Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 2

                 Monday, 12 January 2004

Topics:

                 Crap Towns and Starbucks
                       best of '03
                    Re: What a Maroon
                    My faves for 2003
                    Return of The Clan
             Another, yawn - best of list...
                        Vulnerable
                      Kirsty MacColl

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Digging for her sweet love and I can't waste time.

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Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 04:07:22 EST
From: Coelocanth23@aol.com
Subject: Crap Towns and Starbucks
Message-ID: <15d.2ae4b62e.2d268eca@aol.com>

In a message dated 02/01/2004 00:54:33 GMT Standard Time,
<owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org> writes:

> In the excellent new publication 'Crap Towns', I am shocked to find
> that Swindon is missing from the top 50. Not only that, but even the
> website www.craptowns.com fails to feature it, despite references to
> where I work (London) and live (Winchester - listed as 5th crappest
> town in the UK). I feel I may have to visit Swindon this weekend to
> compile a list of evidence against it - and while I'm about it, I may
> as well nominate Andover en route.

***See, I rather like Winchester....very pretty.  For *real*
crappitude, you should go down the road a bit to Southampton - where
I'm currently exiled. If ever there was a crap town, no personality,
unfriendly, devoid of any cultural personality (Craig David, Aqualung,
Benny Hill and the bloody Titanic.....not vastly inspiring, is it?)
and having one of the ugliest town centres *ever* FACT, Southampton is
it.

Starbucks must have an "approved" Xmas tape....Apart from Thanks For
Christmas it also contains Kate Bush's December Will be Magic and the
Cocteau Twins Frosty The Snow Man......marvellous.

Love Will....x

PS.....hi again, dunno if anyone's around from yonks back, but I've
been away a while. So....I used to be Squidly from Sheffield and
Skellington from Southampton (depending on which address I was using)
and it's nice to be back......

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

Date: Fri, 02 Jan 2004 06:45:36 -0500
From: "Danny Phipps" <phipps@schoollink.net>
Subject: best of '03
Message-ID: <web-52126169@schoollink.net>

(de-lurk)

my personal best for '03:

the beatles:  let it be...naked
andy partridge:  FW 3 & 4  (to be cont'd.)
elliott smith:  figure of 8 (rest in peace, elliott)
cracker:  forever
steely dan:  everything must go
cheap trick:  special one
sloan:  between the bridges
various:  concert for george
spock's beard:  feel euphoria
porcupine tree:  in absentia
ambeon:  fate of a dreamer
nrbq:  live at the wax museum w/ john sebastian
eva cassidy:  american tune
the thorns:  the thorns / summer session
becki digregorio:  god's empty chair
ride:  carnival of lights
the lilac time:  compendium - the fontana trinity
beck:  sea change
steve hackett:  darktown
ringo starr:  ringo rama
paul mccartney:  the complete oobu joobu radio series
big head todd and the monsters:  beautiful world
rick wakeman:  xm satellite radio broadcast...03.18.03
radiohead:  hail to the thief
david sylvian:  everything & nothing
fleetwood mac:  say you will
richard ashcroft:  human conditions
grandaddy:  sumday
the fraternal order of the all:  greetings from planet love
peter blegvad:  peter who?  ("king strut" promo)
yazbek:  tock

...and the list goes on and on.

peace out, all --

/danny

(back to lurk)

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

Date: Fri, 02 Jan 2004 10:59:49 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Re: What a Maroon
Message-ID: <BC1AFFA5.BE23%cauldron@together.net>

on 1/1/04 7:50 PM, Chalkhills at <owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org> wrote:
>  Interestingly, there is a historian named Halliday
> who pointed out that Thomas Jefferson's children with Sally Hemmings were
> 1/8 African.  He speculates that this may have been one of the reasons why
> our third president, who was incurably "racist", would not have had any
> qualms about fathering children with Hemmings.  In his mind, he wasn't
> producing African children, they were "white".  Halliday goes further to
> speculate that Jefferson may have thought he was doing Hemmings a favor by
> fathering her children. However, because Hemmings was a slave, so too would
> her children be.  Unless I am mistaken though, the only slaves Jefferson
> freed at his death were the children of Hemmings.  I know this has very
> little to do with XTC. However, I'd like to think that Andy may be
> interested in this topic, what with one of the best songs on African slavery
> ever written by him, Human Alchemy.

My father was the historian for the Monticello Association and did most of
the research on the Hemmings case. The idea that Jefferson fathered
Hemmings' children comes from the fact that the research my father and
others did concluded that based on DNA evidence from Jefferson's uncle(DNA
can only reliably be traced through the male body rather than the female for
some reason) there was a DNA match between Jefferson's uncle and Hemmings'
youngest son only(out of a total of six children). This means that any close
relative of Field Jefferson(the uncle) could have fathered Sally Hemmings'
children, including Thomas Jefferson as well as a number of first cousins.
The media, of course, idiots that most of them are, took that to mean that
it was a certainty that Jefferson was the father, they couldn't be bothered
with "might be" details, there's no story in that.

  I'm a descendant of Jefferson myself, that's how my father got to be
historian, combined with his tenure as a professor of history for
twenty-five years. I'm really ticked off at both the media and certain
people on both sides of the issue who have a political axe to grind. There
are conservatives in my family who want the Hemmings issue to just go away
and have a vested interest in keeping the Jefferson legacy lily-white and
free of controversy, they don't even want to speculate that there MIGHT be
some validity to the Hemmings descendants oral tradition that Jefferson
fathered one of their ancestors. On the other side is a few troublemakers in
the family who have political reasons of their own to muscle through an
unconditional acceptance of the Hemmings clan as full recognised members of
the family without any further debate. Unfortunately the conservatives won
without giving serious thought to alternative proposals, such as my father's
proposal that we accept the Hemmings descendants as associate members based
on their relationship to the family through Jefferson's wife(Sally Hemmings
was the product of an illegitimate union between Jefferson's father-in-law
and a half black half white slave, making Sally his wife's half-sister). My
father's proposal fell on deaf ears on both sides, and he ended up losing
the election partly due to the fact that the board of trustees wanted out of
the way anybody who didn't back burying the Hemmings issue for good. I'm
embarassed to be related to these people. I've met some of the Hemmings
descendants, most of them I'd be proud to have as members of my family(some
are more black than white, others vice versa), because a few people on both
sides were unwilling to compromise they'll never have the chance to bring
the subject up again at an association meeting.

  Sorry to be longwinded, but I thought I'd clear up something on which the
media wants the general public to just swallow the soundbytes and go back to
sleep.

Chris Coolidge

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

Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 11:04:06 -0700
From: Phil Corless <phil@pkmeco.com>
Subject: My faves for 2003
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20040107105908.02126740@pop.mindspring.com>

Here's what I was listening to in 2003:

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Thorns - The Thorns
Pernice Brothers - Yours, Mine and Ours
New Pornographers - Electric Version
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Pearlfishers - Sky Meadows
Bleu - Redhead
Rooney - Rooney
Owsley - The Hard Way
Elvis Costello - North
Clay Aiken - Measure of a Man
Mandy Moore - Coverage
Neal Morse - Testimony
Model Rockets - Pilot Country Suite
The Beatles - Let It Be... Naked
Steve Burns - Songs for Dustmites
Michael Carpenter - Kings Rd Wks
Travis - 12 Memories
Phillips & Driver - Togetherness
The Long Winters - When I Pretend To Fall
Guided By Voices - Earthquake Glue
The Concert for George
David Bowie - Reality
Chris Rice - Run The Earth Watch The Sky

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

Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2004 18:51:50 -0800
From: "Pastula Aaron" <pastula12@hotmail.com>
Subject: Return of The Clan
Message-ID: <BAY7-F14zUS6ON23IC600009768@hotmail.com>

Just another reminder, kids...

Clan MacPartridge, San Francisco's best-loved XTC tribute band, will be
plugging in, turning up, and rocking out on Friday, January 16th at Kimo's,
located on the corner of Polk and Pine.  Doors open around 9pm, and we're
slated to hit the ground running at 10:30.  This gives you plenty of time
for imbibing before we begin, no?

A few changes have been made to accomodate the set in this, our second gig.
Look for yours truly to blaze through the lyrics to "Optimism's Flames" with
blind, foolish ferocity; for guitarist Christopher to wield his
double-necked Danelectro deftly across the plains of settlements English and
seas of black; for second guitarist Mike to command his Bizarro-Gregory
riffs into brazen submission; and for drummer Will to provide the fantastic,
sticky rhythmic treacle that binds us all together.

No, we're not the best band in the world.  But we play their music.

Hope to see you there...

Aaron, Christopher, Mike and Will.

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

Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 10:50:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Wes Long <optimismsflames@yahoo.com>
Subject: Another, yawn - best of list...
Message-ID: <20040109185046.69270.qmail@web14909.mail.yahoo.com>

I enjoyed seeing all your lists, there were a good
number of things that I've not heard - but will check
out post-haste!

The few things I'd like to add to the sure-thang lists
of Fountains of Wayne, Grandaddy, White Stripes and
such are as follows:

The Bad Plus ~ These Are the Vistas:
a brilliant jazz combo with a freakishly baddass
drummer. Their original compositions are imaginative
and wonderful; they also cover Nirvana and Blondie
with equal aplomb. Check them out @ All Music:
http://www.allmusic.com I defy you to find a less than
sterling review of this band.

The Flaming Lips ~ Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell:
Okay, technically an EP, mostly comprised of remixes
from their 2002 album; easily worth the cash for a
song called "Sunship Balloons" alone - imagine the
Lips doing an Eric Matthews tune with a bit of XTC
background bits. The remixes are super-cool too.

The Stills ~ Logic Will Break Your Heart:
Reminds me of the stuff that made me erect in the
early 80's - often compared to Echo & the Bunnymen &
Joy Division... you know, *that* sort of stuff.

Television ~ Marquee Moon:
Remastered with 5 fantastic bonus tracks!! Easily in
my top 20 albums of all-time.

Lastly - this year I finally discovered early Bowie. A
dear friend at EMI sent me every Bowie CD from the
remastered series. I'd always had a passing respect,
but DAMN - The Man Who Sold the World & Hunky Dory are
phenomenally grand albums which are HIGHLY
recommended. Though I'm probably the only one here who
didn't know that prior to last year.

That's pretty much my bit,

wesLONG
www.optismsflames.com

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

Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 15:22:20 -0500
From: John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>
Subject: Vulnerable
Message-ID: <200401112022.i0BKMKv31209@f5.idiot-dog.com>

Folks,

I was driving back from my bluegrass gig last night (The Shaw Brothers
and Pete Milano band with special guest Yours Truly on mandolin) and I
tuned in to WPFW 89.3 FM because they were playing something quiet and
vaguely jazzy and hiphoppy.  Not bluegrass.  After a few tunes I
discovered that they had named Tricky's "Vulnerable" album one of the
ten best for 2003.  (I still haven't heard it.)  In honor of that they
played his cover of "Dear God".  He manages to do the entire song
using only the first four chords of the XTC version.  It's a bit
strange in that sometimes it sounds as if the female vocalist didn't
quite know the words, but they decided to keep the take for whatever
reason.  Sirens in the background, Tricky trademark dark and drum.
All in all I didn't think it was nearly as bad as I had been led to
believe by other posters to this list.  Not that I'm going to run out
and buy the CD, but ... then again, perhaps I might.

So, beside's Johan's "Pergola", what else is worth listening to these
days?  Anybody hear the new one from Electric Soft Parade yet?

	-- John

NP: Aimee Mann, Lost in Space

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

Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 08:38:04 -0500
From: "Ben Gott" <bgott@rectoryschool.org>
Subject: Kirsty MacColl
Message-ID: <fc.00870b4a0019f03500870b4a0019f035.19f057@rectoryschool.org>

Hey, all:

I just wanted to share this with you.  My friend Jenny from Bowdoin
has a little brother, Nick, who is 14.  What an age to start listening
to great music, ain't it?  In any case, the last time I visited them
(a few weekends ago), I played some of our favourite tunes for Nick:
XTC (he loves "Nonsuch"), Jason Falkner, Jellyfish, and the like.  I
played Kirsty MacColl's "A New England" for him as well.  Last night,
after I e-mailed him the track names for Michael Penn's "March," he
sent me the following e-mail:

> thanks.  michael penn is sean penn's brother?!  i didn't know that at all.
> oh right.  one more question.  i've been trying to download songs by kirsti
> macCall.  but then it occurred to me.  i have no idea how to spell her name.
> Kirsti McColl?  Kirsty McColl?  Kirsti MacColl?  Kirsty MacColl?  Kirsti
> McCall?  Kirsty McCall?  Kirsti MacCall?  Kirsty MacCall?  Christy McColl?
> Christy McCall?  Christy MacColl?  Christy MacCall?  anyway, the point is, i
> don't know how to spell her name.  could you please assist me with this?

I got a nice chuckle out of that.  I'm sending him a copy of "Galore"
tomorrow.

-B

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End of Chalkhills Digest #10-2
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