From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V6 #358 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, November 28 2000 Volume 06 : Number 358 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Rachel's, anyone? [drop the holupki ] Re: OT: selfishness [Paul Blair ] Re: Susan McKeown and Johnny Cunningham [Valerie Richardson Subject: Re: Rachel's, anyone? when we last left our heroes, Adam K. exclaimed: >Meanwhile, I also picked up something called Selenography by Rachel's. Anyone >heard of them? I was intrigued because when Veda Hille played London, the >critic from Time Out compared her to them. I'm listening to it now, and it >seems very gentle, very beautiful ---- instrumentals, ebbing and flowing. > >Anyone know anything about them? rachel's is basically a musical collective with a distinct core and a nebulous group of conspirators. the core are jason noble, who is probably most well-known as a member of the seminal indie-rock/post-punk band rodan but is also a member of the equally imposing shipping news, christian fredrickson, and rachel grimes. we have three of their albums: _handwriting_ (the first), _music for egon schiele_ (music written by grimes and performed by her, fredrickson and wendy doyle for a dance piece performed in chicago) and _selenography_. there are two others which i have yet to hear: _the sea and the bells_ (the third) and the most recent one, _full on night_, a collaboration with matmos which is a hybrid extension/remix of the song "full on night" from _handwriting_. honestly, i've not listened to the ones we have enough to have really gelled an opinion (surprise!) but i like them enough to recommend them. all instrumental, all autumnal (as meredith noted), i'm just not sure how much of an impact they have on me yet. woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 23:58:19 -0500 From: Paul Blair Subject: Re: OT: selfishness Joe Zitt wrote: >Not having read the X-Men comics, and only having seen the movie once, I'm >a tad blurry on the details, but I suspect that Magneto may have thought >that we all would be better off with mutant powers (though his >implementation had definite problems).... Was it worth mutating the >Senator to save thousands of mutants? Though I liked the movie, I thought Magneto's character was a missed opportunity. In the movie, his willingness to sacrifice innocents clearly makes him a villain. But what if he had powered the machine himself instead of making Rogue do so? What if his mutation device didn't kill? What if he had planned to mutate the U.N. conference in response to passage of worldwide mutant registration? The conflict would have been much more interesting: Is this Magneto really a villain? Is he honest but mistaken? Or is he correct? What justifies revolution, and what tactics are permissible? >Similarly, we get into issues of degree when helping others. If one >person stands in the way of many others being helped, to what degree is >his will balanced against the others' benefit? But as you see, the terms in which this puts the issue make it impossible to reach a conclusion. >Looking at it from the other side, was Spock right, in the selfist >(hmm, maybe a less ambiguous term spawn by a fortunate typo) point of >view, of sacrificing himself for the good of the crew? I don't recall the movie well enough to be able to comment. Certainly some values can be so central to one's life and happiness that one would rather die fighting for them than go on living without them. And from a previous post: >I suspect that Hitler might have disagreed here: he would probably have >claimed that what he was doing was in service to humanity, improving >(in his view) the human race as a whole by weeding out lesser elements, >rather as one weeds a garden. He was utterly wrong, of course, but I >suspect that he actually thought that he was serving humanity, rather >than self. I can't think he was that honest. It's true that Hitler came to power on a "sacrifice for the common good" platform, which he used to justify the power he wielded. But what this type of person really wants is power--as an end in itself, power as "proof" that he can ignore any fact, turn his wildest delusions into reality by edict, and get away with it. The delusions themselves are evidence of that. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 00:00:58 -0500 From: Valerie Richardson Subject: Re: Susan McKeown and Johnny Cunningham I picked up the last half hour of the WNYC broadcast. Thanks for letting us know about that, Meredith. I'm going to be doing an interview with Susan on my show on WPKN in Bridgeport, CT, on Friday, December 8, at 11:30 a.m. Unfortunately we'll be speaking by phone so there won't be any live music. You can also occasionally pick up the station online at wpkn.org. - --Valerie Richardson meredith wrote: > > Hi! > > The stream on WNYC reminded me that I hadn't yet responded to this. > > Jeff noted: > > >Got to see Susan McKeown and Johnny Cunningham with > >guitarist Aiden Brennan in Denver last Saturday > >night, doing "Songs for the Winter Season". > > This tour is continuing all over the place, including at the Kuumbwa Jazz > Center in Santa Cruz (site of Ectofest West!) this Thursday, 11/28. Lots > of other CA dates are on the list, too. Everything is at > http://www.susanmckeown.com/smktour.shtml. > > She'll be on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion on December 9th, too. Pretty > cool! > > >Susan's latest album "Lowlands" is great by the way-- > >probably one of her most consistently good albums. > > I agree. There's not a weak track on the disc. > > >Her voice is much warmer--on some of the earlier > >recordings there is a harshness in her voice that I > >found somewhat grating at times, but I think it > >has more to do with how they record her voice than her > >actual voice--I've never heard that harshness in > >concert. Peter and Wendy was the first recording > >where it was entirely absent. > > I think you're exactly right. I know that in the past she has had to make > compromises regarding which takes she had to use on the final product, > either due to time constraints or other factors. This has led to some of > her a cappella tracks sounding shouted rather than sung. A couple tracks > on _Lowlands_ toe the line, but they never cross over to the land of the > "skip" button. > > _Lowlands_ is going to be *very* high on my list of top albums of the year. > And I can't wait to see Susan perform again next month. (woj and I will > definitely be at the Towne Crier on 12/15, and possibly at the University > of Hartford two days later as well. Anyone else?) > > +==========================================================================+ > | 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 *** | > +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V6 #358 **************************