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-- To Collective Heart ---------- Disclaimer ---------- Vickie's Place --
Updated November 10, 1998
CHANGES: New address to write Happy
This line will get you back to the Table of Contents at any time.
Bits of information from older FAQs, now deleted from this FAQ:
About her name, birthdate
Hello!
Happy was born August 9, 1965 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Her full name is Happy Tyler Rhodes. At birth, she was named Kimberly Tyler Rhodes but she's always been called Happy by family and friends. When she was 16 she had her name legally changed to Happy.
The address to write Happy is:
Either:
Happy Rhodes
c/o Samson Music
P.O. Box 936
Stone Ridge, NY 12484-0936or:
Happy Rhodes
c/o Samson Music
13906 Gold Circle, #201
Omaha NE 68144
All mail marked for Happy will be forwarded to her, so if you write you can be sure she'll see it. Please mention the Internet as the source of your information.
To e-mail Happy in care of Samson Music, write: hrhodes@samsonmusic.com
Happy used to send out a newsletter to her fans. Time restraints have forced her to give up the newsletter, but she will continue to be the prime contributor to the fan club/fanzine, _Terra Incognita_ (formerly known as Rhodeways). Information about how to join can be found further on in this FAQ.If you do write to Happy, for whatever reason, be sure to tell her if you're a subscriber of Ecto or a reader of alt.music.ecto, and tell her a bit about yourself. Tell how you heard of Happy, what you have so far, where you got it (she is interested in how the albums are being distributed)...whatever other info you think they'd like to know...and believe me, she is definitely interested in you!
Happy appreciates mail and feedback, but time restraints prevent her from answering most mail. Please know that your letters will be read and appreciated, but please don't write expecting an answer, because it may not be possible.
See here for information about Sound Samples.
A word about the "1st 4" cassettes: Warpaint (1991) was the first Happy Rhodes album to be released on CD. Prior to that, Happy and Kevin Bartlett (founder of Aural Gratification) would send out hand-made cassettes. Each was dubbed in real time from the master. The covers were made from photographs, cut and fitted into the cassette case by Happy. The track listings were either hand typed, or a photocopy of a hand-typed list was used. Happy and Kevin quit producing these cassettes after the re-release of the albums on CD in 1992, so they're very rare.
Note about Happy's Aural Gratification back catalog: Samson Music now owns the rights to release Happy's nine Aural Gratification albums. They have not yet announced plans to do so. Any sighting of them should be acted upon. In other words: buy while you can, for they already are collector's items. If/when Samson re-releases the albums, all or most of them will have different artwork.
CD singles:
- 1993 HR5 AGCD5020 (Aural Gratification) (radio promo, out of print)
- "Feed The Fire" - (Album version, from Warpaint)
- "Ashes To Ashes" - (Acoustic cover of David Bowie song)
- "Save Our Souls" - (Acoustic version, originally from Equipoise)
- "I Say" - (Album version, from Equipoise)
- "Feed The Fire" - (Acoustic Tribute Version)
- 1995 Hold Me (aka Glory promo) AGCD4022 (Aural Gratification) (radio promo, not in release)
- "Hold Me" - (Album version, from Building The Colossus)
- "Glory" - (Radio mix, from Building The Colossus)
- "Collective Heart" - (Acoustic version, originally from Building The Colossus)
- "Look For The Child" - (Acoustic version, originally from Ecto CD* release)
- 1998 Roy (Back From The Off World) GC01431 (Samson Music) (radio promo)
- "Roy" - (Album version, from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight)
- "Roy" - (Radio edit, 4:34)
* Happy's 1st 4 albums were only released on cassette until 1992. When Aural Gratification re-released them on CD, Happy added bonus tracks to each CD. "Look For The Child" was a bonus track on Ecto.
Happy has never released anything on vinyl
There are no Happy Rhodes CD singles in general release (yet)
There are no Happy Rhodes videos in general release (yet)
Collaborations and Compilations Happy has appeared on:
- 1985 Kevin Bartlett: Incantations (only appeared on cassette, out of print)
- Vocals on "Pretty Dreamy Stuff"
- 1986 Kevin Bartlett: Evocations (only appeared on cassette, out of print)
- Vocals on "Random Chants Dance"
- 1987 Kevin Bartlett: Spatial Thanx (only appeared on cassette, out of print)
- A KB compilation, contains "Pretty Dreamy Stuff"
- 1992? Adventures in Music: nice and easy (probably unavailable)
- 1993 MIDEM '93 (probably unavailable)
- "Feed The Fire" - (Album version, from Warpaint)
- "Waking Up" - (Album version, from Warpaint)
- 1993 Hard Report Sampler? (official title unknown, probably unavailable)
- 1993 Mitch Elrod's Swim Team: The Muse Of Intent (available from Aural Gratification)
- Painted the cover art
- 1994 Alternative Woodstock (Slice 0101-2) (try Slice/Woodstock Records, P.O. Box 515, Wdsk, NY 12498 (914) 679-2176)
- 1994 A Little Nip (GRRRHHM003) (try Grrr Records, http://www.wizvax.net/grrr/)
- 1995 Live At The World Cafe Vol. I (WC9501), WXPN (215) 898-6677
- "Feed The Fire" - (Acoustic version, originally from Warpaint)
- 1995 Album Network Adult Rock #5 Promotional CD (RCA) (818) 955-4000
- "Glory" - (Album mix, originally from Building The Colossus)
- 1995 Aural Gratification Volume I Ambient AGCD0033 (available from Aural Gratification)
- "die Atmosphäre in der Stadt"
- "myrr (the smoking car)"
- "ra is a busy god"
- 1995 Aural Gratification Volume II Ambient AGCD0034 (available from Aural Gratification)
- "like kryptonite to superman"
- "skimming the hovergear"
- "hex on IV"
- 1997 Project Lo Black Canvas (LoLo Records) (http://www.artist-shop.com/)
- Vocals on "Mercy Street" (Cover of Peter Gabriel song)
- Vocals on "Perfection" (Ben Lozaga song)
- 1998 Sleepy Hollow 25th Anniversary SH9701 (status unknown)
- "Feed The Fire" - (Acoustic version, originally from Warpaint)
- 1998 Robby Aceto: Code (Alchemy Records)
- Happy performed and arranged the backing vocals on "Shane Heads For the Immaculate Mountains" - Alchemy Records has a sound sample of this song.
Happy on 1997 PROJECT LO release
New album informationHappy Rhodes sings lead vocals on two songs from the PROJECT LO release "Black Canvas" on LoLo Records. She does a stunning version of "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel on this cd. Black Canvas" also features Percy Jones (Brand X) on bass and violinist Caryn Lin (Alchemy Records). This is the second release from Project Lo, an oufit that Bon Lozaga (guitarist for Pierre Moerlens' GONG) put together as an outlet for his acoustic guitar playing. For more information about LoLo Records and Alchemy Records releases, check out The Artist Shop (http://www.artist-shop.com).
Title: MANY WORLDS ARE BORN TONIGHT
Was released: August 11, 1998
For a track listing and the most current information,
visit Terra Incognita, the authorized Happy Rhodes fanzine site:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/album.html
Back up to the Table of Contents
As of August 15, 1998, Aural Gratification no longer sells Happy Rhodes CDs. The rights to release and sell Happy's back catalog belongs to Samson Music now.
Any questions about (and pleas to re-release) the back catalog (Happy's nine albums pre- Many Worlds Are Born Tonight) should be directed to Samson at:
If you would like to buy the the Ambient or Mitch Elrod CDs directly from Aural Gratification, (P.O. Box 380, Bearsville, NY, 12409-0380) the prices are as follows. All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted:
(postage prices within the USA)
CDs are $13.99 each Postage for one CD is $2.00
Cassettes are $9.99 each Postage for one tape is $1.50
Each additional tape or CD is $ .50 apiecePostage for Canadian orders is $3.00, and add $1.00 for each additional item.
Full price in ENGLISH pounds is:
11 pounds per CD (CD, with postage included)
8 pounds per cassette (cassette, postage included)Postage for Europe: 1 item add $3.50, 2 items add $4.35,
3 items add $6, 4 items add $7.70.The postage price to AUSTRALIA:
Each CD - approx US$4.50 (info from Martin Dougiamas)Check or money order only please. No cash.
NOTE: The keeper of this FAQ has no financial dealings with any of these merchants, and would never accept pay or other compensation for including a listing. The keeper of this FAQ does not endorse or accept responsibility for any of these merchants. They are listed simply because they *say* they carry some or all of Happy's CDs.
Happy is getting limited distribution around the UNITED STATES. Her albums can usually be found in Tower Records, and some Sam Goodys, and Border's carry her also.
Frequently Happy's music has been found in small mom'n'pop stores and specialty stores such as woman's bookstores with independent music sections. Check the stores in your area (if you can buy the music in a store it will save you postage and it will also encourage the store to order more), but mail is always an option if you can't find it locally.
Happy should always be placed in the "R" section of the record store, but very often she gets misfiled under "H" so look there too.
Ladyslipper catalog used to carry all of Happy's albums, but their Autumn 1998 catalog shows that she's been dropped. I don't know what happened. If you want to buy Happy Rhodes albums through Ladyslipper, call, write or e-mail them and ask them to please start carrying her music again.
Ladyslipper (a not-for-profit distributor of music by women)
PO Box 3124-R
Durham, NC 27715
800-634-6044Ladyslipper can be found on the web at:
Looking for Happy's music on the net.
An on-line UK/European service, Cheap Or What! (formerly known as Pastel Blue), carries Happy's music. They were the very first on-line CD company to do so. Support them! C.O.W.'s web address is:
Misc web outlets to try (not by any means complete):
Music Boulevard (has Sound Samples from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight)
CD Universe (has Sound Samples)
The Ultimate Band List Store (has Sound Samples)
Border's (has Sound Samples)
Tower Records (has Sound Samples)
CDNow (has Sound Samples)
Tele CD (has Sound Samples), (site is in English, German, Spanish, French and Italian)
NOTE: The keeper of this FAQ has no financial dealings with any of these merchants, and would never accept pay or other compensation for including a listing.
As to which album(s) to get? That's tough to say, because they're all excellent (IMHO). There's a HUGE difference between Rhodes I and Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, and the progression is evident in the middle CDs. If you asked Happy's fans, you'd certainly get lots of various answers. Of course, it's just about impossible to know what different people will like.
Many Worlds Are Born Tonight is her latest studio CD and it's the place to start *if you love highly electronic music*. If you do, go for it, it's brilliant! If you don't, you might want to start with RhodeSongs, a 16-track compilation of songs from her 1st 6 albums, and includes bonus acoustic versions of album songs, a cover of David Bowie's song "Ashes To Ashes" and one song ("Summer") not available elsewhere, so it's also worth having, especially to get a feel for Happy's earlier work. If you like Many Worlds Are Born Tonight AND RhodeSongs, it's almost certain that you'll be pleased with all her albums.
Back up to the Table of Contents
Happy is planning a tour, but no dates have been announced yet.
Up-to-date tour information can be found at Samson's web page, at:
Back up to the Table of Contents
Happy started her recording career while working as an apprentice engineer at Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer, New York, a suburb of Albany, NY. She learned the equipment by recording her own songs. Pat Tessitore, the owner of Cathedral, was impressed by Happy's talent and encouraged her, even giving her free studio time to play around with the equipment and record her songs.
Her first 4 albums (Rhodes I, Rhodes II, Rearmament and Ecto) were recorded by Happy, all alone in the studio. She played acoustic guitar and keyboards and used lots of overdubs for her voice and the instruments. Happy produced the albums herself and even engineered quite a few of the songs. Pat Tessitore introduced Happy to Kevin Bartlett, who also recorded his albums at Cathedral Sound Studios.
When Happy and Kevin Bartlett met in 1986, Kevin talked Happy into letting him release her music on Aural Gratification. By then, she had amassed enough songs for 2 albums. They gathered together all the tapes of the various songs and Rhodes I and Rhodes II were born. Later that year, Happy released Rearmament, and Ecto was released in 1987. Those 1st 4 albums were originally only released on cassette, but thanks to the encouragement of her fans on the Ecto mailing list, Happy re-released them on CD in May 1992, complete with bonus tracks on all 4 CDs. Happy even thanked the Ectophiles in the liner notes of the 4 CDs.
Between Ecto and Warpaint, Happy and Kevin joined forces professionally as Bartlett\Rhodes. They never released any music but did play live in the Albany area a few times. In mid-1989 they decided to continue as they had started, as separate artists. Happy then began work on Warpaint in 1990.
The albums since Ecto were more professionally recorded (she and Kevin took out bank loans to make sure they were as high-quality they could possibly make them) and use more musicians, though it's mainly just Happy and Kevin on the records. Until the latest (Many Worlds Are Born Tonight), all of Happy's albums had been recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios.
Happy has never had a major-label recording contract. All her music had, until she was signed by Samson Music in November 1997, been released on Aural Gratification, a private label started and owned by Kevin Bartlett. Kevin started AG to release his own music, then he added Happy to the label after they met. Kevin is quite well-known as a progressive musician in the Albany/Bearsville area and he has 14 albums on Aural Gratification. For the last 12 years, until Happy signed to Samson Music, Kevin had been busy working very hard on the promotional side of Happy's career while keeping a full schedule with his own career as a musician, producer (Mitch Elrod), and doing free-lance work on commercials, MTV and Sesame Street. Kevin is an excellent musician, and had put his own career on the back burner in order to focus on Happy's career, and producing other artists for the Aural Gratification label. We're pleased to report that he's in the studio now working on a new album.
Happy's mother gave Happy her first guitar when Happy was 11. She taught herself and to this day does not read music. Happy started writing songs soon after, and some of the most breathtaking songs on Rhodes I and II were written before Happy was 16.
Happy was a very lonely child and has always been a loner. She suffered from depression as an adolescent and teenager and sought solace and help in the music she listened to (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Bach & Queen) and in writing songs herself. She "wrote out" the demons in her mind. Other important influences were Wendy Carlos, David Bowie and Yes. When Happy started writing and recording her songs, she never guessed that those songs would someday end up on albums that would be listened to and cherished by other people.
Happy is an interesting, intelligent, singer/songwriter/musician who cares deeply about her music and makes music to last, music that matters to the people who can identify with her often very personal lyrics. Her dark lyrics have the ability to sear the heart and soul with their intensity and introspectivness. Her early lyrics especially are nearly all autobiographical, and they are almost all about human emotions. Since human emotions are universal, many of her songs touch deep nerves in other people too.
Many of Happy's early songs are about depression and suicidal feelings, and some are cynical, but there are also songs about hope and light, with a "you must love yourself before anyone else can love you" point of view. Happy does have a wry sense of humor, and it comes out in a few songs, but many of her songs are very serious. Not that they are all slow, dirge-like ballads. Many songs are fast-paced and very melodic and it's quite possible to enjoy the music and Happy's incredible vocal range without ever paying attention to the lyrics. The lyrics do add another layer to be fascinated by if you choose to delve further, though.
Back up to the Table of Contents
The Ecto Home Page
Terra IncognitaNeil K. Guy built the Happy Rhodes / Ecto homepage in August 1994.
It was recently moved to Jeff Wasilko's server smoe, home of the Ecto
mailing list. It's now being rebuilt and maintained by Meredith Tarr.
Don't miss it! It's at:Also here is the Ecto News page:
http://www.smoe.org/ecto/news.html(Thanks Neil, Jeff and Meredith!)
Sharon Nichols runs the only Happy Rhodes (print) fanzine - Terra Incognita (formerly Rhodeways).
Please visit Sharon's web site and support what she's doing in trying to spread the word about Ms. Rhodes.http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/terra.html
(Thanks Sharon!)
Various photos, links to other pages, tidbits, this FAQ's home...
Happy's new record company
Back up to the Table of Contents
Happy's fan base is only at a small grass-roots level at the moment, but continues to grow. Many people who hear Happy for the first time have a very hard time understanding why she's unknown and obscure.
In the past, Happy has had support from the radio station WXPN, based in Philadelphia, PA. The station listeners embraced her song "Feed the Fire" from the album Warpaint, and made it the most-requested song of 1991. She has been (and continues to be) featured on the WXPN-based shows Echoes and the " World Cafe," but airplay around the rest of the USA is spotty. Your calls requesting Happy could make the difference between Happy's music being played and being ignored on the radio in your city.
Happy is very aware of Ecto (and spin-offs) and is deeply appreciative of everyone's interest. Happy, and Kevin from Aural Gratificatioin, have great affection for us, and this affection was proven after a 1992 Philadelphia concert when Happy and Kevin made it a point to invite Ectophiles to a post-concert party at the Penn Towers Hotel. They certainly didn't have to invite us, but they wanted to.
At this time the term "Ectophile" refers to anyone currently subscribing to the mailing list Ecto. Happy fans not on Ecto are no less important to her though, and she appreciates everyone who supports her music.
Since there are other "(group/artist)philes" around now, I thought I should mention that folks on the mailing list Ecto started calling themselves "Ectophiles" waaaayyyy back in 1991. Just thought I'd mention that. No particular reason...
Ecto has MOVED! Ecto has arrived at its new home:
majordomo@smoe.org -
subscribe ecto (for loose mail)
unsubscribe ecto (for loose mail)subscribe ecto-digest (for, um, digest)
unsubscribe ecto-digest (ditto)
About, and history of Ecto-the mailing list
Postings about Happy Rhodes have appeared in the Kate Bush newsgroup rec.music.gaffa (and the mailing list Love-Hounds) since 1989 via a fan (Vickie Mapes) who discovered Happy's music in the summer of 1988 and played the music regularly on her (now defunct) Kansas City-based radio show called Suspended In Gaffa. It wasn't easy trying to interest Internet readers in Happy's music, mainly because her albums were only available on cassette at that time.The release of Warpaint on CD in April 1991 prompted many gaffa readers to try Happy's music for the first time, even though the music was still only available via mail-order, even in the United States. Many of those Warpaint buyers liked what they heard and went on to complete their Happy collections by ordering the (now very rare and no longer available) hand-made early tapes.
Discussion about Happy (requests for background information, raves, a "1st4" lyrics project) grew to deafening levels and eventually it was pointed out to the Happy Rhodes fans that gaffa was, after all, a Kate Bush group, and that no, not all Kate Bush fan will automatically like Happy's music, so could we please start talking about Kate Bush again? Since many gaffians wanted to continue the Happy talk, but also wanted to respect the wishes of those who had little or no interest in the subject, Jessica (Dembski) Koeppel decided to create a Happy Rhodes mailing list. "Ecto" was born on June 13, 1991.
The mailing list was an immediate success, and continues to grow. Ecto is a very active mailing list, with over 400 subscribers, and those who join should be aware that it can be a busy list. It's very free-form and many topics of interest to Ectophiles are discussed.
Subscribers talk about other artists besides Happy (female artists mainly, but recommendations of male artists are fine) with an emphasis on what Ectophiles call "ecto-music" encompassing such diverse artists/groups as Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Jane Siberry, Milla, Bel Canto, and many, many others.
Non-musical topics seen in Ecto range from movies to books to politics and just about everything in between. Discussions are friendly and flame-free, and the term "agree to disagree" is used often.
FRIENDLY WARNING: Ecto contains frequent amiable posts from a group of friends (into which newcomers are very welcome), hanging out, chatting about everything under the sun, and not letting themselves get fettered by other list's mandates or inconsiderate flaming. Hugs are not uncommon :-)
Again, to join Ecto-the mailing list, send a message to:
majordomo@smoe.org -
subscribe ecto (for loose mail)
unsubscribe ecto (for loose mail)subscribe ecto-digest (for, um, digest)
unsubscribe ecto-digest (ditto)
The digests are now automated and will generally be sent out once a day, possibly more often if traffic is heavy.
Information specific to subscribers of Ecto-the mailing listMike Matthews (matthewm@smoe.org) maintains a birthday list. It's automated to send out a "Happy Birthday" message to Ecto, as well as the next few upcoming birthdays. At the beginning of every month, Mike sends a copy of the entire birthday list to Ecto.
A typical listing:
(name) (day of birth) (date of birth) ("sign" - serious or your choice) Happy Rhodes Mon August 9 1965 HolyGhostIf anyone wants to be added to this list, or change their "sign" just e-mail Mike with the information. If you don't know what weekday you were born on, he can figure it out if you give your complete birthday.
Ecto-the mailing list, as a Usenet newsgroup:
Ecto-the mailing list, is not gatewayed directly into a Usenet-wide newsgroup. However, some sysadmins require that mailing lists be gatewayed into newsgroups at their sites, to conserve mail space. At Rutgers University, for instance, you'll find Ecto-the mailing list, gatewayed as ru.rec.ecto. There are at least 10 sites around the world (in Norway and Australia, as well as many sites in the USA, including Brown University, Emory University, and others) where the mailing list can be found as a newsgroup. If you have access to one of the gatewayed groups, everything that appears in the mailing list will appear in that gatewayed newsgroup. It shouldn't be confused with alt.music.ecto.
A recent addition to Usenet is the newsgroup alt.music.ecto. At the request of mailing list subscribers, Ecto-the mailing list is not gatewayed to alt.music.ecto, nor is alt.music.ecto traffic gatewayed back to the mailing list. Many Happy fans populate both, however.The distribution of the newsgroup on Usenet is small and fragile, so it needs much input, readership, support and participation. Give it a try, and if you can't find it, politely ask your sysadmin to add it. They just might, and you'll never know unless you ask.
The alt.music.ecto philosophy is as free-form as the Ecto philosophy, and readers will always be able to pass along reviews, interviews, thoughts and information about other artists *without* being told "hey, I thought this group was about Happy Rhodes! Get outta here!" (Happy's fans are definitely a polite and eclectic group of people) or "hold on, that artist isn't XYZ type of music!! Get outta here!" (which, in some groups, someone always seems to end up saying sooner or later).
NOTE: Sadly, alt.music.ecto seems to have been taken over by SPAM.
Another hangout for Happy fans (and lovers of "ecto music") is the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel #ecto.Ecto MUSH
Jason Greshes has built an area for Happy fans, and fans of other female artists (in the spirit of eclectic Ecto). It's quite extensive, fun, and worth browsing. Here's the info:
On UNIX systems the command is:
tinycwru.tinymush.org 4201 (the "4201" is very important)
(Don't forget to put in a space after the first "telnet" up there.)
You should get the login banner, which gives you the logon options.
For more information, go to:
If you happen to see Happy mentioned anywhere, please pass it along to Ecto, or alt.music.ecto, so it can be put into the archives. Happy is beginning to be "discovered" and it's interesting to know what other people think, to hear reviews (good or bad) and to keep track of where she's mentioned and in what context. No mention is too small. Thank you in advance.
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Additional HTML by Vickie Mapes
