POW! TO THE PEOPLE or, I WAS SURPRISED I WAS INDIE FOR A DAY I arrived at the Monarch at about 5.30, having found Ken, Marianna and Greg loitering with intent at a service station. Once inside, I was momentarily blinded by the light glinting off the indie glasses of 200 or so troubled teenagers, but soon found myself in my favourite position of being in a confined space with a load of gorgeous sinisterines past and present, including Ben Apps, Mark C, Ally Cook, Sarahs x 2, Paul H, Stevie T and a host of other old skool siniboys and girls. SHE CAME FROM GREECE SHE HAD A THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE At some point a leather-clad vixen answering to the name of Kalliope arrived with her champagne-addled entourage of Ruvi, Paul and Nicholas, and everyone within reach had the breath affectionately squeezed out of their bodies. KENCHU FAN Bands were largely ignored in favour of alcohol (including illicit vodka and red bull from I can't imagine what source...) But Camera Obscura were delightful (especially a certain foxy yet modest keyboard player who we weren't trying to put off by making faces, honest.) Another modest soul was Ken Chu, who didn't let it go to his head when we discovered that someone - possibly involved with National Pop League? - has been hawking 'I Love Ken Chu' badges to impressionable young boys. (For the benefit of the ladies, Ken did look particularly ravishing in his new string bean jeans...) SWISH COTTAGE Some dodgy pizza, several drug dealers and one in depth conversation about S Club 7 later, we were bodily ejected from the building and various people struggled with their large instruments before Ken, Marianna, Sarah, Paul H and I followed Ben Apps to his palatial residence. Two bottles of wine later and we were in the middle of a full-blown (and revealing) karaoke session. About which I will only say: Ken Chu and Dolores O'Riordan - separated at birth. THE BOY WITH THE EQUITY CARD Another highlight of the small hours was witnessing a virtuoso appearance on REAL TV (well, Holby City) by Ben's brother, aka eligible bachelor of this parish, Will Haigh. Whom we hope is available for weddings, birthdays, bah mitzvahs etc? DIRTY DREAM #1 My final waking thoughts were confusedly filled with ecstatic murmurs from Ken and Marianna, who seemed to think they were in bed with Isobel Campbell and Stevie Jackson respectively (I think it was that way round - I was very sleepy.) A FAMILY'S LIKE A LOADED GUN Then after a slightly delirious #sinister session the next morning (in which I think Lindsey Baker picked me out of a blind date style line up but subsequently dumped me for Ken and his Karma Sutra), I went back to Streatham and played dysfunctional families for a while, discovering that my dad won't let my step-sister's boyfriend in the same room as him, and all of my 17000 step-cousins are still little shits. I made my slightly guilty escape just as my mentally ill uncle arrived unannounced, and wandered aimlessly round London with my friend Cat for the rest of the afternoon. I would have found this a lot less depressing if there had been any BLOODY PUBS OPEN. Still, I got to walk over the millennium bridge and witness the exciting 'Queen Mother still dead' bustle around Clarence House. Now I have a whole day of rest and recuperation before joining my fellow picnic mummies in entertaining a much happier sort of family, and THEN BRIXTON BECKONS!!!!!!! Carsmile Steve still has my ticket and is in France, but i'm sure it'll be fine... Luv Archel xxx *************************************** Rachel Playforth buzzwords@bigfoot.com Visit www.buzzwords.ndo.co.uk for the best new writing on the web. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+