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 #760 ecto, Number 760 Saturday, 18 September 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* Re: Keeping up?! Re: A few ramblings It bounced big-time, so here's try No. 2 Re: DCD and Heidi Berry Re: Heidi Berry and Jane Siberry RHP Re: Kitten parenthood RHP, keeping up, Jarre, Re: A few ramblings back from limbo radio ecto Heidi Berry at The Iron Horse back from limbo Cars, music, and miscellaneous Pravatiner's improbable history and other stories vanna/diamanda ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 21:09:07 MET DST From: Albert Philipsen Subject: Re: Keeping up?! Mike matthews: >Uli ponders: >>Didn't you know that all 180 or whatever (Jessica?) people besides yourself >>that are on Ecto are really artificial intelligence programs written and >>installed by record companies to get you into buying more CDs? And if the >>occasional event happens that you meet an Ectophile, then they are just >>actors. > >Actually, one of my subroutines tells me we're ALL some simulation program. > >And the music industry itself is some college student's audio project. Well... actually, the whole universe is just a simulation running on my computer. >Program Mike_153652 Back to the original subject... I keep up by listening to music in my dreams. Just a few days ago, I listened to Kate's new album, but that was probably some alternative version, because "Moments of Pleasure" wasn't on it. Weird! I often listen to music (by my favourite artists) that I didn't even know existed. Anyone know how to record that stuff? Oh yeah... I *love* the "Rubberband Girl" single! Albert ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 03:46:01 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: Re: A few ramblings Thanks Vickie, for the whole story about your interviewing saga at WOMAD. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who gets nervous when interviewing people I admire. And I've been doing it on and off for nearly 9 years. It never goes away - and that's a good thing! It was so wonderful meeting Margot Smith yesterday; it's like finally getting a chance to find out what this person whose music you feel incredibly close to is really like. She asked me what I thought of her album, and I lost the power to speak coherently... :-) > If we ever get these things transcribed (Mary and Sheila) I'll post > them to Ecto. (I know I don't have to add ..."if it's ok" :-)) Please do - and I'll try and make myself get organised enough to post the Jane Siberry and Margot Smith ones. Actually, I should send tapes of these to Doug as well, I guess... > Yep, I saw it and liked it. Lots of fun! I especially liked seeing so > many of the actors and actresses from one of my favorite films, _Bliss_. > It's been playing in Chicago for months, and it's still here. Bliss - wow, you've seen it! Okay, I make you this promise - next time that the ABC (Government!) network here show the director's personal edit of this film, I'll tape it, transfer it to NTSC, and mail it to you. It's only been shown once so far - this is the original cut of the film that all the investors were horrified with, because it wasn't commercial enough. It's very different to the release version, and about 20 minutes longer; the only time it's been seen outside of the Cannes film festival is the time it was screened on TV here at the request of the director. And I'm an eejit not to have taped it. :) > :-) Help! It's raining catepillars! (The little fuzzy things, not the > heavy machinary-that would be on gaffa.) At least it's not raining aardvarks.. :-) > AnthonyH--get this man a Happy sampler! (please? pretty please?) One Happy sampler coming his way! Soon! Really! (Have you ever tried to decide what to put on a 100 minute Happy sampler? "Everything" was my starting point, and I'm whittling back to 100 minutes from there... :-) > We *like* rambling! Ecto wouldn't be Ecto without lots of interesting > rambling! I rambled, and I think either our news gate is broken, or it bounced direct from the postmaster at rutgers! I'll send my long other-day post again... Serendipity. Anthony ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 03:48:45 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: It bounced big-time, so here's try No. 2 Original subject: Hiatt, Jane, Margot, and assorted ramblings. In apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes, article <9309141243.AA09654@ulysses.mr.ams.org>, you wrote: > Picking up the thread of Pearl Jam smashing perfectly good guitars, I > provide the lyrics in question from the new John Hiatt release: > > ... > There oughta be a law with no bail > Smash a guitar and you go to jail > With no chance for early parole > Ya don't get out until you get some soul > > Oh it breaks my heart to see those stars > Smashing a perfectly good guitar > I don't know who they think they are > Smashing a perfectly good guitar Wonderful! :-) I have new-found respect for Mr Hiatt for that. I'm going to have to buy this just to send it to my metal-obsessed brother... :) > It's been interesting to see how many more people post now that > summer's over. Also interesting to watch a flame war in action. Is not! Is too! > Kidjo). And still I get the feeling that my collection has already > gotten out of hand; like, how many things have I only listened to > twice? How do y'all keep up? Long commutes? Speaker-under-the-pillow? > How many hours a day are you plugged into music? Most of the time I'm home I have music on. But the usual practise, especially with so much music coming in, turns out to be that one album becomes glued to the CD player and constantly played, while other discs pop in for a visit as they arrive in my collection; eventually one of those discs will replace the glued-in one in its own gluey status. Currently glued (and breaking this year's record by being there for 10 days and counting!) is the Margot Smith album. Incidentally, answers from the interviews for those who care.. :) Jane: Ilka asked whether she'd be touring Germany soon. Unfortunately, the answer is no, unless the record starts selling. She is, however, coming out to Australia in February for an outdoor festival which I'd guess is the annual "Big Day Out" tour... Margot: Finally, the answer to "will her album be out overseas?" The answer is: she has no idea! But EMI still say "probably, one day". If I were you, I'd import. :) Incidentally, it's nice to do an interview and be asked questions back - but it's a bit disconcerting to be put on the spot when, after asking Margot what the next single should be from the album, she thinks for a second and asks me what I think the single should be! :-) Hey well, if "Arms Of Earth" comes out as a single you'll know whose idea it was...! Margot wanted a copy of the review of her album I did for Ecto, so I faxed it to her - with some blurb about Happy, of course! :-) She's a thoroughly nice person, by the way, and she's shorter than me, which is rare in pop stars. :-) In other news: Films and videos! (this is the "for those who care" section!) "Last Action Hero" - funny, silly, sometimes just plain stupid, but it looks great and was photographed by an Australian. 7 out of 10. "The Fugitive" - yes, I'm the last peson on Ecto to see this. Loved it, though it could have done with a bit of trimming in the latter section, as the momentum drops off too much. Extra points for Introvision's superb front projection mattes in the train derailment sequence. 8 out of 10. "The Bodyguard" - look, it just came out on video, and I'd never seen it, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Watchable guff, but guff nonetheless. Whitney CAN act, quel surprise. Anyone who doesn't pick whodunnit within the first half hour isn't paying attention. And who scripted that ending? Ugh. 6.5 out of 10. Records! ~~~~~~~~ "Circus" - Not Drowning, Waving Has anyone heard of this Melbourne band? This is their brand new album, their first for Mushroom after leaving first Rampant, then Warner. Hugh Jones ("Heidi Berry") produced in Wales. I just got it today, and at first listen, it sounds like the most "up" and accessible album they've done in ages. Very different from the usual NDW material, superbly recorded in Wales. "Peace Together" - Various A charity compilation put together by Island to raise money and awareness for people affected by the Britain-Ireland conflict. Some gems here, and some real stinkers. Best of the bunch is Curve and Ian Dury doing a blippy cover of the latter's song "What A Waste", Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins sublimely singing the title track (and you can understand the words!!!), while elsewhere we have to endure Pop Will Eat Itself positively destroying Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers". "Love" - Heidi Berry Got this as Ilka recommended it over the new album. It's more subdued, and is very nice, with super-slick production by Peter Walsh, but nothing on here moves me the way "Little Fox" or "Follow" do. I like the Husker Du cover, though. At least, I assume it is a Husker Du cover... anyone? "Siamese Dream" - Smashing Pumpkins Nirvana? Pah, who needs 'em! This is the Guitar Album Of Choice this year. And they've got strings. AND they've got a better producer than Nirvana do. And just for the record, the Pumpkins used Butch Vig first, so nyaah. :-) "Bat Out Of Hell II" - Meatloaf Don't. Just don't. I got this for free and I still feel ripped off. Quite how Jim Steinman has managed to destroy "Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through", one of my fave 80's songs, is beyond comprehension. 75 minutes of bloated, overblown schlock that's 10 years out of date. Nice label, though. "Come Undone" - Duran Duran I'd just like to say that this is not only the best thing Duran Duran have done in ten years, it's also one of the best pop songs of the year. So there. And finally, what was originally another message except that it bounced too (things seem to bounce all the time on Ecto, but these two bounced back to my mailbox but didn't make it to the Ecto newsgroup...) > I also bought Sarah Brightman's _Dive_ the same day. > That night, I gave each album 1 listen. Said listen was vaguely favorable, > but not what I was expecting. The next day when I packed for a weekend > trip to Cape May, NJ, I grabbed _Dive_ but not the FG album, for whatever > reason (I know I grabbed _Dive_ so I could make fun of her lyrics, > particularly "Johnny Wanna Live," perhaps the worst peta-esque song ever > written--makes me wanna go kill a cute furry animal and wear it on a hot > day just to spite the lyricist...). If that's the same song as the "Johnny Wanna Live" written and performed by Italian Euro-pop diva Sandra, then I sympethise, and wonder why Sarah Brightman bothered covering it. Sandra's husband, by the way, is Enigma. :) "Ecto cannae take the pressure of ye rambling, Anthony! She's gonnae blow!" "Thank you, Mr Scott. Anthony out." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 554 "|/usr/lib/news/nrecnews -i -n ru.rec.ecto -x REQUIRED"... unknown mailer error 1 ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from ns1.rutgers.edu by rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA22425; Fri, 17 Sep 93 00:01:19 EDT Received: from muwayb.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA16268; Thu, 16 Sep 93 23:34:12 EDT Received: from werple.apana.org.au by muwayb.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (PMDF V4.2-14 #4399) id <01H321WK79JK000FD4@muwayb.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>; Fri, 17 Sep 1993 13:33:47 +1000 Received: from zikzak.apana.org.au (zikzak.apana.org.au [192.188.107.73]) by werple.apana.org.au (8.5/8.5) with SMTP id NAA02391; Fri, 17 Sep 1993 13:33:35 +1000 Received: from xymox.apana.org.au by zikzak.apana.org.au with UUCP id AA27038 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4.1 for apana.org.au!apana-lists-rec-happy-rhodes); Fri, 17 Sep 1993 13:22:42 +1000 Received: by xymox.apana.org.au (V1.16/Amiga) id AA00g49; Thu, 16 Sep 93 22:01:47 AEST Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1993 22:01:47 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: Re: Keeping up?! In-Reply-To: <9309142121.AA03017@syrinx.umd.edu>; (apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes) To: apana-lists-rec-happy-rhodes@apana.org.au Reply-To: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au Message-Id: <9309170401.AA00g48@xymox.apana.org.au> Organization: Disorganized... Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT In apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes, article <9309142121.AA03017@syrinx.umd.edu>, you wrote: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 03:53:26 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: Re: DCD and Heidi Berry In apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes, article , you wrote: > TimC writes about Heidi Berry: > > > I read somewhere that she is originally from Boston but is living in England > > at the moment. > > I can find out, because I'll be interviewing her in a couple of weeks! :-) Okay, Vickie, I'm officially jealous! :-) > I'll catch up with AnthonyH & Anil before too long :-) Well, my interview week next week is currently set at RazorBrain. Heard of them? Neither had I. And I just heard the record. Ugh. I'm only doing it because they're on the same label as Margot Smith, and I want to stay on their good side so I can talk to her again! :-) > movies while he's here. (They just watched "My Cousin Vinny" and now > I have to record my show for tomorrow.) I really like that film a lot. And Marisa deserved her Academy Award for it. So there. Nyah. Grin. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 03:59:43 +1000 (AEST) From: anthony@xymox.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan) Subject: Re: Heidi Berry and Jane Siberry In apana.lists.rec.happy-rhodes, article <9309170949.AA06872@ns1.rutgers.edu>, you wrote: > Furthermore, also for Anthony, you weren't deeply moved by Heidi's Song > "Washington Square" on "Love"??? I think that must be one of the most beauti- > ful songs ever recorded!!!! I have to be fair, I have only played "Love" a couple of times - I admired the snazzy production, courtesy Peter Walsh (who produced two albums by Xymox - spot the connection!) and bathed in the beauty of the music within, but no song jumped out and grabbed me on first or second listen. I'm being unfair by crit-ing the album after only a couple of plays; it's just that the very first time I played the new album, ""Little Fox" and "Follow" leaped out at me and stole my heart. > Actually, I got some information on her from her German record company. She > is going on a miniture little tour as special guest of "Red House Painters" > (who?????). The dates, for those who care, are as follows: Tell her to get out here, pronto! Hey, it's almost Summer, how could she say no... :-) > P.S.: Sandra is not Italian, she's German! She is????? But.. but... oh. That's OK then. But Virgin Australia were telling journalists, DJs, and anyone else who'd listen about 4 years ago that she was "Italy's hottest pop star"! And she actually released a single I really like back then, too, but you're going to have to guess what it is... :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anthony Horan, Melbourne Australia - anthony@xymox.apana.org.au "I kind of feel like I'm Metallica..." - Tori Amos on the perils of long tours, November 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 13:09:08 PDT From: kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis) Subject: RHP Hi, Jeffy writes: >The album that always sticks in my mind when I do so >is the RHP album because it's got a picture of a roller coaster on it and >I'm a coaster fiend (as Mike can attest...;-) It always makes me curious >to hear the band. >Anybody know anything about 'em? :) The *exact* same thing happened to me in Greece, while I was browsing through the R section of record and CD stores in search of Tom Robinson CDs/LPs and the *remote* chance of finding Happy CDs. Especially in the LP sections the RHP albums stand out because they simply look beautiful. So, when I cashed in my buy-10-get-1-free Coop Frequent Music Buyer card before leaving Boston I picked up the CD with the roller coaster. I can't say I have listened to it much since then (CDs #9 and #10 were _Duke_ and Gabriel II-both of which I had on LP in Greece and hadn't listened to in 6 years and now find to be brilliant, especially Gabriel II, which for an extended period of time I hated...). I will post my impressions after paying attention to the music instead of using it as background for packing. Angelos ======================================================================== Subject: Re: Kitten parenthood Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 16:24:28 -0400 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu Jim writes: >Neile and I are also pseudo-parents of homeless strays that have adopted us >ever since we moved into our current house. A cat of indeterminate >age--whom we call Mother [...] Is this a common thing? My sister-in-law has an adopted dog named Mom. The story was: Marcy was out wandering by the Vietname Veteran's Memorial and found a box under some trees. Said box contained a bitch and her litter (not yet weaned!), crudely abandoned. Being a dog person, Marcy brough home the box and took care of the puppies 'til they were weaned and could be sent out for adoption. During that time, she and her housemates referred to the bitch impersonally as "the mom dog", figuring that if they named her, they might become too attached, and nobody particularly wanted to adopt her for life. By the time the puppies were weaned, the bitch was officialy named Mom and there was no question that Marcy would be keeping her. My grandmother is *constantly* confused by this; every time I'm at my grandparents' along with my brother and his wife, I always inquire as to Mom's well-being. My grandmother here's a mention of 'mom' and immediately assumes we're talking about her! Jeff ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 13:25:54 PDT From: Neal R. Copperman Subject: RHP, keeping up, Jarre, I'd been hoping someone would say something about Red House Painters. I bought the disc with the roller coaster on it about a month ago, and, to mix in the keeping up thread, haven't listened to it yet. I'll try to give it a listen around WOMAD this weekend and report back next week. I don't keep up very well, but every disc gets a guaranteed two solid listens before it disappears into the sink hole of my collection. But it's great fun re-discovering those discs that haven't been listened too for ages, almost like buying something new yourself. While I'm not much of a Madonna fan, I have trouble imagining her as manipulated. She's seems a master manipulator to me. Jarre comments: I bought Zoolook because Laurie Anderson was on it. I thought it was incredible. Didn't take any time at all, within minutes I was hooked. I have since bought a few other discs of his, but not a one of them has the energy and experimental nature of Zoolook. (Maybe they just seem dated to me, but discs that came out after Z haven't been nearly so interesting either.) It seems funny to me that if I had bought any other Jarre disc, I'd only have one, but now I have 3 since I kept hoping for him to do something of the magnitude of Zoolook. Albert: Have I got a book for you. Actually, I'm here to recommend a book I haven't even read yet, but it is perfect. I saw Lewis Shiner give a reading of his new book, ack, my mind locked up, the name is gone, well, I'll send that next week too. Anyway, this book has a main character who hears music that's never been recorded, and records it, just like you wanted. In the first 20 pages, which Shiner read, he tapes a song from the Beatles' Let It Be session, as it might have been if the band had still been a band rather than 4 people. I bought the book, but i can't keep up there either. (I want to call it Reflections, but I'll double check.) Neal < It's a WOMAD weekend, yaaaaaaaay > I saw Bliss too, about 4 years ago. I thought it was a stupendous film. It had gotten a good review (somewhere), but quickly disappeared into obscurity (as far as I can tell). I rented the video and it was really fantastic. Maybe we can all get together at Anthony's the next time it's on Australian tv :) (What's NTSC?) ======================================================================== Subject: Re: A few ramblings Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 16:36:46 -0400 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu Vickie wrote: >> Yep, I saw it and liked it. Lots of fun! I especially liked seeing so >> many of the actors and actresses from one of my favorite films, _Bliss_. >> It's been playing in Chicago for months, and it's still here. And Anthony, jaw-dropped, responded: >Bliss - wow, you've seen it! Oh. Guess you weren't around last time we had a Peter Carey discussion. ;-) I've seen _Bliss_ too and imagine a number of ectophiles have. Dunno how many would have read any/many of his books. Carey is one of my favorite authors. I think I've read most of his stuff: Bliss, War Crimes, Illywhacker, Oscar & Lucinda, The Tax Inspector. Hmm. I think there was one more. I know I've not read _The Fat Man in History_ yet though I vaguely remember seeing a new US printing of it recently whilst at a bookstore with Beth (I was broke at the time). Has he written anything since _The Tax Inspector_? I was a bit disappointed with that one. I think _Bliss_ is my favorite. The movie was fun too. Is the movie more in keeping with the book? If you like Carey, I'd recommend reading some Geoffrey Ryman. In my opinion, he out-careies Carey. Check out _The Child Garden_ and _Was_. >One Happy sampler coming his way! Soon! Really! (Have you ever tried to >decide what to put on a 100 minute Happy sampler? "Everything" was my >starting point, and I'm whittling back to 100 minutes from there... :-) Many times. I wonder what I did with that track listing from that last one... Jeff ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 17:10:38 -0700 From: Michael G Peskura Subject: back from limbo Well, i go away for a few days & find a mountain of conversation produced by all you wonderful Happy Daisy (heh) fans! And, what a range of topics: from the technical aspects of the recordable Mini Disc, to the politics of male hair length (shoulder-length and greying for me), to the furor over new KaTe material (i'll happily eat the music :)... David Dixon writes: > Well folks, it's all over. I lost. > Needless to say, I'm completely demoralized. David, anyone with the *courage* to compete on this program deserves only respect! Congratulations on making it -- you should be proud. And... Vickie, how i envy you being able to talk with Sheila Chandra. Now, there is someone i would *REALLY* like to meet. Speaking of meeting people, i was pleased to have breakfast one Sunday with Neile Graham, Jim Gurley, and Steve VanDevender who was in town for the Wheels of Fire race. You're right, Steve, you aren't just a CyberPerson after all! :) Pleased to meet you. The race was covered briefly by CNN, but i didn't see you in the pack. Neile and Jim and i are going to see Madder Rose and Juliana Hatfield this evening, so that should be fun. Sez the paper: "Hatfield's no-bullshit lyrics speak to hipsters, geeks, boys, women, men, and girls alike." (Gee, i can't wait :) A note to our Kite Man, Jeff, there apparently is a World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame in Long Beach on the Washington coast. I think we should try to get them to include a Jeffrey C. Burka creation! (For the curious, their phone number is (206)642-4020.) Greetings to you all. "cherry-flavored antacids" - Nirvana ----- Michael Peskura - University of Washington - Seattle USA ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 21:04:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: radio ecto Hi! Listening to WPKN now- there's a way cool show on... I haven't heard a male vocalist since I tuned in three hours ago (not to imply that male vocalists are a bad thing, you just hear a disproportionate number of them on the radio) and it's a lot like my show, which is probably why I like it so much. ;> ANYWAY, there was an element of Happy missing, so I called and requested anything by her, and since then I've heard all of HR5 interspersed throughout the show... cool, eh? I do need to call the DJ back, though, since she's convinced Happy Rhodes is more than one person. Whoops- "Eat The Music" must be up next, since I just heard it cued up over the song being officially played. ;> I hate when I do that... Meredith meth@delphi.com ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 22:55:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Heidi Berry at The Iron Horse Hi! Had an enjoyable evening yesterday evening- I saw Heidi Berry and Red House Painters at The Iron Horse (where The Story are playing next Thursday night- now that I know I can get there in time for a 7:00 show during the week, I'm seriously considering it). Red House Painters, supposedly the opening act, were on stage for an hour. Heidy Berry was on stage a total of 30 minutes, including encore. Make of this what you will. She played everything from _Heidi Berry_ but "Follow", and the encore was "Fireflies", from _Love_. She was accompanied on stage by her brother Christopher on guitar and piano, another woman on guitar, and a woman on violin (forgot their names :}), and she looked like standing on stage performing in front of people was the absolute last thing she wanted to be doing at the moment. Good luck interviewing her, Vickie. She looked like she'd be unwilling to give her own brother the time of day, but maybe it was a bad time of the month or something- who knows? I didn't feel like it would be worth the trouble to get her to sign my CD. Despite all that, however, those 30 minutes of music were wonderful! If she's coming to your area, do go see her. But show up late- if you miss Red House Painters you won't be missing much, and it'll give you an extra hour to find a place to park. They could have been good if they'd quit while they were ahead, but then the singer came back onstage with just a guitar and proceeded to show everyone just what happens when someone who can't really play the guitar and who definitely can't hold a tune is left without his sonic background of guitars-mit-effects to cover these little details up. Pretty pathetic, actually. I enjoyed about half of what they did with the full band, though, until it all started to really sound the same and the too-old- for-teenage-angst lyrics got annoying, at which point I took the opportunity to check out the loo. I did have a stroke of luck, in that although I showed up right at 7:00, the official starting time (which in Iron Horse-speak means, Show Starts At 7:30) and there were a lot of people there, because I was alone I got to share a table with another woman who was there by herself, who had gotten there early and was seated front and center by the stage. :) She was pretty neat, too- a senior at Hampshire college with dead-on ecto musical sensibilities, but no computer access. :( Oh, well. The bottom line: If you go see Heidi Berry and Red House Painters, be prepared for twice as much of the latter as the former, and don't expect any of the artists involved to exude much by way of stage presence. Hope RHP don't shoot themselves in the foot again with their poor set arrangement, and enjoy what you do get to hear of Heidi Berry, because that part will definitely be good. Reviews R Us... Meredith meth@delphi.com P.S. Who said Heidi Berry is from Boston? For someone from Boston, she sure has a charming British accent... ;> ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 20:01:55 PDT From: stevev@miser.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) Subject: back from limbo I liked the subject line so much, I copied it. Michael G Peskura writes: > Speaking of meeting people, i was pleased to have breakfast one Sunday > with Neile Graham, Jim Gurley, and Steve VanDevender who was in town > for the Wheels of Fire race. You're right, Steve, you aren't just > a CyberPerson after all! :) Pleased to meet you. The race was covered > briefly by CNN, but i didn't see you in the pack. And I was pleased to see that three whole people were not just disembodied Ecto-AIs. However, rather coincidentally I read _The Fall of Hyperion_ by Dan Simmons during that weekend, in which AIs would grow themselves human bodies to use as remotes. Next time I'll drop in on an Ecto-person without warning and see if the Ecto-AIs can grow bodies quickly. Since I am now one of the few people who has seen both Neile and Vickie, I'm going to nominate them for the first Ecto "Separated at Birth" column. While in Seattle I also visited a friend who works at the Evil Empire of Microsoft (no offense to other Microsofties). She kept telling me "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated" whenever I complained about how lousy I think their stuff is. Their offices aren't too bad, though, and we had a good time. I also brought along a tape of Warpaint which she liked on her really run-down car stereo (it only had the left channel) and loved when she heard it on a better stereo. Then we went to the Seattle Tower Records and saw that they had _all six_ Happy Rhodes albums (not counting RhodeSongs), which was a remarkable sight. However, Marta will hopefully soon be buying a copy of _Warpaint_ and may even become a new Ectophile. The next day, after brunch with Neile and Jim and Michael, Neile and Jim and I returned to the Seattle Tower and I went on a mini CD-buying spree, and got the _Eat the Music_ CD single (which I haven't listened to yet), Laurie Anderson's _Mister Heartbreak_, the Throwing Muses's _Hunkpapa_, and the Firesign Theatre's _I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus_. Just a while ago I got back from a flying lesson / aerial photography trip (I was learning more about how to fly and our passengers wanted to photograph some property they want to buy). Eventually I intend to be a private pilot. And now I'm off to the Eugene Celebration, called by some the most spectacular self-congratulatory display imaginable (a city throwing a party for itself) but which I think is a lot of fun. ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 23:00:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Suspended In Duct Tape Subject: Cars, music, and miscellaneous Hi! Cars. jessica boasted: }Oh yeah?? Well, i put 11 people in *my* car. } }And it was a volkswagon rabbit. :) Well, as I recall I was once in a group of 23 who drove 45 minutes each way to see Rocky Horror in a Honda Accord, Mitsubishi something-or-other, and a Dodge station wagon. I was in the Accord, along with 7 others. Interesting, to say the least... And another time we got eleven into a station wagon, not including the one on the roof. Drove three miles that way. No one was killed. Lizzie, who was on the roof, wanted to do it again on the way home. woj noted: }hmmm. you know, there should be a support group for old impala }drivers. seems like a lot of people have impalas in their }life's closet. My dad had two puke-green Impala station wagons for two consecutive company cars when I was little. I loved them. Then in '79 he came home in a boring brown Ford Fairmont wagon, and life hasn't been the same since... Music. woj went on about The Story: }the first album wasn't as annoyingly new acoustic as the new one }is. it's got a lot to do with the band-style sound. dunno about }you, but i can't deal with another john gorka-sounding band }(much as i like john gorka) like i can deal with a simpler, }straight acoustic guitar approach (and even that can get on my }nerves lately). What, not enough distorted noise for you? }a question that drives deep to my heart. as meredith will agree, }i've a ridiculous amount of music on all formats (nevermind the }synergy with footah's collection). No kidding. It shouldn't be allowed. Of course, if presented with a choice between saving the world and checking out the used bins woj would without hesitation choose the latter, which I guess has to be the attitude if you're going to get your collection that large in the first place. ;) I don't have much by the standards of those around here, but compared to my friends I have an unbelievable amount of music. Some of it I haven't listened to in years... I go through phases of what I want to listen to and what I don't, and usually those phases make it so I go weeks only listening to one album or one artist or whatever, then don't hear them again for months. It's a weird thing. I also don't have much time to listen, since I can't listen to music at work and there's often good stuff on the radio in the evenings. And when I have music on while doing e-mail, it's more of a background thing and I don't really LISTEN to it. I also don't have a tape deck in my car, so that puts a damper on things, too. It's sad, really. }picked up unrest's "cath carroll" 7" single. not too bad - a }couple non-album tracks i think. all the vocals are male here }though. I've heard three rather mellow and quite nice songs from Unrest, and three really abrasive and rather unpleasant ones... are they really that schizophrenic? Miscellaneous. Mitch hoped: }WRT Meredith's Delphi problems: One can only hope that the }recent buyout of that service by Rupert Murdoch doesn't }aggravate matters. Hey, that's news to me! (I only use it for mail, so I have no clue what goes on elsewhere in the service, so maybe that's not surprising.) }WRT her yarn on the VW in the cafeteria: an object lesson in }regional culture differences. In some parts of lower Manhattan, }the common response to its unexpected presence would be to strip }it--which a lot of others still wouldn't notice :-). This was rural Maine, Mitch. Things are... different up there. ;) And Anthony, you're not the last to see _The Fugitive_- I haven't, nor am I planning to. And incidentally, the original story for _The Last Action Hero_ was written by two fellow Wesleyan alumni, one of whom I didn't know and the other I couldn't stand... but I can say I knew him, which is what counts. :) :) :) Can't say as I care to see the movie, though. Speaking of films, I saw _The Secret Garden_ the other night. I liked it, despite a few glaring flaws, but apparently it's a good thing I haven't read the book, since the person I saw it with had read the book and has cherished it for years, and many elements of the movie really annoyed her, though all in all she did enjoy it. Mixed bag, I guess. Meredith meth@delphi.com "At least it's not raining aardvarks." - Anthony Horan ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 17:21:37 CDT From: The Internut Subject: Pravatiner's improbable history and other stories Dave should study Chicago trivia before the next time he appears on Jeopardy :-). Every student of Chicago trivia knows that the building that is now the Chicago Cultural Center (originally built to house the main public library) is built partly on land donated by the Grand Army of the Republic, on the condition that the building include a GAR Memorial Room devoted to Civil War memorabilia. When some of the memorabilia were moved out to make room for exhibitions and meetings, somebody descended from Union vets (of which the GAR was an organization) threatened to sue for breach of contract. The city countered--successfully--that since the actual membership of the GAR was ex- tinct, and some memorabilia were still being kept in the room, the plaintiffs lacked standing. In any event, the last Union veteran died in '54, the last Confederate one in the late '50s, if I correctly recall what I stumbled onto in a Brittanica Year Book en route to looking up something else many years ago. In any event, the question that was Dave's Waterloo somehow reminds me of the old movie _Champagne for Caesar_ (1940s? 50s?), in which Ronald Colman, as the smartest man in the world, continually wins a game show, threatening to cause a cost overrun for the network. They plot, at length, to get him to lose, and never do. They thought they had him when he apparently blew a question on the theory of relativity, but then Einstein called during the show to say he'd gotten it right. They finally dethroned him by asking him the one thing in the world he didn't know--his Social Security number (gives one a sense of history, doth it not?). Wonder if CBS is still looking for someone to go up against Conan O'Brien in the post-Letterman hour. On the basis of their account in these pages, methink s Vickie and Charley would be naturals for the job :-). I have a feeling that ultimately, I'll be the last ectophile to see _The Fugi- tive_. I've been waiting for it to come to the second-run houses, as is my normal and customary practice with mass-market commercial films. Jeff's yarn about Mom the dog reminds me of a book I saw today while browsing in a bookstore in Printers Row. It was called something like _Women and Their Cats_, and had numerous profiles of just that. One of the women profiled has, inter alia, a cat named Pup and a dog named Kitty. Go figure. A more striking coincidence, IMHO WIVH, was that another woman's cat was named Casper (as is my cat), and he likes to get in the bathtub with her (mine likes to hang out in the tub and the sink, but apparently not when they're full). I had hoped to stop by the Park View Pet Shop yesterday to ask why a kitten would cry incessantly, and coincidentally meander up Clark Street to Tower to see if they has _RhodeSongs_ yet, but didn't have time. No matter, he finally quieted down when I picked him up and put him in the huddle with his sibs. Apparently he just gets bent out of shape when nobody pays attention to him. Having solved his problem, I still am uncertain when I'll finally get up there to check on _RS_. Oh well. Mitch ======================================================================== From: Philip Sainty Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1993 16:18:57 +1200 ~s Wow!! - The advantages of working late... Well I had a great end to yesterday, considering that I didn't leave Varsity until 12.30am (a great start to today actually I suppose) as having finally arrvied home, I switched on the TV with the intention of possibly watching anything short I had on tape (my tapes are nearly completely full with things I've taped and not managed to watch yet...) and what did I see...? Annie Lenox (err... sp?) singing on stage, 'unplugged' Wow!!! Of course, our TV stations wouldn't dream of putting something like this on at a respectable hour so that I might actually have noticed it was going to be on, so had I not been so late, I might have missed it... Of course the down side is that it had started at 12.35, so I missed the first quarter of an hour or so, but I can live with that. (I was scrambling to find a tape to put it on, and I recorded it on the first free thing I found, so it now follows Steve Martin's "The Jerk"... not the most logical of company, but there we are) There were very small snippets of interview between some of the songs, and it seems that it was the first time she had performed Eurythmics songs since she and Dave disbanded... (I used to be a big Eurythmics fan - in fact, it's been quite a long time since I played one of their albums...) The songs I didn't recognise came from "Diva" I presume, which I don't have... And speaking of matters televisual, I saw a WONDERFUL film the other day that I may never have watched was it not for friends mentioning its name alongside phrases such as "must-see"... It is an animated film (probably the most impressive animated film I've ever seen - although I have yet to see "Beauty and the Beast" or "Aladdin") - about the trials and tribulations of a group of household appliances; "The Brave Little Toaster" is its name, and follows the journey of Toaster, Blanket, Lamp, Radio, and Vacuum, as they journey out into the world to try to find the Master - the little boy who used to stay at the cabin where they live. The animation is, as I said, beautiful, and it is a wonderful film! Do try to find it! .________________________________________. ._______. | __ _ ___ _ __ __ |\________/| | | / / | / \ | \ | | | | / | _ _ | _O_ | | \_ | | | | |__/ |__| | | \_ | / \/ \ | |/ | | / | | | | | | | | | / | \ / | |\ | | \__ \_ | \_/ | | | | |__ \__ | \ / | T W W | |________________________________________| \/ |_______| \ Philip Sainty: psainty@comp.vuw.ac.nz \________/ / `-------------------------------------------------------' "This is where I want to be This is what I need" --KT ======================================================================== Date: Sat, 18 Sep 93 00:19:28 EDT From: mojzes@monet.rutgers.edu (brni) Subject: vanna/diamanda hi there, > >Well folks, it's all over. I lost. Pretty badly, too. I ended up with $2. >The returning champion was just *too* good (and FAST), and I made some >unfortunate wagering on the Daily Doubles . I also didn't know the >answer to the Final Jeopardy question, resulting in my $2 score. ACtually, >*no* one got the Final Jeopardy question right. > hey, $2 is $2. :) >My consolation prize was a set of fishing rods & reels. I don't fish. > they're good for tomato plants, too. :) >Needless to say, I'm completely demoralized. I almost immediately went >out on a shopping binge and bought a bunch of CD's: Dead Can Dance, >_Into the Labyrinth_, _Sweet Relief_, Frank Zappa _The Best Band You Never >Heard In Your Life, Jean-Michel Jarre _Chronologie_, and Vangelis _Heaven >and Hell_. > humph. if you'd won, you wouldn't have all those great cd's, would you? >The show will be broadcast December 22. Watch it if you'd like, but, in >the words of Kate Bush, "be kind to my mistakes." > please remind us again a little closer to the date. i love finding out what nrt-friends look like. you know, this reminds me of a monty python album cover i have, that mentions a quiz show, that is, a game show as they call them here in america, that they had seen called "give me the money you bastard or i'll kill you."it was apparently quite popular in the US around the time they were doing their live show. :> :> >Dave --------------------------- > >I also purchased the new Diamanda Galas (was torn between that one and the >Prince B-sides compilation...). It is *way too bizzare*. I may like it or hate >it. Time will tell. Also for those interested "The Masque of the Red death" >has been re-released in a double CD set (which pissed me off because I already >have YMBCOTD). > >Angelos > you know, thats exactly how i feel about ms galas: i love it and hate it at the same time, and for the same reasons. very curious... ta, brni ======================================================================== 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)