DATE

What you said......... What I said.

http://www.vreekenfamily.org

Too bizarre. Several times I've had acquaintances screw up on my first name and call me Craig by accident. Now the Vree contingent on Chalkhills have covered the same obscure outtake? Nth order of bizarre. I love this strange universe we call home.

Brian's solo was a highlight of my musical career. He sat down and ran it by me once, (after working it up at home) and said "What do you think? I can phrase the last line like *this* or like *this*-- which do you like? I said "go with B," and he proceeded to cut that in one take.

I've been searching high and low for Shatner's Lucy in the Sky... A "unique" approach to vocals. Love it.

Chris

From: Craig Vreeken

Like your website, too. I have and like all the albums you review (altho
the Todd I thought was disappointing. He needs to get back with a band, in
my opinion). Have you heard Super Furry Animals "Rings Around The World"?
If not, go get it today. Album of the year. The new Bryan Ferry album
"Frantic" is also good.

Hey,
Wanted to send a quick note to thank you for the CD. I would never, in a million years, have thought of arranging IDWTBH like that-- it's brilliant. So far, all the covers I've heard (maybe 5 of them) from the "forthcoming" (joke, right?) King for a Day tribute have all been really radical interpretations/rearrangements, and it's been great fun to see how other people might think of a song.

I'm on vacation most of next week, but I'll get you some stuff back your way sooner or later.

Chris

From: Craig Vreeken

Thanks for the comments. That really made me smile. I was checking out
your website, reading reviews and so on. Do you know we own the same
albums? Dusty, Keneally, Todd. Got 'em all. Listened to Dusty again after
reading your review. Really sublime. I was pretty disappointed with One
Long Year, tho. Seemed like too much of a mish mosh. I've loved Todd for
years, ever since the early 70s. Finally got to meet him last year in San
Francisco. I think you may have turned me on to Keneally through a post on
Chalkhills. I bought Dancing first, then got the new one. I just got
Sluggo last week. Have you heard that? Really good. If you like Dancing,
this is more of the same. It's out of print so it may be hard to find. I'll
burn you a copy if you don't have it. I loved Zappa (still do) and Keneally
is really the only one I've heard carrying on that tradition. Also love
Kevin Gilbert, so when I saw the reference to he and Keneally doing Siberian
Khatru, I had to get that. Really great version of that song. I loved Yes
when I was in high school, then "outgrew" them when punk happened. In the
last year or so, I've come to appreciate them again. I've found as I get
older, that anytime in your life, if you really loved a band, and then move
on, there was a good reason for liking them once, and eventually you may
rediscover that. The moral - don't get rid of your old albums. Anyway,
thanks again for the positive feedback.

Attached - me & Todd

Hi Chris!
I saw your pitiful, whiney note on Chalkhills, so I thought I'd bless you with email! Arent you lucky!!!
I like the pic on your website. Pretty cool!

I carry a camera around too. Here's one of the Lamar St. bridge. See the demon?

I'm going to see CGT Friday, the 7:30 show. See you there?
Cheers!
Steve

(photo © Steve Oleson)

Now that's more like it! We stand here at the crossroads of intellectual repartee, and sarcastic verbal abuse. As always, when you come to a crossroads, you should take it. So, in keeping with the spirit, I must bewail in a pitiful, mewling voice the kind of "friends" who would fail to inform me of a California Guitar Trio show until it was safely too late for me to possibly respond to their queries in the affirmative. (What, with me being illiterate, and unable to read even the simplest club listings, and all-- At the very least, you could consider my disabilities.)

You know, there's a couple pages of pictures on the site, if you look for them-- click the "More Photos" link under the random photo of the day, or check out the photo galleries on the caving page. I'm actually kinda proud of the Cascadas de Tamul photo. Hard to take a bad one in a place like that, eh?

Yes, the demon popped out at me before I read the words. Is that solely an artifact of your mirroring the picture? It's amazing what we see when we look in other ways, huh? Mind if I put it on the Feedback page?

Pathetically, snivellingly yours,

Chris

From: Steve Oleson
Hi Chris
I went back to your website (2 visitors! WOOHOO!) and looked at your photos. Apparently we have more in common than love of XTC, Yes, Crimson, and photography. We both love the west. Also, lately I have started doing photos of bridges (it's a work thing) Have you been to http://www.historicbridgefoundation.com/ ? It is a site that shows many of the cool old bridges of Texas, some of which are here in central Texas.

Yes, the bridge demon is an artifact of the tree limbs and leaves that were in the original photo. Here are a couple of other versions of the same demon (see attachment).

Later,
SDO
PS- Bob Mould is playing at Zona Rosa on Tues, May 7th.

I checked my site counter, and it said "You have had both visits."

My parents dragged me back and forth across the vast America West about fifteen times, in their quest for Somewhere Better during my childhood, starting when I was eight, and they didn't settle in Austin till I was fifteen, so I saw an awful lot of it from the side window of a 1969 Plymouth Satellite. I suppose I developed a love for travel and wide open spaces a result of our constant peregrinations, and anywhere between the Rockies and the Pacific is a viable destination to me. Mexico + camera = good pictures, too.

I'll pretty much always stop the car at a cool bridge if I've got my camera, and yes, I've seen their website, which is rather incomplete, but still a cool idea. I hope they don't let it gather dust, as it doesn't appear to have been updated in the three months since I found it.

I'm attaching another (less artistic but more useful) photo of the bridge in Gonzales Co. as well as a location map, in case you find yourself thereabouts with camera in hand. You can easily shoot a whole roll there without trying. It seems wholly original, and appears to never have been modified except for routine maintenance, so it's historically totally intact.

Our tastes diverge, apparently, at Bob Mould. Neither Husker Du, nor his solo work other than Workbook has impressed me in the slightest. I bought a Sugar album, but have only been able to force it down my craw approximately three times. Thanks for the Heads-up, though.

Chris

Thanks, hon, I fixed it. Too many counties in Texas to remember how to spell them all.

Me.

To: Chris Vreeland
From: Scott Chatfield
Subject: Re: Dancing review

Chris--

Helluva review! I'll make sure Mike sees it. Thanks!

--Scott

From: Mike Keneally
Subject: Re: Dancing review

Thank you so much for the wonderful review, Chris. I really appreciate it!

All the best to you,
Mike Keneally

Subject: website; soft update
From: Phil McFadden

Hi Chris,
thanks for your comments. I've just had another look at your webpages after finally getting 10.1.2 -courtesy of a shareware download manager called monica (if ever you have to slip back to dial-up, this is an efficient set-up). The other day I was amused by the "nothing here yet" page -I should put a few more like that in. It all looks like fun to me- like the flashing colour change on the music button, & I'm tempted to check out lightbulb sun... I like your photos of spiral stairs the spire. One of these days I'm going to get mine online- but I have to do a bit more than a page of text & a cartoon for it. I'll probably have another mess with iTools now that I'm beginning to be semi-geekish... I'll send you some of my obsessive paintings one day.
Best wishes,

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