Errors-To: owner-ecto@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 #474 ecto, Number 474 Thursday, 4 March 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* _Amour Foutah_ :-) Joni Mitchell happy happy! The Magician Oh Joy!!! Happy days are here again YOWIE!!! eno flips Requesting Happy Voting time, gang Hello, World. ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 03 Mar 93 14:36:43 CST From: Ffu Da Subject: _Amour Foutah_ :-) Many years ago, a professor of mine happened to let on, in passing, that he had taken his Ph.D. language examinations in French and Swedish. "Only in Minnesota," I immediately thought, his degree having come from the University Whereof. It now hits me that he could especially relate to my choice of handles for this post. But I digress--as if it were actually possible to digress from one of these extended digressions :-). Mike reminisces about San Francisco weather: > I distinctly remember wearing >my ski-jacket in the morning, and shorts in the afternoon. Sort of like the woman in the Kools billboard, whose smoking outfit consists of short shorts and a bulky-knit sweater worn simultaneously, in a presumable to be at least half-prepared for any kind of weather--demonstrating once again how unrealistic advertising can be, even when it delights the eye. WRT 10KM on Arsenio: Sounds like I missed a lot by doing what I usually, if abnormally, am doing at that time of night through no conscious volition of my own. Anyone know when they're likely to appear on _World News Now_, so that I could watch them from a state of consciousness? :-) The same goes for Nanci Griffith. WRT which, in turn: Natalie is on the cover of the new _Rolling Stone_. The cover story is close to the back of the book, and I haven't the time to skim it carefully justy now, so I'll leave it to your respective imaginations what's said. In my hit-and-run through the same issue as I sit in front of the CRT, I have been able to zero in more efficaciously on a Ralph Lauren ad in which the male model is cradling a cat, who's wearing an "oh, please" expression; a feature on "Normal Weirdness in Seattle," whose title does much to explain why it's so full of pictures of people wearing those bilious knitted grunge hats; and a review of a B52's concert, which vouchsafes the observation that Julee Cruise looked like Fred Schneider on speed. Guess not all the artists in our canon are capable of being ethereal all the time :-). John opines: >"Save Our Souls" should be played so loud that the drumbeats just as >Happy sings "Pity our emptiness" should sound like bombs going off. It all depends on your frame of reference: people who sell hearing aids would undoubtedly agree, while one's neighbors and the beleagured New York Police bomb squad might feel differently. Mary Lou says: >Benelux: sounds like a 50's vacuum cleaner to me!! Does, kinda. Nothing like that European-influenced design :-). She adds: >Maybe I've missed this but is there a list of Ecto-recommended >recording artists? If not perhaps I could attempt to maintain one. I don't believe there is one. Maybe there ought to be. By coincidence, Ray Nordstrand (who sounds like _he's_ got a cold at the moment ) just introduced selections from the local revue "The Best Damn Songs Nobody Ever Heard" on the Midnight Special with the bon mot, "It seems there are two of them." :-) WRT Vickie's saga of her audience-mates at the flicks: perhaps one theater in town should devote itself to showing Jean-Jacques Beneix's _The Moon in the Gutter_, and the likes of they should be encouraged to attend that theater regularly. The only time I saw it, I found it supremely uninteresting, and I think the rest of the audience was as one with me on that issue, judging from the fact that some guy was audibly saying stuff, which I think was uncom- plimentary about the film, and nobody around me seemed to mind that he was doing so. Steve pulled the following out of the unix fortune software: >CANCER (June 21 - July 22) > You are sympathetic and understanding to other people's > problems. They think you are a sucker. You are always putting > things off. That's why you'll never make anything of > yourself. Most welfare recipients are Cancer people. He deserves credit for rushing in where Jens feared to tread. I'd have to see some hard data before evaluating the last sentence, but WRT the rest, based on years of personal experience: WELL PUT!! :-) There seem to be more than one of these listed for some signs. Are there others available for mine? No sooner had _TMS_ finished playing John Prine's "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" than Nordstrand announced that he (Prine) and Lucinda Williams will do a benefit concert for the Old Town School of Folk Music, April 2 at Orchestra Hall here ("in Chicago, where the snow came down in '65, '66, '67, '68, '69" in the great words of Steven Wade, which have just now been trans- mitted on _TMS_). Woj says: > I think the title was "faium" anyways I believe that enya is Which, according to an article on it in the Chicago papers over the weekend, is actually pronounced "foom" in idiomatic Gaelic. I now understand why the latter language has yet to become the preferred one for communication between all the peoples of the world :-). He continues: >and don't forget lysdexia - the inability to speak properly! :) With Mr. Potatoe Head gone from the vice presidency, I hope that the Capitol Steps can find some way to keep the "Lurty Dies" routine in the act. WRT the colloquy on Greek cuisine: Apart from the inimitable gyros sandwich, my favorite Greek food item is taramosalata, the redoubtable fish spread. Many a trip to a Greek restaurant, I've ordered some as an appetizer, spread it on the French bread _in extenso_, and found myself having consumed quite a bit of total food volume that way by the time the entree arrived. Any reader of this list who visits Chicago could do worse than to visit Greek Town, the restaurant district near downtown that is a residual of what once was the city's prinicpal Greek neighborhood. Chris Waite effuses: >Mitch, Wow! What a blueberry juice fan... Where do you live? I can see about >mailing you some???? :) Actually, I've never tried the stuff, it having captured my imagination chiefly in connection with this list's continuing quest to synthesize a truly fuzzy blue beverage; but it certainly sounds reasonable enough at face value. I'm in the Ecto File, should you still want to go through with it. But perhaps more urgency should be felt about sending a stash to Christine in Iowa, whose birthday we've barely missed, whereas mine can't be missed for another 4 1/2 months or so. :-) Only 2:37 in the afternoon, and I've already responded to all the incoming ecto posts up to this moment that I'm going to respond to. It buys me time to work on staying awake for Tori's radio tour, I having gotten less sleep than usual. To fall asleep at 4 PM would be _so_ unseemly :-). Mitch (a unique institution on ecto) ------------------------- "Frank O'Connor grows on you like cancer." --Mario Procaccino ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 3 Mar 93 21:33:33 -0500 From: barry@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Barry Wong) Subject: Joni Mitchell Hi all I was just wondering, can someone reccomend what Joni Mitchell cd would be a good one to get? Thanks Barry ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 3 Mar 93 21:44:13 EST From: woj@remus.rutgers.edu (l.l. cool bean) Subject: happy happy! just got off the phone with henry frayne of the moon seven times. their cd comes out next week and *everyone* is hereby commanded to go out and buy it. trust me. i've had a tape of this stuff for almost two years and it still is fresh and wonderful and great and, well, you get the idea. i wasn't able to speak to lynn canfield (damn!) but one of these days, if i ever go out to the midwest like i keep telling myself i want to, i am going to drop in on them and borrow their floor for a night. woj ======================================================================== From: meth@aol.com Subject: The Magician Date: Wed, 03 Mar 93 22:07:35 EST Hi! Whoa.... after 5 years of KaTefandom I thought I'd at least heard *of* it all, but this is a new one on me. Vickie, more details, please!!! Meredith meth@aol.com (hopefully for not much longer....) ======================================================================== From: meth@aol.com Subject: Oh Joy!!! Date: Wed, 03 Mar 93 22:39:12 EST Hi! First of all, I'd like to state that "Out Like A Lamb" has been going through my head all day, and I have listened to it 6 times tonight, as well as the entire album twice. I think this is going to become one of my Phases. :> Last year at this time it was the _Little Earthquakes_ phase, the year before that it was _This Woman's Work I_ from the Kate Boxed Set, the year before that... you get the picture. :) What an amazing song. The thought occurred to me this afternoon: what was Happy's father's name? (Am I way off-base here, Vickie?) And now *my* Really Big News (maybe): I talked to Susanne White this evening (thanks Bob!!!), and it looks like Happy will be doing a phone interview on with me on WESU sometime in April. We haven't set a definite date yet, mostly since the station has a new phone coupler on order and isn't sure when it'll be in- they're hoping it arrives during Wesleyan's Spring Break, which starts next week. At any rate, even with the coupler we do have it could be done- it might take all day, but we could do it. We'll probably end up taping it a few days before my show airs, so I can have time to edit out the bits where I make an ass of myself. :} I'll be soliciting questions as the date nears, so get those brains in gear!!! Considering that I first approached Happy and Kevin wanting an interview almost a year and a half ago, it's about time something actually happened!!! I'm very excited. Also, Susanne wants to stress the following: CALL YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATION AND REQUEST HAPPY. OFTEN. That's the only way most stations will be convinced to keep Equipoise in their rotation, and Philadelphia can only happen in one place. Before I sign off, two notes: I too was quite impressed by Northern Exposure's use of Enya the other night- it made an otherwise rather cheezy (imo) scene positively magical. And this morning, Morning Edition used Cocteau Twins as a bridge- good thing too, if I hadn't had that to shock me awake, I'd never have made it to work! (We have GOT to get Happy's catalog in the NPR news production staff's hot little hands..........) Meredith meth@aol.com (hopefully not for too much longer) ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 01:56:41 GMT From: brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk (Jens P. Brage) Subject: Happy days are here again WOW! I've received my Equipoise shipment today! Yeah! When I opened the box, two of the Equipoise CDs seemed to be missing, so before doing anything else, I send off a letter to AG to make them aware of the problem. Then tonight, I spoke to one of my friends (who were to receive one of the disks) and he told he had received a CD directly from AG!! So now I've mailed off another letter, apologizing for the mistake... :-( If anybody talks to AG, please ask them to ignore my first letter... Well, after having sent off the (first) letter, I made a pot of tea, adjusted my listening chair for optimal sound, turned off the computer (to avoid the fan noise), turned the amplifier to maximum volume and started Equipose! Sigh! I took one careful listen, and since then I've been listening to the CD on repeat in the background... It's too early to say anything definite (and too late to write very much!) but I like it! A few notes: On the "cheasy trumpet" thread: If I consciously listens for a trumpet-like sound, I don't like it. But if I just listens to the song as a whole, it fits in! Over-production: Don't think so, but Runners may be the most "produced" Happy song I've heard. Most of the others seems more sparse than Warpaint. Runners as the raio hit: Don't know, isn't it a bit too complex for that? The only radio hit I can think of (at the moment) with as much going on in the background is Prefab Sprout's "The King of Rock'n'Roll"... Possible favorites: He Will Come, Save Our Souls, Mother Sea (this will probably change though). Cohabitants: Cute lyrics, Diamanda Galas may have a competitor! :-) Nice coincidence: One of the Equipoise CDs is a birthday present for my brother. His birthday is today (well, yesterday actually :-))! Hmm, I've got various comments on the last couple if digests, but that will have to wait... Jens P. Brage | Dance the circle dance of dreaming, brage@sphere.home.id.dth.dk | lonely by the crystal sea. /\ | Spin the web of mist and moonlight, \SphereSoft | come, beloved, and follow me. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 7:58:42 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: YOWIE!!! After waiting in line for 3 1/2 hours, I must say that it was worth *every*single*second! I blew off doing my show tonight, I just called the station and said that I couldn't make it, which was ok with the guy on the air, it just gave him an extra hour to play his stuff. I stopped and ate before going to the record store, which was a mistake, because when I got there the line was already long. She wasn't supposed to appear until 7pm, and I got there at 6:30 but I was still quite a ways back. Unfortunately I didn't have any money with me to buy a songbook. They look very nice! Tori was late, and didn't show up until at least 7:30. I wasn't paying attention to the time so I don't know when she did show up. The line moved like frozen molasses, but I didn't hear anyone complaining. The nice thing about Tori is that she doesn't treat people like assembly line fodder. Everyone is an individual to her and she spends time with each person, as if they were the only person there. I think everyone realized that and didn't complain knowing that, at *some* point, it would be their turn. Rose Records has a nice system for in-stores in that they have a "buffer zone" for the artist. They keep people back about 10 feet and then let folks approach the artist in semi-privacy. I've been to in-stores where the next person in line is breathing down your neck and hearing every word that's said. I hate that, which is why I love Rose's way. Most of the evening Tori's music was playing, but shortly before it was my turn someone put on Led Zepplin, which pleased Tori to no end. She jumped up and down and shook her hair around and did a little dance! Finally it was my turn and I had her sign a flat. I told her that I was on the computer list rdt and she said "oh great!" and asked me how to spell my name. I asked her if she had seen Richard and she said no and I said that he was supposed to be there. Then (and here's the cool part for Ectophiles, though it probably won't interest many rdt-ers) I said "I don't know if you remember, but the last time you were in town I gave you a CD by a woman named Happy Rhodes..." and before I could say anything else her eyes went wide and she went "OH!!" She flung out her arms and said "I *LOVE* Happy!" then she grabbed my arm and asked "Do you ever talk to her?" and I said yes and she said "OH! Tell Happy I *LOVE* her music!!" It was *so* genuine, I was just overjoyed! Then I said well, here's two more for you, and gave her CDs of _Equipoise_ and _Rhodes I_. I told her that Equipoise was Happy's latest and VI was her very first. Tori was genuinely pleased to get them and mentioned the fact that Happy didn't have a record contract. There really wasn't time to explain about Kevin and Aural Gratification so I just said yeah, she doesn't have a contract. She said that she would pass them along to someone and I was a bit shocked. That's *not* why I gave Tori Happy's music and I said so. I said that I didn't want her to think that I was jsut trying to "use" her or anything. Honestly, I'd just hoped that she would enjoy the music. Tori said that she understood that, but that she also knew how it was to be an unknown artist. I said ok, whatever, just as long as you know that I..and she said sure and thanks. If I'd had half a brain, I would have had my recording walkman taping this exchange, because I swear, I am *not* making this up! Vickie ps, I'll write more later, & send this on to Ecto now. ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1993 11:09:00 +0000 From: "Mary (M.L.) Rowe" Subject: re:Joni Mitchell In message "Joni Mitchell", 'barry@gnu.ai.mit.edu' writes: >I was just wondering, can someone reccomend what Joni Mitchell cd would >be a good one to get? > 'Court and Spark' definitely. ======================================================================== From: "Michael Blackmore" Date: 4 Mar 93 11:24:33 EST Subject: Re: YOWIE!!! Vickie, 8-) Like totally amazing beyond words! Tori sounds just wonderful, and apparently has good taste in music :-) Tori is an Happy fan, now is Happy a Tori fan. This would make everything nice and even. Don't worry about not having the story on tape, I, for one, believe you! - Michael B. ("To the left and to the right, punk is our salvation." - Tom Tom Club) ======================================================================== Date: 04 Mar 93 11:19:23 EST From: Mike Mendelson Subject: eno flips Tony the Tyger: > >Of course, the very best album in this "genre" is Brian Eno's "My Life > >In the Bush Of Ghosts" (the granddaddy of them all!) > > Was that the one he did with David Bryne, or am I getting muddled. Yes. > Should I get it some day? I tend to be wary of getting anything by Eno > if I haven't heard about it first, in case it turns out to be one of > his awful ambient things. I certainly would not call MLBG ambient. Ground-breaking, perhaps. This is not music that you want to play before you go to sleep, or when you're eating dinner, or as a lullaby for the kids. But it's really not noise (in the industrial sense) either (i.e. it's better than that). This is just very interesting sounds put together rhythmically and percussively. Pretty good driving music if you're driving alone. If you own it, you will be proud, but you probably won't play it much. I class this together with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, which I've had on my list of things to acquire for a few years. Are they even comparable? -mjm ======================================================================== Date: 4 Mar 1993 11:13:33 -0600 From: "Julianne Dunphy" Subject: None None Moon 7 Times!!! They're fantastic! I catch them here in Champaign every chance I get. They've got that smeary guitar sound--ethereal and sometimes a bit bluesy. They often play with a band called The Tullys which sounds a lot like them, but with melodies a bit less-catchy. However, last time I saw them together, they did a cover of 10K Maniacs "Dustbowl" which I must say is my absolute LEAST favourite 10KM song. (Of course, Blind Man's Zoo turned me sour on them in general. Grrrr...) But anyway, The Tullys' version was absolutely gorgeous! The singer has a beautiful voice. Keep your eye out for these guys! Someone mentioned a while back something about early-not-so-fantastic Happy lyrics. I think they've come along way, too. The song "Come Here" I feel has pretty mediocre lyrics, BUT I find the song absolutely irresistable anyway! 8-) Vickie, INCREDIBLE story!!! God, that's so fantastic. Thank you SO MUCH for posting. (but I want more details!!!) Later, Julianne ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 13:16:21 EST From: Laura Clifford Subject: Requesting Happy Per Meredith: >Also, Susanne wants to stress the following: CALL YOUR LOCAL RADIO STATION >AND REQUEST HAPPY. OFTEN. That's the only way most stations will be >convinced to keep Equipoise in their rotation, and Philadelphia can only >happen in one place. Anyone have any idea how to approach Boston's WFNX, the country's award-winning #1 alternative radio station? Didn't some ectoians approach morning guy Tai after a Sarah concert and get disillusioning news? Considering how well local record stores appear to be stocked with Happy here it's strange she gets NO airplay (that I'm aware of). Laura ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 13:52:40 EST From: Greg Bossert Subject: Re: None Julianne admits: >Someone mentioned a while back something about early-not-so-fantastic >Happy lyrics. I think they've come along way, too. The song "Come >Here" I feel has pretty mediocre lyrics, BUT I find the song >absolutely irresistable anyway! 8-) me too :) jessica and i started to record a version of "come here" with a slightly different feel than Happy's original; our emphasis was definitely on the fun bits ;) the song may be a bit corny and innocent, but so am i :) or as Happy meant to say: "if love is a footah, i win" ;) -greg -- bossert@vizlab.rutgers.edu -- == i have never been afraid to change == Happy == the circumstances of the world == Rhodes ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 11:31:18 -0800 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: Voting time, gang This is probably old news, but ... Go to the Pulse! display at your local Tower Records store and you will find a ballot for voting for your favorite LP/CDs of the last 10 years. So, my question to the ecto-friends is: What are YOUR favorite albums from the 1983-1993 time period? Get your ballots in the mail... :) ======================================================================== Subject: Hello, World. Date: Thu, 04 Mar 93 15:50:12 -0500 From: matthews@oberon.umd.edu Hi gang. I just joined the ranks of.. of ... Ectophiles, I guess. Jeff Burka kept playing Happy CDs whilst I was in earshot, so I went out and got them all (direct from Aural Gratification, even). Oh, by the way, my shoe size is 11.5. ------ Mike Matthews, matthews@oberon.umd.edu (NeXTmail accepted) ------ Fourth Law of Thermodymanics: If the probability of success is not almost one, then it is damn near zero. - David Ellis ======================================================================== 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)