From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #121 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, May 1 2003 Volume 09 : Number 121 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] On Louisa John-Krol's new site [Philip David Morgan ] Re: Louisa John-Krol: new website (Win-centric?) [Damon Harper Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ******************** Geoff Parks (GTP10@cus.cam.ac.uk) ******************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Geoff Parks Sun April 30 1961 Taurus Marty Lash Sat May 01 1948 Taurus Barney Parker Fri May 02 1986 happy cat Gray Abbott Tue May 03 1955 Suprised Tamar Boursalian Tue May 03 1966 Taurus Richard A. Holmes May 07 Taurus Steve Ito Fri May 08 1970 DA Bull... Brian Gregory Thu May 09 1963 Eclectic Heidi Maier Wed May 10 1978 Taurus Patrick Varker Wed May 12 1954 Torius Philip David Morgan Sat May 12 1962 Chinese Tiger in Bull Clothing Steve Fagg Tue May 13 1958 Nightwol Karel Zuiderveld Fri May 13 1960 Stier Michael Colford Wed May 16 1962 Taurus Christopher Boek Tue May 19 1970 Taurus Julia Macklin Mon May 20 1968 ethereus Yngve Hauge Fri May 21 1971 Gemini Lisa Laane Tue May 22 1973 Gemini Jewel Kilcher Thu May 23 1974 The Gem Chandra Sriram Thu May 27 1971 Gemini Taina Sahlander Mon May 28 1973 Gemini - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 05:56:33 -0400 From: Philip David Morgan Subject: On Louisa John-Krol's new site Good Hello Andrew, et. al.: I mentioned that some surfers will have problems navigating Louisa John-Krol's new site, and: > That;s right - [the ]flash menu on her website didn't work for me either, on > Linux, but of the more standard Intel-based variety... The most annoying > part is that it is just so unnecessary - what's the point of making a > menu Flash? What functionality did it offer she couldn't get from simple > HTML? Yesterday I heard from Louisa that her webmaster, who is volunteering his services, will try to remedy thngs soon. He's also a teacher (as is Louisa herself), so any changes will take some time. I've already recommended a non-Flash section (and here's hoping that the splash page will let everyone have a choice). Another thing Penguistas - and especially those using Linux on their Macs - - can do is attach their names to an online petition asking Macromedia to fashion a Flash plugin meant to work in Linux PPC (PowerPC and other "old world Macs") distributions. While the author of the online survey uses Yellow Dog Linux - and indeed, that distro's parent company has endorsed the survey on their homepage - I know that Mandrake and SuSE also port PowerMac versions of Linux. You might mention that when you hit: http://www.wizdev.net/Flash-PPC.php Those on the list who are webmasters might also want to sign this, so that everyone's onboard. Maybe we can think more kindly of Louisa and her webmaster afterwards. ;-) Philip David (I'm a webmaster, too - rather Old School) 2003.04.30 - --- The Polly Stephanson Project - la vie en sakura... http://homepage.mac.com/pollyshows/ - --- "Now go back and finish your oatmeal." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 03:27:25 -0400 From: Paul2k@aol.com Subject: maria mckee, the like, v teng Maria McKee at the Roxy in Hollywood last friday night. The second of two sold out shows there. And now she's off to tour Europe. It was my first time seeing her, after having enjoyed her first two solo albums immensely and slowly warming to her third, Life Is Sweet, over the course of several years. She played acoustic and electric guitars, often playing leads and solos (one finger solos that were noisily fun), and also some piano. ALso playing with her was a guitarist, a bassist (her husband?), a drummer, and a woman on keys and backing vocals. The show wasn't all that I'd hoped for, but it was still good. Maria had some good banter with the crowd and seemed to be having a really fine time performing. I was a bit unnerved by two things, though. First, she seems to really like using her vibrato, to the point where there is no nuance, just straight ahead warbling and keening which I found to be tiring; second, she kept doing this strange, intense, almost Evil stare while singing. Like, she'd be singing along, doo doo dah, and then her eyes would go wide, her brow would furrow, and I'd get the sense that she was Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, ready to wreak some unspeakable horrors upon me. These "theatrical" elements to the performance stuck out even more with her new songs and some of the arrangements of old songs, where she sounded like she was going for some '70's Rock Opera sound, ala Jesus Christ Superstar or Godspell. That influence is the impression I get from the first couple listens to her new album _High Dive_ as well. Now, the opening band kicked ass. They were a trio of teenage girls (looking no more than 17 years of age) called The Like doing some simple pop-punk indie rock songs that made me want to pogo so badly (damn the staid crowd!). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to the merchandise booth to get on their mailing list or buy a cd since I didn't want to lose my spot for Maria's set, but i am contacting the booking manager for the Roxy to get their info. I gotta say, doing an internet search for a young upstart band called "The Like" isn't the easiest thing to do. Anyways, the reminded me a lot of Tuscadero and That Dog, with stronger, less cutesy vocals. Ooh, just heard a promo for Dawson's Creek on the radio where they reveal that one of the four original creekers loses his or her life. Yay! Anyone else going to see Vienna Teng tomorrow night...er... tonight at the Mint? Her website lists her showtime as 11 PM. The Mint website and their phone line aren't any help, but the L.A. Weekly does have a listing that puts her as the last of three acts, which makes the 11 PM set time sound right for her. They usually make the first act go on at 9, and keep everyone to 45-50 minute sets. I'll be there with my cousin and a friend. Paul ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 2003 09:17:13 -0700 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Re: Louisa John-Krol: new website (Win-centric?) At 1:55 AM -0400 4/29/03, Philip David Morgan wrote: >Fans of Louisa John-Krol may want to try access her new homepage, still >at , in advance of her new _Alabaster_ >disc, due out soon from Prikosnovenie. > >I say "try" because that is what I was doing - trying to navigate it >from a variety of browsers in three different operating systems. Guess >which one - the only one - displayed the Flash-driven menu (sorry, >folks) correctly? > >You got it. Microsoft Internet Explorer (Flash-plugin installed), and >then only the Windows version. > >You _can_ try to navigate the site with Opera 6 (Mac), but it's a little >like stumbling in the dark, even with Flash. > >Needless to say, I am not happy about this. Linux users will especially >be dismayed, especially those (like me) doing the Penguin (in a >dual-boot system) on a Old World Mac. Never heard of her before this recommendation, but I went and listened. You're right; while I can listen to the streaming music (using Safari under OSX) the main page is just a big white bar. I wrote to her and she responded immediately. No deliberate action; just a mistake she said. I told her about us and also Celestial Music. I really like her sound. Once the page is working we should add her to the Ecto Guide. Michael ------------------------------ Date: 30 Apr 2003 09:23:21 -0700 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Apple's new store Any of you Mackers checked out Apple's new online music store? It looks like it may really work. It's certainly a lot better designed (and with a better attitude) than any of the other online music seller sites out there. 99 cents seems high for a single track, but that is what I paid for a 45 in 1966 (which held TWO songs) so taking inflation into account it seems reasonable. Back then, an LP was $5 or less and the site sells full albums for $9.99 which is way cheaper than current CD ripoff prices. With our participation, we need to make sure that they have plenty of room for obscure, new beginning, and special-interest artists as well as more well-known acts. It has a glowing endorsement from many musicians, some of whom have refused to sell downloadables before. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 12:06:20 -0700 From: Damon Harper Subject: Re: Louisa John-Krol: new website (Win-centric?) On 30 Apr, Michael Pearce wrote regarding louisa john-krol: > Never heard of her before this recommendation, but I went and > listened. You're right; while I can listen to the streaming music > (using Safari under OSX) the main page is just a big white bar. > > I wrote to her and she responded immediately. No deliberate action; > just a mistake she said. I told her about us and also Celestial > Music. I really like her sound. Once the page is working we should > add her to the Ecto Guide. *guilty look* - actually i've been slated to add an entry for her for the past X number of months, i don't care to actually figure out how long. i have an entry partially written but just haven't managed to get it out the door yet. hopefully i'll get off my ass in short order but if someone else is gung-ho about writing some comments and doesn't want to wait for me, let me know. otherwise, well, all i can say is i *intend* to get it done shortly. i'll add her new web site to the entry-in-progress. won't even try visiting it right now since i'm not willing to boot to windows for the privilege. ;) i agree, i really like her sound too. i've just had a hard time describing it coherently for the guide beyond `makes me think hugely of loreena mckennitt even though she doesn't *actually* sound much the same once you've listened a few times'. - -damon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 18:00:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Craig Gidney Subject: Denali at the Black Cat, April 28th (quasi-review) Denali is the highest peak in Alaska and the Coldplayesque band from Richmond, VA. Both are stark and jagged. Electronic burbles hide in hard guitars. And an icy siren swoops and soars throughout the music. They performed in darkness at the Black Cat. The voice quivered and shimmered with bleakness and desolation. Quibbles: the moments between songs were lengthy, as sequencers and samplers were set. This cause jags in continuity, since they didn't banter between the songs. And the darkness, while appropriate for the music, hid a bunch of photogenic people (ok, I found the guitarist pretty cute). But singer's amazing, and the music is bracing. - --Craig __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 21:10:52 -0400 From: Philip David Morgan Subject: Louisa John-Krol: new website (soon to be non-centric) Good Evening, Michael et. al.: On Louisa John-Krol and her new site: > Never heard of her before this recommendation, but I went and > listened. You're right; while I can listen to the streaming music > (using Safari under OSX) the main page is just a big white bar. > > I wrote to her and she responded immediately. No deliberate action; > just a mistake she said. I told her about us and also Celestial > Music. I really like her sound. Once the page is working we should > add her to the Ecto Guide. I've gotten some good news from Louisa, and I will keep it to the point: Her webmaster has agreed to do the changes necessary to make the site more accessible to everyone. Chances are quite good it will be taken care of within the week. OK with everyone? In her note to me, Louisa added, "I feel sad that people assumed I would stoop to conspiracies or web-factionalism. Even if I had the technical knowledge (which I don't), that kind of behaviour isn't in my nature...Let's hope all will be well soon. " Amen to that. And with that out of the way, on to download the last ISO needed to roast installation discs for Mandrake 9.1... Philip David (online keeper of the etheral peace) 2003.04.30-05.01 - --- The Polly Stephanson Project - Just a slight delay, mina-san! Hopefully before May 12... http://homepage.mac.com/pollyshows/ - --- "Now go back and finish your oatmeal." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 19:31:08 -0700 From: "William Mazur" Subject: RE: Louisa John-Krol: new website (Win-centric?) Damon and Ectofriends, I love Louisa John-Krol's music. She was one of the amazing artists that I have discovered here on Ecto. I believe that it was Phillip David that spoke highly of her and prompted me to explore her music. Louisa John-Krol's music is fantastic. The reason I choose that word to describe it is because her songs and lyrics have a strong fantasy and mythological theme to them. On her web site Louisa describes her music as romantic pop-ethereal faerie music. That description suits her music very well. To me she seamlessly fuses elements of Celtic, world, pop, folk and progressive rock into her music. I first bought her CD "Alexandria", which is excellent. However it was her next CD "Ariel" that floored me. I was truly smitten with the music on "Ariel". I still am. It has made it into my Top 100 Favorite CDs (I have over 1500 in my collection). After I first listened to it I played it each night after that for about two weeks straight (which is highly unusual for me). The reason that I love her music so much is that it encompasses so many elements that I love in music. It is well crafted, honest, passionate, romantic, dramatic and yet at times very subtle and understated. As a point of reference, Louisa's voice has similar qualities to Loreena McKennitt, Maire Brennan and maybe Sandy Denny. She is a bit more passionate in her delivery than either Loreena or Maire. Part of the reason that her voice reminds me of Sandy Denny is because of the fact that Louisa plays mandolin on many of her songs. The combination of Louisa's singing and the mandolin playing reminds me at times of the song "The Battle of Evermore". That song, from Led Zeppelin's fourth album, features a stunning duet from Robert Plant and Sandy Denny. Jimmy Page plays mandolin throughout the song. The musicianship, arrangements and production on Louisa's recordings are superb. "Ariel" in particular is a very atmospheric CD and flows through many moods in a very cohesive manner. Bill M. P.S. - Damon, if you would like, please feel free to use any or all of my comments here for the Guide. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-ecto@smoe.org [mailto:owner-ecto@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Damon Harper Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 12:06 PM To: ecto@smoe.org Subject: Re: Louisa John-Krol: new website (Win-centric?) On 30 Apr, Michael Pearce wrote regarding louisa john-krol: > Never heard of her before this recommendation, but I went and > listened. You're right; while I can listen to the streaming music > (using Safari under OSX) the main page is just a big white bar. > > I wrote to her and she responded immediately. No deliberate action; > just a mistake she said. I told her about us and also Celestial > Music. I really like her sound. Once the page is working we should > add her to the Ecto Guide. *guilty look* - actually i've been slated to add an entry for her for the past X number of months, i don't care to actually figure out how long. i have an entry partially written but just haven't managed to get it out the door yet. hopefully i'll get off my ass in short order but if someone else is gung-ho about writing some comments and doesn't want to wait for me, let me know. otherwise, well, all i can say is i *intend* to get it done shortly. i'll add her new web site to the entry-in-progress. won't even try visiting it right now since i'm not willing to boot to windows for the privilege. ;) i agree, i really like her sound too. i've just had a hard time describing it coherently for the guide beyond `makes me think hugely of loreena mckennitt even though she doesn't *actually* sound much the same once you've listened a few times'. - -damon ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #121 **************************