At 12:28 PM 2/10/1999 +0000, Stuart Gardiner wrote:

Henry Rollins isn't the only one. In this month's Q magazine there's an interview with the Bare Naked Ladies, and their singer defends himself against charges that his lyrics are overly clever by saying that he really likes Morrisey, the Divine Comedy and Belle and Sebastian, and that they all have great lyrics but don't get slagged off for it.

Oddly enough, as I read this the 'Ladies came on the radio (it's all I've got in the computer room for music). I feel like laughing and crying at the same time. I would say "cheeky loser" except that it's more laughable than anything else. So he thinks he's the Canadian equivalent of Belle & Sebastian, hmm. More like the Canadian equivalent of "vindaloo". Sure, their lyrics are clever, if you like gibberish that sounds like it was made up one night a an illicit party in their parents' basement in Scarborough. Coooool. For years, living in Toronto as I do, we have had to put up with the "clever antics" of BNL. Ooooh, they got banned from performing at the city's New Year party because the mayor found their name offensive. Rebels. And years ago, when I was interviewing the owner of Fun-O-Rama (a store that sells vintage toys, etc.), I asked him for a celebrity story. He thought for a moment and said that the Ladies had come in and were obviously dying to be recognized. Morris (owner) didn't want to give them that satisfaction, so he sat tight. So the lead singer piped up, "I wonder if there's anything barenaked in here?" Ewwwww. He also said he once over-charged Bryan Adams $10 on purpose, because he figured he could afford it. :) More recently, I wrote a journalism ethics paper on the state of music writing in Canada. From what my sources told me, you can write a scathing review of anyone--but if you say anything bad about Canadian artists, the companies freak out. You're not patriotic, you're not supporting Canadian culture. And as one article I quoted said, "we should be allowed to acknowledge the Barenaked Ladies' success in the US and still say their music is tripe." Which it is.

And while I'm at it, in the new Select magazine there's a map of Glasgow showing all the B&S-related sights (the studio, the Church Hall etc) to help prospective stalkers find their way around.

Someone took me on a little tour when I was in Glasgow in May. We went to the Art School to see where the "pastie de la bourgeoisie" was spray-painted, but it had been cleaned off. Waaah! 15 days until Pumpkinny gets here, I'm aglow. love, elisabeth xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+