Top Headlines
Leisure does XTC
January 17, 2010: Last September, the Ohio pop band Leisure (formerly The Bees) received a request to
play an entire evening of XTC songs as a surprise for the bachelor party of
a diehard XTC fan. They're going to reprise the show for public consumption
next month. Don't miss this show if you're anywhere near Cincinnati.
Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 9:30pm, 3rd floor, Molly Malone's, 112 East 4th
Steet, Covington, KY. $5, ages 21+.
Orpheus in Orpheus
January 2, 2010: Orpheus, a new ballet by John Neumeier, is
being performed this month at the Hamburg Ballet. The ballet, “dedicated
to the mythical figure Orpheus — Champion of boundless civilization, poet
and singer, unquestioning lover, mediator between this life and the hereafter,
son of pagan gods and harbinger symbol of Christ”, features the music of
Stravinsky, Ignaz, Biber, and four songs from Orpheus — the
Lowdown by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.
Fossil Fools at the Furnace
December 8, 2009: Tin Spirits,
featuring erstwhile XTC guitar slinger Dave Gregory, will be performing
at The Furnace, Swindon,
on Friday, 29 January 2010. Tin Spirits is a prog rock band covering the likes
of Yes, Radiohead, Genesis and more, but on that night Mr Gregory will also be
supported by XTC tribute band Fossil Fools. Tickets are £8 advance/£10 at the
door. Thanks to Status Promotions!
Mr. Partridge is not Lightheaded
November 27, 2009: Years ago Andy Partridge worked with animator Mike Dacko on music for a short
film called Lightheaded. Apparently Mr. Dacko has more
recently worked with Thievery Corporation and has decided not to use
Mr. Partridge's music. The film has gone on to win numerous awards.
Keneally and Partridge News
November 10, 2009: Remco Engels sent a note recently in he said, “. . . big big
and huge compliments for your fantastic Chalkhills site!” But he also
pointed out that Mike
Keneally says that he is working on “. . . a collection
of new songs co-written with Andy Partridge . . .” Of
course, Keneally said the same thing in April 2008 and the project appears to
have kicked off in some small way in May 2004. Patience. Patience.
Tin Spirits Play Stompbox
November 8, 2009: Stompbox, the UK's first dedicated effects pedal shoppe, is
hosting a launch party on Wednesday 18th November at their shoppe located in
Northwood, North West London. The band Tin Spirits, featuring Dave
Gregory on guitar, perform live at neighbouring Woody's Music Bar. There
will also be a charity raffle to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Atlanta XTC tribute to play again
November 3, 2009: The great XTC tribute band Nigels With Attitude (featuring Tim Smith and
Peter Stroud
from Sheryl Crow's touring band) is playing again. Their little septet also
features Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and Mark
Bencuya. The show starts at 8:30pm on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, at The Earl,
488 Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta, Georgia. Tickets are $10 in advance. (Thanks to Andisheh Nouraee.)
Find the Silver Key
October 18, 2009: The
Silver Key has been released and the treasure hunt has begun! Dave
Gregory plays on two tracks on the rather unusual album by The Weirdo Deluxe.
“Somewhere in the United States is hidden The Silver Key. All the clues
needed to find it are hidden in this album.” The initial shipment to CDBaby has
sold out, and the album is also available for download there and at iTunes.
Songs The Dukes of Stratosphear Taught Us
August 17, 2009: The English Psychedelia That Influenced The Dukes of Stratosphear:
Picture yourself in a boat on a river that leads from 1967's jolly wonderland
of English Psychedelia right up to the paisley lollipop of 1984's 25
O'Clock by the Dukes of Stratosphear. DJ Robby will play an upsy-daisy
assortment of classic English 60s psych that directly influenced the Dukes (and
a healthy bit of the Dukes as well!). And if that ain't enough, continue
further up selfsame river to 2 hours of Robby's favourite XTC songs on WXDU's Mystery Show
immediately thereafter. 9pm-Midnight Sunday August 23rd, 2009!
XTC tribute at Eddie's Attic Aug 12 in Decatur, Georgia
July 28, 2009: Peter
Stroud and bandmate Tim Smith have pulled together a group of friends
including Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and Mark
Bencuya, to play An Evening of XTC. The show starts at 8pm on
Wednesday, August 12th, at Eddie's Attic, Decatur, Georgia. Tix are $10 in advance/$12 day of show. (Thanks to Andisheh
Nouraee.)
Find the Silver Key
July 20, 2009: Dave Gregory plays on two tracks on The
Silver Key, a rather unusual album by The Weirdo Deluxe.
“Somewhere in the United States is hidden The Silver Key. All the clues
needed to find it are hidden in this album.”
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Other News
February 8
Bill Wikstrom provided this review of Skylarking from The Georgia Straight.
February 4
Augie Krater noticed that it'd been far too long since there was any news, so he did the obvious thing and bought the Japanese Making Plans for Nigel single, and scanned it, which was a bit tough due to the condition of the cover. And then he scanned the back cover for good measure.
January 26
Bill Wikstrom points out that XTC's “Dear God” video is #62 on VH1's “100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80s” list.
¶ Augie Krater presents this detail from the cover of Skylarking. Snipping, snipping, snipping goes the Scissor Man.
January 24
Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and huffed and puffed and was ultimately defeated by the cover of Skylarking. That'll do, pig.
January 18
Duncan Watson provided higher quality scans of The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Sampler front cover, back cover, and CD.
January 13
Bill Kopp noticed I tagged him, so he sent in some more articles, including “Monstrance - Don't Call it a Jam”, originally published in the September/October 2007 of Skope, and a review of Dave Gregory's Remoulds, published in Skope in 2008.
January 10
Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front cover of Oranges & Lemons.
January 7
Mark Bignell clued us in to this Album Review: The Dukes of Stratosphear - The Complete and Utter Dukes by Bill Kopp for Musoscribe.
January 4
Joshuacrime sent in tablature for Dave Gregory's solo on “Extrovert”.
¶ Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front and back covers of the Wake Up single. Question: why 7:46?
December 31
Remco Engels wrote to say that two XTC songs appear in the Dutch Radio 2 Top 2000 of 2009 list: “Senses Working Overtime” at Nr. 1682 and “Making Plans for Nigel” at Nr. 1367. He also notes that this is the first time any XTC song has made it to the list.
December 27
Gerhard Satke provided scans of the front and back cover of the Spiral / Say It single from the Apple Vinyls set (along with some additional information as you will see).
December 26
Ben Gott scanned a couple of XTC items from his collection (he was cleaning his basement). Here's an advert for the 1991 XTC Convention (from the Little Express) and a 1979 promotional photo of the band.
December 23
Kiytaka Aimoto wrote to tell us that Yukiko Hayashi covered “Dear God” on her album Timbre in 2007.
December 14
Jeff Truzzi sent in the chords for “Thanks for Christmas”. 'Tis the season, etc.
December 9
Jean Christophe Prunet sent in a pic of his ticket to see XTC at Le Palace, Paris, on the fateful night of 18 March 1982 when Andy Partridge stumbled off the stage, the victim of exhaustion, valium addiction and an uncaring music business machine, and three snapshots he took of the band performing: Andy, Colin and XTC (although only the headstock of Dave's guitar is visible).
December 7
Nonsuch reviewed: Vinyl Tap.
¶ The Complete and Utter Dukes reviewed: Blogcritics.
December 6
Many hours of effort went into reconstructing “Permanent Bliss: The Immutable Pleasures of XTC”, a tribute piece from Filter magazine, September 2007. Thanks to Bill Wikstrom for the scans and Microsoft OCR for the text.
November 30
The Economic Voice features a piece on “Great British Bands: XTC”.
¶ Bill Gibron enjoys the entire XTC catalog as one of his “20 Indirect Beatle Memories” at PopMatters.
¶ Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front cover of the Dukes of Stratosphear's You're a Good Man Albert Brown single and the front and back covers of The Colonel's Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen single.
November 29
Thanks to Stuart Draper, who identified this photo of Andy Partridge as originating in Smash Hits, 1982.
¶ Graeme Wong See scanned “XTC: Next!” from a 1989 issue of Countdown magazine.
¶ Another eBay score: the Philippine 7-inch single of King for a Day”.
November 28
Bill Wikstrom scanned this Psonic photo of The Dukes of Stratosphear.
November 27
Bill Wikstrom sent in a scan of “Rock's Lost God” from Christianity Today, 1987.
November 24
eBay is always an interesting source of XTC memorabilia. Yesterday I found the following: a “Top Concerts” poster from Billboard, a Virgin U.K. tour poster from September 1979, a band poster from Smash Hits, and a page from a magazine featuring Andy Partridge reading Tales From The Dark Continent.
November 23
Here are two Oranges & Lemons promo photos, one by Sheila Rock and another by Greg Allen, courtesy of Bill Wikstrom, who also provided this review of Oranges & Lemons from High Fidelity magazine, which I have just now transcribed.
November 22
Long ago Bill Wikstrom sent me this acoustic radio tour report from Rolling Stone. I finally got around to transcribing it.
November 21
Bill Wikstrom sent in this Virgin U.S.A. press release for Drums & Wires.
November 15
Bernward Meier reviewed The Big Express for Musik Express/Sounds magazine in November 1984. Last April he scanned the review and finally I got around to transcribing it.
¶ Ben Gott scanned the cover, booklet, back insert, and CD of the Homo Safari in Beantown bootleg CD.
November 12
Matt Neal wrote to alert us to his latest musicological blog entry, “Five songs about the Cold War”, in The Standard.
¶ Jared Morris sent in chords and tab for “Bland Leading The Bland”.
November 11
George Gimarc “Found a few goofy fotos from the distant past that might amuse. We've got a snap from the recording of that Skylarking interview LP for Warner Bros., a pix taken during the BBC sessions in north London. Andy was mixing ‘Seagulls Screaming...’ and I asked him for an action shot. And Andy and I in some of the mummer suits that were still around at the time of Skylarking. I couldn't take one home (no room in the suitcase) so I asked for a photo instead !”
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