Happy Rhodes FAQ (was Re: Words Weren't Made for Cowards???

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

In article <199208032341.AA19322@noiro.acs.uci.edu> spotter@sanger.bio.uci.edu (Steve Potter) writes:
>Hey, as I was falling asleep last night, I heard the most
>amazing song.  The DJ said the above title, but I didn't
>get who sang it.  It sure sounded like Kate.  Does anyone know
>more about it?  I hope it wasn't just a dream!

Will wonders never cease!!?!! What radio station was this? The artist you
heard is named Happy Rhodes and many gaffians are familiar with her.  
This song is from her album _Warpaint_.

I will append an abbreviated version of the Ecto FAQ to this post. If you're
interested in joining Ecto, write to Jessica at:

ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu    To post:  ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu

Here goes....
===========================================================================

Her full name is Happy Tyler Rhodes. She was born Kimberly Tyler Rhodes but
has always been called Happy by family and friends. When she was 16 she
had her name legally changed to Happy. She's 26 years old, born August 9,
1965 in Poughkeepsie, NY.

      The address to order Happy's music or write to her is:

The discography:                          Happy Rhodes
                                     c/o  Aural Gratification
1) Rhodes Vol. I  (1986)                  P.O. Box 8658
2) Rhodes Vol. II (1986)                  Academy Station
3) Rearmament     (1986)                  Albany, NY 12208
4) Ecto           (1987)
5) Warpaint       (1991)

All 5 are available on CD and cassette

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 apiece

Price in English pounds is:
8 pounds per cassette (postage included)
11 pounds per CD (postage included)

The postage prices for Happy (Aural Gratification) stuff to Australia:

Warpaint CD  (in its own package)                     approx  US$4.50
First 4 Albums on tape ( all 4 in size 5 mailbag)     approx  US$8.50
Ecto - the mailing list                                          0.00 (yay!)

As to which album(s) to get? That's a toughie, because they're all excellent.
There's a huge difference between 1 and 5, and the progression is
evident in the middle three. If you asked the people here in the mailing
list, you'd get lots of different answers. If you already have Warpaint,
one suggestion would be to start with 1 and 4, and if you like them, you 
will almost certainly like the middle two. Of course, it's just about
impossible to know what different people will like. My stock answer is
"get them all!" :-) because they're all worth getting. IMHO, of course.

FYI, if you ask Happy to autograph the tapes and/or CD, she will!

She has been working on the 6th album. The songs have been written, but not
yet completely arranged or recorded. Fans who saw Happy perform live in
Albany, NY (March 18, 1992) or Philadelphia, PA (March 21, 1992) were
treated to a preview of the next album. Three new songs (Mother Sea, He
Will Come and The Flight) were performed, and they will definitely be on
the next album, which is due to be recorded starting July, 1992.

Happy has never had a major-label recording contract. All her music
has been released so far on Aural Gratification, a private label started 
and owned by Kevin Bartlett. Kevin started the label to release his own
music (he's quite well-known as a musician in the Albany area), then 
added Happy after they met.

The first 4 albums were recorded by Happy, all alone in the studio.
She played acoustic guitar and keyboards and used lots of overdubs.
She produced them all herself and even engineered quite a few of
the songs. Happy started out working as an apprentice engineer at
Cathedral Sound Studios and learned the equipment by recording her
own songs. Pat Tessitore, Cathedral's owner, 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. When Happy met Kevin in
1986 and he encouraged her to let him release her music on AG, she had
amassed enough songs for 2 albums. They gathered together all the tapes
of the various songs and VI and VII were born. Later that year, Happy
released Rearmament and Ecto came in 1987.

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 quite often. In mid-1989 they decided to continue as they
had started, as separate artists. Happy then began work on Warpaint.

Warpaint is more professionally recorded (she and Kevin took out a 
bank loan to make sure it was as high-quality they could possibly 
make it) and uses more musicians, though it's mainly just her and 
Kevin. They also co-produced the album. H&K are still personal partners
Kevin is also working very hard on the promotional side of Happy's career
while keeping a full schedule with his own career.

{Live}

Happy has played live in and around the Albany, NY area for many years.

On March 18, 1992 Happy played live for the first time in years and it
was the first time with a full backup band.