From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #423 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, December 4 1998 Volume 04 : Number 423 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Holiday Party at the Hoot Night! (8pm) ["Xenu's Sister" ] Pooh on Ladyslipper ["Xenu's Sister" ] Heap/Sage/Christgau ["Donald G. Keller" ] Sharon Nichols - Terra [Anthony_Matern@vanguard.com] WXPN's Top 5/50 [Joe Casadonte ] Belated report on _Brutal Telling_ (Veda + dance) [Neile Graham ] From Catherine Smitko Re:December Ninth [stunning@tezcat.com] Susan Werner [Mark Lowry ] Re: Susan Werner [Jeff Wasilko ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 00:57:51 -0600 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: Holiday Party at the Hoot Night! (8pm) At 02:23 AM 12/2/98 -0500, stunning@tezcat.com wrote: >If only they would let me pick the songs! I just get to pick the theme and >then we see what shows up! Maybe we should just have a Cocteau Twins vs PJ >Harvey Hoot Night? that would be SO KEWL! How about a Kate vs. Tori Hoot? Vickie (who loves 'em both, and who really needs to get off her ass and attend more of those wonderful Hoots) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 00:58:44 -0600 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: Terra Incognita Ceases Publication At 02:03 PM 12/2/98 -0800, C. K. Coney wrote: >I just got an email from the funny and devoted >Sharon Nichols who has decided to stop publishing >the Happy fanzine, Terra Incognita (formerly >Rhodeways.) I don't know bout ya'll, but I loved >this zine, and I'm sooo sad to hear of its demise. Same here. Sharon has provided Happy fans with a wonderful service for years, and I for one will always be greatful to her for that. >I don't know if there's any possibility that the >'zine can continue in some other form or under >another person's watch. I don't know the reasons >for ceasing publication, and perhaps they're >insurmountable. However, it would be nice to see >the hard-copy 'zine continue in some form. According to Sharon, the 'zine won't continue, so maybe some of us will have to get together and start up a new one. I was going to do one once, with Jessica Koeppel, but Jess was too busy and I was too flaky and I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Sharon came along and saved the day. >Sharon also does the excellent Happy website, >Terra Incognita, and she didn't say she's ending >that project. I sure hope the website will still >be around, According to Sharon, the website *will* continue (YAY!!). >and if the printed version of the 'zine >*can't* continue in any form, I'm one who's >willing to donate any money left in my >subscription to furthering the life of the Happy >*website*. I'd hope others might consider doing >the same. Yep! I too urge others to do the same thing. I had just sent in money for another 2-year subscription and was appalled that she might send it back to me, so I e-mailed her earlier today telling her not to send it. I'm very happy to donate that money to Sharon's on-line costs, or really, whatever she wants to use it for. >All good things come to an end eventually, I >suppose. But sometimes I just *hate* when that >happens. Yeah :-( Vickie ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 01:28:47 -0600 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Pooh on Ladyslipper I just got the newest Ladyslipper catalog and they've dropped Happy altogether. They've also dropped Kate Bush. They still offer lots of wonderful music, but I'm dropping *them* from the FAQ until they add Happy again. I guess all the people there who "really loved Happy" have quit. Vickie np: MWABT again, and again. And again. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 06:06:32 -0500 (EST) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: Heap/Sage/Christgau My 2c on the recent discussion is that I've heard one or two Rachel Sage songs live (arriving at the end of her set to hear the next artist--she plays in New York a lot) and they haven't particularly struck me. But I haven't given her a fair chance yet. And even though I thoroughly dislike Alanis Morrisette's vocal mannerisms, and definitely see the resemblance, I still like Imogen Heap's album quite a bit--despite the additional "difficulty" that I think her hooks are =too= good: I tend to find strong pop hooks banal. But the verses of the songs, and her instrumental abilities, tip the balance in her favor. Now I'd like to hear those singles. As for Robert Christgau, maybe it's because I read so much rock criticism (criticism in general) and maybe because I write it myself, but I don't find his short reviews incomprehensible at all--he's a good writer, and has practiced this form for so long that it's very polished. It's extremely compressed, and--OK--a little too referential at times, but I find most of the time that he can tell me what I want to know about a specific artist/album: his "Dud of the Month" review of the second Portishead album (my Best of the Year) explained, in about three sentences, why he disliked it =and= why other people (of which I took myself as an example) liked it a lot. I thought his recent "Turkey Shoot" column was a little better than average, actually; several of the entries were very funny as well. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 08:28:42 -0500 From: Anthony_Matern@vanguard.com Subject: Sharon Nichols - Terra Sharon, As one of your many subscribers, I was disheartened to learn of the demise of Terra Incognita. You demonstrated the ability to capture the spirit of the music, Happy's music, and eloquently transform this into words. I realize you E-mailed all subscribers vowing a reimbursement for remaining issues. I decline your offer for reimbursement as I'm sure there will be others (good goin' Carol C.). Your effort was very much appreciated. Terra provided the perfect forum for Happy to express her individuality and opinions (often refreshingly candid), that would otherwise not have appeared on the web. I recall the priceless photographs that were always part of the fanazine. Who can forget a two year old Hapster sitting on the hood of the family car. Thanks to you and your literary talent, we have a deeper insight into an extraordinary recording artist. Thanks Sharon for putting the whole thing together and delivering it to our doorstep. You have our continued support. Tony M. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 09:35:26 -0500 (EST) From: Joe Casadonte Subject: WXPN's Top 5/50 Hi All, Now is the time to vote for WXPN's Top 50 albums of the year. You can do so over the web this year (also by email or fax). I am very distressed to say that Happy's MWABT is not yet on the list!! If you're in the XPN listening area, please take a moment to vote. Even if you are less than thrilled with XPN at the moment. If we can get MWABT in, even at #50, they must play the whole album on the air. Imagine the exposure... URL: http://xpn.org/sections/top50ballot.html Deadline: December 15 Regards, joe joc@netaxs.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Llama Fresh Farms => http://www.netaxs.com/~joc Gay Media Resource List => http://www.netaxs.com/~joc/gaymedia.html Perl for Win32 => http://www.netaxs.com/~joc/perlwin32.html PerlRing Homepage => http://www.netaxs.com/~joc/perlring.html - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Free, that's the message! - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 11:42:46 -0800 From: Neile Graham Subject: Belated report on _Brutal Telling_ (Veda + dance) Hey all-- This is rather late, but last Friday night Jim and I drove up to Vancouver, and with ectophile Art Liestman and his wife Jan, went to see _Brutal Telling_, which is the dance performance of the piece Veda was commissioned to write about Emily Carr which became the _Here is a picture_ album. I enjoyed it but have to say that I'm not hugely educated in contemporary dance and have only been to a few shows, and thus have little to compare this with. I do, however, know quite a bit about Emily Carr--having grown up in the city she grew up and lived in I can't remember not knowing who she was. I've seen her paintings, read her books and journals, read books about her including a collection of poems written by one of my closest friends, and even have two Emilycones (pinecones) that Jim and I picked up off her grave when we visited it some years back with our friend. Listening to Veda's album is a close fit with the image I have in my head of Emily, and best of all it gives me the sense of a life lived, from beginning to end. While I have grown to love all the sections of _Here is a picture_, it is an album where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts--the power of it is in the flow of the songs around Emily Carr's life. Attending the disc launch concert was one of the most affecting musical events I've attended, possibly only overshadowed by attending the launch of _Spine_. One of the first things the dance did was shatter the movement of Veda's piece by dwelling far longer on her youth and seemingly glossing over her maturity. They broke up the flow of music, and while Veda and her band were there to provide the music live, they used taped bits, interspersed bits and bent the timing of Veda's piece. The dancing itself was far more agonized than my tastes go, though I found some moments absolutely wonderful. Emily Carr portrays herself as an awkward person, and in particular felt that she was without the social graces women of her era were expected to have, and I understand the difficulties in translating that to dance--but Veda managed to translate it into music, so why was so much of the choreography agonized gesturing? The only place where it seemed 100% appropriate was in the "15 years" section, where it really did work for me. I think the weakest part was the opening, with the dancers draped on a cart and slowly pushing it across the stage to the accompaniment of a story Emily told about a native woman and her husband and her cart. I wasn't drawn in either by the following dance to "Small" and then with the members of her family--this at the beginning of the show distanced me from what was going on onstage, except I did like the pictures of Emily they projected on a screen at the back. The first moment where I was captivated by the dancing was quite a ways in, in "pause" where one of the dancers moved in a cage (within a rather inventive prop that was used in several clever ways as well as this one, which was difficult watching for the claustrophobics amongst us). I also liked a dance with a suitcase with feet in it, a dance about inspiration where one of the dancers (there were 2 dancers total for the whole piece) moved toward a light held in a suitcase by the other, and the meeting the Group of Seven section was delightful with small figurines. One of the dancers was also good at characterizing Woo, Emily Carr's monkey, but I'm not so sure I'd call that fine dancing. I also loved it that when they were showing Emily's paintings on the screen on the back they didn't show the whole paintings but instead showed extreme close up details, which demonstrated the movement in her technique--that showed me something of Emily's work that I hadn't focused on in that way. Overall, though, I'd have to say I found the choreography disappointing and kept speculating on what Emily would have thought of it while I have always felt that Emily would have enjoyed Veda's music (well, except for knowing that "rock" music wouldn't be what she was used to at all). The focus was not on Veda and her band, but they wonderful, as usual. Veda was in fine voice and I was, as always, impressed with Peggy Lee's cello live, and the compositions of _Here is a picture_. Delightful/thoughtful music; dancing rather more up and down as far as delighting/provoking _me_ at least. Word is that a further tour of the piece is quite likely, so more of you (the Canadians amongst us at least) may get a chance to see it and form your own opinions. - --Neile P.S. Meredith, I saved a copy of the program for you. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 18:04:13 -0500 From: Steve I Subject: Women and Songs 2 compilation I'm crossposting this to navy-soup, canadian-music, and ecto... Well, the publicity machine for the second Women and Songs compilation CD is beginning its inexorable push... Today, Tower Records took out a full page ad in NOW magazine for the CD! (See page 44, Toronto folks!). Anyway, here's the track listing from the ad: WOMEN AND SONGS 2 (Warner Music Canada) Chantal Kreviazuk - Surrounded Paula Cole - I Don't Want to Wait Natalie Imbruglia - Wishing I Was There The Corrs - Dreams Loreena McKennitt - The Mummer's Dance Natalie Merchant - Kind and Generous Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough Vonda Shepard - Searchin' My Soul Billie Myers - Kiss the Rain Faith Hill - This Kiss Amanda Marshall - Birmingham Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me Sarah McLachlan - Unchained Melody Jann Arden - The Sound Of Jewel - Who Will Save Your Soul Catherine Durand - You & I Wild Strawberries - Heroine SARAH SLEAN - I Know For all you Sarah Slean fans, her track is a brand new version that was recorded specifically for this compilation. Street release date is Dec 08. This is likely a Canadian-only release, but folks from outside of Canada can order it online from A&B Sounds: http://209.20.164.131/music/search/search.html (do a search on "women & songs"; use the ampersand, not the word 'and') Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 23:41:56 -0500 From: stunning@tezcat.com Subject: From Catherine Smitko Re:December Ninth It's about that Hoot nNight in Chicaaaawgo >Hello One and All, > > I wanted to let everyone know about the Hoot on Wednesday, December >9th. >The theme is "Who'sThat Girl?" and I will be performing with my band Gleamir. >We are opening the show with "88 lines about 44 women" and later in the >evening we are playing P.J. Harvey's "The Wind" and a frightening version of >"God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen". Shall be a fun and spiritous night. Oh, and >the Hoot now begins at >8:00 p.m. so everyone can go out and still be in bed early...or not. > > Okay, I'm off to finish painting my parlor......... > >Love y'all, >Catherine > Thomas Dunning Brown Star Records Chicago I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush http://www.tezcat.com/~stunning/kate/index.html VISIT THE WEBSITE! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 23:54:02 -0600 From: Mark Lowry Subject: Susan Werner Does anyone know if Susan Werner has been signed to another label? Mark n.p. Lucinda Williams _Car Wheels on a Gravel Road_ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 01:04:14 -0500 From: Jeff Wasilko Subject: Re: Susan Werner On Thu, Dec 03, 1998 at 11:54:02PM -0600, Mark Lowry wrote: > Does anyone know if Susan Werner has been signed to another label? Yes. She's on Bottom Line Records. Sadly they don't have a web site, but Susan does -- it's at http://susanwerner.com/ She's also got a fairly active email list as well. Details are on the web site. - -jeff (one of the crazy people behind http://susanwerner.com/) n.p. Diana Krall ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #423 **************************