Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 180
Date: Monday, 19 April 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 180
Monday, 19 April 1999
Today's Topics:
RE: More on Storefront Hitchcock
Gangway
Molly, Molly, Molly.........
Colin, Dave, and John
Spring sprung surreptitiously
Green Man pubs
Dom Are Wrong
Re: Art Rock (with a capital F)
English Roundabout, or Two Peoples Separated by a Common Lan
No Thugs in our... huh?
Re: No Language
They was she were
XTC mention in NY Times magazine
Re: Hold me, My Daddy
What's in a (turnpike) name?
my answers +more
In B, Fenby!
Asphyxiation
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19990418212052.007ab850@mail.pomn.com> Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 21:20:52 -0700 From: QUEENIE <queenie@pomn.com> Subject: RE: More on Storefront Hitchcock >Don't know how you can see it now--not till it is set for general >release either in the theatres or on video. I'd sure like to know >what happened and why there's been such a long delay in >making it available to the public. "Storefront Hitchcock" played here in Portland several months ago for two nights only, double billed with an Elliot Smith movie. I assumed that it meant the movie HAD been released to theaters. ?!? I would say that the highlight of the movie was "The Yip Song." It was performed with such intensity, it made me shiver!! Live long and be Y2K compliant, Queenie
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 01:16:43 -0400 Subject: Gangway Message-ID: <19990419.011644.3614.2.BrainiacsDaughter@juno.com> From: Elizabeth I Spencer <brainiacsdaughter@juno.com> OK Misty Shock--you're abso-fraggin-lutely right--Gangway Electric Guitar Coming Through IS an absurdly obvious choice for the AV2 opening cut, but I couldn't agree with you more. I always loved the tune, (what there is of it)-- the guitar is so nice and crunchy on the demo, and it's always brought to mind a montage of rock 'n' roll images. Though I know that Mr. P. doesn't seem to want to look back at some of his songs, being that he feels they've been born and it's time to move on. But I never thought this baby deformed...Here's hoping that Andy goes back to the nursery and pulls Gangway out of the incubator! Liz Spencer
------------------------------ From: Iain.Murray.70428176@army.defence.gov.au Message-Id: <4A256758.001C3475.00@stagemaster.army.defence.gov.au> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 15:18:50 +1000 Subject: Molly, Molly, Molly......... It's time for a quick round of "Spot The Contradiction". See if you can locate the contradictory statement (or statements) among the following contributions from our very own Molly : >> Artist most people seem to think is pretty naff, but you actually quite enjoy : >>Mariah Carey >> Musician you'd like to kick hard : >>Does it have to be a musician? I was going to say Mariah Carey. She bugs the heck out of me. >> PERFORMERS MOST DESERVING OF A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH : >>Mariah Carey >>Puff Daddy >>Whitney Houston >>Leann Rimes >> FIVE MOST OVERRATED ACTS IN HISTORY : >>Backstreet Boys >>Mariah Carey >>Whitney Houston >>In Sync If your answer had anything to do with Mariah Carey, congratulations! You've won sod-all! (Any answers that said there were only four acts in the "Five Most Overrated" section don't count, because this isn't a contradiction - it's just an adding mistake or something). By the way, Molly, this isn't a personal attack ; but there might be a case for checking your posts before you send them (I think it's been mentioned before, but it doesn't seem to have worked.....).
------------------------------ From: CCooli9575@aol.com Message-ID: <3d0a0886.244c675d@aol.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 07:02:53 EDT Subject: Colin, Dave, and John >There's been some discussion of Colin's contributions lately so I thought >I would add a couple of comments to the effect that I think he is tops, and >that he has been massively underused (as has been pointed out ) on the new >album. I once saw an interview with him where he said that due to the long >periods of inactivity with XTC (ie with not touring, and then not >recording) his song writing 'libido' has decreased over the years. Maybe >he's just not writing as much as he was. Colin, like John Entwhistle and Dave Davies, has the misfortune of being a good songwriter in a band with a great one. That said, all three have written great songs, all three have written others that seem a bit dodgy to me but aren't bad, all three have had trouble getting respect from the main songwriter in their respective bands to some degree at one point or another, and all three have been responsible for little if any of the naffest material in their respective bands.(Especially Entwhistle; in Dave Davies' case I find his "Rock And Roll Cities" embarassing, and I can't think of a single Colin song I dislike. There's a few I find problematic, like "Wardance" and "Fruit Nut," but Colin's been a dependable second songwriter in XTC over the years. My Colin top 10 would probably be as follows:(in no particular order) 1. Life Begins At The Hop 2. Generals And Majors 3. Smokeless Zone 4. Runaway 5. English Roundabout 6. Wonderland(I know some people hate this song, but I'm not one of them; the arrangement's a little dinky, but it's possibly one of his two or three best lyrics) 7. Deliver Us From The Elements 8. I Remember The Sun 9. My Bird Performs 10. Frivilous Tonight I know, nothing from Skylarking or Oranges And Lemons; in my opinion, I neither particularly like nor dislike his Skylarking material, while his O&L material is well-written but sounds too much like Tears For Fears for my taste. It's pleasant, but doesn't grab me enough. My opinion only; how certain songs hit your pleasure centers is so subjective. I love the way Colins songs balance out Andy's, though; somehow the Andy Partridge show would make the band less interesting, in the same way John Entwhistle and Dave Davies serve to kick big egos Pete Townshend and brother Ray in their respective butts. Andy himself has acknowledged in interviews in the past that Colin's presence helps him come up with better songs. Chris
------------------------------ From: Chauncy14@aol.com Message-ID: <d95a8bdc.244c91ca@aol.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 10:03:54 EDT Subject: Spring sprung surreptitiously Hello XTC Clan, In Chicago, Easter (Theater) weekend here two weeks ago, was 70 degrees and sunny and beautiful. Since then, it has become 45 degrees daily, crappy and rainy. This weekend, we received rain, followd by more rain, and more rain even still. The forecast was *Mostly Shitty.* So, this morning, (saturday) while cleaning the house, the musical selection called for _Skylarking._ Summer's Cauldren, Grass, The Meeting Place, etc... About when *Ballet For A Rainy Day* came on, I was forced to stop working, and began to day dream, as it were. Clicked on my computer and began writing... Daydreamt (sic) work...there, we have 4200 items we wholesale. One item on sale, is a collection of 2 foot high, plastic Crayons in various colours, meant to be *piggie banks,* with the slots on top and everything. Orange, Lemon, Pineapple, etc... <Block> I push my paintbrush To conjure a new world While this one is slowly washed away The piano on this particular diddle is especially noted for me on this song too. I learned to play classical piano at age 6. As if on cue, I was instantly transported back to that piano bench and Baby Grand....the ballad's are quite yummy in this song, rich with minor chords, invoking somber moods. I wish I still had that piano. This is replaced with a Pearl 7-piece, with Ludwig Piccolo snare and Zildjians. This song has the best arrangements on the album, and the score for the piano is by far the best ever written on any XTC song. <Block> Silent film of melting miracle play Dancing out there through my window To the backdrop of a slow descending grey Wondrous tone poem this is! Stage Right -------> *Seasons Cycle* "Pushing life up from a cold dead ground," as I looked out through my window to view the green swelling up from the very ground, in sync with that very quote. This song is so true to the season: It's a true, natural *cadence,* signaling the end of a long winter. FINALLY! <Block> Autumn is Royal As Spring is clown But to repaint Summer They're closing Winter down WOW! This song signals what's to follow...the anticipation is swelling up to hear *Earn Enough For Us.* But not just yet... *1000 Umbrelllas* is also a nice cadence for the entire album. It signals the *new direction* for the music on it when you get to EEFU. The segue to SC is a grand transistion. Even though the band struggled with Todd Rundgren, this album, in my view, is the best produced and engineered album in the catelogue. Andy knew this long after the albums' completion, and I recently read a quote, perhaps in the Lyrics on Chalkhills.org, in which Andy indicated how much he liked that album, with an appreciative eye towards telling Todd this. <Block> Change must be earnt Sacrificial bonfire must burn Burn up the old Riiiiiiiiiing innnnnn the neeeeeeeeew .... Stage Left ----->AV2 Hmphn, where was I? Oh, yeah, vacuuming....
------------------------------ From: martin.clinton@dnb.no Message-Id: <199904190844.BAA00835@sgi.com> Subject: Green Man pubs Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 10:43:51 +0200 Hi everyone, Kate was asking: >Does a Green Man pub exist in London? Or did one exist during the late 70's-early 80's? The episode ran in 1981 (I believe) and plots centered around employee's (mis)>adventures in a fictious London department store. There IS a Green Man just off Oxford Street (at the top of Berwick Street I think), though it looks quite new (I noticed it for the first time a few weeks ago). There WAS a Green Man just off of Cheapside in 'The City', and this was a really old place. Unfortunately it got demolished a few years ago when they knocked the whole Bank station end of Cheapside down to re-develop it (Boo!). It was one of the few places in London you could buy a pint of Younger's No. 3 as I remember....not that this has any bearing on anything... There are probably tons more (I don't think its that uncommon a name), but those are the only two I've come across. All the best Martin
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4782AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C1022088@MGMTM02> From: Lawson Dominic <LawsonD@parliament.uk> Subject: Dom Are Wrong Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 11:28:02 +0100 Ooh, get her! >>Because we "sodding" well understand the difference between a syntacticplural and a semantic one, unlike that English crowd "do". Besides, thereare more of us than you. If a language is a dialect with an army, we kickyer butts reel good. Damn. Hoist by my own (admittedly rather lovely) petard. Curse you!!! >>I don'thave a problem with Metallica being an "it", as opposed to a "they". No, nor do I. I was just kidding ya! No, seriously folks, a funny thing happened on my way to Westminster this morning......etc >>>And no, I'm not being entirely serious. Can I stop pointing this outnow? >>>Well, a wink's as good as a nod to a blind bat, but with the literalism I've seen here lately, I'd advise against it. Well yes, evidently. >>And no doubt ifyou've seen Metallica live, you'll agree that they are a single, rather frightening (in a good way, of course) entity. I've seen them live a couple of times and although I know what you're saying, I've been more frightened by what I cough up in the morning after a heavy drinking session. Anyway, as any fule kno, Metallica have sucked for over a decade and Iron Maiden were always better anyway. So there. Schmetallica, more like. ...and speaking of XTC, if anyone's interested (and there's a good few massively anal completists and obsessives out there - and don't dare to deny it!) with the current issue of Metal Hammer magazine (UK edition) there is a free CD which includes a version of "Making Plans For Nigel" by industrial-breakbeat rockers Pitch Shifter (a very fine band, in my humble whatever) which is (a) quite good and (b) considerably more imaginative than 90% of XTC covers I've lent my one good ear to. Recommended! ...and has anyone else bothered to check out Misery Loves Co.'s version of "Complicated Game" (from their 1997 album "Not Like Them" on Earache Records)? It's quite good, as I'm sure you can imagine. >>Only problem with this story (which I've never heard before) is that "Tell Me Why" was recorded February 27, 1964 and filming on "A Hard Day's Night"didn't even begin until March 2. Astonishing. What colour pants was Paul McCartney wearing? >>I was wondering if anyone would like to start a Rolling Stonesvs. Beatles war? I take side with the Stones... they've alwaysseemed more aggressive, more rough, less (ohdeargod) produced. Stones vs. Beatles makes about as much sense as Blur vs Oasis did (i.e. NONE!). Firstly, The Beatles were POP with a capital POP. The Stones were/are far more blues/r'n'b based and never really developed at a similar trajectory. The Beatles classic albums are really unique, at least in the sense that the music has never been replicated to any degree of credibility. The Stones have been playing the same riffs for thirty years, and although they too have a few classic long-players to their credit (for the, ahem, record...."Exile On Main Street", "Sticky Fingers", "Let It Bleed", "Beggar Banquet" and at a stretch "Their Satanic Majesties..."), their biggest contribution to the music world has been a legacy of other bands who want to sound just like them. That includes Primal Scream, so it's not all good news by any means. So, would you compare XTC with The Black Crowes? Well, yes, you probably would - judging by the tightness of the Chalkhills sphincter at present, but I assume you get my gist..... .....oh, but how can I resist! My head says The Beatles - better songs, more innovative recording & arrangement techniques, (generally) better albums. My heart says The Stones - better party music, more rock'n'roll swagger and better (and more) drugs. Of course, I prefer The Black Crowes anyway, so what do I know? SAD 80s TW@ SECTION >>Wunderbar (Ten Pole Tudor) One of my favourite 80s pop bands. Who could forget "Swords Of A Thousand Men" (careful, smart-arses!) or the classic "Real Fun". Appearances on "The Crystal Maze" aside, Eddie Tudorpole SHOULD have become a national institution. "Who Killed Bambi?" alone warrants an OBE. >>Most Unpleasant Musical Experience: Starlight Express (I know it's AndrewLloyd Weber, but I can't stand the music to this) Sounds like a perfectly rational reaction to me. >>but there've almost certainly been worse album covers, like, say...any Phil Collins album cover (not like there's much of a difference between any of them, it's always just his face),but let's not bring him up again. What do you mean "let's not"? You brought him up, sonny, not us. Bloomin' cheek. Never heard of him myself. >>*ahem* I'm fourteen, a girl and I can't stand it either. teenyboppercrap is insulting even to fourteen yearolds. hell, it's insulting toTWELVE YEAROLDS! If only you were right. Unfortunately the little angels lap it all up, like so much Sun Pat. You may well have developed critical judgement a little early - sing hosannas! A ray of hope! - but I'm afraid you can't blame record companies for providing the public with what they (think they) want. All that drivel really would be insulting to twelve-year olds, if they didn't scream and throw their money quite so enthusiastically at the latest stubble-free, hyperactive gimpanzees to get a (hideously unfair) record deal. The record companies presumably can't believe their luck and thank their lucky stars that 90s teenagers have absolutely no imagination, an under-developed interest in their own culture and a deeply unhealthy disrespect for things like intelligence, kindness and respect for other people. Jesus H. Corbett, I really am getting old aren't I? Nah, fuck'em all....the evil little shits. Monday mornings eh? Dom.
------------------------------ From: CCooli9575@aol.com Message-ID: <99c1895a.244c6768@aol.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 07:03:04 EDT Subject: Re: Art Rock (with a capital F) >UTTERLY CRAP BAND I'M PROUD TO SAY I NEVER LIKED: >any bombastic art-rock band. except king crimson (who only sometimes ranks >as "bombastic art-rock" and who i only sometimes like). >jesse There's(in general)two kinds of art-rock, the kind I like and the kind I don't. The kind I don't tends toward major-key chord changes and dungeons and dragons or romantic lyrics(Yes, ELP, and the like), and the kind I do tends toward more minor-key/discordant/unidentifiable chord changes(King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come)and dark, creepy and/or abstract lyrics. There's other bands that have elements of both in varying degrees. A classic example of this is Genesis, whose first couple of albums lay on the Dungeons and Dragons/pseudo-medieval schtick on quite thick(check 1970's Trespass, for example), but on their last couple of albums with Peter Gabriel(especially The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), man, do they get into some creepy lyrics. "The Carpet Crawlers" alone would make a great basis for a truly scary horror movie. I have little use for their Phil Collins front 80's material, though their albums up until Abacab have their moments.(Even Invisible Touch has a difficult workout like "The Last Domino" to recommend it)Then you get into other stuff that's art rock in that I don't know quite what else to call it, anything from Traffic to Pink Floyd to Gong to The Soft Machine to Magma. My point is, if anyone thinks "art rock" or "progressive rock" is anything that uses a lot of notes, pretentious lyrics and sounds vaguely like Yes, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Most truly progressive bands in the 70's were like the nerds in high school, grouped together because they didn't fit in anywhere else. I mean, the above bands mentioned don't even have much in common except that they didn't really sound like anyone else up until that point and are somewhat exploratory and progressive in nature. Whether you like what they're exploring or not is up to you. For that matter, XTC could be considered art-rock in a lot of ways, especially English Settlement through The Big Express. Even "Travels In Nihilon" is as out-there musically as, say, "21st Century Schizoid Man." Chris
------------------------------
From: JEFFREY.THOMAS.JT@bayer-ag.de
Subject: English Roundabout, or Two Peoples Separated by a Common Lan
Message-Id: <0006800010465051000002L012*@MHS>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:51:10 +0200
"Kreideberger",
Ahh, the language problem rears its head. One of the most fascinating
aspects of XTC -- although they, like many bands, use the "typical
American" or "dialect British" pronunciations of words like "can't",
"half", etc. or use some of the more common American terms ("in line"),
when it comes down to it, they are British, through and through, with their
navvies and their waspies and raelbrook shirts. They are true forerunners
of the current Britpop wave, and, nevertheless, Americans love them even
more than the British do. Or maybe I mean more Americans love them than do
British. Whatever.
Anyway -- our love for XTC, and "blowing someone off", led Philip Lawes to
comment about finding rubbers in the stationery department at chemist's.
Hah! You probably installed that system in India, too, while you were the
colonial powers there -- no wonder there are so many people in that
country. No one can find the rubbers! You English people, what cards!
You drive on the left, too, don't you? And I still CAN'T understand why
Dom has GOTTEN so upset hearing that Metallica IS going on tour. I, on the
other hand, occasionally get PISSED reading about him ROOTING for his
FAVORITE team -- who just got their FANNIES kicked last week, I believe --
here in Chalkhills.
Yes, the Americans and the British (and the Canadians, and the Aussies,
and...) have so much in common, if it weren't for the language barrier.
But instead of butchering Oscar Wilde (or whoever), allow me to quote that
most astute American, Dave Barry, on the subject:
----
England is one of four nations, along with Ireland, Scotland, and New
Zealand, that make up the British Isles. England is a very popular foreign
country to visit because the people there speak some English. Usually,
however, when they get to the crucial part of a sentence they'll use words
that they made up, such as "scone" or "ironmonger". As a sophisticated
traveler, you should learn some British words so you can avoid
communications mixups, as is shown by these examples:
Example 1: The Unsophisticated Traveler
<English waiter>: May I help you?
<Traveler>: I'd like an inedible roll, please.
<English waiter> (confused): Huh?
Example 2: The Sophisticated Traveler
<English waiter>: May I help you?
<Traveler>: I'd like an ironmonger, please.
<English waiter>: Coming right up!
----
Love it!!
But seriously, I've always wondered why British acts feel compelled to
speak American English when recording. (Not that I don't think it sounds
good, as a matter of fact, I like it when the Spice Girls rap "Now here's
the story from ay to zee...") I suppose that, back in the days of the
Beatles and Stones, it was a sort of "hero worship", seeing as how their
whole musical upbringing was trying to be like the rock and roll or R&B
pioneers. But why has this continued on? Why do very few British groups
-- the Kinks were one -- speak British English?
Then again, does it matter? A great group is/are a great group, no matter
what version of the language they speak. The lyrics have to speak to us,
no matter what dialect. And XTC's are fantastic, one of the best "lyric
groups" I know (the Beautiful South also come to mind...). Or, to put it
in terms similar to those Paul McCartney (of all people) once used (when
discussing the lyrics to "Because", I believe), I'll take "The
insect-headed worker-wife will hang her waspies on the line" over "I love
you baby, honeybunch" any day.
And as for all of us here at Chalkhills, vive la diversite.
A *true* story on the subject: About 20 years ago on a New York City radio
station (WPLJ), I heard a DJ comment on the tune "You Won't See Me", which
includes the line "When I call you up the line's engaged", with something
like "The Beatles...What an amazing group, and weren't their lyrics
incredible? To come up with 'your line's engaged' is just so clever,
something no one else could have done." Ohh, the pain!
And now I think it's time for me to go to a laboratory and buy an eraser.
Auf Wiedersehen!
- Jeff
------------------------------ Message-ID: <000601be8a7d$59c8f5c0$1df1c4cc@ois-010783.DOA.STATE.LA.US> From: "John Voorhees" <griffon@earthling.net> Subject: No Thugs in our... huh? Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 10:57:38 -0500 as Brian T. Matthews tried to clear up the complexities of No Thugs, he sed: >So far the scene is set up quite clearly: A family - Dad, Mom, and two >sons. Ummm... no, Brian. There's only one son. His name is Graham and he sleeps on. The "boy in blue" is NOT another son. He is the "young policeman who just can't grow a mustache". When he is banging out a headache on the kitchen door, he is knocking to be let in to "spoil their breakfast wih reports of Asians who have been so badly kicked." Get it? John Voorhees
------------------------------ From: CCooli9575@aol.com Message-ID: <a125339a.244c6762@aol.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 07:02:58 EDT Subject: Re: No Language >1. She refers to "a space where there are 9 muses". >2. She calls her friend a "messenger" and "my apple venus". (I do know, >by the way, of XTC's latest album, Apple Venus, Vol. 1.) >3. She mentions that she would have liked to have given him dandelions. >4. She says she would like to meet the band members while walking along >a road in/on/at ??? The Chalk. >5. When meeting them on that road, she would give them flowers. But, >rather than be herself, she would appear as a 10 year old boy and say, >"Next, let's all sing together. Just join in when you feel like it." > >I hope some of this makes sense to you, because it certainly doesn't to >me. If she isn't making reference to specific XTC songs, etc., then I >have a difficult job ahead of me. > >Kevin Ramsey Is this in translated English, Japanese according to your translation, or actual English? If the latter, she's either mentally ill(though not necessarily a danger to herself and others)or a rather off-the-wall artist who speaks in archetypes. Otherwise, it could just be something getting lost in the translation. One thing I'm pretty sure of- she's not referring to any XTC songs I know of. Chris
------------------------------ Message-ID: <618F91505D89D21185330001FA6A4954464774@HFD-EXCH008> From: "Witter, Karl F" <WitterKF@aetna.com> Subject: They was she were Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 13:54:54 -0400 About "Bright Eyes"--I'll be a rear marker in the "adventurous college DJ" contest of Chalkies, but I actually played that one, from the LP of the movie "Watership Down". On a very slightly connected note, I thought the title of the next Richard Adams novel would make a great band name: The Plague Dogs That book was made into an animated movie, available on video. If you're tired of plonking the kids down to Barney or Teletubbies, that's one you've got to rent. Cute animals, singing and dancing, hijinx galore guaranteed. (Did I mention that I'm currently a subject of several double-blind clinical psychiatric studies?) >Dan W. was at a wedding where 'the first dance was Lloyd Weber's >"All I Ask of You" from Phantom' Didn't they know how the song was positioned in the plot, or do they share a macabre sense of humor? The latter is a good quality in a marriage, so I'm told. *Dom*, American English (separate from Canadian English) is no mystery. Just take this quiz: Circle the correct sentence and e-mail your reply directly to me. 1) If any team DESERVE to win the cup, Man Utd DO. 2) If any team DESERVES to win the cup, Man Utd DOES. And finally, can someone tell me if any team named "United" gets its name by having come from two clubs being merged. If so, that's another thing Americans have to learn. The US minor-league* soccer season is underway! Karl *Stop laughing (where I can hear it), this is not redundant.
------------------------------ From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@telcordia.com> Message-ID: <85256758.00645E24.00@notes950.cc.bellcore.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:16:16 -0400 Subject: XTC mention in NY Times magazine Chalksters and Chalkettes; There was a brief mention of our heroes 2 weeks ago in an unlikely place; the NY Times magazine (which is contained in the newspaper's Sunday issue each week). The focus of the article was on the changing nature of radio, and one segment allowed some notables to describe their favorite radio show. Kim Richey, a country singer that I am not familiar with, was quoted as follows: "In Nashville, I listen to WRLT 100.1 FM to hear new stuff. They'll go from Lucinda Williams to Neil Finn to Shawn Colvin. I love when they play XTC. You're not going to hear them on top 40. The weaving of the vocal parts is amazing. Every time they come on the radio, I'm like, 'The good guys got on!' " Yeah for Kim! Also, on another minor thread, someone mentioned how drab the "Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston" is. Well, it's not quite that bad. While it is essentially a straight concrete strip linking those two places, the western section of the road (which runs the width of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) goes through some beautiful landscape. I know because I have a vacation home in Becket, Mass (which is just a few miles from Stockbridge), and I try to get there every chance I can because of the pure beauty of that area. Mike
------------------------------ Message-ID: <371B768D.8C72C268@cnr.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:31:41 -0400 From: "Sarah Starr" <sstarr@cnr.edu> Subject: Re: Hold me, My Daddy Hello Chalkids >> MOST BLUSH-MAKING PERSONAL MUSICAL CONFESSIONS: >> >> I have attended a rock concert with my father. > >Oh, Sarah! Was this really an embarrassment for you? I took my >son (then 15) to his first rock gig - Terrorvision, at a local club. >The band were great, we had a great night, and it will always be >a special milestone for me. I would be devastated if I thought that >he looked back on it with embarrassment. >Please tell me (and your father) that you were joking. > >John Gray Good on you John! I've always enjoyed seeing parents taking their kids to gigs - should be more of it! We saw David Byrne a few years back and there were two dads in their mid-40s - obviously old Talking Heads fans - sitting next to us, with their two young teenage sons; the kids seemed to be as much into DB as the dads were, and they all enjoyed the show hugely. alright, alright.....it wasn't so bad. There were some drunken idiots about five rows in front of us who called out "Jerry Garcia's dead, man!" after my father when he was walking to the restroom (my dad is very heavyset and looks a bit like Jerry Garcia...and also quite a bit like Santa Claus), but it was a great show all in all and my dad really liked the music....the band playing was Live (the band, you know, Lakini's Juice and Lightning Crashes and all that)...I don't really find it embarrassing, I just thought it sounded like a thing that should be embarrassing.....my parents are actually mega cool....my mom like Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins and my dad likes They Might Be Giants and Weird Al (though neither of them like techno..."Is the CD skipping or something?" was my dad's reaction to Underworld)....I never got any of the typical "Turn that bloody racket down!" from them.....so, I take it back, alright? :) sarah faye who wishes she was English going to the Guinness Fleadh in NYC to see They Might Be Giants 15th May to see Moxy Fruvous 23rd July and to see Underworld on this wed., 21st April!!! -- "He used to be your victim now you're not the only one...." --Elvis Costello, "Accidents Will Happen" http://lindramine.cjb.net -- The Princess's Castle
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s71b25b5.034@tcwgroup.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 12:46:24 -0700 From: "Dane Pereslete" <peresd@tcwgroup.com> Subject: What's in a (turnpike) name? Chalkland, John Gray said: >I'm English >and don't have the foggiest idea what the turnpike is/does/looks like, but >the sound of its name conjures up images of all sorts of Americana. >You're telling me its the equivalent of our motorway roundabouts? Quoting Merrriam-Webster Dictionary: turn*pike n. [ME *turnepike* revolving frame bearing spikes and serving as a barrier, fr. *turnen* to turn + pike] 1: tollgate; also: an expressway on which tolls are charged 2: a main road Being from the wild, wild west where their tax-supported status relegates expressways to being called *freeways*, I've always wondered what the origin of "turnpike" was myself. Very interesting to see that the etymology is from a very apt Middle English word, as anyone waiting at a congested toll gate can attest! (equivalent to roundabouts only in the level of frustration). "Dunks" said: >He has very good taste for one so young. He likes a lot of what we listen >to, and especially loves Ben Folds Five, Devo and Beck. We listen to a >*lot* of music, and he soaks it all up like a sponge That's encouraging! My one-year-old didn't get too much exposure to music until very recently, and if his constant "boppin' to the beat" reactions recently (bobbing head/bouncing like a deranged Tigger) are any indication, then he certainly seems to be musically inclined. Of course, Daddy will encourage him to take up a proper brass instrument, none of that wimpy woodwind stuff for my boy!! ;-) (nawww...any instrument would be just peachy!) And isn't it weird that we start out measuring children's ages in monthly increments until, by some unspoken rule, around age two or thereabouts we merely measure years only? (didn't you ever sit and ponder...) Aren't all humans already 10 months old at birth?.... I recently took the advice posted on this list some time ago and listened to AV1 on 'phones...WOW! it is a completely different album!...My God! have I been missing all of these subtle nuances all along? I encourage all of you to don headphones right away... Haven't seen anyone vote for this yet, and yes, it counts - FAVORITE (NOT BEST) ROCK FILM: This is Spinal Tap! Isn't it ironic that there is suffering still occuring in the Balkans region as we near the 'day of remembrance' of the Armenian genocide (April 24)? XTC sotd: "Harvest Festival" Non-XTC sotd: "Going Back Home" - The Ginger Baker Trio *------------------------------------------------------- Logging in from beautiful Glendale, CA USA "Waiting for AV2" daneperes@aol.com -or- bramage64@aol.com
------------------------------ From: dan@gge.com Message-ID: <371B8A01.4C8AC825@gge.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 12:54:58 -0700 Subject: my answers +more Least favourite part of Apple Venus1: the chorus of 'i'd like that' and the lack of lyric sheet. Least Fave XTC song: 'down in the cockpit' Artist most people seem to think is pretty naff, but you actually quite enjoy: xtc Worst Beatles song: i really dislike 'while my guitar gently weeps' Songs that should have been strangled at birth: 'king for a day' 12" remix (working on the assumption that 'king for a day' is not the birth of that turkey) Musician you'd like to kick hard: adrian belew Wackiest Title for a song: 'i just called to say i love you' Most Unpleasant Musical Experience: 1) hearing adrian belew play 'soul love' when he toured with david bowie. i will never forgive him for what he did to that song. 2) every time i remember that techno-jungle-drum&bass is alive and has a following. * ------------------------------------------------------------------- this week i picked up the 'easter theatre' single, which is great. i felt like andy was in my room telling me the story of the song. i also found the 'king for a day' single, with the groovy die-cut crown-shaped sleeve, and a copy of 'fossil fuels'. it was the first time i'd ever seen it in the bins. alert: amoeba records in san francisco has copies of 'o&l' and 'nonsvch' for $2.95 in the rock clearance bins (guaranteed to play perfectly inspite of surface imperfections). * --------------------------------------------------------------------- any san francisco chalkhillers going to see olivia tremor control this friday (apr. 23) at the great american music hall? also, that robyn hitchcock movie is playing at the red vic this week. * -------------------------------------------------------------------- today's hot list: fave xtc song: towers of london fave xtc cover artwork: king for a day single fave xtc lyric: hey put away that ray, how do you martians say i love you? (science friction) favorite beverage: coffee! with cream and 2 sugars!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <l03110700b3412a5daaa2@[165.154.117.152]> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:01:12 -0300 From: Onni Nordman <onni@auracom.com> Subject: In B, Fenby! Who's dis old fan new lurker from Cape Breton Island? On first hearing ROO had a flash to a breed of music I know but glancingly maybe musos will know it better: the British ( & continental) academy circa Britten, Wolf, Warlock, Delius--the orchestral music that was being written by young composers when Stravinsky was Sgt. Pepper for that generation. Western classical music was always Going somewhere--Beethoven like a freight-train, Debussy like a sailboat. But post-Schoenberg post-Stravinsky music started to just circle around itself like a hanging mobile making interesting Modernist patterns (later came its logical outcome Minimalism ala Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass). Good odds Andy knows from this recherche stuff. My Sgt. Pepper: the Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane 45 late in winter 1967, then Sgt. Pepper in late May, then a week later the Mothers of Invention's We're Only In It For the Money. Oh, up, up, up! 22 years later the 45 is still like an Inca stone greenman head covered with ivy & lichen. The others have gotten all busted up and Ozymandianized. Artist most people seem to think is pretty naff, but you actually quite enjoy: Batt/Garfunkel/Bright Eyes. I think this song is strange & sublime. Was a time when eulogies to animals were almost as common a theme as love...Old Blue, Old Dog Tray, Cool Water, Whoopi-Ti-Yi-O Get Along Little Dogie. In the 70s there was the corny but heartbreaking Shannon (is gone I hope she's drifting out to sea) by that Gross feller, in the 90s the sardonic but sad Fluffy by Ween. Might we add Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep here? None was quite so disinterested, so like a Samuel Palmer painting as Bright Eyes. Someone mentioned oh boy Conlon Nancarrow! the strange old composer of aleatory, mathematically random piano roll pieces who lives now in Mexico. He's not at all naff. His music, which sounds as troubling and inhuman as a load of pianos tumbling out of a transfer truck right into the path of your Dangerman mini offers a listening experience like no other. He's more radical than Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor. Nothing to feel guilty about there. Wackiest Title for a song: Hey! (by various artists) Most ridiculous song I like: It was Timothy Leary who said: look at a person's music collection; the time area where it's thickest tends to be representative of when you first started getting laid. Consequently the kind of songs in Rhino's Have a Nice Day series, no matter how trivial in terms of art, are the songs I play (as a zombie returneth to its halcyon shopping mall) when I get down to the worm in the tequila bottle. So now I suppose the most ridiculous song I like is Iggy Pop's Wild One. Onni
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990419204353.20878.rocketmail@web801.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 13:43:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Chris Desmond <c_desmond@yahoo.com> Subject: Asphyxiation OH...MY...GOD... > From: CCooli9575@aol.com > Subject: Re: Air Surprise > > I never thought I, of all people, would come to Air Supply's > defense And frankly, I'd always hoped you wouldn't... > and if someone had told me I was going to marry an Air > Supply fan ten years ago I would have changed my name to Abdullah and > moved to Libya. And if someone had told me someone would post a serious defense of Air Supply, I would have changed my name to Qhaddafi and had you shot. > they put on a surprisingly good show, a much more > stripped down band than I expected ... a skinny little bass player > with hair down to his butt, When a band has one of these in it, they might just as well hang a sign around the mike saying "We're a stupid bunch of wankers." > and of course Russell Hitchcock Of course. > "We The People" reminds me > more of Midnight Oil gone commercial than anything else. I never > thought > Air Supply would get political, though it definitely isn't as > in-your-face as Midnight Oil. Are you insane? No, really...are you? I've seen some of your previous posts and thought nothing of your mental state, but holy bejesus... > Then "Mother Says," which also made the upcoming album, is > frankly one of the saddest songs I've ever had, it sounds like an > outtake from John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album, only it's even more > unsettling hearing the voices that did "Lost In Love" singing it. > ...They did a really good job of trying to get inside a five year > old's mind. I still don't like Russell Hitchcock's voice, but that's > one hell of a song, folks. John Lennon would be impressed. You can ignore my last question. The answer is obviously a resounding YES. John Lennon could never have been impressed by Air Supply. Trust me on this one. And that you're insane. > As for Celine Dion, I have no use for her music, but I hear she's a > very nice and kind-hearted woman, so I wish no slow death on her, > just to retire on the money she's made, make lots of babies and > record the occasional children's album or something. You would actually willingly let this woman inflict her crap on innocent children? You cruel, cruel man... And actually, "I hear" she's an egomaniac. Really, Chris...I meant it when I said you've got to be nuts. And yes, I know, no XTC content, once again, and yes, I know, I'm not making any friends here. But really, you'd like me if you only knew me. I've got all of XTC's albums, even saw them in concert once (or was that just a video?), and my pet iguana can do handstands on command. If you're nice to him. Which I am. Which I think proves that I must be a fairly nice person, being kind to animals and all. Now playing: "Living Through Another Cuba" (and I'm dancing around when I'm not typing) Yours, Chris
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-180 *******************************
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