Chalkhills Digest Volume 7, Issue 8
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2001

          Chalkhills Digest, Volume 7, Number 8

                Wednesday, 7 February 2001

Topics:

                          SWAP!
                    Re:XTC as a cure?
                   RE: Come on, chuffy
            prickly pears and porcupine trees
                      XtC sightings
                        new xtc!!
                Re: "It's Snowing Angels"
                    Midwest XTC fans?
                Corvair Baby: Dukes? Nah.
                      My pilgrimage
                       What a Berks
                  memorable lyrics lines
           RE: Running orders ad nauseum . . .
            Is this addiction going to last ?
         not our Andy, at least not that we know
                     Rings 'n' things
                        Presidents
                     XTC Personals???
              Hey There! The Orchid Show...
            Song Order and Frosting and Stuff
               Re: Campaign Finance Reform
                Here Comes President Shrub
                  Random bits and pieces
                  Stew in NYC on Friday
               live performance compilation
                         A Adrian
       Your Name Is on a Lot of Quotes in this Book

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Everything looks smashed and broken.

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

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 19:40:53 -0000
From: "Belinda" <b.blanchard@btinternet.com>
Subject: SWAP!
Message-ID: <007301c08ee2$6318d9e0$50777bd5@btopenworld.com>

Hi

Is there anyone in London who has received a copy of the last ever Little
Express magazine?

I never received a copy (sniff) but am willing to arrange a loan swap.  If
you can trust me with your precious LE I shall lend you my video of
everything XTC did. This includes the Look Look stuff plus everything else
including the pilot for the Kid's show AP was the MC for, and including -
well, everything.

That way, if you screw my tape I burn your magazine (no I don't, sorry, I
KEEP it!)

I am asking for Londoners only because that way we can meet and do the
exchange in person!

Yours neurotically,
BELINDA

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

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 15:08:11 EST
From: CrissysDad@aol.com
Subject: Re:XTC as a cure?
Message-ID: <af.6b1749f.27af10ab@aol.com>

Hey Cq (and Chalkhillers),

Sorry about the grief of the 'ex' getting married, but you missed two of my
favorite broken hearts songs! 1000 Umbrellas and The Disappointed.
The Disappointed never fails to pull me out of a funk.

'The Disappointed will bear me on their shoulders
to a secret shadowland where a somber marching band
plays a tune for broken hearts.'

Dave

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

Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 12:22:29 -0800
From: Peter Fitzpatrick <peterfit@MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: RE: Come on, chuffy
Message-ID: <9CCB057678B0AD4790A83CC97684D1F00E707C@dub-msg-01.europe.corp.microsoft.com>

>Whilst watching the marvellous Armstrong & Miller Show on Channel 4 on
>Friday night I noticed the name Andy Partridge appear in the writer's
>credits. Can anyone in the know confirm whether this is THE Andy
>Partridge or just A Andy Partridge?

Funny you should say that. I saw that credit too and have been toying with
the idea of calling Andy to ask him.

Spoke with him a couple of weeks ago and asked if he was going to sell that
f%$*'ing POD (don't get me wrong, I've got one and use Ampfarm in my studio)
he laughed and said that not only was he keeping it but he had just been
given the bass guitar version AND was using it on the mixing of the Fuzzy
Warbles demos.

I wish I had taken some notes - he mentioned a bunch of songs that he and
Colin had found (including his original guitar (!) demo for Rook....I had
'phoned him to ask for a lost-chord).

He spoke a little about the deal they did with Virgin regarding their demos
and the box set that has been put together. The guy who did the original
mastering of their Virgin albums has completed the remastering of the
re-issue albums. And no, he hasn't even had a 'courtesty cdr' of the new
albums yet (are we suprised ???).

Oh. I never did get the Rook chords from Andy. Dave Gregory very kindly
scanned his original piano part and emailed it to me. A generous chap
indeed.

from Dublin with stuff

Peter

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

Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 01:14:11 -0800
From: Randy Hiatt <rhiatt@gte.net>
Subject: prickly pears and porcupine trees
Message-ID: <3A7928E3.D6E469F8@gte.net>

Hi,

I was just this month discovering Porcupine Tree (they have allot of
cd's!) and by accident found Dave Gregory did the string
arranging/production on their 2000 release, Light Bulb Sun .  I can hear
AV in there.

For you proggers out there unaware of these guys, just go for it!

Anyone care to enlighten me on Daves angle with these guys and any other
xtc related connections ... and did the gig I pasted in below happen...

do tell.

later!

oh I almost forgot,  Anyone have a musical tourist suggestion for me?
I'm heading to Hurst TX (Dallas/Fort Worth) in a few weeks (Feb 13-15),
and will have a few nights open.

Randy (so off topic I'm almost on) Hiatt

__________________________
wanna hear my newest tune?
http://www.mp3.com/RandyHiatt

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

Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 15:06:12 +1100
From: "*SUPER SPANGER*" <superspanger@hotmail.com>
Subject: XtC sightings
Message-ID: <F107f17rSWEr9rAkQ1H0000566e@hotmail.com>

Um...One for the Aussies...  The other morning while I was trying to come to
terms with the fact I was A) back at school and B) awake before 12:oo pm on
a Saturday morning. I flicked over to channel 10 {video hits...I don't know
why!} There was an ad for "Double shots of rock"- an album with "17 great
artists and 34 great tracks"...  I nearly had a stroke... XTC was one of
those "great artists". One song was 'Senses working overtime', I don't know
what the other was.

Also...  I'm sure most people would have known this but 'Peter Pumpkin head'
or a cover of it is used in the movie "Dumb and Dumber"

Lyndy
"You laugh at me because I'm different.
  I laugh at you because your all the same"
-Unknown.

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

Date: Sat, 03 Feb 2001 09:57:56 -0500
From: "Danny Phipps" <phipps@schoollink.net>
Subject: new xtc!!
Message-ID: <web-6044575@schoollink.net>

...unfortunately, it's only available in japan, damn
it all!!

according to the february, 2001 issue of ICE magazine on
page 27 in the collector's corner column, they meantion:

"xtc's brand new release 'homegrown' will debut in japan
this february."

what about us americans that love 'em and support 'em so
damned much???

come on, guys!  we want to hear this stuff, too, ok?

sheeeesh!!!

/dan

 -------------------------------------------
"All of the answers you seek can be
 found in the dreams that you dream..."
                      -- Dan Fogelberg
 -------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 00:28:56 -0500
From: MinerWerks <dminer@gte.net>
Subject: Re: "It's Snowing Angels"
Message-ID: <a05001900b6a3e84e06b6@[63.25.149.179]>

Thomas querries:

>Wasn't Andy's Hello Selection track "It's Snowing Angels", billed as a Dukes
>tune?

Andy had penned "It's Snowing Angels" and "Then She Appeared" in the
early 90s as something akin to the Dukes. If I recall correctly,
these two songs were to be on a flexi together released by some
magazine. Andy had created pseudonymous artists for these songs, but
the whole thing fell though. Andy was convinced by Gus Dudgeon to
record "Then She Appeared" for Nonsuch, but since "It's Snowing
Angels" was never intended as an "XTC song," he must have decided to
christen it a Dukes song for "Windowbox." So, in a roundabout way, it
*is* a Dukes of Stratosphear song, but it wasn't written for either
of the Dukes albums.

= Derek =

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 00:58:36 EST
From: Saxd00d@aol.com
Subject: Midwest XTC fans?
Message-ID: <3a.106839cc.27af9b0c@aol.com>

Hey all...Presently I live in the midwest (Indianapolis, specifically) and I
was just wondering if there are any XTC people around here. It's very lonely
being a fan of XTC, or really any other 'off the beaten path' groups or music
here in Indiana, so it would be nice to get in touch with some like minded
folks..... anyone out here? Email me at saxd00d@aol.com if you're anywhere
near Indianapolis, or the midwest in general. By the way, the Oh's are
zeros.....Kenny Kipp

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

Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 06:22:26
From: "Shawn Stone" <sdstone75@hotmail.com>
Subject: Corvair Baby: Dukes? Nah.
Message-ID: <F30t8oxl4ThEkTswaD800004caf@hotmail.com>

Okay, I'm a lurker by nature and I've been only an on-again off-again lurker
around here at that, but I had a quick question. I've been downloading XTC
demos from Napster for the past few weeks. It's mostly because I fear that
in the summer, when they supposedly start charging a fee, it will be for
only album based songs and there will then be no chance for me to get the
literally hundreds of XTC demos out there. I've got about 90 demo tracks
now, only a dozen or so being tracks eventually released on albums. Don't go
thinking I'm some fly-by-night fan though, because I own every XTC album in
every format (vinyl, cassette and CD) and about 20 or so 12" and 7" singles.
Whilst searching through peoples' files, I have frequently come across the
song "Corvair Baby" which is either listed as a Dukes demo or an XTC demo.
Doing a little detective work, I looked on Chalkhills and on the CDDB.
Chalkhills has no such title in the discography and the only "Corvair Baby"
song listed on CDDB is by Paul Revere and the Raiders. I downloaded one of
these files and sure enough, it doesn't sound a think like our lads from
Swindon. So what's the confusion? Are you receiving me?

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

Date: 05 Feb 2001 15:52:39 +0800
From: duttonj@mpx.com.au
Subject: My pilgrimage
Message-ID: <200102050748.f157mGY02376@mail008.syd.optusnet.com.au>

Well, not so much a pilgrimage, but I will be passing through Swindon
on my way to Cardiff in late June.  I am in the process of compiling a
list of places to visit (time will be in short supply), and was
wondering if anyone could suggest:

1) any buildings or locations of significance to XTC's history and
2) any locations described or alluded to in any XTC song that are
worth visiting

My plan is to construct a photographic journal, and to put it on the
web upon my return home.  Obviously a visit to the White Horse of
Uffington is essential, but other than that, I only have Moulding's
Street Plan of Swindon to go by!

Thanking you

Jon

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 10:42:46 +0100
From: Alan Welby <alan.welby@euronet.be>
Subject: What a Berks
Message-ID: <01C08F60.611B8600.alan.welby@euronet.be>
Organization: West Midlands in Europe

David Pitt is right -The Vale of White Horse was "added" to Oxfordshire in
1974 having previously been in Berkshire.
Abingdon was the old County town of Berks until the growth of Reading in
the late 1800s (as testified by the magnificent County Hall on the Market
place).
Growing up in the Vale of White Horse (and being born in 71), I always
thought as myself as a Oxfordshire lad, while most of the older fogies kept
their Berkshire loyalty (esp if the fought in the Berks regiments in the
war).
However, what united us all was our antipathy to all things Wiltshire (XTC
being the exception that proves the rule!).

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 09:50:53 -0200 (BRST)
From: Fernando Pablo Devecchi <devecchi@fisica.ufpr.br>
Subject: memorable lyrics lines
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0102050945310.32573-100000@hoggar.fisica.ufpr.br>

                 Hello everybody,

                                  Which are the most memorable  lines
in XTC lyrics? Today i have one in mind:

                   watch the leaves tearing away, leaving you in line,
like an exercise book...

                            No explanation needed...

                  Best wishes from Fernando.

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 14:44:40 -0000
From: "Smith, David" <David.Smith@tfeurope.com>
Subject: RE: Running orders ad nauseum . . .
Message-ID: <4BBE67B71C1DD411A23600508B65F71E01168B39@tfsecmsg04.tfseur.co.uk>

Well helloooo!

A quick de-lurk (actually, not lurking, just very busy) to
comment on the recent spate of to and fro regarding
running orders etc on the re-released CDs etc.

Maybe it's me, but does it really matter?

Most of the people on list - especially those of you who
almost know the planned running orders by heart -
probably have the original vinyl, the original CDs and
countless other versions.

Why worry what differences there will be this time round.

Vive la difference, as one would say in Paris. Unless one
was German.

Having said that, thanks to those posters who have increased
mine (and probably many others') knowledge of what belongs
where.

I wonder if anyone's ever tried to compile a list of EVERY SONG
the boys have ever done in any format (demo, single, b-side etc)
and put it in chronological order.

That should keep you busy for a few days - tee hee!

***
On the subject of "The Somnambulist", I always thought it sounded
like it belonged in the Homo Safari series.

Dunno why, I just do.

***
Nicole, sorry you were insulted by the lyrics of President Kill. For
my tuppenny worth, I always DID see it as a little dig at various
US prez's - or perhaps more at the US system whereby, no
matter who's in charge, in terms of the outside world's view of
things, very little changes.

Bear in mind that Prez Kill was written in the late 80s, when much
of Western Europe was seen by many Europeans as little more than
an expanded US military base and a nice little buffer between the
US and the Soviets.

Now that's an incredibly simplified view - but it was one that many
people in W Europe subscribed to.

Andy would have written it from HIS perceptions.Now I have absolutely
no idea whether Andy was thinking along these lines when he wrote the
song but I will admit to thinking that I saw Bush Snr as carrying on
Ronald the Ray-Gun's legacy. And Ronnie scared the sh1t out of me
and millions of other people!

If I've offended anyone it was unintentional - I'm just guessing at what
MIGHT have been going on in Andy's head at the time. Andy being
Andy, it's just as likely he was in the mood to p1ss someone off.

After all, it worked with Dear God :-)

***
OMBEAN (?) said:

	np--The Fine Art of Surfacing . Boomtown Rats. What a great friggin'
	album!!!!!!!!!!!!
	"Oh on a night like this ,I deserve to get kissed at least once or
	twice"

Oh yes - best thing they did by a country mile. Real musical maturity from
the band everyone loved to hate.

Loved "Can You Keep It Up" or whatever it was called (sorry, fuzzy memory)

***
Mike asked

	- A question for you all: what Colin Moulding song sounds most like
	(from a melody or stylistic point of view) an Andy Partridge song?

I always thought that about "In Loving Memory of a Name".

And "Nigel" actually.

****
And finally, the long-winded and oft-quoted drum lessons have taken a turn
for the interesting (if you find them interesting, anyway).

Late last year, as I finished lesson number 18 or so, the teacher (who's a
cool dude BTW) and I realised that we'd finished "Book1" (basic rock).

"Cool," said I, dead chuffed.

"Great," he said. "When you come back next year we start book 2 . . .Jazz"

OH

DEAR

LORD

HELP ME!

Well, lesson one of the new year is over - I have officially learnt
the "standard jazz backbeat", I am developing a right (kick drum) leg
the size of an elephant and most of all, I am having one of the most
enjoyable experiences of my entire life.

I can syncopate . . . I can read (some of) the dots . . . I know what
he means when he talks about quarter note triplets.

Most of all, I can play the drum line to Generals and Majors - way-haaaaay!

Whack pea-soup, thud whack pea-soup, thud whack pea-soup pea-soup pea-soup

Sorry . . .

Smudgeboy
EMail: david.smith@tfeurope.com

(next lesson, Living In Another Cuba - anyone got any spare arms they're not
using?)

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 10:42:55 -0500
From: "Lisette Proulx" <lisette@quatuor.cc>
Subject: Is this addiction going to last ?
Message-ID: <KJBBLJNKHJKFOOEKNMFPIEFJCGAA.lisette@quatuor.cc>

Dear all of you,

This is my first post and  I am looking for help...

 I was never much of a music fan, until my husband a year ago, put
hearphones on my ear while I was surfing the net. The tune was "Greenman"...
One shot of XTC ! Total addiction since.

 I have been hooked and I am listened to it all the time... (To the great
pleasure and amusement of my husband. Am i ever blessed that he loves it to
!).

 I just do not understand what hit me. I am a mature professionnal woman
close to 50 years old, never been in a fan club before...

As " fiendishly carrie" said, I think i'm starting to scare friends and
family...  (By the way I also bought Drums and wire a few days ago and I am
repeatadly playing Complicated games...)

So.  Here are my questions to you all:

Is there any way out of this  addiction and if yes, how long does it takes
to get rid of it ?

Which  other kind of music  should I listen to, in order to slowly help me
come out of this fanatism ?

Why do I like it so much ? Is it that good ?

How come, besides my husband, I never find other listening partners. When I
start playing it to friends, they talk, joke, do not listen and think that I
am just a old Beatles melancolic...

Are we, my husband and I, the only french canadians who like this music. ?
(S'il y a sur ce chatgroup d'autres quebecois, n'hesitez pas a me
contacter )

vanishing girl
Lisette

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 12:28:17 -0500
From: mitch friedman <mitchf@mindspring.com>
Subject: not our Andy, at least not that we know
Message-ID: <v03007802b6a4928d9235@[165.247.50.23]>

Hi,

For those of you wondering if it's our Andy that did some writing for the
Armstrong and Miller show on Channel 4, he had not even heard of the show
so it's probably not him. However, he did contribute some material for a
comedic website called www.tvgohome.com and doesn't know if some of the
same people may be involved in the tv show. So it's still a possibility but
not a good one.

Mitch

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 11:52:19 -0600
From: "JH3" <jh3@winco.net>
Subject: Rings 'n' things
Message-ID: <005a01c08f9c$62cc4c00$2373fbd1@JH3.alternatech.net>

Sorry I don't post more often, folks...

From: "Pledge" <pledge7@btinternet.com>:

>Hello everyone... I'm sure i saw ages ago on one of the
>numerous websites that someone had made a few XTC
>ringing tones for mobile phones.... Did i dream this or is
>it true...

It's true! My site (XTCware: http://www.jh3.com/xtc )
handily provides the following info, among other weird
and shocking things:

"Giancarlo Galli has created two XTC operator logos and
ring tones that you can upload into your Nokia 5110 or
6150 (or newer) cell phone, using the Nokia Cellular Data
Suite & Operator Logo Uploader from Kessler Wireless Design
( http://www.kessler-design.com/wireless/index.html ). This
does not mean that XTCware officially endorses the Nokia
Corporation, but you have to admit that being able to upload
ordinary MIDI files into your cell phone to use as ring tones
is a pretty cool feature."

I believe other cell and PCS phones now allow this sort
of thing as well. And for those of you who can't stand the
suspense, ftp://ftp.alternatech.net/pub/jh3/nokia.zip is a
direct link. (And thanks again to Giancarlo! What a guy!)

From: Harry Strole <hjstrole@earthlink.net>:

>As George W. Bush starts his second week in office it
>should be noted that the election reform he is looking into
>deals with camaign finance, not the electorial college,
>which, for those not in the US, is the means by which
>someone without a majority of popular vote can become
>President of The US. It's an archaic system originally
>intended to make states stronger, but now seems to
>work for the rich.

In the opinion of some historians, it was originally intended
(along with denying women and blacks the right to vote)
as a means of preventing the abolition of slavery, in order
to ensure that the southern states remained in the union
long enough for the northern ones to develop their military
capacity enough to withstand a British invasion on their
own. So ultimately it didn't even work at what it was
intended to do: The southern states still seceded from
the Union over the slavery issue in the 1860's, and the US
still couldn't withstand the British invasion of the 1960's,
in which the Beatles and their ilk took over the US pop
charts despite album-burning campaigns by religious
conservatives. (And you thought this was completely
off-topic, didn't you?)

Meanwhile, it *does* work for the rich, by keeping voter
turnout low - indeed, by making voter turnout at least
partially irrelevant. (It removes the incentive for states
to take steps to increase turnout - they get the same
number of proxy votes no matter how many people
show up on election day - and it also makes it largely
pointless for people to vote at all in states that aren't
heavily contested.) And low voter turnout usually means
that poor, mostly ethnic voters don't vote as much as
rich folks who support the so-called establishment.
Perhaps Andy was thinking of this when he wrote
"President Kill"... but then again, he was probably
just pissed off about American militarism in general.
He always has been! (I'm not sure if abolishing the
proxy system would help with that or not.)

From: "Adrian Ransome" <adrian.ransome@instinct.freeuk.com>:

>On the subject of Xtc fistfights; Terry Chambers would
>win, but not after being badly bitten and scratched by a
>frenzied Barry Andrews in the final.

Interesting that you used the word "frenzied." I've always
held the (probably unorthodox) belief that Andy's stage
fright and later refusal to tour was precipitated by the
loss of Barry - whose frenzied onstage antics made him
the onstage visual focus, rather than Andy - and the fact
that he was replaced by Dave, who was, if anything, the
least animated bandmember on stage. That made Andy
the visual focus, and exacerbated his latent, previously-
sublimated neurotic fears about being exactly that. At
least it sounds plausible as a theory... to me, anyway.

Admittedly, that has nothing to do with who would win
in a fist-fight.

From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@telcordia.com>:

>A question for you all: what Colin Moulding song sounds
>most like (from a melody or stylistic point of view) an
>Andy Partridge song?

"Collideascope"! Or else one of the earlier tracks, like
"I'm Bugged" or "I Am the Audience." They sounded
a LOT more like each other back in the old days, and
not just in the vocals.

John H. Hedges
Remember, that's http://www.jh3.com/xtc

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 20:05:02 -0000
From: "Rory Wilsher" <rory_wilsher@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Presidents
Message-ID: <002701c08faf$0cc41640$8161063e@oemcomputer>

Hillers

nross (PhoenixYellowRose) fed me this feedback:

<<Rory:  my lyrics will be SOOOO off, I know... but they are near enough to
get where my comments were coming from:

"Ain't democracy wonderful, them Russians can't win/ Ain't democracy
wonderful, lets elect someone like that in" (for a stronger argument, I
should have looked up the lyrics, I know). Anyways... them there lyrics
evoke (to me) a North American - type
gov't situation. US vs. Russia... democracy... >>

Yeah point taken...what I was referring to was the way that America/Russia
tried to "capture" S.American/African countries during the Third World War,
(and in fact referred to them as "client" states) to try to impose their way
of thinking on them. Once they'd done so, they didn't really care about how
these "presidents" actually ran their countries in a micro way, as long as
they supported their respective sponsors.

So, what I'm saying is that I don't disagree with you, but that (to me at
least) it goes a bit wider than just US politics - although it was inspired
by it. That's not to say that this isn't part of the song, it's just not the
whole of it. Hey, it's an XTC song - you don't expect it to work on just one
level, do you?

Rory Wilsher

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 13:00:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com>
Subject: XTC Personals???
Message-ID: <20010205210014.24066.qmail@web120.yahoomail.com>

>From the Wacky and Wild File

A Truly Bizarre Auction posted by a fan of the band.

Any Single Seattle Area Chalkers might want to check this.....????

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=549787790

Cheers???

Mole

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 14:27:24 -0500
From: Samantha Berg <sberg@bigsnyc.org>
Subject: Hey There! The Orchid Show...
Message-ID: <AD43C0AD662ED411963100A0C95DB9200F0E9B@DRAGON>

My name is Samantha and I just want to tell you that I went to the February
3rd show of "The Orchid Show" and was quite dismayed to find the emphasis on
XTC was WAY overhyped.

It had 1 XTC song, 'River Of Orchids' that was danced to solo by one dancer
at the beginning.

That's it.

Really, it's a big fat lie to advertise this as a collaboration with XTC
when only the introduction has any XTC in it and the rest of the show was
XTC-less.  To mention the album Apple Venus in the promotional is a lie
cause it's only I song.  Even Jill In Brazil had absolutely no XTC samples,
chords, lyrics, NADA.

It's like being told Celine Dion played an integral part in the creation of
the movie "Titanic" because she sang a song on the soundtrack.

I was expecting a whole lot more XTC, but the performance itself wasn't too
bad.

Just bad, misleading advertising.

Wanted you to know.

Samantha

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

Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 17:30:41 -0700
From: "Steve Johnson" <sjohnson@co.missoula.mt.us>
Subject: Song Order and Frosting and Stuff
Message-ID: <sa7ee347.088@mail.co.missoula.mt.us>

I have a hard time second-guessing the order in which songs have appeared
on past XTC releases, or which songs were included, or which songs were
left out, or what color the record sleeve was, or what day of the week it
was released, or what Andy had for breakfast that particular morning...

As a songwriter (of zero acclaim or consequence), just trying to mix down
my own little projects in some semblance of song order, I understand how
difficult it must be for artists to make these decisions.  Especially when
there are time deadlines (both on the clock and on the disc), conflicting
opinions (from within and without) and the pressures of earning a living
from one's music (sales, marketing, record companies, managers, etc.).

So I suppose you just go for it, do the best you can, and sit back and let
the world second-guess your decisions while you try to regurgitate all
thoughts of the project you've just hatched and start planting the seeds
of the next.

I try to think of each XTC album as a little slice of time and space and
soul and sound and color and beauty, not perfect by any means, but better
by far than two birds in any other bush.  Of course, it's also amusing to
think back on what was happening in my own life around the time when I
brought that new album home, eagerly un-shrink-wrapped it, and devoured
the artists' latest offering.  And as other songs come creeping in from
past recording sessions, they're really just a little extra frosting on
that cake.  Does it really matter if the frosting is on the side or the
top or in the middle?

--Steve ("if depth of thinking is a currency, then I'm the man who killed
the money tree") Johnson

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:06:51 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" <cauldron@together.net>
Subject: Re: Campaign Finance Reform
Message-ID: <l03130301b6a5183003fb@[206.231.24.62]>

>As George W. Bush starts his second week in office it should be noted that
>the election reform he is looking into deals with camaign finance, not the
>electorial college, which, for those not in the US, is the means by which
>someone without a majority of popular vote can become President of The US.
>It's an archaic system originally intended to make states stronger, but now
>seems to work for the rich.
>
>Harry

  All the campaign finance reform is going to accomplish is the shift of a
few beans from one cup to the other and give politicians a chance to pat
themselves on the back and say they did something. Then if and when we
figure out it didn't work, John McCain will be out of office and it won't
be his problem anymore. It's just window dressing. As for the electoral
college, it was damn helpful in doing away with slavery. Without the
electoral college small states like Vermont, the one I live in, thank you,
would have no voice and no power over the great numbers of people in New
York and California.(and D.C, especially) The electoral college allows
Vermont and other small states to have a voice. What's broken is the 500
pound gorilla big government that can do whatever it damn well pleases
until it's time to reelect them again. It's a problem whether it's Bill
Clinton, George W Bush, or Andy Partridge in office. In order to make
government smaller and more responsible, you have to do the same with
business. Big business gets in bed with big government. Asking government
to protect us from big business is like asking the wolf to protect the
sheep from the fox.
  What's the alternative, government by plebiscite? Mob rule? Wouldn't fly
in the big complicated United States. We need checks and balances more than
ever, on government and business abuse of power, not petty rules about how
we spend our campaign contributions.

Christopher R. Coolidge
"The bad news is, there is no key to the universe. The good news is, it has
been left unlocked."
-Swami Beyondananda

	[ Please take this discussion off the list.  -- John ]

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

Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 23:07:57 -0500
From: "Joe Funk" <twosheds@mindspring.com>
Subject: Here Comes President Shrub
Message-ID: <006901c08ff2$645dcb60$420cf5d1@funklt>

>Now we, as Americans, just need to keep the faith and stand
>behind our Constitution and ideals, maybe even the man, and
>forge ahead with (in synch with my previous post today)
>business.

>Andrew Boyle

Tell that to the Supreme Court Justices who criminally abused
their authority to hand the election to Shrub....

Jo "Let's not vote someone like that in and let the Supreme Court
hand it to him" Mama

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

Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:33:11 +0000
From: Simon_Auger@mandg.co.uk
Subject: Random bits and pieces
Message-ID: <002569EB.00443397.00@mailgate.mandg.co.uk>

A number of bits and pieces that have come to mind over the last day or
so.....

Rory's note for a UK gathering - sounds like an excellent idea, the last
one I went to was in Basingstoke in 1997. Also, the suggested venue
(Oxford) sounds goot to me - another chance to revisit some of my childhood
haunts again.

On the location of the Uffington White Horse, it is currently on loan to
Oxfordshire, however, from some indeterminate point in the past up to 1974,
it did belong to Berkshire. I can remember the county boundary changes of
1974 with some sadness. Before that time, if I caught the bus from home to
Swindon, I would start out in Oxfordshire, cross into Berkshire, back to
Oxfordshire, then Gloucestershire and finally Wiltshire as I approached
Swindon and all in the space of about 15 miles. It all seems so
straightforward now - Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and then Wiltshire.

As for President Kill... this is one of those tracks where half the time I
press skip and the other half leave it and then wonder why I bothered. The
track just doesn't do it for me, and that'a before you get onto any
political message.

Finally, whoever name checked The Fine Art of Surfacing by the Boomtown
Rats has had me ferreting through the garage at home, I know I had that
album somewhere at some point and used to really like it, only trouble is
that if I want to hear it again I shall have to invest in a new turntable.

Anyway, cheers for your attention and (to all you UK based chalkers,) lets
hope we can get together round about Easter time.

Simon

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

Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 19:07:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Cathryn Myers <cathrynmyers@yahoo.com>
Subject: Stew in NYC on Friday
Message-ID: <20010207030738.23093.qmail@web3904.mail.yahoo.com>

Just a quick note to let New York Negro Problem fans know that Stew
will be in Brooklyn this Friday at the BAM cafe touring in support of
his new solo album, "Guest Host".  I missed his Nov. show at the Living
Room, but am glad I did, because the setting at BAM should be much more
intimate.

I look forward to hearing Stew, but I am looking much more forward to
seeing the other fans who show up.  I want to meet some kindred
spirits, so to speak.  Don't know what I will be wearing (and not that
I post here that much to inspire any one else's curiosity) but if you
see some black girl in the front row with a huge grin on her face
accompanied by a bored looking sister who has been forced to come alone
so that I don't look like a complete loser, then that is probably me.

Please come and say hi.

Cathryn

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

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 11:09:22 -0600 (CST)
From: Brown <i.sundog@verizon.net>
Subject: live performance compilation
Message-ID: <200102071709.LAA113079701@smtppop3pub.verizon.net>

Sorry, no XTC this time, but I thought this might interest some of you So.
Cal. Hillians:

"KCRW (89.9 FM Santa Monica) proudly announces the release of "Morning
Becomes Eclectic," a new collection in the compact disc series of recorded
live performances from the studios of the trend-setting public radio
station's signature daily music show."

Some of the artists included on the CD:

John Martyn, Cake, Joe Henry, Beth Orton, Ednaswap, Lyle Lovett, PJ Harvey

-A review of this album is available at www.launch.com-

At KCRW's website (www.kcrw.org) you can hear real audio clips of the
tracks.  If you have a spare moment, check out Ednaswap's version of Torn,
which just happens to be the 'original'.  It's amazing how Natalie
Imbruglia's producers managed to suck all the life out of this song!  (And I
*still* say that the music video for Imbruglia's trite cover looks like a
television commercial for some sort of feminine hygiene product..PAH!)

TschuB!

Debora Brown

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

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 18:22:41 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Darryl W. Bullock" <drol_uk@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: A Adrian
Message-ID: <20010207182241.3604.qmail@web1403.mail.yahoo.com>

Adrian, last 'Hills enquired "Whilst watching the
marvellous Armstrong & Miller
Show on Channel 4 on Friday
night I noticed the name Andy Partridge appear in

the writer's credits.

Can anyone in the know confirm whether this is
THE Andy Partridge or just A
Andy Partridge?"

Shouldm't that have been AN Andy Partridge?

;} Drol_uk.

=====
Darryl W. Bullock.Check out the This Is Pop XTC web site
at: http://members.tripod.co.uk/thisispop/

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

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 16:41:59 EST
From: Hbsherwood@aol.com
Subject: Your Name Is on a Lot of Quotes in this Book
Message-ID: <85.69254e3.27b31b27@aol.com>

>From: "Van Abbe, Dominic" <dominic.vanabbe@au.faulding.com>
>Subject: Dear God's placement

>The "in-process" version of "Dear God" has the "tick-tock" from the start
>of "Dying" already on it, so my guess is The Runt had it sequenced as it
>appears on the US Skylarking issues (i.e. immediately prior to, and seguing
>into, "Dying").

OK, fair enough... The single version has the "tick-tocks" on the fade, too,
I believe. Me, I'd have put the "loss-of-religious-faith" song *before* the
"bitter-middle-aged-man" song in the cycle, but OK, I can live with it.

But we still have to reconcile that with this:

>From: OMBEAN1@aol.com
>Subject: Dear God ,where does this belong?

> And I answer------ Page 192 in Song Stories. In describing 1000 Umbrellas,
>Dave says " Todd had only heard the demo with acoustic guitars and he had
>put "Dear God" in that slot on the album. The string arrangement ,which took
>for ages, with Andys help persuaded him to record it."  Now you know the
>rest.....of the story.

Through the magical graces of Holy Mother Internet and the Guitargonauts
site, I was able to contact Dave Gregory to ask him directly about this.

Here is his reply:

   I'd forgotten that Dear God originally occupied the spot on the
   record where 1,000 Umbrellas resides. My memory is not what it
   was...but I do know that Todd hadn't chosen that song as part
   of the cycle, which was a disappointment for me, having worked
   so long on that string arrangement. When I played him my demo
   of it, he changed his mind and Dear God was moved to make room
   for it. The Chalkie-spondent was correct; that is what I told
   Neville back in '97 when Song Stories was being prepared. So
   it's probably true.

(Many thanks to Dave for answering my question so promptly. He's a
peachamaroot, is that boy, and Guitargonauts is the Creme de la Godleyness!)

Plainly, the original running order worked out by Rundgren was considerably
more flexible than either Chris Twomey or Neville Farmer (and by implication
XTC) have led us to believe. The received story is as follows:

   Within two days of receiving [the demos] [Rundgren] contacted both
   XTC and Virgin to say that he had worked out the concept for the
   record. It would take the form of a passing day. Side One would start
   at dawn and end at midday. Side Two would end at midnight. Furthermore,
   he had pieced a running order together from the demos. All the
   songs that revolved around the themes of either love or nature
   were in. Anything with any sociological or political inference
   had been left out. (Twomey)

[Ooooh! How perceptive of Todd! Apple Venus Volume 1! Thirteen years early!]

Both Song Stories and Chalkhills and Children imply pretty strongly that
Rundgren was stubbornly inflexible about the song selection ("I know all the
songs that fall in the circle, and the songs that fall outside the circle,"
Twomey quotes), and that it galled Partridge in particular to have to submit
to it, and to the omission of what he felt were some of his best songs. Song
Stories gives us the detail of the strange "booking the tape" ritual, which
would appear to lock in the repertoire and running order irrevocably before
recording proper began. (It would also appear to speak to a truly bizarre
parsimoniousness on Rundgren's part, aimed at humiliating XTC--but more on
that later.)

Yet we have at least two examples, now, of Rundgren consenting to changes in
the running order: the moving of "Dear God" to accommodate "1000 Umbrellas,"
and the addition of "Another Satellite," at Andy's insistence, which bumped
"Dear God" off the record entirely. Of course, these changes could have been
agreed to before XTC arrived at Woodstock to begin recording, but
nevertheless, it shows Rundgren in a rather more flexible light than we've
been encouraged to believe.

Another implication of this is that animosity between Rundgren and Partridge
began even before they ever met in person. Much of this negotiation and
debate over song selection and sequencing must have taken place in the weeks l
eading up to recording, rather than at Woodstock. Twomey tells us that
recording began one day after the band's arrival, and if this "booking the
tape" business happened the way Farmer tells us (which I'm not sure I
believe) the running order must have been fairly well settled beforehand.
Andy must already have swallowed quite a lot of bile before the red light
went on. I can't imagine that he arrived in Woodstock prepared to be
cooperative and obedient.

A side observation:

Can you actually *hear* "Dear God" coming between "Ballet for a Rainy Day"
and "Season Cycle"? What a *strange* place to put it! Loss of religious faith
in between celebration of earth and pantheistic ecstasy? *Surely* that's a
Side Two song, an Evening song, a Decline-and-Death song, from the get-go!

>From: "Thomas and Karen Long" <tlong1@telus.net>
>Subject: re: Skylarking & Dukes

>From Farmer's Song Stories it mentions that Todd saw "Let's Make A Den"
>as a candidate, but that Todd wanted changes in the arrangement to the point
>where Andy threatened to quit the entire project. I'd love to hear what
>WAS recorded before they actually binned it.

You and me both, Sparky. I think we should track down this Dominic Van Abbe
person and buttonhole him on this topic. You don't suppose his "Skylarking in
Progress" CDR has this object on it, do you? Look, you get down on all fours
behind him while I distract him with a humorous anecdote. Then, I'll grab the
CD from him and give him a big push.... Playground, it's a playground....

But consider that thought: Farmer tells us that Rundgren wanted big changes
to "Let's Make a Den," plainly implying that it was part of the running order
of the album. Then Andy threatens to quit the project if Rundgren doesn't
lighten up. The song is thrown off the album.

Two possibilities:

1) This argument took place before recording started, meaning that relations
between Partridge and Rundgren were already very sour long before XTC came to
Woodstock.

2) The argument took place after recording started, which implies that the
"booked tape" business is suspicious at best. What did they do to the portion
of the booked tape reserved for "Let's Make a Den"? Just slice it out? What
did that mean for the relative lengths of the two sides of the album? Did
they edit in a different song? They would almost have to, to keep the two
sides balanced!

Another example: Andy wanted "Dear God" bumped for "Another Satellite." But
(as Dominic shows with his "Skylarking in Progress" observation) Dear God
must have been fairly fully realized when it was cut--complete enough that
the crossfade/segue to "Dying" was already recorded. So then at that point
did they record and edit in "Another Satellite"?

It just doesn't add up, this "booked tape" thing. Color me skeptical. It
reads like propaganda. I want Rundgren's side of the story.

-----

>From: "Michael D. Myers" <mmyers@telcordia.com>
>Subject: miscellaneous ramblings

>- A question for you all: what Colin Moulding song sounds most like (from
>a melody or stylistic point of view) an Andy Partridge song?

Pink Thing. Definitely. So when I heard all that foofaraw claiming that it
was about Andy Partridge's tallywhacker, I just about liked to go blind.

Harrison "This boy has reached his height" Sherwood

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

End of Chalkhills Digest #7-8
*****************************

Go back to Volume 7.

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