From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #217 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, July 6 1998 Volume 04 : Number 217 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friends... [Mike Matthews ] the state of the archives ["mr. pointy" ] Re: Deni Bonet ["mr. pointy" ] Re: Dalbello ["mr. pointy" ] Neutral Milk Hotel [Pez Girl ] Ingrid Karklins House Concert [Neile Graham ] Re: tour fund [Michael Pearce ] Ashley Maher and others [Jack Sutton ] Rounder/Mercury deal [rjk1@cs.wustl.edu (Bob Kollmeyer)] Re: Ingrid Karklins House Concert [charley darbo ] Many Worlds are Showing Up in the Cutout Bins ["Jeffrey Hanson" ] Re: Many Worlds are Showing Up in the Cutout Bins ["Xenu's Sister" Subject: Today's your birthday, friends... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ****************** Kevin Harkins (kharkins@indiana.edu) ******************* ********************* Laurel Krahn (laurel@pobox.com) ********************* ******************** John J Henshon (jjh969@juno.com) ********************* *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Kevin Harkins Thu July 05 1973 Cancer Laurel Krahn Mon July 05 1971 Cancer John J Henshon Mon July 05 1954 The Year Of The Horse / Ruled By The Moon Jim Gurley Mon July 06 1959 Cancer Lisa Wilson Fri July 08 1960 Moonchild with Java Rising Courtney Dallas Fri July 09 1971 Catte Michael Peskura Sat July 09 1949 HallOfFamer Finney T. Tsai Sat July 09 1966 Cancer Larry Greenfield Tue July 11 1950 Virgo Rising; Gemini Moon Marion Kippers Tue July 13 1965 Kreeft Ellen Rawson Thu July 13 1961 Double Cancer Mitch Pravatiner Mon July 14 1952 Cancer Rich R. Wed July 14 1954 Cancer John Zimmer Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Dan Stark Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer Vlad Sat July 18 1970 Warning: severe tire damage Jani Pinola Thu July 20 1972 Jonquil Alvin Brattli Sun July 27 1969 Lefthanded Christy Eger Smith Thu July 27 1944 Horse Crossing woj Sun July 28 1968 children at play John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Steve Lusky Tue July 29 1952 Bike! Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Chuck Smith Wed July 30 1958 Reboot Yves Denneulin Fri July 30 1971 Lion-Heart Joel Kenyon Wed July 31 1963 Leo Eli Brandt Sun August 05 1900 Leo - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 10:44:33 -0400 From: "mr. pointy" Subject: the state of the archives a while back, also sprach Xenu's Sister: >At 07:51 PM 5/26/98 -0400, Chelsea wrote: >>Hello ectophiles! My name is Chelsea, and I subscribed over the weekend to >>the list after reading your archives for a while. >Hi, welcome to Ecto! Just out of curiousity, where were you reading >the archives? I thought they got destroyed (along with the Happy lyrics, >articles and most everything else) when ecto.org died. nope, all of the archives are still on ecto.org (a power supply was fried during the storm, but not the disk drive, fortunately), but they are no longer available from there. i'm in the (admittedly slow) process of moving things from ecto to smoe. so far, i've moved a big chunk of Volume2 (the ecto.org years) and, in fact, just moved nearly all of Volume1 (the rutgers years). the missing chunks (the last two months of Volume1 and the second half of Volume2) will need greg's intervention since their file permissions got all screwed up during the lightning strike (and i lost my root access as well! wah! though i imagine that greg had that planned all along... ;) ). anyways. the url for the mailing list archives is . all of the rutgers digests are in plaintext instead of the previously compressed format. and there will be searching capabilities added as soon as i can add it. as for the rest of the stuff (articles, lyrics, etc.), i'm still thinking about what to do with all of that. greg had that stuff integrated into his ecto archives website. since meredith has resurrected neil's ecto site, i'm thinking that it may be a good time to unify all that stuff in one place. >Are there archives somewhere I don't know about? not yet! ;) woj n.p. velvet belly -- lycia (thanks alvin!) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 11:32:00 -0400 From: "mr. pointy" Subject: Re: Deni Bonet also sprach Ofer Inbar: >I just posted about Deni Bonet here a few days ago, in response to >someone who got an album of hers. I saw her as an opening act for >someone else, I forget who, at Mama Kin a few years ago, and she >caught my attention. might have been robyn hitchcock as they have played together fairly often in past few years. they met during one of robyn's appearances on mountain stage (for those who don't know, a live performance program on public radio in the states) where deni was playing in the house band. they clicked musically and she ended up touring with him in 1995 and 1996, playing on his latest record _moss elixir_ and appearing in the film "storefront hitchcock", a live concert film directed by jonathan demme which will be released for real near the end of this year. >I definitely remember her electric violin >playing, and that was probably what got me interested in her. I do >not at all remember being annoyed or displeased with her voice, >though. I wonder if it was just unremarkable and I forgot. i've seen her play with her band a couple times and i think they're essentially a fun, competant bar band. the violin is a nice addition which makes they stand out from the crowd, but i kinda shake my head when deni does her classical violin solos -- despite being quite good, they just seem out of place with the rest of the band. they have two releases, both eps. information on getting them is at . i have the first one and it's fun, but i don't listen to it all that often. woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 11:38:28 -0400 From: "mr. pointy" Subject: Re: Dalbello also sprach Leslie Vermeer: >Delurking briefly, I just had to add that, for some Canadian list-members >at least, the characterization "fiercely independent female" should be >heavily ironic, because in the last few years Dalbello has been reaching us >as the voice behind the intensely mainstream Sears jingles. no kidding! the "come see the softer side of sears" jingle? damn, i love that melody -- the music is such perfect pop! too bad some band didn't find it first... woj ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 11:55:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Pez Girl Subject: Neutral Milk Hotel What larks! A potential thread about one of my all-time favourite new albums, _In An Aeroplane Over The Sea_. Man oh man alive, what an amazing, incredible album. This is easily one of the best things I've heard all year. Like Woj pointed out, Jeff Magnum is neither a great singer nor a great musician, but he has a great ear for beauty and is quite profound. Yikes, what a talent (though not in the traditional sense). >For some reason, I want to compare it to Veda Hille but can't. Hmm...Veda wasn't the person who came to mind when I heard this. Sonically, I would call this a hybrid of Pere Ubu, Pearls Before Swine, the Salvation Army marching band, and...Mary Margaret O'Hara. Which is not to say that the band itself sounds like M2OH, but there's a similar energy, a similar fervor there, and the same kind of feeling that this is music you don't just hear, but that yu absorb with your pores. - --Chelsea - ---- 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, 5 Jul 1998 16:54:34 -0700 From: Neile Graham Subject: Ingrid Karklins House Concert Hi, Passion list members and ecto list members: Here's a slightly belated report on Ingrid's house concert here in Seattle on Friday night. The concert took place at the lovely home of Charley's hospitable friends Jenny and Brian (and their daughter, Alia Rose)'s home on Phinney Ridge. There was a small audience of about a dozen people. We started about 8:00 with me and Jim (a lurker on both these lists) reading 4 poems each. Then Ingrid began playing with "Incantation/Red Hand". I wish I'd kept the setlist becase I realized that I don't know the titles to many of Ingrid's songs, though I know the songs themselves well. (This was a handicap, particularly when Ingrid asked if we had any requests.) Anyway, I know for certain the set included "Dreams", "Raga", a new song called "Hurt", "Rant" and "Riddle", "She Says", "Know" and "Hound of Heaven". I was sitting in front and to the side of the piano, which I think meant that I got the best vantage both to see Ingrid while she was playing and to hear her voice, which seems even lovelier and more pure live. I always find it hard to describe the emotional feel of a concert and this maybe more than others because I was so utterly caught up in it. I felt connected to every note Ingrid played, so my emotions responded to and changed with the songs as she played them. While I would sometime love to hear her play with a band, this concert was special because it was so purely Ingrid, and she seemed to feel relaxed and among friends so it felt even more open than it would be among a larger audience. And then chat for a long time afterwards. Relaxing after the emotion of the music. A magical evening for which I'm very grateful to Ingrid and to Jenny and Brian. - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 17:38:44 -0800 From: Michael Pearce Subject: Re: tour fund Penta5@aol.com (Anna) writes, > I am so amazed by the thundering silence of almost everyones > lack of response to my suggestion of a tour fund for Happy that I feel >obliged > to submit it again. I know that the Fourth is upon us and many are > vacationing, so I want to ask again if there are any Ecto Folk out there > willing to get together on this idea? Please let me know how you feel be it > yea or nay. Sure, count me in. I will commit to buying Happystuff as available and hustling everyone I know to see her at the Aladdin in Portland, assuming, of course, that she can come play the Aladdin in Portland. Or anywhere in Portland (but the Aladdin is the best venue in town for ecto-artists) or Seattle if that is all she can do in the Northwest. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 18:17:55 From: Jack Sutton Subject: Ashley Maher and others Hello Recently, I’ve been enthralled with 3 artists or groups that are pretty much diametrically opposed to each other, but non the less reside on the fringes of the ECTO “bell curve”. Actually, many people on this list are familiar with Ashely Maher, but I don’t know if I’ve heard any talk about the other two, “The Freight Hoppers” and Jessie Mae Hemphill”. Ashley Maher “The Blessed Rain”: For those not familiar with Ashley, she is Canadian born now living in England and has had two previous CDs on Virgin Records. “The Blessed Rain” is an independent release and continues her musical journey into African rhythms and percussion with jazz, folk and rock influences. As I was listening to this for the first time completely lost in the beauty of the music, the wonderful arrangements, the rhythms, and Ashley’s striking voice, I was rocked by the spiritual and humanistic insight of the lyrics. Spin Free seemed to be directed at me, how true the message, and how we need reminders like this so we can remember the power and beauty we all possess: “the golden ring you’re grabbing at is already in reach the answer in a bottle’s already washed up on the beach if you’re ready to fly life will teach you don’t forget to spin wild spin free pull in the nets of your secret sea” “The Blessed Rain” is a uplifting spiritual good feeling gift, given and received at the same time, the perfect human exchange. Every cut gives me the feeling of great depth requiring many careful listens. It’s like you can listen in a casual way and have the music sweep around and through you, but something inside says, I need to drink in this splendor slowly and deeply. I find it hard to try to technically explain music as I don’t understand much of that anyhow. I can only talk about feelings from the music and this feels real good. The title cut, “The Blessed Rain” is a special treat for me and a great addition to my collection of “rain songs”. Sometimes I feel quite alone in my affinity for rain and wonder why so many people seem to spend much energy to avoid being touched by rain. Ashley said she was a great “rain affectionado” and Maireid Sullivan an Irish Celtic singer told me she put corrugated tin on her bedroom room roof to amplify the rain. Oh yes, “The Blessed Rain” , I like that. You can find out more about Ashley at http://www.hrmusic.com/ashley/ashley.html. Jessie Mae Hemphill: Jessie Mae Hemphill is a rather obscure blues singer songwriter guitar player extrodinaire. She lives in Como Mississippi, the same town that Fred McDowell lived in. She must have been a good listener because she developed a lot of Fred’s clear crisp solid blues licks. Although she was not well know, she had a cult following and released one album in Europe. Recently, that album “She Wolf” and another “Feeling Good” were released in the US. These two CDs are some of the most good feeling infectious music I’ve ever heard. She does her own version of “Mystery Train” and although I’ve probably heard 50 different people do this song, she blows them all away. She’s haunting, sexy, and full of the raw energy only someone with the blues in their blood can be. If you like unpretentious basic blues done with honesty, feeling, and spirit, you’ll like her stuff. I compare her with Fred McDowell, Sun House, and Robert Johnson, and on a more contemporary level, John Hammond and Rory Block. Anybody familiar with her work? Oh, I forgot the sad news about Jessie. I hear she had a stroke, I think about 1993. She can no longer perform. As far as I know, the two albums are it. I would have loved to see her perform live. Freight Hoppers: I recently went to a bluegrass festival and saw an old-time music group called the Freight Hoppers. I think they would qualify as ECTO fringe. They were the highlight of the festival for me and the best new high energy band I’ve discovered since Laura Love. The fiddle player David Bass is the most intense energetic fiddler I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t wimpily hold the bow like a ballet dancer with fiddle parallel to the ground, but rather grabs the bow like a warrior with sword, fiddle perpendicular to the ground and flails the strings. You can see the bow rosin form a cloud and settle like fog on the “golden gate” bridge. Not only that, he clogs, ala, Ashley McIssac, all the while. Cary Fridley is the guitar player and shares vocals with the banjo player Frank Lee. Like all the members of this group, she’s a virtual ball of energy dancing, thumping and wailing on that guitar. At times she reminds me of Iris Dement in mannerisms and downright artistic honesty. Their power lies in the 100% giving of all they have, simplicity of form, and unbelievable rhythms. The banjo player Frank Lee is the most unconventional banjo player I’ve seen. He’s altered the banjo eliminating the last few frets at what he calls the sweet spot on the banjo, and this area on the neck is where he plays. He uses a claw hammer style, and gets a horse trotting thumping underlying rhythm from the instrument. Has anybody seen this group? If you get a chance, don’t miss them. Jack Sutton Harmony Ridge Music www.hrmusic.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 20:44:02 -0500 From: rjk1@cs.wustl.edu (Bob Kollmeyer) Subject: Rounder/Mercury deal Hi all - May be old news to some, but it was news to me when I stumbled across this clip on DejaNews. Not only was the deal itself news (to me), but I was unaware that Juliana Hatfield had signed to Rounder. Good news to the many, many ecto-friendly artists on the Rounder label, I should think. ===== June 26, 1998 Mercury Records has entered into a U.S. distribution agreement with the respected roots label Rounder Records. Mercury will distribute 1,000 Rounder catalog selections and introduce to market the first new Rounder releases under the agreement beginning Aug. 6. "This deal is a dream come true for me," said Mercury Records Group chairman and CEO Danny Goldberg, who made the deal. "Rounder is the premier folk and blues label in the world. I have maximum excitement and joy about the opportunity to work with Rounder." Rounder's lineup to launch the deal includes its newest signing, Juliana Hatfield, Roomful of Blues, jazz and soul-blues vocalist Johnny Adams, zydeco legend Beau Jocque and country newcomer Heather Myles. Full story (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com) ===== bob np - Karen Savoca & The Mind's Eye - On the River Road ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 19:56:55 -0700 (PDT) From: charley darbo Subject: Re: Ingrid Karklins House Concert I was, of course, unable to be there, but I spoke to Brian and Jenny yesterday, briefly, and at greater length today. As those of you who've been following this subplot know, neither Brian nor Jenny had been familiar with Igrid's music before their home was chosen as a tour stop. (I was getting to it. They live, what 3,000 miles away, and we've gotten as far as Kate Bush, Jane Siberry, Eddi Reader, Mary Margaret, Victoria Williams, Jeff Buckley, Blue Nile--I was working up to Ingrid.) They enjoyed what I had time to play for them while they were here last week, and _Red_Hand_ was waiting for them in the mail when they returned to Seattle. Like Neile, I find that for some reson Ingrid's songs circulate rather freely in my mind without their titles, but Brian was able to rattle off the playlist without hesitating. And not just because he'd apparently been studying _RH_ in prparation for the event; and especial favorite, he told me, was "She Said," which I can tell you he'd never heard before last Friday night. Imagine what a fan base Ingrid would have if she were able to personally visit every man, woman and child in this great land of ours! B&J were still aglow today with the whole event. They've already planned their next house concert, and hope to have several a year. They're hooked. They're going to try to have one when I'm out there to visit them the week after Thanksgiving. I wonder if Amy Denio will be in town . . . - --Charley n.p. _Red_Hand_ n.r. William Carlos Williams: _White_Mule_ p.s.--I'm gearing up to start a Rufus Wainwright mailing list, to be called "Damned Ladies." Jeff Wasilko has generously offered space on smoe.org. I'm hopeful that it'll become a reality this week. Watch this space for news! _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 98 20:36:12 PDT From: "Jeffrey Hanson" Subject: Many Worlds are Showing Up in the Cutout Bins I just thought I'd say that all of you ectophiles should be out searching used bins for advanced promo copies of "Many Worlds are Born Tonight". I found my copy on Friday for $6.99. Never even opened. It's sad to think that all these promo copies are going out and never even being played by their intended recipients, but I can't say I mind too much as it allowed me to get my hands on it. I won't say a whole lot about it, since I don't want to rub it in too much. I was so excited when I found it I felt like jumping up and down in the aisles, but I restrained myself (barely).. Anyway, I'll just say it's definitely worth getting, the packaging is superb, and I'll have to listen to it some more before I can decide where it falls in comparison with the other albums. It's definitely different than her previous stuff--but a natural progression--much more electronic. It strikes me in many ways as being Happy's soundtrack to BladeRunner. Also less pop than I expected her first major label release to be. "Serenading Genius" seems to be the standout track for me so far--kind of "Feed the Fire, Pt. 2." Good luck to all you searching for it! Jeff Hanson n.r. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden n.p. shuffling over Happy Rhodes - Many Worlds are Born Tonight Jann Arden - Happy? Imogen Heep - Imogen Heep Heather Nova - Siren Sonny Southon - All the Colors ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 20:25:58 -0400 From: Steve I Subject: Emm Gryner hiya folks... Many of you will soon have the opportunity to check out Emm in a live setting in a city near you: For all you NYC ectophiles, Emm Gryner will be playing a set at Intelfest on Wed July 15 at 9pm in NYC. Unfortunately I think you have to buy a $40 festival pass to be able to attend. However I may be wrong, you may be able to buy tix for an individual venue for any given night, you can call the festival hotline at 212-677-3530 to find out. She's playing on a very good lineup; right after her at 10pm is label-mate, ex-Jewel-mate, and joker incar-nate Steve Poltz, and at 11pm ecto favourite Victoria Williams takes the stage. Wish I could be there for that one! Also Emm will be opening for Bernard Butler on his North American tour starting in mid-August. Since it's still a month and a half off I'll wait a bit before posting tourdates on the list, but anyone who would like to know them now can find them on Emm's website: http://webhome.idirect.com/~nsounds/emm/ Steve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Steve I | Check out cool Toronto artists Sarah Slean & Emm Gryner Toronto, CAN | at NORTHERN SOUNDS: http://webhome.idirect.com/~nsounds/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Jul 1998 00:06:04 -0500 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: Many Worlds are Showing Up in the Cutout Bins At 08:36 PM 7/5/98 PDT, Jeffrey Hanson wrote: >I just thought I'd say that all of you ectophiles should be out searching used bins >for advanced promo copies of "Many Worlds are Born Tonight". I'm just *livid* about this. It's pissing me off that there are so many people out there who are just turning around and selling their copies to used record stores. They don't deserve the music, but it's too damn bad they can't give the copies to a friend or relative who might be interested. Yes, every Ectophile *should* scout for copies and RESCUE them from the used bins. However, every Ectophile who does this should be sure to buy *at least* 2 copies at FULL PRICE when it's released. (Not at Circuit City though, please not at Circuit City.) Part of my upset is that I'm confused about my own hypocrisy. Hell, half my CD/LP collection came from used record stores. I love them to death and they can be godsends for people with low budgets. When I find something rated OW or OMG* I jump for joy that someone else gave it up, but damn I don't want it to happen to Happy. Samson Schmamson, she needs the money now more than ever. Btw, it's true that over the years I've gotten a couple/few dozen promo copies of Happy's albums and cassettes for myself and to give away, but I also, over the past 10 years, have bought in the stores *tens of dozens* and given them away. These giveaways ranged from sure-fire hits (woj, didn't I give you an actual cassette?) to almost certain misses (the 3 or 4 copies of Warpaint I gave to people on the "L" just because they had interesting faces) but I don't regret most of them. Well, I kinda wish I had kept more of the 1st4 cassettes, but oh well. *Used Record Store Find Ratings "Ah yeah" - I've heard of this and/or it looks interesting. Might get it, might not. "Oh cool!" - I've heard of this, I'm glad I found it. I'll probably get it. "Oh Wow!!" - I've been *looking* for/didn't know about this!! Will definitely get it. "OH MY GOD THERE IS A HEAVEN!!!" - 'Nuff said. Vickie (who will try to stay away from used record stores for the next month) DIVX = GREED - Boycott Circuit City! ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #217 **************************