From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V8 #80 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, March 21 2002 Volume 08 : Number 080 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Long (and overdue) Folk Alliance recap [Neal Copperman ] Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Recent changes to the Ectophiles' Guide ["The Ectophiles' Guide" ] Re: Night bugs ["Jeffrey C. Burka" ] Re: Night bugs [badly drawn woj ] Mediaeval Baebes news ["Datura Child" ] Special Promotion: Free Happy Rhodes CDs!!!! [Phil Hudson ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 00:27:15 -0700 From: Neal Copperman Subject: Long (and overdue) Folk Alliance recap I've been running around seeing so many interesting things lately that i haven't had a chance to write any of them up. Plus, I came back from Folk Alliance with a huge stack of CD's, many of which are worth mentioning. In the last week I saw a handful of great concerts: Si*Se, Josh Rouse, Myshkin, The Damnations. All are worth checking out (and deserve full reviews). This weekend Jeff and I are hosting two nights of Eliza Gilkyson. Both are full, and the press hasn't even started to happen. It should be pretty chaotic by the end of the week. Here's a very long Folk Alliance recap. It's not really directed at ecto, though there are a number of people mentioned who should be of interest to ectofolk. This year's Folk Alliance was in Jacksonville Florida. Wednesday night didn't have too many showcases to choose from, so I just hung out in Rhonda Barton's room, which really was a fine way to spend an evening anyway. It started with a tribute to Kate Wolf, which didn't do much for me. Not a good introduction to any of those 11 artists, and it made me wonder if there is much of note about her music either. Though we started hitting winners soon after that. Troy Campbell was next, and I thought his set was quite good. I liked his falsetto and thought his songwriting was interesting. Buddy Mondlock played a bit later. I ended up seeing him twice at FA, and my opinion sort of shifted during that time. I really like his songwriting, and sometimes thought his thin wispy voice was quite lovely. But on second hearing, I thought it might be way too much of the same thing to work for a whole evening. And I can't imagine him performing unamplified, though he apparently swears that he can. Anyone actually hosted him before? Albert & Gage were on my list because I like their CD. It's a pretty simply produced CD. The kind that you can immediately tell what their live show will be like, and that it'll be good. And sure enough, it was excellent. Tons of energy, and excellent from every angle (songwriting, covers, singing, playing). We'd book them in a heartbeat. Of course, we've been trying to book them for the last year, so I guess that wasn't a surprise. SONiA followed them. I probably wouldn't bother to comment on the few people I saw who I already knew well, but I thought her set was particularly good. I think she was egged on by playing after Albert & Gage's strong set, as she was particularly worked up. And she opened with a new song I hadn't heard before. She was fresh from Australia, where she had recently played a house concert put on by a friend of mine, whose apartment caught fire a few days later. That evening was closed out by Richard Julian. I actually have heard one of his songs on Refuge (a Bosnian Relief CD). It's an uncharacteristic song for him (I think), but I totally loved it. So I was eager to see him. I thought his songs were weird and off-kilter, and very NYC. They reminded me a touch of Annie Gallup, in that they were pretty wordy and somewhat unexpected, though I don't think he's either the lyricist or guitarist that Annie is. Either way, I found his set really intriguing and would like to see more. By Thursday, things got into full swing. I'm not going to attempt to list all the people I saw and give opinions. Will only mention the things that seem notable. Debbie took me off to see some guy, based, I think, on a misunderstanding. Some guy was Phil Roy, who was fine, but didn't really wow me. However, he was preceeded by Otis Taylor. I saw about 3/4 of a song, but was really taken by it. It was kind of ethereal blues. Very moody and atmospheric. I liked his voice and thought his guitar playing was haunting. I was really interested to hear more of his music, but never managed to catch him again :( I saw the Wyrd Sisters twice. The second time was better then the first, but neither time was as good as I had hoped for. My plan for the Wyrds at FA was to encourage everyone to see them, have us all be bowled over, and use that enthusiasm to get enough gigs to convince them to come to our area. Instead, I went away thinking they'd probably be unsuitable for a house concert. Only one of the three has a strong voice, and even she uses it rarely. I don't think they could possibly play without amplification, and they seemed to be pretty hard to mix in places that had multiple mics and mixing boards. I'm doubtful we could get a set-up that would work for them or that we could really pull off a house concert. I still really like their recorded music though. They were followed by The Wailin' Jennies, who are sort of a Wyrd Sisters jr. The Jennies are a trio of Nicky Mehta, Carla Luft and Ruth Moody. They had much more energy then the Wyrds. They played two covers and one original and were a lot of fun. Not sure what I'd think of the artists solo (Nicky Mehta was the only one I actually saw, and she was ok), but as a trio they were a blast. Louise Taylor: I was pretty impressed with her too. Good on all counts. Kind of a slow burn. Not high energy, but more of an intensive listening experience. But it seemed like one that would be well rewarded. Christine Kane seemed pretty interesting based on one song, but that wasn't enough to form much of an opinion. Sarah Lee Guthrey & Johnny Irion: This duo was another one of my favorites. I totally adored what they were doing. They had a very loose Creekdippers kind of approach (Creekdippers are Victoria Williams and her husband Mark Olson of the Jayhawks). They didn't sound like them, but they had that same sort of occasionally close to disaster but still charming method of performing. Sarah is Woody Guthrey's grandaughter, and Johnny sounds exactly like Neil Young. I saw them a few times and loved every second of them. Jeff said he never really got into that traditional folk stuff. I didn't think they sounded all that traditional. She's got a fairly odd voice with somewhat unique phrasing. But I did have to admit that the songs had a distinct verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-chorus-chorus mode. Which is perhaps why I had learned them all by the second time I saw them. But i still loved them. I caught a late night jam for an hour that consisted of Greg Greenway, Tom Kimmel, Christopher Williams and Groovelily. That was a lot of fun. On the way out I caught Ffynnon, a Welsh duo that I thought was pretty cool. Beautiful, fluid evocative bass playing and lovely Welch vocals. I saw a few songs, including Blackwaterside (which I know from an Altan record), and really liked them too. I saw Greg Greenway a few times over the week. He was a big surprise for me, as I was not already a fan. In fact, I had seen him last year, but after half a song I was totally uninterested (in fact, somewhat annoyed) and left. I saw him 3 or 4 times this year, and became more impressed each time. I thought he had an excellent voice, a great personality, and a fun way of playing with things. Though each time I saw him, he told the same story about writing this totally uncharacterstically happy song. He kept saying that, but it seems like I only saw him play happy songs. Friday: Saw the Bill Hilly Band at the main showcase, and was quite impressed. The official showcases were in the Florida Theater, roughly three blocks from the hotel. It's a beautiful old theater, and pretty large. At least a thousand seats. BHB are 5 guys. They started singing from the back of the theater and completely filled the place up with their unamplified voices. On stage, they played string bass, fiddles, guitar, mandolin, washboard. They were excellent on every instrument. They had some tendancy to play everything frenetically, which got a little tiresome, but they certainly were fun. And as I saw a lot of them later, I found they had a lot of range too. Not long after that, I found myself in the Little Red Hen House, and discovered exactly where I belonged. I could have been happy staying there all night. As it was, I spent several hours there Friday and Saturday. Everyone in the Little Red Hen collective was interesting to me. They were pretty much all women who were edgier and stranger then what was happening elsewhere at Folk Alliance. I oiked every last one of them, though there were some I was wildly enthusiastic about, while others I merely liked. The people I saw were Kristin Sweetland, Myshkin, Darlene, Jan Bell, Road Dog Divas, Be Good Tanyas, Laura Freeman. (see http://www.littleredhenmusic.com) The buzz has been on the Be Good Tanyas, a Canadian trio. I really like their recorded work, but found them to be a somewhat low energy live group. I liked their set, but wasn't wow'ed like I expected to be. I later found that they put a lot more energy into dancing then they do to performing :) Myshkin was one of my favorites though. A strong singer and presence, with a pretty unique style. She's coming to the coffee shop up the street from me in a few weeks, and I can't wait. Road Dog Divas was a trio of Myshkin, Darlene and Laura Freeman, and they were phenomenal. They mixed up so many styles within a single song, and actually looked like archetypes of some sort. Laure Freeman has one of the strongest voices I heard all of FA. To be honest, I found her kind of scary. She had a way of looking off into space (or worse yet, at you) that was very unnerving. One of those people who seems to leave their body when they perform (like Kristen Hirsh from the Throwing Muses if anyone has ever seen her). RDD was probably my favorite performance of the week. I also saw Kris Delmhorst and Mark Erelli that night. I've heard a few of Kris' songs and thought they were really well written. I liked her singing and songwriting, and was really impressed with Mark's guitar accompaniment. I saw them a few times. I wanted to see Kris solo, as I wasn't sure if I would like her so well without Mark, but never managed to find her without him. Saturday: My musical saturday started in a banjo room, which was largely unotable except for Robin Greenstein. She did a story song about how she started playing banjo that was clever and engaging. I thought she was really personable and thoroughly enjoyed what she was doing. I only saw two songs though, so I was definitely craving more. Y'All - two openly gay guys, one wearing a dress. Killer harmonies, funny, catchy witty songs. oddball kazoo solos. I thought they were fun and would happily see them again. Stephany Corby - didn't see enough to form an opinion. Did see enough to know she has a big and impressive voice, and that she was a killer harmonizer on other people's sets. Karan Abrahams (Abrams?) - I saw her twice, and didn't care for her first song that much each time. Kind of too country for me, but with a touch of torchiness that almost redeemed it. Second song was grittier and I liked that much better. Ended with amazing cover of Jefferson Airplane. Had Chris Albert on guitar, which certainlay didn't hurt. Daybreak: Caught a song and a half of their Celtic/Bluegrass hibryd, which was enough to whet my appetite and make me curious. Bluehouse: Australian trio of loud mouthed but hilarious women. Turns out I actually have an old CD of theirs from a very odd series of connections. They were a blast, and could really sing when they finally set their minds to it (which wasn't really all that often). Georgia Sea Island Singers: Unbelievable voices. Both Rani Arbo and Ruthie Foster do songs of theirs. The English/Gula thing was interesting, but got a bit old. Actually, being treated like 5 year olds got old. The Gula thing would still have been interesting if the presentation were different. Incredible singers though. Les Batinses: French Canadian folk rock band. Erratic on the main stage. Sometimes great, sometimes excessive. Caught the tail end of their 1.5 hour showcase (at 4 am!), which was unbelievable. Wildly imaginative extended drum solo that was a cross between Sheila Chandra and Iva Bittova left me with my jaw on the floor. Saw them later still in a jam that was fun too. Finally caught two songs by Suzanne Buirgy. Already like her album, and was quite impressed with the two songs. One very powerful, the other strong but not so emotionally wrenching. Great voice. My FA finales were pretty phenomenal. At 3:50 to 4 am, I caught the end of Les Batinses. I then caught a few songs in the round somewhere (being reasonably impressed with Karaugh Brown and Dana Robinson). Finally ended up at the Little Red Hen House, where things were really hopping. Bill Hilly Band was playing in one corner, and all the hens were dancing and singing along. This went on for an hour, with various combinations of hens popping in for various vocal guest spots. At one point, one Bill Hilly singer was on the couch singing this Russian song about a dancer, when raven haired buckskin clad Darlene (looking more aboriginal then Russian) started an interpretive dance. When Laura Freeman started overwhelming the song with her vocal embellishments, the whole thing degenerated into a mock catfight. By about 5, the Bill Hillys were getting tired. They had the Be Good Tanyas play some mellower songs, and Irish Canadian Aengus Finnan sang several songs. He had a beautiful voice, and great harmonies with his guitarist. The Bill Hillys started back up in the hallway at about 5:30, and quickly lured all sorts of people out for an extended hallway jam. Much dancing and singing along followed. This finally broke up at about 6:30, when one of the Be Good Tanyas suddenly realized there was a heated pool on the roof. That's when I staggered across the river to my hotel (and woke Jeff up). Whew, now I'm exhausted all over again! neal now shuffling over: Promo sampler - Kate Campbell Body and Soul - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party Borrowed Car - Tom Adler Jennifer Erb - Jennifer Erb blue gold - myshkin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 03:00:00 -0500 (EST) From: Mike Matthews Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ********************* Geoff Carre (no Email address) ********************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces John Stewart Sat March 21 1970 Aries Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Tom Proven Sat March 27 1971 Eat at Joe's Jennifer Albert Wed March 30 1966 Aries (w/Cancer rising!:) Warpaint Mon April 01 1991 Brilliant! Michael Pearce Wed April 03 1946 Pegasus Michael E. Bravo Mon April 05 1971 Dandelion Wine Brion McIntosh Sun April 06 1958 Aries Marcel Kshensky Thu April 06 1950 Aries Bill Mazur Mon April 06 1953 Aries Sun/Cancer Rising David Dixon Tue April 07 1970 Aries Heidi Heller Mon April 08 1974 Aries Jill Hughes Sat April 09 1955 Aries Klaus Kluge Sun April 10 1960 Unicorn Steve VanDevender Sun April 10 1966 Racer Art Liestman Fri April 10 1953 Repeat Stephen Golden Sat April 10 1971 Jokey Michael Bowman Wed April 11 1962 Aries Wolfgang Ullwer Fri April 11 1969 Widder Janet Kirsch Thu April 11 1974 Aries Jerry Tue April 13 1971 Aries Stuart Myerburg Mon April 14 1969 Aries T-Bone Wed April 15 1992 happy cat Jeff Hanson Sat April 16 1966 Aries Michael Klouda Mon April 17 1967 Aries - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 04:17:26 -0800 From: "The Ectophiles' Guide" Subject: Recent changes to the Ectophiles' Guide Latest changes to the Ectophiles' Guide 20 March 2002 New Guide entries added for: * Angelwing * Epiphany Project * Joy of Cooking Changes made to the entries for: * Gjallarhorn (additional comments) * Rachael Sage (additional comments) * Jane Siberry (additional comments + new album) * Siddal (additional comments) * Kerri Simpson (additional comments) * Sarah Slean (additional comments) - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this email because you have asked to be notified of updates to the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music at http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide/. If you are no longer interested in receiving these notifications, please unsubscribe yourself using the form at http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide/guide.cgi?newsubscribe&action=unsubscribe ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 15:24:57 EST From: Wantonmoll@aol.com Subject: Night bugs Y'all - Sarah Slean's full-length was released yesterday according to hmv.com... any Canadians out there who've gotten a copy of it, please inform the rest of us as to what to expect... I still haven't heard the EP but I found a used CD store last week w/ 4 copies of it so I'll go pick it up at some point. I kinda like the idea of her going all "drunken Berliner Cabaret" or whatever it is that meredith tarr said on the guide page. But then I'm kinda prone towards cabaret stylings & throaty voices. Here's to her getting some gumption. Or at least here's to her hopefully having gotten some. John ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 15:29:47 -0500 From: badly drawn woj Subject: Re: Night bugs when we last left our heroes, Wantonmoll@aol.com exclaimed: >Y'all - Sarah Slean's full-length was released yesterday according to >hmv.com... but only in canada. according to sarah's manager, atlantic records has decided not to release _night bugs_ in the states after all. fortunately though, atlantic is not holding the record hostage so sarah will be free to shop it around to other labels if she chooses. woj ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 15:37:18 -0500 From: "Jeffrey C. Burka" Subject: Re: Night bugs badly drawn woj wrote: > but only in canada. according to sarah's manager, atlantic records has > decided not to release _night bugs_ in the states after all. fortunately > though, atlantic is not holding the record hostage so sarah will be free > to shop it around to other labels if she chooses. Is this where I put in some rant about silly record companies? Anyway. The exchange rate is still pretty favorable. I ordered the new Sarah Slean yesterday from HMV, along with some more Emm Gryner, as long as I was shopping in canada... jeff n.p. _Prophecy_, Susan McKeown and the Chanting House n.r. _Lost_, Gregory Maguire ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 15:56:02 -0500 From: badly drawn woj Subject: Re: Night bugs when we last left our heroes, Jeffrey C. Burka exclaimed: >Is this where I put in some rant about silly record companies? no, i think it's where meredith does. ;) you do have to give atlantic some credit for allowing them to shop it around and they did release it in canada. for the record, here's what heather said in her post to navy-soup: >Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 11:35:44 -0500 >Subject: Slean in America >From: What? Management >To: Navy Soup >Message-ID: >Mime-version: 1.0 >Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" >Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit >Sender: owner-navy-soup@smoe.org >Precedence: bulk >X-UIDL: NO:!!dLO!!l\W"!Jj$!! > >Hello good people - > >Atlantic has chosen not to release "Night Bugs" in the US. However, they >have left the door open for us to find a new home for the record, so please >stay tuned. > >In the meantime, it is available through HMV.com... > >Happy happy, >Heather woj ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 16:31:58 -0500 From: "Datura Child" Subject: Mediaeval Baebes news Hello all! Some news from the Mediaeval Baebes newsletter: >The Baebes have a gig in Antwerp, Belgium on April 13th 2002. The >address is Theatre Hall, CC Luchtbal, Columbiastraat 8, 2030 > >Antwerp,BELGIUM You can book tickets at http://www.ccluchtbal.org >We have confirmed the first few dates of the Baebes US and Canadian >tour. >They are: >Wed 24th April New York Bottom Line >Sat 27th April Philadelphia TLA >Mon 29th April Northampton Iron Horse >Tue 30th April Boston 608 Club >Wed 1st May Halifax Cohn >Joust A Weekend Of Mediaeval Mayhem >If you haven9t already done so please check out the Mediaeval Festival > >that we are playing on 27th and 28th July 2002 at Berkeley Castle >http://www.joust.info >Release Dates >The release dates for the album "The Rose" have changed again (!) they > >are: 25th March Belgium 17th June UK US/Canada Release date remains 26th >March. I don't know if the other shows are comprable, but the tickets for the show at the TLA are $12.50-$13.50, and go on sale this friday. Hope to see some of you there :-) Megan _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 14:15:28 -0800 From: Phil Hudson Subject: Special Promotion: Free Happy Rhodes CDs!!!! I thought that would get your attention :) Happy has contacted me recently and we have been discussing methods of getting her music out to a broader range of markets. Happy has recently been putting a great deal of time into planning and brainstorming with regard to her career. An idea we are quickly moving forward on is for any interested volunteer Ectos to scope out their local record stores, new age-type retail establishments, coffee shops supporting good music, etc., and arrange with the owners to have a small display of Happy's CDs on the check-out counter for free. Yes, that's right: free, gratis, complimentary, no charge, zero down, no credit check, and no payments ever. Come on down! The idea is to attempt to 'seed' some new markets (to use a corporate weasel-word) and encourage those who get the free CDs to purchase even greater Happiness from her website. Happy informs me there will be website information included with the free discs. What we, as her faithful, loyal fans can do to help is go seek out some of these cool places and make the necessary arrangements with our gentle merchant-folk to place a small box of CDs on their counters, (probably about 15 at last discussion) and set up a small display to get peoples' attention. Given that most CD stores will probably process over 25 sales per hour, it should not be a particularly difficult task to persuade someone to give away free CDs for half a day or so. New Age stores and music-friendly coffee houses are also major possibilities for this type of promotion I'm known to the folks at Espresso Garden Cafe, in San Jose a highly regarded indie music venue in San Jose, and am setting up an arrangement whereby I show up with CDs for the counter when they have an artist playing in a similar genre; that way, the chances of us landing a 'qualified' fan are increased greatly. Perhaps there are also performers on the list who would be willing to carry some CDs and distribute them for free at their own gigs? Happy mentions that she has also found acceptance in certain other groups and communities, including: Comic Book and/or Sci-fi & Sci-Tech fans, the older generations, the gay community, King Crimson fans, so those interested in helping, please use your creativity and see if you can track down the appropriate locations to place these promotional CDs. If you find a store that caters primarily to all of the above, we should probably try and get some CDs in there ASAP, it sounds like a pretty good prospect. This is basically a 'grass-roots' marketing effort; all assistance ( or even just tips on possible locations/targets) from Ectos will be greatly appreciated. I know that there are many on the list who are willing to offer their time and energy by promoting Happy's music. In a similar vein, I have given HR Cds away to a few friends and family who became fans and purchased more from the website or from the CD Table at EFW. So......based on this highly scientific observation, if you know a person ( or a radio DJ, or your uncle Francis the big Hollywood film-maker) who would like Happy's music, you can mail me a stamped, addressed CD shipper, (bubble wrap or cardboard, please, no flimsy unprotected envelopes!) and I will send out a CD to them. Shipping out with a bubble envelope normally costs about $1.70, but I will get the exact info out to the list in the next few days. Yes, I know what you're thinking: I *promise* it won't take me anywhere as long as the LHDs :) ( Hey, we had to make and assemble them all, remember?) I will mail out any request for a CD within two days of receiving it, providing the postage and packaging requirements are adequate. I do not yet know which CDs Happy is planning on sending out, however I expect a shipment from her very soon. I'll post updates to the list as soon as I hear any news. Those interested in helping by placing CDs in stores, please contact Ken Osterhaudt, who I understand will be coordinating the shipping of the goodies. Ken's email is kosterhaudt@aol.com. Please copy me on your requests also, phil@tiaranetworks.com If you want me to send a CD to someone, just mail me a suitable shipper with postage on it, and I'll get it out. Feel free to include a note or whatever, to your acquaintance: I'll forward anything legal :) Please email me to let me know that you're sending me something, and to get my street address. Thanks in advance for all and any help. I'm sure my feelings regarding Happy's career are shared by many on the list. Regards Phil PS: Anyone in the San Jose/Santa Cruz area who is interested in helping out, please contact me first, as I am working on 4-5 'accounts' in this area. :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 01:49:17 -0500 From: JulieB Subject: Pooka :( Just as I was still trying to figure out the best way to send money to England to get their self-released CD, I find this nasty surprise at their website: "Natasha Lea Jones and Sharon Lewis collectively known as Pooka have split up." Just a message, their wonderful informative site now gone :( BIG SIGH Julie in NYC pooka-maniac ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V8 #80 *************************