From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #372 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, October 19 1998 Volume 04 : Number 372 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: the saddest song you know [jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon)] Re: Saddest Song You Know [jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon)] 650 Miles of Happy Roads/Rhodes. [jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon)] PJ HARVEY .............new cd [FAMarcus@aol.com] Impossible to pick the saddest song... [stunning@tezcat.com] Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd ["Tim" ] Re: Saddest Song Happiest Song [Sue Fechner ] Re: Saddest song you know [Riphug@aol.com] Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd [Stuart Myerburg ] Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd [Mark Lowry ] Susan James at CB's Gallery (NYC)? [Michael Curry ] StereoLab and VW? [kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white)] Heather Nova in Oslo this Monday [Kjetil Torgrim Homme ] HR5 [Rich Rapp ] Re: HR5 ["Jeffrey C. Burka" ] happy in nyc [meredith ] this weekend in music [meredith ] Re: HR5 [Greg Dunn ] Re: ecto-digest V4 #371 [AURALG@aol.com] MWABT ad spied in a rather odd place [Neile Graham ] Re: Happy Songs/Sad Songs.... ["Spencer Lewis" ] Re: Happiest Songs [samsamiam@juno.com (Sami T.)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 02:36:36 -0400 From: jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon) Subject: Re: the saddest song you know On Sat, 17 Oct 1998 11:43:20 -0400 "Tom Ditto" writes: > the snipped version < >Surely someone will help us now with the death of Matthew Shepard. >Jim Henson, where are you when we need you? ;-) > >Tom >ditto@taconic.net >"Do you copy? Over" > Your mention of Jim Henson in a discourse about dealing with grief struck a chord with me. He was someone I admired greatly. I had a chance to meet him a couple of times. My friend Jerry recorded some of the vocal tracks for a couple of early Sesame Street albums in the basement of his house in my old neighborhood. I always had an extreme aversion to funerary rituals. I went to Jim's funeral after a lifetime of avoiding such things and was surprised at how much relief it afforded me. While I still loath such things I do look at them differently since Jim's passing. John Henshon ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 02:36:15 -0400 From: jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon) Subject: Re: Saddest Song You Know Some of my fellow geriatric Ecto-Folk mentioned bitter laments of days gone by. One that comes to mind for me would be. No Time To Live by Winwood & Capaldi 1968 As time begins To burn itself upon me And the days are growing very short People try their hardest To reject me But in a way Their conscious won't be caught Something's happening to me Day by day My pebble on the beach Is getting washed away I've given ev'rything That was mine to give And now I'll turn around and find That there's no time to live So after I have seen The wheel of fortune Spinning for the man who holds the ace There's many who would change Their places for him But none of them have seen His lonely face Something is happening to me Day by day My pebble on the beach Is getting washed away I've given ev'rything That was mine to give And now I'll turn around and find That there's no time to live. ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 02:52:27 -0400 From: jjh969@juno.com (John J Henshon) Subject: 650 Miles of Happy Roads/Rhodes. Bearsville / Troy / NYC. I would have tried to make the Philly show too, but heard that it sold out. Battling aftereffects of the flu it was probably best I passed on it even though Paul Blair told me that they were admitting bodies after the reports of the show being sold out. The Dodge was on shaky ground mechanically and I was leery about making the trek north from Brooklyn, but figured were it to expire in the effort I'd leave it rest at the side of the road and stick out my thumb. I needed my Happy fix. All three shows blew me away, like Ms Rhodes and her henchmen on stage were my firing squad and they all had machine guns loaded with lightning bolts. Not knowing exactly where the light and video presentation bull's eye lay I don't know how far off the mark her arrows landed. It wasn't as important to me as it was to her. Happy herself, during the course of the Bearsville show said it best. "The music's too important". And the music was stunning. Three or four trees of par 38 cans, a follow spot and possibly a chase box would have been plenty for me. Going to such an elaborate production cold is like swimming the channel after a couple of laps in the pool at the Y, bound to get some cramps. I pray she doesn't fall victim to the KaTe syndrome. I seem to remember reading that the rigors of elaborate staging in large measure caused her to abandon the road. In the land of Helen and the strong-grieved Acacians Happy lamented Troy's sparse house by saying, "I'm so unpopular", for many in the house, myself included, that could not have been further from the truth. For myself, I could think of no soul more popular and suspect that feeling was shared by at least some of the other Ecto-folk in attendance. These three shows allowed me to expand my sphere of Ecto acquaintances that now have faces to go with the names. The Glo-Stick wielding Ecto-Mama Vicky and Chris, Paul Kim, Dr. Tom, Melissa and Ms. Terra Incognita herself, Sharon Nichols to name a few. I really appreciate the existence of this list, it's community, and Jeff's work to keep Smoe up and running. Will Rogers will forgive me for saying I never met as Ecto-phile I didn't like. I pray Happy will not get discouraged by real or imagined faults and has some idea how much I, and some other Ecto-folk I know, enjoyed the shows and how immensely appreciative we are of the effort she and her partners put into this spectacular piece of work. I don't know how much press each of the gigs got, heard reports that WDST and the Philly stations were asleep at the switch. In New York, the El Flamingo show would have passed undetected by me were it not for Ecto. I hear WFUV played it up but my reception's poor in the snake pit and other than in the car I find little time for tuning in. Lack of press I think more than anything else may have negatively impacted the turnout. Can't wait for more dates. I really hope Samson continues to be supportive. John ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 03:41:29 EDT From: FAMarcus@aol.com Subject: PJ HARVEY .............new cd I just wanted to say that after a few listens I find the new PJ HARVEY CD ...........IS THIS DESIRE an excellent progression from her last album. I loved her last album. Top 2 or 3 in my list of cd's that year. Her voice is better than i remember. After it locks in it gets better and better. At least for me it did. Anybody who liked her past albums try it yet??? fred.......... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 02:58:40 -0600 From: stunning@tezcat.com Subject: Impossible to pick the saddest song... ...but recent posts have made me think about these: I totally concur with whoever said The Notting Hillbillies "Feel Like Going Home." Draw me a warm bath and get me a razor blade! For Rickie Lee Jones, although almost anything form Pirates, but her cover of "Walk Away Rene" from Girl At Her Volcano is profound. Also, The Waterboys "The Stolen Child" from Fisherman Blues(Lyrics by W.B. Yeats) and Jane Siberry's "Goodbye" from The Walking "You're The One" by Kate Bush "The Eleventh Song" from R.E.M's GREEN album "Savage" by Eurythmics "#253 In The Red Book/Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Sons of the Never Wrong on their Consequence of Speech CD "With One More Look At You" Barbra from A Star Is Born Soundtrack I could sit here for hours and make this list all night...suffice to say when I was a freshman in college back in 1986/87, I made a tape called "Stay In On A Saturday Night and Cry Music Mix." It's around here somewhere...I bet some of you would get a kick out of whats on it. If I can dig it up, I'll post the songs... That was fun, thanks. Thomas Dunning Brown Star Records Chicago I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush http://www.tezcat.com/~stunning/kate/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 20:31:45 +0000 From: "Tim" Subject: Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd - ---------- >From: FAMarcus@aol.com >To: ecto@smoe.org >Subject: PJ HARVEY .............new cd >Date: Sun, Oct 18, 1998, 7:41 AM > >I just wanted to say that after a few listens I find the new PJ HARVEY CD >...........IS THIS DESIRE an excellent progression from her last album. I >loved her last album. Top 2 or 3 in my list of cd's that year. Her voice is >better than i remember. After it locks in it gets better and better. At >least for me it did. Anybody who liked her past albums try it yet??? > fred.......... > > I've had it for a week now and think its fantastic. I miss some of the hard rockers of old (i.e. Long Snake Moan), however the new areas she explores more than make up for it. The ballads are beautiful, my faves being The Wind, Catherine, The Garden and *especially* The River, one of the most beautiful and sad songs I've ever heard. Meanwhile I really like the textured rockers like A Perfect Day Elise, Joy (churn!) and No Girl So Sweet. The only weak track IMHO is Electric Light, which is too slow and tuneless, especially coming on the heels of the much better ballad Catherine. The sound is really interesting - its nice to see artists facing the "electronica" age in innovative ways. Here Polly makes beats and industrial churns sound as natural, mystical & emotive as her big old guitar. I'd say its definitely on par with TBYML at least (and so makes it my equal favourite!). Tim ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:25:06 "GMT" From: Sue Fechner Subject: Re: Saddest Song Happiest Song You guys are way ahead of me. Just thought of a few sad songs and then I see you've started on the happy ones. Ah well, best of both worlds. A couple of sad songs that I don't think [?] have been mentioned yet: David Bowie - Space Oddity [Where associations increase the proportion of grief] Todd Rundgren - Can We Still Be Friends? [Have been trying for years to get a copy of it] This Mortal Coil - Another Day - I Want To Live Japan - All Tomorrow's Parties Happy Rhodes - Because I Learn - Ra Is A Busy God Single Gun Theory - all of "flow, river of my soul" Thomas Dolby - Europa and the Pirate Twins Happiest songs? As I was so busy trying to think of some songs, I haven't really contemplated this yet but can think of one straight off the top of my head: The Cure - Friday, I'm In Love. [A *very* up song to play on the way to work on Fridays. Not deep, but hell, on Fridays who needs deep?] Sue nr "Stone of Farewell" - Tad Williams __________________________________________________________________ Get your free Australian email account at http://www.start.com.au/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 09:10:05 EDT From: Riphug@aol.com Subject: Re: Saddest song you know Holly Cole singing "The Briar and the Rose" Lisa Germano's "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" Jill :D ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:16:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Stuart Myerburg Subject: Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd On Sun, 18 Oct 1998 FAMarcus@aol.com wrote: > I just wanted to say that after a few listens I find the new PJ HARVEY > CD ...........IS THIS DESIRE an excellent progression from her last > album. I loved her last album. Top 2 or 3 in my list of cd's that > year. Her voice is better than i remember. After it locks in it gets > better and better. At least for me it did. Anybody who liked her past > albums try it yet??? _Is This Desire?_ is definitely one of my favorites of this year. When I first listened to it, I only liked "The River," which is one of PJ's best songs ever, "Angelene," and "A Perfect Day Elise." But it's now one of those albums I feel compelled to play over and over even though I have new stuff I should be listening to instead. It just took a while to wrap my brain around some of the less immediately accessible songs. PJ has taken the electronic sounds she played with on _To Bring You My Love_ and gone one step further. As much as I liked _TBYML_, this album is even more mature musically. The lyrics are also very different from her previous work. Before, they were usually in the first person. But now she has taken a more character-driven approach. In interviews, she has mentioned how focusing solely on lyrics on _Dance Hall at Louse Point_, her collaboration with John Parish, really helped her hone her craft. And, it shows on the new album. I'm glad she keeps experimenting because she's getting more interesting with each new album. Stuart _________________________________________________________ Stuart Myerburg Information Services, Rollins School of Public Health http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~stuart _________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:22:53 -0500 From: Mark Lowry Subject: Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd FAMarcus@aol.com wrote: > I just wanted to say that after a few listens I find the new PJ HARVEY CD > ...........IS THIS DESIRE an excellent progression from her last album. I > loved her last album. Top 2 or 3 in my list of cd's that year. Her voice is > better than i remember. After it locks in it gets better and better. At > least for me it did. Anybody who liked her past albums try it yet??? > fred.......... I don't think Miss Polly Jean is capable of making a bad, or even slightly mediocre, album. I agree that _Desire_ is her most mature record, musically. She just keeps reinventing herself with new sounds, and it always seems so natural. I'm going to echo everyone by saying the "The River" is my fave track, but I'm also very fond of "The Wind" and "A Perfect Day Elise." Having said that, _Rid of Me_ is still my favorite for its raw, visceral impact. I think _To Bring You My Love_ is her most brilliant record, in terms of concept and theatrics. It's maybe the best *blues* album I've ever heard. OK, make that modern-day blues (can't step on Johnny Lee Hooker's toes). Anyone who hasn't picked up _Desire_ yet, it's a must. She's the only artist I can think of who hasn't ever disappointed with any new venture, as in other artists I love who have strokes of genius and never quite live up to that again or at least don't reinvent themselves in a fully realized way. (I'm thinking of Liz Phair, whose first album bowled me over, second ended up in my never-play stack, and whose third is slowly growing on me). Mark n.p. _Jackie's Strength_ single (love the videos, and the b-sides are excellent! So far, all of the b-sides off FTCH -- "Bachelorette," "Purple People," "Do It Again," "Cooling," "Never Seen Blue" and "Beulah Land" -- are a gazillion times better than those from BFP, thank god. Her LE b-sides are still the best, though.) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 13:38:48 -0400 From: Michael Curry Subject: Susan James at CB's Gallery (NYC)? Hi all, According to the last Susan James tour schedule I saw she's supposed to be playing at CB's Gallery on October 24th (when I know most of you NYC area ectophiles will be out in Brooklyn seeing M2OH), but when I checked CB's web page a few minutes ago they don't have Susan listed as playing that night, instead listing a bunch of artists who I assume are all from the same label (since it says "Home Office Recoreds Presents:" at the top of the list for that day). So do any NYC-based ectophiles know what's up? Is the CB's web page usually reliable? Mike np: Pamela Means -- Cobblestones | Michael Curry / mcurry@io.com / mcurry@smoe.org | | http://www.io.com/~mcurry | | Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? -- Veda Hille | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 14:42:11 -0500 (CDT) From: kerrywhite@webtv.net (kerry white) Subject: StereoLab and VW? Hi, Did I just hear StereoLab in the "not a flower" VW ad on TV? (no metaphysical jokes, please) KrW TV or not TV? That is the question. Whether to suffer the lies of outrageous pitchmen, or to slit your throat with an electro-coated stainless steel blade? ------------------------------ Date: 18 Oct 1998 03:44:53 +0200 From: Kjetil Torgrim Homme Subject: Heather Nova in Oslo this Monday I luckily happened to see a picture of Heather Nova and the headline "Heather Nova too big" in the newspaper: Her concert had to be moved from the very small club (2-300?) John Dee to one of the main rock venues in Oslo, Rockefeller (1200). I hadn't even heard she'd be back, and so soon -- she played at Gamla here in Oslo in Spring. I'm not complaining, though! At that time, I hadn't heard anything by her, but she'd been on my list of artists to check out for a long time. I got to stand in the front row next to some die-hard fans who just looked at me in despise when I told them I was actually unfamiliar with her work. Standing close to her while she performed her songs really heightened the experience, though. She looks so small and defiant, and yet radiant. Others have complained that she seems disinterested, and I see what they mean, but it only seemed to apply to the chatter in-between songs -- the songs were full of energy. Then again I am accustomed to Norwegian artists, who in general are terrible at the art of entertaining in-between songs. (Actually, I expect it's a matter of practice, and Norwegian artists' tours are invariably shorter than American's tours...) Anyway, not knowing the songs at all did distract a little. So today I went out and raided the Heather Nova bin. They had one each of "The first recording", "Blow", "Glow stars" and "Oyster". What luck :-) (I bought "Siren" not long after the first concert.) So far I have been listening to the first two -- and my first thought is that she really should sack her producer on Siren and get back to her old, more energetic, raw sound. But I need more time... Perhaps I'll get back to you with a report from the concert. Kjetil T. np: Heather Nova, Glow stars nr: Barry Unsworth, Morality Play ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 14:32:03 -0600 From: neal copperman Subject: Re: PJ HARVEY .............new cd At 11:16 AM -0400 10/18/98, Stuart Myerburg wrote: >On Sun, 18 Oct 1998 FAMarcus@aol.com wrote: > >> I just wanted to say that after a few listens I find the new PJ HARVEY >> CD ...........IS THIS DESIRE an excellent progression from her last >> album. I loved her last album. Top 2 or 3 in my list of cd's that >> year. Her voice is better than i remember. After it locks in it gets >> better and better. At least for me it did. Anybody who liked her past >> albums try it yet??? > >_Is This Desire?_ is definitely one of my favorites of this year. When I >first listened to it, I only liked "The River," which is one of PJ's best >songs ever, "Angelene," and "A Perfect Day Elise." But it's now one of >those albums I feel compelled to play over and over even though I have new >stuff I should be listening to instead. It just took a while to wrap my >brain around some of the less immediately accessible songs. I feel like I've seen a few reviews that felt this album was too much of a rehash and not much of a step forward for her. I picked it up anyway, in part because I'm a sucker for bonus disc packaging. Best Buy had a version with a second disc containing: A Perfect Day Elise The Northwood Sweeter Than Anything The Bay Insturmental #3 I havne't listened to it yet, but I have played the full disc a few times, and completely disagreed with the reviews I'd read. I too think it's a really strong, dense rewarding album. I agree completely with the praise it's been getting here. Neal np: something very "alternative" sounding on the radio nr: World of Wonders - Robertson Davies ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 21:31:14 -0400 From: Rich Rapp Subject: HR5 Question for ecto philes... After seeing Happy at the Painted Bride last week (and yes, I agree with most reviews here, the minor glitches in the right video screen were just that, minor, Happy was excellent, better than Tin Angel show, and although I'm happyly married for 20 years, pardon the remark than Happy was very nicely dressed... enough said :-) I was checking through the Happy bin at Rainbow Records in West Chester, PA the other day, close to my work site. She must have a fan who works there, because they had FOUR posters and EIGHT of the 12x12 sheets hanging on the wall!!! Her bin was well stocked!!!! The find of the day (I think) was in the used CD bin. I found a Happy CD called HR5. It looks to be a promo from 1993 and includes 5 songs (hense the title??) 1). Feed the Fire (from Warpaint) 2). Ashes to Ashes (acoustic) 3). Save our Souls (acoustic) 4). I say (from Equipoise) 5). Feed the Fire ("Acoustic tribute version") Also, even though the case was open, inside was a business size card about "Happy Rhodes on Aural", with contact info on one side and photos of 6 CD's on the other: Rhodes 1, Rearment, Warpaint, Rhodes II, Ecto, Equipoise. Question: Have a made a rare find??? I was thilled. It made my day. Any insights/history about this CD from you guys/gals would be appreciated. Rich R. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:21:21 -0400 From: "Jeffrey C. Burka" Subject: Re: HR5 Rich asks, regarding HR5: > Question: Have a made a rare find??? Short answer: yes. I can't remember how many of these were pressed, but for some reason I keep thinking it was ~750. I'm sure there's someone out there, (Kevin or Sharon, at the very least!) who can help out with numbers.... The disc was done as a radio promo essentially to push _Equipoise_. While never available commercially, HR5 *was* made available to ectophiles. It was pretty cool -- you had to be verified as a list-subscriber (or otherwise verified through Vickie, as I recall?) in order to be able to buy one through mail order, and Happy signed each one of them with our e-mail addresses! I assume she used the same text on most or all of them -- mine is fairly generic: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu To Jeff Best! Happy Rhodes Since your disc was not signed, it had to have come from a radio station... If I remember correctly (and mind, it's been 5+ years!), we were warned that though the disc contained "new" songs, it was likely that they would later be released on an album. Sure enough, a few months later, _RhodeSongs_ came out and contained the unreleased tracks from HR5. I don't think any of us minded... FYI, Aural Gratification also made available to ectophiles the 1995 "Hold Me" aka "Glory Promo" aka "c:\happy rhodes" single. Dunno if Happy signed all of those; my copy has a straight Happy Rhodes signature on the back. jeff - -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | moving to jburka@cqi.com -- come say hi | |http://www.cqi.com/~jburka | at the new digs...now up and running! | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:12:33 -0400 From: meredith Subject: happy in nyc Hi! I'll finally chime in with my thoughts on Happy's show at the El Flamingo last Tuesday night. (Better late than never, right?) I was actually glad that the show started late, because I experienced bad subway karma trying to get across town from Grand Central, and didn't get to the venue until almost 8:15. What a place. Definitely a family owned business, if you catch my meaning ... the bouncers were walking stereotypes, with their turtlenecks and sport coats and thick Brooklyn accents. There was lots of red velvet everywhere. With woj's WFUV member card he was able to get us both in for free, and we got the promised "Happy Rhodes Gift Pack" at the door, which contained a Douglas September t-shirt (why no Happy shirts yet?!?), a Samson music CD opener (which has already come in quite handy - I can never get into new discs!), and a copy of the "Roy" promo single. Yay. Vickie had saved us a spot right up front (thanks, Vickie :), and Mark, I think we were sitting in front of your friend! As him if he remembers the guy who surprised him by asking if he could see - woj really freaked out the guy behind us when he did that ("you're not from here, are you?" ;). Based on what I overheard the guy saying to his companion, I'm sure if was your friend - he said he was there on someone's recommendation. Unfortunately, as the show went on I found myself wishing I was up in the balcony instead, so I could see everything all at once. The light show was *way* too big for the venue, and the stage was so small that Kevin and Carl ended up standing on risers on either side in front of it. (I was about two feet from Carl, though, which was cool.) The projection screens were right behind Kevin and Carl, so there was no way to see both of them at once. That was a pity, because they were finally working, and some of the effects really needed to be seen on both screens simultaneously. I wanted to tell Happy that if she wants to redo the projections for "If Wishes Were Horses ..." I can hook her up with shots of my sister's Lippizan herd - the horses she did film were cute, but I think the effect would have been better with shots of gorgeous white creatures floating around a desert landscape. :) Musically, the show was excellent. Happy needs to get her vocals higher in the mix, and they need to fix the vocal effects mike - "Cohabitants" didn't really work. Other than that, though, the show was much more together than I think it was in any of the previous shows, based on my experience in Bearsville and what I saw here about Philly and Troy. It's too bad they did the entire set all at once - there was enough response from the audience at the end to bring the band back for an encore, if there had been one left to do. I was surprised to see the club as full as it was - it was tiny, but considering WFUV had been promoting the show without having played a note of the album I hadn't expected much of a turnout. Hopefully there will be some word-of-mouth going in NYC now. It does appear that there are going to be more shows on this "tour", hopefully sooner rather than later. (Thanks to Sharon for setting me straight on Richard Musil's position at Samson - I don't know where I got my misinformation from that night.) Carol opined: >Happy looked fantastic! As a gal I hope no one >will call me "sexist" when I say that she is one >hot Philly (oops, I mean filly)...she has a better >tummy than Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle on Xena tv >show)! Ack, I'm not the only one who was thinking that! I remember thinking that Happy's tall enough to go as Xena for Halloween, but she really looks more like Gabrielle. (I do have to say that her outfit in NYC, with the skirt slit up to >here< was quite, erm, distracting. Who knew??? Besides Kevin, I mean. ;) +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 21:47:28 -0400 From: meredith Subject: this weekend in music Hi! This has been one of Those weekends. :) Friday night woj and I braved the traffic hell that is Boston to see Pamela Means, Richard Shindell and The Nields at the Somerville Theater. It was a truly great evening of wonderful music. It's rare to experience a triple-bill where I'm equally excited to see all three of the artists, and it's great when it happens. Pamela Means opened with a half-hour set, and it was a shame that the hall was only half full while she was on. (The show started at 7, which I think confused a lot of people.) She got a great response from the people who were there, though, doing songs from her most recent album _Cobblestones_. She is a great guitarist, who plays in the Ani DiFranco style but with a pick instead of Lee Press-On nails and electrical tape. :) The only low point in the set was when she was joined onstage by Billy "out of tune, out of time" Masters, who was playing with Richard Shindell (and who has also been seen in Dar Williams' band). As usual, he ended up playing a completely different song on his overly-loud, wanking electric guitar. (Pamela was playing her excellent song "Home" - it was clear he had never heard a note of it before.) Overall, though, it was great to see her play again. She'll be in Stamford, CT at the Acoustic Studio on November 5, with Erin McKeown and someone else whose name I'm blanking on. I'm there, dude. :) After Pamela, Richard Shindell came onstage and did a 40-minute set. Billy Master's presence marred the songs less and less as the set went on, but I was still wishing he'd just go away. Richard's songs don't need atmosphere - - there's enough of that in the lyrics themselves. Still, though, I enjoyed it. Then, after an intermission The Nields took the stage, and put on one hell of a show for the next 90 minutes. They started with "Taxi Girl", which I've never seen them open with before, and did everything off the new album _Play_ except for "Last Kisses" (which I wish they'd played instead of "Best Black Dress", but that's just me :), and a couple more from _Gotta Get Over Greta_. One of the highlights was when Katryna and Nerissa stepped to the very front of the stage with no microphones and sang a cappella an Old English tune called "Summer Is Icumen In" as a prelude to "Innertube", which is my least favorite song of theirs at the moment, but it worked with that as an intro. Katryna even cracked herself up during the "Que Sera Sera" intro to "Alfred Hitchcock" - I can't explain exactly what she was doing, but it involved moving the microphone all over the place and it was hilarious. For an encore the Nields brought Pamela Means, Richard Shindell and Billy Masters back onstage for a "folk festival workshop" version of the old Eagles song "Desperado". It was cheesy, but it was fun and they all did a great job with it. Then the band closed out the show with a jamming version of "Goodbye", which ended with the players leaving the stage one by one, starting with Nerissa, then Katryna and then Dave Hower, David Nields, and finally Dave Chalfant. Very classy. There was a large ectophile presence at the show: besides woj and myself and JeffW and Mike Curry, we ran into Ofer Inbar and Paul Kim, and then we saw former ectophile Glenn MacDonald (Mr. War Against Silence himself) at intermission. It was nice to finally meet you, Ofer! Last night Mike, woj and I headed down to the Acoustic Studio in Stamford to see Richard Shindell again. It was a longer show, and Billy Masters was a lot more restrained. The highlight of the night, though, was when I saw a flyer advertising two shows called "Not Famous Yet", the first being the aforementioned Pamela Means appearance. The second of the shows will take place on November 21, and on the bill will be Jess Klein, someone else (I'm blanking and I lost the flyer :/), and VEDA HILLE. Yay!!! The show is only $5. If any NYC types want to hop the train up to Stamford for that, I'll gladly pick people up at the train station. Next weekend is going to be fun - Thursday night The Nields are at The Bottom Line, then on Friday Mary Margaret O'Hara is in Brooklyn, then on Saturday woj and I might be going up to Boston to see Susan Werner. Sunday night The Nields are at the Iron Horse, and since I long ago vowed I would never miss seeing them there, I'll be at that show even though I do have to get up at 3 am to catch the first flight to Milwaukee for work in the morning. Yuck. Have I mentioned here just how much the new Cowboy Junkies album, _Miles From Our Home_ rules? Well, it does. It's been a while since I've played a new CD twice through in the first sitting. It's a lot more produced than I've ever heard from the Junkies, but it works really well. You gotta love an album that has one real superficially sappy potential top-40 hit that will never be one because of the line, repeated several times, mentioning "that f*cker up there". :) Another disc I picked up recently is Joni Mitchell's _Taming The Tiger_. On first listen it's pretty boring, but Chuck said it took him a few spins to grow on him, so I'm going to give it more of a chance too. I still find myself going back to The Nields' _Mousse_ (which I vastly prefer to _Play_) and Rachael Sage's _Smashing The Serene_. Both are going to be very high on my year-end list for sure. +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:13:16 -0500 From: Greg Dunn Subject: Re: HR5 >FYI, Aural Gratification also made available to ectophiles >the 1995 "Hold Me" aka "Glory Promo" aka "c:\happy rhodes" single. > >Dunno if Happy signed all of those; my copy has a straight Happy Rhodes >signature on the back. I have one (bought from AG) and it's a generic sig on the back as well. I suspect all of them purchased through Kevin got signed, because that was one of the perks for being list-aware and grabbing one before they ran out. :-) - -- | Greg Dunn | A fatal attraction, holding me | | gregdunn@indy.net | fast... how can I escape this | | GregDunn@aol.com | irresistible grasp? | | http://www.indy.net/~gregdunn/ | Pink Floyd | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 23:53:30 EDT From: AURALG@aol.com Subject: Re: ecto-digest V4 #371 Saddest Song Peter Hammill's "Through the looking glass", from the album "Over" Hands down !!!!! KB ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 20:59:29 -0700 From: Neile Graham Subject: MWABT ad spied in a rather odd place Hi, all-- Just wanted to report that I saw an ad for _Many Worlds Are Born Tonight_ in a rather odd place--REALMS OF FANTASY magazine. Along with ads for chain mail, role playing games, books with lurid covers (heck, the magazines' covers are generally pretty lurid), the appalling National Library of Poetry and all, there was a photo of Happy in a black dress looking rather gothic and the MWABT album cover and a quote from PULSE. I did a doubletake. I'm not quite sure what Samson is thinking (get Happy tagged as a filk player like most of the other music ads in the magazine?), but I sure hope it sells discs. The advertising in REALMS is widely known to be tacky and appalling, but the magazine does sell well enough to stay glossy and in print while other genre fiction magazines fail, so perhaps this will help garner her more fans. I wonder if an ad also appeared in the sister magazine, SCIENCE FICTION AGE? - --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, 19 Oct 1998 00:09:28 +0000 From: "Spencer Lewis" Subject: Re: Happy Songs/Sad Songs.... I've received the list for some time now, but this is the first I've ever been inspired to post. I'm sure you all will wistfully look to the time when I was thankfully silent. ;) Happy Songs- "Love Shack" - B-52's "Love is the 7th wave" - Sting "A" - Barenaked Ladies "If I had a $1,000,000" - Barenaked Ladies "Stand" - R.E.M. Sad Songs - "Island of Souls" - Sting "Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls (Because it reminds me of the movie everytime I hear it.) "Life is Sweet" - Maria Mckee (Album is of the same title. A horribly overlooked CD, it takes a couple of listens for it to stick, but well worth the effort.) "Never be the Same" - Crowded House (Another horribly overlooked CD "Temple of Low Men". From a songwriter's songwriter.) These subjects are potentially embarrassing because you may always be misinterpreting a song that for your entire life you thought was sad and turns out the opposite. So be kind if I screwed up here. My 2 cents. Spencer ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:45:05 -0700 From: samsamiam@juno.com (Sami T.) Subject: Re: Happiest Songs Oh yes! What a *wonderful* idea--list our HAPPIEST songs! For me, the songs include (but are not limited to): "Big Fat Happy Day" - Hoi Polloi "These Are the Days" - 10,000 Maniacs "Today" - iona "The Morning Fog" - Kate Bush "1999" - Prince "Penguins" - Lyle Lovett (mostly 'cuz it's just so quirky! :-) "Jamming" - Bob Marley "What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong "Celebration" - Kool & the Gang I recognize that many of these aren't exactly "Ecto-ish" songs. Hope no one minds much! ~Sami~ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "...reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it. I can take it in small doses, but as a lifestyle I found it too confusing." --from "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" by Jane Wagner ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #372 **************************