From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V13 #64 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, March 16 2007 Volume 13 : Number 064 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Loreena McKennitt in Amsterdam [Sander ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:00:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Matthews Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ******************* Randall K. Smith (no Email address) ******************* *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randall K. Smith Sat March 15 1969 Pisces Jessica Skolnik March 16 Pisces Patrick M. Kingsley Sat March 17 1962 Yin/Yang Alan Sodoma Thu March 18 1965 LuckyLurker Richard Konrad Sat March 18 1944 Pisces Daniel Wed March 18 1959 Wednesday's Child Kim Justice March 18 Pisces Barry Wong Thu March 19 1970 Merlin Graham Dombkins Fri March 19 1965 Pisces Ian Young Wed March 19 1969 Squiggol Jeff Wasilko Wed March 19 1969 Pisces Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces John Stewart Sat March 21 1970 Aries Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Tom Proven Sat March 27 1971 Eat at Joe's Jennifer Albert Wed March 30 1966 Aries (w/Cancer rising!:) Warpaint Mon April 01 1991 Brilliant! Michael Pearce Wed April 03 1946 Pegasus Michael E. Bravo Mon April 05 1971 Dandelion Wine Brion McIntosh Sun April 06 1958 Aries Marcel Kshensky Thu April 06 1950 Aries Bill Mazur Mon April 06 1953 Aries Sun/Cancer Rising David Dixon Tue April 07 1970 Aries Heidi Heller Mon April 08 1974 Aries Jill Hughes Sat April 09 1955 Aries Klaus Kluge Sun April 10 1960 Unicorn Steve VanDevender Sun April 10 1966 Racer Art Liestman Fri April 10 1953 Repeat Stephen Golden Sat April 10 1971 Jokey Michael Bowman Wed April 11 1962 Aries Wolfgang Ullwer Fri April 11 1969 Widder Janet Kirsch Thu April 11 1974 Aries Kristen Scallion Fri April 12 1974 Aries Jerry Tue April 13 1971 Aries Stuart Myerburg Mon April 14 1969 Aries T-Bone Wed April 15 1992 happy cat - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:10:58 +0100 From: Sander Subject: Loreena McKennitt in Amsterdam As part of the European part of her tour, Loreena dropped by in Amsterdam yesterday to perform for an odd ~3500 people at a sold out Heineken Music Hall. This was the most expensive concert I've ever attended by a fair margin, but it was worth every last eurocent. During two one hour sessions (and two one-song encores), she performed a mix of songs from An Ancient Muse and most previous albums, moving constantly from harp to grand piano to keyboard to accordion (several times doing so within the same song), and sharing some tidbits on the history of where specific songs came from. I didn't feel like there was much of a connection between her and the audience being formed through these stories (hard when the audience is that huge, I imagine), but the music itself performed its magic anyway, and it was obvious that at least the connection between the musicians on stage was in awesome shape. I've never seen a band perform with such energy, forming a whole that was so much more than the sum of its parts. They were totally rocking out. Of course, the music lent itself quite well for rocking out, as they performed much more up tempo versions of most songs than I know from the albums. I'm not quite certain I liked this everywhere (it sometimes left me feeling mentally out of breath after a song that I know as calming or soothing, such as with this version of Bonny Portmore), but sometimes it worked really, really well (the second half of the Highwayman, from "a redcoat troup came marching" on, with especially the dizzying display of energy infusing "and back he spurred like a madman" with so much more power than it already has). And the rock version of The Bonny Swans, complete with screaming guitar, just has to be experienced to be believed. She did do a few songs at their regular pace (Dante's Prayer, The Lady of Shalott), which is what beforehand I'd have told you I'd like best - but in the end, it was the boundless energy displayed during songs like Beneath a Phrygian Sky that I will remember from this performance, and which now makes me listen to the album version and shake my head at the knowledge of how much more it can be. Definitely an awesome evening. If you yet have the chance to go and see her during this tour, I can highly recommend doing so. I also bought the DVD (+ enclosed 2 audio CD set) Nights from the Alhambra. So far I've only quickly scanned through the DVD, but I already love seeing so many recognizable bits in it. And it's just great to see the musicians up close like that (I was sitting in 11th row, which was pretty good indeed, but still too far away to do anything like recognize facial expressions.) It doesn't seem to display quite the same level of energy (Loreena was dancing over stage whenever she could in Amsterdam, which I'm not seeing back anywhere on the DVD), but it comes close. And then having the audio of that (specifically the rock version of The Bonny Swans) :P is a great goodness. :) Cheers, Sander ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V13 #64 **************************