Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 177
Date: Friday, 30 June 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 177
Friday, 30 June 2000
Topics:
Happily Doing Stupid Things
Brain Salad coalition
Re: Waspish Moments...
Gratuitous Derek & Clive content
Bring me the Head of Mickey Dolenz
The Orchid Show on The Road
Todd's a God
Greetings from Fintasia.( and, free 'Dukes' demo MP3s)
The Church of Smack
Is Everyone Stupidly Happy?
sweet jesus!
Happy?
ELO, ELP, ELQ...ELX
Depression
hooray-elp are saved!
Bizarre Stupidly Happy sighting
raisins website
Orchid Show notes
Administrivia:
I will be on vacation until July 11. Chalkhills will be off the air
until then. Enjoy your time off!
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Chalkhills is compiled with Digest 3.7b (John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>).
So we're working every hour that God made / So we can fly away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 08:06:37 EST From: "Andrew Gowans" <ratwhacker@hotmail.com> Subject: Happily Doing Stupid Things Message-ID: <20000626220637.27820.qmail@hotmail.com> Greetings Folks, In 6/172 Mr Kedzierski mentions Stupidlyhappiitis affecting an old friend. I must admit I have noted this condition occurring amongst Family, Friends and Co-Workers in the last month or so. It must be seasonal or something. The Doctor recommends they not stay indoors huddled by the menthol vapouriser but that they get out and about. Take a walk to shops perhaps, buy something to make you feel better, maybe a CD or some other spoil, perhaps that new XTC recording you've heard about? Many years ago I made up a tape of some of my favourite tracks from my record collection to play in my car, it was mysteriously marked RANAT. My close friends Richard and Nigel were mystified at the naming, however they were in no doubt over the contents...it annoyed the **** out of them. It contained tracks I loved and they loathed, but what exactly I can't completely recall. I do remember "Making Plans for Nigel" was on it (guess who hated that ?), "Travels in Nihilon", stuff by The Birthday Party, PIL, The Laughing Clowns, Pere Ubu... I never told them the title stood for : Richard And Nigel Annoyance Tape. Small humour yes, good music though. Andrew (Tempus Fugits at the speed light) Gowans
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 18:03:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Brown <mb2@deltanet.com> Subject: Brain Salad coalition Message-ID: <200006270103.SAA20731@mail2.deltanet.com> Warren Butson posted: <<I'm afraid I have to admit that I am possibly the only ELP and XTC fan on this website.>> Count me in, with Warren, Kerry, Rev. Jody, etc.. I dig ELP, ELO, BFD, whatever... oh, and I think Rush rocks... of course, I also like Petula Clark, so you can draw your own bleedin' conclusions! Bring it on! Debora Brown
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 17:15:29 -0700 From: Gregory Sandoval <greg@drbeat.com> Subject: Re: Waspish Moments... Message-ID: <B57D4030.2407%greg@drbeat.com> Chalkies... Squirrel Girl doth spaketh... > I have sleeve art and "portraits" of Andy & Colin in between ITMWML and WAL, > but what are "playground pictures"? Anyone have any idea about this? I'm curious too! Are these the set of pictures that are included in the Japanese release of WS? dr. beat
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 11:19:06 EST From: "Iain Murray" <halfmanhalflager@hotmail.com> Subject: Gratuitous Derek & Clive content Message-ID: <20000627011906.22362.qmail@hotmail.com> >From: Jeff Eason <eason@mountaintimes.com> >Subject: Anthony Newley Rocks! > >People who think they hate musicals should immerse themselves in a >copy of >"The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd". This >mid-60s >musical is best known for the two songs "The Joker" and "Who >Can I Turn >To?", both marvelously sung by the late Anthony Newly. Do you know what Anthony Newley said to me? "Who are you?" >From: Molly Fanton <mfanton99@yahoo.com> >Subject: No they aren't > >Warren, you're not the only one on the list who likes >ELP, ELO and Wings. I'll admit to being a fan of both ELP and ELO, but I can easily live the rest of my life without hearing a Wings album (except possibly "Band On The Run"). As for "Red Rose Speedway"....well, it sounds like 40 minutes of advertising jingles (in my opinion). It brings a whole new meaning to the word "bland". >From: KirK.Gill@equifax.com >Subject: Worst Band Candidates, and "Rocket" > >Worst bands? I prefer to slag on bands I never liked, as opposed to >ones >that I once liked and am now embarrassed by. How's about The Bay >City >Rollers? The Knack? Flock of Seagulls? Joe Satriani? Has anyone mentioned Uriah Heep yet? May I be the first? I swear this is where the idea for Spinal Tap came from....at least Spinal Tap had the redeeming feature of being INTENTIONALLY funny. >From: StucoHomes@aol.com >Subject: ELP and XTC > >Indeed! Saw them opening for Jethro Tull back in '96 and they were > >amazing. Not as good as Ian and the boys, however :) I saw Tull in '96 as well - their Australian tour consisted of one show in Canberra, and I think the rest of the tour was cancelled because of Ian Anderson's wheelchair-boundness. I can't remember who the support act was, but their set resulted in Tull being asked (mid-song, mind you) to leave half an hour earlier than they'd planned, because the concert hall was only booked until 11:00pm. The sight of a wheelchair-bound, flute-wielding Ian Anderson hurling abuse at some Royal Theatre lackey will stay with me for a long time - utterly bizarre. >From: WTDK@aol.com >Subject: In Defense of the Church > >My nominees for worst album by a major artist would include... <sigh> Oh, okay, I'll play too. "Re-act-or" - Neil Young "Almost Blue" - Elvis Costello "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" - Oasis (I heard this at a friend's place a couple of weeks ago, and I honestly don't know how it got released) "Red Rose Speedway" - Wings ....and I'll throw in the 1978 "Sgt.Pepper's" film soundtrack at no additional cost. Iain "I believe there is a commonality to humanity. We all suck." -- Bill Hicks
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 17:47:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Brown <mb2@deltanet.com> Subject: Bring me the Head of Mickey Dolenz Message-ID: <200006270047.RAA17648@mail2.deltanet.com> Hi, all- I know I'm not the only Monkees fan around here (admit it, you know you love 'em!) Anyway, the classic flick, HEAD is scheduled to air on American Movie Classics (cable/satellite)- July 4 @ 7:45a.m.ET and 5p.m.ET (poss. other dates, check website)- I will be happy to tape this movie for any Monkee-loving Chalker who doesn't get AMC. (let me know before the 4th) They're also showing Woodstock/Monterey Pop/Tommy/The Jimi Hendrix Experience,etc. (part of a Rock&Roll film fest of some sort).. if you're interested-more details at www.amctv.com Debora Brown
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:24:13 -0400 From: np80@columbia.edu Subject: The Orchid Show on The Road Message-ID: <3957D80D.13913.11D54BD@localhost> Dear Chalkhillers, The Neta Company is taking The Orchid Show (with music by XTC), on the road. The company is invited to present it's new production at The Krakow 2000 Festival on July 8th, 2000 and at The Bytom International Modern Dance Festival on July 11th. A special site specific version of The Orchid show will also be staged at the historical Kazmieriez quarter in Krakow - on July 12th, 2000. To find out about those performance, theater location and show times call The Bytom International Dance Festival at 48-322-81-82- 53 or 55. There was great press about the company's Orchid Show production which premiered at The Kitchen in NYC, including reviews in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York. Thank you XTC and thank you TVT Records and thank you chalkhillers. We hope to see some of you in Poland. Jason Marchant The Neta Dance Company
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 19:44:38 -0700 From: "Victor Rocha" <wstsidela@mediaone.net> Subject: Todd's a God Message-ID: <00c701bfdfe1$a358ba80$45548218@we.mediaone.net> Hey Chalksters, When I was in LAX (Los Angeles International ) last week getting ready to board a plane to Washington, DC, I turned around and noticed Todd Rundgren was standing next to me. I turned back to my girlfriend and said "Holy Shit it's Todd Rundgren" he looks up at me and smiles. I immediately engaged him in conversation and told him I was a big fan and that I thought XTC's Skylarking was one of the best produced "albums" ever recorded. he had the biggest shit eating grin you've ever seen. very cool guy. see pictures: http://www.webarchives.net/todd_rundgren.htm & http://www.webarchives.net/me_and_todd_rundgren.htm BTW he was touring behind his new album. Victor Rocha Los Angeles, California
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 21:42:16 CDT
From: "vee tube" <veetube@hotmail.com>
Subject: Greetings from Fintasia.( and, free 'Dukes' demo MP3s)
Message-ID: <20000627024216.73435.qmail@hotmail.com>
Upon the occasion of Mr.Relphs' vacation,
I thought it might be appropriate if I went to
my home planet (Fintasia) and 'Dried out' (it
didn't help)
"So I went to see the Gypsy Spawnstriss, and the
Gypsy Spawnstriss said, "Fin! We needs be 'justin
dat medication!"
This helped much! Consider my medication 'Justed!'
I feel better now, thank you very much.
So please accept my apology for my recent behavior.
Now, let's have some fun. While Mr.Relph was on vacation,
Spring sprung unto Summer. Now, what better way to celebrate
this season than with some 'Dukes' demos?
http://www.idrive.com/fabx
Has 3 Dukes demos. The other 3 are at...
http://www.idrive.com/dragstrip
Dragstrip? (it's a long story)
I've done the best I can (trying to digitally clean these
up with Sound Forge 4.5) to present the best sounding versions
of these demos. If you've never heard them, have fun! If you
have,try one, you might like it!
PERCH!OUT!
P.S. MF. tells me there are 2 "half done acoustic demos"
of 'Dukes' tunes, 'Susan revolving' and something else.
I don't have these 'songs'. Can someone else up these
MP3s for the rest of us?
}---:)
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 20:02:53 PDT From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> Subject: The Church of Smack Message-ID: <20000627030254.90860.qmail@hotmail.com> Phew!! Thank Ozzy you're back, Mr Relph!! I didn't realise how hollow and meaningless my life was without Chalkhills... WARNING: XTC content = 0% >From: WTDK@aol.com >Subject: In Defense of the Church >Don't remember who wrote it (or why) but there was a comment about >the >Church's Steve Kilbey being a "junkie". It was me. >To the best of my knowledge while Kilbey does do recreational drugs, >he >has never been a junkie. In fact their former drummer (Ploog) was > >reportedly eased out of the band due to the same problem. Well, I hate to contradict you Wayne -- and I'm perfectly willing to be corrected -- but MY information is that Kilbey has been a heroin user for many years. How heavily he uses I can't say, but I would point to the fact that, as most Church fans will be aware, he was busted in New York earlier this year while attempting to score. >Now mind you recreational drug use probably isn't the best thing in >the >world ... It's probably no better or worse than a lot of other things you could be doing to yourself. It's all a question of degree. >...but in some respects it's no different from recreational drinking (well, >ok, one is illegal and the other isn't). Do you REALLY wanna go there? OK - my position is this: I have NO ideological problem with people using drugs, or alcohol, or doing anything else they want to do to themselves, in the privacy of their own home. I advocate the abolition of all victimless crimes. Like it or not, drugs are an integral part of life, and no amount of clinging to meaningless zero-tolerance rhetoric is going to change that. You pays your money, you takes your chance. Curiously, many so-called "libertarians" seem to have a massive blind spot when it comes to the question of drugs. My opinion is that those who oppose legalisation are eseentially protecting their own short-sighted conservative ideological position at the expense of other people's lives, and thereby endorse a legal regime that: * tacitly promotes the expansion of the drugs black market, and the growth of all kinds of related criminal enterprise like arms trading * encourages massive and systemic corruption at all levels of society * directly contributes to the wildly escalating social cost of drug illegality, brought about by drug-related crimes and the resultant costs through law enforcement, insurance, criminal justice and the prison and health systems, and * endorses the massive expansion of coercive and intrusive police powers and police numbers in the name of the so-called "War Against Drugs" or "Zero Tolerance" policies. Legalisation is not a simple cure-all, and I don't deny it's fraught with difficulties. But can legalisation possibly be worse than the pit we are sliding deeper into every day while drug use remains a criminal offence? However, besides the legal aspects, there is also a question of personal awareness and responsibility here. I'm sure I'm only one among many here who have witnessed at first hand the destruction that heroin wreaks. It is not cool, smart or rebellious to use heroin. It is either(A) an act of utter desperation or (B) an act of wanton stupidity. You would have be either absolutely desperate to need what it does for you (i.e. blot out all feeling) or just incredibly stupid. I cannot comprehend why anyone with any brains -- especially anyone in the music industry -- would want to flirt with this evil shit. You only have to stop and count for a very short minute to rack up a VERY long list of gifted people whose lives were tragically sacrificed at the altar of Sister Morphine. There's just no excuse for not realising that disaster WILL inevitably follow. As I said before: You would have to be either cerifiably retarded, or have spent the last 50 years in a cave on Mars not to know the terrible toll it has taken on the music industry alone (Charlie Parker, Billie Holliday, Janis Joplin, Paul Kossof etc etc etc...) Maybe in some better future, where heroin is legal, supply is safe and regulated, and addiction is treated for what it really is -- a serious social, medical and mental health isssue -- when addicts are treated with care and respect instead of being tossed into jail, left to die in back alleys, or dumped lifeless on their parents' front lawn by their junkie "friends" (as happened to a schoolmate of mine) then I might change my mind. But in the current climate, you might as well just put a gun to your head. Quicker, cleaner, far, far cheaper, and probably less suffering overall for the friends and families of those it kills. I am a longtime fan of The Church, I love their music, I respect them as musicians, but that does not inhibit me from saying that I think Kilbey is a total f***ing idiot for using heroin. Dunks
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:48:38 -0500 From: "Joe Funk" <twosheds@mindspring.com> Subject: Is Everyone Stupidly Happy? Message-ID: <00d101bfdfea$9491fd00$7721fea9@user> Greetings Chalklings! Just thought I would share the following excerpt from a post from the Kevin Gilbert list: >> right this second - XTC: Wasp Star (someone said you can't listen to >> this >> album and NOT get happy - they hit it right on the head!) >OK...let me share... >I just broke up with my girlfriend...yada yada yada...feeling like >crap... >This past week, I purchased Wasp Star, being a huge XTC fan, and threw >it in the player. Almost immediately, from track 1, this album made my >thoughts of said x-girlfriend go away, enter happiness! Ever since >then, I have been cured my friends... >Truly music that moves... >Just thought I would share...this album is my most highly recommended >yet...get it now. Yes, folks... Wasp Star is an EXTREMELY happy record!! I think the word has spread!!! Joe "happy...yet, bibulous" Funk
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:09:00 -0600 From: "Joseph Easter" <easter2000@earthlink.net> Subject: sweet jesus! Message-ID: <000b01bfdfed$6d9fdde0$61730a3f@default> I saw Me, Myself and Irene over the weekend and nearly jumped out of my popcorn when they began playing "I'd Like That." Go figure. There was a couple of other decent tunes in the movie but not exactly akin to the type of music an XTC fan would listen to, (i.e. ELO, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Flock of Seagulls, Joe Satriani, OMD, Depeche Mode and INXS). On another wierd note, I was shopping at the Supermarket when King for a Day came on the system. And not musac, but the Real McCoy, or should I say Partridge? or Moulding? Whatever... In retrospect, it seems like these things are actually occurring, but it could just be my airplane glue habit. However, I am cutting back by using muselage as a substitute. So, few worries but more flashbacks. Kidding aside, the song is in the movie and I get a real charge of having worlds collide like that in front of me. My XTC habit is so solitary that it is a very lucid moment to realize that anyone else in the world, save the same movie theater, could be experiencing the same thing at the same time. What am I saying? It's just a movie. And a damn funny one at that. Go to the pub just before and I am sure you will concur. Loving on a FarmBoy's Wages... Joseph Easter.
------------------------------ Date: 27 Jun 2000 11:21:00 +0100 From: "Robert Wood" <Robert.Wood@mutech.co.uk> Subject: Happy? Message-ID: <00002CDD@mutech.co.uk> Organization: Mutech Ltd Chris asked: >> Please clear something up for me; The main argument against Stupidly Happy seems to be that it just repeats over and over without going anywhere,that there's no middle 8...in short it's too repetitive. << There is a Middle 8, or bridge anyway. The megaphone talky bit. Also there's the jangly guitar riff. So to say there's no variety in it is plain nonsense. >> My question is: Why is it genius to repeat the same riff over and over with an orchestra (River Of Orchids), but repeating a riff ad nauseum with a guitar makes it "dumb" somehow. << To be fair, River of Orchids (from memory, I try to block the dirge out of my head as much as possible) has a few different "riffs" throughout it, doesn't it? And they weave in and out through out the song. >> Talk about snobbery... << Yep.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:36:48 +0200 From: Klaus Bergmaier <klaus.bergmaier@maxonline.at> Subject: ELO, ELP, ELQ...ELX Message-ID: <51018E3C4D8BD311A8E90000C0C7910D01CB2D@N757P013.dipool.highway.telekom.at> Dear fellow Chalkhills posters! Warren likes ELP, so do I. I must admit that I only have the "Return of the Manticore"-4-CD-Box, one solo album by K. Emerson (the Christmas one) and all the pre-ELP-stuff: (You're A Good Man)Arthur Brown, Nice, King Crimson. Molly likes ELO, so do I. I have all their albums. Indeed, there are better bands than ELO, but they have their great moments. What follows now is a list of bands I also love to hear (we had that item on Chalkhills some 4 or 5 years ago): Beatles, Queen, Depeche Mode, Human League, Wings, Metallica, Helmet, Yes (to start with the most provocative ones), even Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Ultravox, KajaGooGoo, Genesis, Police, Oregon, Rush, Van Halen, Jellyfish, Trip Shakespeare, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Frank Zappa, Nektar, Spliff, Foo Fighters, The Fatima Mansions, Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, FGTH and so on. I also like contemporary classical music and jazz (also free). XTC are my favourite band since I got turned to them by accident in 1989 (I read a review of O & L, which is now one of my least favourite albums) when I was just into Beatles, Queen, DM and Ultravox. I recently got turned to King's X and Ty Tabor's (their guitarist) side project Platypus. Both have brand new albums out, both of which I can highly recommend. But I don't want to start this game again, it's non-XTC-content and therefor shouldn't be on. I only want to state, that all XTC-fans have a pretty broad range in their musical taste. That's quite logical, as XTC theirselves have a wide range of influences. So we shouldn't argue about music we listen to, as long as it is good. What has absolutely no place on Chalkhills is intolerance... BTW: Thanks to John Relph for Chalkhills! All the best from Klaus (Never been near a university...just in it!)
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 12:55:58 +0100 From: Adrian Ransome <Adrian.Ransome@tsi-ltd.co.uk> Subject: Depression Message-ID: <497FEA72C392D3118AE700508B7311772734DC@NT4SERVER03> I suppose everybody kids themselves that they're still young, cool and 'like, hip to the scene, daddyo', I know I did. Up until last week, that is. I had the visions of my eternal youth cruelly stripped away by BBC Radio Two, specifically by Messrs Ken Bruce and 'Whispering' Bob Harris. Radio Two; home of Terry Wig-on and Jimmy "not very" Young. The breeding ground of Sing Something Simple, of radio shows that play "Up Up & Away In My Beautiful Balloon" sung by people who don't know the words and instead sing "Ba, Baba Doowaa, Baba, BaaDabaa Doowaa." Radio Two; the radio station my Mum listens to because they 'play nice music'. Radio..... Fricking..... TWO!!!!!! On Radio Two, 'Whispering' Bob Harris played Stupidly Happy and said "this superb track comes from the fantastic new XTC album Wasp Star". On Radio Two, Ken Bruce played I'm The Man Who Murdered Love between coffee-table tracks by Simply Red & The Lighthouse Family as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There I was, moaning to myself that XTC were getting no airplay on Radio One (naively expecting them to be picked up by Jo Whiley or Steve Lamacq) and all the while Radio Frickin' Two is merrily playing them on a daily basis to the Pipe, Cardigan & Comfy Slippers world inhabited by Parents, Bank Managers and portly middle-aged Management Consultants called George who make up their audience. And now, because of an accidental listen to Radio effing Two, I'm part of this demographic. F*ck it! I'm off to Greenwoods to buy me a cardigan, then it's home to watch Terry & June, water the garden, down a cup of cocoa, then bed by 8pm. Adrian BTW 'Whispering' Bob Harris' Saturday night show on Radio 2 is actually pretty good!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 13:45:57 +0100 From: Warren Butson <Warren.Butson@getty-images.com> Subject: hooray-elp are saved! Message-ID: <41BC73C88FDBD2119D2908002BB32B39036E9726@lonexchg02.getty-images.com> Thanks guys for defending ELP, it's quite surprising the wide variety of tastes on this list it never ceases to amaze me! I heard the XTC interview on London Live and thought it was brilliant, a whole hour of xtc on the radio, it certainly cheered me up having just seen England throw away certain victory in the Euro 2000 cup against Romania. Great pun from the interview was Andy defining penultimate as "The last Biro!" also he said he's start writing the neext album if he got anew biro, maybe we should send him a few thousand!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 15:03:18 +0100 From: "Mick Casey" <mick@dijit.net> Subject: Bizarre Stupidly Happy sighting Message-ID: <001c01bfe040$72558800$0a01a8c0@sebastian.dev.dijit.net> Hi all Did anybody else catch the sequence at half-time on BBC1 during the Portugal-Turkey match (that's the Euro 2000 football championships for all our non-European cousins out there). For those who didn't, they ran a two-or-three minute sequence of all the best moments of the tournament so far, with Stupidly Happy as the soundtrack. It actually worked brilliantly, watching clips of Kluivert, Fiore, et al celebrating away to one of the most joyous bits of music I've heard in years. Somebody at the BBC is obviously on a (probably covert) mission to get XTC heard by the wider masses. Even funnier was Gary Lineker's remark when they cut back to him after the sequence, which was something like, "Well it's the Portuguese who are stupidly happy at the moment, and now over to our commentator...". Sometimes, life is very weird... PS. My four year old daughter thinks Stupidly Happy is the best song she's ever heard, although she thinks it's really naughty to sing it because 'stupid is a rude word'. PPS. Italy v Potugal for the final anybody..? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Casey casey@dircon.co.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 10:08:49 -0400 From: Jude Hayden <jhayden@bistrogroup.com> Subject: raisins website Message-ID: <B1A488D8676AD211AC7C204C4F4F5020027A5D@server.bistrogroup.com> Hi everybody- A few people have already written to me expressing an interest in the Raisins 4 cd set. I thought I'd be able to save people a few bucks over mail order, but that isn't the case here. Point your happy shopping mouse to: www.psychodots.com You can buy the set, and lots of other goodies, directly from them there. And the Raisins set is only $33 including shipping, which is better than I could do for anyone. Thanks- Jude P.S. xtc are another very good band that I like. A lot.
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 12:16:57 -0400 From: Lee Cronk <LeeCronk@rci.rutgers.edu> Subject: Orchid Show notes Message-ID: <3958D379.4DCB4C73@rci.rutgers.edu> I attended the Neta Dance Company's Orchid Show dance performance in NYC on Saturday, June 17. I went mainly for the music, and my wife came along mainly for the dance. As far as I could tell, the audience was a mixture of XTC fans, dance fans and friends of the performers, and orchid fans. I would guess that there were between 100 and 150 people attending. Though I would not usually choose to spend an evening watching modern dance, I really enjoyed the show. It consisted of three parts: (1) "River of Orchids," a solo dance performed by Maile Okamura and choreographed by Neta Pulvermacher; (2) "Apple Venus," a series of dances to the songs "Frivolous Tonight," "Fruit Nut," "I Can't Own Her," "I'd Like That," "Knights in Shining Karma," "Harvest Festival," "War Dance," and "The Last Balloon;" and (3) "The Orchid Show," which included music not only by XTC but also by Eric Satie and some others. Videos on a large screen behind the dancers were used to introduce the various pieces and also were incorporated into some of them, most memorably "The Orchid Show." My favorite bits were "River of Orchids," in which the dancing complemented the song very nicely, and "The Orchid Show," which was completely silly and therefore a lot of fun. I was less happy with the second part of the performance, "Apple Venus," mainly because I think they chose some of XTC's weaker songs (particularly "Fruit Nut," "Frivolous Tonight" and "War Dance") and choreographed them in relatively uninspired ways. But all in all I'm very glad I went. Did anyone else see the show? -Lee Cronk LeeCronk@rci.rutgers.edu
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-177 *******************************
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