Imagine my surprise when I got an email saying this had been promoted! What prompted it deathcow?

Damn, not to kick a gifthorse in the face, but I wish this old black and white version could be replaced with the color version. It looks and sounds a LOT better! Seriously.

This is a very silly commercial and you know everyone's having fun with the name "Tiddy Bear," but believe it or not, this product or something like it is a long time coming.

We don't have a car anymore (by choice, because we don't need one in Chicago) but I used to drive all around the country for a living, and I could have used one of these things. I used to take a small, airline-type pillow with me and put it between my left shoulder and left breast, or else the seat belt would cut into that area and leave welts. On long drives it was absolutely necessary. Whenever I'd forget my pillow I'd use my coat/jacket if it was colder, or wadded up napkins if nothing else was available.

Hello, I tried to post a response, but two attempts failed, probably because it's several paragraphs long. I put it in my Profile comments and would beg James and LadyBug and anyone else who is now suspicious of me to please please read it. It explains everything. I didn't mean to cause trouble and break rules.

James, please don't delete "Temporary and Eternal." We (my husband Chris-k8fan and I) did not post that one to VideoSift and I would hate to see it killed because we stupidly didn't read the rules.

Vickie/Equipoise here. This is in response to the Happy Rhodes thread in Sift Talk. I tried to post it there and it didn't go through, so I'm trying it here.

I understand the charge of self-linking, because we did put these videos on YouTube. I will point out that we did not post the very first one that appeared here on VideoSift ("Temporary and Eternal"), so please consider not deleting that one. That was posted by someone we don't know, and I only noticed it when I saw the link at YouTube. We were asked to provide more Happy by VideoSifters and so we did. I now realize we shouldn't have taken the requests to mean that *we* provide the videos, and I deeply apologise.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about the spurious accounts James, but there are two accounts coming from this IP. My husband Chris, k8fan, has a computer, and I have a computer. He's the techie if you need details, but we're on a network, using an Ethernet and a wireless router and DSL (and cats, even). Since he has his interests and things to do, we both have our own accounts at YouTube, Yahoo, Slashdot, many message boards, various other places, and here. We've always been separate entities, ever since we first got on the internet in 1989, though we didn't get separate computers until the mid-'90's. Did you delete his account here, is that what you meant? There are no other accounts. I *have* several accounts, but I honestly can't remember posting here or voting here using anything but my Yahoo account. If I did it wasn't a calculated attempt to ballot stuff.

Come to think of it Chris would have posted either here from our home or using his laptop when he travels for business, which is often. I'm sure he didn't have two separate accounts though. His other IP would have come from EverestKC, the ISP he uses while in Kansas City (we live in Chicago). It's perfectly legitimate, but I can see how it might seem bizarre or suspicious. A lot of people could vouch for us, and I'd be happy to answer any questions and point toward more information about us.

If anyone's interested I'll explain about the videos, if you'll indulge me because I have to give a bit of Happy history for anyone to truly understand. It may bore, but it will explain. The relationship here is one of the purest you'll ever run across. Happy Rhodes (her real name) is a singer-songwriter-musician who has been making music for over 20 years and has 10 indie albums. I've been a fan for 18 of those years, after I discovered her and played her on a radio show I used to have called Suspended In Gaffa. I don't work for her, never have, never will, but I am her oldest, staunchest fan so she gives me permission to do just about anything I want regarding her music (cite from one of the serveral fan web sites I maintain: http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples which is a Song Samples site - Other web sites, to check my "credentials," include http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities for, well, Rarities - http://www.rhodeshows.com Happy live shows - http://www.myspace.com/happyrhodes Happy's MySpace fan page. Happy is very cool about my sharing music and is also cool with the videos).

Happy *hates* self-promotion, with a passion, and would never make or submit her own videos anywhere for any reason. In fact, with 10 albums, she's never even made any videos. She's a true album artist, one of the very very few, wanting the music to stand on its own, so besides making no videos, she's released very few singles (only 2 actual CD single releases). There were a other few songs that got airplay and a flurry of attention in the '90's (she's been interviewed by Kimberly Haas for John Diliberto's radio show Echoes, if that means anything to anyone), but mostly she's just garnered a small but worldwide cult following. An internet mailing list dedicated to her, ecto, was started in 1991, which makes it one of the oldest, continuous fan mailing lists on the net. It's still going, and spawned offshoots such as the Ectophile's Guide to Good Music (http://ectoguide.org).

Happy's last album was released 8 years ago. She's had an album in the can for several years, but doesn't have the money to complete the mastering. She has no label and hasn't had one for several years. She got dropped by her last one because they didn't know what to do with her. She doesn't fit into any set genre and her music is hard to classify and "market." She lives on a farm in upstate New York and has a day job. She refuses to take money from outside sources to finish the album. She doesn't want to be beholden to anyone financially, so she's been working her day job to earn enough to record bits of tracks here and there. The album is recorded now, and 7 of the 11 songs have been mastered, but there's no ETA on when the last 4 songs will be mastered. There's no product to promote, so that's not what I'm doing.

I became a fan in 1988. In 1991 I traveled from Chicago to Albany, NY and Philadelphia, PA to see her live for the 1st and 2nd time. The next time I saw her live was in 1996, when Chris and I traveled to Philly to see her play 4 shows in 2 nights (manna from heaven for a fan). This time Chris brought along a camcorder and recorded the shows, though only 2 of the 4 came out well.

The thing to understand about why these shows are rare, is that Happy has never toured the US (or anywhere else), and has only done one-off shows (sometimes two a night), or as in 2003 when she didn't even have an album to promote, a small cluster of shows that stretched from New Jersey to Chicago. We traveled to see several other shows/showsets; in 1996 alone we made 3 trips from Chicago (May and October in Philly, August at The Bottom Line in New York). We traveled to Philly to see her again in 1997, 1998 (Philly, plus Troy, NY and New York City), and 1999. In 2001 she had an accident with her fret hand and it was unclear for a while if she would ever play guitar again. We just had to travel to a New Haven, CT house concert in 2003, her first show since the accident. In November 2003 she played a mini-tour and we saw the dates in Kenosha, WI, Toledo, OH and Chicago. In January 2005 we again went to Philly. Those were her last shows.

Every time I see her I think, "this is going to be the last time I see her live" which so far hasn't turned out to be true, but it's always on my mind. All told I've seen 24 live shows and we have 22 of them on video. For years this video has languished in a box. We made the occasional dub but there wasn't really anything else to do with it. Until recently. Chris got the ability to extract songs and make videos for YouTube, and I immediately thought of Happy. There are fans in other parts of the US and in other countries who have never seen a live clip and since she doesn't tour they will probably never see her live. It had to be done, and I made Chris do it (he's such a sweetheart). We just bought a used Digital 8 camera on ebay so we could access some of the older video that was shot with a Hi8 that died many years ago. Now I'm having a blast going through shows and picking out good bits.

None of this would matter if the music were average, but if you really listen to her voice and music, she's very special. If you (whoever might be reading this) haven't seen any of the videos, please at least watch "Temporary and Eternal" and her cover of "Space Oddity" or "Mercy Street." I know she won't appeal to everyone, but she's an important artist, one of the best artists you've never heard of. All these clips will be important to biographers and archivists, and music historians of the future.

We were zealous about uploading videos without having read the rules and I am very very sorry about that. I just don't want all this to end with people thinking that there's a cold, calculating attempt to spam, market, cheat or deceive. It's been a sincere, if fumbling, attempt to spread the music of an artist I care deeply about.

Vickie

We filmed this video at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, PA on May 9, 1996 (2nd show of the night, and she did 2 more shows the next night). Kevin Bartlett on electric guitar and Carl Adami on bass are hidden there in the background. We traveled from Chicago to see this show (and many many other shows). The trip was always worth the effort.

These Happy videos aren't the best technically, but Happy has never toured and her shows are rare and special (to me anyway). This group of 4 shows in 2 nights was like manna from heaven for fans. I'd seen her live twice before this group of shows, 4 years earlier. I've seen her live a total of 24 times, all but 2 of those times traveling halfway across the country to do it (never knowing if each show might be her last). It may or may not come across in the video, but there's something amazing and precious to be in the same room as That Voice live. Then again, I'm a besotted fan, so there you go. That's me she's bowing to at the end (*swoon*) because she knew I was a huge Peter Gabriel fan.

Vickie

In spite of Happy's name most of her music is very serious, sometimes downright depressing and sad and even creepy at times. Still, Happy's one of the funniest people I know, and k8fan just put up a bunch of new videos at YouTube that show her great sense of humor. This is one of them. There's more fun banter after the song is over.


One of the most often-asked questions (after "Is that her real name" to which the answer is yes) is "Who's that guy singing with Happy?" or "Is she a transsexual?" This answers both questions (no guy singing, and she's female all the way).

This was filmed at the Tin Angel in Philly in March 1997. Kevin Bartlett on electric guitar, Carl Adami on bass, and Kelly Bird on co-standup duties and backing vocals.

The mp3 of this song was once misidentified as being a duet by Kate Bush and Annie Lennox. It spread like wildfire around the old (very much missed) Napster. We filmed this video at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, PA on May 9, 1996 (2nd show of the night, and she did 2 more shows the next night). Kevin Bartlett on electric guitar and Carl Adami on bass are hidden there in the background. We traveled from Chicago to see this show (and many many other shows). The trip was always worth the effort.

I apologise for the duplicate. I forgot to click Submit again.

I just noticed this got promoted. Thanks deathcow! Weird about the politics placement. Yeah, it must be the Kate Bush reference.

The mp3 of this song was once misidentified as being a duet by Kate Bush and Annie Lennox. It spread like wildfire around the old (very much missed) Napster. We filmed this video at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, PA on May 9, 1996 (2nd show of the night, and she did 2 more shows the next night). Kevin Bartlett on electric guitar and Carl Adami on bass are hidden there in the background. We traveled from Chicago to see this show (and many many other shows). The trip was always worth the effort.

Kate Bush wrote this song based on dim rememberances of the movie The Innocents (she saw it as a child), which in turn is based on "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James.

k8fan made this fan video in 1984 (and I helped!) using a VHS dub of the movie off TV, and a cassette copy of the song. He sent a dub of the video to Kate and she LOVED it! Seriously, she loved it so much she telephoned k8fan from England to tell him, and to thank him for sending it to her! She said he captured all the bits she had remembered when she wrote the song. I was at work when she called, of all the darn luck.

k8fan re-did the video last night using the widescreen DVD and a CD of the song.

It's been years since I've seen it, but if I remember correctly, the village's taxes are being raised by the occupying English, and this guy makes a bet with one of the snooty English mucky mucks that if the Indians win a cricket match, the taxes will be lowered (or lifted altogether, something like that). Of course, the English rule at cricket, and none of these guys know the game at all. Cricket has very bizarre rules (we stopped the movie in the middle to go look up cricket web sites to try to clarify some of the rules that got lost in the subtitle translations), but they do get some help from a kindly Englishwoman who explains the game to them.

What he's doing here is trying to inspire the other men/reluctant players who are angry at him for making the bet, because of course they know they don't stand a chance. If I remember correctly. Man, I have to see this movie again!

This is the first Bollywood movie we ever saw (we've seen several since) and we watched it because it was nominated for an Oscar, the first Bollywood movie to do so, I believe. I never ever would have thought a singing, dancing, subtitled movie about cricket could be so wonderful and fascinating! We loved it!

One of my all-time favorite films!

She's such a legend, but this is the first time I've seen video of her...wow! I'm an atheist and I'm still in awe of her!

As you can see, the video quality is crap. There just wasn't enough light for a good shoot. What makes this extraordinary though is Happy's spontaneous bit from Bowie's "Fame." Bowie needed a pitch shifter from what I understand, but Happy just reels it off without any preparation.