Chalkhills Digest Volume 8, Issue 59
Date: Monday, 11 November 2002
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 8, Number 59
Monday, 11 November 2002
Topics:
Re: Becki etc.
The Actual Content Post
What Color Is Your Colophon?
Boots For Sale??
dumb dumb dumb
Both sides of the coin
Re: Swindon Link XTC References
late night ramblings
OT: BDB
You've got to admit...
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Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 08:55:04 +0530
From: "Sughosh Varadarajan" <aqualung@hotpop.com>
Subject: Re: Becki etc.
Message-ID: <000a01c28156$7442ca60$0438c5cb@SughoshVaradarajan>
>I know that one of the female vocalists who have
> inspired her over the years has been Grace Slick in her prime, and I hear
> shades of Grace, Wendy Waldman and Sandy Denny in her vocal phrasing, and
> it works with the arrangements.
Yeah I caught that myself, only I thought Linda Thompson rather than
Sandy...ahh but they're both so divine, aren't they?
>And, oh, I must congratulate her for her
> brilliant cover of the Nazz classic "Open My Eyes"! Becky, I'll have to
> give you a sampling of Todd Rundgren's best solo work since you were not
as
> conscious of what he'd done since leaving Nazz.
Oohhhh...really?? I 've been hearing that song on the Nuggets disc for ages
without realising it was Todd! I must admit I haven't heard anything of his
except "Something/anything" but I just can't get enough of that!
>*NOTHING* beat the possibilities
> for artistic experiment on a vinyl album cover. Hey, we still can't
> duplicate the beauty of that original cover of the Rolling Stones' album,
> THEIR SANTANIC MAJESTY'S REQUEST or that pinwheel design for LED ZEPPELIN
> III, right?
Oh yeah, that's for sure! Don't forget Sticky fingers and the Velvets' debut
disc either. Oh, and if anyone on this list happens to own a vinyl copy of
Steeleye Span's "Ten man mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler rides again", I'd sure
like to know what the cover's like...recently got the CD and it says that
was probably one of the most expensive record sleeves ever made!
Some XTC content...recently got "Chips from the chocolate fireball", thanks
to the overwhelming kindness of a certain Gray Packham from Australia, and I
am SO totally in love with this disc! It's amazing how perfectly they do the
psychedelic stuff..."Bike ride to the moon", in particular, is straight out
of Syd! Other faves are "You're a good man,Albert Brown", and the enchanting
"Pale and precious"
Well, Cheers all
Sughosh
--
"What you've chewed on is the truth,
and that's the hardest thing to wash down with a glass of lemonade."
- Andy Partridge
------------------------------ From: Chris Vreeland <CVREELAND@austin.rr.com> Subject: The Actual Content Post Yesterday, Monday the 14th of October, marks a peculiar moment in Austin music history, that may be of interest to you, the XTC enthusiast. It is with decided relish that I report the first rehearsal of a new XTC tribute band, tentatively called Scarecrow People, provided no one comes up with a better name between now and next spring, when we'll most likely have this beast wrestled to the ground. The original lineup of "Other the Cat," which formed temporarily for the sake of recording two songs for the King For a Day tribute project still forms the core of the group. Fortunately, we've enlisted an actual singer, so as to not needlessly inflict anyone else with my "vocals," unlike the tribute. Monday, we managed to play three songs all the way through: Peter Pumpkinhead, Respectable Street and Mayor of Simpleton. We've successfully enlisted a harmonica player willing to do the one part of Peter Pumpkinhead then hang around and drink beer thereafter, and two or three possible keyboard players/multi-instrumentalists have expressed interest. This will probably be a pretty large band, with however many people it takes to get it right appearing on stage, and changing from song to song, depending upon the individual song's needs. Russ, the trumpet player has reminded us that "There are several XTC songs with trumpet in them," and plans are being laid for a string of trumpeting numbers at some point in the set. Here's the rest of the "homework list" of songs we plan on working up in the short-term, which will be added to greatly once we enlist a keyboard player: I'd Like That Apple Venus Burning With Optimism's Flames Black Sea No Language in our Lungs Black Sea Respectable Street Black Sea Rocket From a Bottle Black Sea Towers of London Black Sea All of a Sudden English Settlement Yacht Dance English Settlement Love on a Farmboy's Wages Mummer Books Are Burning Nonsuch Crocodile Nonsuch Peter Pumpkinhead Nonsuch That Wave Nonsuch The Dissapointed Nonsuch Mayor of Simpleton Oranges and Lemons Scarecrow People Oranges and Lemons Earn Enough for Us Skylarking I'm the Man Who Murdered love Wasp Star We're All Light Wasp Star Wheel and the Maypole Wasp Star Funk Pop-a-Roll Mummer Scissor Man Drums and Wires Millions Drums and Wires We'll probably throw a kick-off party somewhere, for friends and fans before attempting to schedule any club gigs (if such a thing is even possible) and of course I'll announce that here, probably mid-spring. Expect a sonic feast. To satisfy short-term curiosity, I've put together an Other the Cat web page, with info and MP3's of out KFAD contributions at: http://homepage.mac.com/cvreeland/OTC.html Also, if you're morbidly curious, I've uploaded some old songs from a late 80's era band of mine, Hurlo Thrumbo, which was consistently described as "different..." and "...interesting," by people who attended our few shows. http://homepage.mac.com/cvreeland/Hurlo/Hurlo.html Give this page a while to load-- there's 3 MP3's loaded on it. Strict use of irony required. Chris "If I record 4:33 of my amp humming at 60 cycles, does that count?" Vreeland -- Oh, joy. It's another website. http://chrisvreeland.com
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 09:43:13 EST From: Hbsherwood@aol.com Subject: What Color Is Your Colophon? Message-ID: <ad.25a821dd.2af3ed01@aol.com> So I imagine you'll all have your copies of Coat of Many Whatnots handy. You'll need them for this little quiz. Those who've come to class unprepared, go fetch them from the cloakroom. Go ahead, I'll wait. What? Your copy is a third-generation dupe, burned from a friend-of-a-friend? You don't actually *own* an original? Right, you may see me after class. There may be some detention in your future... Now then. Open your booklets, past all that verbose crap written by that raving egomaniac, past all the pretty pictures and goofy song commentary written by those other two egomaniacs, past the credits, aaaaaaall the way to the very last page of the booklet, the one that would qualify as the back cover, if this booklet weren't bound inside a CD case that has its own back cover. Page the Last, facing Discs 3 and 4. Now cast your eyes down that page. At the bottom of the page you will see a little graphical device, what in the book biz is called a colophon. See it? A little antique-y looking dealie, knocked out in white? It looks like a circle with two crossed canoe paddles stuck through it. The word "FIN" appears in the circle. There are some garlands around the lower half of the circle. So, class, here is your assignment: what is this thing, and what does it represent? The answer, which I got from Andrew Swainson, the cover and booklet's designer, is quite funny. Harrison "Unlike everything else these days" Sherwood
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 08:45:27 -0600 From: "Joe Funk" <twosheds@mindspring.com> Subject: Boots For Sale?? Message-ID: <001a01c281b5$5247dc20$103b4442@austin.rr.com> >From: C Bisson <c.bisson@verizon.net> >Once again, I thought I'd share some of the wealth. <snip> >Set 1) English Settlement Live Tour 1982 This is a big No-No... The sale of boots is not only illegal, it's UNETHICAL and IMMORAL.... Please keep this shite off this list.. Jomama (back to lurk)
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 09:25:27 -0800 From: "Jason Brown (Echo Services Inc)" <v-jasobr@microsoft.com> Subject: dumb dumb dumb Message-ID: <01B0F1A5817E244FA89D7F580EE3139D05B7EE28@red-msg-09.redmond.corp.microsoft.com> Duncan Watt wrote: > I mean, Neil Fucking FINN doesn't have a record deal in the US! Sure, > he's not going to hit the Top 40 today, but are you telling me that there > aren't enough fans in the whole country to support a small release and > campaign? Of course there are! What the hell are you talking about? Neil Finn does have a record deal in the US. He is signed to the decent sized indie Nettwerk America (which I think is distributed by a major label). He had an fairly extensive tour of the US earlier this year of large clubs too support the release of One All (a rejiggered version of One Nil) and the 7 worlds Collide Live album and DVD. The concert here in Seattle at the Showbox was heavily promoted by the local AAA format station KMTT The Mountain which played the single right next their usual
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 12:39:21 -0800 (PST) From: Todd Bernhardt <beat_town@yahoo.com> Subject: Both sides of the coin Message-ID: <20021101203921.45145.qmail@web41108.mail.yahoo.com> Hi: Dr. Pilpy: Game, set, match. Nice form. On the other side of the coin, CBisson is "sharing" the wealth by *selling* (??) CD-Rs of some XTC stuff, including live cuts, tracks from "Jules Verne" and "Bull," etc. I'd like to take the time to remind everyone here that Andy *will* be making this stuff available through Idea Records, and AFAIK even Dave might be planning to release Remoulds, so wait and buy a high-quality product from a legitimate source, eh? If you need this stuff right away, then trade for it ... there's no need to enrich those who are content to profit from other people's efforts. Back to the bright side of the coin again ... Brendan Kehoe, nice work. You *can* make a difference if you try! Finally, from Our Dom: > Mind you, as I sit here listening to 'Cumfucked Face > Of Death' by Gorelord, I am beginning to wonder if my > idea of a good aural time coincides with anyone else's > on the list...here's hoping! Dude, I've always preferred their "Necrophilic Orgy in Entrails and Cum," but hey, you're the music journalist! -Todd
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 05:59:44 +0000
From: "Paul Culnane" <paulculnane@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Swindon Link XTC References
Message-ID: <F185E3CKMqNGXSf9G4u0000712b@hotmail.com>
Nice letter from you Brendan. I share your angst. Hey, with a name like
that, you can only be linked to the Irish lineage as I am. And welcome
aboard!!
However:
From: "Kehoe, Brendan" <BKehoe@craneco.com>
>
>Do not sell short one of Swindon's finest assets (or three of them, if you
>look at them as individuals).
Yeah. But I suggest it's FIVE. Lest we forget the erstwhile TERRY CHAMBERS
and mad early keyboardsman BARRY ANDREWS. Fine assests there too!
I'm reminded of that great TV documentary (circa "Mummer" time) called "Play
At Home", during which our boys visited various Swindon landmarks, including
the (now sadly demolished) mural that displayed, among others, various
denizens of Swindon, including Diana Dors (formerly, the worryingly
monikered Diana Fluck) and Supertramp's Rick Davies. There, for all to see
(not now though) were pictorial visages of all FIVE original members of the
band.
Comfortingly, my mate Terry still possesses fragments of chalk taken from
the fabled hill.
I guess we keep the pilgrimage up, from various other angles of revere.
Oh, nice to read the delightful expunges from Mr Lawson: welcome back -a
breath of farty air, well-required in these parts.
And to the intrepid Ben "oh Mein Gott": great taste, boogie-boy.
Interesting that you choose to bookend your compilation with selections from
Aussie artistes. I salute your choices, and would like to reinforce the
fact that there is SO MUCH fantastic music emanating from these shores that
you other folks never have the chance to hear. We do it pretty well, you
know.
But we don't quite approach our Swindon sons. Will anyone ever?
Finally, I dunno if I should reveal this here, but you all must know what
musical talent we have in our midst. My dear friend Todd Bernhardt sent me
a CD of his band ("Scooby Don't", ha ha), performing a delightful selection
of enthusiastically and deftly managed covers. Among them, a corking
version of "Ten Feet Tall". Hey, is that really Mr Sherwood on vox and gtr?
Who'd have thought? It's great! S'pose anyone interested in this supreme
artefact should contact said Todd or Harrison. Me? I'm chuffed with it and
feel privileged.
Okay, time to add a few more brush-strokes to the Hieronymous Bosch painting
that is my life...
Oh, another nifty quote (I think): "You're the giant fingernail and the
world is your blackboard."
Umm, I love you all, 'cos it rhymes with:
Paul
------------------------------ Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2002 22:08:13 -0800 From: becki digregorio <ziglain@earthlink.net> Subject: late night ramblings Message-ID: <B9EB4EAC.2428%ziglain@earthlink.net> hi folks, it's way too late for me to be writing this, as i might say (write) something i'll regret later. but here goes... in the #8-58 digest a "C Bisson" lists some cd-r's for sale, and while i don't usually mind seeing such "boots" offered to fans (ie: for trade), i must admit that i don't think it's right that one of these is the dave gregory "remoulds" cd. if memory serves, dave sent a limited number of these out to friends and a selected group of fans *for their ears only* -- for someone to *sell* a copy of this is, in my humble opinion, just not right. there, i've typed it. and yes, i do feel better. a "DoctorPilpy" also posted, a lengthy and informative note about the music business/industry and its goings-on. scary, sad, no doubt true, and reminds me why i should probably stay the heck away from such "biz" if i want to keep control of my music (as well as my sanity). truth be told, i used to think that signing a big contract w/ a big label was _the_ goal. now, though, i've come to realize (from what i've read and the stories i hear from other musicians) that there _are_ other options to getting one's music out there. and while i may have to pay for every aspect of making a cd myself (recording, mastering, artwork, pressing, etc.), the marketing and promotion, trying to get people to write reviews, get some radio play -- exhausting and not-always-rewarded work -- it sure beats losing control and getting "lost" in a sea of suits. plus, by doing things on more of a "homegrown" level, i've managed to correspond w/ some really great folks (many of whom subscribe to this fine list). this means more to me than selling out and being made to create formula radio music for the masses. so thanks for the post, docpilp, and for your words of wisdom (and warning). special thanks to kevin for your kind post/review about my albums, it makes me happy knowing you're digging the tunes. in case any of you are wondering -- the 'dream paper' is coming along nicely thanks to many of your suggestions regarding songs to include (special thanks to todd bernhardt for his keen cd). one fellow chalkhillian told me about roy harper's "the dream society," but now i can't remember who this was _and_ i was going to do a sort of *trade* w/ them around it. can this person kindly contact me again?? also, someone mentioned a song by radiohead called "pyramid song," as well as an album by kevin ayers called "confessions of dr. dream & other stories." does anyone out there happen to have copies of these?? please please, if so, contact me off-list. oh, and one other thing: there's a _very_ psychedelic song by the strawberry alarm clock called "rainy day mushroom pillow" (i kid you not) w/ a chorus that refers to dreams. i've actually managed to contact the cat who wrote this song and he confirmed that this is true. _very_ cool of him to take the time and correspond w/ me about it. if any of you haven't heard this tune, do check it out. and thanks to kevin wollenweber, i've discovered another psychedelic gem by the band traffic, a song called "hole in my shoe" that andy and company _must_ have heard before writing 'the dukes' songs. _this_ tune has it all: trippy sitar, whimsical lyrics, even a mini-storytelling by a young child smack in the middle of the song... *groovy*. peace to all and good night, --becki "Sometimes we're attached to our bodies for very good reasons." ~~ William S. Burroughs
------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 20:32:05 EST From: IMSUNBAKE@aol.com Subject: OT: BDB Message-ID: <1bf.13afaf58.2afdbf95@aol.com> Greetings, Chalksters -- Thought I'd get the family opinion of Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy (Manchester). Saw him up close and personal in Annapolis (Maryland, USA) a few weeks ago, just him and his geetar. Rather charming chap. Lovely music. Must lose that woolen cap, though. Time to slip back under the covers. 'Night, all. Annamarie
------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 20:25:03 -0500 From: Ben Gott <bgott@rectoryschool.org> Subject: You've got to admit... Message-ID: <B9F5C29E.6CA7%bgott@rectoryschool.org> Dreamers (awaken!), Two questions, both unrelated to XTC: 1) You know the song used in the Philips commercials? "You've got to admit it's getting better / Getting better all the time"? Is that an actual song? It's catchier than Harrison Sherwood with a big net. 2) I just bought and read Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco's book _Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer_. In this interesting and well-written book, Pinch and Trocco discuss about a number of albums that incorporate Moog synthesizers (duh!) Anyway, they mention an album by a group called Tonto's Expanding HeadBand; the album is called "Zero Time." There's a picture of the TONTO synthesizer (designed by two fellows named Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff) and it's the coolest damn thing I've ever seen. Would anyone have a copy of this album that you'd be willing to burn for me? I checked on GEMM and it's, like, $40. Apparently, all of the TONTO albums were rereleased on CD a few years ago, too...but that sucker's long out of print. Write me off list if you've got a copy, and we'll work something out. And remember: "Law & Order" rocks. So does XTC. -Ben
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #8-59 ******************************
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