Chalkhills Digest, Volume 14, Number 11

                  Sunday, 30 March 2008

Topics:

                    Re: Tributosaurus
                  Tributes and New Music
                   Apple Venus Vinyl LP
         The unexplored XTC-Spinal Tap connection
                        Pretty Odd
          Tribute? No, more like a celebration!
                      XTC on Youtube

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She's singing something stale and simple now this business has fizzled out.

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Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:40:12 -0500
From: Chris Derfler <cdpine@xnet.com>
Subject: Re: Tributosaurus
Message-ID: <FD8FA42A-4B0A-48AD-B86F-A4CF66F226C2@xnet.com>

Bill Sherlock,

No "botching," or bitching for that matter about the set list. We
can't thank you enough for posting in Chalkhills that there was going
to be a show. I only remembered it started with Making Plans because
I bet my wife it was gonna be Generals and Majors. We saw  Fab Faux
last November in NYC and, praise all things Beatles, it was a
fantastic show. But nothing compares to hearing XTC, or a very close
approximation, live, with all fellow fans on the floor and on the
stage. It's just too rare and it was a magical night. And nobody
would believe Dear God unless they were there. Colin, Andy, Dave,
Barry et al, there's a lot of love out there for the music.

Peace,
Chris D.

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

Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:49:03 -0400
From: Ben Gott <ben@loquaciousmusic.com>
Subject: Tributes and New Music
Message-ID: <094A0CAB-40A0-4994-9E23-E63090E43CB8@loquaciousmusic.com>

Hi gang,

I went to the Tributosaurus site and was impressed.  Although they
didn't have any of their XTC shows up, their covers of Steely Dan's
"Babylon Sisters" and Peter Gabriel's "Digging in the Dirt" were
fantastic.  I'd recommend a listen.

Speaking of recommending things, Mike isn't the only one with a new
album out.  I've just released my new album, "Bloom," on my website
for free:

[ http://www.loquaciousmusic.com ]

XTC connections abound; the most obvious is that Simon Knight, the
gent who has been posting recently about "hot" mastering, co-produced
two of the tracks and gave me mastering advice.  For those of you who
have heard some of my other albums, "Bloom" is nothing like them.  (In
fact, the album is dedicated to Nile Rodgers and Don Was, which should
give you some idea of the overall sound I was going for.)
Nevertheless, if you like it (or hate it), I'd love to hear from you!
The .zip file contains the album, a Podcast (based on Andy's idea)
entitled "How Bloom Came To Be," a few promo pictures, and a digital
booklet.  I tried to include freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies,
too, but when I stuck them into the DVD drive, my iMac got all
feisty.  Oh, well.

I'm off to Boston for Easter tomorrow, and I'm glad that the new GTI
has an aux input for the iPod!

Your pal,
-Ben

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

Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:43:26 -0800
From: Steven Reule <steven@obsessed-with-music.com>
Subject: Apple Venus Vinyl LP
Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20080323193932.024b9008@obsessed-with-music.com>

In case anyone still needs it, we're selling a vinyl LP of Apple
Venus Volume 1.  It's in very good shape...

http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=obsessed-with-music

Thanks, fellow XTC fans...

Steven

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

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:55:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ryan Anthony <hamsterranch@yahoo.com>
Subject: The unexplored XTC-Spinal Tap connection
Message-ID: <126900.22238.qm@web51409.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

A big fat pardon-me if this has been mentioned before
on the Hill, or if it's too silly to mention at all,
but did you know that Swindon is mentioned (twice!) in
Spinal Tap's "Diva Fever"? ...

"Can't go back to London, / Can't go back to Swindon,
/ Can't go back to Waterloo. / Can't go back to Debra,
/ Can't go back to Sheila, / Can't go back to girls
like you."

The title track of *Break Like The Wind* includes a
snippet of Rodrigo's *Concerto de Aranjuez*, courtesy
of one of that song's four guest guitarists: Slash,
Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani, and Jeff Beck. I'm going
to guess it's by Satch, but it could be any of the
four, or even "Nigel Tufnel" (Christopher Guest),
who's pretty fair with an axe.

My poor head still throbbing after getting chewed out
a couple of Digests ago for the esthetic trespass of
listening to music in mp3 format, I found consolation
and, yea verily, redemption in the "Technical notes"
to *Break*, contributed by one Walter Becker, who
explains, "... all of the vocals on the current album
were recorded and re-mixed with the astonishing
Crosley Phase Linear Ionic Induction Voice Processor
System." Gol-dang, that's what I use!

Becker continues: "Here's how the Crosley device works
when a vocalist sings: a stream of accelerated air
particles issue from his vocal cords, out his mouth
and out into the room where there is waiting the
diaphragm of an expensive vintage tube microphone.
This diaphragm does a passable job of imitating the
vibration of the air molecules by twitching in its
little suspension, which movements are turned into a
low level electrical flux in the tiny wires attached
to the diaphragm assembly. There are many problems
inherent in a system of this sort, including
mechanical resonances in the diaphragm itself,
variations in the temperature and humidity of the air
in the room, and foreign particles issuing from the
vocalist himself all of which result in reduced
fidelity for you, the listener. However, the Crosley
device does not care one whit about all of these
things, for it measures only the flow of ionic muons
(small charged particles with an atomic weight of
between 1.699669 x 10 -19 Electron Units and roughly
twice that much, give or take a teenie bit here and
there) past a negatively charged grid. The resulting
current is used to modulate a constant voltage which
is self-referencing to the known inductance of the
system itself and to the body capacitance of The
Artist. For in order for the system to work, the
vocalist must wear on his person a number of small
balance plates which will offset the fields created by
various inanimate objects on his body at the time of
the recording; afterwards he may wear what he likes.
This seems to do the trick and soon enough a
frighteningly realistic and three dimensional vocal
image is suspended in space between the nearfields
mounted on the console (Wombat G7's and Holographe
9696, respectively)."

This actually clears up a lot. We all owe Elvis
Presley a big apology; he wasn't wearing gold lame; it
was those all-important balance plates!

Still to be explored: Might Colin Moulding have in
fact contributed an uncredited bass solo to "Big
Bottom"?

Ryan Anthony
An independent Internet content provider

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

Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:17:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steve <ste7phen@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pretty Odd
Message-ID: <546800.63424.qm@web53310.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

My kids (teenagers) are listening to their Fueled By Ramen bands which
includes the new release of teeny bopper band Panic at the Disco
"Pretty Odd". I wouldn't be surprised if it surfaces at one point that
the song writers were listening a bit to the Dukes. If you decide to
give it a try don't be disheartened by the first track... there is
more.

Keep in mind, their music is notoriously aimed at young girls, but if
your looking for newer bands attempting a bit of psychedelic pop you
might want to give it a try. Some of the interpretations of the 60's
I've only associated with the Dukes have saturated portions of the
album. Sorry if the reference is offensive to some. If its any
consolation my 14 yr old disagrees. She says, "there has been so much
music in the world its hard not to sound like something else." You
decide.

I'll be listening because the kids have it on.

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

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:39:36 -0500
From: "James Lowe" <jamielowe@msn.com>
Subject: Tribute? No, more like a celebration!
Message-ID: <BAY116-DAV13F71F97739CC611DC2D09BEF90@phx.gbl>

Chalkholders:

I had the pleasure to see the Tributasaurus show in Chicago 3-7 and it was a
blast!  Lots of local fans, Bill Sherlock, Jerry Kaelin, Jeff AKA Spastic
Minnow who hangs on the XTC forum were there that I know of along with a
very good size crowd.  The show started with a reading of an email from Dave
Gregory who the band had contacted and they shared their set list prior to
the show.  He remarked that only 8 of the 18 songs on the list were ever
done live before and he wanted the band to record the show.  And according
to the band, the tape was rolling.  Dave wished all well and his message
evoked a glimmer of hope that XTC could conceivably come back to life as we
once knew them.   Wouldn't that be great?

Here is a little treat from that night courtesy of Dag Juhlin and my
inimitable web master Bll Sherlock.  Ladies and Gentlemen a video:
No Thugs in Our House...
http://xtcstickers.jamielowe.net/

And don't forget to support Dag's other favorite band Poi Dog Pondering
http://www.platetectonicmusic.com/

Enjoy,

Jamie

"If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops."
~~Kelvin Throop

www.islandgoats.org

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

Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:56:57 +1100
From: "Adrian Loone" <loonea@southcom.com.au>
Subject: XTC on Youtube
Message-ID: <20080329145650.E3AEE4432D@poplet1.per.eftel.com>

Hello all,

For those who might be interested, there is now a group on YouTube
featuring all of XTC's videos in the one spot:

http://www.youtube.com/group/FuzzyWarbles

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End of Chalkhills Digest #14-11
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