Chalkhills, Number 265

                  Thursday, 4 March 1993
Today's Topics:
         Wrapped in Grey CD Single Release Rumor
                     Chalkhills #264
                        Jellyfish
                    no grammy for xtc
                   Stolar Tracks Vol. 1
                  Re: pale and precious
                    raisingasms, etc.
               Re: jason and the argonauts
            The Great Skylarking Controversy!

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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 11:19:33 PST
From: "PKO3-1/21J, 223-3413  02-Mar-1993 1419" <wilson@pharos.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Wrapped in Grey CD Single Release Rumor

I just heard a rumor that "Wrapped in Grey" will be released as a
CD single.

Kind of hard to believe. Let's hope so!

Stay tombed,

Wes

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Subject: Chalkhills #264
From: Desi the Three-Armed Wonder Comic <jondr@sco.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 12:24:48 PST

drsmith@piper.hamline.edu (londinium) dribbles:

>and after killing jason off
>and countless screaming argonauts
>
>i 4get the rest...but i was in wonderment if this in reference 2 xtc's:
>"jason and the argonauts?" or if jason and the argonauts rilly is truly some-
>thing...

find a book on greek mythology and look up "jason and the argonauts."

Jon Drukman (edited for television)                             jondr@sco.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always note the sequencer - this will never let us down.

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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 12:29:41 PST
From: "PKO3-1/21J, 223-3413  02-Mar-1993 1525" <wilson@pharos.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Jellyfish

Hi everyone,

Purely on a chance, I bought the new Jellyfish CD this
past weekend.

Other than two songs, it really doesn't grab me.

I'll admit it; I'm picky. :-)

- - - - -

By the way, dans, from Chalkhills 264: great writing! Felt like
I was reading "Riddley Walker"!

Wes

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Date:         Tue, 02 Mar 93 15:26:27 EST
From: Steven Cantor <SLC@harvarda.harvard.edu>
Organization: Harvard University
Subject:      no grammy for xtc

the honorable mr. relph recently remarked unhappily about tom waits winning
the grammy over xtc.  although i will in no way shape or form defend the
grammies, nor will i deny that the only reason waits won is because he
appears in movies and is therefore known the hollywood industry and attendant
gangmembers, the fact remains that bone machine is one hell of a recording, and
it is safe to say that if most record company execs heard it, the would flee
in terror.  as much as i love xtc, for my money, bone machine is the superior
recording, at least in terms of originality and emotional intensity.
s.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Cantor
SLC@HARVARDA.HARVARD.EDU

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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 13:51:08 PST
From: "John M. Relph" <relph@presto.ig.com>
Subject: Stolar Tracks Vol. 1

I went to the local used store today and found a copy of _Stolar Tracks
Vol. 1_, the Stolichnaya promotional sampler CD.  It contains the
standard 5'00 version of "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead".  It's also
got tracks by Arrested Development, Matthew Sweet, The Pooh Sticks (they
sound great!), and many others.  Bummer having to pay $9 for a CD that
should have cost $3 for a phone call.

Here's what they have to say:

  ``Truly one of new music's legendary bands, XTC gets better
    with age.  _Nonsuch_, their 10th LP, is yet another unique
    masterpiece, a crafty combination of colorful, wise and
    pointed prose.  "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead", the
    album's first single, is an anthemic fable about a popular
    martyr that shows Andy Partridge and XTC deftly balancing
    melody and message as only they can.''

        -- John

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Date: 2 Mar 93 15:29:11 PST
From: Jemiah.Levon.Jefferson@altosax.reed.edu (Jemiah Levon Jefferson)
Subject: Re: pale and precious

I've been straining ym ears on this one for years now and I can get
-what?
-(garble garble)
-yes! positive!
-Let's (garble garble)

elaborations, anybuddy?
"nobody knows me, but i'm always here."
                   --UB40, "1 in 10"
eeyore

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Date: 03 Mar 1993 02:30:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brookes McKenzie <RMCKENZI@smith.smith.edu>
Subject: raisingasms, etc.

dans - is it just me, or are you sniffing some substance that even hunter
s. thompson would stay away from? california raisinettes aside, the orgasm
motif is not only featured on optigasm's flames but on countless other earlyish
songs, such as sno-man & no thugs. i think it's hysterically silly, but the
wisdom of bringing the raisins into it is something else entirely. now, on to
more pressing matters.
jason & the argonauts - i know a little about the greek myth, more about jason
than about the argonauts, but here goes: i think jason was this random prince
who wanted to capture the golden fleece which was guarded by a dragon (of
course). he set off in his ship (the _argos_ which i seem to remember havingan
eye painted on its side [don't ask why i thought that was important]), and on
the way he stopped and made medea (who was a witch and mistress of this aging
king and who had two children by him) fall in love with him so that she would
help him kill the dragon, which she did (i can't remember how), and after he
had killed it he sowed its teeth and they sprouted into armies of men who were
zombie-like and invincible, and they practically killed jason before he threw
a stone into their midst and that made them so pissed that they killed each
other until there were none left. what the point of that was supposed to be i
don't know. anyway, jason had promised medea that he would take her with him
when he went back home, and of course he didn't. this enraged her, rightly,but
to such an extent that she murdered both of her children (who were jason's too
- i forgot) put a curse on jason and escaped in a chariot pulled by
dragons. jason went home and i think somehow killed his father by mistake (b/c
of the curse). that's the story as far as i know. i think maybe something else
happened while they were going to get the fleece, maybe circe? or the cyclops?
maybe i'm getting it confused with (tales of brave) ulysses. i read these a
long time ago, so anything's possible.

i feel like i had something else to say, but i can't remember what. oh well.

        blinkingly,
            brookes

oh, p.s. - bad craziness seems to have been occurring at 'hamline' (hamilton?).
i was, however, impressed by the russian military watch.

post-post-script - does anyone have a copy of Go+ sitting around that they'd
like me to take off their hands? a tape of the record would be also more
than accepta-bell. pls write if possible (rmckenzi@smith.smith.edu), thanx.

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Date: Wed,  3 Mar 1993 11:17:11 -0500 (EST)
From: Christopher Paul Henk <ch3l+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: jason and the argonauts

Jason and the argonauts is a Greek myth about a boatload of heros led by
jason to recover the golden fleece.  The argonauts are called this
because the boat was named something like the Argo.
So yes there is a Jason.

    Chris

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Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1993 13:34:50 -0600 (CST)
From: VOORHEES@nsula.edu
Subject: The Great Skylarking Controversy!

        There's just been a lot of discussion about US, UK and CAN versions of
the Todd Rundgren, whoops, I mean XTC, album, "SKYLARKING!"  I have heard it
argued that "Dear God" disrupts the cyclical nature of the original album.
Fine, fine.  I'm all for purist notions of "artist intent," but in this case
I'm just gonna have to disagree.  "Dear God" is the perfect transition out of
the spiritual despair of "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul."  "The Man"'s
ultimate revelation is that "flesh, blood and bone are everything."  While the
inspiration of the idea is different, surely this is also the whole point
behind "Dear God." "I don't believe in Heaven and Hell, No saints, no sinners,
no devil as well,"etc. etc.  Ultimately this despair grows out of the
infiltration of technology into the pastoral world.(I.E. from the bliss of
"summer's Cauldron"and "Grass" to the appearance of the factory in "The Secret
Place", the loss of the innocent ideal in "That's Really Super, Supergirl",
the return of nature in a modern setting, first in appreciation in "Ballet
for a Rainy Day", then in "misery, oh-oh misery" in "1000 Umbrellas", the
passage of time in "Season Cycle" brings another, less idyllic relationship
in Earn Enough for Us", leading to a "Big Day", and the ultimate insinuation
of technology into love, "Another Satellite".  This brings us to the journey
and loss of "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul.")
        "Dear God" also leads to the cold, hard reality of "Dying".  But the
cycle is completed with the return of mysticism in the "Sacrificial Bonfire".
        Frankly, I have difficulty putting "Mermaid Smiled" into my concept
of the cycle in the first place.  Can someone help me out?

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