Chalkhills Digest Volume 11, Issue 43
Date: Thursday, 11 August 2005
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 11, Number 43
Thursday, 11 August 2005
Topics:
Somesuch
Re: Jammin' wif Andy
Melt The Goons
nits for the picking
Bad apples affecting the pure
Hair-splitting Update
Brian Wilson show
XTC *live* across the web!
Dead Horse.
Andy P Interview
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Hey it's Alan Burston tonight!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 03:13:24 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Somesuch Message-ID: <20050810021324.48351.qmail@web86901.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Hi there Firstly, I have recently been following with some zeal, the erudite comments about the songwriting process, from the freshly-emergent Simon Knight of this parish. Good stuff. Simon's personal blog/journal contains some excellent examples of these. Whatever else, I've always admired and respected - and indeed, enjoyed - his essays on this subject. Which brings me to a recommendation for a new book: "Songwriters Speak", by Debbie Kruger. She interviews various songriters about the genesis of their best-known songs (there is also a companion CD with audio samples of her conversations). I suppose it's a bit like "Song Stories" or "Revolution In The Head". Being an Australian tome (and it *is* just that - like a bloody door-stop!), it is by its nature Aussie-centric. But I know that quite a few subscribers to this list enjoy the work of such as the Finn Brothers and Paul Kelly, just two (three?) of many respected song-crafters featured in the book. A search of amazon.com might yield you a result... Secondly, there's been this chucklesome to-ing & fro-ing lately: John Morrish <morrish@ukf.net> wrote: > > Without lowering the tone too much, can I just point > out that, according to the indispensable Cassell > Dictionary of Slang, nonesuch/ nonsuch was an > 18th/19th century term for vagina. That's interesting. Not to take anything away from that, I recall seeing an interview that Andy did on MTV - back in the early 90s - in which he pointed out that the castle on the cover of the Nonsuch album bleonged to King Henry VIII, and was indeed called Nonsuch. So... How many "indeeds" did this posting include? What's another word for "Thesaurus"? Paul
------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 22:27:41 -0500 From: Chris Derfler <cdpine@xnet.com> Subject: Re: Jammin' wif Andy Message-ID: <2e42f512a26f824780ad0e31e42c947c@xnet.com> Wow... having read Del's note about jamming with Andy I'm thinking how right my intuitions were, just slightly off on timing and location. My wife and I made our European vacation-ending pilgrimage to Swindon, arriving on Monday July 25th without a clue, just following the Town Centre signs and landing at the Holiday Inn EXPRESS on Fleet in the old part of town. (Sadly I left the helpful suggestions from a couple Chalksters at home.) So we checked in and then went down to Edwards to eat, drink and inquire about the fabulous ones. Even more sadly we asked no fewer than 7 young people, including a clerk at HVM where I bought the only XTC CD in the bin (Fossil Fuel), and none of them knew of the band. The next day Fletcher of Fletcher's said that it's simply XTC was/is much more popular in the US and Canada, but I'm still baffled. So we walked over to STEAM and then drove to Uffington and then after dinner (at a place called Savoy, a block or so up from the weird eyeball clock) I heard live music and pulled my ever patient wife into a pub. (It probably wasn't the Roaring Donkey but I like to think it was.) And at their simple open mike night I heard a very talented trio do three songs and all we could think was wouldn't it be cool if all of a sudden Andy and/or Colin asked to sit in. Alas, we missed that opportunity it seems by only 5 days. The next day I was trying to navigate rainy morning rush hour traffic to Heathrow from the wrong side of the car on the other side of the road shifting with the sinister hand, and all of a sudden we were 6 hours and 3500 miles away from the Chalkhills. As Fletcher said the day before, Swindon isn't very pretty, but the people are very nice. We had a short but great time there, it capped off 28 days all over Britain and the Continent, and I only hope the Meeting/Festival in September exposes some of the locals to the treasures that came from right under their feet. As for the discussion of the politics etc. in the XTC library, I think we're all pretty aware of the power in the poetry. Across the board, from the simple to the sublime, from the pastoral to the industrial XTC nails the essence of everything from love to war to everyday life again and again with spectacular, moving imagery and pure melody, harmony and rhythm. My wife and I have one thing engraved in our wedding bands: Stupidly Happy. That's how the music from Swindon makes us feel. Chris and Iris Derfler Chicago
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:17:56 +0100 (BST) From: Dom Lawson <britishsteel666@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Melt The Goons Message-ID: <20050810141756.29465.qmail@web25703.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Hello, hello...good to be back. Aaron Pastula writes: >>Seriously, I answered that question when my XTC >>tribute band did a *kick-ass* version of "Melt the >>Guns" that was passionately sung (and has always >>been loved) by yours truly, a card-carrying member >>of the NRA and someone who thinks Andy has it all >>wrong when it comes to gun culture in the USA. But WHY does he write that? Seriously, I need to know, because wading through this tar-thick irony is hard work and my waders are beginning to fill up with bile and liquid machismo. Is it because, like most grown men who have a thing about firearms, Aaron has minuscule, deformed genitalia? I doubt it. He likes XTC, which is more or less a confirmation of enormous virility (right, Todd?) so the old bell-end must be working. Could it be, perhaps, that like most weapon-waving buffoons Mr. Pastula fails to see the connection between lots of people owning guns and lots of people being shot (accidentally or otherwise)? No, surely not. You'd have to be thicker than pigshit and blind as a bat to miss that nugget of cause-and-effect action. And I'm sure Mr. P (NRA division) hasn't really completely misunderstood his own constitutional right to be a violent, oppressive, pistol-packing slave-whore to the fascist, corporate right in America-again, that CD collection full of beautiful XTC records would seem to discount that potential faux-pas-Christ, I'm at a loss, people. Is shooting fun? Well, duh, I guess it is when you're five years old, running around, rolling over imaginary car bonnets and shouting `peeeeoowwww!' at your friends and pretending to be David Soul (or the modern equivalent...aahhh, sweet childhood!). But for adults? Maybe so, maybe so-some kind of knuckleheaded catharsis or, like, whatever. Dude. And I guess, like that erudite bear-fucker Ted Nugent, you could make a reasonable argument for being a gun freak if you regularly find yourself staring down the barrel of a highly edible Kodiak or Grizzly-but really, Aaron, what's your point about gun culture in the USA? Sentient beings all over the planet have looked at the evidence, noted that you guys in America have a serious problem, laughed bitterly at the tragic "if one o' dem dirty low-life junkies comes at me wid a piece then it's him or me" chest-beating, no-nuts, hate-the-poor-and-anyone-who-isn't-white lobby's desperate attempts to justify their love of polishing their killing utensils on a daily basis and, after mulling it all over for about two seconds, thought with utter conviction: "No guns for us, thanks! Those things are frickin' dangerous!". Yeah, yeah-guns don't kill people, people kill people-yeah, that's just peeechy, but those aforementioned people use guns, don't they? At least some of the time. You can't repair someone's shattered and shredded face with a witty bumper sticker slogan. Or even a non-witty, barely-funny-enough-to-be-in-an-Ann-Coulter-speech one. But you CAN, given the talent, write a great song about how horrific the whole slavering, me-man-must-shoot-stuff culture is and then hope, to the very marrow of your brittle human bones, that people won't think you're dim enough to misunderstand what the whole sorry business is about. Poor old Mr. P (Swindon division)-I bet he'd choke on that passionately-sung cover version like a lump of recently-slain-kiddy gristle. Right. Now I'm off to watch `Kill Bill' and have a strenuous wank. Cheers, Dom -- www.bowlrider.co.uk NP: Immolation 'Harnessing Ruin'
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:27:38 +0200 From: "don device" <device@noos.fr> Subject: nits for the picking Message-ID: <000a01c59db7$a915ee90$a43e4251@computer> Hiya, I'm not sue I'd define 'Axis Mundi' as a strictly or even mostly theological term. Often alchemical, perhaps... Within the context of the song, I believe Andy's using it as an emotional metaphore, though I'm quite sure you're right in thinking our friend picked it up from some medieval dictionary or text... Pedantically yours, d^2
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 07:29:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com>
Subject: Bad apples affecting the pure
Message-ID: <20050810142904.70745.qmail@web32005.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Hi:
In responding to Simon Knight, Aaron Pastula opined:
> Well, why on earth do we have opinions and preferences, if not because we
> think there is a better, more preferable way of thinking or doing things?
> At its core, this statemement makes no sense -- you will only respect my
> opinions on condition that I admit that my outlook on the world really is
> no better than yours; therefore, my opinions and convictions are
> automatically inferior to yours, in your eyes, because you will simply
> discount them unless I admit that they really have no intristic value that
> makes them more preferable to *your* worldview (and I would never do that,
> because if I did, then what would be the point of choosing them as my
> beliefs and convictions?).
Oops, big logic gap there, Aaron! Your "therefore" doesn't work. Why does
acknowledging that opinions are equal ("no better than yours")
"automatically" mean one is inferior to the other? I don't quite get the
leap of faith there. (And I am talking about opinions that simply involve
beliefs and faith, btw ... when facts come on to the scene, then it's
perfectly possible for one opinion to be more valid than another. For
example, my opinion that natural selection is the force behind the way that
all life on this planet evolved is backed by literally millions of pieces of
scientific data, while an opinion -- held, say, by the current
U.S. president -- that "intelligent design" is a theory that should be given
equal status to the theory of evolution is just plain wrong. The first is
backed by an overwhelming amount of cold, hard, peer-reviewed facts; the
second is simply a matter of faulty logic, buttressed by plenty of personal
belief.)
But when you're talking about beliefs, it's perfectly possible to have (and
hold) an opinion, and to acknowledge the validity of others' opinions as
working for them, for their contexts, etc. The point is, you believe in what
works for *you*. I personally believe that Polish potato vodka right out of
the freezer with a lemon twist is the closest thing to ambrosia on this
Earth; but I don't force this belief on others. That way, they can find
pleasure however they want ("just don't hurt nobody, 'less of course they
ask you"), and there's more vodka for me.
Religion works like this, too. Unless you're an extremist.
> Seriously, I answered that question when my XTC tribute band did a
> *kick-ass* version of "Melt the Guns" that was passionately sung (and has
> always been loved) by yours truly, a card-carrying member of the NRA and
> someone who thinks Andy has it all wrong when it comes to gun culture in
> the USA.
How could you "passionately" sing that song if you don't believe in the
lyrics? Do you give a disclaimer before the song or something?
Jim Smart said:
> I love the way Green Day's "American Idiot" is the perfect use of punk
> pop anger. Something to shout about! Something to be angry about! I
> love it, but so does my right winger friend. So maybe he's your
> example of someone liking something he doesn't agree with.
Or maybe he just doesn't get it? There seems to be a lot of that going
around in the black-and-white world nowadays...
-Todd
"A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead."
Leo Rosten, author (1908-1997)
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:37:14 +0200 From: "don device" <device@noos.fr> Subject: Hair-splitting Update Message-ID: <001101c59db9$00c5a2b0$a43e4251@computer> Oh yeah, Sorry, I almost forgot: "Axis Mundi" simply means the axis of the world, the point at which it turns. It is still the correct latin term. It has often been used to refer to the 'belly-button' of the world, meaning, for example, a person who thinks they are (or is thought to be) the absolute mostest. Before (and unfortunately during, and for quite a long time after) Galileo, it meant the center of the entire universe, world being the same thing as universe at the time (if you didn't want to chat with the Holy Inquisition, natch)... The whole song's a bout spinning, anyways, so I'm fairly certain this is the intended interpretation. It may be just me, but I always felt a little pun was implied by M. Partridge as in 'knocked me off my axis, Monday...", but I'm far from sure... spun out, d.d
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:12:56 -0400 From: "J. D. Mack" <jdmack01@verizon.net> Subject: Brian Wilson show Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20050811001012.01ca2468@incoming.verizon.net> Tonight, I went to see Brian Wilson's show near Washington, DC. Before the show, there was an assortment of music playing over the P.A. It really made me *SMiLE* when the song "Pale and Precious" came on! After the show, I asked the soundman who chose the pre-show music. I was really hoping he was going to say Brian, but the pre-show tape was assembled by band member Darian Sahanaja. Still cool, none the less! J. D.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:16:58 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Culnane <paulculnane@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: XTC *live* across the web! Message-ID: <20050811071658.78728.qmail@web86902.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Every Thursday afternoon, the program director of Australia's Triple-J-FM, Richard Kingsmill, presents a track derived from their vast archive of live recordings. Today he played "Generals & Majors", recorded in Sydney on Sunday, 7th September 1980 (Black Sea tour). I just happened to be in the audience for that show - front row seats! Kingsmill was explaining Andy's stagefright - there was speculation about how AP took to wearing, erm, "incontinence knickers" on stage... Anyway, after playing that one number, Kingsmill also suggested that the full XTC concert recording is a prime contender for the Jays' forthcoming live concerts weekend marathon. The details are: www.triplej.abc.net.au - you can get a real-time streaming feed from the site. "Triple-J's Impossible Music Festival". To be held from Friday night 26th August, non-stop until late Sunday evening 28th August. This is Australian Eastern Standard Time, so for overseas listeners, you'll have to work out the time conversion differential for where you reside. If you click on the site-link for "Impossible Music Festival", you will find a large list of concerts by a wide variety of artists, including the XTC one. You can vote for up to ten different artists for inclusion in the festival. Check it out and cast your vote if you like. Should you miss out on it, fear ye not, the complete XTC show was recently captured (and beautifully mastered) by our on-the-ball Chalkfriend, Jon Rosenberger (aka The Mole). He has a copy, and he made one for me too (with my souvenir ticket-stub as the CD cover). Perhaps a suitable trade arrangement could be intered into between either of us and any interested parties. But I urge you to investigate this rare and throroughly dynamic XTC performance by following the instructions provided here... Yours - Paul-of-Oz
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:18:58 -0700 From: "Pastula Aaron" <pastula12@hotmail.com> Subject: Dead Horse. Message-ID: <BAY24-F826D5F890317612BA5E0CA2BD0@phx.gbl> Simon says: >I was intentionally lumping you in with Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter et al, >under >the banner of right wing extremity, seeing you as one faceless group, with >the actions of a few within that group speaking for all of you. See, that's funny, because I was hoping that my comment about "right-wing savages" would be taken somewhat lightheartedly (I mean, it was *obviously* delivered in jest, wasn't it?), and that upon reading it you might instead think, "hey, maybe they're not all 'one faceless group;' maybe some of them are different...hell, maybe some of them are even XTC fans with whom I might have common ground!" Alas, it seems you took the ball and ran in the opposite direction of what I had intended. To use your words, I was hoping to "humanize" the other side of the political spectrum for those of you who seem to get all worked up because some radio producer used a bit of a pop song as bumper music in a way didn't gel with your opinion of how the tune should or should not be interpreted -- I mean, wasn't it one of Andy's "non-political" tunes anyway? It wasn't even *capable* of being a statement of any kind! Instead, you decided to take it personally and, in turn, "dehumanize" me, as if the conversation had somehow started with -- or was ultimately even relevant to -- debates over class structure and our lots in life. >The simple act of creating Songs, Novels, and Art >can be our Voice, since we don't want to resort to guns, bombs and violence >to get our point across... I don't think any rational person *wants* to resort to those things. I certainly don't know anyone who does. But, look -- I'm not trying to pick fights; just pointing out what I find to be an interesting aspect of "open-mindedness" in today's rhetorical climate. Let me tell you, Simon, you want to talk about feeling powerless, try being a level-headed republican in San Francisco...talk about being behind enemy lines...! Anyway, I'm calling the horse dead from my end. Hope my comments aren't seen as inflammatory or anything of the sort; apologies to they who see them as such. I just like the debate, that's all. Someday, I promise to post something truly relevant about XTC again. Like when they get off their hides and make us a new album...hint hint... Trying to get back to sleep now, AP
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:05:19 -0500
From: "James Lowe" <jamielowe@msn.com>
Subject: Andy P Interview
Message-ID: <BAY104-DAV485807B2EDEFDB3E2F7A6BEBD0@phx.gbl>
Chalkholders: this in from Alan Haber, WEBR FM Fairfax, VA
Hello, all.
I wanted to let you know that the first three segments of my
career-spanning interview with XTC's Andy Partridge are now playing on
my buhdge pop culture web site.
The first three segments present Andy waxing poetic about the Apple
Venus albums; his record company, Ape; working with other artists; the
Fuzzy Warbles series of discs featuring demos, orphaned songs and the
like; the Dukes of Stratosphear; and the future of XTC. Subsequent
segments will be posted to the audio buhdge section of buhdge in the
coming weeks.
Enjoy!
Alan
http://www.buhdge.com
http://www.purepopradio.com (new site for my Pure Pop radio
show, coming soon)
This XTC service announcement has been brought to you by:
Jamie Lowe
Purveyor of the Worlds Finest XTC Bumper Stickers
http://www.billsherlock.org/xtc/<http://www.billsherlock.org/xtc/>
If you can tell the difference between good advice and bad advice, you
don't need advice. - Anonymous
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #11-43 *******************************
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