October 1999 - Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: Red Scare
by Josh Baze 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

hello friends-- a bit from your friendly new merchants, the NME... why is it that a guy living in kansas, the middle of the great plains, digs up the dirt from the english papers? have good days- josh BELLE & SEBASTIAN's Stuart Murdoch and Chris Geddes will speak at a conference organised by the Scottish Socialist Party on November 7. Socialism 2000, a series of debates and workshops on Scottish politics and culture takes place at Glasgow Caledonian University. Stuart and Chris will join Francis McDonald (ex Teenage Fanclub now of Shoeshine Records) and Creeping Bent's Douglas McIntyre to discuss the topic "Do you have to sell out to succeed in the music industry?" The SSP is Scotland's newest political party, standing further left than Labour (which admittedly isn't hard) while rejecting the nationalism of the SNP. Their first MSP Tommy Sheridan - famed anti-poll tax campaigner - recently took his seat in the new Scottish Parliament. Click here <http://www.scotsocialistparty.org> for more information on the SSP and Socialism 2000. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Is poetry P!A!P!?
by Nick.Dastoor＠guardian.co.uk 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Keith wrote some stuff about a great big party at the 13th Note this Friday for people who like REAL MUSIC. Sounds like the new Knebworth. I can't wait! I'm going to Glasgow for a conference this weekend you see, and was wondering what to do with myself. Now I know. Helen was wondering about what kind of cool it was to cover a Disney song. Well, I don't think it's cool of the 'I don't give a stuff about coolness' variety. Maybe I think too much about these things, but I think if there was a time for 'serious artists' covering Disney songs being cool, it was several years ago. There was a compilation called 'Stay Awake' that came out in about 1989, which is a bit patchy but has some real gems and manages to hang together pretty well as a whole. Sinead O Connor heavy breathes her way through 'Someday My Prince Will Come', Tom Waits turns 'Heigh Ho' into an portentous protest song, and Ringo Starr rounds things off in a kind of White Album 'Goodnight' way with 'When You Wish Upon A Star'. It's also got Natalie Merchant, the Replacements and Los Lobos on it. And lots of others - I must dig it out when I get home. *Anyway* the point is, it might not have reached covering Abba proportions, but I don't think covering Disney songs for 'ooh - aren't we unconcerned about what's cool' kudos (props?) really cuts it. Too obvious. Mind you, covering Abba might be cool in a new 'look, surely we've got over the kitch thing by now - this is just a brilliant song and we want to sing it' way. In other new, for those who are confused by all this talk of M. Petits Pantalons in the papers, here's the story. There's been a fair bit of blathering in the media of late because the Poetry Society's National Poetry Day had a poll of 'the nation's favourite pop lyric' as one of its strands. 'Imagine' won, prompting Peter Hitchens to point out that people can't really have listened to the words properly because the utopia it describes sounds to him like 'bloody Soviet Russia'. Anyway, in his capacity as hip-to-the-kids spokesperson at the Poetry Society, Stevie has been wheeled out to address the public on a few occasions. For example, in last Thursday's Independent, he mewled as follows: 07 Oct 1999 Right of Reply: The co-editor of 'The Message: crossing the tracks between poetry and pop' replies to David Lister's criticisms of comparisons between pop lyrics and poetry: The Independent By STEPHEN TROUSSE DAVID LISTER recently rose above the 'postmodern jumble' of debate around this year's National Poetry Day, and re-asserted critical standards with the suggestion: 'Steady on, chaps, some of those Oasis lyrics are a bit ropey, aren't they?' Maybe it's the function of the columnist to reduce a complex set of ideas to a quick gag and a bit of moral posturing. But I can't remember anyone ever suggesting that, say, the Eiffel 65 single should be put on the English A-level syllabus alongside Carol Ann Duffy. In fact, part of the point of choosing the theme of this year's National Poetry Day was to open up a debate that went beyond the tired old face-off between Dylan and Keats or Percy and Pete Shelley. If the notion of the lyric has historical ambiguity, what do the two forms have to learn from each other today? Should we dismiss song lyrics as juvenile doggerel? I have been co-editing a Poetry Society publication mulling over the whole relationship between poetry and pop, and the issues are far richer than I had imagined. Lister suggests that poets are deluding themselves by claiming pop stars as brothers and sisters. But for those of us who are curious about the life of language and the pulse of culture, it seems perfectly sensible to consider the new Magnetic Fields CD in the context of New York School poetry. For Lister, who seems to have given up on pop music around 1972, this may seem to be a postmodern jumble. But maybe the real issue here is who gets to police the borders between high and low culture. Marc Bolan once said that 'the pop song should be a spell'. A lot of the time it doesn't even give us cheap magic. But if there's one thing this National Poetry Day has shown, it's that the form still has the capacity to infuriate and delight and start arguments. IND Comment 2 The Independent Copyright (C) Newspaper Publishing Plc, 1988-1997 See how casually the prankster manages to slip a gratuitous reference to the Magnetic Fields into a national newspaper! Personally, I think it's high time we got around to considering Belle & Sebastian in the context of Glasgow School poetry. Or Playgroup poetry. Sadly, Stevie then got a bit a kicking from Charlotte Raven in her weekly column in Tuesday's Guardian. I think she pictures him as a bit of a precious poetry ponce with a perpetual sniffle. Which he isn't, of course. 'How Dylan hoaxed the poets' On pop and the profound Charlotte Raven Tuesday October 12, 1999 A great many girls must have voted in last weekend's BBC poll to find the nation's favourite song lyric. I was surprised by the results, announced on Saturday, because women tend to think that the kind of music they like is, by definition, crap and are therefore inclined to leave the qualitative assessments to the "people who know better" - ie men. This self-denying ordinance has given men the freedom to define the classic song. List after tedious list is produced without reference to pop's primary consumers - a fact which might go some way to explaining why profundity rather than pleasure is the sine qua non of a classic, and why a song that prompts website discussions about its meaning is likely to win hands down over something that wears its significance more lightly. There are numerous websites devoted to Bohemian Rhapsody. Almost 25 years after the song's release, people are swapping theses on the origins of "scaramouche" and correcting each other's spelling of "bismillah". Having visited a few of these, I am now even prouder than ever of the girls who so unblushingly suggested that Robbie Williams' Angels is the best song ever written. Their uncharacteristic faith in their own convictions lent a slightly surreal quality to the nation's favorite lyric debate. Unprepared as they must have been for Angels to come in second - ahead of Bohemian Rhapsody, ahead of Yesterday, I am the Walrus and every other Beatles song - the BBC seemed somewhat embarrassed. Lavishing praise on Imagine, which it considered a "deserving winner", it sounded a note of caution over the rest of the list. Anxious to reassure us that this didn't mean that Angels was good, it emphasised the list's democracy and praised the British public's "enormously wide tastes in music". Presumably, this wouldn't have been necessary if Angels had come in 44th and Queen had performed more respectably. For all its many faults, Bohemian Rhapsody is still allowed the dignity of being thought of as a proper song. At least it has some ambition, runs the argument. At least it goes the distance. And at least it addresses big themes such as life, death, birth, death, life and fandangos. Angels has nothing to say about fandangos and must therefore be dismissed as disposable. It wouldn't be considered for inclusion in the Poetry Society's canon of "poetic" (for which read good) pop lyrics. Like the BBC the society was keen to distinguish its elevation of a certain kind of pop song from the impulse which gave Williams his trophy. Having said from the outset that it wanted to move the debate "beyond the tired old face-off between Dylan and Keats" it was then faced with the problem of finding someone else it approved of. Michael Stipe was mentioned, but not very loudly. The poetry community, if such a thing exists, generally seemed more concerned with defending itself against imagined accusations of dumbing down. "I can't remember anyone suggesting that, say, the Eiffel 65 single should be put on the A-level syllabus alongside Carol Ann Duffy," wrote Stephen Trousse, concerned to firm-up the boundaries he had only so recently blurred. Any remaining confusion was cleared up by Andrew Motion who declared that most pop lyrics are "repetitive and banal" and only worth discussing en route to the more interesting question of what exactly makes Bob Dylan an "exception to this general rule". So Keats versus Dylan it was then. As the muse-a-thon got underway, it quickly became clear - as it always does - that this was no high-low debate. Motion hates popular culture and Dylan is only accepted because, in spite of his popularity, he has dealt with enough fandangos to be thought of as a serious artist. That is to say that the least appealing bits of his oeuvre are replete with cod enigmas, rich in impenetrable images and stuffed to overflowing with big themes. When you are 15, all that crap about four-legged forest clouds and curfew gulls sounds deep. Dylan's great skill - in his worst work - is to manage to imply profundity while placing the onus on his audience to ride with it, or admit their stupidity. It never occurred to me until recently that lines I knew off by heart were elaborate, well-wrought hoaxes. It's easy to see why Dylan is Motion's hero. In a piece he wrote some time ago, he described how the death of his mother had caused him to look to poetry as a way to address a number of "unanswerable questions". These were: What is self? How is it made? Is the weight of love as great as the fact of death? Admitting that he didn't know (all) the answers (yet) Motion resolved, at that moment, to approach them by "indirection". The resulting "poetics" could therefore claim the kudos of confronting big issues head on, while always deferring delivery of the point. This certainly made life much easier since Motion, like Dylan, has been able to divert attention away from his interpretive ineptitude by focusing on the sunlight and the hedgerows rather than the matter in hand. In his TUC poem, he describes a walk he took along the Thames. We hear about the breeze, the dust, the clouds, the water, the buttery sun and all manner of other natural wonders. Motion doubtless wants us to assume that these images are pregnant with significance, relating to the theme of liberty mentioned en passant towards the end. I will probably be accused of literalmindedness, but I couldn't make the connection. Motion's buttery sun, like Dylan's grey flannel dwarf, is an image with nothing behind it. Both evoke depth yet neither can fulfill its promises. No wonder he doesn't like pop music. In spite of various brushes with everyday subject matter (he recently wrote a poem about a passport queue) Motion is on the side of fandangos. The straightforwardness of proper pop music must sound to him, rather facile. All that "love me do" and "let me be" and "be with me" - all those little feelings expressed with such economy. "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still" - a phrase which, like the best pop lyrics, surrenders its meaning without the aid of a dictionary, a degree or an online discussion. This modesty - the fact that it has no need for indirection - has always made the genre look slight. Few would claim that Depeche Mode's delightful "I just can't get enough" - currently revived on the Gap ads, is in any sense a modern classic. "When I'm with you baby, I go out of my head" is not what you might call poetic. But if poetry means describing the boat masts when one of your friends is dying (as Motion does in his poem about Hughes) or Dylan's masked ball of characters, or a thousand permutations of bismillah - I'd rather take the low road and leave the scenic route to them. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 1999 I hope this has been of interest. Bye now. Nick xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Re: hey all!
by Michael Barrett 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

I think this was meant for all of us... ----- Original Message ----- From: Shelly P <spetworth(a)hotmail.com> To: <Michael.Barrett(a)adv.sonybpe.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 1:30 PM Subject: hey all! > just wanted to pass on a good belle and sebastian link... > > it's for a rare mp3. does anyone know when this was recorded? > > > http://www.usounds.com/daily.htm > > enjoy! > > shelly p > > > +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: makes no difference who you are...
by Helen 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

I saw Mercury Rev on the tele (Oz TV... because I live with the wizard) the other night and they did (quite a fine) cover of 'when you wish upon a star'. And a Dylan cover as well, He was a friend (of mine?). Interesting. Does covering a Disney song make you less cool? Because I'm sure it has been done many times before. (or even covering Bob Dylan, (although almost every band has done that), to those Dylan haters out there, although I like the man myself). (I think I am the winner of how many brackets you can use in a paragraph) Maybe it makes you more cool, like a 'I don't give a stuff about coolness' cool. Soon we'll have B&S covering the theme from Pocahontas and the Beta band doing a 6 minute experimental piece of Beauty and the Beast. But is there a ''I don't give a stuff about coolness' cool' cool. And if so where does it stop? Is there a limit to what is anti-cool and therefore 'hip', as opposed to things that are so not hip that there is no way that they can become cool. Don't worry I don't understand that sentence very much either. Personally I really don't give a stuff, because: 1) coolness, non-coolness it's all relative 2) I quite liked Pinocchio anyway 3) and lastly because I'm taking the piss out of those people and establishments who like to draw lines in the fickle world of entertainment, (I mean by saying this band is cool, but that band isn't, they make it such a thin line when really there isn't one at all. Because as soon as you draw a line in the sands of entertainment, then a wave of popular opinion comes in and washes it away and you have to start again.... now you see why I never did English because my metaphors are crap. Ha.) but what I can tell you for certain is that I spend way too much time in transit every day and have nothing to do except wonder and laugh at stupid shit like this. Helen ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: I'M DEAD ART
by GEORGE DICKIE 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE THE POINT TO ANYTHING YOU HAVE NO POINT TO MAKE G ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: spicy chicken curry?
by Tim 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Well this'll be only the second or third time I've posted, and I'm not really sure why I'm posting now, but as I'm not at work and I've had the time to read all the emails for once, I thought I'd just waffle for a bit. No, it is my third time I've posted I'm sure. The second time was to see if anyone had recorded a live performance by Teenage Fanclub on the evening session, and some delightful person had done. Nice girl. Can't remember her name though. Oops. B and S content: Hmm.....not sure on this one, but I was thinking only yesterday that I don't really know many people who like Belle and Sebastien apart from people on the internet. Well, maybe not quite true....a couple of people at work do, but these are odd scary people who live in like underground tunnels. But I did manage to convert my girlfriend to them. Well, to If You're Feeling Sinister and Tigermilk anyway, as TBWTAS didn't go down too well. It was a bit of a struggle mind, as I had to make her leave her Gabrielle and Whitney Houston cd's alone for a bit. I'm not happy now though, as she's nicked Grand Prix and HMS Fable off me, and doesn't want to give them back, so I have to listen to them round her house. She did say I could take the Marion cd back though. An acquired taste no doubt. But she did buy me The La's album, and I have her cuddly gorilla. All is not lost. Lucksmiths albums: I now have some, and they are very good. Don't think anything else needs to be said about these. Can anyone help me with trying to find some stuff by Out Of My Hair? I've only heard two singles (Get Back In The Groove Again and Mr Jones) and quite liked them, but can't find anything by them anywhere. I still like Local Boy In The Photograph by The Stereophonics. Inbetween the munching on pot noodles and such like on a break, a few of us were struggling to work out who was cooler. On the on hand there was The Fonz...Aaiiiieeee, and then there was Hannibal from the A Team taking the cigar out of his mouth and saying 'I love it when a plan comes together'. Due to this I have been struggling to sleep over the last few days. Either that or I haven't really gone to bed. Anyway Tim +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Poesia eres tu
by Arantxa Sanz 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Press articles and reviews based on celebrities is going too far.One cannot open a so-called serious paper without finding Steve Trousse and Tara'shenanigans in their pages, everyday.And in the end I don't know if he was stripping in front of pubescent princes or she was slagged off because of her lyrical taste.Media just confuse my waif-like mind. All I could really 'absorb' from poetry and lyrics later scandal, it was that Deborah Whoever,feature writer of the year,fancied Andrew Motion because of his posh navy blue coat.Fair enough.After my pleasant reading of some verses in my mother tongue sent by lovely Giita ( I want to go to Iceland more than ever,after my housemate's holidays ...!!!),might I add humbly my two pences to the discussion???Language makes a radical difference.Try to translate anything being true poetry (even something painted by furious demonstrators on a wall)and it would get irreversebly damaged somehow. And sorry for being so conventional,but I consider 'angels' second position and even 'Imagine' first position slightly embarrasing,being the most embarrasing of it all the somehow official opinion of 'Bohemian Rapsody' should have made it much better! 70's Who,that classical of this list: I ignore if Mr Miller would know about Houston Party Records, the recently founded label managed by Jaume from Parkinson DC in Barna, and so baptised after the orgiastic bash organised by the WHo during some American tour or so.According to the manager, that party simbolised all the rock mythology.Very deep.Especially for a power pop label owned by Posies' best chums. Once again, anyone up for Airport Girl and Butterflies of Love tomorrow night in NOttingham? Mail me privately. xxxx Arantxa PS I had never written before in any message 'mail me privately'.It sounds so naughty. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: My bip bopping days ain't over...
by Gabriela Sampaio 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Dear listees... It's been so long since I posted last that I am not sure how to do it again....hehe I just wanted to share a moment of happiness with you... I played as a DJ last Sunday and I included "she's losing it" and gentle waves' "weathershow" in my playlist and I was delighted to see everybody on the dancefloor!! Isn't it great? XXX gabi ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: today's special
by Ted Whalen 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

This message is by way of introduction. I think perhaps a summary of the events of this weekend will serve as a primer to my life and the state that I'm in. Saturday, as I was on my way to a party thrown by people I don't especially like, I stopped at the local bar for a bite and a pint. It seems like everyone at the bar conspired to make me staggeringly drunk. I stumbled down to the party, but was forced to make an over-hasty exit due to alcohol-induced illness. Sadly, (and here is the B&S content) I had to leave before I could sway in the style of the truly rhythmless to 'We Rule the School.' It was my only musical request at a party where the theme was 'High School Homecoming'. I was not elected king. I lost my cranberry sweater vest on the way home. Sunday I spent mainly in bed, but ventured out in the late afternoon to visit Ikea with my roommate. We bought a rug, and once at home, I swept and washed the floors in celebration of its arrival. I then commuted via train into work. I worked so late that the trains had stopped running when I was ready to leave. I spent the night in bed with my ex-girlfriend, fighting platonically over the covers. Surmise what you will about my life, but feel free to email me your inferences. My name is Ted and I live in Chicago. tew -- And it says "I burn." Ted Whalen - tew(a)introvert.net +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: world keep on turnin'...
by Matthew Dowgert 12 Oct '99

12 Oct '99

i'm in a computer lab at school, writing a paper and listening to stevie wonder, innervisions cd and damn if it's not fucking awesome. stevie rocks, he plays all the instruments on a bunch of the songs. and he's blind. damn. i mean, i knew he was blind, and i knew he was cool, but all i heard before was superstition, an awesome song, but i thought that it might just be his best and the rest might not be too great. but heck, he proved me an ignorant fool, because this whole cd is fantabulous. just as 3...6..9 seconds of light is fantabulous. just as my mom's apple pie is fantabulous. just as a new pair of socks is fantabulous. just as the end of this e is fantabulous. matthew francis dowgert +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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