Happy Rhodes

In 1999 Meredith Tarr of New Haven and Chuck Stipak of Danbury, Connecticut organized a one-day music festival in Danbury to honor Rhodes and the mailing list Ecto, with all proceeds going to charity. The lineup for "Ectofest 1999," held on September 4, 1999, consisted of Rhodes, Rachael Sage, Sloan Wainwright, Susan McKeown and the Mila Drumke Band. Tarr and Stipak repeated the festival the next year and on September 2, 2000 "Ectofest 2000" featured Rhodes, Jessica Weiser, Anne Heaton, Amy Fairchild, Sloan Wainwright, Merrie Amsterburg and Susan McKeown.

In 2001, West Coast fans (Shelly Deforte, Phil Hudson and Bill Mazur), who were encouraged by other members of the Ecto music discussion group to host a West coast version of the event, organized "Ectofest West" in Santa Cruz, California, held on June 9, 2001, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. Rhodes flew to California to perform but on the day of the concert she accidentally cut the ring finger on her fret hand while using a Leatherman tool, and severed the deep flexor tendon, as well as causing nerve damage. She was taken to the hospital where the hand was temporarily treated and bandaged. Rhodes performed 12 songs that evening sans guitar, relying on bandmates Eric Nicholas, Carl Adami and Bob Muller to fill in her parts. Rhodes had surgery on the finger when she returned from California and underwent physical therapy so she could play the guitar again. Ectofest West is the only time Rhodes has performed in front of an audience west of Chicago. Other performers at the festival were Cyoakha Grace, Jill Tracy and Veda Hille. / Two Loons for Tea was scheduled to play but the band was stranded in Houston during a hurricane, and was not able to get to Santa Cruz in time. Rhodes was scheduled to play Ectofest 2001 on August 25, 2001, in Danbury, CT but had to bow out because of her injury. Performers at that show were Edie Carey, Mila Drumke, Trina Hamlin, Jargon Society, Rachael Sage and Molly Zenobia. 2001's show was the last Ectofest until the 2007 Ectofest with Happy Rhodes, Noe Venable and Casey Desmond on September 8, 2007, at / the Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA. The show sold out 3 weeks in advance, with fans traveling from all over the United States and also Scotland and Germany.

In 2016, Rhodes came out of retirement and started singing with Security Project, a Peter Gabriel appreciation band featuring Jerry Marotta, Trey Gunn, Michael Cozzi, and David Jameson, singing lead for 11 live shows in 2016, 19 shows in 2017, and 8 more shows in Spring 2018.[7]

• After 2001's Ectofest West, Rhodes did not perform again until April 2003, when she performed at a house concert in New Haven with percussionist Bob Muller. Rhodes has also performed at house concerts in Maple Shade, NJ, Toledo, OH and Kenosha, WI.
• Rhodes' most recent solo performance prior to Ectofest '07 was at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia on January 29, 2005, where she sold out two shows in the same evening.
• Rhodes has toured three times as guest keyboardist and vocalist for the Bon Lozaga band Project Lo, in 1997, 1999 and 2000.
• Through the years, Rhodes has performed live with backing musicians Bob Muller, Kevin Bartlett, Bon Lozaga, Carl Adami, Hansford Rowe, Kelly Bird, Martha Waterman, Eric Nicholas, Mark Foster, Ray Jung, Matthew Guarnere, Dave Sepowski, Peter Sheehan, Dean Sharp, Jamie Edwards and Paul Huesman.
• Rhodes has opened for or played on the same bill as 10,000 Maniacs, Shawn Colvin, Jeffrey Gaines, Pete & Maura Kennedy, Kyle Davis, Barbara Kessler, Willy Porter, and Steve Forbert, among others.

• Ecto the Internet mailing list was created on June 13, 1991, by Jessica Koeppel Dembski out of Rutgers University. Originally called "Ectoplasm," the mailing list name was changed within a few days. It has operated continuously since its inception, and has from the beginning encouraged discussion of other musicians besides Happy Rhodes, especially female artists. The mailing list changed hands in the mid-1990s to Greg Bossert, then shortly thereafter to Rob Woiccak, who continues to administer the list. Jeff Wasilko hosts the mailing list at his smoe domain, which hosts several other music mailing lists. Among fans, the term "Ecto," used as a genre name, has grown to encompass a number of musicians who do not fit comfortably in other musical genres, such as Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Jane Siberry. Rhodes' fans have called themselves "Ectophiles" since almost the beginning of the mailing list, and the name was the inspiration for Tori Amos fans calling themselves "Toriphiles." Ecto remains a busy discussion list, with members discussing Happy Rhodes and much other "Ecto"-philic music.[9]
• Rhodes thanks the "Ectophiles" in the liner notes of the CD re-releases of Rhodes I, Rhodes II, Rearmament, Ecto, Many Worlds Are Born Tonight and Find Me.
• Rhodes and the mailing list Ecto were the inspiration for the creation of The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music, a collection of music reviews by Ectophiles created in 1998 by poet and author Neile Graham.
• A fan magazine, Terra Incognita (aka Rhodeways), was published by Sharon Nichols from 1994 to 2000.

Her first four albums, Rhodes Volume I (1986), Rhodes Volume II (1986), Rearmament (1986) and Ecto (1987) were not conceived and recorded as album releases, but were a gathering together of songs recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios over a number of years. When fellow musician Kevin Bartlett offered to release Rhodes' songs on his cassette-only personal label Aural Gratification, Rhodes culled through the songs she had recorded and ordered them to her satisfaction. Rhodes I and Rhodes II are often considered to be a double album by fans because the songs are similar in theme and instrumentation. The third cassette, Rearmament, uses more electronic instrumentation and often displays the influence of Wendy Carlos. The fourth cassette, Ecto, contained a greater number of the more recent songs Rhodes had recorded and shows a greater maturity and complexity, foreshadowing the music Rhodes would make in the future.

Rhodes' first four albums were co-produced by Pat Tessitore and Rhodes, the 1991 album Warpaint was the first result of her collaboration with musician, producer and Aural Gratification record label owner Kevin Bartlett, and the first to feature musicians other than Rhodes. During this period, the two formed a duo named, appropriately enough, "Bartlett/Rhodes". They recorded a number of co-written songs and played a few dates, but the results were not generally considered successful, and they decided to continue on their individual endeavors. 1993 brought Equipoise an album of new material and Rhodesongs a compilation of music from Rhodes' first four album, alternative versions and a David Bowie cover. The cover of the 1994 album Building the Colossus commented on Rhodes' technically oriented fan base with an album sub-head of "c:\happy rhodes" and featured Peter Gabriel collaborators Jerry Marotta and David Torn. This exceptionally productive period was capped with the 1995 compilation The Keep, featuring acoustic versions of earlier songs, the traditional Christmas song Oh Holy Night and a medley of songs by the group Yes.

After having entertained a number of traditional record company offers, and rejecting them due to an unwillingness to give up rights to her music, Rhodes assumed production and engineering duties on the 1998 release Many Worlds Are Born Tonight. Once the album was complete, she signed with a new label, Samson Music, and was able to tour the northeastern United States with a more elaborate stage show. The song Roy was released as a single and reached #42 on the Billboard Club Play/Dance Music chart.[10] While sales were far greater than her previous albums, Samson eventually decided to concentrate on their Gold Circle Films division and dropped Rhodes. The parting was amicable, and the label returned her musical rights, as well as all unsold product.

In 2001 Rhodes recorded a new album, Find Me, but it was not released until 2007, although a limited-edition CD sampler consisting of 8 songs – Fall, Charlie, The Chosen One, Can't Let Go, One And Many, Find Me, Here And Hereafter and She Won't Go was sold at her 2005 concert. The album includes three additional songs – Treehouse, Little Brother and Queen. One additional song, Shutdown, was recorded for the album but is not on the official release.

Musicians on Find Me include guitarist Bon Lozaga and bassist Hansford Rowe of Gongzilla, bassist Carl Adami, guitarists Ted Kumpel and Jon Cather and pianist Rob Schwimmer.

In 2018 the Chicago-based record label The Numero Group released a retrospective compilation of 18 songs titled "Happy Rhodes: Ectotrophia." The album package includes lyrics as well as extensive liner notes by Erin Osmon.[11]