Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 12
Date: Monday, 15 March 2004
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 12
Monday, 15 March 2004
Topics:
"Wonderfalls"
COMC Science Friction
Making Plans For Nigel
How did you get into XTC?
Some Thanks & Recommendations, and calling Marty Fopp
Other Recordings from King-for-a-Day-ers?
"Big Time"
bass player wants to jam on XTC
Black and Wyatt
Washington Post Loves Wonderfalls
Following through on my threat from earlier today....
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD
Terry's gorilla-on-crack kitwork
Big Time
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Green eyed monster with his jaws spread wide.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 10:39:30 -0500 From: Benjamin Gott <bgott@rectoryschool.org> Subject: "Wonderfalls" Message-ID: <1F6E674F-72A9-11D8-B84B-0003931489DA@rectoryschool.org> Kids, > Popping pills is really stupefying > Gets your curling when you could be flying I thought it was "Gets you crawling when you could be flying." And whoever said that the song gets stuck in your head -- yes, it most definitely does! I work with an Englishman who went home last week to go visit his parents. When he saw me at the end-of-term party the night before he left, he said, "Remember that Andy Partridge video you played for me? The song is on iTunes, y'know." I told him that I did know, and that I downloaded it. "If I had an iPod," he said, "I would play that song over and over, all the way from here to England." -Ben (on day FIVE of the wisdom teeth recovery parade!)
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 15:00:26 -0800 (PST) From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com> Subject: COMC Science Friction Message-ID: <20040310230026.1131.qmail@web13423.mail.yahoo.com> Attention Trainspotters: The subject translates into Coat of Many Cupboards - Science Friction, being the lead-off track on Disc one. I have been doing some research on things and this is NOT as claimed on COMC a CBS Demo. XTC never recorded Science Friction for CBS they did Statue Of Liberty instead along with Star Park, Monkey Woman and Tired Of Waiting (Kinks Cover). Soon after they had a second session where they laid down Traffic Light Rock, Saturn Boy, She's So Square and Neon Shuffle. So no SciFri. I believe Science Friction as it appears on COMC is from the XTC financed demos that were recorded in August 1976 at Sun Studios in Reading. This would be about 2 months after Steve Hutchins was booted from the band and Andy started as the singer, thus you can see why AP might not sound quite like himself. That would be Jon Perkins on keyboards then and not Barry as well. The other songs demoed at this time were Refrigeration Blues, Quicksilver, Hang On To The Night, Spinning Top and She's So Square. If Virgin or the band had the tape of this for COMC hopefully the rest of the tracks will see the light of day, perhaps on the Warbles. Just thought you all might be interested. It made my week frankly. Peace Mole
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 19:53:00 -0500
From: Steve Dockery <sdockery@mac.com>
Subject: Making Plans For Nigel
Message-ID: <71C9E899-72F6-11D8-853E-0003930F3416@mac.com>
Hi Folkz-
I managed to find online and download a video for "Making Plans For
Nigel" which I assume many of you have seen, but I have never laid eyes
on before. As the band plays (seemingly on some kind of game board), a
young man is brought in, examined, experimented on, and assigned a
career ("clerk") by the end. Through the whole video, Andy is looning
about in a painted-on smile, managing to evoke both The Joker and Danny
Elfman at the same time.
On a technical note, the original clip is an MPG, and the sound doesn't
sync up for some reason. I opened it up in Quicktime and saved it as a
DV stream to import into iMovie (hoping to move the audio around), and
the sound went away entirely. Hmmm. So I trimmed off the interview
footage and stuck in the actual Nigel track from the album, and once I
got it lined up properly, it stayed stayed in sync the entire time
(anyone who's ever tried to match these sorts of things up understands
my amazement).
Here's my question: At the beginning of the clip, before the video
proper starts up, there's a bit of an interview with Colin wherein he
talks about the song. Anybody know where this clip comes from
originally?
-Steve
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 23:09:07 -0500 From: "Bram and Bill" <bramnbill@rcn.com> Subject: How did you get into XTC? Message-ID: <FHEEINHIGKCGCIPNKMMIIEEICCAA.bramnbill@rcn.com> A great query Thomas! My best friend Shawn and I were standing on the bus stop after school one day. I was a sophomore in high school...anyway Shawn, who was this cooler than cool freshman (the term 'cool freshman' was supposed to be an oxymoron, but not in this case.) informed me that XTC's English Settlement had been released that day and he was going to go to the record shop and pick himself up a copy. I said, "XTwhat?" He informed me of what a great band they were, and that he would lend me a tape of their stuff. The next day he loaned me a copy of GO2. A bit of a mistake that. To this day it is my least favorite XTC album, (Though Meccanik Dancing is quite a fun romp!) I immediately wrote them off. A few months later, while my parents were out of town, I threw a party. Shawn came and brought Black Sea for me to spin. I saw that it was this XTC band, and chose not to play it that night. I could say that Shawn forgot to take the record home because he drank too much, but he didn't drink. He was just that cool. Anyway, the next day I saw that he had left it behind and so I decided to give them another try. It was "Love at First Sight," or 'listen' in this case. I have been hooked ever since. I can honestly say I grew up with them and they with me. Their music has been with me on my travels through this world, time and space...Shawn died his freshman year of college. Was his a life lived in vain? I think not. Bill
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 10:40:06 +0000 (UTC) From: rappard@freeshell.org Subject: Some Thanks & Recommendations, and calling Marty Fopp Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.58.0403110938390.14457@sdf.lonestar.org> Geehrter Kreideberger! First off many thanks to Bill Loring (who posted the link to the Wonderfalls video) and Adam Davies (who transcribed the lyrics) - it is indeed (to quote Bill) "a catchy little tune". Onwards ho to some recommendations I haven't seen yet (or might have missed, in which case I apologize): Barry Andrews' son, Finn, has a band The Veils (http://www.theveils.com/) - it's not really my cup of tea but I think a fair number of Chalkheads would get a kick out of the (admittedly very well-crafted) Britpop he produces. What is my cup of tea is the excellent Franz Ferdinand - their s/t debut album is on solid rotation at Casa Van Rappard (i.e. my cubicle), and their show last week in Amsterdam was hands down one of the best I've seen (grandpa mode: "and mind you, I've seen a lot!"). A good review is here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/f/franz-ferdinand/franz-ferdinand.shtml And I second everyone's recommendation for The Shins (plugged many a times here by lots of people): they're catchy as ****! And while I'm hogging the mike: if Marty Fopp is still on this list, could you contact me off-list? Thanks! Cheers, Martin
------------------------------ Date: 11 Mar 2004 15:51:49 -0000 From: "Peter Rogers" <khm37q002@sneakemail.com> Subject: Other Recordings from King-for-a-Day-ers? Message-ID: <9799-94141@sneakemail.com> Hi all -- Longtime lurker, first-time de-lurker... I've been listening to the "King for a Day" compilation for a couple of months now, and I'm really enjoying it. I was hoping to track down some other recordings from some of the contributors (okay, actually from *many* of the contributors, but especially from Robert Wegman, Randy Christopher, and whoever was involved in "the Morningwood Brothers' Auxiliary"). I found Dane Petersen's site, and noted that he's coming out with an EP pretty soon (w00t!), but everybody else seems pretty ungooglable. Any tips on tracking down some other recordings from these folks? Oh, and while I'm here, anybody have any recommendations for bands to check out at South by Southwest? :) ~ thanks for the eartime ~ =-p-= -- peter rogers @ work | http://www.austinimprov.com/hujhax
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 11:43:50 -0500 From: Benjamin Gott <bgott@rectoryschool.org> Subject: "Big Time" Message-ID: <465EEE0A-737B-11D8-B91E-0003931489DA@rectoryschool.org> Yo, Is it only in America where the Ford Motor Company is using Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" to advertise cars? Doesn't that seem a little...um...inappropriate? I mean, does Ford expect to win over prospective customers by showing off the bulge in its big big big big big big big big big big big big big big big? Apparently so. Let's use "Pink Thing" to sell Pepto Bismol! -Ben (day SEVEN of wisdom teeth lovin'!)
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:21:11 -0800 (PST) From: Dan Wasser <crimsonkng@yahoo.com> Subject: bass player wants to jam on XTC Message-ID: <20040311212111.94552.qmail@web61110.mail.yahoo.com> I live in Gaithersburg, MD (outside of Washington, D.C.) and was wondering if there are any lurkers out there that would like to jam on some XTC. I know four XTC songs but suspect that if you're a musician that likes XTC, then you might like (and want to jam on) some other songs that I know, too. Then She Appeared Mayor of Simpleton Playground Love on a Farmboy's Wages Go here for more info: http://www.81x.com/crimsonkng/BassPlayer Dan (Hopefully, John won't mind if I post this once in a while.)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 07:17:24 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Black and Wyatt
Message-ID: <BC767D4E.CB83%cauldron@together.net>
Carl R. Snow wrote:
> I think it would be lovely to hear Robert Wyatt cover a few XTC gems ... Has
> he had anything going on (ever) w/ him? (seems everyone else does) ...
I think Robert Wyatt would do a wonderfully original version of "River Of
Orchids" his own way, which would still in its way compare favorably with
the original, like what he did with Peter Gabriel and Elvis Costello("Biko"
and "Shipbuilding," respectively). Andy Partridge is a hard songwriter to
cover properly. Takes someone as talented and original as he is. I have a
dirgeish cover of my own of "All Of A Sudden(It's Too Late)" on four track
cassette somewhere, I don't know if it does the original justice, but it's
certainly different, like Leonard Cohen with a Korg Poly 6(even in '85 when
I recorded it that keyboard was already a dinosaur, it had some really warm
string pad sounds though- it was good for that). I don't know if anyone who
isn't a serious XTC fan could stand to listen to it.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 11:59:23 EST
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Washington Post Loves Wonderfalls
Message-ID: <149.23ec8fcb.2d83466b@aol.com>
Tom Shales, highly influential TV critic of the Washington Post, put
up a glowing review of Wonderfalls today. I'd give you a link, but the
swine now demand that you register before you read their site.
Shales says, among many other warm-and-fuzzy things:
"Wonderfalls" is a prime example of risk-taking originality, a
brassy blast of fresh air any way you look at it, though the
best way is sitting in a chair or on a couch with a clear view
of the screen. It's especially welcome in a TV season heavy
with tedium. It's bright and nimble and sneaky-funny, like Fox's
"Arrested Development" and several other trailblazing Fox shows
before it.
And he never uses the word "quirky"!
So all this bodes well that maybe if Dame Fortune has got the cogs
turning just right, 39 seconds of an actual Andy Partridge tune will
insinuate itself into millions of homes Fridays at nine o'clock from
now until Cancellation Do Us Part. What a concept.
In other reviews, Heather Havrilesky at Salon wondered why it's always
the cute chicks in their early twenties who get to talk to
supernatural beings (Wonderfalls, Joan of Arcadia, Tru Calling). She
speculates that maybe it's because at the casting calls it's the cute
chicks in their early twenties who look so good in those
chocolate-brown velvet ass-pants. (http://fox.com/wonderfalls) She
goes on, "And if spirits from the great beyond are going to spend
their time hanging out with some mere mortal, I guess it's
understandable that they'd like the mortal to have dewy, baby-soft
skin and minty-fresh breath." Amen, sister.
I just love the word "ass-pants" and undertake to use it in every
sentence I utter today.
Harrison "Government of the ass-pants, by the ass-pants, for the
ass-pants, shall not perish from the ass-pants" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:44:31 EST From: Hbsherwood@aol.com Subject: Following through on my threat from earlier today.... Message-ID: <90.438dd627.2d83893f@aol.com> It was in Barstow at the edge of the desert when the ass-pants began to take hold. ----- It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife in ass-pants. ----- Let us go then, you and I, while the night is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized in ass-pants on a table. ----- Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ass-pants. ----- If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had ass-pants, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. ----- She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in ass-pants, she was always Lolita. ----- As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic pair of ass-pants. ----- All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own ass-pants. ----- And finally.... Orange and lemon Ass-pants roll and tumble Together, just liked fruit tipped from a tray ----- Harrison "If I can't go slightly unhinged on a Friday afternoon, I don't want to be part of your revolution" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:54:15 EST From: Hbsherwood@aol.com Subject: OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD Message-ID: <19a.21a89191.2d838b87@aol.com> Google the word "ass-pants." Fifth entry in the search return is the Fox Wonderfalls site. F*ck, I can't make stuff like this up. Oh lord, I'm going to die, I can't breathe in, I'm laughing too hard. Harrison "What dark forces do conspire/To put your ass-pants on the wire?" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 20:29:19 -0800 (PST) From: Ryan Anthony <hamsterranch@yahoo.com> Subject: Terry's gorilla-on-crack kitwork Message-ID: <20040313042919.61151.qmail@web10107.mail.yahoo.com> Old business: Thanks to Peter of Shabby Road Media for the Andy-paints-BBC6 tip. It was an enjoyable show, even though the music (which I've already got) could have been cut back in favor of more talk. More old business: I was introduced to XTC in the 1979-81 frame by "Jonathan L." Rosen, who had a weekly progressive music show on one of Tucson's mainstream rock FM radio stations. The "open format" era was closing, and KLPX's playlist was shrinking down to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Rush, and ZZ Top, but it had great special-interest shows devoted to comedy, to metal, and to Jonathan L.'s picks of the best of the new vinyl he had received the previous week in his capacity as publisher of *The NewsReal*, a monthly music tabloid (for which I drew cartoons). Jonathan L. assaulted me relentlessly with XTC, at least once per show, until I sat up and took notice. More than Andy's vocals or Colin's songs (Colin's stuff got the majority of what little airplay XTC enjoyed in those days) or Barry's cheesy organ or, later, Dave's guitar, it was Terry's gorilla-on-crack kitwork that initially got my attention. I hadn't heard the like since the prime of Keith Moon. Ryan Anthony An independent Internet content provider Now playing: Pig Bag. Just kidding. All my Pig Bag is on vinyl, and at present there's no working turntable in the house. But thank you, Jonathan L, for Pig Bag as well as XTC and the Dukes.
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 06:30:56 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Versaci <michael_versaci@yahoo.com> Subject: Big Time Message-ID: <20040315143056.19117.qmail@web20418.mail.yahoo.com> Folxtc, Here in America, they have started to use the Peter Gabriel song "Big Time" to sell the gas-guzzling road-hogging ostentatious Lincoln Navigator. At first I found it annoying, but then my wife pointed out the sheer irony of it all... Michael Versaci
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #10-12 *******************************
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