Happy / Internet

["Andy Gough, x4-2906, pager 420-2284, CH2-59" <@hermes.intel.com:AGOUGH@AZ.intel.com>]

>Date:	Wed, 25 Mar 1992 13:44:00 -0800
>From:	gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@harvard.harvard.edu (Chris n Vickie)
>To:	love-hounds@wiretap.spies.com
>Subject: Rec.music.gaffa mentioned (sorta) in Happy article
>
>Vickie here. I about fell over when I saw someone mention gaffa turning
>into rec.music.tori! Ha!Ha! Memory takes me back to last year when people 

Don't forget rec.music.brazil !

> I can't resist including this excerpt of
>an article written about Happy that appeared in _Buzz_ magazine that
>mentions that. (Ok, so it mentions me too...I'm very proud, what can
>I say?) 
[...]
>Buzz - March 1992
>HAPPY TO PUT ON WARPAINT
>>From Albany to the World
>by Dina Williams
>
>Not singer/composer Happy Rhodes.  Several years before the Albany 
>crowd began embracing her work she developed an international following.
>
>Happy's ethererally high vocals have been compared to Kate Bush's through-
>out her nearly 10 year-long career.  Her voice has an incredible four-
>octave range and travels the scales with amazing speed.  Like Kate, Happy
>listens to her own rare muse and doesn't plan to bow to fashion trends or
>corporate pressures.

This paragraph is misleading.  While Happy's "ethererally high vocals" do 
sound a lot like KaTe, she rarely sings in that high a key.  She usually
sings in a very low key--down around where Steve Nicks sings (or lower).
Only occasionally does she sing in a high key.  Now, I only have _Warpaint_,
so maybe she sings in a higher key more often in her previous albums.

Mariah Carey is also said to have "four-octave range" for her voice.  Happy
sings in a lower key than Mariah usually does, as well.

Now, please don't interpret this as criticism of Happy.  I just don't want
someone reading "she sings like KaTe" and running out to buy Happy's albums
and be expecting them to be like "The Kick Inside."

>Happy's name might not be as familiar as those of higher profile local
>bands, but she's garnered a group of admirers from around the world, 
>partly through her connection to Kate's network of fans.
>
>Members of Kate Bush's fan club communicate through an electronic 
>bulletin board, called a BBS, that they access with computers and modems. 
>It was on Kate's BBS that a Kansas City DJ, Vickie Mapes, started a buzz
>about Happy two years ago.  Rhodes soon received orders for her four
>cassettes of electronic/vocal compositions, which she and partner Kevin
>Bartlett had released on his homegrown label, Aural Gratification.

You know, this could be a first--promotion via electronic mail.  This will 
make a great story on the talk shows (Tonight Show, etc.).  Kindof like 
Tiffany was the first to tour shopping malls.
     What a great marketing strategy.  Find a group on the 'net that's 
interested in an artist similar to the one you want to promote, and target 
that mailing list.  The people on that mailing list are a great target market 
for your artist:  they're intelligent (electronic mail has significant entry 
barriers) and have disposable income (computer equipment is expensive) to 
spend on an artist they've never even heard sing.
     Of course, the Internet is currently non-commercial, so the above 
strategy would be breaking the rules.  It'll have to wait for the commericial
version to begin operation (Al Gore, where are you?).  Just think--we'll be
able to receive junk email at 100 Mbs.  Get those kill files ready . . ..  :-)

Regards,
Andy