From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V6 #75 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, March 17 2000 Volume 06 : Number 075 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Re: Deborah Conway ["Heidi Maier" ] melissa ferrick mystery ["JoAnn Whetsell" ] Re: Melissa Ferrick Mystery & new album stuff [Mark Miazga ] New Nields CD in Stores [Jess913@aol.com] Re: the cure and emily bezar ["cjmacs" ] Photographic Smile [kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white)] musings on "live" music: mirrorball [Shirley Ye Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ******************* Jessica Skolnik (no Email address) ******************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Jessica Skolnik March 16 Pisces Alan Sodoma Thu March 18 1965 LuckyLurker Richard Konrad Sat March 18 1944 Pisces Barry Wong Thu March 19 1970 Merlin Graham Dombkins Fri March 19 1965 Pisces Ian Young Wed March 19 1969 Squiggol Jeff Wasilko Wed March 19 1969 Pisces Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces John Stewart Sat March 21 1970 Aries Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Tom Proven Sat March 27 1971 Eat at Joe's Jennifer Albert Wed March 30 1966 Aries (w/Cancer rising!:) Warpaint Mon April 01 1991 Brilliant! Michael Pearce Wed April 03 1946 Pegasus Michael E. Bravo Mon April 05 1971 Dandelion Wine Brion McIntosh Sun April 06 1958 Aries Marcel Kshensky Thu April 06 1950 Aries Bill Mazur Mon April 06 1953 Aries Sun/Cancer Rising David Dixon Tue April 07 1970 Aries Heidi Heller Mon April 08 1974 Aries Jill Hughes Sat April 09 1955 Aries Klaus Kluge Sun April 10 1960 Unicorn Steve VanDevender Sun April 10 1966 Racer Art Liestman Fri April 10 1953 Repeat Stephen Golden Sat April 10 1971 Jokey Michael Bowman Wed April 11 1962 Aries Wolfgang Ullwer Fri April 11 1969 Widder Janet Kirsch Thu April 11 1974 Aries Jerry Tue April 13 1971 Aries Stuart Myerburg Mon April 14 1969 Aries T-Bone Wed April 15 1992 happy cat Jeff Hanson Sat April 16 1966 Aries - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 23:09:10 +1000 From: "Heidi Maier" Subject: Re: Deborah Conway Drew wrote: > I was just checking to see if the new Deborah Conway CD was out yet, and > found some interesting info I though some might find interesting. Some you > you lucky Australians might have the chance to see her live. (Wish I > could... ) Yes, the first single -- "Radio Loves This" -- has been released to (you guessed it) radio. It's a somewhat ironic response to radio's complete failure to embrace her last record, the fantastic "My Third Husband". The record, "Exquisite Stereo", will be out late March/early April here in Australia. Deborah also released a single late last year, "Happy New Year", which featured an additional two, new tracks -- "Novocaine" and "Glory Ordinary Day". I usually post tidbits which I think might interest Ecto folk, but you might also want to look at joining Bitch-News, the news-only version of the Deborah discussion list (Bitch) -- there are details of that at Mark's site (www.deborahconway.com) :) Heidi. - ------ "i want so much to write well, though i know i don't ... but during and at the end of my life, i will adore those who have." -- *dorothy parker* * heidi maier - maier@joynet.com.au * ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 10:13:05 EST From: "JoAnn Whetsell" Subject: melissa ferrick mystery This is so strange. Tower Records has MF's new cd, but none of the four record stores I checked (HMV, Borders, Sam Goody, CD World) have it? Anyway, I found my Metrocard last night, so after work today I'm going to go to Tower Records and try to find a copy for myself. If not, I guess I'll just have to order it. JoAnn ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 12:45:42 -0500 From: Mark Miazga Subject: Re: Melissa Ferrick Mystery & new album stuff Melissa Ferrick's management wants to know of stores that aren't carrying _Freedom_. If you can give them store names, addresses, and e-mail addresses (or any combination thereof), they find it extremely helpful. E-mail STapper2@aol.com (Sharon Tapper). Melissa's website has also just been updated, and it looks very nice. http://www.war.com/ferrick. As for the new album, "Freedom", I love it. I've had it for two weeks now. At first, I was a little disappointed... I don't think it measures up to "Everything I Need," which I think is Melissa's strongest studio work to date. But it's slowly grown on me and now I can't stop listening to it. Oddly enough, I think part of the problem with me getting accustomed to the new album was the title track, which is also the opening track. In all of Melissa's previous CD's, the title track has been one of my favorite songs, and definitely the most radio-friendly/catchy song. Not on this one. The song "Freedom" has powerful lyrics, but it's slow and one of the weaker songs on the CD, IMO. Track two is "Hold On," which is catchy but I don't like the lyrics or production. The rest of the CD is pretty darn strong, though. Track three is "North Carolina", which is wonderful. Talk-singing about traveling across the country with her foot "all cramped up from driving 14 hours" and sitting in a lonely hotel room "listening to all her money making peers", the song captures a feeling of dejected bitterness without ever sounding whiny -- in fact it makes it self-empowering. The next track, "You Got a Lot of Nerve", is the bitter rant against her superficial, Hollywood-loving ex, who is trying to get Melissa back by "bragging about your Hollywood friends / like that's gonna make me want you again / makes me think that you never knew me / makes me understand / that the whole time / it was just you using me". The album's center is the wonderous track "Little Love", which is a little slow but is a bare-boned, honest, turmoiled love song. I love these lyrics: "now you tell me that what I do for a living / yeah well it is actually a turn off for you / cause I am just smiled at and touched / yeah and my fingers / my fingers are far too rough / and then I tell you / 'you know honey, love doesn’t know distance' / and then you turn around and look at me and say 'yeah but my arms do'." It's a riveting performance and song -- Ferrick's voice has never sounded better. Other highlights include the uplifting "Win 'Em Over" and the erotic, sexy "Drive", which makes "Justify My Love" seem tame. The album's sound is raw and stripped-down. It's only acoustic guitar and bass, with some drum loops thrown in. Listening to it, you really get the picture of Melissa frustratingly playing away in some rundown studio. It's often raw and intense... you don't often get these types of emotions caught on record. That being said, oddly enough I don't think it captures the feeling of Melissa's phenomenol live performances as well as "Everything I Need" did. I'm somewhat disappointed Rob Laufer didn't produce the new record -- Melissa produced it for herself, and while she did a fine job, I wonder what some tracks would have sounded like with Laufer's terrific ear in there as well. On the other hand, Melissa perhaps would not have had as much, well, freedom while recording the new album if she had a professional producer, and it may have eliminated some of the foibles that I love so much about her. Who's to know? Anyhow, definitely check out her tour dates on her website... and any Michigan ecto folks, come on out to East Lansing on the 29th for the show I booked her for at MSU. *mark - -- Mark Miazga miazgama@msu.edu http://www.msu.edu/~miazgama 143 West Akers Hall, MSU|East Lansing, MI 48825|(517) 353-4936 http://www.msu.edu/~miazgama Founder, The Common Grounds Coffeehouse http://www.msu.edu/~cgrounds ** Info line: (517) 353-5057 MELISSA FERRICK performs on March 29! ANDY TUBMAN performs on March 31! THE ARTICLES perform on April 28! Academic and Social Activities Coordinator of Akers Hall. English & Secondary Education, Class of 2000 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 13:37:32 -0800 From: Shirley Ye Subject: FS Fiona Apple Ticket Hey guys, I have an extra ticket for the Fiona Apple concert next Wednesday on March 22 at the Warfield in San Francisco. It is 28 dollars with the service fee. The show sold out a few weeks ago. Let me know if you're interested. toodles, S ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 16:47:05 EST From: Jess913@aol.com Subject: New Nields CD in Stores i wanted to share this so that everyone can rush out next week and get the new nields cd. i have an advance copy and its great, their best yet!! www.nields.com for more info about the band and cute pictures of them. jess www.geocities.com/amari913 (for more info about me and my musical taste and my life) - -------------------------------------------- What are you doing on Tuesday, March 21, 2000,...........We here at Nields headquarters hope you will be leaving work early, skipping class or just getting off the couch for long enough to go to the record store and get your very own copy of (drum roll, please) /\../\../\../\../\ "If You Lived Here You'd Be Home Now" the newest addition to The Nields catalog. To read more about the CD, go to The Nields web page (www.nields.com) If you can't get yourself to the store, you can order online from the following places (sorry bulletproofstore.com will not carry the new CD for a little while) www.rounder.com www.cdnow.com www.amazon.com Have a great weekend! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 19:05:04 -0500 From: "cjmacs" Subject: Re: the cure and emily bezar hi all! dirk wrote re: the cure: > Robert Smith said in an interview > that his life totally changed. He's very satisfied and > he feels very comfortable with his family, his nices > and nephews. And he isn't able to write good music > when he feels happy. He will probably work on > solo albums in the future. i just read an interview with him where he said that he went into recording bloodflowers with the intention of it being the last cure album because he no longer enjoyed recordingwith/as the cure; however he said he had such a great time doing bloodflowers (calling it his most enjoyable recording experience ever!) that he can't rule out the possibility of doing more recordings with the cure soon! chris wrote: > It should come as no surprise to many of you that Kathy (my SO) and I will > most definitely be in attendance. We will have at least one guest with us, > another DJ at WHUS who also loves Emily's music. > > See you there, JoAnn, meth, woj, Mike?, et al. joe and i will definitely be there as well! chuck np: tosca - suzuki nr: nothing!!! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 19:16:52 -0600 (CST) From: kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white) Subject: Photographic Smile Hi, After seeing a piece on TV on Julian Lennon I went out and got his first cd in years (1999). I highly recommend this! As he gets older the fact that he inherited all of his father's vocal cord genes and some of the song-writing genes is really evident. There is a sticker about "extra" stuff. I saw the same sticker on a cd only package while the one I got had sticker and a cd single in separate sleeve with 3 songs and a video. The single's sleeve had the Best Buy ticket logo printed on it, so, it may be an exclusive deal. Caveat Emptor. n.p. Two Against Nature: Steely Dan (Great!) n.r. Foucault's Pendulum: Umberto Eco KrW I'm Peter Pan! I'm perpetually young!! OW!! What's wrong with my back? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:29:38 -0800 From: Shirley Ye Subject: musings on "live" music: mirrorball After reading Walter Benjamin's "Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and while listening to Sarah McLachlan's "Mirrorball", remembering all of the complaining a while back about how horrible this live album is (which I think quite good) leads me to this: live recordings are a classic example of the way we as audiences are trying to overcome the undeniably impersonal characteristics of art (music) in this age of mechanical, studio-ized, homogenization of music, formerly an art found at first in relgious and work rituals. After all, the value of the "authentic" work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its orignal value. But the beginning of the twentieth century was marked by mass production, and thus art's value now lies not in its ritualistic value but exhibition value. Studio recordings of music, of course, are not ritualistic or cultish, but like film, typically comprised of slick engineered, worked-over singing, instrumentation that has been geared to no one in particular, but to the artists' own conception of "ideal" audience (I think defining the ideal audience is problematic because music is now so closely linked to self-expression, and the extent to which music is self-expressive is a gauge of how '"good" some fans deem the music - also linked to the cliche "art for arts' sake") There is no interaction between audience and artist in the studio recording. The live concert, however, presents an opportunity for fans to crowd-surf, yell and egg the performer on, make song suggestions - in other words, allows the audience to participate to a certain degree in the music-making, contributing to the ritualistic/cultish aspect of the concert. Now a recording of this interaction is thus especially prized by audience members for its authenticity: it was not engineered by producers with dollar signs in their eyes, but performed for the audience. And, the smaller, more intimate the audience, the more authentic the performance, because the performer is enabled to be more attuned to the desires of the fans. And to tie this back to Mirrorball. Sarah's voice has an ephemeral, ethereal quality that sounds "slick" whether in the studio or live. Her concerts are certainly productions, with good sound engineers, good lighting persons, elaborate backdrops, and lately situated in huge venues. Certainly the audience does not factor much in the performance. In fact, it seems nothing could alter the shape of her highly-produced exhibitions, except maybe in the architecture of theater space, which could contribute to a more impersonal or intimate feeling (Shoreline Amphiteater v. Paramount Theater, for example). The high point of her show is always "Ice Cream", noted for its easy to catch lyrics, when the audience has no problem with singing along. But, fans who are seeking a more intimate relationship with the artist because of the close relationship they have already developed with the music and lyrics find this set-up problematic and frustrating. "Ice Cream" though beautiful and rings true, is moronic compared to gems like "Elsewhere" and "Fear." (Remember when "Surfacing" came out? Such outrage! Dissappointing after the complexity of "Fumbling") Anyway, I could go on about this, but I need to get back to work...toodles,S ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V6 #75 *************************