Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 271
Date: Thursday, 23 September 1999

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 271

               Thursday, 23 September 1999

Today's Topics:

                  Re: XTC LIVE + DIRECT
                      XTC the drink
                   Get Stung on Friday!
                          Dallas
                    stumbling into XTC
                     Hear ye, here ye
                     Get Down Tonight
                     Funk Pop A roll
            If you like XTC you will like.....
    The Dukes of Stratosphere doing Apple Venus Vol 1
          Responding to Harrison/Prog is reborn
                       Sharing XTC
                   Unplugged, anyone??
                 Davey Jones' Sketchbook
                        Oh Dear!!
                        fay lovsky
                        Aw, c'mon!
                   spam on chalkhills?
         Re: Carmen XTC track - Yazbek, TMBG, XTC
                   open letter to Dunks
                  Any News is Good News

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

Message-ID: <37E8148B.BF7E8@autoreverse.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 19:28:11 -0400
From: Ian C Stewart <ian@autoreverse.net>
Organization: http://www.AUTOreverse.net/
Subject: Re: XTC LIVE + DIRECT

>>Nice gesture on Ian's part but Geocities is a pain in the browser.  It

opens a NEW BROWSER WINDOW with almost every click.  As much interest as
I
may have in what Ian offers, I stay the hell away from anything with
"Geocities" in the URL.<<<

This is why there's only one page to the entire site. Sure, you have to
close some windows, but who cares? It's free and fun and if you don't
dig the neighborhood, then that's okay too.

>>Sorry to be heavy-handed about this but anyone can get websites hosted
for
free without most of this junk and for $5 a month you can get a website
with no junk.<<<

While this is certainly true, I have already used my paid-for allotment
of webspace to further my own sonic and printed endeavors. The
Gettocities site is a free, enjoyable (mostly) way for me to share some
live and insane XTC stuff for loads of people at absolutely no cost to
anyone. Besides, my own site is loaded down with my OWN Real  Audio
files!

I'm very pleased with the overall reaction to XTC LIVE+DIRECT so far,
there's been lots of great responses and tons of helpful feedback. I'm
just sorry it's taken this long for anybody to step up and do something
like this! KISS fans have it very easy by comparison!

cheers,
Ian C Stewart
http://www.geocities.com/xtcliveanddirect/

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

Message-Id: <l03130300b40dd95a7c04@[208.13.202.44]>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 20:58:21 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: XTC the drink

>A sad piece of news:
>
>A few years back, a good friend had bought me a can of a herbal energy
>drink called "XTC", knowing I'd keep it on the shelf as a collector's item.
>
>Yesterday, I recovered my stuff from my ex-house (where my ex-wife lives -
>humpf), and someone had opened the can and drunk it! Now all I have is a
>none-too-impressive empty can.
>
>My vinyl XTC survived unscathed.

  There's several conveniences stores I know of here in Vermont where XTC
the drink can be found. One's even across the street from my friend John's
house. It's not that much of a collector's item, except maybe to XTC fans
who've never seen it before. I've seen and drank it enough that I'm
actually getting a little jaded. Then again, I can have Ben&Jerry's ice
cream any time I want too, that doesn't mean I do.

Christopher R. Coolidge

Homepage at
http://homepages.together.net/~cauldron/homepage.html

"A Great law protects me from the government. The Bill of rights has 10
GREAT laws.

A Good law protects me from you.  Laws against murder, theft,
assault and the like are good laws.

A Poor law attempts to protect me from myself."

- Unknown

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

From: WWi8064839@aol.com
Message-ID: <f0254efc.25198daa@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 21:40:58 EDT
Subject: Get Stung on Friday!

Hello folx(tc)!

 From Siren CD, (sirencd.com) I advance ordered "Homespun," the Japanese
version due out Sept. 27, which includes the demo tracks plus Andy's
commentary from the album's singles. I am a satisfied customer of Siren, but
am in no way affiliated...blah, blah. Also while there I ordered Paradise
Circus, The Lilac Time's second album long out of print and finally
rereleased in Japan. Siren also has TLT's first album for sale, but I have it
already.

That's funny that Barry Andrews is taking a 3D Design class. I'm taking a 2D
Design class at MassArt in Boston. So, he gets an extra dimension to fuss
over. :-)

Also, I must reiterate - the singer of "Fruit Nut" (not necessarily Colin) IS
whimsically pondering, on one level, mixing his poisons to do the wife in.
Yeah, it sounds like he's going about his business in the shed, but it's dark
humor. Hey, when Andy said to one of the film crew in Japan, during the AV1
promotional tour, "Take care of your parents, boys and girls. (Pause) You may
have to kill them some day!" Andy said that and Colin just burst out
laughing. As did I. And I love my parents.

Remember, this is the guy who wrote the cheerful "Dying." For AV1 he
lightened up considerably.

Anyhoo, oh yes! I must mention this to the STING contingent: the Stingster
will be on The Today Show on Friday as the last "act" of the summer concert
series. You know, Andy does sound like Sting on "I Can't Own Her," when he
sings, "And when I say I can't own her, etc." If you love Katie Couric, set
her free.

Geez, what else? Guess that's it for now. Gonna download some Art Bell
RealAudio and chill.

Wes (Wilson)

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

Message-Id: <199909220222.WAA05975@lima.epix.net>
From: "Michael Davies" <miser17@epix.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 22:22:25 -0500
Subject: Dallas

>    Am I the only XTC fan in Dallas?

Which Dallas?  I'm in Dallas, Pennsylvania.

Michael davies, age 11
miser17@epix.net

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

Message-ID: <19990922062605.10673.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: "Megan Heller" <hellerm@hotmail.com>
Subject: stumbling into XTC
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 23:26:04 PDT

hmm... all this talk about hearing XTC in unexpected places made me remember
hearing them at the grocery store (Giant, Northern Virgnia) a few years ago.
  The first time was in December-- I was just home from college and verging
on death-- I had a concussion, a lung infection, an ear infection, and an
eye infection so scary I was wearing sunglasses in the store.  I was with my
mother picking up prescriptions, and I'd just run into my high school
history teacher (which was odd enough), when I realized that "Thanks for
Christmas" was playing over the muzak system.  I had a fever at the time, so
I wasn't sure I wasn't hallucinating, but my mother confirmed it.  very
weird.

weirder may have been a few months later.  I was in the same store, and they
played a muzak version of "Mayor of Simpleton".  Odd.

m.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Message-ID: <37E8B8F8.573E292F@erols.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 07:09:44 -0400
From: Todd and Jennifer Bernhardt <toddjenn@erols.com>
Subject: Hear ye, here ye

Hi:

I hope everyone sent a blistering e-mail to Neil Osborne, president of Investit
Software Inc. (John, are you back from vacation yet? Puhleeze?)

And yes, be it known from this point forward (well, actually, from issue #270
forward ... bastard upstaged me by announcing his own arrival) that the one and
(thank goodness) only DOM Lawson will grace America's capital with his presence
from 9-12 Oct. -- methinks this is ample cause for DChalkhills Getogether
MarkII. Area 'hillers should contact me at tbernhardt@chemonics.net to let me
know their availability for nights during that three-day weekend, and I'll work
on coming up with a suitable time and place. 'kay?

Freak out ... Far out,
Todd

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

Message-Id: <l03130302b40e6ffad1bf@[208.13.202.127]>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 07:42:09 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Get Down Tonight

>The other thing is just something I have to comment about-- a Shriekback
>video of their cover of "Get Down Tonight", complete with disco dancing and
>a rap by Barry Andrews.  I think I was scared.
>
>m.
  That's from their worst album, Go Bang. Maybe one or two good songs on
that, though it's worth a listen or two. Aside from the KC cover, it's
recognisable as Shriekback, just a lot more direct, like they were
desperate for a hit or something. It goes down too easily. I found it on
cassette for a dollar, it's worth it at that price.

Christopher R. Coolidge

Homepage at
http://homepages.together.net/~cauldron/homepage.html

"A Great law protects me from the government. The Bill of rights has 10
GREAT laws.

A Good law protects me from you.  Laws against murder, theft,
assault and the like are good laws.

A Poor law attempts to protect me from myself."

- Unknown

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

Message-Id: <l03130303b40e72826a11@[208.13.202.127]>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 07:51:05 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Funk Pop A roll

Mummer: Again, this buy made me SO happy because at the time in the 80's
the radio was so awful and I was beginning
to feel like I'd never buy music that I liked again! And I remember being
really scared when "Funk Pop A Roll" was the
last song on it, and Andy said "Bye Bye" as if this was the LAST record he
was going to make!

Anyway, a lot more memories, but no more time for now...

Bob

  At the time he was convinced Virgin would drop them like a hot potato
when they heard the song. Andy was obviously very angry and disillusioned
with the music business; this was his attempt to commit commercial suicide.
It didn't work, obviously; Mummer sold badly enough that the brass at
Virgin probably never even heard the song.

Christopher R. Coolidge

Homepage at
http://homepages.together.net/~cauldron/homepage.html

"A Great law protects me from the government. The Bill of rights has 10
GREAT laws.

A Good law protects me from you.  Laws against murder, theft,
assault and the like are good laws.

A Poor law attempts to protect me from myself."

- Unknown

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

From: audio3@webexpert.net
Message-Id: <2.2.32.19990922150935.00714d88@207.218.98.14>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 11:09:35 -0400
Subject: If you like XTC you will like.....

check this out-
MINSTER HILL - (SELF TITLED)
A US based band whose music will fit right in alongside the obvious
connections to the music of XTC, as has been noted by quite a number of
press reviews which the band included along with this very interesting
collection of songs which have all the earmarks of classics, each & every
track.
The odd man out in this company is the very cool closer "Monumental
Excape", which takes the band away from the slightly quirky & eccentric
numbers to deliver a more traditional rock sound, complete with the
excellent production that fits out the rest of the album.
For the aforementioned comparisons with the famed XTC, the outstanding
track is "Let's Sing Our Song", which has a brilliantly offbeat melody
propelled along by a great vocal performance, as my other favourite tracks
"Unconcious Kitchen", "Someone To Be You" & the opening track "I've Been In
A World". There's definitely been a lacking in bands willing to put good
songwriting & performance ahead of being popular, but perhaps Minster Hill
have taken that to heart, working on the assumption that good music will
win out in the end - it has here. Terry Allen, hEARd Magazine
For more information, write to PMB#508, 442 Rte 202-206, North Bedminster,
NJ 07921, USA or minsterhill@minsterhill.com, www.minsterhill.com, available
at www.notlame.com

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

Message-ID: <19990922152632.28796.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: "Daniel Wrzesinski" <rockhurley@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Dukes of Stratosphere doing Apple Venus Vol 1
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 08:26:32 PDT

One of the most suprising pop albums that I have heard since Apple Venus
Volume One has been the new Flaming Lips album.  These guys have come far
since "They Don't Use Jelly"  Their new stuff sounds, to me, like what The
Dukes may have sounded like if THEY had done Apple Venus Vol 1 instead of
XTC.  Flaming Lips have always been kinda trippy and happy, sometimes
annoying.  But this new record, "The Soft Bulletin" is the most unusual and
beautiful album since AV1, and probably the most unique record I have ever
heard.  The songs are very unpredictable.  There's some strings and horns,
but most of the orchestra is synthesized, but it still sounds really cool.
It's less Beatlesque than the Dukes, but a very good, very strange and
lovely pop album. The Dukes would have done it better, but the Dukes are
long gone so...check out "The Soft Bulletin" by Flaming Lips and lemme know
what ya'all think!

Dan Wrzesinski

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 10:45:05 -0500 (CDT)
From: Marshall Needleman Armintor <mojo@rice.edu>
Subject: Responding to Harrison/Prog is reborn
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.05.9909221037580.17699-100000@sparta.rice.edu>

<<Yes, the Man of Average Tastes wants to reply, Yes of course, Bowie was
the most important rock performer of the Seventies...but *why*?  What
did Bowie do that others didn't? *That's* where things get interesting!>>

  I'm not going to even try to respond or cover Harrison's brilliant
disquisition/exegesis on Bowie and _Velvet Goldmine_.  Suffice to say
that glam was the first type of rock I was drawn to at the age of five
because (1) it was loud (2) as it was, it strip-mined rockabilly for its
musical content, by and large [try to imagine Gene Vincent doing "Hang
Onto Yourself".  Then again, don't] and my little Southern musical
chromosomes all twitched collectively, in all probability.

   For me, the most important thing about Bowie "influence"-wise

["influence," by the way, is an extremely slippery thing for me talk
about. It can't ever be "proven," except by analogy and example, or unless
somebody comes up to you in the street and says, "Hullo, I've really been
listening to/reading a lot of [insert name here] and I'm really trying to
emulate them."  Sometimes you don't need such a bald declaration.  Go to
Arthur Lovejoy's _The Great Chain Of Being_ to see the fallacies one
can get into attempting to construct a narrative of influence]

  IS...that without Bowie, there's no Bryan Ferry, Eno, or Roxy Music.
Particularly no Bryan Ferry.  Without Bryan Ferry, music in Britain for
the next fifteen years or so simply doesn't happen: the New Romantics/glam
kids/Morrissey don't have anyone to copy, and the punks don't have someone
to hate and react against.
  There, now I've settled it.  You've got your potted history of 70s
rock, heheh. :)  I think as far as history goes, the 70s was the most
interesting period for popular music in general because the various camps
(rock/soul/pop) fragmented so quickly once the 60s were over [just like
most other things]. Plus gigantic sums of money started to come into play,
causing all sorts of "credibility" problems, spawning punk to a large
degree, although I think at its core it was a question of style, then
afterward, music, in England, as opposed to music, then style, in America.

  I know a good number of you have more than one Prog bone in your body,
and probably a equal number of Pop-Melodic bones as well.  If you're one
of those people, I suggest you go out immediately today and pick up
_The Soft Bulletin_, the Flaming Lips' new record.  Like AV1, this is
one of those reason-to-have-a-good-stereo albums.  If you can get past the
oddity of Wayne Coyne's son-of-Neil-Young-singing [which I like] over
Todd Rundgrenesque Cinemascope symphonic backgrounds, it's smooth sailing.

   And Bob O'Bannon, email me privately...lost your address.

   marshall

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

From: WTDK@aol.com
Message-ID: <28ab3120.251a5725@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 12:00:37 EDT
Subject: Sharing XTC

Re: Rag and Bone I have to agree with a couple of posts...I have always liked
Thanks For Christmas but my favorite tracks have always been Heaven Is Paved
With Broken Glass, Tissue Tigers, The World is Full of Angry Youngmen and the
remake of TFT.

Weakest track--Officer Blue (I have to agree with Colin and Andy's
assessment--scrapings from the bottom of the barrel).

What surprises me is that Rag and Bone didn't include Wait Till Your Boat
Goes Down. Now granted, it's available on the Waxworks CD, but it would have
fit so much better on R&B. Respectable Street--have to say I love Andy's
re-recorded vocals on the single version. It shreds the original.

Re: James and The Giant Peach--Toy Story's Academy award nominations (plus
Randy's slightly better "hit single" record) contributed to Andy's tunes
getting the boot. From What I understand the folks at Disney were afraid that
the public also wouldn't get Andy's tunes.

Re: AV1 and the "gift of giving". So far I've given award four. In addition
I've also given away (this year) copies of The Big Express, Skylarking and
English Settlement to two friends. I'm working them up to Black Sea and the
early stuff as it is a bit less accessible.

Favorite moment on an XTC album (CD, record, whatever) the growls on Snowman.

For AOL members...CDnow just send out a $15.00 credit for purchases $29.99
and above. I was able to get Homespun free (more or less) as well as
introduce my brother to Martin Newell and Jack Frost.

Personal note to Wes--I got your email re: trading some stuff and wanted to
give you my new website address for my CDR's/Tapes for trade. If you see
anything you're interested in let me know.
http://members.aol.com/wtdk/web3.html

Wayne
wtdk@aol.com

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

From: Dave.Wilson@bhint.com
Message-ID: <802567F4.0058BF3F.00@noteshub1.bhint.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 17:05:06 +0100
Subject: Unplugged, anyone??

Hello chums,

Sorry to show my ignorance, but did XTC ever grace the MTV Unplugged stage?   I
saw a picture in the MOJO feature earlier this year that looked might like Andy,
Colin & Dave on Unplugged.   If they did, does anyone know where I could get a
copy of it, what the track-listing was etc...?

Yours in intrigue

Dave 'The Magish'  Wilson

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

Message-Id: <199909221612.MAA24422@gilgamesh.nh.ultra.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 12:10:54 -0400
Subject: Davey Jones' Sketchbook
From: "Duncan Watt" <kanuba@nh.ultranet.com>

Harrison "Tangela" Sherwood used Bind Attack:

>Bowie was the figure in rock history who plunged the culture into its
>Mannerist phase, who put great big wiggly Quote Marks around the figure
>of the rock star, who encouraged the audience to project its own
>interpretation on the Object--not the music alone, but the whole
>package, the whole visible, audible, sensory-overload David Bowie Thing.
>Up until Bowie, no one had ever successfully played with the *form* of
>the rock star; no one had ever created an *artificial* pop star out of
>whole cloth as a work of art. He introduced the concept of
>Metacommentary into pop music. Andy Warhol? Silver Screen? Can't tell
>'em apart at all!

butbutbutbutbutbut... video the irony as the Rock-Star-As-Objet-d'Art is
outsold by the Young Rocker Who Has Nothing To Say But It's Still Cooler
Than Anything You Could Say Old Man(ie: "I did it all for the Nookie")...

Am I off on this? Didn't Bowie's art, great as it was, come at a price? The
very quote marks he put around the words Pop Music, while creating a
horrible and fascinating new reality for the user, rob them of their
gravity, Rupert Murdoch-ing them back to Frivolity, taking the blood-rush
out of the most holy word in the canon, Love, taking the flesh-tear out of
the word Hate, re-assigning the Real Emotion detail to the
Girl-Singer-Songwriters-Who-Drink-Herbal-Tea-Before-They-Perform platoon?

And didn't this spill over into film, and culture in general? Am I supposed
to believe that the only men on this great earth who can intone Those Three
Words without a trace of irony are Leonardo DiCaprio and the
backstreetdegrees'sync thing-people? "I love you", "I Love You", c'mon, say
it with me, Aye Lahve E-ew, at least move your fucking lips along like you
do in church when you can't remember what to say, I ... love ... you ...

So now Rock, fulfilling patiently it's Mission (which has always been and
forever will be to Piss Off Your Parents), antes up with a new generation of
non(non-art), of Rock Star As Commercial Of Itself With Commercials, because
Rock is Big Money, in a culture where companies buy commercial time during
shows that show COMMERCIALS(ie: "Coming Attractions", E! Channel, where they
show movie trailers and then cut to commercial: "we'll be back, stay with
us"), where the Right Thing To Do for a new act is to lead off with a cover
of a previous hit("Faith", Limp Bizkit) to guarantee airtime and instant
recognition(okay, that's nothing new), where it's commonplace to hear
artists yelling the RECORD LABEL'S name onto the ART ITSELF("No Limit in the
house!")! Because the surest way to Piss Off Mom(who used to grroove on
Souxsie and The Banshees) these days is to Become Something You're Not,
right? So it just doesn't fucking matter what the words are, anything will
do ("We've got control over what the little shits are going to hear anyway,
let's make them eat Eminem and Bif Naked (Haven't heard of her yet? You
will... watch), they'll eat what we tell them to...")...

Bowie proved that irony sells, and that the artist can be art as well. Too
bad the next step was to just make ironic 'artists'...

Your "Pal",

"Duncan Watt"

ps of course, "Suffragette City" fucking ROCKS... ""hey man..."... ahh,
leave me alone..."

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

Message-Id: <s7e8b13d.083@tcwgroup.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 10:36:21 -0700
From: "Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com>
Subject: Oh Dear!!

When the entire text of Chalkhills #269 and the unwelcome
spam from #270 is coupled with concurrent reports over
the business news regarding layoffs at SGI....one tends
to fear the worst!

Say it aint so Joe!!

*-------------------------------------------------------
Logging in from beautiful Glendale, CA  USA
"Waiting for AV2"
daneperes@aol.com  -or-  bramage64@aol.com
*-------------------------------------------------------

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

From: dan@gge.com
Message-ID: <37E93A48.9C1E7CC8@gge.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 13:21:51 -0700
Subject: fay lovsky

rob allen wrote:
>I think "Thanks For Christmas" is outstanding. One of the few Xmas
songs I
can take. Great, chiming 12 string guitar.

and i agree with him. i'm glad to hear people speaking out in favor of
this song, because i've seen it bashed pretty hard here recently.

charlie buck wrote:
>Please forgive any mispellings or grammer, god forbid me making a
simple
mistake!  I have recieved nice letters from people complaining how
ignorent
I am for using the word Seen in place of saw.  Dear god I am so sorry, I

will never make it to your holiness kingdom now!....

you spelled "ignorant" wrong.

nicole, glad you like fay lovsky enough to bring it up here. worth
checking out, folks!
http://www.xs4all.nl/~eblaas/flovsky.html

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

Message-ID: <C926D35F7ED6D211836C00805FC15F4E012B58B9@LNY-S-EXCHANGE>
From: "Lieman, Ira" <ilieman@lernerny.com>
Subject: Aw, c'mon!
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 16:51:34 -0400

Hey all...

I get 4-5 spam messages PER DAY at home...now we get them here too?

> -ira
>
>

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

Message-ID: <C926D35F7ED6D211836C00805FC15F4E012B58BA@LNY-S-EXCHANGE>
From: "Lieman, Ira" <ilieman@lernerny.com>
Subject: spam on chalkhills?
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 16:54:37 -0400

C'mon! I get 4-5 spam e-mails at home daily...do I have to get them in
Chalkhills too??

>Neil Osborne, President - Investit Software Inc.,
>mailto:investit@investit.ca
>(604) 878-1828
>If you wish to be deleted from future e-mails regarding Investit Software
>please reply with a message stating Remove and we will not contact you
>again.

Let's all e-mail bomb this software company... hrumph!

XTC content: Fruit Nut reminds me of Rain Man..."tending my fruit, tending
my fruit"

> -ira
>
>

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

Message-ID: <19990922213147.13314.qmail@nwcst289.netaddress.usa.net>
Date: 22 Sep 99 15:31:47 MDT
From: Jeremy Mathews <nsps@usa.net>
Subject: Re: Carmen XTC track - Yazbek, TMBG, XTC

Alfred Masciocchi <cakrm@home.com> inquired

> I noticed the following item while browsing eBay:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=167450565
>
> What XTC track is on this disc and is it worthwhile?
>
> Any comments appreciated.
>
> Al
>

The XTC song is "Cherry in Your Tree," which was originally reccorded for
the
bubble gum album.  It's produced by none other than Mr. David Yazbek.  The
disc is majorly comprised of songs by Yazbek, Billy Strauss, and Sean
Altman,
most  of which are sung by host Greg Lee.

As far as I can tell, these guys were trying to get their songs out and this
was a way.  Yazbek's songs are "Big Wet Rag," performed by Rockapella, and
"Cake For Breakfast" and "Bugs," perfomed by Greg Lee (Yazbek did most of
the
instrumentation and used a few other musicians.)  While not as wonderful as
the material from 'Tock' and 'The Laughing man (and restrictions from lines
like "The stripper wears a peace sign/Her boyfriend has a gun/ And you walk
around with your head bowed down and a condom on your tongue" and "I'm like
a
rodeo bull/Got my head against the wall/Got an asshole on my back/And a
lasso
'round my balls/And that's you...") the songs demonstrate his amazing
writing
and performing skills.

The Billy Straus songs are impressive as well.  Altman's two compositions
are
less than stunning, but the rest of the album makes up for it.

They Might Be Giants appear with the already released "Why Does the Sun
Shine?"  Also on the disc are Johnny Nextor and His Neighbors and Three
Brave
Woodsmen (w/ Greg Lee)

It's a worth while item, although you could probably get it for around
$12-14
elsewhere, so don't bid too high.

Jeremy Mathews
www.nsps.net

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Message-ID: <37E91F79.D85@realtime.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 19:27:06 +0100
From: chris vreeland <vreecave@realtime.com>
Organization: Vreeland Graphics
Subject: open letter to Dunks

Funny,
	I'm not sure where to draw the line between synchronicity and
coincidence, although this probably falls closer to the latter. When the
Chalkhills  containing your 4 strings... post came over, I was at work,
listening to A Nod is as Good as a Wink... and we were "Jamming out"
accordingly. Can't say I learned to play bass to XTC, as I was too far
gone when they arrived, although I sure learned a lot about taste. I
coincidentally also, completely agree with you on the Towers of London
bit. It's cool when a line so simple can be so dead-on. I think the
Great Bass Moment that I got from Mr. Moulding, however came in a rush
the first time I heard Melt the Guns. ( I put the American vinyl on side
two by accident the first time I played it) Before that, in my
close-minded youth, Frettless basses were for jazz, and rock was played
with frets. It took a couple of years after that for me to finally order
up a fretless neck from Fender, but that was the moment that started me
down the path.
	Of course, I also love Ronnie Lane's playing. For several years, I was
in a cover band that did nothing but seventies rock, and Every Picture
and Stay With Me were always personal highlights of the evening. Late in
his career, he lived here in Austin, and for a while some pretty good
friends of mine were his back-up band. (Ronnie Lane and the Tremors,
with Bobby Keys) One day, Ronnie Johnson, the bass player, showed up
over at my house with Ronnie Lane's bass, and we both just sort of
touched it and stared at it with awe for a while. Every one around here
misses him alot.
	I've never bothered to sit down and learn much Xtc, though. I soak up
the concepts through osmosis, and apply them elsewhere. It's almost as
if I dont want to reduce his artistry down to the mechanics, as that
might spoil it for me.
	All my early learning was done to records that have mostly gone by the
wayside- Jack Bruce with Cream, Chris Squire, Greg Lake (god forgive me)
so I kind of got technique before I got taste. My faves these days are
Aston Barrett (Marley), and Tony Levin. I refuse though, to give up my
love for what John Paul Jones did for Led Zeppelin. People can disparage
the rest of the band till perdition, and may even have some valid points
from time to time, but Dazed and Confused and the Lemon Song were, and
still are THE SHIT as far as I'm concerned.

Plugging our Lead Axes into our Brains and Jamming out,

Chris Vreeland

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Message-Id: <199909230149.VAA25532@nantucket.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 21:44:41 -0400
Subject: Any News is Good News
From: "Diamond" <arnos@nantucket.net>

NEWS on homespun (Wow, it's almost here!) Got this out of my Allstar Daily
Music News e-thingy that I get from CD-NOW.

XTC Demo Album Drops From Out Of Nowhere On Oct. 5
Sep 21, 1999, 1:55 pm PT

XTCXTC's Apple Venus Volume 2 won't hit stores until next year, but fans of
the English alternative pop band will get an early Christmas gift on Oct. 5
when TVT/Idea Records releases Homespun - The Apple Venus Volume One Home
Demos.
With the same track sequence as Apple Venus Volume 1, XTC's last studio
effort, the home demos features the original eight-track recordings of the
songs from the album as well as liner notes by the band and the lyrics,
which were missing from Apple Venus Volume 1 the first time out.
Meanwhile, the band is currently holed up in a Swindon, England studio with
producer Nick Davis putting the finishing touches on the follow-up, Apple
Venus Volume 2, now set for a tentative release date of spring 2000.
Here is the track listing for Homespun - The Apple Venus Volume One Home
Demos:
1. "River of Orchids"
2. "I'd Like That"
3. "Easter Theatre"
4. "Knights in Shining Karma"
5. "Frivolous Tonight"
6. "Greenman"
7. "Your Dictionary"
8. "Fruit Nut"
9. "I Can't Own Her"
10. "Harvest Festival"
11. "The Last Balloon"

-- Kevin Raub

* ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 XTC

Comments, scoops: allstarEditors@cdnow.com

"Drops out of nowhere? We've known about it for a while! I can't wait! and
LINER NOTES! LYRICS! Oh, it's like my dream woman compilled into an easily
playable cd-format. I don't know what that means, but it gets you thinin,
eh?

KEVIN DIAMOND
AKA Diamond Jim
AKA Kevin in the sky with Diamonds
AKA Kevin "A girl's best friend" diamond.

That's all.

P.S. I love the guitar Na-na-na-na-na after the whole "Love is one
empotion..." bit. It's so cool.
________________________________

"D world D-struction
O-ver and overture
N do I Need
Apostraphe-T need this Torture?
Don't, Don't, Don't let's start"
                        John Linnel/They Might Be Giants

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End of Chalkhills Digest #5-271
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23 September 1999 / Feedback