From: owner-ecto-digest To: ecto-digest@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto-digest V2 #338 Reply-To: ecto@nsmx.rutgers.edu Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, 9 January 1996 Volume 02 : Number 338 The Ecto digest is now being generated automatically. Please send problems and questions to: ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Deepspace" Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 20:35:34 +0000 Subject: The Great Blizzard of 1996 As some of you may have heard, the East Coast of the United States took a beating yesterday and today. Here in Philadelphia we had a record 30 inches of snow (about three fourths of a meter, methinks), effectively paralyzing the entire region. We spent the morning digging ourselves a path to the road, and the early afternoon was spent helping our neighbors. The government declared a State Of Emergency ("Everyone to get from Street!") and a day off was had by most everybody. Last night during the worst part of the storm the cable failed. We had a little chuckle at this, because through the whole storm our DSS system worked flawlessly. The irony is that the local cable companies have been running anti-DSS ads stating that DSS would crap out in bad weather. The shoe is on the other foot, whatever that means! Anyway, today after all the shoveling, we came in and put on the new Enya album. While I agree with the general consensus that little new ground is broken here, I find it a darn beautiful album, and quite relaxing, too. It continues to grow on me. Well, I hope I can get back to work tomorrow. Haven't started the car for two days, hope it turns over. The kids are definately out of school. It will be some time before this region is fully recovered. Yours in space, Robert ------------------------------ From: Felix Strates Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 19:43:02 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re:male ecto-artists At 06:36 AM 1/8/96 +0000, S. Lunsford & T. O'Reilly wrote: >re: male artists -- I must admit that I very rarely listen to male >vocalists at all anymore. The biggest reason for that is that it's >extremely rare for the lyrics in a song sung by a man to make me >cry/laugh/sing along/smile/feel inspired. Most of the songs that rather affect me are by male artists (though there are quite a number of similarly affecting female artists); some particular songs are: "Asimbonanga (Mandela)" by Johnny Clegg, "The Visit" by Steve Brust, the rerecorded version of "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow" by Suicidal Tendencies (it's softer and sadder), as is the acoustic version of "Summer" by Nuclear Valdez, "Rain" by Johnny Winter, Peter Gabriel's piano version of "Here Comes the Flood," and John Waite's "Invisible Man" from Requiem for the Americas. - - - - - - - - - - Felix Strates 'Tis true, there's magic in the web... flx@creighton.edu http://bluejay.creighton.edu/~flx/ --Shakespeare Othello - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------ From: "Deepspace" Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 20:50:07 +0000 Subject: Re: Happy on Prism Sherry sez: > I'm not trying to nitpick, but Happy's appearance on Prism this week IS of a > previously unbroadcast segment. Oops! Right you are! This is definately a different song. Oh well (sigh), I don't have Prism anymore... Robert with 200 channels... ------------------------------ From: Neal Copperman Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 21:17:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re:male ecto-artists (and snow!) On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, 32 flavors and then some (Current flavor: Cherry Garcia) wrote: > hmmm. recently, ingrid karklins mentioned on her mailing list that she > needs men around her to funnel and focus her energies. that's a > paraphrase (maybe neal, neile, meth or suzanne can help out my memory), > but the general gist is there. On the risk of being presumptive, here is what Ingrid said. I saved it as one of the more interesting posts, and it was to a mailing list, so I guess it's ok. (Have I rationalized enough yet.) > Neal wondered about "feminine" qualities in art/music. > I felt that indeed our music is feminine in the yin/yang sense: dark, > mysterious, hidden things, deep-running emotions. > > Which is precisely why I find it VITAL to play with MEN. They take > what I have and amplify it through their very masculine selves. It > makes the music whole... Since I listened to Roy Harper's Once this morning, and the tape I was currently listening to ended, I'm taking woj up on his suggestion and am listening to Fegmania! now. Don't you feel powerful woj? Neal ------------------------------ From: Garry Potter Date: 9 Jan 96 13:06:46 EAT Subject: Re: What ever happened to Dr Dave wrote: >Can anyone give me any information on an Australian group called Martha'sVineyard or their lead vocalist Peggy Van Zalm? As far as I know they only released one CD in America. It was released in 1989 by rooArt and is titled Martha's Vineyard. The only song that got airplay was Old Beach Road. Did she/they do anything else? How can I get it?< Martha's Vineyard were from my home town/city of Perth in Western Australia. Unfortunately they only released one cd, which sold quite well. I dont know why they broke up. Relying on my memory which can sometimes be vague, I think I saw a copy of a solo cd put out by Peggy in a 2nd hand store recently. I dont have any idea of the title or label. Would you like me to try and locate it for you Dave? Speaking of favourite ecto-ish groups, one of my all time favourites is the Australian group "Not Drowning Waving" whose really early cd's are aural landscapes and very Australian. I highly recommend them to ectophiles. I also like the NDW spinoff group "My friend the chocolate cake"!! Catch you all, GrP ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 20:20:11 -0600 (CST) Subject: Hi Dr Dave Hello, On Mon, 8 Jan 1996 DrDave56@aol.com wrote: > BTW - as I am new to this group I made a post before I generally knew what > Ecto was. Sorry. Would it be inappropriate to ask for a brief explanation of > this group so I don't blunder or offend? A. Blunder away, while flames don't exist here it *is* warm and understanding. "Offend"? by accident? Only on purpose does anyone offend ( I guess: it hasn't happened here). *Widely* different opinions happen here all the time! B. Ecto is.... kinda about Female singer/songwriters who often but not always get little Air-play. Non-sporofic, non-yuppie muzac, interesting non-heavy metal, nice in the non-saccerine(sp) meaning. Usually loving Happy Rhodes but not always (*I* don't know how that could happen but it does), wanting to share new finds with and from others......{this definition will not be shared by all and they will respond in such a way that I'll do something like this again anyways} KrW "TV or not TV, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the lies of outrageous pitch-men, or to slit your throat with an electrocoated stainless steel blade"? WOI ------------------------------ From: THE OLIVE-LOAF VIGILANTE Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1996 21:40:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: Digging Out From Under Hi! Here's hoping our fellow Northeastern ectophiles are safely and successfully digging out. Wowza. Sage noted: >See? Snow isn't *all* bad, 'cause sometimes your pookie even gets a paid >snow day and the two of you can be disgustingly mushy all day :^). Snow days are fun, yes. Dunno about the disgustingly mushy part, though. We generally save that for the weekends. ;> Laurel retorted: >Hmmmm. Yet Sage signed her message "the crampy and crabby one"? I mean, if >I had a soulmate to stay home with me in a blizzard.... well, I wouldn't be >crabby! ;-p (grinning and ducking) So true. Maybe Todd had a lot of shoveling to do to keep him safely out of the house? ;> I know *we* did. Our cars were completely buried this morn- ing, with the exception of two teeny radio antennae peeking meekly out of the morass. woj had fun digging them out (and I mean that seriously). For my part, I had fun watching through the window, conveniently located over the radiator. (Remind us not to live in this apartment for another winter. :P) Back to the male ecto-artist thing: Eeeep! How could I forget David Sylvian??? And Robert Fripp, too, not just with King Crimson but (especially) his League of Crafty Guitarists, which remains to this day one of the most stunning live performances I've ever seen. Laurel listed: >Male songwriters who write songs that get to me (and also have >interesting/distinctive voices): Peter Gabriel, Richard Thompson, and Lyle >Lovett. I had a long list earlier, but those are the three who I most like. Lyle Lovett is good, although I don't own any of his recordings. Same with Richard Shindell. Greg Brown, however, still ranks up (or down) there with Ron Sexsmith in the "gack! Change the station NOW" category, sorry... Michael Pearce responded re Dick Dale: >I am glad to see that he can still produce imaginative music that has a >place in 1996. I wonder if the Beach Boys can ever recapture the brilliance >they lost about 1968. That reminds me of the highlight of the King Crimson show last November: the final number of the opening act, the California Guitar Trio. Three 12-string acoustic guitars totally wailing on the theme to "Pulp Fiction". Amazing. :) Speaking of the Beach Boys, have you checked out the new Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks album, _Orange Crate Art_? I can't stand the stuff myself, but I understand it's getting high marks from longtime fans. Thanks to those of you who have sent Radio Ecto submissions today... I am now happy to report our first European entry! Keep 'em coming, folks!!! :) +===========================================================================+ |Meredith Tarr meth@delphi.com| |Boonton, NJ USA http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/meth/| +===========================================================================+ | "Life is a sleazy stranger and this is his favorite bar" - Ani DiFranco | +===========================================================================+ ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 20:42:36 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re:male ecto-artists (and snow!) Hello, On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, 32 flavors and then some wrote: > > >Hope everyone who got dumped on isn't crashing in planes, but home with > >warmth and such. I hope that's 'crashing out' in *airports*! > > anyone who thinks that men can't write songs with the emotional impact > of, say, tori amos needs to really track down _over_ by peter hammill. > his other albums are poignant, but none have the same impact of > _over_. as the name implies, it is a break-up album, but it's not > smarmy. it's angry, confused, frustrated without being cliched. and > hammill's voice is just lovely. Yes, yes, yes, .........................................yes "Lovely" yes, when needed, searing, and dripping w/ sarcasm are feats he accomplishs quite well, also. "Crying Wolf" "Time Heals" [shudder][frisson][rush] OWW!! Gonna have to pull that 1 out when I get home from work! KrW Time flies like the wind Fruit flies like the banana ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 20:47:41 -0600 (CST) Subject: male voices Hello, When the x-mas gift tape copies(are Happy's tapes done and sent?) get around some of you will be hearing Shawn Phillips' _The Ballad of Casey Deius_. For voice and poetry, it is hard to beat by male or female. KrW Commit senseless acts of kindness, and random acts of beauty! ------------------------------ From: "Gregory N Bossert" Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 18:51:04 -0800 Subject: Re: vernon vs. amos woj writes: >MJM sez: > >>OK. Listen to Nan Vernon on the song Fisherman off Manta Ray and tell me >>this is not a dead-ringer for Tori Amos. > >one song does not a fair comparison make, though i grant you that she >does sing like tori amos on this song. she doesn't have the same, um, >oomph that tori has though. i still think she (Nan) sounds like KaTe, and thus like Tori when Tori is trying to sound like Kate... ;) which means: contrasting breathy whispers with desperate, oddly tentative wails (which means lots of compression), lots of vibrato on the quiet bits (a classic Kate technique, and opposite the usual tendency to put vibrato on the louder extended notes. also takes some real singing chops...), and a faked british accent (well, not faked in Kate's case, but in Tori's and Nan's...) Toss in the nautically Ninth-Wavy bits of "Fisherman" and "Manta Ray", and, well, there it is. over the last few weeks i've been listening to a lot of descended-from-Kate-Bush style albums (i.e. grand production, dramatic presentation, use of odd musical techniques without sounding 'progressive', use of odd musical instruments without sounding 'world beat'). i'd put _Manta Ray_ firmly in this category, and one of my favorites among recent releases (along with Milla's _The Divine Comedy_). BTW, every time Nan sings "if i were a fisherman's friend", i think of the cough drops... ;) - -greg - -- - -- greg bossert silicon graphics, inc. -- - -- bossert@sgi.com bossert@ecto.org -- - -- i have never been afraid to change -- Happy -- - -- the circumstances of the world -- Rhodes -- ------------------------------ From: David Dixon Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 19:00:53 -0800 (PST) Subject: Emily Bezar update Hi folks, On Saturday I went to the Brainwash (a cafe/laundromat in San Francisco) to see a free show, featuring Emily Bezar opening up for Amy X Neuburg and Men. To paraphrase Lawrence Welk, wunnaful wunnaful! Emily gave me a ride home and we chatted about her upcoming album a bit. She's getting ready to start recording it (within the next month), aiming for a May release. Her new material (some of which some of you heard when she played in NYC last summer) is a bit hook-ier than _Grandmother's Tea Leaves_; she's calling it her "pop" album, though it's the most sophisticated-sounding "pop" I've ever come across. Emily may never be a *big* star, but she's definitely going to make a dent with this record, you can mark my words. As for the title of the new album, she does have a working title, but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, so I won't. :) Emily's been having a really rough time with some of her distributors-- one of them owes her over $1500!-- so I sent her Kevin Bartlett's recent screed about distributors. She can relate, completely. For her, it's even worse because she has even less name recognition than Happy does, and she's doing all of the business side herself. So if you've ordered her CD, and you haven't received anything yet, it's because her distributors are stonewalling her. That's about all I have to report, other than Emily, Amy X, and someone named Jessie Turner will be playing at the Cafe du Nord in San Francisco on January 31. If you live anywhere near the Bay Area, and you've got an affinity for Tori Amos-ish cabaret-ish Lieder, go go go! D^2 ------------------------------ From: Anthony Kosky Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 19:12:48 -0800 Subject: Re:male ecto-artists (and snow!) woj wojjed: >roy harper is also quite a decent lyricist. a good album to start out >with is _once_ (which has the added bonus of the title track being a >duet with KaTe bush). many of the songs on there are somewhat dated: >"the black clouds of islam" still carries some weight courtesy of hamas >and the irani president, but "berliners" is tied to a pretty specific >point in time. nonetheless, "berliners" is probably one of the most >powerful songs i've ever come across. (which I'm sure he did deliberately to wake me from my slumber ;-). Roy Harper is not a "quite decent lyricist", he's an utterly brilliant lyricist, song-writer, and when he's not too stoned, performer. Actually I think Once is one of his weaker albums, though it's popular with Kate Bush fans for obvious reasons. If you really want to hear how emmotially moving and intense a male vocalist can be try Burn The World, or perhaps Death Or Glory. Or better still, check out the eaarlier albums, especially Stormcock. Also not yet mentioned in the male ecto-fodder debate are Nick Drake and John Martyn. Nick Drake's songs and vocals have a beauty and delicacy and ethereal quality to them which few other artists, male or female, can come close to. I stopped following John Martyn's carreer a few years ago, since I didn't like the direction he was going in, but some of his earlier albums are very ecto-ish. His voice tends to be rather unintelligable, but nevertheless enjoyable, and his guitar playing, particularly when in ecoplexed accoustic mode, is also also excellent. One World, Grace and Danger or Solid Air would be good places to start. (Album recommendations for Nick Drake don't matter: get the boxed set, Fruit Tree, because as soon as you have one you'll want all the others anyway) Then of course there's James Varda, Neil Young, Adrian Belew, John Lennon, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astair,.... It seems to me that there are vast quantities of excellent male artists out there, at least as many as there are female artists, and most of which I've yet to discover. Closing your ears to any category or type of music, be it male or female, folk, blues, classical or jazz, electric, acoustic, or whatever, will make you miss-out on much of what music has to offer. - -Anthony (who wishes he were back in Philly making snowmen). ------------------------------ From: Ken Blake Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 19:00:00 -0800 Subject: Re:RomeoVoid > spike45@sos.sos.net (monroe/fisher) wrote: > ... > >All Romeo Void ---- I didn't have a turntable to play them on for > >years---anyone else ever heard off them? One of my favorite punk bands from the early eighties. I have three albums and an ep which I think is all they made. The lead singer is Debra Iyall. Unfortunately they never became successful. They had several songs that I thought could have made the charts (like Girl in Trouble) but they were never promoted. I suspect the problem was that Debra is very heavy and female singers that are not attractive are not promoted. It seems that this has improved somewhat, or is it that artists/bands are finding outlets for their music without needing promotion from the record companies (like Happy). If you like punk rock with a strong beat, not hard-core, but not pop, check them out (if you can find them). I used to record all my records so I have stuff on cassette which I still play now and then. Ken ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 22:06:49 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re: The Great Blizzard of 1996 Hello, On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, Deepspace wrote: > was spent helping our neighbors. The government declared a State Of > Emergency ("Everyone to get from Street!") and a day off was had by > most everybody. I smile to think of The Russians Are Coming,etc. Esp. since that scene was the best part! KrW It was the least I could do! And never let it be said that I didn't do the least I could do. ------------------------------ From: Paul Cohen Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1996 23:32:22 -0500 Subject: Re:RomeoVoid > >All Romeo Void ---- I didn't have a turntable to play them on for > >years---anyone else ever heard off them? > > I used to have an album with "I might liked you better, if we slept together". > Annoying saxophone :-) on all tracks. Great (female) voice. The record disappeared > when I sold my vinyl. Romeo Void were a wonderful band. Absolutely killer rhythm section and a mesmerizing vocal. There's a great CD compilation out called "Warm In My Coat" that is wonderful. ____Paul Cohen______________King of Prussia, PA___ ____pmcohen@netaxs.com___http://atonce.com/pmc/___ ------------------------------ From: 32 flavors and then some Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 23:58:17 -0500 Subject: the great and powerful woj Neal Copperman sez: >Since I listened to Roy Harper's Once this morning, and the tape I was >currently listening to ended, I'm taking woj up on his suggestion and am >listening to Fegmania! now. Don't you feel powerful woj? drunk with power, i reel. %) (actually, i just got back inside after finishing the snow-digout and feel pretty pumped up after tossing around shovelfuls of snow to unleash some aggression which i would have preferred to aim at the idiot who gets paid by our landlady to theoretically plough the driveway.) so this is not an entirely useless message, here are some quick reviews of stuff i picked up this week. cocteau twins - otherness: pretty odd remixes of cocteau twins songs. atypical. offbeat. not sure i'll listen to this again unless my mind is altered. zero thumbs. poe - hello: whoever likened this to portishead was spot on. less trippy, more solid, in stereo. poe's voice is very stylistically similar to what'shername from portishead, but i find her words (they are hard to miss as they are very upfront) more meaty. one thumb up. bryndle: the embryonic band of karla bonoff, wendy waldman, andrew gold and kenny edwards. all new songs that have me very interested in their as-yet-unreleased-but-recorded album from before they went their separate ways in 1970. take fleetwood mac from the early lindsey buckingham/stevie nicks days, take away the unstable personalities and you have an idea of what bryndle is like. one *big* thumb. tiddas - sing about life: australian trio of women doing the acoustic, aboriginal thing pretty successfully. i saw them open for robyn hitchcock last october and enjoyed their set fairly well. i like their record more than their live show, but i imagine that it's a retroactive like. lots of neat percussion and a didjeridu. one thumb. michelle malone and drag the river - building fires over atlanta: a promotional disc with five songs recorded live in atlanta in 1990 or thereabouts. i'm not very familiar with michelle malone; i guess she had a few solo albums out before fronting band du soleil. these tracks are pretty revved-up rockers and didn't impress me too much - melissa etheridge did this much better on her first record, though i would rather listen to michelle than alannah myles. bought this mostly out of curiosity and cos it was cheap ($2). lava hay - with a picture in mind: second and final (i think) album from lava hay. less hippy and acoustic than their first record and quite nice. features the production and guitar work of footah's obsession bill dillon. one thumb. lori carson - shelter: first album from this recent golden palomino crooner. i heard this a few times when it was first released in 1990, but did not care for it then. i like it more now. pretty, waifish, wispy, folky stuff. sort of roots rock without the rock and with an urban bent. did someone recently say that she had another album out? one wavering thumb. ruby - salt peter: only have had one listen so far, so i'll say nothing. i also found a promo single for jewel's "you were meant for me" which includes a remix (a one minute shorter edit, actually), the album version and an live, acoustic version of the song. other pickups were the dub narcotic single (!), the poster children's _junior citizen_ (semi-indie rock which is a bit more chugga than changa) and an album by self called _subliminal plastic motives_. i need to listen to that a few more times to make sure, but i didn't care for it at all. woj ------------------------------ From: Kerry White Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 23:05:54 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re:RomeoVoid Hello, I, too, have fond memories of RV. I have seen a best-of cd out there: for the curious, or nostalgic. KrW It was the least I could do! And never let it be said that I didn't do the least I could do. ------------------------------ From: 32 flavors and then some Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 00:21:50 -0500 Subject: roy harper, etc. Anthony Kosky sez: >(which I'm sure he did deliberately to wake me from my slumber ;-). not consciously, but i'm sure there was an unconscious desire to prod you into posting. >Roy Harper is not a "quite decent lyricist", he's an utterly brilliant >lyricist, song-writer, and when he's not too stoned, performer. anthony has soundly put me in my place. i stand corrected. :) >Actually I think Once is one of his weaker albums, though >it's popular with Kate Bush fans for obvious reasons. i've noticed that a lot of stormcock subscribers (the roy harper mailing list) feel this way, but i still say that _once_ is quite excellent, KaTe bush appearance nonwithstanding. i always very moved by it and think it's quite musically good. you do have to agree that it's a good introduction. >If you really >want to hear how emmotially moving and intense a male vocalist can be >try Burn The World, or perhaps Death Or Glory. "burn the world" is a twenty minute epic ("a single, innit?") which is plain stunning. there is a cd (and lp) out which has the studio version and a live version. the latter blows the studio version away, even if you don't count the acoustic guitar feedback frenzy. this song was one of those blasts of fresh air that restored my faith in music after one of my brief, but periodic, bouts of disillusionment. >Also not yet mentioned in the male ecto-fodder debate are Nick Drake damn! forgot nick drake too. sheesh! if i only had a brain.... >Then of course there's James Varda, Neil Young, Adrian Belew, John >Lennon, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astair,.... james varda...i *think* i have a copy of one of his albums. i don't recall the title, but i think the cover is a psychedlic pastel blue and hot pink mixture. funny the things i remember. don't particularly care for neil young, like adrian belew and his myriad projects and early solo efforts, never really "got" john lennon. >Closing your ears to any category >or type of music, be it male or female, folk, blues, classical or >jazz, electric, acoustic, or whatever, will make you miss-out on much >of what music has to offer. truer words have not been spoken. hear hear! woj ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V2 #338 ************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu