Hello everyone, There have been murmurs recently of how sinister is a lot quieter than it used to be. I, too have noticed this. I am saddened by it, although I think I appreciate some of the reasons for it. I don't think it has anything to do with Belle and Sebastian's records or gigs. They are as great as ever. I think it has more to do with the fact that the novelty of the internet has worn off. All the people who used to post to sinister are now getting calluses on their thumbs from repeatedly texting each other. One day soon, people will be complaining that no-one ever sends them text messages anymore, and that it's all been superseded by this new-fangled ESP messaging transmitted directly from brain to brain. I will be going to the Somerset House gig on the Sunday, so would very much like to know who else will be. We must arrange a meet-up. Possibly we can just copy the people who arrange the (possibly bigger) meet-up on the Saturday, or we could be original. I believe that some of the pubs in that area close in the evenings at weekends, as no-one much lives round there, so we must be careful. Anyway, I received a postcard a couple of days ago to say that the start time for both gigs has been brought forward from 8 until 7. It apologised for any inconvenience this may cause, which was nice. I shall be braving the worst that a tube strike can bring and heading off to the Freaky Trigger club nite tonight at the Chapel, Islington and then (what bad planning is this?) going back to London tomorrow for work related stuff. Before I leave Oxford tomorrow, I am going on a course at our other office (i.e., the one I don't work in) which is on the corner of a street called Marston Street. Are you familiar with the song "Escort Crash on Marston Street" by Heavenly? Well, it's the same Marston Street. Are there any songs about streets in your home town? If so, why don't you post about them? I'd like to know.... I have to admit to being a bit of a philistine - I am far more familiar with the song "Picture of Dorian Gray" by Television Personalities than I am with the book. I don't think "Slow Graffiti" was influenced by the song tho. Mark. _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+