AFS v. 338 ~ Curiosity is My Specialty

This week in AFS, we tie together...

* How I kick ass at Scrabble
* The lyrics of Colin Newman
* The sport of cricket
* The British sense of humo(u)r (or lack thereof)


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WOUNDED LION | Relaxation is my Specialty | IVXLCDM | In the Red *new
WAX IDOLS | Hitman | No Future | HoZac *new
BAD INDIANS | The Path Home | The Path Home 7" | Ginkgo *new
TOTAL CONTROL | Nervous Harvest/For Lease | split 12" w/ Thee Oh Sees | Castle Face *new
RANK/XEROX | Drips | self-titled | Make a Mess *new
COLIN NEWMAN | Don't Bring Reminders | Not to | 4AD 1982
COLIN NEWMAN | Don't Bring Reminders | A-Z (CD bonus track) | Restless Retro 1988 (orig 1981)
YU | The Big Picture | We Are Yu 7" | A Home Production *new (orig 1982)
THE EX | Kachun-k Pschûh | Joggers & Smoggers | Ex Records 1989
THE FALL | God-Box | The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall | Beggars Banquet 1984
CIRCLE X | Underworld | self-titled EP | no label 1979
NOTHING PEOPLE | Gut Wind | Smells Like Metal | Captcha *new
MONOSHOCK | Cryptozoological Disaster | Walk to the Fire | Blackjack 1995
CCR HEADCLEANER | Diamonds Arn't Forever [sic]/Ups vs Downs | self-titled CS | Gnar Tapes *new
FAR-OUT FANGTOOTH | Red Hawk Desert | Pure & Disinterested | Siltbreeze *new
DEAF WISH | Freeze the Sound | self-titled | Radio Records Melbourne *new (orig 2007)
THE WIPERS | No One Wants an Alien | Over the Edge | Rabid Cat 1983
BUICK | The Moon is Not a Yellow Sow | Sweatertongue | Lather 1992
POLVO | In the Hand in the Sieve | split 7" w/ Erectus Monotone | Merge 1992
ROBERT WYATT | Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road | Rock Bottom | Virgin 1974
PETER HAMMILL | Modern | Vision | Charisma 1978
THE DEAD C. | Angel | The Sun Stabbed 7" EP | Xpressway 1988
DIADAL | Tundra Snake Song | v/a: Color in Absence Sound | Hell's Half Halo 1999
MONOSTAT 3 | You're a Nice Computer Fuck | v/a: Color in Absence Sound
TEMPORAL PAIN | Waves Hit | More to Come 8" flexi | Eva-Tone 1983
PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT | Strife/Meridian | East Fork/North Fork | Monorail Trespassing *new
SCORN | Far in Out | Gyral | Scorn 1995
TECHNO ANIMAL | Atomic Buddha | Demonoid 12" EP | Grand Royal 1997

I recently was playing Scrabble (well, Lexulous) with some British bloke, and I scored a double-triple-word-score after he placed a 7-letter bingo word--"QUARREL"--down the right side of the board, leaving me the opportunity to place "WICKETS" across the bottom row and into the corner so that the "S" pluralized his singular word on the triple-word-score. This move scored 114 points, so halfway through the game, I had his score doubled. In the chat box, he accused me of cheating: "How would an American like you know that word?" I thought I'd humo(u)r him and say "We yanks are a quarrelsome nation, don'tcha know!?!", but he wasn't having it, so he specifically asked how I know about wickets. I told him that I knew it was a cricketing term, and he replied "Surely you just Googled that". It was then that I had to explain this true story.

I first learned of this word at age 14 when I bought my very first CD...a copy of Provisionally Entitled the Singing Fisk/Not to on Restless Retro. It struck me as sounding very English, so I looked it up in the unabridged Oxford Dictionary at the Travis Air Force Base community library. I tried my home reference first, but it wasn't in there! Another thing I remember from that day at the library....I cracked open the World Book Encyclopedia to try 'n figure out what the sport of cricket was all about.

He must not have believed my story because he quit the game.

Isn't it funny where music leads you sometimes?

"Don't Bring Reminders"

Everything they say seems so insubstantial
A word of caution
Take care of what you got
It didn't come cheap
I mean look at the choices
Afoot of life (???)

Don't bring reminders, let them all rock and roll
It's very insubstantial
I got you a first class booking
Take the ticket, hit the wicket

We've come to see what's left of you
What's left of you, what's left of you
We want to see what's left of you
What's left of you, what's left of you

You've been had
If you think that it had
Any relevance to you
Anyway

--Colin Newman