Hi Fragrant Ones, First things first. Listen to John Peel tonight 22:00 - 00:00 BBC Radio 1 as Sodastream are in session. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/djs/peel.shtml On Thursday you can also hear the first session from the Incredible String Band since 1973, but that may be of lesser appeal :) Whilst we're chucking URL's around: Kerstin, you can find out more about listcrushes at http://www.missprint.org/sinister/crush.html A couple of people were asking for an account of Friday's gig & it seems that the Glasgow posse has been struck dumb, probably by the power of The Gentle Waves concert on Sunday. So for Don Pedro & Steve "Mad Axeman" Hewitt (Carsmile, why was no-one ever charged with the Gloucestershire Trumpeter Murders in the early 90's?) here goes: Glasgow For It I had a shit week at work & felt under the weather, so on Thursday pushed ahead with my jobs to take Friday off. In the morning I awoke with a daft idea in my head: following Mick & Peter's advice on Sinister I should go & see Sodastream ... in Glasgow! All the family thought I was mental (400 mile drive) but I went anyway as although I was going to see them on the Saturday I knew it would be too crowded in that small room in the Betsey Trotwood in London, & besides Chris Leonard was supporting & I'd never been to Glasgow. It took about 6 and a half hours driving but it was a brilliant autumn day, sun shining bright, great music on the stereo, no-one hassling me on the phone & the scenery en route was superb. Snow on the Pennines, Mistopher Chris in my ears. Arrived in the city, rows of grey Victorian houses grim in the dark tree lined streets. A black Granada parked on Novar Drive - must be Hyndland church hall! Strolled in, people surprised to see me there. Met Karl & Pete Sodastream, Princess Honey, Linda, Mick Cooke, the shy caretaker from the hall (Quite handsome in a pixie-ish way. Cheeky grin, prominent cheekbones. Red hair. Stuart Murdoch, I think his name was), Stevie Jackson, Chris Leonard, Julia, Keith Watson, Katrina House, her mate Shelley, Ally Cook, Ailsa Ross, Carey Lander, Owen Lowery (The Narrow Wizard, who doesn't have bushy eyebrows at all).* Gig was great, Chris had a sore throat but was still superb. If he blew Sodastream off stage it was with his hankie :) About a hundred people sat on rows of chairs in the freezing cold hall. A white-painted bicycle propped up against the blue backdrop, standard & table lamps illuminating the stage, candles in jars for atmosphere. No bar so everyone clutching Victoria Wine carrier bags & swigging on bottles & cans of beer. Every time someone knocks over a bottle Stuart's head whipped round as he knows he has to clear it up (& maybe also a clean hall means he can put more gigs on later.) I forgot to check what shoes people were wearing, maybe because my feet were too cold. Mick played records in the gaps before/between/after the bands. The closest he got to playing ska that I can remember was Althia & Donna's Up Town Top Ranking. In any case he got top marks from me for playing Looking For A Love off Zuma. Chris had set up a stall to sell Sodastream drinks in honour of the Australian guests (but it got messy & he gave up) Later a crowd of girls clustered round, admiring the size & smoothness of his glistening white pillar. Sodastream were great too, sang loads of songs, so sad & yet so beautiful. Mick played muted trumpet with them on two numbers, one of them my favourite, Boss. Mick told me later that one song of theirs, Able Hands (they wrote it for a friend of theirs who died) makes him fill up - well Boss does that to me. Pete says that Mick is a perfect musician: he remembered the arrangement of Boss spot on after an 18 month gap. Stroked Honey's arm, talked to lots of lovely people, Ally got excited, Carey gave out Papercuts questionnaires to all the band members, I helped her pinch the posters for souvenirs, talked to Chris about the Incredible String Band, talked to Keith Watson about wanking, The Who, David Bowie, Jethro Tull, The Clientele & loads more, Ailsa had a fit of the giggles during Chris' set (she heard Grandfather's Clock without the 'l') & had to walk out, had a long discussion with Stevie about Neil Young & his favourite album & gig and lots more. His knowledge of music is encyclopaedic & he's very precise & accurate. I must do more homework before next starting a conversation with him! I didn't have anywhere to stay but kindness himself Mr Cooke put me up for the night. Ally & Carey wanted to go to Insomnia, so after sorting out Sodastream's stuff from his flat, sorting out accommodation for me, he then took them across the city in the early hours, me driving my car & him giving directions (he was too knackered to drive himself) Struan? White trousers, black polo neck jumper, not as tall "in real life" as you imagine him to be. Maybe he looks taller when he's on stage, or maybe its because he's only human after all :) He looks pretty down to earth when he's stacking the chairs away after the band have finished playing. And when he's mopping the floor afterwards too. He has the wrong mop bucket for the kind of mop he uses, but he can still lean on it. In the morning got up, made some coffee, drove the 400 miles back again, six hours on automatic pilot, can't remember how I got home. Weather not so good, strong winds buffeting the car on the motorway from Glasgow, driving rain. Luckily not too much traffic & no hold-ups all the way. Home, showered, ate, did washing, washing up ... drove off to London to see Sodastream within two hours of getting back. ******* Idiot. Betsey Trotwood: saw Sally, Trousers, Lucy, Mark Casarotto, Tim Hopkins, Sezzah, Liz Daplyn, Lixi, Martin, Matt, Richard, Jim, Geoff, Suzy (hope I've spelt that right) who was a big fan of Karl's former teen star band Thermos Cardy in Perth, Western Australia, loads of Aussies, Chris Brown, Carsmile Steve, more Sinisterines than you get at a picnic. Alisdair Clientele & Innes Relict there too.* Gig great again, but really glad I went to the previous evening's as it was a better atmosphere & they played more songs. I was leaning on the PA about as close to the band as anyone could get. Afterwards asked the guys to sign the CD & some singles, Pete wrote an essay! & they both thanked me for my support. They put up with so much shit on this tour too. Terrible accommodation, getting little sleep, some days not getting a shower, etc. Had to give Sally & Martin lifts back to Greenwich, stopped at Martin's for a pee & a tea. Suzy telling tales of Thermos Cardy & Perth. Home at 3 a.m. Terrible back ache in the morning - too much driving. Sally thinks I'm having a mid-life crisis, perhaps I am. Will that do? *Apologies to anyone I left out - failing memory :( Love, David Moore Chelmsford, UK +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead 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. 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