From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V5 #35 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, January 31 1999 Volume 05 : Number 035 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Movies (Re: From Happy: Emu for sale... [neal copperman ] Re: Interview with the Vampire (was Re: From Happy: Emu for sale...) [Bi] Re: in need of info [Bill Mazur ] Re: Movies (Re: From Happy: Emu for sale... [Bill Mazur ] FAYE WONG and asian-american music [jackhonky ] Re: FAYE WONG and asian-american music [Michael Colford ] Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder [Billi Mazur ] Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder [Andrew Fries ] Re: Sarah Slean mp3 [Andrew Fries ] Kletters discover Happy [cos@wbrs.org (Ofer Inbar)] a week of music (belated report) [meredith ] Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder [Paul Kim ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:06:20 -0700 From: neal copperman Subject: Re: Movies (Re: From Happy: Emu for sale... At 11:39 AM -0500 1/29/99, Laura Clifford wrote: >If I could only watch 5 films for the rest of my life, they'd >probably be: > >'Sid and Nancy', 'Red', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Aguirre, The Wrath of God' and >'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. I loved Sid and Nancy the first time I saw it, but each successive time I've seen it I've had less and less tolerance for Nancy. At first, I just found her annoying. The second time, after about 40 minutes, I couldn't wait for Sid to kill her. The third time, 20 minutes was enough. I"m afraid to see it anymore! neal np: A Book of Human Language - Aceyalone ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 15:45:41 +0800 From: jesse hernandez liwag Subject: Sarah Slean mp3 Hello, I've been trying to download the free mp3 of "Twin Moon" from the site and the mirrow sites, but it keeps on breaking off. The most I got was 1MB of the 4MB. Is it available in an FTP site anywhere? Yours, Jesse Liwag ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:02:55 -0800 From: Bill Mazur Subject: Re: Interview with the Vampire (was Re: From Happy: Emu for sale...) Joanna, I actually had heard that before and forgot about it. Sting would have made a great Lestat! As you say, at least a good song came out of it. I like John Malkovich very much. "Dangerous Liaisons" is one of my favorite films. However, I personally couldn't see him as Lestat. I also agree with Chris that Tom Cruise was fine in the role. He just didn't seem like the ultimately best choice for the Lestat. Just like most movies that are made from classic books, rarely does the movie live up to the book. I tend to formulate my own impressions of what the characters look like and who would play them in the movie (that is if a movie is actually made of the book). I'm sure many of you do the same thing. Bill > And also, I think, Sting was very interested in having that part. He > eventually settled for writing the song "Moon Over Bourbon Street". > > fleur ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:57:13 -0800 From: Bill Mazur Subject: Re: in need of info > and i just like to comment on the movie the fifth element. i saw it in > the movie and i have it on tape. it was fun. it was entertaining. but > the humor was way over the top and it did not have to be. way > over!!!!!!!! every character. if they would have just left the humor in > Bruce's hands it would have been a brilliant sf film. but the director must > have felt uncomfortable or could not relate to that. 2 minutes of the > black guy would have been enough. There was no reason for that kind of over > the top crap at that point in the movie. Even a lot of the b-movie veteran > actors that were chosen dragged what was still an enjoyable film down to a > lower level. And for me the art direction was what i was most impressed with. > I also have been following Moebius since the seventies when i saw his work for > the first time in many issues of the French magazine, Metal > Hurlant........which was later reprinted in Heavy Metal in this country. And > of course it was the taxi segment in the heavy metal movie that was his and > transfered to the 5th element in atmosphere. Fred, I kinda like the over-the-top campiness. To me, it suits the vibe of the movie. However, I can see how it might get annoying to some people. I wholeheartedly agree that the art direction gave the film it's unique atmosphere. I wasn't aware of the Moebius connection until I read some of these response posts. Thanks to you and the others for the great info! Bill ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 01:04:43 -0800 From: Bill Mazur Subject: Re: Movies (Re: From Happy: Emu for sale... Xenu's Sister wrote: >I went to see it mainly for Milla She was outstanding! It is intriguing to me that she learned a unique language created strictly for the movie. I read that only she and the Director were able to communicate in the language. > Tell us if your brother likes Happy! I definitely will do so. >My all-time favorite film, btw, I know you didn't ask, is Terry Gilliam's Brazil. A trippy movie. Not a fave, but very interesting. >Blade Runner, Star Wars, Crimes of Passion, Pulp Fiction, Life of Brian, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, This is Spinal Tap, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, Dark City... All faves of mine. A Clockwork Orange is a particular favorite. Honestly, I was a little surprised to see this on your list. The reason being that most women I know DO NOT like this movie because of the ultra violence and the rape scene. These scenes are admittedly disturbing, as they are meant to be. I saw this movie when it first came out when I was a teenager. It was a shocking movie for the times (early 70s). One reason I like this movie is because of the moral dilemmas it raises. I also am a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick. He makes even the mundane seem unique and surreal. >My most recent favorites are Shakespeare In Love Outstanding movie! I highly recommend this one as well. "Elizabeth", another period piece is also very good. Joseph Fiennes is in both of these movies. He is an excellent actor. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 01:43:21 -0800 From: jackhonky Subject: FAYE WONG and asian-american music did someone mention FAYE WONG? one of my ALL TIME favorite artists, and probably one of the best stand out CANTON-POP artists working today? why yes, i cannot praise her enough. if only i had been up to date with my ecto digests, i would have answered earlier! her latest stuff is probably what you are most interested in pursuing, as this is the stuff most ecto-friendly. with over 17 albums to date (plus four bests of albums that i know of and a handful of eps, singles, and live CD's) she is rather prolific as an artist. her earlier work though, is pretty generic CANTON-POP music. and if you don't know what that means, it means that most of the music is written by other writers, with a similar sort of generic pop sound to it. there are two sort of songs in the CANTON-POP field, the dance/pop song, and the love/slow ballad song. most artists are interchangable, all that is really making them stand out is their image and looks (a few exceptions). but it during the early/mid 90's that FAYE WONG's music started to sound a little different. first off was her choice of cover songs. most pop singers will cover western artists songs. WHITNEY, MARIAH, CELINE etc. etc. but FAYE WONG covered people like TORI AMOS, THE CRANBERRIES, THE COCTEAU TWINS, THE SUNDAYS, (gratned there was some rather bad choices like STING and a song that sounds striking like the B-52's LOVE SHACK, but we won't go into those). not only were her choice of covers a refreshing difference to the generic pop of the time, but it opened up to the chinese audience artists that would never have been otherwise discovered (my friend RITA told me many an anecdote about her students running out and buying TORI CD's because of FAYE, and then getting dissapointed that they didn't get the right one, the one with SILENT ALL THESE YEARS, because they didn't know which one had the FAYE song...but eventually they fell in love with the album anyway). from these numerous covers came an awareness from the artists themselves that someone was covering their music. THE COCTEAU TWINS actually got in touch with FAYE after she had covered several of their songs. they specifically wrote several more songs for her, and then had her sing back up for a couple of tracks on MILK AND KISSES (bonus tracks only available on the JAPANESE IMPORT version apparently - though i have this CD and i can't really make out FAYE's voice. these bonus songs were later released on the CD single #1 of TISHBITE). FAYE has since started to write and compose her own music (something that is exceedingly rare in the chinese pop scene). her latest album is quite excellent, with no western covers, and half of which is written and composed by her. several tracks sound very COCTEAU TWINS in the vocal style and instrumental work. she has also changed labels, which has gives her complete artistic control over her music. the new label (EMI in taiwan) are pushing her hard, and her latest album is quite wonderfully packaged (the packaging quite gorgeous, has digitally enhanced photos reminiscent of a few THE FIFTH ELEMENT scenes). FAYE WONG is also one of the few cross over artists in JAPAN. her album (the one released in 96 with the pink cover and two photos of her on the front, the one that sounds most COCTEAU TWINS) went gold there, an unheard of event for an asian nonjapanese speaking singer. when i was in tokyo, her latest CD had point-of-sale HUGE displays at all the big stores (HMV, VIRGIN, etc.). at one point in her career (right before she switched labels) there were rumors floating around about her quitting the music industry, because her fame had become out of hand. she has a hard time going out now, without being swamped by fans. anyway, if anyone is more interested in FAYE feel free to get ahold of me. I recently made a mix tape of her stuff for GRAHAM LUBIN (by the way it's been posted GRAHAM so keep an eye out) and would gladly work something out for a copy of it. irvin ps. oh yeah. the subject was asian american music too. the only ALL asian-american band that i know (well at least, recording band, i know of several asian-american bands but mostly they are friends of mine) is a band called MOONPOOLS AND CATERPILLARS. originally from LA, they released an album on ELEKTRA in 95(LUCKY DUMPLING). it did poorly, and i think they were subsquently dropped (though their song SUMMERTIME was featured in a VW commercial, so it wasn't a complete commercial failure). i no longer know if they are still around. the music was perky alternarock stuff, with comparisons to BELLY and the like, though i wasn't overly thrilled with it. probably more LETTERS TO CLEO than BELLY maybe. i heard from fans though, that their album was rather dissapointing compared to live shows. mumblings of overproduction and the like. there was some talk of them back in '95 here on ecto if i remember correctly. also there was compilation that came out about three or four years ago called EAR OF THE DRAGON that featured asian-american artists, bands, and bands that had asian-americans in it. i don't have the CD but i know the definitive cuddlecore canadian band CUB is on the CD, though only one of the three members is asian-american. now if you take that definition, bands like SMASHING PUMPKINS (25%) as well as JAMES IHA's solo album (100%!) would count. also SEAN LENNON whose half YOKO ONO half JOHN LENNON (50%?). the tweepop band HOLIDAY, which i really cannot recommend enough, they are so much FUN, have two asian americans in them (a 50% rate). they no longer are around though. PAPAS FRITAS (another fab tweepop band) have an indian-american drummer (33.3%). on tour THE MAGNETIC FIELDS had an asian american cellist along with the band, though i don't think he is a permanent part of the band. more like a session artists. there are probably a whole slew of SYNTHPOP bands that have asian american members as well. i am so out of that scene though, i would be hard pressed to name any of them, other than ANYTHING BOX (50%). LUSH's lead singer use to be MIKI who is half japanese-british (12.5%?). and that is all i can think of (i tried to avoid any "imported" japanese bands who are often mistaken for and marketed as japanese american, but really aren't - like CORNELIUS, TAKAKO MINEKAWA, CIBO MATO, PIZICATTO FIVE, BUFFALO DAUGHTER, AKIKO YANO, DREAMS COME TRUE, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, etc.) for more information about the above imported japanese bands though, check out an excellent JAPANESE POP (JPOP for short) book called NIPPON POP (yes published in english) that is a good overview of current japanese pop bands. they did miss a few good artists, but overall the book does a good introductory job. also if you are interested in asian american culture and as it's correlating music scene, i would recommend several magazines such as _YOLK_ (targeted towards what they call the GENERASIAN, which i guess is there clever way of meaning the gen x asian amer crowd), the more adult orientated _A_ magazine, and the more hip indie mag _GIANT ROBOT_. there are a lot of other zines out there, but these are probably the easiest to get, check your local magazine stand, and hip indie bookstore. anyway, i have always thought it rather sad that there aren't more asian-american singers and musicians out there. you would think there would be more, with all those damn piano and violin lessons that are forced down our throats when we were kids, but i guess engineering and med school were the path of less resistance....hell they isn't even a spice girl of asian ethnic origin! (i mean, c'mon, they could have gotten a replacement for ginger spice, and even kept that same name! but noooooo.....) that is all. i gotta keep up with my ecto digests. sorry for the rambling. but you wanted to know.....didn't you? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 09:37:00 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Re: FAYE WONG and asian-american music Speaking of ecto asian music, does anyone remember Sandii & the Sunsetz? They recorded in the early 1980's and were occasionally compared to Ms. Bush! I picked up one of their albums called Immigrants (1982) as an import, and another several years later while in Hawaii called Banzai Baby. I haven't listened to either one in years, but I do remember liking them quite a bit. David Sylvain provides backing vocals on the former. I believe they were Japanese. Just a bit of the past coming back to me suddenly! i think I'll put one of these albums on and reminisce! Michael http://www.whereitis.com/home/colford/ http://www.whereitis.com/home/chlotrudis/ n.p. Heart - Dreamboat Annie! n.r. The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Cox - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library Head of Technical Services | Reading, Massachusetts colford@noblenet.org | *North of Boston Library Exchange* - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 12:40:11 -0500 From: John J Henshon Subject: Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder On Sat, 30 Jan 1999 09:59:51 +1100 Andrew Fries writes: >One strange detail - the drummer sat separated from >the rest by a sheet of glass reaching to about his >chin. I've never seen a set-up like this before, and >I was wondering whether there was some acoustic >related reason or do they just like the look? >All in all, event worth seeing. They will be in Melbourne this >Tuesday, so if any Melbournians are reading - don't miss it! >------------------------------------------------------ >So I got this job, and I got a life, now what am I supposed to do? >------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- It's used to keep the drums out of the vocal and other mikes. The dynamic nature of drum signal can cause vocal mike gates and other equalization electronics to freak out and clip signal. It's particularly useful to keep discretion when doing a multi-track live recording. A good feedback eliminator can usually handle drum and monitor signal and keep the system from squealing. It mainly makes the engineers job of getting a balanced house much easier. 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/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 09:44:47 -0800 From: Billi Mazur Subject: Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder John J Henshon wrote: > On Sat, 30 Jan 1999 09:59:51 +1100 Andrew Fries > writes: > >One strange detail - the drummer sat separated from > >the rest by a sheet of glass reaching to about his > >chin. I've never seen a set-up like this before, and > >I was wondering whether there was some acoustic > >related reason or do they just like the look? > It's used to keep the drums out of the vocal and other mikes. > The dynamic nature of drum signal can cause vocal mike gates > and other equalization electronics to freak out and clip signal. > It's particularly useful to keep discretion when doing a multi-track > live recording. A good feedback eliminator can usually handle > drum and monitor signal and keep the system from squealing. > It mainly makes the engineers job of getting a balanced house > much easier. John, You seem very knowledgable about this subject. Are you a studio recording engineer? or Do you engineer/mix live sound for bands? Bill ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 13:01:05 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder In a message "Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder" on 30/Jan/1999 12:40:11 John J Henshon says: > It's particularly useful to keep discretion when doing a multi-track > live recording. A good feedback eliminator can usually handle > drum and monitor signal and keep the system from squealing. > It mainly makes the engineers job of getting a balanced house > much easier. Thanks, I thought it was something like that. And the sound was indeed fantastic, clear and well balanced - it was one of the best I've ever heard in a live situation but I until now I put it down mostly to the fact that the gig (concert, shouldn't call it a gig in these surroundings) was taking place at State Theatre and I expected that venue to have good acoustics. Now I just wonder, does that mean that they were recording these gigs? Could there be a Live Cowboy Junkies record in the works? That would be good... - ------------------------------------------------------ So I got this job, and I got a life, now what am I supposed to do? - ------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 13:04:36 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: Re: Sarah Slean mp3 In a message "Sarah Slean mp3" on 30/Jan/1999 15:45:41 jesse hernandez liwag says: > Hello, > > I've been trying to download the free > mp3 of "Twin Moon" from the site and > the mirrow sites, but it keeps on breaking > off. The most I got was 1MB of the 4MB. > > Is it available in an FTP site anywhere? Jesse, I had no trouble at all when I downloaded that clip a few days ago. In fact it was quite fast, I seem to remember. But if you still can't get anywhere contact me by private mail and I can arrange either to e-mail it to you or put the file on my server for you - maybe you'll have more luck there. - ------------------------------------------------------ So I got this job, and I got a life, now what am I supposed to do? - ------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 22:38:31 -0500 (EST) From: cos@wbrs.org (Ofer Inbar) Subject: Kletters discover Happy [I haven't been following ecto recently...] Last night I had the opportunity to run sound for Dana and Karen Kletter, at Club Passim in Harvard Square, Cambridge. It was wonderful. But the Kletters have already been discussed here, IIRC. The reason I'm writing is... I brought three CDs of my own to play over house sound before & after the show, and during the intermission. I put them in on random shuffle. The three were Maura O'Connell's "wandering home", Performing Songwriter's compilation vol 4, and RhodeSongs. After the show was over and enough people had cleared out that it was possible to hear the music over the house sound clearly, one of Happy's songs came on and caught Karen Kletter's attention. When the song was over she asked me who it was. She'd apparently never heard of Happy before, so I told her what little I knew. She actually got out a pen and piece of paper and wrote down "Happy Rhodes" and "Samson Music" and maybe one or two other things. So, if any of you hardcore Happy-pushers on here gets a chance to see the Kletters... first of all, do! They're great. Secondly, you've got a receptive potential convert :) -- Cos (Ofer Inbar) -- cos@polyamory.org cos@cs.brandeis.edu -- Producer, Free Live Music -- booking@wbrs.org http://www.wbrs.org/ This could only happen in the life of a cos. This stuff never happens to me! -- Tara Elizabeth Backman, 4 May 1998 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 00:21:29 -0500 From: meredith Subject: a week of music (belated report) Hi! (Sorry kids, this has length) I don't know what it is, but lately I haven't been motivated to do the e-mail thing at all, really. I must be going through one of my anti-technology phases. Whatever the reason, it's because of this ennui that I haven't said a word about the 5 shows in 7 days woj and I (and a bunch of others we ran into) attended last week. I figured before I forget about them entirely, I might as well do it now. :) It all started on Wednesday, January 20, the night after I got back from yet another business trip to scenic Illinois (through Milwaukee via Detroit, Vickie, otherwise I definitely would've called :). Susan Werner was at Fez in NYC. I hopped on a train right after work, and alas my usual subway karma wasn't with me, so I got there a couple songs into the opening set. When woj had called earlier in the day the waitron on the phone had assured him that there was no opener, but when I came down the stairs I heard what really sounded to me like a June Rich song, and when I got to the door I was quite pleasantly surprised to see Vanida Gail, formerly of June Rich on stage with her guitar. She did five songs, all ones she had written for the erstwhile band. I missed Jackie's harmonies on some of them, but overall the set was very enjoyable. Vanida's not the world's greatest songwriter, but I just love her voice. After a brief intermission Susan took the stage and did her thing. I don't know if I was just suffering too much from lack of sleep, but her performance didn't wow me like others have -- her between-song banter wasn't as fall-down funny as usual (though don't get me wrong, it was still hilarious, especially her musings on the previous night's State Of The Union address and how President Clinton sounded like Elvis every time he said "thankyou, thankyou very much" :), and the whole thing just seemed a bit ... detached. Jane, her roadie confirmed after the show that the audience was overrun with squid, so that might have been the reason for it, if it was indeed not just me. She did a good dose of songs from _Time Between Trains_ (including the title track, "Old Mistake", "Sorry About Jesus", and of course "Movie Of My Life"), plus the time-honored "If I Sang Cole Porter" and "I Don't Miss You Much At All" diptych and "Tappan Zee", and some great new ones, "Year Of The Bad President" (which just might be one of her best ever) and "Jersey Shore". She also has started doing a song in Portuguese that I'm not sure is hers. I don't usually go for Latin-flavored music, but this one is really nice. I missed "Like Bonsai" and "Boy From East Dubuque" (sung to the tune of "Girl From Ipanema" ;), which I'd heard about but never experienced in person. Maybe next time. She got a good response from the relatively small crowd (every time I go to Fez it's to see Susan McKeown, and people are practically hanging from the rafters, so anything short of a mob scene seems small to me there). Afterwards I said hello to Vanida Gail, to let her know that at least one person there had been glad to hear her. She said that she's in the process of getting a new band together, and expects to start performing with them in March sometime. Yay. I didn't ask if Jackie would be part of that - I'm not sure if that's a touchy subject or not, not being familiar with the exact reasons for the band's breakup. (If anybody knows, please clue me in!) The next night I made a vain attempt to get some sleep, then Friday hopped yet another train after work to see Deni Bonet and then Mila Drumke at Arlene Grocery. Train karma and subway karma weren't happening for me, but at least I had plenty of time to get there. woj and I arrived just as Deni Bonet was setting up. John Spurney, newly of the Chanting House was playing with her, which was good to see. He really is amazing. Deni had a cold and so her voice was even rougher than usual, but her fiddling was in fine form, and she had the room jumping. Fortunately the most annoying people in the audience were there to see her, so by the time Mila took the stage the room was a much more pleasant place to be (and bless you John Henshon for finding me a chair :). She and the band did a pretty standard set, though rearranged - she started off solo on her big red guitar, then the entire band got together for "Somewhere" and they were off to the races. There was one new song, for a grand total of two. Guess I'm not going to hold my breath for a new album any time soon. :( Still, it was a great set, and Lyris Hung was worthy of worship, as usual. Now she's got her electric violin sounding like an entire rack of synths, not to mention an electric guitar, sometimes all at once. Every time we see the band, Lyris is doing something new and exciting with that thing. It's incredible. Saturday woj and I stopped by Chuck-n-Joe's House Of Shame for a wonderful dinner, then went with them up to the Towne Crier in rustic Pawling, NY to see Susan Werner again. When we got there we saw that it was a triple-bill: Kevin Briony, Vanida Gail, and Susan. My theory (not backed up by any actual data) is that Susan showed up with Vanida, and had to figure out what to do when they discovered that a opening act had come preinstalled. They solved the dilemma by having Vanida do three songs in the middle of Susan's set. I wish she'd just opened the whole thing, though -- then we would've been spared the unspeakable horror that was Kevin Briony, the star of the Towne Crier's Open Mike Nights. Take Anthony Edwards (though with a bit less hair), hand him a guitar and teach him three chords, then give him a rhyming dictionary and a copy of Bartlett's Famous Quotations with all of the *really* hackneyed cliches marked off with little pink post-it notes, and you've got Kevin Briony. We were all trying to be polite and civil, but it was impossible to keep from dissolving into laughter whenever lines like "you're the apple of my eye, and I love you to the core" (all sung *totally* earnestly, mind you) came floating off the stage. We're still trying to figure out what the hell walnuts and rice have to do with anything (please, don't ask me to explain ... you really had to be there, but I'm glad for your sake that you weren't). We weren't alone, either. To quote someone who happened by our table before the end of his set: "He could be singing 'Down By The River' for twenty minutes, and he'd *still* suck." All I can say is, I'm really glad we were sitting in the back. But fortunately for us, soon Susan took the stage and showed us what good music is. A couple of Chuck-n-Joe's friends were with us, and they hadn't seen her perform before. It was fun to watch them get progressively more blown away as the show went on. :) It was also fun to see the looks on their faces as they glanced around halfway through her set and noticed that woj was holding Susan's Parker. Jane had stuck it into his hand because she was busy tuning one of Susan's acoustics and didn't have anywhere else to put it. ;) I can't recall the set list exactly (and I haven't listened to the recording to write it down), but it was quite similar to the Fez show. She did, finally, do "The Boy From East Dubuque", and it was every bit as hilarious as I figured it'd be. The company I work for has several offices across Iowa, and I know *lots* of people who talk just like the "supermarket conversation" she does at the end of the song. Her between-song banter was quite similar to the previous show in the first half of the set ... then curiously, after she happened by our table to say hello during Vanida's interlude, the stories were new and different. (Things that make you go "hmmm"...) It was overall a much looser, funnier, and more enjoyable show than Fez -- again I'm not sure if that was just me or not. Sunday it was back to the Towne Crier again, again with Chuck-n-Joe and their friends plus Mike Curry, this time to see Lunasa, the hottest traditional Irish band going. They're managed in the US by Susan McKeown's husband Brendan Jamieson, who had been exhorting us for a while to be sure to check out this mini-tour. They've been touted as practically the Second Coming, and after seeing them perform I know why. They are a bunch of incredibly talented musicians, and they were *hot*. A great time was had by all, not least by the band members themselves. Monday was an evening of rest, then Tuesday back on another train to NYC to see Rachael Sage at a place called Joe's Pub, an incredibly stuffy, "schicki-micki" (if I may use a slang term from my time in Munich) bar inside the Joseph Papp Public Theater, home of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Mike, woj and I weren't wearing blank and trendy clunky shoes, and we definitely felt that, but at least the burger I had was really good, almost worth the $10 I paid for it. (I'm not even going to mention the train/subway/everything else karma I had that day. I must've done something to seriously piss the Universe off, and I still haven't figured out just what.) Rachael and her Red Rubber Band did a 90-minute set of music -- she commented on a couple occasions that it was quite rare to get to play for that long, and I was glad to have a chance to experience it. There was not even the pretense of an encore, though - when the show was over, it was over with a thud. Strange. She did quite a few songs from _Smashing The Serene_ (including "Air We Share", "Sistersong", "Bruises Without Blue", "Cultivate", and "Swallow This Phone"), a couple from _Morbid Romantic_, and even one from her first demo tape (Paul, this was the Holocaust song she did at Arlene Grocery that time that you were wondering about). Then there were lots and lots of new songs, all of which were great, some even bordering on brilliant. I'm *really* looking forward to her next album. Her band was really tight, too -- woj commented that her band is reminiscent of the band Sarah McLachlan had with her in the _Touch_ era, and I agree: local session musicians with a ton of talent and a lot of enthusiasm for the young artist they're supporting. Just think, when Rachael makes it big I can say I saw her back in the day. ;) She's playing at Brownie's on Avenue A on February 23, and at the Mercury Lounge on March 21. I'm planning to go to both shows, and all local ectophiles should too. So that was that. Strangely enough, there's nothing on the calendar right now until that Rachael Sage gig at Brownies, which will kick off another killer week: The Nields at the Mercury Lounge on the 25th, and Susan McKeown and the Chanting House at Fez on the 26th. Yow. I'm sure something will come up between now and then, though. Something always does. :) +==========================================================================+ | 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, 31 Jan 1999 01:07:45 -0500 From: Paul Kim Subject: Re: Cowboy Junkies Downunder At 01:01 PM 1/31/99 +1100, Andrew Fries wrote: >Now I just wonder, does that mean that they were recording these gigs? Could >there be a Live Cowboy Junkies record in the works? That would be good... Well, at the concert they did here in Boston a couple weeks back, I noticed two audience "ambience" mics set up on both sides of the stage, so I figured that they were probably recording all the concerts for a future live record like their _200 More Miles_ live collection...we could always ask Alan Bershaw what he knows about the Junkies plans for such a thing... Paul "nyquist theorem" Kim ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V5 #35 *************************