From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #131 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, May 11 2003 Volume 09 : Number 131 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] hi [anna maria "stjärnell" ] **Rachael Sage: "May Mishugas"!** [SpiritWe@aol.com] Jennifer Marks and Anne Deming Living Room Show ["Amy" ] further proof that the music industry has gone straight to hell [meredith] RE: further proof that the music industry has gone straight to hell ["Phi] All the things I am ["Lyle Howard" ] RE: it's never the wrong week to quit ["Phillip Hudson" Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ******************** Heidi Maier (maier@joynet.com.au) ******************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 Urs Stafford Thu May 31 1973 Give Way Perttu Yli-Krekola Thu June 02 1966 Kaksoset Alex Gibbs Thu June 08 1967 Betelgeuse Gleb Zverev Tue June 09 1964 Gemini Sonja Juchniewich Mon June 10 1963 Pegasus - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 02:04:43 -0700 (PDT) From: anna maria "stjärnell" Subject: hi Hi all.. Thought I should enthuse about some new things.. Rory Merritt Stitt The Narcissist..oh yes boys with pianos do exist..this one makes a good case for being a male Tori..and so much more besides..very gifted songwriting and playing. Info at rorymerrittstitt.com. Willow Lovely love Fantastic dark folk ep. Willow gets better with each listen. Stephanie Wright The Turning point A girl with a piano gets it right..great cover (very Tori-style) of Bowies Ashes to Ashes..I usually feel like hitting people who do Bowie covers..that good. Her own songs are great too. Leslie Dowdall No Guilt No Guile Great bargain bin find..ex-In Tua Nuasingers solo record. Has nice cover of Blue Niles Saturday Night and atmospheric own songs. Where is she now? Lori Carson-Shelter Dito. One track is unplayable but the rest is lovely. Anna Maria Np- Sophie Moleta Dive Nr-Jaqueline Carey-Kushiels Chosen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 12:02:40 EDT From: SpiritWe@aol.com Subject: **Rachael Sage: "May Mishugas"!** hey y'all! just a little reminder about Rachael's upcoming May gigs, listed below. we really hope to see some of you there, & word has it the lucky folks who attend these live shows might even catch a glimpse of a little promo-item suspiciously similar to...and advanced version of RACHAEL'S UPCOMING CD!! (but of course you'll have to come & check out the scene to confirm :) thanks as always for your incredible support, and seeya somewhere out there soon! please stay tuned to www.rachaelsage.com for news about Rachael's brand new CD "Public Record", slated for an August release... xoxo & respect, the Lego-loving lunatics at MPress Records =================================== RACHAEL SAGE... **MAY TOURDATES** Saturday May 10 Juna's Cafe 8pm for more info call 607.256.4292 146 The Commons Ithaca, NY Monday May 12 Kendall Cafe 10pm for more info call 617.661.0993 233 Cardinal Medeiros Way Cambridge, MA Tuesday May 13 Poughkeepsie LIVE Cable TV Show Details TBA Re-Broadcast Hudson Valley Area Poughkeepsie, NY Wednesday May 14 KUNM FM University of New Mexico Interview with Carol Boss 2pm Albuquerque, NM Tuesday May 20 Salzer's 6pm for info call (805) 639-2160 5777 Valentine Road Ventura, CA Wednesday May 21 The Mint 10pm for more info call 323.954.1992 6010 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA Saturday May 24 ABQ WiminFEST Time and Location TBA Albuquerque, NM Wednesday May 28 Women Who Rock Magazine The Cutting Room 8pm 19 W. 24th Street New York, NY Thursday May 29 Rubyfruit 9pm Karen Jacobsen is on at 8pm for more info call 212-929-3343 531 Hudson St New York, NY =================================== **JUNE/JULY: Save These Dates!** Saturday June 21 Cleveland Pride Festival for more information call 216.371.0214 Time and Location TBA Cleveland, OH Saturday June 28 San Francisco Pride Festival 2pm for more information call 877.878.7243 Location Outdoors TBA San Francisco, CA Saturday July 26 Central Pennsylvania Pride Festival for more information call 717.574.1755 Time TBA South Riverfront Park Harrisburg, PA Sunday July 27 Bele Chere Festival 3pm for more information call 877.878.7243 Location Outdoors TBA Asheville, NC "a rich mixture of pop, folk & jazz...reflecting on love & acceptance" - CMJ Magazine ========================================= www.rachaelsage.com * 1.877.TRU.SAGE bookings & publicity: mpressrich@aol.com retail, radio & 'net: mpressmargo@aol.com ========================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 11:38:38 -0500 From: "Amy" Subject: Jennifer Marks and Anne Deming Living Room Show Hi there, Just thought I'd let everyone know that I am hosting a Living Room Show with Jennifer Marks and Anne Deming next weekend, May 17th in Minneapolis. If anyone is interested please let me know! For more info: http://www.collectedsounds.com/presents/jennmanned2.html Jennifer Marks' site: http://www.jennifermarks.com/ Anne Deming's Site: http://www.annedeming.com/ ~Amy Producer, Collected Sounds - a Guide to Women in Music www.collectedsounds.com [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 13:25:50 -0700 From: "abaton" Subject: Patty Waters NYC performance! For those of you in the NYC area and beyond, a rare concert is happening in a few weeks in which Patty Waters is scheduled to perform. It takes palace on May 21st at the Vision Festival in NYC. What more can be said about the influence of Patty's voice? Yoko Ono, Diamanda Galas, and Marianne Nowottny all seem to channel her. Discovered by Albert Ayler, Patty Waters mid-60's ESP-Disc recordings are completely essential. For lovers of the female voice everywhere this is a performance that really should not be missed. Tickets are available at the Downtown Music Gallery at dmg@panix.com It's a full evening of music starting at 7:30. Also on the bill is the Billy Bang Sextet. Md ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 13:57:34 -0400 From: meredith Subject: further proof that the music industry has gone straight to hell Hi, From yesterday's Boston Globe (I don't feel the need to comment, since Ellis Paul's quote in the article below pretty much sums it up): >Hit-song predictions get a scientific spin > >By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff, 5/9/2003 > >So you think you've written a hit song? Guess again. Perfect hooks, killer >beats, and powerhouse singing add up to nothing for many aspiring >songwriters -- and for ambitious record executives, who have historically >relied on good ears and gut instinct when it comes to finding talent. A >new company is trying to take some of the guesswork out of the artwork, >with help from science and supercomputers. Hit Song Science already is >generating controversy, with some artists and record-label insiders saying >it only highlights the desperation of a struggling music industry. > >Hit Song Science is a high-tech music analysis system that compares new >songs to a massive database of chart-topping singles and predicts hit >potential based on shared attributes. > >In other words, the more your song has in common with Usher's ''U Don't >Have To Call'' or Santana's ''Smooth,'' the better your prospects for stardom. > >All five of the major record companies -- BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal, and >Warner Bros. -- are currently using the service founded last year by >Barcelona-based Polyphonic HMI. A modified online version, geared toward >songwriters, was launched this week at www.hitsongscience.com. > >''Our technology is to music what X-rays are to medicine,'' says >Polyphonic HMI CEO Mike McCready. ''We help the record industry see their >market and their music in a way they were previously unable to do.'' > >Hit Song Science technology isolates sonic patterns in a song, ranging >from tempo and chord progressions to melody, harmony, and pitch, and then >compares the song to ''hit clusters'' gleaned from its database of 3 1/2 >million songs. The system is updated weekly with new releases in order to >effectively predict a song's potential for success in the current market. > >Ironically, HSS arrives at a moment when those in the music business face >criticism that popular music is increasingly derivative and homogeneous. > >''This is just another reason why the music industry is going down the >tubes,'' says singer-songwriter Ellis Paul. ''We need to think on the >edges, not down the middle.'' > >But McCready says his company isn't trying to encourage cookie-cutter music. > >''We hope we can help labels look at music that doesn't sound formulaic >but will still return on their investment,'' he says. ''For example, we >predicted the success of Norah Jones's [Grammy winning] `Don't Know Why.' >Nothing in our data base actually sounded like it. Rather it was the >combinations of patterns and properties that indicated hit potential.'' > >But Jesse Harris, the New York songwriter who composed ''Don't Know Why,'' >is skeptical. ''It sounds like a coincidence to me,'' says Harris. ''If >they tell the label it's got hit potential and then the label puts lots of >money into it, maybe that's why the song's a success.'' > >In addition to using HSS to choose album singles, labels are also >utilizing the technology to help screen music submissions from unsigned >artists and short-list those identified by HSS as worthy of a closer look. > >Locally, the small label that's home to pop-rock band Elcodrive paid >$3,000 for a 19-page analysis of songs on its debut indie album, which the >band includes in a detailed submission package when trying to lure major >labels to sign it. (Story, Page C1). > >But plenty of industry insiders and observers are worried that Hit Song >Science reduces the artistic process to a stack of mathematical data, >sacrificing creativity in the name of profitability. > >''I think it's terrible,'' says Leigh Lust, senior vice president of A&R >at Elektra Records. ''Look at the unique, inspiring artists that would >never pop through if every label adopted this. It will make labels >product-pushers even more than they already are.'' > >''It's a fascinating tool, and smart companies will use this as ancillary >information,'' counters Jeff Fenster, senior vice president of A&R for >Island/Def Jam Records. ''Especially in the present state of the industry.'' > >''But don't live by it,'' he warns. ''There's more involved in how music >connects than what can be read in lines on a graph.'' > >A Polyphonic album evaluation includes detailed analyses of each song as >well as a numerical grade between 1-10. A rating over 7 means a song has a >strong hit potential. The online service charges $49 per song and delivers >a less in-depth report to songwriters within three days. > >Hit Song Science is hardly foolproof. It doesn't factor in such key >elements as a song's lyrics and an artist's personal charisma, or >intangibles like marketing and advertising campaigns. > >''There are three requirements for a hit,'' says McCready. ''It has to >sound like a hit to human ears, it has to have the right promotion, and it >must have optimal mathematical patterns. That's where we come in.'' > >Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com > >This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 5/9/2003. >) Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. =============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth =============================================== Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://muzak.smoe.org =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 11:51:49 -0700 From: "Phillip Hudson" Subject: RE: further proof that the music industry has gone straight to hell > A new company is trying to take some of the guesswork out of the artwork, >with help from science and supercomputers. I recall a bunch of mad UK scientists in the late 70s taking every #1 hit song in the UK for the previous fifteen years and feeding it into whatever passed for the best computing hardware at the time. They ran some convoluted program on it to take all these hundreds of hit songs and turn them into one, 3-minute billion-selling mega song (yes, lyrics too, if I recall correctly). The program created a very insipid, watery love ballad with some startling musical surprises, I remember the middle bridge popping into 3/4 time for a while and then resuming 4/4. Anyway, it truly sucked. Britain's top 20 was pretty eclectic during those times, and a lot of novelty or comedic singles hit #1, which I think screwed up their curve. This new computer assessment model that Meth mentioned will probably end up on the judges' table of American and Idle, trading insults with Simon Cowell. They could add some cognitive image recognition to the code and assess the entrants on their looks as well (the upside to this of course would be no more pop superstars that look like Barry Manilow). That way, instead of judging them for their unique talents, they can all be measured as a ratio of existing criteria that are proven industry money-makers, which has been going on in that business for decades anyway. Send in the clones? They're already here. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 19:04:17 +0000 From: "Lyle Howard" Subject: All the things I am Hola, Kjetil said: <> Does that mean there is an axe-murderer lurking in my backyard, next to the tomatoes, who knows I live by the water tower, like long walks in the park on Sunday, have a fine collection of carpet samples, and play ukulele in the retirement center Deep Purple cover band? I must remember to dissemble more often. Bye, Lyle _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 12:49:19 -0700 From: "Phillip Hudson" Subject: RE: it's never the wrong week to quit > On Thu, 2003-05-08 at 01:43, dmw wrote: > > > the BIG studios are, and should be dinosaurs. no one should spend a > > million on a record. no one should move their groupies and their drugs > > into a studio for three months -- d. Although I have regrettably, never had a chance to move my groupies and drugs into a studio for three months ( I had the money, there just wasn't enough room for everything ;), I have spent a little time in some of the prestige outfits like Fantasy and England's Manor and Abbey Road Studios. I also worked next door to S.I.R. Studio 1 in Hollywood, where a lot of major acts did final dress-rehearsals for tours. The only times I saw any real industrial-strength debauchery was with either prima-donna pop or rock stars with serious coke and ego problems, or low-life rock bands spending all their income on alcohol, heroin and hi-capacity sidearms. Most everyone else was pretty serious about getting stuff done. (with the obvious exception of Rick James). I don't think the Really Big studios will ever go away; it's the medium-size guys who will fall by the wayside. The big studios exist for the same reason the Mark Hopkins Hotel does; for people who don't have to ask how much it will cost. I just can't see Whiney Huston, or some other similar big ego, sitting in her den with a Pro Tools manual and a Mac. Also, you can't get the New York Philharmonic in your bedroom to do those string tracks you want on your next big hit. These big studios handle far more genres than pop, and recording the orchestral, operatic, or musically cinematic are just some of the bread and butter business that cannot go anywhere else due to size restrictions. If you think it's hard getting that orchestra in your project studio, just wait till Pavarotti shows up, not to mention his entourage of probably 12, temporary storage space for about 100+ instruments, another 20 or so techs and coffee machine operators. And enough bathrooms and parking to handle everyone without screwing up a very tight schedule. Also, not even just for the audiophiles, there are obviously noticeable sonic differences between project studio recordings and those done in a $10m studio, where a single vocal mic can be worth as much as $4000, and $10K, 6ft-long reverb units are encased 40' away in concrete underground, and you're maybe belting it out in a beautifully designed, acoustically perfect, hydraulically-isolated room with 50' vaulted ceilings and a floor-to-ceiling view of the lake to better inspire you. Yes, better and cheaper front-end recording equipment is coming out all the time for project recording, so everyone is now theoretically sounding better for less $$, but the double edge of the blade is that this higher-quality stuff can also seriously highlight the deficiencies of an inexpensively built project recording room, and I believe the room is always the largest part of the recording equation ( and generally quite costly to build correctly) So I don't think big studios are dinosaurs nor are they going to go away any time soon, unless we all get hit by another train-sized meteor. Also on a semantical note, we newly-arrived humans should also recall that the dinosaurs thrived on this planet for millions of years, (although no actual recordings of their music have survived the ravages of time). Phil ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #131 **************************