Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 115
Date: Tuesday, 21 May 1996

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 115

                   Tuesday, 21 May 1996

Today's Topics:

             My reactions and other things...
              Snipping Snipping Snipping...
              My vote for XTC Producer(s)...
              A bit like goldy.......part 2
                Cover Art & Other Gubbins
                         Flame on
                   RE: The Sugarplastic
                    Producers - Again
       Re: Skylarking, Summers Couldron, and ToddR
                     An Imperial Drag
                     TMBG nod to XTC
                    rude interruption
                      Re: Supergirl
                   Sugarplastic mach II
                          (none)
                      Imperial Drags
                        Who cares
           Thank you Mssrs. Friedman and Yazbek
               Revisiting the Produce Stand

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Put me on my knees.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message-Id: <199605200524.AAA21666@thymaster.interaccess.com>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 00:39:06 -0500
From: shonniet@interaccess.com (LaShawn M. Taylor)
Subject: My reactions and other things...

YAYYYYY!!!! XTC and Virgin are no more!  Godspeed to our boys as they hook a
new company and get cracking in the studio.  We await with baited breath...

I received my Dave Yazbeck sampler tape in the mail a few weeks ago.  All I
have to say is: Dave, please, please, please come do a show in Chicago. Now
I have to start scrounging pennies so I can get your CD.

This weekend I had a chance to hear They Might Be Giants at University of
Chicago.  These guys are great live.  Not only did they play their most
popular tunes, but several new ones, including the new one of the Kids in
the Hall CD, and one that was introduced as a song about the History of Rock
and Roll.  I hope "XTC vs. Adam Ant" makes it on their new album.  It's the
best lament of our heroes' woes I've ever heard.

LaShawn M. Taylor
shonniet@flowbee.interaccess.com

* --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go tell your stale friends	|To not to try to push our bodies any faster
Go tell false prophets and	|'Cause we're dancing with disaster
drug traffickers. . .		|And the first will be the last
				|It's nearly Africa!    	-xtc
==========================================================================

------------------------------

From: Aaron Pastula <apastula@pepperdine.edu>
Message-Id: <199605200557.AA02707@pepvax.pepperdine.edu>
Subject: Snipping Snipping Snipping...
Date: Sun, 19 May 96 22:57:29 PDT

> Query: what kind of tree was AP sitting in in the "Dear God" video?

Something diciduous, perhaps?

> I spoke with Andy Partridge a few hours ago and he asked me to post the
> following bit of news-- XTC are finally free from their deal with Virgin
> Records.

Perhaps there is justice in this world.  I feel like champagne; how about you?

> I knew I could never get my parents to enjoy XTC's
> music, but one day I spread out all of their 7" singles and albums and 12"
> singles on the floor of my bedroom and invited my parents in to take a
> look. This they could relate to and were actually entertained and
> interested by the display on my floor.

Uh, right...did anyone see The Truth About Cats And Dogs?  I can just see
Jeneanne Garafalo (sp?):

		Say it with me:  US...THEM.

		Remember, it's okay to love your records,
		Just don't LOVE your records.

> the Big Express
> wheel with the tiny green insect sitting on the well-lighted part,

Mantis on Parole, I figure...

> Sorry. Can we all be friends again now please? :-}

Wow, there is, like, SO MUCH LOVE in this room...you're all like the family
I never had...I LOVE YOU, MAN!

Just think, one day (soon?) there will be a NEW album, from which all kinds
of GREAT DISCUSSIONS will stem.  Song order, thematic conceptions, lyrical
interpretation, cover art, trees in videos, etc. etc. etc.  Can't wait.

Aaron.

------------------------------

From: "Randy Watkins" <randyw@sisna.com>
Subject: My vote for XTC Producer(s)...
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 23:57:45 -0700
Message-Id: <07072717113675@sisna.com>

Hiya Chalkies!

Wow!  Finally out of the contract, eh?  COOL!

PS - Is that Rundgren's photo on the back of 25 O'Clock?  What input did
he have on that record?  I thought John Leckie and the Dukes produced all
their stuff....?  Someone please enlighten me on this.
--
Runwulf
http://www.sandiego.sisna.com/randyw
"You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't touch the restless sky
Close your aching eyes beyond your name."

------------------------------

From: "R.L.Crane" <R.L.Crane@sheffield.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 12:19:45 +0100
Subject: A bit like goldy.......part 2
Message-ID: <13807837F72@Broomhead.shef.ac.uk>

> >Not to mention the fundamental question of whether the Internet (bow and
> >scrape) is populated by overeducated nerds who badly need to get a
> > life.

Hey I resent this remark!

I identify as an UNDEReducated nerd......

Still need to get a life, though......sigh!

Snogs and tongues and things

Will xxxxx :-p

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 12:47:23 +0100
Message-Id: <199605201147.AA22389@felix.dircon.co.uk>
From: nonsuch@dircon.co.uk (Simon Sleightholm)
Subject: Cover Art & Other Gubbins

>From: mf@well.com (Mitch Friedman)
>Subject: Cover art and craft
>I'd love to know if there are some people out there who share the same
>appreciation for this stuff that I do. I look forward to reading your
>responses.

With you all the way Mitch. Although I've been an XTC fan since about 1980,
it wasn't until about 1984 that I was earning money and could go into town
and really investigate the band. They had a six year history by then. and
rooting through the X section of many a second-hand record shop was a joy I
will never recapture. All the sleeves you mentioned were a wonder to
discover. At that stage I didn't even own Mummer, so Wonderland and Great
Fire (pic disc and wibbly fire effect sleeve respectively) were a real find.

My quest for a reasonably complete collection ended recently when I found
the 12" of Farmboy's Wages at a flea market for a pound.

Now, of course, I have just about eveything there is to own - at least of UK
releases, I'm not bothered about imports for their own sake unless they are:-

a) Extremely cheap,
b) Include tracks I've never heard,
c) Both of the above (unfortunately a rare occurence)

My friends, all of whom loathe XTC with a ferocity the English usually
reserve for French people, do, in their cups, occasionally like to rummage
in my singles box and marvel over the sleeves. If I should try to extract a
disk and attempt to craftily insinuate it onto my aging turntable, however,
I am liable to find myself the object of mighty derision. As you noted, the
sleeves for XTC records are generally an excellent pointer to the contents,
and it seems odd to me that people can appreciate the artwork, and yet miss
the music so completely.

On hearing "Seagulls Screaming" a mate pointed out that "I say 'I like your
coat'" is a truly awful lyric. He missed the point totally that it was
*meant* to be bad. The guy in the song is tongue tied and lost, he says the
first thing that he can think of that has little chance of being
misconstrued as a gross insult (cf "Nice dress, are they back in fashion
now?" - "You look *so* much like your brother" - "I bet you were a chubby
baby" etc.)

<drags self back to point. After a fashion>

I do know what you mean about XTC possibly sounding more designed than
produced, but that seems to imply a certain coldness and calculation that I
have never found to be present in their music. Mind you, if I see them
described in print as "rustic songsmiths, crafting finely wrought pop in the
traditonal English manner" ONE MORE TIME by patronising journalists, I shall
be obliged to garrotte someone.

XTC albums are usually packaged in a way that enocurages me to investigate
the sleeve and insert for the visual equivalent of the little quirks and
flourishes that decorate the music. Big Express is a big favourite - a
complete design, stuffed to the straining corsets with equally complete and
overwhemling music. Oranges and Lemons boasts the wonderful b/w band
portraits, an idea that Nonsuch picked up and ran with. The packaging for
Through The Hill is attractive, but perhaps a little too self-consciously
arty - like a '60s concept album sleeve; it you switch off your common-sense
it's adventure in mystical interpretation and inspirational imagery,
otherwise it's a few nice pictures from a book of engravings (preferably one
out of copyright). The sleeve for Drums and Wireless was a triumph of the
designers art, taking an already fairly abstract original and spinning it
back on itself (via a Metropolis-style vision of the future).

The design of Nonsuch and it's attendant release was a sustained style that
XTC have rarely tinkered with before. The Big Express sleeve's coldness was
in part mirrored by the similiarly cold sleeves for two of the attendant
singles (This World Over & Wake Up), but on Nonsuch the design thread was
carried through the singles, promo discs, press ads etc. So much so that one
of the US promos (there must have been a fair few, because I have about half
a dozen different ones) was called "This Is Not The New Album" to prevent
the poor DJ's getting bamboozled by the proliferation of new CD's with such
a strong common design concept.

I do go on, by Jingo. I apologise. I am in a fine fettle and this rubbish
just pours out of me in such situations.

BTW, it is wonderful to hear that XTC are free from Virgin. Here's to the
future of the greatest sons of Swindon.

Heed the Green Man,

Simon
* ---------------------------------------------------
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nonsuch/bungalow.htm
* ---------------------------------------------------
No Thugs In Our House, only XTC.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 09:44:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Tom X. Chao" <tqc8542@is.nyu.edu>
Subject: Flame on
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.93.960520094311.21081B-100000@is.nyu.edu>

"All right, Tom Chao, how much did you pay Lucas to post this question?
'Fess up, boy!  I'm not buying any of this coincidence theory."

That's Tom X. Chao to you.
TXC

------------------------------

Subject: RE: The Sugarplastic
From: wwilson@mail07.mitre.org (Wesley H. Wilson)
Message-Id: <960520094555.28568@mail07.mitre.org.0>
Date: Mon, 20 May 96 09:45:57 -0400

Over the weekend I picked up The Sugarplastic's "Bang! The Earth Is
Round..."  CD. The first few tracks are so inspired by "Drums and Wires" as
to provoke lawsuits: scratchy guitars, big drums, disjointed rythms, "I'm a
zombie" Andy/David Byrne singing with Colinesque "woo woo woo wooooo"
backup vocals.  Heck, unless I'm mishearing the lyrics they even take about
an "Asian man."  Wonder if these guys ever heard the song "Millions."

Maybe XTC should sue these guys for plagiarism and pay off Virgin/EMI? :-)

Later in the CD, "Polly Brown" comes across SO Andy-like, musically and
lyrically: a lovestruck dumb guy who ironically is very
witty. Quintessential Andy fare. The track has a short yet cool guitar solo
that Andy could be proud of.

The only problem is that the music and lyrics occasionally get so dumb as
to leave me dumbfounded. (I haven't figured out if I like "Little Teeth"
yet.)

But I'm glad I bought it, and it was on my player quite a bit over the
weekend. So I guess that says a lot!

Guess my next question is...do they tour? :-)

Wes

------------------------------

Message-Id: <m0uLVTX-000F4LC@mail.airmail.net>
Subject: Producers - Again
Date: Mon, 20 May 96 09:00:24 -0500
From: Della & Steve Schiavo <schiavo@airmail.net>

Hello All -

S. Knight brought up producers again so I'll take the opportunity to
proclaim to everybody that it should be Bill Nelson!

XTC really doesn't need someone to produce an album the way Todd did - and
Bill's albums always sound great so he obviously knows his way around a
studio.  Plus he is one of the great guitar players and that might make for
some interesting interaction with Dave and Andy.

If you want to find out what Bill sounds like pick up his new album "After
the Satellite sings" - I give it my highest recommendation.

- Steve

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 16:10:51 GMT
Message-Id: <199605201610.QAA18166@samos.statusiq.co.uk>
From: "D.Lawrence" <darren@statusiq.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Skylarking, Summers Couldron, and ToddR

Yer man H.Sherwood Wrote.

>> Summer's Cauldron - a basic kind of intro song.
>No, no! Childhood! Halcyon memories! Floating face up in the pond on
>the first hot "boiling-butter" day in June as your summer holidays
>stretch endlessly out ahead of you, and life is as good as it gets!

I think Summers Caldron is about sleep

The beginning of the day (moon down, sun up)
Floating (that half wake feeling)
Don't pull me out, I'm relaxed in the Undertow (I'm happy to be sleeping, I
don't want to be awake.

The whole concept of sleeping being like floating, under the surface of
reality, happily unconcious.
The the slight crescendo in the music as you pull through sleep into wake.
If 'Earn Enough' really came after 'Summers Couldron' then it sort of makes
sense more than Grass (I think (without listening) that Summers and Earn are
in the same key), the mania after wake - racing to work.

Otherwise it could be about birth.

The security of the womb - Not wanting to be pulled into the world, happy to
be floating safely.

Maybe I'm wrong - almost certainly actually.

2) Please don't dis Todd R. He did what he thought he had to do, and
Skylarking IS a great album, it certainly was my introduction to XTC. He
didn't wreck anything, it was just a clash of Ego's. Skylarking is, to me,
the album XTC were always capable of making but didn't, Todd just dragged it
out of them - the potential to make an outstanding AND commercial record.
Ultimately Skylarking changed XTC's music a lot, a longtime influence on par
with the Dukes, and Todd and Andy both have a creative drive that would
obviously run in opposite directions at times. If TR had screwed up then
fine but he didn't, it all worked out pretty well.

LatER
DL

PS- please remember I'm a Todd Rundgren fan and as so it's my duty to
automatically defend anything he does no matter how stupid it may seem.
Thankyou for your time.

------------------------------

From: michael wilson <tomservo@uoknor.edu>
Subject: An Imperial Drag
Message-Id: <31a09e492c28002@cliff.uoknor.edu>
Date: Mon, 20 May 96 11:31:06 -0500

Well this is for the Jellyfish fan who inquired about Imperial Drag.  Since
the Jelly-Split I have be waiting to see if Roger Manning or Andy Sturmer
would come out with a solo album.  Unfortunately, it was Roger, who on his
own is great (Buy the Moog Cookbook and you will see) but with Eric Dover,
who in my own opinion couldn't sing his way out of a wet paper sack, he
fails way short of anything on Spilt Milk.  Now I must say it's not all crap
a couple of songs stand out, (ones that you can tell Roger had a big hand
in), if you pick up Imperial Drag seek out these tracks and forget the
rest....Boy or a Girl, The Man in the Moon, Illuminate, Dandelion, The
Salvation Army Band....well crap now that's half the songs on the CD....well
then I guess I should say Imperial Drag isn't Jellyfish but it's the next
best thing (until Sturmer comes out with something) IN short IMperial drap
gets 2 and a half stars.  Buy it if you dare.
**************************************************
*                                                *
*  " I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous "  *
*                              -Crow T. Robot    *
*                                                *
**************************************************

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 13:49:25 +0500
Message-Id: <9605201749.AB14549@galileo.mis.net>
From: Melinda Hale <mhale@galileo.mis.net>
Subject: TMBG nod to XTC

>that XTC's popularity and/or influence among other musicians extends beyond
>just those outfits with a distinct XTC influence (eg TMBG).

Speaking of which, the other night, I had the privilege of seeing They
Might Be Giants yet again, and among the new songs they performed was
one called "XTC vs. Adam Ant".  It was damned funny.  I don't know if
it will be on their album coming out in October, or if it was just a
funny thing they were playing at their shows, but oh man, I was rollin'!

John Flansburgh introduced the song as a history of rock music, and it
has lines like "Beatle-esque pop vs. New Romantic, even the lead singer
of Bow Wow Wow can't make up her mind..."

[hi, Jasper -- see, I posted!  hi, Wes, too -- long time no see!]

--Melinda

======================================================================
Melinda M. Hale |"I used to rock and roll all night, and party e-ver-y
                | day...then it was every other day...now I'm lucky if
Lexington, KY   | I can find 30 minutes a week to get funky..."
======================================================================

------------------------------

Message-ID: <01BB4680.36FE1500@dublin-ts19-155.indigo.ie>
From: Peter Fitzpatrick <Beatle@indigo.ie>
Subject: rude interruption
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 19:11:51 +-100

Apologies for the interruption. My mailfile was corrupted.....oh dear.

I recently posted a request for trades of XTC/Beatles "rarities" on tape.

(I trade Beatles stuff for XTC stuff).

A few people mailed me but I've now lost their addresses/names etc.
(there was one guy in Australia with some great videos - you out there?!?)

would those kind souls please contact me.

Thanks

normal service will now be resumed......

------------------------------

Message-Id: <199605202021.WAA27754@utrecht.knoware.nl>
From: "Mark Mello" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 22:20:13 +0000
Subject: Re: Supergirl

Dear Chalkies,

On the origin of "That's Really Super, Supergirl" :
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that I read/heard somewhere that
"Supergirl" was an old ( pre-XTC?) song that was rejected during the
early recording years...
And we all know Andy used a lot of comic strip/SF references in those
days, so this would make some sense.

I've always wondered why it was included on Skylarking though...
It just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the material.
More of a Psunic Psunspot-type song IMHO.

While we're on the subject of Skylarking :
I have always understood the day/season/life cyclc theme was
intentionally devised by Todd Rundgren to suggest a concept behind
the album.

On a related subject :
I used to think Skylarking sounded very good; but last week I bought
a fab new amp and some terrific big fat Celestion LOUDspeakers.
Now I know why everybody complained about Todd's production...

Every other XTC albums sounds much better on my new equipment -
but Skylarking sounds rather flat and dull.
English Settlement sounds absolutely incredible; I'm discovering
new sounds every time I play it.
It sounded exceptionally well on LP at the time, but it's still
state-of-the-art in digital 1996, almost 15 years later.
I would die for a remastered gold CD reissue :)

bye bye,

Mark

<- XTC quote for today  ->

------------------------------

Message-Id: <199605202106.AA090806403@paloalto.access.hp.com>
From: Luke Lohnes <luke@hplaatc2.nsr.hp.com>
Subject: Sugarplastic mach II
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 14:15:01 PDT

>secondly-- luke
>plug away, i'm always happy to support new music. even if i don't dig it
>we'd still have xtc to talk about. do you mean SST the legendary southern
>cal punk label??

kevin, yes, one and the same

>THE SUGARPLASTIC, "Bang, The Earth Is Round": The XTC soundalike du jour?
>Well, maybe, maybe not. Starts out well enough, but wimps out and flattens
>out badly toward the end. You *can* hear some Drums & Wires influences, but
>only on the first few tracks. Staccato guitar riffs, barked vocals, and
>general quirkiness do not an early-XTC-like record make, folks. Also, this
>record needs is more ambience - it just sounds too clean. (And FWIW they do
>sound more like TMBG than XTC, BTW, IMHO.) If you liked the non-XTC stuff
>on the Carmen Sandiego album, you'll probably like this, but as an ex-punk
>I can only *barely* recommend it. (They're better live, you say?)

Not better, just very different. Check 'um out yerself at
http://www.kcrw.org then follow the links from music.

The Sugarplastic also has another album out called Radio Jejune that is
even more XTCish, and they have a bunch of demos that are the best thing
they have done (of course).

There is a show here in LA in June with this lineup.

Chibo Mato
the Sugarplastic
the Cardigans

Now that is POP!

Luke

------------------------------

Message-Id: <2.2.32.19960520224857.00684e78@mail.sonyinteractive.com>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 15:48:57 -0700
From: Bob Estus <bestus@sonyinteractive.com>

   I was walking through E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
in Los Angeles, which is the largest video game convention
for distributors, and ran into none other than Thomas Dolby.
He was autographing T-shirts advertizing a game he had composed
a soundtrack for ,the name escapes me but the publisher was
Rocket Science. My conversation:

bob:Can you draw a mono-spectacle on my shirt as well?
(I was taught this trick by reading chalkhills)
thom:Oh? now where did you see that?
bob:Some obscure album.(Retrospectacle)
I particularly like the tracks that Andy Partridge collaborated on.
thom:thank you.
bob: Any chance of the two of you working together in the
near future?
thom: It's possible. There was a track we did together that was
never released,and you'll probably never hear called, "My Charma
Ran Over Your Dogma".But it was very silly.
bob:Oh? I'll look for it.
thom:(bashfully)It was very silly.

I would like to hear it. A handsome Rocket Science T-shirt
autographed by Dolby (I got two) to anybody with a dub.

immature in america,
-Bob

XTC by Xmas? Yes Virgin, there is a sanity clause!

------------------------------

Message-Id: <199605202025.NAA21245@path.org>
Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 16:10:13 -0700
From: dswan@path.org (Doug Swan)
Subject: Imperial Drags

Okay.  Only my second post in the past year (you guys are a bit too
??emotive?? for me to get into anything substantive!).  I'm sure you'll get
a ton of responses.  The Imperial Drag's new album is quite nice.  Having
said that, it does have its flaws.  Think 70's glam-rock.  Some bells and
whistles. Very good vocals.  Songs are generally quite good, but there are
some weak ones on here.  cd gets better with repeated listenings.  The
Tragically Hips latest is also quite nice.  Oh yea, it is Roger Manning, but
it isn't HIS band.
* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Swan                                               EMAIL: dswan@path.org

------------------------------

Message-ID: <31A17BB9.36BD@interpath.com>
Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 01:15:53 -0700
From: "Charles Lee Lovingood, Jr." <lognsdad@Interpath.com>
Subject: Who cares

I have been trying to find the time to post for quite a while now. Now
seems a good a time as any, as the wife is in bed, and the baby is a
sleep as well. (Dear God!) Let me start by saying to Bob that I haven't
forgotten you. My analog tape deck is busted at the moment, and will have
to find another one before I can tape the Eric Matthews for ya. Workin'
on it, bud! Hang in there!
	It really kind of makes me question all of your views on XTC when
I read that you can't believe the boys are not more popular than they
are! I mean really! Who cares what the masses think? Had it not been for
my utter revolt of what the general public thought, I would have never
discovered the band to begin with! Are you looking for validation as to
why you are a fan? Do you need the company of other fans to make you
feel that you are not a complete subvert after all? Again, who cares? We
are all subverts! What you need to decide is what does the music of XTC
mean to you, not to others who perhaps share your interests!
	It is, or should be after all, different for everyone. I first
discovered the band in high school. I attended a school with  a ten to
one ratio of what you laymen caLL REDNECKS!I could have easily been one
myself! My entire family in fact are, not rednecks, but to be polite,
"Hicks"! I somehow managed to rise above all of that, thanks mostly to my
global and not local outlook on things, especially music. While the
majority of my school was into, say, Molly Horseshit, et al, I was
walking down the halls blasting XTC on my boombox and sporting a blue rat
tail. Needless to say, I got beat up more than once. It was all a
rebellion, however. I hated that situation, and did everything I could to
prove that I was better than that. I suceeded! I rose above it, and XTC
had a lot to do with that! I first heard the band when I was hanging out
catching some rays at Claytor Lake state park in southwestern Virginia.
There were some college kids there from nearby Radford University and
Virginia Tech. One had a boombox and was blasting "It's Nearly Africa" on
it. This was circa 1982, as one might imagine. I had been through the
punk rock phase and was now entering the "New Wave" phase of musical
development. I approached him and inquired as to who the artist was. I
was promptly told, and was also lectured as to their merits. When I left
the lake that day, I hastily headed for Books, Strings and Things in
downtown Blacksburg, VA. and picked up a copy of English Settlement. 1982
was a turning point in my life; High School graduation, what the fuck do
I do now, etc. Needless to say, I fell in love with E.S. and have
attached a lot of fond memories to that particular LP. I then proceeded
to collect all of their albums, and have done so since. I love them all,
and it is no longer a rebellion of sorts. I really enjoy their music, and
it seems that at each of my lifes turning points, there has been an XTC
release to coincide with that. I suppose that I wil always be a rebel of
sorts, but that is not the reason for my being an XTC fan anymore. Over
the years the band has touched me in more ways than the average person
could imagine. In fact, had it not been for XTC and Elvis Costello, I
would have been wearing flannel shirts and drinking Busch Beer on the
backroads of Wythe county, Virginia. No doubt anxiously awaiting the next
release from REO Shitwagon. I shudder at the thought. The music helped me
rise above it all, and for that, I can never be thankful enough. I am
currently a program director at an alternative radio station. I live two
blocks from the mighty Atlantic ocean on the coast of North Carolina.
(Being a Cancerian, this is most important!) I have a great wife and a
beautiful six month old son. Life is good! And to think, had it not been
for my wanting to break out of the mold that was more or less
pre-determined for me, I would have to this day been working in a factory
in Wytheville, Virginia, and married to a simple country girl who would
have loved nothing more than for me to devote my life to worshipping the
lord almighty. Amen! My taste in music and for rebellion in general had
more to do with my rising above it than anything, and XTC deserves a lot
of the credit. Personally, I could care less how many people are XTC
fans. It is not, nor was it ever a declaration of ones conformity to be a
fan. The music matters for what it means to you, not what it means to
someone else. You say you are a fan, but are you a fan because it is cool
and offbeat to be a fan, or are you a fan because the music touches you
deep inside, where even those closest to you can never go. " A different
kind of tinsel decorates my tree". Ask not why the masses don't dig 'em,
but ask what the band means to you as a human being. If you find that
question hard to answer, perhaps you should subscribe to a different
mailing list. It's a feeling, my friends, not a religion. Dont play the
christian and force it down everyones throats, love it for what it means
to you and dont try to ruin a perfect thing by lamenting the fact that
the boys aren't more popular. Who cares!
The world needs more Peter Pans!
Lee Lovingood.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 23:09:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: A Sattler <ahs@nevada.edu>
Subject: Thank you Mssrs. Friedman and Yazbek
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.960520224727.25785A-100000@pioneer.nevada.edu>

Taking the liberty of speaking for other Chalkhillians, but think a big
Thank You is overdue to both David Yazbek and Mitch Friedman for their
continued informative posts and for reporting the latest news from
Mr. Partridge.  Mitch and Yazbek, please convey our greatest thanks back
to Andy for thinking of us, and many thanks for your involvement with
Chalkhills.

regards,
  Annie Sattler

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 May 96 15:57 BST-1
From: joeo@cix.compulink.co.uk (Psion plc  Joe Odukoya)
Subject: Revisiting the Produce Stand
Message-Id: <memo.552915@cix.compulink.co.uk>

> I'm going to say it once again and you can continue to ignore me:
> Geoff Emerick must produce an XTC album!

I agree entirely - in fact I don't know why I didn't think of this myself.

One of my favourite albums ever is by Nick Heyward and is called "North
of a Miracle".

The songs are fab and the production is fantastic, electric and acoustic
guitars,drums, percussion, basses, vibes, saxes, orchestras and even
choirs blended together into a beautiful whole.  The sound is truly
wonderful I think he could really do justice to an XTC album.

> Of course at this point, if it would speed an album release, I'd let
> Krusty the Clown produce them!

I agree with this too!  :-)

- Joeo -
  |||
 [Ov0]
   -

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End of Chalkhills Digest #2-115
*******************************

Go back to Volume 2.

21 May 1996 / Feedback