From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V15 #171 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, July 14 2010 Volume 15 : Number 171 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Vienna Teng & friends, NYC, 7/12/10 [JoAnn Whetsell ] Sylvi Alli, 'Vessel.' [Craig Gidney ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:06:22 -0400 From: JoAnn Whetsell Subject: Vienna Teng & friends, NYC, 7/12/10 Just got back from seeing Vienna Teng and friends at the Rockwood Music Hall, stage 2, in New York. Which means the trip home was just about as long as the set. Which is why I rarely go out to late shows (this one started shortly after I arrived at 10:42 pm). Which is why (or at least partly why) I haven't gotten around to seeing Vienna in New York until now. But I digress. The show was wonderful. Great music, ranging from solo to quartet; charming banter. The musicians all seemed very low-key. Vienna has an easy, friendly manner with the audience. Her guests did too. The room was crowded, which was good considering this seems to have been a fairly last minute gig. Of course the room isn't that big (neither is the stage). Still, I stood by the door. Vienna started the show by asking the audience for requests. I only heard a guy shout, "Surprise us!", but she said she heard "Shasta" and "Gravity," and she did play both. "Shasta" was first, solo. It seemed there was an echo coming from the vocal mic, but it either got fixed during the night or I stopped noticing it. Next she played an unrecorded song, "Everything's Fine," which she said was written with Amber Rubarth as part of an unreliable narrator assignment. Alex Wong joined her on guitar and vocals for "Gravity," which was quite slow and delicate. Vienna added some minimalist electronics she controlled with a device on top of the piano. Next up were a few non-Vienna songs. Alex introduced a song he'd written, saying that Vienna had yelled the first line (Don't be afraid of what you want) at him during an argument. He sang lead vocals and played guitar, Vienna played piano and sang, and Melissa Tong added violin. I wrote down the lyric "and if you close your fingers, ghosts will pass right through / and I'll be on the other side of the river waiting for you" because I love the image. Ari Hest made a different trio, singing and playing guitar for a song he said he wrote at the height of his Lost addiction, about the moment between inhaling and exhaling, between preparation and doing. It was the group's second time playing it together. I'll call the song "Green Light Go" for lack of a proper title. Alex switched to drums (or I think just one drum? a snare played with brushes?). Next was Ari's "Cranberry Lake," a sweet, folky song, done in the same guitar/piano/drum trio format. They had to restart the verse Vienna sang because Ari "forgot [she was] here" which made me laugh. I don't really mind when musicians mess up. It reminds me that they're human and that I'm getting something different from the album. Melissa came back for "Blue Caravan." Vienna wasn't sure everyone on stage had played it all together before. She confessed a sudden urge to hear keys tinkling during the song. The audience was happy to comply, so we jingled our keys during the opening bars and later as directed by Vienna. Ari's last song was "Sunset Over Hope Street" from his forthcoming album done as Vienna/Ari/Alex trio. After Ari left, Melissa returned to the stage, bringing her friend Ben Russell, also on violin, who was playing with Vienna for the first time. They did a gorgeous version of "Antebellum," which Vienna called "glorious." It really was. After that, another unrecorded song, played solo. "Pencil Sketch" with the lyric "dreams that want to be set down in charcoal and graphite." Alex returned to the stage and shared the piano bench with Vienna for "The Last Snowfall." He played piano while Vienna looped vocals and sang over them. I thought that would be the last song, but Melissa returned to the stage and Vienna asked the audience to clap for an energetic version of "Grandmother Song" that she clearly enjoyed. After the set ended, I quickly wrote a note to Vienna thanking her for a great performance and requesting a song for August's Highline Ballroom show. She was hanging around talking to various people in the audience. When I gave her the note she asked if she should read it then or wait. I said it didn't matter, but it was too dark to read, so she said she would read it later and gave me a hug. A wonderful way to end a beautiful night. JoAnn _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL :en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:00:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Matthews Subject: Today's your birthday, friends... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** **************** Marion Kippers (Marion.Kippers@zonnet.nl) **************** ******************** Ellen Rawson (silme13@yahoo.com) ********************* *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Marion Kippers Tue July 13 1965 Kreeft Ellen Rawson Thu July 13 1961 Double Cancer Mitch Pravatiner Mon July 14 1952 Cancer R. Rapp Wed July 14 1954 On a Gray Eye Sojourn John Zimmer Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Dan Stark Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Kevin D. F. Highnight Thu July 17 1975 Cancer with Pisces Moon Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer Vlad Sat July 18 1970 Warning: severe tire damage Jani Pinola Thu July 20 1972 Jonquil Alvin Brattli Sun July 27 1969 Lefthanded Christy Eger Smith Thu July 27 1944 Horse Crossing Shirley Ye July 27 Lioness woj Sun July 28 1968 children at play John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Steve Lusky Tue July 29 1952 Bike! Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Chuck Smith Wed July 30 1958 Reboot Yves Denneulin Fri July 30 1971 Lion-Heart Joel Kenyon Wed July 31 1963 Leo Allan Anderson Sun August 04 1974 Signifier/Signified Eli Brandt August 05 Leo Amanda Williams Tue August 05 1969 phoenix Martin Bridges Sat August 08 1970 BigGuy Rosana L. de Oliveira Wed August 08 1973 Leo Happy Rhodes Mon August 09 1965 HolyGhost - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:47:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Craig Gidney Subject: Sylvi Alli, 'Vessel.' My review of Sylvi Alli's new cd is now up on my Last.fm page--with sound samples. Recommended for lovers of Lisa Gerrard and dark ethereal vocals: http://www.last.fm/user/ethereal_lad/journal/2010/07/05/3r7tbt_sylvi_alli%2C_%22vessel%22 http://craiglaurancegidney.wordpress.com Author, SEA, SWALLOW ME & OTHER STORIES ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V15 #171 ***************************