Chalkhills Digest Volume 2, Issue 93
Date: Monday, 1 April 1996

          Chalkhills Digest, Volume 2, Number 93

                   Monday, 1 April 1996

Today's Topics:

                    if?  where?  when?
                      Rotting Stone
                James and the Giant Songs?
                    Re: stolen goodies
                   know it sounds weird
                     Andy's Antmusic
                Senseless Overworking Time
                      Gobs o' Stuff
                       High Llamas
            canadians - love 'em or...love 'em
               The Wicker Man/The Green Man
                          COVERS
                      Re: Wicker Man
           Reasons Jellyfish are not like Queen
                         whatever
            The Oranges and Lemons Promo Cube
                       XTC in Japan
                        video idea
                     Yazbek at HMV...
                        Wickerman
                     Mistaken Lyrics
                      Yazbek in NYC

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The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.

He wants to make you his Bride.

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

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 14:50:12 -0500 (EST)
From: kathryn lynne burda <klburda@umich.edu>
Subject: if?  where?  when?
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960329144805.12806B-100000@centipede.rs.itd.umich.edu>

	Is anyone planning a convention this year?  Summer's not too far
away...

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

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 96 15:41 EST
From: Jeffrey Langr <0005392548@mcimail.com>
Subject: Rotting Stone
Message-Id: <61960329204116/0005392548ND4EM@MCIMAIL.COM>

From: Charles <6500mull@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu>
>I seem to recall that when Skylarking came out, Rolling Stone gave it a
>tepid 3-star review (or something like that).  Now, I had been close
>to cancelling my RS subscription on several previous occasions, but I
>think that was the last straw.  HOWEVER, I also seem to recall that in
>one of the very next issues, RS re-reviewed Skylarking in a little
>"recommended listening" box in the review section.

I might still have the original Skylarking review on hand; they pretty
much trashed it and I'd be surprised that it got 3 stars.  I'll check.
However, three or so years later when Rotting Stone put their 1980's
decade in review issue, which included a list of the top 100 albums
of the decade.  As I recall, London Calling was #1, and Skylarking,
the only XTC appearance, was about #42 or so.

Rotting Stone gave O&L a glowing headline review when it came out, with
four stars.

I also noted with their reference series guide of ratings for Rock & Pop
Music they are rather inconsistent as well.  When the first one came out
in the early 80's RS trashed the Doors saying they were extremely
overrated; then in the c.1992 edition the Doors were reinstated to
their somewhat "rightful" place in rock history...

Anyone, though, who makes their music selections based on RS preferences
deserves what they get.  Same for Spin, for that matter.  Now Op, or
Option, is a different story...

Jeff L.

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

Message-Id: <ad81276005021004368a@[204.168.71.169]>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 16:13:47 +1005
From: comlit2@pppmail.nyser.net (Computer Center Lab)
Subject: James and the Giant Songs?

Hello-

I recently saw the trailer for "James and the Giant Peach" due out next
month.  I don't know if I should see it to guess where Andy's songs may
have fit in or boycott it for not using Andy's songs.  What do you all
think?

I know Andy wrote some songs for the movie, (I believe 4), but was curious
as to whether anyone has copies.   Did these 'lost' songs appear as demoes
anywhere?  Could someone let me know?  I would really like to know what
they are and get my hands on copies.  Thanks.

Also, I was in a government office the other day.  I suppose most of you
have seen those black boards with the little white letters which announce
messages or office room numbers.  There were a few of these boards in the
building, I needed to find a specific office and took a look.  At the
bottom, in little white letters, what could have caught my eye but "XTC" in
capital letters.  Wish I had a camera.  Someone is either a fan or it was
an advertisement :)  Sort of ironic considering XTC's "approval" of world
(USA) politics!

That's all.

Chuck.

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

Message-ID: <315CDEB3.4C10@knoware.nl>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 23:11:47 -0800
From: Mark Mello <mmello@knoware.nl>
Subject: Re: stolen goodies

in digest 2-92, Simon Sleightholm wrote:
>
> Stolen so far :-
> 1 x Waxworks/Beeswax Cassette Inlay to replace above.
>answering my request for stories about lost XTC treasures.
i'm sorry, it should have read "goodies lost by you/ stolen from you"
but this may turn out be a much more interesting thread!

i'm sure though that Simon feels much better now he has gotten this off
his chest :)

he also writes to have lost a
>
> XTC sew on patch. Bought in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne; lost on the bus home.
>i lost a very nice and big Drums and Wires promo-button once, but i'm not
really sure where i lost it... :)

bye,
Mark Mello

--
There may be no golden fleece but human riches I'll release <XTC>

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

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 15:16:09 -0700
From: loughman@hail.atmo.arizona.edu (Rob Loughman)
Message-Id: <9603292216.AA21406@hail.atmo.arizona.edu>
Subject: know it sounds weird

My favorite misheard lyric unfolded thusly:  I've just purchased Nonsuch
& I'm checking out the latest XTC offering on my stereo at home.  The
lovely strains of "Then She Appeared" fill the room.  Suddenly my
brother walks in the room mid-chorus and asks "What did he just say?
'Fetch me a beer'?"  I still love the song, but it's tough to listen to
it with a straight face ...
				Rob Loughman
			loughman@air.atmo.arizona.edu

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

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 96 19:25:10 EST
From: "John Christensen" <christej@vrinet.com>
Message-Id: <9602298281.AA828156329@PO2.VRINET.COM>
Subject: Andy's Antmusic

Todd Wrote:

>I don't know if this has been posted yet, but They Might Be Giants hve been
>playing new song of recent and hve included quite a little homage to XTC
>entitled "XTC vs. Adam Ant" including the lines:

>"Just when you think it's over, with XTC on top, Ant Music like a Phoenix,
>rising up the charts"

Hmmm . . . I can't find the reference now, but in the Web Page archives
there is an interview that suggests that Andy Partridge coined the term
"Antmusic" long before Adam Ant cashed it in.  Does anyone know what this
refers to?

I'm curious about the XTC/Adam Ant connection. Is there some friendship or
friction that I don't know about?

Why do I care, you say?  During my junior year of high school, I heard a
song on the radio that made me question everything I believed in -- namely
Journey, Styx, Kansas, REO Speedwagon and 38 Special!  That song was
"Antmusic" by Adam and the Ants, and it is responsible for my later
discovery of XTC.  I shudder to think what I would be listening to today
had I never heard it!

So did Andy inspire Adam, who later inspired me to find Andy?

Jasper

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

Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 18:22:00 -0800
Message-Id: <199603300222.SAA15200@InterGate.sonyinteractive.com>
From: Bob Estus <bestus@sonyinteractive.com>
Subject: Senseless Overworking Time

My subject is also  my suggestion for the yet unnamed tribute tape.

Hello chalkies i'm a new subscriber.

I earn a living as a 3-d animator. It's not as glamorous as you might
think.  I spend endless hours with motion description scores that graph
values over time, much like a musical score, except the notes (keyframes)
on my staff might decribe the height of a animated bottle rocket.

As I was animating this or that over time, I pondered, could "Senses
Working Overtime" have dual meaning as: senses working over time? I think
it is sort of interesting to imagine our selves as a bundle of sensory
receptors recording data over time.

-Bob

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

Message-Id: <199603300340.TAA01747@deliverator.sgi.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 96 22:22:49 EST
From: Melissa Reaves <MREAVES@KENTVM.KENT.EDU>
Subject: Gobs o' Stuff

Hey all!

As the subject sez, I've got gobs to say so I'll jump right in:

Lost Items:

I used to own long ago when I was in high school and wore a denim jacket
covered with rock band buttons (and they were mostly Pink Floyd) an XTC
Black Sea button.  It was lost long ago.

More recently I used to have a neat button that showed the three lads, one
of them was pointing skyward (don't remember who).  Than one was tragically
lost on a trip to Germany this past November.  I still wear a denim jacket
but only a couple of buttons on the collar.  I took them off as this was
the only jacket I'd brought and I didn't want to show off my silly buttons
at work ('twas a business trip) but somewhere between the Berlin hotel room
and the plane out of London the XTC one was gone.  Broke my heart.  I've
wanted to share it with you all ever since.  Thanks for opening up the
thread.

Scott Kennedy's Books Are Burning video put me in mind of something I saw
in Berlin (eastern side).  There was this neat monument built into the
brick floor of a plaza.  All it was was a glass panel through which you
could see an underground room full of empty shelves.  It was to commemorate
a certain book-burning committed by the Nazis and simply represented all
the books that were no longer there.  A strange idea at first, but I found
it grew on me.  Anyway, I thought that is could be incorporated into the
video, either cut in throughout, or just the finla shot.

I liked the tribute tape name "Please Don't Listen to Me".  It has an
Alice-in-Wonderland quality to it, nicht wahr?

Congratulations to Ben Gott for converting yet another innocent soul to
our cause (in)celebre.  Which prompts me to ask the question:  If Ben is
Hebrew for son or son of, and if Gott is German for God, does that mean
our fellow Chalkie has a Messiah complex?
(Insert smileys like crazy.  I'm just playing with words!)

Many many thanks to the person (who's name I neglected to note) who put
out the source for the L'Affair Louis CD!  (In my head, I call him
Louis L'Amour, but that's a different kettle of worms entirely)

Re Benjamin Woll's experience with the Firefly site:

That does sound kinda fishy -- not nec. as in dishonest, but more as in
strange.  I was put onto a similar site called The Similarities Engine,
http://www.webcom/se
This takes your five fave albums and puts them in a statistical pot based
on other people's faves, and spits out 88 albums that you may also like
with a weighting system to tell you how likely you are to like them.

I went about it wrong.  I went for diversity in my picks and got back all
kinds of garbage that it said I had a 50/50 chance of liking.  Except for
Del Amitri's Change Everything which I had a 66% chance of liking.  (can
anyone give feedback on this?)

I think the right way to do it is to give it lots of similar stuff, like
one or two artists only or very similar artists.  If anyone tries this
and gets better results, I'd like to hear about it.

Lastly and possibly Leastly:

I, too, know where one can get a rare Oranges and Lemons thang.  This one
is the complete CD on (I think) four mini-CD's.  Cute, but just a novelty.

If anyone thinks they might want such a thing, e-mail me and I could buy
it for them.  I don't know what it cost, but I'm sure it's probably
wildly overpriced.

Sorry this is so long.

So long!

If a sunflower I became I would grow into your brain.

--Melissa

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

From: 7IHd <ee92pmh@brunel.ac.uk>
Message-Id: <25834.9603300350@molnir.brunel.ac.uk>
Subject: High Llamas
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 03:49:59 +0000 (GMT)

For those who aren't listening to it RIGHT now (i.e. those who haven't
bought it yet): There is a new High Llamas album out now, it's called
Hawaii, it has 29 tracks and it is _gorgeous_. So there.

"Stunning vistas to the left and to the right
It's the goosey in the bucket on the bike"

Who needs Andy Partridge when Sean O'Hagan is such a complete genius?

And by the way, if anyone knows the wherabouts of a copy of The High
Llamas "Santa Barbara", preferably the French version with extra tracks,
I will pay them handsomly for it...

OBXTC: To the person asking about the odds & sods which count as 'lost'
live tracks, you missed the two tracks on the Hope & Anchor compilation,
one is "Science Friction", I forget the other offhand.

And a quick question, are the versions of songs on either The Compact
XTC or the other singles collection (the one that goes with Beeswax) any
different to the album versions? I ask because I don't have either - it
hardly seemed worth it just for "Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down", I just
bought the 7" - but if other songs are different I might change my mind.

ttfn.
  _
 |_)|_ *|
 |  | )||   http://http2.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~ee92pmh/
 ========

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

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 01:41:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Brookes McKenzie <RMCKENZI@smith.smith.edu>
Subject: canadians - love 'em or...love 'em
Message-id: <01I2XKGS4TD2AW6D6I@SMITH>

canadians rock - a lot of the new music i've been getting into lately
has been canadian. the new barenaked ladies album, for example, while
i hated it on first listening (that's perfectly normal - any cd i like
the first time i hear it i usually can't stand by the 10th time, while
the ones i am still listening to after years & years are the ones i
loathed and despised the first time i heard them), is great despite
the fact that it seems like steven page has completely forgotten how
to sing in the year since _maybe you should drive_ came out. anyway,
the (rather asinine) title is _born on a pirate ship_, on reprise.

also, the waltons (another fab group o' canucks) lead singer/songwriter
jason plumb says in their little fanclub newsletter, in response to the
comment: "You seem to wear the pop label with pride and most groups run
away from it", "Well, I like pop music. Bands like Squeeze and XTC and
God anything from the Hollies." there's also a cute part later on when
he says, "the bulk of my songs are about miserable topics or people
that are in pain and agony." which are practically the only kind of
songs worth listening to IMO, unless it goes to the other extreme
and it's so bubblegum that the lyrics are just cheesy and meaningless,
`a la the monkees.

speaking of the hollies, i can't find _sing hollies in reverse_ anywhere.
just thought i'd share.

		- brookes

"If you were alone
 You could walk away from Louisville"

	- Will Oldham (Palace Brothers)

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

Message-ID: <315CCC96.3AAC@airmail.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 23:54:30 -0600
From: Della & Steve Schiavo <schiavo@airmail.net>
Subject: The Wicker Man/The Green Man

Re: Brian T. Marchese's question about "The Wicker Man".

It is a British film from 1973 with Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward,
Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland.  The plot concerns a devout Christian
policeman who is lured to the hinterland to be used as a sacrifice by
the local Pagan population.  Being a virgin he is, after suitable
purity testing, put into a large hollow "wicker man" and burned alive
to renew the land and usher in the new season.  A happy outcome for
them but not for him!  The kicker is that, despite plenty of signs to
the contrary, he is so secure in  his belief that he just can't allow
himself to comprehend that there are still Pagans around.

The film is not quite a direct tie to any XTC song, although there
are several with the season/cycle theme.  But here's the lyric to
Andy's "The Green Man":

Please to bend down to the one called the Green Man
He wants to make you his Bride
Please to bend down to the one called the Green Man
Forever to him you're tied

And you know for a million years he has been your lover
He'll be a million more
And you know for a million years he has been your lover
Down from the Hills to the Shore

Heed the Green Man
Heed the Green Man

Please to dance round for the one called the Green Man
He wants to make you his Child
Please to dance round for the one called the Green Man
Dressed in the fruits of the Wild

And you know for a million years he has been your Father
He'll be a million more
And you know for a million years he has been your Father
Run to his arms from your door

Lay your head, lay your head, lay your head, lay your head
     on the Green Man
Lay your head, lay your head with mine
lay your head, lay your head, lay your head, lay your head
     on the Green Man
We'll go bed - Out of Oak and Vine

See the Green Man blow his kiss from high church wall
And unknowing church will amplify his call

Please to bend down for the one called the Green Man
(lyric repeats)  (the capitalizations are mine)

I throw this out just to see how deep someone/everyone can get into
it.  Are there several layers of meaning?  It seems to me to be one
of the most straitforward of Andy's new songs.  But I know that pop
song deconstruction is a favorite pastime of some members of this
list.

Best & happy analysis -

Steve

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

Message-Id: <199603301511.AAA10818@gojira.cc.hc.keio.ac.jp>
Subject: COVERS
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 00:11:18 +0900
From: "Naoyuking Iso." <a01512@cc.hc.keio.ac.jp>

HI, THERE!!!

> From: JH3 <jh3@cencom.net>
>
> Either way, figuring out these lyrics is a challenge even if you've
> a) been speaking English your whole life and b) been listening to
> this material for ten years (not constantly, of course!). But here's
> my interpretation of one HK song, and if anybody can figure out the
> last line in verse two, please do:

I've been neither way.  But I'm able to find your interpretation of
`STAR PARK' to be correct.  And I can't figure out the last line in
verse two, of course.

BTW, that HELIUM KIDS CD, which is entitled _STAR PARK_, also contains
some early demos of XTC.  They are written to be COVERS but I don't
know who originally played them.  One is `COMMUNITY WORKER BREAKDOWN',
and the other is `WHOLE LOTTA AGE'.

Does anybody know them?

   From "Naoyuking Iso." at the department of economics in Keio Univ.

        E-mail:a01512@cc.hc.keio.ac.jp   (till May 31. 1996)

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

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 10:00:49 -0700 (MST)
From: Big Earl Sellar <splitred@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca>
Subject: Re: Wicker Man
Message-Id: <Pine.A32.3.91.960330095259.27281B-100000@fn1.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca>

Howdy!

Brian Marchese mentioned the film Wicker Man and made a rather grasping
connection to our boys.

Wicker Man is about a Scottish cop (he's actually a actor who made it to
tv - name escapes though...) who investigates a supposed murder on an
island off the mainland. It turns out that the island has reverted back,
oddly enough, to the English pagan past. (Something any self-respecting
Celt would NOT allow...)

OK, maybe the boys saw the flick and it registered in their minds. Then
again, they might have seen Airplane and that was a major starting point.
:) What the movie shows about the old-religion is nothing that can't be
gleaned from early English history. Musically, it's all
neo-traditionalist tunes, with most of the lyrics adapted from Robbie Burns.
Great flick though: I love any flick where the good guy dies in the end!

One of my favourite local bands, Euthanasia, renamed themselves Wicker
Man in homage. Wicked t-shirts!

Later...
EEEEEEE Big Earl Sellar - splitred@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
EE 			"If all that ash
EEEE 	 	 	 Used to be hash
EE  	 	 	 What the heck time
EEEEEE 	 	 	 Is it now?"
Current Temperature: -14C		- ASH HASH - Bob Snider

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

From: vancha@microcity.com
Message-Id: <199603301821.KAA18818@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: 30 Mar 1996 12:21:58 CST
Subject: Reasons Jellyfish are not like Queen

There seems to be a lot of discussion about other bands and their
influences on this list. Jellyfish, in particular, seems to be getting a
lot of attention lately. The most common comment is that Jellyfish are
influenced by Queen. Although it is true that some of their vocals are
"big", just because they stack their harmony vocals doesn't mean they
even like Queen.  Jellyfish have enough craft to not copy Queen,
Supertramp or anyone else.

Perhaps Jellyfish are drawing on the same influences that Queen are,
such as classical music and even Broadway musicals and as such some of
the sounds are the same. But Jellyfish are more of an alternative pop
band, not a classic rock band and you can tell that by their singing
style, the guitar sound, the lack of many guitar solos, their chord
progressions  and general lack of key changes within songs and their
lyrics, which are much quirkier than Queen's. Their songs are mixed
totally different too with bigger, dryer drums and generally more low
mid frequencies, as well as less radical equalization and outboard
processing (reverb and echo). This kind of mixing points to an
alternative pop angle, rather than a classic rock  direction.

One way you can tell if a band is actually borrowing material from
someone else is if they are stealing melodies and instrumental figures.
I haven't heard anything in Jellyfish's or XTX's songs to suggest that
at all. The melodies and their new twists on familair subject matter in
their lyrics also show you that these groups have enough craft to avoid
ripping someone off.

It is quite obvious that Jellyfish are much more different from Queen,
Supertramp and other "classic rock" bands than they are similar. That
similarity only comes from the fact that harmony vocals stacked like
that in pop have done the most by Queen. You need to go to the source,
the real influences of Jellyfish and Queen to see where this sort of
harmony really comes from.

A closing comment: Who is that guy, Erik Anderson@city.sakatoon.sk.ca
that writes to Chalkhills from time to time? His letters are worthy of
having a second look.

MV

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

Message-ID: <315D9A6D.50BB@televar.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 12:32:45 -0800
From: T Lewis <tlewis@televar.com>
Subject: whatever

chalkers:

Two cents worth: I've always heard "change gears"...but after some grudging
consideration.."stand clear" does seem more correct ("straight t'ya" just
doesn't scan for me).

Someone's passing mention of Gentle Giant last time joggled me. At their
best, they were great (what becomes of such talented, visionary people when
their time passes?). "Octopus" "In a Glass House" etc., if memory serves,
were tremendous, and, along with Eno, National Health, late Steely Dan and
early XTC, salvaged the 70's. GG sometimes did what Andy and the boys
always do so well...construct often very complex, even jewel-like chunks of
music that paradoxicaly never compromise the rawness and fun at the heart
of rock.

Personal pr... hope this doesn't violate chalk law... check out my strip
"Over the Hedge" appearing in a newspaper near you. I've been wondering
about ways to include some obscure XTC references.

First message of this sort for me...probably the last. I thought I was an
XTC enthusiast...but I simply cannot compete.

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

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 19:41:47 -0800
Message-Id: <199603310341.TAA03852@dfw-ix12.ix.netcom.com>
From: huduguru@ix.netcom.com (huduguru)
Subject: The Oranges and Lemons Promo Cube

Greetings, Chalkies!
Thanks to everyone who responded about the abovementioned O&L promo
gizmo!  John H. responded first and has a pretty cool stash of stuff,
so for the rest of you, thank you for writing!
So anyway, here's my $.02 worth on the subject of tribute tape names:
"The Town Council of Simpleton"
"Some of the Millions" (Somebody may have already suggested this one?)
"When I Play XTC I Have Difficulty"
That's all for now. Back to Lurk Mode!
Steve

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

Message-Id: <199603310436.NAA20470@patton.gate.asahi-net.or.jp>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 13:43:01 +0900
From: mn8t-mls@asahi-net.or.jp (Ted Mills)
Subject: XTC in Japan

Say you're a Japanese band and you love XTC so much you decide to name your
group after one of their songs.  Which do you choose?  Why, the most
unwiedly name ever: "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her."

I haven't heard this group yet, but they're on a good label - Trattoria.
More info later.

Other threads: Here Comes President Gilligan?  Sure!  He'd do a better job
than Reagan, plus it would have been nice to watch the chiefs of staff
continually getting coconuts dropped on their heads.  All together now:
D'oh!  Gilligan!

And what's all this about a new Talking Heads album?  Please e-mail me all
you know.  Andy Partridge a guest?  Who else?

On-line recommendation application sez:  Miles Davis...Tilt.  Pure
coincidence, for this Scott Walker album turned up on the Costello list
just last night.  I actually own a copy! (and listened to it twice).

Off to Tokyo to shop...

Ted

P.S. I don't recall posting before, so howdy all!  Skylarking: Yay!
Nonesuch: Well, uh...  Your Dictionary (Andy's new demo tape): a highlight
of whatever album it will eventually appear on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ted Mills                                   "Money doesn't talk,
Crystal Mansion 201                                it swears..."
Shimotakatsu 2-3-21                                         - Bob Dylan
Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki-ken
Japan 300                                   mn8t-mls@asahi-net.or.jp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Message-Id: <199603310436.NAA20475@patton.gate.asahi-net.or.jp>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 13:43:08 +0900
From: mn8t-mls@asahi-net.or.jp (Ted Mills)
Subject: video idea

My XTC video idea/drug hallucination is one I've had for some time.  It's
for All The Pretty Girls, and the main set is a room in a musuem , the
architecture of which is an homage to Beardsley and Dr. Caligari.  Along
the walls of the room are life-size dioramas, encased behind glass.  The
lighting suggests that the museum has closed down, yet people are still
visiting. The color scheme is deep blue, seaweed green, grey, something
like the hull of an old ship.  Andy and the boys are inside one case,
dressed in some strange Victorian-era idea of what a spacesuit would be
like, with oxygen lifelines disappearing above.  Other dioramas don't
contain humans, though they should according to their explanatory plaques.
Instead random objects take their place - a carefully arranged pile of
french bread, a christmas tree hung with squid, a large styrofoam model of
a bacterium, all contrasting with the diorama scenes behind them.  As the
boys perform, the dioramas slowly fill with sea water, the "finale" having
all this burst forth into the museum, sweeping away a few customers.
Andy's diorama doesn't break,  but by using their lifelines, they are able
to surface...in some pleasant modern English kitchen, frightening the dog.

Hmmm....that pleases me.
Back to my lint collection...

Ted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ted Mills                                   "Money doesn't talk,
Crystal Mansion 201                                it swears..."
Shimotakatsu 2-3-21                                         - Bob Dylan
Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki-ken
Japan 300                                   mn8t-mls@asahi-net.or.jp
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Message-Id: <v01530500ad83ce3c4eab@[199.224.7.252]>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 01:16:29 -0500
From: aym@j51.com (Ira Lieman)
Subject: Yazbek at HMV...

Howdy all...

Yazbek does not disappoint -- yet again. The "retail debut" of Yazbek and
his band was a hit with all the Saturday shoppers at the HMV store in NYC
on 86th and Lex. I dragged a couple of frenz (one from Jersey, one from
Staten Island) to come see, and without knowing what to expect they got
into the music quite quickly. Even though my friend Iris really wished
"Schmuck in a Vacuum" was on the album.

So, I ask ... did you get it yet? It's on sale! Whoo hoo! And then you can
listen and understand why I've been playing "The Laughing Man" almost
constantly since early February...

Great Job, Dave.

And nice to meet you, Tim.

-ira

 < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
    _/_/  _/ _/  _/_/_/_/  Ira Lieman           | Visualize
  _/  _/ _/ _/  _/ _/ _/  Angry Young Man       |      Whirled
 _/_/_/   _/   _/ _/ _/  aym@j51.com            |            Peas.
_/  _/   _/   _/    _/  http://www.j51.com/~aym | Stop the Violins!

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Message-Id: <v01520d00ad83df927953@[204.119.240.49]>
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 22:21:53 -0900
From: CVreekn@ns.net (Craig Vreeken)
Subject: Wickerman

Brian T. Marchese wrote:
>Anyone ever see the film "Wicker Man"? ... it struck a very XTC-ish chord. One
>of the reasons I can remember is use of the phrase "Sacrificial Bonfore",
>and I remember spotting at least 2 other phrases that at least turn up in
>songs.  Anyone else ever see it? It came out in like 1972, and it's sort of
>a British cult film, so I can see Andy and Colin watching it in their
>youth, and it planting Pagan seed in their creative brains.

Yes, and the song reminded me of the movie right away.  The movie is great
and available on video.  Edward Woodward plays the uptight policeman who
visits the island, and Chistopher Lee is the head pagan, I believe.  If you
haven't seen this movie, I recommend it.  It's kinda cheap and weird, in an
early 70s sort of way, but sticks with you for years after you see it.  I
wouldn't doubt that it played a role in the writing of "Sacrificial
Bonfire."

Craig Vreeken

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From: sjala1@1adtfrear.1ad.army.mil (SJA Claims CPT Stauffer)
Message-ID: <1996Mar31.124500.1406.31124@1adtfrear.1ad.army.mil>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 12:51:40 +0100
Subject: Mistaken Lyrics

Hello from the beautiful Balkans!

I got a big laugh from this posting in the last digest:

> Also, my favorite XTC mistaken
>lyric is "Here Comes President Gilligan". I can just see it... after finally
>getting off the island, Gilligan is made some sort of hero and elected to
>office. Stranger things have happened here in the states.

My favorite XTC mistaken lyric came about at my wedding reception.  We had
about 150 people on the dance floor jumping around to "No Thugs In Our
House".  By the last chorus, two of my wife's bridesmaids were singing
(yelling, really) in unison, "No Drugs In Our House".  Actually, that
mistake fits pretty well when you consider the rest of the lyrics, but we
thought it was pretty funny.

Non- XTC-related, but dumbest mistaken lyric:  Don Henley's "Down at the
Sunset Grill" came on my car radio.  My friend in the passenger seat (the
name has been withheld to protect the moronic) decided to sing along and
blurts out "Down at the Sausage Mill"  not once, but twice.  I'm no Don
Henley fan, but I berated my friend just the same.

Anyone else have a favorite mistaken lyric they want to share?

Your friendly Peace Keeping Chalkhillian,
Scott Stauffer

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From: Combray2@aol.com
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 14:16:56 -0500
Message-ID: <960331141655_366501800@emout10.mail.aol.com>
Subject: Yazbek in NYC

On Saturday I was at Yazbek's performance at the HMV store at 86th &
Lexington in NYC.  (Thanks Chalkhillians for tipping me off.)  The
threesome played ten songs on the little stage set up on the lower level,
and they sounded great.  Their new album, "The Laughing Man", is by Andy
Partridge.  The songs, especially the vocals, are quite fun and in the
style of some of XTC's lighter material (perhaps even closer in tone to
early Squeeze).  The songs benefit from a live performance - when the band
gets up a head of steam, they sound quite a bit like classic Squeeze, with
Yazbek as Jools Holland on keyboard.

It seems as though Yazbek will be performing at Fez's in lower Manhattan on
April 9 and April 16.

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End of Chalkhills Digest #2-93
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Go back to Volume 2.

1 April 1996 / Feedback