From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #188 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, June 30 2003 Volume 09 : Number 188 Today's Subjects: ----------------- McKinley ["Michael Pearce" ] Land of the Blind ["Michael Pearce" ] Re: McKinley [alan ] Re: how about happy songs? [Paul Blair ] vienna at the iron horse [meredith ] sslean/sstage ["Donald G. Keller" ] barbez/d.dolls/sleepytime ["Donald G. Keller" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Jun 2003 00:04:20 -0700 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: McKinley At 1:55 AM -0400 6/29/03, "John Zimmer" wrote: >Holy Crap! And to think, I allowed mere physical fatigue to keep me >from seeing a recent gig featuring her, Nicole Campbell, and some >other local artists performing covers of each other's songs. Stupid me. Don't feel bad; I let today's torturous heat keep me from seeing her this evening at the White Eagle. Her site, http://www.mckinley-music.com/, lists all upcoming shows and includes two downloadable tracks. She's also single again... Michael ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jun 2003 00:10:27 -0700 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Land of the Blind I forgot - Cyo and her new lineup will be back in Salem performing a house concert on July 12 at 8pm or so. To make your reservation and get location instructions, contact Diane Evett . I imagine Cyo will be posting her own announcement here soon. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:42:27 -0700 (PDT) From: alan Subject: Re: McKinley On 29 Jun 2003, Michael Pearce wrote: > At 1:55 AM -0400 6/29/03, "John Zimmer" wrote: > > >Holy Crap! And to think, I allowed mere physical fatigue to keep me > >from seeing a recent gig featuring her, Nicole Campbell, and some > >other local artists performing covers of each other's songs. Stupid me. > > Don't feel bad; I let today's torturous heat keep me from seeing her > this evening at the White Eagle. Her site, > http://www.mckinley-music.com/, lists all upcoming shows and includes > two downloadable tracks. Doh! Now you tell me! Oh well... The White Eagle probably melted in the heat anyways. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:11:31 -0400 From: Paul Blair Subject: Re: how about happy songs? At 23:11 -0700 6/25/03, Brian Bloom wrote: >Various 80s cheeze and bop: (I'm slowly trying to collect just about >everything ever released in the 80s ;)... OK, but if we're going on in this vein, I'm surprised I haven't seen Katrina & the Waves - Walking on Sunshine ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:44:41 -0400 From: meredith Subject: vienna at the iron horse Hi, As promised, here is my (admittedly quite belated) report of Vienna's show at the Iron Horse this past Wednesday. woj and I met up with JeffW, who was finishing up dinner with Vienna when we arrived. I'd kind of expected attendance to be light, since it was Vienna's first foray into the area on a weekday during the summer when college is out of session, and unfortunately my expectations were fulfilled and then some. :( woj and I had more people here for just one of the house concerts back in March. But Vienna didn't seem to mind, and she didn't let it affect her performance at all. There were two other acts on the bill (most of the other audience members were their friends, in fact): a duo from Baltimore called Relative Sight, and a local boy, Dennis Crommett. Relative Sight were fun -- between the two conservatory-trained women, they played cello, guitar, English horn, and slide whistle, and harmonized beautifully. They won't win any awards for insightful songwriting, but the music was really nice, and the song involving the slide whistle was positively hilarious. Dennis Crommett initially annoyed me, since never in my life have I seen anyone *mumble* while he sang -- but either he got better as his set went on or my ears just tuned in, because the problem eventually seemed to go away. Turns out he's part of an area band I've heard of called Spanish for Hitchhiking, which has as occasional members Dave Chalfant and Dave Hower, formerly of The Nields. woj really liked him -- he did strike me as someone who'd get airplay on WFMU eventually, and end up playing a late-night set somewhere in Brooklyn on a bill with VPN or something. After a short break, Vienna sat down at the piano and began to win a couple dozen new fans. She played several new songs (she'll be recording her new album in Nashville starting in a few weeks), as well as several from _Waking Hour_ ("Gravity", "Enough To Go By", "Lullabye For A Stormy Night", "Unwritten Letter #1", "Momentum" and my request, "The Tower", which even though she introduced it by essentially stating that she thinks she plays it too often, was lovely and I didn't take it personally :). And to close out the set, also by my request she played Tori's "1000 Oceans", since I wasn't able to hear the Tori tribute she was a part of in March, and she didn't have a chance to give us a preview when she was here. As I mentioned before, hearing her do it was a revelation. It's still one of my bottom-five Tori songs, but I'd gladly hear her version many more times. And it was just so cool to see her play it on a piano that Tori had played once. (Yeah, I know, I'm such a geek.) We discovered that the woman sitting at the table next to us looked familiar because she had attended both of Vienna's house concerts here, and like us drove all the way up from New Haven to see the show. In chatting with her, we learned that one of the people she'd brought with her to one of the house concerts was Senator Joe Lieberman's son Matt -- we'd had no idea! (Probably a good thing, since I probably would have given the poor guy an earful to pass along to his dad. ;) I hope the Iron Horse invites Vienna back at a more auspicious time, where she has a better chance of bringing in a larger audience. I'm sure many of the people there will tell their friends and help make that possible... =============================================== 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: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:59:06 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: sslean/sstage Since I didn't see any other area ectofolk at the Canada Day show at Central Park's Summerstage, I'll take the initiative to report on Sarah Slean's set, which was all I stayed for. I had forgotten that you can't get into Summerstage from the West Side, and took the swiftest uptown train, the 2-3 express, to 72nd Street. Of course, I had to walk all the way across to the other side of the stage to get in. But unlike last year(? the year before?) when there had been a line to get into see Cowboy Junkies (and some of us ended up sitting on the hill outside), I was able to waltz right in and find a spot front and center, only a row of people from the barrier. Right about on time (3 p.m.), Sarah Slean (barefoot, wearing a red sun-dress) took the stage with her three-piece band, and played a short but strong set reminiscent of her May show at the Knitting Factory. The setlist: "Eliot" "Duncan" "Bank Accounts" "Book Smart, Street Stupid" "California" "The Score" "Sweet Ones" "Eliot" begins with a long (and it must be said) rather bombastic instrumental introduction, and at first the band was so loud that the keyboard was hardly audible. But Sarah and the soundman both turned up the piano volume, and after that the band tended to underplay a little more, so it was only a temporary problem. "Elliot" also seems to be the only song where she uses her affected cabaret vocal. "Duncan" and "Book Smart, Street Stupid" are both songs familiar to me from previous shows, and though not favorites, they're very nice songs very nicely done on this occasion as usual. "Bank Accounts" is a =Night Bugs= song with which I'm less familiar; it's bright and energetic. I can't remember if this was the song with the interlude for piano, high bass notes, and glockenspiel, but wherever it occurred it was a fine moment. "California" I only heard for the first time at the Knitting Factory; it's the one where she does the lead singer thing and lets the band carry the music. A really lovely ballad I look forward to hearing again. It would have been the high point of the set, except that she followed it directly with "The Score" (her "nasty song," as she describes it). This also I heard for the first time at the Knitting Factory, and remembered it much more vividly; both times it knocked me sideways. It's a killer song with Kurt Weill-style jagged accents and edgy harmonies, very unlike her usual (though very like Boston band the Dresden Dolls, about whom more shortly), but among her strongest compositions. (For my taste, anyway.) And she concluded the too-short set with a sprightly "Sweet Ones." No encore, more show to go, but not for me. I went east this time (it's a longer walk than I remembered over to the 6 train). A very good set, worth the trip, but it as much whetted my appetite (for another show, may it happen soon) as satisfied it. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 18:15:41 -0400 (EDT) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: barbez/d.dolls/sleepytime I had a faint idea of going to NEARfest (my prog tendencies have never gone away), but it had sold out before I thought to check when tickets went on sale. I hope whoever posted about attending the festival caught Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the band who played the best set I saw last year. Luckily for me, Sleepytime is playing two more area shows this week, one next Saturday at Northsix in Williamsburg (where I saw them last year, currently my favorite venue), and one tomorrow (Monday the 30th) at the Knitting Factory. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (drums, bass, percussionist, guitar, and brilliant violinist Carla Kihlstedt) play tremendously heavy, oppressively dissonant music in the vein of Art Bears, Swans, and Einsturzende Neubauten. If this sounds at all interesting (and it might not to most ecto tastes) you'll be sorry if you miss them. (They have a song playable at their website: www.sleepytimegorillamuseum.com) But that's not all. They'll be preceded Monday by the Dresden Dolls, a Boston band whose CDs I've played more often than anyone's this year. Singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer on piano is accompanied by only a drummer; their music is almost unbearably tense and dramatic, with extraordinary use of quiet/loud strategies, and with very clever lyrics. (Imagine a band whose whole repertoire sounds like Sarah Slean's "The Score," just as one could imagine Kristeen Young as having an output that all sounds like Tori Amos' "The Waitress.) Again, check out their website dresdendolls.com (which has some live performance videos). And the show will be opened by one of my favorite New York bands, Barbez, an eclectic bunch who do everything from a cappella Russian folk songs, light classical pieces, tangos and art rock to covers from Kurt Weill to the Residents (plus, they've recently been fond of doing a simultaneously stirring and hilarious cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs.") I've known about this show for a few months, and I simply can't wait. I hope to survive to tell the tale. Any listmembers with adventurous tastes are strongly urged to consider attending. (8:30 p.m., Monday, 6/30) ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #188 **************************