Chalkhills Digest Volume 7, Issue 62
Date: Thursday, 6 December 2001
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 7, Number 62
Thursday, 6 December 2001
Topics:
George played lead guitar
Re: Phil Collins Radio XTC Blah Blah Blah
George... on the passing of a friend
George Harrison
While I gently weep
Tull and stuff
Dark Horse/Wonderland?
Re: skiddly doo bop doo wah
The wonder that is the Bee Gees?
Chrissymas Stuff (off topic)
Idea Records/Weatherbox
Los Lobos
GH
What a nice start to the day!
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 12:59:39 -0500 From: "Ellerd, Christopher" <chris@earth.compudrivel.com> Subject: George played lead guitar Message-ID: <001501c17a91$f2962fa0$8f3a0040@sage> I personally think that there was so much to focus on with the beatles. So much in fact, that the lead guitar on most occassions was overlooked. It's funny to me, because people don't seem to think about the fact that almost all the lead guitar on the beatles song's was George's playing. John was no "mean" lead guitarist, and Paul was decent. George really picked up on the C&W style of lead playing early on. Examples are "Act Naturally", "Run for your life" just to name two. He was one of the best slide players I've ever heard as well. So thank you to George, and peace and love and God Bless.
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 10:22:09 -0500 From: Ian C Stewart <iancstewart@columbus.rr.com> Subject: Re: Phil Collins Radio XTC Blah Blah Blah Message-ID: <3C08F5A1.4020301@columbus.rr.com> chris coolidge writed: "Now I can say Phil Collins plays on one of my songs. Really." well yeah, but why would you want that? I mean, really? Unless you're pretending to maul him at the end, in which case I give it a hearty endorsement. > Oh, I'm listening to Radio XTC at the moment. Some pretty cool stuff here. thank you, I'm glad you like it. And for those of you just joining the fray, that URL again is http://www.live365.com/stations/96998 I don't want to hog up valuable Chalkhills space on something so flagrantly non-XTC, but I know lots of us here share an interest in King Crimson. If you'd care to read my review of the show in Columbus Ohio, please go here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/iancstewart/ > I might set up a station of my own sometime to give my own material > an outlet. I'd also be interested in including demos from other > people on this list or any other list I'm on. I'm going to see > what's involved in setting one up as soon as I finish scrolling this > digest, if I have time I'll start setting it up tonight. I have another Live365 broadcast that's eerily similar to what you describe. It's for my (now-dead) magazine AUTOreverse. The playlist is all self-released material. That's the politically correct way of saying it's all "demos" by people from all around the world. "Demo" is just such an unflattering word when the majority of We The Unsigned don't make demos, we make finished products. The AUTOreverse Live365 is http://www.live365.com/stations/55478 Angie related: > Well, if it comes to that, ya might try going over to www.radiodestiny.com > The downside? For starters, you can only broadcast when you yourself are > online, as the songs are broadcast directly from your hard drive to your > listeners. yeah, that's why I went with Live365. Without sounding like a complete Live365 cult-member, their service is (well, it used to be) free and it's totally hands-off. If I could only broadcast when I was online that wouldn't be convenient for me or anybody and I'd much rather just set something up that people can check out wherever whenever. I've been assured that my broadcasts have been grandfathered in, which is good but it also puts a pinch on in the event that I want to start another one. > At any rate, you've done a fab job with your station, Ian. A wide variety of > XTC stuff, with some versions of songs I've never heard. You've got my seal > of approval, heehee. thank you, I appreciate that. And I hope other people continue to check out Radio XTC. And if there's a song you can think of that you have that isn't already on the playlist, please let me know. I encoded everything I have on CD, which is a lot, but it's not everything. bye now Ian C Stewart http://bizarredepiction.batcave.net/xtcvideo.htm
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 09:40:30 -0500
From: "Go Gators!" <gogators2000@cfl.rr.com>
Subject: George... on the passing of a friend
Message-ID: <200112010940300390.001B370C@smtp-server.cfl.rr.com>
Hello all,
I never knew George Harrison, but I felt he knew me. If the Beatles are
the soundtrack to my life (and they are), George's songs are the ones I
keep picking up the tone arm and playing again (that's a record player, for
you youngsters!).
I have a white Stratocaster with a maple neck and whammy bar, because it
just looked SO cool in the concert for Bangladesh. The poster from the All
Things Must Pass album hung over my bed for about seven years, from age 13
'til I left home. The album, and the subsequent ones, were at the top of
the playlist in my room. The Madison Square Garden stop (the late show) on
the '74 American tour was my first concert ever. 200 or so rows at the
Garden was as close as we ever got in this life, but his songs always spoke
to me like a friend. He understood me, it seemed. I like virtually all of
his Beatles output, particularly If I Needed Someone, It's All Too Much,
and I Need You, as well as the obvious ones - Something, While My Guitar
Gently Weeps, Here Comes The Sun... What about the 1979 "George Harrison"
LP? I always felt that was every bit as good as All Things Must Pass...
beautiful songs, beautiful singing... he sounded HAPPY, too. And on Miss
O'Dell, the B-side where he keeps cracking up in laughter... it was so good
to hear him laughing.
The music lives, it always will... Keith RIchards was quoted with a
comforting thought that "he's jamming with John now." Raise a glass, raise
your guitar, raise your voice in memory of George Harrison.
He was my friend.
Mike Otero
Melbourne, Florida, USA
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 02:09:00 EST
From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
Subject: George Harrison
Message-ID: <119.89b8cd6.2939dc0c@aol.com>
"Isn't it a pity, isn't it a shame"
I've cried a lot this year. More than most in my life. For 9 months I've
struggled inside from the time I learned of the terminal diagnosis of my
friend, the magnificent Martin Baker, to the hour of his untimely death in
October. I stood by helplessly as the tears of grief and rage welled up
and over me on September 11th and beyond. The pending health scares of
some of my family members. And now this. I wake up today to learn
something not unexpected, but still unbearably heart rending to deal with.
George is gone.
"How we break each other's hearts
and cause each other pain"
I shuffled in to the WaWa on the way to work to get my morning java, misty
eyed and punched in the soul from the news. As I stood in line at the
counter, the radio was playing "Here Comes The Sun. I looked at the boy in
front of me with his father and realized that he would never know first
hand who the Beatles were. As have an entire generation that has come since
their breakup in 1970. Sure, he would hear their music, read about them,
know about them, just as the rest of humanity will for untold decades to
come. But I thought how precious, how special, how absolutely *priviliged*
and fortunate I am to have been alive when they were the reigning royalty
of rock 'n' roll. Not just a distant childhood memory to me; I remember as
clear as yesterday the buzz that winter of 64, and their appearance on Ed
Sullivan. I saw it all from start to finish; I heard every record when it
came out as my older brother bought them; going to see Help! at the local
theater and remembering the girls screaming and squealing everytime a
Beatle appeared; playing Sgt. Pepper's over and over after my brother gave
me his copy (which I still have); seeing Let It Be; unwrapping my Christmas
copy of the White Album for the first time; all of those memories. So
many. Taken for granted when they happened, as the Beatles were taken for
granted in those heady days. I was there! I don't believe it! But now
those memories are so precious, so fleeting....if I could only go back, I
think sometimes....
"How we take each other's love
without thinking anymore"
Having secured my paper and coffee, I headed on to work, cursing the idiots
on the road as I struggled to the expressway ramp. Once on the freeway, I
fumbled with the radio. "Surely there will be some tributes!" I thought.
NPR did a montage. I flipped to XPN - sounded like Tory Amos doing some
overwrought version of Happiness is a Warm Gun. Huh? That's not even a
Harrison song! Dolts! Oh well, at least it's Beatles....I turn to MMR.
Nothing. At least yet. I try YSP. Stern again teasing a half nude model.
I flip around. Nothing. What the??? Not like when Lennon died, I mused.
Lennon......
I thought about the boy at the WaWa, then I remembered this 20 yar old kid
who worked for me at the shop. Talented guitar player, into metal,
constantly goading me about how the Beatles were overrated. "Kid, you
don't understand. Just because Harrison didn't have chops like Van Halen
or Ringo like Lars Ulrich doesn't mean they sucked. It wasn't about chops,
kid, it was about music. Songwriting. Production. Revolution in music.
Changing the face of rock. Pushing the studio to it's limits. Innovating
and absorbing innovation, bringing meaning to rock music that wasn't there
before. Everything you listen to or play is affected by their music. You
see? .....Ahh, what's the point......"
"Forgetting to give back,
Isn't it a pity."
What do the Beatles mean? Why is it that an album of songs that everyone
knows and probably has can be released 30 years after the Beatles broke up
into a landscape littered with Brittany and Eminem and still ride the top
of the charts? What kind of power is that? What kind of legacy is that?
Can any other pop artist of the last 45 years do the same, Elvis included?
They were no fluke, no overrated phenomenon. They were the rightest thing
at the rightest time imaginable. They rescued the suffocated rock movement
from the Pat Boone doldrums with an injection of uncanny song writing, wit,
and optimism. They changed the rules forever. A whole generation of
folkies in America put down their banjos and mandolins and grabbed electric
guitars and practiced Beach Boy harmonies. They broke the dam for the
British Invasion, opening the door for the blues reinventions of Clapton,
Mayall, Page, Beck, Green, and all the other guitar gods, whose playing
reverberates to this day. They brought Dylan rock, and Dylan brought them
lyrics. They smashed the technology door down with Sgt. Pepper, redifining
the capacity of the studio and the concept of the LP record. On and on an
on and on.
They were the BEATLES, man!
And now, one more gone.
George.
There's a lot I could say about George, of course, but I've gone on enough.
What I would remember the most about him is his dedication to peace and his
abhorrance to human folly and misery. "He would not suffer a fool,"
McCartney said today in an interview. "He was a beautiful man."
In the spirit of that thought, I think of his passing as the bombs and
bullets fly in Afghanistan. I couldn't help but be moved when I returned
home after this weary day to see that "America's New War" was eclipsed by
coverage of gentle George's quiet death.
Even Larry King got teary eyed.
Then I thought about the war, and I thought about the lyrics of the second
verse from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".....
"I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake, we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps"
Goodnight, sweet prince. Thank you from the bottom of my soul for being in
my life, giving all of us your music, and having the grace to forbear the
knuckleheads we are and the wisdom to hold a mirror before us. May we all
learn before it's too late. Goodbye, George!
Tom Kingston
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 14:34:31 -0500 From: m stone <nedrise@sympatico.ca> Subject: While I gently weep Message-ID: <3C0930C7.ECF0C80A@sympatico.ca> Hi Folks Duncan Kimball was writing about Zappa: I think maybe 'cos he NEVER lost sight of the fact that a lot of his job was Entertainment. PlLus he was never interested in noodling for its own sake. Everything had a purpose. Ummm, you're kidding, right? To me, Zappa is one the most boring, wanker-est of guitar players ever. So many if his tunes were ruined by looooooooong, aimless guitar solos. In fact, that's probably why I never bothered to check out more of his albums, 'Shut Up While I Wank On My Guitar' included. **shudder** and, he mentioned the Bee Gees: Seriously -- who else from the Sixties EVER had such an astounding 'comeback' as that? Bloody nobody, that's who. Paul Simon. Otherwise, I agree with you about the Bee Gees. Quite a glorious career they're still having.... So long George, we love you....he was always my favourite Beatle. Not sure why, maybe cause he was the underdog or something. Sad, very sad... Mike
------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 20:58:20 -0500 From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net> Subject: Tull and stuff Message-ID: <B82EF1CF.16CB%cauldron@together.net> on 11/30/01 11:16 PM, Iain wrote: > >> From: "DHF2000" <dhf2000@home.com> >> >> Mr. Olesen asked: "I can' think of another band that has survived all >> these years and flourished as XTC has. Can any of you?" > > Jethro Tull? Fair enough, if you don't mind that Ian Anderson and Martin Barre are the only survivors from 1970, and Barre isn't even an original band member. Everybody else I believe has only been with the band since the early 90s at the most. You could more easily count The Rolling Stones, with three charter members left, though you could consider that Ian Stewart, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman were part of the very first lineup when they were just a blues cover band, with Mick Avory later of The Kinks and Dick Taylor later of The Pretty Things. Watts, Jagger and Richards didn't join until Avory was very quickly sacked due to inability to hold a steady beat and Taylor left of his own accord soon after. Whether The Strolling Bones have flourished is another matter, but they've still been a commercial force at least live. I just thought of another one: NRBQ, though admittedly only Terry Adams and Joey Spampimato survive from their initial lineup in the late 60's. But they've been a touring band regularly and steadily ever since, only replacing longtime guitarist Al Anderson with Johnny Spampimato a few years ago since current drummer Tom Ardolino replaced the original drummer around 1970. That's possibly the best track record I can think of yet.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 08:26:48 -0500 From: Groove Disques <info@groovedisques.com> Subject: Dark Horse/Wonderland? Message-ID: <4.1.20011203082236.009a3740@mail.groovedisques.com> One of the songs I've thought about since George died is XTC's "Wonderland", with the "dark horse" reference and accompanying slide guitar lick. I don't know if that was intentional or not. I've always thought that Colin played the same role to the one-headed McCartney and Lennon of Partridge. Anyhow, great song for all the Georges in the music world. Jim http://www.groovedisques.com
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 09:57:36 -0000 From: Edward Collier <edward.collier@techop.co.uk> Subject: Re: skiddly doo bop doo wah Message-ID: <4359BE5CC01DD311886500A0C9D4406922C3D2@SERVER1> Quoth Dunks: >>Mr. Olesen asked: "I can' think of another band that has survived all >>these years and flourished as XTC has. Can any of you?" > >I can. The Bee Gees. Some great pop songs, granted, but man they are soooooooooooo irredeemably square. And while we are on the subject (homogenous polygons, not the Bee Gees), am I the only (predominantly) heterosexual male who finds Sharleen Spiteri of Texas about as alluring as brown blancmange - i.e. not very alluring at all? Every time I see her I think of Margaret Thatcher for some reason. And she never floated my boat. Don't know why I thought of (Ms Spiteri), except that she belongs with the Bee Gees as the sort of people you probably don't mind listening to but wouldn't want to sit next to at dinner. Byeeeeeeeee Edward
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:37:47 -0500 From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@telcordia.com> Subject: The wonder that is the Bee Gees? Message-ID: <OF1FCCFD55.686CC8D5-ON85256B17.0079197B@cc.telcordia.com> Chalksters and Chalkettes; It's been quiet in XTC land. Hope we have some new product soon to keep us entertained. Dunks raised an interesting series of points about the Bee Gees the other day; he said: >Let's face it, if we're talking about pop music survivors, those guys >invented the concept. >Think about the mid-70s. Who was left from their era? Since Dunks already mentioned(and dissed) the Who, Stones, Byrds, and some others, I guess I've got to mention Jethro Tull, Kinks, Pink Floyd, Pretty Things, Manfred Mann, NRBQ, Moody Blues, Hollies, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Searchers, Sly and the Family Stone. I could go on, but I'm just answering the question, folks, not saying anything yet about who I like. He then ventured a little further: >Seriously -- who else from the Sixties EVER had such an astounding >'comeback' as that? Bloody nobody, that's who Well, since you're now talking about 60's bands who had a revival in the 70's, I answer your question with at least 2 names: the Kinks and Pink Floyd. The Kinks (my all-time fav band) had more hits in the 60's than the Brothers Gibb, then fell off the radar screen for a while, but had a good resurgence in the 70's (the Sleepwalker, Superman era). Also, another band which you've neglected to mention is Pink Floyd. They released their first singles at about the same time as the Bee Gees, also fell out of favor, and then became absolutely massive in the 70's with Dark Side of the Moon and the Wall. Even if you rightfully point out that the Kinks had a strong comeback but did not generate as many big chart hits as the Bee Gees did in the 70's, I think you do have to say that Pink Floyd equaled or exceeded anything the Bee Gees achieved in that decade (yeah, I know that the Floyd didn't have as many hit singles, but to have an album on the charts for like 750 weeks, come on!). And yes, while I will give the Bee Gees their due (I do give them a spin now and again), I'd rather listen to the Kinks or Pink Floyd. And while we're talking about comebacks, don't you think it's astounding that the Beatles could have the #1 album in America 31 years after they broke up? Now that's really amazing. Goodbye, George, you've always meant a lot to me. Where is the self-proclaimed biggest XTC fan of all time (Mark Strijbos)? Can anyone provide further info about the song-writing effort that our boys are undertaking for the next (hopefully 2002 release date) album? I have not heard a word about how well Colin is coming along with his new songs. Anyone? Anything? Does anyone even have the names of any of the new songs? Mike
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2001 12:52:22 +1100 From: "Andrew Gowans" <ratwhacker@hotmail.com> Subject: Chrissymas Stuff (off topic) Message-ID: <F75fH68lH1eMYKslPSO0001027d@hotmail.com> Greetings Folks, I was browsing the web and found a site for those amongst you who collect Christmas-themed songs. Go to http://zefrank.com/ where the guy who runs the site has his own composition (I think) called 'Santa Must Have Been Drinking'. Sounds distinctly Waits/Costello to my fractured ears. Andrew Gowans
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 11:37:09 -0800 (PST) From: John Relph <relph@sgi.com> Subject: Idea Records/Weatherbox Message-ID: <200112041937.LAA19846@mando.engr.sgi.com> Folks, I ordered some CDs from the Idea Records site and I must say that I am very pleased with the service. Weatherbox must have sent my order out very quickly because I received the package in just a few days. The box was fairly well protected and the CDs all arrived in fine shape. And they threw in a complimentary CD! I can't wait for some new XTC product, like perhaps Fuzzy Warbles, Coat of Many Cupboards, or some more live stuff like Transistor Blast. -- John -- IMHOTEP! IMHOTEP! IMHOTEP!
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 21:43:55 -0700 From: "DHF2000" <dhf2000@home.com> Subject: Los Lobos Message-ID: <000101c17d48$40a8b4c0$635ffd0c@attbi.com> > Mr. Olesen asked: "I can' think of another band that has survived all > these years and flourished as XTC has. Can any of you?" > > Only Los Lobos. Some may say Sting but he's sorta boring. Los Lobos > reached a peak of growth with the album "Kiko", which I have on > vinyl, lucky me. They still do great work. -- What's even more amazing is Los Lobos has survived since the late 70's without losing any members, unlike XTC who's lost three.-- True. Even the Rolling Stones have changed personnel a bit. If XTC is the great Brit Pop band, then maybe Los Lobos is the Great American Band. Of those playing now that is. Dan
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 19:32:31 -0800 From: "Derek Christoff" <blindowl@sympatico.ca> Subject: GH Message-ID: <002801c17e06$a352ca20$7d7da8c0@christoff> "...and the time will come when you see we're all one and life flows on, within you and without you". God speed George Harrison. ~~Derek~
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 09:28:52 -0000 From: "Dewi Thompson" <dewi4@btinternet.com> Subject: What a nice start to the day! Message-ID: <000d01c17e38$6c188860$e77b79d5@dewi> I recently ordered the only 3 XTC albums I don't have (D & W, Go2, and WM) from the official site, and they arrived this morning with nice silvery autographs on the covers. Whilst I'm not usually bothered about having autographs, I can make an exception in this case! On a diffeent subject, a friend and I have just started going to an acoustic club in a pub in Sandbach (Cheshire) and I'm racking my brains trying to decide which song to do. My friend Neil reckons we should do Mayor of Simpleton but I'm not so sure. It's amazingly difficult to choose. Current ideas of mine are Dear Madam Barnum, Collideeascope, We're all light, and I'm certainly open to suggestions. Waddayathink? bye for now Dewi (still wondering how a mere mortal could write Chalkhills and Children)
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #7-62 ******************************
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