Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 115
Date: Sunday, 14 May 2000

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 115

                   Sunday, 14 May 2000

Topics:

            Mailer's Huge Dangling Participle
              boomatachickatasnakatachickata
                  Palominos Purple Metal
                 Split Enz/Crowded House
                         The List
                    Eclectic Electric
                          Videos
                  Puzzled and astounded
              Some People Just Don't Get It
                     EXPLODE TOGETHER
                     under the covers
                      mighty heroes
                  Independent Interveiw
                      Size matters?
             He Waves It With Secret Pleasure
                  Imaginary Dance Video

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We're spending millions to learn to speak porpoise.

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 14:10:10 EDT
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Mailer's Huge Dangling Participle
Message-ID: <5b.5c8da9a.264ef482@aol.com>

>From: "John Boudreau" <aso1@mocha.ocn.ne.jp>
>Subject: Harrison's Heavy Metal Gimmick
>
>ok , you do not dig burroughs ... your privilege . but insufferable ? the
>man norman mailer described as " the only living american novelist who
>may conceivably be possessed of genius " ? a member of the american
>academy and institute of arts and letters an " old fraud " ? i shall have
>to ask you to step outside !

Doctor Kimball, I believe that as you lie farthest from the pin, the
honors fall to you. May I suggest a five-iron, and point out that a mild
leftward correction for windage might be called for? Keep your head down,
your eye on the ball, and don't press.

While our companion is waggling the club head and taking a few warmups,
may I just observe that defending William S. Burroughs with the opinions
of the incorrigible logroller Norman Mailer is not unlike defending
Richard Nixon by resorting to the wit and folksy wisdom of Spiro Agnew.

Harison "Why hasn't TVT written to me yet?" Sherwood

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 16:19:57 -0400
From: "Duncan Watt" <dwatt@fastestmanintheworld.com>
Subject: boomatachickatasnakatachickata
Message-ID: <200005132024.QAA21750@gilgamesh.nh.ultra.net>

Okay, people, you know who frickin' ROCKS? Dave Mattacks frickin' ROCKS!

I had the unparalleled pleasure of checking out Mr. ROCKS last night with
one of my all-time favorite musicians on the planet, Ms. Jennifer Kimball.
As a true multi-mega bonus, the rest of the band included Mr. Shimmery
chords himself, guitarist Mark Shulman(Suzanne Vega) and guitar god Duke
Levine (absolutely one of the greatest unsung guitarists ever, ask Mr.
ROCKS, they play together in Mary Chapin Carpenter's band) as well. All of
this at The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA, where it's small, dark, and
in-the-round, so you can really feel like you're in the band. And they have
Tremont Ale *on tap*, so you're just gonna have a good time...

I saw two long sets of music made for music's sake, both quiet and loud,
rockin' and heartbreaking. JK's songs are complex, full of strong images and
changing, swirling rhythms. As Dave as has just moved to Boston, it was only
a matter of time before he ended up working with her... although I'm sure
Duke Levine had something to do with it as well... To give you an idea of
what kind of music was goin' on, covers included Los Lobos' "Dream In Blue"
and an achingly slow version of Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows", a total
success due to the tremendous power and control showed in the quiet
restraint of Mr. ROCKS(and an amazing performance by Levine, with his big
red Gretsch adn a passle 'o pedals). This quiet, unassuming man put on one
of the most understated drumming performances I've ever seen. Amazing. I
knew I'd have a good time; I mean it's like DAVE MATTACKS, but this wasn't
one of those kind of starry-eyed fan things, this guy just... rocked.

Jennifer didn't know exactly what was going to happen next as far as gigs
were concerned. She usu. appears solo or with Shulman as a duo. Her one
album on a major label(the new, non-Will Ackerman Windham Hill) is still
available, but they didn't pick up her contract because she wasn't(come on
now, everyone together) *fucking commercial enough*, so who knows. If you
have a chance to see her with Mr. Mattacks, you're an idiot to miss it.

Your Pal Duncan

ps If they *do* continue to do shows, the info will be up on her site.
http://www.jenniferkimball.com

--
email me: dwatt@fastestmanintheworld.com
surf me: http://www.fastestmanintheworld.com

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 09:59:59 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Palominos Purple Metal
Message-ID: <l03130302b543182699f4@[208.13.202.16]>

>Wayne commented--
>>Now it looks as if someone needs to start a thread about albums you
>>can only listen to one track on but you've inexplicably kept!
>
>now *this* I can comment on.  The Golden Palominos' "Drunk with Passion",
>for the track with Michael Stipe, "Alive and Living Now"-- I got that song
>stuck in my head over and over again for years, to the point that I finally
>had to buy it when I found it used.
>
>m.
  I'd add Bob Mould bellowing "Dying From The Inside Out" too, the rest of
the album just kind of drones unnoticeably. This is a thread I can comment
much more intelligently on, I listen to most of the albums I play all the
way through, some tracks I enjoy more than others, but there's little I
dislike so much that I'll program it out or skip it, if it comes to that,
I'll leave the room, go to the bathroom or something. The list of albums I
generally enjoy listening to all the way through is too damn immense, I
could go through my entire collection, but I GOT A LIFE.
  I picked up Deep Purple's Machine Head on cassette recently because I
just had to have "Highway Star" to play in the car, for example;
occasionally there's one song I just have to have, even if I have little
interest in what accompanies it. I'd be satisfied to never hear "Smoke On
The Water" again, for example. Speaking of Deep Purple, their last couple
of albums with Steve Morse on guitar are actually pretty good; Jon Lord's
Hammond organ is mixed way up high and Ian Gillan still works up a great
head of steam for his age(though if you actually read the lyrics, they make
very little sense).
  Speaking of heavy metal, I picked up Metallica's Garage Inc. used on a
whim; I have never been particularly a fan of theirs until now, though I
respect them from a distance as a band who found a sound of their own and
expanded on it, and I liked the idea of them doing a whole lot of cool
punk/alt metal covers that reflect their formative influences, sources as
diverse as early Bob Seger, Diamond Head, The Misfits, Discharge, The
Anti-Nowhere League, Motorhead, and many others; except for Seger, this is
the same stuff my ex-bandmate and roommate Blizz used to listen to in his
hardcore days(his band Zyklon B was doing something very similar to
Metallica in Montreal in the early 80's).

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

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 19:21:54 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Split Enz/Crowded House
Message-ID: <l03130302b5439df97b0a@[208.13.202.20]>

>After a rousing farewell tour in '88?- with Tim briefly back on board - Neil
>and final Enz drummer Paul Hester formed The Mullanes, which then mutated
>into Crowded House. Poor old Eddie Rayner, sick of touring, made one of
>history's all-time bad career moves by turning down Neil's offer to join the
>new group, and shortly afterwards BOOM! the first album exploded in the US.
>
>PLEASE check them out if you haven't heard them. You won't be sorry. They
>were a great band, one of the best live acts I've ever seen, and I have no
>doubt that XTC fans will adore their music.

  A minor correction from a Crowded House fan; though Rayner never
officially joined Crowded House, he did play keyboards on the tour
supporting their first album. I should know, I was there, they very proudly
introduced their keyboardist as Eddie Rayner, and I was enough of a Split
Enz fan to recognise him.(Time and Tide converted me; True Colors was too
poppy for me when it first came out, though I came to enjoy it later)Rayner
may have been sick of touring, but he presumably had to keep up his
mortgage payments.
  I believe bassist Nigel Griggs was an Aussie, not British. He was with
the band for the Frenzy album, which I believe was only released in Canada
and the States, it includes late 70's single and EP material, the track
selection being somewhat different between the Canadian and American
versions. The lead track on the version I have(which I believe is the
Canadian version)is the Aussie/NZ hit "I See Red," which I'm not sure is
available on a studio album at home. It also includes one of the two Nigel
Griggs compositions recorded by Split Enz, the other of which can be found
on their very last album. Anyway, British drummer Malcolm Greene didn't
join until the studio sessions for True Colours, and was gone by Time And
Tide, leaving Noel Crombie to reclaim the drum chair until Paul Hester
pushed him back to percussion on the final album without Tim.
  Sorry about the detail, I used to be on the Crowded House mailing list
until CH broke up and we ran out of things to talk about, I left a couple
of years before Neil Finn's solo album(which I also highly recommend)when
the various band members' future plans were very uncertain.

>Dunks

Christopher R. Coolidge

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

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 20:23:55 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: The List
Message-ID: <l03130305b543ae845dcd@[208.13.202.20]>

>I'm with you, brother. They had a chance to make a nice, diverting,
>"Politically Incorrect"-like show about music, and instead it reflects--all
>too tragically well--the blase, middlebrow tastes of VH1's demographic. Does
>anyone else get the idea that VH1 is for people who don't really like music?
>I have yet to see a single panelist on the List really speak with passion
>about music--even the musicians who appear end up sounding lame and
>predictable. In one recent 'Hills thread, someone mentioned that the average
>adult buys something like 4 or 5 CDs a year (all high-profile, major-label
>releases of course)and those are the people VH1 goes after, people who
>stopped giving a shit once they had mortgages to pay.
>
>Dan W

  The List has its moments, but you really have to look for them. Once in a
while I'll leave it on on a weekend afternoon if I've been listening to CDs
all day and my wife is starting to get antsy. The other day I caught about
ten minutes of it consisting mostly of Bobcat Goldthwaite very surreally
burbling about a very strange video he just did that made absolutely no
sense, like a typical Syd Barrett solo song. The subject was best video
artist. I lost interest when they made Bobcat sit down. Otherwise an
interesting musician will show up, such as George Clinton who was on
today's installment and said practically nothing in about fifteen minutes,
then Sammy Hagar surprised me by choosing Tom Waits as his choice for third
most underrated musician. Hopefully Andy can make it interesting. If my
cable provider would hurry and finish adding Comedy Central and the Cartoon
Network like they're supposed to, I'd watch those practically all the time.
Fuck VH1.

Christopher R. Coolidge

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

Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 11:06:28 +0900
From: "John Boudreau" <aso1@mocha.ocn.ne.jp>
Subject: Eclectic Electric
Message-ID: <002101bfbd4b$796f5700$7a5791d2@johnboud>

all ,

Can't help but notice ( via various best/top 10/listen to in entirety
lists/etc ) how little I seem to share with the vast majority of you with
regards to taste in music .  I rarely see any jazz , avante garde ,
classical , ambient or other genres mentioned by Chalkhillers ...Certainly
people's tastes
must be more eclectic ... Here are some things i still listen to in their
entirety ...

Durutti Column - every album they ever released
XTC - ( see above )
Sun Ra Arkestra - ( see above )
Morphine - ( see above )
Brian Eno - Apollo ; Music For Airports ; On Land
Dvorak -  Symphony # 9 in E Minor
Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief ; Full House
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew ; Kind Of Blue
McDonald and Giles - McDonald &  Giles
Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller

I would be interested to hear what everybody likes OUTSIDE the pop arena .
You can mail me off list ...

Sayonara ,

Sushiman

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 22:38:17 -0400
From: Ben Gott/Loquacious Music <gott@tmbg.org>
Subject: Videos
Message-ID: <B54389D9.2447%gott@tmbg.org>

Hillers,

And, in case we weren't sure that the world was still spinning, I just saw
the video for "Senses Working Overtime" on M-TV2.  It was followed by the
video for Blur's "Coffee & T.V." (great song, and what a cute little milk
carton!)

Turns out that I *can* attend the Neta Dance Company benefit, so I'll be
there (with bells on) wearing my "Apple Venus Volume 1" t-shirt.  According
to their website, "River of Orchids" won't be the only song they'll be
dancing to -- seven other XTC songs have made their way into the
performance!

Love,
Ben

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
     Benjamin Gott . Loquacious Music . Brunswick, ME 04011
AIM: Plan4Nigel . Tel: (207) 721-5366 . http://listen.to/loquacious
F-word's here, the f-word's bad / Cuss my mother and I cuss my dad.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 22:12:14 -0400
From: "Cheryl" <mcgregoc@mindspring.com>
Subject: Puzzled and astounded
Message-ID: <000f01bfbd49$d305d3e0$0a05f7a5@mcgregocmindspring.com>

Hiya,

>An oversized reproduction of one of England's most famous ancient
>artworks now gazes down from a mountain near the Mexican border city of
>Juarez.
Juarez..........  *Juarez*?!
THAT is the most unlikely place I would expect a replica of the white horse
to appear.  This is the home away from home of UTEP (Univ. of El Paso)
students in need of getting shitfaced.  I know because I've been there.  I
couldn't stop laughing and wondering if this was someone who had indulged in
too much te-kill-ya(misspelling intentional).   Oh my god....I need a drink.

Currently listening to all albums that I just listen to ONE track on.  I'm
in for a long night.  :)

Take care,
Cheryl

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 21:02:42 -0600
From: Phil Corless <philco@micron.net>
Subject: Some People Just Don't Get It
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20000513210242.00a474d0@pophost.micron.net>

>I told her it was still XTC.  "Oh", she says a little confused.  It
>makes me chuckle now, but I remembered having my feathers
>ruffled at the whole situation.  She just didn't understand.

I remember in '81 or '82 playing XTC's Drums and Wires on
my car stereo for a friend as we drove to a movie.... "Complicated
Game" started up, I lean forward to crank up the volume, and
say, "This is a great song..."

He had never heard XTC before.  After about a minute, his
review was:  "Whoever this is, they're giving me a headache."

And then there's my grandma who after hearing a couple
of Richard Thompson songs said of him:  "He isn't singing,
he's just moaning and groaning."   This same lovely lady
remarked to a room full of people after seeing Michael
Jackson on TV:  "He looks like he's at the back end of a cow."

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 22:54:42 -0500
From: Mark <lollard@usa.net>
Subject: EXPLODE TOGETHER
Message-ID: <391E2382.E19C93A0@usa.net>

I was listening to the dub experiments today and was wondering if any of
you chalkies might have the lyrics for it.......email me if you
do..............

xtc song (dub) of the day = The Rotary
nonxtc song of the day = who cares til i get wasp star in my
rack........LOL

Mark in Omahahahahaha

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 23:07:29 -0400
From: mitch friedman <mitchf@mindspring.com>
Subject: under the covers
Message-ID: <v03007800b543c817380a@[165.121.66.152]>

Hi All,

Some vague XTC content ahead . . .

Hey, if any of you would like to hear some recent cover versions I've done,
you can download mp3's from:

https://www.idrive.com/kinch99/files/Shared/?current-node=1976193276276899861

The covers are --

1) Scarecrow People - the backing track made up entirely of layered samples
from 51 XTC songs

2) Polly (by The Kinks) - with whimsically aggressive hip-hop drumming

and finally

3) She's Checking You Out (by Martin Newell/Cleaners From Venus) - done
in a big,  overblown Sinatra sorta way.

Enjoy,
Mitch

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

Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 21:53:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Thomas Long <thlong@interchange.ubc.ca>
Subject: mighty heroes
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0005132139120.12547-100000@inch.interchange.ubc.ca>

Fuzzy Warbles,

Enough with the great lost bands thread. Let's get serious!! Anybody out
there familiar with the Mighty Heroes? They were a group of cartoon
misfits (eg. Diaper Man & Cuckoo Man) who fought misfit villians. I've
spent the better part of the 90's being nostalgic for the show, but only
found info on it. Total surreal lunacy. Don't know why, but thought I'd
share it. There must be an xtc tie-in somewhere (Dave would probably have
made an excellent Rope Man).

Ok, not alot of xtc content. Let me make ammends: everyone back to
my place for drinks, awright? How's 10:00?

thomas

top tune: Commerciality

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

Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 06:02:53 +0100
From: "John Bartlett" <John@bartlett132.screaming.net>
Subject: Independent Interveiw
Message-ID: <000f01bfbd62$3bb31520$4385bcd4@e.e>

Hello all,
    for those in the UK, in todays (14-5-00) Indy on Sunday, in the
"Culture" section , there is a nice 1/2 page interview with AP. I have got
hold of a few copies of said section.I assume you can find the interview on
the Indys' website,but anybody wants the hard copy, let me know and I'll
send them on.

John

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

Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 02:26:00 EDT
From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
Subject: Size matters?
Message-ID: <c9.4abcc1b.264fa0f8@aol.com>

In 6-107, Mr. Lawson politely informed those of us who provided prolific
lists of albums for the 'listenable' thread that John Relph's suggested:

>>Now what I'm interested in are albums that you simply *must* listen to
in their entirety.  Not albums that you *can*.

When I picked up on the thread, it appeared that the thrust was albums you
'can' listen to from beginning to end, with the implication that no
particular song would be left out by choice if possible.  I did not see
John's suggestion.  As for what I assumed was the thread theme, I stand whole
heartedly behind the list I posted in 6-104 (All the way through?) and the
additions in 6-107 (Addendums, etc.)

'Must' is a strange guideline.  "Could you please define 'must' for me, Mr.
Prosecutor?"  (in my best Clinton voice).  When I mulled that over, I first
thought that 'must' is really relative to the time and the urge of when you
got the album.  All of the albums I truly loved I see as love affairs.  When
I first get them, I fall in love with them and play them to death.  You know
the feeling - 'I must hear it again!'.  Last year I had AV1 and Ben Fold
Five's 'Rheinhold Messner' on a back to back tape in my car deck for over 3
months.  After a while, you reach a saturation point where you move on to the
next must and  the recording shuffles back to the shelf.  The truly great
ones reveal themselves to me over time, when you realize that many years
later you can put it on again and love it all over again.  Sometimes time
enhances their magic, even if you don't play them with the repeated intensity
you did when you first got them.  Some don't stand that test.  I can ALWAYS
listen to Bookends by S & G, but Iron Butterfly's 'Ball', which I devoured as
a pre-teen, just didn't make the cut.  So in that sense, every album on my
submitted list were musts, all the way through.

But 'must' could mean that once you put that record on, it doesn't make
sense to stop it anywhere.  I see two possiblilties here - one would be
that every track is just so fantastic that you just have to hear them all
(Beatle's Revolver & Rubber Soul, the Band's 2nd, Shawn Colvin's A Few
Small Repairs); the other would be that the album has a pattern and flow
that forces you to not consider it complete unless it's taken as a whole,
even with the weaker tracks or obvious blemishes (Beatle's White album &
Sgt Peppers, the Who's Tommy, XTC's Black Sea & so on.)
Given that, I would knock off a third of my orignal list, but (much to the
relief of many of you) I'm not going to spend that energy.

Then Mr. Lawson gently admonished:
>>Exactly. I mean, COME ON!!!! If you want everyone to read a list of every
bastard CD you own then why not make a homepage??? <<

I have been collecting, performing and listening to music for nearly 35
years.  I own nearly 4000 tiltes in my collection (which is still largley
vinyl.  It takes a while to convert, and I'm not happy with a lot of
remasters.  Gentle Giant fans, beware!)  I listed 235 recordings on my list,
which represents less than 5% of my total collection.  Not nearly enough to
constitute everything I own, and, in context, rather brief.
Oh, and by the way, I can assure you that nearly all my CDs had legitimit
births.

I make no apologies for the fact that I love such a variety and expanse of
music, and I only wish to share my joy with all of you!  Why else are we
here, right?  By the way, thank you to those who contacted me directly.  Feel
free to do so anytime.

As for the homepage, if anyone wants to do it for me, well....

As far as this Andy / Sting stuff, nothing Andy sings on this new material
sounds nearly as blatantly Stinglike as early Sting sounds like Bob Marley.
Listen again closely to 'Jammin' and see who the more obvious emulator is.
Besides, WHY would Andy want to sound like Stink?  It's just a coincidence,
I'm sure....

I have another lost band - anyone remember Pigbag?  I think they were from
Boston, but I could be confused because I was playing in Boston when my
bandmate got the album.  They did a wild mix of horn funk and punk.  I
actually played in a band that covered their very cool instrumental aptly
titled 'Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag'.  My first and last attempt at a sax
solo (move over, Andy!)  I recall Boston being a New Wave mecca in the early
80's.  A lot of decent bands that never cracked the big time.  There's
another lost band on the tip of my toungue who were pretty hot then, but I
can't ... Mission of Burma, maybe?  Sound familiar, anyone?

Also - I checked my copy of Captain Beyond for the personnel.  They were
Rhino, Lee Dorman (both by way of Iron Butterfly), Rod Evans (Deep Purple)
and Bobby Caldwell, whom I don't know of his origins, but his drumming on the
album is fantastic.  Also - it was the 2nd side that was the killer, not the
first.  The songs are strung together in a suite with segues and overlaps.
The lyrics are good for a chuckle, but great music!

>>"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<<

"Make more laws and you make more criminals"  (paraphrased) - Woody Guthrie

Just my opinion!

Tom "my list is longer than yours, nyah!" Kingston

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

Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 02:50:21 EDT
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: He Waves It With Secret Pleasure
Message-ID: <6f.4eec09c.264fa6ad@aol.com>

>From: Kurt M <kurtmuehlner@yahoo.com>
>Subject: re: Sherwood on Synesthesia

Thank you very much, Kurt, for your compliments, I truly appreciate them,
but...

Did anyone take notice of RN Van Vliet's fascinating real-world, front-line
take on synesthesia in #114...? Plainly, this is first-hand testimony from
someone who genuinely experiences sound as color; it differs not a whit from
the testimonials in the links I cited in my post. Thank you very much for
your forthrightness, RN, I hope we hear a great deal more from you in the
future:

> Another Satellite starts out a vacant grey and black with
> strips of yellow (the drum machine is the yellow part, while the guitar
> chords and vocals are what make it grey and black) but ends up more
> grey-orange and blue-black, partly because it modulates from Bb to (I
> think) G at the very end.

Yes. Please. Post more. Post LOTS more. This was utterly transfixing reading.
Thank you!

-----

Now, I understand that it's a private message that got waylaid (bewilderingly
so, but I'm willing to grant the benefit of the doubt). And I appreciate that
there is a genuine desire on TVT's part to create a website that's friendly
to *all* users. But there were certain aspects of TVT's unintended message to
their potential customers that were deeply disturbing to me. I hope that my
remarks will be understood in the construcive spirit in which they are
intended....

From: "Garret Harkawik" <funktaisia@hotmail.com>
Subject: weird message

>Hey John- I'm sorry you feel our webiste "sucks." Others have felt it is a
>truly innovative and groovy usage of flash animation and illustration.

"Truly innovative and groovy use of Flash animation and illustration'" would
have served the purpose of the site, rather than demanding that the site
serve it. As it stands, it could not be plainer that the entire navigational
metaphor is strained to the breaking point by the "innovative" animation. The
cart drives the horse on this site, mercilessly and without surcease. The
very idea that you need a "metaphor" to drive interface design is hopelessly
deluded, a faddish idea that forces you into such silliness as "Click a Stop"
(whaaaaa...?) and road signs that promise "Download Mania" but deliver only
logic-loops.

>I think it was a flawed but bold attempt to create something cooler than
>your standard static html site.

"Your standard static HTML site" has a damned good reason for existing.
Please, TVT people, understand this:  Innovation at the expense of usability
is NOT COOL. You may have been sold by Socketnet on the idea of a
Flash-heavy, UI-insulting web presence, but from where I sit it's only an
excuse to rip you off by delivering unusable and hostile interfaces at the
expense of a positive user experience. Consider the following question: What
kind of violence is being done to the TVT *brand* when I'm looking at pushed
music and crappy animation? Why am I looking at a goddamned *bus* when I want
to hear downloads from Nashville Pussy? Why am I being forced to wait 2
minutes for Slick-n-Sleazy pushed music that I wasnt even *expecting*, in
order to hear the music I  *want* to hear?

Have you considered the idea that many of your potential customers are in
Europe, where they might be required to *pay* for the privilege of watching
your precious "bus" animation unfold before them...? I'd love to know how
much that Java applet with the different drum voices "cost" me, but fuck if
*I* can research it; your JavaScript implementation means  can't get to my
"reveal source" command! "Fuck you, love TVT Records!"

>It is old and crusty at this point and we have
>are building a wholly new site. New in-house design team.

Good, and best of luck to you. I profoundly hope that you test your new
design on large numbers of actual users, and that you listen to what your
users tell you. I hope your market research leads you to lose Socketnet, who
are doing you NO favors. They have no tangible clue about interface design,
and they have been doing violence  to your brand since the site began.

>Tech note: The home page does not crash all browsers.  It is especially
>problematic with certain computer models using Internet Explorer.  It is
>definitly designed for higher end users with lots o memory/ram and good
>connections.  On my G4 using a T1 is hums.

Can you conceive, TVT, of the sort of utter hatred for the ordinary user
this sort of observation manifests? Please, please, PLEASE bear in mind
that site design that necessitates this sort of self-defense is elitist,
despicable, and utterly beyond contempt? "On my G-4 Mac on a T-1 it
hums"...? So, on your Quadra 610 on a 28.8 modem, it....never gets
there...?

Sincerely (really!)

Harrison Sherwood
Senior User Interface Designer,
America Online, Inc.

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

Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 02:59:29 EDT
From: CMGNM@aol.com
Subject: Imaginary Dance Video
Message-ID: <31.50c4956.264fa8d1@aol.com>

Hey Folks,

First time delurking to say I've been listening to "I'm The Man Who Murdered
Love" from CMJ magazine's CD insert. It's great to hear the freshness in
Andy's voice with this being the first single from Wasp Star. I like the
tonal qualities in his high and low lead vocals. Yet, regardless of the
song's obviously infectuous melody, it doesn't "take me away" like I'm hoping
the remainder of Wasp Star will. Ten days, and I can't wait!!!!

And, I keep getting imaginary ITMWML video images in my head. You know, the
kind where the visuals have nothing in common with the message? I'm seeing a
bunch of retired folks standing around a poolside, and a guy with a
microphone teaching hokey-pokey style dance steps to everyone as this song
plays on and on. No ambient film sounds, just pure XTC.

But that's just me...........

Tom
Albuquerque, NM

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End of Chalkhills Digest #6-115
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14 May 2000 / Feedback