From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V11 #70 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, March 15 2005 Volume 11 : Number 070 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: ecto-digest V11 #69 ["Mark B" ] RE: ecto-digest V11 #69 ["Mark B" ] First time hearing Happy (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) ["Xenu's Sister" ] Re: First time hearing Happy ["Robert Lovejoy" ] Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) [Jeffrey B] Fwd: Katell Keineg in London [Neile Graham ] Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) [Tom Servo] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:05:34 -0500 From: "Mark B" Subject: RE: ecto-digest V11 #69 Okay, Here goes nothing. I couldn't find someone to catch a ride to Philly from the Albany area to catch Happy's show. I didn't receive a Sampler disc si I am living quite vicariously reading all the reviews, imagining the audio as best as I can. I am finding that as I await and receive new music I know I am excited about lately, a strange thing has happened. I have taken a few discs and given them one or two listens, putting them back on the shelf for a time. I guess it's kind of like letting a good bottle of wine breathe until you partake of it again. It is like I don't want to burn out on the new stuff because there is so little anymore musicwise that I even can look forward to. So when I do hear the new CD, I will take it all in...in small doses. I have a DVD in which David Gilmour reflects about recording "Dark Side of the Moon". He makes a comment about not really knowing how bibn the album would become, just that he recorded it like all the rest. He states that he wishes he could be lucky enough to hear the CD for the first time in it's entirety as he never will have the chance to. I reflected back on the first time I listened in awe. I rememeber the day KB walked into the music store I was handed a bunch of Happy's cassette tapes to sell on consignment (that should date things right there, happy on tape!). I just recall playing her first recording and stopping what I was doing as if hypnotized into not being able to perform more than two tasks at the same time. I also know that every time she was played in the store, within the span of one recording someone would come up and by one or more of her recordings. I never thought I would be sitting here today typing a note to a few fellow Happy fans. I can only say that I really thought Happy would be a household name. I still turn as many people on to her music as I can. So I thought I would ask others if they remember the first time they heard her voice? Where they were? What they were doing? I am looking forward to hearing the new stuff...No hurries...Thanks, Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:05:53 -0500 From: "Mark B" Subject: RE: ecto-digest V11 #69 Okay, Here goes nothing. I couldn't find someone to catch a ride to Philly from the Albany area to catch Happy's show. I didn't receive a Sampler disc so I am living quite vicariously reading all the reviews, imagining the audio as best as I can. I am finding that as I await and receive new music I know I am excited about lately, a strange thing has happened. I have taken a few discs and given them one or two listens, putting them back on the shelf for a time. I guess it's kind of like letting a good bottle of wine breathe until you partake of it again. It is like I don't want to burn out on the new stuff because there is so little anymore musicwise that I even can look forward to. So when I do hear the new CD, I will take it all in...in small doses. I have a DVD in which David Gilmour reflects about recording "Dark Side of the Moon". He makes a comment about not really knowing how bibn the album would become, just that he recorded it like all the rest. He states that he wishes he could be lucky enough to hear the CD for the first time in it's entirety as he never will have the chance to. I reflected back on the first time I listened in awe. I rememeber the day KB walked into the music store I was handed a bunch of Happy's cassette tapes to sell on consignment (that should date things right there, happy on tape!). I just recall playing her first recording and stopping what I was doing as if hypnotized into not being able to perform more than two tasks at the same time. I also know that every time she was played in the store, within the span of one recording someone would come up and by one or more of her recordings. I never thought I would be sitting here today typing a note to a few fellow Happy fans. I can only say that I really thought Happy would be a household name. I still turn as many people on to her music as I can. So I thought I would ask others if they remember the first time they heard her voice? Where they were? What they were doing? I am looking forward to hearing the new stuff...No hurries...Thanks, Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 01:22:57 -0800 (PST) From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: First time hearing Happy (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) I plan to write something, but I wanted to change the name of the thread so it would be easier to find responses later in search, and I want to do it before anyone else responds. Vickie - --- Mark B wrote: > I can only say that I really thought Happy would be a household name. I still > turn as many people on to her music as I can. So I thought I would ask > others if they remember the first time they heard her voice? Where they > were? What they were doing? I am looking forward to hearing the new > stuff...No hurries...Thanks, Mark > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Make Yahoo! your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:49:24 -0800 (PST) From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) I have to go back some to outline the convoluted way I found Happy. This is long, sorry. I've told this story before much of the info is old hat to some. Early fall, 1988 (fade in) I lived in Kansas City, Missouri, and I was a big fan of a musician named Alice Peacock. A fellow KaTe (Bush) fan who lived in St. Louis was also a fan of Alice's music. That's John. We were on a quest to find every single album she'd done, and there were quite a few. He visited us often and we would dub for each other the albums we had found. He was in contact with another KaTe fan who lived in California. This fan (Bob) also liked Alice Peacock and he had a couple of albums that we didn't so he offered to tape them and send them to John. John got the cassette, and the next time he came to visit he brought the tape along. John wasn't going to be there for long so we didn't listen to the tape then, but I set a blank tape to record it while we were watching a movie and wrote down everything Bob had written regarding song titles. There was time on the end of both sides of the tape, so Bob had put something on each side to fill it up. It wasn't anything I'd ever heard of. Wait...*runs to get tape* Side One (after Annette Peacock's album "I'm The One") Happy Roads (I know, I know) == Ecto == Off From Out From Under Me Side Two (after Annette Peacock's "Sky-Skating") Happy Rhodes (correct spelling this time, I don't know if it was Bob or me who spelled it wrong) == If Love Is A Game, I Win == Poetic Justice == I'm Going Back A little arrow is pointed to the songs and I wrote: From the "Ecto Sampler" Back then I had a job working in a record store warehouse. It was a pretty busy place because we were also a "One Stop" where other record stores came to get their stock. I was a stocker (not to be confused with a stalker) and I worked the afternoon/evening shift. I could wear headphones and often played cassettes. The next day at work I took the cassette with me. I loved hearing new Annette! Then there was a pause, and this interesting music came on. A tick-tick-tick-tick and a very cool guitar sound. Then a deep hypnotic voice in my head "Should I die? Don't take time to wonder. Is she near? Or are her brains asunder? This spirit must exist and move on to better things" Wha?? I too stopped what I was doing and then I heard the most amazing thing: KATE BUSH! Ecto Ecto Ecto Ecto I nearly fell over. Obvously it wasn't Kate, but it sure sounded like her, and I'd never heard anyone who sounded anywhere near like her. When the song was over I rewound it to listen again. Wow. There had to be 2 people singing, and I really wanted to know who these people were. Then came the song that made me fall in love: Off From Out From Under Me I knew a man who was very odd He always thought that someone was following him He'd talk of entities that didn't exist Or so I thought Off From Out From Under Me Off From Out From Under Me Off From Out From Under Me Freaking hell! I was so in love! I must have listened to those two songs a few dozen times before turning the tape over and fast-forwarding through Annette (sorry Annette) to get to the Happy Rhodes songs, which of course, I also loved. I was dying to find out who this person/group was and if this was a "Sampler," what else was on that album. I asked everybody at work if they'd heard the name. This was a record store and distributor, right? Someone had to have heard of her. Nope. When I got home John was still there and I asked him if he'd listened to the Annette cassette yet. He hadn't, so I said, you HAVE to hear this! and put the tape in. I played all Happy's songs, and he was just as amazed as I was. I insisted he call Bob right then and there to find out what this Happy Rhodes thing was (for all I knew, it could have been the name of a group). He got Bob on the line and was told that Bob worked at a radio station, and he had received this cassette called the Ecto Sampler. He also, oh joy, had the entire Ecto album! We begged him to make us a copy, which he did. Well, in the time between discovering Happy and getting the Ecto tape, I asked everybody I came into contact with if they'd heard of her. Nope, no luck. I got the dub of Ecto and wore that thing out. (You know, if anyone ever wants to know why I share Happy's music, and I've shared her on the old Napser and to this day on a web site, it's because without "illegal" dubs, I never would have heard Happy.) I had a radio show at the time called "Suspended In Gaffa" on WZRD in Kansas City. I focused on female vocals and had a decent listenership. I first played Happy on October 2, 1988 in a show that included the Sugarcubes, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Najma, Kate, Katia & Marielle Labeque and Mary Coughlin, among others. I played "Don't Want To Hear It" and then played 2 Dark Arts songs while I re-cued the tape to "Would That I Could." I remember saying something like "I don't know who this person is, so if anybody has ever heard of Happy Rhodes, PLEASE call me!" I heard from people who liked it, but no one knew her. I found out that Happy was on a label called "Aural Gratification" and there was this fellow named Kevin Bartlett involved somehow. I called long-distance information and asked for a listing of Happy Rhodes in Albany, NY. No luck. Then I asked the operator to check Kevin Bartlett. I got a number. I called and got an answering machine. I didn't know what to say so I said my name and that I had a radio show on a station in Kansas City. I said something like "I'm looking for a Kevin Bartlett that has something to do with someone named Happy Rhodes." So, my show was on Sunday night. I played Happy. I called Kevin sometime that week. On Friday night we went to a party at a friend's house (the guy who got me the radio show) and there was another friend there who had brought along a friend of his who was visiting from "New York" (I assumed city). I didn't talk to him, but then when we were leaving, literally going out the door, I impulsively turned around and went over to him and said "Have you ever heard of a musician named Happy Rhodes?" (hey, he was from New York, that's all I knew. Don't all people who live in the same state know each other?) I expected the same "No" that I had gotten several dozen times before, so imagine my surprise when he said "Oh sure, her brother used to be my roommate" !!!!!!!!!! Chris heard that and knew we were going to be there for a while longer. I made him tell me everything he knew. Which wasn't much really. He knew her music and liked it, and said her brother was a nice guy, and that she was beautiful (a knockout, I think he said) and a few other things, also including that she had other albums. Oooh, she had other albums?!?! You really can't imagine how amazing this was to me, that not only did I find someone who'd heard of her, he knew her! And she had other albums. More music! So that was Friday. Sunday I was getting ready for my show that night and the phone rings. It's Kevin Bartlett! It's THE Kevin Bartlett!! Yay! We talked about Happy for a bit, then he asked me if I wanted to talk to her. Oh my god, I was so nervous. I doubt she was as nervous as I was, but I know (now) that she doesn't like to talk on the phone, so the long conversation we had was probably very unusual for her. I don't remember what all we talked about, but her music and Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel were probably the big topics. Damn, they were SO NICE! I was knocked out, and very excited when told that they'd send me her other albums. I had a great show that night. I said to my listeners something like "Remember last week when I said that I didn't know anything at all about Happy Rhodes? Well, now I know a lot, because I talked to her right before coming to the studio!' On that show I played "Project 499" and "I Won't Break Down" (along with Kate, Anne Pigalle, The Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses, the Bulgarian Chorus, Victoria Williams, Alice Coltrane and others). I played her on nearly every show after that, and my listeners loved her. She sold many cassettes in Kansas City. I even interviewed her live on the air once. I hated to talk on the radio. If I could have gotten away with never saying a word I would have, but I was always meticulous about identifying the artists I played (I chose all the music) and every time I played Happy I would say a little something about her. For the longest time I pronounced the word "Albany" wrong. I would say al (like pal, sally) banee when it's supposed to be ALL-banee. Happy was very sweet and funny when she corrected me during the interview. I have a tape somewhere where I put together of many of the times I talked about Happy and I think there's a section where I have fun with my mispronunciations. When we were moving to Chicago I was still going to have my radio show, but I would record it on reel-to-reel tape and send it down. On my last live show (which turned out to not be my last live show because I was still in town the next week and my replacement, the one who would be playing my tapes, was sick, so I went on) I had permission to do a 6 hour live show. I played Happy throughout the show, but I dedicated my last hour to her and only played her. I did my final sign-off to the song "To Be E. Mortal," saying all my goodbyes and thank yous. I was really tired by then, and I cried. It was very moving and such perfect music in the background. We joined rec.music.gaffa/Love-Hounds (the mailing list mirror of the Kate Bush newsgroup) in late 1989, and I started talking about Happy right away. I'll always be greatful to Jeff Burka and Larry Hernandez, who believed me when I raved about her. They bought cassettes (her first 4 albums were only available on hand-made cassettes until after Warpaint) and raved about her too, which prompted others to try her out. When Warpaint came out on CD in 1991, a lot of people liked it, and the talk on gaffa became deafening. There were protests from Kate fans who weren't into Happy, and so Jessica Dembski created the Ecto mailing list. And here we are. I love her so damn much. That she thinks I'm pretty cool, that she's still around and making great music, that Ecto still exists, and that she does have fans who do talk about her, are such bright points in my life. I too expected her to be a household name, but what can you do? If I were more of a go-getter type I might have been able to help her more, but since my naturally quiet and shy personality has already been stretched to such a limit over the years, I'm glad I did what I could, when I could. I am very proud that at the right time and place, and in front of the right people, I had a big mouth! Rambly enough for you Neal? :-) Vickie (who will probably notice slap-your-forehead typos after she hits Send) ps, if anybody knows a **Bob Davis** who had an alternative radio show somewhere in Northern California in mid-1988, thank him for me, and give me his e-mail address. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 05:07:15 -0800 (PST) From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) Sigh, I knew I should have triple-checked. Besides typos, there's an important error. My Kansas City radio show was on KKFI. My Chicago radio show was on WZRD. I just wanted to set that straight, since KKFI, a 100,000 watt Community station, was so important to me. They let me screw around with my own show and never told me what to play, for 6 years! That is all. V __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:58:00 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) Hi, Vickie recalled: >I have to go back some to outline the convoluted way I found Happy. >This is long, sorry. I've told this story before much of the info >is old hat to some. Either I'm getting the dementia early or you never told the story in that much detail ... what a joy to read. I had no idea you'd had a random encounter with Happy's brother's former roommate. Do you have *any* idea how Twilight Zone that is?! It tells me that the Universe had a hand in this, really. :) It's appropriate that Vickie was the first one to respond to this thread, since she's the nexus for so many of us. Here's my story ... not nearly as interesting as hers, but hey. November 9, 1990 (or was it the 11th? Like I said, the dementia). I was standing in line outside the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, waiting for the doors to the KaTe Bush KonvenTion to open. (I was 19 years old, spending my junior year in college studying in Munich, and when the convention was announced I spent money I really should've been using on food and rent to get there.) I hadn't been on Love-Hounds in several months, since I didn't have a computer at home and the Internet hadn't come to the public yet in Germany, but I knew that luminaries such as IED and Chris and Vickie were going to be there, and I was excited to meet them finally. I hadn't been waiting long when I saw a woman walking up the line with a little boombox in her hand. I don't know how or why, but I knew instantly that this *had* to be Vickie. I don't remember how I introduced myself or anything, but I do clearly remember the moment when she told me I had to hear this woman named Happy Rhodes who sounded like KaTe and Annie Lennox singing a duet, and hit "play" on the boombox. I don't even remember what song it was, but I do remember going "holy crap" and filing the name Happy Rhodes into my "to check out" mental file. At the time, in the absence of actual Love-Hounds access I had woj snail mailing me letters keeping me updated on what was going on. I must have asked him if he knew who this Happy Rhodes person was, because at some point after the convention he sent me a tape with _Warpaint_ on one side and _Rhodes I_ on the other. I just about wore that thing out. (I also drove my friends crazy with making them listen to it whenever they came over to my place, but I'm sure that deep down they were secretly grateful I was giving them a break from the KaTe stuff I had constantly bombarded them with before that. ;) And the rest, as they say, is history... Vickie's story about calling Kevin reminds me of the time he called me. I was back in the States finishing up college, and _Warpaint_ had just come out. I had my radio show back on WESU, and I was playing Happy on the air every week. I was curious about the possibility of having her come do a show on campus (ah, the naivete of youth). I must have written a letter to Aural Gratification to that effect with my contact info, because one night I was in my room working on my thesis when the phone rang, and my housemate brought it to my door saying "it's Kevin Bartlett, calling about Happy Rhodes". I just about *died*. We had a wonderful conversation, though -- as many ectophiles know Kevin is one of the great guys on the planet, and even though I was a clueless college kid he treated me like an adult and was genuinely grateful to me for helping to get Happy's music out there. (Needless to say the concert never happened, but that's ok. I got Happy in my living room a decade or so later. :) =============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth =============================================== hear at the HOMe House Concert Series http://hom.smoe.org =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:37:06 -0800 From: brian@mooman.com Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) It's amazing what ripple effects Vickie's experience of listening to a cassette while stocking records has had on the rest of the world! I joined LoveHounds exactly 14 years ago this week. I was one of those people who became intrigued by all the Happy talk on there, and a few months after Ecto was formed, I switched over to it, making my first post to the group (that I can find) on Sept 12, 1991. Based on a promise (I think from Jessica?) that if I didn't like Warpaint, she'd reimburse me for it, I ordered my first Happy album which arrived (again, thank you Google) on October 8, 1991. Here are some of the events that have all transpired from that: In 1994, at the ecto gathering in Vancouver B.C., I proposed marriage to my [now] wife Mindy on the beach there at sunset. In 1995 and 1996, through the generosity of ectohostels in the homes of 'philes Doug Burks (Seattle) and Michael Bowman (Portland), we got to explore the Pacific Northwest, and moved to the Portland area based on those trips. (Doug's expert explanation of rainfall patterns in the Seattle area scared me away from there ;) I've now lived up here for over 7 years, including having a daughter who was born here and will always think of Vancouver, Washington as her home. It could be said that every person I interact with here in the northwest (friends, coworkers, auto accidents, whatever) is because of Ecto. I've also had 3 or 4 other philes stay at my house as an Ectohostel, and who knows what ripples effects, however small, that had on their lives? [Michael Bowman can also lay claim to getting me back into role-playing games, and I have an active gaming group of friends that I now play with, including one who got me the job I currently have!] Then there's all the music I purchased, trips to music stores based on suggestions, concerts I saw, people I met, all because of the conversations on Ecto (and #ecto). I wonder how many times EWS (http://www.direct.ca/ecto/ectophilia/ews.html) changed what bills I paid and non-music purchases I made or didn't make, and what effects those had? So anyway, as I sit here in Portland, talking *about* ecto, I can pretty easily claim it was all *because of ecto* that I even am! Thank you Vickie for listening to that tape, and all the other ectophiles past and present who have shaped my life, whether you realized it or not. :) brian the moo-man [This feels like a slow motion version of 'Run Lola Run', which if you haven't seen it, I recommend you do..] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:48:09 -0500 From: Laura Clifford Subject: Re: Sampler Review At 12:28 PM 3/13/2005 -0800, Vickie wrote: >It's really more about the need and desire to be loved than just getting hitched. I love this verse: I have never had a symbol a vow or declaration Instead I seem to inspire practical consideration Its difficult to see just what it is I think Ive missed Its only One Day in a white dress with a guest list ...where first she regrets no one ever wanting to bind themself to her, then rationalizing why she shouldn't care. Beautifully written - 'inspire practical consideration' sounds like she thinks she's more someone to be dealt with than loved. This whole song sounds very Katian to me for some reason. Laura ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:20:32 -0500 From: "Robert Lovejoy" Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy Old-school ectophiles have heard this story before, but since you asked, mark... I had to go to the grocery store for a few things. I popped on the radio to WXPN, a legendary Philadelphia radio station that pretty much invented the Adult Alternative format. I was about three fourths of the way to the store when this rhythm started up, and suddenly I was hearing some of the most beautiful, mesmerizing music ever. I was taken at once, as if a bolt of enlightenment had struck me. I had to pull over the car, get off the road, and I concentrated. I had no idea who I was listening to. I knew WXPN would back announce, sure they wood. Had to know. Meanwhile the lyrics spoke of love and respect for art and artists, and the music reached deep into my soul and refused to let go. Spontaneous combustion. What, it can't be! The song is over? Whatever followed seemed bland and lifeless. No back announce? OK, I'll drive on to the store. I got there and sat in the parking lot. Finally the announcer came on, and there was no artist ID. And they went into the next set. Did my shopping, got home, and immediately called the station. "Oh yeah, we've been getting a lot of inquiries about that song. It's by Happy Roads. (My interpretation at the time!). I drove straight over to Tower Records and they actually had the album. Turned out to be Happy Rhodes, though. I went home, hit play, and became an ectophile. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Bob Lovejoy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:16:06 -0400 From: Jeffrey Burka Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) meth sez, re vickie: > Either I'm getting the dementia early or you never told the story in > that much detail ... hmmm. I'm not sure whether or not it's just you, meth...I know I've heard the full story, but I couldn't begin to guess when it was...there's a strong probability that Vickie told me one time when we were talking on the phone while I was in college (would have been, uh, '90? maybe '91) Anyway. Vickie has already claimed credit for introducing me to Happy's music. What she left out was that after that 6 hour marathon broadcast on KKFI, she put together a tree on r.m.g and sent out tapes of those 6 hours...along with 2 hours worth of videos that Chris had been showing (in the station lobby? something like that) while Vickie was doing her radio show. Just a few weeks ago I happened upon one of those vhs tapes and watched the SiG video again. Still lovely. Anyway, I was the second person in the tape tree. I received the tapes, dubbed the four casettes and VHS tape, and mailed the box off to the next person. No one knows what happened to it. This was in july of '90 (sound right, Vickie?). By the end of the year I'd ordered the 1st4 tapes, which came with a note from Kevin alerting me that they were hard at work on _Warpaint_. I pre-ordered that, and it was waiting for me after I returned from a trip to NYC...I got back to bloomington, IN at 8am on 4/1/91 and it was in my mailbox waiting for me. jeff ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:39:42 -0800 From: Neile Graham Subject: Fwd: Katell Keineg in London For those interested. - --Neile >To: neile@drizzle.com >From: Katell Keineg Mailing List >Subject: Katell Keineg in London >Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:37:04 -0500 > >For all you UK-dwellers out there, Katell will be performing in >London next month: > >April 21st, 12 Bar Club, Denmark St, Soho. Around 9pm. > >Tell your friends! > >For more info, visit http://www.12barclub.com - -- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham .... neile@sff.net/@drizzle.com ... www.sff.net/people/neile Les Semaines: A Weekly Journal ........ www.sff.net/people/neile/semaines Editor, The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music ........... www.ectoguide.org Workshop Administrator, Clarion West ................ www.clarionwest.org ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:18:35 -0800 (PST) From: Tom Servo Subject: Re: First time hearing Happy (LONG) (RE: ecto-digest V11 #69) My story ... I can thank Borders for introducing me to Happy Rhodes. Back in 1996, when I was completely enthralled with a semi-new artist named Tori Amos, I'd read Happy's name several times in Amos chat groups and in the printed newsletter "Really Deep Thoughts." And as a KaTe fan of course I'd heard the vocal comparisons. To me, "Cloudbusting" was a musical epiphany, but I'd had the misforture of discovering Kate's music about two weeks before the release of "The Red Shoes," followed by the longest musical sabbatical of Kate's career. So sometime in 1996 I was at a Borders with some friends, and they had "Rhodesongs" on a listening station. I put on the headphones, hoping to hear something that would move me as much as "Cloudbusting" or "Wuthering Heights" did. I listened. I remembered thinking, well, her voice does sound a lot like Kate's, but the music is too folky. Who knows which song I actually listened to, but I think I only listened to one before giving up. How stupid I was. Fast-forward to mid-November of 1998. I was recovering from mono and stir-crazy from being stuck in the house for almost three weeks, so my mom took me to Borders just so I could get out of the house for awhile. Hey, there's a new album from that Happy Rhodes chick on the listening station -- Many Worlds Are Born Tonight. The cover sure didn't look like the cover of an acoustic/folk album. I wonder what second impressions will be like... The opening notes of "100 Years" begins. Hmm, I think I might have to buy this album. I skip forward to "Roy," as recommended by the little title card above the listening station. Twenty seconds into it, and I *knew* I had to buy this album. It was one of those musical "epiphany" moments that come so rarely in my life... only this one was even stronger than when I first heard "Cloudbusting." Within the next four months, I owned all of Happy's CDs... just in time for Happy to take the longest (I think) sabbatical of her musical career. Things that make you go hmmmm... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/ ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V11 #70 **************************