Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 226
Date: Sunday, 6 August 2000

         Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 226

                  Sunday, 6 August 2000

Topics:

                      Graham Parker
                       Slow Motions
                     Moan Moan Groan
                        White Bird
               Re: Politics and Pirating...
                            So
                           P.S.
                   RE: Napster (again)
                      Straight facts
                        Oh my god!
                     non-XTC content
                  apples and wasps. . .
                  That Four Letter Word
                     Uhhhh.......XTC?
                       Collections
        A lot like you, and an awful lot like me!
                       Domo Arigato

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All this talk.

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 08:39:45 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Graham Parker
Message-ID: <l03130302b5b1c640ac6b@[208.13.202.94]>

>> I'll start the bidding with Graham Parker.
>
>Never heard of him. What's the one-line
>oversimplifying summary?
>
>The evil love child of Elvis Costello and Bruce
>Springsteen takes a stab at being a soul singer.
>
>Actually, he's better than that, even though I've
>found his work to be extremely uneven in terms of
>quality. Don't really listen to him at all, actually.
>any of his work I had was sold off when I moved last
>time.

  That's an oversimplification. Graham got his record deal a year before
Elvis, and has made more albums than Springsteen. He can be uneven, I find
his 80's material as frustrating as The Kinks of the same period, he put
out one great album during that decade(The Mona Lisa's Sister), most of the
rest was kind of uneven, but each album has at least three or four great
songs and others that seemed like a good idea at the time. He shares with
Ray Davies an unwillingness to collaborate with other songwriters, and with
Andy a tendency to get sabotaged by overproduction. He's been very
consistent through the 90's, though- any of his 90's albums from '91's
Struck By Lightning onwards are good solid singer-songwriter albums,
sparingly arranged, even showing a sense of humor here and there, which was
downright foreign to him until that point. Getting married and having kids
must have mellowed him. Graham reminds me more of John Hiatt these days,
since moving to Woodstock N.Y. with his family his material has become a
lot more American sounding, like he's been jamming with The Band or
something(most of whose remnants also live in Woodstock).
  His best album is still '79's Squeezing Out Sparks. Not a bad track on
the album, though his first two albums Howling Wind and Heat Treatment are
well-written slices of British soul, with a more pronounced Van Morrison
influence than he's ever shown since.

Christopher R. Coolidge

Homepage at
http://homepages.together.net/~cauldron/homepage.html

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 16:00:58 +0900
From: "John Boudreau" <aso1@mocha.ocn.ne.jp>
Subject: Slow Motions
Message-ID: <004f01bffee6$734506e0$795791d2@johnboud>

Somebody wrote a while back :

>I know that the fims of Japanese director
>Yosujiro Ozu are critically acclaimed, but I myself once had the
>misfortune to sit through an entire screening of Ozu's "Tokyo Story".
>I am still not yet fully recovered.
>It is a film so oceanically dull that to call it a motion picture
>compliments it beyond all reason; a film for which no synonym of
>"boring" has yet been coined that can fully fathom it's utter,
>brain-splitting tedium. By comparison, watching paint dry would >seem like
a high-speed re-run of highlights of "Best Crashes of the
>Indy-500". You know how they use strobe light and high-speed film > to slow
>down a bullet in flight? Well if you did that to the growth of the
>slowest growing lichen in the world, an Ozu film would make that >seem like
>'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.

One of the dangers of the Hollywood hallucination, to
borrow a phrase from someone whose name I don't remember, is that other
styles of movie-making don't measure up if that is the yardstick you
use...and the marketing power of Hollywood tends to obliterate anyone
who tries to make a film any other way...the only way to get a film seen
(and a film, unlike a novel, which you can sit at your desk by yourself
and write, has to be seen by paying customers if you ever hope to make
another film) is to imitate Hollywood, the result being that what you
get is usually an obvious imitation...Ozu deliberately made films slow,
the same way that Shostakovich wrote slow music and Henry James wrote
slow novels. If you don't like that sort of thing, then you don't like
that sort of thing...while I'd go to a theatre and watch an Ozu film, I
probably wouldn't put it on the video at home, because there's just too
many things happening at home that would stop me from slowing down to
its pace.

XTC content : Congrats go out to Jon Rosenberger for snagging the autographs
of E.I.E.I and Lord Cornelius ! You sly devil , Jon ...

Sushiman

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 02:38:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Wilkinson <cleanersvenus@yahoo.com>
Subject: Moan Moan Groan
Message-ID: <20000805093840.12510.qmail@web514.mail.yahoo.com>

Yakkety Yak, I Wont come back.

I used to enjoy my daily Chalkhill's digest, but now
it's just long lists of peoples favourite bands.
Hardly a mention of XTC or XTC related bands.

Some of the comments are just so dumb I can't believe
that you lot are intelligent enough to appreciate
XTC's music. I suspect that you just like the sounds
of your own voices.

I'm off.

I'm sure you won't miss me anyway as I have never been
inspired enough to comment anyway.

Shame.

Top work though John, no reflection on you is to be
implied.

Paul Wilkinson

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 00:48:25 EDT
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: White Bird
Message-ID: <1e.8f787f5.26bcf699@aol.com>

>From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
>Subject: And don't cry, baby, don't cry.

> >Almost as bad but w/o the negative physiological
> >effect is that horrid fusion shit they play during the
> >local forcast on the Weather Channel. Sends me running
> >for the mute button every time!

> I hate to disappoint some of you folks, but a lot it is Pat Metheny.

I'm just a-holding my tongue like nobody's bidness, yes sir, just a-whistling
and a-lookin' at the wall, check out this speck o' dust over here in the
corner, my my, just whatever you do don't pop up with that SHRIEKINGLY
OBVIOUS CONCLUSION, just leeeeeeeave it alone, bub, yes sir yes sir....

> The [Byrds'] second peak was with Parsons and
> the later Untitled album.  BTW, I understand that the complete concert that
> the live side of Untitled has been released, and it supposedly rocks!
> Clarence at his best!  Has anyone heard it?

Yeah, Clarence White... No sir, you just don't get much more Guitar Godly
than ol' Clarence.

Jesus Christ, some people are just born with it all, you know?

You can have your Jimis, Claptons, Pages, all them 60's gunslingers. You
can keep your Djangos and your Kessels and your Montgomerys. I'll let you
have your Doc Watsons and your Steve Howes and your Yngwies and your Danny
Gattons. For me the Supreme Cheese that America Chooses, the Top Dog in
the Cathouse, is Clarence White.

I mean, shit FIRE! How many guitarists can you name--seriously, now, this
is a challenge--how many guitarists can claim that they utterly
revolutionized the entire role of the guitar in TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
genres--on, it must be quickly pointed out, both the acoustic and the
electric flavors of my beloved instrument--before dying in a tragically
stupid road accident at the hideously young age of 29?

You listen to a bluegrass record from 1965, and another one from 1975, and
you're going to hear an utterly transformed band. The 1965 band is going
to consign the guitarist to the rhythm section, buttressing the bass on
the beat, and chunking with the mandolin on "and."  (Boom-CHUCK,
boom-CHUCK, etc.)  The instrument got no respect, mainly because it just
wasn't loud enough to compete with the banjo and mandolin. Most often they
handed guitar duties to the lead singer, so's he didn't have to think too
hard while trying to remember lyrics.

After Clarence and the Kentucky Colonels, nobody ever plays bluegrass
guitar like that again. Clarence shows us how unbelievably fluid and
graceful a bluegrass guitar solo can really be. Sure, he's getting help
from modern sound-reinforcement technology, but if you've ever teased
apart a Clarence White flatpick solo, see what he's got going on in the
fingering department, it becomes immediately obvious that you're in the
presence of Primitive Genius.

Nowadays Tony Rice owns Clarence's beat-to-shit Martin D-28, and I think
that's just about exactly right.

If Clarence had been killed by a drunk driver in 1965 instead of 1973, his
place in guitar history would be secure. But in '65, he heard Dylan,
smoked some dope, and decided he really needed to try that electric
guitar. He became obsessed, it is said, with trying to make a regular
six-string guitar sound like a pedal steel, realizing (and this may really
be his greatest insight) that the distinctive sound of country music was
that of one guitar string being bent while another stays one one
tone. (Think about it...minor third becoming a major--but *bending* into
it, not hammering on, like in the blues: that's High, Wide and Lonesome,
Merle!) He develops an electric lead style that is just an insane series
of bends--single-stopped, double-stopped, hell, even *triple*-stopped--and
basically invents what we now think of as country lead guitar.

I shit you not, brethren and sistren: It begins with Clarence. When you
hear a country band trading fours, or playing that totally stupid but
totally necessary "Shave-and-haircut" ending, and the electric guitar goes
into a series of alternating chromatic climbs and swooping bends, that's
the ghost of Clarence White and none other. And when Keef plays that
utterly filthy opening phrase of "Tumbling Dice," with the G string
bending up a half-step against the stationary B string, that's Clarence
too. (By way of Gram Parsons and Ry Cooder, but that's another story...)
A-and when you hear a Telecaster weeping elegantly the way only a pedal
steel is supposed to, that's Clarence too....

Gene Parsons, Clarence's partner in crime in Nashville West, the band they
formed before being invited to join the Byrds in '68, worked with Clarence
to invent the seriously loony StringBender, a device that is fitted to a
Telecaster that allows you to bend the B and G strings by pulling against
the guitar strap--much the same way that you can bend strings on a steel
guitar by stepping on
pedals. (http://www.stringbender.com/electric/default.html#0)

The live portion of the Byrds' "Untitled" album Tom refers to is a
showcase for this device. Clarence plays the Tele with banjo
rolls--three-fingered pattern picking--and working the StringBender for
all it's worth. Holy Christ, what hippie magnificence! What primitive
beauty! What a nards-out jack-balling god-fueled fretmelting fuck-all
adventure is Eight Miles High!  That's America, buddy!

You can read more about Clarence at
http://www.byrdmaniax.com/byrds/Cwhite.html. Especially amusing is the
tale of the backstage fisticuffs between Clarence and Gram Parsons at a
joint concert of the Colonels and the Burrito Brothers.

Clarence was killed in July 1973. He was buried in Joshua Memorial Park,
in Lancaster, CA. Parsons was present at his funeral. He died two months
later in the same spot.

Harrison "Won't you please take me along/I won't do anything wrong"
Sherwood

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 03:02:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Radios In Motion <radiosinmotion@iwon.com>
Subject: Re: Politics and Pirating...
Message-ID: <383001509.965458942142.JavaMail.root@web193-iw>

I don't like getting into politics much because it seems whenever that comes
into play, every hates you for one reason or another.  Conservatives hate
you if you say anything that they don't agree with and liberals and
democrats are not much better because they feel everything they believe is
right.  I use to consider myself a democrat, then a liberal, now I am just a
practicalist.  I don't support any party.  I do agree with you about Nader
though.  I feel Ralph Nader would be the best president in history based on
his views on politics.  Of course, I could be wrong, but why not give it a
shot and vote you know!  I don't consider it a waste.

Here is politics to me: Conservative republicans are as close to Nazism as
anything I have seen.  Moderate republicans are pretty much the same, only
they may have Black or Jewish friends.  Democrats just want to kiss the
conservative, moderate and liberal asses all at once, so they just act like
whatever you want them to act like to get your vote.  I would say that they
are better then republicans, but I don't believe they are much better
because at least republicans are honest about their feelings.  Liberals are
broken up into 2 categories.  1 category of liberals are just people who
have a "Green Peace" or "Amnesty International" sticker on their Volvo or
gray BMW.  That pretty much sums up their feelings.  They are just as
conservative as George Bush but want to pretend they are the "We Are The
World" generation.  The other set of liberals believe that everything needs
a reaction.

For example, did you know an "Unwanted request for a date" is considered
sexual harassment?   Many also push for other stupid policies that I just
don't think makes any sense.  I guess when you boil it all down, I am
somewhat of a liberal in my thinking, for the most part, but would never
categorize myself as such.  I believe in being practical, which is why I
consider myself a practicalist.  Speaking of liberal, Al & Tipper act so
liberal, but they were and are the worst thing for freedom of speech.  Those
bitches fought to put stickers like "Occult" on records.  That sounds like
something a conservative would do!  I bet the fool becomes are president.  I
just wont waist my vote for him the third time around.

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 07:57:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Al LaCarte <allacarte@yahoo.com>
Subject: So
Message-ID: <20000805145734.18060.qmail@web1609.mail.yahoo.com>

All:

Peter Gabriel:

"Prior to Graceland, the music of South Africa was
largely unknown outside the country, except to a small
minority of world music fans" notes fellow
singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, who adds that
"Graceland" was pathbreaking artistically as well as
culturally.  "The music at its best brimmed with
life and emotion, and was charged with a blend of
spirituality and sensuality.  With his elegant
composition and diffident obsevations, Paul
Simon fused these elements with his own extraordinary
songwriting skills. He produced an irresistable and
classic album,  which I have played many,
many times."

And, from KINGSTUNES:

>Of course, that's just his *opinion*.  Unless you
wish to believe he suffered a momentary lapse of
taste.<

I'm so ashamed.  When mere common-folk such as Duncan
Kimball and Tom Kingston advise me that maybe I
misjudged a record, it is easy for me to dismiss that
particular opinion.  But when the great Peter Gabriel
proclaims "Graceland" to be a classic record?

I had to go back and listen again.  How could I have
been so blind? (Or is it deaf?)  Thank you Peter,
Duncan and Tom.  Thank you for helping me to
rediscover and appreciate this lovely work-of-art.

Al

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 07:58:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Al LaCarte <allacarte@yahoo.com>
Subject: P.S.
Message-ID: <20000805145856.18154.qmail@web1609.mail.yahoo.com>

All:

Not!

Al

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 14:19:47 +0100
From: "Marc Wickens" <xtc-mailing@brzone.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Napster (again)
Message-ID: <LPBBIGMBOKAGPHECDJEPAEJJCAAA.xtc-mailing@brzone.co.uk>

I'm a student.

bearing that in mind:

What would you do, a) buy an overpriced CD (lets face it, CDs are far too
expensive IMO, especially old stuff (20 30 years) , surly bands have made
their money by now?) or b) get it for free using Napster. - I still buy CDs
because you can't (yet) get all the other extras you get with a CD, like
the lyrics and additional information, it's also nice to have something to
hold I your hand rather than a file on a disk. But CDs are overpriced, and
I'm willing to for fit the extras to get the song for free.

Also, many XTC songs are available from the record company's web site for
free, I got 'I'd like that' and a whole host of other songs that were free
and legal from yahoo's XTC category.

As a musician, do you make your music because you enjoy it or because you
want to make a million? Would you rather CDs were cheaper and more people
got to here your music?

On the point of software, companies have found ways of stopping (or at
least minimizing) piracy, incapable CDs, licence keys etc. I think the
music instantly should do the same and not fight against mp3, but harness
the power of it.

--
Regards
Marc Wickens
mailto:marc@mwic.co.uk
http://www.mwic.co.uk

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 10:53:59 -0700
From: "Drew MacDonald" <drewmacdonald@mediaone.net>
Subject: Straight facts
Message-ID: <000c01bfff06$2300b9c0$ac841818@we.mediaone.net>

None of these facts really belong here, but wrong info doesn't belong
ANYWHERE, so here goes:

"Frasier's" David Hyde Pierce (Niles), John Mahoney (Martin) and Dan Butler
(Bulldog) are all gay. Butler talks about it -- loudly and at length -- the
other two do not. So what?

Mahoney is from Blackpool, but his American accent is damn near flawless, as
any fan of his work can attest.

Al Gore was indeed in the U.S. Army. Though he spent only six months of his
service in Vietnam -- and then only as a public info journalist -- he was a
full-fledged, full-term enlisted soldier, not a National Guardsman.

Stretching for XTC content: Chalkhiller Mark Flora, who did the very fine
cover-featured XTC interview in Amplifier magazine, just played with his
band Florapop at the International Pop Overthrow festival here in LA. Though
I couldn't make the show myself, all accounts give him a thumbs-up. Mark's
fine music be heard at www.florapop.com

Drew

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 14:40:47 -0400
From: MinerWerks <dminer@gte.net>
Subject: Oh my god!
Message-ID: <a04310100b5b20e66c641@[63.25.149.243]>

Just wanted to share this wonderful experience with everyone...

I recently became somewhat concerned that everytime I used my
turntable, I was ruining records. So I learned how to set it up
properly. Luckily, even though I found this turntable in a pile of
stuff to be thrown out, it was in near-perfect working order and had
a lot of nice features (everything adjustable!)...

So now that I *finally* got everything set up in a somewhat proper
fashion, I picked up a used copy of The Big Express on LP for $3. I
compared "The Everyday Story of Smalltown" to the Geffen CD, and I
was blown away!! I knew the mastering on the CD of this disc was
pitiful, but now I have something nice to compare it to! Now, I don't
want to mislead everyone to think that I'm ditching CDs for vinyl.
There were still some minor annoyances upon listening. Mainly that
the used LP I picked up had a ton of crackles. But the overall tone
and punch of the song is much nicer than on CD!!

Now I'll have to check out my vinyl copy of Apple Venus! At least
from a small bit of listening when I bought it, it's virtually
crackle-free!

= Derek =

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 16:04:35 EDT
From: Stroo@aol.com
Subject: non-XTC content
Message-ID: <36.9aa904a.26bdcd53@aol.com>

I, like many others have recently written, am growing weary of the lack of
XTC content found in these pages.  To open my mail on a daily basis and find
four new digests, with really no XTC content is defeating the purpose.  Yes,
I know where the page down key is, and it's all I have been using.  And yes,
I know I can unsubscribe any time I choose, but then I won't be informed when
there is any real new news on the boys.  The demos, the tour appearances, and
many other items were directly the result of this service, I am am extremely
grateful for that.  I am only writing because I look forward to more of the
same.
I'll hang on for a while, and I don't mind the occasional off the subject
thread, but to read about Frasier's brother's sexual orientation and the
Republican National Convention in these pages is defeating the purpose.

I have my flameproof suit on now, because I know I'm going to need it.  It's
your right, just as the above was mine.

Bob

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 17:16:43 EDT
From: Masookie@aol.com
Subject: apples and wasps. . .
Message-ID: <a9.9521d78.26bdde3b@aol.com>

Oh, I don't know.  Is anyone enjoying Wasp Star?  When was the last time you
listened to it in its entirety?

I haven't yet listened to AV Vol I and then Wasp Star as a complete double
album yet.  Frankly I haven't had the time.
>>i haven't stopped. . . i did the whole album trick the other night. . .
they really do gel well together, (and i can't get 'stupidly happy' outta my
head!).
hey. . . ponder: white anglo saxon pop star
that's it from me for now. . . m.a. sample

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

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 00:02:46 +0200
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Subject: That Four Letter Word
Message-ID: <20000805215649.4ED76A6CEA@mail.knoware.nl>

Dear Chalkers,

I'm free!
Yep, i've been fired from my day job... now i finally have a chance to
do lots more important stuff, like keeping up with Chalkhills.

> Since Wire were operating at almost exactly the same time, and
> released their debut album before "White Music" hit the shops, the
> likelihood that XTC influenced Newman & Co is negligible.
agreed.
but of course they must have been aware of each other's work
Talking Heads, XTC and Wire were usually thrown together by the
media in those early days as representing the arty and intellectual
side of Punk slash New Wave.

We all know there was a sort of mutual recognition and even the odd
collaboration tween our heroes and the Heads but as far as i know
Wire always kept pretty much to themselves and were never really
part of any scene apart from their own.

Next, our friend Tyler Hewitt said:

> I have the complete works of:
> XTC

me too! what a coincedence...
Nothing else, but since i've got the entire XTC collection many times
over; i don't need no other stinkin' music!

No, wait... i've made a mistake. i also have all of Dave Gregory's
solo albums :)

Then someone started a new and quite interesting thread (gosh!
what's next; a cure for the common cold?)

> Music I used to annoy my parents

Ahh yes! Sweet memories...
there's nothing like an electric bassguitar or an analog synth
plugged into a 200 Watt 4x12inch speaker "stack" to get them really
going. What you play doesn't really matter as long as you crank up
that Master Volume pot to 11.

Then Ralph Simpson DeMarco said (and i quote):

> When I first discovered Chalkhills, my favorite XTC album was Mummer.
> [bit snipped]
> You shouldn't say, 'it sucks' when 'I don't care for it' will do.
it sucks.

(sorry Ralph, please do not take this seriously. i'm just in a
belligerent mood. I'm sure you and Mummer will be very happy
together)

yours in xtc,

Mark S. @ the Little Lighthouse  www.come.to/xtc

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

Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 20:28:02 EDT
From: OMBEAN1@aol.com
Subject: Uhhhh.......XTC?
Message-ID: <aa.8d2c8ef.26be0b12@aol.com>

Has everybody given up already?
John done said...
Oh, I don't know.  Is anyone enjoying Wasp Star?  When was the last time you
listened to it in its entirety?
 I dont know about everyone else, but I listen every day . I still love the
shit out of it.
As I said before , every damn note & word.
 And then he done said again....
 I still think that Church of Women should be a single; it's my favorite
song on the record; favorite song on the drums?  We are all light!
 I was driving home from work today & as SIFJ was playing, I was thinking how
simple but cool the drums were. I was then going to pose the question --
"what song on WS has the best drumming"  & by cracky, John the Drummer
answered it before I could ask. Damn , thats kooky.
        Roger, over & out.
p.s. I heard Greenman at The Home Depot the other day. Not only do they pay
me , they entertain me.

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

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 03:17:25 EDT
From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
Subject: Collections
Message-ID: <df.821e155.26be6b05@aol.com>

Artists I have extensively collected:

The Beatles
The Byrds
Steely Dan
Joni Mitchell
Joe Jackson
Gentle Giant
XTC
Simon & Garfunkel
Paul Simon
Peter, Paul & Mary
Traffic
The Doors
Cream
Ben Folds Five
John Lennon
Jefferson Airplane
The Police
Firesign Theater

These I have complete collections or I'm within an album or two of
completion.

There are several who I've collected major portions of their catalogues, but
I'm missing portions either because I didn't follow their entire careers or
their volume was too big to get everything yet.  They include:

CSN (& Y)
Led Zeppelin
The Who
Elvis Costello
The Kinks
Frank Zappa
Stevie Wonder
Donovan
Genesis
Moody Blues
Yes
Spirit
Weather Report
Oregon
The Band
Clannad
The Kinks
Thomas Dolby

Jeez, I'm such a boomer!  Sorry.

Strange thread.  I find that this list does not always reflect my alltime
favorite artists.
I like the Doors, but these days I might not get the whole catalogue (for
example).   And P,P & M I picked up from my brother, buying later albums out
of curiousity.

Which leads me to another thread idea - How about artists that you would
always buy their next offering, unheard, whether it sucked or not?   (In
other words, you haven't given up on them.)

My list:
XTC
Joni Mitchell
Joe Jackson
John Prine
Ben Folds Five
(What!  No Paul Simon?  Well, someone sent me a tape copy of his last fiasco,
Songs From The Capeman, and I proceed with caution now.  What was that about?
 Could be he's done.  Dunno.  But I'd want to hear anything he does first
before I get it now.)

Tom K

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

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 02:16:30 EDT
From: KINGSTUNES@aol.com
Subject: A lot like you, and an awful lot like me!
Message-ID: <79.7db236f.26be5cbe@aol.com>

Illustrious Chalktributers,

>You are right, at least until I slide to hell on
>Satan's sled, where I'm sure they'll be playing
>"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" for eternity.

You mean, of course, in the Ghetto of Beautiful Things?  :-)

I apologize for being arrogant.  I apologize for suggesting ignorance.  That
was not nice of me.  But you left yourself wide open for response with your
original comment.

I have found that the danger of opinion forums such as Chalkhills is that
folks will blithely issue comments regarding art, both praise and scorn, that
will inevitably draw
strong responses from an opposing viewpoint.  It's a double-edged sword, and
one that often requires a thick skin to wade through the vitriol of
humiliation to get to an essential discussion and not fall down the slippery
slope of ad hominem attacks.  To see how it works in reverse, suppose you're
scrolling down through the postings and you saw what you felt was a viscous
attack on what in your opinion was a great piece of music that had personal
meaning to you.  Say, for example, "*So* by Peter Gabriel sucks!*  Or
"English Settlement is a worthless piece of crap."  I'm sure you get my
drift.  Not that any of us should feel inhibited to express themselves, but
when any of us do with any force of passion, we all put our egos on the line
and ultimately suffer the consequences when we're not careful with what we
say.  But this is the process with which we learn and create a body of
thought and knowledge with which to build new levels of understanding.  Many
of us also grow in terms of learning to respect each other and ourselves,
discovering what to say that is essential to the subject without directly
offending anyone.  I am equally as guilty as anyone on this for being overly
arrogant, but, save for the few who *stay out of the fracas* I do not stand
alone.  As someone once said, "You who are without guilt throw the first
stone."
My goal on this list is not one-upmanship.  I freely admit that it is
tempting to fall into that trap, and I have on occasion.  But ultimately
that's not what I'm about.  I am here to give my views of music in relation
to XTC, to learn, to share what I know, and to engage in constructive musical
conversation.  This is the finest list I have come across in terms of the
depth of discussion, the wit and eloquence of the contributors and the
breadth of musical influence.  It's a real tribute to XTC that so many of us
come from so many backgrounds and so many musical influences!  Where else can
you see such diverse discussion and have a single commonality in the
appreciation of one given group of musicians?  God bless 'em!  The danger, of
course, is that with so much diverse musical taste it is so easy to lock
horns and lose sight of the preciousness of what we can attain here.  I'm
trying.  I'm learning.  As we all are, I pray.

For the person who is complaining that there is not enough discussion about
XTC and that perhaps nothing else should be discussed, I offer this
*opinion*.  XTC does not exist in a vacuum.  No musical artist really does.
If they all did, music would not evolve, which it must do in order to remain
alive and give us the next XTCs and Beatles and whatever.  Each person
posting on this list brings his or her musical experiences and influences to
the table.  They count, because they in turn demonstrate the depth of XTC's
outreach and shed further light on their music, like a tremendous
multifaceted prism connecting with the world, musical and otherwise.  All
these seemingly non-related discussions DO relate.  It's really no different
with any other fan list on that level, and it shouldn't be.  Otherwise it
would be so one dimensional that even the most die hard would lose interest.
Certainly a subject can be overdone, but all eventually run their course and
when the dust settles, we are all the more richer for it.  Besides, there is
always a healthy dose of direct XTC content, which we all contribute to
sooner or later.  However, if you need to miss all the fun and separate your
wheat from your chaff, you know where the scroll arrow is.

And to the dear person who complained of my arrogance to A La Carte during my
tit for tat over Graceland; yes, you are correct.  I apologize, as I have
just apologized to him.  But I have a question for you, and for everyone here
- does not opinion require an element of arrogance?  I say this not to defend
myself, but to get to the essence of the problem here.  Seriously, what do
you all think?  And if it does, how can we express opinions without the
offense that arrogance brings?

Sincerely,
Tom Kingston

"And the man who was Jesus
lit his last cigarette
and he spoke in a whisper
with a voice of regret
'You all know the answer,
but you're not listening yet.
Love is the way back home.' "

Kevin Gilbert

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

Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 12:01:02 +0900
From: "John Boudreau" <aso1@mocha.ocn.ne.jp>
Subject: Domo Arigato
Message-ID: <006001bfff55$914feaa0$735791d2@johnboud>

>What pop/rock artist, that you like (almost?) as much as XTC, sounds >the
>most different from XTC?

Vini Reilly / Durutti Column

Sushiman

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End of Chalkhills Digest #6-226
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6 August 2000 / Feedback