Chalkhills Digest Volume 3, Issue 118
Date: Thursday, 22 May 1997
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 3, Number 118
Thursday, 22 May 1997
Today's Topics:
Andys new demos
Hmm... better think of something witty. Or not.
Pneumonia Ceilings...
"Quee-hear"
How much lower can XTC go?
So Dave's gay, or not, or whatever.
Internet Meeting this Saturday !
Rifff information and preview details
RE: A "Black Sea" and other Chalkhills "songs"
Chalkhills & Trombones
Have a Blaze in Stoke
Bought Myself A Lawyer Bird
Re: Online Demos
Dying of Hunger
Random Rants
Yazbek and Christian Music
more on Geffen
Misc. Rambling....
Re: Yazbek and Altman
If your memory serves you well
Wafting up on three empty tires
Of humanosauruses and gay french-trombones
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: MELMAR956@aol.com Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 18:35:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970521183421_55063836@emout18.mail.aol.com> Subject: Andys new demos Is there anyone out there willing to make a copy of Andys new demo tape -name your price.I am dying to listen to something new.
------------------------------
Message-Id: <199705212242.PAA06903@mail.eskimo.com>
From: "Matt Keeley" <mrme@eskimo.com>
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 15:41:44 +0000
Subject: Hmm... better think of something witty. Or not.
Well, I guess I will actually become a regular poster... Heh.
> From: Stormy Monday <stormymonday@sprintmail.com>
> Of course, we all know that Colin is easily one of the best bass players
> in pop / rock music. Certainly in the top ten, if not the top five. He
> makes my top two.
I'd say that my top bassists are:
1. Colin (guess what band)
2. Graham Maby (TMBG)
3. Macca (Hmmm... can't place the name....8)
4. Steve Jay (Weird Al Yankovic)
5. Michie Nakatani (Shonen Knife)
6. Tony Maimone (John Henry TMBG)
6. Art Barnes aka Billy Mumy (Barnes and Barnes/Jenerators/Seduction
of the Innocent, etc.)
> From: David Pardue <dpardue@pipeline.com>
> Anyone else have a similar dilemma? Is there an XTC album for you which has
> a lot of great songs, but it still isn't your favorite album?
Definately... I love a lot of the songs on Nonsvch, but I'd have to
say my favourite is either Chips, O&L or Skylarking.
> From: dke <dke@prodigy.net>
> re: Joshua Hall's comment re: Rykodisc
> They have a home page, we could all start lobbying them now. They've
> done wonderful things with Frank Zappa's and Bill Hick's work. (Hey!,
> what if we could convince them that Andy really WAS dead...) (sorry)
If you think it would work, say the word, and I'm sure we can get a
lot of people here to annoy the hell out of Ryko... er, persuade them
to pick up XTC... 8)
> Seriously though, if any label were to be responsible for presenting
> XTC's catalouge(sp?) with the respect and care that it deserves,
> Rykodisc is a wonderful choice, IMHO.
Definately. They're a major label, but they don't seem to have the
whole fascistainment-megacorp.-aura that WEA or Virgin have. And
they seem to know what they're doing, which is a plus!
> From: Ralph DeMarco <r.demarco@elsevier.com>
> Embarrassingly enough, it wasn't until college that I became enlightened.
> My apartment mate was raving about The Dukes of Stratosphear, so I
> checked them out. I thought they were the best retro-sixties band I'd
> ever heard. My friend, however, didn't like XTC. I was intrigued. I
> figured that if those guys could come up with such wonderful songs as
> the Dukes of Stratosphear, their songs as XTC can't be so bad. I rushed
> out and bought "Skylarking" and I've been hooked ever since.
I was really suprised.... I thought that this was near impossible...
except I know someone else who likes/tolerates the Dukes but hates
XTC.... BTW, did your friend know they were one and the same?
Hmm.. short post this time... Maybe that's for the best.
Matt
-=>Matt Keeley mrme@eskimo.com<=-
I Have Learnt | Visit my home page
the Value of | http://www.eskimo.com/~mrme
Human Sacrifice| I used to be temporarily insane!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I'm just stupid! -- Brak
Yeah.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19970522043128.00699f54@pop.mindspring.com> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 00:31:28 -0400 From: "Jason 'Buffy' NeSmith" <jnesmith@mindspring.com> Subject: Pneumonia Ceilings... I know it's off topic, but Josh was askin' about Paperback Writer, the book. When we last saw him, Jon was filling him in... <snip> I haven't read it in ages but it is one of the best and I will dig >it out if you want the author's name. Got it right here in front of me. The author is Mark Shipper. Sunridge Press, copyright 1977/78, printed in 1978. Look for it in your local used book store. It's a LAUGH RIOT, I tell ya. Best line from the (fictional) song written by Lennon/ McCartney/ Dylan entitled 'Pneumonia Ceilings': I picked my nose, and I'm glad I did that's all for everyone, that's all for me... (anyone?...anyone?) love and huge production budgets, Buffy "Yes, sir, uh, no, sir, uh, I never really...studied that up." "Eleven" --Negativland visit the Orange Hat Cyberhose Page, or you won't have any fun! http://www.mindspring.com/~jnesmith
------------------------------ From: "S.Irani-lewis" <MDA95SI@sheffield.ac.uk> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 09:06:44 +0100 Subject: "Quee-hear" Message-ID: <B08EC574F49@roydmoor.shef.ac.uk> Gregsy's Gay ? Well....if he is...good on him!! if he's not....we-eell....we can't ALL be perfect ;-) Love Will.......xx "We are a dangerous species; the only species we know of that is in imminent danger of it own survival." RD Laing
------------------------------ Message-ID: <338398BC.3158@3rddoor.com> Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 17:52:12 -0700 From: Daniel Ray Phipps <phipps@3rddoor.com> Subject: How much lower can XTC go? Hi all! -- First of all, I just recently sent Becki D. a personal check to receive the (now famous) "Seven Worthies..." CD! Cannot wait to hear this, what with everyone raving about it! Must be a good 'un!! :-) (Way to go, Becki!!) Now, main point of post -- I recently was in a Target store in the Colonial Heights area of Virginia a few weeks ago and saw something that really freaked me out! They had in the music section there about 5-10 copies of the "Oranges & Lemons" CD and they were selling it for (get this!!) $1.66 per disc!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it! Started to think, "Well did they leave a zero out behind the one or what? Maybe they meant to put a five where the one is." Man, it's sad to think that such an amazing album as O&L could be sold for "chump change," you know? Just thought I'd share this news with anyone possibly interested! A GREAT album for a GREAT price, eh? ;-) Message to Phil C. -- Can't wait to see the shirt, dude! Will wear it proudly!! Hurry up, June, and GET HERE!!! Message to XTC -- STILL waiting... Peace through Music, /Dan Phipps <phipps@3rddoor.com> * ----------------------------------------- "Truth will only come in snatches." (Stephen Duffy) * -----------------------------------------
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 10:34:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Sean Hennessey <suggs@sunspot.tiac.net> Subject: So Dave's gay, or not, or whatever. Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95.970522102026.9832C-100000@sunspot.tiac.net> Hallo. > Sorry, but the person who wrote "If you can't beat em' join em'" made >me think of the next line of the song. Does anyone get the reference? >There have been some good responses to the comments on Dave's sexuality, >but let me just add something. Growing on the point that it takes much >more bravery to proclaim homosexuality than it does to proclaim >heterosexuality, well, doesn't that say a lot about the homosexual? >Wouldn't that kind of indicate that most people who are openly gay have a >firmer grasp on their lives than some? I mean, going against society's >mainframe in any way is brave, and don't we respect the brave? Oh well... I don't think it makes them brave at all, they're just doing what they have to do because that's what they are. It's not brave, it's just stupid of everyone else to condemn them for it. I agree with Bob Mould on his attitude, being gay is just your sexuality, not your whole being. There's a hell of a lot more going on in a single person to define whether they are good or bad than just who they fancy. You know, the funniest thing about all the recent outings of pop musicians (jokes or not) and what not is how little impact they really have on the music. I know of bunches of people up in arms about Bob Mould coming out, personally I think it's all a load of shite. The one thing that were talking about here has little to do with being a whole person. I am straight, but I am not defined by my sexuality. I refuse to wear it as a badge and if I write a song that a gay person can identify with as well as a straight one, than it's a better song. As for Dave, from the few people I know who have connexions with him (through the ex-Cavedogs and Aimme Man), I don't think he is gay. What I do think, and all the people I know who've worked with him think, is he's a bloody marvelous guitarist and a genius musician. My 2's worth... Tara - Sean
------------------------------ Message-ID: <31510B652669CF11BA1D00805F38219E02535A92@DUB-04-MSG> From: Peter Fitzpatrick <peterfit@MICROSOFT.com> Subject: Internet Meeting this Saturday ! Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 07:43:35 -0700 Hello All, it's me again... If you would like to be involved with the NetMeeting that is taking place this Saturday then please MAIL ME ! Please give the subject line : "XTC NETMEETING" (all uppercase please, without the quote marks) (I won't waste the list bandwidth with the details) Basically we hope to send audio and video from the XTC Convention in Basingstoke this Saturday. We have at least one other site (Ed Miller & Co. in Denver) linking up.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <31510B652669CF11BA1D00805F38219E02535A93@DUB-04-MSG> From: Peter Fitzpatrick <peterfit@MICROSOFT.com> Subject: Rifff information and preview details Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 07:47:03 -0700 I've had a few questions this past week regarding the Rifff show that Andy has contributed to on MSN. Check the Chalkhills website for more information. Go to http://rifff.msn.com for details. You will need to sign up NOW !! (remember - that first month is free....so it shouldn't cost you much to see this) The Andy Partridge show will not be there for long - perhaps only a week or two. Then that's it....gone....forever.... I have seen a preview and it's great. Andy supplied a new piece of music "Born Out of Your Mouth". There are some new pictures, a bunch of realaudio interview clips, some interview text, an interactive show.
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s38420b0.063@ic.si.edu> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 10:32:48 -0400 From: Beth Wojiski <WOJISBE@ic.si.edu> Subject: RE: A "Black Sea" and other Chalkhills "songs" I just had to say that I have really appreciated all the creativity our fellow readers have demonstrated in making up songs based on XTC's songs. It's lots o' fun sitting here a work, taking a break, and humming the tunes in my head while I read the "new" lyrics! BRAVO to all of you!! :-) Beth "Awaken you dreamers....."
------------------------------ Message-ID: <33848788.302@sprintmail.com> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 10:51:04 -0700 From: Stormy Monday <stormymonday@sprintmail.com> Subject: Chalkhills & Trombones Folxtc, >From #116 > then, Stormy Monday replied: > >Can anyone honestly say that this shy artist deserves > >comments like the above, even if spoken in jest? > > Personally, I thought it was hilarious. C'mon - gay as a french trombone. > Mr. Sherwood's reply struck me as purely fiction - for the sake of pulling > amanda's chain. And, from #117 > Rather than insulting or speculating on Dave's > preference I saw right off he was playing with Amanda's admiration > for Greggsy. Is this familiar: You're with relatives & acquaintances > who have a bottomless well of mean-spirited, labored and unfunny > jokes about gay men (snip) I thought that Mr. Harrison's original post was funny, and I knew that he was yanking Amanda's chain. I am capable of both making all kinds of jokes, and laughing uncontrollably at sometimes horribly offensive jokes as well. I do believe that people should lighten up and not take life so seriously, but this is a public forum. I've laughed at some of the OJ Simpson jokes, but I wouldn't tell them to Nicole Brown's family, and expect them to lighten up. Context matters. I realized that Dave Gregory is not an abstraction, he is alive, and chances are very good that he is aware of this newsletter. He strikes me as a quiet, shy gentleman that would be offended by such comments made in this particular forum, regardless of his sexual preference. Mitch thought that XTC's "Jewish Beatles" jokes were funny, because he understood that no malice was intended. I doubt very much that he would find mean-spirited anti-Semitic jokes made by neo-nazis humorous. Now, I'm not saying that Mr. Harrison's original comments were malicious, I'm just saying that people need to be aware of the possible impact of their words, taking into consideration both the context in which they are spoken, the forum that they are spoken in. ^ ^ ^ Jason Phelan's "Black Sea" was excellent. ^ ^ ^ And to fellow Beatle fan Ralph DeMarco: Thanks for supporting my sometimes controversial views on the Antilennon. I haven't heard the entire album yet, so I still hold out some hope that he didn't insert his signature over-used descending riff that he even stuck in "Real Love". Jason Garcia had it right: I can't argue with the man's talent, he has an abundance of it. It is his lack of taste that disturbs me. Stormy Monday
------------------------------ Message-ID: <c=GB%a=_%p=Benfield_Group%l=BENEXCHG-970522154119Z-2774@benexchg.benfield.co.uk> From: Gary Minns <Gary.Minns@benfield.co.uk> Subject: Have a Blaze in Stoke Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:41:19 +0100 Enjoy yourselves those of you lucky enough to be making tracks to Basingstoke this weekend. Don't forget to raise a glass to absent friends (well, absent *potential* friends) and think of me as I suffer the delights of Andrew Lloyd-Webber rather than Partridge, Moulding, Gregory, Chambers and Andrews. My parents have decided to visit this weekend, I tried to put them off but it was a case of the little boy who cried wolf. I've put them off so many times already that they would not be deterred. I shall be listening to Jason and his Technicolour Dream Coat whilst you guys are listening to Jason and the Argonauts (I have to take them to the theatre). Maybe this is some kind of latent parental punishment for me playing Battery Brides in my bedroom at home with the bass turned way up! Such is life Gary BTW, I've a new e-mail address: <gary.minns@benfield.co.uk> `Just when you think life is going great, the devil comes along and shits on your door step'
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199705221645.SAA06424@utrecht.knoware.nl> From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl> Organization: The Little Lighthouse Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 17:51:40 +0000 Subject: Bought Myself A Lawyer Bird Dear Chalkers, Re. the Dummygirl debate: If anybody wants to shout something about CTD,the Beatles or Jeff Lynne (YES! It's Jeff Lynne Thread Time AGAIN at Chalkhills!!!) that's fine with me but it is way off topic on the XTC list IMHO And I'll continue to say so... Anyway, a couple of hours I'm off to the UK to meet some of you at the Basingstoke gathering (getting more excited every minute now) but the copyright issue once again reared it's ugly head: > what's worse, record *labels* can now legally pursue you if you > publicly post even a low-fi digital recording of a work for which they > hold the publishing rights. Guess what? Even Midi versions are protected by copyright. And this is only logical of course; they are just another notation of the original composition. Couple of months ago one of the US online services ( i think it was Compuserve ) settled with ASCAP re. Midi files up & downloaded on their system. And our local Dutch ASCAP (Buma) scared a lot of Websites and ISP's when they announced to get tough on this new "crime" The question if the old copyright laws can and should still be used in this digital age is of course a valid one but until these laws are changed, it is illegal to publish or distribute audio samples or Midi files of any copyrighted material. BTW: check out the excellent Midi versions of Bushman President and Rook that are available somewhere on the Chalkhills site. I think it was fellow Chalkhillian John Hedges who made these and if you have a decent Wavetable soundcard (AWE/GUS etc) they sound really good - a whole lot better than most of the Midi files around on the Net. till Saturday, Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse http://utopia.knoware.nl/~mmello ===> Mark's Random XTC Quote <=== There is no muscle in our tongues to tell the world what's in our hearts
------------------------------ Message-ID: <338478A9.7AD7@nlm.nih.gov> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 11:47:37 -0500 From: Don Lindbergh <dabl2@nlm.nih.gov> Organization: National Library of Medicine Subject: Re: Online Demos > From: "MARK G. CUEVAS" <MGCUEVAS@phjw.com> > Subject: Yazbek's Greatness (and infirmity) > > For the record (no pun intended), I completely disagree with the > notion that Yazbek is anything less than *outstanding*. In my > opinion, David Yazbek's "The Laughing Man" is the most original music > I have heard in years (five years to be exact). His use of vocal > harmonies, changes in tempo, lively rhythms and synthesizers, create > moods that actually take me there. I really can't wait to hear what > else he has in store for us. > > If Yazbek were limited solely to his music, he would be above > average. Thankfully, his wit and use of metaphor are so refreshingly > clever that the total Yazbek experience takes me to another level > altogether. It is xtc-like (and hence brilliant-like) in that the > music and lyrics combine to create a whole greater than the sum of > its parts. *I need more of this*. Well, even though my mother taught me "if you don't have anything nice to say...." I'd guess that for every fan he has here, there may well be a corresponding non-fan. Personally I cringe when I hear this guy sing, and he's so obviously copping XTC it truly isn't funny. He seems like a real nice person though! > From: shaefner@falcon.cc.ukans.edu > Subject: the fate of the online demos... ... > The songs that I converted did not seem to lose much in the way of sound > quality; they sound about the same as on the tape. Part of the problem may > be that they are being played through computer speakers, rather than stereo > speakers. Also, I recorded them in mono to keep the size as small as > possible. ... Um, despite the fact that RealAudio is ubiquitous and basically a very cool thing, the simple fact is GREAT HUGE AMOUNTS of quality are lost using the lower bandwidth file formats. Yes, it keeps the filesizes small, which can of course be critical depending on disk space and reasonable download times. I'm confident LOTS was lost from the cassette source as I have experimented plenty with the various formats. Note that I'm not saying the cassette didn't necessarily sound a little crappy, just that whatever gets encoded in the lower bandwidth audio file modes gets reduced in fidelity significantly, ie made to sound much worse. As you point out, if your playback system consists of tiny little speakers, no proper qualitative judgements can be made at all. Not wanting to sound like a zealot, and being aware that MPEG seems to be doomed to be ignored, it is in fact a FAR better solution. Unfortunately, it does not have the support network that Progressive Audio does. I posted pointers to MPEG info in a previous post so I won't do that again (email if you want). Anyway, like everyone else, I greatly appreciated hearing the songs in whatever format. The fidelity certainly did not keep me from hearing the songs well enough. Just don't believe that the lower bandwidth RealAudio formats are giving you even close to what was put in, they are most certainly not. --Don dabl2@nlm.nih.gov
------------------------------ Message-ID: <33847FD8.1987@sysnet.net> Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 13:18:16 -0400 From: Julian Cook <siogo@sysnet.net> Organization: TravelFinder.com Subject: Dying of Hunger I realize that I may be preaching to the choir here but I got myself over to the XTC demos and I can listen to that song "Everything'll be allright" over and over again. I'm like a dying of hunger waiting for the lads to put something new out like all of you. I haven't been on the 'hill for a little while but is there any idea when they will be putting something new out or if they have signed with a new label? Julian Cook President TravelFinder.com http://travelfinder.com
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 13:17:09 -0500 (EST) From: "Dewitt J. Henderson" <0002170937@mcimail.com> Subject: Random Rants Message-id: <97052218170943/0002170937PJ3EM@mcimail.com> Hey amigos - Jason Phelan - man, some of your song parodies were a RIOT. Keep it up. Dave Gregory - gay or not? As several have said, WHO CARES? He's a damn good musician! This whole have/have nots thing regarding the demos - I don't get it. I have a copy of the demos, but I don't feel like some kind of 'cultural elite' as a result (hear that, Dan Quayle?). Nor would I be opposed to making/sending a copy to anyone on the list - I know quite a few on the list who have traded tapes all around. Unfortunately, I don't have a tape-to-tape deck, though. But I don't see any substance to this vision of a big wall between those of us who have 'em and those who don't. Jason Garcia's recent question - "Is everyone on this list a musician?" - got me thinking. I'm not, but I do some fiction writing, oil painting, and block prints. And I've noticed that many others on the list are musicians and/or work in some kind of artistic thing, whether it's their 'real' job or not (mine's on the side for now as well). I'm not volunteering to do a survey, because I think we've done those to death, but it would be interesting to see just how many artistic people we have on the list. BTW, I'm not suggesting that makes us better or anything, but I'm not surprised that a lot of people who are attracted to XTC's (and similar) music are artistic in some way. Finally, I tried to get into the Squeeze Q/A thing recently and couldn't, so let me just ask here: does anyone have any idea what happened to A&M's reissues of "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti", "Difford & Tilbrook", etc? I know they were delayed, but...
------------------------------
Message-Id: <199705222015.PAA05974@zeus.anet-chi.com>
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 15:18:30 -0500
From: shonnie@zeus.anet-chi.com (LaShawn M. Taylor)
Subject: Yazbek and Christian Music
Stepping out of lurking for a moment...
Mr. Yazbek is a genius, simply put. I got "The Laughing Man" around 6 months
ago and I still keep playing it over and over; in fact, I just got one of my
die-hard XTC fans into it now. Dave, you got to come to Chicago sometime!
We need to hear more of you!
And as for Christian music. Most of my teenage years were spent listening to
it. When I discovered alternative, a lot of it dropped from my stereo
because it sounded too corny to me. But there *are* decent bands, believe
it or not. You just have to know where to look because they don't get played
often, or sometimes not at all.
At this time, there are only four bands that I would drop everything to see:
XTC, naturally; PFR--a Christian group that broke up last year; Phil Keaggy,
quite possibly the best guitarist in the world (and yes, he plays Christian
music); and Poi Dog Pondering, who's not Christian band but are versatile
when it comes to music (any band that can make dance music with violins,
pipes and horns and make it sound great is a must-listen). And of course,
there's Vigilantes of Love, Over the Rhine, Supertones (Christian ska!),
MXPX, Dogs of Peace, Believable Picnic, World Wide Message Tribe, etc, etc...
And with that said, I'm going back to la la lurking land...
============================================================================
/===\ LaShawn M. Taylor (shonnie@zeus.anet-chi.com)
|^ ^|\ "Hey! Where's the cream filling?!" -Hostess cupcake commercial
\v/\| "Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes
|\ beautiful..." -T.H. White "The Troll"
\| "You come with steam of breath and caligula's head
To me so lonesome and longing and so unsatisfied
Even with all this beauty flooding deep into my eyes."
-Poi Dog Pondering
============================================================================
------------------------------ From: Martin_Monkman@fincc04.fin.gov.bc.ca Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 14:09:07 -0700 (PDT) Subject: more on Geffen Message-id: <9704228643.AA864335295@FINSMTP1.FIN.GOV.BC.CA> In Chalkhills V.3, #117 we read responses to my "Geffen is no Virgin", first from Steve Perley: >A fairly complete account, my friend, marred only by the omission of the >miserable CBS YEARS! Ah yes, CBS...who cut English Settlement >down to one disc, and were later swallowed themselves by the Japanese Sony >conglomerate. I think that The Big Express was the first Geffen >release before they reissued the whole back catalog. Oops. I'd forgotten that part of the sordid tale _ being in Canada, my knowledge of that segment of the history is not based on personal experience! >As for Geffen, isn't the original Geffen label still with WEA and didn't >David Geffen start a new label (DGC?) which is distributed by MCA? I may >be wrong here, and nobody in the world may care... Here I go again - Mr. Geffen sold the label to MCA for $700 million AND a position as one of MCA's presidents (vice-presidents?) in 1989. More recently the Geffen label started up the DGC (for David Geffen Company) label as a "boutique" segment of the main organization. That is, it's part of the mother company, both owned by MCA, in turn owned by Universal. Mr. Geffen is now the "G" in the SKG Dreamworks organization (S for Spielberg and K for Katzenberg), and is busy starting yet another record label as part of that entity. And on a related topic: some days ago Harrison Sherwood wrote >>Amanda, Dave Gregory is as gay as a French >>trombone. I'm really surprised nobody's told you this. I'm sure that's a typo - Harrison must have meant to say "David Geffen is as gay as a French trombone." Geffen was, after all, a free man in Paris. And Karl added: >Martin Monkman knows far too much about record labels! Perhaps a >little chart would help the rest of us understand; my head's >still spinning. *Your* head's spinning?!? Imagine the state mine's in! Martin
------------------------------
Message-Id: <199705222341.QAA22543@mail.eskimo.com>
From: "Matt Keeley" <mrme@eskimo.com>
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:38:20 +0000
Subject: Misc. Rambling....
Saluton!
> From: shaefner@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
> Chalkhillians,
> first of all, to the many people who have emailed and posted thanking me,
> etc. for posting the "new" demos, you are all welcome. I put the demos on
> the net because I know how much I wanted to hear them, after 4 years, and
> because it had been suggested by 2 or 3 fellow listmembers, and it sounded
> like a good idea.
Well, thanks again for posting the demos, and I urge everyone to
check them out before it's too late... even though I have a feeling
by the time you read this it will be too late.... but the sentiment
is there!
> From: Joshua Hall-Bachner <harlequin@tmbg.org>
> >My roommate Ron and I are sittin' here listening to "She Blinded
> >Me with Science" by one Mr. Thomas Dolby, once considered as
> >Barry Andrews replacement.
> Ahhh, yes, "She Blinded Me With Science." If I had some sort of
> probability-altering machine, one of my first steps would be to see what XTC
> would have sounded like with an Andy / Colin / Thomas Dolby lineup. Or an
> Andy / Colin / Brian Eno lineup. (Both were considered as members before
> they picked Dave.)
While I'm glad they picked Dave (don't really think they could have
made a better choice, it would be pretty interesting if they had
chosen to become a four member band again, with possibly the trinity
of cool that is XTC, along with T. Dolby. Anyway, I really like
"SBMWS"! BTW, doesn't anyone else think that the other guy in the
video kinda looks like a thinner Andy? I said that to Ben last
night, and not really knowing who AP was, said OK rather
indifferently.... but I'm making no sense, now am I?
> From: mad@macconnect.com (Michael De Bernardi)
> i recently moved from chicago to new mexico and figured that my radio
> listening days were over, but i'm happy to say that i found a station
> called KBAC, "Radio Free Santa Fe". Over four days, i have heard "generals
> and majors", "earn enough for us", and "king for a day", in the middle of
> the day no less! evidently, someone in the land of enchantment has been
> paying attention.
Really is nice to hear (no pun intended... because that's hardly a
pun) that XTC is getting some radio airplay. And am I the only one
who in originally scanning the message thought it said "Radio Free
Albemuth"? It's just sort of a thing I see a lot.
> From: The Gottschalks <gotts@tenet.edu>
> Rykodisc also incorporates MONO PUFF!!!! The Roches too.
Another reason for both XTC and TMBG to go to Ryko. Of course, I've
rambled on in length about the reasons TMBG should go to Ryko, so I
won't bore you all, seeing as this is Chalkhills and not the TMBG
list/ng...
> From: "Steve & Lauren Perley" <huduguru@ix.netcom.com>
> As for Geffen, isn't the original Geffen label still with WEA and didn't
> David Geffen start a new label (DGC?) which is distributed by MCA? I may
> be wrong here, and nobody in the world may care...
As far as I know, Geffen is still on the WEA FM (you probably know
what this stands for from my last 3-4 posts)... I remember because
the "Simpsons Sing the Blues" record had the little Warner imprint on
the case... (hey, when I bought it I was 10 -- I realise it's pretty
bad now! Tho' I still would like to get the Songs in the Key of
album)... anyway.... However none of the XTC albums have the
imprint. How odd.
> From: Brian Matthews <btm@ns1.mindmagic.com>
> One of the posters who contacted me suggested that there are a lot of
> musicians subscribing, and my question is... where are you guys & gals?
Well, I'm barely a musician... I can just barely play the guitar and
keyboards. But I did record a song that I've completely disowned and
doublethinked out of existance... oh... blast.... you didn't read
that last bit since it isn't there, OK? 8)
> Everyone on Chalkhills is so overwrought about the lack of new music
> from the lads in Swindon that I would have thought that someone out
> there would have created a few more MIDI's of XTC tunes than there are,
> if only as an outlet for their frustration.
Anxiously awaiting them!
> I have a penchant for saying controversial things... Who the hell gives
> a damn if Dave is gay? What is the difference?
Thank you! I was waiting for someone to say this! He's a really
good musician, let's leave it at that!
> BTW, I don't think there is an XTC song that isn't good... just
> different music for different moods.
I don't know... I really don't like "I Remember the Sun" or "Train
Running Low" all that much.... I'd say they're a couple notches
below "good"... but not all the way down there with, say, Morphine or
Moxy Fruvous. (Oh, I'm gonna get a lot of flack for that last
remark!!)
> Matt: Fire that MIDI of "Statue Of Liberty" my way, will ya?
Sure! Just e-mail me at mrme@eskimo.com to remind me, and I'll send
it off to you... I need to find it first. I think I deleted it off
my computer. BTW, just to clarify, I didn't make it. I wish I did,
but that's another thing all together (now). Anyway, I have a
tendency to forget things, so make sure you mail me personally, and
I'll get around to it pretty soon!
> From: gopack@postoffice.worldnet.att.net
> Does anybody know who did the voice of Ella Guru in the song of the same
> name? I really enjoy XTC's cover, and I am very curious as to who sings it.
> I can tell that Andy does the lead, but the background voices are somewhat
If you're asking about the original, it was Captain Beefheart. I
don't know about XTC's recording, but then again, I've never heard
it. Heh.
Anyway, just out of curiousity, would there be a want for a XTC
newsgroup as a companion to Chalkhills? Just curious.... I'm not
saying I'll do anything about it, but...8)
Before I leave, one closing thought: Anyone else think the song
titles are the best part of Explode Together?
Here's for good wishes and cheese!
Matt
-=>Matt Keeley mrme@eskimo.com<=-
I Have Learnt | Visit my home page
the Value of | http://www.eskimo.com/~mrme
Human Sacrifice| I used to be temporarily insane!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I'm just stupid! -- Brak
Yeah.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 21:34:32 -0400 From: nmcgrath@world.std.com (Nancy McGrath) Message-Id: <199705230134.AA26938@world.std.com> Subject: Re: Yazbek and Altman In Chalkhills Digest #3-117, Mark G. Cuevas <MGCUEVAS@phjw.com> said: > For the record (no pun intended), I completely disagree with the > notion that Yazbek is anything less than *outstanding*. In my > opinion, David Yazbek's "The Laughing Man" is the most original music > I have heard in years (five years to be exact). His use of vocal > harmonies, changes in tempo, lively rhythms and synthesizers, create > moods that actually take me there. I really can't wait to hear what >else he has in store for us. I couldn't agree with you more! And the good news is that Yazbek has a second album on the way. I believe he's finished the recording, but I don't know about a release date. For anyone who's seen Yazbek live, the album will include performance staples "Schmuck in a Vacuum" and "I Want It." I hear from a friend who's heard parts of the album (and in fact sings on one song) that it is wonderful. I can't wait! The above-mentioned friend, by the way, is Sean Altman, formerly of Rockapella. In April of this year, Sean left the group he founded eleven years ago to pursue a solo career. Yazbek is one of Sean's mentors, and his chief influences are XTC and the Beatles, so I can strongly recommend his music to readers of this list. Check out his website (www.bigsean.com) for sound clips and other information about his upcoming solo album, seanDEMOnium. (There's even a little Yazbek instrumentation on it!) Nancy McGrath nmcgrath@world.std.com
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 22:03:55 -0500 Message-Id: <v01530503afaa7078c037@[204.153.64.115]> From: musicvil@idir.net (John Yuelkenbeck) Subject: If your memory serves you well >>Can anybody else suggest any other rock books? Marcus has a new book out on Dylan's basement tapes, which I believe is similar to "Mystery Train" in how it traces the origins (real and in Marcus' mind) of how the basement tapes evolved. no guru, no method, no signature
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 23:54:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199705230354.XAA02864@cyber1.servtech.com> From: Joshua Hall-Bachner <harlequin@tmbg.org> Subject: Wafting up on three empty tires JH3 to JHB: >Wow, David Geffen's gonna to be *really* pissed when he finds out about >this! Yeah, as I said, I realize that I was wrong when I said this. However, the functional effect I was describing (XTC's deal with Geffen disappeared when they split with Virgin) is still true. >I think there are enough of us willing to go out of our way to find the >stuff that it would be a risk worth taking. I don't! I can say right now that I will probably not purchase the CD if I have to spend $16 + tax or more to get it. As much as I may be looking forward to the album, I am not interested in scouring tiny music stores or <shudder> buying import just to get their album. Besides, lack of an American deal with good distribution would be incredibly short-sighted of XTC, considering how much of their fanbase is located there. > Josh and Amanda uh-huh I've been lucky enough to earn a place in an XTC song parody. I am truly honored. Josh Anchor my feet... /-------------Joshua Hall-Bachner-------------Chaos Harlequin-------------\ | harlequin@tmbg.com http://www.servtech.com/public/particle/ | |"We all have our idiosyncracies -- maybe thinning hair, or gum disease." | \---- Kowanko, "Will You Come To?" ------ Thank You, And Goodnight. ------/
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 23:46:20 -0400 (EDT) From: "David O'Connell" <doconnel@eagle.ycp.edu> Subject: Of humanosauruses and gay french-trombones Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.96.970522224657.29014A-100000@coyote> Many months ago I e-mailed my esteemed Chalkhillian colleague Joshua Hall-Bachner personally with my comments on the non-album demos from the Nonsuch sessions, which he seemed to be ga-ga over. In that e-mail, I made reference to "Goodbye Humanosaurus" as being the one stand-by track that was going to be recorded in case one of the album's songs became ornery and started messing around with our beloved Swindonian lads. This remark confused Josh and he asked for an explanation. So, in lieu of a private response to Josh only, here's the passage from The Little Express no. 33 that dealt with the recording process of Nonsuch: "There were far too many songs for us to record, so we all got together and made an "A" list and a "B" list, and everything that got on the "A" list and parts of the "B" list made it on to the record." When asked about his songs for the album, Colin explained the proceedure of selection...."Through that process we arrived at doing five of my songs. We were doing one song of mine called "Didn't Hurt A Bit": I wasn't too keen on it but Gus [Dudgeon, the producer] and Andy said we should. We got half through, put the drums on, but I really couldn't get behind it and I said to the guys 'Look, I don't want to carry on with it', so it resulted in me having four songs on the album. "Smartest Monkeys", "Bungalow", "My Bird Performs" and "War Dance." Another song that was touted as an album entry was "Goodbye Humanosaurus" but as Dave explains it will have to remain dormant (better than extinction!) for awhile. "We rehearsed it and it sounded great; I have to say Mattacks put a groove into it that was indescribable. Unfortunately, we went over Gus' 25 songs and we had to pare them down. So we all took a vote, threw them into a pot and picked the ones that we wanted to do; and "Humanosaurus" was there as a standby should anything happen, had we got a bit more studio time or a bit more money, unfortunately it wasn't to be." (end of transcript; so long folks!) So that's the story with "Humanosaurus". Personally, I thought the lyrics alone should've rendered it an also-ran from the beginning; phrases like "we spoke and a flew a turd" and "brains the size of a burger bap" (???) rendered it the more inarticulate cousin of "Scarecrow People", a much better song about impending ecological disaster. To Bob Rothman: I sent your three dub-cassettes out yesterday. Hope you enjoy them! Anyone who I owe tapes to wanna be next in line? E-mail me; otherwise I shall proceed at random. "Gay as a French trombone": Any fun at the expense of the formerly omnipresent Amanda Owens is welcome, as far as I'm concerned. Besides, the joke was a non-judgemental one. Nowhere in what's-his-name's postscript did I sense that so-and-so was trying to establish a serious opinion on Dave's sexuality. Any one-liner that compares anything to a "French-trombone" (whatever that is; I played trombone in my high-school marching band and never heard of such a thing) is not to be taken seriously in the least. I'm shy (like Dave) as well as not gay (also like Dave), and had that remark been made to me within that established context, well, first of all, someone like AMANDA having a crush on me would've sent me screaming like a sissy and running for the hills...but besides that, I would have taken no offense. This would be in contrast to the infamous Pole joke from a few weeks ago, which perpetuated a tired, old and unfunny stereotype derived mainly from juvenilistic sixth-grade between-class humor. Haw haw. Dave O'Connell York PA
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #3-118 *******************************
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