Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 158
Date: Wednesday, 18 September 1996

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 158

               Wednesday, 18 September 1996

Today's Topics:

            Re: Fossil Fuel: First Impressions
                Spoiler Warnings, Please!
                     Video Tape tree
                           misc
                   All You Falkner Fans
                      Jason Falkner
                       spit'em out!
                       REM and XTC
                         Big Day
                         matches
                     I'm SO happy ...
                           misc
                        I'm Baked
 re: sugarplastic dates/most with loud family/XTC videos?
    Let's see if we can ever work out these lyrics...
Fossil Fuel / Loud Family w The Sugarplastic Tour Schedule
FOSSIL FUEL / _Dear God_ strings / _Holly up on Poppy_ lyrics
            THEY'RE IN THE LIMELIGHT, AHA !!!
                  Our radio's in motion
                    Ul-Terior Responds
           There's no place like Chalkhills...
            My God you guys are so friendly!!!
                    Holly Up On Poppy
             Tour Dates for The Sugarplastic
                Re: Fossil Fuel & Matches
            Looking (again) for something.....
                    Testimonial Dinner
                       Fish Story?
                        Fecundity
                   XTC USA 1980 bootleg

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The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.

When they carried you out your mouth was open wide.

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

Message-Id: <v02110101ae6478d66777@[134.32.48.166]>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 16:58:56 +0100
From: varga@ferndown.ate.slb.com (Stephen Varga)
Subject: Re: Fossil Fuel: First Impressions

I've just made an embarrassing error. Heaven is Paved with Broken Glass 12
inch mix is on the Rag'n'Bone Buffet CD.

That just leaves Goodnight Sucker and some of the King for a Day mixes
which are the only previously released studio tracks which have never
appeared on CD. Or have I missed any out?

By the way, if there are still any doubting Thomases out there regarding
the credentials of Paul Bailey, may I confirm that he is definitely
genuine.

Read the first page of the latest Little Express (issue 40) if you don't
believe me!

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

Subject: Spoiler Warnings, Please!
From: wwilson@mail07.mitre.org (Wesley H. Wilson)
Message-Id: <960917130310.1313@mail07.mitre.org.0>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 96 13:03:11 -0400

I don't mean to sound stuffy, and I love the Chalkhills crew, but...

Some of us don't have "Fossil Fuel" yet; could those who do have it please
post "spoiler warnings" before telling us all about it? I for one like the
element of surprise when I get anything "new" by XTC. Just precede your
comments by <SPOILER WARNING!> or something to that effect. I'll try to
remember to do the same.

Thanks very much,

Wes

P.S. Anyone want to buy my Sugarplastic "Bang, the Earth is Round" CD,
slightly used? E-mail me.

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

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 11:10:07 -0600
Message-Id: <199609171710.LAA04665@river.city.saskatoon.sk.ca>
From: Erik Anderson <Erik.Anderson@city.saskatoon.sk.ca>
Subject: Video Tape tree

I just shipped 10 new copies of the video and have about 12 more to do.  I
am leaving town for two weeks and will get to the last batch when I return.

If this is the first you've heard of the xTc video tape, please do NOT ask
me for a copy as I cannot make any more dubs.  I have already destroyed one
VCR and had to borrow a second one to finish this project.  Ask the other
members of the list for a copy if you really want one.

As for those who need a PAL version, I will send the master tape off to a
friend in Toronto and he will post something to this listserve.  Look for
that before the end of the year!

Erik

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

Message-Id: <2.2.16.19960917170724.08d75746@soapbox.lanl.gov>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 11:07:24 -0600
From: DeWitt Henderson <dewitth@lanl.gov>
Subject: misc

Hey Chalkers - let me add my name to the list of those who have absolutely
NO idea where/how to get a demo tape - please email me privately if you
can sell me one, copy it for me, etc.  It gets increasingly irritating
when everyone is talking about all of these songs when one hasn't heard
them! (and this isn't the first time I've asked about this).  C'mon, don't
hoard these things for yourself!  I'm a fellow fan - a Chalkhillian!

OK, a somewhat related topic:  what is this "Through the Hill" album/CD
people keep mentioning?  Don't know a thing about it...

Re misheard lyrics:  you might find this amusing - at my last job, when
the John Mellencamp "Big Daddy" CD came out, the first single was "Pop
Singer", with the line "Never wanted to be no pop singer, never wanted
to write no pop song".  A co-worker thought the lyric was "Never wanted
to be no Bob Seger", which cracked me up, and a co-worker and I would
walk past her office and sing "Never wanted to be no Bob Seger, never
wanted to write no Bob songs".  OK, maybe you had to be there...

* -------------------------------
DeWitt Henderson
"Too many cooks in the kitchen"
* -------------------------------

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

Subject: All You Falkner Fans
Message-ID: <19960917.132547.3806.0.Wiggum@juno.com>
From: wiggum@juno.com (Kerry P Hinton)
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:26:32 EDT

Hello.

There's been a little traffic on Jason Falkner and his new album
(released late August in the US), and the few posts regarding it have
been positive.

Well, if you like Falkner, you will also enjoy a new record by Brendan
Benson.  over 1/2 of the songs on "One Mississippi" (on Virgin! Sorry...)
were co-written with Falkner.

Some can't stand the beauty...

Kerry

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

Message-Id: <199609171425.KAA05451@ngw2.hns.com>
From: Fritz Stolzenbach/HNS <Fritz_Stolzenbach@notesgw.hns.com>
Date: 17 Sep 96 10:24:38 EDT
Subject: Jason Falkner

Hey -- this is amazing!

As a dyed-in-the-wool Jason Falkner fan, I was surprised to find not one,
but two references to this gifted songwriter in the last Chalkhills digest.
Hence this note.

To begin with, someone mentioned that they had two mystery songs they
needed to identify on the tail end of an XTC demos tape.  I don't recognize
the second set of opening lyrics posted, but the first couplet comes from
"Very Best Years" from RoShamBo, the debut (and likely only) album by an
amazing band called The Grays.  The song was written by -- Jason Falkner,
who played guitar/bass and sang on a number of cuts on the album.

Later in the digest, someone mentioned "Artist Unknown," Jason Falkner's
new solo album, on which he plays _every_ instrument, and displays an
amazing talent for beautiful pop song craftsmanship.  I won't bore you with
a long-winded song-by-song review, but I do want all Chalkies to know that
the album is just fantastic, in a Kinks-meet-the-Beatles-meet-10cc-meet-
the-Buzzcocks kind of way.  Please, please, please buy this record (and
RoShamBo by the Grays, if you can still find it).  You will not be
disappointed (hey -- there's a reason why I mentioned Jason Falkner in my
list of 10 fave composers that made the rounds a few months ago).

In fact, if any of you wonderful people do buy the album on my
recommendation, I'd love to hear what you think of it.  I guess the topic
isn't XTC-related enough to post to the digest, but you may certainly
e-mail me at my personal address, fstolzenbach@hns.com.

Sorry for the lack of XTC stuff in here...um...lemme think of
something... oh, yeah, if the band or their management is lurking out
there, here are a few producers to consider: Jack Joseph Puig, Geoff
Emerick, or --hey, why not -- Roy Wood.

Cheers,

FS

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

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:45:08 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <v01510100ae6458a8648d@[128.230.1.202]>
From: pebrantl@mailbox.syr.edu (Paul Brantley)
Subject: spit'em out!

Given all the noble and ingenious attempts at deciphering the new demo
lyrics, doesn't this suggest perhaps *one* of the reasons for our group's
lack of popularity? Not only is the lyrical quality unusually dense, not to
mention that the vocals are characteristically mixed as part of the overall
gestalt, and we don't even need to acknowledge their charming accents --
but they do tend to go for the musical delivery (hear hear) at the expense
of diction clarity -- on the albums as well as the demos.

Paul

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

From: shaefner@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:02:32 -0500 (UTC -05:00)
Subject: REM and XTC
Message-id: <01I9L48F74368ZQA7Q@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>

Ok, so we've figured out that XTC and REM have played together
(thanks rimshot3@ix.netcom.com).  I was thinking that REM did
in fact open for XTC in the past, but it was just a hunch, so I
didn't write in.  As an REM bootleg collector, I can (almost)
confirm that REM has never covered an XTC tune.  I would take
the almost out of their but it would probably come back to haunt
me.  Besides, I wasn't at every show they played obviously.
But I have looked over setlists on the near comprehensive list
of REM boots, and an XTC song title would have jumped out at me.

BTW, if you don't have REM's latest, New Adventures in HiFi, I
highly recommend it.  It is excellent, and it has put an end
to my worries about their direction.  So if you're holding out
'cause you didn't like Monster, wait no longer.  Definitely not
"tiresome" as Daniel Prendiville <modjp@indigo.ie> suggests.

-Scott
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~shaefner

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

Message-Id: <199609171825.UAA03544@utrecht.knoware.nl>
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 21:02:30 +0000
Subject: Big Day

Dear Chalkies,

Am I the first who has the new Fossil Fuel compilation?
Today, Tuesday September 17, I received a package from the UK with
the limited edition CD, the regular CD and the double cassette.

All three items look absolutely beautiful
But, of course, the ltd. edition is the prettiest...
The front of the box is sculpted/shaped into an ammonite. Is this
another XTC first? Were there any other shaped boxes released?

BTW: I got a mint UK Science Friction single and the French
Disappointed promo 12" yesterday.
I was so excited when I bought them I wanted to scream & shout...

Anyway, the (real) reason I wrote in is to make sure that at least
someone mentioned Dave G.'s coming 44th birthday on September 21.
Hip hip hooray!

yours ecstatically,

Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://utopia.knoware.nl/~mmello/index.html

===> Mark's useless XTC quote for today <==
Decorate the inside of your heads

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

Message-Id: <323EACBB.5C74@mci.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:50:51 +0000
From: Jeff Langr <jeffrey.langr@mci.com>
Subject: matches

Jon Eva wrote:
>There is a rather obscure picture of a match inside the cd case, I've
>never really understood XTC's minor obsession with matches ('England's
>Glory ... A Striking Beauty!' and the cover to 'Wait 'Till Your Boat
>Goes Down' spring to mind). Can anyone explain this to me?

Don't forget the sound of a match striking at the start of Set Myself
on Fire.  Fire is also rather prevalent, with the following coming to
the top of my head:

   Burning With Optimism's Flames
   Great Fire
   Books are Burning
   Sacrificial Bonfire
   "You tire burn" from Roads Girdle the Globe
   "How bright are the fires of thought" from Chain of Command,
   "How bright is the medical torch" ditto
   "Science friction burns my fingers"
   "When you *flick on* your lamp" from Hang on the Night
   "I'm really burning..." from Extrovert
   "more of a stormtrooper to burn the books..." from Happy Families
   "Shooting arrows of fire" from Gangway! Electric Guitar

As far as what it all means, sounds to me like Andy is Beavis in
disguise (Fire! Fire!)...

Jeff L.

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

Message-Id: <199609172219.PAA05192@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 15:12:45 EDT
From: "Todd Bernhardt" <tbernha@columbiaenergy.e-mail.com>
Subject: I'm SO happy ...

... to once again have access to e-mail. Just started a new job and took
some time off between jobs (it was lovely, thank you) and so was without
Chalkhills for ONE WHOLE MONTH! Needless to say, I was overjoyed to find it
in my mailbox a little while ago.

Since I've been gone, I won't jump in on any XTC-related threads til I've
got the gist of thangs, but I will say to Kerry Hinton and DeWitt Henderson
that the first time I saw the "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me..."
line was in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (the book, that is), which I'm
sure pre-dates Tom Waits or Fernwood 2night (great show, BTW). Who knows,
however, where Ken Kesey might have lifted it from...

Take note of my new address, Chalkie friends! Now that I'm up 'n running,
I'll be hounding you with annoying little messages soon!  :^)

ByeBye!

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

Message-Id: <2.2.16.19960917223451.08d78ad2@soapbox.lanl.gov>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 16:34:51 -0600
From: DeWitt Henderson <dewitth@lanl.gov>
Subject: misc

One more comment, my friends, since REM seems to be creeping into
the conversation fairly often lately, I just thought I'd see if you'd
heard this one:  when asked about influences, specifically the Beatles,
Stipe said they were never anything more than "elevator music" to him,
which really pissed me off.  I mean, OK, maybe he was slightly on the
young side to have been a part of that experience, but to me, instead
of just saying that they weren't an influence on him, what he said was
a slam against the Fab Four, which amounts to heresy in my book.
BTW, I've been a big fan of REM since Day One, but I've experienced
what others in this list evidently have been through, which is that
my interest has dropped considerably with the last couple of albums.
Haven't heard the new one - who knows, maybe it's good.  But when I
read Stipe's comments on the Beatles, it cast a tarnish on 'em in
addition to their flagging creativitiy on the last couple CD's.  (OK
Scotty, shields up!  Up!  Full Power!)
* ------------------------------
DeWitt Henderson
Los Alamos National Laboratory
CIC-13   MS P223
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505/665-1434

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

Message-Id: <199609172359.JAA22818@warchives.riv.csu.edu.au.>
From: "Simon Knight" <sknight@warchivegw.riv.csu.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 08:50:41 +0000
Subject: I'm Baked

In the last chalkhills digest dave wrote:

In #155, Mark Cuevas said:
>"She has escaped from the world where they bake beautiful girls .
>. ." When Holly is riding Poppy she is in her own world, oblivious
>to the nastyness of the cold cruel world we live in.

>"Bake" beautiful girls? Unless that was a typo, I believe the line
>is "MAKE beautiful girls" and Andy's just imagining there is a
>world somewhere where beautiful girls come from and she has escaped
>from that one to ours.

I've always assumed it was "bake", given his love for alliteration
(most evident on Skylarking and Nonsuch).  It also ties back into his
nursery rhyme / fairy tale interests too.  Holly is on her rocking horse,
escaping from a dangerous land in her imagination, where wicked
Hansel and Gretel-style witches do indeed "bake beautiful girls".
At least i hope it is "bake", it's a much more interesting lyric.
(I hope it really isn't boring old "making love" in Cherry in your
Tree).  Metaphor as mistake anyone?

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

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 19:17:44 -0400
Message-ID: <23F31720.@metagroup.com>
From: RobertD@metagroup.com (RobertD)
Subject: re: sugarplastic dates/most with loud family/XTC videos?

     For more info on Sugarplastic and other band on tour for that matter
     check out this spot on the web:

     www.pollstar.com

     I stumbled on it when I scrolled to the end of the Sugarplastic site.
     All the SP dates are listed, with clubs and other info.

     ALSO, anyone with XTC video please e-mail me. I have the promo clips -
     later released as Look Look in the UK, and a one-hour performance from
     German TV, including a bio on the band through ES all in German!

     Any other video material, I'd love to try to get copies of. Tell me
     your specs. Thanks in advance.

     Bob D.

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

Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 22:12:20 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199609180212.WAA12124@cyber1.servtech.com>
From: Joshua Hall-Bachner <particle@servtech.com>
Subject: Let's see if we can ever work out these lyrics...

It's meeeeeeeee again. :)

Anyway, AFAICT Brooks' version of Easter Theatre is almost right...

>If we'd all breathe in and blow away the smoke

I'm 100% certain that this line ends with "snow". Why? It reinforces the
"you are like the coming of spring after a long winter" metaphor.

>New life
>We'd [uphold?] her new life

That sounds better than mine (won't flaunt...)

>Gambling with spring step

That would be "Gambolling", as in hopping around and dancing merrily.

>As the [prompters?] fingers through her spinning [screech?]

Yeah, I believe that is "prompter's" because of the Theatre metaphor.

>[Free ties?!]... everywhere

"eat i'd"?

I'm curious...am I the only person who would rush out to the store to buy
them if XTC were to release a digitally remastered, static-free,
high-quality 2 CD Jules Verne's Sketchbook/The Bull With The Golden Guts
set? JVS is *really* good; other than the two songs that have been released
since the cassette (which both sound better in their "real" incarnations),
every song on there is well worth listening to. And while TBWTGG is a bit
weaker (Was A Yes, Difficult Age, etc.) it's still good.

Someone else:

>If "freakin' awesome" means in American what "fuckin' appalling" means in
>Ireland, then I'll agree with you :-) <snip>

I deal with this person more directly in my e-mail to them, but for the
record just let me say here that it seems to me that (a) this is a pretty
blatant troll and (b) if it's not then it's pretty rude and obnoxious. So
there.
/---------------------------Joshua Hall-Bachner---------------------------\
|     particle@servtech.com    http://www.servtech.com/public/particle/   |
| "And I see nations playfully hurl snowballs packed with stone and clay."|
\--------------XTC, "You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful"----------/

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

Message-Id: <m0v3GQ8-000ExGC@mail.airmail.net>
Subject: Fossil Fuel / Loud Family w The Sugarplastic Tour Schedule
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 01:54:32 -0500
From: Della & Steve Schiavo <schiavo@airmail.net>

Hello All -

I am just looking at the new ICE and there is no listing for Fossil
Fuel throught November 26.  Looks like the UK folk are one up on us
Yanks this time.  Maybe things will change.

Here is The Loud Family's tour schedule.  I think The Sugarplastic
is on all the dates.  Things seem to be fluid, so check with the
venue first.

- Steve

	9/18	The Mohawk Club	Buffalo, NY
	9/19	Middle East	Cambridge, MA
Fri	9/20	Silk City Lounge Philadelphia, PA
Sat	9/21	Black Cat	Washington, DC
	9/22	-
	9/23	Brownie's	New York, NY
	9/24	-
	9/25	Local 506	Chapel Hill, NC
	9/26	The Point	Atlanta, GA
Fri	9/27	The Nick	Birmingham, AL
Sat	9/28	The Cowhaus	Tallahassee, FL
	9/29	-
	9/30	Electric Lounge	Austin, TX
	10/1	-
	10/2	Hollywood Alley	Phoenix, AZ
	10/3	Spaceland	Los Angeles, CA
	10/4	The Press Club	Sacramento, CA

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

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 10:01 +0200
Message-id: <199609180801.V3J6@memo.volvo.se>
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?P=C4R?= NILSSON <PVKU.PARN@MEMO.VOLVO.SE>
Subject: FOSSIL FUEL / _Dear God_ strings / _Holly up on Poppy_ lyrics

Good morning!

I received my copy of FOSSIL FUEL yesterday. The two discs do contain
an excellent assortment of XTC songs, and it's nice to finally have
plugged the _Wait till your boat goes down_-sized hole in my
collection, but I was disappointed by the packaging. Virgin obviously
didn't spend more time and money than necessary - which hardly comes
as a surprise, though. The centre spread of single covers is a nice
touch, but there's no mention of who XTC are and were, no pictures of
the band, no release or recording information, no producer credits, no
discographical information, no band history, no band commentary to the
songs, no various other small details that would have been nice to
have. Compared to the more or less corresponding 2CD set of my other
fave acronym band, NRBQ's PEEK-A-BOO, FOSSIL FUEL's packaging is a
third-rate effort at best.

I have the _Dear God_ single but haven't had a record player for
years, so yesterday I had the first listen since I don't know when to
that song. It has a rather nice string arrangement, and I wonder who
wrote it - Dave Gregory or Todd Rundgren, or even Andy himself? Maybe
the answer is on the single cover, but my copy is stashed away in an
attic 100 miles from here, so...

Dave Gershman wrote regarding _Holly up on Poppy_:

>"Bake" beautiful girls? Unless that was a typo, I believe the line is
>"MAKE beautiful girls" and Andy's just imagining there is a world
>somewhere where beautiful girls come from and she has escaped from
>that one to ours.

I seem to recall that the beautiful girls are indeed baked, not made,
in that world of Andy's - but I don't have NONSUCH with me at the
moment, and thus cannot be absolutely certain.

Cheers,

Par
pvku.parn@memo.volvo.se

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

Message-Id: <v02110102ae6554acea12@[134.32.48.166]>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 11:02:47 +0100
From: varga@ferndown.ate.slb.com (Stephen Varga)
Subject: THEY'RE IN THE LIMELIGHT, AHA !!!

OH MY GOD! XTC ON PRIMETIME TV!

Date 17 Sep 1996  Time 20.59 BST

There I was watching Brookside (Scouse soap to our overseas friends) and
after the programme had finished, I inadvertantly left the TV tuned to
Channel 4 with the adverts running. (Normally I would have turned over by
now to catch the headlines of the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1)

Bloody good job too! ALL OF A SUDDEN I heard the sounds of SENSES WORKING
OVERTIME. I can't bloody believe this! FOSSIL FUEL advertised on primetime
TV! Just think of all those millions of people watching who forgot about
this band years ago!

I can remember when The Stranglers greatest hits was advertised on TV. It
did really well in the album charts. That means with a bit of luck we'll be
finding copies of FF in all the mainstream shops such as Asda, Sainsbury,
Tesco, Woolworths etc etc etc. They're in the LIMELIGHT aha!

What was in the advert then?

Well, I've only seen it once so far, so I can't give a 100% accurate
description, but here goes anyway.

It starts of with a snippet of SENSES WORKING OVERTIME followed by a
voiceover by famous Radio 1 Scouse DJ, John Peel. The picture on the TV
screen is then interspersed with images of the Ammonite Fossil (as seen on
the front page of the CD booklet. You know, the one with the white flecks
in it - not the embossed one on the LTD ED cover) with clips of other
videos shown in black and white.

They include MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL, THE BALLAD OF PETER PUMPKINHEAD and I
think TOWERS OF LONDON. I can't remember the other clips as I could hardly
contain my excitement! Oh yes and the four star review from Q magazine
appears on the screen too.

Finally it ends with John Peel saying something like marvellous, buy it!

I'll see if I can video it when it next appears and give a really detailed
review.

In the meantime, if any of you British Chalkies out there have seen the
advert or even have it on video already, perhaps you might like to beat me
to it.

It would be ironic if this became XTC's most successful record ever at a
time when they have just lost their Virginity and went into profit for the
first time only last year.

However, it would give the band a great start to their new label.

1. It would make them more desirable than ever to any potential label. That
means more bargaining power for the band and a really good deal.

2. If the band decided to start their own label, the royalties from FF
should enable them to make this happen as it did with The Stranglers
Greatest Hits.

3. Either way, it can only be an excellent start to the next album!

Keep an eye on the album charts Chalkiholios!

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

Message-ID: <2D4CD72F01291300@ametsoc.org>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 09:04:00 -0500
From: dgershmn <dgershmn@ametsoc.org>
Organization: AMS
Subject: Our radio's in motion

Wow, Chalkophiles,

 I just had one of those nifty "brush-with-XTC-music" experiences, akin to
hearing "King for a Day" Muzak in a supermarket! Well, it's not much, but it
was cool anyway...
 My girlfriend and I just last week moved in to an apartment just northwest
of Boston. This morning, her radio alarm clock went off (at 5:00 a.m.,
however relevant that may be). Turns out she had it tuned to a New Hampshire
station, WGIR 101 ("Where All We Do Is Rock!" as their motto goes), a
station that I'd never heard before while living IN Boston. Anyway, as I
drifted into consciousness, a song was ending, and before the next song
began, they did one of those little 10-second station ID pieces. Well, that
ID piece began with a few very familiar-sounding chords followed by a
"sniff-sniff," followed by a few more chords (with "WGIR, where all we do is
rock!" voiced over by one of those cliched macho-radio voices). I was
instantly fully awake, realizing that they had used the intro to "New Town
Animal"!! (They edited it to end right before the other instruments kick
in.) I was so charged by hearing that so unexpectedly (it sounded so great
in that context) that I couldn't fall back to sleep. I listened to the
station for a little while longer to see what sort of music they played, and
it's seems to be basically an "alternative"-type station focused more on the
"rock" sound (Everclear, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) but with the odd twist of
playing something like "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf for someone calling
in to request some "driving music." Apparently not too self-consciously hip
to play older rock as well. But also not really the type of station who I
think I could ever expect to hear the full version of "New Town Animal" (or
just about any other XTC song) on...just those few cool chords. But I'll
have to keep listening, to see if maybe they play even more of a potpourri
of songs than I caught on to in that half hour of listening. Maybe someone
>from NH can fill me in.

Anyway, I've been feeling good all day since hearing it...those chords are
actually a pretty great way to wake up in the morning. Try it sometime!

In a new town and a furnished cage (though there's still some unpacking to
be done),

Dave Gershman

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

Message-Id: <m0v3Mmr-000FR5C@mail.airmail.net>
Subject: Ul-Terior Responds
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 08:42:26 -0500
From: Della & Steve Schiavo <schiavo@airmail.net>

>Subject:     Re: XTC Producer & Etc.
>Sent:        9/18/1996 6:57 AM
>Received:    9/18/1996 8:28 AM
>From:        Paul Bailey, ul-terior@easynet.co.uk
>To:          Della & Steve Schiavo, schiavo@airmail.net
>
>Thanks for your suggestions Steve, we'll give a copy of this email to XTC.
>
>We will endeavour to keep you up to date with all current XTC info and we
>will let you know in good time the date of the conference so you can speak
>to the guys yourself.
>
>Thanks for your interest.
>
>Molly.

Did anyone else email Mr. Bailey?

- Steve

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

From: Ben Gott <bgott@mail.hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us>
Subject: There's no place like Chalkhills...
Message-ID: <SIMEON.9609180648.A@muahost.mail.hotchkiss.pvt.k12.ct.us>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 06:56:48 +0000

Hey, Chalkies!

I'm back! It's been a long summer without all of you, but
I've managed to survive (barely...) I kept up with the
website (working at a bookstore, and all), and am psyched
about "Fossil Fuels."

There's so much to say...I'm a proctor (senior prefect) in
a dorm here at (bored)ing school, and I lent ES to one of
my proctees - he loved it. His exact words were, "It's like
nothing I've heard before!"

I saw a Todd Rundgren concert in Poughkeepsie, NY this
summer (@ The Chance). Prairie Prince rocked! (As did Todd,
for some of the songs.)

I've ordered the Sugarplastic CD, have bought more Blur,
and ordered two copies of "Chalkhills and Children" through
my bookstore. (If anyone's interested...)

As Colin said, "It's good to be Bach." I agree. I'd love to
hear from anyone out there...how did your summers go? I'd
also like to hear from any TEENAGE Chalkhillians (myself
being 17)...according to the survey, there are some of you
out there!

----------------------
Ben Gott
"Save us from the ball and chain..."

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

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 09:43:13 -0600 (CST)
From: AMANDA OWENS <ACOEA@jazz.ucc.uno.edu>
Subject: My God you guys are so friendly!!!
Message-id: <01I9MBDYP9428ZV1VO@jazz.ucc.uno.edu>

Having been an XTC-phile for less than two years and a Chalkhillian for
less than a month, I never realised just how awesomely nice and sweet and
friendly and kind and I think I'm done kissing your butts here.....anyway
I want to thank everyone for emailing me with offers to my requests.

Now onto other things.............

On You're My Drug, who in the world is singing????? It doesn't sound like
any of them at all.

That's all for now.

Amanda

Oh, wait, forgot something.....Andy ever give reason as to why he and Marianne
called it quits????

PS-If I was Carol Moulding, after the eopisodes with all the groupies and
ESPECIALLY the whole Debra Robertson thing, you'd better believe Colin's
ass would've been kicked so far outta my house he'd land in Siberia!

"Success is being a quote"-Andy Partridge

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

Message-Id: <199609181637.JAA03311@dfw-ix8.ix.netcom.com>
From: "Mark G. Cuevas" <litserv@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Holly Up On Poppy
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 09:31:54 -0700

> In #155, Mark Cuevas said:
> "She has escaped from the world where they bake
> beautiful girls . . ." When Holly is riding Poppy she
> is in her own world, oblivious to the nastyness of the
> cold cruel world we live in.

From: dgershmn@ametsoc.org
> "Bake" beautiful girls? Unless that was a typo, I believe the
> line is "MAKE" beautiful girls" and Andy's just imagining there
> is a world somewhere where beautiful girls come from and she
> has escaped from that one to ours.

Au contraire, there jerky. "Bake" is what I meant and "bake" is the lyric.
As to interpretation, go for it.

MC

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

Message-Id: <199609181639.JAA03492@dfw-ix8.ix.netcom.com>
From: "Mark G. Cuevas" <litserv@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Tour Dates for The Sugarplastic
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 09:34:24 -0700

Dearest Chalkmeisters:

For those of you interested in The Sugarplastic, check this site for
tourdates:

www.pollstar.com/pssearch.exe/TARTIST?Sugarplastic

For info on where to get the album, check the nearest Tower Records.

MC

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

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 17:51 BST-1
From: joeo@cix.compulink.co.uk (Psion plc  Joe Odukoya)
Subject: Re: Fossil Fuel & Matches
Message-Id: <memo.889910@cix.compulink.co.uk>

In-Reply-To: <199609171555.IAA19633@mando.engr.sgi.com>
Subject: Fossil Fuel

> There is a rather obscure picture of a match inside the cd case,
> Can anyone explain this to me?
>Jon Eva

Sorry if this states the obvious but the match is just a reference to the
"fuel" of "Fossil Fuel". As for XTC having an obsession with matches
don't all kids? :-)

As for FF itself:
It's great though I am disappointed with the limited edition cover (not
as cool as I was hoping) and I wish they would release a tie-in video
compilation too!

- Joeo -

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

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 12:42:55 -0600 (CST)
From: AMANDA OWENS <ACOEA@jazz.ucc.uno.edu>
Subject: Looking (again) for something.....
Message-id: <01I9MHQTSFMA8ZV0R3@jazz.ucc.uno.edu>

Thre was an interview with Dave Gregory in a magazine called Diabetes
Forecast from 1994. Our school computer has a summary of it, but does not
carry the magazine. I think you know the question I'm going to ask.....

Amanda Owens

"What you can do with a guitar is noting compared to what you can do with a
penis"-Andy Partridge
(Not that I know this, of course..... :)

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

Message-Id: <199609181746.KAA16699@dfw-ix9.ix.netcom.com>
From: "Mark G. Cuevas" <litserv@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Testimonial Dinner
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 10:41:20 -0700

Dear Chalkers:

There have been a few postings lately about Testimonial Dinner.  I've
read things about St. Andy loving Sarah McLaughlin's version of Dear
God and some Chalkboppers praising The Verve Pipe's rendition of Wake
Up.  But I haven't heard too much about what I consider to be the
most creative work on the entire tribute (Terry & the Lovemen
notwithstanding) -- namely, Ruben Blades' version of The Man Who
Sailed Around His Soul.  Now let me preface this with the usual
gushing about the original version by the esteemed Boys o' Swindon.
The original version is one *outstanding* tune.  IMO this is one of
Andy's best.  But we can cite chapter and verse another time . . .

About Mr. Blades' version.  I love what he's done here.  He's one of
the only musicians who gave his chosen song a thorough reworking
while maintaining the beauty of the original.  I liken it to Oingo
Boingo's version of the Kinks' classic You Really Got Me, where
Boingo introduced meter change, trumpets, saxophones, etc.

Any takers on this one?

P.S.  In the last verse of the Blades version, he says something in
Spanish about XTC.  Does anyone know what he's saying?

===================================
Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
===================================

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

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 13:47:00 EST
From: "John Christensen" <christej@vrinet.com>
Message-Id: <9608188430.AA843080047@PO2.VRINET.COM>
Subject: Fish Story?

Yeah, I was somewhat suspicious about the Paul Bailey/XTC Management post,
but decided to send "Mr. Bailey" a message (figuring at worst, I would just
give someone a good laugh at my expense -- no big deal).

And in case it wasn't a hoax, I was anxious to pass along a summary of my
"chat" with Elvis Costello about a possible Andy collaboration. (Elvis now
has the idea rattling around in his head -- got to get it into Andy's
also!)

Well, if the whole XTC management thing is indeed a hoax, the perpetrators
aren't ready to admit it yet . . . as the following reply shows:

* ____________________________ Forward Header ________________________________
Subject: Re: Thanks
Author:  ul-terior@easynet.co.uk (Paul Bailey) at INTERNET
Date:    9/18/96 7:46 AM

John,

Thanks for your suggestions. We will be giving Andy a copy of your email and
you will also be able to talk to him when the conference is set up.

Hope you've received your copy of Fossil Fuel by now.  It's great listening
and more.

You know where we are.

Molly.
* ___________________________________________________________________________

You're the Wish You Are I Had,

Jasper
(Of course, the 7 lb. brown trout I caught Sunday is the real fish story!)

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

From: Marc_LaFoy@magic.ca (Marc LaFoy)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 10:40:21 -0400
Subject: Fecundity
Message-ID: <msg48970.843076354@magic.ca>
Organization: TotalNet Inc. / Magic Online

Re: River of Orchids

Others have said they hear the following lyric:

> "Want to walk into London smelling like a *pagan* rose"
> I hear "beggar rose".

I hear neither. I believe he sings "smelling like a "fecund" rose."

Also Mark G. Cuevas sez:

>Second, regarding Holly Up On Poppy, the song makes perfect sense when
you
>understand that Holly is Andy's daughter and Poppy is her rocking
horse.

Upon reading this it occurred to me that perhaps "Poppy" could be
interpreted as Pop himself, Andy, giving his daughter a horsey ride.
Wutcha think?

And here's a quiz...

Name the demo that includes this lyric:
"I wouldn't hector if you'd be Helen of Troy"
(just love the lyric I guess)

Marc LaFoy

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

Message-Id: <199609182106.XAA22984@utrecht.knoware.nl>
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:43:46 +0000
Subject: XTC USA 1980 bootleg

Dear Chalkies,

Maybe someone posted this before but I have just received a tape of
the XTC USA 1980 cd bootleg.

And I have noticed that this concert was NOT recorded in the US but is in
fact the same show featured on the Windsong BBC Live In Concert cd.
It's a different, rougher mix but the same concert. Shame...

take care,

Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://utopia.knoware.nl/~mmello/index.html

===> Mark's useless XTC quote for today <==
Break the code of the whispering chimneys and traffic signs

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #2-158
*******************************

Go back to Volume 2.

18 September 1996 / Feedback