Sinister village people, 1) At the Poetry Cafe last Friday, I had my palm read by a tall man with a beard. He told me I was up for promotion at work, and wasn't that close to my parents, which is mostly correct. He did this, however, whilst staring intently at my face rather than my palm, which I found curious. I think it's very easy to read people by their faces, but have always been impressed by those who manage to do it by the palms alone. This bearded palmist also told Scarlet (the prettiest star in the Sinister galaxy) that she would a) never have to work for a living and b) have lots of children, which was very funny. It fully restored my faith in palmistry, at least as a comedic device. I was hoping he'd read Darren Hefner's hand - I imagine he'd draw some fairly shocking conclusions. Especially from his right hand. 2) I was initially fairly indifferent to Stu D's departure. He always seemed very happy footling around on stage with Looper. He was like a child with expensive toys at Bowlie, his miner's light strapped to his head. And Y2K is rarely far from my record player (although certainly not for the dodgy pulp remix). However, on friday night, sitting up in bed by candlelight with happy thoughts of pretty girls and even prettier boys in my little head, I read Ink Movies with a certain poignancy. He talks so fondly of the band. Without glamourising them, he makes everyone so loveable. It seems sad that the one who had such a strong notion of band unity, and such a strong vision of how the band could exist as an art form beyond the realms of music, should be the first to leave. 3) Samantha did recently write of Nick Drake:

I can't imagine him as ever being a real person for that reason, I think

and I heartily agree, especially because of the bizarre quasi-mystical nature of all of his press shots and album sleeves. On the back of Bryter Later (or at least the lovely re-issue) there is a shot of ol' Drakey standing next to what looks like the Westway at night. it is so strange to see such incongrous items juxtaposed. Nick Drake. Dual carriageway. Nick Drake. Dual carriageway. It seems so surreal, as if they belonged to totally different times. Was that post any good? I am too lacklustre to read it through. The advertising world has sucked my soul from my body, and were it not for a few saving graces, I'd be a floppy limbed corpse. J. D. Salinger --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "you take a really sleepy man, Esmé, and he always stands a chance of again becoming a man with all his fac - with all his f-a-c-u-l-t-i-e-s intact" +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+