OK, I'm back from France. Those of you who don't know why I'm telling you this, I am the "Mr Mitchell" who runs this list ("Paul" to anyone who can swear in three languages) and I've been on hols. And there are plenty of you newcomers, so welcome one and all. Anyway I'm back and slightly surprised that the list has kept going, archiving, digesting and generally chewing in my absence. Maybe I'm dispensable. In fact I nearly logged in from a cyber-cafe near Quimper to check things were OK, but decided I couldn't risk the high sad-old-git factor. Talking of S.O.G.'s, I'm glad David Kitchen stepped in and made his comments about the John Peel thread. Fully support his comments and those of others in favour of a bit more niceness. Please see my WWW page if you haven't and the tiny minority stop being rude to each other: I will have to step in if anyone gets nasty. I reckon we owe our friends the other side of the water about 15 B&S-irrelevant messages to catch up, especially after their valiant contributions about the US appearances. I've been a teensy bit stung by the strong and varying opinions on the relevant/tangential nature of postings to this list, so I will be as a tiny mouse with a sore throat until lots of people tell me they don't like what's being posted. As I said before, I don't intend to do any censoring (and haven't), just go with the majority view. Right now the list is a damn good read (for me anyway). So if anyone's got any problems with the list, or just wants to tell me how good/crap it is, just mail me privately. Some other random comments from what's been going on (couple more follow-ups to come): o Andrew (Dean): messages that went to the list but never made the archive: hmm, I was kind of waiting for someone to say that. The way the archive gets constructed was bashed together by me as if with sellotape in an excited rush so I'll revisit it. If anyone else notices this, could they mail me *privately* with a copy of the message that didn't make it. o Keith (Watson): what's all this about "book-lined graves?". Intrigued but clueless. o Has anyone seen mention of any of our sites/lists in the press? Would be interested to see if we ever get a mention. In fact a bit nervous - when The Guardian mentioned the best Teletubbies site it was closed down within 24 hours because of a ridiculous increase in the number of accesses... o Sexuality/gender - ambiguity in sexual orientation in lyrics can get a bit... hmm I suppose obvious to these ears, viz Morrisey in the latter days - seems to sometimes just become a game. I think the really nice thing about B&S is that it's *gender* too, e.g. "You know the world was meant for men, not us". One of my favourite lines. o Why doesn't the list administrator like the band fronted by Mark Knopfler someone asked? Hmm I'll leave the answer to that one to the FAQ... o clv: yes, they are. Oh, and I forgot to mention that running this mailing list is still a joy. So thanks to all of you for your continued support and enthusiam. Getting back from a wonderful holiday with only a bottle of extra strong Calvados from a farm and a broken Peugeot to show for it, the only thing that could save the sombre mood was reading through two weeks' worth of messages and once again tasting the weight of feeling for this wonderful music. That and the fact that they're repeating The Sweeney on Channel 5. "Get yuh clothes on love, you're nicked" as my girlfriend would say. Paul mailto:owner-sinister@majordomo.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net -----------------------------------------------------------------------