Chalkhills Digest Volume 3, Issue 161
Date: Friday, 5 September 1997
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 3, Number 161
Friday, 5 September 1997
Today's Topics:
No bad songs, just bad moods & hello & bad CD's & good ideas
More info about "XTsCheme"
He's not dead...
Exciting news!!!!
Something New, Something Black
Phil Manzanara
Producers: Good, Bad, and Awful
An open mike night experience
new signing and the "who plays what" conspiracy
music we hate
Without the Beatles / Music Machine
Now now, let's not get too negative......
Woo-ing and amusement
Re: XTC Namesakes
Andy's Boutique
Kinks Info/New Demos
Where were you at 4:00 pm EDT on Thursday, September 4th 1997?
re: Praise to Jason Falkner
How was the Rifff chat?
#Buzzcity IRC channel
Things of no relevance
Chalkhills on Vacation
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <340D649C.7DD8@ns1.mindmagic.com> Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 13:22:43 +0000 From: Brian Matthews <btm@ns1.mindmagic.com> Organization: Ringling Multimedia Corporation Subject: No bad songs, just bad moods & hello & bad CD's & good ideas Tschalkgerz! Ya know, in the right mood, every song that XTC has ever done (that I have ever heard, mind you... I can't claim to have heard them all, which is probably a good, envious thing to some of you) has got something for me. I keep reading about some of you panning "Peter Pumpkinhead" or "Books Are Burning" (pointless guitar solo? When did ANY guitar solo make a point? It's music, for crying out loud - it both means something AND nothing) or "Garden Of Earthly Delights" or "My Weapon" or "Human Alchemy" or "The Smartest Monkeys" or whatever... is there anyone (and I'm not saying the above applies to all, but it's only the bad news you hear, ya know?) who thinks that there really isn't a bad banana in the bunch? Thread it, folks. Hello, Chris Kushmider! The "This Is Pop" MIDI should be on Chalkhills soon... I'll send it to John today. I don't know, Brookes... what WERE you thinking when you bought a Kula Shakur CD? I've done pretty well with album reviews in WIRED magazine - I've gotten at least five from their recommendations, and one I didn't keep because I probably misread what they were telling me about it. It's beginning to sound like a good 'IDEA'... -Brian Eating future & shitting past
------------------------------ From: "J.H.Three" <JH3@alternatech.net> Subject: More info about "XTsCheme" Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 12:30:13 -0500 Message-ID: <MDAEMON-F199709031225.AA250032MD0000@alternatech.net> Chalkees: Since I posted my original announcement about XTsCheme (Vol. 1), the file has been downloaded about 90 times (though that includes failed and/or cancelled attempts), and the web page (below) has taken about 150 hits. Response so far has been quite positive indeed, so I'll almost certainly be doing another "volume" in a few months. In case you missed it, XTsCheme is a self-installing Windows 95 XTC desktop theme that doesn't require Microsoft[TM] Plus!(R), and you can download it for free off the web at: http://www.alternatech.net/jh3/xtc/xtscheme.htm I've also copied the page to my old WWW site (not that anyone ever knew where *that* was), just in case you have problems downloading it from the above address. The URL for this "mirror" site is: http://www.netins.net/showcase/jh3/xtc/xtscheme.htm Two people requested an "Undo" feature for the system icons which are optionally changed during installation. Admittedly, the icons don't accurately represent Win95 system components like your network or your computer's drives -- they mostly just represent XTC album covers, except for the stuffed-bird/skinny-bird recycle bin which doesn't really represent much of anything (I just thought it was a cute idea). It took a bit of doing, but there's now a new version on the web page which, if you do decide to change the icons, creates a file called XTsChemeUNDO.Reg in your Windows directory. Just find and double-click on this file to restore the icon settings you had before installing XTsCheme. If you're an early adopter type and have *already* installed XTsCheme, you might still want to go back to the aforementioned page and download a tiny file called XTCIconUndo.Reg, which restores the affected icons to something approximating their Windows 95 defaults. Also, I added some code which hopefully will make the screen-saver terminate more cleanly under Windows NT 3.51. (I say "hopefully" because I don't have access to NT 3.51, so I can't test it). And don't worry, folks -- Greggsy's hairline has always been like that. --John H. Hedges
------------------------------ Message-ID: <340DA088.15B2@myself.com> Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 13:38:16 -0400 From: Ira Lieman <ira@myself.com> Subject: He's not dead... Hey there. Long time no post, but since I'm in the middle of major upheavals here at work all I can do is munch popcorn and watch the show. Glad it has little to do with me. :) So I write e-mail. Anyway, for those of you not in the know, Joe Jackson is far from dead. His new album (I was totally floored when I heard it was going to be released) is called "Heaven and Hell" and it's on (egad!) Sony Classical. Joe, like Squeeze, Elvis Costello, and (gasp) even XTC, has had a crappy time trying to find a supportive record label, but Sony is supposed to be promoting this well. The album is (so I hear, I don't have it yet) 8 songs, each dealing with one of the Seven Deadly Sins (I don't know what the 8th deals with). They're all written and orchestrated by Joe, but here's the kicker...he's recruited (some) other musicians and vocalists. Jane Siberry sings on one of the songs, Susanne Vega on another, and Crash Test Dummies' Brad Roberts on yet another. I'm not sure what musical talents Joe is contributing to the cause, but I expect it's going to be a doozy. * * * And regarding youngest/oldest, I'm kinda middle of the road here. I'll be 25 in a little over a month. -ira
------------------------------ Message-ID: <340DCB45.C73@schoollink.net> Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 13:40:37 -0700 From: phipps@schoollink.net (Danny Phipps) Subject: Exciting news!!!! Wow!! The Chalkhills disgest (3-160) that I just perused over has got to be the most exciting "issue" I've yet to receive! Can you believe it? We're actually going to be discussing some new XTC material about this time (or sooner) next year!!! Hurry up, guys! We're waiting anxiously for some word from you in the music department!!! (an understatement) :-) Steve (<nihilon@crisscross.com>, that hard-to-find CD you just recently purchased with Andy on guitar all over it, you know where to send a dub, right? Thanks... Rock on, XTC-lovers, everywhere 'cos that's basically it. Peace through Music, /Dan <phipps@schoollink.net> * ----------------------------------------- "I would have made this instrumental, but the words got in the way." (Andy Partridge) * ----------------------------------------- PS -- BTW, couldn't believe that some other Chalkhillian had actually mentioned the revered name of Leo Kottke within the confines of the digest! ALL RIGHT!!!!!!!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199709032248.AAA08196@utrecht.knoware.nl> From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl> Organization: The Little Lighthouse Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 00:54:51 +0000 Subject: Something New, Something Black Dear Chalkers, So now it's official... XTC are back. The news is not unexpected of course but still very welcome; the part about them doing "appearances" in particular! Anyway, many congrats to the band and to ourselves for still being there - just a few more months now and we'll be able to discuss their new album. Last issue our friend Harrison Sherwood said: > And isn't it interesting that the album that really marks the > hinge-point in this transition, the one that announces the beginning of > the migration--Black Sea--has "No Language In Our Lungs" at its center > (both thematically and in the sequence of songs on the LP)? Hear hear, Mr. Sherwood! I could have said this myself - but not so eloquent of course... IMHO it is indeed the pivotal song on the album - and a highlight in their career. An early example of what was yet to come also; as Andy's writing gets more & more personal and less anecdotal later on. Plus there's some clever wordplay as well, a true Partridge classic. And let's not forget the excellent music - Dave's guitar playing in particular ! And back in those wild days of vinyl ( and test-pressings! ) the "running order" of tracks on an album was always carefully considered and the last track on each side in particular... As far as I know XTC had to hand over all rights to their old stuff as part of their 'deal' with Virgin. This probably means we'll never get a decent, properly remastered CD release of this awesome album. I think MoFi are only interested in those albums that sold well in the US, so that's just Skylarking and O&L in XTC's case... Virgin will just repackage it to death :( yours just like a crusader, Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse; the XTC website @ http://utopia.knoware.nl/~mmello ===> The Random XTC Quote <=== Where's the message that's written under the base of clouds?
------------------------------
Message-ID: <340E0479.8F1@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 17:44:41 -0700
From: Wesley Hanks <whanks@earthlink.net>
Subject: Phil Manzanara
David Bowie * R.E.M. * Frank Zappa * U2 * Julian Cope *
Django Reinhardt/Stephane Grapelli * Bob Seger/Silver Bullet
Band * Smashing Pumpkins * Bruce Cockburn * Roy Buchanan *
Tim Buckley * Miles Davis Quintet * Phil Ochs * Squeeze * Art
Of Noise * Shawn Colvin
I came across the above and lunged my lemonade on the B*b S**g*r
reference!
I picked up a copy of "The Manzanara Collection" and was wondering if
anyone can explain to me whats up with two of the 801 tracks. I was
suprized to see "The Fat Lady of Limbourg" and a different version of
"Miss Shapiro" both attributed to the "801 Live" album. My vinyl and
cassette copy of "801 Live" contain a different version of MS and
neither has TFLOL on it. UK vs US release?
All Hail Mighty Cooking Vinyl!
Best,
Wes
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199709040202.WAA12960@brickbat8.mindspring.com> From: "Mark Rushton" <rushton@mindspring.com> Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 21:05:30 +0000 Subject: Producers: Good, Bad, and Awful Saw the good news on the web about XTC signing to Cooking Vinyl this afternoon (Wed) about the time Chalkhills arrived. I must say their short list of producers is WEIRD. Dust Brothers: Yes I could see this. They've done Beck, Beastie Boys, Hanson, among others - (attention you Hanson haters out there, sure these kids look ridiculous, but I heard "MmmmBop" on the radio before I ever saw the video - you have to admit it was the catchiest thing on radio this summer, and damn good sounding!) Roy Thomas Baker: The guy who produced Be Bop Deluxe's "Futurama" - as well as Queen, the Cars, etc etc..... What's he done lately? Anything? Is he just another over-the-hill hack like Gus Dundgeon? Please, get thee JOHN LECKIE to the boys again. Sure he does Take That members' solo albums for the money, but he's done quality work with Kula Shaker and Radiohead in the past couple of years. Bruce Fairbairn: Isn't he some HACK pop-metal producer? Didn't he produce acts like Heart or Bon Jovi or Aerosmith in the 80's or early 90's? Please! No!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good to be BACH.......... Mark Rushton, author of the Bill Nelson web site billnelson.com
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199709040132.VAA29583@wakko.gil.net> From: "Brad Preuss" <scratch@gil.net> Subject: An open mike night experience Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 18:32:25 -0000 Hello Chalkheads, Well...a friend of mine works at a nearby Barnes and Noble bookstore. He's also an XTC fanatic and likes to do covers of their tunes. I hadn't seen him perform yet and the store was finally having another open mike that I could attend. Anyways, the people that performed before him didn't seem to get the idea through their heads that it was an ACOUSTIC open mike night as they had brought with them an electric piano. It just so happened that the group was from a church, which mainly consisted of jews for jesus. Them playing a song or two would not have been TOO bad, but they handed out tambourines and other people that came along to see them started to dance around in circles. They ended up playing about four songs. Tony, my friend, wanted dearly (as did I) to play Dear God but he was warned not to by the music manager. He ended up playing Wrapped in Grey and something else which I can't remember.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <01BCB8A5.947A7820@d76.coastnet.com> From: Martin & Jamie Monkman <monkman@coastnet.com> Subject: new signing and the "who plays what" conspiracy Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 20:06:55 -0700 >From Chalkhills #3-160, John the keeper of the list: >The band are at the moment looking for a Producer and have been talking to >people such as the Dust Brothers, Roy Thomas Baker and Bruce Fairburn. XTC >are in pre-production at the moment and have been rehearsing with several >musicians. There will be a new album in May 1998 of material written since >1991 to date. Bruce Fairburn doesn't sound likely, but we've been surprised before. Who's going to ask Andy who the "several musicians" are and what they play? And May 1998 ... nine months is about the right time for the gestation of a new baby! And in the same issue "milkmaid, that" wrote: > [that good egg ted harms wrote:] >> Well, something that I find quite interesting is that 'Rook' penned by AP, >> has no Colin on it all (heresy!) while 'War Dance' (I think - alas, they >> don't allow to keep my CD collection at work..), penned by Colin has Andy >> playing some fairly insiginificant instrument (tambourine? kazoo?) > >close - it's the shaker. and on "Bungalow" Andy plays the bell tree and >sings backup only. not only are you exactly right (that on several songs >Colin basically makes Andy practically irrelevant, and on "Rook" he returns >the favor - although in fact it's even more pointed than that, because one >member of the band not appearing on a track could mean anything, it could >mean that they weren't in the studio that day for some reason, but putting >someone on 'shaker' only is almost insulting), but i had actually noticed >this same thing when i first got _Nonsuch_ and wondered what it implied >about their relationship and songwriting one-upmanship. I wonder if Andy is insulted by the fact the he only let himself play tambourine and shaker on "Rook". And does anybody hear much bass guitar on "1000 Umbrellas"? Just wondering. Martin p.s. <I>I'm the youngest member of Chalkhills!</I> Well, with some qualifications. I'm the youngest member was born north of Swindon, now resides many miles west of Swindon, is (as Dave Gregory soon will be) as bald as a French trombone, who thinks (unlike some young whippersnappers) that Mummer is a damn good record (and the CD ain't bad either), and who doesn't give a damn how old you are.
------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 97 09:41:00 GMT From: david.mcguinness@bbc.co.uk (David McGuinness) Subject: music we hate Message-Id: <"<A1BA0E3481821573>A1BA0E3481821573@GW.BBC"@-SMF-> Hi there - Thanks to todzilla for coming up with the 'what music drives XTC fans up the wall' idea. Personally, I've never heard a song by The Beautiful South whose lyrics didn't make me want to throw up. Anyone else feel the same? -David McGuinness
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 10:24:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: FA ken clinger <clinger@duq2.cc.duq.edu>
Subject: Without the Beatles / Music Machine
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.95q.970904101437.22968B-100000@duq2.cc.duq.edu>
The recently mentioned Music Machine has a web site, which I found by just
guessing at the URL. It's
http://www.musicmachine.com
Here at work, with only a text browser, many of the pages just have text
allruntogether, but it looks like a fun place to browse with a graphic
browser.
Music Machine was mentioned re: WITHOUT THE BEATLES compilation of Beatles
covers, including contributions by Colin's Hermits, Martin Newell, and
Cleaners from Venus. [The Cleaners piece is only on the vinyl version, so
you vinyl-addicts can gloat :) ].
I got WITHOUT THE BEATLES directly from Jarmusic in Germany. The CD itself
was only $20, but the German postage to ship it was an additional $15! So
I'm pleased it's available more easily in the US thru Music Machine.
-+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+-
You have just read e-mail by Ken Clinger.
<clinger@duq2.cc.duq.edu>
You may now resume your previously-scheduled life
-+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+- -+-
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 09:39:29 -0600 (CST) From: "DADDY'S GIRL" <ACOEA@jazz.ucc.uno.edu> Subject: Now now, let's not get too negative...... Message-id: <01IN8N4RNM088XQK36@jazz.ucc.uno.edu> But what the heck. I'll throw in the bands that this XTC fan abhors, despises, and wishes would get shot on a bike ride to the moon....... Hanson. (Everytime I hear it, I think "MMM STOP!!!!!!") Spice Girls (And I thought British music was so inventive.....) Marilyn Manson (The novelty has worn off) Leann Rimes (How do I live without you? Easy....I change the station.) Counting Crows (I used to like 'em, but I got sick of 'em) Anything remotely Seattle REM (Once again, used to like 'em.....) So there! Oh Sherwood Forest, I was not agonizing over the statement about Dave's hair. I sort of learned not to get so giddy about incredibly banal things, as Dave DOES know of me and my adoration of him. (But now I'm getting giddy, so I'll press on.......) An interesting point was raised about Andy and the lyrics to "It's Nearly Africa". I'm not sure he was going on any kind of stereotypes when he wrote it. Andy doesn't seem the kind of guy to stereotype at all. But then again, you could be the most liberal of liberals and you would still have preconceived notions about people. This is stupendous news about XTC and Idea. It's finally all coming together. Now we can all stop tearing our hair out and grinding our teeth to death in anticipation for a "proper" new album. Then again.....for those of us who've heard the demos, and most of them make their way onto tape....how would it sound? I personally tend to latch on to the first version of a song that I hear, if there are indeed other versions floating around. (For instance, I bought Drums & Wireless a few months before I bought The Big Express, so I heard different versions of "Seagulls Screaming" and "You're the Wish (You Are) I Had". I think the D&W versions are far superior to TBE verions.) I'm just wondering if it'll sound exciting or a bit stale, since I've listened to the demos for quite some time..... Okay...who's actually tried the "Dark Side of the Moon"/Wizard of Oz thing? (For those of you who don't know, a radio dj found out that if you play DSOTM and watch TWOO at the same time, the lyrics and music on the cd correspond with the acxtion in the film. I've done it, it's hysterically accurate.) Anyhoo, I was wondering if any XTC albums would go with movies like that.... Just a thought. And now I must be going. (PS-I've gotten a few questions about the genesis of "Daddy's Girl", so here's the deal... Everyone tells me I look exactly like my manager, so I started calling him "daddy", he calls me "daughter", refers to his own daughter as my baby sister, etc., etc. So "Daddy's Girl" has stuck with me. It's even on my time card to punch out! But we Louisianians are twisted, aren't we.....) Ciao for now, MONDO CANE! Amanda XTC song of the day-Shake You Donkey Up non XTC-I Saw the Light-Todd Rundgren
------------------------------ From: Cheryl <mcgregoc@regents.ac.uk> Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:33:59 GMT Subject: Woo-ing and amusement Message-ID: <1A0A7A0001@regents.ac.uk> Hello chalk-friends, Well, the nifty IT department here deleted everyone out of the system and their mail files too and I can't remember who it was in issue 159, I think, who asked: Where exactly does the Woo! take place in "Rocket From a Bottle". Well, it takes place, according to the counter on the CD, at 2: 24. It's not obvious, it's in back of the Whoa, whoa, whoa whoas. I know I'm silly, but I hear it! It's in there! : ) It's nice to get some really great news, that being of the release of the new album, since this week has been of the most sad and bizarre kind. Not much else to say, it's just one of those years. Bye, Cheryl
------------------------------ From: kraig olmstead <kraigo@netcommcorp.com> Subject: Re: XTC Namesakes Date: Thu, 04 Sep 97 11:57:00 PDT Message-ID: <340F0183@msmail.netcommcorp.com> The first time I tried to find any info on our boys on the internet I did an unrestricted search on YAHOO for "XTC". Thank goodness I'm not a prude... KO
------------------------------
From: jason.phelan@mcmail.vanderbilt.edu
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 97 11:13:49 CST
Message-Id: <9708048734.AA873400978@in2.mcmail.vanderbilt.edu>
Subject: Andy's Boutique
Hello Chalklines on the pavement,
YIPPPEEEEEEEE ! HALLELUJAH ! HOOORAYYY !
(do a silly happy dance)
Let the bells ring out
They did the deal
Let us shout for joy
and dance and reel
There's an album or two
In may of '98
and from what I've heard,
They are gonna be great!
Anyway, FINALLY! I have heard of the Dust Brothers of course, but who
are the other two producers that were mentioned. I am not familiar
with them.
The Dust Bothers ! Probably Big Bucks if this Rolling Stone album does
well, not to mention Beck's and their master record of all time,
MMMMBOP by Hanson, no just kidding, I mean Paul's Boutique by them
Beastie Boys!!!!!!
Oh the long waits with nothing to talk about but Gay Trumpets and
Bisexual Bassoons will all be OVER!
And a new book to boot! Well bless my soul, I am already
there (heaven).
Man, we are the hard corps fans, we have stuck this whole damn strike
out and we have remained faithful and adamant about our love for this
band and their music. SIX YEARS! How many people graduated, got jobs
and had kids in that time? MANY< MANY CHANGES AND WE WERE THERE
THROUGH IT ALL. Now our prize will be hopefully a little bit of
exposure for this band.
I have to tell you, it sure will be nice not to have to search the
darkest corners of the web just to find a little smidgen of quotage
from our illutrious Andy, who would probably be repeating the same
story over and over again any way.
Well happiness and joy to all. We ought to have a great whopping party
somewhere the day of the release. RELEASE!
Yours truly,
Phelan
------------------------------ From: fstolzenbach@hns.com Message-ID: <85256508.005F5CE9.00@ngw2.hns.com> Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 14:04:19 -0400 Subject: Kinks Info/New Demos Quick note: I have been very pleased to see various Chalkies endorsing the music of the Kinks lately. There very definitely is a clear line of musical evolution between Ray Davies & Co. and our own beloved Swindonians. And again, like XTC, when folks 100 years from now write about what really mattered in pop music during our lifetimes, they'll scratch their heads in wonderment about how little glory was heaped at the feet of the Kinks during their time in the sun. (Sort of the Mozart/Bach scenario revisited.) Anyhow, the reason I post is to let the Kink-Kurious know about a Web page which does a pretty decent job of describing the pros and cons of the Kinks albums which I think most XTC fans would care about: Face to Face (1966), Something Else (1967), The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968) and Arthur (1969). I don't agree with everything the author has to say, but it's all there with album cover pics, etc. On a more XTC-related note, I rediscovered my XTC demo tape recently, and gave it a listen after not hearing it for about four months. (And let me take this opportunity to thank -- again -- the person who traded me for it; you know who you are, and you're the greatest!) The verdict: These songs really are great -- the best I think I've heard (in most instances) since -- oh, I don't know, all their stuff is great (gush, gush). For what it's worth, here are my faves and not-so-faves: Faves: Green Man (can't wait for the real orchestral treatment -- and especially for Colin's sinuous bass to work itself around the song's hypnotic groove) River of Orchids (It's so rare to hear something truly original and new that doesn't sound contrived or self-indulgent. Here, Andy's experimentation with sound and counterpoint sounds whimsical rather than sodden and really helps the song along. Yum!) Easter Theater (Gawd, this one is beautiful. And, again, the instrumentation is something to dissect and marvel at [if you're one of those music geeks like me, that is -- otherwise, sit back and smile].) The Last Baloon (Sad and hopeful at the same time) Prince of Orange (I really hope this song maintains its quirky edge after Mr. Producer is done with it. And don't lose that crying at the end!) Not-so-faves: My Brown Guitar (old territory revisited; b-side material) Dictionary (the lyric sort of reminds me of one of those "crying clown" black velvet paintings) Anyhow, I've taken too much of the Boss-man's time here. Just thought I'd share. -- FS
------------------------------ From: Melsta@aol.com Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 17:49:39 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970904173455_-199258809@emout16.mail.aol.com> Subject: Where were you at 4:00 pm EDT on Thursday, September 4th 1997? Maybe I should know better than to write e-mails when I'm upset, but I don't. I'm sitting here at 4:44 pm on Thursday and the chat with Andy has been going on for 45 minutes. Without me. It may be partly my own fault, I don't know, but I place the lion's share of the blame squarely at the feet of The Microsoft Network. You might recall my sob story in June from the first chat, that I spent all day trying to get MSN to work on my computer at work to no avail, and finally discovered I could have got in thru my trusty AOL account all along. I felt a bit like Dorothy, but I had a wonderful time at the chat. So last week I see that the chat's going on again and I breeze by the Rifff site, and I see it looks as it did before. Figure I'll get there like I did before no problem and have a grand time. I even have a question prepared in advance. (whoa!) No, I don't click on the "Join the chat" button as a test because there's no chat to join and I don't feel the need to test it because it worked so well in June. I would have tried to go in early, but naturally my colleague is tying up our only modem line. I kick him off. So there I am at the appointed time, but those little wieners at Microsoft (with apologies to Peter, but only because I know he isn't working on that end of things) have gone and CHANGED THINGS. Without my permission!! The easy way in is not there anymore! Naively I click the button that says "Got explorer and Win95? Click HERE!" What does it do but assault my computer with new chat software. Yes, if I had read the page I would have seen that it was going to do that, but it was 4:00 already and I'm late. It's installing components left and right and transferring documents right and left and of course I get a VBS script error, but I pay it no mind. What choice do I have anyway? It's sending me this stuff like there's no tomorrow. So I wait and I wait and I'm getting some sort of screen. But there's lots of boxes with lots of x's in the corners. Not a good sign. I click reload. I get a little more, but not much. I try everything. Over and over. This fucker just won't work. I try going back to the previous page and getting in another way, but nothing's working. In short, I never do make it in to the chat. And now I have some bogus chat software partially installed somewhere on my computer, and I don't know how to get rid of it! I'm really trying to save on hard drive space right now too. You know, if I wanted Microsoft Chat, I could have stayed with MSN in the spring when I tried it. If it had bloody well worked I might have done just that, but the damn thing is more full of bugs than, well, than a box full of bugs! Can you tell I'm a little peeved? Let me emphasize once more that I am not generally a Microsoft basher. I love my Win95 and my Office 97. But I'm getting worried about Microsoft. I don't have trouble with the Internet Explorer so far, but MSN is just so bad that I'm losing faith. Every time I get (courtesy of AOL) an update to the Explorer I cringe, fearful that it's going to be polluted by MSN. And Windows 97 (or is it 98?) is supposed to incorporate a lot of the Explorer technology so that you navigate your desktop and the internet in exactly the same way. Don't let MSN destroy the rest of the world! All you chosen ones that made the chat, I'm jealous. I'm so insanely jealous I could spit. This just hurts. And largely because I had such an awesome time at the last chat. Half the fun was just being in real time with people who speak my language. Anyone who knows where we can set up a regular channel, let me know. I'm up for it. So I've vented now. I feel a bit better. Not much, but a bit. And thanks as always for listening. I know, nobody's perfect, and this is still new technology, and it's probably my computer's fault or I was emitting harmful particles or something. I will not be comforted. --Melissa Reaves
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 97 01:11:27 UT From: "brynne and scott " <brynneandscott@classic.msn.com> Message-Id: <UPMAIL10.199709050312410055@classic.msn.com> Subject: re: Praise to Jason Falkner >>On advice aplenty from this list I scrounged around for spare change and purchased Falkner's "Author Unknown". Hallelujah! New tune infusion when times are desperate. -Weshaw<< I agree that this album is well worth owning. With that, I'd like to offer that I have two extra copies of it available for trade or for the price of $8 postpaid in the U.S. Also available is one copy of his promo only single "I Live" for $3. The song is the same as the album version, but has very nice cover photos by a chap named Lego. Please email at: brynneandscott@classic.msn.com Scott S
------------------------------ Message-ID: <341002AD.21C1@geocities.com> Date: Fri, 05 Sep 1997 09:01:33 -0400 From: Troy Peters <troypeters@geocities.com> Subject: How was the Rifff chat? Chalkheads -- I had a work-related emergency arise and couldn't make it home in time for the Rifff chat with Andy. How was it? Any breaking news? Do tell... On another note, the recent missive from XTC's management regarding the new record deal mentioned *possible* production by the Dust Brothers. Hmmm. Now, that would be cool. Go listen to Beck's remarkable "Odelay" to get a sense of what they can do... I, for one, am counting the days until May '98 (or whenever the new album finally arrives). Troy
------------------------------ From: "JH 3" <JH3@alternatech.net> Subject: #Buzzcity IRC channel Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 11:37:13 -0500 Message-ID: <MDAEMON-F199709051131.AA315611MD0000@alternatech.net> Hello again... Towards the tail end of the last "Rifff" chat session with Andy P., some participants suggested that there be a permanent IRC channel (i.e., chat room) for XTC fans. Since my company runs a chat server that isn't really being used much at the moment, I offered to create one. It was no big deal, really... So, the channel is called #Buzzcity and the server is alternatech.net. I think it was either Julian Cook or someone named Mark (Strijbos, perhaps?) who suggested "Buzzcity Talking" as the name, but since you can't have spaces in IRC channel names, I thought it would be best to shorten it to avoid any confusion. Anyway, I can't guarantee that we'll be running our chat server forever -- in fact just about any kind of serious abuse will probably cause us to close it down completely, but I can't imagine an XTC fan abusing an IRC channel, can you? (I do have the ability to ban people, of course.) Also, it's a Windows NT server, so it's subject to crashing without warning. The usual admonitions apply; try to stay on topic if possible, but if you want to use the channel to talk dirty to strangers, rant and rave about old "Star Trek" episodes, or trade your favorite felafel recipes, I won't try to stop you. Even 'bots are OK, as long as they're not the abusive, bandwidth-draining kind. See you in cyberspace. --John H. Hedges III * ------------------------------------------------ My XTC page: http://www.alternatech.net/jh3/xtc
------------------------------ Message-ID: <uOdUhcAleLE0Ew9z@emdac.demon.co.uk> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 02:53:41 +0100 From: Phil Hetherington <phil@emdac.demon.co.uk> Subject: Things of no relevance Off-topic. Just saying hello, having just got back from seeing a bit of the world. To be precise: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium & France. A couple of those were "went through it on the train" types of visit, but I had a good - if brief - look at most of them. Little has changed since I went; I have a backlog of Chalkhills to read and a load of other mail, no free time and too much to do, so I'm in no position to contribute to any ongoing debate at the moment. One very significant thing has happened though, and it involves the Levellers. They have, finally, done their second _good_ album! By which I don't mean to knock the others, though they were crap compared to 'Levelling The Land' as everyone knows. (Well ok, they were just crap). But now, finally, six years on, they've equalled and possibly even bettered it with 'Mouth To Mouth'. I'm both pleasently surprised and very impressed. Well, just buy it. Incidently, if anyone has a spare copy of 'See Nothing Hear Nothing Do Something', my brother is after it - it's been out of print for a while. Cheers, Phil PS: This being a global list of diverse tastes, does anyone know what's become of the Texas band 'Shoulders'? Email privately please... -- _ |_) |_ * | My web page: http://www.emdac.demon.co.uk/phil/ | | ) | | Shriekback web pages: The above + shrkindx.html ===========
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 19:36:19 -0700 Message-Id: <199709060236.TAA19507@mando.engr.sgi.com> From: John Relph <relph> Subject: Chalkhills on Vacation Hey folkses, I'm going on vacation for a week. Chalkhills will not be broadcasting while I am away. It's hard to maintain the same level of quality with a simple automatic script. Thank you for your patience. While I'm gone, check out the Chalkhills site. I'm always making incremental changes, and you might be surprised at what you find. And of course, if you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you. -- John
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #3-161 *******************************
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