From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V3 #12 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, September 16 1997 Volume 03 : Number 012 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Scrappy Bitch Tour! [Steve Ito ] Re: Sarah in St. Louis? (fwd) ["Lawrence J. Kim" ] June Tabor [Heather Russell ] [Fwd: Re: Sarah Tour Dates] [Heather Russell ] Hooverphonic (or when Belgium produces a composer) ["Michael J. Doyle" Subject: Scrappy Bitch Tour! Meth requested, re: da SCRAPPY BITCH TOUR... >Yay! Please do report in detail... I'm especially interested to find out >in which order the performers are going on, ie. is Veda first, second, or >last? :) They played here (the Rivoli in Toronto, which hosts the luminous Jane Siberry soon) two nights, and I was dumb enough to only go to the second one. I wanna see again! I already envy you folks who are lucky enough to be able to still look forward to this show. I was rather shocked to find myself at this show alone, considering how much I'd hyped it up to my friends. Usually when I do that I can get a lot of people out, but this time I was flying solo. Anyway it meant I got to meet a couple of nice people before the show, one of whom, upon my telling him that I found O Susanna slightly uninspiring on her last tromp through T.O. with Veda, let it be known that he was a good friend of hers. *DOH!* After a good Heimlich maneuver removed my foot from my throat, I was fine and he turned out to be a cool person. The other person was a young woman who seemed relatively cool and distant until I asked her about Kinnie Starr, whereupon she turned into little miss raving fan, and I just couldn't shut her up. :-) Anyway we made a good triad, each of us being there primarily because of a different performer. The rest of the crowd was pretty similar to the regular live music crowd I'm used to, with the addition of a large lesbian contingent. Anyway the three of them took the stage to a cheesy 70's style superhero routine, think Wonder Woman meets Batman meets Charlie's Angels. It was kind of amusing, but I wonder how long it'll last on this tour (tonight was night #3)? Then they had a mock fight about who would go on first, and eventually Veda "fought" the other women off the stage. Anyway, they seemed to be having fun with the theme, and throughout the night the backstage women could be heard threatening, cajoling, needling, and otherwise harassing whoever was onstage. :-) In short folks, this is not a tour of three separate, independent women artists. This is the three-headed hydra that is da SCRAPPY BITCH TOUR. All for one and one for all and all that. Which is pretty interesting because the three women have wildly contrasting musical styles. Bitch #1 Veda had something wierd going on with her hair last night. I'm not sure if it has something to do with her incarnation as Bitch #1, L'il Volcano, but anyway... and did she always have that tattoo on her arm? Am I really that dense to have not noticed before? One thing that strikes me about Veda every time I see her is how comfortable she seems relating to the audience, how mature and strong she comes across, and how funny, too! Another thing is, she keeps getting better and better each time I see her. I assume it's because I'm able to appreciate her more with each exposure, and to me that's a sign of an artist with substance and depth. She was better than ever last night. She took the stage warning us all that she was a "sentimental bitch" tonight and relishing the fact that as bitch #1, she could set the mood for the evening, whatever the other women did to it later. Veda did what I *think* was a good mix of stuff from several albums (I'm not *sure* because until last night I didn't have any of them... I know, I know). One of the things I love about Veda is her willingness to muck about with unconventional keys and chords and times and so on. And as she bangs away at the keyboard like a woman possessed, I'm reminded of an interview of Tori Amos in which she says something like she's not a great pianist in a technical sense, but she *understands* the piano (no arguments there). Well, here's another woman who *understands* the piano, and music in general. Veda is one woman whose capacity for musical expression seems boundless. Unfortunately those things that I love about Veda are perhaps those that keep her from mainstream success. Lack of mainstream success or no, Veda clearly had a strong group of supporters there, including those backstage. She brought out her fellow performers for several songs, and the three of them work well together despite their contrast in styles. Bitch #2 I'd been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Bitch #2, Kinnie Starr (alias K.Starr) after hearing a lot about how powerful a live performer she is, so I was a bit surprised when she came out with her hair in Little House on the Prairies-style braids. But this was no Laura Ingalls who took the stage. This was a strong, proud woman with something definite to say and a forceful way of saying it. She did a couple of jaw-dropping spoken word pieces that left us all in a state of shock. Her delivery was mesmerizing, dynamic, and explosive: she spoke in low, rhythmic, insistent tones punctuated by sudden, almost violent expulsions... lovely! And a couple of her other songs seemed more like spoken word pieces set to music than regular songs. Fantastic. Usually I'm not a big fan of canned backing music, but somehow the percussion-heavy, driving beat seemed perfectly appropriate when it was Kinnie Starr who was doing the vocals. She did a couple of amazing funky, groove-laden songs, one of which was an all-out rap, and everything worked tremendously well. And she can really rock out on guitar too! She favours a really heavy, hugely distorted sound, and it really complements her songs. Kinnie introduced another woman, a fiddler/violinist (I can never tell the difference), Bitch #4, who was really good. A beautiful dark-haired woman, I didn't catch her name, but it wasn't Natalie McMaster, Wendy MacIsaac or Melanie Doane, if anyone is wondering. One song featured her playing soft, wailing notes with heavy reverb/echo effects for a really exotic feel, a la Hugh Marsh/Loreena McKennitt. I'm not sure how Kinnie comes across on CD (I just bought it last night after the show), but she is a consummate live performer. She's one of those people who feeds ravenously off the energy from the audience, to the point where she ended up spending more time on the floor roving about in the audience than on the stage, forcing the lighting person to scramble to keep up. At one point she also asked him to turn down the spotlight on her and to turn up the house lights, so she could see the whole crowd. Like Veda before her, she was able to really pull in her audience, but in a different way. A phenomenal show by all accounts, she somehow managed to exceed the hype. Bitch #3 O Susanna ("Lass-o Susanna") was the last up. I wish I could say that I found new things to appreciate this time and that I enjoyed her set as much as I had Veda's and Kinnie's, but I can't, appearances by Bitches #1 and 2 in supporting roles notwithstanding. She seems talented and I like her voice but I guess she's a bit too country for me. At the end the three women came out for an encore, for which they did a contest involving naming 5 references to some 80's music in a medley they did. The winner did a great job, and was crowned the second Queen Scrappy Bitch of Toronto (which was interesting given that he was male). Meth, I wouldn't bank on the ordering of the lineup to stay constant. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it changed nightly, although admittedly they did play in the order listed on the poster. Bitch Gear The trio had a well-stocked merchandise table, and let me warn you folks, if you're not careful you could see it suck your hard-earned savings dry. This one table is enough for a strong case of EWS, featuring a bonanza of CDs and tapes by all three performers, posters (only a buck each!), stickers, and t-shirts. There's something compellingly attractive about buying a T-shirt that has the words SCRAPPY BITCH emblazoned prominently across it, and people were scooping up the shirt in droves (no kidding!). It took major restraint on my part to keep from succumbing to that temptation myself. Anyway I've gone WAY overboard with this review (my apologies). Blame Meth (she *did* say, "in detail"). To close, it was a thoroughly enjoyable show, fantastic music, great performances, highly appreciative, well-behaved crowd, and comfortable club setting. Ectofolk, do not miss this show! Upcoming shows: Powderfinger, Matthew Good Band, Sarah Slean, or Emm Gryner (not sure which). Which reminds me: folks, check out my pages for Sarah and Emm! http://psych.utoronto.ca/~stephen/tomusic/tomusic.htm Steve - ----------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Ito, | "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who Psychology Dept. | says differently is selling something." University of Toronto | -- The Dread Pirate Roberts Toronto, ON, Can. | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 16:24:48 -0500 (CDT) From: "Lawrence J. Kim" Subject: Re: Sarah in St. Louis? (fwd) Arrrrgh!!!!!! :~( - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 14:21:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Nettwerk Productions To: "Lawrence J. Kim" Subject: Re: Sarah in St. Louis? >I've been excited to know that Sarah will be touring this Fall, but what >concerns me is that a St. Louis date has not been announced. Part of that >worry comes from the fact that St. Louis is Ticketmaster-free. Is >Nettwerk trying to book a St. Louis date, or are you going to skip over >this city? >> Hello there... Unfortunately, it does not appear that St.Louis will be a part of Sarah's fall/winter tour. You might want to check out her tour dates to see if there will be anything happening close by. So far, it looks as if her date in Nashville on November 4th is the closest she will get in your vicinity. Tickets for Nashville just went on sale this past Friday. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:43:51 -0400 From: Heather Russell Subject: June Tabor June Tabor will be coming to my area of North Carolina soon, and I was wondering if anyone had seen her perform, and would they recommend seeing her live? Heather - -- |***********************************| | Heather Russell | | http://www.freecloud.com/heather | | hrussell@bellsouth.net | |___________________________________| ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:41:26 -0400 From: Heather Russell Subject: [Fwd: Re: Sarah Tour Dates] This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - --------------73441D3FC57 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - -- |***********************************| | Heather Russell | | http://www.freecloud.com/heather | | hrussell@bellsouth.net | |___________________________________| My new CD "Just in Time" will be released in October... - --------------73441D3FC57 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-ID: <341BECF6.940@bellsouth.net> Date: Sun, 14 Sep 1997 09:56:06 -0400 From: Heather Russell X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02E-BSNET (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Ecto Subject: Re: Sarah Tour Dates Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 >Anyway, if you haven't listened to it since the week you bought it, how >can you know it's "that bad"? I dunno about you, but some of my >favorite >albums took a lot more than a week to grow on me. >jcb. I would agree - I'm a big Sarah fan since her first album came out, and I was not impressed when I first heard Surfacing. *But* after repeated listenings and especially hearing her in concert at Lilith Fair, I have come to really like this album. There is a lot of power in these songs. Same thing with Fumbling Toward Ecstacy - I did not like it when it came out, other than Possession of course, and now after having seen the tour and video I have to appreciate how well-written the songs were. Strangely enough, I didn't have that problem with Touch or Solace when they came out - they were pretty much instant faves... go figure... :-) Heather - -- |***********************************| | Heather Russell | | http://www.freecloud.com/heather | | hrussell@bellsouth.net | |___________________________________| My new CD "Just in Time" will be released in October... - --------------73441D3FC57-- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 21:41:16 -0400 From: "Michael J. Doyle" Subject: Hooverphonic (or when Belgium produces a composer) At 09:08 PM 9/9/97 -0500, ariana@kbp.com wrote: >Also has anyone heard of Hooverphonics? I discovered Hooverphonic back in July and have been listening to it far too much to have any time to mention it on ecto. Their album, _A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular_ is my top-drawer, numero uno favorite purchase of the year. It is FABULOUS. > I guess you put it into the >Portishead kind of category. It definitely fits into the Portishead category. I like to think of it as what early Lush might have sounded like if produced by Tricky rather than Robin Guthrie. It's never as blue as Portishead or as harsh as Tricky, but man is it good. Spacey loops, grinding bass, dreamy vocals. Killer, just killer. Someone made mention of Hooverphonic's Belgian origin. Strangely enough, within a week of buying _A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular_, I bought _Paradise In Me_ by K's Choice -- who, from the liner notes, also appear to be Belgian. However, when I saw K's Choice in August, they betrayed no sign of being anything but American. Does anyone know anything about them? I got a special giggle when discovering that Hooverphonic is from Belgium. In Tom Stoppard's play "On The Razzle," the ne'er-do-well suitor explains to his prospective father-in-law that he will inherit a large sum from an elderly aunt in Brussels. The suspicious elder replies, "Listen, I know Brussels. Your auntie will be sitting up in bed in a lace cap when Belgium produces a composer." - - Mike Michael Doyle Mike's Midnight Movie Reviews maeldun@i-2000.com http://vidkraft.com/m3review =========================================================================== "That's all that any parent wants from a child... An apology." - - Ray Romano ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 22:09:58 -0500 From: ariana@kbp.com Subject: EWS...Kinnie Starr This message is basically for Meth...On one of your replies to me you wrote EWS. I have seen that before and I'm feeling rather clueless. What does that stand for? Kinnie Starr. I only listened to the cd once. It seemed very bizarre. The album listed a certain amount of songs and it played one more track but it wasn't exactly hidden because it had a number on the cd player. I'll give the album a few more tries because someone compared her to PJ Harvey who I didn't like at first (I listened to PJ Harvey's demo tape before I went to see Dar Williams, Ferron, Cheryl Wheeler, and Heather Eaton. I found it very disturbing at the time because it was the opposite of what I was going to listen to that night. But now I love the album.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 20:39:51 -0700 From: neile@sff.net (Neile Graham) Subject: Re: June Tabor At 7:43 PM 9/15/97, Heather Russell wrote: >June Tabor will be coming to my area of North Carolina soon, and I was >wondering if anyone had seen her perform, and would they recommend >seeing her live? > >Heather Heather and all-- I've seen June Tabor live four or five times, and only once have I felt at all disappointed (maybe because I knew that my husband and some other friends were hearing Innocence Mission at the same time, or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, or maybe it was that on that particular concert she did fewer of her traditional songs and more of her pop/jazz interpretations (my less favourite side of her repertoire), but whatever--the other times I've seen her have been a delight). Since her newest cd has more traditional songs than her previous couple I think it will be a good tour, and I'm really looking forward to when she gets over the west coast. I'll be going to hear her if I can. She has such a rich, deep, lovely voice and is such a wonderful interpreter of songs that it's worth hearing her live. She always does a couple of songs or variations of songs that she hasn't recorded. My only caveats would be that she is a low-key performer, and sometimes her accompaniment can be just a little cheezy. She has a sly wit and she sometimes lets go with a zinger or two between songs. Hearing June Tabor's interpretation of "Gypsy Davey" is what sparked my most recent attempt at writing a novel. It's a knock out. - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham.......http://www.sff.net/people/neile.......neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music....http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 21:26:40 +0000 From: Silme@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: June Tabor (and Dayna Manning free gig in Colo.) Heather Russell wrote: > > June Tabor will be coming to my area of North Carolina soon, and I was > wondering if anyone had seen her perform, and would they recommend > seeing her live? One word: yes! On another note, I think I remember Dayna Manning's name mentioned here. I can't remember if the buzz was positive or negative, but for list members in Colorado, she's doing a free acoustic in-store show at Albums on the Hill in Boulder this Saturday afternoon. (I have no association with the store other than I buy too many cd's there. :) Ellen ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V3 #12 *************************