From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #207 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, June 29 1998 Volume 04 : Number 207 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: POLL [dsr@mail.lns.cornell.edu (Daniel S. Riley)] re: double aimee mann sighting [Pez Girl ] What a musical weekend! ["Jeffrey Hanson" ] nothing worth watching [Michael Pearce ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 Jun 1998 21:17:02 -0400 From: dsr@mail.lns.cornell.edu (Daniel S. Riley) Subject: Re: POLL "deighmunne a.k.a. damange" writes: > i've had an unfortunate history with b5. [...] > hopefully someday i'll find someone with all the episodes on tape, or > something of that sort. In the US, TNT is rerunning the whole series, weeknights at 7PM, "until the tapes wear out", so they're easy to tape. > which actually makes me think to ask - does anyone know if tapes of shows > like that (and, for instance, due south and the kids in the hall, two > others i'd be interested in) are available from the producers, and if so, > at what sort of prices? B5 is being issued on tape by Warner Home Video (the first season is also available from some other company--but only the first season, since Warner has decided to do it themselves). First handful of tapes should be orderable from www.thestation.com sometime in August (if you have a browser they deem acceptable--one of those obnoxious "frames only" sites. Hate em.). Dunno about price. Personally, I'm waiting for B5 on DVD. - -- Dan Riley dsr@mail.lns.cornell.edu Wilson Lab, Cornell University "History teaches us that days like this are best spent in bed" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 23:27:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Pez Girl Subject: re: double aimee mann sighting >one of the trailers was for your basic "troubled artsy teen gets in big >trouble >and sets off on the road" kinda flicks. So half way into the >preview, "I >Should've Known" starts playing, and I'm thinking "cool music >choice" and then >the name of the film appears, and it's _Whatever_. > >So somebody out there must be an Aimee Mann fan, eh? I brought this up on the Aimee Mann list a while ago, when the Boston International Festival of Women's Film gave it a prerelease screening. This could easily be one of my favourite films of 1998. (_Henry Fool_ hasn't come out yet, and I haven't seen _Last Days of Disco_ or _The Opposite of Sex_ yet, so...) As Jeff pointed out, it follows the exploits of an arty teen and her party-happy gal pal as she (the artist, heretofore referred to as "Anna") explores the dark side of life while trying to make it out of suburban NJ on her creative ability. It's a tremendous film, one that all-too-accurately portrayed my experiences as a art-damaged adolescent female. Go see it when it opens in your hometown. (Ecto-synchronicity -- I was working on transcribing an interview with _Whatever_'s director Susan Skoog and decided to take a break and check my email, and -- *poof* -- this post appeared!) Haven't been too motivated to post on any of my mailing lists lately, since my life has been taken up with job interviews and articles for all sorts of places. (On this note, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pick up the new issue of _Bust_, as my review of the movie _The Heroic Trio_ is in it! Woo hoo!) However, some things have gone on in my life that might be of interest to subscribers here. Earlier this week I went to Gotham overnight, mostly for business purposes (interviewing hotshot filmmakers, rising star singer/songwriters and the like), but managed to catch the last night of Mimi's residency at Fez. This was my postponed birthday fete, since my attempt at celebrating my "real" birthday was hampered by the anniversary of my dad's death, which also coincided with the occasion of my turning 21. Unfortunately, Fez was poorly organized on this night, and the lack of crowd control freaked out a former boyfriend, who chose to pike instead of freaking out. Luckily I had some cool gals to hang out with, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Oh yes, Mimi herself. Love that Mimi girl. Hearing the songs translated live with such gusto was amazing, and her sense of theatrics would make her boss, Luaka Bop labelhead/erstwhile horny robot with a nervous tic David Byrne proud. The voice in particular got me...*swoon*. She played with some blond guy who looked like Flea (sorry dude, can't remember your name) and the wondrous Syd Straw, with whom Mimi sang a duet of "Clues of You". Spoke to Syd, who was in buoyant spirits -- she's in Europe with Carla Bley as we speak, and will be returning to the States to play some Lilith Fair dates and -- most excitingly -- start writing and demo-ing music for a new album! Yay! While I didn't buy any music in NYC, I poked around, and I picked up some tunes on my sojourn back in Beantown. Herewith, my account of EWS, though not quite ectophilic: - --Television, _The Blow Up_. This is an official bootleg of the seminal NYC punk band. If the glossy-sheened perfection of their _Marquee Moon_ left you wondering if Tom Verlaine was an alien, the endearing imperfections of their live music will make you realise that this greatest of the art-punks were human. - --Shelleyann Orphan, some career retrospective. Eh. Nice enough, and certainly more stomachable than their predescessors in Cure openers, the Cranes, but IMO nothing special. - --Kevin Salem, "Will" single. Kevin Salem is to Bob Mould what Mark Mulcahy is to Michael Stipe -- working along the same lines and musical ideas, but not as interesting as the genuine article. Not that there isn't anything of merit here; his energy and sense of propulsion are appealing, and my gal Syd's vocal cameo was the hook, but the high-quality songs are the line and sinker. I want to hear what he's done after this. And, finally... - --Marvin Gaye, _What's Going On_ ON VINYL!!! We're talking unconditional love, desert island caliber, baybee. Which is why I wanted nothing less than the 12" vinyl wheel. His voice sends shivers down my spine, and the funky bottom end makes me dance in my chair, but what appeals to me is the idealism. From what I know of his life, Gaye was trying to come to terms with his anger and the dark side of his personality, and in this he's putting that energy into idealism and spirituality. This is something else, truly amazing. Not ectophilic, but wonderful in the traditional sense. I can't speak for Ectophilic TV, but the shows I just can't miss include _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ (girls kick ass, and can fire off some pretty tart oneliners too), _South Park_ (even our dog's name is Ike. It's a girl. Don't ask), and reruns of _The Adventures of Pete & Pete_ (suburbia is weird. Trust me, I've been there). All for now, and now for all -- Chelsea np: HUB. You want this. No, you need it. pr: _Harriet the Spy_ - ---- Chelsea, the mod pixie home: away: tugboat@channel1.com odyshape@hotmail.com "the only thing I want to do is make a great, big, fat story in my own language and really have people throwing up and driving cars fast." -- Hal Hartley, on _Henry Fool_ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Jun 98 21:12:56 PDT From: "Jeffrey Hanson" Subject: What a musical weekend! Hi out there, I just got back from San Francisco/San Jose where I was out there for Pride weekend. What a musical weekend it was. The big surprise of the weekend was listening to the radio at my friends, hearing "Cities in Dust" by Siouxsie and saying "Hmm, I wonder if they're ever going to do anything again." Next thing I know, the DJ is saying that they're playing with John Cale that night and the next. Now, I know Siouxsie is more punk that most ectophilic artists, but I was excited. To me, she is the epitome of "cool". She may not have the greatest voice, but she certainly has style. Needless to say, we made it to the second night show which was pretty phenomenal. Apparently they don't have a record deal, so theywere playing whatever they wanted. Unfortunately for the crowd, that meant mostly new stuff, but it all sounded pretty good. They did a few old Creatures songs, but no Banshees songs (unless you count Gun, the cover song from Through a Looking Glass.). Anyway, it was a surprisingly good and unexpected time (though I had to run out and buy black clothes just for the occassion). It was surprising to see such an older goth crowd--hard to believe but I suppose the younger goths don't know much about Siouxsies (or perhaps just not the Creatures). I didn't see any tour information, but I imagine they'll be playing a few more cities--be on the lookout. I remember reading an interview about ten years ago with her where they asked her if she saw herself doing shows, etc. forever, and she said she certainly couldn't imagine being "Siouxsie Sioux" all her life, Well she's still at it. And looking pretty good too--she was purring and doing even more Diamanda Galas type vocal effects than usual--the scary thing was that at times she reminded me of a punk Eartha Kitt. Kind of a scary thought. Did some CD shopping--splurged on new CDs--haven't done that for a long time. Ended up with: Haris Alexiou - Di Efchon (With Blessings) - Wow--what a voice--beautiful woman too. I highly recommend people who enjoy foreign singers check her out. The lyrics are translated in the text and she writes some pretty powerful stuff. The Hanging Garden soundtrack--one of the best soundtracks ever--Jane Siberry, Holly Cole, Meryn Cadell and Mary Margeret O'hara, etc., etc.,etc. Heather Nova - Siren - haven't heard much of this yet, but what I have heard sounds pretty good--pretty mainstream but definitely Heather. Imogen Heap - pretty cool and funky--definitely one that I know will grow on me June Tabor - Some Other Time - great voice singing some great classic songs --was actually looking for her new release but they were out of it--this one is pretty good though Sonny Southon - All the Colors -- didn't know she had a new album out--this one is pretty good-a lot like "Falling Through a Cloud" - very jazzy fusion--Jeff Lorber even co-wrote a few of the songs--great background music Ann Hampton Calloway and Liz Callway - Sibling Revelry - Broadway/cabaret songstress sisters in a very fun live performance Liz Callaway - On and Off Broadway - more Broadway style songs Jann Arden = Happy? - haven't heard much of this yet, but the little bit I have sounds promising--I had Living Under June for al ong time before it really clicked for me but I really grew to love her voice The most depressing part of the day--my flight left San Jose at 3:30, so I couldn't even stay for the whole parade (which we actually watched from TV rather than fighting extreme tiredness from the festivities the day before and traffic), but during the parade, they announced that Alison Moyet was going to be playing at the Civic Center Festival later in the day. ARGGHH! Oh well, I'm sure it was a great day for those who got to see her. Also saw a great new movie called "The Unknown Bicyclist" as part of the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender film festival. A story about the California AIDS ride--pretty emotional but quite good. It starred Lea Thompson and Vincent Spano. Definitely worth seeing--particularly for people who have ever done or considered doing an AIDS Ride. Well, better get going. Lot to catch up on still. Jeff Hanson n.r. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene Trying to Save Piggy Sneed - John Irving ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 22:10:25 -0800 From: Michael Pearce Subject: nothing worth watching "Jeffrey C. Burka" writes, > Like John, I don't play nice with the cable people, so I can't > speak to shows on networks like USA. I will admit, however, > that if DC Cablevision ever got their act together and started > carrying comedy central, I'd probably get it hooked up. But > my general observation over the years has been that it doesn't > matter if you have 7 or 70 channels; when there's nothing worth > watching, there's nothing worth watching: cut your losses > and do something constructive. Or, you can become a Tapeworm. (There are two kinds of people who mess with the network scheduling: channel surfers and tapeworms.) We tapeworms never complain that there is nothing on, because by carefully studying the guides, we can find interesting and worthwhile programming all over the channels and at any time of day or night. Then we tape it. With two vcrs, one can tape while the other is for watching, or taping two opposite programs and watch nothing during that time (or get three vcrs, but that gets obsessive). Watch the tapes in order on the grounds that if at some point you decided it was worth taping, it is worth checking to see right or wrong guess. That is how I never miss Bab5, SouthPark, etc. plus odd stuff on odder channels (a bio of Arthur Godfrey on A&E was surprisingly interesting). Because I tape more than I can watch, I tend to get 5 or 10 tapes behind, then catch up during the off seasons. The farthest I have ever fallen behind is 2 months, but the best part is that when the phone rings, friends come over, or I just feel like going for a walk, stop the tape and kill the set. The bonus is FF through the ads, too. Even with all that, I still play music:watch TV 4:1 or better because I can play tapes anywhere, any time. Sure it takes a little work, but it is the best way I can think of to apply Sturgeon's Law (95% of everything is crap) to TV programming and catch the stuff worth seeing. At my convenience. Michael ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #207 **************************