Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 289
Date: Tuesday, 24 October 2000

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 289

                 Tuesday, 24 October 2000

Topics:

                      God to my dog
                 Skylarking = Perfection
               Name Change and other things
                         God Talk
                    Americans for XTC
                   Lillywhite is off...
                 trainspotting (HO scale)
              RE: New EeeZee Skip Chalkhills
          Martin Newell's Spirit Cage and more.
                  The Orchid Show Video
I'm taking the catamaran out for a nice sail around my soul
           Thinkist Me Not? What? Yes I agree!
                         ROTFL!!
                   You are a lazy SOD!
              more on religion, atheism, etc
       chalkchalkhillshills andand religionreligion
                 Re: Immaculate Reception
                    Back From The Dead
          Re: God is perturbed at you!.. Brian!
                     Go-o-o-o-o-oold

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Don't want daughter sweet / To be target practice in the high street.

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

Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 23:37:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ryan Anthony <hamsterranch@yahoo.com>
Subject: God to my dog
Message-ID: <20001021063735.10364.qmail@web124.yahoomail.com>

I suggest a round of applause for our cuddlesome and
remarkably patient sensei, Mr. Relph, for refraining
from blowing his whistle and ordering all of us out of
the pool during the recent religion thread.

Even if he maybe shoulda.

Here in the tiny universe known as the Anthony Hamster
Ranch, I am god. One of my dogs, an Airdale, is really
a cat in disguise and heretically deems me no better
than a slow, oafish servant, but the other, a
retriever-collie mix yclept Susie B. Anthony, is a
true believer. She lies down and worships me --
Bringer of Food, Refresher of the Water Bucket, Opener
and Closer of Doors, Master of Light and Darkness,
Driver of Heaven's Chariot, Conductor of Hidden
Orchestras, Scratcher of Ears and Tummy, Dispenser of
Pills and Treats -- with soft brown eyes. She's doing
it right now, and not because she wants anything, just
because she loves me.

No, wait, it's the cinnamon raisin bagel in my hand.
Here you go, Susie.

I guess you can petition the Lord with prayer. This
lord, at any rate.

That's my infallible take on religion, and if you
don't like it, you can go to Cat.

Ryan Anthony

An independent Internet content provider

P.S.: Please, don't anybody screech at me, "Don't feed
your dog bits of cinnamon raisin bagel! It'll kill
her!" Susie is eleven years old in human years, and
not only has she survived ingesting several hundred
bagel-bits, she and the Airdale have (gasp!) licked
out the fudge pan dozens of times with no apparent ill
effect, except maybe sleepiness, and they're old dogs,
so how can you tell?

P.P.S.: Heaven is paved with doggie beds.

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 09:20:39 +1000
From: "Central Intelligence Agency" <dracon@worldreform.net>
Subject: Skylarking = Perfection
Message-ID: <000d01c03bb5$89006e00$290ffea9@dracon>

There was a day when I would've told you that English Settlement was better
than Skylarking. But that was before I bought Skylarking and English
Settlement.
I just played both back to back and I'm telling you this, Skylarking is from
heaven, but English Settlement is the work of mere mortals. Somewhere
between 1982 and 1986 the Swindon trio must have achieved deification,
despite "Dear God".
The Rundgren/Partridge affair has created some of the best Pop I have ever
heard.
I was once an atheist, but then I heard Skylarking........
Cheers!
Clifford Smith

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

Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 21:46:30 -0400
From: "squirrelgirl" <squirrelgirl@hitter.net>
Subject: Name Change and other things
Message-ID: <001d01c03bca$0090dc20$8249c0cf@meredith-s>

Howdy 'Hillians!

Time for my bimonthly de-lurk.

"Central Intelligence Agency" wrote:
>I think it would've been a lot easier if XTC didn't call themselves XTC,
>because people the wrong impression about them just from the Band Name. Is
>it about time for them to get a name change? Let's suggest new names for
>XTC!!

Well, I guess that disproves the "It's all in the name" theory.

I heartily enjoyed the religion discussions - something I usually don't
touch with a 39 1/2 foot pole.  But then things degenerated into a
kindergartenish name-calling fest.

And I nearly busted a gut at Mr. Sherwood's post explaining his sarcasm -
for some reason it just struck me as funny that he had to explain...  Then
Chris Vreeland's reply - priceless.

I like the idea of a concrete collection of art, poems, etc. - there are
already places on the websites where those musically inclined folks can
download or upload or whatever it is they do, to make their music available
to the rest of us.  Check it out.  However, I (who finally received my final
issue of LE about a month ago) really do miss the "connection" that LE
brought.  Yes, the websites and digests bring us info a lot faster than
snail mail, and I certainly appreciate that (Thanks for the update Mitch).
But the feel of a real issue of LE, with pictures of artwork and people in
their handmade shirts and their XTC-PMG car license plates (wonder if
they've changed it since Dave left) can never be matched.  So, a nicely
produced artsy-fartsy "tribute" would be welcome - complete with the neat
marbled paper and lots of those little details that make most LE/Chalkhills
things so special.

Jason Feehan:  I thought you must be nuts - how could something like that
ever get onto Testimonial Dinner?  So I went back and listened 5 or 6 times,
and by gosh by golly, it *does* sound like that's what he's saying!  Mind
you, I'm listening over my computer speakers which aren't the greatest, but
really, at a casual listen that's sure what I now hear.

That's all for now - time for my non-denominational worship service at the
altar of Posturepedic.

SG

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 13:54:07 -0700
From: "Victor Rocha" <wstsidela@mediaone.net>
Subject: God Talk
Message-ID: <004e01c03c6a$383a03e0$34548218@we.mediaone.net>

SYWPTYRP = famous chalkhills saying

Victor Rocha (Pechanga Band of Luiseoo Indians)
California Indian Gaming News
Los Angeles, California
www.pechanga.net

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 20:57:15 -0500
From: "Joe Funk" <twosheds@mindspring.com>
Subject: Americans for XTC
Message-ID: <00b401c03c94$94c775a0$7721fea9@user>

Just thought this quote from non other than George Michael
might stirs things up a bit...
(God told me to change the subject.....)

"In 1986, British artists (The Police, YES, Duran Duran, The Petshop
Boys, Pink Floyd, George Michael, The Stones, Paul McCartney, Elton
John, etc.) made 32% of the music sold in America. Today, they are
responsible for 0.2%. "

Why the change? .....The Plague...... ..Yes, ....The Plague.........
........The Plague of Hip-Hop Gangsta Rappa's......

Fortunately, I was inoculated...  I surrounded myself with my music
collection, (which is about 70% British), and just got a small rash in
my eardrums from hearing the neighbor's music..

Ya see folks, I am an American for XTC!!!  Give me that good ole'
British pop any day of the week!!  And a side of British Prog!!!

Get your shots today, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!

Joe "MC Dynamo Cool T" Funk
_____________________________________________
Two Sheds Website:
http://www.eshelps.com/web/personal/twosheds/index.html

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 00:14:05 -0400
From: "Benjamin A. Gott" <bgott@bowdoin.edu>
Subject: Lillywhite is off...
Message-ID: <B619334C.2000%bgott@bowdoin.edu>

Gang,

I just found out that Dave Matthews Band has replaced Steve Lillywhite with
GLEN BALLARD for their next album!  I mean, c'mon!  Read more here:

http://www.typicalsituations.com/mtv.html

Now I know that Glen Ballard is respected and all, what with his work with
Alanis Morisette, No Doubt, and keyboards on weird 1980's albums like Al
Jarreau's "High Crime," but he practically *invented* the big drum sound
that made DMB what they are!

It might seem like I'm overreacting, but I'm just steamed...That they could
have this guy and let him go, after all the incredible work he's been doing
for them...I fear there can only be trouble ahead for Mr. Matthews and his
band...

Of course, if anything good can come out of this, it must be that Mr.
Lillywhite, now freed from the DMB sessions, can work on producing one of
the other artists with which he doesn't feel "creative differences" (see
article), like Guster, or Morrissey, or Joan Armatrading, (or Ben Gott).
And I hear that those XTC blokes are due for another album sometime soon...

-Ben

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 21:37:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: trainspotting (HO scale)
Message-ID: <20001023043731.11220.qmail@web2105.mail.yahoo.com>

In today's New York Times (Sunday, 10 /22/00) there's
an article on our old pal Yazbek. It's basically about
his career, how he ended up writing the Full Monty
music.
Anyways, there's a line in the article about his rock
n roll roots. It specifically mentions that he is
influenced by XTC and Andy Partridge.

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 14:19:52 +0100
From: "Smith, David" <David.Smith@tfeurope.com>
Subject: RE: New EeeZee Skip Chalkhills
Message-ID: <4BBE67B71C1DD411A23600508B65F71E68636A@tfsecmsg04.tfseur.co.uk>

Hi fellow chalkdudes and warring fanatics . . .

Just got back from two weeks in sunny Florida - nicer part of the world
than I expected it to be.

I'd like to thank those of you who made it so easy for me to catch up with
the eight outstanding issues of Chalkhills by filling them with YARDS of
self-serving afterlife opinions.

I don't doubt the validity of ANYONE'S beliefs but c'mon guys 'n gals -
we're all friends here (aren't we?), and no matter what others say, are
any of us going to change our beliefs at this stage of our life? I don't
think so.

At least I was able to skip two thirds of the content - makes the Middle
East look like a minor spat!

Sounding a bit like Yoda, my message is simple: Believe, or don't believe.
You have a choice - make it.

****

In 285 Ed Kedzierski wrote about skipping songs and included "I Can't Own
Her". Aaaargh! Each to their own of course, but am I alone in thinking that
song contains one of the most uplifting, evocative and, frankly, EROTIC
lines ever:

"How I'd wash her hair like the swirling sky"

Shivers down the spine, my chiffon is wet . . . and all that . . .

*****

Ed also defended singers who "can't sing" - good call Ed, I'd add Ian
Dury, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan to that list. Try and imagine an Elvis
Costello song sung by Pavarotti - it just ain't gonna work now is it?

Having said that, Joe Cocker simply can't sing.

****

Old hat now but the "Where were you when Lennon . . ." thread. I too was
16, and because it happened evening, New York time, it was gone midnight
before the news hit London. I was already deep in the land of nod and,
being anything but a morning person, was sufficiently sleepy enough the
next morning to miss it on the radio that Mum always had on in the kitchen
(our house was the proverbial madhouse in the mornings with me off to
school, sister off to college and both parents off to work).

I didn't find out until a friend of mine came up to me at school with the
dreaded line "Have you heard the news . . .". It took a bit of
comprehending, but not being a massive Beatles fan and not really liking
Lennon's solo stuff, it didn't resonate with me as anything other than
very sad for him and the real fans.

Whilst I sympathise with those whose lives were turned upside down, I
would have been amazed at myself if it had reduced me to even a mild funk,
let alone tears or depression.  A bit like Princess Di - except that I
actively ridiculed those who believed life as we know it ended the day she
did.

It had a chilling resonance however a few years later. In the early 80s my
schoolboy mates and I had those "catch phrases" which we all thought were
funny - but were actually about as funny as an acid enema. These included
mandatory responses to certain questions, such as:

If you were asked "what's new?" you were duty bound (remember this was the
80s) to reply "microchip technology, hur hur hur".

If a friend broke up with a loved one - no matter how badly they were
hurting, someone was HONOUR BOUND to say "never mind, there's plenty more
fish in the sea, snigger"

The third (here's the relevance) was the response to the question "have
you heard the news" to which the response (for at least 5 years) was "John
Lennon's dead, har har".

Anyway, in 1989, I turned up for work one day and sat at my desk, only to
be confronted by a fellow workmate who said "have you heard the
news". Instinctively and quick as a flash I retorted "John Lennon's
dead?".

He looked at me like I was deranged for a second or two and then said "no,
Derek Brown".  Derek Brown sat three desks away from me, and had committed
suicide the previous night.

It shook me to the core, and somehow the "joke" wasn't very funny after
that.

****

Anyhooooo . . . finally, a reason for me to hate Virgin slightly less -
whilst in Orlando I happened into the Virgin Megastore at Downtown
Disney. I emerged with the CDs of Go2, Big Express, Skylarking and
Rag'nBone Buffet - for a grand TOTAL of $20. Now THAT'S how to get
revenge!

Har harrrrrr, CD collection ALMOST complete, can throw away some more
muffled, scratchy cassettes - can marvel at just how great Skylarking is.

If we DO make the fans tribute album (I know, I know!) can I exclusively
reserve the right to do "Another Satellite"? Can I, pleeeeeeeeaaaase?

Smudge "fa fa fa fa fa fa ta ta taaaaa" Boy
EMail: david.smith@tfeurope.com

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 07:19:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wildman Of Wivenhoe <cleanersvenus@yahoo.com>
Subject: Martin Newell's Spirit Cage and more.
Message-ID: <20001023141904.28357.qmail@web511.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi Chalkfolk

Martin Newell's, first new album in over 6 years, The
Spirit Cage is finally out on Cherry Red records.

Andy Partridge was drafted in at the last minute to
master the whole thing, and he did a fantastic job.

Check out www.cherryred.co.uk for ordering info.
It is available, people have already bought it.

Chalky types may also be interested in an exclusive
tribute CD to Martin Newell that will be released at
the end of this month. It features (amongst a host of
others) XTC friends, Mitch Friedman and R Stevie Moore
as well as Stuart Moxham and one Dave Gregory ESQ.

For more info on this and everything else Newelly
related, check out www.martinnewell.co.uk

ReNewell the Martin Newell tribute website will soon
be fully online at www.renewell.net

All the best

Paul

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 17:16:14 -0400
From: np80@columbia.edu
Subject: The Orchid Show Video
Message-ID: <39F4725E.18731.774708@localhost>

Dear Chalkhillers,

We now have the Orchid Show available on Video.  The price for
the video is $25.00 + shipping.   We have only VHS NTSC
(American System) copies available at this time.

"The Orchid Show takes the choreographer and her six immensly
appealing dancers into the outer stratospheres of giddininess...
inspired to the heights of whimsicality...."  (The New York Times,
June 2000)

For further Information about the video please contact: Jason
Marchant at the Neta Dance Company, email: np80@columbia.edu

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 22:21:49 GMT
From: Jennifer Geese <jlg@svsu.edu>
Subject: I'm taking the catamaran out for a nice sail around my soul
Message-ID: <200010232223.PAA27335@sgiblab.sgi.com>

But first...

From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Matthew 5:1-3

   5:1  And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain:
        and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

   5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

   5:3  Shut the fuck up, Brian.

What happened to SYWPTYRP, Harrison??  :)

Regarding the Ruben Blades comment, I believe that it has
been mentioned before on the 'hills, but here goes.  I
don't remember the first part of the quote, and can't
listen to it again, because I'm at school, but I believe
the part that sounds like "Man, I hate that XTC." actually
should be "a la gente de XTC" which translates roughly
to "to the people of XTC" (and let's not get into why we're
using the feminine article to refer to a group of men).
Any native or fluent speakers of Spanish who want to
confirm or refute, please feel free to do so.

Jen
"Me gustan mas XTC"

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 19:04:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com>
Subject: Thinkist Me Not? What? Yes I agree!
Message-ID: <20001024020423.3086.qmail@web110.yahoomail.com>

Sjacobs Opined

>>Has everyone else heard. The Poozies sing "Love on a farmboys wages?"

>>The best cover ever.

Well S, I have heard a couple of XTC covers and I tell ya I will see
your Poozies and raise you "Making Plans for Nigel" by the Burning
Heads. A bit obscure but I reccomend searching it out. Nigel as a
'punk' as it were is "quite" fun.

themolefromtheministry

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 19:11:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com>
Subject: ROTFL!!
Message-ID: <20001024021133.4078.qmail@web110.yahoomail.com>

From: Lord Almighty <brianthisisgod@yahoo.com>
Subject: God is perturbed at you!.. Brian!

Which ever one of you beautiful crazed people posted this...........

THANK YOU!!!

I laughed so hard I literally cried.

Brilliant!! I applaud your effort!

themole 'ever your servent' from the ministry

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 19:17:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com>
Subject: You are a lazy SOD!
Message-ID: <20001024021723.4869.qmail@web110.yahoomail.com>

From: "William Sherlock" <bdsherlock@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Subject: jump
>
>Any collectors (or anyone with knowledge) out there...was "Jump" ever
>released except as an extra track on the Mummer CD?

The answer is Yes. John Relph keeps a meticulous XTC Discography on the
Chalkhills .org site.

Go repay some of John's hard work and GO LOOK IT UP YOU LAZY SOD!

Honestly people, show a little effort.

the mole fuming in the ministry

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 22:56:07 EDT
From: Poisongold@aol.com
Subject: more on religion, atheism, etc
Message-ID: <64.7ab9c99.27265447@aol.com>

In a message dated 10/23/00 10:35:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
<owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org> errs:

<< It's quite reasonable to argue that atheism is itself a kind of religion.
It is, after all, often based on a kind of certainty about the fundamental
nature and origin of the universe - both complete unknowns.  ...  The
tendency to dismissively reject other belief systems as primitive and
obviously foolish - with our belief system the one final, reasonable
(scientific) Truth - is also characteristic of the more fundamentalist
religions.>>

Two words: Occam's razor.  Six more: Wishful thinking doesn't make it so.

<< The corporate capitalist system - which runs our economies, politics,
schools, media - doesn't want us worrying about deeper issues; it wants us
consuming, buying, producing >>

I'm a strong supporter of corporate capitalism, and I'm not exactly a
conspicuous consumer.  My stereo is 18 years old, for example, and I buy
clothes when the ones I have are too worn out to be presentable.  Capitalism
(in its pure form, not the politically contaminated mixed economies of the
"capitalist" world) is the one and only economic expression of "DO WHAT YOU
WILL BUT HARM NONE."

And that, my friends, is what passes for XTC content in my posts.

MJC

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

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 21:46:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com>
Subject: chalkchalkhillshills andand religionreligion
Message-ID: <20001024044600.7646.qmail@web2106.mail.yahoo.com>

Wow-the same chalhills twice at the same time! thought
I was seeing double!
Wow-the same chalhills twice at the same time! thought
I was seeing double!

OK I'm sick of arguments for/against:
god/religion/lack thereof/athiesm/etc. Just like the
pathetic election facing the bloated U.S., my guess is
that only 10% of us havent made up our minds on this
issue, and long boring posts to a music oriented
newsgroiup ain't gonna change much.

That said, gotta point out something. The following
book was recommended last time around:

The Case For Faith : A Journalist Investigates the
Toughest Objections to Christianity " . It is by Lee
Strobel and published by Zondervan Publishing House

Zondervan Publishing is a very large Christian
publishing firm. It's not going out on a limb to
suggest that the reporting in this book might be a
little biased.

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

Date: 24 Oct 00 01:58:40 MDT
From: Jeremy Mathews <nsps@usa.net>
Subject: Re: Immaculate Reception
Message-ID: <20001024075840.11705.qmail@nwcst282.netaddress.usa.net>

> From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com>
>
> Does anyone know if Sony were consulted before their corporate name was
> used in "Respectable Street". I can't remember ever hearing about Sony
> being ticked off about it but I was listening to it last night and I
> was thinking how if that song was released today Sony would probably
> sue them faster than Brittany Spears changes clothes. Anyone have any
> insights?

This reply is based on American law, not British, and could therefore be
useless.

I can't say for sure if any permission was obtained, but most likely it was
not.  If it was, the lyrics in the liner notes would have a trade mark symbol
and something about the Sony corporation.  Example: Paul Simon said he never
would have written "Kodachrome" if he'd known he'd have to put trademark
information everywhere he used it.

Based on free speech law, the lyric could be used, but "Sony" couldn't be
written anywhere on the album, since that could be interpretted as an
endorsement and therefore using their trademark to sell your product.
That's why They Might Be Giants' "Niquil Driver" from John Henry was
renamed "AKA Driver" and its lyrics are mysteriously ommited.

I'm sure this was no help at all, and in hindsight I should have answered
with a consise "I don't think so."

Jeremy Mathews
www.nsps.net

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

Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 06:27:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Al LaCarte <allacarte@yahoo.com>
Subject: Back From The Dead
Message-ID: <20001024132751.3562.qmail@web1611.mail.yahoo.com>

All:

There is a perfectly good website (with a 24 hour chat
room) where atheism, agnosticism and faith can be
safely debated, defended, defamed, and derided.
("These are words with a "D" this time!")

http://atheism.about.com/religion/atheism/

Al

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

Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 09:23:55 -0400
From: "Brian" <mattone@bhip.infi.net>
Subject: Re: God is perturbed at you!.. Brian!
Message-ID: <00bd01c03dbd$a9ad6400$800affd1@Brian>

Tschalkgerz!

>From: Lord Almighty <brianthisisgod@yahoo.com>
>
>My Son;
>
>Brian..Brian.. BRIAN!!!!!  Behave yourself, or
>Purgatory it will be!!!

Cute, but I can set up an e-mail account somewhere, too, and be funny
just like this.
Ha-ha it is to laugh ha-ha.

-Brian Matthews
http://www.stonetrek.com
Insistence ain't existence.

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

Date: 24 Oct 2000 05:45:24 -0700
From: unnabellaluna@planetpuppy.c008.sfo.cp.net
Subject: Go-o-o-o-o-oold
Message-ID: <20001024124524.27834.cpmta@c008.sfo.cp.net>

Hola! Just wanted to give props to all my chalk peeps, and say that
for the past three to four weeks I have been singing either "Castaway
on a desert island..." or "It's OK, the setting sun will color
everything around you gold" - and it's been GREAT! Castaway has some
of my favorite bass action ever, which brings me to how F-ing
(flipping) great CM is! I've always listened for the bass line ever
since my Led Zeppelin worship days, and CM is such a joy to hear! My
all time fave CM bass moment is definitely That Wave, although it's
hard to say that one is the best when they're all so darn tasty!

Moving on, I loaned AV1 to a friend of mine and his reaction cracked
me up. After hearing Harvest Festival he said that AP's lyrics were so
vague as to be irresponsible! I burst out laughing - what does that
even mean?

Later chalkdudes - I'm throwing some 'hills gang signs atcha!

unnabellaluna

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #6-289
*******************************

Go back to Volume 6.

25 October 2000 / Feedback