Jimi Hendrixes of the harp world unite
Courtesy of Electric Angel
Electric Angel, a female electric harp trio made up of Lynne Reardon, Midyne Spear
and Jill Meniketti, sport colorful instruments as a visual element to their performance.
■The artists in Electric Angel
use their electric harps to
generate a unique sound
By Josh Ryneal
Oregon Daily Emerald
Forget cherubim floating around
the puffy clouds of heaven, strum
ming adorable little harps.
These angels rock.
Lynne Reardon, Midyne Spear
and Jill Meniketti are Electric Angel,
the world’s first all-female electric
harp trio, and will make their Ore
gon debut at Eugene’s Tsunami
Books on Sunday.
The trio plays multi-colored harps
custom-made in France, which re
semble electric guitars in some ways.
“We love harps as well as elec
tronic gadgetry,” Meniketti said.
“We wanted to stretch the instru
ment itself as well as expand the no
tion of what the harp can do. ”
The Angels got their start a little
more than two years ago, when
Meniketti’s husband suggested
forming an electric harp trio and
“trying something new. ”
“We wanted to break the stereo
type of the angelic harpist with the
long, flowing gown,” Meniketti
said. “We’re kind of like Jimi Hen
drix, who expanded the idea of the
electric guitar. We have expanded
the idea of the harp. ”
The electric harps differ from tra
ditional ones in both their construc
tion and design. They are shaped
like traditional Celtic harps but
don’t have a hollow soundbox.
They also have electric pickups like
an electric guitar.
“Because they’re amplified, we
have a lot of control over the volume
and sound,” Reardon said.
The harps plug into a standard
guitar amplifier, which allows them
SSWe wanted to break
the stereotype of the an
gelic harpist with the long,
flowing gown. We're kind
of like Jimi Hendrix, who
expanded the idea of the
electric guitar. We have ex
panded the idea of the
harp.
Jill Meniketti
Electric Angel
to use sound effect pedals that are
made for electric guitars.
Reardon said that although ex
ploring the new, amplified opportu
nities of the harp is part of the
group’s appeal, there is a visual im
pact to their shows as well.
“Part of the act is the visual effect of
different-colored harps,” she said.
The group plays a number of dif
ferent styles, including contempo
rary pop, new age, jazz and even a
little rock.
“All three of us are classically
trained, but it’s hard to put us into
one genre. Some of our stuff is new
agey; some of it is poppy stuff,”
Meniketti said. “It’s all turned into
something really fun. ”
The group covers Stevie Won
der’s “Higher Ground” on their CD,
“Electric Angel,” and audiences
may be surprised to hear the versa
tility of the instrument.
“My husband discouraged us from
doing that, saying the harp ‘wasn’t
funky enough for a Stevie Wonder
time,’ but Lynne hooked up a wah
wah pedal [to the harp], and it turned
outreally good,” Meniketti said.
Scott Landfield, co-owner of
Tsunami Books, said that the
venue’s sophisticated sound and
recording equipment will help em
phasize the performance.
“The back of the store turns into a
theater that seats 120 people,” he
said.
Landfield said Electric Angel’s
performance marks the beginning of
their event season and that people
can look forward to many more
eclectic events in the future.
“Musically, we like to focus on
jazz, acoustic and a certain amount
of new age,” Landfield said.
The concert will begin at 4:30 p.m.,
and there is a suggested $6 donation.
“We don’t turn away anybody,
though,” Landfield said.
Cure those laundry-day blues with some soul food
inn oUKLl
GOURMET
TONY CHIOTTI
Want to get rid of that
stubborn patchouli
funk left behind by
the last batch of dirt
heads to rent your apartment?
Smoke it out. Smoke it out with
stinky pork.
Red beans and rice is the quintes
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sentiai laundry day grubbms. It’ll
feed you for a week for less than six
bucks, and your place will reek of
smoked ham hocks for a month.
(That’s a good thing.) It takes a cou
ple of hours, but it’s not labor inten
sive. Turn on the radio, whip up a
Hot Toddy, sort your whites from
your darks, and get ready for some
spicy-ass comfort chow.
I recommend using smoked neck
bones because they are cheap and
meaty, but any smoky, pork-like
Conquer
tdT
ft
jspbinson Theatre
Wov. 3, £,$,<10,
| \ 18-8 pm
Sou, 12-2 pm
Sunday is a Benefit fbi
Habitat for Humanity
$15 @741-170:
W of O Tix: 346-4363
UT Box Office: 346-4191
(SomlcNewjt
ATTENTION YOU SCRABBLE FIENDS!
A paired Scrabble tournament will be held in The
Break on Nov. 9th from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Prizes
given to all participants. Register beforehand in
The Break. $5.00 per team.
Ground floor EMU. 346-3711
substance will due. Ham hocks,
ham bones or even bacon will
work. Making this dish without
one of the above will result in a
dish resembling soggy packing
peanuts. If you are expecting vege
tarians over, well, lemmie give you
a bit of free advice: These flatulent
folks are not worthy of your
sausage, or your hospitality.
Precise measurements of either
ingredients or time are unimpor
tant. I attempted to develop a Uni
fied Field Theory of Red Beans
and Rice for the purposes of this
column — a “recipe” if you will
— but what’s the point? I mean,
you could simply take that list of
ingredients, toss it all in a pot,
turn the heat to medium and walk
away. It would come out great.
What follows are a loose set of
suggestions that may be ignored at
will.
Contrary to popular opinion,
beans do not need to soak. Soak
ing overnight reduces cooking
time, but nobody thinks that far
ahead. Rinse the beans in several
changes of water, drain, transfer to
a large stock pot and cover with
about five cups of hot water. Toss
in the swine-bones, put on the lid
and turn the heat all the way up.
While you’re waiting for it to boil,
toss in your socks, underpants
and some bleach — into the wash
er, not the stock pot — then after
you’ve got the laundry going, re
duce the heat to low and allow
beans to simmer.
Chop up the veggies and break
the sausage up into chunks. In a
large saute pan (or what-have
you), brown the sausage over
medium heat for a few minutes.
Once the sausage has released all
of that luscious fat, toss in the gar
lic, peppers and onions. Stir this
occasionally until the peppers are
soft and the onions are browned.
Dump in the can of tomatoes and
add the bay leaves.
At any rate, I leave the season
ing solely to your discretion. You
like spicy? Cayenne, paprika,
Tabasco, pepper flakes, pepper
spray. Whatever floats your boat.
Just remember that dumping hot
sauce on top of the finished prod
uct is part of the whole experi
ence, so don’t press your luck at
this early stage.
Let this cook away until you’ve
transferred your socks over to the
dryer and started another load.
Pull out the bones and let cool.
Dump the contents of the saute
pan on top of the beans and stir.
After the bones have cooled, pick
off the meat, chop and return to
the pot. Reduce heat to simmer
and cook uncovered until your
clothes are dry and folded. Add
water if necessary, but you’re
looking for a nice, thick gravy, not
soup.
The rice is easy. Rinse it, then
cover with water: two cups water
for every one cup of rice. Bring to
Ingredients:
1 lb. dried red beans
1 lb. smoked pork neck or ham
hocks
1/2 lb. Cajun, spicy Italian orchorizo
sausage
141/2 oz. can tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 large red bell peppers, diced
4-10 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
5 cups hot water
Salt and pepper
Long-grain white rice
a boil, then reduce heat to low
and cover. Stirring releases starch
es, so don’t touch it or you’ll
muck it all up. Let it cook until
the rice is tender and the water is
absorbed. Craters will begin form
ing on the surface when it is get
ting close.
A little from column A, a little
from column B. Badda-boom: red
beans and rice. Garnish with
green onions, cilantro or parsley,
and serve with plenty of hot
sauce. And don’t spill any down
the front of your shirt. It could be
months before laundry day rolls
around again.
Tony Chiotti is a journalism major. He is a
freelancer for the Emerald.
MINUT6I
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