From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V14 #305 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Saturday, November 7 2009 Volume 14 : Number 305 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Noe Venable vs. the Rockwood Music Hall [robert bristow-johnson Subject: Re: Noe Venable vs. the Rockwood Music Hall On Nov 6, 2009, at 12:39 AM, Paul Blair wrote: > Noe Venable is one of my favorite musicians. And if the Rockwood Music > Hall isn't my favorite place to hear music, it's mainly because it's > small and crammed-in, not because of any problem with the sound. The > sound, usually, is great. > the Rockwood is the first place i saw and heard Noe (in 2005 during the AES convention). this last October (during the 2009 AES convention) i went to the Rockwood a couple of times, to see the Cardboard Bikini one night and to see Trevor Exter and John Garrison and Dred Scott the other night. i really began to like that intimate little place (if you get a good place to hang) but it can be too small. the little drum pit is also a problem. i'm sorry to hear that the venue proved to be so problematic for Noe this time. this coming February, it is my intention that the venue and details be perfect for Noe (and the others). - -- r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com "Imagination is more important than knowledge." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 10:34:38 -0500 From: Karen Hester Subject: Re: Noe Venable vs. the Rockwood Music Hall This was my second least favorite Noe show. I was thrilled to hear "Prettiness" at last, one of my favorite "Boots" songs, and "Black Madonna", "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Sparrow Will Fly" were all lovely. But in addition to the Rockwood sound guy's ineptitude (not the usual sound guy), I had two major problems. One, everyone was pitchy. Noe and Greta never hit everything perfectly but fall within an acceptable range for pop music, but I cringed during several notes tonight. Worse was the harmonizing with Matt Kanelos who had difficulty with the way Noe's melodies leap around, and wavered on both the high and low parts. Three voices off-key in different directions - ick. Sadly my second problem was with Noe's newer songs. They aren't as good as her pre- and during-divinity study works. The Icarus/bi-polar student song has a generic self-help chorus and standard boring pop melody. Bah. It's also in a major key, inspiring Don's wrath. 'Bandages' may have been inspired by William Blake but again it has dull-for-Noe lyrics - "Come take off my bandages, something something put on a coat of skin" or something, repeated over a simple drum beat. If it had a striking melody, the repetition and echoing drum would be powerful, but the melody is blah. The new song also repeated its main line, what was it? "why do I have to work such long hours" or similar, though not quite so inelegant. The arrangement of the harmonies wasn't there yet but there was an interesting soulful tinge to it, like it had been inspired by prison gang chants or gospel music. Noe has so many great and good unrecorded songs that rarely show up in her set-list these days - Honey of Experience, Pontito, the garden piano one, the sexy one (it's problematic without song titles!), so it'll be sad if the new ones take their place on the album. K ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V14 #305 ***************************