Chalkhills Digest Volume 4, Issue 81
Date: Tuesday, 12 May 1998
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 4, Number 81
Tuesday, 12 May 1998
Today's Topics:
The weirdest XTC (or something) spotting ever?
Crikey!
Re: XTC Must Tour
Re: Andy walking off-stage
Could it be true?
Re: The Little Express
Re: Dave? Dave's Not Here
Re: Andy and the Prophet Five
Andy Quits Too!?
Awards
Little Egypt's Pelvic Accompaniment
Re: Colin's still in the band
Re: spacehog not stereolab (michael)
Break up/Lab
The Reporting of Dave's Adieu
Garage bands v shed bands
Help I Need Somebody!
No threat
XTC videos available
Forward abuse to my address
What is that naked ladies tune?
Re: What's Chalkhills For?
Andy/Verve Pipe Track Due In July!
Streets of Cairo / Stages of Paris
Swindon Speaks
Andy-Chat
Another Departure
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Chalkhills is compiled using Digest 3.6 (John Relph <relph@sgi.com>).
That mythical place where everybody shakes hands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: STakesh <STakesh@aol.com>
Message-ID: <c298e4cf.3557809b@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 18:50:02 EDT
Subject: The weirdest XTC (or something) spotting ever?
Hey, Chalkers -
While channel-surfing late Saturday morn./early aft., I started to watch one
of those low-budget home improvement shows. It was probably on Discover or
The Learning Channel, and it wasn't Bob Villa.
Anyway, the guy is preparing to powerwash a wood deck, and I'm on the verge
of falling asleep again, when out of the blue he looks at the camera and
says, "Call me Sgt. Rock!" Then follows about 10 seconds' worth of footage
of powerwashing (just so that we simpletons can see how it's done). Cut to
this guy turning the water off, while he says, and I kid you not, people:
"Wow, are my underpants wet!"
And no, I was not under the influence of anything, or in recovery from said
influence. But his "Sgt. Rock" gibe didn't make any sense, esp. since there
wasn't any music in the program. [I don't suppose the comic book Sgt. Rock
was renowned for his handyman ways?] But I like his Andy-like frankness and
self-disclosure (i.e., the way he carried on on MTV's "120 Minutes" several
years ago). Did anyone else see this? Does anyone know if other home-
improvement programs have perverse sexual subtexts? I may have to start
watching them more often, heh heh heh.
Speaking of underpants, congrats to Mitch F. for meeting Harrison's
challenge, spotting the musical subtext in "Crocodile". But I thought the
lyrics went "There's a place in France/Where they wear no underpants".
Stephanie Takeshita
"Well, you gotta keep an eye on those contractors, after all."
------------------------------
Message-ID: <35579426.DD76CA92@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 17:13:26 -0700
From: Steven Graff <slapdash@earthlink.net>
Organization: SLAPDASH
Subject: Crikey!
I never knew Andy was saying Miro in My P{aint Heroes...I thought it
being so confusing and all, he was alluding top Nero, who fancied
himself an actor, musician and artist...it seemed fitting...sorry for
the bad quote in my last post! Geez....
--
MZ
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 18:30:00 -0700 (PDT) From: relph (John Relph) Message-Id: <9805111830.ZM136907@mando.engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: XTC Must Tour Ralph DeMarco <r.demarco@elsevier.com> writes: > >First - I am sick and tired of complaints about why the band >gets little media attention. You have to tour!! Every damn >record label expects it. Sure, the Beatles could get away >with it and perhaps a few others who are too produced to >re-create their sounds - but even Pink Floyd toured for Dark >Side of the Moon. Did Andy really try to conquer hsi stage >fright? Or did he just give-up? XTC owed it to thier fans to >tour - yes that's right - they blew it! XTC does owe their fans diddly. They make records. Andy Partridge has said numerous times that he is not a rock star. He's a songwriter, musician, and private person. Record labels expect a lot of things, does that make record labels right? No. Record labels also expect to screw musicians for every last penny if the possibly can. Which XTC knows all too well. Give me a break. But to those of you who expect the band to be popular: if you have no expectations you cannot be The Disappointed. -- John
------------------------------
Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980511221312.006ad770@mail.clemson.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 22:13:12 -0400
From: Adam Tyner <ctyner@clemson.edu>
Subject: Re: Andy walking off-stage
>I'd love to know where to find that .avi of Andy walking offstage in
>Paris (or wherever it was) that was mentioned in the most recent
>Chalkhills.
It's up on John's amazing Chalkhills web site at
http://chalkhills.org/ , or if you'd like to access the
file directly, http://chalkhills.org/video/Crash4.avi
Glad to hear that Colin hasn't left,
-Adam
/----=========================================================----\
http://www.awod.com/gallery/rwav/ctyner/
The home of He-Man, "Weird Al", Yoo-hoo, Killer Tomatoes, and more!
Demented music list admin O- MiSTie #67,326
------------------------------ From: MFa2707621 <MFa2707621@aol.com> Message-ID: <5e319ef4.3557b669@aol.com> Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 22:39:36 EDT Subject: Could it be true? Chalkers, Could it be true? Colin isn't leaving the group? I hope Peter's right. We don't need anymore bad news. I disagree with Ralphie. I've been reading Chalkhills, and it's the same things over and over again. It just gets tiresome. I'm not saying that people should stop talking about it, but there should be more to talk about. How about the new album? Please no hate e-mail. Molly
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 19:56:02 -0700 (PDT) From: relph (John Relph) Message-Id: <9805111956.ZM135963@mando.engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: The Little Express Phil RiknBkr <RiknBkr@aol.com> asks: > >Does anyone know if "Little Express" is still in business? It seems a very >long time since I received my last issue, just wondering if the spring >edition is out. As far as I know they are still in business. However, since Chalkhills has eclipsed The Little Express in terms of timeliness of reporting (you heard it here first), they have changed their focus and will apparently be doing more in-depth interviews with photographs and exclusives. I wrote to The Little Express recently but have not heard back yet. I'll let you know. -- John
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 20:01:00 -0700 (PDT) From: relph (John Relph) Message-Id: <9805112001.ZM137597@mando.engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: Dave? Dave's Not Here Jonathan Monnickendam <monnickj@ubk.net> asks: > >To ;John Relphmeister >a question ; will DG's activities will be covered by Chalkhills ? Oh, I rather think so! -- John
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 20:03:59 -0700 (PDT) From: relph (John Relph) Message-Id: <9805112003.ZM137335@mando.engr.sgi.com> Subject: Re: Andy and the Prophet Five "Simon Knight" <sknight@warchivegw.riv.csu.edu.au> writes: > >And am i also the only one who's worried that Andy's solo output >would: >a) make Kate Bush look prolific >b) be instrumental, since it's hard to sing with your head so far up >your own arse! Considering that XTC have been putting out albums at a Kate Bush rate for some time now, which is to say they haven't, I would be hard-pressed to believe that Andy could really make more albums happen as a solo artiste. (The artist formerly known as Andy Partridge.) And, well, I really couldn't say. -- John
------------------------------ Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19980511221539.006cef84@wwa.com> Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 22:15:39 -0500 From: Russ Omens <Psychro@wwa.com> Subject: Andy Quits Too!? Re: Premature reports of Colin leaving. Ah, a little levity to brighten our mood. Actually, the way I heard it <g>, Andy got "chuffed" that Colin split and also quit the band. The new release will be credited to EX-TC. -stand back, the loving's coming!-Russ
------------------------------ From: MFa2707621 <MFa2707621@aol.com> Message-ID: <7652f819.3557c25e@aol.com> Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 23:30:37 EDT Subject: Awards Chalkers, It's me again. I usually don't do this, but I have an idea. Why don't we give an award to the web master, John Relph for reading all of our moaning and complaining about Dave Gregory? I would go crazy if I had his job. He deserves something. I would give an award to all the people who agree with me that people should take a chill pill. You can speak your opinions, but as I said in my earlier posting, we should think of different topics to talk about. Think about this, we can't complain about things we have no control over. Bye for now. Molly
------------------------------
Message-ID: <3557DCD6.6ED07672@televar.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 22:23:34 -0700
From: T Lewis <tlewis@televar.com>
Subject: Little Egypt's Pelvic Accompaniment
It took something this stupid to drag me out of lurk mode.
A quick Alta Vista on "Streets of Cairo" brought up a site
exhaustively devoted to (and this is a biblical sign presaging the
Apocalypse) musical quotes in Keith Emerson's compositions. Within was
the following:
Composer: James Thornton
Quote: {1895} The Streets Of Cairo (The Poor Little Country Maid)
(Hoochy-Koochy)
A little baffling: 1895 copyright on a song played at the 1893 Exposition.
--T Lewis
Read my comic strip you fancy-boy (and girl) pop mavens!
Over the Hedge: http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/hedge/archive/
------------------------------ From: wwilson@star.zko.dec.com Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 09:09:30 -0400 Message-Id: <98051209093076@star.zko.dec.com> Subject: Re: Colin's still in the band GREAT! Inside I feel like the dancing baby in those video rental commercials on TV. The guy who wrote all of those great songs is still in the band! The bassist who takes us on a wild run in Mayor of Simpleton is still 1/3 of XTC. I have to confess: whenever an XTC album is released (and since I've been adevoted fan only since 1989, it's happened only twice), I seek out the Colin songs first. They're so great. Then I enjoy the whole thing in all of its intricacy; a month or two down the road I finally get the intricacies of Andy's songs, but for me, XTC is Colin these days. Cheer yourself up with a new CD: get Duffy's "I Love My Friends" or Nick Heyward's "Apple Bed." Both are British pop at its best. We're lucky to have these two guys around as well. Wes
------------------------------ From: "Peter Dresslar" <pdresslar@worldnet.att.net> Subject: Re: spacehog not stereolab (michael) Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 09:40:28 -0700 Message-ID: <19980512133300.AAA22072@recruiting.novagate.com> It's surprising to see Stereolab discussed at length in an XTC list. Although I do have quite a bit of their stuff, I can't think of a band less like XTC. Spacehog is more like XTC. You most likely heard 'em on the tribute disc (Senses...Overtime). Their latest effort, _The Chinese Album_, really steals a lot of its material from elsewhere, but is baked into a very nice cake, ala XTC. It's clear from some of the songs on _Chinese_ that Spacehog has listened hard to XTC. Most readers on this list, I suspect, will not love but will like this album. Oh.... one aside: Mike: my email is pdresslar@worldnet.att.net. later, peter
------------------------------ Message-ID: <33771DF2.47B6@bellatlantic.net> Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 09:41:06 -0400 From: John Irvine <jirvine@bellatlantic.net> Subject: Break up/Lab If this abandon ship is all true, I can't say I'm all that sorry. The 90's version of XTC wasn't really working for me anyway. I think it may be time for these three talented people to leave that box behind them. O&L and Nonsuch never really clicked for me and lord deliver us from Through the Hill. Dug the Newell record and many of the demos I've come across so there's plenty good music still to be made, and it may be made more easily and naturally if the XTC yoke is left behind, if even temporarily. A good exorcism can be quite refreshing. Breaking up my old band the Jennifers was a lousy career move for the Jennifers but the absolute right thing to do for the people in the band. Change gears, Looks like there are plenty of Stereolab/XTC cross dressers out there. You can post your S'Lab posts and meet nice people with your taste in clothing at: http://www.maths.monash.edu.au/~rjh/stereolab/interactive/index.html Happy Happy, (joy joy!) John
------------------------------ Message-ID: <31F067E748ADD011839600805FFEC9B601603810@xch-rtn-11.ca.boeing.com> From: "Rader, John M" <John.Rader@PSS.Boeing.com> Subject: The Reporting of Dave's Adieu Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:02:38 -0700 Dave left March 16. That's one week after he was making curry for himself and Andy per Mitch. Its also about 5 weeks before it was reported here. That means we read it about the same time the average Pearl Jam fan read and yawned about it in Music News of the Day (note: average Pearl Jam fan used as an example only). Obviously, we care. Just read through the cathartic evidence. As the official mailing list, doesn't it seem like we should have gotten some official word before the rest of the globe? XTC owe us nothing musically except to remain true to themselves, but to remain silent for five weeks and then read about someone other than Dave doing the orchestral arrangements seems a little shortsighted when your rabid fans are about the only ones still keeping the faith. I mean people were willing to send them money, for crying out loud. I think some respect would not be out of line. Of course being shortsighted in the business sense is an XTC trademark. Perhaps it is a deliberate attempt to have a scapegoat, as some others have suggested. Current XTC song (in memory of Dave): Sacrificial Bonfire John
------------------------------ Message-Id: <TFSLNSOQ@ubk.net>> From: Jonathan Monnickendam <monnickj@ubk.net> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 14:36:35 +0000 Subject: Garage bands v shed bands From: David Haakenson <dhaakenson@worldnet.att.net> 'In the US, we call 'em Garage Bands. In the UK, they're Shed Bands?' You got it in one. XTC is definitely a shed band, shedding members sooner than you can say 'take me to the shed' or whatever james brown really meant. Garaging is a rather more protective I believe. ttfn jon * --------------------------------------------------------------- The views expressed are of the individual, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The United Bank of Kuwait PLC. * ---------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s5582016.018@elsevier.com> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:10:13 -0400 From: Ralph DeMarco <r.demarco@elsevier.com> Subject: Help I Need Somebody! Dear One Armed Bandits and Affiliated Members: Now some are posting that Colin has left the band? Without Collin there is no band. The absence of Colin would put the nail in the coffin of XTC. I hope to high heaven it is not true. How can Andy create the same type of music when his band's other creative voice/force has gone? I hate this type of fretting when I don't know the truth. It's like when David Gilmour and Roger Waters split up Pink Floyd. Floyd without Roger Waters is like the Beatles without John Lennon -or XTC without Colin Moulding for that matter. It doesn't wash kids. Regarding the idea that XTC might have played live somewhere if Dave was still in the band: Yes, Andy mentioned in some interview last year, that the band might do an electric gig using a flatbed truck as a stage. Andy said he did not one to do an unplugged thing because "everyone is doing it now". Great reason Andy! How about your loyal fans? Do THEY care if everyone is doing it? NO, they want XTC - period! To the chap who thinks it musical inspiration to not tour like most other bands - let me say this: yes you don't need to perform live to have a successful music career...but you better churn out some hits! Live performance is magical - you cannot capture it on recording. Just listening to the tapes of the O&L radio tour gives me goose bumps. Stripped down - without a net! How can you beat it kids? It's what rock-n-roll is all about! The problem is that XTC changed so much after they stopped touring. Compare the sound of ES to Mummer. Every Chalker says ES is XTC's best album and don't like Mummer compared with the albums that proceeded it. To some, this change was welcome. Nevertheless, they changed - which is good, but... I love The Dukes, though. There is a complete lack of pretension in the songs. They are fun! They are beautiful. I turn friends on to them but have a hard time warming them up to XTC. Oh well... Sorry, but I am bitter and selfish. I want my XTC! I want to see XTC live! not Hanson! not Greenday! not Kiss unplugged!!!! God help us and God save XTC (and Ray Davies)! Ralph
------------------------------ Message-Id: <2.2.32.19980512154903.006d6a28@popmail.dircon.co.uk> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:49:03 +0100 From: Simon Sleightholm <nonsuch@dircon.co.uk> Subject: No threat >From Lemoncurry >>Mitch: "How would you all feel if someone decides to print out >>the last four or five digests and mails them to Andy and Dave ? Would >>you take back what you said ? Too late." > >Are you threatening us ? Oh, now this is just getting silly. I don't imagine for a moment that it was Mitch's intention to threaten anyone. What he's recognised with his closeness to the band, and what most of us seem to have recognised since discovering the news (whenever we discovered it) is that no matter what kind of anger, disappointment or grumpiness we may be feeling it is as _nothing_ to the feelings that the actual band members have had to go through to get to this stage. I have had it on good authority, from sources _close_ to the band, that Dave's departure is only _one_ result of, and I quote, "shit you would not believe" that has come the band's way in the last six years. It wasn't a snap decision, and the causes are far more complex than we will ever know. Mitch's point seemed, to me, to be that there comes a time when people have to sit back and think "You know, I _really_ don't know what I'm talking about here - I wasn't there and I'm just guessing, maybe I shouldn't be hurling my uninformed and unfounded accusations around in public." It comes down, basically, to the sensitive nature of the band's current position - hence the delay in announcing Dave's departure and the hasty refutation of the rumour of Colin's leaving. After six years they need to emerge to the wider world as a confident unit with a collection of great songs and, for their own sake, some kind of supportive fanbase. Surely, in return for all the great music over the years, we can at least offer them that? Simon -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- http://www.nonsuch.dircon.co.uk/bungalow.htm (http://come.to/bungalow) -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- An XTC resource - "Saving it all up for you..."
------------------------------ Message-ID: <35587CEE.A091DD5E@netwalk.com> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 12:46:38 -0400 From: Ian C Stewart <stewart@netwalk.com> Organization: AUTOreverse Subject: XTC videos available That's right. XTC videos available again. Get 'em. http://www.netwalk.com/~stewart/xtcvideo.htm
------------------------------ Message-Id: <v03007800b17e465149da@[134.157.126.147]> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 19:38:29 +0100 From: Adamek Philip <adamekp@paris7.jussieu.fr> Subject: Forward abuse to my address To all of those who did not take my flippant comments about Colin's departure as the fleeting jest that I intended them to be, please hurl your abuse, swiftly, loudly, and with whatever lack of remorse you can muster, to my personal address. In this way, Chalkhills can build on something more substantial in coming posts. To these literal-minded readers, I offer my heartfelt apologies for any unusual and undue stress that my comments may have caused in what is already a trying time for us XTC fans. And now for a communal smile at the definitive announcement that Colin is still aboard! Martin
------------------------------
Message-ID: <19980512184438.22656.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: "Perfect Sound Forever" <perfectsound@hotmail.com>
Subject: What is that naked ladies tune?
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:44:38 PDT
Harrison Sherwood quoth:
> I don't know where you get "naked ladies," Buffster (perhaps your
> grade-school recesses attracted a more libertine clientele than
> mine); I'd always heard it as "where the *crocodiles* dance,"
> which, you gotta admit, closes the circle quite neatly.
> Mitch pointed out that
> the great Raymond Scott quoted the same melody in his 1937
> "Twilight in Turkey." And yes, Mark Cuevas correctly points out
> that the tune also appears as the nearly inaudible countermelody
> in the second bridge ("But he's your pet now/You can't run away and
> hide").
And Troy Peters graced us with:
> Well, I am going to work on it some more, but so far, I can tell you
> that Charles Ives quoted the same tune is his 1904 piece for string
> quartet, "Scherzo 'Holding Your Own,'" a nifty little piece which
> closes with a brief polytonal canon on the tune in question. Ives
> scholars identify the tune as "Streets of Cairo."
The same melody was cheekily insinuated into the coda of Fiona Apple's
radio hit "Criminal" by none other than Mr. Jon Brion...
At my school the complete lyrics were "There's a place in France where
the naked ladies dance/And a hole in the wall where the boys can see it
all." Naked ladies for free, every schoolboy's fantasy.
///////WB
perfectsound@hotmail.com
perfectsound@earthlink.net
------------------------------ From: Rhoblidnen <Rhoblidnen@aol.com> Message-ID: <56c3010a.35589910@aol.com> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 14:46:39 EDT Subject: Re: What's Chalkhills For? In response to Ralph DeMarco's post: I think the point people are trying to make about the 'excessive' posts about Dave is that there is a certain amount you can say on a subject before you start repeating yourself. As "R.Crawford@mgn.co.uk" said, > However everybody is saying almost the same things :- > 1: We are sad to see Dave leaving > 2: His timing seems crazy to us > 3: The band won't be the same > 4: It's Andys fault > 5: We wish Dave well > 6: We will still buy the new album > 7: We hope the split is not permanant > 8: It's sad to see two friends part. I happen to agree that we seem to have exhausted the subject for the moment. Besides, perpetuating the "rumors and speculations" doesn't do much good anyway. What's the point of talking about someone's personal (sort of) affairs which, for a lot of us on the list, are being carried out half way across the globe? It boots not to complain... Furthermore, with the band so rarely in the public eye these days, isn't it rather gratifying to hear of their far-reaching influence depite this fact? Personally, I would rather hear about something to do with the band that has basis in solid fact, a la "...I was leafing through the New York Press..." than "I heard from someone who has a friend whose Aunt lives in Kent, which is kind of near Swindon, whose brother's son's girlfriend ate in this restaurant where she thought she saw Dave saying he wanted to take a chainsaw to Andy... etc. etc." (Perhaps a little less of the "...I heard "[Insert XTC song here]" on / in [insert radio station / public place here]" too.) I doubt that anyone disputes that Dave's departure is important, if not saddening (We fear change...). Heck, he's been with them for the best part of 20 years! But... how many things can you say about one event? Sometimes, one can imagine Chalkhills as a big room for people to talk about XTC. You can imagine Amanda's throne (complete with "Dave" motif) and Harrison, jester suit clad, hopping manically about, reducing small groups of people to tears of laughter with his Oscar Wildesque wit. People enter and leave the room at will. Suddenly, someone rushes in and shouts, "Hey! Did you hear Dave left?? Jesus, isn't that awful?" The room explodes with loud, indignant questions and mixtures of sorrow and disbelief echo around the room. Some people leave to deal with their grief. The room quietens down for a while, then someone rushes in and shouts, "Hey! Did you hear Dave left?? Jesus, isn't that awful?" The room reacts more quietly this time, but the response is still quite emotional. Then, someone rushes in, bumping into the previous person in their haste and shouts, "Hey! Did you hear Dave left?? Jesus, isn't that awful?" Cries of "Shut up!" and "Get over it!" start emanating from various corners of the room. Sorry, just a vision there. D'ya get me, though? Robin
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19980512185453.14043.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Perfect Sound Forever" <perfectsound@hotmail.com> Subject: Andy/Verve Pipe Track Due In July! Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:54:53 PDT This is from today's Allstar magazine at www.allstarmag.com. -W. ================================================================ The Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark -- whose collaboration with XTC's Andy Partridge, "Blow You Away," is due on the Avengers soundtrack on Atlantic July 7 -- will perform the band's big hit, "The Freshman," acoustically (and alone) at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles on May 18, where they are expected to pick up an award... ///////WB perfectsound@hotmail.com perfectsound@earthlink.net
------------------------------ From: JStrole <JStrole@aol.com> Message-ID: <73bb5ee5.3558a195@aol.com> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:22:59 EDT Subject: Streets of Cairo / Stages of Paris Chalkhills, The "Crocodile" hidden song is titled "The Streets of Cairo." I use as my source Raymond Beegle who has recorded several CDs with the record company I work for some of which are turn of the century vocal records. To Eric Muller, Andy did walk off the stage in Paris, I have a rather bad copy of the TV show it the video clip was taken from. Apparently, a Parisian TV company decided to interview Andy in a funeral home while the caretaker and his wife looked on. Since, the show is in French I can only guess what is being asked. After the interview XTC were to play a concert hall in Paris. Andy gets 1/3 of the way through "Respectable Street" when he takes his guitar off and runs off-stage. I'm under the impression that the French TV show was to present the concert in full with snippets of the interview. Instead they have the whole interview, part of a sound check (a rough "Melt the Guns" live) and they switch to a rather entusiastic crowd and roll the credits during the aborted "Respectable Street." Oddly enough I also have a German concert from a couple of days before where the crowd seems like they're in a funeral home. The quality on the stuff I have is rather dodgey, however, to hear live renditions of English Settlement songs I keep them anyway. Harry
------------------------------ Message-Id: <2.2.32.19980512201300.006d31cc@popmail.dircon.co.uk> Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:13:00 +0100 From: Simon Sleightholm <nonsuch@dircon.co.uk> Subject: Swindon Speaks Hi folks, I just got off the phone with Andy - it was just a short chat, as you can imagine it's a busy time for him. Actually it was two chats - the first lasted only a few seconds and then the line went dead. He called me back a few seconds later and blamed his "magnetic head". Although I didn't go looking for "Davegate" news (I think we all know as much as we need to about it; he's gone, the rest is no-one else's business) Andy reiterated what has already been reported here; Dave was unhappy and Andy and Colin were unhappy about Dave's unhappiness. Andy and Colin are feeling very positive about the future of XTC. He did reveal, though, that Dave was asked to join the Blondie reunion tour and perhaps even work on the accompanying record but that he delayed until his ties with XTC were fully cut and missed the gig by a day! Although Dave has quite definitely and finally left the band and his legal connections with XTC are almost played out, he's still contracted to Cooking Vinyl in his own right. The impression I got was that it was part of the XTC deal and he would be looking to leave the contract - I forgot to ask if there was any chance this connection may result in solo projects. The glam rock film Andy was going to be contributing songs to turned out to be dreadful, a dull comedy about what appeared to be a prog-rock outfit - "the Uriah Heep story," Andy called it. One look at the script and he stepped away. His other film-related work, the single with the Verve Pipe guy for The Avenger's movie, is a happy prospect though - apparently it is/will be the lead-off single for the film, so a chance of some loot there it seems, even if he did only write the chorus. I asked him if the song was any good and he evaded the answer smartly by calling me a bastard ;) All the money the band were given to record the album is spent, and there's still some work to be done. No title for the album yet. Even though Dave objected to "The History Of The Middle" ages - though he was the oldest band member; Andy said "Dave still thinks he's the face of '68" (and he said it quite fondly too, conspiracy theorists) - there seems little chance of it being readopted; it seems Colin is uncomfortable about the ageist implications now. Whatever title is finally chosen both albums will bear it along with a clear "Vol 1" and "Vol 2" - Andy is adamant that they are seen as being of a piece. Planned release for Vol 1 is January 1999, with Vol 2 four or five months later. A scrummy detail from Vol 1; "River of Orchids" now has a one minute intro. It's a collage of fragments of the main music dropped in like tiles in a mosaic - Andy's hoping to mix in some water sounds - building up to the main song in a bubbling flow. I rather churlishly, I suppose - brought up the name of Philip Glass at this point and Andy welcomed the opportunity to tell what I imagine is the _only_ Philip Glass joke in the world:- Knock knock. Who's there? Philip Glass. Philip Glass who? Philip Glass. Philip Glass who? Philip Glass. (repeat until alone) I asked him about remixes - this had been a subject Neville and I touched last night; those dreadful "King For A Day" remixes had been done without the band's consent or involvement, but the _enormous_ costs had been taken out of _their_ share of the profits - and he said he'd never hand XTC's music over to anyone in that way again. I posited the conceit of a dance artist approaching the band and asking to use fragments of some of the new tracks in a single and he said he couldn't see that happening. After I pointed out the massive dance hit someone has just had from sampling the resolute anti-groove that was The Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" he rethought and said he'd quite enjoy having one of his songs blown apart and rebuilt like that. Those are the songs he likes best on the Chalkhills Childrens tapes too, the radical reworkings. I told him of my dream to get my arse in gear and do a full on James Brown/Wilson Pickett take on Colin's "The Meeting Place" (pumping bass and those "groiny" sassy horn) and - something that I think will stay with me forever - we spent a happy few moments humming funked-up fragments at each other. Oddly, he thought it might work. "Drums and Wireless" and the "BBC Live In Concert" CDs which were released through BBC subsidiaries are going to be released again with a wider distribution through Cooking Vinyl in the fairly near future, and the search is also on for two "lost" BBC sessions from 1978 and 1980 which are known to have occurred but of which no tape can be found. There is apparently a vinyl recording (I forgot to ask if this was a bootleg, but I assume it must be) in existence, but the master tapes are missing. He made the noises of the recently-well-fed while we talked and said he'd been eating lamb - "I _think_ it was dead" - which made me think of his questionnaire in the old Virgin "Pop Secrets" book (the text of which is on Bungalow and somewhere in the Chalkhills archive too), where he claimed to be a big fan of vegetarian food. He said he was still pretty much into veggie food but that the "questionnaire" deal in that book had been a complete sham - it hadn't been his handwriting, he'd never even seen the questions, it appeared to have been cobbled together from other sources and most of it was untrue. He accepted the report of his fondness Haley Mills when young, though - which I shared - and claimed he didn't know what he was supposed _do_ with her, but he knew the warm feeling he got "down below" in the cinema was nothing to do with the Maltesers melting in his lap. I remarked how fabrication of such a insubstantial publication seemed petty and exploitative beyond words and he replied, "That's Virgin." I mentioned that Neville had seen the very final and utter proofs of the forthcoming book and had declared that there were elements which he knew Andy would be unhappy with. Andy agreed, but said these were mostly down to the necessary editing - he felt that some parts made him appear brain dead because, for the sake of word count, ostensibly superfluous sentences had been removed, breaking up the flow. Sadly, he revealed that Dave was interviewed separately for the book, largely as a favour to his friend Neville - his heart was never in the project. That's about it, though I'm bound to remember bits of other stuff later on. Simon -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- http://www.nonsuch.dircon.co.uk/bungalow.htm (http://come.to/bungalow) -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- An XTC resource - "Saving it all up for you..."
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199805122024.NAA11996@access.tucson.org> From: "J. D. SMX" <jsmelser@access.tucson.org> Organization: Access Tucson Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:31:46 -0700 Subject: Andy-Chat Hello Chalksters, Simon and Andy shared: The glam rock film Andy was going to be contributing songs to turned out to be dreadful, a dull comedy about what appeared to be a prog-rock outfit - "the Uriah Heep story," Andy called it. Throw in a little Spinal Tap treatment and this might be quite entertaining. Especially, where the Mick Box character tours with a cast on his broken forearm. I still crank Easy Livin' up to 11 when it comes on, JD SMX
------------------------------ Message-Id: <72EDB966944AD1118DC90080D820748847C03E@ex-campus2> From: "Pedretti-Allen, Richard (Richard)" Subject: Another Departure Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:16:29 -0700 Andy has left and Hadyn Bendall is now XTC.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #4-81 ******************************
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13 May 1998 / Feedback