From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V13 #71 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, March 23 2007 Volume 13 : Number 071 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 ] Politics, religion, and...... ["Jerene@kellyplace.com" ] Re: Thea live in London [meredith ] Re: Thea live in London [Damon ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 03:00:04 -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********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ********************** Bob Brown (no Email address) *********************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 Jeff Hanson Sat April 16 1966 Aries Michael Klouda Mon April 17 1967 Aries Noe Venable Tue April 20 1976 Aries Harry Foster Sat April 21 1956 NiceGuy - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:18:26 -0600 From: "Jerene@kellyplace.com" Subject: Politics, religion, and...... Let's discuss sex. What is your favorite music to accompany doing it? Jerene the Seldom Seen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:39:48 +0000 From: adamk@zoom.co.uk Subject: Thea live in London Blinding, absolutely. A freezing cold night (first day of spring, as well) and I get to the venue so early I end up waiting for two hours outside the door until my feet go numb. For some reason, despite my short and superannuated form, I'm regularly mistaken for some sort of bouncer, and am constantly asked for info by other people, and even by Thea's sister (who I try to be amusingly glib and deadpan with, and only end up being smug and offensive) and a young woman who comes up to me and says, "Hi, I'm Erin Mckeown's tour manager". "Um...yes?" is all I can say to that. Unbeknownst to me, I've already seen Erin come in -- a small, hooded figure coming across the courtyard --and I thought she was bar staff. I also thought, "Wow, she looks like she really hates her job". Anyway: After the disappointment of Harpo's Ghost and the subsequent show I saw last year, Thea's gone back to basics. This was "Up Close and Acoustic", just her and hubby Nigel Stonier playing Dingwalls in Camden, where I first saw her years ago supporting Tom McRae. She looked great, related brilliantly to the audience and the stripped down sound revealed, once again, the true beauty of her voice in a way I haven't heard since she played the similarly intimate Bush Hall a couple of years ago. A wide-ranging set list that even drew from her first album, "Burning Dorothy" and included several new songs that sounded fantastic. A digression here: I've now developed a certain amount of wariness when it comes to Thea's songs. All the songs from Harpo's Ghost sounded great until (yeah, IMHO) she recorded them. Somebody else on the Thea forum, inverigo, also had a problem with this album, and suggested a rather technical explanation to do something with compression and the rather hard, glossy production sound. This would explain the problems I have with it, even though I know the songs are great, on the album they just don't draw me in the way they should. Live (and acoustic) they become new friends, or old friends re-visited. Some of the new songs she sang last night, full of fire and fight, appear on an EP she's selling only at the gigs. I bought a copy last night, haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but hope that they can recreate the same sense of urgency and intimacy. Erin McKeown joined her and Nigel onstage for a fantastic rendition of the old standard, "Blue Skies" and a fierce "This Girl is Taking Bets". Thea then, alone and unaccompanied, gave us her breathtaking take on the traditional "Parting Song", which she hasn't done for a while. I think I've mentioned this before, but while I've always liked Thea's voice, I've always thought (patronisingly) that it worked beautifully within its limitations. Suddenly, with this song, she breaks through and appears to have none. She sighs and soars with a warm, soulful sound that just fills the room with heartbreaking beauty, to which the only possible, human response is to weep with joy. This really, really should have rounded off "Harpo's Ghost", but it's also on the EP, so it will be interesting to see how this translates to the media. Oh, and Erin McKeown. I'm not a fan, having been stolidly indifferent even to "Grand", but she's one great peformer, I'll have to admit. Great sense of humour, stunning energy levels, lovely voice, absolutely fantastic guitar player. But...but...I still just can't get into the songs, finding her humourous spoken intros to them far more interesting than the songs themselves. I don't know what it is, but they just don't do anything for me. I remember telling this to one music fan, and he said, "People either love her or hate her", but I had to say that I've never felt either extreme, and I didn't last night. There was one new song, as yet unrecorded, which really made me think, "Hmm..I'd like to check that out" but while I thoroughly enjoyed her performance, I'm still not what you'd call a fan. An admirer, maybe. On a completely different note, I've been living beyond my means and acquiring a lot of music, recently -- Allison Crowe, Joseph Arthur, Patty Griffin, Jonatha Brooke's new one and (god help me) The Hold Steady. As it's gone quite quiet around here, I might just fill the space with my ramblings at some point. Don't worry, you'll get plenty of warning. adam k. - ----------------------------------------------- This mail sent through http://webmail.zoom.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:01:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Bernie Mojzes Subject: Re: Politics, religion, and...... seems to me that all depends on the mood and the partner... could be peter gabriel's _passion_ or dead can dance's _into the labyrinth_... could be diamanda galas... or lotsa places in between... brni while extremely confused, you said: > Let's discuss sex. What is your favorite music to accompany doing it? > Jerene the Seldom Seen > - -- brni i don't want the world, i just want your half. www.livejournal.com/~brni ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:34:16 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: Thea live in London Hi, adamk@zoom.co.uk wrote: > Oh, and Erin McKeown. I'm not a fan, having been stolidly indifferent even > to "Grand", but she's one great peformer, I'll have to admit. Great sense of > humour, stunning energy levels, lovely voice, absolutely fantastic guitar > player. But...but...I still just can't get into the songs, finding her > humourous spoken intros to them far more interesting than the songs > themselves. I don't know what it is, but they just don't do anything for me. This is what I appreciate about you, Adam ... if something isn't for you you don't just say "oh, that sucks" and disparage everyone else who might like it. :) Not to say that that attitude is prevalent here on ecto ... but I wish more people who thought and wrote about music in general had such perspective. I'm a a huge, devoted, besotted fan of Erin McKeown's music ... she just keeps getting exponentially better every time I see her play, and I love her songwriting and her choice of cover tunes. But I can see how what she does might not be for everyone. (I assume you didn't talk to her at all ... which is a shame, b/c you two at least could have had a great conversation about your shared Veda Hille fandom. Sometimes I think Erin is a bigger Veda fan than anyone else I've ever met, which is saying something. :) I'm just curious though -- how did Erin go over with Thea's crowd in general? When I first saw that she had the opening slot for this tour I thought it was a no-brainer good match, but sometimes I tend to be way off-base on these things. - -- =============================================== 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: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:15:43 -0700 From: Damon Subject: Re: Thea live in London hi folks - dropping out of lurkerdom for a moment... On 22 Mar, meredith wrote: > I'm a a huge, devoted, besotted fan of Erin McKeown's music ... she just > keeps getting exponentially better every time I see her play, and I love > her songwriting and her choice of cover tunes. But I can see how what she > does might not be for everyone. (I assume you didn't talk to her at all > ... which is a shame, b/c you two at least could have had a great > conversation about your shared Veda Hille fandom. Sometimes I think Erin > is a bigger Veda fan than anyone else I've ever met, which is saying > something. :) wow, really? i'm also a huge, devoted, besotted fan (when we first saw her here, keri and i figured her two male band members must be in love with her, as who wouldn't be? ;) - now i wish i'd spoken with her when she was last here (vancouver, veda's hometown), a month and a bit ago! keri and i went to see her play at a converted church, st. james hall - i'd never been there before, and it was a bit of an odd, yet strangely appropriate, place for the `sing you sinners' tour. i'll admit, before the show i wasn't so sure about SYS based on the samples. `cou cou' was a bit painful, and the rest didn't do a lot for me - i'm not usually fond of cover albums. i absolutely adore her other three major releases, having bought `grand' at the first concert when it was new, then gone back to `distillation', and having finally bought `we will become like birds' a few months ago and immediately fallen head over heels for it as always. but after the show i immediately bought my copy of SYS as well - it is fabulous! she really makes the songs intensely her own - no real surprise there. and her new drummer is amazing. i had my shining moment during some of her between-song banter. it was a very quiet (but appreciative) crowd, and at one point she stopped to comment on this. she was saying how normally where she plays, we'd all be a lot louder... and a lot drunker... and various other things at length; at one point when she'd maybe gone a bit too far it started to sound almost like she was complaining, so i thought `why not?' and in a very canadian response called out `sorry!'. it went over pretty well. :) anyway, i too can see on an objective level how erin might not really appeal to somebody. but on a subjective level... what, adam, you're not a raving erin fan? ;) back to the shadows... - -damon - -- dl+ecto@usrbin.ca: protecting my real address since 2002 (too late!) > EWS starts here! < ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V13 #71 **************************