Errors-To: ecto-owner@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #1073 ecto, Number 1073 Friday, 8 April 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* suggestions, playlists, and sarah HaPpY Birthdays Re: ecto #1072 Re: Ein April Klaus :) poetry assignment Arson Garden's new one Re: poetry assignment Milla finds her metier and other stories Re: Arson Garden's new one Re: Penguin Cafe Orchestra :( another tragic end Rose Chronicles and Tribe Sheryl Crow in the Phildelphia Inquirer Some week... Re: Some week... ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 08 Apr 1994 00:58:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: suggestions, playlists, and sarah Hi! Wendy implored: >I have a need to add to my collection of favorite artists and I think you >are just the folks that can help me with this very specific type of >addiction. You *need* to own everything Sarah McLachlan has ever recorded. Immediately. Get thee to a record shop, go!!! :> And while you're there, also check out Over The Rhine, Sally Fingerett, Dead Can Dance, Maddy Prior, and, if you can find them, Knots and Crosses. Those are my suggestions for this evening... when I think of more, I'll be sure to let you know! Neile asked: >Just a couple of questions, though--can you, Meth, or anyone for that >matter tell me (and of course the Ectophiles Guide) anything about what >Tel Basta, Tara key, Sirensong, Margo Henenbach or Cheryl Wheeler sound like? Tel Basta: They're on C'Est La Mort, and they fit beautifully on the Doctor Death's compliations they've been on, if that's any help. The word ethereal could be used to describe them, I guess, but there's an edge there. I usually play them in the same set as Rose Chronicles, because they're pretty much in the same vein. (If you know what Rose Chronicles sound like, then you know what I'm talking about... if not, um... help! :}) Tara Key: Looks *exactly* like Polly Harvey. It's frightening. And she sort of sounds like her, too, but there's some Liz Phair in there as well. I didn't like the track I played too much, and haven't really listened to the rest of the disc, so I may be off base here. Sirensong: Boston trio, independently put out a 3-song EP. They desperately want to be on 4AD, so much so that when I first saw the EP I searched for the 4AD logo for about 5 minutes before I gave up. They would fit well on 4AD, actually- again, in the Rose Chronicles vein, with "ethereal" female vocals and effect-ed guitars, but not totally overboard. I like these 3 songs a lot, and am awaiting the full album, which should be out soon, if it's not already. Margo Hennebach: Folk girl with guitar from Hoboken, NJ. Not very original or interesting, but she has a nice voice. Cheryl Wheeler: Folk girl with guitar from New York City (I think). She's in the Christine Lavin clique, and I think she sometimes fills in as a guest Bitchin' Babe. While I've never seen her live, I hear her between-song stories are positively hysterical, and some people think she could have a career as a stand-up comic. But she makes some nice acoustic music, and has a nice voice. I would never buy an entire album, but that's just me. Incidentally, the album I played, _Big Times In A Small Town_ is from a concert on Martha's Vineyard last August, which was the culmination of a week-long songwriting workshop Christine Lavin put together for the likes of Wheeler, Jonatha Brooke (that's where the "Dog Dreams" came from, too), Cliff Eberhardt, and others. If you're into that sort of thing, this disc is highly recommended- it's another of Lavin's Philo compliations, and is quite well done. Stuart commented: >I still find that I can't get into _Solace_. After about the first 4 songs >(all of which I like), the rest of the album just blends together and I >forget which song is which. You too? I love "Drawn To The Rhythm", "Into The Fire", and "I Will Not Forget You", which I think is one of Sarah's best ever. But as you said, from then on the album kind of fades into obscurity for me. I do have a different appreciation for "Home" since I saw her do it live, though- live, "Home" is a showcase for the sheer power and intensity of Sarah's voice (at the end she's just singing "home" over and over, stronger and stronger each time), and it's stunning. And I get to see her again. (sorry, Anthony :) +===========================================================================+ |Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA meth@delphi.com| +===========================================================================+ |"and there is a love that's inherently given a kind of blindess offered to | | deceive and in that light of forbidden joy oh I know I won't receive it " | | - Sarah McLachlan, "Wait" | +===========================================================================+ ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 08 Apr 94 10:08:56 +0100 From: Terry Partis Subject: HaPpY Birthdays Here's wishing HAPPY Birthdays to Klaus Kluge, Steve Vandevender and Art Liestman on April 10th. (Very Popular day for babies) and to Michael Bowman on the 11th. April. Have great days all of you Peace Terry === Only in your eyes lies your soul ========================= Happy Rhodes === _ __ Jolly Hockeysticks _ __ / `-' ( ,,, / `-' ( ,,, | I I ||||||[:::] Terry (Tel Boy) Partis | I I ||||||[:::] \_.-._( ''' (tgp@ukc.ac.uk) \_.-._( ''' With a smile and a song - I'm HaPpy Let me sleep awhile and dream of Avalon and the Beltane fires.................. ............................................our souls entwined for all eternity ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 08 Apr 1994 07:34:01 -0400 (EDT) From: ROD700@delphi.com Subject: Re: ecto #1072 * MILLA * The Divine Comedy is a brilliant piece of work. What is all of the talk about her acting abilitites? She had NO lines in dazed and confused but her presence was wonderful and I appreciated her. Oh No. Here come the Comparisons. Until Sarah McLachlan's "Fumbling Toward Ecstacy" I never appreciated her. (Excuse me, I am writing on-line and I just remembered there is no editor) Milla is everything I ever expected Sarah M. to be! She does a better Sarah than Sarah. I suggest you get "The Divine Comedy". It is worth it for The Alien Song (For those who listen) alone. Do yourself a favor. Listen to TDC. Milla is brilliant. And yes, she does love tennies. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 08 Apr 1994 10:39:18 -0500 (EST) From: "I'll be here, I'll be ecto..." Subject: Re: Ein April Klaus :) Meredith commented: >It's awful, though- I really can't watch anything that has Mary Steenburgen in >it, because the entire time I'm just going, "Wow, does she ever look like Kate >Bush!" and not paying any attention to what's going on in that particular >scene. It's quite sad, really... You too, huh? :) I think "Parenthood" was the first movie that I saw that I realized just HOW MUCH she looks like Kate. Jenn thinks she looks like Kate too, but of course, everyone's milage may vary. :) >I'm trying to keep a tally of the people who love _FtE_ who also like _Touch_ >better than _Solace_, as well as of those who love _Solace_ but don't really >like _FtE_. I'm noticing that the people who really really like _Solace_ >aren't at all impressed by _FtE_, and the people who really really like _FtE_ >aren't all that impressed by _Solace_, like me. Interesting. Well, I don't have _Touch_, but I do have _Solace_ and _FtE_. We got _Solace_ first and loved it from the start. When _FtE_ was available here, we grabbed it and loved IT from the start. I guess if I had to choose, I'd say _FtE_ is my favorite, though I listen to them both a lot. I've still got to fine _Touch_. It's still available, right? I'm still waiting to get the corrected Happy cards. It should be another day or two... John ======================================================================== From: "Bradley N. Hutchinson" Subject: poetry assignment Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 11:38:15 EDT Well, every year I end my poetry unby having my students bring in the lyrics of one of their {favrite song, a copy of the song on tape and a paper explicaing the lyrics. Its a highlight (at least for me since I get to hear music I'd usually skip--last year I found myse enjoying a song by ETALLICA) Anyway, I always do a song for them first and they either ask where they can get music by X or they giggle at how silly the musc I like is. I converted several to Kte last year. This ear I'm stuck. There's so many to choose from!!! What do you folks think I should use? Remember this is for 8th grade so Icicle is out o fboSuggestions?? brad -- bhutchin@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu There's some real people in the world and some who are pretend. --Robyn Hitchcock ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 11:31:26 PDT From: kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis) Subject: Arson Garden's new one Hi, Well, I will definitely post a more serious review after the weekend when I intend to spend time with my CD collection (which has grown dramatically this last week-hate those clearance sales ;-)), but yesterday I picked up 'THE BELLE STOMP' by Arson Garden. An intro to this wonderful band may be found in some old digests. Their new album is very good, keeping up the tradition set by 'Under Towers' and 'Wisteria'. I have only listened to it one and a half times (one browse and one full listen) so I cannot give a song by song review. I just want to say that it is a lot more diverse than their previous albums. There are a couple of acoustic songs, one mini blues experimentation, and lots of powerful melodies and rhythms. The last track is also a bonus with not one but two hidden tracks (one a grungy instrumental and one a rather silly IMHO la la la singalong which becomes a looped laugh towards the end). No lyrics are included , which makes it tough to grasp the songs (for me) but the package with the clear disc tray and the very nice band photos is definitely good. Does anyone know why the thank John Mellencamp? Angelos ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 08 Apr 1994 14:24:58 -0500 (EST) From: Sam Warren Subject: Re: poetry assignment >Well, every year I end my poetry unby having my students bring >in the lyrics of one of their {favrite song, a copy of the song... >Anyway, I always do a song for them first and they either ask... >This ear I'm stuck. There's so many to choose from!!! What do >you folks think I should use? Remember this is for 8th grade >so Icicle is out o fboSuggestions?? I find myself particularly drawn to the wonderfully descriptive lyrics of Bjork. "Human Behaviour," "Big Time Sensuality," and "Violently Happy" are good examples. But even better, in my opinion, is one from the upcoming album. It's called "If You Complain Once More." But then again, this is ecto, after all. So how about "Wretches Gone Awry," or "Mother Sea"? Or maybe "Words Weren't Meant For Cowards," or "Be Careful What You Say". Those are some of my favorites, anyway. -Sam ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 13:23:45 CDT From: Subject: Milla finds her metier and other stories I find it interesting and gratifying that the Milla Jovovich album has been so well received in these pages. Seems she's finally found something she's good at. When she first came to these shores, her main claim to fame was as the Next Big Thing in preadolescent supermodels, before Kate Moss made such a body type trendy among adult models. As far as I know, all or most of her films have been panned; I'm surprised everyone forgot her latest one, the exact title of which escapes me, in which she plays Christian Slater's SO. I assume Meredith's comments about the sock thing were tongue in cheek. Taken at face value, they come across, to borrow a phrase from Maryse Holder, as be- ing rather grubadick :-). If nothing else, MJM should feel reassured that he's not the only one of us to inadvertently leave the smiley out recently :-). Not quite so grubadick, but still up there: An independent TV station here has been doing commercials for _I Dream of Jeannie_ which feature a Suzanne Vega soundalike doing a knockoff of DNA's semi-cover of "Tom's Diner," with lyrics revised appropriately to promote the show in question. WRT the quote from Tori about oven chicken in someone's .sig: should this culminate in the Next Big Thing in celebrity fast food, in the noble tradition of Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips, should this be celebrated as evidence that she's finally on the mass culture map, or lamented as evidence that the commer- cial machine has no scruples about whose name and likeness it misappropriates? Condolences to Dave. Mitch ======================================================================== Subject: Re: Arson Garden's new one Date: Fri, 08 Apr 94 14:53:50 -0400 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu Angelos...thanks for the mini-review of the new album. Another one for the list... >Does anyone know why the thank John Mellencamp? Not specifically, but in a lot of ways, Mellencamp *is* the Bloomington music scene, at least outside of Indiana University. He lives just east of the town (used to drive past his compound all the time). I can think of all sorts of reasons he might get mention... Jeff ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 12:35:22 PDT From: Neal Copperman Subject: Re: Penguin Cafe Orchestra Just wanted to throw another vote the Penguin Cafe's way. The only two I have are the two Vickie mentioned. I'm more partial to Broadcasting From Home, but love Signs of Life too. I keep thinking I should get more. IT's really fantastic music, and the cover art is wonderful! (Patrick Street covers Music for a Found Harmonium on one of there Green Linnet discs, but it's much less interesting.) Neal ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 13:03:50 PDT From: kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis) Subject: :( Just heard on the radio about Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. He shot himself. I am *REALLY* saddened. I will miss him and his music. Angelos 'I hurt myself today to see if I still feel I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real' - NIN (PS. Ironically TDS seems like the soundtrack to Kurt's last year :( ) ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 13:33:14 -0700 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: another tragic end Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle-area home today. He had killed himself with a shotgun sometime yesterday. Kurt's mother said he had been missing for 6 days, and "now he's gone and joined that stupid (dead rock star) club." RIP ----- Michael Peskura -- University of Washington -- Seattle USA ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 16:38:55 EDT From: justin@campion.crim.ca (Justin Bur) Subject: Rose Chronicles and Tribe Meredith says: . (If you know what Rose Chronicles sound like, then you > know what I'm talking about... if not, um... help! :}) last time I played a Rose Chronicles song, Liz thought I was playing Tribe. Tribe? A group that Greg knows about. But I tried listening to a couple of *their* songs and yes, Rose Chronicles (at least the debut EP) sounds an awful lot like Tribe. (Greg can now explain what Tribe sounds like...) justin ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 16:45:29 -0400 (EDT) From: "Robert P. Keefer" Subject: Sheryl Crow in the Phildelphia Inquirer \Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, April 7, 1994, E1,E4.\ [Headline;] The Road Calls, & she answers. [Sub-Headline] Singer Sheryl Crow followed it to L.A. to chance a career. Now, it's carrying her from city to city on tour, with a stop here Saturday at the Tower to open for Crowed House. [Sub-Headline, E4] The road keeps drawing singer Sheryl Crow onward. [Picture E1, in color(!): Crow in cut-off denim shorts, midriff baring t-shirt, leather-fringe jacket and devilish smile, holding an electric guitar; Caption:] Sheryl Crow's first album, -Tuesday Night Music Club,- includes the song "Leaving Las Vegas." By Ann Kolson, Inquirer Staff Writer. Boston -- You could say that Sheryl Crow's career has devolved. Her first time out on the road, singing backup on Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour in 1988, it was first-class airline seats and luxury hotels around the globe. A few weeks back, she was traveling the States doing promo for her catchy first album, -Tuesday Night Music Club,- in a van towing a U-Haul. "I started out touring by plane, then by bus, then worked my way down to van and U-Haul," Crow says happily. "We're back in the Holiday Inn/U-Haul world." Crow, her band and crew, a grand total of nine -- 10 if you count her big dog, Scout -- are "all in it together. We're staying in the same hotels. We're riding on the same bus. It's probably the nicest time I'll have in my career." Crow, 32, lives life on the road now. Fronting her own four-man band, she's in the midst of a tour that brings her to the Tower Theater on Saturday, Opening for Crowded House. The native of Kennett, Mo., a tiny town an hour from Memphis, sublet her Los Angles apartment before leaving. "But that's where most of my clothes are, so I call that home right now," says Crow, here at the Holiday Inn -- where else? -- running late, cramming an interview in between schmoozing with local radio people and a record-store appearance. She is small and thin, pretty, with blue eyes and long, ginger-colored hair. She wears worn boots, jeans and an old, fringed-leather jacket over a filmy paisley blouse. There are four tiny gold hoops in her left ear. "I love being on the road. I feel much more comfortable here than when I'm sitting at home," she says. No wonder -Tuesday Night Music Club- is filled with such restless energy. In her throaty, bluesy voice, Crow spins stories of love captured and lost: "We Do What We Can," "Can't Cry Anymore," "No One Said It Would Be Easy," "Run, Baby, Run." It wasn't until she began talking about her work that Crow saw the common thread. "I realized if I let some therapist get a hold of the album, they'd tell me I'm one of those people who moves every time someone gets close," says Crow with a wry smile and a subtle twang. "And I guess in some ways, it's probably true. It may be an underlying theme. I do find I write about characters who are strong in nature, but they don't sit still very long." "Leaving Las Vegas" is an irresistibly compelling tune with a strong beat, about a woman moving on. Not without humor ("I'm standing in the desert/Waiting for my ship to come in," Crow sings), this standout song's video features sky-diving Elvises and leggy, befeathered showgirls strutting down an empty two-lane desert highway. Crow calls "Strong Enough" her favorite cut on -Music Club-. It embodies the paradox of the thoroughly modern woman: "Are you strong enough to be my man?" the singer demands, and in the next breath implores, "Lie to me/I promise I'll believe/Lie to me/But please don't leave." As vivid as a short story, "All I Wanna Do," (chorus: "All I wanna do is have some fun/I got a feeling I'm not the only one"), is filled with finely observed detail. Sitting on a barstool at noontime, sipping a beer, she looks out the window and sees "The good people of the world are washing their cars/On their lunch break, hosing and scrubbing/As best they can in skirts and suits." Less than 10 years ago, Crow was engaged to be married and teaching music to grade-schoolers in Missouri. She'd long been writing songs and had sung with bands around St. Louis. But she wanted more. She broke her engagement, finished out her school contract, then packed up and moved to Los Angeles to try to penetrate the pop-music business. She looked in the newspaper for an apartment to share. "One girl was schizophrenic, the other was gay," Crow says of her first roommates. "I'd never been around a gay person, let alone a schizophrenic person. It was just a very bizarre time in my life. When I first got there, it was really overwhelming because I didn't know anybody." For her first six months, she waitressed and shopped tapes of her music. She did some backup singing. "L.A. is an intimidating place because there are a million people just like me trying to make it," Crow says. Then, improbably, she landed a job on Jackson's world tour. "I think I'm walking testimony to the fact that you can pursue your dreams, if you just go and try," she says. She heard about the tour, but also heard that singers couldn't even audition without being recommended. She didn't know anyone to recommend her, but showed up anyway, figuring, "What's the worst thing that could happen? The could scold me, but they certainly can't assassinate me. They can't incur bodily harm. And I got it!" Crow went on to do session work with a roster of pop artists including George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Rod Steward, Stevie Wonder and Don Henley. It paid the bills, but, she learned, but [sic] it did not come without a price. "It's so visual, so visible," Crow says. "They make you wear tight black dresses and do choreography." Plus, she says, it prevented her from being taken seriously as a solo artist. Now, people ask her if she'll ever use backup singers in her own act. "It's just not my style," she says. "It takes it to another place, to a weirder place. It adds that element of glitz, and it's to -not- what my music is about..." Crow pauses as if visualizing herself onstage in front of three gyrating singers. "Unless they were men," she jokes. To lose her backup-singer image, Crow dropped out of the scene for a few years. She kept writing music, she "starved." Eventually, a producer she'd worked with took her tapes to A&M Records "and they signed me," Crow says. They called the next day. "That was it, no big feeding frenzy." -Tuesday Night Music Club- happened in almost the same haphazard way. She was invited to jam with a group of California musicians who called themselves the Tuesday Night Music Club and who gathered at the Pasadena studio of producer Bill Bottrell. Bottrell has worked with Madonna, Tom Petty, the Traveling Wilburys and David Baerwald, another TNMC member who contributed to Crow's new album. "Never in my history of being in L.A. had I ever found a community of musicians that were open to sharing ideas. L.A. isn't like that -- it's so competitive out there. Everybody's very protective of their ideas," Crow says, marveling at being asked into this boy's club. "We were all getting together to party and laugh and cut up. But we also had the intent of writing a song collaboratively, and to record it before the end of the evening. The first time I was there, we wrote 'Leaving Las Vegas.'" Not bad for a night's work. She asked the club members to be on her album, and it was created mostly at Bottrell's home studio. "It was nice, very spontaneous, late '60's in its feel. A noncorporate, free-wheeling, natural way to make a record," Crow says. A three-year relationship recently ended. And when her current tour is over, maybe by summer's end, Crow isn't even sure where she will live. She thinks about buying a small house and some land, maybe in upstate New York, where she could keep a horse. During her twenties, she says, she did a lot of tortured soul-searching. Now, "things aren't so life-and-death. You sort of get your sense of humor back," she says. "At this point in my life I'm a lot more peaceful about who I am and what my drive is than I used to be." [Box] For More Information Sheryl Crow will open for Crowded House at 8:00 p.m. Saturday at the Tower Theater, 69th and Ludlow Streets, Upper Darby. Tickets are $15.50. Information: 610-352-0313. ---- 30 ---- ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 8 Apr 1994 13:58:57 -0700 (PDT) From: David Dixon Subject: Some week... First my grandma dies, now Kurt Cobain shoots himself. This week sucks. ======================================================================== From: Ethan_Straffin@next.com (Ethan Straffin) Date: Fri, 8 Apr 94 14:40:19 -0700 Subject: Re: Some week... D^2 writes: > First my grandma dies, now Kurt Cobain shoots himself. This week sucks. Dammit, and there's some nasty vibe going around my company today that nobody can explain and nobody likes, and all we can do is find togetherness in bitching about it. Must be something in the air, I guess. Can we all just be glad it's Friday? Truly sorry about your grandmother, David. Let's hope next week is happy and fuzzy and blue in a good kinda way. Ethan ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)