February 1999 - Sinister

Sinister: Hey, Nick Drake's back!
by DavidJ2502＠aol.com 05 Feb '99

05 Feb '99

Hello everyone. Sorry about this, but there's little or no B&S stuff this time, but I promise to keep it brief. I saw the Nick Drake documentary on Monday and thought it was fan-dabbie-dosie (spelling corrections welcomed). At last we might see him getting the recognition he truly deserves. He has clearly inspired so many of us all, especially one Mr Murdoch, that perhaps he is just about due a bit of fame, albeit about 25 years too late. So anyway, here's the groovy part: I was in Birmingham town centre on Wednesday (only 2 days after the documentary, remember) and every record shop was cleaned out of Nick Drake records. This is it, chaps. The revolution has started. I don't quite understand why people who don't know about Nick Drake watched a programme about Nick Drake, but they did and they liked it. Just think, if one late-night BBC2 programme can do this for Nick Drake imagine what a Brits nomination could do for our beloved B&S. Of course, with this resurgence will come the indie (folkie?) snob i've-got-the-ultra-rare-vinyl- bootleg-of-him-sneezing types ready to snatch his unbelievable loveliness from the likes of us who don't even know what his best friends labrador was called. Let us fight back against these people and spread the good word. ...and just because I don't identify with him as a public schoolboy (near) Oxbridge graduate doesn't mean there isn't beauty in the songs. So there. On to other matters. I thought Lo-fi had more to do with the production and instrumentation than the actual recording techniques. It is a mistake punishable by tweaking to fall into the NME style trap of calling it a style of music. The first Babybird albums are decidely Lo-fi but nothing like Guided by Voices or early Pastels. Neither is it anything to do with the quality of recording: Blur probably spent a king's ransom trying to get their last album sounding like a Slint b-side. As for Mid-fi, wait for the new Sebadoh record. Before I go, has anyone else been plagued with e-mails about a music survey? I got one blank survey sent to me and after that I got bucketloads of completed ones and it's driving me insane. If you get sent anything similar please don't send them abusive mail, I'll only get copies of that too. Please cry for my sorry plight. Okay that's enough, DavidJ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Prestwick 2 - Moorkens 0
by jossm＠tinet.ie 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Shit. I really don't have much luck with air travel. Or rather, every time I miss a plane I promise myself that I shall NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN. Especially after missing my flight from New York last year and having to spend 8 miserable hours in Heathrow. But I found myself once again repeating this mantra at 9am this morning as my flight left for Dublin without me on it. And the next one was at 6 o'clock. So as a result we spent the day in Ayr because Leagues said he was too ill to make it back to Glasgow. Still, we did find a natty mug with the rules for being a girl guide on it. ("Giving service; Becoming a homemaker...." How enlightening.) And I got some new slacks, so it wasn't all bad. And it gave me an extra day off work. All told, I had a marvellous time in Glasgow though. I'm sure there's been stuff written already about the gig. I thought Evie Sands was a sweetie. I have loads of great records to show for my jaunt, although I'm sure that drinking to keep up with Claire Timmins has taken at least 2 years off my life. Words cannot describe waking up to run to the airport two hours after leaving the hotel bar. Anyways, thanks to everyone I met. It really was a pleasure - one which I hope to repeat before too long. Sleepy now. love Joss np: Sagittarius - Present Tense (with thanks one to Mr Warrander :) +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: My Evening Out
by Honey 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Hello you, Well I went to Evie. I gathered up my crutches and walked, as Jesus says, and lo, it was a mighty fine evening, with Evie and Chip giving it plenty of whack. I can't pretend I knew who Evie was before I went, to my shame, but if you were there last night, you like me might have mumbled "OH she sang THAT" into your prayer-book and felt a bit stupid. Here's what I typed before I noticed Anne had mailed the list about last night already. Evie was on top form, fresh of voice and appearance, and, as Linda said, "small as a pea". I've got to say I wasn't completely bowled over by Chip and Evie's solo sets for the first half (I'm not sure if "My Mom Was A Pisser" as a song title and punchline translates well into UK English, but Chris Leonard seems to like it). But when the Band We Love toddled on to back her and they kicked into her 60s stuff it was quite tremendous. For Belle and Sebastian Titbit Collectors, Mick was supposed to be poorly, and looked it, but like a real trooper struggled in to blow his thing a bit. Neil (B&S manager and former skinhead) played a bit of guitar, one of Sarah's friends sang with Sarah and Isobel like the Three Degrees, Stuart Murdoch played bass, and Stuart David's staying in cos he thinks it's a sin that he has to leave the house at all. Stuart's hair really is red. Like maroon red. The last song they did was, of course, "Wild Thing", and Chip insisted that most of them did a solo. So we got Isobel rocking it on the cello for a few bars, Sarah doing that two-note recorder solo you get on the original (but she didn't manage to make it quite as flat and tuneless as the original), and then Chip turned round and yelled "STOOart, BASS solo!" and Stuart went even more maroon and did a few bass runs. It was very similar to a traumatic experience I had in a coffee bar in Upton, Wirral when I was 14 and on a stage playing bass realy badly, and my older brother playing the roll of Chip, but I think I'll leave the details to my next Christmas circular letter. Anyway, we all know that Peter Miller fancies Evie like mad, having witnessed his sex-crazed agonised ravings on the subject recently, so I went up and asked Evie afterwards if she'd send some of her underwear to Spain for him. She wasn't sure about export restrictions so instead she scribbled a private message to Peter on my little handheld computer, and I've put it on the WWW pages. Of course no-one else should go and look at this as it's just for Peter so everyone else should turn their eyes away now: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/things/EvieLovesPeter.jpg Her handwriting's shakey due to technology rather than drink, but it is her, honestly. Actually I felt like a real speccy fool, with everyone cooing over my little palmtop politely and thinking I was a Star Trek fan with illusions of coming from the 23rd century; I woke up this morning in a cold sweat over it. [Incidentally a related reminder that I'm still taking photos from foolish listees who want to enter the Sinister beauty concert for the photo pages, preferably the baby photo page which is my favourite, at: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/minipeople with links to the others. Just send me JPG format please and be a star.] Aww but I couldn't go anywhere afterwards, but I surmise that I missed Claire and Joss and all sorts of sinistereenies last night? All I had was the usual Top Trumps set of Keiths, Annes, Tags, Chrises and Julias - oh I did get a John too.. But we should all wear luminous orange wooly hats and carry a root vegetable for quick recognition in crowds. Oh and if anyone's interested in more titbits, Isobel says that her Gentle Waves project (basically B&S) are probably doing a tour to support the coming LP around Easter: four dates in the UK. I think it's London, Glasgow, Wales and was it Birmingham? but it all sounded a bit uncertain. I think she's got a track on the new B&S LP and Stuart David two maybe, Stevie I think none. This should all be taken with a large pinch of salt as I'm notoriously unreliable and fickle. Sadly I'm not doing well in Peter's pop-snob competition as I haven't heard any new B&S, Looper, Gentle Waves or indeed unrecorded Steps material, but I'm going to be claiming I have in the next mail. And last night, why did The Pastels go to the church loo one after the other? I was watching and they did. Do Pastels get nervous about non-Pastel germs? Or maybe they were leaving little Pastel messages for each other with loo rool? -- It's not funny and it's not clever -- Finally, an update on that rude word collector at Yale College Wales -- you'll remember that I sometimes get messages back that mails from the list to a listee there have been rejected because they're crude. Results of my investigation have been disappointing. It seems that the software is choosy and it rejects the odd mail here and there: it didn't care less about Gary's rude Welsh words and irresponsibly passed on his obscenities to the poor Yale listee, and nor did it care about Linda's stream of filth in her last poetry-parrot mail. It seems to reject things at random making an assumption that all mail to "sinister(a)majordomo.net" is basically obscene and it's trying to make an example of some. Maybe they have Rude Days in Wales. Anyone? honey xxx "Either the wallpaper goes or I go" - Oscar Wilde, moments before he died. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: One inch rock/Poetry fears two
by Anne Ward 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Hello Everybody Claire, you're not the only one suffering today. I feel like a pig shat on my head. Still, it was a top night. The Evie Sands thing was a bit of a curate's egg. Firstly, Chip Taylor, (Jon Voight's brother!) wot wrote Wild Thing and other such classics played for about a year and told some stories like those ones that Grampa Simpson tells. You think they're going somewhere and then, no. Lots of evil people started giggling and it was like being back at school, trying not to laugh during mass. If Glenn Hoddle is right we will be reincarnated as earwigs for smirking in the Lord's house. Then Evie, the tiniest woman in rock came on and said "Here are some songs from my new CD 'Women in prison'" which did not bode well. I couldn't see her at all and wondered if she was a bit shy and was actually out the back with a microphone but it turns out she was there on the altar because when she bobbed up and down I could see the red crocodile clip that was holding together her huge rock mane. Things got better after this and she sang some new songs and some old ones before various members of B&S crept out of whatever you call the church equivalent of backstage for a big jam. They did "Take me for a little while" and "Anyway that you want me" and lo, it was gorgeous. There was some other stuff too that sounded ace then they all played "Wild Thing" and Ginger Murdoch got to do a guitar solo that sounded like someone twanging away at a Jew's harp. After that, the post-gig meet up at the 13th Note was also top fun. Joss, it was a pleasure to meet you. You are a true star. Everyone else ruled too, especially that Warrender John who was making a right show of himself. Way to go Warrender John! Anyway, to business. Last week, Linda, terrible minx that she is, sent the Poetry Parrot on his way to my house saying "I am off to see that Anne Ward now. She is a proper librarian, and may be a little more thoughtful than you, you dozy tart." God knows I've barely been able to sleep at night for fear of picking the wrong thing and offending one of you little flowers. I was going to go for Philip Larkin, for librarians everywhere (The one that ends "Get stewed. Books are a load of crap" is particularly good) but it was all too gloomy. There was also a poem called "Strawberries" by Edwin Morgan which is lovely and vaguely saucy but it was too long to type so here's Stevie Smith instead. By all accounts she was a bit barmy and is often described as "eccentric" and "mischievous" which makes her sound like some kind of terrible Pam Ayres novelty act. But I really like this poem and it's for whoever was going on about how the chances of you meeting your ideal person are really slim so you should just settle for second best. Listen to Stevie - she knows the score. The Poetry Parrot is off to see Brad now who is so sensitive he probably writes his own poetry. Be kind to the PP Brad, he's had a long journey! *************************************************************************** To the Tune of the Coventry Carol The nearly right And yet not quite In love is wholly evil And every heart That loves in part Is mortgaged to the devil I loved or thought I loved in sort Was this to love akin? To take the best And leave the rest And let the devil in? O lovers true And others too Whose best is only better Take my advice Shun compromise Forget him and forget her Stevie Smith +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: destruction
by Claire M Timmins 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

It's all your fault. Boss thinks I'm an absolute fool, fair enough. To all I met and sprouted absolute piss to last night, I hope you're all well. I'm not, and again, it's all your fault. Joss, wake up! Claire** -------------------------------- Claire Timmins Leverhulme Research Assistant, Department of English Language, 12 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: coppin some fronts for the set
by Corpora Arenacea 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Divine Comedy covering the Magnetic Fields sounds to me like, oh, I don't know, Blonde Redhead covering Sonic Youth or Mariah Carey covering Whitney Houston. >How to talk sinister=20 >One -- use the word "bollocks" as often as possible. Also "smashing" and= any >other British slang will do. >I don't suppose it's occured to you that some of us are British and >talk like that anyway. British are the niggers of the world. (Not really.) Lessee... what do you call an American who tries to talk like a Brit? A yanker? A brigger? A limey-lovin bunnystuffer? Allow me to heartily =dis=recommend "A Simple Plan", it's really a lot like watching "Fargo" in v-e-r-y slow motion.... and "Darkman" is, like, my favorite movie. (In case you have a life you might not know that they have the same director). I watch it on the telly. With my budgie. Sod off the lot of you. Oh, and does anyone else out there love Kevin Coyne? His was the first "Peel Sessions" album I ever bought, cuz he looked so damn crusty on the cover, and boy do I pat myself all over now. He sounds just as crusty as he looks. Favorite song so far: "Do Not Shout At Me Father". Big up to the DC massive, where the fuck are all of you? (Write me.) -Ebroo ______________________________________________________ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: sssshhhhhhhh uncle PJ.
by jake 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Well I do have to say that i'm in a bit of a dilemma, do i want Billie, Isobel, or the short blonde haired girl out of steps? It makes all the difference you see, it depends who gets my vote for the best newcomer............ And as for you Uncle PJ, are you trying to get me into trouble with this looper slurr? I had to beg, steal, borrow and murder to get the tape of the looper album a while ago, and as a nice gesture i happened to put a track (or 2) onto a christams tape, despite having told those lovely people at "corporation x" (name changed to protect those people who have already undergone the trauma of my holding them up at gun point) that i wouldn't, and now you've gone and blown my cover. So good was the album though, that i just had to go and get a cd copy, and still feeling guilty other my last hold up, i lay in wait outside the warehouse of the people who do the mastering and jumped out on them and stole the whole box of goodies. Which means i've got 10 looper albums, 10 gentle wave albums and 10 copies of the newly remastered tigermilk, and i'll sell them at a cut down price to sinister members on a first come first served basis..........£10 each, £25 for all 3. No, not really, i'm only joking. I want to make that perfectly clear, I W A S J O K I N G. ok, so it wasn't funny jake +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: nick drake doc + stu's lonely heart....
by James 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Stuart wrote : >> so i wish i hadnt bothered watching it now cause though theres these songs >> which matter to you and say something to you things like this and the recent >> biography only serve to remind you that their made by this well off public >> schoolboy just about as far removed from you as possible. > Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that as a problem. You can still > appreciate a song, if the writer wasn't like you. Are you saying I > shouldn't like B&S because I'm not a shy scotsman? Or that I shouldn't > like Pulp because I didn't go to art school? This is so right. If I could only identify with artists who had similar life experiences to me I'd be in real trouble. Am I the only person who thought that the Nick Drake documentary was really rather good? Maybe its because I never go into these things expecting much, but I really did think it was quite original and unusual in format, and very honest in terms of presenting lots of different viewpoints etc. Of course it skipped over all the technical musical details but it didn't pretend to be anything other than a study of the man himself, and a lesson in music theory is hardly suited to television. Well, that's just what I think. By the way Stuart, I have this horrible creeping feeling that I never actually thanked you for the sessions and demos you sent me. If so, I'm sooo sorry. I'll certainly be going without supper tonight. THANK YOU. The tape was great. Here are some answers for your questions: 1 . Freshly laundered sock seeks clothes peg. Must have firm grip. 2 . Lonely clothes peg with firm grip seeks laundry for hours of fun in the back yard. 3 . Probably. 4 . Melted over hot crumpets. 5 . It simply has to be an aubergine. 6 . Well, I wouldn't know about this one now would I..... Bye bye Love from Molly xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Will Oldham tonight!!!
by Aileen Hammond 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

Hi there Sinisters, I am overfilled with joy :) Tonight Will Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Pr..you know the rest.. is playing HERE in Reykjavik,Iceland!!!! I wonŽt believe it Žtill I actually see them..This doesnŽt happen here. - A band you really like are playing in your own country? And on this "little" island, where very few foreign bands have touched the soil... Well IŽll tell you all about it tomorrow, when all is over. Catch you in the moonlight! Giita ______________________________________________________ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Drunk and in charge of a PC
by Honey 04 Feb '99

04 Feb '99

See what I have to deal with? A genuine message honestly :) eponymous honey xxx ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <name removed for legal reasons> To: "david kitchen - jeepster" <shop(a)jeepster.co.uk>, "Richard Connell" <richard.connell(a)gecm.com>, "cardie wearing list" <sinister(a)majordomo.net> Subject: Re: Sinister: 1,5,2 VOTING! Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 17:19:53 -0600 UNSRCIBLE-SINSITER-DEGEST +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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