Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 28
Date: Friday, 10 November 1995
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 28
Friday, 10 November 1995
Today's Topics:
Re: Huh?
Oh Lord deliver us...
XTC and Love
Re: Huh?
Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-27
Re: Who XTC Should Cover
lyric identify
doG raeD
Italian XTC books
Muzak versions of XTC - anybody got 'em on tape?
dear god. my weapon.
XTC Italy
Andy IS god...
One more
Taking one's ball and going home...
re: hypothetical junk
Double standard
God and Gregory
Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-27
The sign in the bar/New thread idea?
Additions to the "XTC as Coverband" list
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 17:15:46 -0500 From: mp2@waterw.com (Jim Kee) Subject: Re: Huh? >From: weisrot@cscoe.ac.com (Todd Weisrock - CIS) >>>The Fall This Is Pop >>>Sisters Of Mercy Rook >>>The Mission Great Fire >>>The Cult Complicated Game >Boy, I always thought of myself as a music fan!! >Am I the only one who has only heard of one or two >of these bands?? I put down bands that I hadn't seen people use already. I tried to name bands that I thought people might know. You should see the bands I didn't put in there due to lack of public knowledge of the band. While I'm here I might as well defnd some of my choices, namely SOM & the Mission. The Sisters: I thought would be a good choice for Rook based on their song 'Torch', from Floodland. I pictured it done in that vein. The Mission: I figured would be a good for a couple of reasons: 1) I liked their cover of the Kinks' Mr Pleasant & 2) Although the session ended badly, Andy did produce the Mission single 'Hands Across The Ocean'. I thought it would be nice if the Mish covered an XTC song. The Cult: I was feeling whimsical & I figured they'd feel left out if I put the Sisters & Mish in there without them. Later, Jim
------------------------------
From: Gene_Yoon@brown.edu
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 18:58:29 -0500
Subject: Oh Lord deliver us...
>From: "Ken Salaets" <ksalaets@itic.nw.dc.us>
>
>As for me, my faith and belief in God is firm and not based on any man or
>woman's opinions. Hence, it is not harmed by contrary expressions, nor
>for that matter, by those who may agree with me! I am comfortable in my
>beliefs, and not afraid nor put off by those who may disagree. It's a
>mighty big world we got going here, and it seems to me there's room enough
>for all of our ideas.
:+)
A friend of my family's who happens to be a Catholic priest once told me
that to truly "have faith" in God or any religion, you would have enough
faith in your belief to be comfortable in questioning it. I see logic in
this. Allegedly, JC was always questioning things. If there is a god,
then I agree with Andy that god is within us all, and heaven is not when we
die but here in this existence if we can make it so.
>From: "David G. Shaw" <dshaw@tiac.net>
>
>I've been reading this list for two months, and have only posted here
>once before. I am very close to abandoning this whole mess -- I wanted to
>read about a band, not the list members' religious beliefs.
>From: james.dignan@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)
>
>BTW, if I wanted a lot of the recent messages, I would have subscribed to
>"Phenomenology'r'us", not "Chalkhills". Andy's atheism (or not), OK.
>Whether God exists? Come on... people have been arguing that for millenia -
>we're not going to settle it here.
We won't settle it in this lifetime anywhere on this planet, but that
shouldn't keep people from talking about it. And I'm always impressed that
a lot of Chalkhills members can intelligently throw around some heady ideas
that don't necessarily relate to chord changes. I think a lot of XTC's
music can be very spiritual, so the topic is not so out of place. For me,
at least, it's neat to discuss religion in this context (the context of
some awesome music!) instead of in some stale stuffy church basement with
that lady with horn-rimmed glasses and bad breath who I'd see every Sunday
about twelve years ago.
But give us a new album and I'd bet all mention of Dear God in Chalkhills
would evaporate instantaneously.
>From: relph (John Relph)
>
>As regards covers (A Testimonial Dessert), remember that the first
>requirement was that the bands/artists involved had to love XTC in the
>first place.
There seem to be two different camps here on Chalkhills: those with a
realistic vision for another tribute album, and others with "wouldn't it be
nice" or humorous wish lists. It wouldn't make sense, seniority speaking,
for Ray Davies to cover XTC, but "wouldn't it be perfect" if he sang
Smalltown?
I got the Verve Pipe's Pop Smear CD in the mail today. It's very good, not
as much like XTC as I thought it would be, but solid throughout.
Combination of "classic" and "alteranative" rock sounds, almost bluesy
sometimes. Am looking forward to their '96 release on RCA.
It's nice to see Thomas Dolby is still friendly with AP <From:
patty@gdb.org (Patty Haley) / Subject: I figured I'd go to the source>.
There apparently still exist some former associates that Andy hasn't
alienated completely.
Gene
"A mind is a terrible thing." --a former U.S. vice president
=A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2
You can't buy chewing gum anywhere in Singapore.
But you can buy peppermint candy 'cause you eat it till it's gone.
=A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2 =A2
------------------------------ From: dallin@CS.ColoState.EDU (michael dallin) Subject: XTC and Love Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 18:04:40 -0700 (MST) I don't know if this was posted before, but ah, what the heck: A few days ago, I got a promo version of the new cd compilation by the group Love. It is a double CD entitled "Love Stories, 1966-1972. I was reading through the CD booklet, and came upon the following... "... The general folk rock and pop atmosphere combined with the dreamy wordplay can also be heard in the music of Robyn Hitchcock and XTC and certain "shoe-gazer" bands (Lush, This Mortal Coil, Inspiral Carpets, etc) of the early 90's. ..." In case you haven't heard of Love, they were an interesting late 60's/early 70's group, whose album "Forever Changes" is highly recommended (BTW, the entire contents of Forever Changes is on the new double CD set). All good stuff if you are into this era of music. Now, back to the "Dear God" debate... ;) -- Mike
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 17:12:09 -0800 From: Kevin Collins <kevcol@teleport.com> Subject: Re: Huh? >Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 15:07:36 -0600 >From: weisrot@cscoe.ac.com (Todd Weisrock - CIS) >Subject: Huh? > **Several band names deleted** > >Boy, I always thought of myself as a music fan!! >Am I the only one who has only heard of one or two >of these bands?? > >Later, >Jim (Kee) > No, but you may be dating yourself! In fairness, I am 32 but listen to many of the bands listed there. Cheers
------------------------------ From: 7IHd <ee92pmh@brunel.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-27 Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 02:45:48 +0000 (GMT) >From someone whos name I intentionally deleted... # Subject: Please stop this # # You know, I was really hoping that this list would have been sick to death # by now of this whole pointless Dear God argument, but obviously, somebody # decided to set the whole can of worms out again. This was the only thing # that made me hesitate joining this list, and now it appears that I should # have stayed off. I am sick and tired of reading all these anti-Christianity # pro-atheist messages that keep showing up. I'm also appaled that people # would send personal attacks to a public list. It is because of this that I # will now leave permanently, unless somebody can give me a decent # explanation as to why I should stay on. At least I was able to do something # good by suggesting there be a list t-shirt made. ...and the reason I deleted it is because _everyone_ is posting variations on this message, and it's unfair to pick on just one, but this one seems to include all the points and was near the top... Now really, is it just me, or are the people (generalised) posting messages such as the above flying off the handle about this thread even more than the people who were flying off the handle when contributing to it? I don't think there were any 'personal attacks' on the list, unless you call disagreeing with someone an attack. I don't think there were any more 'pro-atheist' messages than there were 'pro-christian' messages. All in all a slightly heated but fairly balanced discussion, which achieved nothing for one simple reason: people can make their own minds up about these things and don't need to be told. This applies to (a) any message on the list, and (b) any message in the lyrics of a song. The Dear God discussion would be dead by now if there weren't so many 'kill this thread' messages and messages saying the same things again and again that the next Chalkhills is coming through practically before you've replied to the last one. To anyone thinking of leaving the list, I'd like to encourage you not to, it's not usually like this and if everyone can be persuaded to stand back and take a few deep breaths, things will get back to normal. I have just contributed to the state of decay myself, for which I apologise. Whatever you do, DON'T reply to this message. Email, yes, but not to the list! Thankyou, and goodnight. _ |_)|_ *| | | )|| http://http2.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~ee92pmh/ ========
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 95 21:22 CST
From: Russ Omens <psychro@wwa.com>
Subject: Re: Who XTC Should Cover
>From: vanvalnc@is2.nyu.edu (Chris Van Valen)
>
>Here's a variarion on the "TD is Great vs. Sucks" debate and the ongoing
>theological salvos.
>
>Who should XTC cover???
>
>The rules are as follows:
>
>1) No Brian Wilson songs. (Too obvious)
>2) No B*****s. (ditto)
>3) No drum solos.
>4) No crybabies.
>5) So far they've covered only Beefheart("Ella Guru") and Dylan
>("Watchtower"), so the field's wide open.
I'm a delurker, after months of reading, I finally felt a need to chip in. I
find it amazing that we're posting and happily obsessing over a band that
(currently) neither releases records or plays live gigs! As such we
communicate our frustration and starvation in unique and myriad ways such as
devising cover lists, etc. Okay, I'm all for it, we're a small but loyal
bunch of fanatics anxiously awauting NEW TUNES. I'd like to hear xtc covers
by unexpected non-pop bands/artists like Neil Young, or Bruce Springsteen
that are popped-up by the band rather than pop covers of pop tunes. (Or here
Neil Young doing "This is pop?" However, I'd also be intrested if this list
was expanded to include 60's covers like Itchycoo Park, Something in the
air, Fire, See Emily Play, etc. by the Dukes! (Then we could include
B*****s!) Send those karmic vibes to Virgin/Geffen and think positively
that 1996 will be a massive year for the band and their fans (including
me---Russ Omens)
------------------------------ Subject: lyric identify From: jd.mack@neteast.com (JD MACK) Date: Thu, 09 Nov 95 22:38:00 -0500 Organization: Online Technologies, Inc. - Modem: 301-738-0000 O.K., I'm done sounding off about religion. New subject: "Senses Working Overtime." What are the barely-audible words spoken after the line "but to me there very very beautiful," and also after the next "beautiful?" NP: "The Rite Of Spring" - the first real rock and roll album!
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 20:32:44 -0800 From: Kevin Collins <kevcol@teleport.com> Subject: doG raeD Anyone try playing 'Dear God' backwards?
------------------------------ From: ZITTEL@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 23:39:33 -0500 Subject: Italian XTC books manfredi@scf.usc.edu wrote: > Also, in a literary frame of mind, at that same Tower Records I saw a copy of an Italian book that had the lyrics to all of XTC's albums from "White Music" to "Oranges and Lemons", in both English and Italian. It had an introduction in Italian that I could pick about 4 words out of. Has anyone else seen this book? Do XTC have a big following in Italy? Just curious.< There have been two XTC books published in Italy. The book mentioned above is 'XTC Testi, Con Traduzione A Fronte'. It is written in Italian except for some of the lyrics. Since I can't speak Italian I can't give any other details. It was published in 1992. The other book is simply titled XTC. It is written by Vittorio Azzoni and has a picture of Drums And Wires on the cover. It was published in 1986 by Gammalibri and is also written in Italian. Maybe some Italian fan out there has these books and could tell us more about the contents.
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 21:41:26 -0700 (MST) From: Mark Rushton <rushton@primenet.com> Subject: Muzak versions of XTC - anybody got 'em on tape? >From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <ccoolidg@moose.uvm.edu> >I heard a muzak version of "The Mayor Of Simpleton" in the Grand Union >today. Ye Gods, is nothing sacred? Brainstorm time! I was wondering if anybody out there might actually be hardcore enough to have copies of Muzak or Muzak-like rendtions of XTC songs? I can see it now. Some "fan" out there, with an internship at Muzak, staying late at night dubbing wildly the schmaltzy renditions of XTC songs. Oboes, trumpets, and violins replacing Andy, Dave, & Colin. Hmmmm! Come on, fess up you! We want the XTC Muzak Version "Tree" !!! :-) As for the ongoing "Dear God" babble: When I bought "Skylarking" on cassette in 1986 it didn't have "Dear God" on it. Still have the cassette. Still doesn't have "Dear God" on it! Ha ha ha ha!!!!!! Mark Rushton, author of the: Bill Nelson WWW site: http://www.primenet.com:80/~rushton/nelson.html stop by and visit....
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 01:57:23 -0500 (EST) From: Brookes McKenzie <RMCKENZI@smith.smith.edu> Subject: dear god. my weapon. [jd.mack@neteast.com wrote:] Imagine an unthinkable for a moment: Andy Partridge composes a song with a great chord progression, catchy melody, and fantastic arrangement, but the lyrics go "I hate the Niggers. Kill All the Jews." And imagine for a moment that he was serious. I don't think many people out there would consider themselves "Closed-minded" for skipping this song each time it came on. It simply would go against most people's deeply held personal values. As far as "Dear God" goes, Andy may think what he likes, and he certainly has the right to express it to the world, but I have have my own values, and I will not listen to a song that I consider as offensive as the fictious song I described. ---------------- this deeply disturbs me, as it is almost exactly the way i feel about barry andrews' "my weapon". even leaving aside the question of whether barry is as brilliant of a songwriter as andy (i personally don't think that he is), AND the question of whether barry was being ironic (it doesn't seem like it to me, but he _might_ have been, i suppose), i really don't like listening to "my weapon" because i find it so offensive, but i think it's a cute, catchy tune and melody. also i almost ^(lyrically speaking) resent the fact that the song *packages* its message of sexual violence so effectively by making it a little off-beat and harmless-_sounding_ song, but i think it's ridiculous that one should not listen to it as a way of protecting oneself from "catching" misogyny (or atheism). or as a protest to the songwriter who will never know or care that you skip that song every time it comes up on the cd. yet i do have that urge - to simply avoid dealing with the contradictory feelings brought up by the song by not listening to it. but surely listening to a song, and enjoying the things about it that you like, doesn't make you a sympathizer with its politics *automatically* - or does it? i have struggled with this question before, and the answer i always ended up with was to listen to the song anyway. (c.f. matthew sweet's "does she talk?" and "evangeline", and the rentals "brilliant boy", just off the top of my head.) but i find it very interesting and worthwhile to discuss this issue, and your point, JD, is well taken - i don't have a problem with "dear god" because it doesn't push any of my particular buttons. - brookes and he came by the way that i said i was leaving, the way that i'd take if i really was going, if i had a map that is why i'm delaying, and if it wasn't in there i'd surely be staying - palace brothers
------------------------------ From: "Wynne, Steve" <Steve.Wynne@orbit.net> Subject: XTC Italy Date: Fri, 10 Nov 95 08:46:00 MET In reply to Richard Manfredi's mail yesterday, unfortunately XTC like many decent British and American bands don't have much of a following over here. The main problem, I think is the language. It's easy to sing along to "Saturday Night" by Whigfield (Number 1 for 7 weeks) but not so easy to understand what say "Ugly Underneath" may be about, never mind sing to it. So it's Europop all the way over here in sunny (well, it was) Italia, and the last decent band to play here was February and that was REM. Ciao for now, Steve An Englishman in Rome "Spit in my face.....I'd love you for it......"
------------------------------ From: s.reule@genie.com Date: Fri, 10 Nov 95 08:05:00 UTC 0000 Subject: Andy IS god... Andy Partridge was in Sacramento a couple years ago and I had the supreme privelege of talking to him for 15 or 20 minutes. We did NOT discuss Dear God! More on this another time. However, he also did an interview and a Q&A session over the local "alternative" station and in response to a caller who wanted to know what Dear God meant he said the following, which I taped for posterity: "I was really wrestling with the dying embers of my disgust in christianity so... I know, to do a pocket version of what I believe - There is no god, there is, ergo, there is no devil, there's no heaven and no hell and we have to be as good as possible and have as much fun down here and cause everyone else to have as much fun as possible and not let people scare the pants off you with this religious nonsense." I'd say that's pretty clear... Jumping in Gomorrah, Steve
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 08:08:18 -0600 From: weisrot@cscoe.ac.com (Todd Weisrock - CIS) Subject: One more If Dear God, or any song or act of expression, makes one re-examine their beleifs, what's the harm? People should be made to think about things and not just beleive them blindly. For some people, re-examining things will make them change what they think, while for others it will intensify and reaffirm what they already beleive. As an analogy, I have explored other employment opportunities on numerous occasions and EVERY TIME, it only makes me realize how much I like what I'm doing right now. It makes me think about, realize and appreciate how good I have it. If XTC songs provoke some thought, excellent!!! So little does these days.....
------------------------------ Date: 10 Nov 1995 09:41:51 -0500 From: "Ken Salaets" <ksalaets@itic.nw.dc.us> Subject: Taking one's ball and going home... >> It is because of <Dear God commentary> that I will now leave permanently, unless somebody can give me a decent explanation as to why I should stay on. Excuse my frankness, but why should that matter to us? This is one big playground (that has gotten rather busy of late!), and there's room enough for everyone. On the other hand, far be it from me to appear to dis-invite someone of the female persuasion from playing in this sandbox, since there are seemingly so few of you in digital form these days. Until the band gets it together and puts out something NEW into which we can sink our souls, all there is to do around here is to dribble on about relatively meaningless topics, whether it be Andy's Kyrie, wish lists for TD II, or what have you. One wo/man's dribble is another wo/man's drool, and without such, there'd be no Chalkhills. Thanks to Andy the "Geomancer" for making life interesting in the face of this blasted prolonged drought!
------------------------------ From: RandyXpher@aol.com Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 10:28:30 -0500 Subject: re: hypothetical junk I can't believe I'm writing this, tired as I am of this debate. But this cannot pass... >But I for one will always skip by "Dear God" on my CD, and change the >station when it comes on the radio. Here's why. Imagine an >unthinkable for a moment: Andy Partridge composes a song with a great >chord progression, catchy melody, and fantastic arrangement, but the >lyrics go "I hate the Niggers. Kill All the Jews." And imagine for >a moment that he was serious. I don't think many people out there >would consider themselves "Closed-minded" for skipping this song each >time it came on. It simply would go against most people's deeply >held personal values. As far as "Dear God" goes, Andy may think what >he likes, and he certainly has the right to express it to the world, >but I have have my own values, and I will not listen to a song that I >consider as offensive as the fictious song I described. If AP wrote that hypothetical song and expressed those beliefs, I'd trash the hypothetical album, along with the rest of my XTC collection. I would not be able to rationalize that one song away, or pretend that it didn't exist (there's an irony for ya). And if you truly find DG to be *that* offensive, you shouldn't be able to, either. So we're either talking about hypocrisy or a bad analogy here, your choice. BTW, if you can't bear having your religious beliefs even *questioned*, I question how "deeply held" they really are. Folks, it's been almost ten years since DG was unleashed. Shouldn't we all have come to terms with it by now? Regardless of your faith or lack of same, it's a great song, a cry of the world's pain, and a lashing out at a concept/being (again your choice) the author blames for a disproportionate part of it. Accept it as such. If you can't, why are you on this list? disappearing again, RC
------------------------------ From: BObannon@aol.com Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 11:28:37 -0500 Subject: Double standard >>>Imagine an unthinkable for a moment: Andy Partridge composes a song with a great chord progression, catchy melody, and fantastic arrangement, but the lyrics go "I hate the Niggers. Kill All the Jews." And imagine for a moment that he was serious. I don't think many people out there would consider themselves "Closed-minded" for skipping this song each time it came on. It simply would go against most people's deeply held personal values.<<< Wow, what a great point, and very well put. Thank you. There is a heightened sensitivity today to racial issues, sexism and sexual preferences, but a heightened DEsensitivity to the interests of Christians. A person speaking out against racism is regarded as noble, but a Christian speaking out against immorality or atheism is seen as intolerant. Andy Partridge is merely utilizing his free speech in "Dear God," but a Christian's critique of the song is called narrow-minded. These are all major double standards, and they seem to most often come from the so-called progressive artistic community. To those complaining about this ongoing dialogue about God, I would say that if you prefer discussions about XTC catalog numbers or fictitious tribute albums (fun, I'll admit, but trivial), then perhaps you should reconsider your priorities. The overwhelming response to this issue every time it comes up shows how much most people are intrigued by it. Jesus said His message would divide people, and here we are, 2,000 years later, and His prediction is still coming true. Bob O'Bannon BObannon@aol.com
------------------------------ From: Martin_Monkman@fincc04.fin.gov.bc.ca Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 08:40:40 -0800 (PST) Subject: God and Gregory RE: the "Dear God" debate (which, I have noted, is getting testier and less popular all the time) -- a famous songwriter once wrote "See them fighting in the street, 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God". It's ironic that Chalkhills has become an example of the sort of intolerance that inspired the song's author. RE: Dave Gregory's contribution to XTC -- look closely at the cover of Oranges and Lemons. From whose guitar are all the oranges and lemons spilling? Is there a hidden meaning? Of course! The other two chaps may write all the songs, but without Mr. Gregory, there would be no oranges and lemons. Martin
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 12:50:49 -0500 (EST)
From: James Poulakos <engjcp@gsusgi2.gsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest #2-27
I agree, Olaf; that's one of the many things that excites me about XTC's
music. I think I was one of the first to unwittingly "re-open the can of
worms" re: Dear God because I wanted to comment on Partridge's
presentation in that song of a persona that seems to be saying two things
at once. Unfortunately, I also tried to stress that it was the piece of
art (Andy's song) that was the issue here, not Andy's beliefs. Obviously
the multiple meanings suit the topic of the song, in this case, but I am
as fond of Andy's poetic conceits that toy with multiple meanings across
different contexts, such as "That's Really Super, Supergirl," where the
descriptions of the jilted lover coincide so neatly with the language and
metaphors taken from a comic book world.
Olaf Helman wrote:
"As usual, we've got Andy's great double-meaning lyrics.
'I can't believe in you' could mean 'I don't believe
you exist' or it could mean 'I can't trust in you to do
what you say'.
If you go for the latter interpretation (which is the one
Christians usually talk about when they use the phrase)
and combine it with the 'and us crazy humans wrote it'
line, you get the following logic: 'I can't trust in you to
do what (it says in the Bible that) you say, because you
didn't say that.'
Sounds pretty reasonable to me. And interesting how these
two meanings parallel the two meanings of 'Dear God'
('What has the world come to?' / 'listen to me, God' )
And I think it's great that everybody interprets it
differently! Making those double meanings work so
well is part of the XTC greatness."
*-------------------------------------------------------------------
My home page is now at http://www.gsu.edu/~engjcp/zero.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
James Poulakos
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 11:18:38 -0700 (MST) From: Big Earl Sellar <splitred@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca> Subject: The sign in the bar/New thread idea? Howdy! COUNTESS CHOCULA <PALM1624@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu> (love that handle) hacked out: > You know, I was really hoping that this list would have been sick to death > by now of this whole pointless Dear God argument, but obviously, somebody > decided to set the whole can of worms out again. This was the only thing > that made me hesitate joining this list, and now it appears that I should > have stayed off. I am sick and tired of reading all these anti-Christianity > pro-atheist messages that keep showing up. I'm also appaled that people > would send personal attacks to a public list. It is because of this that I > will now leave permanently, unless somebody can give me a decent > explanation as to why I should stay on. Then, jd.mack@neteast.com (JD MACK) hacked: > Yes I can. I'm not going to get in to any religious debates, though > I've been sorely tempted by some of the bone headed things said by > supposedly "open-minded" people in this digest. But I for one will > always skip by "Dear God" on my CD, and change the station when it comes > on the radio. Here's why. Imagine an unthinkable for a moment: Andy > Partridge composes a song with a great chord progression, catchy melody, > and fantastic arrangement, but the lyrics go "I hate the Niggers. Kill > All the Jews." And imagine for a moment that he was serious. I don't > think many people out there would consider themselves "Closed-minded" > for skipping this song each time it came on. It simply would go > against most people's deeply held personal values. As far as "Dear God" > goes, Andy may think what he likes, and he certainly has the right to > express it to the world, but I have have my own values, and I will not > listen to a song that I consider as offensive as the fictious song I > described. Although the logic of these arguments are IMVHO somewhat silly (I can't see the argument of DEAR GOD as being the same as "I hate God"), the point raised is valid. This is a list about a band, a beat group, and not about theological discourse done largely by people with no real intellectual background in the area (myself included). I remember seeing a Giles cartoon with a bartender pointing to a sign saying NO RELIGION OR POLITICS SPOKEN HERE while staring at a man who just decked a fellow drinker. The caption: "I wasn't talkin' no religion or politics. I just punched him." Despite my anarchist political beliefs (let's *not* discuss that, shall we), I move that the good Mr. Relph terminate this round of the DEAR GOD discussion, to save us all bandwidth, lower our collective blood pressures and get back to the important thing here: this wonderful little beat group that we all love. If y'all wanna go to private flame-wars (alt.music.xtc.dear_god.kill.kill?) then go ahead. But I think we could all use a break. So, I put forward an idea for a new thread, especially in light of the Mayor of Simplton muzak notice: Where is the strangest place you've heard XTC playing. (Tracy, please stay. This is a wonderful list, honestly!) Winter must be coming: everyone's cranky. Later... EEEEEEE Big Earl Sellar - splitred@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca EE "Now some men will drive to the edge of nothing EEEE So they can take a peek at the great abyss EE Some men avoid love like it was a plague or something EEEEEE So they can leave the seat down when they piss." - John Hiatt
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995 12:42:38 -0600 From: vanvalnc@is2.nyu.edu (Chris Van Valen) Subject: Additions to the "XTC as Coverband" list New material for XTC to cover: Iggy Pop "Lust For Life" NIN "Head Like A Hole" The Who "A Quick One" or "Happy Jack" Primus "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" D. Bowie "TVC 15" Killing Joke "Kings and Queens" Procol Harum "A Salty Dog" King Crimson "Cat Food" (An Instant Classic!!) BTW, would this be a solution to XTC's contact problems with EMI? I mean, they wouldn't have to worry about a copyright on their own pieces if they did covers. Maybe I'm just blowing smoke. If so, please forgive my ignorance. An aside to "Upside Down Phil": whenever I used the initials "TD" I was refering to Testimonial Dinner", not Mr. Dolby. I don't know about anyone else. Sorry to be confusing. I'll try to spell everything out in the future. Finally, a question: Does anyone in NYC(pref. Manhattan) knopw where I can get a copy of "Drums and Wireless" and, more importantly, the cd singles (excluding "Pumpkinhead") from "Nonesvch"? All the places I check, the guys look at me like I'm from Mars (I'm actually from Saturn1) Take care, CV Your heart is the big box of paints.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #2-28 ******************************
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