Swan song

[gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chris Williams)]

Vickie here.

To Jenn, Jon, Richard, Vishal and others who feel the same as they do.

This is my "semi-swan-song" (so to speak) about Happy Rhodes. I'll never
again post anything this long about her. 

First, my deepest and most sincere apoligies for my recent multiple long
posts concerning Happy. We are in the unusual position of not having regular
access. If we had been on line constantly, my posts would have been shorter,
more interspersed and definitely more timely. The lyrics did take up unusual
amounts of space, but enough people asked for them that I thought it would
be OK to post them. Many people worked long and hard on those lyrics.
Readers did have plenty of warning that they would be posted and no one
ever popped up and asked that they not be, so I had no reason to believe
that it would cause such trouble. They'll never be posted again, so it
really was a one-time only thing. 

I've been a HR fan since 1988 and have waited *so* long for others to
"discover" her. From Dec. 1988 (when we became Love-Hounds) until
January of this year, I think only 2 Love-Hounds bought Happy's tapes in
response to my urgings. In Jan., Feb. & March a few more people bought
them. Then, when Happy's new album was released it was a catalyst for
quite a few readers to take the time and effort to send away for it.
As they posted their positive reactions, that started a flood of orders.
I never before posted long, multiple articles about her because there
wasn't any interest. There wasn't any interest because no one had heard
her music. Once people started showing interest I was overjoyed and
was eager to share the knowledge I had of Happy's background and trivia
about her. It all came in a short space of time and I'm so sorry that
there's been a backlash because of it. I also thought that now would be
a perfect time to discuss her, since Katenews is so very slow. Once we
get some real information about Kate's tour and album, Happy will probably
be forgotton anyway (well, not completely but....)

I'm not sure about the word "proselytizing" that's been thrown about or
how it relates to our recommending Happy's music. Katefans are more likely
to enjoy Happy than, say, Vixen fans. Maybe she won't appeal to everyone,
but she's an artist who has true talent and Katefans can appreciate talent,
so, even if the type of music doesn't appeal, her talent and honesty should
surely be recognized by Love-Hounds who hear her songs. That's the Catch-22.
You have to hear it first, and we're just urging you to give it a try.
Because of the backlash, those urgings will die down. Hopefully they won't
die out altogether, because new readers should know that she exists. I'd
hate to see "Who is this Happy Rhodes?" queries treated in the same Oh God,
not again way as "What is gaffa?" queries are.

Jenn, you said that the element of discovery had been taken away from you.
I know what you mean about discovering gems because that's what happened
to me. If Bob Davis hadn't thrown a couple of Happy songs onto the end of
an Annette Peacock tape he made for me I wouldn't know about her. I felt
nearly the same delight I did when I heard Kate for the first time.
Happy is so obscure that my hearing her music was a one in God-knows-how-
many-million chance. Happy will be a major artist someday. Not as a "star"
but, rather, well-known to people who value and respect original talent.
Now, though, except for many in Albany and my listeners in Kansas City,
she's totally unknown. Love-Hounds are in on the ground floor of her public
career. It's sad that you're sick of hearing about her already, especially
since the verbage is only temporary anyway. It's also sad that you're so
frustrated at the multiple posts that you've decided not to ever try any
of her music unless you happen upon it by accident. 

Richard, you said:

> Unfortunately the talk about Happy here has gotten her filed as a
> Kate-wanna-be... 

I'm *ASTONISHED* you would say such a thing without hearing even one
note of her music. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If you
heard the music and still believed that she's a Kate-wanna-be, fair
enough, but that wouldn't happen because Happy's music is absolutely
nothing like Kate's.

Happy is a Kate fan and Kate has been an influence in that Happy wants
to have complete creative control over her music and not be told what
to do by record company suits. She already went through one nightmare
where outside people tried to tell her how to make music that would
"sell" and it will never happen again. Kate's total control of her own
music encouraged Happy to do the same thing.

Maybe you're wary because of all the talk about Happy's voice sounding
like Kate's. Happy was born with the vocal cords she has and it's not
her fault that their high voices are similar. Happy herself is wary of
the vocal connection and she hardly uses her high voice at all on her
new album. When she does use it, yes, it sounds like Kate. The only
solution would be for her to quit using it altogether, which would be sad.
Not because it sometimes sounds like Kate, but because it's so beautiful in
its own right. Happy's high voice is only startling at first because no one
ever thought they'd ever hear anyone who *could* sound anything like Kate.

> The lyrics I've read haven't convinced me otherwise...

Again, I'm astonished at this remark. Which lyrics are you talking about?
Was it the line "Only mother knows that I'm the other half of the
psychopath" in the song "Rainkeeper"? Well, I'll let you in on a secret.
That song was written *before* _Hounds of Love_ was released. No rip-off
there. Most of Kate's lyrics are based on or inspired by books, films and
stories told to her by other people. Kate said that very few of her songs
are purely autobiographical, though each song has touches of her personality.

Happy's lyrics are nearly all autobiographical in some way. Very much so.
She had a *VERY* lonely childhood and troubled adolescence. She wrestled
with clinical depression and mental illness. Writing songs was her outlet 
for channeling the demons inside her head and her music was quite literally
responsible for keeping her from going insane. These songs were written
from *deep* within. The music comes from her head but the lyrics come from
her *soul*, with an honesty that is astonishing. I have no doubt that at 
some point her lyrics might well be studied in some psychology classes.
They should be. 

You might as well say that Anne Sexton's poems were ripped-off from Kate.
It makes as much sense. That is, none. Anne Sexton "wrote herself" sane.
So did Happy. Happy's battle with, and conquest of, mental illness, are all
there in her lyrics. Kate had nothing to do with it. 

> Beyond that I'm always weary of single person efforts...done on a 
> shoestring budget send up a red flag.

Understandable, I feel the same way. But again, you haven't heard the music.
What Happy did in the studio, considering what she had to work with, is
nothing short of amazing. Major label, multi-hundred thousand dollar albums
are released every day that don't show the originality, talent and innovation
Happy's first four albums display. Anyway, Happy didn't just say "Hey, I
think I'll record an album" then waltz into a studio and do it. She recorded
one (or two or three or four) songs at a time over a period of years. She
started working at a recording studio because she wanted to learn the
engineering process from the ground up. Many of the songs on I and II were
recorded as "exercises" to learn the equipment. She recorded these songs with
no thought at all that they would be released as albums and that someday
those albums would become collectors items. Even _Ecto_ and _Rearmament_
were never intended for major release. Yet, they too (IM and many others HO)
are better than 99% of what gets released into the marketplace. 

As far as "synth-padding" goes, here it comes again:
You haven't heard the songs. There is no padding or filler on her albums.

If you did hear the music (and as of this writing you have yet to take 
me up on my offer of a sample) and you still felt the same, no problem.
Maybe you won't like it. No problem. I just think it's too bad that you're
jumping to all these conclusions without hearing any at all.

Re your comment about "sales pitches" -- this makes no sense to me. If I
recommend an artist, and people are interested in that artist, how else
are they going to get that artist's work except by buying it? Richard, did
you steal those Caterwaul albums you have? Of course not! Since Happy's
albums are not generally available to the public, the address of where to
get them needed to be posted. _Warpaint_ is in extremely limited release,
and her early albums are ONLY available from Happy herself. This is a 
damned if you do-damned if you don't situation. 

Happy has always paid for her albums herself because she hasn't ever had
any sponsership. In the past couple of months a large amount of financial
and moral support has come from Love-Hounds. It's something we can be very
proud of. She's deeply appreciative of this support and I feel terrible
that I now have to tell her about the rift I've caused.
 
Vishal writes:

> I am also tired of the endless postings by recent Happy convertee 
> basically saying "I just got my Happy tapes and she is like *AWESOME*.
> I feel *so* cool now that I am a Happy fan.

This is so *unbelieveably* unfair!!!! What a rude thing to say! Have you
never heard music that you liked so much that you wanted to tell everyone
about it? Those people who have heard Happy's music and do like it are
only expressing their opinions. To say that the people who are saying
they like what they hear are only doing so to be "cool" is an insult to
them and to Happy (a fellow Katefan, remember). Happy's music is such
that, if you hear and like one album, you'll want to hear everything
else. The sad thing about all of this is that people may be wary of
posting any more "I got it/them and this is what I think" articles.
I'm so depressed! I was dying to hear what Jeff Abbott and Jessica and
Steve and Lee and others who have posted positively, on the basis of only
one or two albums, thought about everything else. I do hope they will e-mail
me with their reactions. (Please-please-please!)

By the way Vishal, will YOU take me up on my offer of a sample of Happy's
music? E-mail Jorn with an address and it will be in the mail within a 
week. All I ask is that you post what you think after listening to it.
Good or bad, I want to know. If you *do* like it, I think it only fair
that you say so and apoligise to those it may concern for your above remark.
If you don't like it, that will be a viewpoint new to this newsgroup,
and your reasons for not liking it will be interesting to hear. 

Unless a Happy Rhodes mailing list is started up, talk about Happy will
happen here. I will never again post anything as long as this and the lyrics
and interview posts are history now (by the way, she's so obscure that
*I'M* the only person in the world outside of Albany who has ever interviewed
her) but I will not stop talking about her altogether. I especially will
continue the radio station and record store posts, because they're very
important. At this point Love-Hounds are the only people who are in a
position to champion her on an international level. We are in a position to
help and truly make a difference in a brilliant struggling artist's life and
Happy won't forget that. She's NOT just another good singer. She's got the
same sort of magic and spirit that Kate has (though Kate *IS* God and always
will be!) and since Katefans do generally have open ears, minds and hearts,
many will feel that magic. It's only right that she be recommended to other
Kate Bush fans and it's only right that we be the ones to discover and
appreciate her before everyone else catches on.


Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)


"It's plain to see I'm a foreigner, it's clear I do not blend.
 Still I make my home in this wrong century"
                                            Happy Rhodes