Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 246
Date: Thursday, 12 August 1999

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 246

                 Thursday, 12 August 1999

Today's Topics:

                     Cobain Conundrum
            Re: The Bears.....grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
                    Wielding influence
                     re:penneth worth
                      More on Bears
                        Re: Stin'
                         Tortoise
                           Blur
            Japanese band Seagull Screaming...
                OBVIOUSLY...oh, Nevermind
         On the subject of controlling 7 stations
                   Video off of Vol. 2?
                Extra Apple Venus T-Shirts
        The Art of Business / The Business of Art
                       Dave Gregory
                   Cooking Vinyl Update
SEC : UNCLASSIFIED Guided By Voices - New Album (no XTC content)
                      Re: The Bears
                      Re: Nevermind

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You boys will tire of these games.

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

Message-ID: <000001bee1df$cb1721c0$54f9abc3@default>
From: "David Seddon" <D.Seddon@btinternet.com>
Subject: Cobain Conundrum
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 21:50:07 +0100

Dave Gershman said:
>I'm not going to try to convert you to Nirvana, but let me just point out
>something to the anti-Cobainers here that you seem to be willfully
>overlooking or selectively forgetting: Cobain and Nirvana *were indeed*
>considered very important even before his death! They were pretty much the
>biggest (and best) thing going in rock in the early '90s, and his death
>may have increased his personal legend, but the band was *not* merely
>considered just another rock band before his death.
>
>As for your question: "What exactly was it that he or his music are deemed
>to have done that was fresh, interesting or musically new?," let me quote
>from the All Music Guide to help answer that:
>
>>  Prior to Nirvana, alternative music was consigned to specialty sections
>>  of record stores, and major labels considered it to be, at the very
>>  most, a tax write-off. After the band's second album, 1991's Nevermind,
>>  nothing was ever quite the same, for better and for worse. Nirvana
>>  popularized punk, post-punk and indie-rock, unintentionally bringing it
>>  into the American mainstream like no other band before it. While its
>>  sound was equal parts Black Sabbath (as learned by fellow Washington
>>  underground rockers, the Melvins) and Cheap Trick, Nirvana's aesthetics
>>  were strictly indie-rock.  They covered Vaselines songs, they revived
>>  New Wave cuts by Devo, and leader Kurt Cobain relentlessly pushed his
>>  favorite bands -- whether it was art-punk of the Raincoats or the
>>  country-fried hardcore of the Meat Puppets -- as if his favorite
>>  records were always more important than his own music. While Nirvana's
>>  ideology was indie-rock and their melodies were pop, the sonic rush of
>>  their records and live shows merged the post-industrial white noise
>>  with heavy metal grind. And that's what made the group an unprecedented
>>  multi-platinum sensation. Jane's Addiction and Soundgarden may have
>>  proven to the vast American heavy metal audience that alternative could
>>  rock, and the Pixies may have merged pop sensibilities with indie-rock
>>  white noise, but Nirvana pulled at all together, creating a sound that
>>  was both fiery and melodic. . . .  The band's legacy stands as one of
>>  the most influential in rock & roll history.

Glad to debate this with you, Dave, tho' I still cannot agree!

Here are some points:
1.  Is this book, which you quote from, purely American biased?  I'll take
a few of the quotes here and ponder them:

In the UK, alternative music was not consigned to speciality sections!

As I said in a previous post, if this is true, it just shows the
unimaginative, boring mindset of average American music buyers and makers.

I visited the USA in 1990.  No one there had heard of The Happy Mondays,
yet they'd been big for a couple of years over here.  Before that we had
the Smiths (can't stand them personally...something to do with Morriseys
whiningly monotone voice), New Order and many others.  We had Probe
Records etc... a whole gamut of very successful Indie Labels and stars out
of nowhere e.g. Frankie Goes to Hollywood (big nod to Trevor Horn, there)
etc from the early 80s.  Indie was a way of life over here!  Students in
particular were into all sorts of groups like the Inspiral Carpets.  It
was mainstream here!!

2. Tho I am no Metal fan, I have to agree that Nirvana were repackaged 80%
metal, 10% punk and 10% indie.  Neither interesting or original as has been
said by others on the list.  Now I may get attacked by Dom for this (which
would be fair enough as I know about as much about metal as he probably
does about flower arranging) but here goes.  It seems to me that Nirvana
have none of the qualities that would mark them out as classic metal acts:

They are not great writers or musicians or bluesmen in the vanguard, like
Led Zeppelin; they are not weird or off the wall like Kiss or Alice Cooper;
they are not arty like Queen (in their early days); they are not amusing
and self-depreciating like Motorhead.  They were simply energetic and were
there at a time when Americans were waking up to the fact that they needed
to be rebellious, catch up to Europe, and not be stuck up a 20 year old
piece of musical intestine (they are again now in my opinion...didn't last
long did it?).

3.  The reviewer himself says at the end that they just combined a lot of
other sounds.  Did they go on from that, or rather could they have done had
Cobain lived?  I doubt it!  I'm not a Brit pop fan, but one has to say that
Daman Alburn and Jarvis Cocker, to name two contemporaries, have tried to
be more original, or to make more interesting (and occasionally positive!)
comments about life in the 90s.  Please don't take that as me saying that
I'm a Brit Popper, but to my ears even (dare one utter this word!) Oasis
are more interesting than Nirvana, even if they are similarly derivative
and self-obsessed (and not a little uncouth).  Their lyrics are crap, their
tunes are borrowed, but at least they have tunes, at least you could hum
something in the lift.

4.  I'm not saying (and we've had this debate before) that melody is the
only important thing in music, but it is one of three or four
prerequisites.  I don't think Curt had a clue!

5.  "One of the most influential in rock and roll history" ... I can't see
it.  Seems to me that anyone who's been interesting since was not much
influenced by Nirvana, whereas they were influenced by loads of bands
before them.  In short they made cul-de-sac music, terminus music...music
that drew together what went before and brought it to a (thankfully)
crashing halt.  Not a sublime pinnacle of an important genre that will
stand the test of time, rather a rusty column that will fall crashing,
exhausted and spluttering to the ground.

6.  I can understand why Americans may value him (tho' I think it's bogus
and hollow...as in what I said about JFK), but I cannot for the life of me
see why any European would be taken in by this hype.  We had too many far
better talents around at the same time as him.  It seems to me that America
has produced some truly great people (Lincoln, Ford, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Gershwin, the Wright Bros etc etc etc), yet it seems that such is it's need
for heroes that it too often elevates nobodies to positions of importance.
Us Europeans could name many!  Cobain is one of the latest.  This doesn't
tend to happen so much in Europe.  People can be big for a few years, but
if they're not substantailly good, they soon fall off their pedestal and
are even mocked.  This may be crueller, but it is more honest.

I still don't see what was new or interesting about Nirvana.

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

Message-ID: <37AFB6E9.1D1EB2E5@pobox.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 01:21:45 -0400
From: Jefferson Ogata <ogata@pobox.com>
Organization: The Antibozo
Subject: Re: The Bears.....grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

WESnLES@aol.com wrote:
> Rumor has it
> that the Bears are preparing to reunite, and that a new cd will soon be
> released.....keep your paws crossed.

In fact, they did reunite several years ago on tour with Adrian. The
remaining Bears were at the time known as Psychodots, and they were
peddling a release on the Strugglebaby label called "On The Grid". I
haven't followed them since then so I don't know what happened next, but if
you're looking for Bears material, you should look also for Psychodots,
though they lack what you might consider the key ingredient. Still, "On The
Grid" has some good numbers on it.

XTC content: I haven't listened to AV1 in at least four weeks!

--
Jefferson Ogata.  smtp: <ogata@pobox.com>  http://www.pobox.com/~ogata/
finger: ogata@pobox.com  ICQ: 19569681  whois: jo317@whois.internic.net

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

Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990810091428.0096ca30@smtpgw.ametsoc.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 09:14:28 -0400
From: David Gershman <dgershmn@ametsoc.org>
Subject: Wielding influence

Dunks pointed out:
>Oh puh-leeease!! Calm down. Cobain, Bowie, Marley, bla bla bla. You say
>potato ... OK we all have our favourites; we all have our own ideas about
>who is or is not important. Personally I agree with all of them to a
>greater or lesser extent.

That brings up a good point, actually -- the mere fact that there's even
any debate at all about whether or not Cobain, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, or
whomever were influential suggests that indeed, they were. We aren't
debating the influence of the Starland Vocal Band, Toni Basil, or Shannon
Hoon, for example, now, are we? Like them or not, denying that bands like
Led Zeppelin or Nirvana were very influential is nothing less than
ignorant.

Dave Gershman

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

Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 09:18:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: John Fulton <fulton@ssc.wisc.edu>
Subject: re:penneth worth
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.95.990810085159.13687A-100000@guy.ssc.wisc.edu>

David - If I haven't done so already, I herewith join the ranks of the
some of the duller arguments around here, those of the "my music is better
than thine" sort.

Here are some brief replies:

"I don't think he wrote any music people are going to want to cover in 10
years time."  I have heard dozens of Hootie covers.  So they're great?
But I don't recall them on your list.

"and he wasn't that great a musician."  Please, don't make me come hit you
with the nerf guitar.  This is rock and roll, not a night at the Blue
Note.

"The Nirvana albums bored the life out of me and I found it very hard to
discern any sort of melody thru' the noise."  A valid complaint I suppose,
but one person's poison is another's carrot stick.

"What exactly was it that he or his music are deemed
to have done that was fresh, interesting or musically new?"
I presume you don't really mean "exactly"  here ("it was that C-sharp
minor with heavy fuzz in bar 17 and 1/2 of ...").  BUT they brought a dark
though humorous sound long since AWOL from MOR.  Plus concise songwriting,
very snappy tunes (IMHO), and, I don't know, they just plain rocked.  A
friend of mine described the sound of Nevermind as "lush and sensuous,"
which describes it pretty well for me (angst over commercial
overproduction notwithstanding).

"Finally, he also became 100 times more important after his death and that
gives the game away for me!"  Yeah, but I would argue this also happened
for Hendrix, Lennon, Holly, the Big Bopper, Patsy Cline, chunks of Lynyrd,
S.Ray, well, you see where I am going with this.  How do we know who among
these was not "important" before death?  More interestingly, what part
does death play in the "importance" of a particular artist?  I am of
course thinking of the Van Gogh phenomenon.

Cheers, John.
               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
               -   John A. Fulton     fulton@ssc.wisc.edu   -
               =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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

Message-Id: <199908101420.HAA02220@sparrow.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 09:16:11 -0600
Subject: More on Bears
From: "Bob O'Bannon" <batchain@earthlink.net>

>Anybody remember Adrian Belew's
>80's pop band the Bears? I've read nothing but great things about 'em. I
>know their CD's are out-of-print. Anybody heard them? Any plans for
>re-release?

I wouldn't say the Bears were necessarily "great" (that word is so overused
anyway), but they definitely wrote some irresistible songs, and Belew's
hyperkinetic guitar playing gave them that edgy quality that would appeal
to XTC fans. They were a little too slick for the alternative crowd, but
too oddball for the mainstream. The non-Belew members of the Bears actually
went on to play as Psychodots after the Bears split, and their albums are
just as catchy, but a little less interesting. Now the leader of that band,
Rob Fetters, has been doing solo stuff of his own. And the closest thing to
the Bears that Belew has done on his own is his solo album "Inner
Revolution."  Lots of gems on that one.

Bob O

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

Message-ID: <37AFD038.5DDCCE5B@connectfree.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 00:09:44 -0700
From: Robin Holden <rhoblidnen@connectfree.co.uk>
Organization: RPHolden Software
Subject: Re: Stin'

> From: John Yuelkenbeck <jy@tomrussell.com>
>
> The thin' that bothers me most about Stin' when he sin's is the way he
> drops his g's:
>
> "Every Little Thin' She Does Is Magic"
>
> "It's the same old thin' as yesterday"
>
> etc.

Well, wot d'ye expect frum a Geordie lad such as is'self, eh?  D'ye expect
'im tu prunounce everythin' proppallee, d'ye?

It's like asking Andy Partridge to stop going 'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr' on
his R's or Colin to stop saying 'Stoat' when surely he means 'Stout.'

Not that you're asking him to stop, that is.  Just pointin' out a few
thin's.

R

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

Message-ID: <37B03AEC.66B38199@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 07:45:06 -0700
From: "d. Taylor Singletary" <graysweaters@yahoo.com>
Subject: Tortoise

In Issue #5-245....

I had the pleasure of seeing the word TORTOISE.
Now, this pleasure sent a tingle down my spine, activated [fired] receptors
in my brain.
Why? Because Tortoise is what is hip.
Three albums were released in the past two years that could take you into a
complete other dimension of sound, space, humanity. A place where the
people look a little different, perhaps think a little different. This
place is what I call the Techra-zone.
The albums: XTC's Apple Venus, Beck's Mutations, & Tortoise's TNT. Play
these albums in succession, in any order, just these three albums... and
you will know what i mean. A similar feeling, an other-worldliness.

Thanks for mentioning Tortoise. Buy Tortoise. You will never be sorry.

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

Message-ID: <001101bee316$9bf0fc80$b51017d4@smj>
From: "Stephen Jackson" <smj@zen.co.uk>
Subject: Blur
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 10:55:39 +0100

Wes said..

>Hear for yourself. I have read that Andy's ideas are especially evident on
>"Sunday Sunday" and "Chemical World."

I have to agree here, "Chemical World" sounds particularly like "Braniac's
Daughter"

Steve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two steps forward, six steps back.

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

Message-Id: <199908101555.IAA03455@scaup.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 08:54:17 -0700
From: Dan Pinder <dpinder@earthlink.net>
Subject: Japanese band Seagull Screaming...

Anyone catch in the latest Billboard the mention of the Japanese band
Seagull (sic) Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her?

No surprise, then, that Billboard would list some of their influences and
completely fail to mention a certain West Country band what spawned their
name...

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

Message-ID: <37B01E60.721C@realtime.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 13:43:11 +0100
From: chris vreeland <vreecave@realtime.com>
Organization: Vreeland Graphics
Subject: OBVIOUSLY...oh, Nevermind

"Don't ask me nuthin' 'bout nuthin'
"cause I just might tell you the truth"-
						Bob Dylan

This just in:
	Liking XTC does not necessarily mean you have good taste in music!
Chalkhills is full of some wonderful camaraderie, and insightful
commentary as well as occasionally being a source of information about
the band, XTC, and its members. I stand amazed, however, at the number
of subscribers who seem to know better than one another what constitutes
"good" or "bad" music. Opinions are offered, and feelings are hurt. Sure
the internet is good clean fun, and we certainly aren't all busy here
determining the fate of Bosnia, or high-level radioactive waste, so rest
assured I don't take this all that seriously- this is just the logical
avenue for musings brought on by the dialogue I read here.
	The problem with considering, yourself an arbiter of taste comes
with at least one pitfall that I can see. You can spend your life carefully
listening objectively to music and amassing a collection of recordings
to reflect your knowledge and wisdom. Odds are 99% (because of the
western culture thing) that any Tibetan, Maori, Aleut, or El Salvadoran
would view your Mighty Collection as rancid Moose vomit. (on the other
hand the Maori and El Salvadoran would likely not have personally
experienced Moose. Forget that.)
	Chew on this anyway, whether you accept it or not; it's only food
for  thought:  "Good" music is what speaks to you. It is not what
professionally employed critics proclaim to be "good". It is not what
record companies proclaim to be "good". All music has the power to be
simultaneously good and bad, and that depends ONLY on which way it moves
the listener. What moves me to ecstasy might move you to puke. That in
no way means I'm  right and your wrong, and to even imply so would be
closed minded.
	Besides, are you all suffering from collective amnesia? All this
hand wringing and gnashing of teeth over the most important bands of the
last thirty years, and nobody even mentions Frank Zappa! Certainly he's
much better and more influential than all those bands I don't like as much!
(closely followed by the sound of flame-throwers charging up)

Chris "destined to take the place of the Mud shark in your mythology"
Vreeland

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

Message-ID: <3AE4C7B8CC1BD31194140008C7B14DE878D0B8@hfd-exch008.aetna.com>
From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com>
Subject: On the subject of controlling 7 stations
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 15:29:00 -0400

Just curious: If all the personality is being squeezed out
of music radio, is that why people are listening to talk
radio more? I hear lots of "NPR" on this list and if it's
not too despicable, I'd like to mention a show: Colin
McEnroe, oddly intellectual, radio 1080 AM in Hartford, CT
3p-6p weekdays. The signal is clear-channel and carries
pretty well in the fall and winter.

>Erik: "On the subject of having 7 stations, who cares."

I'll defer to your current purgatory in commercial radio,
to dancing with the devil to keep your family (or is it
just a cat?) fed, but I care about 7 stations in a market.

Since radio stations stopped being in-house curiosities
run by insurance companies, stores, and grain processors
(WTIC Hartford, WLS Chicago, WCCO Mpls-StPaul), owners
have had to do something for money. That's understood.

But in the modern era it been less about running a radio
station and more about retiring debt created by your new
owners. Why should you care? For the same fucked-up reason
that when somebody buys your corner bank for five times its
worth, all your fees go up. The winners present you with
the pyrrhic spoils of a battle you didn't even fight.

It's all about having false choice, about selling an image
to listeners that they don't realize. The cock-rock,
country and alternativo station owned by the same entity
as the pipsqueaking N'Synchies and the diva soft-rocker?
Don't tell that to fans of Zep, Travis Tritt and Rage
Against the Machine; they like to think they're
politically incorrect. Ain't hardly nothin PC anymore
except money and the compliance it forces.

>Chris V: "as long as there are those who will risk the
>wrath of the FCC in order to broadcast for the sake of
>the art of music"

Actually, that may be changing. Look up LPFM (low-power FM)
proposals, try the FCC's website. At least one judge has
ruled in favor of a pirate defendant. A notion gaining
credibility is that something was screwed up between the
concept of "public airwaves" and the reality of the money
required just to keep a 1kw daytime AM station on the air.

I've been a radio amateur for 22 years (you call yourselves
geeks! HA!), and I studied for my license. I have a
technical obligation every time I transmit to not screw up
someone else's legal device. Hams are to serve the public
interest, which I do several times a year.

Now broadcasters renew their tickets for an 8 year period
with a postcard. Whoring upcoming shows? That's "non
commercial content". Mars-Mattel Choco-bot Hour? AKA
"educational requirement". Those neo-Father Coughlins and
Beltway Blowhards? "Public interest". FCC enforcement of
broadcasters is at an all-time low, allowing technical
violations from operating with too much power to
interference with air traffic control and radar (look up
www.fair.org). Well, I want my airwaves back.

Waiting for ABC News to cover Disney sweatshops,
Karl

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

Message-ID: <37B0AEEB.14@gte.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 18:59:55 -0400
From: george toledo <guitarc@gte.net>
Organization: home
Subject: Video off of Vol. 2?

I was told by either a tvt or cooking vinyl rep, that there would be a
video released for volume 2. I'm curious if anyone knows what song is
going to be released- or if anyone has any good guesses.

Also, I'm new to this newsgroup and I'm shocked by the amount of Sting
related posts! Why?

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

Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990810175422.0092dd40@pophost.micron.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 17:54:22 -0600
From: Phil Corless <philco@micron.net>
Subject: Extra Apple Venus T-Shirts

I have 4 extra Apple Venus t-shirts......

1 XL White
1 XL Ash
2 Large White

These are brand new, never-worn, Hanes Beefy-T, professionally
silk-screened, etc. etc.

I'm selling these on a "first-come, first-serve" basis......
The first emails I receive will get them.   $25 each.
That price includes shipping in the US.  For Canada and
Mexico, add $2.  Everywhere else, add $5.

- Phil

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

Message-ID: <19990811005616.68440.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Art of Business / The Business of Art
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 17:56:15 PDT

***Shock!! Horror!! Flash! This just in!  Musician accepts money?!?!?!?

Apparently, Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com> thinks this A Bad Thing:

>Fresh off the Wall St. Journal presses: Sting signs an agreement
>with Compaq Computer to allow Compaq to advertise using his
>"Brand New Day" single, neatly coinciding with the release of the
>album of the same name and fall tour (heavily sponsored by you-
>know-who).

Well, Dane, at least he was asked, *and* got to choose the song - a new one
too - **and** (presumably) gets the royalties.

>Furthermore, the CD cover prominently features
>Compaq, and Sting may appear in their adverts displaying (and I
>quote) "how Compaq technology affects Sting's professional and
>personal life" making this the first time that advertiser and artist
>have worked so collusively.

Collusively? Puh-leease! Collusion implies secrecy. This was in the Wall St
Journal, was it not? Nothing very secrective about his website. Pretty
up-front if you ask me.

"The first time that advertiser and artist have worked so collusively??" As
if !! Do the names "Michael Jackson" and "Pepsi" mean anything to you?

And is what is wrong with Sting doing a bit of spruiking for Compaq? Is
that any better/worse than the millions of dumbass punters who pay for the
"privelege" free billboards for Nike and Adidas and Coors and
what-the-hell-ever else? What's on YOUR T-shirt, buddy?

>This contract extends through December 2000.

>Still in disbelief that these strange bedfellows could possibly
>be that close?... check out Sting's website - sting.compaq.com

Oh, wake up! I fail to see what is so bad/wrong/naughty/immoral about any
of this. Sting is a free agent. Sting is a highly successful businessman in
his own right. And Sting's record company is unlikely to give anything like
the kind of support that Compaq are willing to provide simply for him doing
a bit of harmless spruiking.

This is just plain hypocrisy, Dane. When someone we LIKE gets a record
contract with a multinational entertainment conglomerate, we cheer. When
oil companies shell out some tiny fraction of their galactic extortion
proceeds into art exhibitions or ... (pauses to suppress gag reflex)
... opera ...  the Arty Smarties swoon and laud them as Good Corporate
Citizens.

(Personally, Id'love to see more businesses get involved in sponsoring
modern music. The record companies obviously don't give a shit.)

What the hell is the difference, anyway? Music may be an Art Form,
philosophically speaking, but here in the real world it's just another job.
It is an integral part of the capitalist system. It is a product. Why is
Sting taking money from Compaq more "uncool" than Sting taking money from
Polygram?

I'm a "social democrat", politically - I believe in funny, outmoded
concepts like welfare, and public transport, and free education - but I'm
also a realist. This is the system we have. It works the way it works. You
can use it and deal with it, and try to improve it, or not. Your
choice. But don't pretend to me that turning an honest buck is some sort of
fall from ideological grace. Sting made a business deal. He didn't cheat
anyone, he didn't rob or exploit anyone, as far as I can see. What IS the
problem?

This is the very reason I am barfed-out by wankers like Manic Street
Preachers, who assume some laughable pose of politically right-on-ness
simply becasue they've read a bit of Marx and happen to be "working class",
whatever that is these days. So fucking what? When they start giving their
records out free, I'll start listening; until then, they can shut the fuck
up.

When was popular music ever anything other than a form of commerce? You
work for a record company, you get paid money from record company
profits. You charge admission to gigs. You sell t-shirts and posters
...etcetera, etcetera ...

It's business. Get over it, and get on with it.

Yours profitably,
John D. Dunks-erfeller

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

Message-ID: <37B0D2F0.2EF7FC43@tmbg.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 21:33:40 -0400
From: Ben Gott/Loquacious Music <gott@tmbg.org>
Organization: http://listen.to/loquacious
Subject: Dave Gregory

Gang,

Damn!  Guitargonauts.com is awesome!  Dave is finally getting the love and
respect he deserves!  Well, from people other than AMANDA, that is.  ;-)

I just bought an XTC poster from WorldwidePoster.com...It's the great
Westerberg photograph from the Nonsuch sessions (the brown-washed picture
with Andy in front and Colin & Dave in back.)  There is *one* left, last I
checked, at http://www.phil-a-arts.com - it's 18" x 24", and it'd look
great on your wall, as it looks great on mine!

More on the commerciality front: Gap is using Madonna's "Dress You Up" in
their (spectacular) vest ad, Nissan is using Lenny Kravitz's "Fly" (the
song in which he rhymes "fly" with "butterfly") to sell their new Xterra
SUV, and Johnson & Johnson is using "Life in a Northern Town" to advertise
Acuvue contact lenses!  Any time XTC wants to use "Mayor of Simpleton" to
advertise the upcoming U.S. Presidential debates, they should definitely
feel free to.  (I don't usually watch this much T.V., by the way...I just
love those "Must See TV" Tuesdays with "Just Shoot Me!" and "Will &
Grace"...)

I continue to look forward to "AV2."  Rock on, Andy and Colin!

Cheers,
Ben

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
     Benjamin Gott . Loquacious Music . Salisbury, CT 06068
AOL: Plan4Nigel . Telephone (860) 435-9726 . Mobile (207) 798-1859
 "Son," he said / "Grab your things, I've come to take you home."
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: 12 Aug 99 10:29:05 AES
From: Paul.Culnane@dcita.gov.au
Subject: Cooking Vinyl Update
Message-ID: <0001hbjbvbnh.0001ecaeukki@dcita.gov.au>

Chalksters

I just checked the Cooking Vinyl website.  All reference to the release of
the Greenman single have been removed, but this paragraph has appeared in
its place:

>>Upcoming releases from Cooking Vinyl include brand new albums from Michael
Nesmith (Sept 20), Chuck Prophet (Sept 27), The Wedding Present's "Singles
95-97" (Sept 27), and the XTC "demo" collection, "Homespun" (Sept 27)...<<

Oh, I must say, Guitargonauts, the Dave Gregory website, is rather fab.
Mark and Debi have done a magnificent job and DG himself has supplied a
shitload of great info.  Highly recommended!

~p@ul

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

From: Iain.Murray.70428176@army.defence.gov.au
Message-Id: <4A2567CB.0003CC5F.00@stagemaster.army.defence.gov.au>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:48:40 +1000
Subject: SEC : UNCLASSIFIED Guided By Voices - New Album (no XTC content)

Having heard a fair bit about Guided By Voices on this list, I thought I'd
post this review from the Sydney Daily Telegraph (August 12th).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

**Guided By Voices - Do The Collapse**

Guided By Voices have been around for years and years, but chances are you
have probably never heard of them - and it is hard to see why. Is it not
that sweet melodies, catchy vocals and an unashamedly pop sound is loved in
radio land? They even have that buzz-saw guitar thing going, and some nice
little synth and piano hooks. All this and more, including some quite
poetic lyrics. So why no big-time success? At least one played-to-death
hit? Maybe it's the curse of being labelled a critics' favourite. Perhaps
it is the sameness that's caused the band to miss the boat ; there are a
squillion other tight pop bands out there peddling the same sounds. "Do The
Collapse" is a worthy album if you're into blissful guitar pop of the
Teenage Fanclub variety, but please remember the myriad Aussie bands who
are now just as capable.

(Three stars out of five)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

From: CCooli9575@aol.com
Message-ID: <bb8d897d.24e383d6@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 21:56:38 EDT
Subject: Re: The Bears

In a message dated 8/5/99 11:51:37 PM, <owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org>
writes:

<< O.K. Chalkhillers.... help me out here. Anybody remember Adrian Belew's
80's pop band the Bears? I've read nothing but great things about 'em. I
know their CD's are out-of-print. Anybody heard them? Any plans for
re-release? >>

Got both albums. Love 'em. Even more than Belew's solo material, of which
I only have Young Lions myself. Highly recommended. They remind me of a
much more cheerful and quirky Badfinger, in that all four of them
write(the drummer less than the others, though)and sing very well.

Chris

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

From: CCooli9575@aol.com
Message-ID: <2c116a7d.24e383da@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 21:56:42 EDT
Subject: Re: Nevermind

Sorry to draw this out, but one thing we have Nirvana to thank for is
effectively killing the success of all those hair-metal bands. Come to
think of it, in the fall of '91 I was in a local band that covered
"Territorial Pissings" from Nevermind even before the album exploded
commercially; they were just another cool new alternative/punk band to
cover at the time. They didn't help Nonsuch's sales, much, though...

Chris

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #5-246
*******************************

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12 August 1999 / Feedback