22-Dec-91 7:09:21-GMT,15821;000000000401 Received: from athos.rutgers.edu by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA25112; Sun, 22 Dec 91 01:55:51 EST Received: by athos.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA12184; Sun, 22 Dec 91 01:55:46 EST Date: Sun, 22 Dec 91 01:55:46 EST Message-Id: <9112220655.AA12184@athos.rutgers.edu> Errors-To: owner-ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu From: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@athos.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #90 ecto, Number 90 Sunday, 22 December 1991 Today's Topics: *-----------------* WXPN interview Best wishes ode Au Revoir... Happy's range ooooooooooooh!!! ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 20 Dec 91 11:23:21 MST From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks) Subject: WXPN interview Greetings, Since many of you will soon be getting the interview, I felt I had better post the corrected version of my transcript, before you point out all of my mistakes. ---- Interview on the World Cafe in Philadelphia PA on Tuesday, November 12, 1991 David Dye: David Dye on the World Cafe. We're going to do something kind of unusual now through the magic that _is_ radio. We're hooked up with Happy Rhodes who is in her home area studio near Albany, New York, and we've arranged to have a performance of some of the works from her latest album _Warpaint_. Hi, Happy. How are you? Happy: Hi. Just fine. DD: Now those of you who are not familiar with Happy Rhodes. We here in Philadelphia have been playing a lot of things from her latest album _Warpaint_, that have gotten just enormous response from listeners, and this is ... your record is on a tiny label which is sort of just yours and Kevin Bartlett's, who's your producer? HR: Correct. We're co-producers, and the label's actually Kevin's. I have nothing to do with it. DD: Huh-huh. HR: He started it quite a while ago to release his own music on, and he stumbled upon me and my music, and suggested that I try going the same route. DD: But you've been recording for quite a while. _Warpaint_ is certainly not your first record. HR: Correct. I've got four releases prior to _Warpaint_. DD: Well, we're sort of talking about this music that perhaps some of the people listening to the World Cafe haven't had a chance to hear yet. I'd love it if you'd be able to do a version of some of the songs from _Warpaint_. "Feed the Fire" is one that really has captured the imagination of the people here in Philadelphia, and the ears of them. What, Is there a story behind that song? HR: Behind "Feed the Fire"? DD: Yeah. HR: Actually, I think it was just a desire to give back to all the artists in the world what they had given me throughout the years. I had grown up listening to artists like Queen, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Yes, Sting, all these people, and they affected me very deeply, and inspired me greatly, and I wanted to, in some small way, give something back, and let everyone know that all artists are not on their own. They're all inspired by somebody who came before them, and to remember them, basically. DD: That's a great explanation of the song, because when you mentioned those other artists as there's something of their feel and sound in the song that really comes through. Well, how are you going to be performing today? HR: Today, we've got a trio. Myself on acoustic guitar and vocals. Kevin Bartlett will be on keyboards, and we have Ray Jung playing bass, and also on one song that you're going to hear today, we're going to have Mitch Elrod guest vocalizing. DD: Okay! Why don't we do "Feed the Fire" first? HR: Great! [Happy and crew perform "Feed the Fire". The basics and feel of the song are the same as the album version. However, the musical background and vocal details are quite different, above and beyond the obvious lack of Happy's not harmonizing with herself. Happy's vocals are playful at the end and she drops a word or two. The live performance is flawless!] DD: Happy Rhodes live from her home studio here on the World Cafe with a version of "Feed the Fire" or "Back to the Trees" as people here in Philadelphia are referring to it. (Both chuckle). Great song. Now I understand that you're set up and prepared to do another tune from the current record. HR: Huh-huh. We're going to be doing "Words Weren't Made for Cowards". DD: Do you want to say a little something about this one? HR: Well, this song is really funny. A lot of people that I know personally have contacted me and said, "Is this song about me? I know it's about me!" (DD chuckles), and it really wasn't intended for any specific person in my life. But, I think we all have to deal with people who live their lives with a facade, who don't really say what they mean. Everybody's basically in a lot of situations afraid to say what they mean, and so I find that we all mis-communicate on some grand level. It never really gets broken down to the basic fact, and it's something that annoys me a lot. It's something that I feel alienates me from a lot of people is the fact that they can't be honest in all situations, and I feel like I'm the type of person that really kinda needs that. So that's basically what that song's about. DD: Great. Let's hear it. [Happy and Co play "Words Weren't Made for Cowards". The comments for "Feed the Fire" apply equally well here. Mitch Elrod backs up Happy during the choruses.] DD: Happy Rhodes is our guest today on the World Cafe through the magic of radio, she's in her studio up near Albany, New York, where she's... I guess you've been rehearsing this band or getting people together to play out live. HR: Yeah. Actually the only rehearsal that's taken place has been with our bassist Ray Jung. Full rehearsal won't start obviously until we've completed the band and that just hasn't happened yet. We're close but not there. DD: Now, I have never heard anything from your earlier records. They were much more acoustic sounding than your current release _Warpaint_? HR: Absolutely. Right now, I'm probably categorized mostly as 'alternative listening'. DD: Right. HR: Whereas the past four tapes would probably be categorized as 'folk', because of the orchestration. DD: Isn't that strange? Huh? ... HR: I've always found that to be strange. DD: ... how the orchestration sort of says what you do. That's interesting. Do you want to... Have you been working any of the older material into the new context now. HR: Absolutely. I got a large group of ... I've got this 'network' of fans who are very, very familiar with the past four releases, and I think they'd be missing a lot, if I didn't include that into a live show, so we're choosing, I'm picking about five or six songs from each old release, and working them up in new versions. DD: Have the songs changed a lot for you? HR: Well, certainly the meanings have changed for me, because I've grown a lot since then. I think that happens to everyone. Sonically, they will be changing quite a lot, because having a full band behind me is going to allow me to actualize them much closer to what I originally wanted. (Pause) See, that's the problem with the past four releases. The music is there, the content is there, and I'm proud of that, but in terms of the way it was executed, it never met up to my standards, because it was only me. I didn't have anybody helping me out at the time. So now that I've got a band behind me, it's much more to my liking, it's much more gratifying to me to perform that music. DD: When you were talking about doing the song called "Giving In", which is... How was that originally done? Just you and guitar. HR: Right. Just me on guitar with vocal overdubs. And it's actually "given" G-I-V-E-N. Okay? DD: Gotcha. HR: Okay! DD: Alright. Well, let's hear it. [Happy and band play "Given In". This version is notably slower paced than the album version, and Kevin and Ray fill in a lot of background, much like her _Warpaint_ songs, though Happy's acoustic guitar is more prominent. Again Happy makes minor changes to her vocal phrasing. Again fantastic!] DD: Happy Rhodes and band in a special performance here for the World Cafe. Happy, we definitely would not have been able to get the kind of sound that you've gotten today here in our (chuckles) threadbare studios at the World Cafe, but we really appreciate you hooking this up, and being able to do this live today. HR: It was a great pleasure, believe me. DD: Well, great. Look for Happy's records, which are on Aural Gratification Records. Great name, and _Warpaint_ is now available on CD. And the other tapes are all still available now, too? HR: Sure they are. Yup! DD: Great. Look for them in your local alternative record store, I guess. Thanks again, Happy. HR: Thank you, too. ---- Doug Burks _O_ dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu |< She really is!! ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 20 Dec 91 11:29:00 MST From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks) Subject: Best wishes Greetings, Well, off I go for my winter vacation. Before I leave, I wish everyone 'Seasons Greetings' (That's nicely vague and secular) ... [any non-Christians should go on to the next message...] ... and a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! [any leftover non-Christians should *really* go on to the next message...] ... and spare a moment on Christmas Day to reflect on what this overly secularized holy-day really means. Doug Burks _O_ dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu |< She really is!! ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 19 Dec 91 15:41:00 GMT From: S.A..Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.fidonet.org (S.A. Ezust) Subject: ode Date: Thu Dec 19 15:42:03 1991 GMT+2 My god this stuff is great. Happy's more addicting than cigarettes, I think. I made up a tape of my fave tracks from her first 4 tapes, and I've been listening to it over and over again. In case you're curious, here is the track listing: Perfect Irony / For We Believe / I'm A Legend / Rainkeeper / Friend You'll Be / Crystal Orbs / Would that I could / If So / Ode / Let Me Know, Love / Come Here / One Alien. Half of these songs make my eyes water whenever I hear them. I can safely say that I haven't fallen so madly in love with a collection of music in my entire life. But the song that has hit me the hardest is _Ode_; I hear it when I am drifting off to sleep, and the wonderful etherial cocteau-twinsish guitar riff just swishes around with the high Happy voice making long vowel sounds and chanting "the sun will come up again", and then when Happy finally comes in to sing the main lyrics, it always surprises me, and I am jolted out of my hypnotic state to hear her piercing lyrics. It is just a wonderful piece of music to listen to when you've recently lost a love; it just fits, that's all I can say. I can listen to it over and over again. Sometimes I hear it in my brain when I'm not even near my stereo... Strangely, it reminds me of Cocteau Twins Victorialand album, by the way it just swishes around, not rushing towards any particular goal; it just flows. Anyone else observe this? _If So_ is an interesting track too; for some reason it reminds me of _Small Blue Thing_ by Suzanne Vega... Is anyone else on this list familiar with that song? I think it's the best thing Vega's ever done, but that's just my humble opinion.... Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.fidonet.org University of Zimbabwe, Harare Engineering CAL Project --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My e-mail address from January 4 to February 11: sae@cmpsci.suffolk.edu -- INTERNET: S.A..Ezust@p38.f1.n721.z5.fidonet.org ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 20 Dec 91 12:17:10 GMT From: I Muse Aloud Subject: Au Revoir... I think I got the spelling right... Anyway, I am off for Christmas now, beyond the reach of The Net - but I'm taking my Happy stuff along with me for company, so I'm still in Ecto :) So, I'd like to wish you all a warm fuzzy blue Christmas! I'll be back around 29th, because Court is coming to visit on 30th, and there is a New Year's Eve party that I just *can't* miss! Vickie, I really, *really* hope that my HGP tape made it to you - I posted it on 11th December, and your deadline message didn't reach me until about 2 days after you posted it... See ya later, everyone! Stephen ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 10:52:05 CST From: vishal@ra.csc.ti.com (Vishal Markandey) Subject: Happy's range This may be a stupid question - did Happy process her voice for any of the tracks on "Warpaint" ? I never thought of it myself, but yesterday I played several songs for a friend and he expressed surprise that she could sing as low as in 'Warpaint' and as high as in 'Lay me down', and wanted to know if her voice had been processed, or does she just have an incredible range ? Happy Holidays all! - Vish ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 17:01:07 EST From: jessica@cs.rutgers.edu Subject: ooooooooooooh!!! _____________________________________________________ / . . . . * . . . . . . . /| / Season's . . X~X . . Happy Holidays 1991! . / | / . Greetings! . X~0~X . . . . . . . / | / . . . XX~~()~XX . . . . Have .. / | / . . . . XX~~$~~*~~~XX . . a . . / | / . . XX~~~()~~+~~@~~XX . . Good . / | / . To. . . XXX~~#~()~XXX . . New . . / | / .Ecto. . XXX~~~0~~*~~XXX . Year! . . / :) | / . . . XXX~~()~~+~~~&~~XXX . . . . / | / . . XXX~#~~&~~~()~~~~0~~XXX . . / :) :) | / . . XXX~~~0~~()~~%~~+~~*~~()~~XXX . . / | / . . . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX~~~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX . / From | / . . . . . . | | . . . . / jessica | /============================|___|==================/_____________| /___________________________________________________/ (original ascii art by brian kendig) Speaking of christmas cards, I got mine from H&K today, it's great!! jessica ======================================================================== To join ecto, please send electronic mail to the following address: ecto-request@athos.rutgers.edu To have your thoughts included in the next issue, send mail to: ecto@athos.rutgers.edu To subscribe to "Ecto", the printed fanzine, send $8 to: Ecto PO Box 11291 New Brunswick, NJ 08906 Ecto is issued 8 times/year, and will include photos and as much material from non-net members as we can get! Donations above the subscription cost are welcomed - all money goes to bringing you better issues! Your "humble pseudo-moderator" -- jessica (jessica@athos.rutgers.edu)