharper (can I say that?), a guitarist and a avery imaginative percussionist. Their rollicking versions of polskas and jigs, mostly new, was endlessly fun. Plus, they had a really wry sense of humor, that was probably only accented by their somewhat awkward English. One of the highlights of their concert was a song recounting the terrible massacre of the white mooses by the killer hares. (That's why there aren't any white mooses in Sweden.) Frifot - as soon as I read about Frifot, I was really excited and disappointed that they were only playing in the official showcase, which I couldn't get into. Luckily, they got added to the Swedish showcase, and they were brilliant. I don't really understand how they can have been together as a band since 1987 and I've only just heard of them. They consist of Lena Willemark (vocals and fiddle), Ale Moller (Mandola, hammered dulcimer, flute and more) and Per Gudmundson (fiddle and bagpipes). I know a few people have the Willemark/Moller albums, which are excellent. You can also find Lena Willemark on Hector Zazou's Songs from the Cold Seas. What you hear there is fairly typical of what we got. Amazing traditional jazz fusion, folkloric story songs (in Swedish), haunting creepy vocals and sound effects, dramatic instrumental interplay. Watching them play was also a real treat. Lena plays her fiddle ready to pounce, and Ale looks like he's balanced on a rock on the edge of a cliff - twisting and swaying and jerking around. Laura Love Band - I'd only heard a few LL songs before and thought they were ok, but didn't wow me. However, her live show is extraordinary. She is so pumped up, and she plays bass sorta like ani difranco plays guitar. I'm not really sure what she was doing at Folk Alliance, but I was glad for the chance to see her. I saw pieces of 3 of her showcases, and they typically blew away anyone around her. (Kind of an unfair comparison though.) The fliers called her Afro-Celt, but I didn't really see that. She did everything from ballads (including a cover of Leonard Cohen's No Way To Say Goodbye) to funky rave-ups. She also had a great violinist with her, and the violin/bass duals were a blast. The Mollys - They are one of the few performers I'd seen multiple times before, so I skipped all of their showcases except for one ballad I caught (The Mule) that was haunting. But ballads isn't what I think of when The Mollys are coming to town. They headlined the closing concert, and totally blew the crowd away. It was one of their best sets I'd seen, full of many of my favorites. They have a knack for writing traditional Irish songs that sound like they've been around for a century. There show is good natured and rowdy, and the mix of the Celtic and Chicana influences are fairly unique. (I've only ever heard them on a few of The Pogues albums, and actually, The Mollys are sort of a female Pogues, but not quite as punky.) Cordelia's Dad - I'd never seen or heard them before, and I was suitably impressed. I don't really know what they are. They are from the northeast and play traditional and appalachian songs, but in that sort of edgy punk/folk style of folks like The Oyster Band and The Men They Couldn't Hang. They even made hymns sound edgy. Molly O'Brien - I had seen her name around before, but had never heard any of her music. She made a crack about being allowed in to Folk Alliance despite not writing her own music, but the way she sang other's music made it clear that being a songwriter is not the be-all and end-all of musicianship. In the tradition of folks like Maura O'Connell and June Tabor, but sounding more like kd lang than anything else. I was very impressed with her presence, which was either a strong self-confidence or an unhealthy case of near sightedness. I can't remember any of the songs she did (I think they were all unfamiliar to me anyway, though the author's weren't necessarily). I'm under the impression that it is important to mention that Nena Gerber played guitar. Most impressive was the imaginative drumming. With no drumkit to be found, he used brushes on a mic'ed room service menu, with a room service cover dish on a mic stand as a cymbal. Sloan Wainwright - I didn't really know what to make of Sloan Wainwright at first, but after a song or too, I decided I really liked her. She has a deep, husky gospel-style voice, but sings with that well-mannered style I associate with a lot of training, or sometime the English folk tradition. Sorta like how Emily Bezar sings, though there was little other relationship beside the phrasing. Some of the way she sang also put me in mind of the October Project (though her voice sounds nothing like Mary Fahl's). Ok, maybe I'll break this up, since it's going on and on (and on and ...) neal np: Michelle Shocked - 9:30 Club Farewell concerts ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 23:41:56 -0700 From: neal copperman Subject: Folk Alliance 3: the very good Jan Krist - Does anyone know who this is? I wandered out after Laura Love and Jules Graves, who are fairly rowdy, and stumbled across this mellow gem. She was very much the opposite of Laura Love. A totally introverted woman who seemed almost disinterested in performing. And yet, her songs had a quiet intensity and her voice was effortlessly emotional and touching. She played solo with guitar. The Paperboys - This Canadian band had something like 8 people, including someone on banjo and fiddle. Their music had that mish-mash cheerful folkiness of the first Poi Dog Pondering album, though the vocals sounded quite different than PDP. Male vocalist. Trina Hamlin - The first time I saw Trina was at 2:30 in the morning. I walked out of the last showcase and was ready to go home, when I heard an amazing voice coming out of a hotel room. I wandered in and found Trina in a corner playing guitar and singing gritty and emotional songs. I'd never heard her before, and was really impressed with her songwriting, the evocative guitar accompaniment, and the emotion in her voice. I later saw her do one song in a boring songwriters in the round session which didn't have anything near the spark of this show, but it didn't really change my opinions any. Jeff Lang followed Trina. I was having trouble standing up at this point, and still had a 25 minute drive home, so I only saw 2 songs. Which was a real pity. I think he was a real hit at FA, since I kept hearing his name being tossed around in hallways. He seems like the kind of male singer that would be a hit with at least some ectophiles. He had a unique vocal style, wrote interesting songs, and was a stellar guitarist. Someone I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for. Pete & Maura Kennedy - Another group I know far too well. So well that I find their sets occasionally tiresome, as they don't seem to change much over the years. They did a local concert that was ok, but I also caught an afternoon showcase that woke me back up again. Containing more songs from their new album (Angel Fire - a forgivable angel title since it's a town in New Mexico) than the full show the night before, a better sound system, and a more relaxed and less scripted show. It had all the hallmarks of a Kennedy's show - guitar pyrotechnics (or wanking to some), pretty vocals, some interesting songs, and only a small dose of their too chipper life philosophy. Whirligig - I'm almost afraid to say it here, but the thing that kept Whirligig out of my excellent spot was that I'm not really that wow'ed by Lisa Moscatielo. She seems like a really nice person and a decent vocalist, but something in her voice or style doesn't move me like I feel like it should. Decent rather than exceptional. (I saw her open for Susan McKeown some years ago and had much the same impression then, when she sang in an entirely different style.) Whirligig is something of a traditional Irish band crossed with some heavy jazz elements, which mostly come to play from their woodwind player (soprano sax, flute, clarinet and "faux clarinet"). Their music was really exciting, and a wild departure from traditional Celtic music. They also do a very nice, evocative version of Susan McKeown's Through the Bitter Frost and Snow. Denise Franke - I don't know a thing about her. I just found her singing warm and her voice rich. I think the songwriting was pretty good too, though that's something I rarely pick up on a first listen. Also, I was amused cause I thought she looked strikingly like Johnny Depp (but don't tell her!). X'sko - I didn't get to see this Balkan band in a showcase, but I did see pieces of them in the hallway, which was as good as many shows. I was lured out of a room and around the corner into the midst of a clarinet/accordian duet. Soon the drummer came over and started accompanying them on a conveniantly located serving cart, and just as the female vocalist started in, they were sent packing for being in the way. I'll hopefully be seeing them again in a week or so. JPP - Another jamming Scandinavian instrumental group, this one from Finland. I thought they way they layered the fiddles, piling them up and then occasionally having one or another split off to do something complimentary before rejoinging the pack, kind of reminded me of Altan. Beth Amstel - someone else i know nothing about. I was lured in while hurrying off to catch Sloan Wainwright, and stayed for 15 minutes. (Luckily , SW was late.) She had an emotional, smooth, kinda swoopy voice. This was another of those great hotel room concerts. In fact, I think it was the same room I saw Trina in. Casey Neill - This show was a tip from the woman sitting next to me at the Vasen concert. Casey's trio consisted of mandolin, guitar and fiddle, and falls into that sort of punked up Irish traditional music that I love so much. I thought his voice, and the band, sometimes sounded like Jethro Tull at their folkiest (circa Songs in the Woods, maybe). I was surprised to learn that Johnny Cunningham produced their new album that is coming out later this year. I picked up a copy of their first album and a sampler of the new one. Harmonia - I ended up seeing more continuous music from these guys than anyone else. The main reason for this was because on Saturday night, after the showcases, they set up in the hotel atrium and wouldn't stop jamming. They played from 3 to about 4:30, inspiring some traditional dancing and splitting off into various subsets while each member rested. The core instrument here was the cimbalom, which seemed to be some sort of funky dulcimer instrument. Played like a hammered dulcimer, but with a pedal that opened up the strings and allowed them to resonate more. Have I worn out my welcome yet?? neal np: still Michelle Shocked ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V5 #77 *************************