Chalkhills Digest Volume 6, Issue 40
Date: Saturday, 11 March 2000
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 6, Number 40
Saturday, 11 March 2000
Today's Topics:
album names
O No Not Again
Barfing Dogs Don't Bite
Find The Fox
English Settlement Listening Party
Wasp Apple Venus Star in Japan
WIRE in NYC
A Post Demonstrating the Awesome Power of Reflective Irony as an
Andy Partridge is really pulp hero Doc Savage
Stop Press: new AV2 name
a post
v-e-r-r-u-c-a, is that how you spell planter's wart in your dictionary?
Hitchcockian Entomological Trivia Galore!
Wasp Star, Orgonemania & Steely Dan
Wasp Star stinger/s
wasp star
Zappa = TMBG?
Even gazing on it was risky
$.02 on Wasp Star
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Everything is Buzz Buzz.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 22:28:17 +0000 (GMT) From: Benjamin Donguk Lukoff <uclebdl@ucl.ac.uk> Subject: album names Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.96.1000309221830.8861A-100000@socrates-a.ucl.ac.uk> Molly Fanton wrote, in a message entitled "Who Gives a Rat's Arse, I Don't", > I've been reading this digest for a couple of days, and I don't get > why some of you are so upset over the new title. I don't care, it's > not effecting my life in anyway. Why should it, I'm not going to die > because of it. "Oh oh I'm having a heart attack over the change." > People it's just an album title! Let's get onto something better. Like what? Anyway, I give a rat's ass, although I'm not going to boycott the album because of this or like the music any less. But I think album titles are important. "Revolver" just wouldn't have been the same as "Abracadabra", or "Abbey Road" as "Everest", would they? And I've always found it hard to take "Their Satanic Majesties Request" seriously. "Wasp Star"? Ick! Better than "Our Shiny Heart", though. I was actually kind of glad to hear that it wouldn't be called Apple Venus Volume 2, though. I never did like the title "Apple Venus". I always thought "New Dark Age" would be a cool title for an album. Ben Lukoff
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:48:35 +0100
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Subject: O No Not Again
Message-ID: <20000310004518.5BE9BA6CFC@mail.knoware.nl>
Dear Chalkers,
> all i can i think of is the acronym for that particular racial
> designation.
for once & for all: that's just because you are an American.
We Europeans (and Britons too) think of insects when we talk about
wasps.
BTW: in Dutch "wasp" is "wesp" but little children usually can't say
that word properly and switch the 's' and 'p' ie. "weps"... does the
same thing occur with English speaking youngsters?
BTW2: the more i think about it, the more i feel that Wasp Star is
really Andy's way of getting back at TVT.
Just try to say that tongue-twisting title out loud a couple of times
yours in xtc,
Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://www.knoware.nl/users/mmello/
or http://come.to/xtc
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:48:35 +0100
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Subject: Barfing Dogs Don't Bite
Message-ID: <20000310004516.64A06A6CFC@mail.knoware.nl>
Dear Chalkers,
Something crawled up from under a slimy rock:
> I felt silly for my error until I recalled that Mark Strijbos once
> paid several hundred dollars for a necklace made of Colin's
> bellybutton lint. Now that's just sad. ;)
Sad? Tsss... you know what's sad?
You stabbing me in the back like this... i explicitely told you to keep
this a secret. You're out of my will, Wes - you'll never get a
complete set now - kiss my UKSFWP/S goodbye!!!
Meanwhile, the honourable Dane Pereslete observed:
> Personally, I don't care if Andy and Colin decide to name
> the album *Dog Vomit* - if the music is still delicious, I'll
> "consume" it...
How nauseatingly loyal!
I dunno... think i'd find that title pretty hard to swallow.
OK, no more sick jokes (pun! pun! pun!)
yours retchingly,
Mark umphhrrbb... ...bblleuuuu... Strijbos.
yours in xtc,
Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://www.knoware.nl/users/mmello/
or http://come.to/xtc
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:48:35 +0100
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@knoware.nl>
Subject: Find The Fox
Message-ID: <20000310004520.47742A6CFC@mail.knoware.nl>
Dear Chalkers,
Riccardo Martelli delurks :
> "Frivolous Tonight" has been chosen from VolksWagen Italia as a
> soudtrack for the TV commercial of their new version of their
> city-car Lupo.
the horror! the horror!
Nah, not really... i'd say "nice going, Colin!"
> Hope our guys will earn something from that (money,
Most certainly!
Not only do they get the usual copyright & performance pittance
every time the ad gets aired but there's usually a "signing fee"
involved as well. Artistic souls don't come cheap :)
And perhaps this will help them career-wise as well
I mean, who would ever have heard of that Marvin Gay fella if it
weren't for Levi's ?
PS: i cannot help wonder how Andy "River of Orchids" P. feels about
their music being used to flog cars in Italy. Anybody ever drove a
car in Milan or Rome? The horror... the horror!
yours in xtc,
Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://www.knoware.nl/users/mmello/
or http://come.to/xtc
------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 19:26:32 -0800 (PST) From: Molly Fanton <mfanton99@yahoo.com> Subject: English Settlement Listening Party Message-ID: <20000310032632.5345.qmail@web1305.mail.yahoo.com> I'm surprised that only two people showed up last night for the XTC Listening Party. I tried to pick a time that was good, and I thought I picked a chat room program everybody could use without downloading. Is there something I should do to get more people to come? 10pm is the only good time on Wednesday I can do it. So, next week's listening party is English Settlement. For more details go to: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/xtclisteningparty.html. I hope more people show up this time, or I'll stop having these listening parties. Molly Molly's Pages http://www.angelfire.com/mn/mollyfa99/index.html --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:15:55 +0900 From: "John Boudreau" <aso1@mocha.ocn.ne.jp> Subject: Wasp Apple Venus Star in Japan Message-ID: <007f01bf8a69$53c546a0$e578aad2@johnboud> Hi , To all those who have inquired about new release date in Japan , it is April 19th . Sushiman
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 09:17:59 EST From: JStrole@aol.com Subject: WIRE in NYC Message-ID: <ea.2c9571a.25fa5e17@aol.com> Wire will be playing Irving Plaza on May 15. According to their ad they will be playing songs from their first three albums. Budgetary reasons and the fact that I am probably the only person in the world who perfers their later material prevents me from going. The only more unlikely show would be XTC. See I could get XTC in on that one. Harry
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 10:10:49 EST From: Hbsherwood@aol.com Subject: A Post Demonstrating the Awesome Power of Reflective Irony as an Message-ID: <27.2c5e042.25fa6a79@aol.com> Authorial Device >From: "Smith, David" <David.Smith@tfeurope.com> >Subject: RE: The subject of "Dom" >IMHO, (don't you HATE acronyms) we need more Doms - all things are >great as long as they aren't taken too seriously - including peace and >love. Keep pricking the egos Dom. (all together now, key of B flat, allegro ma non troppo....a-one and-a two and-a): Omnes: Oh, take your tongue out of his arse for God's sake! Harrison "The very gander for whom the sauce is good" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 06:25:22 -0800 From: "Wes Hanks" <wes@iolvegas.com> Subject: Andy Partridge is really pulp hero Doc Savage Message-ID: <001501bf8a9c$7eaf1d40$30b59fce@default> Yes its true. Need proof? He's speaking to us in MAYAN, lest any of our enemies are wise to our plans. Pulp fiction great Doc Savage would communicate with his five assistants in dead Mayan when they didn't want the bad guys to know what they were going to do next. We all know how few, if any, 1930s criminals knew Mayan. Not hip to Doc Savage and pulp novels? Slither over to http://thepulp.net/ and remember to leave your politically correct sensibilities at the door. Wes "...and by this Saturday, you can call me 'Two-Sheds'" Hanks
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 23:57:45 +0800 From: "Simon Deane/Gina Chong" <ginsim@netvigator.com> Subject: Stop Press: new AV2 name Message-ID: <004901bf8aa9$612b5880$cc738bd0@t17fw> Judging from all the furore here, it would seem that the new name for AV2 is going to be "Wasp Star". Not that anyone cares what I think but (before I hurry on to something better) it strikes me that "xux ek" would be a much more fun name. It's from the original Mayan according to Dominic and "Chalkhills", and it sounds a damned sight less like some shite heavy metal effort. Incidentally, how do you pronounce that? "Sucks egg"? Any Mayans on this list? On a much more topical note: quite a few posts ago David Oh posted some witterings on "Black Sea" following the "success" of his ode to "Millions". Mercifully we have so far been spared the second instalment (I think, unless I missed that one). Anyway, he made a couple of points that I wanted to respond to and I've finally managed to build up courage and write in. I'm writing entirely from memory here as I can't be bothered to go and find the post from the Chalkhills archives. If you can't remember it: tough luck, although I suppose it will give you the chance to ignore my pitiful offerings. (Actually please refer to < http://chalkhills.org/digests/show.cgi?digest=Digest.6-26.gz > if you are interested.) First of all, David's post did have the merit of making me go back to listen to "Black Sea" again for the first time in a few years. I had forgotten (well, not really forgotten: I was reminded) what a superb record this is. What really comes through is the sheer exuberance/self confidence of the band - they appeared to be completely on top of their craft at the time and enjoying every minute of it. The other thing that comes out and kicks you in the gooleys is Terry Chambers's drumming. I know this has been said many times before but his performance on this album is, how can I put this, very good indeed. No wonder Andy Partridge wanted to call it "Terry and the Lovemen". As for the songs, I love them all but especially "Burning with Optimism's Flames" - no one, but no one, but XTC could come up with a gem like this. "Respectable Street" - the "satire" hits home sure enough but with hindsight one wonders why he bothered with such easy targets. "Generals and Majors" - David said "it's really not much of a song when listened to closely". Excuse me! Admittedly what I know about music could be written on a very small piece of paper indeed, but I have never grown tired of this song after 20 years and expect to be listening to and loving it still in another 20. "Living Through Another Cuba" - a prime example of the exuberance of the band at this time; a piece of musical insanity in the tradition of "Helicopter"; the "lads" joking about a nuclear war - "what the hell can we do about it anyway?" Sorry you don't like it, David. "Rocket From A Bottle" - what I like about this one is the tension built up by the slightly restrained/controlled drums during the verse part followed by the release (of the rocket from the bottle) during the chorus when the drums and everything else are let loose. "No Language In Our Lungs" - this probably is the best song on the album and I found again that I couldn't progress without listening to it for a second or third time. However, I have to say, at the risk of being sacrilegious (knowing the way this song is revered here on Chalkhills), that I've never really understood what the fuss was about with the lyrics. He's basically saying that we can't properly express our true feelings (and there's also that wittyish bit about the instrumental), but this ain't exactly anything we don't all know already. Also, is it me or is this the first overtly Beatlesque song in the XTC oeuvre, cf. the "descending" guitars towards the end? Well don't blame me, blame David Oh: he started it. Good luck to the lot of you. Simon "like a Navajo blanket" Deane
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 09:28:37 -0800 (PST) From: nross <PhoenixYellowRose@rocketmail.com> Subject: a post Message-ID: <20000310172837.20227.qmail@web2904.mail.yahoo.com> Couldn't think up a subject heading. Damn, Dom! That was one cruel post you let out. On the lighter (and relatively xtc relevant) side of things: I recently gave my daughter my old tape player. Now she NEEDS to listen to music at night, to keep her up when we try and get her to sleep. I have so few "child-appropriate" tapes that I offered her the demos from AV1 and "Wasp Star" and James and the Giant Peach. Every night to falls asleep listening to XTC. I thought that was a cute story. -Nicole ===== Nicole's internet music station: http://www.imagineradio.com/mymusiclisten.asp?name=phoenixyellowrose
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 09:56:20 -0800 (PST) From: Tyler Hewitt <tahewitt@yahoo.com> Subject: v-e-r-r-u-c-a, is that how you spell planter's wart in your Message-ID: <20000310175620.1747.qmail@web2104.mail.yahoo.com> dictionary? RE: >a verruca is a wart like growth, normally >on the foot (although I can't believe that that is an >English word unknown over the other side of the pond) Sure enough, it's in MY dictionary (an old copy of the American Heritage) although I have never heard it used here. It's defined, however, as any kind of wart-like bump, like on a toad or the backs of leaves. Also decsribes George W. Bush's brain, for that matter. Anyways, no description of it being specifically a foot wart (or any REAL wart, for that matter). Now I realize that Roald Dahl was being humorous when he named a charecter in 'Charlie and the Chocalate Factory' Veruca Salt. If he was Amewrican, would the charecter been named Compound W? By the way, you want more examples of laugh out loud chareter and place names? Check out almost any of Danial Pinkwater's children's books.
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:15:50 -0600 From: "JH3" <jh3@winco.net> Subject: Hitchcockian Entomological Trivia Galore! Message-ID: <013f01bf8abc$aa4cae20$2373fbd1@JH3.alternatech.net> >From Drew McDonald: >Yeah, Robyn had "Madonna of the Wasps," and his latest CD -- available >only through his website at www.robynhitchcock.com/giftshop.htm --- is >called A Star For Bram. And don't forget, the Soft Boys (Hitchcock's band during the 70's) did an album called "A Can of Bees," and there was also a song on his "Fegmania!" LP called "Insert Mother." For a couple of weeks in 1997, his "Moss Elixir" album was going to be called "Bee Man Ray," and there's also a song by that title, as well as "Cool Bug Rumble," "The Fly," "The Lips Bee Song" (actually just a live one-off, but hey, somebody recorded it), "Mad Bees" (another one-off), and of course "Star of Hairs" and "Wide Open Star," as well as any number of lyrical references. Don't ask me how I know this stuff... If it were me, I'd call the new album "XTC Presents a Collection of Highly Appealing Original Rock & Roll Tunes." Just to see what happens. John H. Hedges XTCWare: http://www.alternatech.net/jh3/xtc PS. If you used orgone energy to power your adult web site, would that be a good example of a high-efficiency symbiotic relationship?
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 11:39:55 PST From: "Ralph Simpson DeMarco" <sawpit@hotmail.com> Subject: Wasp Star, Orgonemania & Steely Dan Message-ID: <20000310193955.82587.qmail@hotmail.com> Dear Affiliated: OK - "Wasp Star" actually is growing on me. But...in keeping with ye olde tradition, I pick "Rainbow Mouth" as a title for AVII. Are Andy and Colin going to do another CD signing tour? I missed them the last time. Will the album really be released on May 23rd? Or, should I not hold my breath again? Way back on March 7th Ed Kedzierski wrote: >>Taking Burroughs' endorsement of orgone as a strike against it on account >>of his being a wife-killing junky seems besides the point; you don't read >>Burroughs to look for role models.>> OK, I know this may be besides the point but "wife-killing junky"? I suggest you read the amazing authorized biography by Ted Morgan called "Literary Outlaw". The so-called "wife-killing" was an accident. His wife and he had often played William Tell and since he was a crack shot, she was never worried. The night in Mexico when he accidentally killed her, he and some friends were all very high, and it had been his wife's suggestion to try that William Tell trick again. After the shooting, Burroughs went right to the police, where it was determined to be an accident. Second, although Burroughs has the reputation of being a junky writer, he was only a junky off and on for a relatively short period of his life, preferring marijuana and alcohol to harder drugs. Only heard a bit of new Steely Dan. It is pretty damn good. Although, it must be noted that the first four Dan albums are still by far, the best albums in their catalogue. Can't Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied. Oh, and I do not like Gaucho at all. Fagen's the Nightfly is far superior. Kamakiriad does grow on you, but there are a few tunes on the new Steely Dan album that sound a bit too much like Kamakiriad, and not enough like...I don't know, Steely Dan? Ralph
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:21:49 -0600
From: Jill Oleson <Jill_Oleson@kurion.com>
Subject: Wasp Star stinger/s
Message-ID: <81CC73FC2FACD311A2D200508B8B88AA0D6DC4@KURION_EXCH>
QUESTION: Does a Wasp Star have five stingers?
(...six if it's Jewish?)
[Oh, buzz off, Jill, what's your point?]
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:05:15 -1000 From: "Jim Smart" <jismart@ksbe.edu> Subject: wasp star Message-ID: <38C97193.FEB8BB88@ksbe.edu> Organization: 3Tripper Here's another article mentioning the Aztec Wasp Star: http://www.athenapub.com/tuldivg1.htm Jim
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:16:43 -0800
From: "Diamond" <arnos@nantucket.net>
Subject: Zappa = TMBG?
Message-ID: <200003102218.RAA01018@nantucket.net>
>"I've got no one to blame but my fat self"
>"I'm a dancin foo ooo oool"
>See the similarities? :)
not really. I think you're on your own with this one.
Also, I just heard this recently, and was wondering if anyone here could
verify. Someone told me the #1 best selling album ever was... the eagels'
greatest hits? That seems really weird to me. Could this be true?
Kevin Diamond
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/79/the_french_electric_all-st.html
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/84/bass-cleff.html
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/85/starving_artists.html
--
"The universe does not have laws, it has habits, and habits can be broken."
-Tom Robbins
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:00:46 -1000 From: "Jim Smart" <jismart@ksbe.edu> Subject: Even gazing on it was risky Message-ID: <38C97086.A0001D10@ksbe.edu> Organization: 3Tripper I may have to eat my stinger and admit that Andy was semi serious when he mentioned the Aztec connection to Wasp Star. I read with amazement the links provided in the last Chalkhills. Hot damn, I guess Venus is the Wasp Star. I also thought the fact that the Wasp Star guitar came from San Dimas particularly amusing for some strange reason. Anyway, I'd like to add to the madness by offering up the following site. http://www.onereed.com/articles/venus.html A sample quote from it follows... "Venus Reborn by Bruce Scofield We all know that the planet Venus, orbiting within the orbit of the Earth and therefore never too far from the Sun, is observed as either a morning or evening star. The ancient Mesoamericans considered Venus the most important planet, next to the Sun, and they plotted its 584-day synodic cycle precisely, creating tables that allowed for accurate predictions about its phases. For them, the Venus cycle began at its inferior conjunction with the Sun, the conjunction that occurs when Venus passes between the Earth and Sun. A few days after this event, Venus becomes visible in the early morning, just before sunrise. This first appearance as a morning star is called its heliacal rising, which means "rising before the sun." This event occurs when Venus is moving retrograde, about two weeks before it stations and then moves direct. There was much lore concerning this first appearance of Venus in Mesoamerica. Venus, called "wasp star" or "spearing star," was said to be malefic and dangerous -- people would stop up their chimneys to prevent its rays from entering their houses. Even gazing on it was risky." Jim "Mesoamerican astrology divides the Venus cycle into four periods, two commas, and a question mark" Smart
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:46:31 CST From: "Megan Heller" <hellerm@hotmail.com> Subject: $.02 on Wasp Star Message-ID: <20000310234631.19926.qmail@hotmail.com> I'll emerge from my cave for this whole "Wasp Star" bruhaha. I'll count myself among the handful who like the title-- I liked it when I saw it. First I liked it just because it sounds like a good title for a rock album to me (and it got Psychic TV's "Godstar" in my head, which was better than the video game music which was there before). Then I started thinking about the "White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant Star" association, which amused me, and I linked it back to "White Music" in my mind. Now the potential relation to Mercury (or whichever) is interesting. So, yeah, I like it. But I must also agree with those who say they couldn't give a flying f*ck (I'm paraphrasing here) about what the album's called, so long as it comes out soon. I realize that we've all been a little desperate for some new XTC news, but, jeez. (Yes, that's the extent of my wit right now.) m.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #6-40 ******************************
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