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 #1041 ecto, Number 1041 Saturday, 12 March 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Re: Suddenly, Bob Imports at the Compact Disc Connection Emotion vs. devotion Happy Rhodes Re: Spiralling downwards phyllis armadiller Marc Vigod's kind offer to give our beloved Happy some exposure... Diamanda, & Happy airplay NIN shows Talked to Susanne... ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 09 Mar 94 19:13:20 -0500 From: "Dennis G Parslow" Subject: Re: Suddenly, Bob >DATE: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 20:39:25 -0500 (EST) >FROM: Robert Lovejoy > >Hello again, > Not to worry, it's only me! In my eager overenthusiam about >Rhodeways, I neglected to mention that yesterday I worked on the video >for Suddenly, Tammy! > The song is "Lamp", and much of the footage was shot on Hi-8 video. >The film was shot at a local club (Khyber Pass) and at their rehearsal >space in Pa. Looked pretty good. We did a few effect-type things, >but overall kept it fairly straight. Interestingly, I learned that the >singer, Beth, is romantically involved with the lead singer of Live, >another band from Lancaster. Well, maybe not that interesting, but >here I am sharing that tidbit with y'all! Cool!!!!! Any word on how a guy could see Suddenly, Tammy live? And how one could get a copy of the finished video? Wow, neat! Dennis Parslow Today I am a small blue thing. Troy, NY 12180 Suzanne Vega p00421@psilink.com ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 20:01:58 -0800 From: jeffw@triple-i.com (Jeff Wasilko) Subject: Imports at the Compact Disc Connection Just a quick note: I was on hunting for a few things on CDC, and saw they just started carrying a new line of imports. They're also on sale until Mar 31. Most of the imports I ordered were $12-14, which isn't bad for imports. Jeff (to get to CDC, telnet to holonet.net and login as CDC) -- Jeff Wasilko, Systems Rep., Information International Inc. +1 617 937 9400 (jeffw@triple-i.com, jeffw@jane.camex.com) "Two days to get there by boat. It takes forever if you go by intertia, no time if you don't believe in time."--Jane Siberry ======================================================================== Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 23:05:22 -0500 (EST) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Emotion vs. devotion Hi! Mitch rejoindered: >I guess I'm not as heavily into emotion as Meredith is. Well then, your loss. :) >Of course, if Happy did Chicago I would definitely consider going. Sounds like the title of a *really* bad movie. >I shall think of Bob when the opening of the Channel 7 news comes on--not >that it's anywhere near as emotion-inspiring as Meredith represents Tori and >the Flecktones to be :-). The Flecktones aren't so much emotion-inspiring as just plain awe-inspiring. There's a distinct difference. >Interesting how necrophiliacal German title translators can be. Wonder what >the did to _Annie Hall_, in light of Woody's preoccupation with books on >death in that film :-). My favorite German movie title translations are actually quite literal, but are amusing nonetheless: _Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!_ became simply _Fessle mich!_, and _Dead Poets Society_ was _Club der toten Dichter_. Die Deutschen around here probably won't understand why I found these so funny (hell, probably no one else around here will :}), but hey. And thusly lay ich mich down zu schlafen. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT meth@delphi.com| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |"Mother can't you see I've got to live my life the way I feel is right for| |me? Might not be right for you, but it's right for me..." Sarah McLachlan| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ======================================================================== From: marc836@aol.com Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 01:52:21 EST Subject: Happy Rhodes To the author of depth gauge. My name is Marc Vigod and I am the president of Halo Management ( an artist management company based in New Jersey). I have just finished downloading your software and I have read your request for the purtchase of an album and have decided to write you. I represent an artist, Mike Dalton, who also writes music, produces, records, engineers, sings, plays everything so I was intrigued to find another out there that may have similar talent. I own a 16 track - 1 inch recording studio which we have used to produce several tapes and CD's for Mike. We also have had and continually receive airplay on major network television on almost a daily basis on several daytime television programs. I am shopping Mike for a deal this spring. My point is, I keep an open ear to real talent (unlike most of the industry) and would be interested in listening to a demo of Happy. I may be able to get some exposure and publishing royalties for her as I have for other bands through TV and would consider shopping the deal to the majors if I feel that they would buy it. I have many industry connections. If you would like to pursue this you can call me at (908) 821-0542 and I will provide you with my company's address to send a demo to. A tape with her best, most marketable top four songs are all I need to start with. Again, please give me a call if you are interested or present my proposal to her. Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 03:12:00 -0700 From: "Alex Gibbs" Subject: Re: Spiralling downwards kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis): ->Second, I bought one of the most brilliant albums I have ever listened to. ->Trent Reznor has managed to create an aural landscape as diverse as possible ->in 'The Downward Spiral'. Sure, this is not ecto-friendly stuff, or is it? Thanks for posting about this. I was (am???) a big fan of NIN (Trent Reznor) and was wondering how his new album sounded. ->There are several tracks in this album which combine 'industrial noise' with ->soft, acoustic guitar or piano, and lyrics which border on Happy Rhodes ->caliber darkness and gloom. 'Hurt' is the best example. It closes the album ->and if it is any indication of Trent's future direction, I will be watching ->closely. Other tracks that are definitely non-stereotypical NIN are This description sounds like a pretty good description of Trent's _Pretty Hate Machine_ (1989) to me. It certainly has those elements plus almost dance stuff and is not as thrashy as _Broken_/_Fixed_ (so I hear). He goes from a whisper to a scream, often within tracks. A couple tracks are mellow if you don't count the extreme dark and bitter mood. I guess I have yet to know the gloom Happy reaches (I have _Warpaint_) but I'd be surprised if she surpasses _Pretty Hate Machine_, otherwise she might be lethal and I may not want more Happy. How does _The Downward Spiral_ compare to _Pretty Hate Machine_? ->'A warm place', which sounds like a 'Low'-era Bowie instrumental, and ->'The downward spiral', a song about suicide. Yes, there are lots of ->noisy tracks, with aggression, and even a track where he impersonates ->(I *hope* that's what he does) the offender in Tori's 'Me and a gun', ->which are not for ears trained for ectophilic material, but even those ->are innovative and deserve attention. If this sounds like a rave review, ->well it probably is. :) Doesn't he appear on _UTP_ or am I confusing something? Interesting. As I have always said about _Pretty Hate Machine_, I think it's excellent work. I listened to it very often for a year when I was in a bad time. I re-examined it again and perhaps I was a bit harsh when I posted a few months ago. It no longer fits how I feel but I now see that even more of it than I thought well expresses how I felt inside then (although not all of it fits). However, after a while it was no longer good for me; being stuck that way is hell. The new point is that it is a highly emotional album about very dark things that are a part of being human at times, and as such it is great. However, being consumed by things like that, losing hope, is unhealthy, even deadly. I think someone already mentioned that he thanks "mark jowett and all at nettwerk" on _PHM_ but I don't know what the thanks is for. /-\ |_ |= >< arg@kilimanjaro.opt-sci.arizona.edu (MST=GMT-7) MST3k 42 KT "There, you're laughing! That's good... you're back. Welcome to the living." -- Robin Williams in _Toys_ "Without the pain there'd be no learning. \ / Constellation of the Without the hurting we'd never change." / \ Heart "Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus laughing? Mmm, do \ Why Should I you think He had a beautiful smile? A smile that healed." \ Love You? ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 07:33:03 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Re: Spiralling downwards On Fri, 11 Mar 1994, Alex Gibbs wrote: > kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis): > ->Second, I bought one of the most brilliant albums I have ever listened to. > ->Trent Reznor has managed to create an aural landscape as diverse as possible > ->in 'The Downward Spiral'. Sure, this is not ecto-friendly stuff, or is it? > > Thanks for posting about this. I was (am???) a big fan of NIN (Trent > Reznor) and was wondering how his new album sounded. Alex, Also being an avid Trent Reznor fanatic, and since I was largely involved in the earlier discussions with you about NIN, I thought I'd post my thoughts on the new album. I had been eagerly awaiting _The downward spiral_ in the past few weeks, with a mixture of excitement and wariness. I thought _Pretty hate machine_ was a work of sheer brilliance, while _Broken/Fixed_ was good, but too extreme for me. I had hopes that he would tone it down a bit for the new album, but lose none of the intensity. I feel he has succeeded. _The Downward sprial_ is amazine. > Happy. How does _The Downward Spiral_ compare to _Pretty Hate > Machine_? I hesitate to say the TDS is a combination of PHM and _Broken_. While it's true that there are elements of both in TDS, musically I would lean more toward songs like _Terrible lie_ and _Ringfinger_ for aural comparisons (With some _Wish_ and even _Something I can never have_ thrown in!) While there are the occasional explosions of raw noise indicative of _Broken_, I was surprised by the comparative emptiness of the album. In the Nine inch nails cover story in the current Musician magazine, Trent comments on how _Broken_ was the result of throwing everything into the mix he could. On a 24 track recording, he would use 24 unique parts so it ended up sounding like a wall of noise. For TDS, he took a less is more approach. (To a certain extent). I find the results highly to my liking. > ->noisy tracks, with aggression, and even a track where he impersonates > ->(I *hope* that's what he does) the offender in Tori's 'Me and a gun', The song in question, _Big man with a gun_ is a harsh and scathing take on the outlook that seems prevalent in our society among teens, that confuses violence (a big gun) with sexuality (a big dick). Believe me, it's not for the politically correct, or the squeamish. > Doesn't he appear on _UTP_ or am I confusing something? Interesting. Yes, amazingly enough! He sings background vocals (quite well I might add) on _Pass the mission_! (Which leads me to comment on the fact that Tori is pals with/has worked with, IMHO, the 2 most intriguing men in the entertainment field, Trent Reznor and Neil Gaiman. Hmmm, I can think of a few parallels!) > > The new point is that it is a highly emotional album about very dark > things that are a part of being human at times, and as such it is > great. However, being consumed by things like that, losing hope, is > unhealthy, even deadly. Lyrically, Trent is as dark as ever, perhaps even darker, if that's possible. I would not reccommend this disc to anyone even marginally suicidal. He touches on dark and bleak subjects, and there are no solutions in NIN songs. (Unless perhaps the solution is giving up.) Strangely enough, when I hear these songs, I get a strong sense of hope. It's as if Trent (or his character) is crying out to be saved, that he has not, in fact, given up. All these observations are based on a mere 2 listenings. I'm sure I will uncover even more depth and genius as I become more familiar with it. I was amazed at how quickly it captured me after being so ready to dismiss it after reading the lyrics. Alone, the lyrics just seemed so black that they were almost a parody of Trent's earlier work. But taken in the context of the songs, they become so much more. Incidentally, for those of you who are interested, Adrian Belew plays guitar on the album. Don't be so quick to write Nine inch nails off if you were thinking about it. If you've never heard Trent's work, give it a try with an open mind. It's not exactly ectophillic on the surface. But if you like a little (a lot of?) roughness in your music, you might like it. Michael -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library | Reading, Massachusetts colford@college.noble.mass.edu | *North of Boston Library Exchange* -------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: 11 Mar 94 10:58:37 EST From: Mike Mendelson Subject: phyllis armadiller Kathy asks about the Armadillo in the Clash video. I know nothing about that. However, Kathy, you should be aware that the school you are now attending, Northwestern, has something called "Dillo Day" (short for Armadillo Day [Da, gee professor, da]) every year which features a party on the lake with a band, etc. etc. I suspect the the answer to your mystery may be found if you investigate the origin of this day. Or, you may find the answer in what the ubiquitous Mr. Lovejoy said re: intellection nonconformity. Or maybe not... -IPalindromeI ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 12:28:49 -0700 (MST) From: "I really need to change my personal_name again soon..." Subject: Marc Vigod's kind offer to give our beloved Happy some exposure... >To the author of depth gauge. My name is Marc Vigod and I am the president >of Halo Management ( an artist management company based in New Jersey). I >have just finished downloading your software and I have read your request for >the purtchase of an album and have decided to write you. I represent an >artist, Mike Dalton, who also writes music, produces, records, engineers, >sings, plays everything so I was intrigued to find another out there that may >have similar talent. I own a 16 track - 1 inch recording studio which we >have used to produce several tapes and CD's for Mike. We also have had and >continually receive airplay on major network television on almost a daily >basis on several daytime television programs. I am shopping Mike for a deal >this spring. My point is, I keep an open ear to real talent (unlike most of >the industry) and would be interested in listening to a demo of Happy. I may >be able to get some exposure and publishing royalties for her as I have for >other bands through TV and would consider shopping the deal to the majors if >I feel that they would buy it. I have many industry connections. If you >would like to pursue this you can call me at (908) 821-0542 and I will >provide you with my company's address to send a demo to. A tape with her >best, most marketable top four songs are all I need to start with. Again, >please give me a call if you are interested or present my proposal to her. >Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you. I for one am kinda scared by this. First of all, why is Marc soliciting for a demo tape like this? Admittedly, Happy is only available at the finer record stores around, so not everyone stocks her... But if he really was "intrigued" I'm sure he could find some of her CDs... "exposure and publishing royalties"... "many industry connections"... "MARKETABLE TOP FOUR SONGS" Y Y iii k k eeeee sss !! Y Y i k k e s !! Y i k k eee sss !! Y i kk e s !! Y i k k e s Y iii k k eeeee sss !! ...I can just see Happy's music being used in some cheesy dream sequence on some marginal soap opera (no offense to any soap-opera fans out there) Or maybe as a background radio advertisement for some retail store... It's the "MARKETABLE TOP FOUR SONGS" that *really* bugs me... I've been working in record stores for almost ten years, and I can't stand the term "MARKETABLE" being used in reference to music. I beg of you, Happy, don't ever change. Music should be written from the heart for the purposes of expressing oneself, not to try and make money... *shudder* Sorry, dear ectophiles, I guess (a) I'm not very trusting of posts like that, and (b) I went off on a tangent. Once again, sorry... *smile* smudge ======================================================================== From: freeform@aol.com Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 15:28:38 EST Subject: Diamanda, & Happy airplay Hi.. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who answered my questions about Diamanda Galas. She certainly sounds...interesting! My favorite music store here lets you listen to any CD that they have in stock, so one of these days I will have to check out something of hers. Hmm.. Will I be there in the store listening to Diamanda with a look of terrible shock and horror on my face?! People will be wondering what the heck I'm listening to.. :) By the way, how do you pronounce "Galas"? I can think of several ways this might be pronounced... Last night I had the stereo tuned to DMX channel 10 (folk rock) while I was occupied doing stuff around the house. Suddenly my ears perked up realizing I'm hearing something very familiar on the radio. And sure enough, it was Happy! They played the acoustic version of "In Hiding" from 'RhodeSongs'. Charles ======================================================================== Subject: Re: Marc Vigod's kind offer to give our beloved Happy some exposure.. Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 15:02:36 -0500 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu smudge sez: >I for one am kinda scared by this. First of all, why is Marc soliciting for a >demo tape like this? Admittedly, Happy is only available at the finer record >stores around, so not everyone stocks her... But if he really was "intrigued" >I'm sure he could find some of her CDs... Actually, I thought it was a very nice letter, though perhaps vastly temporally misguided. You obviously havn't seen the docs to DepthGauge, a macintosh desk accessory that was published as "ectoware" a couple of years ago. Basically, the authors were pissed off that they couldn't get any $10 donations for some very good software. Since it wasn't working anyway, they decided to rehash their shareware concept into 'ectoware.' The docs to DepthGauge had a length description of Happy and her music and an exhortation that folks spend $15 and give her music a try as "payment" for the software. Every now and then Ecto hears from someone who's bought her music because of DepthGauge. When the docs to DG were written, it was virtually impossible to find her albums outside of Albany short of mail order. It was a time when we thought Happy might prefer to have a recording contract with a major label instead of sticking with AG and perhaps looking for *distribution*. The docs make that clear. >"exposure and publishing royalties"... "many industry connections"... >"MARKETABLE TOP FOUR SONGS" I don't see a problem with any of these statements. This is someone offering, quite nicely, to help. Settle down. Jeff (who notes that any album that can be bought has been considered "marketable" by at least one person) ======================================================================== From: Neil K. Guy Subject: Re: Marc Vigod's kind offer to give our beloved Happy some exposure... Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 13:44:49 -0800 (PST) > "exposure and publishing royalties"... "many industry connections"... > > "MARKETABLE TOP FOUR SONGS" Yeah. Bit much, isn't it? Sounds like a small vanity publisher to me. - Neil K. -- 49N 16' 123W 7' / Vancouver, BC, Canada / neil_k_guy@sfu.ca ======================================================================== Subject: NIN shows Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 14:28:15 -0800 (PST) From: Laane@cs.stanford.edu (Lisa "Happy Cat" Laane) Since NIN has already come up quite a bit lately, I might add that Trent's doing lots of "surprise shows" right now before the formal tour. And since there may be interested SF Bay Area Ectophiles, I'll pass on the following: --- The bad news is that you probably missed the Nine Inch Nails show at the S.F. Oasis last night. The good news is that they suppose to play the Edge tonight and the House of Usher Saturday night (the House of Usher at Thunder Bay - not the new location). --- So rumors say there are shows in Palo Alto tonight and Berkeley tomorrow night. The Edge "refuses to deny or confirm rumors" but this show is pretty much confirmed. Tickets for the club go on sale at 9pm and I expect that they will sell out very quickly!! For the rest of you, keep an ear open to see if you can make one of these shows!! Lisa :) ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 20:46:32 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Lovejoy Subject: Talked to Susanne... Hi Folks! I spoke to Susanne again today, and she'd like to inform everyone that AG wants you all to know that for ordering music from them, cash isn't nesscessary. Personal checks and money orders are also fine, and they are working on taking credit cards. Apparently somebody on ecto told somebody that AG would only take cash when ordering albums, and Susanne wanted to get the word out that checks and Money Orders were also fine at this time. I asked about the fanzine per Angelos' request, and Susanne thought they were targeting four issues a year. It was to be modelled after Deep Thoughts, and they're open to suggestions and comments from us. Just have to use that old snailmail! If any of you speak Russian, please Email me! (Mike Bravo, are you still out there? Paul?) Happy needs a lyric translated from English to Russian... Dennis asks (often!) how a guy can see Suddenly, Tammy! live, and wonders how to get a copy of the upcoming video. As far as live goes, they certainly play around here now and then. I understand they're working on a new album, so perhaps they'll tour to support it. As for the video, I'll get back to you when they give me my copy! Best wishes to everyone for a great weekend! Bob the constantly amazed ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 21:10 EST From: "Dr. Clayton Forester" Subject: Re: spiraling downward Having read the reviews of TDS I thought I'd toss my comments in here as well. Being an admitted NIN fanatic I will admit to a good amount of bias towards Trent but I must say that I was blown away with TDS. It is sheer and utter brilliance, I would be very surprised if this falls any shorter than the top 3 of the year for me. (right now it's no. 1) Trent, as the others have said, has put together an album that is simply wonderful. The lyrics are as dark as ever, if not more so, and musically it's above and byond and then some from _Broken_. Not to speak lowly of _Broken_ b/c I think that's a great EP but TDS hits a wider variety of styles. Yes, it's noisy, but not really in the same way. I really hesitate to say something as cliched "If you like NIN then you'll like TDS" but it's probably true. I disagree with one point that someone made (I don't remember who, sorry) about TDS being a cross between PHM and _Broken_ I'd been thinking about that since I've gotten it and I really don't think that it is. PHM is (IMHO) more simplistic. Maybe not simplistic, but it seems apparent to me that Trent has come along way in terms of writing songs since he did PHM. I love PHM (as I said before I'm a NIN fanatic) but when I look at things (listen to them I should say) I can come to only one conclusion, Trent has gotten better at writing songs. So, where does TDS fit in relation to the others? IMHO, I would say that TDS is Broken, with a little of PHM tossed in, swirled in a stew pot, shot through a black hole and back and then put in a blender. The only constant: dark lyrics that only Trent can bring us. It's brilliant. I think that if I ever get to me him that I should thank the man for the song "hurt" My eyes well up when I listen to it. Partially for its semi-parallels with my life and partially for its intensity. I think I've gushed long enough. I bid you adieu.... "...everyone I know goes away in the end..." Kevin (miharki@indsvax1.indstate.edu) Calm Down. It's Only Ones And Zeros. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ /_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_\ // \\ \\ / \/ \/ \ // // "Look, there hasn't / / >< \ \ * * * \\ \\ been a murder." ! ! ! \ \ \ ! ! ! // // "No. I don't like it. * * * \ \ >< / / \\ \\ It's too simple, too clear cut." \ /\ /\ / // // \\ \\_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _// \_-_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_-_/ This Message Brought To You By The Network. "I wanted a Death that I'd like to meet, in the end. Someone who would care. Like her." ======================================================================== 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)