30-Dec-91 18:58:46-GMT,19131;000000000401 Received: from athos.rutgers.edu by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA09977; Mon, 30 Dec 91 13:37:08 EST Received: by athos.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.4/3.08) id AA19538; Mon, 30 Dec 91 13:37:05 EST Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 13:37:05 EST Message-Id: <9112301837.AA19538@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 #95 ecto, Number 95 Monday, 30 December 1991 Today's Topics: *-----------------* a test, HGP, whatever ectopolis Noirin Ni Riain holidays and stuff ectopolis We could probably use one of these... It was terribly simple, once I finally thought of it... ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 29 Dec 91 17:49:16 PST From: stevev@grayback.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) Subject: a test, HGP, whatever I'm testing mail on this new machine. Don't change my address or anything yet. Vickie, your update on the HGP sounds great. I can hardly wait to find out what Happy will say when she receives it. I was also surprised to see that Martin Dougiamas also picked a Thomas Dolby song; I hope Happy likes Thomas Dolby. ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 29 Dec 91 21:39:54 EST From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu Subject: ectopolis back from part one of the vacation - spent six days with my parents in upstate new york (binghamton, not albany...). a good time was had by all, but there is still *no* snow there. and there's no snow in jersey either for that matter. grrrr. anyways... found an ad for that solstice concert that mitch heard and i missed and dmb asked about. the other performers included the dmitri pokrovsky singers (a male chorus from russia) and, from ireland, noirin ni riain. i did catch a few seconds of the russian singers on the radio while driving across the waste of newark (and they were quite interesting too, i might add), but i missed the contributions made by the irish group. for that matter, has any- one heard of that irish group? which songs would i absolutely need to hear if performed live? "possessed", "number one" and "would that i could". and then i would be, er ah, happy. vickie: the albany magazine that you mentioned, buzz, is a local-only mag, *but* it does get mailed to many radio stations in, at the very least, the northeast. so there will be exposure in more places than just the albany area. i haven't seen that arson garden ep either and i have been looking high and low for it. vickie, please see if they have any new releases available at the show you go to see and let greg, jeff and me know if there is! thanks! religious experiences: other than the double whammie of susanne vega's "the queen and the soldier" followed by KaTe's "hello earth" on a cloudy autumn afternoon in the fall of 1985 on binghamton's local college station (my intro- duction to both artists), the only other religious experience i have had is also musical in nature. one winter morning two years ago, i was walking down a wooded path from my apartment to my morning classes. i was listening to _blue bell knoll_ and just as the path emerged from the woods, the sun rose above the ring of clouds at the horizon. at that precise instant, "carolyn's fingers" began. and everything clicked. wow. that song is so sad and so powerful. and it took me a year of listening to realize it. new years: heh. i'll be enjoying the cacophonous sounds of mudhoney and the lyres at maxwell's in hoboken on the eve. and i'll be flying to florida on the morn. yip! -- woj@remus.rutgers.edu - the distance between though and action is inhibition ======================================================================== Date: Sun, 29 Dec 91 23:36:51 CST From: (Jeff "Chip" Lueck) Subject: RE:ectopolis >male chorus from russia) and, from ireland, noirin ni riain. i did catch a >few seconds of the russian singers on the radio while driving across the >waste of newark (and they were quite interesting too, i might add), but i >missed the contributions made by the irish group. for that matter, has any- >one heard of that irish group? Noirin Ni Riain! She has a lovely voice! She sings mainly Irish traditional songs (many religious). I have a few of her tapes. She doesn't belong to a "group" that I know of, but she has done a lot of performances with the monks of Glenstal. I wrote Noirin a letter this summer because my neighbor (who was her husband's professor at University College Cork [ireland]) let me borrow a tape of hers and I wanted more. She sent me back a nice letter with a tape. Later the monks (from Glenstal) sent me three more tapes for "my research purposes". In Noirin's letter she mentioned that she was going to be performing in New York. I guess this is what she meant. An interesting note about Noirin: One day my neighbor was visiting me and I was playing Kate's "My Lagan Love" and "The Handsome Cabin Boy". He said that he never heard Noirin perform that before. I told him it was Kate Bush and he was surprised. In my opinion, Noirin's voice is a cross between Kate's, Enya's and Happy's. What do you think, Vickie? The music she performs is much different, however, since it is almost all traditional Irish music. In fact much of it is in Gaelic like Enya's but with more traditional instruments (organ, woodwinds, etc. - no synths). Was Noirin on the radio too? It would be neat if she got some exposure here. I asked her in my letter if she'd mind if I spread the word about her electronically. She thought it was neat. I just never got around to writing something up about her. I was so surprised to see her name HERE IN ECTO! If anyone wants more information about her or where to get tapes, let me know. I'll email and/or post the information. Oh by the way, does anyone remember a while back when Vickie posted about the inmate who heard her show when she played the Irish tune and then wrote her a neat letter? It was Noirin he was responding to. Jeff "Chip" Lueck Northwestern University chip-l@nwu.edu HRA-Training Division or jlueck@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (708) 467-1897 ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 00:05:46 -0500 From: gb10@gte.com (Gregory Bossert) Subject: Noirin Ni Riain Chip or Vickie or whoever: more about Noirin, if you please... what's available? where do i write? etc? etc? footah! -greg -- gb10@gte.com -- i just listened to all my enya and clannad, i need more!!!! :) ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 00:16:35 EST From: jessica@cs.rutgers.edu Subject: holidays and stuff Well, i mostly stayed home, spent time with my husband (don't usually get to spend so much!!!), and relaxed and played games! Starting tomorrow, I try to be more serious again. (or start, period. :) (except of course, new years eve, we'll be having a small party (anyone who can get here is welcome to come!) and going into town (princeton) for the fireworks -- they have *great* fireworks and it's a lot of fun. The people are neat and the cops are friendly and don't get in the way of us doing silly things like lighting the strings of helium balloons (we'd use hydrogen but they *would* mind) on fire and then letting them go.. *float*float*float*BANG*! kinda silly. but fun. so, that's the holidays part, the stuff part is: an update to my description - i no longer have long blonde hair with a blue streak. I now have long solid brown hair. a medium warm chocolately color, mostly. In a few days, i'll be putting the blue streak back in, but leaving it mostly brown. I expect it may last most of the winter. Seems to be a pattern - in cold weather i have dark hair (black, last winter) and in summer, blonde. But this time, i may do red, for the spring. Of course, if i get hired into a full-time, real "line" position here at rutgers, it'll be *all* blue. (my boss wants to see it all blue, i told him, when i get a real job, as i currently work 40 hours but don't get benefits and am not considered a real employee.) and that could happen (we hope, and pray, etc..) at any unexpected moment. :) in the meantime, my hair is brown, and i'm back to work, but it was quite a nice holiday, i hope everyone had a good one! jessica ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 00:41:41 PST From: barry@gnu.ai.mit.edu Hey jessica, just curious, what is your natural hair color anyway? :) With all these changes, I forgot what it's natural color was! :) Barry ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:40:34 EST From: David N. Blank-Edelman Subject: ectopolis > the other performers included the dmitri pokrovsky singers (a male > chorus from russia) I'm not suprised to see this group in this setting. Paul Winter did an album (the first joint Western/USSR (RIP) venture) with them called Earthbeat. It's not bad. They also have a solo album out on Gabriel's Realworld label. Peace, dNb ======================================================================== Date: Mon, 30 Dec 91 10:08:34 CST From: (Jeff "Chip" Lueck) Subject: RE:Noirin Ni Riain >Chip or Vickie or whoever: >more about Noirin, if you please... what's available? where do i write? >etc? etc? Glenstal Abbey Murroe, County Limmerick IRELAND Telephone (061) 386103 Unfortunately I do not have price information. They sent me the tapes but no price information (you see, when I wrote Noirin I asked for price information, etc., but it took her a long time to respond. When she did, she felt sorry for the delay and sent me a free tape to compensate and forwarded my request to the monks who also sent me tapes. I think it helps when you're friends with her friends :)). I've been wanting to send some money to them in appreciation, but as usual I have been lazy. If anyone calls and gets prices, please post them. The titles of the albums they sent me are: Vox De Nube Caoineadh na Maighdine Stor Amhran The letter I got with the tapes indicated that Vox De Nube is available on CD, but the others are only on cassette. Sorry I don't have more information. Jeff "Chip" Lueck Northwestern University chip-l@nwu.edu HRA-Training Division or jlueck@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (708) 467-1897 ======================================================================== Date: 30 December 1991 11:19:11 CST From: Subject: We could probably use one of these... The LP from which I got my HGP contribution, as fate would have it, also contains the following ode to a mythical plant which can supply the raw mater- ial for just about anything under the sun. I transcribed it as best I could, given the limitations of both the source disk (25 years of playing history), and my sound system (a high-end walkman, but a walkman nonetheless). Certain passages proved unintelligible, but maybe you'll get the idea anyway. Perhaps one day, a better sound system will enable the gaps to be filled in. For all that, it seems to me to fit in well with our (principally, my) continuing ruminations on new product development. --Mitch THE WOM POM Michael Flanders and Donald Swann You can do such a lot with a wom pom You can use every part of it, too For work or for pleasure It's a triumph, it's a treasure Oh there's nothing that a wom pom cannot do The thread from the coat of a wom pom Has the warmth and the resilience of wool You need never wash or brush it It's impossible to crush it It shimmers like the finest sort of tulle So our clothes are all made from the wom pom Model gowns, sportswear and [______] They are waterproof and plastic When it's needed they're elastic And they emphasize the figure as you see Hail to the blythe wom pom Hail to thee, O plant All-providing wom pom Universal aunt You can shave with the rind of the wom pom But it acts as a soap, as shampoo And a routine little dosis Keeps you free from halitosis Oh there's nothing that a wom pom cannot do Nothing that a wom pom cannot do Nothing that a wom pom cannot do Now the singular shell of a wom pom [_________________________________] No softer than [_________________] It will satisfy the [____________] And it's quite as light as aluminium So we make what we like from the wom pom And it proves very useful indeed From streets full of houses To the buttons on your trousers With a wom pom you have everything you need Gaudeamus wom pom Gladly we salute [______________] wom pom Philanthropic fruit Oh the thin outer leaf of a wom pom Makes the finest Havana cigar And the bottom simply bristles With unusual-looking thistles But we haven't yet discovered what they are You can do such a lot with a wom pom You can use every part of it, too For work or for pleasure It's a triumph, it's a treasure Oh there's nothing that a wom pom cannot do Oh the flesh in the heart of a wom pom Has the flavor of porterhouse steak And the juice is a liquor That will get you higher quicker And will still have next morning when you wake Wom pom, wom pom Let your voices ring Wom pom, wom pom Evermore we sing To record what is what in a wom pom Needs a book twice as big as Who's Who I could tell you more and more About this fascinating flora You can shape it, you can square it You can drape it, you can wear it You can ice it, you can dice it You can pare it, you can slice it Oh there's nothing that a wom pom cannot do Nothing that a wom pom cannot do Nothing that a wom pom cannot do (From the album, "At The Drop Of A Hat" (c. 1959), Angel Records LP 35797) ======================================================================== Date: 30 December 1991 11:52:50 CST From: Subject: It was terribly simple, once I finally thought of it... In one of my early product-design speculations, I spoke of the ideal sales agents for a number of our hypothetical wares, and mentioned that I had tried and failed to think of something that could be sold in cereal boxes, or by mail in exchange for a set number of box tops, or whatever. On the bus to the movies on Christmas Eve, it finally came to me. It all reminds me of something my mother told me decades ago, about the favorite catch phrase of her boss at the time. "It's terribly simple," the man used to say. In the movie _A Christmas Story_, there is a part of the plot where the little kid through whose eyes the story is told sends away for a Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring, or something to that effect, from the show's sponsor, Ovaltine. The thing finally came in the mail, and the kid eagerly transcribed and translated the coded message given at the end of that day's episode. It turned out that the message was an exhortation either to buy and consume Oval- tine, or to tune in future episodes of Little Orphan Annie. He felt utterly gypped. That particular outcome aside, it dawned on me that we could market, in conjunction with the marketing of one breakfast junk food or the other, the HAPPY RHODES DECODER RING. The exact details of this product still need to be worked out, needless to say. But in theory, it could somehow be used to unlock the answers to such existential questions as the meaning of "boomdidiwan a-didiwanahai-hai-hai-hai-sagaminitoo," whether it's really Latin or Japanese, what's really in the backup vocal we have come to know as "cobwebs, cobwebs..." and similar minutiae. I have yet to think of anything having to do with T-shirts; but I have thought of a warm-weather snack we could huckster this season in the southern hemisphere, and in six months or so in the northern. In the spirit of one of the running gags of the first season of the David Letterman show, we could take gourmet bread items, heat-treat them, skewer them on wooden dowels, freeze them, and unleash them on the unsuspecting public as WALKING TOAST ON A STICK. More mundanely, we could put our own spin on already popular automotive accessories, by simply adding some coloration, to create Fuzzy Blue dice and steering wheel covers. Last but least: years ago I hit on the idea of a self -heating pipe cleaner, which could be sold under the tradename Warm Fuzzies. Just dye them, and whaddya got? :-) Mitch Pravatiner for the Research and Development Directorate Ecto Heavy Industry ======================================================================== 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)