greetings! I too was at the taping on friday and the show sunday night! was everyone on this list there?? seems like a high percentage of us at any rate! at the taping i was sitting behind the guitar amp stage right - between mathew kaplan superstar (you know-helen love's lawyer - they wrote a song about him) and dominique of ny band ivy - ivy has a new record out in usa oct 7 - and it is absolutely fabulous and sure to rate right up there with sinister as best records of 97!! please give it a listen if you get the chance - it features dean wareham and james iha on a couple of tracks... but i digress - i was also the fella who sheepishly pulled out my sinister LP for stuart to read off of - kind of embarrassing but they autographed it with lovely sentiment afterwards... so, well worth the bother of carting it around! As for the performances - nothing short of fantastic! While very nervous at the taping they still gave lovely renditions even with the occaisional goof - they are, after all, human and you can certainly here a few strained moments on the records too - and i feel leaving those moments on the record, rather than overdubbing to perfection is part of the open, honest approach which makes them so appealing. on sunday they were certainly more confident - and since it was technically not a cmj showcase show the pressure was off and they could just play - excellent performance despite the sauna like heat and humidity - a real endurance test at the end of the cmj marathon! i am curious as to what bands others on the list saw during the cmj week - anyone care to share? and for those who don't know - the cmj music marathon is a once a year event where 300 or so bands converge on nyc to play over four days for assembled college radio types and other industry fringe persona from all over the usa- you can never see all you want to! as for myself, i had to drive an hour in and out of the city, work in the shop then do it again for five days - ouch! - so the marathon aspect is certainly close to home - here is what i was able to see: snowpony, wannadies,belle & sebastion, high llamas, doktor kosmos, linoleum, scarfo, magoo, mulu, beth orton & finally belle & sebastion again! imagine if i stayed in new york how many more i could have seen.... well i hope i have not bored anyone - take care all ! chris@secretsounds.com ps - i am coming to london oct 1st - 6th - can anyone reccomend any good shows at that time!? - looks like i am already planing to see helen love/yatsura on the 2nd(my birthday- i will be 41!!can anyone on here top that age?) and sukia/stereolab on the 4th ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net -----------------------------------------------------------------------