Reply to Jon & Cynthia (look ma, no flames!)

[katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie)]

Vickie here. Ok, so my KILL file is broken (because .gaffa is) and I'm
going to respond to Jon and Cynthia here, but, believe it or not, there
are no flames here. Just so you know...

Jon says The Dreaming cover is one of his favorite photos of Kate because:  

> 	a) kate is particularly gorgeous in it
> 	b) it actually relates to a song in an amazingly complete way
> 	c) excellent use of minimal colorization for stunning effect
> 	d) kate is particularly gorgeous in it

I agree with you, a-b-c&d! It's beautiful, dramatic, somewhat creepy even.
I'm curious if you have the Box Set and have seen the color original. It's
beautiful too, but doesn't have the drama of the cover.
 
> A close second is the cover of the Experiment IV single, for no particular
> reason.  I just like it.

Again, I agree. It's in my top 5. The 12" and the 7" are both on our walls.

No flames, really, really, really...but I have to do some gentle chiding:

> jessica@athos.rutgers.EDU (jessica) writes:
> >I won't argue opinion, but since I disagree, i'll ask jon. Jon, did
> >you feel that mention of you in ecto was something said "about you" in
> >any kind of derogatory intionally slandering way?
> 
> Everything I saw was more like, "that pretentious little twerp thinks we
> actually give a fuck about what he has to say?!?"  Of course, it wasn't
> expressed with anything near the lucidity or high-quality grammar of my
> paraphrase.  Someone named Courtney Somethingorother in particular seemed to
> want to kick my ASCII.  Another letter (I think from Meredith) went on about
> net.personae rather than the music.  In fact, the only musical discussion
> I saw was focused on debating whether or not I kept the Happy tape that
> Vickie sent me and whether or not I secretly listen to it all the time.

Um...Jon, you might have mentioned that *I* sent you the posts you're
talking about above. They were not in the archives when Richard checked
because there wasn't enough room for everything at that time. I sent them
to you because I thought you should see what the reactions were when I
reposted your review a few months ago. You also might have mentioned
the nice things said about you by Alan Ezust, woj, Jessica and me. You
might have mentioned that *I* said "I really like Jon" and that you
reminded me of an obnoxious little brother :-). Sure, there were some 
Ectophiles who were upset, but a few posts in reaction to a somewhat
nasty review is to be expected, and it certainly doesn't cast a pall
over the entire mailing list.  Also, I posted in ecto that I had sent the
posts to you, so it wasn't a secret.


Sorry all, a little skating talk here (I've only had luck e-mailing to
Cynthia in "reply" mode, and I can't use that since gaffa is down)

> From:	caen!bsbbs!cynthia@harvard.harvard.edu (Cynthia Rosas)
 
> katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris n Vickie) writes:

> > They said that Gilberto is coached by Carlo Fassi, so he's a serious
> > up and comer. Hopefully no one will talk him out of using such
> > interesting and alternative music in future performances. I'm curious
> > what music he'll use in his long program. I'll be taping!!
>  
> For those who don't know, and _might _ care, Carlo Fassi was
> Peggy Flemings coach years ago, among many others since, but
> Peggy, umm, I mean, Fleming was probably his greatest claim to
> notoriety.

Well, he also coached Jill Trenary, until he moved back to Italy
last year. His leaving, plus her injuries, were mainly responsible 
for her going professional a few months ago. I'll have to review
my tapes...I'm sure he's coached at least a couple other "name" skaters.

> It's interesting to see what music choices they all make.  It
> seems often the Russians, or now, the Unified team, choose
> AMerican music, while the Americans choose classical pieces.
> Oh, not as a rule, but I think the Europeans use American
> music more than the Americans do, anyway.  

Peter Gabriel has been popular this Olympics. An Ice Dancing pair
from Hungary (Engi & Toth) used the first song from his album
_Passion_ in their long program. They came in 7th overall and it
was their last amateur performance. You're right, more Europeans
chose American music than I've ever seen before. The Duchaneys
using _West Side Story_ was probably the best example of that.

> My suspiciosn is that Gilberto will choose something a bit
> more judge-pleasing for his freestyle long program.  Some
> classical piece... then again, surprise is what makes it all
> so delightful.  Enjoy, I'll be watching and taping, too!

Couples and single skaters who have nothing to "lose" (i.e. not
anywhere near medal contention) seem to use the most interesting
music, so you're right. The higher-ups *have* to please the 
judges. That's why I love Exibitions and Professional competitions
best...that's the only place you can tell what kind of musical
taste the top skaters *really* have.

I once gave Todd Browing about 5-6 tapes full of music to give to
Caryn Kadavy, and mentioned that it would be great if they got
passed around. I have yet to hear anything on any of the tapes
(including lots of Kate and Cocteau Twins) in anyone's program,
so I suspect they're sitting on a shelf somewhere. :-(

I got to meet Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill after a show once,
and I talked to Christopher about music. He really perked up when
the subject came up, so I regret that I couldn't talk to him longer
or that I didn't have any tapes to give him.

(Excuse moi if I've told those stories, I can't remember)

Good luck with the car.

Vickie