GEOMETRY IN ROCK Parishioner Ed Ward: Indeed, Lord Kilminster's use of the word is *not* unique: back in the frabjous '60s there was a woman folk singer from Chicago named BonnieKoloc who did some experimenting with such electronics as existed back then and did a whole album called Parallelogram, the title song of which was, as I remember, very, very long and was likely one of those quick-trip-to-the-john songs for DJs late at night, given how often it got played.

THEY LIED TO US IN SONG! Parishioner John Sansom: In your last missive, Parishioner Andrew Collins nitpicked about the height that the sky with reference to a Lenny Kravitz song but then goes on to say that perhaps Midge Ure did not lie to us as had been previously suggested when he wrote the Band Aid lyric stating that “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas,” citing the fact that there’s not much white stuff left on top of Kilimanjaro. Well to do a bit of nitpicking myself, it is still snow isn’t it, so until such time as it all melts I would suggest that Mr Ure is bearing false witness. That said, we could argue further that the lyric is in fact an oblique reference to a certain newsreader with the surname Snow and the song is in fact a comment on the lack of coverage the media gives to catastrophes in Africa. In which case Midge may or may not be correct, depending on the movements of said newsreader. A final point on Band Aid, and one I find more worrying than the lack of snow in Africa is the opening line of the song – “It’s Christmas Time, And there’s no need to be afraid,” a moot point maybe,but I know I fear hearing Slade’s Yuletide ode on the radio ad nauseum for a few weeks each December. Parishioner Goff Nicholson: "Life is a cabaret old chum." No it's not. It's more like a 1970s Fassbinder film where everybody's ugly, spotty and angst-ridden and they drink too much.

TOTP: REMEMBER IT THIS WAY Parishioner Magnus: So that's about it for the cornerstone of all our childhoods - Top of the Pops has breathed its last. I'm glad they didn't bang on about the Dexy's/ Jocky Wilson non-gaff as it's been done to death. But who'd have thought the BBC saw Sham 69 as an essential part of the show? Personally, I'm very fond of Killing Joke's performance with a stuffed spacesuit taking the place of Jaz Coleman (he'd gone to watch the world end in Iceland, or something). I wonder if other parishioners have similarly obscure but affectionate recollections of this broadcasting cadaver?

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