Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 222
Date: Thursday, 10 June 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 222
Thursday, 10 June 1999
Today's Topics:
AV1, version 2 w/ demos
Re: AV1: The Singles?/Hitchcock
Residents
Third Single?
dosing the masses + first time xtc
The Good Things
Go ahead, bring on the 34D!
Re: Girls Just Wanna Have 34D
My local record store sucks
The Greatest XTC Album/Rich Burnell's website
The girl with colitis goes by...
Just filled with Love and musical wet dreams now
Lacking Irony...
a rarity?
Horkin' up hairballs
Johnny AppleVenus
XTC on NPR
Administrivia:
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the Chalkhills mailing list, send a message to
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org> with the following command:
unsubscribe
For all other administrative issues, send a message to:
<chalkhills-request@chalkhills.org>
Please remember to send your Chalkhills postings to:
<chalkhills@chalkhills.org>
World Wide Web: <http://chalkhills.org/>
The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors.
Chalkhills is compiled with Digest 3.7 (John Relph <relph@sgi.com>).
Grown from a nice young lady to a child.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JEFFREY.THOMAS.JT@bayer-ag.de Subject: AV1, version 2 w/ demos Message-Id: <0006800012028692000002L022*@MHS> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 09:12:35 +0200 Hi "Kreideberger", One of my favorite fellow "Magic Roundabout" connoiseurs, Mark Strijbos, wrote: >What is much more exiting is that Cooking Vinyl is considering >the November release of the perfect XTC Xmas gift: a double CD >_and_ LP (yes!) with the Apple Venus demos and outtakes (!!!). My message to Cooking Vinyl: DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! Please, just do it! Waiting for AV1, version 2 - - Jeff
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199906080430.VAA15620@sgiblab.sgi.com> Subject: Re: AV1: The Singles?/Hitchcock Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 23:30:03 -0500 From: "K.D." <zos@SoftHome.net> On 6/7/99 10:22 AM ElizaS33@aol.com wrote: >Robyn Hitchcock is a fabulous live act. Not only that, he's opening for Jon >Brion at Largo tomorrow and I'm going! Yay, me! Oddly, I know very little >about his recorded output, although I've seen him live probably eight times >in the past two years; I was put off early in life by the Yip Song, which >was the first thing of his I'd heard and which I find spectacularly >annoying, and quite surprised by how much I loved his live acoustic shows >much later on. So I'm always afraid to buy one of his 500,000 CDs in case >it's more in the Yip vein. (I did buy the soundtrack to the Demme picture, >though.) Any personalized recommendations based on those parameters would >be muchly appreciated. Yeah, he has TONS of material out...very prolific. I'm proud to say that I own quite a few of his albums on cd. I think that of what I own the album I Often Dream of Trains is my favorite...Moss Elixir is great too, as is Globe of Frogs. Any of his greatest hits cd's are fantastic to have too. I wish that I could say that I've seen him live as his shows are pretty fun from what I've heard from friends that have seen him live. Very interesting person. -Kort
------------------------------ Message-ID: <375CFFEC.779C@realtime.com> Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 12:35:09 +0100 From: chris vreeland <vreecave@realtime.com> Organization: Vreeland Graphics Subject: Residents Lo, I emerge at long last to post about something I might actually KNOW! This probably means nothing to you.... Tyler Hewitt says: > Current thinking about the Residents and who they might be suggests >that anyone who works with them, even one-shot deals where someone >shows up and gets dragged into the studio (which is what I think >Andy's contribution is) becomes a Resident for the time they are >actually working with the band. When I was about ten, a friend of my dad's known to me as "One Armed George" (the irony of which didn't escape me because, coincidentally, he had but one arm) showed up at my dad's house with a copy of "Meet the Residents." He was particularly enthusiastic because he had been recruited to play trumpet on the record, by the band whom he described as "some freinds of mine" despite the fact that he'd never played trumpet in his life, and had but one arm with which to do so. He'd been just "hanging around" at their studio/warehouse one day, and they good-naturedly decided that he should contribute to the record in some way. This represents a sum total of my knowledge of The Residents, but it probably is an good example of a wider ethos evinced in their musical style. Chris "smelly tounges" Vreeland
------------------------------ From: IraHome@aol.com Message-ID: <58bcdba8.248ec1b3@aol.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 14:57:55 EDT Subject: Third Single? iMVS.com lists "Greenman" on CD single, to be released 26 JUL 99 as Cooking Vinyl FRYCD084. Apologies if this has already been mentioned or is bad information. --Ira : )
------------------------------ From: dan@gge.com Message-ID: <375D8BA0.5E3B5A@gge.com> Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 14:31:45 -0700 Subject: dosing the masses + first time xtc i know nothing and will research nothing on the soluability of lsd, but i remember hearing something once about a conspiracy to put acid on the backs of millions of postage stamps. this seems like not a "good" idea, but practical for all intents and purposes. i'm not sure if this concept comes from a novel, movie or perhaps the writing of jerry rubin or one of those yippie guys. of course nowadays we have self-adhering postage stamps in the u.s. (curses, foiled again) and what exactly would be the point of this? just a gag to piss off the squares? or do the culprits wait until everyone's tripping and then.... well..... uh... what exactly? * ---------------------------------------- the following is probably a long-dead, ancient topic. be that as it may, here goes: do you remember the *first* time you *ever* heard xtc's music? i remember being on the school bus (!) on my way home, and our driver playing the radio (WBCN, boston) and hearing "....1-2-3-4-5 [pregnant pause] senses working overtime..." and thinking "what a cool song." (i guess i was in eighth grade at the time) i told my best friend about it and we began requesting it on our most excellent local community college station all the time (along with "ant muzic" and "computer dating" by patrick d. martin - comments?). the rest is, of course, history. we bought the old albums and the new ones as they came out. its a rather sentimental memory for me and quite unforseeable that someday i would be writing about it to a bunch of fellow fans on a computer network forum (gasp!). i'm interested to hear other peoples first awareness of xtc. (incidentally, i realized later on that i had heard 'respectable street' even earlier on the radio too, maybe once or twice, but never knew who it was.) oh the party goes with a swing when we talk about the trivial things, dan
------------------------------ From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <1a0c8e2a.248eee38@aol.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 18:07:52 EDT Subject: The Good Things Introducing for the very last time: wesLONG! I worked in record stores thru-out the 80's, and as a result accumulated a shload of memorabilia of our fave lads and of a lot of other 80's bands. The main item I horded was pins....pinbacks/badges/buttons...I'm a full on freaky geek for those things and have well over 250 of 'em. I've got about 20 or so of XTC....and the rest are of some very cool and some not so very cool bands from the 80's. I'm hoping that one of you Chalkies shares my passion for these glorious little icons to the new wave era. I've got a couple of extra XTC ones which I'll gladly trade for ones I don't have....and if you are looking for a specific band, let me know, I've got a bunch. Drop me a line if you wanna swap some, or if you have some that you would like to get rid of. I'll buy or trade for any XTC ones........check my link to Optimsim's Flames, my XTC trade site, provided below....I've got a lot of schtuff to use as trade bait. Oh....got a healthy response to my Falkner for blanks post....look forward to gettin' the blanks & I hope you all dig the tape! Oh II.....anyone hear the new Fountains Of Wayne?...I recently reviewed it, damn good. Optimism's Flames: http://members.tripod.com/~The_Last_Balloon/index.html
------------------------------ From: Chauncy14@aol.com Message-ID: <edeae84b.248f29fc@aol.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 22:22:52 EDT Subject: Go ahead, bring on the 34D! Belinda rebuked to my stereotypical description of a Blonde by saying: <snip> What, pray, dear John Gardner, is a typical blonde. And how does the character of a typical blonde differ from that of a typical blond female. Did she have big tits too? Belinda (shoulder length dark blonde/mousy coloured dead straight fine hair which has a perm in it to make it curlier and make it look thicker, giving it more body, and has two different shades of hilites in, one shade is a bleach blonde which many many hilites gives a shimmering summery look about it, and another a mid colour hilite in between the natural mouse and the bleach blonde, so as to give the effect of a fuller head of thicker healthy shiny hair. I thank you.) Since you asked, the female in question did *not* have Big tits, BUT, had nothing in the Grey Cells department! Forgive me for saying that this *particular* blonde was dumb. But this particular blonde *was* given the facts I had layed out. My apologies for stereotyping her in a a category which may have brought offense to other *blonde* females on our digest; Present Company excepted!!! John *who did not have time to be politcally correct* Gardner Chi-Town P.S. My girlfriend has *blonde* hair, for the record. P.P.S. The additional colour hi-light is groovie too!
------------------------------
Message-ID: <19990609030018.27671.qmail@hotmail.com>
From: Bob Crain <bobcrain@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Girls Just Wanna Have 34D
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 20:00:17 PDT
>Message-ID: <3758FE49.9B45755D@which.net> Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1999 11:39:05
>+0100 From: B Blanchard <b.blanchard@which.net> Subject: Girls Just Wanna
>Have 34D
>
>Belinda (shoulder length dark blonde/mousy coloured dead straight fine hair
>which has a perm in it to make it curlier and make it look thicker, giving
>it more body, and has two different shades of hilites in, one shade is a
>bleach blonde which many many hilites gives a shimmering summery look about
>it, and another a mid colour hilite in between the natural mouse and the
>bleach blonde, so as to give the effect of a fuller head of thicker healthy
>shiny hair. I thank you.)
Yes, but do you have big tits?
-Bob Crain
------------------------------
From: Iain.Murray.70428176@army.defence.gov.au
Message-Id: <4A25678B.00185DDB.00@stagemaster.army.defence.gov.au>
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 14:54:12 +1000
Subject: My local record store sucks
As I *still* don't have Nonsuch on CD, and haven't actually seen it for
sale anywhere, I wandered over to my local record store (some of you might
remember me mentioning the sales clerk with the pierced face who referred
to XTC as "fucking poofter music" - sadly, he still works there) and put in
an order for an import copy. Although I was told it would take two to three
weeks, this has now stretched into about two months.
I've got the hump. Now I'm asking you guys. If there's anyone on the list
who knows where I can find a CD copy of Nonsuch (this probably applies to
Australian list members only) or can grab a copy for me and I'll reimburse
you (this goes out to everyone), I would be *eternally grateful* and will
shower you with praise and thanks. Email me privately if you can help.
While I'm here.......
>>Note to Iain on Stranger Things....
>>Please go buy that Duran Duran album! I need a good laugh!
>>- May
It seems I no longer need to. A fellow Australian Chalk-duster has offered
to lend me his copy, so I can hear this wondrous recording for myself.
Isn't that nice?
>>Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were in on it by 1966
when they publicly promoted the drug on both TV
("The LSBumble Bee") and vinyl ("Psychedelic
Baby").
There's a movie (or at least, a video - I don't know if it ever got
theatrical release) called "Derek & Clive Get The Horn", where Cook and
Moore were filmed making an album. It becomes fairly clear, early in the
piece, that they're both out of their skulls, but I'd always assumed (from
listening to the record) that they were just drunk. There's almost
certainly a case for suggesting that they were on something stronger,
though - how you could come up with a skit about pulling lobsters out of
Jayne Mansfield's arsehole *without* consuming mind-bending drugs is
anyone's guess (although I'm sure someone will tell me).
>>I think it would be nice if Andy participated in a forum once in a while,
or provided a site or address where a moderated set of questions could be
addressed to him. Would it kill him? We don't bite.
Well, some of us do, but not where it'll show....
>>He was not averse
to doing a bit of a "meet-&-greet" around the US to promote the new album,
so why not give us poor schmucks in the Antipodies a bit of a break, huh?
Well put, Sir Duncan. I couldn't agree more (well, I *am* Australian - did
you really expect any other kind of response?).
>>BTW
"Storefront Hitchcock" will be featured at this year's Sydney Film
Festival, and Hitch himself will be here to introduce it. Cool, huh? The
SFF brochure dropped a bit of a clanger though - they wrote him up as being
a former member of "The Pet Shop Boys" (ooops!)
I really should stop reading these digests when I'm at work trying to look
busy. Howls of derisive laughter (Bruce) don't go down too well with the
Army....speaking of which, my computer at work has the AV1 album cover as
the desktop background (thanks to Paul Culnane for sending that over - I'd
been looking for a replacement for my bitmap of Amanda Vanstone with a
beard), and my supervisor (Army geezer) saw it the other day and asked what
it was. After I told him it was the new XTC album cover, he mumbled some
sort of acknowledgement and went back to his office singing....
....you can probably guess, can't you?....
...."Generals And Majors".
I wonder if anyone else could sense the irony?
Iain
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199906090547.FAA352764@out1.ibm.net> From: "Shoalin" <shoalin@ibm.net> Subject: The Greatest XTC Album/Rich Burnell's website Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 12:54:23 +0700 I just visited the new XTC site described by Rich Burnell in the last Chalkhills: >>Yes, I went through every song on XTC's major album work, gave descriptions to each of them, and rated >>them. Just thought I'd tell everyone since all the work would sorta go >>to waste if the page just sat there. http://members.xoom.com/taoster/xtc.htm is the URL for the XTC part of >>the page. Here is a sample (which lists English Settlement as the 8th "best" XTC album) >>#8: English Settlement (1982) >>"Sort of a blueprint for Skylarking which came four years later. The music, though a lot of it is excellent, is really too messy to be truly lush like the band seems to be trying for, and many songs on the second part of the album (aside from a couple amazing ones) don't seem finished, either that or they go on way too long. Still, it began the path that XTC followed to this day." A blueprint for Skylarking??? Songs that don't seen finished??? I beg to differ, but if the entire Chalkhills population voted on what is arguably the greatest (and/or their favorite) XTC album I have little doubt that it would be English Settlement (especially among those who were already XTC fans when this album was released). It is admittedly difficult to compare swans (especially when one's talking about XTC albums), but in my view (and those of many Chalkhiller's) English Settlement is one of the greatest albums ever produced by anyone ever!! Number 8??? A blueprint for Skylarking?? May I suggest a new blueprint for your musical-reviewing brain. DAVO
------------------------------ Message-ID: <375E0304.C3CD6419@earthlink.net> Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 23:00:36 -0700 From: Yoshiko Yeto <beaudrillard@earthlink.net> Subject: The girl with colitis goes by... Fellow Chalkhillians- Unlike Melissa Reave's formerly undivided attention toward lyrics, I find myself absolutely mesmerized by bass, guitar, and keyboard parts. Consequently, I never manage to fully to grasp lyrics, even by the very toppermost of the poppermost. This ever so slight "problem" is compounded by the selective nature of my cognitive skills. The following examples substantiate this chronic, inoperative malady. In "Runaways", I never fail to "hear" Colin sing the words "dope fly". For a couple of protracted millenniums, I perfectly understood that Elvis Costello was singing the following lines: "Now I know that your arcane halls, built with tenderness and brute force". At times, I actually prefer my misguided interpretations of ye olde English classics of yore. Natural selection at its devolutional apex, Malady Nelson, Esquirette "What is---face to face with the real---this intermediary work of the imagination?" -Robert Bresson
------------------------------ From: Chauncy14@aol.com Message-ID: <5a71daf6.248fc9cc@aol.com> Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 09:44:44 EDT Subject: Just filled with Love and musical wet dreams now Hello XTC Clan... Flashback: Acid hit...fatty tissue tigers and trailers.... I had not even heard of XTC when I was in high school. In 1980, I hadn't a CLUE to who XTC were. I went to a college prep school, one reminiscent of Jonathon Powers' _The Last Catholic in America_, or, _Do Black Patten Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?_ At Fenwick H. S. in the west suburbs of Chicago, we mostly swam fast, drank a lot of beers on the weekends, chewed tobacco in class (which we received corporal punishment in the form of a good paddling on the gluteus maximus as a result of that), and would smoke ganj on the weekends. No clue that a significantly influential band had unleashed itself from Swindon, England. I had played the drums for 11 years by then, played percussion and drummed in the school bands, Jazz, Concert, and Symphony, and in 2 rock bands on the side. My mother was a concert pianist at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so I get my musical inclination from her. But, while I was a rock drummer, then, I was getting lessons on the Cello and Piano from some of them thar musicians from the CSO. So, my childhood, and teen years, did not suck, from a strictly musical point of view. I mean, I was learning Mozart, and Beethoven, Brahms and Franz Haydn, and learning it too fast for my own good. Later, I would fall in love with Bach's Suites for Cello, played by Yo Yo Ma. Man! What a fucking trip that was. And, on the side, I was drumming with my *3rd and 4th World's Greatest Garage and Basement Bands,* to Elvis Costello, Rush, Boston, The Who, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Talking Heads, and The Police! Man, what I missed out on then! XTC! I was on the circuit, you know, playing clubs, garage parties, basement parties, the bars and bar mitzvahs! This was the scene, Man! Then College got in the way of all that. There was a rift and suddenly, I was listening to more music than playing it. When college came in '84, out the window went the Piano and Cello; the drumset was the only thing that would fit in Mom's stationwagon on the big move to college. Then, music was nothing like it is now. I stopped listening to the radio, only listening to vinyl, tapes and CD's. But, thank Dear GOD I did listen to the radio, because I would not have heard, in the summer of 1984, on WXRT Radio Chicago,_Generals and Majors_. I was hooked! Lock, stock and barrel! Who is this band? Where the bleep do I get a copy? Who is with me? By 1984, how many XTC albums were out? How much had I missed then? From 1984, I would follow XTC, mostly by Black Sea on CD to start, and then album by album thereafter until this year! And, of course no thanks to Andy, IT did burn a hole in my pocketbook! For years, I searched for Go2, Drums and Wires, and White Music, and finally got copies of them in 1989. Earlier this year, while dicking around on the Internet due to the XTC musical lull and no new albums at the record stores to speak of, I was browsing and doing WORD SEARCHES for XTC, when I came across YOU~CHALKHILLS~! What a great place! And, recently there was a pang of consciousness ringing in my head! I got an itch to buy and listen to something I had never heard before. This idea was already on the Chalkhills' website. This weekend, I got in the mail, Chalkhill's Children '96, '97, '98 tapes. Since then? It's been non-stop! Thank you Richard Pedretti-Allen! For you I am much in debt! The Executive Producer! Mastered by Peter Fitzgerald, at Shabby Road Studios! Thank you Peter! And, Cover ArtWork by Harrison Sherwood! Thank you Harrison! All the Chalk-Musicians on these tapes, and there are a lot of you, Thank you too! You're collective passion for music is so much more pronounced, now that the bongwater is really kickin' in! Yes, my hair and scalp are tingling too! I think I really understand what Chalkhills is all about, thanks to these tapes! You are all such gifted musicians, that I am proud to be a chalkie. I think after listening to you all on tape, I understand your points of view and can connect with your posts a little better; whether its banjos or heavy metal; it don't matter. And I have to say, that, I have a deep jealousy for musicians like you three, and all of the Chalkhill's members who have contributed to this TRIBUTE to XTC, and your burning desire to contribute to the COMMUNITY. (Now, having recently dusted off the kit, and playing regularly, all I want to do is get some of the boys together, and jam to XTC! I only hope to some day, provide you with an accolade by which you can remember me by. Musically speaking of course!) And, Harrison, I had to crack up a LOT when I read the cover art for Chalkhills '97. I got to the *bongwater* part and had to blow out the hit because I could not stop laughing! LOL! And, I had to read until the END, which is HERE, just because! Thanks for making me laugh! I needed that! <Cough, cough. Red & watery eyes, too!> The point of my dribble is very clear. The love we share for XTC is obsessive. No doubt. Otherwise, we would not be here on this digest (Thanks John Relph!) I will wager than not one subscriber would not agree that XTC is the most prolific band on a contemporary level! It is for me, having chucked most of the classical music out from my catalogue; well, I set them aside for the time being, except for Yo Yo Ma. Dingleburt Humperdink? Who the Bleep is that anyway? Listening to XTC is too compulsive, that I feel I want to listen to these tapes more than the real thing. Has a Chalk member ever got burnt out on XTC? Can one *overdose* on XTC? Last night when I heard *Dear God,* sung solo by Jennifer Geese, probably in a church (?), thank you Jennifer, I had to stop the tape and play the real thing. Because the song, after hearing Jennifer sing it, was just so overwhelming to me; I had no choice but to play the original version and read along with the lyrics, just because it was a song that I generally ignored, lyrically speaking! Who cares about a reduction in the price of beer anyway? It is the religious conviction of Andy, which goes out the window, that was most impressive to me. Since my parents decision to send me to Catholic schools from grade school to my choice in College, I have had strong convictions about religion until hearing *Dear God* years ago. And, listening to Jennifer's version, only re-affirms certain tenet's, or credo's for me about Catholicism. Did you know that most atheists are fallen Catholics? I am still a Catholic, but have split feelings on the Catholic Church, the Pope and his belligerent view points on certain issues, and I feel more like a smorgasbord catholic*a dash of this, a dash of that.* However, I must say that the songs on the three set tapes are terrific, but mostly Jennifer's version of *Dear God.* Each musician's perspective on his or her XTC song is so cool, that you begin to appreciate more of the raw emotion put into the craftmanship and production of their tunes than the tunes themselves. Add that emotion to the conjunctive posts, and voila! Now there's PERSPECTIVE! I love other musicians' versions of these songs; and I am not talking about Bands Covering XTC. From purely a Chalkhills' Musician's Point of View, your energy and talent, and in most cases your solo efforts to engineer and record your chosen songs, are all to be commended! Yes, I am gushing, but so what! But, for me, *Dear God* DID something new for me, giving me a brand new look at XTC! THAT SONG also provides a new perspective on my life, lighting a fire that had long since burnt out, I should think, being that I am a smorgasbord Catholic of course. Who knows what the result of it will be? (Maybe my convictions about religion will change even more, and yes, I am aware that I haven't actually said what those convictions are; on purpose.) So, to end of my short dissertation, I will leave you with the following: "Genius is the power of leaving one's own aims, interests, wishes and desires entirely out of sight. Of entirely renouncing one's own personality, to knowing subject = clear vision of the world!" -Schopenhauer, 1812. I am forever in your humble debts! Oh, ye old Masters du XTC! John The Penitent Gardner Getting his feet wet in the Chicago River
------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 11:25:29 +0200 (MET DST) From: Martin van Rappard <rappard@dds.nl> Subject: Lacking Irony... Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.90.990609112132.21508J-100000@fatima.dds.nl> Ha! Two people already took offense at my 10 Reasons To Unsub's "Andy probably thinks we're idiots", and while I'm pleased that I managed to irritate two people, they should have checked the rest of the list, "Too many listers irony impaired" being one of the other reasons. Get a life, you geeks - not everything merits a reply, least of all your postings.:) Martin
------------------------------ From: dan@gge.com Message-ID: <375E87ED.5A4E5761@gge.com> Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 08:27:46 -0700 Subject: a rarity? i found this cd yesterday: "a place of general happiness, lyrics by ernest noyes brookings, vol.ii" it's a compilation by various artists putting the late brooking's poetry to music. track #11 is by xtc (actually only andy) doing a song called 'rocket', about space travel. kind of an odd song, one of those andy tunes that seems to pull you in two directions at once (think early xtc). the word 'quirky' comes to mind, i hate to say it. has anyone else ever heard of this? i thought it quite a score when i picked it up. other artists on the cd include: young fresh fellows, bim skala bim, incredible casuals, lonesome bob, et al. the cd was executive produced by david greenberger, who did the comic book series "duplex planet" and the cover art is by daniel clowes (eightball!). i'm not sure how old or obscure this is. i'd never heard of it before yesterday. anyway, something for the xtc completist to look for. the radio is blaring out, dan
------------------------------ Message-ID: <19990609194953.8243.rocketmail@web804.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 12:49:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Chris Desmond <c_desmond@yahoo.com> Subject: Horkin' up hairballs The obviously astute Dorothy Spirito said: >Subject: Re: John Gardner's Big Day... >To what can I compare the feeling generated by reading the wedding >post? > >It was like looking at a hairball freshly horked up by a cat in the >middle of a party. > >The cat then sits back, satisfied. > >And I laugh at the absurdity. Well, Dorothy, goddam and thank you! I felt much the same way, though to put it in those words is near genius, I must say. I too was filled with disgust at the overbearing smugness of Mr. Gardner's post. Are we to be impressed at his lofty position high above the "Typical blonde with nothing to show for herself, in the Midwest of the U.S. of A.," as he describes the bride without a trace of irony. What the fuck? I underestimated you in past posts, John -- you're far more of a prick than I thought. And what ARE we to make of this from John?: "The bride was in introvert, and the groom, an extrovert; from two different poles of thinking, two different family lifestyles, values and religions, and having, seemingly, nothing in common, and having two completely different careers. I have always knew [sic] that they were wrong for each other. They seemed to me to be getting married out of *convenience.*" An introvert marrying an extrovert? Different poles of thinking? Different types of families? And even **different careers**??? Good god, what is this world coming to? Convenience is certainly the only explanation for this marriage. John, how dare you let the wedding go on! Superiority carries with it a huge amount of responsibility, and you must use it wisely! And, may I say, that I can only hope you find or have found someone as rarefied in their judgement of others as yourself to spend the rest of your life (in hell) with. And then, this lovely passage: "Sorry, but I had to laugh during their ceremony. It was typical Catholic ceremony, and at the reception, everyone got hammered, and no one was really thinking of the couple, except the bet at the table was how long they would actually be married! Maybe their was a *bun in the oven* and that was the factor motivating them to get married...speculation?" Ah yes, the all-knowing Gardner knew, yes *knew* what everyone wasn't thinking about. And seems to think that everyone getting hammered at the reception (how unusual!) actually meant something about the couple's future. And finally, almost predictably, the evil spectre of a possible pre-marital pregnancy rears its unnecessary head. Oh John, our sympathies at the horrible thoughts that were forced through your head go out to you en masse, I am certain. To see you quoting "The Ugly Underneath" amidst your self-satisfied "insights" into the wedding made me ill. Somehow, I think Andy wrote it to describe others more deserving than this couple you describe. Such as, maybe, YOU. Hoping you're feelin' good about yourself, Chris Desmond
------------------------------ From: Melsta@aol.com Message-ID: <146ec2fc.24902c8c@aol.com> Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 16:46:04 EDT Subject: Johnny AppleVenus Hey Chuggers-- In defense of John Chapman (no relation to Mark David), Dorothy wrote in no. 221: >>John Chapman (1774-1845), a/k/a "Johnny Appleseed", was a real person. He was born in Massachusetts but went west around 1800 bearing apples for planting and books for teaching, spending the rest of his life traveling Ohio and Indiana, growing healing herbs and caring for settlers and natives, who regarded him as something of a saint. My personal opinion? What a neat guy. The midwest back then mayn't've been modern-day Calcutta, but he ranks right up there with Mother Theresa in my estimation.<< Actually, from what I've heard, he was a bit of a nut, promoting the good effects of his beloved apples to the point of trying to convince people that the Garden of Eden story was a malicious slander of this most noble of fruits (sounds like the work of the International Pear and Peach Council to me!) --Melissa "aluminum foil not only makes a lovely hat, it helps block the government's mind control rays" Reaves
------------------------------ Message-ID: <000f01beb29a$e818ce00$0d2aa8c0@me.myoffice.com> From: "Steven Paul" <spaul@armstronglaw.com> Subject: XTC on NPR Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 18:09:24 +0100 Just heard David Greenbuer (sp) review AV1 for NPR, All Things Considered. (Wed June 9, 1999 at 5:55 pm PST). My wife called me from home and excitedly told me that "they were talking about XTC". Luckily I have a radio in my office and quicly turned on NPR (90.1 FM in Salt Lake City, Utah) and heard then quickly plug AV1 by playing parts of "I'd Like That" and "River Of Orchids" then saying in effect that XTC have used the orchestration as the basis for this album, not as an after thought. The review closed with "The Last Balloon". I wish I would have had a blank tape to insert to help my recollection of what the reviewer said. Listen for "All Things Considered" over the next couple of days, sometimes they repeat.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-222 *******************************
Go back to Volume 5.
10 June 1999 / Feedback