(still mired in the backlog of weblog ) and yet another piece of the sinisterine chapel comes into view out of the rubble of the big apple (sliced) hello all. This goes out to the increasingly rare geezers and geezettes among the dispatchers and dispatchees. It was on the birthday of John Lennon that me mate and me went off to hear the next best thing (arguably) in the person of Neil Innes. I could cite the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band as a major influence on my salad days, but that would short his work with Monty Python as well. (I mean, at an audience request he even did "Brave Sir Robin" to end with the aside, "I cant believe it took some of the best minds of Oxford and Cambridge to come up with those lyrics ") And if I say "The Rutles," there should be a rousing cheer and occasion cause enough for heads to nod in agreement to the aforementioned overweening enthusiasm spasm. You see, whist in the throes of ecstacy (not phramochemically induced), it occurred to me that the same reason I have an affection for the Beatles is the same reason I love B&S: great huge whopping catalogs of tunes of ultra-high quality in such a fantastic variety. Which brings me back to Neil. You see, as much as The Rutles were a parody of the Beatles, they were a truly stunning parody, and Innes innate melody skills and talent for copying the Fab Fours style and riffs could give the brothers Gallegher a run for their money. (And just to prove that it isnt just one Oasis that he visits, that it isnt just one field of study that he specializes in, he also showed an uncanny ability to ape the Elton John-Bernie Taupin stylee with an eerily familiar-but-brand-new number called "Godfrey Daniel." I mean stunning.) But, of course, it was when he let the Dog out that I was happiest. "Urban Spaceman" opened the show with Georgia and Ira on slide whistles. (Oh, I forgot to mention that Yo La Tengo was his backing band.) And yes, he did look mighty spiffy in his silver-grey mop-top cut. At the conclusion of the number, "Well, that does it for the Show Biz part of the show " and prompty removed the wig to reveal a chrome dome. "Wot? Dont laughthere are people all over California who look like that." And its a good thing he did. Otherwise how would he be able to put on the ducks head for "How Smart To Be An Idiot" and a Stetson for the "Donkey Song" (which defies immediate description). Theres that showmanship thing that never leaves the stage for long, and, in that, I guess I still see faint shadows of Lennon the Prankster. Still, the songs To go from "Idiot" to "Doubleback Alley" to "Youre So Pusillanimous" to "Cheese & Onions" to "Humanoid Boogie" is like saying: so what else can you do to keep me grinning like a lunatic? And it shouldnt go without re-mentioning Yo La Tengo. Ira confessed (on his only mike speech) that the week spent with Neil was one of the best he could recall in a long time and that Neil responded with a remark that Ira had made about them "being the best band around in their price range." Nobody who watched Ira go into his amplifier hunch on the psychedelic Rutles/Bonzos numbers would doubt that. Yes, a grand night for us anglophiliac geezers. You should check him out if he passes by (with or without the back-ups) and the websites funny too. (www.neilinnes.org) Oh well, time to "Get Up And Go" Ta. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+