From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #20 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, January 22 2003 Volume 09 : Number 020 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Vienna Teng on Letterman ["Bill" ] RE: yay, vienna!!! ["William Mazur" ] yay, vienna!!! [Mark Chapman ] vienna on letterman. ["heidi maier" ] RE: VCR alert - Vienna Teng ["Bill Adler" ] vienna on letterman ["Foghorn J. Fornorn" ] VT forward ["Mark Harbott" ] Re: Doors fans, yes yes...a Doors story/ [cyo@landoftheblind.com] Ms. Teng Interview ["Lyle Howard" ] Vienna Teng on Letterman [Steve VanDevender ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 00:14:20 -0700 From: "Bill" Subject: Re: Vienna Teng on Letterman Way to go, Vienna! Way cool. You looked and sounded GREAT on Letterman. Keep going! - - Bill G. np: Imagine - John Lennon nr: The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle On Sat, 18 Jan 2003 21:15:13 +0000, Vienna Teng wrote: >Hi ev'rybody :^) > >It's the very next Monday coming up, the 20th. I'm flying out to NYC >tomorrow. > >As for how this happened, and the NPR profile...I have a very, very cool >independent record label that's working hard to promote Waking Hour. I >don't know how they're doing it, either! > >Thanks to all you wonderful Ectophiles for accompanying me on this adventure >-- it all started with Phil Hudson's review, in a way. > >:^) >Vienna ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 00:44:47 -0800 From: "William Mazur" Subject: RE: yay, vienna!!! Vienna, Billi and I just saw your performance on The David Letterman show. You were wonderful! Congrats! Bill & Billi - -----Original Message----- From: owner-ecto@smoe.org [mailto:owner-ecto@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Wasilko Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 9:48 PM To: ecto@smoe.org Subject: Re: yay, vienna!!! On Tue, Jan 21, 2003 at 12:36:32AM -0500, meredith wrote: > Hi, > > Just saw Vienna on Letterman. Brava!!! She did a great job, and sounded > wonderful. (And for once, Paul Schaffer and the band's accompaniment > didn't suck!!) For sure. For the record, the song was Gravity. Paul managed to sound just fine behind Vienna :-) And no Biff singing backup vocals, either! Congrats again, Vienna! > It's not often that Letterman says something about how good an album is ... Yeah, it was nice to hear him say "I've heard the entire CD, there's not a dud on this."! > For those on the West Coast who may still need to set their VCR's, you can > start it at 12:25 AM and you'll be in plenty of time. I don't think she > actually went on until 12:30, but my clock might be wrong. > > So Vienna, please tell us all about it -- I've often wondered just what > goes on behind the scenes of that show... Please do! I'd love to hear what your day was like! - -j ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:12:04 -0500 From: Mark Chapman Subject: yay, vienna!!! > > So Vienna, please tell us all about it -- I've often wondered just what > > goes on behind the scenes of that show... > > > Please do! I'd love to hear what your day was like! And what did Dave whisper in your ear as they went to commercial? ~Chaps ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 01:00:49 +1000 From: "heidi maier" Subject: vienna on letterman. vienna: i just watched the performance, all the way down here in australia, and thought it was lovely. i've not previously had the opportunity to hear your music, as i'm a uni student and don't have a credit card [probably a wise thing, given my penchant for books and music!] so haven't been able to purchase your cd online, but i hope i'll have some way to hear more of your music in the future -- your performance was really lovely. warmly, heidi. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:29:35 -0500 From: "Bill Adler" Subject: RE: VCR alert - Vienna Teng Thank goodness my VCR recorded correctly last night. Vienna's performance on Letterman was stunning! - --Bill Adler n.p. Quecia, "This is Where We Are" - -----Original Message----- From: owner-ecto@smoe.org [mailto:owner-ecto@smoe.org] On Behalf Of raven@igc.org Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 12:24 AM To: ecto@smoe.org Subject: VCR alert - Vienna Teng Congrats to SF Bay Area local (and ecto list-member) Vienna Teng who will be appearing on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" next Monday night: And yes, Vienna, I know I owe you a list of venues for your upcoming northeast tour... it's in the works. John ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 11:02:17 -0500 From: "Foghorn J. Fornorn" Subject: vienna on letterman Some initial comments from the alt.fan.letterman newsgroup... Thread topic: "Paul strikes again" ===== Incredible new singer tonight...again. (Vienna Teng) I can't even count how many new and terrific musicians Paul has opened my eyes to. ===== It was a very nice performance. Subtle yet strong; beautiful voice and piano work. I definitely plan to purchase her CD. ===== Well, it was a fragile voice -- she struggled in a couple of places (and flubbed a few notes on the piano), but I'd give her a pass to it just being nerves. ===== She was the subject of an NPR Weekend Edition Sunday profile on January 12th http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_910087.html and that sounded like she was a bit bowled over with the attention, so I would imagine she was just a bit nervous being on network television. Pretty big jump for someone who went from being a computer engineer to playing coffee houses to the Late Show in less than a year. I checked out her web site http://www.viennateng.com/high/frontpage/index.htm the day after the NPR feature and there was no mention of the LS appearance. Then, on the 17th, it was added with the comment "Yes, THAT Late Show with David Letterman". I'd like to believe that Dave, who, from some of his on air comments, seems to be an NPR listener, heard the profile and suggested they get her booked on the show. But then, I'd like to believe in the tooth fairy too. ===== ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:46:07 -0600 From: "Mark Harbott" Subject: VT forward Thought I would forward this email from a Tori Amos mailing list : This is going to be great exposure for Vienna........ > Anyone catch Letterman last night? He had on an amazing piano-playing > singer-songwriter named Vienna Teng. I didn't catch the name of the song she > played, but it literally gave me chills. UNBELIEVABLE! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 14:37:36 -0800 From: cyo@landoftheblind.com Subject: Re: Doors fans, yes yes...a Doors story/ yeah, a long time Doors fan...that's me. Seeing documentaries about him (missed the 60s myself, a huge regret) and just listening to Jim's musical journeys when I was a teenager just flipped me out with his talent, his musical shamanism and his ability to take it all the way. Jim Morrison, as well as Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson have been my biggest influences in the area "performance", or rather taking the audience on a journey with you. We, The Blind, performed our version of THE END so many times live to complete audience immersion and stun that it became a major part of the band, performance-wise and then trying to do a decent job on the album (OM) was incredible. A fan said "you have big balls to do a cover of the Doors and pull it off" but I had to lose my fears to do it. It remains some fans favorite on the cd. By the way, The Doors publishers told us "NO!", we cannot record it...after thousands of hours of effort (it was already recorded) and lots of money, I was angry and stunned, I tried getting in touch with Ray to no avail. Finally I thought "what would Jim do?" and I thought he'd say "fuck em" and so we put it on anyway...he continues to be an inspiration, although I have been semi-naked on stage (the ultimate in "not hiding behind an image") I have never wagged my genitals at the audience (don't know that I could even if I wanted to and I don't). You are incredibly lucky to have ever seen them live at all...I am green with envy. Yes, without Jim it must be empty...they did an album a while back with others covering the Doors but we didn't make it on (not sure if any women did, or if any women are allowed to "do Jim") But actually I think I'd rather hear a woman singing his work, as it would be so different, than a imitation Jim. So how was the fake Jim anyway? Did he do his own thing or try to be Jim? curiously cyoakha ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 23:29:39 +0000 From: "Lyle Howard" Subject: Ms. Teng Interview Hola, I thought I would provide the link to Ms. Teng's interview on Weekend Edition so that you can learn more about her if you are so inclined. http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_910087.html On the Letterman show, she was very good and Letterman seemed smitten by her. The contrast between Ms. Teng and Simon Cowell was interesting. The guy who stands for cookie cutter music was followed by a singer/songwriter with intergrity and sincerity. I'll take artistry and craftsmanship over pop idolatry any day. Bye, Lyle _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 15:55:01 -0800 From: Steve VanDevender Subject: Vienna Teng on Letterman I also saw Ms. Teng on Letterman last night and she was excellent. It was really nice that he was not only taken with Vienna's performance, but put in his own plug for her album. I don't watch Letterman much, although it's my favorite of the "late-night" shows, but I've always thought it was interesting that despite his reputation for being obnoxious towards some of his guests, it seems to me that he's only really obnoxious towards people who are taking themselves way too seriously. I've never seen him be rude to children in interviews, and he's seemed pretty nice to his musical guests too. "Waking Hour" is clearly yet another CD I need to get around to ordering (I already have a couple of MP3s I picked up from viennateng.com back in 2001, and they are wonderful). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 21:24:47 -0800 From: Steve VanDevender Subject: my 2002 in review Somehow this last year I managed to avoid EWS all too well, as everyone else's year-end reviews mainly served to remind me of what I should have been buying. I probably bought less CDs in total than most people reviewed. The ones I list below aren't all the ones I bought, but they're the ones I still remember so they're the ones that at least had some influence on me. Susan McKeown and the Chanting House, _Prophecy_: I predicted this would be on my year-end best list, and by golly, I was right :-). It was especially nice to be able to hear almost all the stuff on this album at the show where I bought it, apparently at almost its first availbility given that I promptly saw several replies to the effect of "Susan has a new album?! WANT!!!" Happy Rhodes, _Left Hand Demos_: Note to self: the next time Happy offers a special deal like this, get in early. I'm not blaming any of the volunteers who coordinated the distribution since I got in on this late, but it was well worth the wait. Ben Folds, _Ben Folds Live_: _Ben Folds Live_ isn't really much different than Ben Folds Five, and in fact in the album title the 'L' in "Live" is formed by turning the 'F' in "Five" upside down. The album is mostly piano-solo versions of Ben Folds Five songs with a couple of new songs, one of his improvisations that people find either obnoxious or endearing, and closes with a marvelous version of "Emaline". Rasputina, _Cabin Fever_: I got this at the show Rasputina did at the University of Oregon, and I enjoyed both the show and the CD immensely. Sometimes hard-edged, sometimes ethereal, sometimes whimsical, and always original. But last year, I probably derived more total enjoyment from a local band, Tympanic, than anything else. Some of you may remember me gushing about them earlier in the year, and other than a handful of shows in places up and down the west coast, practically no one outside Eugene or Portland will have been able to see them yet, but fate willing, they're going to be famous. They'd probably be more famous now, but three of the band members are still in school trying to finish up their degrees this year so they've been holding off on going full-tilt on the band. It's been kind of an interesting process for me. Originally, back in March 2001, I ran into my friend Harvey, he introduced me to his friend John, and said "we're in this band called Tympanic, you should come see us." That first show was far from stellar; they seemed a bit awkward on stage, but they were at least trying to be musicians, instead of just guys making loud noises with guitars, and occasionally succeeding just enough that I saw some promise. They played a couple more times that spring, and then not again until the fall. I kept going to their shows, partly because it was something to do, partly to be nice to them, and partly because that initial promise seemed to be developing. Well, 2002 was when they really started to take off, at least around here. Their shows went from being awkward to good to downright excellent. They built up an increasing variety of original material, and refined their songs and technique. I now have a handful of CDs, mainly of recorded live material that they've sold (cheap!) at shows, and just the other day I really noticed, after a little comparison listening, just how much some of their songs have evolved and how much more confident and ambitious they sound on stage between the earliest recorded stuff (from February) and the latest (from September). So what are they like? Well, I've always found myself kind of genre-challenged; about all I can do is categorize things into music I like, and music I don't, and Tympanic does music I like. I keep hearing other people say they hear things that remind them of the Grateful Dead, or Phish, or other bands I'm even less familiar with, and none of which have done much to capture my interest (at least the ones I've heard of before), although I can sometimes recognize the elements they're talking about. (One friend had the slightly more interesting comparison "like Phish, but with more minor chords", but I don't know enough Phish to fully understand that.) What I like is their energetic playing, the intricate melodies and complex counterpoints, and whatever it is that makes music more than just a bunch of notes, but something that makes your eyesockets glow and your brain revolve. So for those of you for whom Tympanic might fall into the "music you like" category and who have the interest, spare time, and bandwidth, try heading over to http://tympanicband.com/music.html where they've put up a bunch of their own MP3s; I especially recommend the stuff from the 8/10/02 show they have there. ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #20 *************************