From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V13 #633 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, October 22 2008 Volume 13 : Number 633 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- The Mediaeval Baebes [Mark Chapman ] Re: ecto-digest V13 #630 with many thanx!!! [mari ] Dar's 'Promised Land' ["Karen Hester" ] Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' [Tim Jones-Yelvington ] Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' [meredith ] **YOU'RE INVITED: MPRESSFEST @ CMJ WED 10/22!** [SpiritWe@aol.com] Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' [Steve VanDevender Subject: The Mediaeval Baebes I don't post much here but thought I'd contribute the following (copied from a message I sent to some friends). Mark - -------------- I spent the night with The Mediaeval Baebes. (http://www.mediaevalbaebes.com) OK, maybe not so much 'spent the night,' but I did share pub space with them and chatted with half of them after the show last night in Bethesda, Maryland. I took my 87-year-old mom, and she enjoyed the show, but due to the hour and her residential proximity, I took her home and drove back to meet my friends and Kavus Torabi, the guitarist, who I've known from some of his other music ... without any indication that the Baebes and other backing instrumentalists would be joining us. Besides being quite attractive, these ladies are very talented musicians, singing, doing choreographed little dances, playing recorders and violins, and most impressively, writing/creating/arranging their own music, which is sung in Middle English and Latin. Last night at the historic Glen Echo Park, they did two medium-length sets comprising 20-25 songs. (This followed two days, six sets at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which I believe they said was their fourth year there.) Regardless of the airbrushed, sexy PR photos they use, this is not at all some 'cheesecake' type of girl band put together by a promoter. The band was started 11 or 12 years ago by one of the singers, Katharine Blake. Kavus has known her for a long time and said she's a gifted musician. The girl I talked to the longest, a dead-ringer, imho, for a sister of actress Teri Hatcher, described going to the library to do research on old poetry and tales. (Funny...off-stage, with glasses, she looked a bit like a 'sexy librarian' type.) I had a great time, and bought one of their CDs and their DVD. Today they drive to Charlotte and come back north for shows in Connecticut and Philly. They are planning on returning to the U.S. in another 6-9 months, and I look forward to seeing them again. Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:23:09 +0300 From: mari Subject: Re: ecto-digest V13 #630 with many thanx!!! .. just like to say thanx t'ya all for the many excitin' linx this thread is 'supplyin' for my ectophilic soul! happy rhodes all! ;)* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:17:52 -0400 From: "Karen Hester" Subject: Dar's 'Promised Land' I'm enjoying Dar Williams' 'Promised Land' heaps. Lots of lovely melancholy slower songs ('Book of love', 'Tide falls away', 'The business of things'), a perfect pop non-hit ('Buzzer', about the Milgram social psychology experiment, what a imaginative subject!), a couple upbeat numbers ('It's alright', 'Go to the woods'), a gorgeous folk ballad 'Holly tree' that people who only like her first two albums should listen to. Plus a cover of the wonderful Hedwig's 'Midnight radio'. I've barely listened to any Dar since 'End of the summer'. All those CDs are back in NZ so I can't relisten to them and figure out whether I'm just finally ready for 'New Dar', or if 'Promised Land' is substantially different from Rain, Better self and Green world, or if I didn't give the middle albums a chance, or if it settles my stomach after ODing on Amanda Palmer, or if... What happens to you when you drift away from an artist and then re-discover them? Do you try to like the lost years stuff? Do you wonder why your ears are so fickle? Do you suspect your expectations of having been lowered? I know each case can be different, but I like it when, for whatever reason, one's paths re-converge with an old favorite. K ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:35:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Jones-Yelvington Subject: Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' I liked green world, pretended to like rain, but by the time better self rolled around, found her entire schtick vaguely insufferable. I get tired of the uppy-downey cutesy sing-songy thing she does with her voice. And I only find humor songs like Christians & the Pagans good for a few listens. For me, being a clever, above-average wordsmith but an average, relatively derivative composer and musician only carries you three or four albums.... - --- On Tue, 10/21/08, Karen Hester wrote: From: Karen Hester Subject: Dar's 'Promised Land' To: ecto@smoe.org Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 3:17 PM I'm enjoying Dar Williams' 'Promised Land' heaps. Lots of lovely melancholy slower songs ('Book of love', 'Tide falls away', 'The business of things'), a perfect pop non-hit ('Buzzer', about the Milgram social psychology experiment, what a imaginative subject!), a couple upbeat numbers ('It's alright', 'Go to the woods'), a gorgeous folk ballad 'Holly tree' that people who only like her first two albums should listen to. Plus a cover of the wonderful Hedwig's 'Midnight radio'. I've barely listened to any Dar since 'End of the summer'. All those CDs are back in NZ so I can't relisten to them and figure out whether I'm just finally ready for 'New Dar', or if 'Promised Land' is substantially different from Rain, Better self and Green world, or if I didn't give the middle albums a chance, or if it settles my stomach after ODing on Amanda Palmer, or if... What happens to you when you drift away from an artist and then re-discover them? Do you try to like the lost years stuff? Do you wonder why your ears are so fickle? Do you suspect your expectations of having been lowered? I know each case can be different, but I like it when, for whatever reason, one's paths re-converge with an old favorite. K ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:47:16 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' Hi, Karen Hester wrote: > I'm enjoying Dar Williams' 'Promised Land' heaps. Me too -- though I need to get it onto my iPod, so I can listen to it more. > I've barely listened to any Dar since 'End of the summer'. All those CDs > are back in NZ so I can't relisten to them and figure out whether I'm just > finally ready for 'New Dar', or if 'Promised Land' is substantially > different from Rain, Better self and Green world, or if I didn't give the > middle albums a chance, or if it settles my stomach after ODing on Amanda > Palmer, or if... I haven't been as big on her stuff since _End Of The Summer_ either, and I too am enjoying _Promised Land_ much more than any of the ones in between. I never quite got with the more pop sound she went with on those records, and while _Promised Land_ still has plenty of that it somehow works better for me this time. And "Buzzer" is one of those songs that refuses to leave your head. Ever. (It's on Dar's MySpace if anyone wants to check it out, along with "It's Alright", the single.) > What happens to you when you drift away from an artist and then re-discover > them? Do you try to like the lost years stuff? Do you wonder why your ears > are so fickle? Do you suspect your expectations of having been lowered? Hmm, I'm trying to think of a case when that's actually happened ... _Aerial_ certainly made me worship KaTe as a goddess again, but I still think _The Red Shoes_ is a piece of steaming crap. :} - -- =============================================== 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: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:24:51 EDT From: SpiritWe@aol.com Subject: **YOU'RE INVITED: MPRESSFEST @ CMJ WED 10/22!** MPRESS RECORDS ANNOUNCES CMJ SHOWCASES MPressFest 08: Artists For Eating Disorders Awareness @ Forum On Wednesday October 22, 8:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. 127 Fourth Ave. (between 12th & 13th) and: New York Songstress RACHAEL SAGE @ Kennys Castaways On Friday October 24, Midnight 157 Bleecker St. (between Thompson & Sullivan) NEW YORK, NY b MPress Records presents 2 CMJ Events: MPressFest 08 on Wednesday October 22, and Rachael Sage on Friday October 24. MPressFest at Forum on Wednesday October 22 is an evening of music from Rachael Sage, Theo Eastwind, Todd Carey, Joy Askew and Tiff Randol. All artists have been featured on the MPress Records annual charity compilation series New Arrivals. First launched in 2006, the New Arrivals series features established and rising independent artists and each benefits a charity. Vol. 1 benefited Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief while Vol. 3 raised funds for World Hunger Year. In stores October 28, 2008, New Arrivals Vol. 3: Artists For Eating Disorders Awareness features a wealth of indie talent from around the globe including The Kin, Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, Adrienne Pierce, Jay Clifford, Ember Swift and Glen Phillips; proceeds from Vol. 3 will benefit NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association). MPress Records founder and New York songstress Rachael Sage performs an official CMJ Showcase Friday October 24 at Kennys Castaways. Recently honored by Performing Songwriter as one of the "100 Most Influential Independent Artists of the Past 15 Years," Sage released Chandelier earlier this year. The disc has garnered glowing praise from The Deli: "from triumphant to soulful...a brilliant storyteller", while influential Philadelphia radio station WXPN featured the song "Vertigo" as an "XPN Morning Show: My Morning Download" the week of release. For further information, please contact MPRESS RECORDS: (212) 481-7243 / info@mpressrecords.com View the MPressFest e-card http://www.rachaelsage.com http://www.mpressrecords.com http://www.newarrivalscd.com ************** New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your destination. Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:31:12 -0700 From: Steve VanDevender Subject: Re: Dar's 'Promised Land' meredith writes: > > What happens to you when you drift away from an artist and then re-discover > > them? Do you try to like the lost years stuff? Do you wonder why your ears > > are so fickle? Do you suspect your expectations of having been lowered? > > Hmm, I'm trying to think of a case when that's actually happened > ... _Aerial_ certainly made me worship KaTe as a goddess again, but I > still think _The Red Shoes_ is a piece of steaming crap. :} Ssshhh! Are you trying to summon IED and the 50,000 watt speaker truck of enlightenment? I'll forgive a few of the bad songs on _The Red Shoes_ for "Big Stripey Lie" (that it's immediately followed by the Prince collaboration is kind of galling, though). ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V13 #633 ***************************