From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V10 #70 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, March 11 2004 Volume 10 : Number 070 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Vienna in Portland ["John Zimmer" ] odyssey songs [breinheimer@webtv.net] Re: Looking for an artist. [Ed Cole ] Vienna Teng - Borders Books, Chicago 3/10/04 [Alberto Carrasco ] Vienna Teng at Schuba's/Chicago 3/9 [Carolyn Andre ] Bethany Yarrow in Portland ["Michael Pearce" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:04:48 -0800 From: "John Zimmer" Subject: Vienna in Portland This past Sunday my friends Guy, Elana and I went to see Vienna at her live in-store performance at Music Millennium in northwest Portland - -- we'd seen her every other time she'd come through town, why stop now? : ) Needless to say, she was brilliant as always in this setting, and the trio with Alan and Marika really works with her musical style. Anyway, just prior to starting the set, and after hugs all around, we expressed our regret at missing that evening's performance opening for Joan Baez -- we love Vienna to pieces, but Joan just isn't our musical cuppa, particularly at $40 - $50 per ticket. Imagine our surprise when she offered to put us on the guest list for the show! We of course couldn't agree fast enough. Two of Vienna's wonderful live performances in the same day? Very cool. Vienna, you rock. We also got some nice pictures after the MM set, which are now up and viewable courtesy of Elana's digital camera and Adobe skills. FWIW, those captions are also hers, with a bit of light editing/correcting by me. http://www.garbagetiefe.com/vienna/ (Sorry about the munging, just take out the garbage first. : ) John ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 08:10:11 -0500 (EST) From: breinheimer@webtv.net Subject: odyssey songs Well Neal. I'm not sure how broad you want to be with this (Icarus, for instance is from Greek mythology but not from Homer's Odyssey) but the first thing that jumps to mind is Steely Dan's "Home at Last" (from Aja). This is directly about Odysseus and a great song to boot. It's back from an age where even subject matter like this could end up on a popular song (Wuthering Heights, anyone?) I know this is off subject and, as news, it's a couple of months old; but as long as I'm posting I feel obliged to add this truly sad item. I recently learned that Spaulding Grey, the talented monologist and sometime actor, disappeared back on January 10. Apparently he'd been quite depressed (and in a great deal of pain) since he was in a horrific automobile accident a couple of years ago. It appears highly likely that Spaulding threw himself off of the Staten Island ferry into the icy waters below; an act he had been obsessing about for quite some time. The world will be a little darker without him. np: PROJEKT: Gothic A wonderful little sampler available for a few bucks from the Artist Shop (and presumably from PROJEKT as well). And, wouldn't you know, PROJEKT is having a sale right now. What a sneaky way to get into my wallet. - -Bill (since I just now noticed that my name is off of my address again) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 06:43:02 -0800 From: Ed Cole Subject: Re: Looking for an artist. Thank you for the link Meredith. It wasn't Amy Helm I heard yesterday. Her voice is much deeper, richer, and bluesier than what I had heard. But it might have been Fiona McBain's version of The Storms Are On The Ocean. Hard to tell for sure. The acoustic's of my work truck and the website's sample being played via a Flash plug-in on my computer piped to my stereo system are quite different. I guess I need to try out the CD in a store. I was just at Border's last night picking up Vienna Teng's new album. I had put off buying one of her's until I could her a sample of her work. Thanks to your mention of her being on Liane Hansen's show Sunday I was finally able to do so. Really liked what I heard. Unfortunately they didn't have the Ollabelle CD in stock. Ed At 06:10 PM 3/9/2004, meredith wrote: >Hi, > >My guess would be it's the group Ollabelle. They have a new album >out. The lead singer's name is Amy Helm. > >http://www.ollabellemusic.com/ > > >=============================================== >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: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 14:14:57 -0800 (PST) From: Alberto Carrasco Subject: Vienna Teng - Borders Books, Chicago 3/10/04 Hola, Ectoids~ I wasnt able to attend Viennas Chicago show last night, the first local show of hers Ive missed, but I juggled some things and was looking forward to at least seeing her in-store appearance at one of the Borders Bookstores here. So it was a disappointing to walk up to the store and see posted on the front door: Vienna Teng will not be performing as she has lost her voice but will be available to sign... blah, blah Oh, well Ive been fortunate to see her in the past and there will be other chances, but still theres something I love about seeing performers work foisted on the unsuspecting masses and gaining a few fans who didnt know they were. Anyway, when Vienna showed up, you could tell she wasnt feeling well at all, but she was polite and friendly as always. Me: So how did last nights show go, with your voice problems? VT: *weak smile and whisper* I just had to do my songs that only require me singing lower  Me: Yikes, well considering how you sound know, its amazing you played at all. Save your voice. Nodding is fine. (I reminded her who I was, I think she remembers me as that Chicago Ecto guy with dreadlocks she sees whenever shes here, but shes met so many people the past year.) VT: Oh yeah. Vickie was at the show last night. as she signed my copy of Warm Strangers. Me: I think it wouldve been fine with the people here if you just did a solo piano performance. (Agreement from a couple of people in line.) VT: *smile, laugh Me: Or you couldve just played piano and let US sing... like karaoke. VT: *weak smile, laugh, nod* Me: Well, nice seeing you feel better see you next time youre in town VT: *smile, nod, wave* .and as I walked off VT: *hoarse whisper* Ooooooo nice ass, Alberto! OK, that last line I completely made up, but who knows what she was thinking? I felt really sorry Vienna was in such bad shape. She was gracious and cute as always hope she feels better Ive been struggling with whatever she has recently myself. The people who did attend the in-store appearance seemed supportive and understanding as far as I could tell Maybe someone *coughvickiecough* can post a review and let us know how last nights show looked/sounded from the audience. Later. ~A np: Django Reinhardt Swing 48 nr: Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey (Did you know he was born in Chicago? I didnt.) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:19:14 -0500 From: Michael Curry Subject: Tour update for The Reputation >Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 20:36:16 -0500 (EST) >From: elizabeth@reputationmusic.com >To: reputation@reputationmusic.com >Subject: [The Reputation News] (no subject) > >Hey everyone! Tour update for the Reputation. More dates coming soon. > >We could use people to flyer in all of these towns! A * means that >we don't have anyone at all yet and could really use the help. If you can >put up 30-40 flyers in your town, we'll do our best to guestlist you and if >we can't, we'll make it up to you some other way (discounted stuff, >etc). If you can help, e-mail streetteam@reputationmusic.com. Also, if you >join the streetteam, sometime this summer we'll start making special stuff >available (free mp3's, stickers/pins, whatever). > >Wed, Mar 10 Chicago, IL Fireside Bowl, Elizabeth solo w/ The It's, The >Junior Varsity and Trauma Club, 7pm > >Mar 12 Champaign, ILCowboy Monkey w/ Decibully (Polyvinyl Recs) >*Mar 13 Iowa City, IA Gabe's Oasis w/ Ester Drang (Jade Tree Recs) and >Haley Bonar >Mar 14 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck w/ The Stills (*Note, this is a new show*) >*Mon Mar 15 Oklahoma City, OK, the Conservatory w/ Don Caballero (Touch&Go) >and Decibully >Tues Mar 16 Fayetteville, AR - JR's Lightbulb Club w/ Decibully >Mar 17 - Austin, TX The FADER/Levis Happy Hour, the Trading Post 5:30 pm w/ >the Natural History, SeaChange, Elkland, Cordalene and Pearlene (*Note, this >is a private party but we have a limited number of invitations to pass out >so let us know if you'd like to come*) >*Mar 18 Austin, TX SXSW The Ritz 8pm, Lookout! Recs showcase w/ Ted Leo, >The Oranges Band, Communique, The Washdown, and the Smugglers >Mar 19 Houston, TX Mary Jane's Fat Cat w/ Pedro the Lion (Jade Tree) and >Ester Drang >*Mar 20 New Orleans, LA Mermaid Lounge w/ Jai Alai, The Hong King, and >Mishka. >*Mar 21 Port Allen, LA The Furnace w/ Fred Weaver >*Mar 22 Valdosta, GA Vito's >*Mar 23 Gainesville, FL Common Grounds >*Mar 24 Miami, FL Churchill's >*Mar 25 Orlando, FL Will's Pub or the Social.(not yet confirmed) >Mar 26 Mt Pleasant, SC Village Tavern w/ the Damnwells and Gingersol >Mar 27 Atlanta, GA the EARL w/ the hiss and the close >*Mar 28 Chapel Hill, NC Go! Room 4 w/ Don Caballero >Mar 29 Richmond, VA Nanci Raygun >Mar 30-31 TBA >Apr 1 NYC Pianos w/ Fontaine Toups (Versus) >Apr 2-3 TBA >*Apr 4 Providence, RI AS220 w/ Persil, the Blams, the Electra Comples, and >Vic Thrill >*Apr 5 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place w/ All Out War (Victory) >Apr 6-7 TBA >Apr 8 Cleveland, OH Beachland w/ John Vanderslice (Barsuk) >Apr 9 Chicago, IL Schubas w/ the M's and Pilot to Gunner (Arena Rock) >Apr 10 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club w/ Red-Eyed Legends and the Obsoletes >Apr 16 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club >*Apr 17 Moorhead, MN Ralph's Corner Bar >Apr 21 Eugene, OR Emu Amphitheatre U of Oregon > >Thanks! We'll have new shirts on tour and hopefully Cd's by early April! >xo >the reputation > > > >-- >http://www.reputationmusic.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:02:02 -0600 From: Carolyn Andre Subject: Vienna Teng at Schuba's/Chicago 3/9 Vienna's Scrapbook entry for 3/9 - about the attack of the frog - on her website (http://viennateng.com/scrapbook/ ) pretty succinctly and colorfully sums up last night's bittersweet experience. Having misjudged public transit, when I arrived 30 minutes before the show and discovered that the line was all the way to the front of Schuba's, I mixed a *#@! with good thoughts that the house would be packed! Chip Lueck came along while I was waiting in line; amazingly, Vickie wasn't there yet! (she did arrive, in perfect time for Vienna's, erm, set). We didn't see any other ecto-folks. Aaron, were you there? the room was so crowded that it was difficult to check around during the really short intermission. Chip, Jo & I were about 4 rows back, on the right. Kyler England took the stage nearly precisely at 8 p.m. and, after some difficulties with batteries, played for about 45 minutes. Near her last song, she had Vienna and Alan join her. It seemed like a lot of the folks in the audience knew her/her music, and cheered enthusiastically . Just not in my area of musical interest/taste. So I'll leave comments to either Chip/Jo or Vickie or Aaron. Vienna, Alan and Marika came onstage about 9 and directly started on Homecoming. And nearly as immediately stopped, and Vienna told us that she was coming down with something and had pretty much lost her upper register. So they would have to see how things went. [aside: I can't begin to imagine what it is like, as a vocal artist, to wake up at the start of a national tour supporting a new album, and discover the large frog sitting on your vocal chords. Or imagine what effort it took to perservere as long as she did!] She tried to keep her set to the songs in lower range or with spread out vocals: Homecoming, then Feather Moon, and Unwritten Letter #1. Her voice was clearly missing range and strength, but she put out a great effort. And seemed to be very spot on for the range she could cover. (Where we were sitting, I felt that the sound mix wasn't helping - the keyboard was coming in too strong and overwhelming her voice at times.) Alan contributed vocals during Homecoming, as I recall, and additional violin flourishes. As the strain was getting to her, she tried for audience participation, asking the audience how well we knew her songs. *really* knew her songs. Kyler and Marika were the backup Supremes on the mike for Soon Love Soon. Although our participation definitely was weaker for Lullaby for a Stormy Night. Obviously we may have "known her music", but either didn't know them well enough to actually *perform* them or were too wimpy to perform them in public . At this point, I think Vienna was ready to call it quits, but Marika volunteered that she could do lead vocals for Harbor ... on the chorus. When the audience realized this was the end of the evening, everyone just kept clapping. Vienna came back and said she could do another - but just *playing*. Saying her grandmother was in the audience, she then did Green Island Serenade. And that was the musical end to the evening. I think (and said to both Vienna and Marika) that the audience would have been delighted to hear Vienna "just play" the rest of the album - even with no vocals. But it was also obvious that the whole performance was becoming a strain on her. She did stay around and sign CDs, pose for photos, and chat with folks for another 20 minutes or so. After which I hope she went back to a hotel for hot tea with lemon & honey or something else soothing (or stronger) On the bright side, at least this frog didn't attack until after her west coast shows opening for Joan Baez (who Alan said was very nice). That was certainly a great opportunity to introduce her music to a wide audience who I suspect will embrace it! 'nuff said. Chip, Jo? Vickie? n.p. Susan Werner: I Can't Be New Regards, Carolyn Andre - --- candre@house-of-music.com Chicago, IL / USA Support Independent Music! Use the Internet http://house-of-music.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 00:24:34 -0500 From: glenn mcdonald Subject: some Ecto reviews My turn to push the Vienna Teng bandwagon this week! http://www.furia.com/twas/twas0476.html (Also some nudges of the slower Julia Darling bandwagon, and a small stick in the spokes of another one.) glenn ------------------------------ Date: 10 Mar 2004 22:16:02 -0800 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Bethany Yarrow in Portland Well, you other PDXtoes, y'all really missed out on this one. What a talent she is. Singing alone but with Rufus on cello she kept the audience enthralled through 3 sets. Rufus (didn't get his last name) plays cello like a madman when he gets intense. Makes it sing, scream, talk. Switches between bow and wah-wah pedal to plucking like acoustic bass. She played guitar on a few tracks, but with him on the only instrument it didn't seem sparse at all. She took those old folk standards and made them hers completely. A reviewer referred to "the depths of her deep, dark gothic soul..." which she quoted and said "yep, he got it right." She could do an entire set a cappella; that kind of voice and control. She's back to NYC now, so if you see her playing anywhere back there, don't miss. I got her CD and also a demo that contains 7 songs of her and Rufus together (the official CD is more intensely produced) and I don't think you can get that demo anywhere else. I will see about posting MP3s on my site later so you can snag them now and get the release when it comes out. The Monkey & The Rat, where she played, is her brother Christoper's store, a dealer in Thai imports. He also sang on a couple of numbers. There were about 40 people crowding the place, mostly PBS-niks and friends of the store and the family. I am so glad I saw this. I told her about Ecto and she is interested. Who knows, she might show up here some day. Michael ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V10 #70 **************************