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 #1047 ecto, Number 1047 Wednesday, 16 March 1994 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Classified ads -- 14 Mar 1994 Things in general New Rhodesian ein Klaeuschen (a small Klaus) Beware that dog deep down inside me... the mask and mirror Re: Beware that dog Re: deep down inside me... Beware! FAQ coming!! Sam Phillips posters Happy Rhodes/ Ecto FAQ ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 07:50:54 +0700 From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks) Subject: Classified ads -- 14 Mar 1994 ECTO CLASSIFIED ADS 14 Mar 1994 Editor -- Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] Please check your ads and send me any changes, additions, or deletions! For full information, see the classified FAQ, available from the editor or anonymous FTP at olympic.atmos.colostate.edu [129.82.107.46] as pub/ecto/ class-faq. >>>> MUSIC WANTED CD's wanted [for a start :) ] for trade or purchase: any by Pamela Golden (except for _Happens All the Time_) any by Area any by Moon Seven Times (except for _Moon Seven Times_) any by Gyan Contact: Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] 6 Mar 94 CD's wanted for purchase (or trade): (any) Bobo in White Wooden Houses _Les Marionneres_ Collection D'Arnell-Andrea _Fall Down_ Margot Smith Contact: Michael Callahan [callahan%dialogvm@mcimail.com] 6 Mar 94 Manfred Mann's Earth Band -- I Who Have Nothing (single). For purchase or trade. I'd even be happy with a tape dub! Contact: Klaus Kluge [klaus@inphobos.wupper.de] 16 Feb 94 CD's wanted (for trade or purchase) Bel Canto - any cd singles with non-lp tracks Cranes - Inescapable (cd single) Earwig - any cd singles with non-lp tracks Innocence Mission - any cd singles with non-lp tracks Margot Smith - Adored (cd single) Tribe - Here at Home, Joyride (cd single), Payphone (cd single) Contact: Art Liestman [art@cs.sfu.ca] 22 Feb 94 CD's wanted for purchase or trade: Robyn Hitchcock - _I Often Dream of Trains_ Contact: Emily Breed [emilyb@netcom.com] 1 Mar 94 >>>> MUSIC AVAILABLE Happy Rhodes albums available for sale or trade: Contact: [your name would look nice here! :) ] Tape dubbing project. Cassette tapes: miscellany related to Happy Rhodes, various samplers, and Ecto projects, available for sale or trade. Contact: Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] 6 Feb 94 Duplicate albums available for trade: _Blast the Human Flower_ -- Danielle Dax [unused CD] _Strange Fire_ -- Indigo Girls [unused CD] _Become What You Are_ -- The Juliana Hatfield Three [unused CD] _Melissa Etheridge_ [used cassette] Contact: Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] 6 Feb 94 _Cherish the Day_ -- Sade 4 versions: Sade remix short version 5:18, Sade remix long version 6:18, Ronin remix 6:58, Pal Joey remix 6:46. Made in Austria. Slim jewel pack. A long story let me end with THREE copies of that single. One is left. Trading preferred. Contact: Uli Grepel [uli@zoodle.robin.de] 10 Feb 94 _Y Kan't Tori Read_ Good quality tape copies of my CD. For costs (tape+ postage). Or I'll trade tapes. Contact: Uli Grepel [uli@zoodle.robin.de] 10 Feb 94 Y Kant Tori Read - Good quality tape copies of my DAT dub, an optical digital transfer made from Uli's CD. May be handy if you live in this part of the world. Dolby B and C available, HX Pro. I can possibly arrange a DAT copy. I can also dub it onto MiniDisc for the gadgetphiles amongst you. Contact: Anthony Horan [anthony@xymox.apana.org.au] 6 Mar 94 Available for trade: Victoria Williams - Happy Come Home (used lp) Contact: Art Liestman [art@cs.sfu.ca] 6 Mar 94 >>>> ECTO GATHERINGS 7 May 1994: Excuse: The Kate Bush Fan Club Convention in London on 8 May [NB. This has still to be finally confirmed] Venue: 30 New Square, Cambridge CB1 1EX, UK Contact: Geoff Parks [gtp10@phx.cam.ac.uk] 6 Mar 94 12 Jun 1994: Edinburgh, Scotland, site to be determined. Contact: Neile Graham [neile@u.washington.edu] 16 Feb 94 >>>> CONCERT GATHERINGS 13 Mar 1994: Jane Siberry at the Fox Theater, Boulder Contact: Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] 28 Feb 94 22 Mar 1994: Tori Amos at the Wadsworth Theater, UCLA/Los Angeles I'd like to host a little ecto-get-together before the show. I'm about 10 minutes from UCLA..... Contact: Jeff Wasilko [jeffw@triple-i.com] 6 Mar 94 25 Mar 1994: The Cocteau Twins at the Ogden Theater, Denver Contact: Doug Burks [dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu] 20 Feb 94 28 Mar 1994: Tori Amos at the Keswick Theater in Glenside PA. I'm about 40 mins. away from the theater by commuter train (and I know the schedules, on the off-chance that someone's coming in from another city). Whether we meet in Philadelphia or Glenside depends on where everyone's coming from, and when. Contact: Brian Gerstel [gerstel@underground.irhe.upenn.edu] 10 Mar 94 >>>> PERSONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS Al Sodoma [ajs@fermat.cci.com] 16 Feb 94 I got engaged on 10/2/93. The wedding is set for 8/13/94. So far the plans are going pretty good. Got most of the major stuff done. Now for how I did it!: 10/2 was my brother's wedding. We're twins, so I wanted to do something special. I was also the best man. Since I wanted to ask Karen to marry me anyway, I figured that that day would be it. So I called up Bill & Jen and asked them if it was OK. This was about a month ahead of time. That whole time people would ask me if I had my 'best man speech' ready. I told everyone that I was gonna wing it. Needless to say, the time came for the speech and that's when I asked her! Editor: Doug Burks _O_ @>->--- dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu |< She really is!! ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 10:09:06 -0500 (EST) From: Sam Warren Subject: Things in general With all this talk of cross postings, all of a sudden I'm not sure I should write what I'm about to write. But then again, I'm not on the fte list, so maybe someone who is could post this over there. Or maybe everyone on the fte list is also on this list? Gee, I don't know. I always thought Ecto was such a friendly, non-judgemental kind of place. So, for anyone who has interest in Sarah McLachlan, the following appears in this week's New York magazine: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah Mclachlan (Arista): If Sinead O'Connor and Joni Mitchell had a love child, she would sing like Sarah McLachlan. And that's meant as a compliment-the Canadian's shimmery vocals have just enough of a rock bite to turn what could be annoyingly spacey lyrics into sexy, confessional pop ballads. McLachlan's live at Town Hall March 25. Apologies to anyone offended by this use of bandwidth. Or maybe I'm just being too sensitive about the whole issue. I don't know. -Sam PS - I'm very sorry to hear of your loss, Philip. I'm sure Willow will be missed. ======================================================================== From: mklprc@aol.com Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 11:55:00 EST Subject: New Rhodesian Maybe this has been posted already; I just resubscribed after a 2 month absence. Finally, I know! I started receiving the digests before having heard Happy (a friend recommended I subscribe because of how much I liked Kate, Loreena, Sarah, etc.). After getting overloaded and also having to drop out of cyberspace for a while, I managed to get my hands on three Happy discs. One playing of Rhodesongs just knocked me out. It was like when I first heard Kate on a TV broadcast of her Live at Hammersmith video concert. It was all I could do to keep from completely obsessing! I have not been playing much Enya, no Kate, little Loreena or much else. I am too busy playing and replaying Rhodesongs and Warpaint. Ecto I only like about half of. Now today, I just got Rhodes I and II and as I write this am playing it for the first time. This was her first album??? Wow. I now join the legions of people (well at least one legion) who wonder WHY ISN'T THIS WOMAN A SUPERSTAR? I was playing Rhodesongs when a client came over for some PageMaker training. Who is that?? she asked. I told her and gave her the address to send away for the CDs. Too bad that it is impossible to just go to a record store in town and buy her stuff. I got the last CD in Portland when I bought Warpaint. And there are a lot of independent, and chain, record stores in this town. Also, I have another friend who will be ordering two of everything; one for himself and one for the third person I turned on to her. She will be playing at a party I am holding (Oregon Mensa 1st Saturday party, plus it's my birthday) next month. Should get some interest there (except Mensans are such talkers that they may not even notice the music). 8-) Portland radio is so conservative and restricted that even the stations that would logically play her music wouldn't even think of it because she has not been annointed by whatever national consultant tells them what to play. Hell, even Kate gets short shrift here. Only Tori gets any attention because of the new album. Yet Portland is a music town with a very active club scene and a lot of touring artists stop here. Local musicians have a lot of places to play and many have gone national from here. Jane S. was here recently (which I missed, grrrr, being out of town that night). So I sure hope Happy thinks about including Portland on her tour, should she do one. She might also get attention by submitting her paintings for display in the Art Show at OryCon, the Oregon Science Fiction Convention. That would allow us on the committee an extra excuse to put her music on repeat in the art show room. I don't have FTP yet, so I can't get my hands on the Happy FAQ, but maybe Jessica could post it to me, eh? Michael Pearce Oregon ======================================================================== From: klaus@inphobos.wupper.de Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 10:12:12 Subject: ein Klaeuschen (a small Klaus) Hi there, it's nice to be up to date with reading ecto. :) Angelos quoting the newsletter (which hasn't arrived here yet) > ...once again, I'm dealing with the dilemma... > P H O T O O R P A I N T I N G > Or both? We all know how Happy solved that dilemma for Equipoise. :) Might we get a full drawing of Tirk with a photo of Happy's head now? Has someone already tried to get info about foreign subscriptions of Rhodeways? Or when the first issue is scheduled? If several german ectophiles are interested in subscribing to it, let me know. We can collect the money to one cheque and save quite a bit on bank fees. Vickie> She wasn't *really* in jail, it's a metaphor. The jail of her life. Right, 'jail' could mean many things. Just think of someone not being able to leave the house, or a person not being able to communicate with others. Uli wrote about his Kristin Hersh concert. She didn't play "Firepile"? :( > The guy who got his autograph before me was asked one excited question: > "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?!??" (he had a digipack with four or so color > prints. Klaus: Is that the one you have?) Right. Special packaging for the first 1500 copies. :) And before you ask: no, they aren't available any longer. Bob the grateful: > Oddly, there have as yet been no replies from the German Ecto camp. Oddly? You must be joking! :) The digest arrives here 1 or 2 days after you posted your message. Give us another day to finally find and read it. Then we need some time to think about it. Give us something simple as "this is a cute kitten" and you get a translation right away. The phrase in question isn't simple and doesn't contain enough information. Who is it addressed to? A single person? Do we know him/her well? Are we talking to a group of people? A word like "goodness" can mean many things. Should the phrase contain a bit of irony? This all will make a difference. Claudia and I tried to cover these aspects, which resulted in a paper of 3 pages, and that doesn't yet contain information about phonetics and syllables. Hope your received it by now, Bob. ___________________________________________________________ ( "Tell me all the plans you have for the great beyond. ) ) Will you be physical again, or be a cosmic vagabond." ( / --- Happy Rhodes --- \ / Klaus "cosmic vagabond" Kluge klaus@inphobos.wupper.de \ ======================================================================== From: Ethan_Straffin@next.com (Ethan Straffin) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 09:44:49 -0800 Subject: Beware that dog AnthonyH sends us a great Tori review: > This is only the second album I've rated this highly in Beat; no prizes for > guessing what the other one was... :-) Megadeth? Somebody's Daughter? Or perhaps a certain Australian muse? ;) And Alex chimes in: > I know this is silly but that's exactly why I had to point out that > The Spinanes seem to attract the attention of anyone with a name like > neal or neil(e): > Hmm, well those letters are in my name: ALExaNdEr. :*) My name's missing the "L", so there goes that theory... Anyway, maybe it was the intriguing ad in Pulse!, or the cover art, or the fact that it was on sale, or the offhand comparison I heard on the net to Throwing Muses, or the fact that I've come to trust myself when it comes to these occasional blind impulse buys, but in any case I picked up what has to be one of the worst albums of 1994 yesterday and thought I'd warn you all about it. :) IMHO, if you know what's good for you, you will avoid at all costs the self-titled DGC debut by a three-woman, one-man LA (?) band called "That Dog." What do they sound like? Well, here's the formula I came up with: Tm - Lc + PgP - Mh + Rap ------------------------ q where Tm = Throwing Muses Lc = any shred of Lyrical Content Pgp = Punkish Guitar Posturing Mh = Melodic Hooks Rap = the Requisite Arty Pretensions q = an arbitrarily large quality coefficient I think this album is just plain bad, almost laughably so in places. (And I *hope* I can laugh at it enough to partially make up for my wasted money.) For instance, there's the song where the singer complains about her TV channel numbers and area codes being rearranged: "What about me, GTE? Why you gotta change my 213?" Needless to say, this is accompanied by lots of amatuerish garage band jamming. Social commentary for the 90's, I guess. Has anyone else heard this? Does anyone *like* it? Also picked up NIN's _The Downward Spiral_, though in deference to Meredith all I'll say is that, yep, it's pretty amazing. I think I'll talk myself into believing that I paid $24 for NIN and about $3 for That Dog. :) Ethan ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 13:08:17 -0500 (EST) From: HOLLY@umbc2.umbc.edu Subject: deep down inside me... ...I'm a Ne(a)(i)l(e) too, with a little rearranging. HoLLy JEANEttE TomINAck :) Holly ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 13:51:48 EST From: justin@campion.crim.ca (Justin Bur) Subject: the mask and mirror Loreena McKennit's new album was released yesterday, but I was too disorganized to go to a record store. This morning I was too disorganized to bring a CD player to work, but that doesn't matter: the CD booklet is worth talking about without even having heard the music! It's more than ever before, more text, more pictures (there's no whitespace in the entire booklet), and -- it's bilingual! Not just token broken French, either, but an excellent translation that could have been the original text. The theme of the album is a search for people's idea of God, not just in her familiar land of the west coast of Ireland or Stratford, Ontario, but also in France, Spain, and Morocco. Each of the songs is accompanied by its place, its date, its collection of feelings. And Loreena certainly writes well. If I had never heard of her and someone showed me this CD booklet, I'd want to buy it even without having heard the music: anyone this articulate and poetic must have music worth listening to. (And we know she does, too!) also picked up Sam Phillips's new album, which should be fun, to judge by the cover (as I am fond of doing)... justin ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 11:03:27 PST From: Neal Copperman Subject: Re: Beware that dog Well, I don't know what the album sounds like, but I've considered buying it before. Think I'm glad I didn't though. I saw That Dog open for somebody, Mazzy Star maybe. I got there a bit late, and only caught there last song, which seemed kind of interesting and made me curious. That song had no vocals though. And on a more narcisistic note, but hey, I didn't start the thread, I can't help but read bob's address as oNEALian, although I have a friend who would definitely read it onealIAN. neal ======================================================================== From: brianb@netcom.com (Brian Bloom) Subject: Re: deep down inside me... Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 11:07:19 -0800 (PST) Hollis the Smopper said: > > ...I'm a Ne(a)(i)l(e) too, with a little rearranging. > > HoLLy JEANEttE TomINAck Well, so am I... brIAN LAwrENcE bLoom Actually, I guess my middle name alone would work for Neale perfectly. Hey Holly... *SMOP*!!! * moo-man snickers. -- __ ____ __ ____ __ __ (__==__) /\ \ / \_\ / /\ / \ \ / |\ / /\ (oo) ( moo.) / \_\ / /\ |_| / / /| /\ \ \ / ||/ / / /-------\/ -' / /\ | |\ \/ /_/_ / / / \ \/ \ \ / |/ / / / | U.T.|| / \/ |_| \ __ \_\ /_/ / \ /\ \_\ / /| / / * ||----|| / /\ ./_/ \ \ \/_/_\_\/ \ \ \/_// / | / / ^^ ^^ \ \/ |_| \ \_\ /_/\ \ \_\ /_/ /|_/ / Br!an Bloom \__/_/ \/_/ \_\/ \/_/ \_\/ \_\/ brianb@netcom.com .. but music hides me so well, ..and reveals me.. oh well - HR ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 14:55:10 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Beware! FAQ coming!! I've been sending out FAQs individually, but we have a *lot* of new Ectophiles (hi!) and so I'm going to post it. This is a new (though not to say definitive) version, incorporating bits such as the newsletter, #ecto, the t-shirt and other goodies. I'm *not* a FAQ writer, and this one is pretty schitzo, sorry. I have taken out the Ladyslipper blurbs, so if anyone wants to see those, write me. Better yet, wait. I've finally gotten around to calling Ladyslipper and ordering a catalog. I'll finally get the Equipoise review to add to the others. I'll post when I get the catalog and type in that review. As always, suggestions and comments are welcome (but please be kind to my mistakes :-)). If you've sent me something for the FAQ and I've forgotten it, or messed it up somehow, please let me know. Dain-bramage is my middle name. Duck! Vickie ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 14:01:32 -0600 From: iago@merle.acns.nwu.edu Subject: Sam Phillips posters I stopped by the record store today, and actually didn't buy anything! (Hey -- I think that's newsworthy, since it rarely happens. :-) But they did have two Sam Phillips promo posters for her new album. So I am offering them to ectophiles. Just e-mail me, and I'll mail them out to you. All I ask is that you send me money to cover shipping (should be about $2-$3) and a nice poster tube. The posters are 2' x 2', and depict the cover of the album. Let me know as soon as possible (i.e., today or tomorrow at the absolute latest), since I'm about to go on break. ==> vALEriE N. (gee, that's very economical, isn't it?) the person who is deliriously happy because she has gotten through her first quarter without flunking out of her program. ============================================================================ iago@merle.acns.nwu.edu "Patience, Iago. He was obviously less than worthy." -- Jafar "Am I in heaven here or am I in hell? At the crossroads I am standing." --Sarah McLachlan ============================================================================ ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 15:04:30 EST From: WretchAwry Subject: Happy Rhodes/ Ecto FAQ This is the FAQ for Happy Rhodes and her dedicated mailing list, Ecto. HAPPY RHODES/ECTO FAQ =========================================================================== Hello! Her full name is Happy Tyler Rhodes. She was born Kimberly Tyler Rhodes but has always been called Happy by family and friends. When she was 16 she had her name legally changed to Happy. She's 28 years old, born August 9, 1965 in Poughkeepsie, NY. The address to order Happy's music or write to her is: Happy Rhodes c/o Aural Gratification P.O. Box 380 Bearsville, NY 12409-0380 Happy reads all the mail sent to this address, so if you write you can be sure she'll see it. Please mention Internet as the source of your information. The discography: 1) Rhodes Vol. I (1986) AGCD0007 2) Rhodes Vol. II (1986) AGCD0008 3) Rearmament (1986) AGCD0011 4) Ecto (1987) AGCD0013 5) Warpaint (1991) AGCD0017 6) Equipoise (1993) AGCD0019 7) RhodeSongs (1993) AGCD0021 (a compilation) All 7 are available on CD. Warpaint, Equipoise & RhodeSongs are available on cassette. A T-shirt, designed by Happy, is also available directly from Aural Gratification. Price and postage are the same as one CD ($13.99+) The shirts are light blue. On the front, as featured in the booklet for the Equipoise CD, is the drawing (by Happy) of the dove with the wings of a bat. It's in black. Underneath, in violet, is written HAPPY RHODES. On the back, lyrics from the song "He Will Come": The fog breaks and she is there wandering on the jagged cliffs The fortress comes in view as he descends to meet her kiss Gabrielle dancing on the rocks He will come for you He will come again The shirts are 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester.... (thanks, Scott Zimmerman) If you want to be on the Aural Gratification mailing list, and receive the newsletter, you need to send $2.00 US, to help cover postage and printing, to: Aural Gratification Newsletter P. O. Box 380 Bearsville, NY 12409-0380 and give them your name and address. You'll receive the latest issue of the newsletter, and any that come out within the next year, plus any updates that might happen to be sent out. Overseas residents should double that, so it can be airmailed to you. (While you're at it, be sure to tell H&K that you're an Ectophile, and tell them a bit about yourself. How you heard of Happy, what you have so far, where you got it...whatever you think they'd be interested in hearing...and *believe me*, they are definitely interested in you!) --------------------------------------------------------------------- MAIL ORDER: If you would like to buy the CDs directly from Aural Gratification, the prices are as follows: (postage prices within the USA) CDs are $13.99 each Postage for one CD is $2.00 Cassettes are $9.99 each Postage for one tape is $1.50 Each additional tape or CD is $ .50 apiece Full price in ENGLISH pounds is: 11 pounds per CD (CD, with postage *included*) 8 pounds per cassette (cassette, postage *included*) The *postage* price to GERMANY: 4 CDs were $7.67, and $1.65 for each additional (info from Klaus Kluge) The *postage* price to AUSTRALIA: Each CD - approx US$4.50 (info from Martin Dougiamas) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy is getting limited distribution around the UNITED STATES. Her albums can usually be found in Tower Records, and some Sam Goodys and Musiclands carry her also. Frequently Happy has been found in small mom'n'pop stores too and specialty stores such as woman's bookstores with independent music sections. Check the stores in your area (if you can buy the music in a store it will save you postage and it will also encourage the store to order more), but mail is always an option if you can't find it locally. Happy should always be placed in the "R" section of the record store, but very often she gets misfiled under "H" so look there too. Ladyslipper catalog has added all Happy's albums. They've given wonderful reviews of all the albums, so it's worth getting a catalog just for them. Ladyslipper (a not-for-profit distributor) PO Box 3124-R Durham, NC 27715 800-634-6044 ------------------ Readings Records (in Carlton, AUSTRALIA) will import HR CD's. They reckoned about 2 weeks for delivery, and cost at about AUS$30 each. Readings Records, 366 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053 Ph: (03) 347 7473 (info from Anthony Horan) ------------------ In London, ENGLAND, HMV's Oxford Street shop carries Happy: Yes! Happy Rhodes was on sale in a major record shop in the UK! In the 'H' section, but even so a major improvement. They had multiple copies of the first four and a single "Equipoise" and at import prices (US$24) they were more expensive than buying mail order from AG but even so... sombody at HMV has been convinced she can sell in the UK! I only hope their optimism is justified. (info from Steve Fagg) ----------------- Compact Disc Sevices, based in SCOTLAND, carries Happy's albums too. They are able to supply all of HR's albums, at #14.95, plus #1 p&p. They take Access (Mastercard) and Visa. (info from Ben Bradley) Compact Disc Services Magnum House 140 Seagate Dundee DD1 2HF Tel: (0382) 76595 Fax: (0382) 736702 -------------------- Compacthuset AS in Haugesund, NORWAY, also carries Happy. All her albums are available there. (info from Yngve Hauge) Compacthuset AS Austmannavn. 11 5501 Haugesund Norway phone : Naional code to Norway / 52 71 61 70 fax : " / 52 72 98 19 -------------------- Aural Gratification has signed with a company in TAIWAN to release _RhodeSongs_ and the lyrics will be in Chinese. No concrete info as yet about this. The album _Warpaint_ is being pressed by a company in SOUTH AFRICA, and has been found in record stores there. ------------------- As to which album(s) to get? That's tough to say, because they're all excellent (IMHO). There's a huge difference between 1 and 6, and the progression is evident in the middle four. If you asked the people in the mailing list, you'd get lots of different answers. Of course, it's just about impossible to know what different people will like. My stock answer is "get them all!" because I think they're all worth getting. Equipoise is her latest one so that might be the one to start with. If you already have Equipoise, you might either want to go backwards and go for Warpaint next, or you might want to start at the beginning with Rhodes I, to see where she started. If you like Rhodes I and Equipoise, it's almost certain you will want to get the rest. When Happy herself was asked to pick out one of the early albums to send to an Ectophile, she chose the album Ecto. RhodeSongs is a compilation spanning her entire career, and includes bonus acoustic versions of album songs, a cover of David Bowie's song "Ashes To Ashes" and one new song, "Summer". FYI, if you ask Happy to autograph the CD(s) and/or tape(s), she will! If you buy Happy's albums in a store or through a distributor such as Ladyslipper, and you would like Happy's autograph, mail her the CD booklet of choice, along with an appropriately sized return envelope, self-addressed and stamped, and Happy will sign the booklet and return it to you. Happy has never had a major-label recording contract. All her music has been released so far on Aural Gratification, a private label started and owned by Kevin Bartlett. Kevin started the label to release his own music (he's quite well-known as a musician in the Albany area), then added Happy after they met. The first 4 albums were recorded by Happy, all alone in the studio. She played acoustic guitar and keyboards and used lots of overdubs. She produced them all herself and even engineered quite a few of the songs. Happy started out working as an apprentice engineer at Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer, New York, and learned the equipment by recording her own songs. Pat Tessitore, Cathedral's owner, was impressed by Happy's talent and encouraged her, even giving her free studio time to play around with the equipment and record her songs. When Happy met Kevin in 1986 and he encouraged her to let him release her music on AG, she had amassed enough songs for 2 albums. They gathered together all the tapes of the various songs and VI and VII were born. Later that year, Happy released Rearmament and Ecto came in 1987. Between Ecto and Warpaint, Happy and Kevin joined forces professionally as Bartlett\Rhodes. They never released any music but did play live in the Albany area often. In mid-1989 they decided to continue as they had started, as separate artists. Happy then began work on Warpaint in 1990. Warpaint and Equipoise were more professionally recorded (she and Kevin took out bank loans to make sure they were as high-quality they could possibly make them) and uses more musicians, though it's mainly just Happy and Kevin. They also co-produced the two albums. H&K are still personal partners. Kevin is also working very hard on the promotional side of Happy's career while keeping a full schedule with his own career as a musician (he's released well over a dozen albums, available only on cassette at this time), producer (Happy, Mitch Elrod), and free-lance work on commercials, MTV and Sesame Street. {Live} Happy has played live in and around the Albany, NY area for many years. On March 18, 1992 Happy played live for the first time in years and it was the first time with a full backup band. This is from the pages of Ecto-the mailing list: "Happy has surrounded herself with a group of very talented musicians, all of whom have a deep respect for her talent. Kevin Bartlett turned out to be very dynamic on stage, playing a variety of instruments (keyboards, steinberger electric guitar, 12 string electric guitar, and 12 string acoustic, and electronic drum pads). Mark Foster played acoustic and electronic drums, and was quite impressive. It was nice to see that the electronic drums were manually triggered instead of sequenced. In fact, I don't know if anything was sequenced in the entire show; if there was any, it was minimal. Fretted and fretless bass was played by Ray Jung ("We love you, Ray!"), who has had experience with a wider range of musicians, having played with people such as Bill Bruford (of Yes and King Crimson). The second set of keyboards, as well as BVs, were handled by Martha Waterman. You may recognize her name--she played piano on the studio version of "In Hiding." And finally, main BVs were handled quite admirably by Kelly Bird. She was able to blend beautifully with Happy's voice so that at times it actually sounded like Happy was multitracked." Jeff Burka A few days later, on March 21, 1992, Happy sold out the 800-seat University Museum Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. >From the pages of Ecto: "Incredible." "Mindblowing." "Astounding." "Spellbinding." "Magical." These concerts provided the very first opportunity for a "Happy Gathering of Ectophiles." Many Ectophiles from the Northwest, and a few from other parts of the United States (Illinois, Colorado and even Alaska) converged on Albany and Philadelphia for these concerts. Full details of these concerts via Ectophile impressions can be found in the Ecto archives beginning with Digest 187. {Background} She was a very lonely child and has always been a loner. She suffered from depression as an adolescent and teenager and sought solace and help in the music she listened to (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Bach) and in writing songs herself. She "wrote out" the demons in her mind, never guessing that the songs would someday end up on albums that would be cherished by other people. Happy is an interesting, intelligent, singer/songwriter/musician who cares deeply about her music and makes music to last, music that matters. Happy's lyrics can sear your heart and soul in its intensity and introspectiveness. Her lyrics are very often dark and are nearly all autobiographical, but they are almost all about emotions. Human emotions are universal, so many of her songs touch nerves in other people too. Many of her songs are about depression, some are about suicidal feelings and some are cynical, but there are also songs about hope and light, with a "you must love yourself before anyone else can love you" point of view. She does have a sense of humor, and it comes out in a few songs, but most of her songs are very serious. Not that they are all slow, dirge-like ballads. Many songs are fast-paced and very melodic. You could enjoy the music and Happy's voice(s) without ever paying attention to the lyrics. The lyrics add another layer to be fascinated by if you choose to delve further, though. {Fans} Happy's fan base is small but growing and we here in Ecto think it's exciting to see how she's progressing and to "be with her" at each step of her career from now on. Happy Rhodes fans are very passionate about promoting her music. Record companies have ignored her (and, so far, continue to) I think because they don't really know what to do with her. She can't be easily put into a box and labled. We all think that it's extremely unfair and wrong that she's unknown and obscure. We want to change that. It's only at a small grass-roots level at the moment, but will grow as more people become aware of Happy, fall in love with her music, and care enough to spread the word about her. H&K are *very* aware of Ecto and are kept informed of it's topics of conversation. They are deeply appreciative of everyone's interest and have great affection for Ecto. This affection manifested itself after the Philadelphia concert when Happy and Kevin made it a point to invite Ectophiles to a post-concert "Schmooze-With-Philly-Bigwigs" party at the Penn Towers Hotel. They didn't have to invite us, they wanted to. {History of Ecto} Semi-regular postings about Happy Rhodes have appeared in rec.music.gaffa (Love-Hounds) since January 1989 via Vickie Mapes, who "found" Happy in 1988 and played her regularly on her radio show called Suspended In Gaffa. The release of Warpaint in April 1991 prompted many gaffa readers to try her music for the first time. Many of those people liked what they heard and went on to complete their collection with the early tapes. As discussion grew to deafening levels, it was pointed out to the Happy Rhodes fans that, no, not *every* Kate Bush fan will like Happy's music, and could we please start talking about Kate again? As many gaffians wanted to continue to talk about Happy, but wanted to respect the wishes of those who had no interest, on June 13, 1991 Jessica Dembski created the mailing list Ecto. The list has been *very* active, with nearly 300 members, and topics on *any* subject of interest to Ectophiles are welcome to be discussed. We talk about other artists besides Happy (female artists mainly, but recommendations of male artists are fine). Non-music topics seen in Ecto range from movies to politics and just about everything in between. FRIENDLY WARNING: Ecto contains frequent amiable posts from a group of friends, hanging out and not letting themselves get fettered by list mandates or inconsiderate flaming. Hugs are not uncommon :-) To join Ecto-the mailing list, write to Jessica at: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu To contribute: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Tell Jessica which you would rather have, Ecto as loose mail, or as a Digest. Ecto-the mailing list, is not a Usenet newsgroup, but is gatewayed into newsgroups at many sites. At Rutgers University, for instance, it can be found as ru.rec.ecto Another hangout for Ectophiles is the IRC channel #ecto. Join the fun! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GIFs, lyrics to all the albums, articles, interviews, reviews, other tidbits and Ecto Archives are available from: hardees.rutgers.edu by anonymous ftp, in pub/hr (Internet address is: 128.6.18.2.) For those without FTP capability, Doug Burks has offered to send anything in the archives to you via e-mail. Write him at: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu If you're a member of Ecto (easy to check), ask about Doug's TDS. Doug also maintains the "Ecto Classified Ads" (posted monthly with updates sent out regarding time-intensive items) for CD/LP/cassette trades, wanted, for sale, and other announcements. Klaus Kluge (klaus@inphobos.wupper.de) maintains a birthday list. Typical listing: (name) (day of birth) (date of birth) ("sign" - serious or your choice) Happy Rhodes Mon August 9 1965 HolyGhost If anyone wants to be added to this list, or change their "sign" just e-mail Klaus with the information...if you don't know what weekday you were born on, he can figure it out if you give your complete birthday. Klaus also maintains the complete Happy Rhodes discography, and is responsible for the "Encyclopedia" found in the archives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you happen to see Happy mentioned anywhere, please pass it along to Ecto, or an Ectophile who can send it on. Happy is just beginning to be "discovered" and it's interesting to know what other people think, to hear reviews (good or bad) and to keep track of where she's mentioned and in what context. No mention is too small. Thank you in advance. ============================================================== Please write with any comments or suggestions about this FAQ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vickie "Fight for the right "My ears are lucky to hear vickie@pilot.njin.net to have monsters" TA these glorious songs" HR _________ "Imagination sets in, then |_ _ | _ The Happy Rhodes mailing list all the voices begin" KB |__|_ ||_| ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Searching for Happy Rhodes reviews, articles, interviews, mentions -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ======================================================================== 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)