Chalkhills Digest Volume 10, Issue 30
Date: Friday, 16 July 2004

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 10, Number 30

                   Friday, 16 July 2004

Topics:

              Duncan Pizzahead came to town
                       What is pop?
                      more of Duncan
         XTC reference in the strangest of places
                   Mostly OT: a defense
                       Warner Bros.
                   Nines and Partridge
Jason Falkner + Self = the Dukes of the Silverlake? L.A. CHALKERS GET READY!
                     ATTN: L.A. fans
                    duplicating pizzas

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 07:06:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com>
Subject: Duncan Pizzahead came to town
Message-ID: <20040714140615.70322.qmail@web41103.mail.yahoo.com>

Spreading wisdom and causing frowns...

Good for you, Mr. Watt. Everything you've said needed to be said, and as an
added bonus, we have some chatter here on the 'hills again. A good number of
people seem to be missing your points, however, and maybe here's why:

You said:
> Who let this happen?
> People who didn't know, people who couldn't see it coming, and F'N IDIOTS!

I think one more type of person belongs in the group above -- and maybe
they're best grouped in the F'N IDIOTS category -- but I'd say there are a
good amount of people who *do* know, who can see it coming, and who do it
anyway because they're simply thinking about themselves, about their
wallets, and about the short-term results, without (or perhaps despite!)
considering the consequences.

Kind of like Republicans.

-Todd

When money speaks, the truth keeps silent.
                          Russian proverb

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:01:13 -0400
From: "Ben Gott" <bgott@rectoryschool.org>
Subject: What is pop?
Message-ID: <fc.00870b4a00208db03b9aca0049c07024.208dc0@rectoryschool.org>

Gang,

Steve made some absolutely fair criticisms of my post re: Britpop.  It is my
understanding that the Britpop "invasion" ended on or around 1997, perhaps
even earlier.  Current bands that come out of Britain aren't considered
"Britpop," at least here in America.  They're just considered "music to
listen to when you're relatively unhappy."

And, no, Jason Falkner isn't from Manchester, and Pernice Brothers aren't
from Swindon.  But their style of shimmery, jangly pop calls to mind the
shimmery, jangly pop from that early-1990s era.  (I'm willing to categorize
something as "Britpop" even if the musician or band isn't British, which is
a personal preference.)

As for Tears for Fears, I recall that "Break It Down Again" was a semi-tiny
hit on adult alternative radio here in the mid-1990s.  Strangely enough, the
popularity of the recent American film "Donnie Darko" (which features songs
by Tears for Fears, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Church, and others) shot a
cover version of "Mad World" to the top of everyone's consciousness a few
years ago.

Is XTC "Britpop"?  No, man.  They're XTC!

-Ben

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:42:44 -0500
From: "Kevin Brunkhorst" <brunkhorstk@hotmail.com>
Subject: more of Duncan
Message-ID: <BAY15-DAV17QOa8NlgX00026323@hotmail.com>

Duncan:

> ..yes, that's my point exactly. I've no problem with *change*! I think
> individual fee-based downloads are, generally-speaking, a great idea! You
> can even find my own material on iTunes! But the new business model that's
> replacing the old one is flawed, because nothing's being done about piracy.
> You(in the collective sense) just taught AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF YOUNG
> PEOPLE that recorded music should be FREE. Yes?

Yes.  It's the generation that's going to fail to provide for us when we're
old and feeble, too.  They can't read, mostly, and they have no concept of
responsibility.

> How would *I* have it? I'd've had people around the world realize what
> they'd be doing by encouraging worldwide piracy of intellectual property.
> (Yeah, that would have happened.) Now? It's kind of late, the tiger's
> already out of the bag and eaten most of the children. That's my point!!
> But... make filesharing of copywritten music and intellectual property to
> be *truly* illegal, and police it, internationally, with severe monetary
> penalties for ISPs individuals and orgs that run target servers (such as
> colleges). Establish true international copyright of intellectual
> property...

Intellectual property loses value the moment it is possible to duplicate it,
whether it takes the form of ideas, software, or music.  Enforcement of
those policies would add more to the price of doing business.  But the major
distribution companies are losing the battle on that, and losing interest.
It's getting to the point where it's every artist for themselves.  I'm sure
Andy doesn't get much for XTC residuals, and has probably given up - this is
incentive for him to keep pumping out other things.  The marketplace for
artists now is to sell existing catalogs of works and let the labels worry
about protecting their investments.

Duncan, I'm on your side in the sense that I agree with you.  I play music
too.  I rarely make any money at it - the $550 I got for playing a wedding
last weekend was the biggest score I've had in a while.  My jazz group
records stuff, and we give it to our friends, and we're about to
self-produce a CD.  (Being jazz, it will be that much less popular.)  I have
no illusions about making money on it - I'll be ecstatic if we don't lose
any and we get some gigs from it.

If money was my priority in this, I should've chosen something else.  I
worked as a purchasing manager for a one-stop distributor in the 90s - I
never paid for lunch, I got all the free CDs I wanted, and I got paid well
to boot.  That experience ruined any ideas I had about being a 'performing
artist' in the public sphere.
(All this is why I'm accepting a university teaching gig next month.)  I do
it for love, baby.  I've had money.  Love is better.

Kevin
http://www.kevinbrunkhorst.com

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 10:38:57 -0600
From: "Steven Paul" <spaul@armstronglaw.com>
Subject: XTC reference in the strangest of places
Message-ID: <CGEGILJOEJHFCCGOJOKKEEOLCOAA.spaul@armstronglaw.com>

I thought maybe I should call my post:
 XTC + BYU = GO 2

Given that the digests have been so sparce in the last few months, I thought
I would post an XTC reference I saw on television a few nights ago.  I was
watching the late night news when a black screen popped up and the words
"This is a COMMERCIAL for BYU FOOTBALL. . . ." printed in white font.  More
information about the upcoming season and where to call to get tickets was
also printed on the screen.  I looked at it and thought, WOW, someone at BYU
is an XTC fan.

The printed words didn't fill up the entire screen, which would have made
the correlation complete, but the reference was certainly there.  There's no
way the t.v. ad and the album cover for GO 2 were not related.  I went to
sleep happy and dreamt of myself naked in front of the whole church!  What
does that mean?

While I'm here, is there any news you readers can share about future
releases - either Warbles or new material?  I periodically scan my favorite
web pages for news, but alas, have heard none recently.

Steven R. Paul, Esq.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Mormon boy, but NOT a BYU fan!

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:24:10 -0700
From: jemiah <jemiah@q7.com>
Subject: Mostly OT: a defense
Message-ID: <61A79F20-D5CB-11D8-AAB3-0050E490AC6B@q7.com>

I missed the digest with all the replies to Duncan re: file sharing.
It's weird.

Uh, "poor kid" meant "No money for food, eating one meal a day all
throughout high school, usually at someone else's home". "Poor kid"
meant "no new shoes for three years in high school while I was still
growing." I was poor. I guess I am not poor anymore because every once
in a while I can justify getting a pint of Pabst for $1.75 (but only
one). Please, never doubt that when I say "poor", I mean "near the
bottom of the American socio-economic ladder". Even now it's a choice
between food and CDs, and I generally choose food, because that's just
me. I'm a writer; I make less than $6000 a year. I was thrilled to get
a local compliation 2-CD set for only $5; and thank god for the
library. They have "Oranges and Lemons" (currently checked out by
someone else; I am 121st on the hold waiting list).

I love XTC and I support them and I haven't bothered to go to the MP3
website that YOU SO HANDILY PROVIDED. I wasn't talking about justifying
file sharing for the entire world, only explaining the mechanism by
which I was able to hear, and re-hear, a band like XTC, which gets no
radio play. Nowadays, I would have just downloaded their tracks, and
listened to them UNTIL I COULD AFFORD TO BUY THE CD - like I have done
with countless other groups, like Buck 65 (a CD copied by a friend
turned into me searching for his MP3s until I could see him live, and
buy a CD directly from him, so that I knew that he got the entire value
of my money)... ditto Super Furry Animals... ditto Lilys... et cetera.

I compensate for my lack of being able to spend money by doing
word-of-mouth promotion that leads to album sales by groups I care
about. I turned a friend onto XTC recently and she's spent at least
$150 on rarities and staples, including all the books about the band.
This marks, oh, I dunno, the fourth time I've done that? Maybe that's
made up for the tapes of Skylarking demos I had in 1989, and my
cassette dub of "Oranges and Lemons"? (Everything else I've bought
outright... i.e. I don't have much material)

The Pizza Analogy; how does it apply? If you are starving to death,
would you steal the pizza? Even though it's against the law, and taking
money from the dude who made it? It doesn't make it right, but wouldn't
it be better if you weren't starving in the first place? Or is it
better to die with morality intact and the Pizza Dude protecting his
brand? You can, of course, argue that no one will die from a lack of
really good pop music; but dammit, I got pretty close.

MP3 is just a technology; and the sooner that the world learns how to
incorporate what it can do into compensating artists for the work they
do, the better. And Duncan, I would like to think that I am not an
idiot. I don't deny that the world is full of idiots, and I knew that
responding to you would open myself to attack. But you got me below the
belt. Ouch. I'll be sure to tell my mom that you don't think that we
were poor back in the 80s; she'll get a good chuckle out of that. In
the meantime, I'm going to listen to my 99 cent copy of "I Wonder Why
The Wonderfalls". An MP3. Can you believe it?

Back to the lurk - I only post about once every three years; see y'all
again in 2007.
Jemiah

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 18:37:21 -0400
From: Extended Playhouse <ep@inspiracy.com>
Subject: Warner Bros.
Message-ID: <5E8E4F88-D5E6-11D8-B1D2-000A9588F64C@inspiracy.com>

Not to belabour an off-topic post even further, but Paul Simon has
recorded for Warner Bros. for close to 25 years, not just for his most
recent LPs as has been implied here.

Speaking of Rhino, Those Elvis Costello reissues are wonderful because
Demon Records is responsible for them, save for a few concessions that
Rhino has bullied through, but did not deserve (i.e. non-LP tracks now
canonised as part of the official LP tracklistings, a US sleeve that
only existed in the first place due to a whim by a Columbia Records
rep). I think Rhino's main involvement is putting Rhino logos on the
finished product, making sure that mistakes by Columbia Records are
deified eternally, and in taking credit for the entire reissue campaign.

Rodney @ ep

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

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 22:10:45 +0100
From: basher132 <basher132@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Nines and Partridge
Message-ID: <2004714221045.436199@hppav>

Hello all,

	this popped up on the Audities power pop list. Beneath is the
reply I got when asking permission to post to Chalkhills. I seem to
recall that the Nines have been mentioned here. Anybody confirm?

Cheers,

	John.

N.P. Kevin Kellys' CD of the Month

>From: basher132 <basher132@yahoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: audities@smoe.org
>To: david henwood <audities@smoe.org>
>Subject: Re: The Nines
>Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 12:27:12 +0100
>
>On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 14:15:21 -0400, david henwood wrote:
> > Just thought I would pass this plug on to the auditees group or
> > those living in or coming to Toronto this week.
> > Canada's The Nines are playing a show in Toronto this Friday July
> > 9th at the Cameron House. The band according to their mail list
> > will be in the opening slot so will be on around 10 pm.
> > I also have been told that the Nines will be releasing a new album
> > this summer after a 3 year break and that they have been in
> > communication with a few labels including Andy Partridge of XTC who
> > is looking at potentially releasing the new album on his private
> > label. David

From: david henwood <henwooddavid@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: The Nines
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:02:16 -0400

I know that the Nines are releasing a new record as I have been in
contact with the lead singer Steve Eggers. I heard a rumour that they
were in communications with Andy Partridge and when I saw Steve at a
show in Toronto he simply said that yes he had been talking with Andy
and that they were looking at various options for releasing the new
album.

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

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 06:51:40 EDT
From: XTCGO2@aol.com
Subject: Jason Falkner + Self = the Dukes of the Silverlake? L.A. CHALKERS
Message-ID: <155.399c8b95.2e27bbbc@aol.com>

GET READY!
This from Jason Falkners camp:

Jason will play with the Dukes of Silverlake, a Dukes of
Stratosphear  (XTC side-project from the mid-eighties) cover
band, on Tuesday, July 27 at  Spaceland in Silverlake, California.
The band will perform the "25 O'Clock"  EP in its entirety. Other
members performing are Matt Mahaffey (of Self) and  various
members of the 88. Mahaffey reports: "We'll all be playing
musical chairs throughout the set & no one instrument will be
touched by the same hands twice! This truly is a marvel of
catastrophic  proportions not to be missed!"

Check with  http://www.jasonfalkner.net/tours soon for ticket info.

This from Self's camp:  (a really great band if you have never heard  any!)

HELLO...... i know most of you don't live in Los Angeles. However, I must
inform you that I, Matt mahaffey, am playing with the Dukes Of Silverlake at
Spaceland on July 27th. we are a Dukes Of Stratosphear (XTC side-project
from the mid- eighties) cover band & will be performing the "25 o'clock"
e.p. in all it's glory & splendor. The band consists of myself, Jason
Faulkner, & various members of the 88. we'll all be playing musical chairs
throughout the set & no one instrument will be touched by the same hands
twice! This truly is a marvel of catastrophic proportions not to be missed!
so, if you're an XTC fan or a friend of one, I suggest you crawl out from
your rock. THANK YOU *mm.

Let's hope someone is taping this!

Jealous,

Erich

PS  Saw the Finn Brothers opening night of their US tour in  Seattle!
Unreal!  A must see anywhere on this planet if  possible!  Next up
July, 21st here in Minneapolis!  See  you  there!

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

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 15:33:23 -0700
From: "JK in L.A." <jbkxtc@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: ATTN: L.A. fans
Message-ID: <00fd01c46abb$bd6ef290$2360fea9@johnjulie>

Good evening ladies & gentlemen and all the ships at sea ... THIS JUST
IN!!!!!

>Subject: The Dukes of Silverlake
>
>From Matt Mahaffey of Self:
>
>HELLO...... i know most of you don't live in los angeles. however, i
>must inform you that i, matt mahaffey, am playing with the Dukes Of
>Silverlake at Spaceland on July 27th. we are a Dukes Of Stratosphear
>(XTC side-project from the mid- eighties) cover band & will be
>performing the "25 o'clock" e.p. in all it's glory & splendor. The band
>consists of myself, jason faulkner, & various members of the 88. we'll
>all be playing musical chairs throughout the set & no one instrument
>will be touched by the same hands twice! this truly is a marvel of
>catastrophic preportions not to be missed! so, if you're an XTC fan or a
>friend of one, i suggest you crawl out from your rock. THANK YOU *mm.

Oh, lordy, this should be AMAZING.  Should all the Chalkhillians wear a
special item to identify ourselves?  This may be the only time we'll every
(hopefully) get together in one place!

Hope to see everyone there.

JK

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

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:07:54 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: duplicating pizzas
Message-ID: <BD2A5AF1.E924%cauldron@together.net>

on 7/14/04 9:06 AM, Chalkhills at owner-chalkhills@chalkhills.org wrote:

> But what if, all of a sudden, you could just 'beam' his pizza, without his
> permission, right onto your TV tray? Every time he makes a pizza, someone
> just TAKES THE GODDAMN THING. Let's be fair, people can still go to his
> place, and pay, so he sells maybe 20% of his pizzas, right?
>
> How much longer is he going to make pizza? DON'T JUST BLOW THIS OFF, HOW
> MUCH LONGER? How many kids are going to want to grow up to have a pizza
> place? Moreover, HOW GOOD IS THE PIZZA GOING TO BE IN THE FUTURE? The
> business model changes. Pizza-makers will make pizzas as loss-leaders for
> something you CAN'T just 'beam' up. Following me?

A more accurate analogy would be acquiring the pizza however you do(pay for
it, have it given to you, steal it, whatever) then taking it home where you
have a pizza-burner that can replicate infinite numbers of exact duplicates
of the pizza that you can do whatever you want with. Meanwhile the pizza guy
keeps making his pizzas, and you just burn exact copies whenever you want.

  The thing to remember is a music CD contains a digital copy of the music
which can be replicated infinite times with little if any reduction in sound
quality. That was already the case before the Internet was in vogue, but CD
duplication technology was hard to come by. A musician has two choice in
protecting his work; prosecute those he catches with bootleg copies of his
music, zero tolerance(which wouldn't make him many friends), or consider the
CD package, the liner notes, the artwork, everything, part of the package.
When you're buying the CD, you're not just buying music, you're buying an
entire package. If you just want the music, no frills, no information, no
artwork, then go ahead, take the time to download the whole album. On my 56k
modem it takes long enough that it's probably better to just buy the damn
thing.

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #10-30
*******************************

Go back to Volume 10.

16 July 2004 / Feedback