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 Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@athos.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #196 ecto, Number 196 Friday, 27 March 1992 Today's Topics: *-----------------* It's magic Birthdays, my friends Buzz article in full (long!) Trains Re: kate-talk.... Tori etc. Quickstuff The Philadelphia Inquirer article (Part 1) Tori Rhodes :) ======================================================================== Date: 27-MAR-1992 01:28:31.19 From: MTARR@eagle.wesleyan.edu Subject: It's magic Hi! Vickie, I've figured it out. Tori's a witch. She's put a spell on _Little Earthquakes_ that makes it impossible for some people to take it out of their machines once they've put it in. Those of us who are weak will never be able to break the spell, so we're doomed to listen to it and like it and have no clue why. This also explains the MTV hype...but he honest, wouldn't you rather see their new darling be Tori than Nirvana? Ideally it'd be Happy, but we take what we can get in this life. You exude sort of an earth-motherness, so that means you have some immunity from the spell...but not enough. Thus your schizoid reaction to her and the album: when you're feeling strong it drives you nuts, when you're weaker you fall under the spell and like it. I think this makes perfect sense... And I seem to have missed what you said that could have pissed Angelos off, so I'm going to remain blissfully ignorant. Speaking of reviews: Kevin called tonight to see if I knew what the hell is going on with the Wesleyan show, which I don't (it's a LONG story). Once we got past that and I managed to convince him this confusion has nothing to do with me and please don't hate me for it, he asked me how I liked Philly. I got to gush at him for a few minutes, then ask him if they had fun- he said they had a blast, and Happy was psyched with the whole thing. Then he asked me if I knew about the Billboard review (the excitement that crept into his voice at this point was really cute :), and I said yes and congratulated them. Then he told me about a band they were going to see at the QE2 later tonight (well, probably they're playing now) called Silence. He said he heard an interview and half a song of theirs on the radio this afternoon and he and Happy decided to check them out- apparently "Nirvana-esque" with female vocals but "a sudden King Crimson- Peter Hammil-ish twist". I'm interested... anybody out there ever hear of them? kIrI, I'd love any photo you have. Count me in. :) Also, I've been dropping Happy-references over on the GEnie net, and I've gotten some response, including a new Ectophile (hi Scott! :) and a note from one of the Sysops on the Kate topic saying something about some guy on another board I couldn't recognize had asked him for information on some Happy Rhodes person, "with an eye on doing something for her career". So he posted it waiting for me to see it and respond, I guess. Anybody out there know what RIME is? Is it part of GEnie, or some other net? I asked on the board, but I won't get an answer for a little bit, and I'm really wondering what this is all about. One last thing before I go to bed-- Vickie, you're right about record promoters. Talking to the "college radio support" guy at Arista was amusing and frightening at the same time. He obviously saw Sarah McLachlan as an object and means of making money, and he probably would have attempted to set up an interview at 3am if I hadn't said something about "Do you have sleep time planned for her too?" I asked myself afterwards if Happy could deal with that shit... but I think she'd give as good as she got and not stay where she couldn't call all the shots. Imagine it: the video for "Feed the Fire" shows on MTV... Happy Rhodes "Feed The Fire" Warpaint Aural Gratification/????? Records Now the speculation: what's the video like? :) +----------------------------------------------+ | Meredith A. Tarr | | +++ | | "Oh let me fly, give me something to show | | for my miserable life..." -Kate Bush | | +++ | | mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu | +----------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 15:15 CST From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: Birthdays, my friends Yep, EctoMa is back... Happy belated birthdays to all of you (except Valerie, who might just see this before the day is over) i*i*i*i*i*i *************** ***HAPPY******* ********BIRTHDAY!** i*i*i*i*i*i **** kIrI ********* *************** ****** Hargie ********* ***HAPPY******* *********************** ********BIRTHDAY!** March 13 **** Alan ********* ****** Sodoma ********* *********************** i*i*i*i*i*i March 18 *************** ***HAPPY******* ********BIRTHDAY!** i*i*i*i*i*i **** Barry ******** *************** ****** Wong *********** ***HAPPY******* *********************** ********BIRTHDAY!** March 19 **** Geoff ******** ****** Carre ********** *********************** i*i*i*i*i*i March 20 *************** ***HAPPY******* ********BIRTHDAY!** i*i*i*i*i*i **** Bob ********** *************** ****** Brown ********** ***HAPPY******* *********************** ********BIRTHDAY!** March 22 **** John Perry *** ****** Baker ********** *********************** i*i*i*i*i*i March 24 *************** ***HAPPY******* ********BIRTHDAY!** **** Varerie ****** ****** Nozick ********* *********************** March 25 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * New or changes made since last post Jeanne Schreiter Tue January 3 1967 Capricorn Greg Bossert Tue January 9 1962 OfTheTimes Terry Partis Sun January 22 1933 Rocker Sean Casey Thu January 25 1962 ICB Stephen Thomas Fri February 4 1966 Aquarius Gene Sady Tue February 7 1956 Aquarius Doug Burks Tue February 14 1956 Blank kIrI Hargie Fri March 13 1970 Pisces Alan Sodoma Thu March 18 1965 LuckyLurker Barry Wong Thu March 19 1970 Merlin Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham John Baker Tue March 24 1964 Berkeley Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Warpaint April 1 1991 Brilliant! * Klaus Kluge Sun April 10 1960 Widder Steve VanDevender Sun April 10 1966 Racer Art Liestman Fri April 10 1953 Repeat Stephen Golden Sat April 10 1971 Jokey Harry Foster Sat April 21 1956 NiceGuy Angelos Kyrlidis Fri April 22 1966 Taurus Jeff Burka Thu April 24 1969 GoFlyAKite Gray Abbott Tue May 3 1955 Suprised Mark Semich Thu May 6 1965 Yield Joe Dembski Wed May 7 1952 Rumple Brian Gregory Thu May 9 1963 Eclectic Steve Fagg Tue May 13 1958 Taurus Beth Perry Tue May 21 1957 Glad Perttu Yli-Krekola Thu June 2 1966 Kaksoset Albert Philipsen Mon June 17 1968 Gemini David Lubkin Fri June 20 1958 OurLady Courtney Dallas Fri July 9 1971 Cat Michael Peskura Sat July 9 1949 HallOfFamer Mitch Pravatiner Mon July 14 1952 Cancer Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer David Koehler July 25 Leo Tom Johnson Mon July 25 1966 Leo Rob Woiccak (woj) Sun July 28 1968 Leo John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Mark Carroll Fri July 29 1966 Hacker Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Happy Rhodes Mon August 9 1965 HolyGhost Vickie Mapes Wed August 15 1956 Giddy Martin Dougiamas Wed August 20 1969 Positive Dan Segel Tue August 31 1965 Virgo Jorn Barger Pez August 32 1953 Neon Meredith Tarr Wed September 1 1971 Virgo David Blank-Edelman Sat September 9 1967 Neon Chris Williams Tue September 20 1960 Neon 3-D Computer-generated Dan Riley Sun October 8 1961 Libra Brian Bloom Tue October 14 1969 Libra Dave Steiner Sat October 24 1959 Scorpio Jessica Dembski Wed October 29 1969 Scorpio Katie Dougiamas Mon November 4 1974 Scorpio Kevin Bartlett Fri November 21 1952 Scorpio Alan Ezust Fri November 21 1969 Homesick Claudia Spix Wed November 23 1960 Schuetze Justin Bur Fri November 27 1964 Sagittarius Chip Lueck Thu December 5 1968 Sagittarius Henry Kilmer Wed December 11 1968 CallMeHank Laura Clifford Tue December 17 1957 Sagittarius -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If anyone wants to be added to this list, or change their "sign" just e-mail me with the information...if you don't know what day you were born on, Klaus can figure it out if you give the year of birth. Thanks! If you've posted your birthday in Ecto in the last few weeks, I haven't fully caught up on past posts, so you might want to mail me directly with the info. Vickie katefans@chinet.chi.il.us ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 26 Mar 92 01:59 CST From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: Buzz article in full (long!) Ah, but not as long as the Philadelphia Inquirer article I'll be typing in... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buzz - March 1992 HAPPY TO PUT ON WARPAINT >From Albany to the world Many Albany bands play the bars, release something on a local label and eventually break up, fade from sight or get so entrenched in their niche that they never move beyond 'the scene.' Not singer/composer Happy Rhodes. Several years before the Albany crowd began embracing her work she developed an international following. Happy's ethererally high vocals have been compared to Kate Bush's through- out her nearly 10 year-long career. Her voice has an incredible four- octave range and travels the scales with amazing speed. Like Kate, Happy listens to her own rare muse and doesn't plan to bow to fashion trends or corporate pressures. Happy's name might not be as familiar as those of higher profile local bands, but she's garnered a group of admirers from around the world, partly through her connection to Kate's network of fans. Members of Kate Bush's fan club communicate through an electronic bulletin board, called a BBS, that they access with computers and modems. It was on Kate's BBS that a Kansas City DJ, Vickie Mapes, started a buzz about Happy two years ago. Rhodes soon received orders for her four cassettes of electronic/vocal compositions, which she and partner Kevin Bartlett had released on his homegrown label, Aural Gratification. Eventually, she says, fan club members complained that there was too much talk of Happy on the BBS. So Happy's fans organized their own club - called Ecto, after her fourth album - with a BBS and fanzine. Organized in 1991, the club now has more than 70 subscribers. Luck may also play a part in her success. Happy, 26, says she's gotten a lot of cross-country radio airplay with a minimum of marketing effort. Kevin promotes her work, somewhat, with radio execs and record stores. The word has spread to New Adult Contemporary (NAC) stations and public radio. "Feed The Fire," a song on her latest CD _Warpaint_ was Phila- delphia's most requested song of 1991. _Warpaint's_ thought-provoking songs have reached ears as far away as Alaska, Hawaii, Europe and Africa because the grassroots approach operates outside the mainstream. Happy likes the way it works. "It's much slower, but your integrity stays intact." she says. "We're still looking to major labels for pressing and distribution but it will take a while before we get any offers. (Record companies) want to see how much money we make on our own." They're doing very well so far. Happy's and Kevin's approach allows them to be two of an elite few: Albany musicians who make their living at their art, not at a desk. Nearly 6000 copies of the _Warpaint_ CD are in the hands of listeners, radio stations, retailers, regional distributors, etc. In addition to his more than 10 solo releases, Kevin supplements their income by composing music for commercials. His work includes an MTV Top 20 Countdown theme, a VH-1 ID, projects for "Sesame Street" and lots of local and national radio advertisements for firms such as Key Bank, Stuyvesant Plaza and Jiffy Lube. On _Warpaint_, Happy sings with a humanistic view of a society that she finds lacks humanism. It works because her songs are not didactic or necessarily politically correct; they're both introspective and extro- spective, presenting her own opinions and not de riguer liberal dogma. It wasn't always that way. "My first four albums make me cringe because they focus so much on my innards," she says. "With _Warpaint_, I was a lot more in tune with the things I want to help change, because everything around me influences me." "My main problem is that the human race doesn't see life as life, it sees life as humans. Other life is judged by its intelligence, and the only way you can figure out its intelligence is to compare it to your own. To me that's arrogant and unfair." _Warpaint_ is incredibly perceptive and thought-provoking, yet, Happy says, "Anybody can look at the world and see injustice. I want to make people think; I don't want to push people away by preaching at them. It's really easy to cross that line." _Warpaint_ succeeds because she never steps over that boundary, not even when discussing the emotional issue of animal abuse, as she does in the song "Murder." Warpaint is a multi-faceted work, arranged with many layers of sound. Happy, who's been writing songs since age 11, got into orchestrated music with bands like Genesis, Yes, Queen, and Peter Gabriel. She began playing open mike nights at clubs like Caffe Lena and (the former) 288 in the early 80's. She couldn't get the orchestrated sound she wanted from her acoustic guitar, so she got a keyboard and began to compose for electronic instruments. Happy and Kevin have collaborated on various projects since 1985, but they never produced an album together until _Warpaint_. Kevin listened to Happy's ideas and offered helpful suggestions for possible arrangements. The two worked together as Bartlett-Rhodes for a time, but the creative process proved to be problematic. "The music that we did was not solely representative of either one of us, it was a glob somewhere in the grey area," she says. She finds writing with another person to be nearly impossible because, "I've never had anybody else. When you go through life being alone musically and in every other way, you become very independent, and it's hard to incorporate someone else's creativity into your own." She says that Kevin, on the other hand, likes creating with others and has worked in several bands. With a full repertoire of material by age 16, Happy began recording at age 18 at Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer with engineer Pat Tessitore. He also engineered _Warpaint_. Those early sessions were later released on _Rhodes Vol. I_ and Rhodes Vol. II_, _Rearmament_ and _Ecto_. Happy will work with a live band for the first time during a Northeast tour beginning early this year. Appropriately, she's booked a date at an 800 seat theater in Philadelphia; she also plans to warm up with some local shows. The entourage will consist of locals Ray Jung on bass, Martha Waterman on keyboards and vocals, Mark Foster on drums and percussion, Kevin on guitar and keyboards, and Kelly Bird on backing vocals. Happy says she likes the one-on-one contact she gets with her fans during live shows, and working with a band should be easier than when she and Kevin carried the entire show by themselves. Besides, she says, "Singing with a tape loop is boring." The local market is finally waking up to _Warpaint_. Happy believes the orchestration makes her music more accessible than before, and the Cd format makes it easier for CDs to play. (Happy and Kevin plan to someday reissue her first four works on CD.) And now, she says, she has a certain amount of longevity in the area. Gee, it only took 10 years... Contacts: ECTO, PO Box 11291, New Brunswick, NJ 08906 Aural Gratification, PO Box 8658, Academy Station, Albany, NY 12208 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- btw, if anyone desperately wants a copy of this article (I mean, the actual magazine) I have extra copies (tons, actually...you'll hear all about it) and can accomodate you. Let me know. The only photo included is the cover of the Warpaint album. Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 27 Mar 92 8:36:24 MET From: Albert Philipsen Subject: Trains Hi! Why do you have to fill my mailbox with all kinds of wonderful stuff when I don't have time to read it? :-) I just looked at it from a distance, and all I could read was "WELCOME BACK VICKIE!!" and "AMAZING!! WOW!!!!". I need to take a closer look at the latest digests at Klaus'. Jessica, thank you!! for creating an environment in which I can be a complete idiot!!! :-) I've got to catch a train now... I'll be wearing my Happy key-ring through my nose. Katoozazai! Albert Philipsen -- Everytime I hear that whistle blowing... (Jane Siberry) ======================================================================== From: Martin Dougiamas Subject: Re: kate-talk.... Date: Fri, 27 Mar 92 17:23:21 WST Martin here. kIrI wrote to me: > hellooo good chatting with ya for miniscule #'s of time this morning. Yes, it was great! From ecto to kate-talk with a bunch of ecto-philes is like going from snail-mail to email. Now if (make that *when*) I meet you all it'll be like going to the movies... :-) > i know you always wanted to know what a twinkie was hehe...shall i > put one in the package hehe :-P yuck! Oh, yes please! (that's saarcasm) :) > so how many gazillion hours are you ahead...12 or 13...i haven't > quite figured it out yet...:) 13 hours ahead at the moment: when you said it was 2am, it was 3pm here. Weird isn't it? Though I've gotten quite used to it, what with all the Internetting I do. BTW, the seminar went well :) ... too well, actually, so I couldn't get back to Kate-talk in time. :( BTW again, hope the cold's all better, kIrI. Still working on some new sigs..., Martin -- ,--------------------------+-------------------------------. _ . | Feel the searing heat of | Martin Dougiamas. | ~ _r' Ll\ ~ | heightened conciousness. | martin@marsh.cs.curtin.edu.au | | \ ~ | Feel the yearning for | Curtin University | ~ \ ._ / ~ | peace and happiness. | Perth, Western Australia | -->X~ `-' ~ `======= * Happy Rhodes * =+===============================' V ======================================================================== From: Martin Dougiamas Subject: Tori etc. Date: Fri, 27 Mar 92 17:59:23 WST Martin here... a few minor comments... Greg says: > don't forget about the ectozine! Good advice, Greg and Jessica! :-) >From the review: > Members of Kate Bush's fan club communicate through an electronic bulletin > board, called a BBS, that they access with computers and modems. Urgh cringe cringe... BBS? Happy says: > "My main problem is that the human race doesn't see life as life, > it sees life as humans. Other life is judged by its intelligence, and the > only way you can figure out its intelligence is to compare it to your own. > To me that's arrogant and unfair." Good quote, that. I've just re-re-re-re-discovered Volume II. Don't you love how that happens? :) Martin -- ,--------------------------+-------------------------------. _ . | Feel the searing heat of | Martin Dougiamas. | ~ _r' Ll\ ~ | heightened conciousness. | martin@marsh.cs.curtin.edu.au | | \ ~ | Feel the yearning for | Curtin University | ~ \ ._ / ~ | peace and happiness. | Perth, Western Australia | -->X~ `-' ~ `======= * Happy Rhodes * =+===============================' V ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 26 Mar 92 05:42 CST From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: Quickstuff Vickie here. I haven't had a chance to seriously read past Ecto, but I have skimmed through a few of the most recent posts. Doug, your posts are *wonderful* and I can't wait for the others to appear. I know I'll be referring to your posts when I get around to writing my own. I've started an outline, just jotting down random things as they occur to me, but I haven't started any actual writing yet. I really wanted to get the Buzz article and the Philly Inquirer article posted. Chinet is it's usual old self. I posted a birthday list well over 12 hours ago and it still hasn't appeared. Ah, it's good to be back :P Well, it really *is* good to be back!! I just figured that the new 'philes ought to be aware of my main characteristics on Ecto: usually long posts and bitching about Chinet :-) so they'll get used to it right away. Angelos, keep up with the trivia tidbits, they're fantastic! I knew that Happy had been applauded when she entered the PT restaurant because I was standing right outside the door with Mark Semich (I talked to Happy briefly before she went inside) but I hadn't heard about her picking up a tray and playing "waitress" !!!! Wow !!! Everybody who was in Albany & Philly, keep those bits and pieces coming. Lots gets talked about to other people either in person, or on the phone, or on the Kate server and never get sent to Ecto. I know that's happened before, and I don't want to see gems left hidden from general view. I think I speak for a lot of Ectophiles. Thanks for the welcome back, Doug and Meredith! !!!WOWWOWWOW!!! about the Billboard mention...that's fantastic!! I'm going to try and get a copy. That's a hefty dose of icing after a very large, rich, creamy and delicious cake!! I am going to try and call H&K tomorrow. I'm going to pressure them to write down their thoughts and reactions to Albany, but especially Philly, for our reading pleasure :-) We need to compile a list of all the Ectophiles (and friends) who were in Philly. I'll start it (all I have to do is look at my t-shirts :-) that will be explained, non-goers) but I know I'm missing some people. Woj Meredith Tarr Doug Burks Kiri Hargie Jessica Dembski Joe Dembski Dave Steiner Dave Torok Bob Brown Greg Bossert Jeff Burka Angelos Kyrlidis Barry Wong Stephen Golden Hank Kilmer Christine (last name?) Mark Semich Mark Carroll Now, I may need help with names, who came with who, who is friends with who...etc. I really want to keep track of everybody, especially those who were at the PT restaurant. Not everybody signed my shirts :( (my fault though, I should have double-checked) and I don't know all of those who did. Any info would be appreciated so we can have a complete list of Ectophiles and those who were brought by Ectophiles. Just the nature of signing t-shirts makes some names hard to read, and any corrections would be appreciated. Jim Drumheller Scott C. (last name?) Elaine Daneker Lizzylou (Liz Warwick, is that right?) Steve McClellan Charlie Natter (Bob Brown's friend, was at the in-store appearance) Simon (last name? Jessica and Dave Steiner's friend) Phokus (?) Angel Weaver (friends for years, we met for the first time March 21, 1992) Mike Weaver (my long-time "wayback" friend) Tim (? Mike and Angel's friend, I have to get his last name) Charley Cvercko (one of my best friends in Chicago) Sally (Charley's friend, I have to find out her last name) Bill Pringle (Bill, are you an Ectophile now?) and 7 of his friends Ok, that exhausts my t-shirts and memory of the moment. Please fill in any holes folks. More (ha! you betcha!) later... Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 26 Mar 92 04:34 CST From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) Subject: The Philadelphia Inquirer article (Part 1) The Philadelphia Inquirer Daily Magazine Saturday, March 21, 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article caption: Rhodes was both poor and a misfit. Still, she really believed in her talents. Now, others out there believe, too. 1st photo caption: Though some call her music "dark," Happy Rhodes calls it "heavily self-pitying." 1st photo description: Happy stands in front of her keyboards, arms crossed, hands clutching her upper arms. Lots of equipment (drums, anvil cases, mixing boards) behind her. She's wearing jeans, a dark top and a long-sleeved jacket with the cuffs slightly rolled up. She is smiling slightly. The camera angle is front/above, so Happy is looking up toward the camera. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAPPY RHODES' MUSIC OPENS A DOOR TO LIFE by Ann Kolson (Inquirer Staff Writer) Rensselaer, N.Y. - When singer Happy Rhodes takes the stage tonight in Philadelphia, no one, not even she, knows quite what to expect. "There is something in me, there is a persona, some kind of force, that happens on stage - but I don't know what it is yet. We'll all be finding out at the same time. Right now I'm having those thoughts probably everyone has: I'm probably not worthy of all this attention and I probably _should_ just back out now before they all find out. I'm going back to my room now!" she says with a self-mocking laugh. Rhodes, 26, is a phenomenon. When her independently produced CD _Warpaint_ arrived without fanfare at WXPN-FM (88.5) last year, it received airplay and astonishing listener response: The eerie, moody track "Feed The Fire" became the station's most-requested song of 1991. "I've never seen anything like it," says Mike Morrison, music director of the University of Pennsylvania station. Rhodes has only played on stage with a band a few times in her life, and has rehearsed at home in Upstate New York for months to prepare for her concert at the University Museum's Harrison Auditorium. Thus, her uncertainty about who she is as a performer. "Once I get on stage," says Rhodes, smoking one cigarette after another in her recording studio here, "some other part of me takes over. It's like Sybil." On a frigid February afternoon, Rhodes spends hours holed up in the church- turned-studio, talking about her life and her life's work. The conversation goes straight through dinner at a noisy, neon-lit Albany diner where she is accompanied by her live-in partner, producer and, for seven years, devoted supporter, Kevin Bartlett. "I live, eat, sleep, think Happy Rhodes, 24 hours a day," he says. She is an unconventional beauty, a Modigliani come to life, with her long, narrow face, and long, straight, honey-colored hair. Her voice is rich, deep. She is wearing a long, flowered skirt and black motorcycle jacket. Though christened Kimberly, she's been called Happy from the day she was born. Bartlett, 39, is gentle and soft-spoken; his hair in a long, unruly ponytail. He, too, is a musician, and began playing in bar bands at age 12. "We fell in love with each other's music before we fell in love with each other," he says. Rhodes' music, he adds, had "deathly honest stuff about it." Her haunting, deeply introspective work has been considered dark by many. Indeed, says Bartlett, the music in her five earlier albums was more "tortured and brooding." "Heavily self-pitying," Rhodes agrees, "but, hey, that's something you have to work out, too." See HAPPY RHODES on D10 (article continued on back page of newspaper section) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd photo: Happy is at Cathedral, in the "sound" room. She's standing (slightly off-center in the room) in front of a music stand and a microphone, wearing headphones, looking like she's singing. She is turned slightly. The camera is in the darkened engineering room. (Words do little justice to this very wonderful photo) 2nd photo caption: For her first albums, Happy Rhodes would enter the studio in the evening and have four or five songs taped by 10 p.m. "I banged them out on my keyboard, my guitar. I didn't care about mistakes." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second page header: THE HAUNTING BRILLIANCE OF HAPPY RHODES (These days her songs are more life-affirming. In "Feed the Fire's" dreamy, spacy refrain, Rhodes sings: "I want to go back to the trees/ where my art was born/ and I was duly sworn to be/ alive.") When asked about her childhood, Rhodes takes a deep breath. "Uh-oh," she says, lighting up a cigarette before she begins the tale. She grew up in several places, mostly in Upstate New York, with various combinations of parents and stepparents. She was poor, a misfit. "Childhood," she says, "wasn't really pleasant. It was very strange. There have been much worse childhoods than mine, though." At school, the other children were cruel. "They taught me hatred," she says. "People were very, very, very unkind to me. I think 'poor white trash' is basically what I was called." How was she able to get beyond that, to survive? "I haven't gotten past it. It stays with you," she says. "But I've passed it to the point where I can see it for what it is and I can use it." Looking back, she says, "It's amazing to remember what I felt like then, when I was going through that. It's probably the main reason why I'm doing what I'm doing now. "Here I am, writing songs and performing for a lot of people, and I'm gaining acceptance in the world. It's just one big compensation...And when I was going through it as a child, the one thing I always, always held fast to was [that] I was worthy....I mean I was worthy to be alive - they wouldn't even give me _that_! "I would walk into a room and it would be like 'What right do you have existing on this planet?' But in my mind I knew how smart I was. I knew I was talented. I knew that if they would only talk to me that they would find that out, too." ============================================================================ End of part 1 To be continued... Vickie ======================================================================== From: kyrlidis@athena.mit.edu Subject: Tori Rhodes :) Date: Fri, 27 Mar 92 12:06:38 EST Although I still haven't bought little earthquakes (i will tonight) all this talk about her 'monsters', her interview last night on MTV, has made me wonder if she is in the Aural Gratification database... :) I think she's pretty good, but pales compared to Happy. And I am surprised to see the way that gaffa is reacting to her. Maybe it's because they have nothing to fear, while in Happy's case...:) :) I think I will stop now. And on a totally irrelevant AND totally silly Happy subject. Wouldn't it be cool if Happy actually put on Warpaint as she sang the song live? (It would be at the end so she wouldn't have to wash it off between songs... :)) I think it was woj who suggested this for the video WAY back, but it would also be effective live! Angelos +=====================================+ |'My ears have parasites'-hApPy RhOdEs| +=====================================+ ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is a README file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me (or leave in the incoming directory, just let me know) things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@athos.rutgers.edu)