Dear Sinisterettes: If debate bores or irritates you, please refrain from reading the following as my Right Honorable Friend Tim Hopkins and I, Elle Zober, are about to embark on a rather healthy discussion! Tim Wrote: It's probably deeply irrational and can't be justified on a pure theoretical basis, but actually how an artist feels about her/his art is quite important to me. I often feel very uncomfortable with music or other art which is (as far as I'm concerned) made *for* the money. I think being 'in it for the money' is just about the worst reason I can think of for making art. (Propogating hate politics would be worse I suppose, but I'm sure you know what I mean).

What is so wrong with making money?

I think there's something wrong with money being someone's principal motivation for making something. Some of us work to make money such that we can fund the other things that we want to do. I'd rather have it that way round than make a perverted version of something I love because I 'have to make money'. I'm not saying B&S have done that, incidentally. Money changes everything.

More to the point, all this aside, when have you EVER known Jeepster >or B&S (AS A BAND) to steer us wrong and take advantage of us.

Aside from, let's say, the odd limited-edition 7"s that some people are already desperate for, and unable to get hold of?

Sometimes it sounds like people are being a weeny bit selfish by >asking all these questions.

Sometimes I think that an entirely uncritical attitude to anything(except perhaps Vic Godard) might be a bit of a problem.

I think it is disrespectful to carry on about these things when Jeepster and B&S have always done right by >the fans.

My attitude towards Belle and Sebastian is not a very critical one, but that surely doen't mean that I shouldn't say that they're doing things wrong if I think they are. I think the whole Tigermilk reissue issue has been disastrously handled, and it has led to desperate fans paying over the odds (their choice, I know, but not an unpredictable one)and extensive bootlegging. Neither of which the band claim to want. It's an old issue, and one that has been thoroughly played out in the archives, but it serves as an example. Please note that I'm not saying that anyone has the right to tell B&S what to release and how and when, but at the same time that doesn't mean they have 'always done right by the fans'. This doesn't mean that I don't love B&S completely, either, because I do. As for Jeepster, I think their attitude towards this list it has left some things to be desired from time to time. But that's a whole 'nother story.

This email may not win me any friends here, and I am sorry.

I hope it hasn't made you any enemies either. I'm all for a bit of informed discussion. More of this later, perhaps. You never know your luck. Tim, I completely understand and appreciate your sentiment. Truly, I do. However, if you feel that B&S ARE in this for the money, and it upsets you, then you have the option of not listening to them. Plain and simple. As Pinnochio once said, the world doesn't owe you a living, and thus the Belle's don't owe you any good music. Okay, that said. I do think that you misinterpret what I was saying. My post was in regards to the chat going on about the merchandise thing. Which really isn't the end of the world. I really don't think that B&S are in anything for the money. Truly. In fact, I would dare to say that I KNOW they are not. Look at how they have run their career so far. They have NEVER appeared on the cover of anything, no doubt they have been offered many. They DON'T do interviews that would undoubtably up their sales and the like. They do what they want out of resect for their music and I believe that they are true to it. I am disheartened that you, or anyone else, wouldn't see them that way. But, let's face it. They are a great band and they make great albums. End of story. We shouldn't dare to question the business decisions they make, how is that any of our business? I am just wondering. I truly enjoy our banter however, logical discussion is not something that is a staple of my day as an on-line computer technician! So, I look forward to hearing from you. However, if you feel this is best continued off the list, feel free to write me at my address: ehope@nwmls.com Snoggs, elle +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+